#speak your truth char

[sexbot300]

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹  rival!gojo head-canons

contents: 18+, mdni. rivals to (maybe) lovers. slight fluff, suggestive, crack, slight angst if you squint, smut. gojo satoru x reader.

tw: mentions of sex. actual descriptions of it. suggestive talk. unprotected sex p in v. oral. pet names. degradation. humiliation. satoru being somewhat of an (loving) ass.

a/n: i literally forgot how much i love writing head-canons. i left this one on a cliffhanger on purpose teehee lolz. thank you so so so much for the followers and support i'm getting. luv to hear your feedback! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

rival!gojo who has his patience and ego tested the minute he found out who you were.

rival!gojo who finds it endearing that someone other than him is on par with being the strongest. if endearing meant slightly blood-boiling.

rival!gojo who only heard word that you can “maybe” beat him in a fight and he “maybe” holding that as a grudge.

rival!gojo who sees you for the first time and his brain does a hard-factory reset.

rival!gojo who only laughs to himself that the world is cruel for making his own “arch-enemy” the hottest thing he’s ever set his eyes on.

rival!gojo who was starstruck, he knew that he had to know everything about you, for “research reasons.”

rival!gojo whos first encounter with you went something along the lines of:

“heard you’re the strongest.” “funny, heard the same thing about you.” “try not to die.” “are you kidding? and hand you over the title like a fucking crown?”

rival!gojo who jokes with your own students about joining the winning side, leaving you to be taught by him.

rival!gojo who will never admit that he lovessssssssssss that someone is as strong as he is, contradicting any bit of “malice” he has towards you.

rival!gojo who won't hesitate to call you, “princess” to mock you. truthfully, he’s mocking himself knowing that deep down he wouldn’t mind calling you that in all seriousness.

rival!gojo who purposely sits across from you in important meetings, taking any and every opportunity to speak to you. arms crossed over his chest while smiling. “dont get why i'm here really. look at her, she’s a big girl. i probably can leave the jujutsu world and it’ll be just fineeeee.”

rival!gojo who knows that the world needs him, but wants to be showered in compliments that prove he’s better. he only glances your direction, “ah, but if i leave, who will keep you on your toes?”

rival!gojo who after many, many years has this “relationship” with you that consists of; sly comments, wandering eyes, and moments that leave you both questioning the other.

rival!gojo who knows your favorite color, season, show, drink, how you like your toast charred— what? he’s just getting to know his “enemy” a bit more, relax.

rival!gojo who knows that you’re both the strongest, so it’s a ticking time bomb of who caves in first.

rival!gojo who no one can ever tell if you guys fucking hated each other or were just straight up fucking.

rival!gojo who purposely turns off his limitless near you, making excuses that “you’re no threat” to him. he secretly wants you to touch him because it means he’ll get to touch you.

rival!gojo who will never miss the opportunity to pass snide comments:

“ms. superhero is here, everyone clear way.” “not enough room on this earth for your ego alone, gojo.” “please, call me satoru.” “hm? why is that?”  “just want you to memorize the name of the person who’ll beat you one day.”  “if you’re trying to be sly with your insults, doing a terrible job.”  “princess, it’s not classified as insults if it’s the truth.” “would it make you happy if i just infatuated your self-worth like everyone else?” “there’s a lot you can do that can make me happy actually. start off by shutting up, maybe?”

rival!gojo who is constantly told to stop provoking you as the higher-ups know if you both take it too far, an actual war will break out. “gojo, behave yourself.” he only pouts, arms crossed over his chest, “whattttt? I’m being as friendly as i can be!”

rival!gojo who overhears the higher-ups scold you for replying back to his comments that are on equivalent with his childish behavior. “don’t entertain that idiot.” you only blink dumbfounded, “he started it! i’m nothing but kind and he's just a dumbass with too much power.”

rival!gojo who actually knows every little detail he wanted to about you. If it was your technique, dirt on you, your weaknesses, believe he’ll already know. “still keeping tabs on me?” “i don't understand, even if i was, we’re supposed to be working together sweetheart.” he only snickers, “although, you wish you mattered that much.” eliciting an eye-roll from you.

rival!gojo who actually finds you funny. someone who can keep up with him in all categories? yup, he’s making you his one way or another. you’re either the greatest blessing to occur to him or the reason he believes love truly is a curse.

rival!gojo who does find out if you’re attracted to someone or not and keeps a bit of an eye on who you’re interested in. by no means will he stop you from pursuing who you want, you deserve to feel happiness even if it isn’t with him. even if it means if it’s short-lived happiness, it was enough for a sorcerer who’s life-span is a guessing game. but he’s greedy. he’s selfish. he doesn’t want anyone else to take you, and he won’t directly interfere, but don’t think he isn’t pulling ropes in the back. 

rival!gojo who’s been your secret admirer for a while now, making sure to purposely get you gifts no man outside of his own status can ever top off. even if they were in his own status, he’ll quickly prove that he IS the Gojo Satoru and no one can top that off. if he can't outright admit he wants you, his pseudo-identity will. who do you think bought you those bouquets that swarmed your house that one valentine?

rival!gojo who notices that you’re wearing the pricey bracelet he bought you, snickering softly, “wow? the evil witch managed to successfully cast her spell in making someone like her?” glancing his direction, noticing a smug look on his face as his chin rests on his palm. “dunnooo gojo, maybe you’re not the only one here people find attractive.” you state, eyeing the handsome face of a man who would eat that shit up if you admitted it out loud. with a shit-eating grin, he spoke, “oh so you find me attractive?” unamused in a softer tone, “never said that, never will.” clicking his tongue, a deeper grin stretched out his pink lips. “you’ll come around eventually.”

rival!gojo who noticed that the bracelet didn’t have a cute necklace to accompany it, making a mental notice.

rival!gojo who isn’t actually your rival, he knows that you know he doesn’t have a big ego that you use as a cheap jab. there’s an unspoken mutual solidarity between you two, maybe the faux rivalry and self-worth being tested was a result of a fake relief you both fell in. maybe you can both pretend that all is well in this world. labeled the title of the strongest places all the responsibilities on both of your shoulders. he feels for you that this life isn’t kind to you or him and he feels a pang of guilt knowing that what’s expected of him, is expected of you too. does he hate you at all? never. does he hate knowing that someone else is burdened with the same path as him? more than anything.

rival!gojo who doesn’t understand why you’re still fighting. he has wealth, good looks, a huge dick, a sense of humor and is the not only the strongest but is a clan head. why don’t you just let him take care of you instead? why don't you end up in his arms at the end of the day? why don’t you let him massage the knots in your back and clean up dried-up wounds? why don't you unravel in a bath with him as you lay on his chest, playing with his fingers? why don’t you let him try the same sweets he really likes? why don’t you just let him occupy your world like you have with his?

rival!gojo who won't simply go at it with you like teenagers, he wants to see who will fall into the trap of falling for their rival first. he notices the way your eye lingers on his lips for a split second, or your face that paints that you feel tempted to bite the apple that god forbade you to. he wasn’t an idiot, and neither were you. he wasn’t physically keeping a distance from you more often because he was repulsed from you, no, it was quite the opposite. he knew that if given certain stances, he’d lose all control. but gojo didn’t want that, this was a game. he had to win. It wasn’t about a title anymore, it was about you. he had to win you.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ 

rival!gojo who has sexual tension with you that can be cut with a knife, making everyone in the room shift in their seats.

rival!gojo who just eyes you up and comments under his breath that you’re probably so tense from the lack of dick you’re getting. “what was that satoru?” “nothing at all princess, you’re hearing things. get your ears checked out maybe.”

rival!gojo who doesn’t want to get under just your skin but under your sheets too. 

rival!gojo who wants to dominate you in every aspect, especially in bed.

rival!gojo who wants to pummel your pussy into the ground whenever you catch an attitude with him, which is mainly all the time. this one particular time when taking down a curse led you both on thin ice. “satoru, you’re supposed to guard me. the curse could’ve easily escaped. what the fuck were you doing?” you state walking close to him, arms out in disbelief with furrowed eyebrows. “huh, well maybe if you knew what you were doing you wouldn’t be relying on me.” he looked down at you, voice brattier than usual. “rely on you? i’d rather be thrown on the ground right now and have a special grade eat me whole.” faces only inches apart, he tugged his blindfold above one eyes, face growing cold. “I doubt it would remotely even want to eat something as vile as you.” your eyes only glued to his somber face, looking beautiful when disparaging as if it was double the taunting. clearing your throat, “as if it would want to taste you.” a gust of wind escaped his nose in disbelief, “please, it wouldn’t be the only thing here that would want to taste me.” pupils dilated, eyes directing staring in each others souls, you only scoff. “and who’s to say that you wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw me on the ground?” his once stern face, had a hint of lust wash over in the form of a slight smirk, “not really a fan of wrestling someone so weak, i’ll just feel bad for you. really.” given the circumstances and the hoards of curses making way, he actually regretted not taking you right then and there. his idea of wrestling equating to absolutely demolishing your guts.

rival!gojo who wonders what it would be like to shut your soft, plush mouth up with his own.

rival!gojo who wonders if the bitter insults that roll off your tongue taste sweeter in his mouth.

rival!gojo who is more than giddy to hear that you’re assigned together to train, because he’s not just thinking of physically fighting you. his mind trails off to training you to take his cock instead.

rival!gojo who wants to test your strength in seeing how many rounds you can go with him. this isn’t about training.

rival!gojo who imagines taking you in for the first time; raw, ass up in the air, back arched inhumanely possible, large hand gripping at your hair follicles, and the harsh slapping of skin filling the room. he needs to take you in the most humiliating way, he wants to make you feel all sorts of ways while all he does is snicker about how good you clench on to him in a lewd position.

rival!gojo who often thought about calling you his cum-slut, while he’d make your pretty tongue lap up and down his thick dick groaning about making sure not to be an ungrateful whore and to swallow every last bit of him.

rival!gojo who can’t tell if he wants to fuck the shit out of you or if he wants you to fuck the shit out of him.

rival!gojo who encourages you to wear shorts and tight clothing while sparring. he literally just wants to make you comfortable, nothing at all hidden underneath.

rival!gojo who just takes his sweet time trailing his eyes all around the curves of your body before smiling softly.

“something caught your eye satoru?”  “ohhhhhhh, nothing. just studying your technique.” “is my technique my ass?” “what? a man can’t make sure you have good form?”

rival!gojo who can sense with his six eyes that he gets you wet, he knows that you know which makes it all the better. 

rival!gojo who laughs at you making comments about him probably acting all high and mighty due to a lack of “something.” was it sex? was it his dick? “wouldn’t you like to know pervert?" oh how he wish he can just make you feel the depth of his dick by making you look at the bulge he'd make in your tummy.

rival!gojo who actually does get in a heated making out session with you; hair gripping, tongues slick against each other, moans trapped in each others mouths, dry humping like a bitch in heat, lips engulfing one another. “who the fuck knew that gojo satoru was a needy bitch?” you say breathless, a string of saliva connecting your shameful lips together. “oh please, i was doing the world a favor by shutting you up.”

rival!gojo who finds himself panting as well, dazed out expression, foreheads still touching one another as noses nudge. he huffs slightly, rosy hue scattered across his face. “one more time.” he states breathless, eyes half-lidded. “kiss me one more time,” his voice continues off while you snake an arm around his neck drawing fingertips up and down his undercut. with his eyes shutting softly a sudden gulp, “need to make sure i hated it as much as you did. yeah, yeah, something like that.” he murmurs off before your heads are titling slightly, eyes both shut tight as lips press together on a soft impact. juxtaposing the messy, down-right nasty, desperate exchange of saliva masked as a “kiss.”

rival!gojo who finds out himself that your lips were indeed, soft and he liked the feeling of them pressed against his more than off.

rival!gojo who has to hold himself back from absolutely demolishing your pussy in the middle of combat. through growing pants, you squint your eyes at him from a distance. “g-growing weak satoru.” he’d only blink slightly, shaking his head mentally, the thought of having you pant for other reasons goes on in his head. while staring at your face, “huh, guess i am.”

rival!gojo who jokes that one day he’ll make you cry. unaware of what he meant by that, you only roll your eyes at his statement. although he would kill to hurt you, he wasn’t lying, he would kill even more to see your precious eyes drown in tears of pleasure when taking his fat cock in inch by inch. 

rival!gojo who has you pinned with your hands above your head as he pushes his muscular upper body into yours, feeling every rigid of muscle on your own. “are you purposely trying to be weak or do you just want an excuse to be used as a rag-doll?” pressing more of his body weight on yours, the clothing unable to hold a barrier of the heat and desire emitted off you two. He grinned, voice dropping an octave, his breath hitting your nose, “you disgust me.” quickly flipped the narrative so he was underneath, arms pinned up above his head while your bottom half straddles his groin. a thick, rock-hard sensation felt underneath you, clothing still having a hard time masking your pulsating clit and his dick that’s twitching. staring directly into his cerulean eyes, “clearly, not enough.”

rival!gojo who just knows your pussy is tight and lethal. he knows you’re practically walking around with a pool drenched between your legs waiting to be spread out by him. it’s even worse knowing that he is right. he thinks he can fix that nasty behavior right out of you with a good ol’ lesson on his cock.

rival!gojo who wants nothing more to completely get lost in your pussy, spending hours either making you cry from his dick or convulsing on his tongue.

rival!gojo who is still patient. patiently waiting for the day you slip up before he thinks of casually slipping his 8 inches in your silky folds. little does gojo know that day will be approaching sooner than later.

[lxclerc]

𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭 — 𝐚𝐚𝟐𝟑

summary… the leclerc twins have a reputation of messing with drivers and they’ve got their eyes set on poor alex albon request… yes. pls let me sleep laura faceclaim… char argyrou pairing… alex albon x leclerc!reader

note… because laura graduated and got her driver’s license, i caved @coffeehurricanes

note again… this was surprisingly really fun to write as someone with my own annoying twin brother so it ended up longer than i meant it to which means this will have a part 2

part 1 | part 2

masterlist

yn_leclerc

liked by lorenzotl and others

yn_leclerc serving cunt (as always) (with my 3 fav minions)

view all comments…

username yn casually and unknowingly dropping alex thirst traps

⤷ username she knows she’s feeding the alex girlies

charles_leclerc charles erasure

⤷ yn_leclerc you know youre my most fav (you have the most money)

⤷ charles_leclerc gee thanks

alex_albon i thought you’d put slime on my hair

⤷ yn_leclerc i told you i wouldn’t. i was trying to style your hair 🙄🙄🙄

⤷ alex_albon i have 0 trust in you

⤷ username alex is waiting for that mega prank like the rest of us are

⤷ username i’m fully convinced they’d make alex cry worse than lando

⤷ landonorris it was one time and they ruined my limited edition louis vuitton

⤷ yn_leclerc *accidentally*

⤷ charles_leclerc that i paid for

arthur_leclerc hanging out without me now

⤷ yn_leclerc you were too busy crying abt having no seat for next season ����

⤷ username one thing about yn is that she’ll always give her brothers the painful unfiltered truth

username ok but not enough people are talking abt shirtless alex

⤷ username no bc picture me this; shirtless alex, they’re alone and she’s fixing his hair

⤷ username …that does sound oddly intimate

⤷ username yall are tripping. she and arthur did the same thing to oscar and max remember, became super close with them then pranked them when they least expected it

⤷ username yes but also it’s been literal months with alex

⤷ username that just means that the prank will be spectacular

arthur_leclerc

liked by alex_albon and others

arthur_leclerc we are in badly need of your prayers for my twin sister, y/n 😓😞🙏

she’s fine. she’s just so insanely down bad for a man that she can’t say it to his face and needs me to follow them around so she can hang out with him bc she can’t look him in the eye.

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leclerc_pascale ay, arthur! J'ai eu peur pour ta sœur ! (you had me scared for your sister!)

⤷ arthur_leclerc Tu devrais avoir peur, maman ! Elle pleure cet homme tous les soirs et il ne sait même pas qu'elle l'aime. (you should be scared, mom! she cries over this man every night and he doesn’t even know she likes him)

⤷ yn_leclerc Taisez-vous ! !! fermez votre bouche ! arrêtez de parler ! (shut up!!! keep your mouth shut! stop talking!)

yn_leclerc you’re dead to me 🙂

yn_leclerc 🖕🖕🖕

yn_leclerc j'aurais dû te manger dans le ventre de ta mère (i should have eaten you in the womb)

yn_leclerc you no longer have a sister

⤷ arthur_leclerc Comment faire autrement pour flirter avec **** ? (how else will you flirt with ****?)

⤷ yn_leclerc TAISEZ-VOUS !!! (SHUT UP!!!)

charles_leclerc a man, huh?

⤷ lorenzotl 🤔🤔🤔🤔

⤷ yn_leclerc no ❤️

⤷ username she gives no fucks 😭

username what are brothers for if not to publicly humiliate you?

username she’s so me coded actually

alex_albon prayers 🙏

⤷ arthur_leclerc thanks, mate. we appreciate it

alexandrasaintmleux and if i speak

⤷ yn_leclerc alexandra malena saint mleux don’t you dare

⤷ charles_leclerc you know too???

⤷ alexandrasaintmleux 🤐🤐🤐

username she’s like me bless

username for a M*N??

alex_albon

liked by yn_leclerc and others

alex_albon was just trying to buy midnight snacks and then we got lost

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yn_leclerc we didn’t get lost bc i had a map 😁

⤷ alex_albon that you didn’t know how to use

⤷ yn_leclerc you weren’t exactly offering your map reading knowledge either, albono

⤷ alex_albon watching you struggle was adorable

⤷ username HE CALLED HER ADORABLE

⤷ username idc what anyone says, i am an ynalex truther

arthur_leclerc i was there too, guys

⤷ yn_leclerc you complained the entire time

⤷ arthur_leclerc because you woke me up to accompany you guys

charles_leclerc why is there a puddle on the floor?

