#so since we call william by his first name i decided his last name would change

[its-coda]

Modern-era william bradley but he goes by billiam

[fancyfeathers]

william's darling pulling out one of her rare laughters when she sees william's face lol. she can't stop, and it causes william to chuckle with her as well. like a rare tender moment lollll

Forget-Me-Nots

(Yandere William James Moriarty x Reader) Father Like Daughter (Yandere William James Moriarty and his darling having a genius daughter)

(A/N)- Okay I just had to write something for this because it is just way too wholesome and I am writing a lot of darker longer projects. Plus I need to write a perspective peace.

You fiddled with your gloves as you walked downstairs, pulling the lace even more snug against your hand. You were all dressed up in a long baby blue dress, the heirloom necklace and matching set of earrings that was a gift from your sister in law, Albert’s wife, and your hair was pulled up and out of your face. A trip to the music hall, the first little fun family event of the summer that your husband was taking you and your two daughters out on.

You walked from the front entry, where the stairs ended and strolled into the drawing room as you ran your hands over the silk fabric, working out the wrinkles. William had fallen asleep after he got ready to leave, so you decided to let him rest, well you did not have much of a choice otherwise since he would be the only way you or your daughters would be leaving the house after all.

“William, I think we need to be leaving soon and-“ You cut yourself off as you looked up to see your husband, wide awake and sitting on the couch. Your eldest daughter, Eloise, was sitting on the couch next to him in her light pink dress that you had set out for her earlier this evening, her paint pallet and paint brush in hand and William was letting her paint on his face. “Oh goodness.”

To say this was a surprise was the least, you honestly could not remember the last happy time between William and Eloise. She was no fool and had gotten her intelligence from her father, when she was very little she had figured out the true nature of your relationship. She had been protective of her younger sister, Madeline and you. William caught onto her behavior very quickly, especially when Eloise began to show awareness of his other immoral actions, and since then their relationship had never been the same.

So seeing her painting forget-me-not flowers on his face as if it was a canvas was something that made you stop in your tracks. William’s eyes turned to you as you called his name and he smiled, a smile that perhaps shows a tiny bit of embarrassment. “Eloise ran out of canvas and she began painting on me when I was asleep.”

“I can see that.” You replied, a bit of surprise lingering in your words. You spotted Eloise turn her head around to glance at you as she lowered her paintbrush back to her pallet, and on her own cheek you could see paintings of lilies just below her left eye. “And it seems you are not the only person who has become a canvas.”

“Uncle Louis told me that he would take me to the market with him tomorrow to buy more canvas.” She spoke in response to you, it had been quite awhile since Louis had taken her anywhere as well due to the things she had tried over the years and he did not want her attempting anything while they were out, so Eloise hardly went out anywhere anymore.

“Well you best go wash up now so you can go out tonight.” After your words her eyes darted to the grandfather clock in the drawing room to see the time and her eyes immediately went wide with shock, he had never been good with time, as bright as she may be.

You and William watched her as she bolted up, tossing her pallet and brush on the table next to the couch they sat on, it nearly fell over the edge and you could only imagine how cross Louis would be if paint ruined the carpet. You sighed and looked back at William, who was still looking at the doorway she ran out of. You walked over to the couch where William sat, and you took the seat where Eloise had just sat, the seat still warm.

The blue of the flowers in contrast to William’s scarlet red eyes was such a strange contrast that you would have assumed either way that Eloise did this while he was asleep. A small laugh slipped past your lips as you looked at it, turning William’s attention from the door back to you once again. A chuckle escaped his lips as you laughed. “Does it look bad?”

“Eloise’s work? Never.” Eloise had a deft hand for painting, self taught, and every single one of her pieces was beautiful and this one was no exception. You pulled out a small compact mirror that you had tucked into your corset for him to see, and you flicked it open and held it up and his smile grew even wider.

“I feel bad that I have to wash it off for tonight, it is beautiful.” Your husband pushed himself off of the couch before bending down to press a kiss to the crown of your head. “I will go make sure Eloise is washed up as well and that Madeline is ready as well.”

You watched him walk out of the room, leaving you all alone in the drawing room. You made yourself stand up to pick up Eloise’s pallet and brush to wash off. You made your way to the kitchen and as you ran the brush under the water, making sure to get all the paint out to make sure the brush was not ruined when you dried, you noticed something from out the window. The window had a lovely view of the estate across the street and their absolutely stunning front garden, and unlike your own, theirs had forget-me-nots, just like the ones Eloise painted…

…but then your smile fades as you realize that is where she got her inspiration, from outside the window, something she could see but never touch. That was her life, that was your life, you could see everything beautiful on the outside but you could never touch it, making it even more ironic that she painted that lovely flower on William of all people.

[mewmckenna]

Miss Scarlet

So, I am sure by now that everyone has seen the news that Stuart Martin will not be returning for season five of MSATD. I know a lot of people are super disappointed that William is leaving the show, as am I, but honestly, I kind of feel that this could be a new opportunity for the show. It is obvious that the writers did not know that Stuart was leaving the show for good as they were writing last season, but with him being gone it makes the ending of season four almost better to me. Eliza is no longer working for Patrick, and while he is coming back and will likely not end up in prison (though who knows), I imagine Eliza won't go back to Nash & Sons. She was finally able to change the sign above her door to say "Miss Eliza Scarlet," something that seemed impossible to her in earlier seasons. Also, while Eliza is certainly fine at working with a few friends, she will never be the kind of manager that Patrick is as she's simply too independent and stubborn. It is for the better that she is at her own agency, able to do her thing without too much interference.

In a roundabout way, I think William's departure kind of brings everything together. Eliza is truly alone, without William or her father. Everything that she does now will be entirely up to her; she has no father or childhood friend to fall back on. I think that this, plus the name of the show changing to be just Miss Scarlet is a kind of bookend to how the show began. The producers and writers of the show have already hinted at this being the start of a shift in direction, and while the story was largely focused on the romance between William and Eliza during the first four seasons, I think that this gives the creators an opportunity to do more. By calling the show Miss Scarlet and the Duke, they were limited in what they could write. I know I have seen many people comment on how the show seemed to drag because of the drawn out will-they-won't-they between Eliza and William, something I noticed myself after the first couple of seasons.

Now, since it is apparent that they are no longer going to be the endgame couple, there is more freedom in the storyline and what the writers can do with the personal relationships. At the end of season four, it felt to me as though the show had sort of written itself into a corner concerning the title relationship of the show. In another recent post I even commented on how the relationship between the two would remain unchanged unless some drastic action by one of them, probably William. Obviously, I did not know that Stuart was planning on leaving the show, but I think my criticism still stands. Both Eliza and William cared too much about their jobs to ever be able to be truly happy together as we last saw them.

This is exactly the reason that William leaves for New York, and it could be very possibly that the way that they write him out of the show is with him deciding to stay in America. William had been considering quitting his position at Scotland Yard, but this was due to the conditions of his job at the time and how overworked he was, plus the draw of finally being able to be with Eliza. It feels very possible to me that he might change his mind upon entering a less stressful environment and decide not to come back to London. After all, William went months, if not a year, suspecting or knowing Eliza's feelings towards him and vice versa but he was still unwilling to give up his career to be with her. I don't fault William for this as Eliza does the same thing, but it does make his staying in New York a bit more believable.

So even though the show is not going to go in the direction we have all thought it would, I think that this could be a good thing. While we won't know if that is the case for likely a year, I am not going to call any judgements until season five is released. Though I think that the show has definitely benefitted from William's presence, it has always been about Eliza first and foremost and so I am excited to see what she gets up to next.

(Also here's to hoping that Ansu Kabia is included in later casting announcements as we have gone far too long without Moses)

[ask-elland-n-will]

OOC Question:

I am sorry, I am sure you already answered that Question, but how did Will and Elland come to life? 💚

How did you come up with their names and personality?

[I'm gonna call this recent series of ooc asks "Lily rambles while on a walk without proofreading anything"!

Cyrus was first, I cannot begin this conversation without bringing him up. I played him in a DnD campaign for about a year. Elland happened a little while later, but was just an NPC, somebody for the game master to bring up to get the plot going. I switched into playing Elland cause I wanted to give another class a go: Cyrus went home to take care of family stuff, and Elland moved into his friendgroup to help prevent the end of the world. Typical DnD stuff.

Elland is supposed to Cy's foil. Their dynamic was great, their differences stood out more when they were paired up. I wanted a really strong bond.

HL came around — and as I was playing Elland in DnD at the time, I used him in HL. When starting a replay of the game, I went with another archetype I always loved, a talkative cute ginger sunshine boy (we know how he mutated since then 🤣). It was a switch from Cyrus into Will, because Cyrus, being an adult in DnD, was, for the lack of the better word, too horny and abrasive. He didn't fit in a school, and at the time the thought of changing him felt like a monumental task.

So I created another foil for Elland. Will now is so far from his original self that I might as well come up with another cute sweet OC. It always happens like that with my characters. When it feels like one has too much of everything, the character branches out into other characters. Will used to be a coward — and don't get me wrong, self preservation is strong in this one but he knows when to pick his fights and is not easily scared when he can explain things logically (pickle was an exception but he got over that fear after a while). But with time Fred took over the coward role.

Lilith was supposed to be sweet — yet now she's unhinged, strong, domineering — those qualities didn't sit right with any other characters.

Elland was supposed to be more like he is in DnD, this figure making tough choices and not being afraid to get his hands dirty to protect family. But it felt wrong for the HL setting, and thus I have Fyodor, who is even more straightforward. Wherr Elland still can tell a white lie — Fyodor is brutally honest, even if it needlessly hurts somebody's feelings.

I'm rambling at this point haha

Names? Elland — I was in a book club at the time, going through The Mistborn series and The City of Brass. There was a character in the first book series, Elend Venture, whom I liked a lot. When I was coming up with names, I wrote "Elland" and only way later realized why it feels so familiar. I got inspired without knowing.

The second book is fantasy set around the world of djinn. That was the inspiration that made Cyrus a genasi, and de Strontiums in general came from the Middle East (still haven't decided if Egypt or Turkey). There were a few centuries of assimilation both in DnD and HL, so Elland and Cyrus are mixed race.

Cyrus is a name of Persian origin with Greek roots. It meant "sun". With how the boy is burning, it was fitting. And in Genshin there is a guy named Cyrus who is the head of the Adventurers guild. So I had a good feeling about the name.

Their last names, too. Strontium is/was added to fireworks to give them red colour. I've mentioned before that their family came from firework making origins. It's a tradition for them, even when they became nobleman. They branched out into firearms eventually, that's how the majority of their family's wealth was accumulated, helping supply the Crown. In DnD — making weapons for the city guards, and a bunch of other experimental projects that had to do with explosives. Cyrus was reeeealy born for this.

William — always loved the name, no other reason. Abbott — I was looking all over the wiki for a family name that would soften their stance on muggles. I don't remember exactly, but later down the line Abbott's married muggles. Even is Sacred families weren't really a think in HL times (I think?) It doesn't make Will any less generationally pureblood.

For personalities - I'll lump Will and Cyrus in the same category. I needed someone fun. Fun, outgoing, energetic, inspired. And to pair them up for a dynamic I liked, I needed someone calm. Supportive, more empathetic, good listener but somebody with a firm hand to direct Will/Cyrus if they get carried away. W/C should hold E in high regard. E is the kind of person to ground them and make them see things they are too blinded to see.

In practice (roleplay) it's a bit harder to do, so don't be surprised if the characters sometimes do things you didn't think they would do. That, and coming from DnD, Elland especially, Tumblr will just never see some of the sides of him I see critical for understanding his character. Now that I made up my mind about my boys' as OCs lore, the dangerous and unforgiving environment that was HL MC lore and DnD lore — it moved aside.

