#so if I've just stepped on some kind of snake pit

[postapocalyptic-cryptic]

someday there will be destroy boys vs GRLwood discourse nearly identical to current fall out boy vs mcr discourse. mark my words.

I saw a post the other day about how "a band doesn't have to make 50 minute rock operas in order to make good music" and in the wake of funeral soundtrack #4 and blood I just know there's going to be that kind of discourse about destroy boys and grlwood. I just know it.

[brothermoth]

See I need to share my dad's lore because someone needs to study this man like a bug. We plan to donate his body to science so a bunch of medical students can see the most brain damage a person can possibly have without losing major bodily function.

Now, my grandparents moved around a bit when their kids were little, but my dad spent most of his childhood in rural New York and the middle of bumfuck nowhere in a cottage (it's a shack, make no mistake) on the shore of lake Erie. His parents did not know what the fuck he was doing at any given moment. This guy was diagnosed with ADHD in the SEVENTIES. Do you even know how bad he had to be to get diagnosed in the 70s??

He was a menace of a child but his parents put him in tball instead of getting the little bastard some much needed Adderall. He was super athletic all his life (didn't pass those genes on to me, unfortunately) but this also went along with deeply concerning injuries in the way every boy in the 70s had at one point or another.

He has:

-had his EAR ripped almost completely off while playing middle school football — he duck-taped it back on and it just kinda healed itself

-fell into a storm cellar backwards and got knocked out when he was like 5

-been hit in the head by a hockey stick and knocked out

-had his head smash through a wooden door playing floor hockey in gym class

-broke his leg that one time and then tried out for his highschool wrestling team with the cast on (he got on and ended up being captain)

-broke his thumb and didn't tell anyone, then had to have it re broken at the doctor's

-got knocked out in at least 4 fights

-had his knee replaced in his early 30s, drove himself to the gas station to buy a 12 pack, then fell down the stairs with said 12 pack, smashed half the bottles, and popped stitches out

-broken the same toe at least twice; the nail turned black and fell off the first time

-broke his nose falling out of bed like three months ago

-lost a tooth playing hockey

-cut the tip of his thumb off with a hand saw while camping; duck-taped it and continued camping for another 3 days

-has had at least 20 fishhooks caught in his hands

-had Bell's Palsy a few years ago (he was fine he just couldn't eat soup for a while and it was hilarious)

-had too many drinks and burned off his fingerprints on the side of a mini fire pit (the kind that looks like a paint can), laughed about it, and went golfing the next day with huge blisters on his fingers

~~~~~

I'm missing so many. So many. It's a miracle he reproduced. He has so much brain damage but he's fine, he just ignores it.

~~~~~~~~~~Robert's Greatest Hits~~~~~~~~~~

[In Boston] "Oh yeah that used to be an IRA bar. I think I'm still banned for getting into a fight."

"You know my buddy REDACTED? Yeah he got electrocuted once. Almost died, I visited him in the ICU a couple times, he's fine now though."

"I went into a gas station in rural Florida once, super hungover. My buddy went in and came out with tears in his eyes saying don't go in there, so of course I had to. Guy at the counter had a wooden peg leg like a pirate, and there was a nail screwed in. Attached to the nail was a chain and at the end of the chain was a super sickly looking chicken. Weirdest thing I've ever seen, I think."

"You know that plane crash that killed JFK Jr? His girlfriend he was with—i dated her in college."