⤷ yn_leclerc alex dropped one of the ten liters big water bottle

⤷ alex_albon lies. y/n dropped it and i had to say i did because she looked like she’s about to start crying.

⤷ charles_leclerc yeah, that sounds like my sister

username alex, don’t trust them or else they’ll make you cry like they did lando

⤷ username we’re looking out for you 😭

georgerussell63 mate, don’t be getting comfortable with those two

⤷ yn_leclerc slander

⤷ arthur_leclerc fake

⤷ georgerussell63 you put a rat in my cereal

⤷ arthur_leclerc *plastic* rat

⤷ georgerussell63 i dropped and cracked my phone

⤷ yn_leclerc sounds like you were being clumsy 💁‍♀️

username george is forever traumatised by that rat

username hear me out 👀

yn_leclerc

liked by alex_albon and others

yn_leclerc thirst trapping bc posting on my close friend that only has him in it isn’t enough apparently

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username she is so me!!!

username doesn’t matter how famous or pretty you are, you’ll always have an instagram close friends with only him in it

logansargeant i saw your close friends story on ****’s phone a few days ago 🤔🤔

⤷ yn_leclerc why were you looking over his phone you muppet?

⤷ logansargeant i just happened to glance by

⤷ username it’s alex. i’m fucking telling you all. ITS ALEX

⤷ username there’s literally no way it’s not alex

⤷ username it could be oscar

⤷ username bitch since when was o s c a r four letters?

⤷ username jack is four letters. they could be trying to throw us off

⤷ username JUST ACCEPT THAT ITS ALEX

charles_leclerc put a shirt on

⤷ yn_leclerc no ❤️

⤷ charles_leclerc 😡😡😡

⤷ username she’s always so unserious when it comes to charles lmao

arthur_leclerc abt to bleach my eyes brb

⤷ lorenzotl pass it over after

⤷ charles_leclerc pass it here too

⤷ yn_leclerc i could build a castle out of all the bricks they throw at me 💁‍♀️

username those leclerc genes are leclercing

username girl get the hell up 😭😭

charles_leclerc added to his story!

yn_leclerc

liked by alex_albon and others

yn_leclerc in the 1500s off in a foreign land, i was forced to marry another man (he can’t take the hint that i’ve been in love with him for years now)

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username whoever he is, please just ask her out already 😭

username girl, i’ve said this before but for the love of god get the hell up!!! you are better than this!

⤷ yn_leclerc i fear i’m not, bff 😔

⤷ username man down 😓

logansargeant i’m telling you rn that he’s as in love with you!

⤷ yn_leclerc did he tell you that 🤨

⤷ logansargeant no but he wouldn’t have put up with for this long if he doesn’t

⤷ yn_leclerc he’s put up with you for an entire year

⤷ logansargeant yes but he’s paid to put up with me

⤷ username this is all the confirmation that i need. it’s alex

username take the goddamn hint already @alex_albon

charles_leclerc WHO IS IT

⤷ lorenzotl it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

⤷ charles_leclerc okay but whoooooo

⤷ username charles is worse than alex 😭

arthur_leclerc this is getting pathetic. @alex_albon it’s you mate. she likes you, you like her. kiss it out 🙄

⤷ yn_leclerc ARTHURRRRRRRRR

⤷ username arthur 😭😭😭😭😭😭

⤷ charles_leclerc WHAT?

username arthur starting chaos bc hes so tired of listening to y/n mope 😭

username arthur revealing y/n’s crush and publicly embarrassing her (again), charles being shocked not having a single clue and lorenzo not caring as much is peak brother behaviors in ways i cannot explain

username i fucking told yall its alex

landonorris mate dont leave a lady waiting @alex_albon

⤷ oscarpiastri yeahhh

⤷ yn_leclerc both of you shut the hell up before i replace your shampoo with nair

⤷ landonorris how would you even have access to my shampoo-

⤷ oscarpiastri don’t ask mate. she’s done it before to dennis in f3

username paging @alex_albon

username @alex_albon dont fucking fumble a bad bitch like her come on now

alex_albon oh?

⤷ yn_leclerc public announcement that y/n y/m/n leclerc has died in a ditch and cannot be contacted at this hour. or ever.

⤷ alex_albon i know where you live

⤷ yn_leclerc locking the doors and putting salt around the property as we speak

happy birthday and congratulations to my most loved laura. i love and adore you and i can’t wait to watch you be the woman that you’re always been capable of.

[jinkicake]

HSHDHSHD HI AGAIN I JUST SAW UR CHILDE AND SCARAMOUCHE ARRANGE MARRIAGE POST AND I GO SJGNFNFNFNDNNFNDNG THE WAY U WRITE ARRANGE MARRIAGE TROPES>>>>>>/lh UR WRITTING IS SO GOOD!! I ALWAYS COMEBACK AND RE READ IT EVERYTIME AND I JUST REALIZED U ALSO WRITE FOR OBEY ME?! AND UR WRITING IS THE FIRST FEW ONES I'VE READ AFTER I JOIN THE OM FANDOM TOO?!👀💖💐

Ps. Would u mind if I request a 2nd part for the arrange marriage aus for the first fews chars (esp. Perrio👀) if nit they it's fine <33 thx u for creating such an amazing content!!💖💖

Forced / Arranged Marriage Trope

(pt. ??) Alhaitham, Dottore, Pierro, Zhongli x Reader

fem!reader bc I like the use of ‘wife’

A/N: hi anon!! thank you for being so patient w me and for being so sweet </333 T T i hope you like this~~ if you want me to do part2 for anyone else let me know!! I only did it for zhongli and pierro teehee bc i also wanted to add alhaitham and dottore (i hope that is alright~~)