Elland is a Hufflepuff here only because I couldn't decide between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff because I wanted Puff's commonroom. If I made a choose on behalf of the DnD Elland, he is more Ravenclaw than Puff in terms of personality. A lot of it just didn't come to him until he went to magic academy. And again, bringing up harsh MC lore, now I can't really show off how he operates under pressure and how smart and quick-thunking he is, and how passion can cloud his judgement, especially when his loved ones are involved. Dueling might be the only way for that to slip through.]

[that-darn-clown]

so. came up with an interesting Fnaf au that i'm calling "Different Path."

long story short, it's based off a simple premise. with a few basic rules for myself added in :]

premise: everything added to the lore post-Fnaf 4? get rid of it and start from scratch. no Afton and Emily families, no weird sci-fi shit i have to work around, and i get as much creative liberty with what i want to keep/change as i want.

now for rules:

reuse names as little as possible, not counting security guards from 1-4 (there will be one main exception to this 😉).

if the books are still being included, then their plots are getting changed heavily. since The Silver Eyes technically came out between 4 and 5/SL, i decided that i would keep general premise of the first book (main character lost a sibling when they were younger and it haunts them, goes back to Freddy's with some childhood friends after several years, Murderer Is There In Plain Sight), but that i'd do whatever the fuck i wanted with the plot from there. due to a rule i'm about to get into, however, there is going to be nothing along the lines of Charliebot going on :/

use as little sci-fi as possible. if any sci-fi must be added, then it must be a small thing/something that would make sense in a horror story about haunted animatronics (see: Whatever The Fuck The Security System In The Toys Was, the fact that animatronics can move, the fact they could move during the day).

The Timeline Is My Oyster; go crazy, go insane with it.

games past 4 still exist, but their premise/plot will be changed heavily.

I Can Make Things As Queer And Autistic As I Want.

and also because i could, i split William into two different characters! one is the serial killer, and the other is just a business man :) (and French) this is also where you're going to see what i meant by "The Exception To The Reusing Names Rule" :)

so now, onto the characters! specifically, the au equivalents of the game characters that i have so far:

Henry Emily: Gabriel Fazzer

William Afton (Co-Founder/Businessman/Good Dad half): Jacques Lièvre (look up what that last name means ;))

William Afton (Murderer/Bad Dad half): David "Dave" Miller Schmidt

Michael Afton: Michael "Mike" Schmidt (or as his dad calls him "Tammy" 😒)

Crying Child: Kristopher "Kris" Schmidt (they like being called Casper, though :])

Elizabeth Afton: Marigold Lièvre

Ralph/Phone Guy: Elliot Fazzer (eldest of his siblings...and a teen dad)

Charlie Emily: Emily Fazzer

Sammy Emily: Emmet Fazzer (youngest)

Freddy MCI Kid: Carrie Shields

Bonnie MCI Kid: Isabelle "Izzy" Fitzgerald-Hernandez

Chica MCI Kid: Daisy Prescott

Foxy MCI Kid: Oliver "Ollie" Smith (or, as he'll sometimes say, "Is Ollie short for Oliver or Olivia? That's up to ye!")

Fredbear/Gold. Freddy MCI Kid: Thomas "Tommy" Fazzer (Elliot's son :))

please ask me about some fun facts. Dave is not even REMOTELY sympathetic, he just fucking sucks as a person. the closest you could get to "sympathetic" with him would be "oh, his youngest child is dead because his eldest son was a dumbass," which...is all fine and good Until You Remember That This Fucker Killed Emily + The MCI Kids BACK IN 1980.

I am making pizza right now so this is the perfect ask to get hehe. Ollie is just like me for real

Could we get some silly goofy facts about Dave :3 I want to use him as a pin cushion lol

[ohmy-venus]

Heyyy… long time no see! I’ve been meaning to finish and post this on ao3 for ages but work and college have gotten very much in the way of me finishing it, I decided I wanted to post this Fic here instead of letting it rot in my Google doc! If anyone wants me to continue it, I’d be more then happy to pick it back up! Anywho, I hope y’all enjoy!!

~This fic uses Y/N heavily but that may change in the future(if I pick it up again) Price is in green and the reader is purple! The professor(s) will all be in orange!!~

~Freshman year: Semester 1~

"Welcome to your first class of the semester students!"

It's 9:00 am, a group of 20-30 students are seated in a beige room alongside me as we listen to our English teacher, Mr. Williams introduce himself and take attendance. I'm seated in the last row in the back of the auditorium room away from the majority of the students. I didn't have many friends at this college since I had decided to attend a community college several cities away from the one I grew up in, not only that I had also taken a gap year to save some money. I looked around at the other students in the class, the majority of them seemed to have come straight from high school and seemed younger than I was. Of course there were a few that seemed around my age, one specifically peaked my attention...

Mr. Williams projected an image up on the screen of our first assignment of the semester, it had paired up names and the thesis topic we each needed to present at the end of the next upcoming week. I could hear the audible groans coming from my fellow classmates, I simply lowered my head and hoped the person I would be paired up with wasn't an asshole.

"Now-now students, don't get so excited about this! I'll be ending class early so you can meet your partners and begin working on your assignment as soon as possible. This will go towards your final grade and will not be curved! Now get to it!" Mr. Williams left the projected image up for us to find our partners and headed to his office to work on his other classroom's paperwork. I walked up to the projector and searched for my name,

"Y/N... L/N..." I softly repeated to myself as I went through the list. Once I finally found my name I saw the name of my assigned partner, 'Jonathan Price'. With this I looked around the now busy and loud room, I scanned the area and searched for my partner. After a few quick scans, I was able to spot a tall guy with mutton chops and a large frame who seemed to be doing the same as I was. Our eyes met, it was brief but it was enough time to acknowledge each other and realize we had found one another, I waved at him and quickly made my way over to him. I walked through the large crowd of students as I made my way to his general location.

I stood in front of him taking in how incredibly tall he actually was, definitely over 6', not only that he was pretty muscular... I snapped out of my slight trance as I extended my hand out to him.

"Hi! I'm going to assume you're Jonathan Price?" I flash a kind smile at him as I hoped I hadn't mistaken him for another person. "Hello! I am in fact him! But please, Call me John. I'll assume you're Y/N? Its nice to finally have a face to the name!” He said as he reached for my hand to shake, his lips curve into a soft and gentle smile. His grip was strong around my hand, It reminded me of my father's handshake in a way or what I imagine it would feel like to get a handshake from Shaq. After a few moments he let go of the grip he had on my hand and stood in front of me awkwardly for a moment, I broke the silence between us by suggesting we head to the library to escape the noisy classroom and start on our thesis assignment. We walked alongside each other and reserved a study room for the two of us.

"I'm glad we got out of there, it felt like I had to yell for you to hear me. Anyways, We should start now so we don't procrastinate about it later!"

[affinityaligned]

Sneak Peak of FNAF Affinity Remake

I've been typing up the story for this remake and just wanted to share what I've made before it's reworded or changed.

Author's note: The story you're about to read is the same basic story of Mobox87's FNAF Affinity AU but remade and told differently due to how botched it was when created. So, I decided to take her story and recreate it from the ground up to make my headcanon and publish it as an alternative to the AU that Mobox87 fans grew up with. The story does contain violence, strong language, abuse of alcohol and sensitive topics. Viewing this description is advice.

The morning sun of dawn rises bright on a summer day while a glare of sunlight peaks hitting against my face through the window blinds that were barely shut. I slowly open my eyes while waking up to get myself out of bed as I rub my hand on my head. I began my day early, started removing the blanket covers over me and walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth while looking at myself in the mirror. Seeing my own face in the mirror had me thinking about myself to reminisce about my past that I know briefly. Flashback to years ago when I was a kid, my first name is Michael and my last name is Afton. I woke up from being unconscious in a hospital with my head in pain but I would soon be greeted by a man with a beautiful wife and two kids. I was puzzled as to who I was looking at. Who are these people? Are they my family? Where am I? It was all so new to me and I didn't know anything before I woke up on this hospital bed, before I could speak any words. The man's wife spoke up to me with a response to the few seconds of silence, "Oh finally! You're awake! We thought you'd be in a long coma. The doctor that's taking care of you said that you hit your head really hard.", I was speechless now and I didn't know what to say back then the man in his suit approached. "I heard what happened and immediately rushed to the scene. Apparently you saved my daughter Brandy from someone dangerous, I wanna thank you for being so bold. Currently my daughter is asleep to calm herself in the bed next to you as she recovered faster than you". I turned my head to his daughter next to my bed. The girl Brandy was in a purple sweater and had pigtails. From the looks of it she seemed mostly unharmed except for the area that's bandaged on her wrist. The man greeted himself to me and family, "By the way kid, my name is William. This is my wife Renata and our kids Chris and Elizabeth. It's nice to meet you Michael". Puzzled again but this time he called me 'Michael', is that my name?... I can't seem to know or remember who am I.

__________________________________

That's all I'll be sharing for now, expect some illustrations to be made since I'm making this as a light novel series before it's a fully illustrated comic.

[lyranova]

Children of the Future: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 4: Get Along, or Else!

Hiya guys! Chapter 4’s already here hehe, I’m thinking (for now) that I’ll try and update this series once a week since the muses, and you guys, are really enjoying it! This chapter is very OC centric with the canon characters showing up at the end so I hope that’s alright. But there is a…hint at something to come in this series at the end hehe! And it’s something totally new 👀. I hope you all enjoy~!

Word Count: 4,406

Warnings: Mild Flirting, Name Calling, OC Centric

———

Alistar’s mind raced as he and his squad members flew towards the village of Aramore. It was a small village surrounded by woods that sat between the Common and Forsaken realms. Usually a small bandit case like this would be given to the closest squad, but since the bandits were former Magic Knights the Wizard King decided to send in his best squads; The Golden Dawn and The Black Bulls.

But the young man's mind was elsewhere. His mind was still back in the Golden Dawn base, more specifically in the Golden Dawn’s graveyard, where his father had just dropped a bombshell:

“ Consider this your first real mission as the newly appointed Captain of the Golden Dawn.”

His first mission…as the newly appointed Captain of the Golden Dawn? Did, that mean his father was retiring? But why? His father was completely fine and was still one of the strongest mages in the Kingdom! So…why?

“ V-Vice-Captain! W-We’re here!” Ulla Lunettes, eldest daughter of Klaus Lunettes, shouted at him so she could be heard over the wind that whistled past their ears.

Alistar quickly snapped out of his thoughts. He nodded as the group landed just outside the village, the didn’t want to accidentally surprise the villagers or be mistaken as the bandits. Alistar placed his broom against the tree before turning around to look at the Golden Dawn members that he decided to bring with him.

Firstly there was Ulla Lunettes. She was very similar to her mother in personality and had even inherited her mothers Letter Magic, she was very shy and had very little self-confidence, but she was a hard worker and very powerful despite what she tried to tell others.

Beside her was her younger sister Celeste. Celeste and her other siblings had just recently joined the Golden Dawn a few months ago so this was her first ‘serious’ mission. She had Paint magic but her personality was very similar to her father Klaus’s. She was serious and could be stern, but she was truly soft hearted and kind. She was a hard worker and powerful like her family, which was why Alistar had decided to bring her along.

The next person to land was Virgil Sandler, Alecdora’s eldest child and only son. He was also a rookie and had just joined the Golden Dawn as well. He had Mud Magic and his personality was…very similar to his father, he could be very judgemental and prideful, but he was also very loyal to Alistar and his father William. He was a capable warrior and Alistar felt that he would be very stupid to not include him on this mission.

Finally the last one to land was Lunaria Vermillion, the eldest daughter of Mimosa Vermillion’s twin girls. She was also a rookie who had just joined the squad this year. Lunaria was a very sweet and kind person who never had a bad thing to say about anyone, unless she was talking about her twin, then you would hear her sass and say something under her breath. But her twin could throw it right back, it was their love language. She inherited her mother’s Flora magic and was mainly a healer and support mage but did have a few attack spells as well.

