#sick me has worse attention to detail than not-sick me

[darkbluekies]

Make things right? Or make them worse?

Yandere!doctor husband (platonic to his children) x twin daughters ocs x female!reader

Summary: Dr Kry’s children finds out their fathers dark secret, and he's determined to silence them.

Warnings: toxic household, yandere, favoritism, guilt, poison, mentions of murder (things along this way)

A/N: I have created my own poison for this story, so I choose the effects. Lol.

Word count: 6.2k

“Bye, dad”, Lydia says and closes the car door.

Her twin follows out of the car, almost hides behind her like a shadow. Lydia frowns confusedly. She’s been more silent than usual this morning. They turn to walk into school.

“Girls”, Dr Kry says through the open car window, catching their attention. “I want you here at three sharp, okay? I’m not in the mood for waiting.”

“Yes, sir”, Lydia answers. 

“Good. Have a good day, girls, I’ll see you later.”

With that said, he drives off. Lydia turns to Nadia who finally raises her gaze from her feet. 

“What’s wrong?” Lydia asks and fixes her backpack. “You’ve been acting off all morning.”

“I have to talk to you about something”, Nadia says hesitantly and looks at her with uneasy eyes. 

Lydia blinked and frowned. “What?”

“I was meaning to talk to you earlier, but I didn’t want to do it when dad was around.” Nadia glanced at the other students swarming around the school grounds. “It’s about mom … and her sickness.”

For as long as they can remember, their mother has been bound to her bed by a rare disease. Thankfully, their father is a remarkable doctor and has been caring for her ever since the twins' birth. He works at a hospital in the city and travels forty minutes back and forth every day, dropping the twins off at school on the way there, and picking them up on the wayback. When they were young, they were put in a private school carefully chosen by their father — who has been very active in the administration.

Their father is a complex person. Although they’ve been by him their entire life, they still feel like they don’t know him. He rarely talks about himself, and seem to have a human side for their mother only. Very rarely, there’s a soft side for the girls … often they’re met by a doctor, rather than a parent. Despite that, Lydia has always been a daddy’s girl, while Nadia has clung to their mom for love and comfort. 

“What about it?” Lydia asks carefully. 

“I heard something …”, Nadia starts and licks her lips nervously. “I heard these noises, from mom and dad’s room-”

“Don’t tell me you heard them have sex”, Lydia grimaces. 

“No …” Nadia shakes her head, eyes shaking. “They were talking. Mom was crying and daad was standing by the bed, holding her cheeks in his hands like this …” She cups her sisters cheeks in demonstration, “...while saying: ‘you’re never going back there, I’ll never share you like that again’.” She shivers. “I-I don’t know what that was, but it made me feel really weird.”

Lydia frowns, trying to picture the scene in front of her. 

“Are you sure that it wasn’t just dad’s weird love language?” she asks carefully. 

“I don’t know”, Nadia sighs defeatedly. “Mom seemed … scared. She looked up at him with eyes full of terror. She could have had a nightmare or something, but dad’s voice- … it was awful. I don’t know how to describe it, but it sounded extremely dark.”

“We could try to ask her.”

“What if dad hears?”

“I could distract him while you ask, if that helps you ease your worry.”

Nadia smiles gratefully. “Thank you, Lyd.”

Lydia gives her an unsure smile and grabs her hand and they walk into school. 

Like Dr Kry had asked them to, they stand by the gates at three sharp. His white car rolls over and the two of them jumps in, Lydia in the front seat and Nadia in the backseat.

“How has your day been?” he asks and drives off. 

He always asks about their classes, teachers and friends. If there’s a small detail he doesn’t like, he makes sure to contact the school and let them know his thoughts. More than one friendship has ended thanks to his overprotectiveness and the twins has learned to dilute the truth enough for him to be able to swallow it. So once again, they answer in the way he wants to hear it. 

The car drives from the city, gets off the highway and enters a countryside road. The dirt road is divided in the middle with grass, creating enough space for the wheels of his white car to roll forward. Here, nothing can be heard except the sounds of distant birds. Their white, edwardian villa is surrounded by a deep, dark forest, close to a gigantic sparkly lake with the closest neighbor being a kilometer away. Despite the isolating upbringing the twins have had, getting away from the noisy, stressful city to the empty forest always cleanse their brains. 

The white, Scandinavian, edwardian aged, wooden villa appears behind the trees like a castle. The house has two floors with a green atticroof, and a bushy, blooming garden in the same color, two glass verandahs on either side of the house and a white fence around the garden.

The twins get out of the car. Nadia gives her a look and Lydia nods. 

“Dad”, she says. “I’ve been feeling a bit weird these last days … I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Really?” Dr Kry asks and frowns. He closes the trunk of the car. “Who have you been around? Are any of the other students sick?”

“A few.”

“Nadia, are you feeling bad too?”

“No”, Nadia replies.

“Could you please give me a check up?” Lydia asks. 

“Alright, come with me”, Dr Kry says and nods at her to follow him. 

While they walk inside, their father and Lydia walks to the living room and Nadia sneaks off upstairs. She moves carefully to their parents’ room and knock gently on the door before entering. Their mother, you, is lying in bed with a book in her hand. You look as weak as ever. Nadia shivers. 

“Hi, sweetheart”, you smile and puts down your book on your chest. “Did you have a good day in school?”

“Yes …”, Nadia mumbles and sits down on the side of the bed, unsure on how to start this absurd conversation. 

“What’s wrong, Nadia?”

“What happened yesterday? WIth you and dad?”

You flinch. Your smile disappears for a moment for it to appear quickly again, but this time in a fake manner. 

“Why did he say that?” Nadia asks carefully. “Why did he say that he wasn’t going to share you again?”

“O-Oh, that …”, you mumble with an embarrassed smile. “It was nothing, don’t worry about it. It was just some adult stuff that me and your dad were talking about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, honey. Why? Did it make you worry?”

Nadia nods slightly. Y/N gives her a smile and takes her hand. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart, there’s nothing to be afraid of”, you reassure Nadia. “Whatever happens between me and your dad is nothing you have to be afraid of. We will always put you and your sister first, okay? There’s nothing you have to be worried about. I love you, darling.”

“I love you too, mom …”

You hug her, and Nadia hugs back, but she can’t help but feel that her heart sinks. Something isn’t right. 

The very next day when they’re left off at school, Nadia grabs Lydia’s arm. 

“Let’s go to the hospital”, she says the second their father’s car disappears behind the corner. She holds up a metallic key. “I have the key to mom’s old room.”

“What?” Lydia asks in confusion. “Why?”

“I have a feeling that mom isn’t really sick and I have to take a look around in her old hospital room. Something isn’t right!” She clears her throat and lowers her voice. “Mom and dad met at the hospital and that he was her doctor, that much we know, right?”

Lydia nods, trying to follow along. 

“Isn’t it weird that a doctor as professional as our dad decided to start a relationship with a patient like that?” Nadia asks, sounding unsure. “And wouldn’t he have done everything he could to make mom feel better? Shouldn’t she be better now? I just … I want to know if he has done something.”

“Do you really think he has?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know. But something isn’t right, and I feel that. Mom seemed to be put on the spot when I asked her about the interaction I had overheard. She seemed scared.” Nadia grabbed her hand in hers. “Please, Lyd, can we go there and just take a look?”

Lydia hesitates and glances at the private school behind them, contemplating the consequences. 

“Please”, Nadia repeats. “If mom is getting hurt, I want to help her.”

“Okay”, Lydia nods. 

With that said, they hurry past the school gates before a teacher has the time to catch them. They take the first bus to the state hospital their father works at and hope that he’s with a patient while they sneak around. 

They hurry inside the hospital and keep their heads down to make sure that none of the working receptionists would recognise them and report to their father right away. They stay silent until they get into the elevator. 

Once out, they sneak over to the door. Lydia stands guard as Nadia presses the key into its lock. The click from the key opening echoes in the empty corridor. Nadia’s hand hovers above the door handle. Her heart twirls around uncomfortably. In a moment, she will be in the room where their parents met, where something happened that made their dad take the decision of stepping over the professional line. If that was good or bad is yet to be known, but she can’t help but feel worried. 

The room is empty, in more than one way. The spirits of old memories haunt the room and they leave a sour taste in the twins’ mouths. Lydia looks towards the bed. Their mother has been lying here for months with a sickness that has kept her bed bound for years. But what happened while she was here?

“What are we looking for?” Lydia wonders. 

“Anything”, Nadia shrugs and looks around. “Whatever that can help us is fine. Journals, reports, notes — anything.”

They start to rummage through drawers, in binders and notepads. Lydia finds herself holding a yellow paper binder with their mother’s name written on it, in their father’s handwriting. 

“Nad, look at this”, Lydia says and holds up the binder. 

They put the binder on the desk and start to pull out papers. Every paper is written from the top to the bottom in ink.

“He has documented her every day …”, Lydia says, perplexed. She shakes her head in denial. “Every single day, every single hour. Obsessively. Look, every little detail is written down. ‘12:35, eaten an apple’, ‘16:52, took a shower’, ‘22:30, called for me on the telephone’. What is this?”

Nadia picks up another paper, a smaller, clearly supposed to be hidden between the other sides. She puts her hand over her mouth as her eyes widens. 

“Oh no”, she gasps and drops the paper. “No, no, no, no …”

Lydia frowns, bends down and picks up the paper. Her heart sinks as she reads the note. It’s a single word, but they’re familiar with it. They’ve found bottles of it in the cellar and the attic multiple times, and when they asked Dr Kry about it, he answered that it was a substance to kill vermin.

“He’s poisoning mom”, Nadia whispers in horror and looks at her twin with wide, terrified eyes. 

Lydia feels the air disappear from her lungs. Suddenly, she feels nauseous. She sits down on the rolling stool and tries to control her breathing. Nadia sinks down on the bed with her head in her hands. 

“What the fuck do we do?” Lydia breathes out with her eyes staring dimly in front of her. She has never felt this empty before, this helpless. “What the fuck do we do now, Nadia?”

“W-We have to call the cops”, Nadia gulps. 

“The cops? Nad, he’s our dad!”

“But if he hurts mom …” Her voice dies out. “We can’t let him take more years from her.”

Lydia nods and wipes the few tears that have begun to run down her cheeks. With shaking hands, she unzips her backpack and shoves the binder down. They will need evidence if they have to prove to the cops. 

The door behind them opens. Both girls fly up from their positions and scurry over to each other. Dr Kry walks in and stops abruptly in the door. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks quickly. 

He’s trying to force a smile, but the red eyes of his daughters and the trembling bodies of theirs are all he needs to see, to know that they know. 

“How fucking could you?!” Nadia screams. 

Dr Kry hurries to close the door as she continues to shout through sobs. 

“What’s your deal with mom?!” she screams. “How can you keep her like this?! Where’s your fucking conscience?!”

She thinks that she’s going to explode in pure fear, anger and sorrow. Dr Kry clenches his jaw and sighs heavily. 

“Your mother is a very, very special person”, he says slowly, as if he is talking to a ticking bomb. “It is all a misunderstanding, girls, I will tell you everything at home. Come, we’re going home now.”

“We’re not going anywhere with you”, Nadia spits and stands in front of her frozen sister. 

“You don’t have to be afraid of me.” Dr Kry rolls his eyes when they don’t answer. “You’re my daughters, and you are not yet of age, you have to come with me.”

Nadia wants to refuse again, but she doesn’t want to leave her mother alone with him, not when he knows that they know. 

“Now”, Dr Kry decides. 

Nadia picks up Lydia’s bag and gives it to her sister. It looks like Lydia is going to throw up any second now. Nadia takes her hand and they follow their father out of the room, and out through a back door. For the first time, Lydia sits down in the backseat together with her twin. They hold each others hands tightly and keep silent the entire car ride home. 

“Girls, I never wanted you to see that”, Dr Kry sighs and tries to meet their eyes in the rear view mirror. “I- … It’s hard to explain. Your mother is a very special person who I’m very lucky to have met.”

Lydia squeezes her eyes shut, but she can’t keep him out of her head. 

When they come home, Nadia drags her sister into the house. 

“Girls, don’t go upstairs”, Dr Kry says in that same dark voice Nadia had heard him talk in a few days ago. “I want you to stay down here.”

They halt, suddenly too scared to move. 

“I want you to help me with dinner”, Dr Kry says. “Come on.”

The twins glance at each other. Lydia starts to drag her sister to the kitchen. They help in complete silence. Lydia’s hands are trembling while she cuts cucumber and it slips, cutting a slit in her finger. She yelps and drops the knife. 

“Oh, honey”, Dr Kry breathes out and grabs her hand. “You have to be careful.”

She doesn’t look at him as he washes her hand under the kitchen sink and puts on a bandaid. Her entire body is in fight or flight mode. 

When Dr Kry takes care of the final touches, the twins scurry up to their mother. Your face drops when you see them. 

“Why is he doing this to you?” Nadia asks thickly as she tries not to cry. “We found out.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, girls”, you say sorrowfully. “I wish that you never had to know.”

“Why do you let it happen?” Lydia asks quietly. 

“I have no choice … I can’t do anything.” You lower your gaze and voice to an ashamed whisper. “I don’t have the energy to run away, and if I managed to, you’d be in danger and I’d be dead. Your father has the only antidote to his self made poison. It’s safer for everyone if I stay here.”

“But mom …”, Nadia whimpers, “... he’s hurting you.”

“I … I know, dear.” 

The door opens behind them. 

“Girls, dinner”, Dr Kry says shortly and nods towards the corridor. “Go downstairs.”

The twins turn to you, wanting you to make their decision. You give them a reassuring smile and they leave. You look at the man who has become your husband, much to your dismay. 

“Why did you let them find out?” you whisper with tears in your eyes. “You promised that they would never know!”

“I didn't think that they would.” He wipes the tears that roll down your cheeks. “I’ll fix this mess. Don’t worry, darling.”

With that said, he tucks you in and leaves to go downstairs. The twins have sat down by the dining table with their blank, staring eyes turned down into the table. Dr Kry sits down and start to eat, without seeming to care at all about the incidents that happened earlier. Nadia stares down into her plate with disgust roaring in her stomach. If she eats, she’s going to throw it all up in a matter of thirty minutes. She closes her eyes and sighs sadly. Lydia tries to eat a bite, forcing it down her throat. 

“Nadia, eat a little”, Dr Kry says. 

“I’m not hungry”, she mumbles. 

“You need to eat a bit. I won’t allow you to leave the table before you have eaten. Look at Lydia, she’s eating.”

Lydia feels her cheeks heat up as the attention turns to her. She’s suddenly embarrassed over obeying. Feeling exposed and naked under Nadia’s look of disbelief, as if she’s just broken a silent pact. But instead of saying anything, Nadia picks up her fork and takes a bite of the white rice. The twins can agree that this might have been the worst dinner they have ever experienced. 

Nadia puts her hand over her heart and clears her throat. There's a heavy feeling over her chest, something almost suffocating. She looks to the side, seeing how Lydia is frowning as well, trying to clear her throat. Nadia think that she looks like she’s going to faint. She wants to ask her how she’s feeling, but doesn’t dare talk in front of their father, afraid to start a conversation. 

After dinner, the twins decide to go upstairs, but their legs suddenly feel weak enough to break apart. 

“What’s going on?” Lydia whispers and grips the staircase railing. 

“I think that he put something in the food”, Nadia whispers back. 

“I feel really sick …”

She falls down on her knees in the middle of the staircase, still holding onto the railing. Nadia hurries to pull her up again and drags her over to her bedroom, lazily tucking her in. 

“Don’t leave me”, Lydia whimpers and grabs her hand before she can leave the room. “Stay … please. Don’t go. I'm scared.”

Nadia agrees, not wanting to leave. She climbs down under the covers of Lydia’s bed. They lay in silence and look up at the tilted, wooden ceiling. For every minute passes by, they’re growing more and more sick. Every muscle in their bodies seem to ache, twist and turn. 

“He’s doing it to us too”, Nadia whispers. 

They hear the lock on the door click and give each other terrified looks. Nadia stumbles out of the bed and feel the handle. She gulps in horror and turns back to the bed. 

“It’s locked!” she says and breathes out in shock. “He actually locked it …”

“Come back …”, Lydia begs and reaches for her. 

Nadia returns to the bed, crawls down under the covers and hugs her. She wraps her arms around her sister and rests Lydia’s head on her shoulder. 

“I’m scared”, Lydia whispers. 

“It’s going to be okay”, Nadia replies, although she doesn’t believe it herself. “We’re going to be okay.”

Dr Kry removes his tie, about to go to sleep. 

“I can’t believe you …”, you whisper from the bed, with her eyes down at her trembling hands. 

“Darling …”, Dr Kry sighs and turns around. 

You raise your tone, but keep it hushed enough not to exceed the bedroom walls. “You promised that they would never get hurt! You promised that they would never get exposed to this fucking substance!”

“They haven’t … yet.”

“Yet?! Don’t fucking tell me-”

“They figured it out, okay? They heard our conversation and decided to check out the hospital for themselves. I underestimated their intelligence … and their love for you.” He sighs annoyedly. “I’m not going to let their lack of understanding break apart our family — that I have fought so hard for. I put something in their food to keep them still for a while. It’s nothing dangerous, little one. I promise you that.”

“If I knew that you were going to break your promise-”

“I had to.”

He is about to caress your cheek, but hears sounds coming from next door. One of the girls is banging on the locked bedroom door, and calling for him. Dr Kry excuses himself and gets out of the room. He walks over to Lydia’s room, where the noise is coming from. Quickly, he unlocks, finding Nadia leaning on the wall right next to the door. Her eyes are full with tears. 

“What’s going on?” Dr Kry asks. 

“Lydia isn’t waking up!” Nadia cries.

Dr Kry feels his body turn cold. He runs over to the bed where his other daughter is lying on her side, and he soon finds out that Nadia is right — she isn’t waking up. He shakes her, gives her gentle taps on her cheeks and lifts her up. Nothing wakes her. He has to take her to the hospital. 

“Wait, where are you going?!” Nadia screams after him as Dr Kry carries her sister down the stairs. “She doesn’t want to be alone!”

“You have to stay here with mom”, Dr Kry says over his shoulder. “I’m taking care of Lydia.”

He hurries out of the house and quickly places her down in the back seat. Dr Kry’s usual forty minute drive to the hospital took only twenty five minutes this time. He picked her up in her arms and ran inside through the backdoor, and didn’t stop until their reach the room you have spent many, many months in. Dr Kry places his daughter down on the very same bed you have laid in. He placed an oxygen over Lydia’s mouth and nose, turning on the machine. He hasn’t felt this scared in a long time. 