WC - 3.2k

- yandere!dottore  // dottore is his own warning -

NSFW // LIGHT SMUT (pierro+zhongli)

~~~

Alhaitham

“I will be home after sundown, habibti." Alhaitham places a gentle hand on your shoulder after he stands up from his chair at the dining room table. He lowers his head with a slight dip of his neck to place a kiss on the crown of your hair. “Be good today.” 

And then he is gone. 

Months have passed since your husband began staying late after work. You don’t understand it in the slightest, he hates doing unnecessary tasks. The entire time you’ve known him, courting and beyond, Alhaitham has always spared time in his day for his interests. One day, he even told you that his favorite part of each day was settling down to read. He likes to live a carefree and relaxed lifestyle, so staying late in the Akademiya seems like the complete opposite of that. 

Regardless, you bear the weight of your suspicions and ignore it. 

You focus on being the docile wife you were advertised as and focus on your housework. In truth, your arranged marriage could not have gone any better. Despite your parents parading you around, you somehow found the most laid-back candidate who suited your needs to a t. Every night you thank the Lesser Lord Kusanali for such a kind husband, who lets you come and go as you please. You would have probably hired a hit on your parents, as opposed to never speaking with them again, if they married you away to a cruel man. 

However, housework only keeps you busy for so long and before you know it, it is ten am and you have finished everything that you wanted to do for the day. You could go bother your husband’s old roommate or have a meal with your friend but, you notice that Alhaitham left his lunch today. The neatly prepared and packed lunch is still sitting on the counter where you left it. He must have forgotten to grab it. 

With ignorance only Alhaitham could have installed in you, a result of keeping you in the dark for so long, you head toward the Akademiya. However, you regret it once you speak with his co-workers. 

“Alhaitham is not here today.”

“Your husband? He didn’t come in this morning,”

“I heard he was heading to Port Ormos after speaking with the Gauhar.”

Through your dejection, you braced a kind smile and thanked them all before heading back home. What could your husband possibly be going to the port for? He’s not a student anymore, there’s no reason for him to be going there. 

Unless someone else is there. 

You stubbornly try to shake that negative thought out of your head as you walk through the marketplace. As if Alhaitham would commit something of adultery, he doesn’t show interest in anything or anyone. 

Perhaps, you will have to speak about this with him when he returns home. 

Returning home that night was not something Alhaitham did. In fact, he did not return back to you for two nights and only appeared on the third morning of his disappearance. 

To say that you were upset would be an understatement and your husband was able to see it the second he walks in through the door. 

“(Y/N), I know I have been gone-”

“Where have you been?” You don’t give him the chance to begin with the sorry apologies as you cross your arms over your chest, you get straight to the point. 

“It was for the Akademiya, I cannot discuss the matters with you and you know this.” He sounds sincere enough, there’s a tiredness to his words that you can’t pinpoint. “I wanted to check in with you before I returned.”

“Check in with me?” You scoff and start to look at him as if he had grown three heads. “Check in with me before returning to your mistress?” 

“My mistress?” Alhaitham raises a subtle brow and keeps a straight face despite the amusement growing in his chest. 

“Why else have you been gone so long? Staying out so late? I’m not a fool and personally, I don’t care about who else you see.” You lie straight through your teeth, lie until you choke. Alhaitham sighs before stepping closer toward you. 

“I really cannot share the details of this assignment just yet, you have to believe me, habibti.” He gently cups your shoulders, giving the area a soft squeeze before soothingly running over the planes of your back. “Listen to me when I say that I would never think of betraying you so cruelly.” And, before you have a chance to react, Alhaitham lowers his face to brush his lips against your ear. Vulnerability spills through his every word. “Please do not act so indifferent about the matter of us, I want you to care as freely about me as I do you.”

Smoothly, his hand cups your face and tilts you his way. 

“No matter what thoughts you may come up with on your own, trust the logic that I love you.”

Dottore

“The Doctor will return from his mission sometime next week, perhaps during the beginning of the new moon-”

During the message personally delivered from your husband by a trusted subordinate, you can’t help but audibly groan. 

“Why must he ruin my entire week with his presence? Did he specifically plan to return on Monday? Why couldn’t he have come back the following Saturday or Sunday?” You place your pen down with great irritation and with it, the notebook you were writing in slams shut. The large Fatui soldier stares down at you, quite flabbergasted by your actions. At the lack of response from your maids, he continues. 

“Well, The Doctor wanted to spend some time with you before his next mission-”

“You’re kidding?” This time, you stand up and slam your palms against the strong wooden desk. Hatred and frustration flow through your veins, nearly choking you by your throat. “When you receive word that he is on his way, within a day away from me, then you will come back here and tell me. Understand?” You and your shorter frame could not nearly pose up to the Vanguard standing before you but, given the status of your esteemed husband, you can speak with him and any other solider of your choice however you want.

“Yes, my lady.” He offers a respectful bow before leaving your office and does not flinch under the intensity of your unwavering glare. 

“My day is ruined.” You hum and try to calm yourself down by rolling out your shoulders. Within an instant your close friends (the maids assigned to you by your beloved) are by your side, offering you their condolences and support. “We must prepare for the torture that his arrival is ensured to bring. Where are my earplugs?” 

Each day that follows, you work alongside other members of the house to prepare the cozy home that your husband chooses to reside in. Cozy is a cute way of describing it, this castle that hides within the mountains is anything but cozy. It’s large and empty but, you rather enjoy all the empty space that provides shelter when you’re hiding from your husband. 

In the midst of your breakfast later in the week, you’re interrupted by another announcement. 

“My lady, The Doctor will arrive-”

“What do you want?” You scowl and push your plate away, lowering your utensils before standing up from your chair. Now, just like your week and the ones that follow, your meal is ruined too. “I do not care when that wretched vermin will arrive. Tell me when he is here and leave me alone.”

“That is the thing, my lady, he is here early.” As one of the Legionaries beside the previous Vanguard steps to the side, your husband moves in front of you. He stands tall on the other side of the long dining room table and you have half a mind to sprint for the door. “I did not have time to issue the previous warning you asked for.”

“Warning? Is that how you speak of me when I am not around?” Dottore tilts his head slightly before slowly walking around the table. You try not to shake as he corners you, hands braced behind his back. “Oh? Where has your attitude gone? Down the drain with your fight?” 

He doesn’t have to remove his mask for you to see the sneer on his face, the anger that is sure to be littering his features. 

“Dear,” You nervously greet him, offering a pathetic smile that does little to hide your nerves. 

“Sweetheart,” He greets back just as gently but, you can see the tension in his shoulders. “I must confess that I was thinking we would spend time with one another before my next trip to Sumeru but, now I'm not so sure.” 

But? You mentally pray and pray to the Tsaritsa that he changes his mind and ditches you altogether, that he leaves you alone again for months on end. Anything would be better than facing his wrath. 

“I don’t think we need to see one another for a while.” He waits for you to let out the breath you were holding in, to sigh in relief, before gripping your jaw with his gloved hand. “I think it would only be fair since you’ll now be coming with me to Sumeru. We can spend the entire trip together, side by side. Finally, you’ll be able to see my work up close and not just from your timid frame in the lab doorway.”

You can’t hide the way your lip begins to quiver, eyes filling with tears. That is the last thing you would ever want. 

“Aren’t you excited, my wife? You must be since you’re near bursting into tears!” He mocks you until your soul breaks, until the farthest place you could ever be from him is no longer far enough. “If this is how you act when we are apart then, you will never be from my side ever again.”

Pierro

“You are a blessing,” Pierro murmurs lowly as his hands delicately sculpt your sides, gently he presses into your skin with his thick fingers. “a divine creation.” Like this, he worships you. His lips lightly trail between the valley of your breasts as he ascends up your body. “Hundreds of years have passed since I’ve felt this alive.”

Pierro slowly drags his lips up your throat and over your jaw to hover above your lips. His breath fans your chin, teasing you with his close proximity. He laughs when you tilt your chin in an attempt to kiss him, but it fails. 

Regardless of how you care for your husband outside of your shared bedroom, you always love him inside of it. 

“Please,” Your quiet voice sounds like a melody to the older man and he nearly sighs at the sweet tone. This is all he has ever desired, you wanting and yearning for him. He knows his words will never be enough to get this point across, ever.

With a light hand, the man brushes any lingering strands of your hair out of your face. He stares down at you with lust-filled eyes before cupping your jaw with his large palm. Subtly, Pierro tilts your face upward and meets your lips in a passionate kiss. As he presses his mouth against your own, applying just the correct amount of pressure, his thumb gently strokes your cheek. It’s a sweet kiss, one that leaves you breathless and wanting more. 

Before he can catch himself and reel in his self-restraint, Pierro cups your breast. Your arms loop around his neck, digging your fingers into his broad shoulders as he fondles and squeezes at your chest. The constant stimulation only makes you greedier for more and your hips create a mind of their own as you roll slowly upwards against his pelvis. 

“My wife,” Pierro groans, pulling away momentarily to catch his breath. His voice sounds shaky as he tries to fight back the overwhelming desire to just take you right now. “enough, before you make me do something I’ll regret.”

The first of the eleven Fatui harbingers thinks he has himself under control finally, that he will be able to continue but then you glance up at him. In your young eyes, mischief shines brighter than the life in his own. 

“It’s alright if I don’t regret it, don’t you think?” And then you kiss him once more. You yank roughly on his neck, catching him off guard, and pull him down again. 

The growl that leaves your husband is animalistic. His sharp reflexes snap at your wrist, pinning you effectively to the bed without much room to move. The kiss of his lips, once sweet, turns possessive and greedy as he presses you into submission. With little fight, you obediently fall right into his open palms with your lips parting at the slightest jut of his tongue. 

Skillful hips roll against your own, Pierro’s hard cock grinds into your clothed cunt and the sensation against your sensitive clit makes your eyes roll to the back of your head. When you start failing to kiss back, Pierro makes his attack. He squeezes your wrists and shoves his tongue into your mouth, swallowing and taking all that you will give him. Your thighs are beginning to burn against the stretch of being spread for his muscular waist but, the pain is dulled over at each slot of his hips. 

Your pitiful whimper pulls him from his conquest and Pierro remorsefully separates himself from your lips. 

“I need you,” Your whisper does not fall deaf on his ears, Pierro hears every single word. No matter how much you make fun of the older man, poking at his true age, he’s sharpened every one of his skills beyond their years. 

“I know, my beloved, I know what you need.” His hands make you sigh out loud as they run up and down your waist, breathy moans leave your lips. “Do you understand the affection that I hold for you? Are you aware of the effect you have on me?” Pierro closely watches your reaction, stares as you keep your eyes closed and don’t so much as flinch at his words. You simply hum and lay like a blessing against his sheets. Now, the older man lowers his lips to your stomach and presses his mouth into your skin. He gently creates a path to the band of your panties with each kiss getting heavier than the last. 

“One day, you will understand the true extent of my feelings.”

Zhongli

Lately, you’ve been worried about your husband. Your concerns are nothing new or anything revolutionary but, you can’t speak about it to your friends or others who are unaware of his godly status. To deal with the matter, you sought out the one person you could discuss the matter with, one of the people who know him better than you do. 

“I’m worried about Zhongli,” You sit patiently at the stone table, in your husband’s seat as you confess your inner feelings to the cloud retainer. 

“Zhongli?” The bird rolls her eyes, tasting the name on her tongue before it clicks. “Morax. What is there to be concerned about? Foolish girl, he adores you.” The cloud retainer raises a judgmental brow at your timidness as she pours you a cup of tea. She sits down with an elegance that makes you feel small in her presence. Still, you proceed. 

If any of the adeptus are going to listen to you, it’s her. If there is a single one that you can trust, it is her. 

“Isn’t that the problem?” Truthfully, you have been worried about the upcoming and unforeseen future. You’re always worried about it. Not that you will disappear soon but, mortal lives are nothing compared to that of an adeptus. How will he fare when you pass? How can you prepare him for it? “What will happen to him when I inevitably-”

The aged bird cuts you off before you can even finish your sentence. 

“Speaking of such circumstances when they are nowhere in the near future will only come back to bite you.” Cloud retainer quietly sips at her drink, leaving a few moments of silence between the two of you before she sighs. “Fully cherish the time you have with him, that is the only piece of advice I can offer you.”

And that is as far as you go with her on the matter, the conversation was over.

Still, in your heart, you weren’t satisfied with the answer.

It continued to bug you even as you tried to ignore it, even as you tried to cherish the time you have with the immortal. 

“How are you today, my dear?” Every single day when he returns, Zhongli finds you and presses a delicate kiss on your cheek. It’s a kind gesture that always makes you melt into the palm of his hand. 

It also, more often than not, always leads to something else. Something more intimate. 

“Would you forgive me if I said that I missed you today,” Zhongli’s low voice fills your senses and clouds your mind, leaving you barely unable to think. Now pressed into the couch with your husband over top of you, protectively holding your thighs over his hips, all you can do is take everything that the god has to give you. “I’m often missing you when you are away.” 

His pure confessions make your gut twist in an uncomfortable way. 

“Will you be okay when I am no longer here?” You whisper, letting the words spill into his ears as you hide your face in his neck. 

Zhongli stops his movements. The gentle, smooth thrusts of his hips come to a standstill as his hands lower from your thighs. He places a palm beside your head and pulls back enough that he can look at you. 

“I will never be the same without you.” The raw emotion in his features and the distinct vulnerability in his eyes cause tears to well up in your eyes. “But, I will continue to live. Your memory will keep me alive until we can be reunited again.” His gentle touch comes up to wipe at your tears as his thumbs brush over your cheeks. “I don’t want you to be worried about that just yet, okay, my gem?”

Softly, Zhongli presses his lips against yours and it muffles the sob that leaves your lips. 

You tighten the grip that you have on his biceps, digging your fingers into his skin as your lips open for his tongue. 

“I love you, I will always love you forever.” He murmurs into your cheek before kissing over your eyelids. Smoothly, his hips pick up a slow pace once more and you gasp loudly. The sound makes your husband laugh, gently shaking as he presses his forehead against your own. “If I had my way, we would have met earlier and you would never part from my side.” 

In every touch, he portrays how much he loves you. There is an ‘I love you’ in the press of his fingers against your hips. There is an ‘I love you’ in the skillful roll of your hips and there is an ‘I love you’ in the gentle kiss of his lips. 

Yes, Zhongli is sure he will always love you. Even through grief and mourning, he will never forget the feeling of loving you. 

[deathbxnny]

Hi I would like to request a part 2 of my previous request for the jinx x fem reader with abandonment issues

"I'm sorry you lost your way home." | Jinx x Reader

(Previous part)

I decided to combine these two, so thank you to the anons and their requests!! I hope you'll like this!<33

(I'm sorry in advance-)

Content: Heavy angst, abandonment issues, heavy spoilers for season 2 act 3, hurt/no comfort, established romantic relationships, death, sfw

Reader was asked to be afab in one of the requests. However, no pronouns are mentioned in the post!

((Not proofread))

The first person to visit you after her disappearance was Vi. The sister you had heard so much about, yet never anything good. But it all melted away at her words.

Your ears were ringing, and for a moment, you wondered if you had perhaps heard her wrong. "... Jinx said that she was going to help someone out before she left with Isha. And... And she swore they'd be back. So don't you lie to me-" You took a deep breath when you stumbled back against the doorway, nearly sliding down the rough wood in terror. Oh, how you wished the ground would open up to swallow you whole.

Vi gave you an unreadable look, her hand hesitantly reaching out to grab you, but she refrained at the last second. You meant the world to Jinx. She had asked her to find you just before... "I'm sorry. But what I'm saying is the truth, I-... They are both dead. There is no doubt about it. I saw it with my own eyes both times and... I can't get the images out of my head." Sweat dripped down your forehead as you only barely heard Vi speak to you.

Life was just becoming good for you... so why did this have to happen?

You both had just recently taken in Isha a while ago and were basically treating her as your child. You saw the way she healed Jinx and made her feel more alive. It meant the world to you to see her that way. And for a while, you perhaps even foolishly believed that things would go well now.

You thought about running away together before, in the darkness of your room, as Isha napped in your arms. You remembered turning to her and whispering, "Let's run away. Let's leave on one of the skyship and go somewhere far away... just the three of us." And you saw it in her gentle gaze, the way she considered it... but it meant nothing in the face of a war she had to fight in.

Looking back on it, you should've maybe seen the signs and listened to the uneasy feeling in your gut when the both of them left for a special mission she refused to tell you about. It was for your own safety she'd say and who were you to intervene or deny her orders? She was always so much more intelligent and stronger than you. You just blindly trusted her. You believed she'd return soon just as she's promised... but she never did.

Neither of them did.

It was radio silence for the longest time. And you hadn't moved an inch from the small apartment Jinx considered to be her second hideout with you and your kid. Not when the war broke out, not when there was a call for arms, not when you peeked out for the barricaded windows at the creepy, white machines that slinked right past your hiding space.

And now you wonder, in the haze of uncertainty and panic, if the balloon you had momentarily seen soar through the sky was her after all. Had the denial misled you into a false sense of foolish security? Did you really, fully believe she'd be back for you? That she'd bring Isha home safely and run away at last? Yes. Yes, you did. You believed it... but received a charred part of one of her bombs in return. A confirmation that it was truly over for the family and future you had built together for the shortest amount of time.

"... leave. Please leave. I can't bare looking at you." You gasped out in-between heaving breaths, unable to stand Vi's presence any longer. Everyone was making you feel sick. What's the point of being a savior if you die? What's the point of seeing a hero if you leave behind what you love the most to suffer in agony?

You had waited so long at this wooden door to your once warm home for their return. For her return. Yet all you were greeted with was the one thing that was left of her. A sister she did still love deep down more than life itself. You, however, could only feel rage.

"Wait. She told me to loom out for you. I can't-" "-I said leave! If it wasn't for you, then we could have left and been happy!" You yelled out, suddenly not caring about hurting anyone's feelings anymore. And god did it hurt. It hurt so much. Because Vi still had a piece of her in her. But it wasn't enough. Nothing would be enough in her and Isha's absence.

Slamming the door into Vi's face and locking it for good measure, you finally fall to your knees and clutch the last, charred thing you had of her to your chest, sobbing. You drowned out Vi's yells and bangs against the door whilst you did so, deciding that if you were in agony, then she didn't deserve any consolation either.

Your worst nightmare had come to fruition, just as the last skyship of the day flew into the sky and left its past behind.

[fuckitupfelix]

AAAAA UR WRITING IS SO AWESOME MAN IT GOT ME GIGGLING TWIRLING MY HAIR AND EVERYTHING!!! I wanna req erm ATSUMU AND FHEN ANY HQ CHARACTER OF UR CHOOSING AND WHAT THEY WLD DO FOR THEIR FIRST ANNIVERSARY WITH THEIR S/O AAAAAAAAAA

stopp you got me blushing n shit like marry me rn AHHH😝🫶

365!

haikyuu!! x male reader

chars: miya atsumu , hinata shoyo , nishinoya yuu

what they have planned for your first anniversary together.

fem aligned DNI

MIYA ATSUMU — ★ dinner date !

lets be real for a second. atsumu's hardly the romantic type. he's used to girls fawning over him left right and center, but now that he's actually dating someone?

catch him looking up date and gift ideas online

this guy has no clue what hes doing! so naturally (after arguing with osamu about what to do. . .) he goes to ask kita what he should do for your first year anniversary!

que him coming up to you after he's finished practice, asking if you want to go somewhere.