Alistar nearly laughed as he looked at his small group, everyone was rookies except for him and Ulla.

“ Lord Vangeance,” Virgil said loudly as he saluted. Alistar nearly sighed, no matter how many times he had instructed Virgil to just call him by his name instead of his title Virgil just didn’t seem to listen “ Should we go inside the village now and begin questioning witnesses?” Alistar shook his head.

“ Not yet. We need to wait for the Black Bulls to arrive.” He told the young man who wore an annoyed expression when Celeste suddenly stepped forward.

“ But sir, the Black Bulls tend to…hinder missions and investigations more then help them. So I think it would be better if we went ahead and began the investigation before they arrive.” Celsete suggested seriously as Virgil nodded in agreement.

“ Celsete, Virgil, while I appreciate your thoughts and opinions I’ve already decided we’re waiting. And despite the rumors that the Black Bulls are the ‘worst’ squad who causes only chaos and destruction, that’s far from being accurate.” Alistar said seriously as he looked at the two. He watched the two’s faces grow red and they bowed their heads in embarrassment. Alistar smiled gently at them, they were young and still learning.

They only had to wait a few minutes before they heard a whirring noise come from above. The group of five looked up and saw what appeared to be a ship in the shape of a young Bull head, and Alistar instantly knew it was the younger members of the Black Bulls.

The ship landed a few feet away and after a few minutes a small group of people walked out and came towards them. He instantly recognized Hikari leading her own small group an when she noticed him standing there she waved at him with a bright smile on her face.

“ Hey Alistar! So your dad sent you out on this mission too, huh?” She asked as she stood in front of him, she then began to look around him. “ And he gave you nothing but rookies I see.” She added bluntly, Alistar smiled at her, knowing her words held no malice in them. But Virgil didn’t seem to understand that as he became very offended.

“ Hey these ‘rookies’ are a lot more powerful than you, a foreigner, and your little band of lab rats and kids of ex-convicts could ever dream of being.” Virgil said angrily and in a cold tone, the Bulls immediately grew angry at the young man's words.

“ What did you say you punk?” Aloys Adlai growled as he pulled out his grimoire and Virgil pulled his out as well.

“ I mean, Virgil isn’t wrong. We are more powerful then all, or most, of you. Being descendants of nobles already gives us a lot of mana, but we also get an extra boost because our parents were possessed by elves and were able to retain a small bit of those elves power.” Celeste pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

“ If that’s the case,” Ezio Roulacase, son of Finral Roulacase and Vanessa Enoteca, said in a slightly unsure voice. “ Then Hikari and Aloys should both have an extra ‘boost’ of mana since their parents were also possessed and are from nobility.”

Celeste’s face immediately turned red and Virgil growled.

“ And even with all of that you were still only accepted into the worst Magic Knight squad!” Virgil argued and Alice Legolant, daughter of Henry Legolant, suddenly pipped up.

“ That’s not true. Most of us joined the Black Bulls because they’re our friends and family, and we feel more accepted there then anywhere else!” Alice defended strongly despite her tone being soft.

“ And if we’re all in the same place we can protect all our precious friends and family better!” Wendy Agrippa, daughter of Gordon Agrippa, said quietly as she crossed her arms.

“ And you wanna call us lab rats, kids of ex-convicts, and foreigners when your Captain betrayed his squad and kingdom, is the bastard son of a nobleman, and his own kid loses control of his powers on whim!” Aloys threw back at them angrily and the two Golden Dawn members growled in anger.

“ DON’T TALK ABOUT OUR CAPTAIN AND VICE-CAPTAIN THAT WAY!” The Golden Dawn members shouted angrily.

“ THEN DON’T TALK ABOUT OUR VICE-CAPTAIN THAT WAY!” The Black Bulls shouted back.

The two groups all had their grimoires out and were about to fight when Hikari and Alistar both looked at each other apologetically before sighing.

“ That is enough!” The two shouted and each of their squads.

The groups immediately froze, looked at each other for a moment, and then reluctantly put their grimoires away. They may not listen to each other, but they would certainly listen to their Vice-Captain’s.

“ Now, you all may not like each other, but you need to learn to at least be civil with one another in order to complete this mission successfully. If none of can do that then speak up now, grab your brooms, and go back to the base.” Alistar told his squad seriously, they all looked at each other with a bit of shame in their eyes before they shook their heads and saluted him.

“ We can do it sir!” They all said in unison, and Hikari looked over at her squad, who all were kneeling in front of her just as their parents did with Captain Yami.

“ Did you hear that you brats? You gotta play nice with these Goodie Two Shoes just until this mission is over, if you can’t do that, then Taxi Jr. can open a portal and take you back to the Hideout. And when you get there you get to explain to the Captain why you left and why you decided to let another squad take care of this.” Hikari said seriously as she glared down at her squad mates, in that moment she looked and sounded identical to her father. Which was funny yet terrifying. “ So, are you guys gonna at least try and place nice? Or do we need to go back to the Hideout?”

“ N-No ma’am! We can get along with the Goodie Two Shoes!” They shouted in unison, causing Alistar to chuckle, Hikari to grin, and the Golden Dawn to glare.

After being scolded by their Vice-Captains the two groups walked towards the village to begin their mission.

—-

As the two groups walked through the small forest the eventually came upon the tiny village of Aramore. Despite it’s small size it had quite a few homes in the center and spread ou through the area, in the center of town there was a small church with a tall steeple. It reminded Hikari of the one in Hage except larger and made of wood instead of stone.

The squads looked around as they noticed there wasn’t a single soul in sight. They villagers were probably too scared to come out of their homes due to the bandits and their actions. Hikari and Alistar looked at each other for a moment before they nodded.

“ We’re splitting up. Each of you pair up into groups of two and start knocking on doors and asking any person you see for information. Got it?” Hikari asked as she looked at the squad members, The Black Bulls nodded and began to take off in separate directions as the Golden Dawn just stood there, awaiting their Vice-Captain’s orders.

“ You heard her. Go.” Alistar told them and eventually they nodded and went their own way. Alistar sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before looking apologetically at his friend.

“ I’m sorry about earlier, I’ll properly scold them all when the mission is over.” Alistar said softly as a apologetic smile appeared on his face. Hikari shook her head a bit before rubbing the back of it.

“ I’m sorry about my brats too,” She began to apologize. “ They should’ve just let it go.”

“ They were protecting themselves, their Captain and Vice-Captain, and their families honor. So don’t apologize” Alistar said quickly but Hikari shrugged.

“ Too late, I already did,’’ She told him with a grin before turning around and walking towards the church. “ C’mon, let’s see if the village leader’s here.” Alistar nodded before quickly following behind his friend.

The two walked up the small steps before Hikari pushed open the two wooden doors. They walked inside and noticed that the church appeared to be abandonded as well.

“ Did they all leave? If so why did they call us out here?” Alistar muttered as he looked around the room, he wouldn’t think that someone would call them out here just to waste their time and resources. Hikari walked into the center of the room, took a deep breath, and then spoke loudly and in a commanding tone.

“ You can come out now old man! I know you’re in here hiding behind the altar!” She said so loudly that it echoed throughout the church and caused Alistar to even jump. After a few minutes Alistar watched an older man pop his head out slowly from behind the altar and looked from Hikari to Alistar and back again.

“ Are…you with the Magic Knigths?” The man asked hesitantly as he tried to look at their robes. After the two confirmed that they were indeed Magic Knights the older man sighed in relief and stood up and walked around the altar, down the small steps, and towards them.

“ Oh thank goodness! For a while there I wasn’t sure if the Magic Knights would ever show up!” The man said happily as he quickly grabbed both their hands and held them gently. “ You’ll help us with the bandits won’t you?”

“ Of course we will,” Hikari said firmly and confidently as she squeezed his hand back gently. She could be rough like her father, but at times like this she could be as gentle as her mother. “ but first you need to tell us everything you know.”

“ Right, right, of course. Firstly my name is Father Dareau and I’m the leader of this church and this village. Everything’s been peaceful here for as long as I can remember, but then suddenly we started getting attacked by bandits.”

“ How long has this been going on?” Alistar asked with a frown and Dareau tilted his head in thought.

“ At least six months, it started shortly after the new Wizard King was announced.” Dareau said and Alistar and Hikari frowned.

There had been quite an exodus of Magic Knights after Asta had been announced as the Wizard King, mostly because nobles hadn’t wanted to take orders from a manaless peasant despite him having saved the kingdom multiple times over. So maybe these bandits were Magic Knights were some of the ones who had left?

“ When do they usually attack? Is there a pattern or is it mostly random?” Hikari asked and Dareau tilted his head.

“ I’m not too sure, I think there’s a pattern to it. They usually attack at night when everyones asleep, or are trying to sleep, and then they just break into any homes they first lay their eyes on. I also noticed that they really don’t attack the church, but they’ll attack the homes surrounding it.” Dareau said after a moment of thought, Alistar couldn’t help but snort and roll his eyes.

“ Bandits with morales? How ironic.” Alistar muttered under his breath before speaking loudly. “ Do you happen to know how many there are? Or where they come from?”

“ There’s about a dozen or so I think? And they usually come from the woods, but not from the same direction.” The older man explained and Alistar and Hikari looked at one another, it wasn’t much, but it was a start.

After talking with Dareau a bit more the two walked out of the church. They instructed him to gather all the villagers into the church, since it seemed to be the safest place for them at the moment, and to convince them to let the Magic Knights stay in their homes and lie in wait for the bandits.

Alistar and Hikari saw the members of their squads waiting outside of the church for them.

“ Got anything?” Hikari asked and her squad shook their heads.

“ Nothing, the villagers are all terrified. A few of them even thought that I was a bandit!” Ezio said with a sheepish laugh as he rubbed the back of his head. “ I may steal the hearts of beautiful maidens everywhere, but I don’t steal their material property.” He added with a bit of a smuggish grin, Aloys frowned.

“ Isn’t those ‘maiden’s hearts’ also their property?” Aloys asked causing Ezio to blush and cross his arms at his friend.

“ I was trying to sound romantic Aloys!”

“ Did you guys find out anything?” Alistar asked his squad members, cutting off Aloys and Ezio’s arguing. The Golden Dawn members all shook their heads.

“ No sir, the villagers wouldn’t talk to us either. Even when we knew they were inside.” Lunaria said with a sheepish laugh as she scratched her cheek with her index finger. Suddenly, Ulla spoke up.

“ U-Um…I found something.” Ulla said sheepishly as she stepped forward, admittedly she didn’t like having all their eyes on her, but when she saw Alistar’s gentle and patient smile she couldn’t help but become a little more confident.

“ I…I was able to talk to one of the villagers. She said that they start their attack around midnight and that they only take stuff that they can carry, like Yul or smaller items like silver candlesticks. They also start out in the furthest parts of town before working their way in. They attack every three days and the last attack was exactly three days ago so…that’s why the villagers are all so nervous, because they’re going to attack again…tonight.” Ulla said, her voice full of nervousness and hesitancy. Everyone stared at her with wide and surprise eyes, but Alistar just smiled.

“ Good work Ulla, that’s very helpful information.” Alistar said warmly as he walked up to her and gently patted the top of her head. Ulla’s face turned a bright red but a sheepish smile appeared on her face as well. Hikari watched them with a grin on her face.

“ And you wonder why so many girls fall for you,” She muttered with a chuckle and Alistar turned to look at her with a confused look on his face.

“ What’d you mean?” He asked with a tilt of his head, he almost looked like a confused puppy. Hikari shook her head but didn’t eleaborte further.

“ Alright brats listen up,” Hikari began in a commanding tone. “ Alistar and I talked to the village leader. He said he’s going to gather all the villagers up and bring them to the church, since the bandits don’t attack the church, and that he’ll convince a few of them to loan us their homes for the evening. Once all that’s done we’ll split up into teams of two and try to get as many of the bandits as possible, understand?” She asked and th Black Bulls nodded.