"Who's that singer? Dupa Loopa or whatever"

~~~~~~Unhinged Information~~~~~~~~

—his childhood babysitter was the actress who now voices Eda from the Owl House (I've met her twice she's very nice. I fell down the back steps of her mom's cottage once)

—He used to bring home water moccasins (y'know, the venomous snakes) and show them to his very terrified mother

—they had a golden retriever named Toby and nobody can remember if she was a boy or a girl

—while cleaning out the basement he found his ID card from the World Trade Center when he went for a business trip...ON AUGUST 10TH OF 2001

—he lived in Boston in his 20s and took a bet while absolutely hammered to run the Boston Marathon, did it hungover and placed like 200-somethingth

—ate a spider by accident one time because he thought it was a bread crumb from his sandwich

—will drive out of his way just to see car accidents

—man's a sympathy vomiter

—will pet literally any animal. If it's small and sweet he's immediately just ready to commit a crime for it

—likes to pick fights with cops but only if they're rude first. He has gone to court to fight 14 dollar parking tickets just out of spite (and somehow he always talks himself out of it)

—swears to god he's seen aliens

—has hardcore puzzle autism. He'll stay up until 1 am just to get 12 more pieces and will finish a 1200 piece puzzle in a day

—also fish autism I swear to God

—you can put this guy in the middle of nowhere and he somehow always knows where north is

[askthefivefallen]

Angel has fat nuggets and Charlie has KeeKee, is there any chance any of you would want a pet in the future? I think Junior would be a very good cat dad.

J: "Oh, I think I'd like having a cat! Should probably figure out how to take care of myself first, though, before getting a pet..."

R: "Hey, you're taking care of yourself just fine, dude. You can feed and water yourself, plus hygiene- I think that's enough to consider yourself for being a cat dad. It's not like you have to teach the cat accounting."

L: "Plus, having a pet can be therapeutic. Maybe we should ask about visiting a... pound? I think that's what they're called."

R: "Why a pound specifically?"

L: "Well, after spending over two centuries indiscriminately killing Sinners, offering a home to those considered unwanted might be a step towards... something. It was just a thought."

T: "Well, we'll need to be careful about visiting pounds in Hell. Pounds can also be Hellhound adoption agencies, and there's a pretty big difference between adopting a pet and adopting a kid."

A: "Wait, do Hellcats exist? I want a Hellcat."

T: "Did- did you not just hear me-"

A: "I heard you but fuck it, I'm a great role model, I want a Hellcat."

R: "Too bad, you're not getting a Hellcat."

A: "Fuck you."

R: "Or any kind of cat. You need to learn how to mind boundaries before you go near another cat; the fact Keekee only teleported you into the air instead of a hellfire pit is the only reason you're not extra crispy right now."

A: "I'm getting a Hellcat, fucking watch me."

L: "I think you'd do better with a ball python. They're more sedate and come in pretty colors."

A: "Ball py- isn't that a snake?"

L: "Yes. A literal, actual snake, the embodiment of defiance against Heaven, the misunderstood creature bearing an eternal curse."

A: "... okay yeah I want a snake now."

R, quietly: "Nice save."

A: "If I get a black snake and put a top hat on it, think I could convince the Egg Boiz it's Sir Pentious' son?"

J: "Could you? Absolutely. Would you survive Cherri finding out?"

T: "You know, all this talk of pets makes me want one. Lefty, what sort of pet should I get?"

L: "Uh, well... it's hard to say? I mean, I would say a working breed of dog as a running partner but you... have that covered? A boxer might suit you, though. They're very playful and energetic."

T: "Playful and energetic, that's me! I think you should get a bird, Lefty. Like, a falcon or something. You'd be a good falconer. Falconeer?"

L: "Falconer and really? I would've expected um... something like a canary."

T: "Ah, c'mon, you're one of the most fearless divers ever! I've seen you pull up from a dive at the actual last possible second! You're totally a falcon."

J: "Oh, hey, there's actually a pound in the Pride Ring. It's not too far away, either, and look! They've got some cats. Think we could go and just look?"

R: "Two things: one, we can't all leave the hotel at the same time, and two, don't I get a pet?"

L: "Righty, we all know you adopted two of the rats, you're covered on pets."

R: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

A: "Oh, fuck off, you're not subtle. You named one Squeakerton and the other McCheesings. Which... honestly, are we sure we can't become actual Sinners, because those name choices are actual Sins."

R: "They chose their names!"

L: "Writing a bunch of names on pieces of paper and waiting for them to eat one is not a good naming mechanic."

R: "Oh, what, should I use the Adam method?"

T: "Wait... do rats have tits?"

L: "I mean, yes, they're mammals, so they definitely have-"

R: "Tits, Junior, Ass, you three go to the pound and see if any of the animals there catch your eyes. Because, honestly, I don't want a biology lesson right now on the sexual organs of rats."

[deerydear]

Going back and reading my blog, after making all those criticisms of online Social Justice culture....

I actually found some of those posts on my old blog, from before I had become critical of a certain aspect of the movement.... I remember that I wasn't reblogging them to actually question the larger humanity of the situation, the psychological plays going on.....

I was just being a very blue person, saying, "these are the hypocrites you need to watch out for!", and it's an image of someone wearing the same uniform as I.

People try to make criticisms of warped psychologies. Then, other people who do exactly what negative thing is being discussed will chime in, "oh yeah! Don't you hate when that happens?! I hate people who do that! Watch out, and stay safe!"

I, Hypocrite.

I feel that I did feel some kind of real remorse in the pit of my stomach for past actions, past cruelties, past evils I had committed... and so I thought that the principle of "it takes a snake to know a snake" would come through.

I thought if I stood on the hillsides, preaching to the people walking by, telling them what evil I had commited, through an anonymous mask.... casting it as some anonymous parable which had nothing to do with me.... then they would be saved. As if I added knowledge to their bank.

but I feel that the problem with my past approach was that I wanted to present myself as a good, righteous person who doesn't do the things I warned against. Thus, it was like I was truly trying to jam people's pattern-recognition radars....

"oh this person says good things, so they should be a good person, but their vibe is vile and self-serving."

Do you try to spare their feelings, or tell them the truth?

Do you spare your own feelings from the truth?

Is it okay to feel shame?

Matthew 6

Are you afraid of shame, because of the people who flog themselves in the streets?

Are you afraid that your own emotions would concede to the wills of Men?

Fear not, for the Lord is near...

He is not in the dogma of the church, but in every hidden secret thing.

I've long made a comparison between the ills of Social Justice, and the ills of the Churches. The ills have in common: human error.

They are large gatherings of people who strive to come together for a better purpose.

There are some good social-justices, just as there are some good churches.

I could count the similarities of evil... the abuses of human authority. The bullshit. So I am no longer afraid. I have walked in the valley of the shadow of Death, and the Lord has been with me, every step, before and behind me. I do not fear. I have no need.

Thank you.

i can fuck up any feature implementation

[quirkycombatants]

// So another thing I've been thinking about lately is the concept of people as things, like, what their aura is. Some people might be various animals, some people might be weapons, some people might be buildings or even environments or concepts.

For example, Noburu's grandfather the assassin was a pit of vipers; one wrong step and you'd die because you'd fall in and get bit. Fighting him was like being in a forest and not knowing where the pits were, or what step might result in death.

Noburu's father was Orochi, the many headed snake monster. Many heads, overpowering, violent, malevolent. A thing that constantly thirsted for more violence and terrorized everyone it came into contact with. A being of arrogance and pride and envy and violence.

Noburu himself though, is more like Jormungandr, the world serpent. He's someone who, at first glance, you might not even realize is a monster, because he's so big that all you can see is part of his body that you might think is a wall or a mountain, and then it moves. And you become aware of just how vast and powerful it is. How small you are in comparison.

But what it isn't is malevolent. Unlike his father, he's aloof. He's so large, so powerful, so confident and certain that he's above that kind of feeling of envy or anger. In other words, he doesn't have anything to prove, and even when he faces down others, he's not doing so with any kind of hatred attached to it.

Granted, that would be insulting to a great many people who'd want to be the Thor to his Jormungandr. The idea that someone is so large and overwhelming that they don't even feel threatened by others naturally is taken by a lot of people to be a slight against them, but it's simply because of his boundless confidence in his own abilities.

Also I do like the idea that if people clashed in terms of auras, that he's the sort who seems unassuming but then people have to look up at this massive serpent who regards them like they're just another meal.

Not naturally hostile, and it's not personal, it's just natural.

[jloves-pp]

the Story of Merida and Hiccup-chapter 11

chapter 11-the white dragon

The princess was taken aback as she stepped into the huge hall. Made of wood and stone the hall had tapestries of dragons and Vikings on the walls. It was filled with wooden chairs and benches, above a big fire pit hung a gold dragon statue. Merida have never seen anything so amazing.

"Well, it's not that fancy of a hall" Hiccup said seeing her looking around.

"Are you kidding me, it's beautiful" Merida said grinning.

"Well...er…thank you" Hiccup said. They were soon joined by the others with food.

"So, what's Scotland like? Fishlegs asked "I've heard that Scotsmen dine on the blood of their enemies and throw them into a pit filled with wolves"

Merida couldn't help but find this funny

"No, we don't that. We only eat meat, veg and fine wine" she said taking a chicken leg.

"Oh, that's what my dad told me" Fishlegs said.

"Me too" Astrid added "My parents told me they fought blood thirsty creatures covered in fur".

"You mean Bears" Merida replied. She noticed the confusion looks on their heads. "Bears are animals who roam the forest, we used to hurt them but we stop since…"

"Oh, it sounds like something happened there" Astrid said.

"You have no idea" Hiccup murmured knowing that they would need to tell Merida's story. They chatted and ate, he was surprised at Merida who was gobbling down her food, without a care in the world.

The days she spent in Berk were paradise for Merida. Hiccup showed her around the village, the Viking men and women were kind and friendly to her which reminded her of home. She'd seen so many dragons breeds, met her new friends dragons and learned about their different abilities. One time, Merida and Hiccup found a group of Terrible Terrors. Hiccup handed some pieces of fish to Merida and she happily fed them. One of the Terrors placed its head on her lap, Merida gently stroked the small dragon's head. Enjoying being with these wonderful creatures.

Merida loved to explored the island whether it be on foot or in the air. Hiccup showed Merida the cove that he and Toothless had first become friends.

"Ok, just hold it right here" Hiccup said holding his princess's hand as they walked towards the entrance. Merida covered her eyes from the sunlight but soon she could see she took in a breathtaking sight. Surrounded by rock walls, there was a peaceful lake with a waterfall that glistened in the sunlight. Giant trees towered over them their roots snaking down the rocks below.

"It's beautiful" Merida manage to say. Hiccup smiled at her, happy to share this special place. Without warning, Merida quickly climbed down the rock. Hiccup and Toothless quickly join her "It's so peaceful here, it's a perfect hiding place".

"Well, it wasn't by choice. Toothless fell into it and of course he couldn't fly out until I made his fin" Hiccup said. The dragon rushed over to the lake, to find fish. Merida sat on a nearby rock, watching the Night Fury. She was reminded of her mum as a bear, trying to fish. Hiccup sat next to her and started drawing.

"Want to go swimming together" Merida suddenly asked. She saw Hiccup stopped and turning red.

"Ur… Mer…we can't. We shouldn't…..I…I…" he said flustered.

"Hiccup, I'm joking, don't worry. I don't know if" Merida replied before rubbing her arm. Now regretting what she'd said. Hiccup could see Merida was also nervous about having an intimate moment like swimming together but mostly, seeing each other's bodies.

"Hey, hey. It's ok. Let's take our time with things" He reassured his princess, taking her hand and softly rubbing her knuckles. "Maybe one day we can and anyway you're beautiful".

"Thank you" Merida and gently kissed his cheek. Just as she pulled away, Hiccup turned and kissed her on the lips. She was stunned but instantly kissed him back. They were enjoying this moment of passion when the sound of flapping wings put a stop to their magic moment.

"Hey lovebirds" shouted Tuffnut.

"Are you two coming?" called Snotlout.

"We're heading for the cliffs, come on" Astrid said before they flew off. Hiccup and Merida smiled to each other and got up and raced to Toothless. Soon they we're flying across the sky with their friends.

When the dragons landed, the riders relaxed on the stones while their dragons played.

"So there no dragons in DunBroch?" asked Fishlegs.

"No, most people don't believe they exist" Merida said holding Hiccup's hand while his arm rested around her shoulders.

"So, what's in DunBroch?" Astrid said.

"Well, we have sheep, cows, hawks, horses oh and bears" Merida said, counting them on her fingers.

"My mum saw a horse once, she said it had four legs, one big eye with a upper human body and no flesh" Tuffnut said. Everyone, including the dragon looked on in confusion. Even though most of them never seen a horse they could tell that wasn't right.

"No, that's nothing like a horse" Merida finally said.

"Oh, still she dreams about it. Always goes white" Ruffnut said.

"Speaking of things aren't as their seem." Snotlout said "Are you sure you're a princess?"

"Aye. Why?" Merida asked.

"Because you don't act like a princess"

"Oh, and what, pray tell. Should a princess act like" Merida asked crossing her arms.

"Well, something like this" Snotlout announced as he stood up and said in a high pitch voice "Oh look at me, I'm a pretty princess. I love wearing fancy dresses and singing about love" as he pranced around.

"Oh, I can only talk to animals and wait for a man to save me" Tuffnut said as he twirled around. The two boys were laughing with the other teen.

"No, I'm not like that at all" Merida answered.

"Definitely not" Hiccup added as he hugged Merida close. Just then, they heard the dragons growling. The teens looked over to see them watching something out at sea. "What is it bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless as he and the others joined them. The Night Fury pointed his head in the of the direction of the disturbance and Hiccup pulled out his telescope to see. "oh"

"What is it?" Merida asked.