he's the type to blindfold you halfway through the walk and drag you along thinking it's a good idea (you almost get run over like three times)

FINALLY. . . you reach your destination! he made a reservation at your favorite local restaurant for dinner :)

you both sit next to each other in a booth because sitting across from people when you eat is overrated !!! im speaking my truth!!

tsumu will gift you something volleyball related . . . the little freak (affectionate)

he gets you guys matching keychains!! yours has his jersey number , and his has yours ! (unless you don't play a sport, then he just has your lucky number)

you both get ice cream after dinner n spend the night at his house , cuddled up in bed together <3

he gets made fun of by the team the next day when you tell them about it

HINATA SHOYO — ★ park date !

hinata's kinda similar to atsumu in the sense that he has no clue what to do

he asks the third years on the team and yachi for advice

yachi's best piece of advice was "to do something that (name) and you will both enjoy!!"

. . . so he decides to take you out to the convenience store and get meat buns for lunch

you tell him thats not even romantic and he gets a little defensive about it

his logic being that he feels super comfortable around you so he feels he doesn't have to do anything extravagant!

and its cute, yeah . . . you can't really argue with that

you just spend the day hanging out together at the park! you see some ducks, pet some peoples dogs, play with some stray cats

he tries to sneak a little volleyball in there too (unsuccessfully)

at the end of it you both head back to his place and have dinner with his family :)

NISHINOYA YUU — ★ beach date !

noya's been planning this since the day you started dating

he avoids you like the plague all day at school, vaguely communicating through tanaka

he's thankful your anniversary falls on a day there isn't practice, so he can drag you home the second the bell rings to get a change of clothes

thats right guys . your man's giving you the beach episode we never got !

is it an excuse to see you in your swimsuit? obviously!! who do you think he is?

even if you're wearing a t-shirt and pants he'll love it

because regardless of what you wear, the second noya sees you laughing, splashing water with your hair wet? oh he's a goner

you both go to one of those stores that sells pretty rocks and buy beads that match each others eye colors to make bracelets <3

(he spent hours trying to figure something out with asahi's help)

you both fall asleep on the bus ride home and almost missed your stop

can you tell i love noya guys 😓 anyways i hope you liked this !!

divider by @/plutism !!

[novaursa]

Ok I have a thought and everything turn around this song

https://open.spotify.com/track/3gS0VrWH2NyPGXYiFmcagd?si=GyNvN-TlRdK8WaKeFUi8zw

Fem! Reader is supposed to be the daughter of Leanor but she had the strong’s look. She never had a doubt about who her real father is, she always loved Harwin cause he was very closed to her behind closed door obviously.

Growing up she ask her mother to come back to King’s Landing, she might be engaged to Aemond. But everything she had in mind is to kill Larys Strong, the anger she had is that strong that she might even died or get captured but when it’s happens her dragon goes back to harenhal and Daemon and the Strong’s family understand what happened

Blood For Blood

Requests are closed!

- Summary: Sheepstealer lands upon Harrenhal, alone.

- Paring: None, can be assumed to be a daughter!reader/(father) Harwin Strong (platonic), as reader attempts to avenge her father.

- Note: The reader is bonded with Sheepstealer. I hope this is what you had in mind. Some information had to be left out, so the plot can come together in this short story.

- Rating: Mature 16+ (just to be safe)

- Tag(s): @sachaa-ff @alyssa-dayne

Smoke rises above the blackened stones of Harrenhal as the air thrums with the sound of wings. A massive shadow crosses over the crumbled towers and battlements, casting a darkness so deep it feels like the sun has vanished from the world. The creature circling the castle is unmistakable. Sheepstealer.

Daemon Targaryen, atop Caraxes, looks up from his perch on the scorched ramparts, brow furrowed. His silver hair shimmers in the dim light, an almost ethereal contrast to the beast circling above. Beside him, Simon Strong, one of the last of his bloodline, tightens his grip on the pommel of his sword. The weight of realization settles between them, heavy and oppressive.

“She’s not with him,” Daemon murmurs, his voice low but tinged with that ever-present edge of amusement that he never fully abandons, even in the face of tragedy. His eyes remain fixed on the dragon, the massive beast known for its temperament, who now glides through the sky riderless.

Simon glances at Daemon, lips pressed into a thin line. "It is as we feared, then." His voice is rough, aged and worn from years of bitter experience. His face, weathered by both time and the weight of his family’s cursed legacy, holds no surprise, only resignation.

“She went after him,” Daemon says with a certainty that causes Simon’s breath to hitch for a moment. He doesn't look at Simon, his gaze still held by the dragon. "After Larys."

There’s a stillness between the two men, a tension in the silence, as Sheepstealer lets out a deep, rumbling growl. The sound reverberates through the courtyard below, shaking the very earth. The dragon lowers itself to the ground with a grace that defies its monstrous size, its claws digging into the charred earth as it lets out a shuddering snort.

Daemon watches closely as the dragon’s head swivels, searching, waiting. There is no rider upon his back. No proud figure, no fierce expression to match the storm of fury that had been brewing ever since you left King’s Landing. And in that absence, Daemon knows. They both know.

“She’s dead.”

Simon speaks the words that hang between them, his voice barely more than a whisper. Daemon doesn't reply immediately. He doesn’t need to. They can both see it—the truth laid bare in the arrival of the beast without its mistress. You are gone, as surely as your father before you, lost in the flames of vengeance that have consumed your bloodline.

"Y/N..." Daemon finally speaks your name, voice barely louder than a breath, almost reverent. He had never truly known you, not as he had known your mother, Rhaenyra, or even your father, Harwin, but there was always a bond, an understanding. You were fire, like all Targaryens, but a different kind—quieter, colder. Until the day Harwin Strong died.

Since that day, your flame had burned hotter, more dangerously, and everyone knew where it would lead. Even your dragon, fierce and independent as he was, had bent to your will. You wanted vengeance for the father taken from you in the blackened ruins of Harrenhal. You had sworn to see Larys Strong dead for the part he had played in your family’s destruction.

Daemon steps forward, descending from the ramparts toward the courtyard where Sheepstealer waits. The dragon's great amber eyes follow him, unblinking. There's an intelligence there, a knowing that cuts through the air like a dagger.

"She fought bravely," Simon says, though his tone is hollow, lacking any conviction.

Daemon scoffs, the sound bitter. "Bravery? It was madness. The girl was bound to die the moment she swore that oath."

"You are one to speak of madness, prince." Simon’s voice hardens, a rare defiance in it, but Daemon only grins, a twisted, humorless smile.

"And yet, I still stand."

The words hang in the air between them, as heavy as the clouds of smoke rising from Harrenhal’s ruins. Daemon stops just short of Sheepstealer, his eyes locking with the dragon’s once more. He can feel the raw power of the creature, the pain that mirrors his own. Sheepstealer had been with you through it all—the fierce bond you shared had been envied, even among your own kin. And now, with your death, the dragon stands alone.

"She died trying to kill him, didn’t she?" Simon asks, though he already knows the answer.

Daemon gives a curt nod. "Larys Strong will not be easy to find now. He’s as slippery as a shadow in the night."

"That worm," Simon growls. His hand tightens once more on the pommel of his sword, though it’s more out of frustration than any desire for action. There’s nothing to be done now. It’s over. "She would have made a fine queen... had things been different."

Daemon’s eyes flicker with something dark and unreadable. "She was never meant for a crown. Too much of her father in her."

Silence falls again, the weight of the castle pressing down upon them both. Sheepstealer growls low, sensing the tension in the air, the grief that lingers in the stone itself. The dragon looks toward the entrance of the keep, as if expecting someone to walk out and take command, but no one comes.

"Will you tell him?" Simon asks quietly.

Daemon’s smile fades completely, and for a moment, he looks weary—older, burdened by the countless losses that have marked his long life. "No. Let the dragon keep his illusions for a little longer. He’ll find out soon enough."

With that, Daemon turns his back on the dragon, the courtyard, and the weight of yet another death added to the blood-soaked history of his family. Simon watches him go, feeling the same heavy resignation settle in his bones.

Sheepstealer lets out one last mournful cry, the sound echoing through the empty halls of Harrenhal. The dragon knows too now. You are gone, taken by fire, just as your father before you. The Strong bloodline is broken, and vengeance has consumed yet another soul.

[carriedawatermelon]

Ronancetober, day two. In which Robin has a terrible day, recites French poetry, and gets the girl.

prompt: woods

She finds her in the woods in her neighborhood, a little clearing with a circle of old stumps and a fire pit, charred remains of branches peeking out from a layer of leaves. Robin’s back is against a stump, her legs up in front of her, her backpack open on one side and a book, something French with a blue and green cover, laying on the ground near her hip. 

Her eyes are closed, head propped against the stump, but they snap open when Nancy kicks at the leaves in front of her, announcing herself. She goes from startled to exhausted in a second, palm rubbing her cheek and then running through her hair. 

“Nance,” she sighs. “We really don’t have to do this.”

Nancy doesn’t respond, just comes closer, settles on the ground near the closest stump, legs crossed and hands clasped in her lap. The cold wet of autumn is seeping through the fabric of her pants. She ignores it. Robin doesn’t.

“Your pants,” she says with concern, and at Nancy’s raised eyebrow, sighs again. “Okay, fine.” It’s got an edge, anger, maybe, but Nancy’s pretty sure it’s fear. She never wants Robin to be afraid of her. 

“Robin,” she says, gently, and Robin’s mouth shifts ugly, a scowl, as tears prick at her eyes. 

“Don’t,” she says, voice breaking. “Don’t do that. Don’t feel sorry for me.”

“You’re doing plenty of that yourself.” It’s not meant to be unkind, but she’s lost the gentle tone, understands that maybe it’s not what Robin needs. She wants very much to give Robin what she needs. 

“We don’t have to do this,” Robin says again, crying for real this time, and wiping forcefully at the tears with the sleeve of her jacket. It’s not soft, and Nancy winces as she watches, isn’t surprised to see splotchy red start to form around her eyes. 

“Robin,” she says again, and then asks the question. “Was she telling the truth?”

-

It hadn’t been Vecna. It hadn’t been some otherworldly horror, or a Russian with a syringe. It had been teenage cruelty, ordinary and terrible, one of Robin’s notebooks in Jennifer G.’s manicured hands. 

“I speak French,” she said, grin sharp and mean, and Robin, who’d thrown fire at monsters and pushed herself to the front of the danger without a thought, bent into herself, small and terrified in the corner of the newspaper room where Nancy had found them. Eyes on Nancy, Jennifer turned the pages of the notebook. “Thought you might wanna know you’ve got a pervert writing poetry about you, Nance.”

“Nancy.” Robin’s voice was small and pleading, and Nancy was confused, but not confused enough to let that stand. 

“Give me the notebook,” she said, hard, and Jennifer became even more interested. 

“Oh? Oh. Do you already know? Do you like it?”

“Makes sense,” Britney had said from behind her, almost bored. “Her last boyfriend was such a pussy, he might as well have been a girl.”

“Fuck you.” Reflexive and hard and Nancy was angry, mind working to fix a problem she didn’t fully understand. She squared her shoulders, smiled the most dangerous smile she could at Jennifer. “You know, Carol told me all about you. She never mentioned French, but she knew a lot about what else you did with your mouth. Want me to share with the class?” 

The bell rang, and Jennifer narrowed her eyes, saw that Nancy wasn’t kidding. The spark of fear faded, though not fast enough for Nancy not to see it and smirk, trying to pretend her heart wasn’t cowering in that corner with Robin. 

Eventually, she rolled her eyes and dropped the notebook to the ground. “Whatever,” she said. “Dykes.”

By the time they left, Nancy feeling like she could safely turn back to Robin, she was gone, the slam of the back door making her wince. 

-

As she asks the question, she reaches into her bag and takes out the notebook, stretches the little distance between them to put it near enough for Robin to take. She doesn’t, but she stares at it, stares and stares. 

“I didn’t look,” Nancy offers. “Not that I would’ve been able to read it.” It’s an attempt at a joke that neither one of them finds funny. 

Now, Robin does take the notebook, flipping to a page and closing her eyes hard, biting her lip. “You’d have been able to read this,” she says eventually, blue eyes half-vacant in something like resignation. Her hand is shaking when she hands Nancy back the notebook, and her eyes catch immediately on her name, scrawled across the bottom of the page. 

“I didn’t write the poem.” Her voice is soft, her fingers playing in the dark, wet dirt, eyes turned down to watch them. “She was wrong about that. It just made me think of you.”

“What does it say?”

Robin looks at her, a flash of sadness, and then she talks, honest and brave. “This one is about hope. It’s about…about two lovers. Women. And I thought, well—

Tu me donnas ton front, tu me donnas tes mains,

Et je ne craignis plus les mauvais lendemains.” 

She takes a deep breath, looks down again. “You nudged me with your forehead, then gave me your hands, And I no longer feared uncertain tomorrows.”

“Robin,” Nancy says, heart pounding and aching and gone, gone, gone, sitting with the girl next to her. “Robin.”

“I’m sorry.” She’s crying again, blue eyes overflowing when they look at Nancy and then tear away. “I’m so sorry. I promise, Nance, I would never…I would never do anything, and I shouldn’t have ever-I shouldn’t have…” She’s sobbing, and it’s too much, and Nancy can finally move again, unstuck, and she has her arms around Robin, pulling her close. 

There’s a moment of tension, but Nancy holds fast. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s okay, sweetheart, I promise.” And then Robin clings, hands around Nancy’s forearm where it wraps around her knees. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Two fucking weeks left in that shithole school and I leave my notebook out like an idiot, and of course fucking Jennifer G. speaks French. She never shuts up about her family trips to Paris, and god, Nancy, I swear I…I would never…I’m not…”

“Robin,” Nancy says, moving the arm wrapped around her back to hold her chin, turn her so that their eyes meet, and then Nancy kisses her, soft and sure. 

“Wow,” Robin says, dazed and then, “Shit, oh my god, I’m disgusting. I’ve been crying and I know I’m an ugly crier, like, I know that and-“

Nancy kisses her again, and she does taste like the salt of her tears, and her face is wet where Nancy cups it, and it’s quite possible her nose is running, and Nancy absolutely does not care. 

“You just recited me a love poem. In French. From memory. Because it made you think of me. Obviously I’m going to kiss you.”

Robin blinks, then blurts, “There’s more.” Her face, already red from crying and probably from Nancy’s kisses, turns darker still, and Nancy can’t help but thumb at the color, grinning. 

“Oh, really?” 

“Um. Yeah. Yeah. There’s…” She sighs, and Nancy kisses her cheek before she starts, because she has a fair idea about where she’d like this to go, and she’s not interested in leaves in her hair or ruining her blouse, which is new and blue and cut in a way that Nancy is fairly certain Robin will appreciate, once Nancy makes it clear she’d like her to. 

“Wait.” 

“‘Kay,” Robin says immediately, and oh, Nancy’s going to have so much fun with her. 

She kisses her cheek again and then moves to stand, holding out a hand to Robin, who shoves her book and the notebook into her bag before taking it. 

They’re halfway to Nancy’s car before Robin asks, “Where are we going?”

“To the quarry, if your parents are home. To your house, if they’re not and that’s okay with you.”

“O-okay. They’re…they’re home I think.”

“The quarry then,” Nancy says, unlocking and opening the passenger door for Robin, who stares at her like she’s never seen a car before. “Robbie?” 

“Yeah, yeah, totally, sorry, shit.” She ducks into the car, barely managing to avoid hitting her head, and Nancy’s so fond of her that it’s painful. “Um, to be clear,” she says, turning to Nancy as she settles in the driver’s seat and checks her mirrors, “because, like, this has been a real, a real weird day for me—perfect! Like, dream kind of perfect, aside from the humiliation by cheerleader, which is actually also a dream I’ve had. Not like in a sexy way. Jesus. Anyway! Um, we’re…we’re going to the quarry to, to…?”

Nancy’s looking at her, suppressing a laugh. “I didn’t want to ruin my clothes making out with you in the woods. So I thought we could make out in the backseat of my car instead. If that’s alright with you.”

“Holy shit,” Robin says, blinking rapidly. 

“That a yes?” Nancy asks, smile tugging at her lips as she pulls out of Robin’s neighborhood. 

“Yes, please,” Robin confirms, and Nancy feels fingers tentative on her own, flips her hand so that Robin can thread them together. 

She squeezes Robin’s hand and isn’t afraid. “I might have to learn French.” 

-

This is from the absolutely lovely poem “Nous nous sommes assises” (“We Sat Down”) by Renée Vivien.

[sillyblues]

the ocean and the wind. (5)

ੈ✩‧₊˚ synopsis: tonowari is the ocean and ronal is the wind. where does it leave you?

ੈ✩‧₊˚ notes: reader is so lucky you have a support group but it's a good thing you are not that blind right?? anyways lmk your thoughts and which parts were your favorite i make sure to read all of your comments and rbs btw sometimes i just don't reply smts bc i got busy but yeah i appreciate every notes you leave!!

part 1 ✩ part 2 ✩ part 3 ✩ part 4 ✩ part 5 (here!) ✩ part 6 ✩ part 7 (final part)

The wind guides the ocean and wherever the ocean goes, the wind is there. The two cannot exist without the other for only together, they create the most beautiful peaceful calmness or the strongest violent storm.

Between the two, where does it leave you?

None. Of course, there is no place for you. You are nothing to them. You are not even a speck of particle that the air carries or the smallest piece of sand that the sea touches.

They were the source of your greed, your guilt and shame, but you were wrong. You are the shameful and disgraceful one. You who dared to overstep your boundaries. You who dared to desire them.

Humiliation burns your skin and chars your heart and remorse fills your lungs with smoke and suffocates you. You let it ablaze and reduce your heart to a pile of ashes and glowing embers that burn you inside out.

Your ache stings and brings forth droplets of salty tears that do nothing to extinguish your pyre.

"Ma’evi, what pains you so?" Your Sa'nok cradles you to her chest and sways you gently. Tears sprung out of her eyes as she puts your head on the crook of her neck. Like a furious river, you tremble and no rocks could stop your overflow as you sob.

Your muffled wails fill your home. You cry and cry undeserving tears you didn't notice when your father had come inside, only the warmth of another embrace and soft pats on your back.

“Cry it all out to us, my dear, and we will cry with you.” Do you dare to tell them? Do you dare to tell them of a horrible daughter you are? Do you dare to tell them of the sins you have committed?

“Let us see you, my child,” your mother tucks the strands of your hair that stick to your face into your ear. “Let us bear your pain instead,”

You don’t dare say anything and let their touch lull you to your sleep.

.

.

.

“The Olo’eyktan have announced that the Iknimiya will be held in a few days because of the auspicious sign of the return of our brothers and sisters,” your mother gently says as she cuts some food. You all sit on the floor as you eat. You didn’t want to eat with them at first, preferring to sleep the rest of the day away, but your parents have been concerned since your walls shattered in front of them. “Truth be told, your Sempul and I think you are ready.”

Your father hums as he offers you a bite from his hand and you eat it.

“Yes, we can see how independent you are already. You are even a greater hunter than I am now,” he jokes and your eyes waver at the effort he puts into making you feel better each day ever since your walls broke down in front of them. You smile and joke weakly in return.

“Am I now?”

“Mhm, an even better healer than me as well. I think you would make a great Tsahik,” you freeze at that. Memories of Ronal and Tonowari rush through your head and your hand trembles in place when you reached your hand for food. You quickly pulled back and lightly clasped your hands together, hiding your palms away from them.

Tsahik. Ronal is much suited for the position. She is more suited as Tonowari’s mate and Tonowari is more suited for her. Their bond is like no other after all. You would not be surprised should they choose each other when they complete their Iknimiya, Letsakx made a good job of waking you up from the blindness of their attraction for each other, which will happen soon. Very soon. And soon, you will have to live with your closest friends’ love that does not include you.

You hum, not daring to speak for fear you might stutter and they will hear the shakiness of your voice. They are very keen and observant. Perhaps they already have an inkling of what you feel. Of what you have thought. And what you have done.

“But Ma’evi, we are not saying this because we want you to complete your Iknimaya now,” your mother says as she takes the knife and plate away and gets closer to all of you three. She holds your hand in hers and looks at you with so much softness and your father squeezes your other hand with such gentleness that you feel yourself tearing up but you hold it down. “We do not want you to do it if you yourself do not feel ready.”

“Take your time, my dear, we will be always waiting here for you.” Really, you don’t deserve your parents. They don’t deserve a child like you. But the love they have for you is great and you find yourself squeezing their hands.

You find yourself letting them see you.

.

.

.

The day of Iknimaya has come and all of the men, women, and children had gathered on the central island. Many young hunters participated in this coming-of-age ritual. You are among them, along with your other friends and some you knew from one of your classes back then and of course, Tonowari and Ronal. They had been trying to get close to you, but you only smile painfully so.