“ Yes Vice-Captain!”

Alistar looked at his squad and gave them a look that said ‘Do you all understand?’ and they each reluctantly nodded before saluting him.

“ Yes Vice-Captain!”

—---

Later That Evening

Alistar and Hikari waited patiently inside the small and dark room, their only light source being a single candle. Dareau had managed to do as he promised and secured them a few houses to use in order to bait the bandits. Alistar’s mind was supposed to be focused on the task at hand but instead it kept wandering back to his fathers words.

“ So, why did your dad send you here instead of coming himself?” Hikari asked quietly, Alistar was pulled out of his thoughts at her question.

“ Why did your’s?” He threw back at her quietly, Hikari shrugged and let out a dramatic sigh.

“ He said he didn’t feel like going and that he was tired, so he gave it to me and told me to gain some more experience and told me to bring Alice, Wendy, and Ezio along so they could gain some too. Aloys just volunteered so he could get away from his dad.” Hikari answered bluntly, and Alistar chuckled. Captain Yami wasn’t a dumb man, if he felt that this mission was too serious or too dangerous he would have come on it himself. So he must’ve believed that Hikari was strong enough to handle this mission on her own and with a group of rookies.

“ Now back to you, why did your dad send you out on this mission?” She asked with a raised brow and Alistar couldn’t help but smirk a bit.

“ Maybe because he knew you would be on this mission and wanted to give me the opportunity to try and woo you without your fathers interference?” Alistar asked with a flirtatious tone to his voice. Hikari snorted and shoved his shoulder a bit.

“ Don’t dodge the question by trying to flirt with me, you know it doesn’t work on me.” Hikari said with a chuckle and a shake of her head. Alistar chuckled as well before he sighed dramatically and in a disappointed fashion.

“ A man can only hope.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, just as they tended too. He remembered when he and Hikari’s quiet moments were full of awkwardness and slightly tense conversations, but luckily after that event seven years ago the two had grown more comfortable around each other and the conversations flowed with ease and their silences had become comfortable. Alistar closed his eyes for a moment before another sigh escaped his lips.

“ ‘Consider this your first real mission as the newly appointed Captain of the Golden Dawn.’. That’s what my father said after he gave me this mission, he then called me ‘Captain Alistar Vangeance’.” Alistar admitted softly, his eyes still closed. “ I think…my dad’s retiring.”

Alistar opened his eyes and looked at his friend, her blue eyes were wide and her mouth was slightly agape in surprise. She blinked a few times before she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

“ Your dad’s retiring?! When did this come about, and why didn’t my dad tell me?” She asked a little louder then she had intended. She quickly quieted herself down before giving Alistar a serious look. “ Does anyone else know about this?”

“ I don’t think so, if I had to guess I think only the Captain’s, the Wizard King, you and I know about this. I doubt any of the Golden Dawn knows, otherwise I’m sure there would’ve been a big stink about it.” Alistar muttered, and he watched as Hikari’s eyes softened.

“ Between that comment and your Ki I can tell how your feeling about all of this.” Hikari muttered as a soft and tender smile appeared on her face. Alistar smirked at her before he moved closer to her and turned to face her.

“ And what is my Ki telling you?” He asked curiously.

“ That you’re scared and worried, that you think there’s more to your fathers retirement then just him ‘getting old’,” Hikari started softly. “ You’re scared that your father’s making a mistake by giving his squad over to you. You’re worried that the other’s will feel the same and so they’ll argue against your appointment as Captain, and you’re scared of losing control again.”

Alistar wasn’t sure why he was feeling so bold at the moment. Maybe it was the way the soft glow from the candle illuminated her beautiful face, or the way her rose scented perfume seemed to mesmerize him, or maybe it was simply the way she seemed to understand him and his feelings better then anyone. But right now, at this moment, he wanted to confess his feelings and kiss her.

But before he could dwell on his thoughts Hikari suddenly snapped her head to the right, and Alistar did the same.

The Bandits were there.

—---

Back in the Capital

Yami walked quietly, but hurriedly, through the Magic Knight Headquarters halls. He already hadn’t been able to sleep due to his nerves about the mission he sent his daughter and the rookies on. But after he got a concerning call from Marx, telling him he was urgently needed at Headquarters, he was more awake then ever. His mind began to race, fearing the worst had happened to the brats. When he walked into the Captain’s meeting room and saw the same expression on William’s face that he knew the slightly younger man felt the same as him:

Terrified. Terrified that they had sent their kids and a bunch of rookies out on a dangerous mission that either seriously injured them, or worse, killed them.

“ Thank you all for coming so late,” Asta said between a loud yawn. Apparently Marx had woken him up as well. “ I told Marx we could just leave it until morning but he said it was urgent.”

“ It is urgent Asta,” Marx said with a sigh. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Magical Device. He set it down in the center of the meeting room table and hit the side of it, after a moment of static a pair of face’s appeared before them.

Hikari and Alistar’s to be exact.

Yami and William both sighed in relief as they kids looked unharmed, and in the background stood their other kids, who all were unscathed as well. In between the group of kids, on their knee’s, were the former Magic Knights turned bandits. All tied up and looking a little worse for wear.

“ Hey Papa! See? I told you I could handle this!” Hikari boasted cheerfully as Alistar turned to smile at her for a moment before looking at his own father.

“ The mission was a success, so, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about things anymore, father.” Alistar told him confidently, and William smiled knowingly.

“ So you decided to give Goldie Guts and I a heart attack in the middle of the night to tell us our kids mission was a success?” Yami asked Marx, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. Marx rolled his eyes a bit before shaking his head.

“ Of course not! I’m a father myself to a pair of Magic Knights so I know good and well how worried you must’ve been when I called you!” Marx said with annoyance in his voice as well. He quickly regained his composure, cleared his throat, and looked from Yami to Hikari.

“ Show them what you all found.” He instructed, and Hikari nodded.

She pulled out a long dark cloak from behind her. It was similar to the ones that the Magic Knight squads wore, except different colors. It was dark, had a grey trim around the edges, but what really stuck out to them was the emblem.

It was of a Three headed dog, or more commonly known as Cerberus. The Captain’s all looked at each other for a moment with confused yet concerned looks on their faces.

“ What the hell is that?” Yami asked as he looked from the emblem to Marx, who only shook his head.

“ That’s the problem; we don’t know.”

———

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you all have a good day~!

[daggerzine]

Cloudberry Records Europe’s Biggest Import: An Interview With Roque Ruiz by Eric Eggleson

I’ve been a fan of his website for years. I always find something to snag if not something new to listen to. The variety of independent music is amazing. Roque has always been on the cutting edge of indiepop. (Even his Gmail is from the Would-Be-Goods song “Pinstriped Rebel”) If you read the Dagger review of Blind Terry’s The Beautiful Youth And Everything That Follows, you may not have known that it is the final release from the Cloudberry Records catalog. Cloudberry has released over fifty releases over many decades. I contacted Roque and he was kind enough to share the history of the label. When did you start the label? The first release was in February of 2007. Truth be told the label as an idea had started much earlier. I had released a tape the previous year called C-06, which did really well. I think this was sort of the seed that became Cloudberry Records, a label with a DIY approach. On the other hand, since 2005 I had been running with a friend a label that was called Plastilina Records, which wasn’t that DIY as Cloudberry was at the start, with handmade-sleeves, hand-numbered, etc, etc. Plastilina was releasing proper CDs, professionally made.  Why did you start the label? As I was saying I wanted to do things my way. A label with my vision of what indiepop is. On Plastlina, I ran the label with my friend Jalito. We discussed and decided together what we wanted to release, how things should look like, and I didn’t always agree with that. So, Cloudberry was a way for me to run things the way I wanted, the way I thought an indie label should be run. I have a big love for indiepop and I wanted to help bands and fans, introduce the music to more fans, share my love for it. Really, that was it. That’s why I wanted to do this label.  

(Friends' William Jones and Roque) Where did the name come from? It just came to me. Trying to analyze my subconscious I could say that I am a big fan of Swedish indiepop (Sweden in general), and I knew and had cloudberry jam of course. Also, I know the band Cloudberry Jam and I like them. I also thought the name of this berry had the potential for a cool logo, as it had the word cloud that has all these dreamy connotations, so yeah, I thought it was a good name.  Anybody help you along the way? (Or just you?) Just me. But, of course, had the help of all the bands, illustrators, and friends.  Which came first, your fanzine or label?

The label came first. But yeah, I did a few fanzines, 10 in total, that are part of the Cloudberry catalog. There’s also the blog.

That also came out after, in October 2008 (though I had another blog before the label which sadly doesn’t exist anymore, it was hacked… sad story). It was called Mira el Péndulo. It was a blog exclusively written in Spanish where I and some friends reviewed new bands, new releases, did interviews, etc. It was more of a traditional blog at the time. It started in 2004 and lasted until 2007. In 2006, I released a compilation tape that was tied to the blog, called “C-06” which was very successful. This was the seed that started the label, as a few bands that were on this tape would later release on Cloudberry. The blog did well. Not only Spanish speakers followed us. It was quite international. But then suddenly one day I opened the URL and the blog was gone. There was a message saying it had been hacked. I guess now in retrospect there were probably ways to recover. But at that point, it didn’t even cross my mind, I was pissed and sad and made the decision that it was time to move on.  Any interesting stories to share that happened with artists? Too many. Not sure where to start! I didn’t personally meet all of the bands, but many I did. The Felt Tips; I saw them in England play live, never in Scotland.

(Roque with Felt Tips' Miguel and Zipper) But we did hang out in Glasgow of course. The Spook School; I saw them here in New York a couple of times. But also, in the UK a few times. I remember taking the train with some of them from Edinburgh to Glasgow, to see The Aislers Set. The Secret History are from New York, so yes, have hung out with Michael a few times. One time even meeting Anne Hathaway outside a bowling place. Oh, and yes, I was at Indietracks when they played, too. Alpaca Sports is probably the band I have hung out the most from your list. US, France, Spain, Sweden, England… stayed at theirs, they stayed at mine.

(Roque with Alpaca Sports' Andreas) Happy to be friends with them. So many stories to tell. So many beers have been had. Would you know that Andreas is a big fan of J. Lo’s “Waiting for Tonight” track? That also reminds me, we had a superb karaoke time with Alpaca Sports and Very Truly Yours once.

(Roque with Kristine and Lisle of Very Truly Yours) Nixon is one of my indiepop heroes. And I met him many years ago, after releasing the 7” in Stockholm. I went to Roger’s place and we talked for hours about music surrounded by his amazing music and VHS collection. It was one of the most special days for sure. Sadly, never met in person with Stephen’s Shore, Den Baron, or Blind Terry. I do hope when I am next in their countries we can grab a beer.  Your musical background. (Do you play an instrument? In a band?) No, don’t play anything. Had a few short-lived bands while in my teenage years and early 20s, I was the lyricist and sang. Nothing amazing, but there are some recordings on the web. How many concerts do you go to? What are some of your favorites? These days very little! I went to Heavenly last week and will check out Swansea Sound this week.

(Roque with Amelia of Heavenly and Swansea Sound) I now only go to very special gigs. Since I became a father, going to gigs is something I don’t do that often. Before that, I would even travel to see the bands I wanted to see if they weren’t coming to NYC.  

DON'T MISS PART TWO NEXT SUNDAY!

[briamichellewrites]

69

Unspecified dissociative disorder. Renè asked what that meant. He and Céline brought over their friends, Gloria and Emilio to meet Bria and Mike. When they arrived, he used the buzzer. They both got up and went to the front door with the dogs following behind them. Humans are here! Humans are here! Mike held them back, so she could let her guests in. Bark! Bark! Their tails wagged because they were so happy about humans coming over!

Once the door was closed, they introduced themselves. She then invited them to her studio. It was one of the main hangouts for her and her friends. Emilio and Gloria were impressed by the set up. How often did she use the studio? She was in there a lot, especially when she wasn’t having a good day. They all sat down together. She recorded her last album in there.