Finally, after an hour, Lydia opens her eyes with a small moan. Dr Kry hurries over to the bed and removes the mask. 

“How are you feeling?” he asks her and brushes the hair out of her face. 

“I feel really sick”, she whimpers. 

“Do you need to throw up?” 

Lydia nods. Dr Kry picks her up again and moves her into the bathroom where she hovers over the toilet for ten minutes. Dr Kry holds her hair back and grimaces sadly. He does feel bad for putting her through this, but he has to. 

“There you go”, he says and puts her down on the bed again. 

“Why am I here?” Lydia asks weakly.

“You weren’t responding when anyone tried to wake you up. I got worried, so I decided to take you here.”

“Am I going to die?”

Dr Kry scoffs out a smile in a weird sensation of deja-vu. He has heard that question a lot, in the exact same tone and manner, but from the generation before her.  

“You’re not”, he reassures her and strokes her hair. “You know that I would never let anything happen to you.”

“Why am I feeling like this?”

“I put something in your food to make you and Nadia calm down, but you seem to have reacted badly to the substance … weirdly enough. Since you’re identical twins, i thought you’d react the same, but it seems like you are a bit more sensitive than your sister.”

“Nadia ate less than me.”

“Yeah, you might have gotten more substance in your body, which is why you feel worse. It’s going to be okay, I will not let anything happen to you.”

“But you hurt me.”

His smile drops and his hand stops stroking her hair. He knows that Lydia shares half of her mothers genetics, but he didn’t know that she would sound exactly like you. She has never heard you use these phrases, and yet Lydia has chosen the exact same wording that you have tortured Dr Kry with years ago. 

“I didn’t mean for you to end up here”, Dr Kry sighs and continues to stroke her hair. “That was my fault, I admit that. However, I had to keep you and Nadia a bit sedated because of how scared you were.”

“Why did you use so much?” she whimpers. 

“I was a bit shaky myself, I wasn’t meant to hurt you, Lydia.”

Lydia sighs shakily and sinks down in the mattress. She wants nothing more than to go back home, to Nadia, but at the same time she knows that if she goes back home, she will be locked in her room again. Continuing with life now that they know their father’s secret will be difficult. 

“How long do I have to stay here?” she asks quietly. 

“Until you’re feeling better”, Dr Kry replies and stands up. “For now, I think that you need to sleep. It’s late.”

That’s the last thing she wants to do. She has always been Dr Kry’s (not so subtle) favorite, and she has always had a preference for her father … but for the very first time, she’s afraid of him. She can’t trust him anymore, especially about her health. Being unconscious is the last thing she wants to do. 

“I don’t want to”, Lydia says pleadingly. “I’m not tired … please don’t make me sleep, dad.”

Please don’t make me sleep. Your voice echoes in his head, in the exact same tone. Dr Kry knows that he did a million things wrong when he kept you here, and now he has a second chance to fix things. 

“Okay”, he breathes out and sits down on his stool. “You don’t have to sleep, darling.”

Lydia gulps and looks around in the room, trying to imagine how you had felt while being here. She feels a heavy sensation over her chest, like a heavy stone. She couldn’t see the poisoned air purifier that was mentioned in the journal. 

“Did mom lay here?” Lydia whispers. 

“Yes”, he answers quietly. 

“How long?”

Dr Kry looks down at his nails, eyes faltering. “A, uh … very long time. Many, many months.”

She starts to look around again. “Where is the air purifier?”

“It’s not here … it broke, a long time ago. I had to throw it away.”

“Do you still use that kind of thing on mom?”

“No, I don’t. Not often.”

But he has his new way to make sure you stay.

Nadia runs her hand through her hair. Her poor sister. What should she do? Dr Kry left the rooms unlocked, which means that she can move around. She drags herself into your bedroom. You look at her with wide, nervous eyes. 

“Is she okay?” you ask and take Nadia in your arms. 

“I-I don’t know”, Nadia responds shakily while shaking her head desperately. “She wasn’t waking up and …”

“She’s going to be okay. I know your father can all of those medical stuff … maybe a little too well.” You sigh and caress the seventeen-year old girl’s face. “It’s going to be okay.”

Nadia shakes her head. “No fucking way things are going to be okay! He’s a madman, mom.”

“I … I know.”

“We can’t stay here.”

“Where are we supposed to go, Nad? We have no car, nearest neighbor is a kilometer away and we have poison in our blood. Sweetheart, we can’t walk far.”

“Mom, we have to leave. We can’t stay here with this psychopath!”

“Nadia …”

Nadia sighs frustratedly and hides her face in her hands. Something has to work. The farthest she has seen you walk is out to the garden when they’ve had picnic evenings. You take her hand, removing it.

“Sweetheart … you know dad loves you, right?” you ask carefully. You don’t want her to hate her him, after all he is her father … but you have to let her know the truth, no more living in the shadow.

“Fucking doubt it”, Nadia mutters. 

“He does. In his … own little way. But I need you to understand that he has sides that he hasn’t shown you … a-and I don’t want you to see those sides.”

Nadia’s face goes blank. You’re trying your best not to get swindled back into old memories, but thinking about that murderous side of Dr Kry brings you back to a time you much rather would want to forget. 

“Mom?” Nadia asks blankly and almost shouts in panic. “Mom! What sides?”

“He … He is a very patient man, but he can't take as much as possible, so please, whatever you do … cooperate.”

“What does that mean? Mom?”

Nadia goes cold. That’s it, she thinks, they have to leave. 

“Mom, get up”, she says and grabs the blanket before ripping it off. “Now. Before he returns.”

“Nad-”

“We have to try, at least. Please.”

You hesitate before getting out of bed. Nadia grabs your hand and try to pull you out of the bedroom, but everything around you seem to spin. Your entire body is heavy and aching in all the wrong places. 

“Nadia, wait”, you groan. “If I’m going to move, I have to move slowly.”

“Alright”, Nadia agrees. “I’ll go get some stuff and then meet you by the stairs.”

Nadia runs to her room to collect her wallet and hoodies for herself and her sister, then runs to get your jacket. She meets you by the stairs, helps you put your jacker on and then start to lead you down. You’re terrified of falling. 

“Nadia, I don’t think that this is a good idea”, you mumble and think back of your numerous escape attempts, all ending with someone losing their life. 

“We have to, mom”, Nadia pleads. “I can’t leave you here.”

“What about Lydia?”

“I’ll figure something out afterwards.”

Nadia unlocks the front door and leads you out on the glass verandah. You’re filled with fear. What if you can’t walk? What if you hurt yourself? What if Dr Kry finds out? Your body won’t be able to take his anger. Besides, you have barely left the house in eighteen years — apart from a few car rides here and there — what if the world has changed to something you don’t like?

“Mom”, Nadia says slowly. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I’m terrified”, you admit. 

“We will be okay.”

They start to walk along the dark countryside road. There are no streetlight this far out in the forest, but the moon lights up enough for them to see where the road is heading. 

“It’s been years since I was outside last”, you say. “I think the last time I was out walking was in the garden, last summer when we had that picnic.”

“Have you ever tried to run away from dad before?” Nadia asks. 

“I have”, you answer quietly. “A few times.”

“Did you ever succeed?”

“That depends on what you mean by ‘succeeding’, because I’m still here, aren’t I? But I got away a few times … the only problem was that he found me again.” You sigh, realizing that perhaps you shouldn’t have this conversation with your underage daughter. “Forget that. Where are we going?”

“We need to go to our neighbors. They have to help us.”

Nadia has only spoken to the neighbors a few times, because of how rarely they run into each other. 

They only manage to walk a hundred meters before bright, beaming headlights light up in front of them. Nadia wants to flee into the forest — in case it happens to be her father behind the wheel — but can’t seem to pull you with her. The car stops and to Nadia’s horror, her father gets out. 

“What the Hell are you doing?!” he shouts, sounding both angry and terrified. “Y/N!”

You freeze in your spot and seem to crawl together like a hurt dog, sounding like one too. Dr Kry runs over to you. Nadia watches in horror and starts to panic, wondering what she should do. Stay here with you and get caught in Dr Kry’s claws … or make a run for it to try to get help. 

“I’m sorry”, you shriek in fear. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry-”

Dr Kry hugs your shaking body in his arms and strokes your back, hushing softly.

“I know you didn’t come up with this stupid idea”, he reassures you. “Don’t cry, my dear, I'm here now. I know this wasn't your fault. I'm not mad at you. I’ll get you back home and I'll take care of you. It’s going to be okay.”

He helps you into the front seat. You don’t fight back in the slightest. Nadia looks back at the dark forest and gulps. Her eyes glues onto something in the backseat and realizes that he has come back with her sister! 

“Nadia, get in, we've had enough of these childish outbursts”, her father tells her. “Get in. Now.”

“Is she okay?” Nadia almost stutters and points at her sleeping sister. 

“She’s okay. If you don’t get in now, Nadia, I’m taking them both with me and you’ll never see them again.”

His favoritism has never been clearer, Nadia thinks. She can’t leave her sister … so she gets into the backseat. Nadia wakes her sister up and caresses her cheek. 

“Are you okay?” she whispers quickly. “Did he hurt you?”

“I feel okay”, Lydia whispers back. “Just … tired. I had tro throw up a lot and I think that he gave me some sleeping pills or something. I insisted on going home … so he let me.”

Nadia breathes out. She glances over at the front seat. Their father holds the steering wheel with one hand and yours with the other. 

“Please don’t cry”, he wishes. 

Nadia watches on in disgust. 

When they get back to the white villah, Nadia pulls her sister up to her own room and lays her down on the bed while Dr Kry takes you into the master bedroom. 

“Here you go”, Nadia says and tucks her in. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

“Some water”, Lydia says quietly. 

Nadia disappears downstairs to get a glass of water. She meets her father in the stairs. 

“Nadia, I’m not sure your sister will be able to leave her bed for a while”, he says warningly. “I wouldn’t try to leave, if i were you. If you do, I will take both of them with me, and you’ll never see them again.”

“Do you like to hurt your family?” she spits back. “What kind of sadist are you?”

“One to make sure my family stays with me. If you don’t want to end up in the same physical state as your sister and mother, you’re going to continue living as if everything is normal, got that? Go to school, come home, study, continue everything. No talking to anyone about this. Is that clear?”

“So everything as normal … but without Lydia?”

“Exactly.”

“Why aren’t you healing her?”

“Because I’m not going to let you, or anyone, take my family from me. Be glad that I’m still letting you live normally.”

Nadia glares at him and continues up the stairs. She holds the glass to Lydia’s mouth, watching her sip. 

“What now?” she whispers. 

“I’m allowed to continue living like normally … and you don’t”, Nadia says quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“But … but I don’t want to live like mom!”

“I know. I’m sorry, Lyd.”

The girl in the bed sighs sadly. Naida takes her hand and gulps. 

The coming weeks seem normal. Nadia goes to school, studies, returns to the villah, but nothing is the same. Without Lydia, there’s no use in being on top. She has no one to impress anymore. Her father is dead to her, and sucking up to him makes her sick. She barely talks to her friends anymore. They’re always asking her about Lydia, and why she’s not in school anymore. Nadia can’t come up with countless excuses … it’s easier to distance herself. 

Life doesn’t seem that bright and colorful anymore. Nadia can’t bring herself to be excited about things that used to interest her badly. Now, every day is a chore, something she wants to get done, until something happens … but she doesn’t know what it is. A death in the family? Someone saving them? Someone killing someone? 

Nadia walks out of school, seeing her fathers white car parked outside the gates, and him inside … waiting for her. 

[riptidekissesblog]

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓhey girlies, ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓv

as promised, here are 15 things that helped me seriously level up. I'm so sick of seeing the same things on every blog post and it's just like stay hydrated!!

try new hobbies until you find ones that bring you the most fufillment!! (examples to try: art, crochet, writing, making music, photography, gardening, cooking)

find YOUR exercise, whether it's yoga, pilates, sports, weight training, dance. I can't stress this enough.

I know meditation seems cliche, but it really can help clear your mind and bring balance. a tip that helps me is to visualize your tongue relaxing, almost like it's floating. that will help silence your mind so you can fully surrender.

pay attention to your diet. so much of what we eat is processed junk food. try to eat 80% Whole Foods and 20% processed foods. meal prepping really helped me also not buying junk food at all. this step seems difficult but i promise there is a healthy alternative to most of your favortite foods. remember, you are what you eat ;)

when it comes to beauty, the simpler the better (its also cheaper!!) some things I would invest in would be coconut and castor oil because they can be used on everything. also a gel nail kit and a good electric razor for your face. the more you obess on every detail the more it will consume you. you are enough and don't need a million beauty hacks. (also sun-in works nice for natural highlights)

no company is better than bad company, don't accept low-vibe behavior from ANYONE

make an it girl playlist with upbeat songs from rihanna, lady gaga, katy perry, marina, and other 2000s hits. I don't know what it is but those songs will bring out the inner goddess in you.

don't compare yourself to anyone!!!! everyone is on their own journey, focus on yours. everyone has their own energetic signature. be yourself. stop wanting to impress others.

listen to binaural beats if you have blocked chakras or want to attract wealth, love, luck etc). they're also super relaxing.

give up all your limiting beliefs, anything is possible if you want it bad enough. it's gotta be someone, why couldn't it be you?

go with the flow, things happen for a reason. if you find yourself regretting a decision, remind youself that the other choice may have been worse, how do you know??

take ownership for your problems, the only one to blame is yourself. i am a firm believer that you can change anything you don't like about your reality. you deserve happiness.

live in the moment. ask yourself are you enjoying the moment, if not, what can you change. if you can't change anything, LEAVE. protect your peace girl!

stop insecurity from the root. you don't love yourself becuase you haven't worked on yourself. you are a garden that needs watering. i promise, once you complete this list you will love the person you become.

surround youself with love. do every task out of love. speak every word from a loving place. love everyone. we are all human.

i really hope this helps. this list came from YEARS of self-work. i created this blog so girls can learn how to become their most healed beautiful selves.

love you girlies!! ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

[fatetainted]

Clearing the air here though I'm genuinely afraid for my own safety to.

I didn't block @whitexdove "for no reason" and if they had an ounce of self awareness they would know they were an abusive, manipulative person who drove me to attempt suicide because "it's been a week now" and I "need to stop being so negative all the time." If I didn't respond to their messages they would ask me if I hated them or tell me I was ignoring them or I was making their paranoia worse so I would update them that I wasn't in a headspace because I was having a breakdown or a meltdown and would look later. Because of this they accused me of making their anxiety worse and I needed to get over it because I was having a very bad week with my life falling apart. I nearly killed myself because of years of manipulative abuse and them telling me to just get over it when I was suicidal.

But they've been suicidal for years and I was meant to comfort them every time and several times now they have threatened to cut me off multiple times over the most minor, insane little things. Instead of actually communicating what was wrong and how they felt they made essentially a break up playlist blaming me entirely and told me to listen to it to see what I did wrong and the only fault they would ever take was that they didn't say anything sooner. But suddenly when everything was fine again they would ask when I would send them a gift I bought them. However they had essentially convinced me we were over to the point where I grieved the friendship and returned the gift because I had no use for it anymore.

They hide behind mental illness and autism as if that excuses them being abusive to me and the things they've said to my friends. They blame my BPD for blocking them when it's their own actions and I'm sick of your annoying pity parties.

For years they have emotionally abused me and for years my therapist has been telling me they're not a good influence on my life and she was correct. I developed a THC and xanax dependency because they caused me so much anxiety with their abuse that I could not speak to them without using both daily (and of course, if I didn't speak to them or tell them why I wasn't going to be, they would tell me how paranoid I was making them, but if I DO tell them then I'm being too negative and ignoring their boundaries)

They were ALWAYS setting unreasonable boundaries and I bent over backwards to accommodate. Blocking them is my boundary. And now they're fishing for attention and sympathy for a situation they caused themselves and to drag me back into their abusive cycle.

In addition to this they would say very shitty things about my other friends that actually treated me well and tried to manipulate them into not only making them a LOT of free art but making the character details and backstory (which is a very similar thing they got mad at another artist for!). Most of my friends didn't even like them and were being cordial because I was their friend.

They are now refusing to remove characters based on my original work and flipping out on my friends for no reason other than jealousy and pettiness. Stop plagarizing me, stop claiming you just added to my lore when you added NOTHING and nearly everything is based on my ideas, including Dreameater who is literally the twin of my oc in my original work. And Caelum who is the brother of another oc of mine in my universe. You said you "won't throw away characters you worked hard on" but you have no lore that isn't mine and barely ever spoke of these characters or developed them. You added nothing to this universe or these characters. Don't you EVER use the design I made for the alien species (that is my lore and not yours!) again. It's no longer yours and you can have back that mime design you gave me, I truly do not care. But if you don't listen to me now then by your own logic I can bring back those ocs I made in your universe and I will use them because I worked "so hard" on them.

Before you pull the "I'm younger than you, how can I be manipulative?" Like you did before when you had a major fall out JUST like this (and yes! You also force shipped with me and guilt tripped just like you did with her!) Anyone of any age can manipulate someone else of any age. Just because you're younger doesn't make you the victim.

Stumpy. You are a toxic person the refuses to seek out ANY form of help and expected me to play therapist for you all the time but God forbid I need someone to listen and you expected me to accept how terribly you treated me forever. That's why I left.

You identify with and project heavily onto a character who has canonically killed her entire school and drugged her crush to get him to like her and you ship them despite the clear sexual assault and how canonically abusive and terrifying her obsession with him is. She's a genocidal white savior and that's fucking terrifying. Even more so terrifying is the way you joked about how you kill your rats and feed the dead rats to raccoons. And the fact you fetishize trans men being pregnant, it's a very clear very gross fetish you cannot let go of and forced on me constantly. The fact you seem to fetishize sexual assault and rape and ship people like that with their victims is vile. The way you talked about sleeping next to me in the same bed was disturbing as I look back on these things and I truly don't trust you to have not done things while I was unconscious. I have that little faith in you because of how you act and fetishize things.

You also told me you were going to whitewash a canon poc character and it's okay because it's you doing it. Genesis is Asian. He isn't white. You drew my Japanese character with yellow skin. You white knight in public but you're shitty to any race that isn't Korean or Native American.

For the record, I don't hate you. But I'm happier without you in my life and I don't feel anything for you anymore because of your own actions that broke our relationship irreparably. You're a toxic, vile person and completely self centered and extremely possessive.

Get help. And stop playing the fucking victim.

Allow me to return the favor. I take accountability for not saying anything sooner even though with your unreasonable boundaries and constantly telling me you're suicidal that I could never bring it up with you or any bad thing you were doing to me because you would probably kill yourself if I upset you.