“Are you alright now, [Name]? I haven’t seen you in so long!” Tonowari says to you with concern swimming in his bright blue eyes and your heart flutters at the thought that you were his subject of worry, but you are quickly reminded that you are not his. Ronal touches you and inspects you carefully as she circles around you for wounds that you might have. Your battered heart trembles under her keen gaze that looks only at you for the moment but you are quickly reminded that you are not hers.

“Your mother told us that you had gotten ill, are you sure you can join this Iknimaya?” your mother told everyone who asked about you an excuse for your absence. You realize that with you, they touch a lot and the ache grows for they caress you not because they want you as you want them. You smile bitterly.

“Yes, I want to do this,” you gently take their hands off of you, “Let’s talk again later, hm? My friends have been calling me.”

You send them a smile and return to your group of friends. You did not look back as you promised, despite the greed that claws you inside out. Your friends exclaim in surprise and joy at your presence. Some hug and some send a smile towards you.

But it’s okay, you think as you converse with them, this is a lesson you must learn and you would never dare to disappoint Eywa or everyone else again.

It wasn’t long until the ritual formally started and you find yourselves in the sea with water halfway up to your legs. The Olo’eyktan started his speech moments ago about the history and importance of your coming-of-age ritual, his gaze heavy with pride for all of you.

“Young hunters, it is time,” the Olo’eyktan says as he looks at each one of you, “It is time for you to become a true Na’vi. A true Metkayina.”

“Show us that you can handle the mighty and strong roars of the ocean by taming a Skimwing. Show us your worthiness by bonding with your spiritual brothers and sisters. Show us that you deserve the symbols inked into your skin.” He stomps and you all stomp. You all let out sounds of gruff and puffs with the tongues of the men out and the lips of the women pursed down.

Now, you watch as one by one, the names of the others are called out and they tame the Skimwing. You stare as Tonowari chooses the biggest one with the brightest orange spots that decorated its wings. You stare as he takes a quick glance at you and blinks while he turns away to look at Ronal. He sends her a reassuring smile and none for you. Your heart is silent as you watch him successfully tame his Skimwing and swim through the fast currents and return so proud and so imposing.

You stare as Ronal chooses the calmest one with calming green spots that adorn its wings. You stare as she looks at you with firm eyes that you could not read. She turns to Tonowari and nods at him. A part of you is scared that you do not know her well anymore and a part of you bleeds out at the confirmation that only Tonowari can truly see and understand her. Your heart fades away as you watch her gracefully soar and dance with the wind and return smoothly with such elegance.

Your turn has come and you look at the Skimwings that paid no mind to you. But there was one that looked back at you and swims slowly toward you. You let out a silent giggle to yourself. Would you let me see you? You hummed as you questioningly looked at it. It touches your hand with its head and makes you pat it as if saying, If you would let me.

You swing your leg over its body and sat on its back. You take your queue from behind and formed Tsaheylu with your Skimwing. The feeling momentarily blinds you before you become hyper-aware of the water that surrounds both of you, your weight on its back, and its feelings.

You both swim gently until the pace becomes faster. You both dive deep into the ocean and see the shoals of fish that swim past you, the sways of the underwater forests that glow so brightly, and the calmness of the water that leaves you breathless of its beauty.

You swim back to the surface and put your feet on its behind and crouch down, your grip hard on its tie. Your Skimwing jumps and unfolds its wings and you laugh breathlessly as you let the wind kiss your skin, its rustle cheering you on as you soar through the sky.

But it is time for you to return. As you come back, you immediately miss the ocean and the wind. After this, no more, you promised yourself, No more.

The bonding with the Tulkun soon followed after. Everyone went to the sides of their respective spiritual brother and sister and they all look so excited. Everyone was filled to the brim with joy but you, your nerves leave you trembling slightly.

Greetings, sister, you signed with a small smile hoping she would forgive you for only coming to see her today and not as soon as they arrived.

How dare you come at me only now? Is this what you see of me, just a way for you to complete your Iknimaya? Well, you are wrong! I will not bend over to your wishes so easily! she moaned in annoyance at you and sways you off gently.

You don’t think she could even bend but you just hugged her and buried your face against her beautiful skin that you would fawn at each time but you wouldn’t bring yourself to now. I’m sorry, sister. You don’t have to make Tsaheylu for me, I understand.

She pauses and was silent for a while.

…What pains you so, sister? Who dares to give you such pain? she hums at you, covering you with one of her fins and lets you hide. Tears escape your eyes and you sob silently underwater. Fear comes back and it overflows your lungs and shame burns your body hot despite the coolness of the water. 

Lend me your suffering and let me suffer with you. Let me see you, sister. You look at her in shock and disbelief. Despite that you have wronged her, she still wants to see you. 

She wants to see you. She wants to see your pain. She wants to see your fear. She wants to see your shame. Do you dare to let someone know of your sins? Your immoral thoughts and greed?

You look at your sister with only you in her eyes and she blinks softly at you.

You find yourself letting her see you.

She opens her mouth and you enter inside. Her queue comes down almost immediately and you almost laugh at how she truly wants to bond with you, even if it happened in an unfortunate circumstance you caused. You take your own and hold the end part of it, letting its tendrils connect to her glowing golden queue.

You close your eyes and your sisters’ memories rush through you. Her birth, her parents, her family, you see it. The joyous moments that contain you beside her, you see it. One particular moment was when you swam through the deep ocean and talked about the most mundane thing with her, lasting for even hours until you two have to breathe the surface’s air again. Her huntings as they travel outside your clan, you see it. Her first hunt without you and how she felt lonely without you by her side to congratulate you.

Now, you see her current emotions as she sees you. She’s distraught. Sad. In pain. But she is with you and your heart (or whatever is left of it) warms.

Oh, my sister, she whines and sobs. Her body vibrates and you feel yourself crying with you as well. My poor sister. You don’t deserve any of this. You don’t deserve this.

You think of the ocean and the wind once more, breaking your promise to yourself for the millionth time. The wind guides the ocean and wherever the ocean goes, the wind is there. The two cannot exist without the other for only together, they create the most beautiful peaceful calmness or the strongest violent storm.

Today, you have seen how great they are. And how well they suit each other. How Ronal’s grace matches Tonowari’s pride. How Tonowari’s imposing presence matches Ronal’s elegant strides. 

Today, you have seen what great Olo’eyktan and Tsahik will become. You have seen how far they are out of your reach and what your place will be for the years that will come by.

For between the two, there leaves none for you.

series-taglist: (tags in blue means tumblr won't let me mention you, please let me know if you changed usernames!) @totesnothere04 @ducks118 @narutoboi @yeosxxx @fanboyluvr @ladylovegood-69 @northsoulss @thatfictionalwh0re @ghostlyworld @toodaloo432 @lovefromjazzy @greendino7 @neteyamforlife @vermilionzombie @vxncxntt @adaiasafira @tsuteysyawntu @mooniequeen @eywas-heir

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter Twenty-Three

(AO3 counterpart here.)

The night moved on, and the Clan had to as well. Goldenflower and the others, their coats full of dirt that clung to uncleaned blood, returned and announced the burial as complete. ThunderClan went together to the spot: a mound tucked into the exposed roots of a tree just outside the fenceline. From here, free of buildings, the Mother was visible, lying silent and still.

“The stars have found her,” Yellowfang said, flat face turned skyward. “We need not fear for her soul.”

Even with this reassurance, the Clan hung their heads and sadly offered soft farewells and prayers as they stepped up, one at a time, to speak to their Clanmate. Goldenflower went with the kits, both hers and Brindleface’s, and whispered to them encouragement and reminders to whisper too. Aspenkit was able to speak whatever she said evenly and calmly, but the misery on her face when she turned around said much more. Ashkit, unsteadily balanced with his anger, could barely get his words out before whipping around and stalking after his sister.

Fireheart heard Cloudkit just fine, his sad little voice managing, “Bye, mi. I love you.” He turned away slowly and went to sit with his uncle, silent again. Fireheart groomed his head with a soothing purr.

He was the last one to approach the grave, and he stood for a long moment, unsure of what to say. If Yellowfang was being truthful, she wasn’t here to hear him, but… maybe she was listening in StarClan.

“We’ll take care of your babies,” he murmured. “Thank you for raising Cloudkit.”

That was all he could say before a lump formed and clotted his throat. He bowed his head and returned to Cloudkit’s side.

Speckletail nudged Bluestar, who slowly walked up to the grave, turned to her Clanmates and stood silent for a moment.

“We’ll miss you, Brindleface,” she said at last. “May… may your path to StarClan be clear and easy.”

She said nothing else, just stood there, eyes on the mound at her feet. Whitecloud went up to her and guided her back to Speckletail. No one said anything, but their troubled faces tattled their thoughts.

Barley respectfully kept his distance until they all returned past the fence and were on their way to the hedge. When he approached, his face was sad, but a bit distant, the sort of grief one felt for a neighbor they didn’t know well.

“I’m sorry you had to leave like this,” he said to Speckletail. “It was a real treat having you all here. I thought you’d be safe and sound on my property, but…”

Speckletail sighed. “We can’t help it. Thank you for giving us a home for so long. ThunderClan will remember your kindness.”

Barley rolled a shoulder. “Just doing my part. Couldn’t leave you and your little ones out in the cold.”

Cats said their scattered goodbyes and thank-you’s as they passed him, and he nodded to every single one. Fireheart offered a grateful blink, and Barley blinked back before nodding to the next cat.

Through the hedge and down the moor they went, all silent and thinking. No one noticed the smell in the air before a voice called to them and brought them to a stop. A WindClan patrol approached, in their loping canter that was still faster than Fireheart could run, slowing down only when they could be heard.

“You left earlier than we thought,” the head of the patrol said, a grey-brown tom with an ear split cleanly in half. “Meant to give a final checkup and our well-wishes.”

“Well-wishes from WindClan,” Darkstripe muttered. “Really.”

Speckletail ignored him and dipped her head respectfully. “We appreciate what you’ve done for us. Please tell Rookstar and the rest of your Clan that we’re thankful, and we won’t be bothering you for more favors. What you did has been more than enough.”

“Ought to thank Barley, really,” a brown tabby tom said. “I assume you did already.”

“We did.”

“Good.” The tabby looked to the grey-brown tom and cocked his head.

The grey-brown tom flatly said, “Welcome home,” and turned away, leading his patrol back up the hill.

ThunderClan continued their descent mostly in silence. Oddly, the further they walked and the longer the night went on, the less snow they had to deal with. The kits were able to walk through the stuff in the neutral grounds easier than on the moor or farm, and even the burnt trees had caught most of the snow and kept it off the ground.

They all slowed as they entered ThunderClan’s forest to look around as they walked. Many disturbed murmurs observed the pitch-black trees and the bone-white snow atop them and around them, like the snow was trying to cover up the sight to preserve their peace of mind. It didn’t matter much; the forest still faintly smelled burnt. At the very least, the snow had muffled the stink.

Once they stepped into the untouched part of the forest, paces quickened and spirits lifted. Murmurs became happier and often came out as thanks to the Three for saving their forest.

Technically, it was the humans, Fireheart thought, but they’ll never show gratitude for that.

Snow rested on the camp’s sandy flooring when they entered, but it might as well have been the middle of summer—voices raised in jubilation and awe, cats looked over every single den in amazement, deep sniffs were taken to ensure everything was really still here.

“It really is a miracle,” Frostfur breathed, her pretty green eyes sparkling.

Goldenflower practically ran to the nursery, sticking her head into the entrance and looking around. “It’s perfect in here! Kits, come look.”

The kits obeyed, all crawling back into the nursery to check it out. Their high voices echoed to the outside in surprise and happiness.

“Remember, I get Swifttail’s nest,” Brightpaw told her brothers as she dipped into the apprentice’s den.

Brackenpaw stuck his tongue out at her and Thornpaw frowned, but neither of them voiced any complaints. Snowpaw, meanwhile, got busy sweeping what little snow had made it into the den back out into the clearing.

“I don’t smell Patchpelt here,” Willowpelt remarked, approaching Speckletail. “Or any burned bodies. Do you think…?”

Ravenwing looked up from the elder’s den, hopeful.

“We need to look for him,” Speckletail said, brisk despite the lack of enthusiasm on her face. “He can’t be far away, whatever state he’s in.”

Dustpelt turned to face her from the warrior’s den. “I can go.”

“It could take a while,” Speckletail answered. “Are you sure?”

Dustpelt nodded.

“I’ll search with him,” Sandstorm said, and Mousefur next to her added, “Me, too.”

Speckletail flicked her tail. “Then you’d better go now, while there’s still a little night left. Return as soon as you find anything.”

The cats wasted no time, trotting out of camp without a word to anyone. Fireheart prayed under his breath that Patchpelt was just hiding in the Houses, or had found a bush to sleep under.

It didn’t take very long at all for them to come home, their heads low and tails dragging along behind them. The Clan turned to greet them, but at the sight of their postures, no one ran forward or spoke. Ravenwing stood beside Greystripe, fighting valiantly not to shake and losing.

Speckletail’s voice, soft as it was, seemed to echo in the silent clearing. “Well?”

Dustpelt lifted his head, ears low, and reported unhappily. “We found burned bones and ash, not too far from the trail we took to escape. They’re his size.”

Ravenwing whimpered and pressed his face against Greystripe’s shoulder, who rested his broad head atop his friend’s. Fireheart’s stomach rolled.

Several cats went to Ravenwing and offered condolences, which he didn’t seem to register, still hiding his face in Greystripe’s fur. Halftail and One-eye were spoken to as well, as they sat together with their heads down. No one, Fireheart realized, was even looking at Darkstripe, sitting near the corner of the elder’s den and glaring at the ground, his tail lashing.

Compassion moved Fireheart before logic could get to him; he approached the grey tabby, standing at a respectful distance and clearing his throat. Darkstripe looked up and his face darkened even further.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Fireheart said, gentle. “That loss is unbearable, I—”

Darkstripe bared his teeth, hissing, “You have no idea what loss is.”

Fireheart didn’t flinch, but he did lean back a tiny bit, anger burning some of his compassion. He got control of his mouth before he could retort cruelly. Simply, softly, he replied, “Believe me, I do. I know this exact type of loss, actually.”

For an instant, Darkstripe had a look like he was about to strike Fireheart across the face. He, too, withdrew that particular shade of rage and simply glared at the ground again, growling, “Beat it.”

Fireheart didn’t add anything else. He knew better. He just turned around and walked off for Ravenwing, tail deliberately leveled out.

---

Dawn stretched over the eastern sky, and the night of traveling and mourning finally wore the Clan down. Fireheart couldn’t help a tug of remorse that the ranks once again separated themselves and retreated to their respective dens. He didn’t have much time to reflect on this before he fell deeply asleep. His Clanmates followed him in moments.

The next evening came with a sense of disjointedness—several times, a warrior would stop what they were doing and look around in mild confusion, or seem to remember that they would have to hunt for their prey in the woods, not just stroll to a pile of hay and slam their paws down on a lump. The prey they had left behind (thankfully just a couple things) had rotted and had to be cleared out. It amazed everyone that they hadn’t even noticed the rotten prey-pile in their rush and relief at being home at last. Many remarks were made upon it.

Speckletail assigned more patrols to hunt and check for dog-scent. Again, she selected Fireheart and Dustpelt to lead them, again to Fireheart’s surprise and mild confusion. He decided it wasn’t something to question at the moment—the Clan needed him to help them wherever he could, and that was what he was going to do.

What also surprised him was that he sort of enjoyed it. He enjoyed helping, of course, as always, but being at the head of a patrol, suggesting where everyone could go to hunt and tracking odd scents to ensure the dogs were gone, that wasn’t too bad. It was nice, actually. His Clanmates accepted whatever he told them to do in a way that made him wonder if they also didn’t mind it.

His patrol returned with only good news and prey; not quite the fat mice they’d been feeding on at the Barn, but enough to get the Clan started. Teaselfoot had been right—the prey had gotten bolder with no one hunting them, and they had been easier to catch than usual.

“And if the dogs have been here, it’s been a long time,” Fireheart reported to Speckletail. “The slightest scent at Sunningrocks and no more than that.”

The deputy poorly hid a sigh of relief and lowered her chin gratefully to Fireheart. “Well done. Go ahead and rest. Dustpelt should be back soon with more prey.” She glanced over at Brindleface’s kits, all sitting together close by. “Stars know we’ll need it.”

Fireheart bowed his head to her, but didn’t go to relax. Rather, he took his caught bird and returned to the outside of camp to bring a meal to Bluestar.

He turned the corner just as Whitecloud came out of her den, ears and tail low. Fireheart stopped and waited for the white tom to notice him, which he did quickly, and then approached, meeting him halfway. Fireheart set down the bird.

“How is she?” he asked quietly.

Whitecloud sighed through his nose. “She’s… confused. She didn’t realize the burned body was Patchpelt.” He looked off into the woods, like there was a solution out there. “…I don’t think she’s going to get better.”

Fireheart inclined his head a little with a sad nod. He had a brief urge to sit down and sag with sorrow.

“Strange to be grieving her when she’s still alive,” Whitecloud continued, almost under his breath. He looked at Fireheart now, speaking louder again. “I’m glad you’ve been helping as much as you have. Taking care of my aunt has been a lot. I haven’t been able to help Speckletail in her duties.” His yellow eyes warmed. “It’s nice that she can count on you and her son.”

Fireheart did purr a little at that. “I’m happy to. It’s kinda sudden, but I don’t mind that. It feels like…” He paused, searching for the right words. “It feels like I’m an apprentice again, cleaning out nests, taking care of the elders and Yellowfang. You know that feeling? Where you have some satisfaction, and maybe a little pride, because you’re caring for someone who needs help?”

Whitecloud’s eyes creased. “I didn’t enjoy feeding and grooming the elders like you did.”

“Seems like nobody does.” Fireheart breathed out a short chuff. “But I did. And it feels like that now. It’s nice. It’s just the whole Clan this time.”

Something shifted in Whitecloud’s expression. Fireheart couldn’t define exactly what it was, not on his face or how it leaked into his tone when he asked, “Then you don’t mind being in charge sometimes?”

“I mean, it’s a little weird to be giving orders,” Fireheart admitted. “Just a bit. I’m one of the youngest warriors, you know? I didn’t think anyone would be willing to listen to me just based on that.” He paused again to think. “It’s not, like, inherently awful or anything. It’s… it surprises me when cats listen to some dinky little kittypet who, well…” A real chuff this time. “Who has a habit of not obeying the Clan’s superiors himself.”

Whitecloud gave him an oddly stern look. “You’re not a ‘dinky little kittypet’ to ThunderClan. You have something I haven’t seen the rest of the Clan be able to provide to everyone.” His face softened. “You’re valuable for your kindness alone, nevermind you being happy to care for your Clanmates, whether or not they appreciate it.”

That sounds familiar. Fireheart’s ears went warm at the tips. Bashfully, he said, “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Whitecloud glanced back in the direction of Bluestar’s den. “I can take that prey to her. You’re free to go inside, if you like.”

“Are you sure?” Fireheart tilted his head again. “It’s not a problem…”

Whitecloud looked back and leaned in, almost whispering. “She’s not in a good place to receive visitors. I can bring you with me next time.”

Fireheart almost wanted to protest, but the flight of worry in Whitecloud’s eyes made him simply close his mouth and nod. Whatever she’s like right now, she’s going to give a really bad impression that Whitecloud doesn’t want anyone to see. Even me.

“I’ll go inside, then,” he said. “Good luck with her.”

Whitecloud nodded and picked up the bird, turning away again and starting for Bluestar’s den. Fireheart split off, returning to camp’s entrance. His thoughts circled around the conversation, but one sentence played, over and over.

“Weird to be grieving her when she’s still alive.”

Fireheart was starting to understand exactly what that meant.

[lambsouvlaki]

Shelter from the Storm - Dangerous

Characters: Jason Todd x fem!oc

Rating and warnings: G, mentions of violence, fluff

Word Count: 400

Summary: Jason knows she can defend herself, but she doesn't have to. Not while he's there to catch her.

Masterlist

Jason stood between her and a room full of bodies.

The attic stank of blood and burning rubber. The mercs’ armour wasn’t as sturdy as they must have hoped. 

He holstered his gun and rolled a charred body over with his boot. 