Could they ask what happened when she was in the hospital? Yes, though she would need Mike’s help because she couldn’t remember anything. She was upstairs in her bathroom when she became unconscious. Her cat, Anya called Mike. How? They had no idea. Their best theory was that she had dialed the number before passing out. Anyway, he came over and found her on the floor. He called 911 while performing CPR on her.

At the hospital, she was put into a medically induced coma to prevent brain damage. She was in a coma for two weeks? He nodded.

“We were told that she might not wake up. If she did wake up, she would likely have significant developmental disabilities. I don’t know if that’s the correct term, but significant brain damage. That would mean she would need around the clock care for the rest of her life and would never be independent again. We all decided that we would take turns doing whatever we needed to. Whether it was hanging out for an afternoon, bringing her to doctor’s appointments or even changing diapers.”

When she woke up, she was a baby who couldn’t do anything. The only thing she could do was laugh, make faces, and move her limbs. She surprised everyone because they never thought she would be independent again. Did she have any problems because of the brain damage? She couldn’t remember anything from before her coma.

She also had mental health problems. After she came home from rehabilitation, she was upset about not being able to remember anything. She formed a new “personality” named, Emma. He put that term in air quotes. Emma was a way of starting her life over. She gave her a backstory which was similar to hers. During a therapy session, they uncovered a repressed memory of being bullied when she was twelve years old. That was the age of Emma.

After that, Emma became an official alternative personality. She was screened for Dissociative Identity Disorder but she didn’t qualify for a diagnosis. Instead, she had an unspecified dissociative disorder. It was under the dissociative disorder umbrella.

“It’s all very confusing and we all just take the psychiatrist’s word on things.”

“When does Emma come out?”

“When I’m in a bad mood. She likes to have an attitude, which isn’t good”, Bria said.

“Yeah, she does. We have to be patient with her”, Mike agreed.

Since they didn’t want to force her to come out, they would take her word for it. Was she disrespectful? No, she just sometimes became angry, especially at Bria. She would accuse her of abandoning her. To give them an idea, he and Bria made a plan to videotape her the next time she had an episode. They could agree to that. It would be a lot easier than explaining. What happened with whoever she was dating? Brad? They broke up.

They were friends. He introduced her to his friend, Bradley who she was currently dating. How many guys did she know named Brad? Mike laughed.

“Three. Bradford Delson, Brad Pitt, and Bradley whatever his last name is. Cooper. Bradley Cooper. Brad Pitt’s real first name is William but nobody is allowed to call him that. Bradford goes by Brad, so that’s very confusing sometimes. Bradley just goes by Bradley.”

“You forgot your boyfriend’s last name”, Mike jokingly asked.

“Didn’t we just go over my memory problems?”

They laughed.

Céline and Renè had never met Emma before. Until Bria “switched” to her. Her behavior was different. She shifted in her seat and looked around. Mike asked her what was wrong. When she spoke, her voice sounded different than Bria’s. She was tired of being twelve years old because she couldn’t do anything. What did she mean? Bria was always leaving her at home and she couldn’t do anything. She wanted to go to Saks but they had to go to the doctor.

She thought they would go after, but then they had to go to another doctor. It was a brain doctor where they had to talk about their feelings and stuff. Did she tell Bria she wanted to go to Saks? No. Why not? She would be thrilled to go there! Because she was always with her boyfriend. She liked her other boyfriend better. Why didn’t she like Bradley? She shrugged.

“Tell Bria you want to go to Saks. Just you and her. I promise you she will love that!”

“Without her boyfriend.”

“Yes, without Bradley.”

She put her chin on her palm, as she thought about that. “Okay.”

“Okay. Thank you for telling me how you feel. I know how hard it is to be a child. You’re at that age where you want to be older than you are. Don’t grow up too fast. Enjoy being twelve because one day, you’ll want to be where you are right now.”

She rubbed her eyes before coming back to Bria. Mike asked her how she was doing. Renè and Céline were heartbroken. They saw a little girl who just wanted attention. They both did research into what Dissociative Identity Disorder was. Céline also asked her doctor. It was a rare diagnosis caused by abuse and neglect in childhood.

Could it also be caused by a traumatic brain injury? Yes, it could. The mind “created” personalities to protect itself against traumatic experiences. The disorder was rare because it was so difficult to diagnose. Not every mental health professional could agree that it existed. A patient with the condition was able to live a normal life, as long as they got treatment. That made her feel better. She shared the information with Renè when she got home.

Mike often acted like a therapist for Emma. Because of his patience, she listened to him. He understood that it wasn’t easy for her to be in Bria’s body. It wasn’t easy for Bria to have her in her body. They couldn’t escape each other, so they had to learn how to get along. He let her know that Emma wanted to go to Saks. Yes, they had that conversation. She was looking for a good day to go.

Did Céline want to go to Saks and spend thousands of dollars? Maybe not a thousand dollars. They laughed. Mike joked that Bria could out shop anyone. She often bought the most expensive things. He told the story of when they were in Dubai with his younger brother, Jason and their friend, Joe. They went to the mall. She had to use car references to explain the price of a handbag. A more expensive handbag was a Ferrari while a less expensive handbag was a Toyota. That sounded like something she would say.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon

[the-lorekeeper69]

i'm gonna take that as a yes. prepare to get lore dumped on.

Ok so in a kingdom of bugs there was a civilization that worshiped the very incarnate of darkness itself, the void. they made some cool statues. they then all promptly died so we will never hear from them again. thousands of years later a civilization of moths worshiped a shiny moth goddess called the radiance. she gave them cool nice dreams and controlled them through a hivemind. then a big shiny wyrm (that's worm spelled with a y) came along and told everyone that hiveminds were dumb. he gave all the bugs intelligence and was so shiny and cool that even the moths were like "hey, screw you radiance" and forgot about her. The wyrm then shed his gigantic wyrm body, became a bug-sized bug who looks like a fork for some reason, dubbed himself the pale king and founded the kingdom of hallownest.

There were already some locals that the pale king decided to add to his kingdom. First there was the mosskin who worshiped a big slug lady named Unn because she made cool plants. they joined the kingdom but kept thinking Unn was a cool guy. then there were the mantises, who were too cool to join the kingdom. the pale king agreed to leave them alone as long as they kept deepest at bay. deepnest was full of bugs that were so creepy and gross that they kept being gross bugs even under the pale kings brainy influence.

Then the pale king founded the capital of hallownest, later called the city of tears (it's gained its name later unless it was named by a total fucking edgelord), set up shop in the white palace, married the white lady, who is a tree, and appointed five great knights to watch over the palace. everything was fucking great.

then some random bug saw an old statue of the radiance and started dreaming about her. through the dreams and minds of bugs the radiance started to regain the hivemind through a phenomenon the citizens called "the infection". The pale king went "oh shit" and started looking for a way to fix it. He figured that, since the radiance spread through the hopes and dreams of bugs, if he created a being with no hopes, thoughts or dreams whatsoever, he could essentially trap the radiance inside.

He experimented with the void and figured the best way to do this was to make a creature that was part void and part bug. with the help of his wife he had a billion void babies trying to find the perfect one that had no thoughts or feelings at all. there were a ridiculous amount of failure and he threw them all in a pit called the abyss (when i say a ridiculous amount of failures i mean the walls of the abyss were literally lined with corpses. William afton ain't got nothing on this guy). eventually, he thought he had succeeded. he named his child the hollow knight, sealed the radiance inside their head, and sealed them inside of the black egg, which is, as the name suggests, a giant fucking egg. for good measure he enlisted the help of three dreamers in order to seal the egg. the first dreamer was lurien the watcher, a telescope enthusiast and total simp for the pale king. he didn't need much convincing. the second dreamer was monomon the teacher, a jellyfish (i know, not a bug, it doesn't make sense) who was so keen on the seals that she gave her mask to her apprentice, quirrel. so monomon's seal could only be broken by someone cool enough to impress this guy.

the third dreamer was herrah the beast. Herrah was the queen of deepnest and only agreed to become a dreamer as long as the pale king would have a child with her. She knew that since wyrms are basically gods that her kid would be an absolute fucking legend. and thus, hornet, princess and protector of hallownest was born (yes i know she is a spider and not a hornet. it doesn't make sense). so the seals were placed and through the sacrifice of the dreamer and the hollow knight, hallownest lasted eternal.

for five minutes

turns out, the hollow knight wasn't as hollow as everyone thought. they had one thought in their empty head and that thought, ironically, was to impress their dad by being truly hollow. the infection started to leak out of the black egg and took hold of hallownest once more. the pale king said "fuck it" and moved his entire place into the dream realm through the mind of one of his servants who still lies dreaming in the ancient basin to this day. He eventually died, probally because of the void.

some of the vessels eventually escaped the abyss and some made it all the way out of hallownest and into the endless wastes outside it. Hornet took up protecting the fallen kingdom and deepnest, that didn't really change much. the mantises didn't get infected because they were too cool, although some of them were so cool they got infected on purpose just to get more powerful. eventually, with the kingdom falling, one vessel came back to hallownest (or maybe two if you believe zote is a vessel) and starts their journey to break the seals and take their siblings place as the hollow knight.

after this we get into the actual game's story, so if you want me to go into detail on that just say so

I was drinking some really really tasty water.

When I woke up I was unsure whether or not it was a dream because it was some very good and delicious water.

[dazaiandhislovelybandages]

Precious {William James Moriarty}

A/n: I'm so sorry I took so long to write this but I had trouble with like inspiration and shit so there you go I hope you like it @ashllleyyy

Pairings: William x f!reader

Warnings: description of wounds but as far as I am concerned other than that it's good

Majestic. Those were the words William chose in order to describe the performance he and his brothers just watched at Drury Lane.

Louis, as odd as it sounds, had came across an article at the newspaper and he was thrilled to say the least. That was how he decided to buy tickets to The Phantom of the Opera for him and his two beloved brothers. Even though Albert had been a bit reluctant to agree due to all the work he had, he eventually said yes. Surprisingly enough, William had accepted the proposal almost if not immediately.

So there they were, leaving the Drury Lane building after the performance had ended. The ending scene was still playing in William's head as they were walking down the stairs.

Usually, like all nobles, they would have a carriage waiting for them outside the building but William had insisted they walked back to the house they were staying at in London. He hadn't given an explanation but Louis knew, better than anyone, that his brother wanted nothing more than to gaze the night sky.

As they turned left and entered a narrow alleyway, the three brothers stopped walking. It was Albert who had first heard the muffled cries and groans coming from somewhere near them and it was Louis that first noticed it.

You, the star of the play, laying barely unconscious on the street. Other than the name of the character you played, Catherine Daaé, your real name was a mystery to them but no matter the case, they rushed towards you. It didn't take long to understand that you were badly injured, with a stab wound on your stomach and since no one was around to do anything besides them, the three men carried you with them to their house.

Without waking up the other residents of the estate, Louis, Albert and William carried you to the guest room at the end of the hallway. Louis took it upon himself to take care of you and your wounds since calling a doctor this late at night would have led to many disastrous results. Thankfully your wound wasn't deep and only required a couple of stitches.

Judging by how tired you were last night and the fact that you were wounded, Louis was surprised to see that you were awake when he entered your room the next morning. He was carrying a tray with tea and some biscuits he had made himself and was planning on waking you up but the last part of the plan had already been covered.

“Good morning.” He gave you a kind smile which you did not return.

The expression on your face gave everything away: you were frightened and rightfully so. You were in a stranger's house, wounded.

Louis chose to remain quiet and after setting the tray in front of you, he left and went straight to his brother's office. Maybe William could handle it better. But William was a bit busy at the moment so the next option was Albert who gladly accepted.

“Thank you.” You mumbled as soon as Albert was done explaining the timeline of events.