"See for yourself" Hiccup said and handed the telescope to her. Merida put it up to her eye, it took a moment but she could see a large boat.

"It's a ship," cried Merida.

"A dragon hunter ship to be exact" Hiccup answered. Merida knew what he meant. Hiccup told her there were Vikings who still hunted dragons. "Ready for a dragon rescue" Merida heard Hiccup asked. Merida didn't need to answer, she was ready.

They didn't waste any time, they all got on their dragons and flew off.

"Should we take Merida back to Berk" Fishlegs asked.

"I'm perfectly fine coming along" Merida said crossly as she held on to Hiccup.

"She's more than capable to join in" Hiccup mentioned before they flew higher. Merida knew that the best way to do this was to use the element of surprise. "Ok Fishlegs, Snotlout, you distract them on the left. Ruff, Tuff, you take the right. Me, Mer and Astrid will jump aboard to save the dragons".

"Ok" "On it" the others called as they flew into position. With Hiccup on Toothless and Astrid riding Stormfly they hovered just near the ship. Merida took out her bow and pressed the button to release it to its full size, as she fasten the string, she saw in time the first dragon fire at the boat. They heard cries and shouts before the twins on Barf and Belch had sprayed gas and then lit the gas to cause a fire.

"Ok let's go" Hiccup said, and the teens shot down on their dragons, making the Viking men on the deck scatter in fear, Toothless and Stormfly landed. The girls jumped off with their weapons in hand followed by Hiccup, who was walking up to a unconscious man to retrieve the keys. "Ok, got some but we need more".

"We'll look for more!" Merida said, as the girls ran off while Hiccup and Toothless began to open the cages. Merida and Astrid were battling the Viking men, as one released the dragons, the other would fight to defend and search for the remaining keys.

"Nothing here" Astrid told Merida before pushed an unconscious Viking out of their way. Merida had unlocked a cage containing a Monstrous Nightmare and its babies, they quickly flew out of the ship like the rest of the captured dragons.

"We need to keep looking" Merida quickly said, when they suddenly heard something roaring beneath them. "Did you hear that? There are more dragons below" Merida said looking at Astrid.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go" Astrid replied, the girls soon found the trap door leading to the deck below, Astrid easily opened it with her axe. Merida climbed down and Astrid was about to jump….

"Don't you dare" shouted a huge man who'd suddenly appeared before them. He lunged his enormous axe at Astrid. The blonde haired girl had let go of the trap door to defend herself.

The hatch slammed shut, Merida could only look up as she was suddenly in the dark, as her eyes got accustomed to her surroundings the rays of light were visible around the edges of the hatch. It seemed like nothing was down here, Merida readied her bow, just in case when a loud bang came from behind her. Stealthily, Merida walked towards the sound. She realised there was a cage built into the back, she looked through the bars and found nothing but darkness. She wasn't sure where the sound had come from but she knew whatever made the sound was definitely here.

Merida turned for a second when she felt someone or something was watching her. She turned back to find two huge bright blue eyes looking straight at her.

The princess backed off as the eyes followed her from side to side, to Merida's surprise, white scales appeared around the eyes to reveal it was a white dragon. At first glance, the dragon looked like Toothless except being white and it's fins and body were different she thought it looked like a female dragon.

Suddenly the white dragon lunged at Merida but failed. Merida noticed that it was chained to the wall and muzzled. The redhead couldn't help but feel sympathy for the white dragon. Seeing her locked up and tied down, she knew she needed to free her. As the White dragon pulled and struggled to be free from her chains, Merida quickly broke the lock with an arrow. The lock fell to the floor which caught the attention of the white dragon. Growling, the dragon watched as Merida slowly walked in toward the dragon.

"I'm not going to hurt you" Merida reassured "I'm going to release you" but the response she got was a loud roar from the dragon. The Redhead wasn't sure how to calm this dragon down, watching the dragon as it pulled on its chains, it gave Merida a warning look, although she couldn't help but feel that there was something familiar about her. "I know it's the worst thing in life, being cage up, treated like an prop, use by others to they own desires and longing to be free" Merida softly said. The white dragon slowly tilted her head, showing that she was listening. Merida went closer before sitting a few feet away. "You know, I wonder what its like to fly. It's wasn't too long ago that I flew, and it's the most incredible feeling. You love the feeling of flying, don't you?"

The white dragon nodded which made Merida smile. She took a few more steps closer till she was next to the dragon. The dragon looked directly at her. The princess saw the dragons face now up close, it began to make a sound, to Merida's surprise it was a purr, the dragon was purring softly. At that moment, both of them stared into one another's eyes. Merida could see in the dragon's blue eyes an untameable fire and reckless wonder that she had. It was like looking in a mirror, seeing herself in this dragon, she could tell that the creature was thinking the same thing. Merida remembered Hiccup telling her when he met Toothless he too saw himself in the Night Fury.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, they both looked up to find one of Vikings coming through the hatch.

"Let's get out of here" Merida quickly said. She removed the dragons restraints. Luckily Hiccup had given her some lockpicks before they had boarded. She unlocked the chain from the wall when one of the men appeared. Merida and the white dragon hid against the wall as the Viking walked over to the cage.

"I know you're in here girl!" the huge man called out. Merida heard heavy footsteps coming closer. She quickly pulled out an arrow and place it her bow. The white dragon looked over and watched as Merida crept in the dark. "You must have a death wish" he growled. Merida readied herself as the Viking opened the cage door and walked in. "You should be scared; this monster is the deadliest thing on this earth".

"Ha, the only monster here is you!" Merida said bravely as she entered into the light, her bow ready.

"Oh, what pretty little thing, you are. Shame to spoiled that pretty little face of yours" the man sneered although he looked a bit surprised to see a young girl here.

"I would say the same thing but I can't" Merida replied which made the white dragon smirk. Merida kept a straight face, not wanting to show any weakness.

"I surprised you're not dead" the Viking said "Maybe I should get" he stroked his sword gently with evil grin, but before he could come close, Merida shot him in the shoulder. He screamed while Merida fastened another arrow. "Why you little.." the mad man grabbed Merida and caught her around the neck. Merida tried the break free but it was too difficult he squeezed tighter.

She may have passed out if it wasn't for her new friend. The white dragon roared and dived at Merida's attacker. The princess tried to get her breath back as the dragon held the man down. After coughing, Merida grabbed her bow and got to her feet.

"We need to go. He's not worth it" Merida said to the dragon. The white dragon gave one last roar at the frightened man before both girls walked out and locked the cage. Ignoring the shout of the Viking, Merida heard the commotion above them. She looked over to the dragon who was showing her back as if saying "Come on, hop on".

Merida climbed on, holding on as the dragon blasted through the door and flew out. It was hard to hang on with no saddle but the redhead just managed it. They were right above the ship, now the deck had fires dotted around, all of the cages were empty and she could see the dragon riders in the air. Merida tried to see Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless anywhere, then she finally spotted Astrid, reaching to her dragon, but just behind the blonde Viking was a other Viking man. Quickly, Merida place an arrow in her bow. As the white dragon hovered, Merida aim and fired it. The arrow flew and pinned the man's hand against the wall. Astrid turned and punched him in the head.

"Astrid where's Merida?" Hiccup asked looking around worried.

"I think she's fine, come one" Astrid reassured him before they jumped on their dragons. She didn't know how but when she saw the arrow, she had a feeling she knew who'd fired it.

Merida and the white dragon watched the others fly back to land and they followed. They reached the foggy cliffside and landed, Merida slid off the white dragon with ease. They landed the other side of the cliff the others so didn't see them.

"I think it makes us even, thank you" Merida said, her new friend purred then both heard the freed dragons roaring in the distance. Merida could tell the white dragon needed to go. "You need to help, don't you" Merida asked. The white dragon growled as if to say "yes" but the princess could see she was torn. "You're a free spirit, the last thing I want to do is to tie you down" the dragon seemed to physically relax hearing those words. Merida wanted a dragon since meeting Hiccup and Toothless but this dragon was much like her that she couldn't take her. The dragon noticed the sad look on Merida's face. The dragon came closer and licked the girl's cheek, making Merida laugh. "Thanks, we'll meet again one day. That's a promise".

Suddenly a thought came to Merida, she remembered Hiccup's story when he placed his hand on Toothless's head. She also remembered the feeling when she'd done it. Without thinking Merida reached out her hand. The dragon flinched making the princess stop, seeing this, Merida closed her eyes and reached out again. At first, the dragon was unsure what the human was doing but something was drawing her. She slowly pressed her head against Merida's hand. The redhead opened her eyes at the touch. She could feel what she had with Toothless but it was ten times stronger. Both knew they had a bond. An unbreakable bond.

The dragon pulled away and smiled, Merida couldn't stop smiling either. She never thought she'd have a dragon as a friend.

"Merida!" They heard Hiccup shouting. Instantly the white dragon took to the skies. Merida watched as she turned invisible, as if disappearing into thin air.

"Merida" The princess turned to see Hiccup running up to her with the Night Fury behind him. He ran up to her and kiss her. Merida felt his relief and worry in it, she kissed him back to reassure him. "Oh Mer, I was so worried…"

"I'm fine Hic" Merida said rubbing his cheek to calm him. "I managed to escape on one of dragons and landed here".

"Oh, and the dragon?" Hiccup asked and Toothless purred curiously.

"Oh, it flew off" Merida replied which was true.

"I'm just so glad you're ok" Hiccup said before holding on to his princess.

They then heard footsteps and the others joined them.

"Merida, thank the gods you made it" Astrid said.

"Aye, I'm glad as well" Merida answered.

"Well, we better get back home, it's getting late" Hiccup said. They got on their dragons and set off into the evening sky. Later that night, the teens sat around the fire, enjoying meat and telling each other about their rescue.

"You should have seen me firing fireballs at those suckers" Snotlout said proudly.

"Yeah, before you fell off Hookfang before they shot at you" Tuffnut said and Ruffnut chuckled. Snotlout look on sulkily.

"I noticed a few new species of dragons. We definitely need to study them" Fishlegs said to Hiccup.

Merida couldn't help but think of the white dragon when she heard that. She thought about telling them but after meeting her, she knew she wanted to stay hidden. She also knew Hiccup would drop everything and go off to search for her. She didn't want to keep this from him, but even if she wanted to she did not know where to start.

"Merida, what's wrong?" Hiccup asked. She saw Hiccup and Astrid looking concerned.

"Oh nothing, just tired. Too much excitement" Merida reassured them. She felt Hiccup's arm around her, she smiled at him as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Mer, were you the one who shot that arrow that stopped my attacker" Astrid asked Merida.

"Aye"

"I knew it, thanks. I'm impressed. From that distance, you definitely need to show me your skills tomorrow" Astrid commented.

"You're on" Merida replied. Both girls grinned.

"See, I knew you'd get along" Hiccup said giving a sheepish grin which made both Merida and Astrid giggle.

He was right, Merida was having a wonderful time here and had made great friends. At that moment, Merida noticed an outline in the sky. She recognised it instantly as the white dragon, the dragon flew across the moon before it disappeared again. The princess hoped one day they would meet again.

"Good night, Light Fury".

[heich0e]

Liv. LIV. THAT OIKAWA ANGST.

Not me having an hq feels day and then YOU POST JUICY OIKAWA TEARS. I've reached the conclusion that your favorite hobby is making fictional men suffer. I'm still here for it. CRYING, but here for it :') Anyways i'm gonna dump some Oikawa headcanons on you hope that's ok bc i ALSO HAVE BRAINROT:

Oikawa is so good at hiding his feelings that he eventually convinces himself he's not in love with you until leaving Japan. He would ALWAYS pick on you in high school (kind of in the way he does with kags but a little less mean) but it's mainly because he was mad that you didn't fawn over him and give him attention all the time right off the bat.

I think he's very touchy and if you're not a touchy person he gets mad because!!! he wants to be touched by you!!! he WILL be that person that asks "where's my hug?" (will do it every time just to annoy you)

Oh and when you finally, FINALLY start doing what he wants it's just before he moves away, and having the satisfaction of you hugging him regularly now makes him sad because why?? couldn't you have done it earlier when he thought that maybe he had a chance with you?

Now he's made commitments, he can't back out. and on the last night of hanging out with him you, so convinced that he doesn't have feelings for you, admit how you had a tiny crush on him (it wasn't tiny) and he wants to cry. He wants to tell you how he's felt the same, if not more. if only you had shown some kind of sign sooner, maybe he would've been brave enough to do something about it. But now it's too late. And the kiss you leave on his cheek that he always imagined to be sweet and inviting merely stings now with regret.

:') ANYWAYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS wow that got out of hand umm oops

LeY HOLY SHIT THE WAY MY HEART LITERALLY LURCHED IN MY CHEST READING THESE HEAD CANNONS

imagining oikawa sidling up beside you in the hallways, snaking his arm around your shoulder which you carefully slip out from under - like a well practiced dance the two of you have been mastering for years. But the two of you can follow each other's pace, match each other's moves; he knows the steps you'll take and learns to chase them (which he tells himself is purely for the fun of it and not because each graze makes warmth crackle through the pit of his stomach), and over time you stop retreating so intently. Start allowing the touches and the proximity that he's so insistent on. He doesn't dare allow himself to hope that maybe it's because they also make your heart beat a little faster in your chest, too.

"the kiss you leave on his cheek that he always imagined to be sweet and inviting merely stings now with regret" I Am YODELLING!!!

YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT OIKAWA TOORU IS NOT A PERFECT CHARACTER TO PROJECT ANGST ON AND YOU ARE ENABLING ME W THESE HCs LEY

[phthalology]