Now you take accountability for your actions and deal with the consequences of abusing me.

You literally never loved me, you just miss having someone love you so much you didn't have to love them back (which you pretty much told me several times you were incapable of even with your own family).

Good riddance. Thanks for the memories even though they weren't so great. I truly will not be returning to this blog so don't bother trying to contact me here or anywhere else. I'm done.

[synesindri]

piecing through stuff from billy gibson's death scene, particularly with an eye to guessing how much of an idea he had of what was coming

relevant billy gibson background: machiavellian approach to self-preservation, has done metaphorical backstabbing, is the one who initially proposed the mutiny idea for pragmatic "there are too many guys out here" reasons, has been instrumental in the mutiny (albeit less visibly and less executively than hickey and tozer). not noting any of this to be accusatory, just pointing out that throwing people under the bus for his own sake is something he has been repeatedly willing to do. this way of thinking is familiar to him, independent of his being in cahoots with other, more physically violent characters, so it probably wouldn't surprise him at least in theory that one might kill a sick person under such extreme circumstances, whether or not he'd ever expect that to happen to him

when hickey asks goodsir if gibson can haul tomorrow, billy's attention snaps up like he is aware this is Important And Meaningful Information — perhaps more important and meaningful information than his own physical deterioration and imminent worse suffering/death

when goodsir says he doubts it, billy insists to hickey that he can. again, he probably knows not being able to haul is going to be more important to hickey's next actions than how billy is feeling

when hickey gets up, billy clings to his sleeve (albeit without much conviction...he is extremely listless in this scene but he was able to shuffle his way into the tent such that i think he probably could have made a better grab if the clinging was intended to be a real effort to bodily keep hickey from leaving. symbolic gesture)

when hickey is out getting the knife, we get a quick shot of tozer intensely watching hickey walking like he is aware some shit is about to go down

dialogue while hickey is fetching the knife: billy: "i wouldn't either, doctor." goodsir: "what's that, mr gibson?" billy: "comfort us. any of us. we're..." — this seems most probably to be about goodsir's blunt bedside manner explaining to billy what is going to happen as the scurvy progresses, but it could also plausibly be about hickey leaving after hearing the can't-haul-anymore diagnosis. this is interesting to me because in a way this is billy doing sort of a kindness for goodsir by effectively telling him he understands why he wouldn't be nicer to him (given that niceness is pretty characteristic of goodsir with his patients to this point), while also being an admission that billy himself does not regard this to be a situation in which he would be nice either...comfort doesn't really enter into it in his mind anymore (although that he brought it up at all suggests that he is probably thinking about being comforted, even while understanding why that is not happening)

billy does not seem on edge and is not looking toward the entrance to the tent when hickey is gone; if he is expecting to be killed, he probably either does not expect it to happen right then, or is so fine with it that he isn't worried about it. i'm inclined to go with the former (if he expected to be killed at all) given his feeble attempt from like two seconds ago to convince hickey that he can still haul...doesn't seem like a guy who is at "please just put me out of my misery" quite yet to me but who knows

my guess is that there had been at least one mutineer planning session including hickey, tozer, and gibson in which the eventuality of guys being too sick to haul was discussed and it was decided that this would result in culling them in some way. whether the specifics of that were addressed between the three of them (or any subset thereof), and which specifics were addressed if any, is pretty unclear to me — hickey seems like he had decided how this would work, and tozer seemed like he might have either known or guessed, but whether it was ever discussed and in how much detail and between which people...idk

i do not think this scene suggests that billy expected to be killed precisely when he was, but it does seem to suggest that he was not anticipating a lot of long-term care. he also doesn't seem to take this personally; people being unable to haul seems like an eventuality that there were plans about how to address in the abstract, and he just happened to be the first of them to reach that point. he's not expecting special treatment; he doesn't seem to really believe in special treatment for any of them anymore by this point, extended from anyone to anyone. this is very clearly not how he wants things to be progressing for him, but i don't think he really acts as if any of it is unfair either. he does not seem to me to be particularly frightened of his illness; he does not seem frightened of hickey; he seems frightened of having unluckily reached a possibly-preestablished tipping point of having become a hindrance to the group

[eldritch-nightmare]

howdy!! hope you're having a lovely day! may i request ticci toby and any other creeps of your choosing reacting to someone harming their s/o? thank you in advance!

a/n: hi!! thanks for sending the request!! hope you enjoy <3

reacting to someone hurting their gn!s/o.

includes: toby, nurse ann, homicidal liu + sully [separate], the bloody painter, and laughing jill.

warnings: reader gets injured, murder, blood, the murder isn't detailed but some of them may be a little graphic maybe, near-death experiences, it's implied that the reader doesn't know helen kills people.

TICCI TOBY.

He would not be a happy camper, that's for sure.

Toby has already had so much taken away from him, so if someone were to try and take away the one person he allowed himself to love? Yeah, no, not happening.

Toby has taken so many lives he doesn't even know the exact number, and he doesn't normally draw out their death unless it's something Slender wants him to do.

But seeing you passed out on the ground because some sick fuck decided to take their anger out on you... it brought Toby back to darker days, and all he could think about was eliminating the danger to keep you safe.

And let me tell you, Toby draws out your attacker's death. They hurt you, so therefore they deserve every ounce of pain he gives them.

Honestly, if he could, he'd probably keep the person alive over the course of weeks just to get it through their head just how badly they fucked up deciding to hurt you, but he needed to get you help as soon as possible so he leaves your attacker to bleed out.

Once the anger he feels subsides, it'll be replaced by panic and guilt as he rushes you to the nearest place you can receive medical attention, be it the mansion or the hospital.

He won't feel better until you wake up, and even after, this situation will definitely cause him to become a bit paranoid over your safety. He really can't lose you. That's not a pain he can go through again.

It'll probably take you weeks, maybe even months, to reassure Toby that you were okay.

This situation will definitely make him more aware of your safety. If he's not off completing tasks for Slender, he's keeping an eye on you. He's not trying to be clingy or overbearing, he just doesn't want to see you covered in your own blood ever again.

NURSE ANN.

Ann can't remember anything that happened before her death and... proxification, but she does know that you've been by her side through the entire process. You're one of the very small handful of people she trusts and likes, so there was no way she'd let anyone take you away from her.

So when she sees you on the ground, bloodied and bruised because some dumb group of wanna-be urban explorers she was hunting down freaked out thinking you were her? Well, let's just say there's nothing that can calm Ann's burning rage at that moment.

Not only have these people trespassed into her hospital, but they also dare to hurt the love of her life as well? There's no fucking way she'll show them mercy now.

You're barely clinging onto consciousness as you watch your girlfriend mercilessly slaughter the people who dared to even put you in such a state. It's not because you wanted to watch, you were just too exhausted and in far too much pain to look away.

The amount of blood alone was nauseating, and at some point, you couldn't even tell what color the floor was anymore.

But once Ann has dealt with the intruders, she'll oh so gently pick you up from the ground and carry you to the nearest (and cleanest) hospital room so she can treat your wounds.

Ann doesn't speak much, but you can hear her softly apologizing to you as she takes care of you. She tries her best to be careful, not wanting to make the pain worse than it already is. She doesn't feel as if this is her fault, she knows it isn't, but she still can't help but feel bad.

This experience will definitely make her realize just how much she cares for you. It's a little scary, to be quite honest with you. It's weird being attached to someone.

She isn't going to become overbearing when it comes to your safety, but she'll definitely be more careful about hunting down trespassers if she knows you're in the area.

Don't worry, a situation like this will never happen again.

HOMICIDAL LIU.

Oh. Oh boy, what have you done?

Liu is, as we all know, not the type of person to take another's life in cold blood. He only hurts others when it is self-defense because he doesn't want to be anything like his brother.

But keep in mind that Liu is also very protective and he has a lot of pent-up anger (among a variety of other emotions) that he keeps under tight wraps. So, believe me when I tell you that you really do not want to be on the receiving end of that anger.

Unfortunately, some sad soul was completely unaware of this and decided to hurt you.

Now, for Liu, he honestly blacked out the moment he saw you bleeding out on the ground. You, however, witnessed the carnage that was about to take place. Honestly, for a moment, you thought that Sully had taken over because of how violent it got. But no, it was all Liu.

Liu doesn't make quick work of this. No, by the time he came out of whatever stupor of anger he got put in, he was drenched in blood, and the person he killed didn't even look like a person anymore.

He didn't use his gun. He used Sully's knife. You've never seen him use a knife before. He always avoided them, he only ever used guns. But he used a knife. He broke the fucking knife.

Right. Well. You'll just have to sit him down and discuss what transpired later. Preferably when you aren't bleeding out. Luckily for you, Liu has taught himself medical care. He's pretty damn good at treating wounds like this as well, so you're in really good hands.

Just... keep pressure on the wound for a moment while he quickly washes off all the blood on his hands.

You'll be okay. He'll make sure of it. He won't lose you.

SULLY.

Now, I bet you're expecting me to tell you that Sully would also go absolutely ham on the person who hurts you. No. He doesn't. Unlike Liu, he doesn't become overcome with pent-up rage.

He does get angry, don't get me wrong, but that anger isn't important. You're hurt, and you need immediate assistance, so Sully doesn't even spare the person a glance as he pulls out Liu's gun and shoots them in the head.

Sully is... less good at treating wounds. He tries his best whenever he sustains an injury, but Liu is always the one who has to take care of it.

But he does know where a certain eyeless man tends to lurk around, so he won't waste any time taking you to get treatment from him.

He'll keep the conversation topic light as you get treated, joking around with you and talking about anything and nothing at the same time. It keeps a smile on your face, and it keeps you distracted from the pain you're in.

It also keeps Sully distracted from the fact that his hands are shaking.

For a moment, he's not really sure why he's shaking so much. You're safe, and you're getting treated. It's only when you knock out after taking some pain meds that Sully finally realizes that he was scared.

You could've died, realistically. You probably would've if he hadn't been there.

He's never been so close to losing someone before. The thought alone was making his stomach churn. He's... he's never felt scared like this before.

This is probably when he realizes that he loves you.

THE BLOODY PAINTER.

Now, Helen isn't the most emotionally expressive person out there. Just one quick glance at his default expression and you'll come to the conclusion that he's a pretty apathetic person.

But you know him. You've learned how to identify his microexpressions. He had dropped by your place and walked in to see you treating a pretty bad cut on your arm. It was just a very slight shift in his expression, one that only lasted for a fraction of a second, but you could see the worry and the underlying anger.

It's actually pretty awkward as you explain to him what happened, going into detail about how some guy had just randomly decided to attack you when you were in town today.

Helen seemed to be taking in every detail you provided, and when he finally spoke up, it was to ask if you could describe the guy for him.

You had just assumed he was going to sketch the guy's face to give it to the police or something, so you didn't see any real issue with telling Helen, doing your best to describe what the guy looked like. You were honestly over the entire situation. The cut on your arm was bandaged and it didn't hurt much anymore.

The situation ended there for you. It was never brought up again, and Helen stayed the night to help you with anything that may be an inconvenience to do with an injured arm. It was sweet seeing him worried for you, if you're being honest.

It may take a few days, but Helen eventually did track down the person who had hurt you.

He treats them like any other victim, though it's obvious to authorities that this person had a particularly cruel death.

There is nothing tragically beautiful about this person's death. It is not a piece of art like all the other deaths were made out to be. This one still had their blood.

Honestly, their death feels so out of place for the case of the Bloody Painter that authorities are hesitant to consider this another one of his victims. It could be a dispute that led to murder, and in a panic was staged to make it look like a serial killer did it.

And you stay oblivious to this, none the wiser.

LAUGHING JILL.

Look, Jill truly felt as if she would never experience happiness ever again until you came into her life and made her realize that she can still feel such a thing.

You've basically become a source of joy for her, so there was no way in hell she'd ever let that go.

And when someone hurts you? When someone makes your face screw up in pain? It's an image that Jill never wanted to see. She's already lost someone close to her, stolen away from her by a monster. She can't lose you too. She just can't.

She also makes quick work of whoever hurt you, slicing them with her chainsaw once or twice before tossing it to the side and hurrying over to you.

You'll have to reassure her that you're okay as she lets you use her as a pillar of support. Even if you aren't okay, you need to reassure her that you are.

Jill doesn't know how to treat your wounds, something that will definitely change in the future once you're able to get actual treatment.

Honestly, she'll probably burst into tears and apologize profusely even though you getting hurt wasn't her fault. She still should've been there by your side. If she had been, you wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place.

She'll definitely be hyperaware of anyone who comes near you now. It doesn't matter if it's someone you're close to or if it's a complete and total stranger.

She'll immediately tense up and view them as a threat, sticking close to you just in case something happens.

It'll take months, maybe even years for her to move past this.

[tinytinyblogs]

Skz Soft Hours: Hyunjin

His love for you has never wavered, and all he wants is to rekindle your relationship.

⚠Ex to lover, lil angst(?)⚠

Stray kids masterlist here

"Do you still care about me?" you asked him, your voice weak and trembling. You had been dreading this moment for weeks, but you knew you had to face it. Seeing him again after the messy argument and breakup was more difficult than you had anticipated. You didn't know whether to be angry or happy that your friends had told Hyunjin you weren't feeling well. Deep down, you knew you had missed him terribly, especially when you were sick and craving his attention. Hyunjin's eyes softened as he looked at you. "So much, more than you think," he said, his voice low and husky. Your heart tells you that you need him. You know it deeply in your heart that you still want him, and that he still cares for you in a way that touches your heart deeply, just like he always has.

Hyunjin walked closer to the bed where you were lying and gently pulled the blanket up around you, making sure you were warm enough. He placed his hand on your forehead to check your temperature, his face etched with worry when he felt how feverish you were. It was worse than he had imagined. "I keep asking your friends about you, to make sure you're doing alright," he said, his voice low and gentle. "But you're not." He knew that nothing in the world was more important than you, and when he heard that you had a fever, he had rushed to your side he abandoned everything else in his pursuit of you, as if you were the only thing that mattered. He needed to reach you, to see you, and he ran to you without hesitation bringing all of your favorite things with him.

And Hyunjin still looked the same his breathtaking physique, every detail perfectly sculpted, everything about him that made you fall head over heels in love but his eyes were tired and his face was pale. As he leaned closer to you, you could see the sadness and exhaustion in his features. It was clear that he wasn't doing well, just like you weren't. That look he gives you, the one that always your weakness, you miss his smile more than anything. "Life without you is hell, Y/N," he whispered. When you walked away, Hyunjin realized that he had lost you, the air in his lungs and the world around him crashing down. He couldn't do anything right. He needed you more than anything, but he hadn't realized it until you were gone. "I'm so stupid," he whispered, his hand slowly reaching out towards you.

He was afraid that you would avoid his touch, but you didn't. The feeling of your skin against his after so long made his heart race. "You must really hate me now," he said, his voice trembling with emotion. He keeps blaming himself for lashing out at you over something that was neither of your faults. He knows he can't turn back time, but all he can do is apologize. Hyunjin had always loved the idea of eternal love, but he had messed up his own love story. He felt like he had lost everything. You were the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he couldn't imagine his life without you he wouldn't entertain the thought. "I hate it," you whispered, looking at his hand on yours.

It fit perfectly around yours, and you could feel the warmth that you loved so much. You wage a war within yourself, your ego battling against your desire to let your feelings for him out. This is the only chance you have to see him again, and you don't know if you'll ever get another opportunity if you let him go. "I hate the way I can't forget the feeling of being with you," you continued. "And I regret not understanding you that day." You closed your eyes and thought back to that day. If only you had both been less selfish, the argument would never have happened. Your heart soars as you feel his presence in the room. His breath mingles with yours, and you feel alive again. Hyunjin leans closer, his eyes pleading for a second chance.

"I've said this before, but I really want to make you the happiest person in the world. I made a mistake before, but I promise it will never happen again." Hyunjin's thumb gently creases your cheek, his touch warm against your fevered skin. He doesn't care, he's only focused on you. He leans in and kisses your tears away, his lips soft and reassuring. After you walked away, he longed to have you back, to hold you close, and to love you again. He was tired of feeling down and crying. He just wanted you back. "I don't want to lose you again," he whispers. You look into his eyes and see the love that has never faded, from the first moment he laid eyes on you. He's committed to you, heart and soul.

"Never in my life have I felt so much in love," he says. "I'm so happy when I'm with you. You're the only one who can make me feel this way." Even though he's far away, even though he tried to forget you, he couldn't find anyone like you. No one could make him feel so in love. Now, he's crawling back to you. He cherishes the fact that he can still see you again, even though you are not at your best. He longs to hold you in his arms once more, after being so deprived of your touch. You are his greatest treasure, and you fill his thoughts constantly, never leaving his mind. "Could we try it again?" he asks. You and him are drunk in love, swimming in the ocean of passion. You're so far from shore, but you're not afraid as long as you're together.

You raise each other up, growing together and learning so much from each other. It's like you were born to be together. With you, he feels like he can finally give his love to the right person, in a safe place. He wants to be with you wherever you go. He's not afraid of the cold anymore. He feels like he's finally found his home in you. "When we're together, the world feels like it's just for us. We laugh at the simplest things, and holding each other banishes all sadness. Aren't we destined to be together?" When he's with you, you forget all about the cold. You feel so safe and warm in his arms, like you don't need any other medicine. He's everything you've ever wanted, and you couldn't hesitate to jump in with him again.

"Could we love again, like how it should be?" The tears that fall from your beautiful eyes are like daggers to his heart. He vows to make it up to you. The memories of the two of you together are etched in his mind forever. He can't imagine life without you. "Y/N, please let me hold you close and love you again." As he saw your reassuring nod, Hyunjin felt a wave of relief wash over him. He vowed to himself to take even better care of you than he ever had before. With tears welling up in his eyes, Hyunjin wanted to convey the depth of his love for you, a love that would never fade. Now that you're back in his arms, he swears to God that he will live his best life with you. he whispers in your ear, over and over again. His voice is full of longing and desire, and you can't help but melt against him. You know that you're meant to be together, and you're ready to start over.

💬 This series is finally over. Next week, I will post skz reactions until I figure out what to write next. Thank you to everyone who has shown appreciation for the series, either through likes or reblogs. Your support means a lot to the author. I'm always open to feedback and suggestions, so please don't hesitate to interact with me or share your thoughts.

[erinnkenobi]

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹 | Pevensie's blood

Jacaerys Velaryon x fem!reader

– words: nevermind.

— 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝. may contain( I really dunno) mature language and might some violence. If you're a minor, DON'T READ.