“Since our side of the story is covered, I think it would be fair if you also told us what happened. It's not everyday we find an opera star unconscious after her performance.” Albert took a sip of his tea.

“Well as you could clearly tell, I was stabbed. I didn't see who did it and I certainly don't know why but it happened.” You replied, fondling the hem of the white satin bedsheets.

“I see.” William entered the room and after introducing himself to you he took upon the questioning since Albert had received an emergency letter from Mycroft. “Do you think it is possible for one of your fans to have done such a thing?”

“No.” You said after a few moments of careful thinking. “There had been some sort of an argument when the casting for the play was taking place.” You continued a bit taken aback by how carefully William was listening to what you were saying.

“A jealous cast member?”

“More like a furious partner. You see, a fellow cast member of mine wanted to play Christine since her fiancé was set to play Erik, the phantom.” You paused to catch your breath. “He became enraged when I got the part. It wouldn't surprise me if he was the one.”

“Hmm.” William's hand moved to his chin and his red eyes focused on the floor. “I'll look into it if that's okay.” You nodded your head almost immediately. “I would advise you stayed here until your wound is healed.”

“Oh no I couldn't-”

“I insist, it's the least we can do for the excellent performance you gave us last night.”

To be completely honest with you, William could have found a better excuse to make you stay and he knew it. But he couldn't help it, as cliché as it sounds he was amazed by your beauty and of course your voice. And during your one week stay in the Moriarty manor he got to hear you sing.

When you finally left he found himself missing you.

Oh yes, you.

He missed everything, you singing to train your voice, the long walks you would take together at the garden Fred was oh so beautifully taking care of, the late night conversations you both had about different theatre plays with you tucked in your bed and him sitting at the edge of it, teacup in hand. He missed all of it.

So when you left he found himself buying books about Shakespeare and in a matter of days he had read most of his plays. But it was pointless. You weren't around to discuss them with him. And oh did he long for those late night conversations, he wanted to tell you everything about what he had read, from Romeo and Juliet to Macbeth.

And so two weeks passed. As far as William was aware, you busied yourself with a new play and he had his plan on taking down the nobles to set in motion, besides his job as a professor.

He didn't know how much he longed for love until he met you and he hated himself for it. He hated it because he had already planned everything out, he knew how the whole thing, his whole plan, was going to end and for the first time, that was the night you left, he found himself almost backing out. However, he immediately returned to his senses and continued working.

“Brother...” Louis opened the door to William's office. “You have a visitor.”

The youngest Moriarty brother could barely hide his smile and it was only natural. During your stay in the manor you had been of great company to him as well.

“Let them in please.” William set his pen down and waited patiently.

The moment you walked in, he almost threw his chair back and ran towards you. But he kept his cool and actually stood up quite calmly and reached out his hand for you to shake.

“How is the play going?” He offered you his seat as he sat down at the chair meant for guests in front of his desk.

“Wonderful.” You giggled. “We're putting Romeo and Juliet up.”

His heart clenched a bit at the sound of that. You were beautiful and talented enough to play Juliet but this somehow...he almost reminded him of you and him, how he was going to die wether you ended up as a couple or not.

“William...” His attention shifted back to you and you swore you saw stars in his eyes the moment his name left your lips. “I have grown quite fond of you.”

He was taken aback. Of course he knew you weren't shy, for god's sake you were an opera singer, but had you always been this straightforward? He didn't know but he liked it.

“So if the feeling is mutual-”

“It certainly is my dear.” He chuckled and reached out for your hand. “It certainly is.”

[taylorkellyreporting]

i hope no one minds if i liveblog this bitch: black panther: wakanda forever

good lord i’m already sobbing this whole funeral scene is touching my heart

where’s nakia?

the dora are so badass

shuri trying to act like she’s okay when she’s clearly still grieving :(

what the…

“if your muscle brains were present they would still be there choking on their fuzzy adornments” “you bald headed demon” TEARS STREAMING DOWN MY FACE M’BAKU IS SO FUNNY ?!(&48*%#

“m’baku, what would you have us do?” “we should find the fish man and kill him” THE SILENCE AFTER HE SAID THAT FUCK

“so, when are we leaving so i can see my favorite colonizer?” i love shuri so much 😭😭

“you didn’t think to call?” “now why would i have your number?” pls okoye’s so funny

this isn’t at all important to the plot but shuri looks so fucking fine in that purple outfit and those shades leaning up against the car

okoye freaking out about the way she looks 😭😭

not it only taking me a fucking split second to start shipping shuri and riri fkgjvjdn their chemistry goes crazy

“aw shit, am i being recruited?” “no.” riri’s face pls she looked so embarrassed

THIS SHURI, RIRI AND OKOYE SCENE IS SO CHAOTIC I’M CRYING REAL TEARS

“YOU NEED TO BE CONSCIOUS OF THE WAY THAT YOU LOOK, WALKING AROUND HERE WITH ALL THAT ASH ON YOUR HEAD” ?&876$&*#<?£

“you got this!!!” “mm, with your heater” 😭😭

shuri, riri and okoye is a dangerous team up i’m obsessed with how badass they all are

OH SHIT RIRI????

i never wanna hear okoye scream shuri’s name like that ever again my God

DID THEY JUST KILL OKOYE???? WHAT THE FUCK

oh she isn’t dead okay i almost started sobbing

i thought okoye screaming shuri’s name the first time was bad but this time was so. much. worse.

MY GOD I NEVER THOUGHT RAMONDA WAS DIRECTING THAT SPEECH TO OKOYE I FEEL SICK

that scene broke my heart

NAKIA 🫶🏻

“it’s been six years since you left us” does that mean her and t’challa didn’t stay together after the first movie? cause i assumed they had gotten married. also her not going to the funeral explains why shuri kept ignoring her phone calls

“princess leia, belle from beauty and the beast, that white shit” 😭😭

whew that backstory was intense

“or you can wear a suit :D” lmao??

aside from the fact that namor literally kidnapped shuri, he’s a grown ass man who looks old enough to be her dad why would anyone ship them…

“he suffered in silence” God, i am not your strongest soldier

i’m sorry but namor is insane like he really thinks killing everyone’s gonna solve his problem? be calm.

“you said you wanted to burn the world, let us burn it together” uh i think the fuck not you trick ass bitch

“riri williams is a child prodigy who was running circles around all of her professors” tony stark’s daughter🫂

i don’t know who namor thinks he’s talking to like that??? if he don’t back tf up from ramonda

“the spy saves wakanda once again. the queen will reward her with lifetime banishment, i’m sure” m’baku is such an asshole skdjgjvjcns

“he was king and black panther to everyone. but to me…he was everything. my t’challa.”

WHAT THE SHIT

“you just hung up the queen.” “i just hung up on my mom. there’s a difference.” 😭

m’baku lifting up that person and throwing them around like a rag doll shouldn’t have been so hot

if m’baku dies…🔪

wakanda’s the most powerful country in the world and they’re being taken down by fucking fish?

FUCK NAMOR AND FUCK THE WRITERS THIS IS SO SICK

they’ve taken everything from shuri man what the hell

how can you kill off angela bassett…

“so now you have to hear from a child who scoffs at tradition” love this callback, hate the circumstance.

“i just buried the last person who truly knew me. my heart was buried with her” MOTHERFUCKER

seems like the writers decided that for the final part of this movie they’d just make everybody cry

shuri’s gonna put on that suit and it’s gonna break me for real

“so who taught you how to do all that you know?” “my big brother” GOD

is that motherfucking killmonger?!

not them making me laugh while simultaneously making me cry my eyes out

“can i get some of that, too?” 😭😭

shuri in the suit 🥹 t’challa would be so proud ☹️

“it is not what she would have wanted for you. it is not what i want” what if i cry????

“her dreams. her hopes for me…it doesn’t exist. it doesn’t matter.” my eyes are gonna be swollen by the end of this movie good lord

the way m’baku was looking at shuri after her outburst ☹️

“it will consume you.” “it already has.” this is not what i wanted for shuri i’m devastated.

“for the queen”

“that’s can’t be good.” you think?

OH MY GOD

they lost so many people ☹️

shuri fixing riri’s car oh they’re girlfriends

i’ve had enough of namor

“colonizer in chains…now i have seen everything” LMFAOOO I LOVE OKOYE SO MUCH

my God this moment of silence for t’challa/chadwick with these scenes of him…i’m a wreck. he’s so so missed.

HE HAS A SON OH MY GOD I’M SOBBING

no cause in bp 1 king t’chaka said “a man who has not prepared his children for his own death has failed as a father.” and nakia just said “your father, your baba, prepared us for his death, didn’t he?” i am a mess. t’challa was such a good man.

he’s so precious 🥹

“my name is prince t’challa, son of king t’challa”

this movie was such a beautiful tribute to chadwick and i absolutely love it 🫶🏻

[bicyclepainting]

Undone

An abridged history of Sam, an abridged history of Darlin, and the present of two people who have each other despite it all.

CW: self harm (vampire lets the sun touch him), quinn and alexis as their own warnings, more comprehensive warnings on ao3

Mature, 2.4k words

also on ao3!

I.

Sam doesn’t know exactly what he was thinking when he first started sleeping with Alexis. It had been a while since his last relationship— he was… lonely. That wasn’t a feeling he was used to having; a long history of revolving-door relationships had made sure of that. And Alexis had told him that she wasn’t looking for anything serious either, she wasn’t looking for anything more than sex. 

And he believed her. Like a fool.

It was the kind of mistake that you couldn’t take back once it was made. Most mistakes were like that, but then again most mistakes didn’t damn you quite like this one.

It’s not like he didn’t try.

“This is the last time,” was something he said often.

“Famous last words,” was Alexis’s snarky reply. He always pointed out how that didn’t make sense and she always shut him up with a kiss.

Alexis’s kisses were like the best kind of toxin. They made his knees and resolve weak. And she knew it too. As long as he was within kissing distance, she may as well have had him in the palm of her hand. She didn’t often let him out of kissing distance.

Which is why Sam chose to sit across the booth from her the night he decided to try to break things off for good (again).

He chose his favorite diner in town. It was one he went to often in his days at D.A.M.N.. Maybe it was naive, but he was hoping the familiarity of the diner would give him the strength to officially break things off, that maybe having the home advantage would make it stick this time.

“I know why you brought me here, Samson.” She talked with the straw to her milkshake hanging to the side of her mouth. That habit of her’s always pissed Sam off. “Samson” pissed him off even more. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know why you keep trying this.” She leans towards him, “We were meant to be, don’t you get it?”

“If you knew why I brought you here, why did you come?”

She smirks at him and shrugs. “Wanted to see what happened, I guess. I wonder how you’ll do it this time.” 

“You know that I care about you, Alexis.” She stared at him unflinchingly, steely eyes boring holes into him. “Just… not in the way you want me to.”

“Bullshit.”

Sam takes a deep breath. “I think space would be good for us.”

“Denial is one hell of a drug, isn’t it?”

“I’ve talked to William.” Alexis goes still.

“Bullshit.” She’s not as confident this time, her voice is quieter. She was right about this one, though. Sam prayed to everything above that she wouldn’t further call his bluff.

“I’m serious, Alexis. I can’t do this anymore.”

“Well you didn’t have to go to my fucking maker about it, Sam,” she spit out.

“What else was I supposed to do?” He genuinely wanted to know.

She slides out of the booth and stands at the end of the table, making him look up at her. “I’ll be in the car.”

Sam doesn’t say anything but listens to the sound of her stomping boots as she storms out of the diner. She slams the door behind her and he’s half surprised he doesn’t hear the door break.

Their waiter approaches carrying two plates. A burger for Sam and a side of hashbrowns for Alexis.

“Did your date go to the bathroom?” No harm intended, but Sam still has to actively hold back a wince.

“Uh, no. Can I get the check, please?” The waiter gave him a sorry look before nodding and stepping away again.

He puts his head in his hands once the waiter is out of sight.