Taking advantage of your Control drabble offer. This might be difficult, but I've always been fascinated with how The Former kept saying, "Abalone." Are they a gastropod and are they referring to themselves or their people? Or perhaps referring to the Astral Plane since the metallic rock resembles the rainbow reflectiveness of an abalone shell? Would love to see this explored in some way.

Jesse opened the old, scratched refrigerator and found a shell inside.

The fridge hadn’t been anyone’s first priority in the lockdown. She visited the Panopticon in case of trouble, navigating the catwalks and echoing pit feeling like a descent whether she flew up or down. Shadows crowded around her, heavy. The suit she wore kept most of her body warm (and cool at other times, some paranatural thermal favor) while cold prickled at her face and hands, making her skin feel chapped. But after seeing the Former in the Foundation, she had added the fridge to her mental list of personal projects. No good to have a monster of unknown motive and fickle favor crawling around the Oldest House unseen.

The shell had bronze-silver lips and an iridescent mouth between them. It smelled strongly oceanic, fish and brine, but only a tiny scrap of yellow-white meat clung to the turquoise swirls inside the abalone.

Jesse picked it up. The edges were hard and uneven, rocky.

The world turned white.

Jesse cursed. The fridge had already been cleansed! What next?

She stood on a chunk of the astral plane. A tongue of black stone veined with gold stretched out into the white void. Sounds were muffled. No longer cold, her hands now felt faintly numb.

In front of her, below the pyramid, the Former was curled upside down like a dead spider, struggling to stand.

Legs that had once slammed her into the ground twitched up toward the void. The pyramid was silent, indifferent. A leg flinched toward her. The Former’s eye flickered and spun, light flashing across the shining black stone. This close, the body loomed four times her height, and she could not see where it ended or began.

“What do you want?” Instead of the gun, Jesse held the abalone. The Service Weapon was gone, even though that shouldn’t be possible. The Board’s gift, the mark of her office, had been taken away. Or its presence had been rendered somehow irrelevant here, enough so that it a version of it could not appear in the astral plane.

She turned the abalone over in her hands. Maybe what did the Former want with this new audience wasn’t the right question. Jesse could not hold on to interest in what any of the House’s powers wanted for long. She had come to decide what to do with or without them. Asking what either the Board or the Former wanted was unnecessary, even cruel and negligent, to Jesse’s goal of removing the Hiss and freeing her brother for good. Might as well ask Trench, if she was going to bother listening to any of these.

And the Former was dangerous. Jesse knew that first hand. Two pieces of information snapped together that never had before: the Former’s appearance in the Foundation and the fridge having been discovered in a collapsed hotel.

You’ve made a building fall before. You’ve been in the basement of the Oldest House, pulling a column here, cracking a wall there. Would you bring it down on all of us just as soon as help us? We’re the smallest animals in this ecosystem, and even the mold eats us. What kind of reassurance can a predator possibly give?

However, she would rather help the Former than the Board, if the House’s tendency toward ritual and metaphor was asking her to choose between them. After what had happened in the Foundation, it seemed the Former wanted to help her, not only to spite the Board but because they were also trapped in the lockdown. The Former wanted to be able to make their own choices, and Jesse was going to change the entire FBC to allow more people to do that.

Ritual. The House ran on ritual.

Jesse stepped forward, intending to carry the abalone to the twitching body.

The ground crumbled beneath her before she could put her foot down for the first step. She pushed off of nothing with rocketing force, her flight wobbly but strong. She was becoming good at levitating, and angled herself between drifting rocks, her power screaming in her ears. Strands of her hair drifted free from her pin.

She landed with a boom on the other side. Kept the momentum up in three long strides toward the flailing body. The Former’s legs flailed around her, like the first time she had fought inside the fridge, but with less intent, less aim. Jesse reached the body, which blurred around her like a House shift.

Her fingers dug into the shell. She cracked it open, revealing the opalescent artwork of natural blues, silvers, pink, bronze, and gold inside. Where it had been dry, the shell was now filled with water, clear and bright. She tipped it down onto the trapped body of the Former.

The world turned white again. Even more muffled than usual, she heard the voice: < Abalone #@$% Vivisect @%@# Building @#$! Relief > and saw a dim and foggy silhouette snake away into the void.

Jesse reappeared in front of the fridge. She rubbed the back of her neck, which was as stiff as if she had been standing still in the containment cell for a long time.

That was new.

Vivisect. The word made her skin crawl, her fingers curling against her own neck at the memory of cracking open the shell. What had all that meant? What was the Former? Had it even really been the astral plane, or a vision of something else? She opened her right hand to find the shell gone. The Service Weapon sat motionless on the plinth next to the open, apparently harmless fridge.

Jesse picked it up. No need to dwell on this. It had been one more strange thing in the life of the director. But she would tell Langston, and Emily, and maybe write it down. Whatever the vision had been, it hadn’t been a farewell.

[mypoisonedvine]

Can I please request the smut prompts "Does it hurt? Tell me to stop if it hurts." + "Let me show you how much I've missed you." + "Are you sure you've never done that before?" + "I wanna take my time with you tonight." with Jaskier x female reader, where it’s the first time, the reader has had sex, so she’s losing her virginity to the bard she loves. Thanks so much!! 💕

Aww this is so cute, the irony that this came in surrounded by the filthiest, dirtiest prompts ahdjghgashd this is so precious and it turned out even fluffier than i intended OOPS

As you finished your journey back home, you convinced yourself that you wouldn’t make a fool of yourself when you saw him again.  You’d been away for four months, helping your aunt care for her farm, and to say you thought of Jaskier every day would’ve actually been an understatement.  Still, you wanted to be proper about it and not come across as desperate, so you decided you’d give him a friendly hug, a peck on the cheek, and tell him that you’d missed him.  Very professional!  

But then you’d seen him waiting for you, and he’d seen you, and he smiled like you were the greatest thing he’d ever seen and you smiled back because he truly was the greatest thing you’d ever seen and that whole plan went out the window.

You lept off your horse and dashed to him, leaping into his arms.  He held you tightly and you’d forgotten how strong his arms were, how warm it felt to have him near.  You felt like you couldn’t ever hold him close enough to be satisfied.

“I’ve missed you dearly,” he told you, and you were so distracted by the smell of him (rosin, cedar, sweet wine, and honeysuckle) that you forgot to reply.  “I was afraid I’d forget what you looked like, you were gone so long.”

“Did you?” you asked.  He pulled back from the hug and examined you for a moment.

“I was afraid the absence had driven me mad, because I kept thinking to myself ‘there’s no way she was as beautiful as I’m imagining.’  But now that I look at you… I could’ve never imagined something this perfect,” he beamed.  You felt your face get hot.

“Jaskier, you’re too kind,” you replied softly.

“I’m really not.”

“You’re flattering me, because you’ve missed me so much,” you offered instead.

“Poetry, sure, but not flattery,” he winked.  You kissed him, and the second your lips touched his you knew that this was a different kiss.  Not nearly as desperate or happy as you would’ve predicted- not that it was undesperate or unhappy, it was just… thoughtful.  Contemplative?  You hadn’t realized that was an option for kisses.  You wondered if he noticed how different this kiss felt, too.

 As you rode your horses back home, you were able to catch him up on everything you’d done in four months, and he told you not only what he’d been up to, but all the gossip about what everyone else had been doing.

It was when you got inside that the conversation slowed down and stopped altogether.  You felt slightly anxious- mostly in a good way, but still- to the point that you had to talk yourself into kissing him again.  It wasn’t that you didn’t want to, because you definitely did, but you knew that this kiss would be different, maybe even more different than before.

As he returned the kiss, you felt his hands trail down your back.  He’d done that before, and you’d always liked it, but this time it was even more intense.  You felt an urge to lift your legs and wrap them around him, even though that would just pull you both to the ground.  Instead, you stepped back towards the nearby table and sat on it, which gave you the balance you needed to straddle him while you sat.  He moaned ever so slightly against your lips and it was the most gorgeous sound.

His hips pressed against you and you felt that he was hard-- more than ever, you craved him, and his body, and to feel his skin on yours.  In pursuit of that goal, you rubbed yourself against him and though it was all through clothes, his length was pressed against your folds and it was the best feeling and you had to moan aloud.

“Don’t do that,” he whimpered.

“You don’t like it?”

“I like it too much, my resolve can’t take it,” he explained.

“Maybe I want you to give in,” you replied with a smile, snaking a hand down his chest and finally rubbing your palm against the hardened shape through his trousers.  He moaned your name and you were sure no sound was sweeter.

“Let me show you how much I’ve missed you,” you requested softly.  He looked a little nervous.

“Are you sure?” he asked delicately. “I thought you were waiting for the right person.”

“You are the right person,” you smiled.

“...but are you sure?” he asked again, and you laughed, pulling him back into the kiss.

You were ready to do it on the table but he had other plans, carrying you to the bedroom and laying you on the bed.

His body weighing down yours was such a wonderful feeling, but it made it sort of hard to breath, so you rolled him over onto his back.  This gave you a wonderful idea; you slid down until you were hovering above the opening to his trousers, working on the lacing.  You reached inside and took his length into your hand, but as you opened your mouth, he stopped you.

“Oh, you don’t- you don’t have to do that,” he stuttered.

“I know, but I want to,” you smiled.  Before he could keep reminding you that you didn’t have to do this, you experimentally licked the head.  It didn’t really taste like anything, just skin, so you wrapped your lips around it and he made the softest, loveliest sound.

With a little patience and diligence, you were able to get most of him down, and though it was a peculiar feeling to have something so large in your mouth and pressing into your throat, you felt your own arousal growing just from feeling of pleasuring Jaskier.  He was certainly having a good time, as you could tell by the way his fingers weaved into your hair and his breathing was heavy and fast like he had just run a few kilometres.

“Are you sure you’ve never done that before?” he asked with a chuckle.  You smiled, pulling back.

“Yes, but I definitely want to do it some more." 

"I love that idea for another evening, but right now I really need to touch you," he explained.  Liking the sound of that, you came back up and let him undress you, though you wouldn’t let anything too exciting happen until you got him out his clothes as well.  You’d seen him undressed once before (an unfortunate, hilarious, and secretly sexy accident when you thought the inn room was empty), but you hadn’t gotten a good look, out of respect.  He was more muscular than his doublets would have one assuming, though the amount of chest hair was very much in line with the tufts always peeking out from his collar.

“You’re so perfect,” he hummed as he climbed back on top of you.  

“You can quit buttering me up, you’ve already got me naked,” you giggled.

“I apologize in advance for saying this but, you’re going to be a lot more buttered up by the time I’m done with you,” he smiled.

Your laugh was cut off by his kiss, and you felt your hips bucking up to try to reach his, but he pulled back.  This time it was his turn to slide down your body, and you felt your breathing pick up as he got closer and closer-

The second you opened your legs for him, his lips were wrapped around you.  His mouth was so warm on your skin, and his tongue explored areas you had no idea were so sensitive.

“Jaskier,” you moaned.  He hummed against you and it just made everything more intense.  It was a unique sensation, totally incomparable to anything you had experienced before.  Then his tongue pressed inside you.  And that was enough to get your back to arch off the bed, your hands pulling his hair.

“Fuck!” you yelped.  You felt him smile against you, and he even grazed against your bud with his teeth, but he didn’t stop. 

There was a burning heat in the pit of your stomach, and you felt like you had no concept of space or time, just your desire for him.

“Jaskier, please, please make love to me,” you begged.  He stopped, but didn’t move up.

“Don’t rush me: I want to take my time with you tonight,” he explained.

“See, that sounds nice and all but I’ve been waiting since I was a teenager for this so I’m getting pretty impatient,”“If you’ve been waiting all those years, you can wait another few minutes,” he frowned before getting back to work.  You begged and pleaded for more but he kept his resolve, only licking and sucking on you harder in response.

You knew you could come, but you wanted it to be with him inside you, properly.  You did your best to hold it back, though he certainly didn’t take any pressure off.

“Inside me, please, I need you,” you whimpered, and finally it was enough to get his attention.

“You’re sure about this?  I’d be perfectly satisfied if we stopped now, you don’t owe me anything,” he reminded.

“Perfectly satisfied?  Jask, your cock’s left a wet patch on the quilt,” you observed.

“I mean, I’d probably have to get myself off a few times to even have a chance at sleeping tonight, but I wouldn’t bother you about it,” he clarified with a smile.

“I want more.  I want as much of you as I can have,” you announced.

“Alright,” he whispered, and climbed back up until his face was just above yours.  You sort of hoped he would kiss you, but then again, the way he was looking at you was sort of unforgettably wonderful.

One hand reached down and you felt skin against yours, the tip of him prodding against your entrance.  You bit your lip, and finally, his hips moved forward.  He didn’t have to push in very far for you to feel resistance, your body struggling to accommodate him.

“Fuck,” he whispered, slowing down 

“More, please,” you demanded.

“Not yet.  Give it a moment,” he soothed.  As he moved deeper, you felt the soreness move into a burning feeling, and you whimpered.

“Does it hurt?  Tell me to stop if it hurts,” he rushed.

“It does hurt.  But please don’t stop,” you requested.

“I can't tell if you're being kinky or romantic," he smiled.

"I don't see why those have to be mutually exclusive," you smiled back.