— summary. your house has been forgotten in the darkness for too much time and that's enough, as your parents doesn't has a male heir, although they don't really care about this anymore. Nonetheless. both em wishes you to marry well, besides knowing well how Westeros is within it's kingdom's is a cruel world to be a woman, your mom wishes the best for ye, a young and clever maiden. Your mom seeks for a betrothal marriage, the revelation of your presence leaves everyone with an astonished look, whose people thought that the Pevensie bloodline was gone, though what really put them with a triggered face is that you, you got for yourself a dragon, making you been seen as a threat as well someone meant to be respected in such a young age.

However in Westeros, you are now not only a damsel in distress but also a pawn for this sick game of thrones, therefore you catches everyones attention with ye cleverness and sassy tongue.

details. your mom is the only Pevensie, except by you, that remains alive, she was betrothed to a Stark Lord, your father, the house Stark has kept this secret for themselves all way long. Cregan Stark does respect your family and house, they'd be there to aid you whenever it's needed, plus house Pevensie by its own have a bunch of soldiers, people that swore loyalty to ye family. — Emrys is bigger than Balerion, yeah, I know.

Note's: English is not my mother tongue, however I hope you folks might be able to enjoy, then be easy on me and if there's any mistake I would be glad with feedbacks.

♥︎ – if you liked. (+ Reblog – if you liked)

The cold weather created a tough path that you ye mom and retinue had to face so could make at King's Landing, the weather wasn't the only problem, it was an worse situation, time before you sat foot in the targaryen land's, your family and servants passed through the northmen, paying them tributes and giving lord Cregan Stark some gifts from your homeland twas distant from those lands, however your mom and you needed to keep on track.

You were apprehensive, thinking that appearing out of nowhere without any warning and just showing up at King's Landing was madness, that your mom went mad and also your father whose agreed with, you have just nineteen years old..

"Well... I know I have to marry, but so suddenly? Who would be mad to marry a crazy maiden who's rides a bloody enormous dragon, and not even having a targaryen or velaryon blood or valyrian culture! They might think that I had stolen them or suppose that this is a sick prank"– you mentally talk with yeself.

Oh, who knows? Sometimes you have intrusive thoughts and anxiety issues, causing you being agitated, your thoughts just ease when a low feral hums behind you, making you feel on ye skin a warmth breeze, its breath as if was wooden sticks recently burnt, Emrys.

Emrys, his snout pokes your back softly interrupting your thoughts; it was his way of showing that he cares about you, so when you become unquiet, anxious or stressed, he knows. Then he'd try to help, even if he wasn't subtle he'd try anyway help you, since the day that you both connected (or the day you claimed him and won his reliance after helping heal his front paw, you could've die in that day, however he didn't did anything to you).

– I know, I know, Am I doing this again, ain't I?-you crossed your arms hugging yourself. — It's just...It's just this overwhelming and uneasy feelings.-you turn to face the huge dragon, poor boy had to turn his head to one side, so he could see all of you with one of its eyes.– What am I suppose to do when we arrive in King's Landing? What if the dragon in there attack us and what about the first impression, you know, the first impression it is what matters.

[Emrys huffs uninterested, he knows due to his size, he'd eat all of them if they tried to hurt his precious rider]

You breath in and out, calming down.

– I have you.- emrys tilts his head, he doesn't exactly knows what you meant, but he feels and tries his best at interpreting you.- I guess with you, dad and mum, I don't need to freak out, just be spontaneous yeey.-you try to cheer youself up and Emrys.– We will soon leave Winterfell, o geez, here is like living inside an ice cube, what a place! Lucky I which have an amazing dragon, in which just standing near is warmful.- you caress his scales, but stopped when you hear two well known voice. –Lykirī.

Sybilla Pevensie and Ivar Stark, Cregan Stark middle brother, a year younger, then well, you're half Stark, but carries the House Pevensie family coat of arms, the reason was simple, you were the "only" child, no. You're an older sister, your mom and dad two years ago had your younger sister, but that's not what we're talking about. You're the one that needs a husband, you're old and your parents desperately wants you married, well your mom, she cares about the future of House Pevensie, the blood, the precious Pevensie's blood, why? Once your mother said that your blood is somehow magic and she wouldn't accept it's extinction.

– Are you freezing my dear child? -your father smiles to you and wow, seeing him using traditional Stark clothes you knew; he was in home, comfortable with it's kin. You wave your head hurrying in ye dad arms, hugging him.– My little cub, these clothes ain't enough? Should I demand the serves put on more clothes in?

– Oh no dad, it will pass.- you hope so.– Eventually, I guess I am not prepared to this weather as I thought I would be.

–It's my fault, I should've bring our family more often here, your uncle said this as well, he almost couldn't recognise you and got surprised when I showed your sister.

– And where is the lovely brat?

– (y/n), don't call her by this name, couldn't just say baby?

You rolls ye eyes, Emrys just enjoyed the time for a nap while you were talking.

– She is with her uncle and auntie, and I dare to say, Cregan is not happy that you with your mom will go to King's Landing just to find a betrothal marriage, he'd confirmed for sure, that he could find a fine men here in the North and...-your father is trying the same, he didn't want you to marry someone else, well he is your father, it's understandable his denial. Your mom cuts him off.

– I said that you wanted to choose by yourself, if it didn't work well in King's Landing, we'd come back here and just giving a spoiler so we could leave this freezing realm, I will go with you to King's Landing with some servants and soldiers, your father and sister will stay here.

– What?Why mom?!-oh no, why dad won't go?

Ivat tried to say something, but ur mom replied quickly.

– Because my young maiden, he have to solve some business with his brothers and it's brethren, me and you can't waste time, ok? The path to King's Landing might take days or hours, we got nothing to lose.

Mom's right, what if the Prince in King's Landing is already married and I lose my opportunity to share my thoughts and doubts about dragons that they've could answer.

– Then... Is this a goodbye papa?-you stare at your dad who waves positively his head, you hug him again, tightly.– I'll miss you, can I see my little brat?-you look at your mom and dad, your mom denies with a soft smile, your dad huffs moody. – OK, that's good, if she sees me and cry I know I'll come back right after her, postpone our mission.

– Yes, we can't wait anymore, each seconds counts.-Ivar look at her with a grumpy mood, he doesn't like being apart of her.– I know, I'll be careful and our girl will be safe, Emrys is by her side and you promised me to look after our baby, Odette.

– I assure you my dearest woman, if something bad happens with our baby, it won't be me who would kill, Cregan and his wife already loves her, she's with them at this moment.

– Oh, it seems my baby melted their heart.-she kisses your father.– We will be back right away.– methapor. Favoravel

...

The minutes has passed, you were in barouche with mom, before we left, Cregan and his people wishes you a farewell: – Farewell, my dear (y/n) and Sybil, before you go, a wee reminder, remarking if someone out there mess with you, both of you are Starks!

'Yeah, uncle Cregan would aid our house whenever it's needed, but everytime he refers us as Stark, he misses his brother, I guess he didn't overcome the fact that my dad uses Pevensie as his surname and not Stark.'

– Of course! If someone tries anything bad, for sure I'll use the surname as my advantage, soon we will come back! -your mom waves from inside, you do the same but sending kisses in the air.

[TIME BREAK]

It was a long travel indeed, you were bored, you wanted to go with your dragon flying around in his backwards, but the weather was awful and you could probably hurt yourself, why? You didn't have a saddlery so it was pretty rough fly on his dorse, thencenforth you usually use proper gloves, shoes and even clothes, sometimes it was painful but you got familiar with it, Emrys dorse in a special part didn't have any thorns/horns, your perfect spot.

– Is he following us from above, innit?

– Yes, since we left Winterfell... –you tried to see him out of the windon.– Mom do you think bringing him out of nowhere won't scare the other dragons? They might become nervous and attack us.-Sybil sees reflexive for a moment.

– We will see, let's hope that nothing bad will happen.

This doesn't help you anxiety, what if they'd attack? A lot of intrusive thoughts runs through your mind thinking the worse, one leg start trembling, hitting softly the barouche floor. Your mom swift touches you length.

– Whatever will be, Will be, my dear daughter, mommy will be there for you, besides we also can count with our men, we are not heading to a dangerous path without being prepared, just... A reminder, we don't need tell about our magic's blood, right?

You shake your head in affirmative.

– Well mom, at least we stopped at some point and took a great shower, we will appear tidy, that's a relief.-you babble looking out of the window until you sees amidst the foggy clouds a spot stirring. - Smart dragon.-you sheepishly whisper with joy.

Before you make a surprise entrance, your mom demands to stop the barouche, she would go inside first (which you disapproved) and you? You would go with Emrys, on his back and wait for a special signal.

– Are you certain of that mom?

– Yes, I'll handle them, just because your father is not around, it doesn't mean that due me being a woman they will do anything, at first sight they will complain but when I show this pendant.-she pointed at the necklance she's using, it was made out of pure valyrian steel based silver, it's older than even Aegon The Conqueror existence, and is well preserved, a signal of loyalty and intimacy, soon it will be yours. ‐ the king mayharps know what it means, hope it is not too late so the truth of the song of ice and fire been told and avoid bloodshed.

The pendant was made of valyrian steel, purr silver, carrying on a figure of a Pegasus, the symbol that represents your House, a gift from the House Targaryen to House Pevensie due to their intimacy (with no marriage, just reliably), a symbol from a long past friendship, when Valyria lived.

– If you sure, I'll just do my part.

– Good, your part of all of this is to be a good calm girl, go with Emrys now, he waited his friend rider for too long throughout this travel.

You give her a big smile hugging your mom.

– Thank you, go ahead, I will be right behind you, I mean... Right above you.-you chuckle kissing her cheeks, before you get out of the cabin she holds you and kisses your forehead.

– My young lady, just don't mess your beautiful braided hair.

You laughed getting out of there.

– I will see with Emrys, see you soon and take care of yourself, my marvelous mom, because we might play the ugliest game, if not avoided.

– Go.

...

At the gates of King's Landing your mom faced a little trouble with the guards, but gladly it was solved with no fanfare. A knight had to accompany them but before Sybilla were able to enter, the Knight had to talk foremost with Ser Harrold, for permission, Harrold, a lord commander of the kingsguarding so he could let her come in.

Ser Harrold doubted the knight and even threatened accusing him of lying at such critical conditions right after the petitions of Driftmark , the knight then said "If you doubt of my loyalty and my disposition in favor of your Grace, the King, see for yourself her carriage my lord, her knights said she could ease our King pain, I rather die right now over lying, I saw it will my full eyes, the symbol on ghe flags around the carriage." what a bold man.

– Show me where she is. If this is a treat or fantasy it will be considered an act of treason, if she lies and kill herself the King, all of them must die.- the knight said nothing more and just guided the way.

Before Harrold could reach his way near the barouche, Pevensie's knight put himself in front of it.

– My Grace wishes quickly for an audience, she knows somehow how this moment is cruel to your King's realm, yet as her sworn knight Lod Commander, she pledged for urgency and her desires is at her orders to take, she wants to talk directly with your King, she might explain everything, Ser Harrold Westerling.

How could they know his name if the true Pevensie were all dead, weren't their lands and Highlands ruined a year before the Valyria doom?

Harrold tried to contest, but the knight said the same thing, tough he changed the sentence in last minute: "– We are here in peace and with gifts, my grace can't loses her patience nor time, if she lost it, her temper might affect all us." After that Harrold understood and quickly ran by the other knight side back to the Palace room, a few minutes ago he was able to hear a muffled roar, he thought it was the dragons from around in the dragonspit, but his consciousness says otherwise.

At the Red Keep room where everybody were gathering, Ser Harrold entered in a rush with a grumpy face. He leans his head to whisper something into the king ears which won Princess Rhaenyra, queen Alicent and the rest of the Velaryons and Targaryens attention, not metioning the handmaidens and witnesses.

Viserys first of his name looks shocked as if he could faint at the knight words which Rhaenys tries unriddle, whatever makes the her cousin looks like that is when something really bad happened or something else that might be seen in his sight wondrous, but what was it? She cannot decipher.

– Let her come in, treat her as a guest.-Viserys says to Harrold who waves positively and get himself out of the room, Alicent was desperately by his healthy as well Rhaenyra who also tried to say and bring the maesters.

– What was that dad?-Haelena question softly.

Alicent changed stares between Rhaenyra and her husband waiting also for an answer, Lord Hand is stranged.

– A wondrous visitor, my child.

Lucerys change glances with his older brother as if them could mentally talk; "Do you know something about this?" – "I don't, it seems neither mom nor Daemon knows about it, even the one‐eyed is curious."- Indeed, Aemond didn't get his sight our of the huge doors.

It was when a big entrance with fours knights entered the room, two carrying Spears entirely made of a well known steel by Daemon and the other two with sheated swords made of the same material. Viserys is trying his best so he could see what is a head of him, is this a dream? The armors of Sybilla knights carries a Pegasus on their backs and a symbol of the same animal on the center.

– A friend that comes for help, apologise for being late, there she comes, A Queen sent by the old Gods that now is out of her homeland, far from Essos, far from their Highlands there she comes to see our King, Sybilla of House Pevensie.

The lads couldn't stopped themselves from staring the knights with their weapons and now after the declaration, there she's.

Wearing a long black dress with red in honor of the colours of the house Targaryen, Rhaenyra stared your mom dumbfounded, Jacaerys and Lucerys couldn't stand their feet anymore, what is all of this?

King Viserys were speechless by it, he didn't even seen bothered by her got herself called Queen inside his Castle. Then Sybilla walked forward, followed by her guards and a man carrying a medium box in hands.

Sybilla bows kneeling before the King, and waited for his voice.

– Rise...Sybilla of House...Pevensie.

She obeyed the man, everyone at the background were muttering:– As you wish, your Grace.

– You...Are really what they've said?-his breathing is worse than ever.

– Yes, your Grace, I am a Pevensie, an only heir, yet I know that wasn't invited and We might not be seen welcomed... To the party.-she looks down on the floor seeing fresh blood, where is a Targaryen there's trouble, cliché. – King Viserys, first of his name and King of the Iron Throne, I would like to speak freely as I don't wish to waste your time, neither the time of your family nor guests.

– Continue...-he says weakly.

– Most of you all must been doubting of the veracity of my House name and if I am a real Pevensie, extinguished more than thousands of years ago, so to proof what is the truth.- she puts her necklance out and holds so everybody could see the round steel based silver jewellery, in a side was a symbol of a Pegasus, on the other the symbol of the Targaryen House, the Dragon with it's three heads.- Your Grace, shall I continue before it could be late?

Otto Hightower changes glaces over Alicent who seems lost, Lucerys were amazed by the jewelry.

– Please.. This opportunity is... A great delight.

– My house, indeed was destroyed and our first homeland also condemned by the doom, but the real doom was our ignorance and secretiveness, we used to known great things that we didn't shared with ours brethren, yet the time when we tried to share, the spirit of envy ruined it all almost provoking our last bloodshed, glad the gods were merciful and here I stand at full length and your grace.-she approaches her body to the throne but stopped.– I would like to share with you and your personal maester a medicine that could skin over your open wounds and give you furthermore month's or years living and...-Alicent bold enough to cut your mom speech asks.

– Viserys, do you believe what is she saying? Is it safe for you?-she pledge touching him.

Before your mom could continue Rhaenyra step in.

– Lady Sybilla, could you assure it, do you have any proofs?- "mom..."-Jace touches his mother's hand.- Just in case, you know?

Aegon in the same time he was bored he also finds interesting.

– Of course, princess Rhaenyra and... Consort Queen Alicent.-she tilts her head maneuvering for one of her servants near the doors using a cloak, not showing his identity until now, the man lowered it's hood revealing a deformation not only his appearance but also half of his whole arm, some fingers missing, but miraculously all of his body is now healed.

– My good Queen saved my life, your Grace.-the old bald man bows.– She saved my life so I could stay alive with my family and also, her realm most of all pregnancies succeed, blessed is their house name, she traveled all this way so she could help you, she thought she'd be welcomed.

Viserys couldn't bear what his ears were listening, with Daemon helps with Alicent by his side, all eyes following Viserys just during to stare at Sybilla.

– How much is for... This impossible miracle?-he asks our of breathe.

Sybilla smiles, Ser Otto thought all of this was false, nonsense, yet for now he's believing, someone new is coming to the game.

– At this matter, I would likely speak only by your family presence or if you'd like to go now and apply what I brought to you...-he replies quickly.

-Everybody out!- the guests leaves one by one grudgingly, the gossip would spread sooner or later.

Minutes of a dreadful silence.

– Please, Lady.. I mean, your Gra...

– Lady is fine, your Grace, I'm a foreigner in Westeros, you're the King.-she continues.– I beg you your grace for simple things, two of 'em, first... I'd like to restore our houses friendship, not only with the Targaryens but also with the Velaryon.-Sybilla looks at Rhaenys who is more than ever interested and Rhaela.– And offer you aid, I know about the conflict on Stepstones and the issue with Driftmark inheritor plus the problems with the fleets and it's ships, your Grace, I have men willing to fight, the war and troubles might not be my problem... I have not only an army, but I've enough money, I have spice trades, extract, food, fabrics which I'd like to share if our intimacy were to be restored.

– How come?-Daemon step in.

– M'sorry?- Sybilla stares at Daemon whose can't believe.

– How come you're doing all this? Why you left your homeland, do you intend take something of the King, what do...-Rhaenyra touches Daemon arms, Viserys also shussing him.

Sybilla sighs in awe.

– Sorry for my impetulance, I must be right on the goal, I mean... Target.-she pauses.– My price and pride is more than anything that I said before, yet again I must remind that I've talked about men willing to die, an army, but for what? Why Am I doing this? Because of my precious daughter.

Viserys eyes softness, Alicent worried face is now way more than interested, she eager for what may come now out of the Queen" Sybilla's mouth.

– Are your daughter in danger?- Haelena blurted, shyness overcome her again.

Sybilla denies with a soft smile.

– Not anymore, again, I don't have only weapons that men can use, not only white weapon but also a fire one.

– What do you mean by "A fire one"?- Rhaenys question.

For the gods forsaken will them stop interrupting her? Viserys is almost dying(literally) by curiosity.

– We've got a Dragon.–silent fills the air.– My daughter five years ago, at her ten-four years old found one and she claimed it, how? I don't even know how because as far as I know House Pevensie never married neither Targaryen nor Velaryons, so this is why I'm here today, because she begged me for years she pledged me and my dear husband to come to Westeros.

– Are you married? With whom?

– A Stark, that now uses Pevensie as his surname.

– Don't tell me he is...-Otto whispers, Aemond looked at his grandsire:"what?"

– Rickon Stark middle son, a year younger than Cregan Stark.–Daemon suggests slightly amazed, but he won't tell, Rhaenyra was out of breath, Sybilla Pevensie, an angel that came out of nowhere bringing good news, she must act quickly.