Once Sam slides into the driver’s seat of his truck Alexis says, “Space won’t make me love you any less.”

“For the last time, you do not love me. You hardly know me.”

“We spend so much time together, how could I not know you?”

“My name is Samuel, not Samson.”

She doesn’t have anything to say after that.

~

Out of all the changes and losses that vampirism brought to Sam’s life, he didn’t think he would miss the sun as much as he did. Some days he would just sit at his window and watch the shadows change against the trees outside. Some days he would draw his blackout curtains all day, wanting to forget the sun existed entirely. 

He missed how it warmed his skin when he stepped out of cold buildings, how it shined on the smiling faces of his friends, how it turned everything golden at the end of the day. 

There was one afternoon— it was close enough to the end of his bloodlust that the only reason he was still living at Wonderworld was because he hadn’t yet decided if he was staying with the clan or moving away— that Sam found himself outside, standing completely in the shade, but with a ray of sun peeking through the tree’s leaves just in front of him. Swiping his hand once, twice through the sunbeam barely felt like anything. Holding out his hand, he let it sit on his palm for a moment. He held his hand there until he felt sharp and scorching, white-hot pain and when he moved his hand into the shade, the burning didn’t stop. Clutching his hand to his chest, he bit his lip hard to keep from screaming. He holds out his hand to see the skin already starting to blister in a lopsided circle in the center of his palm. He doesn’t even have enough of a handle on his old healing abilities to fix his mistake.

The scar never fades.

He still misses the sun on his good days.

Sometimes he wondered what he did to deserve this eternal damnation.

II.

Darlin had never felt particularly welcome in the pack. They joined as a teen, when everyone else their age had already grown up together and formed bonds they could never hope to compete with. It didn’t help that they especially relied on their friendships outside of the pack and never tried to see the pack members their own age as people they’d ever be close to. 

It was a point of contention with David, especially after he became alpha. It got to a point where he confronted them about it after a pack meeting so boring that they fell asleep.

“Bore you to sleep did I?” Darlin couldn’t tell if he thought it was funny or if it upset him.

“Better than boring me to tears,” they joked.

David’s face stayed stoic. Shit.

“I didn’t mean to, I just didn’t sleep well last night.” A white lie never hurt anyone.

“Why don’t you come out to dinner with the rest of the pack after this?”

“As punishment for falling asleep?” they asked genuinely.

David scoffed. “No, because we are your pack and usually people like to spend time with their pack members.”

Darlin raised their eyebrows. “I’m good, but thanks for the invite.” 

They turned to walk away before David said their name, stopping them in their tracks.

“Come to dinner.” It wasn’t a question.

“Is that an order?”

David looked them over and considered his options. They looked tense. Their hands were curled into tight fists and their nose was twitching. It always did that when they were ready to fight. 

“I want you to know we care about you. We want you here in the pack.”

They roll their eyes. “Just saying that doesn’t make it true, David. I notice how the older pack members look at me when I walk in the room. I notice how I sit alone every at every meeting, even if I’m the first fucking person there. I notice how no one gives a shit about me. You don’t care, not really, so don’t lie to me to try to get me to hang out with these fucking people.”

David is at a loss. They’d never said that much to him about the pack before. He knew they were unhappy, he didn’t know the scope of it all until now. “That’s not true,” is all he can manage to say.

“Fuck off.”

“Come to dinner.”

“Is that an order?” If looks could kill, David would have been dead approximately one minute ago.

“No,” he concedes. Part of being an alpha was knowing when to pick your battles. His stomach sinks as he watches the door close behind them.

It was the last pack meeting Darlin showed up to for a long time.

That was when Quinn stepped into their life. They met through mutual friends and in the beginning he drew them in with smiles and kind words and even kinder gestures. At first, things with Quinn were easier than Darlin ever thought anything could be. He came into their life at the right time. Or the wrong time depending on who you asked. Eventually they started hanging out alone, ditching the mutual friends. Darlin kind of stopped hanging out with everyone after they met Quinn. Not on purpose, but something about him consumed Darlin entirely. He was all they could think about. But the happy stage didn’t last long and by the time it got scary, it was hard to get away. 

There was a point where they thought they might not even get out. That the pack would forget about them, that they’d live forever under Quinn’s thumb.

The only person brave enough to help them escape, scars and all, was one empowered friend of theirs. They had visited out of the blue one day when Quinn happened to not be around and when they had asked about Darlin’s various bandages, they were too exhausted to lie. 

Quinn didn’t let their friend live to regret helping them.

And when Darlin originally lied to David about the department capturing Quinn, they didn’t think it would take over a year for them to find him again. They didn’t think he’d be able to evade them as well as he had. Perhaps they should have learned their lesson the first time they underestimated him.

When David comes to give them hell about lying to him, their skin crawls when they realize what an oversight they had made when they chose to pursue Quinn on their own after the attack. The rest of the pack and their mates weren’t something Darlin had even thought could be impacted. Partially because they thought they could get a handle on it long before it ever got to the point it did, and partially because they were used to handling things on their own. And usually that had been just fine for them. But Quinn wasn’t quite like anything they’d dealt with before.

Sometimes it felt like all they did was lie.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

“No, I don’t care.”

“The department took care of Quinn.”

They kept everyone at an arm’s length. No one was allowed to get close enough to see them and if they tried, they were met with teeth and claws and anger. And that seemed to work for them– until they tried to fix their mistake with Quinn by themselves.

III.

“I bet you’d look beautiful in the sun, Darlin,” he says softly. “I’d give everythin’ to see how your eyes look during sunset.”

They tilt their head and look down at his hands holding their own. “Awfully sappy tonight, are we?”

His mouth twists into a crooked smile. “Only for you.” 

They want to push him away. They want to joke and laugh and bring things back to a level that didn’t feel so vulnerable. That’s how he made them feel: vulnerable. But they didn’t laugh, they didn’t joke, they didn’t put both hands on his chest and push.

Instead they reach up, holding both sides of his face, and pull him close. When his lips meet theirs, they feel like they're falling head-first into a black hole. They kiss him harder.

When they first met Sam, they think some part of themselves knew who Sam was going to become to them before they ever got to experience it. Maybe that was why they let him find them that night, maybe he was right after all about them being able to sense him when they entered Wonderworld in the first place. Or maybe they were just too busy trying to find Quinn to pay attention. 

They’d never been a particularly open person, even before Quinn, but something about Sam was different. They don’t know what it is about Sam that seems inherently trustful. Darlin isn’t one to trust easily, and especially not with vampires, not anymore.

Allowing anyone, including Sam, to get close to them, choosing to trust felt like playing with fire. He never once made them regret it. If they ever got burned (and never by him), Sam was cool water and a bandage to heal the wound. He made them want to let him get closer to them, to let him in and show him all of their scars, physical and otherwise.

“I like moonlight better anyway, it's more romantic,” they say.

His eyes soften and wrinkle at the corners. There's a smile on his lips but a deep sense of loss in his eyes and an apology on the tip of his tongue. A “sorry” for being a vampire, for never being able to see how they look in the sun. For letting them love him. There’s nothing he could ever say to atone for the sin he believes he’s committed.

He never wanted this life. He could have— should have died happily as a retired healer. Maybe with a partner, maybe just surrounded by friends and loved ones. The prospect of eternity felt more like suffocation than freedom.

“I love you, Sam.”

Tears blur the person— the beautiful, shining, person, who may as well have shaped the sun with their own hands, that stands in front of him. He looks up and takes a shaky breath to keep from crying.

He supposes he might not have ever met Darlin if he was never turned, might not have ever come to love them in this way. 

“I love you,” they whisper.

Maybe this little bit of eternity that he’d get to have with them would make it all worth it.

Maybe they were enough sunshine to last him several lifetimes.

[stranger-marauders]

fractured

two: dinner and dessert

chapter summary: Kate begins to find more reasons to hate the new kid at school. Steve uses this as an opportunity to try to talk to his former best friend.

chapter warnings: language

word count: 1.9k

series masterlist | masterlist

WHENEVER THE BELL rang for Kate's second period class to start, she'd been more than slightly annoyed to find that the boy that had almost hit her car that morning was currently talking to her teacher, Ms. Meyers. 

Great.

She sat down next to her lab partner, Stephanie Hunt, who had seemingly been drooling over the blond boy at the front of the classroom. She only watched her for a moment, giving her an unreadable expression. "Steph."

"Hm?" she said, almost as if she'd been snapped awake. She turned to Kate, her eyes widening. "Dude, have you seen the new guy?"

"Yeah, he almost killed Barry," she said simply, referencing to her car Bartholomew.

"Jesus, really?"

"Yeah. Totally seems like your type though."

Stephanie stifled a laugh, shoving Kate slightly as she snickered.

Kate had met Stephanie after Winter Break of her junior year. Her family had moved from Chicago right after the new year holiday, and she hadn't known anyone. However, when she sat next to Kate in English and asked her for a pen, she very quickly adopted her into her own friend group, just as Jessica had done for Kate years before. Stephanie had proven to be a wonderful friend to her, especially after everything that had happened last year. She met her after she and Steve had stopped being friends, so she had been the first person who hadn't looked at her like someone whose puppy had been kicked. Stephanie had even listened to every word she had to say about the situation, and she had seemingly eaten it up—unlike everyone else, it was all new information for her. One of Kate's favorite things about her, however, was that her last name had been right after hers alphabetically in the senior class. It had given her someone other than Steve to sit next to in classes that had alphabetical seating charts, as his last name was the one before hers. 

Before either of the girls could say anything else, Ms. Meyers began to speak. "Good morning, class. Today I'd like to introduce our newest student to you, William Hargrove."

"You can call me Billy," he said, flashing a smile to the thirty-something-year-old teacher.

Gross, Kate mouthed to her friend.

"Since it's the beginning of a new quarter and we have a new student, I've decided to adjust the seating chart slightly. It'll stay in alphabetical order."

"We'll be fine, right?" Stephanie asked.

"So, Mr. Hargrove, you're going to sit where Mr. Harrington is, and you'll move where Ms. Hunt is..."

"Shit," Kate whispered, whining to her friend as she started to move her things. "Steph..."

"You'll be fine," she whispered back. "It's just an hour. You'll live."

She sighed as Stephanie moved out of the way to let Steve put his stuff on the table. He cautiously sat on the barstool next to hers, watching her carefully.

He hadn't ever thought this would happen. He couldn't believe the incredibly difficult classes that he'd decided to take were finally paying off, because now he was sitting right next to her. He didn't think he'd be able to speak to her if he tried. Currently, she was writing something down in her science notebook, presumably something from the already-filled chalkboard at the front of the room. He finally mustered up the courage to say something to her. "Hey."

"Hi."

He hesitated. "I–I'm sorry Stephanie and I had to switch, um..."

"Nothing you could control, right?" Kate said, still focusing on her notes. She still hadn't looked up to him.

"Right," he replied softly, still watching her. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was upset, and he didn't want to annoy her any more than he already was annoying her. He could only watch her in silence as she continued to take notes.

After a few minutes, when she'd finally felt his gaze on her still, she turned to him sharply. "Don't you have, like, notes to take or something?"

He quickly jerked up, almost as if he were waking up from something. "Right, I... Yeah. Sorry."

When she hadn't replied, turning back to her work as her face turned the slightest shade of pink, he sighed. He wished, more than anything, that he could have her back.

Kate had quickly found Jonathan and Nancy after her European history class.

She wrapped her arms around them, coming up behind them and saying, "Boo!" When Jonathan and Nancy both tensed up, she laughed, and they both immediately let loose when they saw her face, laughing slightly.

 "Kate, can you tell Nancy to relax and that I'm not going to be alone on Halloween?"

She looked to Nancy, then Jonathan with fake surprise. "You're not?"

Jonathan gave her an unreadable look. "Very funny."

"What is this in reference to?" Kate asked.