He moved in deeper until he was inside you completely and you had to force yourself to breathe slowly to manage the discomfort but it was worth it, not only for the way you felt but the way he was looking at you.  All he had to do was move back and in again and already the pain washed away and all that was left behind was pleasure.  You’d never felt so full, and even as you still felt so much pressure against your walls, it was just the right amount to make you realize why people were always going on and on about this.

“Julian,” you moaned without even really intending to.

“Gods, I don’t think I’ll last very long with you feeling like this and looking like that and talking like that,” he laughed.

“I don’t mind if you don’t last long,” you smiled, “I have nothing to compare it to.”

“Yeah well, I’m not really shooting for ‘she liked it because she was too inexperienced to know it sucked’ here,” he sighed.

“Just move, please,” you whimpered.  He obeyed, but reached down to rub at your clit while he did it.  You yelped, but melted under his touch.  His thumb pressed harder against the bud and you felt your inner muscles clench around him.  He winced.

“Fuck,” he whispered.  So you did it again.  And that must have been the end of his tolerance for teasing, because he sat up, draped your legs over his shoulders, and thrusted into you roughly.  You cried out but it was good, it was so so good, and you wanted more.  Your prayers were answered instantly as he built a deep but not-quite-rushed pace.  You threw your head back and gripped the covers for stability.

“So gorgeous,” he mumbled, almost to himself.

“Please don’t stop,” you whimpered, though you weren’t too worried about that happening.  You just needed to be completely sure that he would take you to the end of this, which you felt yourself rapidly approaching.

“You’ll come just from this?”

“Yes, Jaskier, please,” you sobbed.

“Of course I won’t stop, darling.  Fuck, I don’t think I could if I wanted to.”

“It feels so good,” you moaned.  Everything overwhelmed you: his moans, his hands on your hips, his movements inside you.  You hadn’t realized you were holding your breath, having gone totally silent, until it all released at once and you came hard enough that you couldn’t tell if your eyes were shut or if your vision had just gone blank.  You felt him pull out of you and you almost protested, but then you got to watch his face as he came, somehow a mixture of tensed and relaxed even though that sounds impossible.  He thrusted against nothing as he spilled onto your stomach and you felt your breathing start to slow back to normal.

And he looked at you, and you looked back at him, and you both started laughing.  And you sat up and kissed him, and you kept smiling and laughing.

“I love you,” he whispered against your lips.

“Let’s do it again,” you replied.  Because what better way to say ‘I love you too’ than that?

[ask-illinois-iplier]

Can you tell an adventure story? I've been feelin kinda down,would be nice 🙇no worries if you don't have one atm though-🤍

Did I make this unnecessarily depressing? Yes. Do I have any regrets? No. Did I write this was 2 am? Prefer not to answer 

Tw: Character death, mention of injury

“You good down there, Oklahoma?” The young man asked, slowly lowering the other man into the pit. 

  Illinois held a thumbs up and gave a strained smile. He was younger, not fully confident in himself. This was his first time leading a mission and he had to make it good. His assistant, Devlin Amora, was known for ridiculously bad luck, but at least he was kind and happened to be available for this mission. 

  It had become a running joke that Devlin would call him by the name of any state but Illinois. If Devlin wasn’t incredibly charming and humorous, Illinois would’ve hated it. Something about that small pause and twinkle in his eyes as he carefully thought about which nickname to use...

  Illinois’s feet touched the ground and he signed with relief. He anchored the rope to the ground and called up. “You can come down now! Grounds sturdy enough!” He silently cursed how awkward his voice sounded. 

  He could hear Devlin’s laugh echo around the walls as he came down. “Man spelunking is fun! Don’t you think!?” Devlin got down to the floor and started filling a bag with dirt. 

  Anything Illinois had to say got stuck in his throat at that moment, so he just nodded. He forced his focus onto the cave, pulling out his camera and flashlight.” 

  “Ohio! This way!” Devlin called, pointing his light towards a tunnel. “So. What are you hoping to find?” 

  “Aren’t we after a golden idol? Something to display in a museum!” 

  Devlin blew a raspberry. “Yeah sure, getting your name on a plaque and vaguely mentioned in a textbook is cool, but it doesn’t pay bills. What are you hoping to stuff your pockets with? I’m hoping for some jewels.” 

  Illinois hesitated. What Devlin was saying didn’t seem right, but Devlin was far more experienced than him. Maybe a lot of archaeology was picking and choosing what to give and what to keep. 

  “Did you catch a fever or catch feelings?” Devlin teased. Illinois turned away, trying to hide his blush. 

  “Uh er- Maybe there will be a bunch of statues? And since we’re only here for one I could… Keep a few? Put one on the mantle?” Illinois said, trying to sound confident. 

  Devlin suddenly stopped and put his arm out to stop him too. A large axe appeared, just missing the two. Illinois’s heart nearly stopped. 

  “Holy shit!”

  “Hmm. I was expecting more. Swinging axes are boring.” Devlin said, unimpressed. “Though I guess I’m one to talk since I lost an arm to one.” 

  How can you say that so casually? Illinois almost shouted, but his thought was cut short by the axe swinging the other direction. 

  Devlin held Illinois’s hand. Normally Illinois would be ecstatic at that, but he was preoccupied by being scared for his life. 

  Devlin seemed as calm as ever next to him. He was leading him at a brisk pace as several other traps just miss them. 

  “H-how are you so calm right now!?” Illinois stuttered out. 

  “I mean look at them. They’re not really doing much harm. I guess they expect people to be running for their lives.” Devlin gave him a reassuring smile. “That’s a good thing you have me to slow you down, ay Roraima?” 

  Illinois chuckled helplessly. “Roraima? That’s not even a state.”

  “Yes it is!” Devlin said, sounding offended. “It’s in Brazil!” 

  They made eye contact and both started laughing. Illinois barely noticed a spinning blade just missing them as they stepped into a much smaller tunnel.   

  They stopped and Devlin let go of his hand to examine some symbols written on the ground. Illinois tried not to feel disappointed.

  “Hey Texas? How good are you at puzzles?” Devlin pressed down on a symbol and flinched back as a bunch of arrows shot from the wall. 

  Illinois sucked in the breath and got down to Devlin’s level. There were four recurring symbols. A bird, a cat, a snake, and a mouse.

  “I’m guessing it’s like that one thing in Indiana Jones where you have to step on certain plates or you die.” Devin said bluntly. 

  Illinois swallowed. “Some birds, tigers and snakes are all predators. The mouse is the odd one out.” 

  “Well after you. Captain first after all.” 

  Illinois held his breath and stepped onto a plate with the mouse symbol. Something clicked, but no arrows fired. He moved his other foot onto the next, and the next, and the next, and then he was on solid ground. He took a deep breath and panted, adrenaline pumping through his veins. 

  Devlin was right behind him, patting his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. I was perfectly prepared to grab you if arrows started flying.” 

  Illinois was comforted by that thought more than he would admit. 

  “You trust me right?” Devlin asked, grabbing his hand. 

  “Yes.” Without hesitation. 

  “Then you’ll trust me when I say that nothing in this cave will harm you, no matter what.” 

  Illinois was sure his heart stopped at that moment. 

  “Come on. Times a’ wastin’.” Devlin marched onward. His confidence was contagious, starting to leak into Illinois the longer they were together. 

  Finally the room opened up into a large, open room. In the center was a dirty statue. Illinois reached out to grab it but Devlin stopped him once again, looking more serious than ever. 

  He brought out that bag of dirt from before. “You mean it when you say you trust me, right?”

  “Of course! I have no reason to doubt you.” Illinois said firmly. 

  “I need to know I can trust you to. Promise me no matter what happens next, you’ll do whatever I tell you. Even if it means doing something you don’t like.” 

  “I- I promise.” His throat felt dry. 

  Devlin carefully examined the statue. Quickly he grabbed it and replaced it with the bag. Then it was quiet. 

  Illinois started laughing. All that adrenaline and anxiety for a rather anti-climatic ending. Devlin soon joined him, slipping the idol into Illinois’s bag. 

  Then the pedestal that previously held the idol made a soft click and the room rumbled. 

  No time for words. Devlin grabbed Illinois’s hand and ran forward. All of the previous traps seemed broken, probably due to the crumbling infrastructure. 

  In the distance they could see light and the rope to freedom. The ground made a sickening cracking sound as a raven formed between them a freedom. 

  Devlin looked around frantically. “You have the idol right?”

  “You put it in my bag! Why?” 

  “Keep it safe for me. And try and get my name on that plaque. I had fun adventuring with you, Illinois.”

  Before Illinois could respond, he was being lifted up and thrown across the widening pit. He hit the ground hard and rocks crashed down, sealing off the tunnel. 

  Illinois forced himself up and looked around. He was hurt, but alive. The rope was right there. Where was Devlin? 

  Slowly Illinois pulled out the accursed idol. This useless junk that Devlin gave his life for. 

  He looked at the wall of rock before him, then to the idol, before putting it away and starting his climb up. 

[codenomesailorv]

FANFICTION:

"Harry Potter and the DeadlyHallows - Final Chapter"

◇ (This fanfiction is an alternative version of the last chapter of the book "Deadly Hallows", after the last chapter and before the prologe, and It's whitout relationship with "Cursed Child" or the Harry Potter movies).

● Original History by JK Rowling

● Fanfiction by Anikenkai/A. A Otrop

FINAL CHAPTER

The four paintings at Grimmaud Place

 

 

 The first rays of sunlight passed through the transparent stained-glass windows in the calm morning air, touching Harry's face as the boy shifted on the bed. After a few brief seconds he opened his eyes and felt around on the desk, taking his glasses and putting them weakly on his face, still completely exhausted as if he hadn't slept for a whole month.

He got up slightly from the bed, and still a little dizzy, focused only on a small figure moving around nearby pulling something heavy, shrieking and letting out an exclamation of relief afterwards. Soon, Harry saw who it was.

"What are you doing, Neville?" Harry asked, rising a little further from the bed, watching his friend rummage in his trunk.

"Ah" Neville turned and smiled at him. "Good morning, Harry. Sorry, did I wake you up with the noise? You know my trunk is absurdly heavy, I was barely able to pull him to bed." 

The plump boy with scarred face smiled slightly at Harry, feeling his fingers in the huge suitcase he founded on the bed next to him. 

"It doesn't even seem like I had the strength just a few days ago to face Death Eaters. Compared to my trunk now, they were very light." 

And saying that Neville laughed, and bent down again to open the wooden lid in front of him.

Yes, it was true. For a brief moment, a flash of memories rushed through Harry's mind, recalling everything that had happened in just under two days. The Battle at Hogwarts. The deaths. The meeting with Dumbledore in his head. And Voldemort's defeat at his hands, everything quickly passing by in a glance at his still sleepy eyes. But then he felt suddenly awake, as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water down his spine, and then his body relaxed.

"You can sleep later today. You will not have an exact time for the Expresso departure. He will pick up the remaining students at different times until after lunch." Neville added, tossing a few pieces of clothing in his trunk.

Harry rolled his eyes, shaking his head and trying to find Ron on the bed next to his, but he didn't find him immediately.

"Ew, Neville... has Ron got up yet?"

"Oh, yes. For the breakfast, I saw him come down the stairs to Hermione when I came up just now. It looks like they were called earlier to speak to McGonagall."

"Right." Harry nodded, trying not to be intrigued by the reason for his friends' haste, and again lay down on the bed, struggling to get the faces out of his head and everything else that had happened so many hours ago.

After several minutes, Neville spoke again.

"Hey, when you get up, could you move the gifts out of the way in the bedroom? You know, I don't know if I'm going to be able to lift my trunk to bed again if I want not to crush one of them, you know."

"Gifts?"

And then Harry stood up again, looking sideways and at the dormitory floor and gaping. Scattered on the floor, and in everything that his field of vision could see next to his bed and beyond Seamus's and Ron's to the walls, boxes and more boxes lay there, some lined up and others in piles, forming piles on one another, with multicolored packages and some with sparkling ribbons, some large and small, huddled up to Harry's knee. The boy got up from the bed, looking around the room, amazement on his face. It was as if he were in the Room of Requirement, among the numerous objects lined up on top of each other.

"They're for you." Neville added, without taking his eyes off what he was doing in his trunk, laughing. "I think the news of what you did with You-Know-Who has already spread everywhere. They brought you these gifts at night. It seems that many people wanted to thank you, you know."

Harry was stunned, looking at each gift spread out in front of him, boxes and more boxes piled up, and finally he stood up, totally amazed. It was as if it were Christmas, but as if all the gifts from each student were crammed there, as if Harry's room and the boys were some kind of storage. He quickly took some packages out of the way and reached for his own trunk, taking his clothes and carefully spreading some on the way to the door so that it would be free.

"Phew, thanks." Neville said getting up and closing his trunk ready. The boy was now wearing his muggle clothes, very dark jeans with a cool multicolored knit shirt and numbers on the back, a sort of Hockey team T-shirt.

Harry turned to the bed and was about to lie down again, when he heard the crash of his friend's trunk again turning to the floor and unable to control the voice that had been stuck in his throat for many days, he turned and said to Neville:

"You deserved those gifts much more than I did, if it weren't for you cutting off that snake's head, I…"

"Harry, stop. I've won too many things from my grandmother and the Gryffindor guys, man. Relax. I don't care about that, and you deserved so much more."

 "Neville listen, I …" Harry started as soon as he sat on the bed, staring at his bare feet but it was the colleague who interrupted him before he could even finish the sentence.

"No, Harry. It's all right. You don't have to say anything."

Neville said in one breath and even though she was loud and clear, she sounded gently in the room. Harry looked up to face his friend and just managed to smirk at him.

"I didn't have the opportunity to thank you and the others. For everything."

 Harry continued, taking hold of everything that had happened in the last days in his memory, remembering what Neville had done at Hogwarts with his friends while he, Ron and Hermione did while traveling across the continent in search of the Horcruxes. The way Neville had led Dumbledore's Army, how he had brought everyone together in the Room of Requirement and fought alongside him. As he did not even hesitate when the Death Eaters marked his skin with scrapes and bruises, as he did in the first bruise, he carried out Harry's request and without blinking, killed Nagini in front of Voldemort himself.