Damn it, Rhaenyra thought, she already betrothed Jace and Lucerys to the Velaryons, but what if she... She doesn't even know if you hand is already taken, gods be good it would be a no. However she's not the only one thinking about a brethotal marriage, Alicent since Sybilla mentioned a daughter thought it too, Aemond was free and Otto thinks the same when both of them for a millisecond changed stares.

– Indeed he's my husband.-Sybilla continues.-Before any more question, my mother made the Stark promises an oath, creating their own son a false death so no one would suspect of a marriage with some one unknown, but this is not the time to the my fairtale.

– Do you... Have an egg?-Viserys asks, your mom's face turned dark for a moment, yet were followed by a bright smile.

– Only my daughter could answer your question, your Grace.

–Well, I'd like to see her then and...As you said and I would like you to continue, tell me more about why you want to aid us, please everyone, pay respect to our guest and don't interrupt any longer.

– Thank you, your Grace.-Sybilla bows.– I'm here today because my daughter asked for it, she's nineteen years old and rides a huge Dragon.

Jace and Aesmond thought the same:" As if wer possible, Vhagar and Caraxes are the ones".

–[...] I'm afraid she could fall and hurt herself again, she's stubborn I dare to say, but is brave enough to ride a dragon with no proper supplies, though now she wears proper gloves and shoes, she'd also would like to learn more valyrian, at our castle we used to have a septa whose taught her, unfortunately eventually she passed by old age, it has been over a year, but there's more.

Rhaenyra and Alicent all by ears now, not only them but count with Jacaerys and Aemond interest, Rhaenys read Rhaenyra face, she would need one of her boys, the eldest at least.

– Go head.-Viserys awaits.

– She doesn't know, not completely, she knows that one day she'll marry, it's her duty to go ahead with my bloodline, years has passed and now is kind an urgency for me, though I would've liked she chooses by love, then I'd propose a...

– Betrothal marriage?

Aegon muttered under his breath: " geez, she's fucked up." Viserys firstborn son looks at his brother face and sees where his eyes is on, staring with a challenging look at Jacaerys who chooses to ignore him.

Sybilla waves positively her head, she won't say anymore, she's fat fattedup.

Rhaenyra sharply look exchanged Alicent, but both of them know, who you will supposedly marry it's your choice.

– And where is your daughter?- Viserys didn't care about the Betrothal insinuation, he wishes to see the dragon and it's rider.

– She's not used to be la...- A guttural roar near the Red Castle is now heard, an animalistic sound and the Lord Commander shut his eye:" Gods be good, I was a misconception."

Lucerys and Haelena ran towards the windows so they could see what was that, not only them, Jace and Aemond ran as well.

Rhaenyra whispered something to Daemon, Daemon just waved his head slightly in agreement and holds his brother, the King that was excited.

– Before we go, your Grace, I'd like to treat you first, mayharps the Queen and the Ser Harrold, plus Prince Daemon could help?-Sybilla suggest.

– Please, Lady Sybilla... I'd like to see your daughter's Dragon first, but I now you're right, would you like to dine with us?

– It's a honor, your Grace, I accept.

– Her daughter is also invited.-Alicent proposes.

– Undoubtedly, my wife.

...

You finally found a place that Emrys could stay near the castle, you go down cautiously out of your dragon who also help you by lowering his size.

– Thanks ma boy.- you fix the dress that you were using, you're not smelling bad, but unfortunately the lowers part of your dress is not as in a good state as it was.– Mom is gonna kill me.- you stand in front of one emrys eyes.– Is my hair messy? Please be honest.

The Dragon huffs which makes you step backwards, it was a yes, when you touched the back of your head and felt all of your braids dismantled, in a hurry you try to fix, but the only way was letting your hair free with its natural beauty.

–Woah.

You turn to see the voice owner, oh shit, it's a bloody beautiful boy.

Emrys lifts his head towards the boy, but before he could do anything you touch his scales.

–No, Emrys, Lykirī.-you whisper.

When you blinked, you were surrounded by teenagers, close age you guessed, but not only them, adults were coming too. Emrys is now calm and just stares at everyone, seeing if any of them would harm you.

– Fucking hell, that woman wasn't mad when she said her daughter have a huge dragon and...-Aegon was interrupted.

–Four legs!? FOUR?-Lucerys is blank.

Should you say something or just let them talk without thinking twice? You don't mind, yourself was lost when you saw the brunette as well he was infatuated with you, and then another young handsome white haired come at sight.

"Here just have handsome boys? Oh goods... My intention is not that! Stop thinking dumb brain!"

– Hm... Hello?-you wave in the air you hand stepping in so everybody could see your figure.– Yes, his name is Emrys and yes, he has four legs.-you try to sound extroverted, but you're shy, shy at first sight.

– Sorry for our lack of manners, princess ...?-Jace tries to approach you, but Emrys whiffs as a warning, you put your hand on his snout.

– Emrys.- you look with difficult at him due his lengthy.– My name is, (Y/n) Pevensie, don't need to call me a princess since I'm not at home, and yours is...? -you says in a sing songy accent.

– Jacaerys Velaryon, but you can call me Jace.

Emrys whiffs in warning again.

Tag list: @chevelledahuman

If Emrys could speak, he would just say: "mind your own businesses, brat".

[artofhazbinhotel]

A staticmoth story in which Valentino feels neglected and Vox makes it worse by accident but they solve their issues the only way they know how.. sex. (I was not detailed but if that makes you uncomfortable skip) my AO3 will have the more detailed version soon

Vox had been staying out at night to work on a new project pulling all nighters for at least a week now and he was exhausted, he thought he knew a way to cheer himself up and finally get some sleep: Valentino. He actually came home tonight and Valentino was watching his latest work on TV as he often does, he's very proud of his work despite Velvette and Vox not wanting to see it in the living room. When he heard the door he peeked over the couch with an antenna twitch to see who, hoping it was finally Vox, it was.

His Voxy flopped onto the couch beside him, laying on his back across his legs, "You would not believe the day I had" small talk seemed to be a good way to go about this Vox figured, he would never just straight out ask 'want to have sex?' that's Val's job.

Valentino cupped his face with a hand while another laid across his chest "My poor baby" he let go, "It's a shame you do it to yourself."

Vox rolled his eyes ignoring the comment, "I missed you" He smiled.

Valentino couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this, of course he missed Vox, but he was pissed off at him for neglecting him so long, past the point of trying to seduce him for attention, that's how pissed she was. "Yeah?" So he doesn't deserve to hear it in return he decides.

Vox didn't expect to hear it back anyway but it still kind of stung, finally he sits up despite how comfy that position was, he always found Valentino's lap a nice pillow after a long day. "You deserve attention even if you didn't miss me, is there anything I can do for you baby?" Vox was really hoping sweet talk would get his 'business partner' out of this mood he seemed to have right now, sometimes it does, it's 50/50.

"You mean what I can do for you?" Val glared.

Vox shook his head trying to clarify what he meant, "No, you can just lay back, I'll take care of you, you deserve it" he whispered seductively tracing a hand along the other's thigh.

Valentino could almost laugh at that sad attempt even if he was into it, instead he pretends to ponder it "Hm.. No."

Of course the TV demon figured Valentino was just rejecting him wanting to be a top so he sighs in defeat, "Fine, okay, you can use me to feel good instead then, how's that sound?" He was almost certain the phrasing would make Valentino extremely interested, he's into that shit. But for whatever reason that shocked him, Valentino rejected it all together "I don't want to have sex."

Vox's eyes widened a little, his partner has never said that to him, or ever that he knows of. "Oh- that's fine- ..Are you not feeling good or? You don't smell like alcohol so I didn't think it was an issue to offer, you don't seem high either, or at least not past the normal amount" Rambling.

Valentino glared daggers, much more intimidating than any actual blade, "You have such an ego you think I have to be sick not to want to fuck you?"

Usually in their arguments they've both done something, but Val hasn't done anything wrong for once, Vox doesn't think he has either, right? He's starting to question it finally. "What?? No, I was just checking on you-" he cringed at himself for the nervous tone.

His moth scooted away and sat up properly , the moth's fluff puffing up with his words and tone of distain "You leave me alone for an entire week and the first thing you do when you're back is offer sex. What? You only want me when it's convenient? I bet this is just a stress relief, I'm not your fucking stress ball, or sex toy, fuck off."

Wait, Valentino feels that way..? Vox was now panicking about how royally he fucked up, it did cross his mind Val might be guilt tripping him so he won't do this again, but it felt real and he felt guilty just for thinking that. "Val, no, I only offered because you like sex, I was busy, I didn't leave you alone on purpose, and you weren't alone, you had your workers. I didn't even think you would notice.." He mumbled that last bit.

Valentino huffed and crossed his multiple arms, "Of course I noticed, I noticed you didn't want me." they lowered. A hand was on his cheek and a bright screen was close, he squinted.

"I *never* don't want you, get that in your head, I said I missed you and I meant it."

The hand rubs softly and Valentino switches up so fast, his antennas lowered "Really?" It was so soft.

Vox nodded quickly and Val leaned into his touch, he missed it so much. "Then show me how much you want me" It was more of a demand than a request, and Vox felt a little awkward about this considering his heart rate went up with all that guilt but Val could fix that.

He leaned in more, hovering over Valentino slightly on the couch to kiss him when they leaned back. 4 sets of arms roamed over his body and exploded, getting reacquainted. He could shiver, sure Valentino had those workers but Vox had a week without anything, which was really odd for him. He was desperate.

Their tongues collided in a sloppy way with need to feel it again. Val moaned into the kiss, by now he had perfected the sounds Vox likes best. Vox WAS told to show Val he wants him so he was also getting handsy. One hand slipped up the other's shirt to fidget with those piercings that it personally thought would be extremely painful to get if you aren't a hardcore masochist. Sharp fingers dug into his skin and now he was the one moaning against the makeup makeout session, it felt a little better than usual after being deprived.

Vox's other hand sunk to push up Val's dress, no longer surprised by the fact there's nothing under it, he pulled back from the kiss catching air, salvia was at his mouth and he was breathy, "You said you didn't want it but you were waiting for the opportunity, weren't you?" The tone dropped as well to be more pleasing.

Valentino's breath hitched and he nodded with a squeak moving his hips against Vox's hand to make the contact better. "C-Call me a slut for it, don't be scared, admit it"

He had mentioned in the past his kink for being degraded but slut always felt weird to Vox considering Val's occasional acting. He decides to let it slide just this once since they're focused on making the other feel better. "What a needy slut, you were probably picturing how much I'd need you if you played hard to get"

Valentino twitched in approval at the twist of the other demon's hand, his own slipped to the pants palming "Like you don't feel the same, I can't imagine how much you need me right now"

A non intentional groan escaped "Fuck, I do, I thought about you so much"

Valentino leaned in to whisper, "Did you touch yourself watching those cameras when I was with those whores?"

Vox averted eye contact, it wasn't like he was into it- he thinks. It was just.. a way to cope with jealousy, yeah. "Maybe."

Valentino kissed along his neck "I thought of you when I was with them, no one is better than you"

Those words were something Vox has been dying to hear for so long, he moved against the touch "Touch me directly, please, keep saying I'm better"

"Who's the needy slut now?"

(the cut off)

They proceeded to do what they do for several hours, Vox was so exhausted though he passed out after a few rounds. He was laying on Valentino's chest using his neck fluff as a pillow, thank God Valentino's wings cover or velvette would be more traumatized than usual. As much as she wanted to bitch about the couch she also was glad Vox was finally sleeping so she left it be and didn't wake them.

When they woke up Vox lazily asked "are you feeling better? Not mad?"

Valentino reached around for his glasses because of the blinding windows but mumbled a "Better"

The other demon was quiet for a moment, maybe Valentino would be too sleepy to process: "I'm sorry" it was a mumble, normally he'd just buy him something but it felt needed after that conversation yesterday.

Valentino blinked a little, shocked. But he just pushed Vox off of him to get up, "Don't do it again."

[cool-cowboy]

Summary:

Leon doesn't have time for a relationship, sex on the other hand, he's got just enough. What could possibly go wrong with no strings attached sex. Him falling for you, that's what.

Tags:

Friends with benefits, complicated relationship, switch Leon S. Kennedy, Light angst, idiots in love, Emotional hurt/comfortish, Vaginal fingering, oral sex, dirty talk, praise, multiple orgasms, forced orgasm, overstim, vaginal sex, riding, missionary, love confessions (Kinda)

Blurb:

I’m only halfway finished eating when he knocks, something I’ve told him he doesn’t have to do, if he can have half his stuff moved into place he might as well just consider this his second home, but he’s always been respectful, has an awful, guilty sense about him, feels he’s using me, even if he doesn’t say it, but he can’t use me if I let him, knew what I was getting into from the beginning, met him at a bar then re-met him a couple years later, saw him stumbling his way home in the dark, all bloody and beat up, probably the worst off I’ve ever seen him, dragged him to my place and cleaned him up, and he’s kept coming back ever since, a stray, always at my doorstep, looking for some attention.

Text:

“Hey, you busy tonight? I just got in I’m- I need a shower but- If you want me I’ll come over?” It’s been like this for a while, calls the minute he gets back from wherever he goes, him outside my door in the middle of the night, looking stressed and beat up as hell, though I don’t know any details, I do know his work is something heavy, something terrible, leaves him so tired he can’t do much other than fuck me and fall asleep in my bed, leaving before I wake the next morning to do it all over. I can’t be upset, that’s all this ever was, sex, but I can’t help but be a little peeved at his lack of whatever it is I want, though it really isn’t just physical, the feelings are there, ignored, but present, his job not one that allows for much in the way of a relationship, at least not a fulfilling one with how often he’s gone. 

“I’m home, making dinner- I can wait, if you-” “Don’t wait up on me, I don’t-I’ll be fine. Go ahead and eat, I’ll be there soon, okay?” I hum, not really expecting him to accept, his attempts to keep me at arms length never all that serious, just cautionary, not trying to give me the wrong idea, I guess, but he really should be more careful, the way he acts is not exactly that of a friend with benefits, probably more similar to a boyfriend, other than his tendency to run off, refuse himself the comfort he so obviously needs. 

“Okay. See you.” The line goes dead, and I continue my cooking, thinking about him, something I probably do too much of, but I can’t help it, he’s interesting, not allowed to tell me much about what he does, says more than he probably should most the time, shows up all bruised and cut up and expects me to ignore the sick feeling at seeing him hurt, says he’s had worse and ushers me off to bed, never wasting much time, only allowing himself the least perfect form of comfort, other than the times he stays glued to me afterward, when he seems a little more afraid of whatever he’s been roped into, when he’s so damn scared he can’t help but seek comfort in the only person he seems to be able to. I don’t think he has any family, friends even, just me, something not even close to either, though I suppose we are friends, in a way, just not all that close, considering he won’t let me be. 

I’m only halfway finished eating when he knocks, something I’ve told him he doesn’t have to do, if he can have half his stuff moved into my bathroom and a drawer dedicated to him in my dresser he might as well just consider this his second home, but he’s always been respectful, has an awful, guilty sense about him, feels he’s using me, even if he doesn’t say it, but he can’t use me if I let him, knew what I was getting into from the beginning, met him then remet him a couple years later, saw him stumbling his way home in the dark, all bloody and beat up, probably the worst off I’ve ever seen him, dragged him to my place and cleaned him up, and he’s kept coming back ever since, a stray, always at my doorstep, looking for some attention. I pad over a little quicker than I should, sure he’s cold, it’s way below freezing, and he walks, hates driving, says he’s gotten into one too many accidents to trust it, and I believe him. He looks worse than usual, exhausted, clothes wet from the snow, tip of his nose painfully red. 

“Hey. It’s uh- It’s snowing.” I pull him inside by his sleeve, closing the door behind him and turning to wait on him to get his coat and shoes off, his expression pained when he pulls on one of his sleeves, a sprain, probably, never wears any kind of brace when he comes to see me, says he doesn’t need anybody worrying about him, even if he knows I know him too well to be fooled by now. 

“I see. I’ll put an outfit in the dryer. Get some food, it’s still hot.” I leave him, heading down the hall to my bedroom, hoping he’s not feeling argumentative tonight, though he doesn’t seem to have the energy to be, slumped over from tiredness, walked all the way from his apartment in the snow to see me. I dig through his things, pulling out some sweats, not all that warm, but dry, stopping on my way down the hall to toss them in the dryer, warming them up for him, something that had him tearing up the first time I did it, not that he knows I saw, didn’t mention it, never do, let him relish my attention all in his own head, don’t try and get him to feel out loud, finding it enough that he does, even if I don’t get to see it most the time. 

“Thanks.” He’s sat at my little island, in the chair I never use, eating, thankfully, with his non dominant hand, the other in his lap, hidden from my view. 

“Don’t thank me, just eat as much as you want. Might as well, before you go back to your takeout diet.” I give him a look, scolding, not a big fan of his eating habits, especially with how much he’s on the move, he really should take better care of myself, but I guess he doesn’t really have time for cooking, runs off convenience, that and meals sat in front of him by me, nearly by force, finds himself a nuisance everytime I offer to help him, refuses my care unless I downright beg to give it. 

“ ‘m not even hungry…” Damn liar, he’s starving, scarfing it down as I eat alongside him, finding this type of time spent together a little more rewarding, something soft to make up for all the times we’ve spent being rough and messy in my bed, never his, he never wants me to have to worry about taking the trip, feels bad enough showing up at my door, would never ask me to come to his.  

“Sure…” He gives me a look, same one he always does, begging me with his eyes to leave him to lie, let him pretend he’s alright. I don’t say anything else, just finish my food, taking hhis bowl from him before he’s done, filling it back up at the stove and setting it back in front of him, his “thanks” quiet, subdued, my care allowed as long as we don’t talk about it, quietly appreciated, relished by my withdrawn lover. I leave him to eat, going to collect his clothes, coming back to find him up out of his chair, cleaning both our dishes, looking pained, his right wrist swollen, sprained. “What are you doing?” He looks at me over his shoulder, feigning indifference, acting like this is perfectly normal, him doing my chores. 

“Cleaning.” He elbows me back when I try to stop him, leaving me to sit up on the counter and watch, his little stack of clothed waiting in my lap. “Always talkin’ about how I’ve moved in, wont even let me do the dishes…” He finishes, setting our bowls and spoons out on the rack to dry, wiping his hands off on the little dish towel laid on the counter. 

“Here.” I offer him his outfit, and he stares at it, looking choked up as he takes it, stood in front of me, looking at me, all his affection buried, thanks caught in his throat, not all that good with his words, never has been. 