“This one’s dead,” he said. 

“Fireballs do that,” she muttered.

He looked sidelong at her. She stepped gingerly around a body collapsed on the broken table. The concrete walls were riddled with bullets. She ran shaking hands through her messed up hair, and winced as it pulled on the graze at her hairline. 

“You’re very willing to get lethal,” he said. 

“Don’t give me that,” she snapped. “I have very little choice here. And I won’t be told to pull my punches by someone carrying multiple grenades. Someone who isn’t being actively hunted for profit, I might add.”

He smiled grimly. He picked up her jacket from the floor. One of the mercs had ripped it off her when trying to grab her. Jason put a bullet in that man’s head. 

“I’m not telling you to make nice with your abusers,” he said. He held the jacket out for her, and slid it up her arms as she turned into it. He leaned down to speak in her ear. “When the moment of truth comes, if you can’t put those animals in the ground, I’ll do it for you.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. He didn’t know why she looked surprised. Didn’t she know? He would carve through as many of them as it took to keep her safe. 

“Oh.” The wall that normally lurked in her eyes wasn't there. 

“I can do it,” she said softly. 

“I know. But you don’t have to.” 

He gently adjusted her collar where it was rolled over itself. He didn’t know if she meant that or the fighting. He didn’t know if he did either. 

His knuckles grazed the bare skin of her collarbone.

Her breath hitched. 

He blinked at himself and turned away. 

He pushed one of the blinds aside and looked out into the compound below. He could see them starting to move. 

“They’re more dangerous than they look,” she said.

He glanced back and saw her retying her hair, all business once again. 

“So am I,” he said and drew his sniper rifle. 

[rise-my-angel]

Heart of the Great Wolf

31 - Light in the Darkest Storms

Pairing: Jon Snow x F!Baratheon!Reader, Robb Stark x F!Baratheon!Reader (Past)

Length: 19.5k

Warnings: angst/hurt comfort, past character death, flashbacks, discussion of virginity, references to past rape, smut, oral (m and f receiving), p in v, breeding kink

Notes: Holidays are over so we will go back to the regular posting schedule from now on. Previous Chapter Here, Series Masterlist Here

Winter Town had scarcely ever been meaningfully populated in your time outside of war. Many who worked in the castle walls of Winterfell would find homes there but the town itself was not needed much when it had been the warmth of summer. But the closer you got the more you could see as the people all found settlement rivalling that of White Harbour or Barrowton, should you wager a guess you would say the more the people gathered it would be perhaps a fortnight or twice that before some fifteen thousand Northerns made home.

Only this time, it would be a King in the North to which the Northerners were gathering to settle close by in the winds. But whereas Jon Snow fit in this world without a shadow of a doubt, it was those echos of doubt shadowing over looks certain people were giving you. More then normal now, and many with a sense of unease.

The display on the journey home had rattled your own people and now they looked at their dead Queen as if her mind had snapped and were waiting for the rest of it to show it’s ugly head. But you didn’t know what to say to them to quell such concern, you had barley accomplished enough of it to bring Jon back down to something calm. He hadn’t been since that night, his eyes on you were not that of the same disturb as the people, but they watched you dark and close all the same.

Your horse riding beside his and constantly you tried to pretend as if you couldn’t feel his gaze, but in truth if you turned to look behind you, many gazes would’ve suddenly turned away abruptly. At least Jon would hold it with the same look.

Narrowed eyes with something protective behind them that he wasn’t sure how to express, not with how you’ve been.

When he had brought you back to your quarters on the ship, he had sat you on the edge of the bed, crouching in front of you with his hands keeping you steady on your upper arms. Asking you what happened, but you only stammered. “I’m- I don’t even remember getting out of bed, never had a dream like that..” You could only hear Hazzea’s screams that erupted into nothing as it was charred away along with the rest leaving nothing but black bones to haunt you. Or the look in the eyes of that dragon which was terrifying as it was angering.

It looked to the girl with nothing but a need to kill and then flew off, but how could you tell him that without sounding like only a dream? It must have been, but you didn’t feel like it. Your dreams varied from ominous to vivid and confusing but they never made you feel as if you were standing in the real world. It felt as real in that temple as it did when you turned around to find yourself back on the ship.

Cupping the sides of your cheeks, you hated how Jon’s face had been twisted into something just as upset as you felt on the inside. Grey eyes still tinted with a red behind them as your hands curled into your palms to keep them from shaking. His thumb running over your cheek as his voice was a bit breathless in his own worry, “Darling this wasn’t just some dream, I’ve never heard you scream like that..” Looking over your just as unsure state, Jon tried to tilt your face down to meet his eyes as they drifted away. “You weren’t -do you even know what language you were speaking?”

Your answer however, was specific. Too specific to the point it took Jon entirely off guard as his head jolted back a small bit. But it also dawned on you as you once more fell from his gaze, how specific that answer came in an instant.

It was the first flag that made you both feel uncomfortable over the matter, you had dreamt and spoke in a language you knew nothing of despite recognizing it coming from your mouth. “Do you know what you were saying?”

Distantly you nodded a yes, you could see everything in that temple clear as Jon was now. The enormity of a foreign culture you were ignorant to, the languages far from Westerosi common, the guards, the Queen at the very top and the two knights beside her. It was not the misting blurs of a dream world as you would recall. It was only half a story, one that was rambling as your mind still felt attached and Jon hardly could grasp how such a dream linked to what he saw.

Whispers of a Targaryean with three dragons and on the journey home you have a violent dream of dragons burning a child alive, Jon thought it could be a coincidence, but he felt doubt over it.

You had hardly slept since then, spending much of the nights out against the side of the ship looking out to the blackness over the night waters. One night he would convince you to try and sleep, the next you wouldn’t budge. It was as if you feared sleeping in chance of another dream, and perhaps you did.

Now as the sights of Winterfell came close as you all rode up, Jon beside you looked somehow like every other Northerner, and yet with the air of a King. Warm with the dark fur around his shoulders once more made him look intimidating but not with such in eyes. Grey eyes wide and bright, looking at his people with more then a humble nature, still finding it odd in his mind, that they would bow and kneel to him as “your grace”, as he nodded and acknowledged many of them.

You could only hope you didn’t look as lost and exhausted as you felt, tired of looking weak and pathetic at Jon’s side. The Queen who was losing her mind in the eyes of his people. A shame on his family that should be considered.

It had been busy the moment the gates of Winterfell rose up, neither you nor Jon bothering with much decorum. Things needed to be done and you wanted little time to spend watching people watch you. A decent number of resources on their way but you had to trust in others to covey details to the smiths on what exactly they were looking at. Groups finding purpose here and elsewhere as men around all worked to attend to the King in the North’s return but as you climbed from your own horse, your hands stayed attached to the saddle. Glancing around as whispers found their way in your mind, tingling against your skin as each flicker of eyes towards you spoke of judgment.

As one of the stable boys took the liberty of guiding your horse away you stood in the clearing feeling lost. Gloved hands now at your sides tensing and retensing as the whispers dulled to the increasing loudness of your beating hard in your ears, until it all came to a heart stopping end as Selyse came to your side. Eyes narrow and sharp as she quietly called your name, you could still feel your heart in your chest as you looked at her, but with a silence on your tongue waiting for her to speak first.

Glancing to the side before coming a step more to your front, “Maybe it is best if we bring you inside for now.” It might have been concern on her, but it was hard to see and every single even minor look in your direction made the whispering grow deafening. As if only a girl, you swallowed before nodding saying no words.

It was as Selyse shared a look across the way to Ser Davos, did the man’s attention diverting grab Jon’s eyes. Noticing your mother place a hand at your back and guide you inside without a word to anyone.

She knew her way around the castle well enough by that point, a fortnight here after your departure to White Harbour and she knew when places were busy and when not. It also, was the perfect time to bring you into the more quiet side of the kitchens to sit you down. Requesting a tea from one of the ladies there as she sat down at a small circular table just slightly to the side to look at you. A grown woman you were, but you knew your mother was looking at you and could replace it with the image of a young Shireen having a bad day in need of quiet away from others.

Not much of a mother to you in a long time, but she had been for Shireen’s entire life and for now that would have to do. Her voice was thankfully low in nature as was yours, “I haven’t seen you that nervous in a crowd since you were a girl.”

Quietly thanking the woman who placed a warm mug in front of you, it was brought just enough to your lips to blow ever so slightly at the steam before wagering a sip. Too hot to taste still, but the heat warmed your blood and sent out the remaining shivers of cold from you. Having another before slowly beginning to take off the cloak around your shoulders and let it drape over the back of your seat as did your mother. Hands still in gloves but felt the heat as they both cupped the side of your mug, “You should have seen me at my wedding. I was so nervous I wasn’t sure I was going to even make it to the Weirwood before passing out.”

Hardly letting out a chuckle, Selyse watched you for another quiet moment. “Celebrations were never quite a tradition in our family.” You knew she wished to ask, but instead found other things to occupy her voice that eased you into things. “The first time you came home from the North, you had asked your father and I, if feasts were supposed to be loud and chaotic. I remember not knowing if you were disappointed we never had ones such as that or not.”

You mustered half a smile, “Likely a bit of both.” She rose an eyebrow in question as you took another sip, “I enjoyed watching the others have such a good time, but I was worried you and father would be mad at me if I participated. Was worried about a lot of things from that first visit, thought if you both knew I’d never be allowed to return.”

Tilting her head in slight amusement with a lighter air on her tongue, “That assumption clearly did not work out in that manner.” Nodding at her, your eyes felt distant. Trying to not see the stares and hear the whispers and you felt your chest tighten again. Leaning forward to you, she lowered her tone with a murmur of your name. “Is there nothing more you can say of that night?”

Hand stopping as it was reaching the liquid to your lips, you sighed and let it drop back down. If the servers milling about were listening, they did a very good job at not showing it. “I told you, I wasn’t even aware I had gotten out of bed, I know even less then what they all saw.” It was silent for a second before you looked down at the table away from her, “It felt as if everyone was speaking about me out there, like everyone was watching and whispering about what happened.”

“No one was doing such a-”

Your tone almost snapped, but it reigned in almost as soon as you opened your mouth. “They were, we both know they were. Everyone had been. I have one nightmare and now my own people look at me as if I’ve lost my mind.”

Your mother was quicker then you it seemed, “You look at me as if I’ve lost mine some days.”

Narrowing your brows for a moment, you relented just as fast in acceptance. “You are following a belief, a faith. I had a dream that made me walk and scream in my sleep. Two very different kinds of insanity, I would say.” Your nails tapped at the mug as your eyes slipped closed as long as you inhaled deeply. “I’ve hardly slept since that night. As if I know falling asleep one night I will have another dream just like it, but maybe this time I’ll do worse then scream.”

Both knowing the answer to it, she put the suggestion forth regardless. “I can speak to Maester Wolkan, essence of nightshade could help you sleep-”

Your tone was sharp as was your eyes, “I’m not about to begin relying on a few drops of poison every night just so I don’t have scary nightmares, mother. Besides, it wouldn’t help how little I’ve eaten either.” All you could see was the bones, those black, charred bones of Hazzea as clear as day and then you’d hear her fading scream and all appetite would leave you. Nothing felt appetizing when such senses invaded your mind.

Leaning into the quiet, only sounds around that of shuffling, bubbling and whatever they were preparing behind you, your mother was more stern then before. “You barley take care of yourself as it is. Always running yourself ragged trying to do everything, you will be able to do that even less if you have no food or sleep in your body.” Trying not to roll your eyes, knowing she was only stating the honest truth. “Dying once has not made you immune from starvation.”

Sighing deeply, you knew she meant well. Taking food for granted was not something she nor your father were uncaring with. “Plenty of books in Winterfell, could always made soup if I let things get that dire.”

The dropping look in Selyse’s face was one you knew she had given Shireen too many times when she got too clever for her own good. “I am trying to get you to care of your well being. Strange events have followed you since your death and they are only getting stranger. You need to be looking out of more then only other people now. Especially if-”

Cutting her off sternly, you didn’t want to hear about this. Not now. It hadn’t been brought up since before that dream and you were beginning to feel a creeping voice in your mind that had been gone since the months leaving Castle Black. Ones that you were too much of a burden, too much of a problem again.

Jon knocks down one problem with you, and another takes it’s place in a matter of days. You should have stayed on Dragonstone with your father, at least you wouldn’t be in Jon’s way thousands of miles apart. Maybe if you got up and left right now, everyone would be too busy to notice you disappear.

It choked your throat and down to your lungs in an ill sensation at the anxiety of, would Jon secretly be grateful once you were gone? He was too kind to tell you to leave his life, he always was. Always placated your burdens as if they didn’t weigh him down horribly. Once afraid you would be dragging Robb into a miserable life married to you, but it seemed he was the wrong wolf you were the constant of issues for.

Silence painful before you sighed, not a sign of strength holding your resolve left in your eyes. “You and father don’t have to worry about this sort of thing.” Softening in your eyes, was an apologetic sorrow that was bright for any to see. “You haven’t had to wake up every single day for months, worrying you are getting in his way. Standing between him and real happiness because you don’t know how else to contain how you feel. I was worried in Castle Black I was ruining his life and now it feels like I’m back to doing just that. What do I even offer him? What as a Queen do I even bring to his cause he could not do himself, better?”

Selyse didn’t have an answer to that, because you did not want one. It was a spiral that begged for others to toss you away in worth or use as you spent a year in a new life being tortured with. More for you had changed in those months then many encountered in a single lifetime.

It hadn’t been sitting there to pressure you, it was almost hidden away so any who wandered in might not have spotted it, but you did. You saw it almost right away and the second you traced your fingers over the fabric you found yourself sitting back on the edge of the bed. Material in hands as you ran over the details. It was clearly made to fit you with detailed accuracy.

Had it been meant as something in your face, likely there would’ve just been people there already to put you in it. Instead it sat alone, in the quiet room for you to contemplate. It would be your choice this time, both of you and somehow that felt more strange then it did the first time. Neither you nor Robb had a say in it, and it was to happen at the end of what turned out to be the start of a nightmare that had yet to end.

Not much of the ceremony did you recall. Were your life to be staked on it you’d have no way of saving yourself if the only rescue was to recite the words you spoke. Did you even breathe? You were a blur walking towards the Weirwood and part of having no choice in the matter made that memory easier to look back on then the willing one you had now.

Women like you weren’t supposed to choose. It wasn’t how it worked, you never grew up expecting you’d have a say in it. The way Cersei Lannister made it sound like you’d be sold off like some broodmare and perhaps for many it was as such. You were lucky it was Robb, more lucky then most highborn women ever would get. But here you were with a choice of freedom and that was more difficult to do.

Coming to terms with having love after Robb was growing a bit better, more time spent considering the truth that he would not want you to be miserable after him, but marriage? Forsaking the name he shared with you and taking that of his brother? Jon came first, but Robb was never less then he was.

It was all so complicated in your mind.

Still now, you could see the hateful eyes in Catelyn, how if you made this choice she would look down at you forever as something more horrid of a word then you’d prefer to think coming from her. A woman who parts of your life acted as a mother, was your mother by marriage in war for three years and ended that life on nothing but good terms. If you chose to do this, she would hate you for eternity.

“I can't tell if you hate it or not.”

Head snapping up, only then realizing you hadn’t even heard Jon enter, or the door close behind him either. Your brows narrowed in question before he gestured down to the material in your hands, an easy breath coming out close to something of a laugh as you shook your head. “On the contrary, it’s eeiry how well you knew what to tell them to make.”

Stepping closer, Jon gave half a smile. His voice low and somewhat quiet as he sat next to you, but a decent foot of space between his body and yours was almost staggering in the quiet. “Almost like I’ve known you most of my life.”

A more genuine grin came about you, looking up to not anything of significance on the stone wall ahead as your tone fell in an amusing monotone. “My father’s known me my whole life and he couldn’t even tell you if I have a favourite food of any kind.”

The lightness in Jon’s voice had you without notice, forming an easy grin on your face even if it didn’t quite match the soft but combating glaze over your eyes. “Easy, you love peppercrab stew, stuffed clams, anything that comes from the sea.”

Muttering a playful in mocking return, “Almost as if I grew up on an island.”

Jon ignored your jest, “And even though you claim you don’t like sweet desserts, you would live off of blueberry tarts if it was possible.” That time he caught the playfully offended look in your eye at being called out, a laugh easier on his lips then it came huffing from yours. “I also know you hate Dornish wine because every highborn in King’s Landing drinks it by the barrel, and that you think serving pigeon pie at weddings is disgusting.”

Your fingertips were tracing along the ornately stitched design, noticing it was almost a seamless blend of what looked like carvings of antlers as they trickled down into outlines of a wolf only noticeable up this close. None but you or him would even be near enough to make out such details but you knew they were intentional. “You would too if you were saw how many dead and bloodied pigeons end up inside those things before they’re cut open.”

Leaning back a bit, his palms braced more against the fur along his bed as Jon kept his eyes on nowhere but you. “Good thing I didn't tell them to make it.” Your head rose up a bit, hands stopping in motion as you looked to nothing once more hesitant in your shoulders, as Jon leaned forward again this time a bit closer as his voice rasped more beside you. “We don’t have to do anything, we can go back out there and just let our people enjoy a good night, but I need you to tell me if you want this or not.”

You could hear Robb clear as day, voice warm and soothing behind you as his hands ran along your arms before giving yourself over to him.

“If you don’t want this, I need you to tell me. We don’t have to do anything, but you need to be honest with me about it.”

He had given you the exact same out, and you didn’t take it then and it ended better then you could’ve imagined for the time you and Robb had with each other. Would taking that opportunity from Jon now be nothing but a regret? Or was otherwise being too selfish?

“Before I married him, I told Robb I was worried he would be trapped in a miserable marriage being with me. But we didn’t get a choice, we had to do it no matter what. But this time, if you marry me, it’ll be my fault if you end up hating your life.” Looking back up to meet his eyes, Jon was closer then before and instead of even entertaining such an idea, he cupped both sides of your face, pulling you up to meet his lips in a gentle kiss.

Your hands dropping the material into your lap as your hands reached up to press against his chest with your palms flat. It was soft, not teasing but keeping you just on the edge of needy as he would pull away just long enough that you wanted to whine and chase his lips, returning back to you as one of his hands danced back to run his fingers through your hair.

Pressing another innocent one, Jon then pulled back only enough that he could look you in the eye as yours slowly opened again. “You make me happy, and I make you happy. That’s enough. But we don’t have to do this-”

Shaking your head, heart almost so light it could fly from your chest and be lost to the skies hiding above the stone walls. Your hands ran up to gently wind around the back of his neck as you leaned up to kiss him, even a more gentle one then before. Almost just a tender press of lips before you pulled back. “I do, I- I just, my head is so confusing how it feels. One moment I’m sure as any has ever been that I want to be with you, and the next I’m terrified I’m wasting your life and you’ll hate me for it.”