"Don't worry." Neville stepped forward, approaching Harry and patting his friend on the shoulder, as if they were talking about some Quidditch match, as his voice was as calm as any that Harry had heard a long time ago. "It was all thanks to you. I had faith in you. But now we are talking by owls, ok?"

Harry looked up again and saw Neville's plump hand stretched out in front of him, his palm open and inviting.

"I have to leave, my grandmother is waiting in the common room. Let's take the next train and go home."

"Does that mean ..." Harry was momentarily surprised and Neville nodded.

"Yes Yes. We finish the school year. I'm a graduate of Hogwarts."

And he held out his own hand, shaking his friend's. He wanted to get up and hug him, thank him for his courage and not have doubted him, wanted to hug each one, but Harry still didn't have the strength to do either. Instead he smiled and Neville took it out of his hand, raised his wand, and his trunk began to levitate, heading straight for the slowly opening door.

"See you next time, Harry. I'll wait for your owl, huh!"

"Shure!" And Harry smiled more gratefully and waved his hand, watching Neville walk through the portal and disappear into the stairway to the Gryffindor Common Room.

(...)

Harry didn't know how many hours he had been standing there, inert but already fully dressed, staring at the dormitory ceiling without even moving, the only noise he dared to make was his breathing. He was not hungry, although there were still remnants of a deep sleep that was caused by the hours of confinement in bed weighing his eyes, as if he could not get enough sleep, as if the tiredness did not leave his back, but not any real sleep, forcing him to stand there, disabled and thinking about everything that had happened to him until then. He hadn't seen anyone for three days, not even Teacher McGonagall, not Teacher Flitwick, not Luna, Ginny, Mr. and Mr. Weasley, not even George or Percy or any of his friends. 

Harry had locked himself in the dorm hours after he left Headmaster Dumbledore's office, when McGonagall finally released him to rest and heal his wounds, stunned and impressed by everything Harry, Ron and Hermione had told her what they had done, before they returned to Hogwarts. Harry had told her everything, to the teachers and the new Minister of Magic, who met there shortly after Voldemort's inert body had been thrown away from the castle boundaries, when he learned in detail about Dumbledore's plan for the Horcruxes, about the months in the forests, about how he had found Griffindor's sword and how Harry had apparently risen from the dead. The boy told them, but hid about the Deathly Hallows. 

He did not want anyone else, other than friends and those who had already talked about objects, to know about them, their existence and formidable powers, and surprisingly no one asked them about it, they only looked at Harry when at last he finished his account of Snape, and his Patron charm  - hidden over his mother, leading him towards the Ice Water Pit that kept Griffindor's ruby-studded sword.

"But ... but ..." Professor Slugorn stammered when Harry finally finished, almost immediately and in a shaky voice. "We were sure that Snape definitely turned to the Death Eaters. You, yourself told us how he killed Dumbledore in cold blood with an unforgivable curse, and your term as Headmaster proved it, the terror of the students, the way his followers of You-Know-Who acted freely in the school, and... and…"

"I know," Harry began, still as dirty from head to toe as the others present around the director's table, with blood that had been dry for a long time on his forehead, which at that point was starting to bother him a little. "But I saw it all through Snape's last memories when he handed it to me before he died. When I got back to the castle, I just thought of going back here, right here, and dumping the memory in Pensieve."

And then he lifted the tiny shards from the small bottle that Snape had given him, which had broken from his pocket when he received the Avada Kedavra curse on his body and fell to the floor. The teachers stared at the pieces, as if they couldn't believe it.

"Don't trust me, do you? You can use a tracking spell on the flask to discover its previous content, if you want. If that's still possible…" Added Harry, now a little irritated.

"Amazing. Very amazing!" From above, Flineus Fletcher, the former director of Hogwarts and a proud member of Slytherin shouted from his painting, screamed, looking around and trying to share the astonishment in the eyes of the other directors and directors, who were watching everything very quietly.

"There's no need, Potter." Professor McGonagall replied first, raising a hand to Harry, still very stunned. "We have no reason to doubt you and everything you did today. I'm sure everyone here will agree with me."

And almost immediately the teachers nodded, Flitwick, Sprout, Firenze, the centaur and even Hagrid, and the other teachers and present together with the Minister of Magic. Even Sibila Trewloney was there, curled up in a corner, but she nodded firmly. Finally, everyone looked at each other and McGonagall turned to Shacklebolt.

"Well, that's enough for now. Now, we need to discuss what to do about the School, since it was very destroyed. Prepare funerals and alert family members who have not yet been notified, bring them as soon as possible. Potter, you can go wash up and go to the infirmary with the others." And then the teacher turned again and looked kindly at him. "You, most of all, deserve to rest."

Harry didn't agree with that. It was obvious from his countenance that he felt deeply exhausted and hurt, however, he was not in a position to lie down and sleep for a long time, have his wounds taken care of and close his eyes and pretend that nothing had happened, but he just turned around, looking to friends and simply obeyed.

Before they leave, he can see the teacher looking back, her hair loose and streaked, her clothes sooty and dark blood somewhere on her arm with a completely exhausted expression, sitting with some discomfort in the chair that had once belonged Albus Dumbledore, before the three of them crossed the room. Harry, however, went directly to the Fat Lady painting towards the Gryffindor Common Room, still devastated by the battle, where many students crowded dragging suitcases and hugging friends, but did not see them, since Harry, once again, covered up and Ron and Hermione with the Invisibility Cloak, crouched through and stepping on the rocks and dirt on the floor, crossing smashed busts to the railing of the stairs. 

Even with protests from Hermione insisting that Harry go directly to the Infirmary - or even then, the Castle Entrance, where several combatants were still lying on makeshift stretchers and being cared for by healers who had just arrived from St Mungos - Harry ignored her, stating that he didn’t want to be in the middle of everyone and being ovulated or even cursed. She didn't understand his train of thought. In any case, he did not want to receive any kind of treatment different from the others, whether it was pleasant or bad.

"Take the Invisibility Cloak if you want, bring me tomorrow. I will not be leaving the room until everyone, or almost everyone, leaves Hogwarts." Harry had said in a low voice, while Hermione pulled from his beaded purse one of the last healing potion that she still had miraculously, into the boy's hands.

"B-but ... Harry…"

"Leave him, Mione. Harry needs to be alone." Ron said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Harry had replied and even though she was upset, Hermione followed Ron back to the Common Room, while the boy locked himself in the dorm.

Harry then suddenly returned to the present.

He blinked his eyes and realized that he had dozed off again, as his belly finally snored, and looking at the golden watch on his wrist that still worked, it indicated that it was just after two in the afternoon. He once again lifted the body from the bed, feeling his sedentary muscles protest with the sudden act, and tried to see with his crooked glasses the empty, dark and silent room, still crammed with innumerable packages and gifts up to the walls. Don't feeling no one was there. On the other side of the window, he heard the sound of almost nothing at all, just a faint patter of drops hitting his pane. The light rain then cooled the room, making Harry decided to get out of bed for good and then leave the dorm for the first time in almost two weeks since the Battle was over.

(...)

He was now on the edges of one of the parapets on one of the upper floors of the castle, along with Ron and Hermione, the three of them with pale faces and bandages spread across their arms and legs, especially Harry, who had a large bandage on his forehead where there was been hit by the stone debris that fell on him the moment Fred was attacked. Now they sat on the parapet, watching the sky painted orange and gray, shortly after the improvised dinner at the Castle, which Harry had obviously avoided as well as the other meetings with the residents of Hogwarts. So Ron snatched a small basket of caramel pies and breads with fried sausages, and inside was a bottle partially filled with pumpkin juice and brought it to his friend when they found them. 

They spent a long time silent, watching the sun go down, while Harry's mind wandered far away, when it was Hermione who finally broke the silence.

"Everyone's been asking about you, you know, Harry. Everyone wants to hug you, thank you, kiss you, shake your hand and everything. They want to talk to you, but as they have avoided leaving the dormitory, I feel an air of disappointment in the air." She said, giving a light chuckle at the end of the sentence. "I don't think they would ever understand, you know."

"Uh, I understand." Ron replied, making a face as he turned to Hermione on Harry's other side. "Like, come on. Even I would like to thank Harry, but the air is very heavy. I hope they all leave soon, then we can also take the train back home in peace."

"So, have all the students left Hogwarts yet?" Harry asked his friend, a little exasperated.

"Almost all." Hermione who answered. "I was still left, Ron, Luna, some students of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw and a few wounded from the battle, too hurt to stupor to St Mungos, but I think they all fit in the Hospital Wing and released the Hall. he ordered Goblins and some building wizards to come until the day after tomorrow to begin repairs on the Castle. I think practically, everyone in Gryffindor has already left."

Hermione turned her head to the side and looked at the large missing piece of wall that followed the castle to the towers on the west side, where its parts lay inert, destroyed on the charred grass of the countryside around below, even towards of the lake.

"Looks like they're going to have a long job, poor people." Ron sighed deeply as he poured a glass of pumpkin juice into his mouth next.

"Yeah. I only hope they finish by the beginning of the school year. I don't want to go back with everything still destroyed, you know. It would make me sad just to think."

Harry knew why Hermione talked about returning to the castle, of course. Since the three of them had missed almost the entire school year while looking for the Horcruxes, there was still a year to complete their education at Hogwarts, and of course, if they wanted to continue looking for a job in the wizarding world, they needed to complete the last exams, just like the others. That remained. Harry hadn't thought about going back to school, hadn't even thought about leaving, yet he had a glimpse of a certain plan that would make it now that it was over and Voldemort wouldn't bother him again, now that he was free of his own destiny for the first time. Time since he was born. But for that, of course, they had to finish their studies. They could not go back to attending classes normally, they were too old, so learned that Hermione had asked Professor McGonagall, the next day that Harry had locked himself in the dormitory, to do some supplementary type to make up for the countless missed classes - and that, of course at the teacher's own suggestion, they enrolled to perform. So they would only have to return for a few days, take some tests of school summaries and finally Harry, Ron and Hermione would graduate and leave Hogwarts for good. 

He then found himself thinking about Fred, George and others Ron's brother, and all the Weasleys and especially - as many, many times - about Ginny, and the funeral that followed the day after the Battle, when those left behind prepared the seats ideals and preparations to bury all who had died on the castle grounds. Many had died. Bellatrix Lestrange, the other Death Eaters and the Dark Lord himself had been huddled together in a mass grave deep in the Forbidden Forest, burned and then buried, as they deserved to be. 

They should not be buried with honors, or tears or even a tombstone, because not one cried forthey. He remembered Ron knocking frantically on the bedroom door that afternoon, Harry hadn't wanted to get up since breakfast to watch the Heroes' Funeral, and everyone wondered where Harry Potter was. Why was he not there to pay his respects to those who had sacrificed for him? Why didn't you have the courage to look the family in the eye without being able to apologize for taking their lives? Harry's only thought of consolation was that they would have fought anyway, even if he hadn't been the cause, to defend the wizarding world had it been at the hands of the Death Eaters or anyone who hurt more innocents.

Ron was gone from the other side of the door after he shouted his name, and called for many minutes, but Harry remained in bed, silent, on his side and hiding his face from anyone who managed to open the lock and see him there, huddled and weeping for those he loved and had lost. Again he remembered that he was about to leave Hogwarts forever, to leave that place destroyed, but still in his heart, his eternal home. He chased away his thoughts and tried to change the subject.

"I forgot to ask Neville, you know. Before I left this morning." Harry said, watching now the last copper-colored sun rays lying down at the sunset and shy stars shine in the distance of the deep and increasingly dark sky. "Asking how he got the Griphook Griffindor's sword, since he stole it from us while we were at Gringotts.

"Ah," Hermione exclaimed and swung her legs over the balcony railing, still a little distracted by the sight of the wreckage beneath the three. "He told me, you know. When we went to the St Mungus. Neville said he took the sword when it appeared to him, it appears that it disappeared when Griphook was killed. He just didn't want to tell me where and when, he looked mysterious." And then Hermione turned to pour another glass of pumpkin juice and brought it to her lips.

"Well, Harry, you've been thinking about Ted, right? I mean…" And she turned to look Harry in the eye. "You have responsibilities for him, now that Professor Lupine and Tonks... well... you know."

Ron stared at the two of them with a half-rigid face, frightened by Hermione's unexpected change of subject, and turned his eyes to his own drink, muttering something inaudible. The sky was now dyed an indigo blue as it was covered with sparkling dots, and that sight distracted the boy for a millisecond before leaping back to the ground, leaving the parapet and picking up the food basket. Harry hadn't thought about Ted until then. His head was so full of thoughts and obsessions, afraid of what would come next, of what he would become when he graduated, of how he would live, in the guilt of the deaths he could have avoided that he had not even thought of Ted Lupine, son of Nymphadora Tonks and her father's old friend, and former professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Remus Lupin. 