“Later.” He sets them down, beside me, moving between my legs, easing them open with icy hands on my thighs, the chill making me flinch away, his grip steady, sliding up toward my hips, his eyes on my face, lips parted. 

“That’s- Cold, Leon.” He hums, leaning down to kiss me, running one hand up to the side of my neck, ice cold and uncomfortable, my hands pushing at his chest, shirt soaked from the snow, cold and stuck to his skin. “Ew. Take this off.” I pull on it, and he listens, getting it up over his head and hauling me to the edge of the counter, kissing me like his life depends on it, keeping his mind off whatever’s on it, so desperate for distraction he doesn’t even mind the shivering, his whole body ice cold, pants wet and chill between my thighs. “Can you- Let’s warm up first, yeah?” He pulls back, looking a little distraught, having a look back at the fireplace, lit, before picking me up, taking us both over to my little faux fur rug, his back facing the fire when he sets us down, me in his lap, his hands planted down to warm flooring as he looks at me, yearning, never patient, always too worried about forgetting to remember to take his time. 

“Kiss me.” I sigh, wrapping my legs a little tighter around him, the wet chill of his jeans seeping into my shorts, his cold nearly painful on my bare thighs. I kiss him, giving him the distraction he’s looking for, his lips cold and chapped, something I used to hate, now just something of him, the rough skin catching lightly as I move against him, a hand dug into his hair, soft and cold, slowly warming with the fire at his back, his lips moving against mine in a needy way, this being the only comfort he’s allowed, the only touch he lets himself have, the only thing in his life that doesn’t require more than he’s willing to give. “I’m gonna be… Gone a few weeks… Spain this time…” He always tells me, even if he’s not supposed to, gives me warning when he’s ready to disappear, calls me up whenever he returns, asking to come over, though half the time I wonder if he’s just wanting to assure me he came back alive. 

“Okay… Just-... Let’s not talk about it…” He hums his agreement, deciding he’s warmed his hands long enough, big hands splayed over my waist, warm and capable, not all that soft, worn from years of being what he is. 

“Am I warm enough yet?” Impatient. I press my hands to his cheeks, cold, shaking my head at him and pushing him back, laid out with my legs on either side of his hips, sat back on my haunches as I reach to turn his head to the side and up, getting it pointed toward the fire before running my hands down his neck, his chest, massaging his skin, warming him up, she shivering slowly calming down, not that he cares, ignores his own issues so often he rarely notices he has one. “Hey, can you- Come here.” He pulls me, gets a hand on the back of my neck and drags me down over him, kissing me some more, always needy for it, craving simple touch, wanting to be overwhelmed, so full of me he can’t think of whatever’s bothering him at the moment. “There… You’re… Too damn nice to me… Always worrying… You shouldn’t… ‘s not worth it… All I need is this… Just kiss me and make me forget… Just for a little while…” He used to pretend that wasn’t it, that it was just about good sex and nothing else, but he doesn’t anymore, both of us aware of what’s bothering him, why he’s here so often, just craving someone, his hands all over me, sliding up my back and holding me to him all of him against me, big and longing, his want for more buried under fake, not at all convincing nonchalance, his kisses too careful to be unloving, his touch too pleasing to lead me to believe he doesn’t care. 

“Hey, let me-” I sit up, pulling my waay out of his arms, his look unhappy to have me take myself away, my shirt up and over my head before I’m back over him, kissing down his neck, giving him the soft kind of attention I know he secretly likes, sliding a hand down over his slowly warming stomach, teasing a thumb under the waist of his jeans. 

“Can you- Don’t make me wait… Not this time, I just-” He shuts up, my hand palming at him apparently appeasing for now, my lips kissing across his collar bone, soft and slow, working him up in a way he doesn’t usually allow himself, the slow build he usually neglects, goes straight to work, doing enough to keep his mind occupied. “God… Missed this… You’re so damn good at it… Always make me feel so damn good…” He’s petting my hair, sat up on his elbow to watch me kiss my way down his chest, staring at me with a look I’m not if he’s aware of, a careful kind of affection, tentative, afraid of falling too far, giving into what he wants for fear of losing it. 

“Leon?” He hums, brushing my hair back and holding it there, his eyes flitting down toward my hand, working the button and zipper of his pants, indulging in his impatience, figuring someone always on the go really doesn’t have any reason to be very patient. “I have an early meeting tomorrow.” He looks scolded, like I just called him a bad dog, like I couldn’t have refused him showing up this late, like I ever have, never once, always allowed it, well aware how badly he needs it, too afraid to leave him alone in his head. 

“Shit- Why didn’t you say? Sorry- I uh-” I shake my head, not meaning to make him feel bad, just letting him know he’ll be waking up on his own. I kiss down his stomach, pulling on his pants as I go, getting them off with a bit of assistance, the slick fabric sticky on his skin. 

“I didn’t mean… I don’t mind… You know that… Just meant… Jesus Christ Leon!” I sit up, having a look at it, a blood-soaked bandage, half-covered by his boxers, the band pulled down to give me a look at it before he grabs my hand away, sat up and holding onto my jaw the next second, his look pleading, pained. 

“Just- Don’t, okay? I’m fine, I just-” “You’re bleeding.” He doesn’t say anything, just looks at me, his body littered with evidence of what he does, though he’s never come to me bleeding, scabbed and bruised, yes, but he’s never been so impatient he’s neglected to take proper care of his wounds, whatever’s below the bandage large, spread from the bottom of his ribs down to just below his hip, the bandage soaked-though with fresh blood. “Let’s-” “Stop that. Just- I don’t need you to worry, how many times do I have to say it?” He regrets it immediately, his tone of voice, harsh, louder than he usually is, mean. 

“Fine, Leon, whatever you say.” I’m near crying, eyes watery, all from nothing, the truth, the mood all but ruined, and he knows it, looking distraught and sorry and sickly all at once. 

“Sorry-Fuck- I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t- I know you can’t help it I just- I really am okay. I’m sorry, I didn't meant to get like that, okay?” I nod, feeling a little sick myself, not very glad to have our little issue brought to light, his kisses a little lighter when he brings his lips back to mine, softer, apologetic. “I’m so sorry… Just- Tell me how to fix it… Please, I-” “It’s okay, Leon… It’s okay…” It’s nothing I didn’t already know, just shocking to hear it out loud, hurtful, but not his fault, even if he did get a little aggressive about it. 

“No… You’re too damn good to let me yell at you.” He swallows, looking distraught, pained at the thought of hurting my feelings, hands light on my sides as he looks at me, guilt plain on his face, eating him alive for what he thinks he’s doing to me. “God… You’re the one good thing I’ve got and I’m ruining it, I’m so fuckin’ sorry, I don’’t know why- What the hell’s wrong with me?” I put my hands on the sides of his face, looking at him, worrying against his wishes, not happy to be causing him anymore pain than he already has. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Just- Stop feeling bad, I know you didn’t mean it…” I kiss him, soft and sweet, being what he needs, distracting him, keeping his mind off everything beside me, what I can give him. “Do you… We can head to bed, if you’re not… In the mood anymore.” I look at him, searching, unsure what he wants at this point, his place in my life pretty ambiguous, mine in his even moreso. 

“I can go? I don’t- You’re probably sick of my shit-” “What do you want?” He doesn’t look pleased to tell me, wants me to tell him, is afraid I’m put off by his reaction to my care, but I know he’s just putting up a front, same as always. 

“You.” That’s all he says, the word giving all the confirmation of his feelings I need, my nod overly feverish, lips meeting his in a heated kiss, the confession on the tip of my tongue, choked down to keep our fragile deal in place. “You’re perfect… Too damn good to me… Shit… I’ll take my time… I know how you like it…” He turns us over, laying me out beneath him, an arm around my back, his lips hot on mine, his kisses quick, passionate, careful. “So damn pretty… Gonna make you feel good… Give you half ‘a what you give me…” He’s making his way down, kissing along my neck, to the outside of my collar bone, trailing back toward my chest as his fingers ease their way up my stomach, his arm below me getting my bra undone before he takes it down my arms, kissing his way down over my breast, laying a sweet kiss to my nipple while he stares at me with his pretty eyes, his mouth closing over it, sucking lightly, his body sat back on his haunches, hands on the curve of my hips. He trails his lips across, mouthing at my other nipple and groaning, seeming pleased, forgetting his guilt for the time being, focused on making me feel good.

“Le?” He raises his brows, waiting on me to continue, lips just below my belly button, hands gripped to the waist of my shorts. “Hurry up.” He smiles, pulling them down with dramatic fervor, kissing down over the front of my panties and groaning when his lips meet my clit, kissing at it and letting his eyes close, enjoying himself. “Take those off.” He does, smiling to himself as he does, getting them off and pushing his way between my thighs, settled down on his stomach, his tongue licking up over me, spreading slick before he groans, eyes closed as he laps at my clit, his hands gripped to the sides of my thighs, one of mine in his hair, pulling, something he likes, always gets more riled up when I’m a little rough with him. 

“Fuck… Love eating you out… Could stare at you all goddamn day… Don’t be shy… Don’t be afraid to hurt me a little, yeah? You know I don’t mind… “ He gets back to it, and I reward him, pulling roughly when he sucks on my clit, his low groan getting me to squeeze my legs around him. “Mm… That’s it… Hold me captive down here… Keep me long as you like…” He’s using his thumb, rubbing soft circles as he kisses all over my pubic bone, staring up at me and letting out little pleased noises. He presses a finger inside, humming happily and adding another, getting me ready without me asking, well aware how well endowed he is, painful without prep, as we learned when we were a little too impatient, around a year ago, wetness not enough to compensate for his size. “There… Taking it so well… Always do… You wanna cum for me? Yeah? I want you to… Wanna make you feel good… Give you a reason to let me come back, keep you satisfied while I’m gone…” I’m getting close, his attention and his words and the look on his face all coaxing me toward it, legs trembling against his hands, fingers tugging on his hair to draw another low groan out of him. “That’s it… C’mon, pretty girl, give it to me… Gotta cum before I can give you what you really want, cum now and one more time and I’ll give you my dick… You’re so close, just relax and let me give it to you… I know how you like it… all slow until it’s too much, gonna get you panting and needy for it…” I’m clenched tight around his fingers, eyes squeezed tight as the pleasure washes over me, shaking and moaning for him, which he loves, moans right back when reach a little further to sink my nails into his back, relishing the shudder that rips through him. 

“Leon? Hey, stop-” He’s gone back to sucking, overstimulating me, making me shake and squirm, but he holds me still, groaning against me when I claw at him, teeth gritted from the overwhelming pleasure, head tipped back into the rug in a weak attempt to escape. “Le- That hurts- can you-” “You can take it… Just dig those nails in and take it…” He’s being too much, sucking and lapping at me, holding my legs open and making me take it, my back arched up off the rug from the overstimulation, not used to having two orgasms forced out of me before we even get to the main event. My low moan is his only warning before I’m gushing, whining and digging my nails in, just like he asked. “There you go, good fuckin’ girl, look so pretty cumming for me, gonna have to give me another, cum all over my dick, yeah?” I hum, feeling dazed, coming down as he kisses his way up. “I’m gonna get a condom, be right back- Wait, you done?” I shake my head, he should know by now I’m not done until I’ve got him inside, he hasn’t even gotten off yet. “Okay, yeah, be right back.” He presses another kiss to my lips, leaving me laid out on the rug as he stands, hurrying off to collect a condom from my nightstand, giving me a moment to get my bearings as I watch him walk away, bloodied claw marks sunk into the skin of his shoulder making me grimace, didn’t mean to scratch him up that bad. He’s back soon enough, smiling down at me laid out below him and tossing the condom onto my stomach before reaching to undo his pants, giving me a show I happily enjoy, sitting up on my elbows to watch, giving him a nice view as well, feet planted spread out, chest pushed out just a little. “Fuck you look good, really tore up my back, huh? Listening so good today…” He drops his pants, kicking them off to the side, followed soon by his boxers, eased down while he stares at me, cast to the side before he crawls his way over me, kissing me, ignoring the condom to get some more anticipation, his dick looking painfully hard, left without attention for much too long to be very comfortable. 

“Le- Let me…” I push him, getting him sat back then pushing him further, sitting myself up above him, condom in hand, torn through with my teeth, well aware how visual he is, how much he loves seeing me doing lewd things, his eyes cast down as I roll the condom down over him, keeping a hold on him to hold him upright, sinking down on him slow, the stretch no unfamiliar, his dick just long enough to press to my cervix, the pain of it something I don’t really mind, just a dull, somewhat uncomfortable pressure, easily forgotten in the pleasure I’m about to be getting. 

“God, love when you take control. Go ahead, ride my dick, pretty girl, show me how good you are, how well you take it…” I lift up, still getting used to the stretch, sliding back down slow, watching him sit up on his elbows, lips parted as he watches, not minding the slow pace, letting me get used to it without complaint. “Shit… Fuck, sweetheart, torturing me… Feels so damn good, look so pretty sitting on my dick…” I let out a shaky breath, leaning back on one hand to bounce, giving him and myself some relief, watching his head tip back and his eyes go closed, one hand on my hip, the other propping him up. “Jesus… Shit, sweetheart, feels so good, doing so good… My girl…” That gets me, I pause, looking at him, my mouth gone dry, his eyes gone wide, his expression at a loss. “Fuck-Sorry-” “Say it again.” I’m breathless, way too eager, leaning over him with a hand on his chest, waiting, anticipating, feeling hot and fuzzy and anxious all at once. 

“You’re my girl… Now gimme this.” He pulls one of my legs up, planting my foot outside his hip, my other knee still on the floor when he thrusts up into me, setting the same pace I had, not that fast, but deep, his eyes on my face, staring up at me as I get my hand down beside his head, holding myself up, my other hand on his chest, laid there, his on my hip and wrapped around my upper arm both of us breathing heavy, staring at each other. “God… You’re-ah- I can’t- You weren’t supposed to care about me… Clean me up, feed me-hah- keep a drawer full of- shit- full of my clothes, keep my damn shampoo right fucking next to yours…” He turns us over, leaning over my with a hand beside my head, the other on my hip, lifted a little off the ground so he can thrust into me, his thumb stretched across to rub at my clit, my hand on his forearm squeezed tight, nails digging in. “How am I s’posed-Nnh- How should I feel? You’re-hah- you’re everything I would’ve wanted if I could have it-fuck-! I can’t- can’t be what you-Hnn- need, I’m not- ‘m not good enough for-ah- for someone like you, can’t be a boyfriend- I fucking hate it- ‘s not fuckin’-nnh- fair- to you…” He’s making me sad, saying such sweet things in such a down manner, offering up his love all while telling me it’s not enough, like I haven’t accepted him over and over for all he can give. He’s moving fast, pulling me into quick thrusts, bouncing me, rubbing at my clit with a little too much pressure, trying to get me off before he loses it. “You keep-ah- keep on treating me-fuck- so damn nice, letting me come back over and-oh god- fucking over, letting me lie-” He makes a choked noise, dropping his head down to the crook of my neck and kissing, whining into me, his hips losing their rhythm, both of us close, but he loses it first, bites down on my neck and fucks his way through it, getting me off halfway through and groaning in my ear when I clamp down on him, his thumb working me down as he kisses at his bite, easing himself out once I stop pulsing around him, leaving his face in my neck, hiding from me, unwilling to face me after confessing everything he’s kept to himself the past two years. “Leon?”

“I’m so goddamn sorry. Fucking ruined the mood, huh?”

“How long before Spain?”

[mezmer]

Here I will explain why my blog banner describes me as an anti sugar activist. I try to be as "scientific" as my brain and heart allow, but I value my experience over scientific studies even if they support my view, huge ridiculous autist sugar post incoming

Sugar is highly addictive for most people. The problem is way more dire than we act like it is. Added to foods you wouldn't even think to include sugar. The link between sugar and obesity, endocrine disruption, general inflammation and malaise, disease, diabetes, your teeth rotting out, and even cancer, is undeniable no matter what articles or studies you try to dig up. not many people want to admit how bad it is. People who enjoy sugar, who might say "you only live once! It's not like I'm shooting heroin" suffer weird problems and assume it's something else. Children set up for a lifetime of failure because their parents don't pay attention to their sugar intake at all. I have a very drastic example of this I won't go into much detail about, but a set of parents close to me are feeding their daughter extreme amounts of sugar. She has a learning disability and is a very intense child. I've hinted at the sugar link and everyone is in denial.

I have baby sat this child and gotten her to eat organic wheat bread PB and J with a no sugar added, all fruit jam.. happily told her parents who did not care at all. It was such a feat to me. Everyone knows a picky child. It's worse than you think. This is a gateway drug and I'm totally serious. I said I would not go into great detail... I too was raised on welch's fruit snacks, "pancake syrup", sprite, Kool aid, and worst of all I was allowed to put as much sugar that I wanted into my tea. My parents were wonderful, they just didn't think or know how bad it was to do this

I've struggled with a sugar addiction before and since getting clean from drugs and seen the effects of it firsthand. The most obvious to be seen from the outside that I can make people believe is my struggle with acne. We know bacteria feeds off of sugar. This is why people who drink sugary drinks are at risk for UTIs. If bacteria enters their bladder, sugar makes it grow. Well no amount of washing my face, bentonite clay masks, washing my pillow cases, wearing a bonnet, would make the acne go away. Recently I tried to only eat a certain pint of ice cream thinking less sugar would help. It didn't and I'm over two weeks off of all sugar that isn't naturally occuring in honey and fruit. Crazy how natural sugar does not feed the bacteria and hormonal disruption. I've been in this cycle more than once. Not only does the acne go away, my face appears radiant every time. Breakouts as soon as I relapse. Maybe you are thinking, this is a bunch of hogwash and I eat little cakes often without a problem. That's fine. I know addicts who have used meth for 30 years and you wouldnt wonder much about them. Smokers who lived to 80. Sugar doesn't do me any good at all.

Neither my mom, who was just put on a medication with awful side effects because she is developing diabetes. Her doctor (doctor she's had for decades who is a total piece of garbage and prescribes dangerous cocktails of conflicting medications !! That's a whole other post!!!! Put my grandma on pills which nearly killed her! Plus other people HAHAHA) saw her coming up with high blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol without thinking to suggest a diet change first. My mom is overweight and likes to eat sweets. My mom told me, I can still eat sweets, I just have to eat less. I did tell her that didn't work for me. I quit because I don't want to end up sick this way. Diabetes runs in our family. The prescription is making my mom nauseous and dizzy. Insane to me right?