Tracing his nose along the bridge of yours, Jon’s voice was a low rasp, “I suffer through a lot of things I hate, just add one more to the list is all.” If his intent was to make you fight between laughing and rolling your eyes he succeeded. Pulling away from him with a failing to hide grin fighting against him trying to yank you back.

“I only want you to be sure you won’t regret this down the line. Not easy to change your mind about a wife when you’re King.” His thumb running smoothly along your cheek and jaw, nudging your nose with his before capturing your lips once more. Only pulling back enough so your lips brushed his as you spoke, “You’re making it very hard to have a serious discussion, do you know that?”

Kissing you once more, Jon muttered against your lips, “Good.” Before capturing them again, one hand swiftly moving the fabric from your lap off to the side with a small toss blind, before moving you back, hands at your hips to all but toss you to the middle of his bed that time. Eagerly climbing up over you, meeting you with a sweeter kiss then was suitable for how much he just handled you like a rag doll. Both of his hands sat at the sides of your head, his voice deep as his grey eyes shined bright down at you. “Do you need me to prove how sure I am of marrying you? Because it also happens to be the same as showing you what my favourite dessert-

Calling his name indignantly, you laughed while feeling a fluster rise up your chest and into your cheeks instantly, Jon laughing brightly down at you. “Isn’t the man supposed to act a gentleman? Treat the innocent maiden with respect before a wedding?”

Jon trailed his lips easily down your neck, nothing more then greedy kisses to the sensitive skin as he spared you from him marking it with his teeth, muttering into your skin, “Innocent maidens as far as I’m aware, don’t normally let the man take her the way I do you, before the wedding.” He grinned again you tried to move out from under him, only making that embarrassment in you worse as he leaned more so you couldn’t hide from his words.

“If I ask any crew on our journey home if they think you have any innocence left for me to take from you, they'd say yes?” Running his lips down your neck to your collarbones, tone twisting to a deeper husk. “Or did everyone already hear how hard I took you at night? How much you tried to keep quiet but you just can’t stop yourself from sounding so beautiful when you cry out for me,”

Just as Jon shifted, one of his hands moving down along your dress as he reached the skirt already bunched up from his movements did you reach out and snatch his wrist. A playful mischief in his eyes as he pulled back to look down at you again, wanting to laugh at the narrowed look in yours. “Did you and Robb form a secret pact to endlessly embarrass me, because you’re both naturally quite good at it.”

Pushing up more to look down at you again, palms back braced against the furs of his bed, Jon smiled more softly this time. “No, but I do need you to tell me what you actually want to do. We can stay right here, I’ll strip you bare and taste you until the sun sets before I finally fuck you and everything can stay the same.” Leaning down to kiss you once, your hands running along his shoulders and one wrapping behind his neck gently as he looked back at you. “Or, we could do all of that, just a bit later after I’ve married you. But you have to be the one to decide. I’ve wanted to marry you since I was a boy. I made it this many years, I can wait as many more as you need.”

Rarely did this embarrassment extend passed only such a small amount of people, but as you heard the knock on your door did you know it was exactly that. You didn’t have much of other options, and asking felt like a child playing a game of fantasy, but it would be a sad display for you to do it alone. The guard outside the door calling to you, “Ser Davos here to see you, your grace.”

Inhaling deeply as your heart raced, you grabbed a long shall to partially wrap around you almost to hide what you were clearly wearing. “Send him in.”

Walking in, he could tell instantly what you were feeling. Having done mostly everything yourself, you preferred unlike last time, not to have handmaidens fuss over your hair and face, but it also meant you had spend some time now alone with your thoughts. “Your grace,”

Dropping any act of formality right away, your voice was higher in pitch as you also spoke probably too fast to sound proper. “Is it childish of me to ask if I look even halfway decent?”

Davos laughed however, walking in more with a comfort. “I’m not exactly a man with the best sense of dress, especially if you ask my wife, but you look beautiful.” Watching you sigh out as you almost defeated sat down on the edge of the bed, you found little comfort in what now was your former bedroom. Davos watched closely, finding a similar assessment Ned Stark had before him. “Of all the things to make you nervous and this is it.”

Your head made a move to fall into your hands, only to recall you at least had attempted to hide your lack of sleep with some kind of makeup. Leaving them flat on your lap as he sat next to you. “If it’s possible I think I’m even more nervous this time then the first, and this is when I know what I’m getting myself into.”

Looking you over closely, he asked the question on the tip of his tongue that he suspected you were just nervous enough to answer honestly. “Why not tell your father you might be getting married when we left Dragonstone?”

Wanting to shrug you knew that wasn’t the right response. Sighing deeply, your hands wrung together as your head stayed hanging down. “When I married Robb, the only family I had there was Robert. Renly wasn’t there, Shireen wasn’t, my father or mother..I was just shipped off to the North with no one there with me.” The last thing you wanted was to feel this choked up, forcing it down deep inside to not break you, even as it peeked through in a tiny crack of your voice. “Lord Stark gave me away last time. Raised me here almost half my life then, and even when I thought my own father was gone he was still the one I missed. The one I miss now. And I know that makes me sound horrible-”

“It doesn’t.” Looking up at him, your eyes stung red as your heart constricted trying not to feel like such a child at how much you wished Ned Stark was here this time too. Davos though, held not a single ounce of judgment in his face but a comfort only that of a father could give. “I admire your father in many ways, but I’m not blind to the difficult relationship you two have had your whole life. He’s a tough man to get close too, and Lord Stark was father enough to you that when it came down to it, you chose to return to your husband to try and save his life together when everyone else thought you’d go to Stannis.” Leaning forward more to ensure he had your proper attention, “If I can miss your baby sister like she was my own daughter, then you can miss Ned Stark when he was your father by marriage. It’s okay to miss the people we love.”

Nodding, you swallowed harsh to force down those heavy pains in your lungs to the depths. “My father sent me to marry Robb all alone, and then called him a usurper and a thief for leading his own people when they felt like they had nothing. Called me a traitor for siding with the husband he married me to.” Almost lost for a moment, in the memory when Robb had reassured you so gently that if fighting your father was what was to happen, he refused to let you shoulder it alone. “I know you barley knew him, Robb..but you know Jon..”

Davos reached an arm to wrap around your shoulder, glad on the inside at how easily you let him comfortingly pull you into his side. “I do, and I know he loves you more then anyone in this world could love someone. Was quite the grouch when you were in White Harbour because he didn’t know what to do with himself without you.” You huffed a laugh, but moved little else. “It doesn’t matter of these things come for us all in winter, because as long as Jon has you, he has a reason to keep going, to keep fighting back.” He was quiet, hoping you’d listen to him more then only hear him. “I know I’m not Ned Stark, but I’ve known you your whole life, so how about we get ready to give you away before your husband to be just comes looking for you himself.”

Laughing in his side, Davos joined as well. Giving you a moment to collect yourself, you breathed deeply as your heart slowed to something more manageable. “I know you’re only here because of my fathers order, but I’m still really grateful you are Ser Davos,” Your hand reached up to the necklace that you had yet to take off once. “And I know Shireen is too. She didn’t get to be at the last wedding, but thanks to you she will get a front seat this time.”

Pulling you up, you knew he could see the threat of tears wanting to fall and without even a doubt did he pull you into a hug. You couldn’t have known it, but you fell right into it just as Shireen had the day she learned of what happened to you. And he felt that pull of a father just as strongly. Before coming to the door, Davos stopped and turned to you, nodding down to the shall wrapped around you with a pointed stare.

Anxiously you gripped it tighter before exhaling deeply and undoing it. Nervously putting it down on the bed as the ivory dress now was allowed to breathe. “It’s almost unnerving how well Jon knows you, was trying to find the right way to describe it when he wrote back here from Dragonstone. Complaining that he knows what you looked like in his head but hadn’t the life of him to figure out how to describe it.”

You didn’t realize that Davos knew Jon had been thinking about this, and the surprise was shown in your eyes as your lips parted slightly with an unspoken question. “Ended up having to go ask your mother what he should be telling them,” Your eyes widened more as he laughed. You beginning the question of if she knew when he only answered, “Honestly, your grace, I think he was relying on you being a bit oblivious at times. By the time we left harbour you were likely the only one who didn’t know.”

Shaking your head, Davos in a clearly practised manner, held his arm out for you to loop around and you felt none of the awkwardness which your actual father would’ve provided you with. “Thank you for this, Davos, for everything.”

An easy smile came over his at the very faint one you were trying to hide on yours. “Nothing to thank me for, I’m here because I care, not because I was ordered to be. Your father would’ve kept me on Dragonstone had I not been the one to suggest coming back North with you to be his eyes and ears.”

The halls of the castle were cool in the fabric, but it had been made with something warm enough that you were certain at the least would not freeze you to death. “Why?”

“I believe in your father, but I’ve also spent over four years watching him make questionable choices. As far as he’s come, I’ve felt much more useful at you and Jon’s side. Better listeners you two are then Stannis Baratheon if anyone can believe that.” Your laughter echoed through the empty halls as you came to the doors leading to the main court yard, and from there it would be a nothing walk to the godswood where it was all waiting.

Standing by the doors, you inhaled shakily. “All our lives we never thought we’d be able to be together, and now I’m supposed to just walk out there and marry him like it’s easy.” Don’t let your eyes sting you told yourself, not now.

“It is easy, you just walk out there and do whatever it is Northerners do when you pray to a tree.” Both of you almost burst into a heavier laugh at that, swallowing a doubt down with a nod as he prompted you to stand straighter as he did. “Come, time to give that man the one thing that might make actually him happy for once in his life.”

Jon knew Arya would’ve been mad she wasn’t the first person he told. She had seen him kiss you in the stables when he was sure you both were alone, and later came storming into his room with a shove far too strong for a girl her size, angry he didn’t tell her.

Amusingly, she had gotten more angry the more he refused to admit it. Trying not to yell at him when Jon told her sneaking around with a highborn girl wouldn’t be a very respectful way to treat you. Saying you were nothing more then a friend, only to have her huff, turn away from him muttering “I forgot it’s normal to shove your tongue down your friends throats for no reason.”

Giving her a nudge in the back as he snapped back at her, “When you're my age, try go making some and then you’ll find out.” At that point she had thrown something at him, only to get tossed over his shoulder like she weighed nothing more then a pillow to get unceremoniously tossed onto the bed in her own room as she shouted this conversation wasn’t over yet.

But, he knew she was smart enough to realize why he and you were hiding things, and didn’t really bring it up again. Instead she sometimes would end up playing diversion to give you and him time alone without the others pestering you. Arya had always adored you, and while he never confirmed anything to her face they both understood she got what was happening.

Then that damned raven came. The month leading up to their arrival was filled with Jon growing increasingly unhappy, trying his best to placate Robb’s misgivings about what you and him were being forced into. All without giving away how angry he was that Robb was finally getting the very last thing Jon had solely to himself.

It was a little easier once he was already at the wall. Far from direct reminders of you, he had the time to let that heartache simmer, even though he was aware it had not once gone away. Instead he found a life full of other recruits who hated him, an instant contempt in Ser Alliser Thorne who from day one made it his life’s goal to make Jon as miserable as possible. If the knife wounds in his chest spoke anything, he’d say the man did indeed succeed in that endeavour.

Slowly it became a bit easier, learned how to better tune Thorne out when it mattered, and found common ground amongst the other recruits. Then one day, Jon was in the training yard helping teach Grenn a better grasp of the basics when he stopped mid way through and looked behind Jon, “What in seven hells is that?”

While Jon didn’t think much of Samwell Tarly at first, it changed soon. Watching the man stammering through an introduction with nerves worse then yours, only to watch Rast enjoy beating him senseless despite him being on the ground asking for it to stop. The normal thing to do, would be to let it happen and Pyp had even tried to pull Jon back as he moved forward. But it lasted only as long as it took for the man on the ground to yell in pain that he yields.

If Thorne had thought putting Sam with him as his watch partner was to punish him, he underestimated just what kind of person Jon was. It took barley any time standing up there as Sam told him why he was there for Jon to realize it. This was someone who had bravery in his own way, being able to tell him how his father had considered him worthless and would either have him take the black or would kill his own son for not living up to his expectations. He was someone who didn’t deserve to be treated the way his father had, the way Thorne wanted everyone else to treat him as well.

After that, being friends with him was easy. It had been a long time since Jon had met anyone who was just easy to talk to, easy to be friends with. They had been scrubbing down the tables one day, Sam having brought up how the brothers would sneak off to Mole’s Town to see the girls at the brothel and for whatever reason, Sam had the right combination of Jon’s trust that you came into his mind and refused to leave for a second. You were right there, and he couldn’t look away.

Jon hadn’t even so much as said your name since stepping foot outside the Winterfell gates and gods help him did Lord Tyrion ever try. But as he listened to Sam he felt that familiar ill in his chest that he did when riding away from you. “Don’t you think it’s a little bit unfair? Making us take our vows while they sneak off for a little Sally on the side?”

Glancing up to him with a bemused twist on his face, Jon almost mocked him for it, “Sally on the side?”

Relenting a bit, Sam found it in him with no malice to be amused as he was slightly put off by the topic at hand. “It’s silly, isn’t it. What, we can’t defend the Wall unless we’re celibate? It’s absurd.” Jon almost offhandedly spoke, not really thinking of it in the same terms, as he had only ever eyes for one. Once you came along, Jon didn’t really have the energy to care about other girls. Commenting from his own point of view that he didn’t think Sam would’ve been so upset about it.

Feeling bad instantly as Sam dropped his expression a little as if expecting better of him, “Why not? Because I’m fat?” Jon saying no earnestly, and while Sam clearly hadn’t taken Jon in offence coming from him, he suspected this was someone who was used to having his character put up in scrutiny a lot of his life as he found an almost jesting lecture of a tone to him. “I like girls just as much as you do.” A pause in his words as he came down to something more in the world of Sam’s own realism. “They might not like me as much.” Then it came down to a shadowing of insecurity that Jon knew too well on himself. A wish to shrink in on himself and hide way from a world ready to look at him in judgment, but a trust in this room that at least Jon wouldn’t. “I’ve never...been with one...” Glancing up from his work to Jon he tilted his head at him as if in on a truth that didn’t exist. “You’ve probably had hundreds.”

Were Sam not so serious, Jon genuinely might have laughed. Initially thinking to himself if Jon was what Sam thought someone girls would want, introducing him to Robb might just break the remainder of his mind. Whether he even found them attractive or not, not once did the girls around Winterfell or the scatterings coming in and out of Winter Town ever look Jon’s way once when Robb was around.

But, he also found not any reason to lie to him. Jon looking up at Sam with a quiet honesty, “No. As a matter of fact, I’m the same as you.”

Doubt was the first look, then a disbelief as if he must be full of it. “Yeah..I find that very hard to believe.” That was a fair point he contended. There was no denying that girls would look at the two of them and find more of a general majority with a preference to one over the other, but not much of that shallow attributing of looks mattered to Jon.

He didn’t think much of Sam when he first stepped into the training yard, but quickly found a friend that was becoming someone he could genuinely trust. And perhaps, it was that feeling of trust which made Jon fight internally as Sam looked at him. That wonder of, what did it matter?

Jon spent his entire life hiding what he felt for you, because he knew it was never going to be a life he could have outside of fantasy. Six years he would sneak in the shadows with you, and in public he had to always be aware of how close he was getting. Not to get too handsy, not to be too physically playful or affectionate, not to look at you too long when he wasn’t supposed to.

But here? In a frozen exile at the end of the world? What harm would he do to you here by speaking life into the love still agonized in his heart? He took yours here with him, and Jon wondered what it would feel like to talk about it. He never had, denied it to Arya even when he had been caught, but never had he said a word about what you two were to each other.

Sam though, Jon had the feeling that if Sam was trusting Jon not to be judgmental of him, he should trust the same in return. A lightness in his grey eyes washed over as he could still see you as if it were months ago in your last visit to Winterfell, at least your last visit leaving a Baratheon.

“I came very close once.” Sam’s attention perked up, but Jon struggled to find the words to describe without giving away the truth of who you were, and his generalization came off as awkward. “I was alone in a room with a naked girl, but…”

“Didn’t know where to put it?”

Clearly he was amused by how easily Jon snapped his head over to him with a glare, despite how it was most definitely a jest. “I know where to put it.” But he still wasn’t explaining himself well.

Sam trying to prompt him with any details that could paint any picture. “Was she…old and ugly?”

Jon shook his head, voice low as if offended by the sheer idea. “No. No, she was..beautiful. More beautiful of a girl then I had any right to have in my bed.” It tipped on the edge of his tongue, but the moment your name came from Jon’s lips it was as if it all spilled out and he had no sense to contain it. “She’s-she was my best friend. Knew her for almost fifteen years, came to Winterfell to learn under my father but the second I saw her? I don’t know if there was ever a time I wasn’t in love with her.”

He could see Jon wasn’t really here, his physical present but there was sad softness in his eyes that was so distant that he was trapped in a memory. “And you two almost..?”

Nodding, he almost breathed out a laugh. “We had never done much, thought we had all the time in the world. We liked taking everything slow, but we were still each others firsts for everything. Spent six years sneaking around with her behind everyone's backs and finally we thought we were ready. We were alone, I had her in my room and she let me take off all her clothes..”

Many years later from that moment, together in that hot bath after reclaiming Winterfell from the Boltons, Jon had tried guiltily to skirt around the subject when you had innocently asked what he told Sam about you. Considering that when Sam in that moment had tried to discreetly ask about your breasts Jon had looked away for a moment before shaking his head at him. Both of them amused at how clearly there was a bit of a perverse image in Jon’s mind as Sam asked, “That good?”

“Better.” The smile on his face though was still as far away as it was genuine. “More then better, soft, like they were made to fit in my hands perfectly, sensitive too..” Almost laughing to himself at how easily he found even just a simple amusement in teasing that, “Gods she was so sensitive to anywhere I touched her. We never got very far together but with what I did do, sometimes I’d have to kiss her just so the whole castle didn’t hear..”

Coming back around to the point, Jon could still see every part of your nerves as you looked brightly up at him. “We were alone, and I had her naked on my bed, I was nervous but I knew she was too. Could barley convince herself to take my shirt off without my help. But I was hovering over her..and..I couldn’t do it..”

It wasn’t just a simple insecurity in his voice turning then, and Sam was smart enough to pick up on the mood change easily. Asking why he couldn’t, and Jon looked at him with something akin to a bit more pain then Sam expected. “What’s my name?”

“Jon Snow.”

Jon guiding him to an answer that Sam was forming behind his mind, asking him, “And why is my surname Snow?”

It didn’t really clue in his mind at that time, but Sam seemed almost hesitant to say it. As if about to call him something that to Sam, didn’t seem very nice. He was someone who was likely ridiculed and looked down on his whole life, and perhaps the idea of Jon experiencing that in a different way felt strange to him. But he knew what answer Jon was waiting for. “Because…you’re a bastard from the North.”

Come the present it had been a long time since he had felt that pain strongly, but in that conversation, in the memory as he hovered over you on his bed? Jon knew exactly the fear he had felt looking down at you, despite how much he truly wanted you. And it came out in that level of pain he felt.