He was now the godfather of the baby they both left to save Harry, and then a new wave of guilt and pain washed over his head, piling up another stone on top of the others he felt carrying heavily on his back.

A horrible thought came to light. Ted had lost his parents to save Harry, leaving him with less than a year to live, just like himself. What if the little boy had to take shelter with distant relatives, with Muggles, who hated and mistreated him as the Dursleys did for so many years? No, he couldn't think of that. Harry shook his head when he stood up and felt that he was tightening the handle on the basket too hard. At least Ted was left with his grandmother, Andromeda - a wizard - who would certainly give all the necessary love and care that Ted deserved. And when, if he wanted to, and so he could, when he reached the age of attending Hogwarts, he would offer him the same house that now belonged to Harry, the same that his own godfather also offered him to live in, the same place that Sirius wished he had gone.

"Of course I will take care of him, I will be close to him. If he wants." Harry replied to his friend, after long seconds that seemed like an eternity of reflection. "I can't take the place of his parents, but... nor Sirius wanted him when mine died, but I can try to be a good godfather. I hope so."

"Brillant." Hermione stepped forward, to the two friends. "I guess I decided what I'm going to do when we officially graduate from Hogwarts. I mean, in future plans, you know."

Ron and Harry looked at her in surprise, as it seemed like centuries that they heard their friend say something like that, in the moments when they asked them what they would do with the notes O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts. At that time, Harry had said that he really wanted to be an Auror, but then at that moment, he wasn't so sure anymore. Harry’s entire focus in recent years was just the Dark Lord and Prophecy, who had barely thought about the possibility of it all ending so soon - and with his whole body to seriously think about what profession he would pursue.

"In what?" Ron's voice echoed to the side, with a somewhat mocking tone and Hermione frowned at him, annoyed. She ran her hands through her thick hair and replied:

"Well, I was thinking... to join the Ministry of Magic for some position, or…"

She paused and took a breath. Again he continued: "Proceed with what Bathilda Bagshot worked on. I mean, continue with the book A History of Magic from the point that it ended. Writing, you know. Write about... about everything that happened to us. About Voldemort. About Harry."

Then there followed a few minimal seconds of silence, and Ron with Harry who had turned to his friend and stared at them completely surprised. That was certainly new, since they had no idea that Hermione might have shown any interest in pursuing a writing career. Harry - more than anyone, even Ron - believed faithfully that the friend with all that intelligence, would try to go as far as possible, as Dumbledore had done as a young, and had already caught himself once or twice imagining Hermione arriving at Minister of Magic a few years later. But, he also knew more than anyone, that all those experiences had abruptly sealed their reality with what they dreamed of being, and that would really hinder how they saw each other when it was over, and everything was fine. But even so, he felt a wave of disappointment and embarrassment go through his body to the back of his neck. She didn't understand how her friend had arrived at that decision.

"Don't look at me like that."  She said, looking at the two a little angry, as she clearly expected another reaction from both. "I believe I'm doing it right thing. I believe that people should know the truth, know what happened. Knowing what has been done so that Evil doesn't affect the wizarding world again than pretending that nothing has happened, and helping who knows in the near future, some Hogwarts students to defend themselves better, knowing the story, don't you agree?"

"Bloody Hell, Mione." Ron snorted, rolling his eyes up. "It sounds like Rita Skeeter talking, huh? After all that she did with Harry and Professor Dumbledore's phony biography, and even more what she did to you, I thought you were the last person to want to pursue a career in something like that."

Ron had said the wrong thing, it was evident from the scary face that Hermione threw at her friend, as if she was going to stun him right there on the parapet, without any pity. Harry exclaimed but she was quicker to respond.

"That's not it." Hermione hissed at Ron. "I don't want to do anything, absolutely nothing, like that little Skeeter bug. Do not."

"Then…?"

"Something totally different from her, Ron!" Hermione roared. "Rita Skeeter is a troll on a woman's body, she wanted to gossip, spread lies, everything to sell and guarantee more galleons. Of course, as much as it pains me to say, she got some points in her research right, but the way she did it is purely disgusting to me. Not! Me," And then he pointed at himself, with an air of satisfaction in his voice now. "I want to correct the lies that that toad made. I want to write about the history of the wizarding world since the beginning of the 20th century, how Hogwarts grew up, how Voldemo…"

Ron cringed when she spoke the name of the Dark Lord. 

"Oh, no Ron! He's gone, you don't have to be afraid of his name anymore. How Tom Riddle's Voldemort achieved so many atrocities, how Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix, and how Harry and we found the Deathly Hallows and the Horcruxes. You know, I really think that everyone needs to know, keep all this and keep it from happening a second time."

"What? Second time? Write about the Death Hollows and the Horcruxes? You are crazy!? This is quite the opposite of what we want. I mean, if people know about them… bloody hell, we work so hard to avoid talking about it with the teachers as Dumbledore ordered, and you want…"

"No, Ron. I don't want to teach you how to make Horcruxes or where the Death Hallows were, don't you both understand?" Hermione waved her hand, somewhat patiently. "I don't want to explain how to get them, but how and for what they existed. I think that all students should have the right to remedy their curiosity about what we did during the months of escape, how Harry managed to come back to life, like... well, you know."

And then she looked over his shoulder and saw Harry standing there looking at her still. 

"Of course, I'm just telling you a plan. I won't do anything if you don't agree, of course. I haven't even started anything."

Harry knew what she meant when she said that wish. He knew that Tom Riddle had used extraordinary and cruel methods due to the lack of descriptions of the Horcruxes and had just been defeated for not knowing all the Death Hallows, which would benefit them in a point of view if someone al intentionally tried to follow the same paths as Voldemort in the future, the lack of responsible books on how to overcome the limits of Death. But he understood what Hermione meant. 

In a few years, everyone could forget what they had actually done, the hardships and trials they had spent in the forests camping, looking for and looking for invisible information for the next step in a larger plan, but without success. She remembered the frustrations she had with her friend, the fights with Ron, all because she didn't know where to go, how to do, what to do, while friends suffered. Not to mention that, he was already very famous and now after that battle, he could put more eyes on his scar and he would return to being a point of rumors and other lying things when curiosity for the lack of information started. Hermione didn't want to reveal Dumbledore's secrets, but to tell how they got there. As everything had actually walked, and reaching that conclusion, he put the basket on the floor and put a hand on Hermione's back, who was surprised by Harry's sudden unexpected hug from behind, and released her quickly.

"Well, I think the idea is good. But I don't know if the Ministry of Magic would like us to make our point of view so accessible as well. Isn't it, Ron?"

Ron just snorted again and put his chin in his hands, staring at the sky as if nothing else was interesting. And after a few moments, he asked:

"So, do you have a plan of what you're going to do when you leave Hogwarts, man?"

He asked now, and Hermione still sitting on the parapet but facing Harry, both expressions of curiosity. Harry hadn't even talked to his friends much about what he was going to do next, about his ultimate goal, about what Harry Potter intended to do now that he finally and definitely defeated Lord Voldermort. And, catching himself rambling with those very words that came from himself, Harry smiled and looked at his friends. 

He wanted to have that image engraved in his memory, the three of them there in a corner of the castle, away from everyone, making small talk and eating treats, barely knowing that all that precious and carefree moment would be over soon.

(...)

Harry, Ron and Hermione and Luna were accommodated on the train back to Hogsmeade station, the Hogwarts Express had left a few hours ago. The boys were housed in the usual cabin at the end of the train, which was actually practically empty, taking them and just a few other students who were still unable to apparate, injured, and had not yet returned, plus some representatives of the Ministry of Magic who for some reason, they were also there. 

Harry thought they were on the train to watch him, and drawing that conclusion, he spent the journey watching the landscape of trees penetrating, blurring at high speed through the window. Hermione was reading one of the newspapers, editions of the Daily Prophet that were huddled together and tied in a single string on her lap. Ron now nibbled a carefree chocolate frog, and Luna was staring at the window with Harry. 

They stayed that way since they went up in a long silence, after all it was the first and one of the last two times that they would leave school, and it was only a fact that the four - since Luna had been kidnapped to the Malfoys' house - should return to provide the services. supplementary courses, and definitely graduate in a few months. Harry thought again about the Weasley family, and if somehow if George and Ginny would be angry with him for missing Fred's funeral, if they felt his weakness for the next few days - not that Ron had shown it or quoted those brothers' feelings, but the stones of the subconscious weight of guilt weighed him down as much as before they came back and faced Voldemort. What should have relieved him, now weighed him down even more in his heart.

Almost suddenly, he saw the smudges pass by the window and remembered what Dumbledore had said to him in the vision of after he died, talked to him in that form at Kingscross Station: "Don't pity the dead, Harry, have pity for the living, and above all those who live without love ”. It was clear that those who had died died with love, fighting for love, for what they believed, and, holding on to it, Harry let out a heavy sigh that the whole cabin heard.

"What did McGonagall want to talk to you about when we got back to the Common Room, Harry?" Hermione's voice called out to him, and Harry had been pulled from his brief detours into reality.

"Heh? Oh. She wanted to ask me a few more questions and handed me a letter, and went back to the principal's office. Only that." And he pulled from one of the sleeves of his indigo wool coat and showed a small brown envelope with the typical red wax seal with the Hogwarts symbol on his tongue. "This one here."

"Gee, haven't you opened it yet?" Ron asked now, looking at the letter. "And if it was an important thing who needed to answer soon?"

"Ah, don't be so silly." Harry smiled, analyzing the letter for a few more seconds and putting it away again, turning back to the window. "Professor McGonagall told me to open it when I got home and reflect on the content and that I could answer it later, don't you remember what I said?"

"No. I was too worried about the train leaving and packing my trunk than knowing every detail." Ron snorted and Hermione shot him an ugly look. "She's been staying in Dumbledore's office a lot since the Battle, isn't she? When did we see it right since everything happened?"

"Principal, Ron." Hermione said. "It's Principal McGonagall, now. She was Deputy Headmaster at Hogwarts, they forgot. It is obvious that she was elected the new Director of Hogwart."

And then she folded a piece of the thick volume from the previous week of the Daily Prophet in her lap, showing the moving photograph of the newest nominated Headmistress.

"If I were you, Harry." Hermione added. "I would read the letter as soon as possible, see?"

"Right." He replied the friend, now with a certain involuntary coldness in his voice, as he had no desire to discuss anything at that moment, not even by a simple letter.

"I thought the Ministry of Magic would try to put someone in their position after Snape... well, you know... "And Ron glanced at Harry and went back to Hermione and Luna. "I mean ... I'm glad the Ministry made a deal, right. For once."

"Yeah." Hermione agreed, folding the newspaper and lifting the batteries and laying them on the floor, yawning. "I want to go back soon, I have to say hello to everyone and Apparate to Australia. Review my parents, explain what happened. You know."

(To be continue next Post...)

[semblanche]

let me know if you want to be added to my tag list!

current title: to tame a star

pov: third person limited, one (?) pov narrator

status: what you see is what i've got

summary:

To be breathed life into by a star is no small thing.

The gifts you receive (time skipping, immortality) by no means cancel out the price that you must pay to receive them (loyalty to the Desert Rose Dynasty) - and sometimes, Helena wonders if the price might even be too great.

But over time, she's grown used to the gruelling tasks the Dynasty gives her and her sisters to complete. She executes orders with the dutifulness of a soldier, and tries to ignore the way the wind calls her name or the earth feels under her toes. She does what they ask, and tells herself she is above her past.

But it can get pretty hard to keep your ears shut against your past when a certain other kind of immortal keeps being born again every decade or so, just to make your life a living hell by reminding you of it.

A story about a girl trying to move on for all the wrong reasons, a dynasty that hides secrets under their teeth, and a friend who is trying their best to earn the title.

excerpt (warning for some sketchy age gap flirtations bordering on noncon):

The party was quaint.

Too quaint. The kind of quaint that made you arrive far too early with fake laughs and promises to be gone soon only to actually leave six hours later with honey stained lips and the faint taste of cotton under your tongue.

By the time Helena had battled her way past meandering chatter and idle compliments on the well-being of women's offspring, two hours had already passed, and the sun was sticking to her back. She pulled a flowery handkerchief out of her handbag, and struggled to breathe.

Quick and efficient, Ophelia scolded her in her mind. We need to be quick and efficient.

"Ah, and you must be the lovely miss Helena I've been hearing so much about."

Helena measured her breath in teaspoons, and tried not to flinch. When she turned to face the man -the target- barely a second later, it was with a smile. Small. Non-threatening. All lips and no teeth - the one Stella had so keenly dubbed "the charmer."

He was old, she noted. Very old. Even older than she'd thought he'd be.

And her stomach twisted like a snake.

"You are correct," she said, a small curtsy puncturing her words. Her corset dug into her ribs, and she fought to keep her breath intact. "And am I really so fortunate as to be facing our charming host? Mr Cameron Schuyler?"

She winced at the words, too flirtatious and wrong, strangers of occasion on her tongue. It should have been Stella sent on this task, she reflected bitterly. Stella and her sunlight hair and knowledge on exactly what to say.