Why aren't the dangers of sugar recognized? Why am I the only advocate I know? I would shut the fuck up if the dangers were believed by more people. Is it Because Sugar Taste good? Not seen as a vice. We accept that corn syrup is not so good. Canola oil pretty bad. Dyes in food causing children to develop ADHD and autism, or whatever. Is there no risk in consuming sugar? Many health professionals don't want to admit it? I feel strongly. I feel sick when I eat sugar but I can't find myself able to stop unless I truly try. We are all convinced that it's just a danger to your teeth if you don't brush enough. MIL is a sugar addict who buys birthday cakes on clearance and clears the whole cake in a few days, a twice daily flosser and brusher, who has lost over half of her teeth to extractions, sees the link, and has no intention to quit.

Finally, I bake yummy dessert recipes excluding half the sugar while using honey, maple syrup, brown sugar for what is left (which is slightly better than white sugar from my understanding) and I have never made a baked good that is ruined by doing this. You can't even tell that I've excluded sugar and the foods have more flavor because sugar doesn't overpower the dish. They don't make your teeth hurt. You can eat more cookies because there is less sugar and they taste better. The texture is the same. Bakers will tell you this isn't true and you need to use the whole amount of sugar so the cookies and cakes arent ruined. Yes, you need torched sugar on creme brulee. Fine.

Do you ever find yourself scraping icing off of a cake? I have baked more than one birthday cake for loved ones excluding sugar and adding natural alternatives (NOT stevia or monkfruit which taste like shit and suck) and ive gotten nothing but compliments. My brown sugar maple cake with cream cheese icing using very little sugar was a hit for my partners birthday that everyone probably ate too much of. This isn't a brag, it's an idea for anyone who bakes to try and change your recipes. It hasn't failed for me. Ok SOrry

[macnmooore]

Another outsiders fic like I promised, sorry if it’s ooc

It had been a few days in the church and with all honestly me and Johnny began to go insane with how quiet everything is and how there was nothing to do. I was starting to miss the gang, hell even Darry, I shouldn’t have overreacted, Johnny and I wouldn’t have been in this mess if I wasn’t dumb enough to run away from home. Maybe Bob would’ve lived. But then again those damn Socs were circling around our territory as if looking for us. Maybe it was a good thing that I was there with Johnny. I don’t know, I don’t know a lot of things as I say I do. Darry says I don’t know how to think for nothing. Maybe I don’t, I don’t know. Johnny hasn’t been taking the killin’ all that well. I can’t blame him. I'd go crazy too if I killed a guy. I wouldn’t want to, Dally might, he’s the type of hoodlum that would kill.

Lately, me and Johnny have been playing games to pass the time. Some real, others made up. We played so many card games that the newly bought deck of cards began to wear out around the edges. We also played childish games like I eye spy. I remember, Sodapop, I and Darry playing that once in a while when our parents were alive. I miss them and my brothers. Darry is harsh on me but he’s only twenty, Soda likes to remind me of that. You’d think that since Darry is still young that he would go easy on me but he ain’t. He's more harsh on me than dad ever was. He lets Soda get away with everything but he can’t even let me walk on my own without berating me. I won’t bother Johnny with all this stuff, his home life is worse than mine. Yet, it’s so quiet. I don’t mind the quietness that happened between us before but now that it’s just the two of us without Two-Bit butting in or Dallas saying a crude remark towards some broad it’s awful with just our thoughts. I wonder what Johnny thinks about.

I hate bologna. I swear I’m going to loot this damn church and I’m getting canned tuna and crackers…

I started to search around the church looking at the little office it had to store donations and other stuff. As I moved things around Johnny walked towards me, his attention caught on the ruckish I’m making.

“Whatcha up to Pone?” He asked, his face puzzled , tilting his head to his left a bit as he spoke. Johnny’s voice sounded off but I had thought nothing of it at first.

“Lookin’ for to see if I can find anything that might lead me to eating something other than the same sandwiches.” I explained, sifting through old papers and other trinkets. I guess Johnny was also growing tired of bologna sandwiches as well as he began to help me search around the office. I heard him sniff and sneeze often as we hunted for cash, at first I thought maybe it was from the dust and dirt but it was September, it was getting chiller and Johnny got easily sick from the weather. You’d think since he spends his nights sleeping in a lot he’d have a good immune system but I suppose not. I really hope he isn’t sick since whatever money we do find will have to be spent on getting him medicine.

“It’s been getting real warm lately hasn’t it Pony?” Johnny said suddenly. It hasn’t been getting warmer. ‘Maybe the room has been getting stuffy with the two of us in it?’ I thought of, knowing I was lying to myself.

“No it hasn’t. What are you talking about? It’s autumn.” I corrected, I sounded a bit annoyed but I wasn't. “You might be sick, Johnny.” I stated out loud, I stopped what I was doing and stepped forward towards Johnny. Instinctively I placed the back of my palm on Johnny’s forehead and then to the side of his face. Where his cheekbone and the space between the face and the ear. It was way too hot for Johnny’s skin, he’s usually always so cold to the touch, even in the summer.

“You’re sick Johnny. I was right.” I removed my hand from his face. “We’ll just use any money we find for some cough syrup and then some canned soup since that’s probably healthier than the same damn sandwich.” I detailed before returning to look around the room for cash or anything we could pawn off. Johnny also began helping me again but he had to butt in once again as we searched.

“I ain’t that sick Ponyboy, don’t need all that medicine.” Johnny counteracted, trying to stop me from looking for tender. That’s a rather dumb thing to do. I could always change my mind and use the money for anything else if I wanted but I’m not that cruel, unlike Bob.

“Even if you ain’t that sick I could still catch the same thing you have so it’s best if we got some medicine. It don’t cost that much.” I lied, “Hey if it makes you feel better we can steal it as we buy our canned food,” I brought up mindlessly. Johnny stopped for a second to give me a look of I want to say confusion but I wasn’t too sure. I was starting to sound like Two-Bit, first the wise comments now stealing that we could pay.

“Oh yeah well how are you gonna hide a cough syrup bottle then?” Johnny criticized,

“Then help me look for cash or something we can sell to get medicine then, You uhh you- you curly ass rat!” I spat out, Johnny looked annoyed at me. He sighed and left the office to go out back, probably to wash his rat curls. I went about looking for any left behind money or something valuable. I didn’t end up finding anything.

[thatonefemmelesbian]

Hiii could you do angst with like a happy ending? Thank you!

Thank you for the suggestion!💕 I hope you enjoy it!

*this will be inspired by all too well the short film, Phoebe and Lucy are mentioned in here but also just random names/people too. 1 use of y/n cuz it was necessary :(*

You and Julien had been together for about 4 months, and she decided she wanted you to meet her friends. You’d briefly met a couple before, but tonight you were both invited over to dinner. You were nervous the whole time getting ready, wanting to make a good impression. You had already changed your outfit about 3 times, trying to recall everyone’s names in your head, and details Julien had told you about them. “Sweetheart we’re gonna be late!” Julien yelled from the kitchen. You checked the mirror one last time before nervously exiting the bedroom. “Do I look okay?” You ask as Julien stares at you, not saying a word for a couple of seconds, making your anxiety worse. “You look so gorgeous princess” she finally says, grabbing your waist to pull you into a kiss, pulling away to twirl you around. “You ready to go now, baby?” She asks, grabbing your hand to lead you to her car as you nod.

You arrive at her friends house, greeted by someone unfamiliar, who instantly pulls Julien into a hug. “You guys made it! Finally!” The woman at the door says, letting go of Julien and eying you up and down. “You must be y/n, it’s nice to finally meet you” she says, extending her hand. She guides you both inside, seeing everyone already at the table, already engaged in conversation. “We’re not late are we? Someone took a lifetime getting ready” Julien says, nudging you as you mumble out a quiet ‘sorry’, feeling uneasy with everyone’s attention suddenly directed at you. Everyone starts introducing themselves to you and vice versa as you sit down next to Julien. Everyone there is a couple of years older than you, and you only recognise Phoebe and Lucy.

You sit awkwardly at the table, chiming in every now and then. You feel out of place, but enjoy watching Julien having fun and laughing with her friends about some inside joke. You go to hold her hand, but instead she just brushes it away, giving her undivided attention to some guy named Andrew. You feel a little upset, but let it slide. Until it happens again. And every time you try to say something, she cuts you off. You’re getting more and more upset the longer you sit at the table, just wanting to leave as soon as you can. “Can we leave soon please, I’m not feeling very well” you whisper to Julien. Your anxiety continued to rise, now making you nauseous. “Just wait baby, I’m talking to someone” she says, barely paying attention to a word you said, going right back to talking to some other girl named Claire now.

About another hour has past, before Julien finally decides it’s getting late and she should take you home. “Thank you both for coming! It was really great to meet you” the woman who first greeted you says, hugging you both goodbye. You get back into Julien’s car, relieved to finally go home. “You didn’t have to be so rude the whole time. They wanted to meet you and you didn’t say a word all night, except when you were nagging me to leave” she says, leaving you completely dumbfounded. “I couldn’t get a word in with you talking over me and cutting me off every time I tried to open my mouth. And you were the one being rude, ignoring me the entire night, pushing my hand away every time I went to hold yours, not even looking at me, and not giving a fuck when I told you I was feeling sick and wanted to leave!” You respond, tears prickling the corner of your eyes. “I didn’t ‘talk over you’, or ‘cut you off’, or ‘push your hand away’. I’m sorry you can’t handle me talking to my friends for an hour without getting all jealous. You were just sitting there staring at the floor the whole night, not even making an effort. I’ve never complained when you hang out with your friends.” Julien says, her voice filled with annoyance. “Because I don’t act like you don’t exist when I’m with my friends! I’m not jealous you were talking to other people, I’m upset you completely ignored me! I didn’t know anyone there and everyone was older than me, I just wanted my girlfriend to say one word to me” you choke out, tears beginning to roll down your cheek. You turn your head away from Julien, trying your best to keep your crying quiet. The rest of the car ride back to your place is silent, you continue to cry silently into your hand, and Julien continues to ignore you, focusing on the road.

The second she pulls up to your building, you swing the door open, wanting to just forget about the entire night and go to sleep. But before you can pull your keys out of your purse, you feel a hand on your shoulder, turning you around. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I promise I didn’t mean to ignore you, and I should’ve taken you home the second you said you weren’t feeling well. I’m so sorry baby, I was just excited for you to meet everyone but I should’ve realised you were uncomfortable.” Julien says, pulling you into a hug and kissing your head. “it’s ok, Julien, I just wanna forget about it and go to sleep” you mumble back. “No, it’s not okay sweetheart. I shouldn’t have ignored you like that, I’m so sorry. You mean so so much to me, okay? I hope you know that” She says as she pulls you impossibly closer to her, wiping your tears away with her thumb. “I know, and you mean so much to me too. I’m sorry, I should’ve made more of an-” she cuts you off by pressing her lips to yours. “You didn’t have to make more of an effort, I should’ve have said that, I’m sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong princess I promise.” She says as she cups your face in her hands, pressing kisses to your cheeks, making you smile. “There’s that beautiful smile I fell in love with.” She whispers, pulling you in for another kiss.

[atopvisenyashill]

What about laenor live and daemon die scenario?

Gonna be honest this is best case scenario for Rhaenyra husband wise lmaoooo.

Laenor isn’t a particularly present husband, in the show or in the books, but I think having a husband who just doesn’t pay attention to you is better than having one that your opps actively hate. Like, listen I love Daemon and I would even go so far as to say that I am a hashtag daemon apologist in several scenes but also this man is just objectively bad for Rhaenyra. He is the Aemond of her side; he’s too violent, too impulsive, too angry, too ready to escalate a situation, got too much he feels he has to prove. The main thing Daemon has going for him is his history in war being an advantage, but Laenor also has that AND he has a handle on his temper, if not his grief.

But details on where specifically I think this affects the plot-

Aegon III & Viserys II are butterfly effected away. This doesn’t mean Rhaenyra won’t have more kids tho. Depending on which canon you’re following here, it’s not impossible that Rhaenyra might take another lover, out of loneliness, wanting to have more children, or just like, spite, and if Rhaenyra & Laenor properly reconcile in their marriage, they may even attempt to have their own again to try to throw off the rumors about the older boys.

The Vaemond thing just objectively goes better. This isn’t hard, because it basically couldn’t have gone worse. First of all, in the books Rhaenyra sends Daemon to kill him. She cannot send Laenor to do it because that’s kinslaying which means she’d have to like, do it herself, and Rhaenyra is fierce but she’s not a warrior like Visenya. As far as we know, she cannot actually swordfight. So even if she has some sort of breakdown in front of Laenor begging him to protect their sons’ claims, Vaemond is NOT getting fed to Syrax publicly. Secondly, it’s a lot harder to continuously push that the boys are bastards when the father is standing right there going “well i’m saying they’re mine” like Vaemond would look INSANE especialy since LAENOR is Corlys’ heir so what is Vaemond pushing on here, exactly?? “Jump over Laenor in the succession to me??” Absolutely not! He’s going to approach this much differently!

The Dragon Twins are now Dragon Orphans. After the stepstones war, he doesn’t really do anything that could get him killed until the dance starts which means - who assassinates his ass? Does he die in tourney? Does Otto get worried about what Daemon would do once Otto takes the throne, and just decides to have him killed? And if he does - I mean fuck, a Faceless Man would be super expensive bc Daemon is famous as hell, but he’s also not a complete idiot and a regular assassin is probably not gonna whack him. If it’s obviously suspicious, Rhaenyra definitely panics over it, not to mention Baela and Rhaena are now orphaned and don’t have Rhaenyra as the mom who Stepped Up so Corlys has complete control over what happens to the dragon twins. He’s not gonna break the betrothals but at the same time, he does have a lil bit of leverage over Rhaenyra here. If Daemon dies in tourney, that’s hilarious, but probably doesn’t make Rhaenyra spiral over the Greens coming to murder her kids (she absolutely takes it hard emotionally though). If he gets sick suddenly and dies, I think Rhaenyra does get suspicious still but is fine. However, at the end of the day, Baela and Rhaena have no parents, nor do they have a stepmother.

There’s a lot of dragons to fight over now. So the thing is, in the book, Aemond claims Vhagar at Laenor’s funeral, not Laena’s. He’s not mentioned to have been at Laena’s funeral at all even though she died first. I’m not really sure what happens with the dragons once their riders die - you can’t really like, herd them back to KL if you can’t ride them. We know Vermithor and Silverwing just nested somewhere on Dragonstone and were left alone for awhile, for example, so I get the impression they just like. Let the dragon chill wherever the rider died and if someone claims it, someone claims it (which is how Laena got Vhagar in the first place). BUT. There’s two dragons riderless now, potentially just hanging out on Driftmark - Vhagar AND Caraxes. Maybe Aemond follows Vhagar’s call and manages to claim her before Rhaena does. Maybe Rhaena can’t actually claim her and Vhagar wanders somewhere safer for Aemond to attempt to claim her. Maybe Rhaena feels a call to Caraxes and claims him, so when Aemond claims Vhagar it’s not a big fight. There’s a lot of different ways this could go.

Addam won’t ever claim Seasmoke. That makes me sad. Aw maybe Addam claims Vhagar, we know she loves sad kids!!! I can dream!!!!

Driftmark goes differently. I say different and not goes away because the whole family is still going to gather to inter Daemon’s ashes at Dragonstone, and there could still be some high tensions but without being concrete about where he dies, we don’t really know where Vhagar or Caraxes are hanging out.

[WHEN does Daemon die in the show tho. Do he and Rhaenyra fuck and then he chokes on a pickle?? That’s gonna make her SPIRAL omg. Does he die with Laena in Pentos? Rhaenys is gonna have to fly to Pentos to go pick up the girls bc they have NO ONE now. How did Vhagar get back to Driftmark in the show, did Daemon just say “hey girl just follow Caraxes” and she was like “Yeah fine whatever I fucjing hate Pentos anyway”? How are they getting Caraxes AND Vhagar back to Dragonstone??? Anyways, Aemond would still get Vhagar in the show, probably, but Rhaena could claim Caraxes if she wanted]

Blood and Cheese is so much different. Aemond’s murder of Lucerys demands some sort of answer; there’s certainly the kinslaying & escalation of the war angle but also, he just like, murders someone bc his pride is hurt under a peace banner. This is the second dumbest move in the whole war (the first is B&C). Laenor (and Corlys & probs Rhaenys, bc he’s definitely checking in with his parents for what to do here) is probably yelling to everyone that Aemond is a kinslayer, but this post here gives a great alternative which is hostage taking. A son for a son - you murdered Lucerys so to keep you on better behavior, we are abducting your son. Certainly a cruel, brutal thing to do but like, I think a lot of people in Westeros would see this as a strong move so long as the Blacks treat whichever child they abducted (i’m assuming jaehaerys here) with all the courtesy and respect owed to a child hostage. If they posit themselves as people willing to play by the rules but not be pushed around, going up against the kinslaying tyrants who usurped them? Bro, that’s just a slam DUNK in PR, I think the Greens are cooked in terms of reputation here.

What’s the pattern you notice here? Well it’s that Rhaenyra’s reputation is a LOT better in this scenario and also, who has what dragon is kinda up in the air. Some people were always gonna side with the Greens for a variety of reasons but during the “war of words” where everyone is trying to shore up support, Rhaenyra may win more people to her side because her reputation has not taken several hits, and she’s made the Greens look bad.

However, while Rhaenyra certainly looks better and may gain allies faster, I still think there are some problems here - Otto is actively planning a coup & Rhaenyra is not in the capital. IF, after Harwin & Lyonel dies, Viserys still names Otto as his Hand, Rhaenyra is still roughly in a similar spot as in canon. I was going to suggest Laenor be named Hand (with Rhaenyra doing the work in the background) but I think that’s just as much of a long shot as Rhaenyra being named Hand, because Viserys is wary of Corlys & Rhaenys having too much influence (even though…. would have been better if the Hightowers had less power than his HEIR, Viserys pls). Most of Laenor’s use comes once the conflict starts - a cooler head to deal with the fallout of Luke’s death, to support Rhaenyra in the capital, to assert the claims of the Velaryon boys. At the same time, if Aegon still fires Otto after the Cargyll debacle & B&C (Laenor’s Version), and Criston still designs a trap, it’s possible that instead of Rhaenys dying in it, Laenor dies in it. But also maybe not!! Maybe Laenor, who has experience in battle, manages to wriggle his way out of the fight, or manages to take Sunfyre completely out, or even kill Aegon or Aemond. Aegon losing Sunfyre so early would imo be a huge blow to morale and if Aegon DIES this early? Even if all he does is exactly what Rhaenys and Meleys manage, that still means Rhaenyra has Rhaenys and Meleys still alive - maybe this means Rhaenyra is able to hold the capital for longer, maybe it means Rhaenys stays at Dragonstone and notices Aegon & Sunfyre and goes after them instead of Baela and Moondancer.