Nancy showed her an orange flyer, which had been a notification of Tina's Annual Halloween Bash. "I want Jonathan to come to this."

"Oh, nice. 'Come and get sheetfaced.' I love that," she said, chuckling slightly.

'i'm going trick-or-treating with Will," Jonathan explained.

"All night?" Nancy asked, unconvinced.

"Yeah."

Nancy started to shake her head. "Nah, no way. You're gonna be home by eight, listening to the Talking Heads, and... reading Vonnegut or something."

"Sounds like a nice night," Jonathan replied, grinning.

"Jonathan, just go to the party," Kate said. "I'm going, too. Just get out of your comfort zone."

"Yeah, just come. I mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone."

Jonathan, Nancy, and Kate hadn't even noticed Steve come up behind Nancy as she opened her locker to pull a book out of it. Steve had sunglasses on and picked her up as she squealed. Steve chuckled, wheezing almost as Nancy turned around and slapped him.

"Oh my God! Take those stupid things off!"

"I missed you."

"It's been, like, an hour."

"Tell me about it," Steve said, taking Nancy in for a kiss.

Neither of them had noticed that Jonathan and Kate had walked off, not wanting to watch that—it sucked to watch, and they both wanted to avoid that relationship as much as they possibly could.

"Okay. Okay, okay, God," Nancy finally said, letting loose from the kiss as she continued to look through her locker. 

"Sorry," Steve murmured sheepishly.

Nancy looked to find that Jonathan had walked off with Kate. Steve had noticed it, too, and felt the same thing that Nancy felt: a pang.

Meanwhile, the two that had abandoned ship had started a conversation of their own as they walked to lunch.

"You're not actually going to this thing, are you?"

She shrugged in response. "Yeah, I mean, I promised the girls I'd go. We're dressing up as the Pink Ladies, and they forced me to be Sandy, so..."

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," he replied. "How about you come with me and take the boys trick-or-treating with me? Then you don't have to worry about seeing him."

"Him meaning...?"

Jonathan gave her an unreadable expression. "Come on."

Kate rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm not still on that, Jonathan. They've been dating for, like, a year now. I'm used to not having him around anymore. Besides, I've been in a whole relationship since then. Doesn't that count as something."

He looked down to the necklace around her neck. "Sure."

She scoffed. "You know, you're one to talk."

"What?"

She scoffed again. "Don't even act like that! I see the way you look at her. Like you want her to jump your bones or something."

In a way, both of them were absolutely right about each other.

Even though it had been eleven months since Steve and Nancy had started seeing each other, Kate and Jonathan still hadn't gotten over their feelings for each of them. Even though both of them wanted to get over more than anything in the world, they couldn't.

Kate had tried much harder than Jonathan did to get over her feelings. Jonathan just dealt with it, mostly, but still remained somewhat close with Nancy, didn't cut her off completely. Kate, however, had separated herself from Steve, and, most of the time, unless absolutely necessary, she was never alone with her former best friend. Even for one of their classes the previous year, where they had been assigned to do a project as partners, she only spoke to him in class or at the library at the school. She'd even dated Jamie before he'd gone away to school. Even though she tried as much as she could, how she felt didn't go away, and if anything, she just hurt herself and Steve more.

Jonathan stifled a laugh. "Who?"

Kate smiled, but shoved Jonathan slightly as they entered the cafeteria. "See you later, dork."

As she walked over to her group of friends, Jonathan smiled slightly. Even if they weren't perfect, he was glad to have a friend like Kate.

That night, Hopper pulled next to Kate's car in their makeshift driveway.

With his flashlight in hand, he walked over the tripwire that had been tied in between the tree trunks and approached the cabin. Once he'd opened the screen door, he knocked on the actual door with the "secret knock," and the door was quickly unlocked. When the door opened, he wasn't greeted by anyone—Kate had really taken advantage of the fact that she didn't have to get up and open it herself anymore.

Hopper shut the television off and checked the refrigerator door to find no Eggos—shocker. Once he'd pulled a drink from the fridge and had taken a sip, he finally said something about the half-eaten Eggos at the table. "Hey, what'd we talk about?"

Kate scurried out of her room, joining her father had the dining room table.

"No signal," a voice belonging to a girl called from her room.

"What?"

"No signal," she repeated. "It's eight-one-five. You're late."

Kate nodded, pressing her lips together. "Yeah, you had us worried."

Hopper leaned back in his chair, looking at his daughter pointedly. He spoke loudly so he knew both girls could hear him. "Yeah, I lost track of time. I–I'll signal next time, all right? Uh, and it's eight-fifteen. It's not... eight-one-five."

Kate stifled a laugh: the younger girl's vocabulary had never failed to make her smile, even if it was terribly incorrect. The younger girl, Eleven, joined the other two at the table. She repeated slowly, "Eight-fifteen."

"Now, what'd we talk about?" he said, pointing to the Eggos as he rolled up his sleeves. "Dinner first, then dessert. Always. That's a rule. Yeah?"

"But Dad, we were starving, and I didn't want to poison us," Kate said, not even trying to hide her smile. 

Hopper looked up to his daughter, shaking his head. He knew that wasn't exactly true, but he always enjoyed playing along.

Eleven nodded. "Yes."

Hopper gave his two girls a tight-lipped smile as the three opened their TV dinners, enjoying their meal together.

Even if Kate didn't have Steve, or much else, for that matter, she had the two of them, and that's all she could've asked for.

next chapter

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[bridgertonbabe]

in honor of the crown s5 premiere can we get a fluffy royals benophie drabble 👉👈

It had been a quiet morning when Benedict woke up that day, what with his three sons having spent the night at a sleepover with their cousins at Aubrey Palace instead of experiencing their usual morning routine of piling into their parents' bed for cuddles. He got to enjoy more of a lie-in than normal until he stirred awake, realising his wife was absent from the bed and getting up to go in search of her. He found her pottering around the kitchen adding the finishing touches to a breakfast tray - a tray he knew she had made just for him instead of to share.

"Soph." he tsked as he stood in the doorway with his arms folded and caught her attention. "You shouldn't be on your feet. And especially not for the intents and purposes of treating me to breakfast in bed."

"Who says I can't treat my own husband?" Sophie retorted - though Benedict couldn't help but notice the slight twinge to her voice, nor the wince she tried to hide by quickly averting her face away from him.

"Soph?" he called out and approached her carefully, his eye catching the way one of her hands gripped onto the countertop in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"Of course!" she replied immediately and looked to him once more. "Why wouldn't I be?" she challenged him - but Benedict could recognise the stubborn edge to her voice and the flash of indignation in her eyes; he knew his wife well enough by now to know when she was lying through her teeth.

"Soph." he said her name slowly and closed the gap between them until they were chest to chest - well, they would be if it wasn't for the massive bump between them. "Are you in labour?"

She stared at him long and hard, as if trying to will away the fact of the matter just to prove him wrong.

"No." she answered in what he was sure she had hoped to be a confident manner, but instead her denial came out in a squeak and the hand that wasn't turning white just from gripping the countertop suddenly clutched her stomach.

"God dammit, Soph!" he exclaimed. "You're literally in active labour and you still decided to make me breakfast?!"

"I was trying to be thoughtful!" she shouted back in annoyance.

"Really? Or were you just trying to distract yourself from the fact that you're having contractions and about to give birth for the fourth time?"

An aggrieved pout wobbled on Sophie's lips and she shot him a peeved expression for calling her out.

"Perhaps." she said through gritted teeth before a groan escaped her and she doubled over.

Immediately Benedict called for assistance before guiding his wife back to their bedroom. The midwife arrived within twenty minutes but by that time Sophie's contractions had already narrowed significantly and they were informed that there was no time to make it to the hospital - their baby was eager to make their debut into the world.

Benedict was in a state of awe when one hour later he found himself cradling the newborn in his arms. At long last they had a baby girl, their little princess, Sophie's miniature, and Benedict had never been so happy. He had fallen in love with Sophie from the very first moment they had met and he had fallen more and more in love with her ever since; when she had reciprocated his love, when she had accepted his proposal, when she had become his wife, when she had blessed them with Charlie, then Alex, then William, and now their precious baby girl; he didn't think it was possible to love someone as much as he loved Sophie.

He couldn't bear to take his eyes off of their little princess. Already he knew she would take after his wife. She looked so different from her brothers when they were first born; all three of them already flaunting wisps of dark hair, whereas their baby daughter's little tufts were sandy in colour and he could definitely make out the most minuscule of curls matted against her head. He also could have sworn she was the smallest of their babies with how perfectly she was nestled in the crook of his arm, even though the delivery team had informed them she was in fact their heaviest baby.

At some point he was informed that the press were waiting in the garden of My Cottage for the press conference Benedict always gave to announce the arrival of a new baby, and though he said he'd be down shortly, he couldn't find it in him to stop gazing down at the precious bundle in his arms.

"Benedict Bridgerton!" Mrs Crabtree snapped at him in as terse yet soft a manner as she possibly could so as to not awaken the sleeping infant.

Sophie had to suppress a giggle at the familiarity at which their head of staff addressed her husband, treating Benedict like he was her own son instead of her employer. Three times now he had told Mrs Crabtree he would come down to the garden before instantly forgetting as he lost himself in gazing adoringly at their little girl.

"Put that baby down and go outside to speak to the press or so help me god!" Mrs Crabtree hissed.

Sophie watched as her husband reluctantly got to his feet, his eyes remaining transfixed on their daughter for as long as he still could, trying to savour the image of her before he left her for all of the ten minutes it would take to hold the conference outside.

"Don't think I won't man-handle her out of your arms." Mrs Crabtree warned him.

In defeat, Benedict pressed a kiss to their daughter's head before he went to pass her over to her mother.

"Why don't you take her with you?"

Both Benedict and Mrs Crabtree's heads snapped in Sophie's direction in reaction to her out-of-the-blue suggestion.

"What?" they chorused, Mrs Crabtree with a tone of incredulity, Benedict with one of amazement.

"Well since it seems to pain you to even be parted from her." Sophie shrugged.

"But... but I thought you didn't want to show them off when they're all of a few hours old?" Benedict said, referring to how their boys had only been presented to the public several days after they were born in order for Sophie to recover.

"I didn't want to do a photo call when I'd only just given birth." she reminded him. "But I have no problem with you showing her off if you wanted to."

Benedict looked from his wife to their head of staff, seeing if she would give him permission (again, like she was his mother rather than his employee).

"I mean, if you wanted to," Mrs Crabtree shrugged.

She was cut off by Benedict suddenly pressing a joyful kiss to her cheek before he turned to his wife and kissed her firmly on the lips, and Sophie couldn't help but grin into the kiss as she felt her husband's lips smiling against hers.

"Are you sure?" he checked.

"Go." she waved him off. "I'll get to squeeze in a nap before your mother pops round with the boys."

Benedict didn't need telling twice, kissing her once more before marching off with their daughter in tow.

The gathered press outside couldn't quite believe it when Prince Benedict appeared with a swaddled baby in his arms, breaking the tradition of being introduced to one of his newborns quite so early. Immediately the reason for his eagerness to show off this new baby became apparent when he announced his wife had safely given birth to their daughter only a few short hours before.

He was every inch the proud and giddy father, regularly getting distracted by staring lovingly at his new daughter, and at one point he cut off a photographer's question when the little infant yawned for the very first time.

"Did you get that?" he asked eagerly to a cameraman who had filmed the little princess's tiny yawn.

It ended up being the longest press conference he had ever given due to how besotted he was with his baby girl and how often he lost all attention for anything else but her. Eventually he called it a day once a chilly October breeze stirred through the garden. He could have sworn his little girl scrunched up within her swaddling and not wanting her to feel even the slightest bit cold, he bade farewell to the press and quickly returned indoors.

When he got back to their bedroom, he opened his mouth to inform his wife of how the press conference went when she beat him to it.

"I saw the yawn." she smiled at him fondly.