But the man didn't seem to mind her staged wording. His smile had widened, his shoulders gone soft. A pretty little thing like her, still blinking the youth out of her eyes, calling him "charming" had caught him off guard, she could tell. Good. That's just how she wanted him.

"So kind," he mumbled, and Helena automatically reached out so he could take her hand. He accepted it gracefully, withered lips placing an entirely too wet kiss on her skin, which she bore with a laugh. "So pretty."

"Oh, Mr Schuyler." She allowed a new smile to cross her features, a special blend just for the occasion. Just to take away from the knot that was tying itself, slowly but surely, in the pit of her stomach as the man took a step closer. Helena could spot the hunger in his eyes, a shark sniffing blood. Stay still. They like fear. "It takes one to know one."

And the knife strapped to her leg, hidden beneath the soft pink ruffles and layers of petticoats, burned against her skin.

[sieben9]

Hello! It is I, you new Santa, here to inform you that I am ready to write a brand new, complete fic all for you! (and also, I may have watched a little bit more Sesame Street than this my brain can hold this morning - pardon my Grovering) I've got your prompt in my hands and I'm all set to get to it, but first I must ask you a few questions so prepare yourself for incoming messages. 1 Do you have any squicks, triggers, or absolute no's that I need to avoid? 2 Favorite/ least favorite tropes?

3 Besides Rumple and Belle, who are your favorite characters in Once? Also, those whom you wouldn’t mind seeing in a pit of boiling snake entrails?

4 Favorite show / movie / song / book, etc (for no real reason other than I’m trying to get to know you).

5 What kind of points would you like me to hit in the story?

6 Who is your favorite muppet?  I will be back later on, in the meantime, I hope you have a lovely day! PS, I hope you like AUs.        

Hey there, (new) Santa! Thank you so much for stepping in : D (And don’t worry about the Grover thing--my “speech” pattern in English is usually 50% compromised of the last piece of acoustic media I consumed, and that is why I should not be allowed to listen to the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks before trying to talk to actual people.)

Alrighty, let’s get to the questions part of this. In order:

1) Rolling out the actual specifics on that would take forever (and I’m not exactly comfortable doing it on the blog), so let’s just say: if we could stay away from protracted death scenes, especially in hospitals, that would be great. I’m not sure how it could come up, but y’know, putting it out here. Just in case. The three main AO3 warnings basically fall into the category of “I Would Prefer Not To”, but that’s the only hard no I can think of (that would reasonably come up).

2) ...how long do you have? Nah, just kidding, I’ll try and keep it short. I love some Angst With A Happy Ending (and its violent little sibling, Hurt/Comfort). Also, if it fits your idea, I so don’t mind established relationships. Reading about these two idiots get together is always wonderful, but reading about them go up against stuff together has a special place in my heart.Not-so-favourite tropes: Love Triangles. This is more trope fatigue than trope dislike, but just... please no.

3) As I’m sure nobody is sick of hearing by now: I love Ruby to bits. There’s of course always Regina, but I don’t know how easily she can be fit into a story, so... at your own discretion and all that. I love Neal/Bae a whole bunch, too, and even a mention that he’s around and well would be great!

4) Favourites!Show: Doctor Who (nobody @ me, you can’t change my mind anyways)Movie: ...idk, Hot Fuzz, probably? (I don’t “connect” to movies very strongly, but I can watch that one pretty much any time and have a ton of fun)Song: Uh... last week, you mean? “The Cave” by Mumford & Sons. Generally, I’m a big fan of ballads, because... well, I like it when music tells a story. And yes, I adore musical theatre. Again, you can’t change my mind *g*Book: *looks at ginormous pile of Discworld books* Definitely one of those. Please don’t make me choose between my children! (It’s either “Night Watch” or “Maskerade”, I think.)And for the etcetera: my favourite flower is the evening star/evening primrose, because they smell amazing.

5) Tbh, I’m a bit wary of going into too much detail, because I really don’t want to inadvertently box you in. I would love if there’s a “moment of support” between Rumple and Belle, though (meaning that one or both of them support/help the other against whatever nonsense is going on at the time). Also, any mention that Rumple either has contact with his family (whoever may count among them in your AU) or at least wants to have contact with them would be wonderful.

6) I... Uhm... I never watched a single Muppet thing in my life. Not because I avoided them, mind you, our paths just never crossed. (I think they’re less ubiquitous in Germany). But if I have to pick one by reputation alone, I think I’ll go with Miss Piggy.

Wow, OK, that took a surprising amount of time. Can I ask what your favourite show, movie, and book are? I know that asks have a limited character number, and that the whole anonymity thing makes things difficult, but I thought those are safe enough *g*

And yes, I love AUs!

[spellblonde]

Llamas with Hats starter meme

There's a dead human in our house.

I do not kill people. That is- that is my LEAST favourite thing to do.

And I, uh, well I stabbed him 37 times in the chest.

Yeah, I'm in the wrong here. I suck.

My stomach was making the rumblies that only hands would satisfy.

You sunk an entire cruise ship.

I would think I would remember something like that.

Would you believe it's strawberry milkshake?

I will not apologize for art.

Looking at the trajectory of the moon and the sun, probably at the bottom of the ocean.

I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Shh, do you hear that? That's the sound of forgiveness.

That is what forgiveness sounds like. Screaming and then silence.

I don't know about you but I am having a wonderful time here.

The people have spoken. Viva la resistance!

That was a foot. I appear to have swallowed an entire person.

Well, that explains why my mojito is taking so long...

It was horrifying. Your mouth unhinged like a snake.

That hurt my feelings. Now we're BOTH in the wrong.

Well, I'm building a meat dragon, and not just ANY meat will do.

I feel like I've been issued a challenge.

I totally don't remember your name.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some pictures to delete from my computer.

I'm not responsible for this. I've been jamming on the saxophone all morning.

Clue number 1- the imposter is a phantom.

What's that? It's hard to hear you over the sound of a melting city.

I ripped the tag off a mattress.

Who's laughing? Clearly not all the people who just exploded.

Friendship is two friends munching on a well-cooked face together.

You're right, it's not nearly as tasteful as I pictured in my head.

Probably because I'm a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence.

It's a lovely day out, we're having a great time, what have you done.

I stepped on a ladybug by accident.

I may have created a crack in space-time.

I think I was expecting worse.

But this is totally fucked, bro!

I don't understand how or why you do anything!

And the payment is baby hands.

I'm the Henry Ford of human meat.

It's not a meat grinder, it's an orphan stomper.

It's everything. Everything you've done, ever.

That looks like a meat dragon.

Did you finish your meat dragon?

Now how would you feel if I called your work a monstrosity?

Of course I had to use faces. Anything else would be disrespecting the art.

I disagreed with the election results.

I think their bodies are still in my blood canal.

You're sitting. You never sit.

Pianos aren't supposed to bleed and scream!

Why can't you go horrify someone else?

You made a mask of my face?

To some, you are now known as Nikolai Sponakoff, brutal leader of the Russian opium cartel.

I used up the rest of my savings buying the swans.

I buried a large chest of dubloons once, I could go dig that up.

A lot of something is in a hole somewhere.

I'm putting on some music. I'm not listening anymore.

I think I would have remembered dismembering someone and putting all their bits on the ground right here.

You said you weren't coming back.

I'm kind of just freestyling it these days.

Oh, it's my gore pit.

I think my legs are broken.

That's probably a basilisk. It probably won't bother us. The stupid thing only eats CHIPOTLE!

Were you always this creepy?

All the hands are eaten, all the meat creatures are made, unleashed, and then also eaten...

Yelling. Also a felony.

I'm sorry if this violates your restraining order, but it's important.

Oh, hey. I didn't do that...

[continuingthefamilyname]

Llamas with Hats starter meme

There's a dead human in our house.

I do not kill people. That is- that is my LEAST favourite thing to do.

And I, uh, well I stabbed him 37 times in the chest.

Yeah, I'm in the wrong here. I suck.

My stomach was making the rumblies that only hands would satisfy.

You sunk an entire cruise ship.

I would think I would remember something like that.

Would you believe it's strawberry milkshake?

I will not apologize for art.

Looking at the trajectory of the moon and the sun, probably at the bottom of the ocean.

I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Shh, do you hear that? That's the sound of forgiveness.

That is what forgiveness sounds like. Screaming and then silence.

I don't know about you but I am having a wonderful time here.

The people have spoken. Viva la resistance!

That was a foot. I appear to have swallowed an entire person.

Well, that explains why my mojito is taking so long...

It was horrifying. Your mouth unhinged like a snake.

That hurt my feelings. Now we're BOTH in the wrong.

Well, I'm building a meat dragon, and not just ANY meat will do.

I feel like I've been issued a challenge.

I totally don't remember your name.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some pictures to delete from my computer.

I'm not responsible for this. I've been jamming on the saxophone all morning.

Clue number 1- the imposter is a phantom.

What's that? It's hard to hear you over the sound of a melting city.

I ripped the tag off a mattress.

Who's laughing? Clearly not all the people who just exploded.

Friendship is two friends munching on a well-cooked face together.

You're right, it's not nearly as tasteful as I pictured in my head.

Probably because I'm a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence.

It's a lovely day out, we're having a great time, what have you done.

I stepped on a ladybug by accident.

I may have created a crack in space-time.

I think I was expecting worse.

But this is totally fucked, bro!

I don't understand how or why you do anything!

And the payment is baby hands.

I'm the Henry Ford of human meat.

It's not a meat grinder, it's an orphan stomper.

It's everything. Everything you've done, ever.

That looks like a meat dragon.

Did you finish your meat dragon?

Now how would you feel if I called your work a monstrosity?

Of course I had to use faces. Anything else would be disrespecting the art.

I disagreed with the election results.

I think their bodies are still in my blood canal.

You're sitting. You never sit.

Pianos aren't supposed to bleed and scream!

Why can't you go horrify someone else?

You made a mask of my face?

To some, you are now known as Nikolai Sponakoff, brutal leader of the Russian opium cartel.

I used up the rest of my savings buying the swans.

I buried a large chest of dubloons once, I could go dig that up.

A lot of something is in a hole somewhere.

I'm putting on some music. I'm not listening anymore.

I think I would have remembered dismembering someone and putting all their bits on the ground right here.

You said you weren't coming back.

I'm kind of just freestyling it these days.

Oh, it's my gore pit.

I think my legs are broken.

That's probably a basilisk. It probably won't bother us. The stupid thing only eats CHIPOTLE!

Were you always this creepy?

All the hands are eaten, all the meat creatures are made, unleashed, and then also eaten...

Yelling. Also a felony.

I'm sorry if this violates your restraining order, but it's important.

Oh, hey. I didn't do that...

[hcybrothcr]

Llamas with Hats starter meme

There's a dead human in our house.

I do not kill people. That is- that is my LEAST favourite thing to do.

And I, uh, well I stabbed him 37 times in the chest.

Yeah, I'm in the wrong here. I suck.

My stomach was making the rumblies that only hands would satisfy.

You sunk an entire cruise ship.

I would think I would remember something like that.

Would you believe it's strawberry milkshake?

I will not apologize for art.

Looking at the trajectory of the moon and the sun, probably at the bottom of the ocean.

I have a problem. I have a serious problem.

Shh, do you hear that? That's the sound of forgiveness.

That is what forgiveness sounds like. Screaming and then silence.

I don't know about you but I am having a wonderful time here.

The people have spoken. Viva la resistance!

That was a foot. I appear to have swallowed an entire person.

Well, that explains why my mojito is taking so long...

It was horrifying. Your mouth unhinged like a snake.

That hurt my feelings. Now we're BOTH in the wrong.

Well, I'm building a meat dragon, and not just ANY meat will do.

I feel like I've been issued a challenge.

I totally don't remember your name.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I have some pictures to delete from my computer.

I'm not responsible for this. I've been jamming on the saxophone all morning.

Clue number 1- the imposter is a phantom.

What's that? It's hard to hear you over the sound of a melting city.

I ripped the tag off a mattress.

Who's laughing? Clearly not all the people who just exploded.

Friendship is two friends munching on a well-cooked face together.

You're right, it's not nearly as tasteful as I pictured in my head.

Probably because I'm a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence.

It's a lovely day out, we're having a great time, what have you done.

I stepped on a ladybug by accident.

I may have created a crack in space-time.

I think I was expecting worse.

But this is totally fucked, bro!

I don't understand how or why you do anything!

And the payment is baby hands.

I'm the Henry Ford of human meat.

It's not a meat grinder, it's an orphan stomper.

It's everything. Everything you've done, ever.

That looks like a meat dragon.

Did you finish your meat dragon?

Now how would you feel if I called your work a monstrosity?

Of course I had to use faces. Anything else would be disrespecting the art.

I disagreed with the election results.

I think their bodies are still in my blood canal.

You're sitting. You never sit.

Pianos aren't supposed to bleed and scream!

Why can't you go horrify someone else?

You made a mask of my face?

To some, you are now known as Nikolai Sponakoff, brutal leader of the Russian opium cartel.

I used up the rest of my savings buying the swans.

I buried a large chest of dubloons once, I could go dig that up.

A lot of something is in a hole somewhere.

I'm putting on some music. I'm not listening anymore.

I think I would have remembered dismembering someone and putting all their bits on the ground right here.

You said you weren't coming back.

I'm kind of just freestyling it these days.

Oh, it's my gore pit.

I think my legs are broken.

That's probably a basilisk. It probably won't bother us. The stupid thing only eats CHIPOTLE!

Were you always this creepy?

All the hands are eaten, all the meat creatures are made, unleashed, and then also eaten...

Yelling. Also a felony.

I'm sorry if this violates your restraining order, but it's important.

Oh, hey. I didn't do that...