[bethanydelleman]

Northanger Abbey Readthrough, Ch 8

Some hints that Isabella's affection for Catherine may not be all that it seems, starting with this, "Isabella having gone through the usual ceremonial of meeting her friend with the most smiling and affectionate haste" and then Isabella taking an entire three minutes to abandon her friend to dance.

I love this part:

She could not help being vexed at the non-appearance of Mr. Thorpe, for she not only longed to be dancing, but was likewise aware that, as the real dignity of her situation could not be known, she was sharing with the scores of other young ladies still sitting down all the discredit of wanting a partner. To be disgraced in the eye of the world, to wear the appearance of infamy while her heart is all purity, her actions all innocence, and the misconduct of another the true source of her debasement, is one of those circumstances which peculiarly belong to the heroine’s life, and her fortitude under it what particularly dignifies her character. Catherine had fortitude too; she suffered, but no murmur passed her lips.

This sentiment is so real, it's like assuring the waitress that you aren't at the café alone and your boyfriend is coming. Catherine wants people to know that she has a partner! She's not unselected and unknown. It doesn't matter that she may never see these people again, the disgrace is real.

Then worse (!) she finally sees Mr. Tilney again but she can't dance with him! The horrors! I love how Catherine doesn't fall for the "mistakes sibling for spouse" trope, which continues to happen in fiction to this day, but instantly realizes that Henry is with his sister.

Thorpe finally appears (ug) and he doesn't have any good excuse for keeping Catherine waiting. However, this reminds me of three other men:

of the horses and dogs of the friend whom he had just left, and of a proposed exchange of terriers between them

We know that Mr. Rushworth of Mansfield Park also annoyed a woman by talking too much of horses (his "sport" would include this) and dogs:

Maria, with only Mr. Rushworth to attend to her, and doomed to the repeated details of his day’s sport, good or bad, his boast of his dogs, his jealousy of his neighbours, his doubts of their qualifications, and his zeal after poachers, subjects which will not find their way to female feelings without some talent on one side or some attachment on the other Mansfield Park, Ch 12

Also, Sir John and Willoughby are arranging the exchange of some terriers:

Such a scoundrel of a fellow! such a deceitful dog! It was only the last time they met that he had offered him one of Folly’s puppies! and this was the end of it! Sense & Sensibility, Ch 32

Now I'm sure a big part of these quote aligning is just the era and being gentry, them with their fancy horses and fancy dogs, but both Rushworth and Sir John notably can't really talk to women, I think we can easily argue that Thorpe is in the same camp. And inconsiderate Tom Bertram delayed another woman from dancing with concern about horses:

He came towards their little circle; but instead of asking her to dance, drew a chair near her, and gave her an account of the present state of a sick horse, and the opinion of the groom Mansfield Park, Ch 12

The real problem here is that men are putting their concerns above doing a duty or a kindness to a woman. Sir John gets away with his devotion to hunting because he is very kind and accommodating otherwise, but John Thorpe, Mr. Rushworth, and Tom Bertram especially really show their selfishness and self-absorption in these scenes.

ANYWAY, joy of joys, Catherine is introduced to Eleanor Tilney, who seems like 10,000,000% more rational and genuine than Miss Thorpe:

Her manners showed good sense and good breeding; they were neither shy nor affectedly open; and she seemed capable of being young, attractive, and at a ball without wanting to fix the attention of every man near her, and without exaggerated feelings of ecstatic delight or inconceivable vexation on every little trifling occurrence.

Catherine does not immediately become friends with Eleanor, but engages in the very small talk that Henry spoofed back in Ch 3.

The faithless "faithful Isabella" reappears, but she's far too absorbed with James to really focus on Catherine, no matter what she claims. Both Catherine and Isabella refuse to dance with their partners more than once, though like Willoughby and Marianne, Isabella and James don't find new partners but instead talk with each other. Poor Catherine barely spends any time with Mr. Tilney as he got bored and danced with someone else.

Now, we know Catherine is already half in love with Henry at this point, but what is he thinking about her? He does seem to have sought her out and he asks her to dance again. This may just be polite, and he certainly feels that nothing is keeping him from finding another partner. I would say he probably enjoyed the first dance and is happy to see her again, but I doubt he's been dreaming of her...

[animanga-bonanza]

team 7 and empathy

Chapter 3 marks the introduction of Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha in the Naruto manga. And one particular moment in this chapter has spawned a lot of discourse and memes: when Sakura badmouths Naruto in front of Sasuke.

Now, I think that the exact details of this moment have been sort-of exaggerated in order to make Sakura’s actions seem worse than they actually are (not to mention that there’s kind of a big plot hole at issue here).

Regardless, this chapter is pretty interesting in how it establishes one of the core themes of Naruto -- empathy -- and how each member of Team 7 relates to that theme.

In this post, I’ll re-examine this chapter to highlight interesting details about the characters and their dynamics.

[Note: I am relying on the official English translation of the Naruto manga, which may or may not be 100% accurate to the original Japanese text.]

First Impressions

The first time we see Sakura and Sasuke, we see them through Naruto’s point of view: he likes Sakura and thinks she’s very pretty, but dislikes Sasuke in part because Sakura has a crush on him, and because Naruto thinks that Sasuke is arrogant. So it seems at first that Naruto's crush on Sakura is superficial and his judgment of Sasuke is equally superficial.

We also see that Sakura dislikes Naruto, and seems to find him annoying. After the iconic moment in which Naruto accidentally kisses Sasuke, Sakura (seeming to think that this was a deliberate action) says to Naruto, “You make me sick!”

These words will later come back to Sakura.

Shenanigans and Revelations

Later, Naruto decides to impersonate Sasuke so that he can get closer to Sakura. Which, by the way, is a pretty skeevy thing to do!

Something that much of the fandom seems to forget is that Naruto was very intentionally presented as an obnoxious and socially clueless person early on in the series – the other characters often had good reasons to find him irritating, as he didn’t really endear himself to anyone.

Of course, we as fans sympathize with Naruto because we know what he’s been through and why he’s like that, and also because he’s the protagonist and we relate to him by default. But as this chapter demonstrates, most of Naruto’s peers are clueless about his lived experiences and are only reacting to his current behavior.

However, Sakura stands out because unlike many of Naruto’s peers, who avoided Naruto in part because their parents warned them away from him, Sakura dislikes Naruto because she genuinely misunderstands his intentions.

Here, when Fake Sasuke (Naruto in disguise) asks her what she thinks of Naruto, she takes a moment to think about it before responding. She says: “If he had his way, I’d never find love or happiness…He ruins everything…He enjoys tormenting me! Naruto doesn’t understand me at all! …I can’t stand to have him anywhere near me! In fact, the one person whose opinion I value…the only one I really want to be close to…is you, Sasuke. I’d do almost anything to win your attention…your respect…because I have a crush on you…I’m…desperate.”

This is pretty interesting. Instead of Sakura hating Naruto because he’s a “loser” or a “troublemaker”, as many of their peers do, Sakura hates Naruto because she mistakenly believes that he has a vendetta against her. Which is pretty funny – the girl you have a crush on thinks that you hate her and are trying to ruin her life. I suspect that Naruto has maybe pestered Sakura in the past to try to get her attention, which may have led to Sakura misunderstanding him.

However, what’s also interesting about this is that Sakura is simultaneously correct and incorrect about Naruto.

She’s incorrect in her belief that Naruto doesn’t understand her. In fact, in the above pages, Naruto realizes that he does understand Sakura on a fundamental level, and that’s the reason why he has a crush on her. When Sakura confesses to Fake Sasuke that she only cares about his approval and is desperate to earn his attention and respect, Naruto has a strong reaction to this and thinks, “I’m finally starting to understand…what I love about Sakura!”

Naruto likes Sakura because he knows what it’s like to desperately crave the validation and respect of others. He sees a part of himself reflected in Sakura. He empathizes with her. Although there may be an even more interesting meaning here: Naruto can specifically relate to Sakura wanting Sasuke to validate her. As we know from later in the series, particularly the Naruto vs Sasuke fight at the end of Part I, Naruto had always wanted to be friends with Sasuke, but felt like he had to become Sasuke’s equal first. Hence why Naruto decided that Sasuke was his rival. This fact about Naruto and Sasuke’s dynamic may have been foreshadowed as early as this chapter.

Ironically, Sakura is also proven correct in her belief about Naruto wanting to sabotage her, because he literally plans to do so later in this chapter. Not only does he pretend to be Sakura’s crush to get her to lower her guard (she even almost kisses him), Naruto later plans to manipulate Sakura into hating Sasuke. Of course, he doesn’t succeed because the real Sasuke finally catches up to him.

Again, this is kind of skeevy and shows Naruto’s immaturity and self-centeredness early in the series; despite his ability to empathize with Sakura, he thinks nothing of manipulating her to get what he wants.

The Call-Out

Now we get to the Big Moment that launched a thousand memes. When the real Sasuke comes along and asks where Naruto is, and Sakura has some choice words to say about him.

Sakura says that Naruto “always comes between us (her and Sasuke).” Then: “It’s because he was badly brought up! You know…Because he never had any parents? He doesn’t have to answer to anyone, ever, and it’s made him completely selfish! If I did the kinds of things he gets away with, my parents would ground me for life! Don’t you envy him being alone, not having parents nag at you all the time?”

Many people claim that Sakura was "making fun of Naruto for being an orphan." I think this isn’t an accurate description of what she’s doing here. She’s not saying, “Lol look at that dumb orphan Naruto that’s so cringe,” she’s making a point that Naruto’s obnoxious personality and selfishness comes from the fact that he didn’t have parents to raise him properly, so he doesn’t know right from wrong. She even says that she envies him.

Now, this is obviously still a very inappropriate and insensitive thing to say, and Sasuke rightfully calls her out for it. Sakura’s naivete is on full display here and stems from her sheltered upbringing. She has no idea how good her life has been.

[Personally, I think Sakura wasn’t entirely wrong here; it’s true that Naruto’s bad social skills stem in part from the fact he’s had to raise himself. But the way she said it was still very mean and judgmental.]

Many people have also pointed out the irony of Sakura saying this to Sasuke, who is also an orphan. While that is kinda funny, I also feel like it’s a bit of a plot hole. Why wouldn’t Sakura know that Sasuke is an orphan? In fact, her question, “Don’t you envy him being alone?” suggests that she had no idea Sasuke’s family was dead. It honestly doesn’t make sense, since the Uchiha massacre would have been common knowledge to everybody in the Leaf village.

Anyway, Sasuke scolds Sakura, saying: “Kids without families always grow up selfish. That, and lonely. Being scolded by your parents doesn’t even compare! You…make me sick!” And he’s totally right to do so. Sakura was belittling Naruto’s suffering by speaking so ignorantly, and she needed to face reality. Sasuke literally throws Sakura’s prior words to Naruto back in her face.

This moment is also interesting re: Sasuke’s characterization, because up until this point, he’s rather distant and seemingly uncaring toward other people. He’s annoyed at the fact that he even got assigned to a three-man team and spends most of the chapter trying to avoid his new teammates. But here, he shows that he does recognize Naruto’s feelings and empathizes with him to a certain degree, even though Naruto behaves very arrogantly toward Sasuke in this chapter (literally ambushing him, tying him up and impersonating him).

Later, Sakura reflects on Sasuke’s words and finally realizes that she’s been acting like a jerk, and resolves to try to do better in the future. She begins to empathize with Naruto.

This moment is conveniently ignored by the anti-Sakura crowd, who only spotlight her cruelty in the earlier scene as “proof” that she’s an irredeemable asshole. But here, Sakura shows that she’s actually a kind person capable of critical self-reflection.

Conclusion

Chapter 3 introduces the other members of Team 7 and the concept of “empathy” which is central to the series. Naruto’s feelings for Sakura are rooted in empathy, but he still lacks an awareness/respect of personal boundaries, hence his willingness to manipulate her to get what he wants. Sakura initially lacks empathy for Naruto because she misunderstands him, but later begins to think more about his feelings and perspective. And Sasuke initially seems cold and unfeeling, only to reveal that he is empathetic to others’ feelings and experiences.

This chapter, despite its brevity, establishes each of these characters as being multifaceted. Naruto cares about Sakura and desperately wants the approval of others, but he goes about it in a self-centered way. Sakura is naïve and judgmental but also compassionate and willing to own up to her own faults. Sasuke puts up a cold and uncaring front but deep down, he cares about other people.

[butterfly-eye]

i don't wanna finish the comic... kinda a long-ish fic detailing the relationship between Carrie and Ford. They're a fun dynamic that I didn't consider enough while I was first making her so... it's happening now.

Carrie meets Ford just hours after the dust settles on his arrival. She'd have been there sooner, but as it turns out, opening a direct portal between dimensions will have some adverse affects on a girl whose perception is split between them; migraines don't get much worse than that.

She rushes up to the Mystery Shack as soon as she can. The world hadn't ended and there are no new monsters lurking around and her friends are a little banged up but otherwise unharmed, but Carrie can't find it in herself to be relieved.

Mabel introduces him as her new Grunkle Ford, who had been stuck in between dimensions.

It's hard to describe exactly what Carrie sees when she looks at him, because how do you describe seeing a concept that should be imperceptible? But what's important is this: she looks at him and she knows, sure as she knows about the stained-glass window and her eyes when she looks in the mirror.

That man is a monster.

He's the one who built the shack and he's the author of Dipper's journal and Mr. Pines' brother and Mabel's Grunkle, and traces of Bill's power linger around him, inside his head and heart and soul, invisible to all but her.

She relaxes her posture and flashes a smile like she always does and jokes that at least one's taste in decor isn't genetic. The town returns to normal, as it is wont to do, and Carrie tries not to let show the sick feeling in her belly every time she sees their old-new resident scientist around the shack or the woods.

Ford, for his part, isn't oblivious to the gold-rimmed eyes that track his every move through the forest, nor way the children's friend's smile gives way to a dark glower whenever they're not looking. He can't imagine what he might've done to warrant this, being that he has said maybe twenty words to her ever, but it's very obviously not a priority. He carries on with his research and leaves her to her ire.

It comes to a head while Stan and the children are off on a road trip... something about rivaling tourist traps and vandalism. (Ford won't be bailing them out if things go south, he tells himself.) He's researching ways to protect the Shack from Bill's influence, when at some point he falls asleep. His dreams are suspiciously undisturbed.

When he wakes up, Carrie is standing over him with a kitchen knife poised over her head, ready to strike.

The next instant, she's on the floor. She scrambles back. Her expression is one of absolute terror.

"I hadn't expected you to take things this far," Ford says. He picks up the knife from where it had landed. Carrie yelps and puts up her arms defensively.

"Stay away from me!" She yells, "Don't come any closer!"

Ford doesn't know what to make of this situation, at first. This child had shown a clear disdain for him from the moment she laid eyes on him, and that dislike had culminated in her trying to kill him in his sleep. The logical course of action is to subdue her, as he has done, and inform the authorities.

Except.

He has heard much about the children's adventures over the summer, and through all of them, Carrie has been painted as cheerful, laid back despite her oddities. Every time he sees her in the company of others (really anyone except him,) she's smiling and attentive, always ready with a quip or a rambling story. Her current demeanor is uncharacteristic- reserved only for him. Why?

"I'm not going to hurt you," he says. She shakes her head.

"I'm not stupid! I know what you are!"

What?

"What?"

The glare she shoots him would be scathing were it not for the tears running down her face.

"I can see it! Did you think I wouldn't know? Did he not tell you I would?"

He feels like he's about a hundred steps behind in this conversation.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't try to- don't try to play dumb! I know you made a deal with Bill Cipher!"

Ford's blood runs cold. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out, not at first. Carrie continues yelling.

"I'm not stupid, and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone! I- can't let you hurt anyone! I'll kill you if that's what it takes!"

Oh. Oh.

He sets the knife down on the end table and sinks to the ground slowly. He meets her eyes, properly taking in the glowing gold triangle that surrounds her pupil. Were it not for her outburst, he might have assumed... well, he isn't sure what he would have thought.

"I'm not sure how you know about Bill, but I assure you, I am not working with him. I was tricked many years ago and have worked tirelessly to stop him ever since."

She seems taken aback by that admission, but she only falters for a moment.

"Why should I believe you? He's a good liar, in case you didn't know."

Trust no one. Carrie hasn't see that phrase, can't have seen it, but she lives by it all the same. It would be commendable, were it not heartbreaking.

"Look at my eyes- my pupils. I'm not possessed by Bill, nor can I ever be possessed by him again. I've made sure of that." He knocks his fist against his forehead. The metallic sound fills the silence.

Carrie studies him for a long moment. Her gaze is searching, analytical. Whatever she's looking for, she seems to find it, as a little bit of tension slips from her shoulders. She gathers her knees to her chest and keeps staring at Ford.

"I see him... in the window, the rug... all over town... he's always- always watching. And nobody else knows. Nobody else can see."

She lifts up her right arm to show off the woven bracelet she's wearing.

"He can't possess me either. I made sure to... it's a ward."

Ford's eyes widen. "A ward? How did you manage to create one? How does it work?"

"It's not... I didn't make it. It's a gift from-" she pauses, considering her next words carefully. If it would be alright to tell anyone what she sees, it would be Dr. Pines, she thinks. But the thought makes her feel slimy and scared. Maybe not. "-a friend. I don't think I can get more."

She buries her chin deeper in her knees. "I'm not going to give you mine to study, either. So don't even ask."

Silence.

"I'm not sorry. And I'll deny it if you try to tell anyone."

That startles a small laugh out of him. How bold.

"Well, I can't argue with that. If I were working with Bill, you wouldn't have been wrong for what you did. But it was still reckless. Bill is powerful beyond imagination. It wouldn't take him a second to hurt you."

She nods, looking embarassed.

"Also, this would have been a very poorly executed murder. You're wearing easily identifiable clothes, and you don't even have gloves on. You'd be identified and found quickly. And what were you planning to do with the body?"

She giggles tearfully. "Well, the next time I try to murder you I'll be more prepared."

And that's the kind of thing the Carrie of Mabel and Dipper's descriptions would say. Her expression is still reserved, and she still leans a little bit away from him as he stands, but it is something.

"Well, since we're both awake, what say you to some ice cream? I'd like to ask you what you know about that ward of yours."

She rises to her feet as well. "I can't tell you a whole lot, but I'm not going to turn down ice cream," she replies.

I can't tell you much isn't the same as I don't know much, and they're both quite aware of that fact. But it's okay. There's time.