“I never met my mother. My father wouldn’t even tell me her name. I don’t know if she’s living or dead, I don’t know if she’s a noblewoman, or a fisherman’s wife, or a whore. That day though..it should have been easy. I had my girl all to myself, no clothes on, but all I could think was, what if I got her pregnant? And she has a child, another bastard named Snow?” Swallowing down something that flashed in a self hatred in his eyes, Jons voice lowered almost just to himself, despite Sam hearing it easy. “I couldn’t ruin my own child’s life just because I was in love with a girl I wasn’t allowed to have.”

As Sam looked at him, once more Jon wondered, what was the point in hiding it? He said your first name, but in what world would telling Samwell Tarly in Castle Black have such a backlash that it would destroy the marriage you now had. “I don’t think I understand, you’re father’s still a Lord. Why wouldn’t you be allowed to be with her unless she was someone -”

When it was out there, it was out there and clearly whatever common girl Sam was imagining was nothing close to the truth. “Unless she was someone in the royal family?” The wide look on Sam’s eye was missed as Jon clenched his jaw now looking back to the table. But the strain in his hand refused to let him distract by going back to work. “Someone like King Robert’s niece. A beautiful Baratheon girl who spent her life in the Crownlands and the capitol. Around all the other royals and nobles, sitting on the small council because on top of everything else, she’s so smart too.”

He exhaled deeply, “A girl like her would never be allowed to marry a bastard. And if I slept with her, and I got her pregnant? I’d have been the one to ruin her life. Our child would grow up just another Snow being looked down at for existing..” Trying to shake off that heavy weight on his shoulders, Jon tried to look back up more casually at Sam but it wasn’t really a facade either bought. “That’s not a good life for a child.”

But then the gears in Sam’s head begun to turn, begun to connect the dots to come to the conclusion Jon had still been dancing around. “King Robert’s niece, but that would mean she..”

It wasn’t anger or even jealousy, just defeat in Jon’s voice. “It means she’s the girl who just got married to my brother. To Robb.” It wasn’t pity in Sam’s eyes but Jon felt sick over it all the same. It would be later that they would talk more, that Sam had come to learn about Jon’s family in general and clearly no matter the sore spot there, he didn’t hate Robb for it, not even close. But it didn’t mean as the two men stood there it didn’t still hurt.

In the quiet that followed, Sam did what he did best. There was nothing left to say that Jon wanted to share, and there was no use in keeping him feeling as tense as he was. Leaning against the other side of the table, Sam found light jest in his eyes as he said, “So..you didn’t know where to put it.”

Maybe the memory wouldn’t have been such a sour one, if the rough housing as a result of being made fun of wasn’t interrupted by the despising contempt of Ser Alliser Thorne. Ironic in a sense Jon thought, that the conversation he walked in on, was about you. Was about the woman he would murder Jon for going to rescue, was about the woman who would behead the man himself for said crime.

As he stood by the Weirwood, his eyes finding Ghost sitting a respectable distance away to not spook the crowd of spectators, Jon couldn’t help but think about Arya. About how she would’ve been endlessly offended that Jon had told Sam the truth of you before he had told his own sister, and as he considered the truth, that he now knew without a doubt, her direwolf Nymeria was still alive and well out there? He wondered if in another world where Arya was still alive, how mad she would then also be to not even be at Jon’s own wedding, to you of all people.

But in truth, Jon was still hoping he wasn’t going to wake up from this as a mocking nightmare. He had long given up the idea of marrying you. The very fear he told Sam of accidentally giving you a child came right from knowing a Snow wasn’t going to be allowed to come close to marrying you.

Yet now he stood as the last of the Stark’s, even if only in his blood. The one his people called King in the North and you were willingly setting aside both strong family names given to you by birth and blood to be down at his level. He told you you didn’t have to, but you refused his entire life to let him think you saw him being a Snow as any indicator of how you looked at him.

He was scared of having a child with you, a bastard named Snow. Only now, that was exactly what your children’s name would be, but without a single shred of the prejudice against being a bastard. His children being called Snow, would merely be seen as the King’s children. Not the King’s bastards, not the bastard boy’s own bastard children.

Just his and your children alone.

“Am I allowed to say it’s weird seeing you here?” Jon smirked a little at the voice, he felt weird standing there. Turning to look properly at Theon, they both knew it hadn’t stopped being strange that the only ones left were the three of you. The ones always odd out of the family, two of which never belonging to it by any sort of blood in the first place.

As the two men stood out in the cool air, Northerners around much more quiet and respectable then when the crowd had been full of Southerners and the royal company. The snow around them in winter and no one but the North that mattered here to witness it. It felt weird, but it also was right. Jon’s voice low as he looked between Theon and the woods as if you’d appear from nowhere. “My last night in Winterfell, I stood on the other side and had to be the one watching her marry Robb. I only hope Robb is okay with me taking his spot with her this time.”

Theon however, was only calm with no doubt as he shook his head. “He’d be grateful it was you.” As Jon looked at him, eyes shining with something like hope for that to be true he elaborated. “It started to feel weird the longer you weren’t around. The three of us would stand there and we all knew you were missing. He didn’t talk about it much when she was there, had enough on her mind with her father. But Robb would say he at the least wished you could’ve been there just so she had someone to talk to. Hated that the only thing she knew to occupy herself was work more, and Robb could never find the time to force her to relax on her own.“

Jon couldn’t tell if he wanted to smile or let his heart drop. He would wonder did you miss Robb for this, prefer him to Jon for that and yet Theon was standing there telling him Robb wasn’t far from the opposite side of that dilemma. “Trusting me with his Kingdom is a far cry from saying he’d want me marrying his wife.”

Theon however, felt something of confidence in a fate he knew was worse. You and him both knew that Robb died hating him, died thinking he was a traitor who killed Bran and Rickon. There was little that could top such an ending for the two of them. Almost as if rapidly to change the subject between them he moved to ask Jon, “What do you reckon is running through her mind?”

It was quiet, but the exhale was there and it was shaky. “Knowing her nerves, probably deciding whether or not she thinks she’s making a mistake.” Jaw clenching slightly, his voice lowered so there was no chance another heard. “Spends too much time worrying about if she’s a burden, can’t think of another way to make her realize it’s the opposite then this.’ He was quiet, of all people Jon had certainly never said anything near it to Theon. “But I’ve always wanted to marry her. I’ve never not been in love with her, my whole life I knew I’d have to give her up. Used to spend hours as a boy wondering how to convince my father to let me marry her one day. ”

Nodding, he was glad Theon found a way to ease that tension still sat in his throat. Looking away from him with a shrug, “Well I’ll force you two to do this if I have too. Sick of watching you both be shit at doing anything that would make you happy.” Jon raised an eyebrow at him, unsure if he was on more the edge of somewhat offended or amused that he wasn’t entirely wrong. “Don’t give me that look. You being King in the North doesn’t mean I can’t tell you when you’re only being miserable because you’re too stubborn.”

Something akin to part of a laugh found Jon, both of them looking away in jest. It was a strange dynamic carving itself out now with him, he was always closer to Robb and then all he knew of him was how he betrayed Jon’s family. Theon had cemented himself as someone that Jon couldn’t stand by and yet he brought you to Castle Black when Jon failed too, and you both arrived together with a bond that left behind the betrayal that once had you and Robb calling for his execution.

But Robb was gone, and Jon wasn’t. Moving forward between them was slow, but every day it got a little easier.

In the quiet as wind calmly blew around in the snowy landscape of the godswood, Jon only hoped that if Robb was watching, he found peace that he was trying to mend the bridges that Robb died before he could finish building. The North was their kingdom, their people. Jon wasn’t the King that Robb was and he couldn’t try to be. But he hoped he was putting the work Robb died for back together enough to make his brother proud. He also couldn’t help but hope that everything he’s done, and now marrying you?

Jon hoped that his father was proud of him too in his own way.

“I’d rather face a thousand armed men then get married in front of all those people.”

You had never seen an inch of war when Ned Stark had told you that, and yet now you fully understood exactly what he was talking about. Having eyes on you wasn’t the nerve wracking aspect, you could do that in a sense of duty but this was more spectacle. Eyes for entertainment in it’s own manner and that was not what you were used too. You were not the one calling for attention.

The sight around the godswood was almost the opposite of the last time. Instead of a bright sun still prevailing lush green surrounding it with the small pond sitting by it reflecting off, it instead was that of cold. Yet, it almost felt more fitting for Winterfell as a whole. The pond partially frozen over on one end a snow banked the edges of the other.

Leading all around the snow was so white that it blended into the Weirwood and the red of it’s leaves stuck out as if it were the only colour to truly exist. The sky was fading from the gold peak of evening and found itself in shades of blue turning darker by each passing hour that had not taken away from how illuminated it all fell onto.

The last it seemed as if too many people were there, too many eyes and so much of it was ones that would turn around and stab you and the Starks in the back. Yet this time, even as the ones attending were people you both knew and trusted the right people weren’t there. There wasn’t enough.

Many were missing that deserved to be here, and their absence made the whole affair feel on the edge of bittersweet. It had taken blood and death to get here, but you two had risen from that darkness when none else had. It almost however felt identical as the moment anything came into view did ragged nerves deafen and blind you to everything but the pounding of your heart.

No decorations, no pomp, just the North and the godswood as it always was. And this time, no eyes you needed to hide from or avoid, yet still, they made you nervous all the same.

Ser Davos had adjusted his hold from light to something firmer and more comforting, sensing the tension as eyes all fell upon you. None could hear from such a distance, but he leaned more to you with a soothing “Don’t look at them, look at him. They aren’t here.”

You barley reacted, but he could tell by the small exhale of air from your lungs that you tried to ease down, relaxing more. The air was a bit stinging on your skin, but perhaps that helped you feel so drastically in the moment.

In the sights of the Old Gods, little needed to be presided over in terms of vows for marriage. Seen as a bonding of two people and less like an agreement upon two parties that requires much guidance, witnesses. No septon leading both to the end as if the marrying parties need to be hand held along the way. It was common amongst the Faith of the Seven, septons would do all the work, all the speaking when in truth there was little which needed to be said.

This wasn’t about the crowd, it was about the couple.

Faces that now you fought beside watched you both, others more proud then admiring. You dared not look at Maege Mormont. She'd had a mouthful to say to you about how you left for Dragonstone separate, and came back to a marriage.

No fanfare for the Southerners watching as the only ones who were there needed none for their sake, and the rest all knew this had nothing to do with them as people or even the North. Your mother, while not with the Old Gods, didn't follow the Seven anymore, and Ser Davos didn't care.

The Starks had been raised with the Old Gods and the new, as Catelyn grew up under the Seven. They all varied in who followed what stronger, but there was no question that the one who felt no connection to the new Gods was Jon. Catelyn was not his mother, he had no obligation to follow the Seven except for doing as such so Robb didn’t do it alone. But the older he got the more he let go of it.

You could remember once, jesting to him and Lord Stark that they both looked as if they were worried about bursting into flames if they set foot in the sept. Perhaps it was fair no one was left in Winterfell who preyed to the Seven. As much work as Jon still was putting in to rebuild what of Winterfell had been left in ruins, the Sept built specifically for the woman who shut him out his whole life did not quite reach the top of his priority lists.

Jon needed nothing but the Old Gods in his life and thus as he stood by the Weirwood it was that connection that mattered only. Without a shadow of doubt, Jon Snow was of the North.

“Don’t look for me in the ceremony. I’ll be there, but don’t look for me. You’re going to be Robb’s now, and I want you to be okay with accepting that.”

You listened to him that day. Knowing your future lied with The Young Wolf you were marrying and had to let Jon take that part of your heart away with him, and so you didn’t glance to him once. Now though, there was no one to look at, no one to hide your gaze from. This time, The White Wolf was the only one there with anything that mattered, and there was no use in hiding.

The dark fur around his shoulders made him look strong and fierce, sat broadly over his shoulders as the leathers across the rest of him were tied between greys, and browns and shades of black that made him stand out against the snowing land around him. You couldn’t pay attention to the way he looked at you, you already had to focus to keep your heart steady. You couldn’t handle how easily Jon painted thousands of words in the shine of his eyes when looking at you.

But you were handed over to him, a gloved hand reached out to pull you gently to him and truth be told there could have been yells and screams of war right beside you and you’d hear none of it. Just you two, in a place that you both grew up thinking was the one thing you’d never be allowed to have with one another. The freedom to be each others.

As Jon’s fur cloak was draped over your shoulders, the nerves melted into the ground and left you the longer his bright eyes refused to leave you. Still with your hand held in his, he carefully guided you to kneel before the carved face of the Weirwood in the cold of the snow and hadn’t let go as both of you closed your eyes as the wind blew around you.

You had prayed once to find a true life and love with Robb, and the Old Gods had granted you that. This time however? That love was still real, and it was real towards Robb just as strong and pure as it was towards Jon. You didn’t need to pray for love or a future that would bring a marriage peace. Not this time.

As the wind blew cold through your hair and dancing in a sting across your cheeks, you slowly opened your eyes, turning to look up to the carved face of the Weirwood. A quiet moment passed as you both stayed knelt there, lives so much more complicated then the last time you had been here and yet the nerves which had you shy and meek with Robb didn’t find it’s way back this time once more.

Jon no longer felt the need to hide what it was between you, and he would not pretend it was otherwise ever again. He was a man who felt things very deeply and very raw, and having to hide that all from people seeing the way he wished to be with you was a step too far in this new life. You couldn’t help but hope and pray that you were still good enough for him.

The gloved hand still wrapped on the cold ground with yours tightened to grab your focus back as if he could sense your mind drifting away. Flickering your eyes to the side, you could see his grey eyes shined so bright that they could light up a pitch black night sky. Standing with ease himself, one hand still holding yours to lead you up, and his other gently steadied you at your waist as for a moment you looked to one another.

Only one final thing was left, and the last was innocent and small as Robb sensed your ragged nerves, but Jon looked deep into your eyes with a softness that could drown you. And you knew it was only love he wanted to show these people he felt for you.

Taking a step close as you turned to look up more at him, the hand in yours leaving to gently cup the side of your cheek, thumb running along the skin. Just as your palms innocently found a resting place flat on his torso, Jon’s other hand left your waist.

Cupping your other cheek and lower to your jaw so he could tilt your head up to fit him. Closing the gap between you, it was not a shy peck but something needing with passion radiating from it. Lasting a few moments more than appropriate, but he kissed you with the same energy as if alone, almost sending you a step backward had your hands not been held tight against his chest. Only pulling back when your arms slid up more to his neck and the temptation to deepen it was found in him.

If the crowd had made a sound, neither of you heard it. His thumb still running over your cheek as he pulled from your lips to look at you before a genuine smile fell over him. Almost breathing out a laugh along with how brightly he smiled and you hadn’t even realized a teary eyed one came over you.

A moment of weakness, Jon leaned in for one more kiss. One a bit deeper as the sounds of a proud and amused crowd filtered in finally. But just as Jon pulled from your lips, gently tracing the bridge of your nose with his, he turned partially to look at his people. A playfulness in his tone that many had not heard from him so easily since having all been reunited under a new King in the North. The other hand on your jaw slipped down to your hip as he turned to them.

It was a bit love sick, but you hadn’t looked away from him yet. You found no desire to, just looking at a man too handsome for his own good that now gifted you his own name as you stood not just a King and Queen, but man and wife.

“It’s been a tough few months, and I think I speak for us all when I say it’ll do us all good to enjoy a celebration even just for tonight.” You only at the last second noticed a tinge of mischief in his voice as you failed to also catch the arm on your hip sliding down over the skirt of your dress. Just as Jon’s voice raised to a playfully louder projection, Jon knelt quickly to wrap an arm under you and in an instant swept you right off the ground as if weighing nothing. “Now, let’s get this one inside before she freezes.”

The surprise of the action, had entirely caught you off guard, barley able to wrap your arms around the back of his neck in a laughing protest “Jon-”

A wedding of Northerners indeed, all of them laughing in approval and goading into their King’s playfulness despite you almost wanting to hide in his neck in an amused fluster at Jon picking you up in his arms in such a grandiose display. Certainly not what the rigidness of the Seven usually called for.

Ser Davos looked a mix of proud and amused at both, before sharing a glance with Selyse with a tilt of his head as if to tell her to ease up in any disapproval of the people's entertainment. This certainly hadn't been how Stannis treated her at their own wedding that was for certain.

But, without saying a word of it to any, Selyse did feel a smile as she gracefully followed the crowd near the back. She had never met the man Stannis married you off too, and many times regretted the things she said about him when you all stood on opposite sides of a war.

She never met Robb Stark, but she knew Jon Snow and she could certainly say, she's never seen anyone pull such an easy smile and laugh out of you then he was doing now.

It only for a moment, had slammed into your mind as you stood there. You were fine, and it hadn't come into your thoughts up until music begun to play. It sounded not a single thing like that sound, but all the same your eyes darted to those playing it. As if waiting to see when they would brandish their blood soaked truth. Heart beginning to race in that moment your lungs tightened to something you could choke on, in a second did a whisper hit your ears but you wanted to whip around to see him nowhere near you. Despite the cracking of his voice speaking loudly in the hall.

“Your Grace, I feel I’ve been remiss in my duties. I’ve given you meat and wine and music, but I haven’t shown you the hospitality you deserve. Afterall, my King is long overdue a wedding gift for he and his Queen.”

Barley for a moment did you stand there on your own, but the hall was no longer the warm comfort stones of Winterfell, instead the stuffy air of The Twins as blood rushed from your veins to pool in your stomach and mouth as the world faded to muffles. The sounds as if they had been underwater, your vision so blurry you barley knew the world outside Robb in front of you.

Blue eyes haunted you and so did the powerful voice which would be the last thing you though you would hear. As if speaking into your ear, looking over the hall of people enjoying themselves as you stood back amidst a nightmare. You hadn't considered what was said in that moment, your mind was fading so fast you had perhaps mere seconds left and it meant nothing as Robb fell beside you.

“Jaime Lannister sends his regards.”

It echoed, and echoed in your mind. You heard it again and again right until the truth of music came back into sounds as a warm figure came to your side. Just as a hand tilted your chin to look over at him, you found Jon's grey eyes in a warm concern and a silent question. Looking back to the hall, you were in Winterfell and you could breathe once more.

Instead of any answer, you forced the echo out of your ears as you cupped his jaw gently and leaned up to press your lips gently to his.

Public affection as such was not Jon's preference, nor did you wish to be one to initiate it, but if just for tonight here was the only place it made sense. If you judged by the way Jon's hand found your waist to pull you a bit more into him, he agreed if just for tonight.

It was easy to laugh and speak that night. None of the girlish fears plagued what was to come, and none of it too was buried under the new feat of having it with one you never thought you would have. Last time there was hardly any food to speak of that sat in your stomach and only wine to stop the nerves from overtaking, even though they did anyways. Robb had at once point placed a gentle hand on your thigh whispering that you should try and at least at something.

Now, it was not at all the same. You knew what you were in for in terms of what came after such a reception and none of it was unknown. Food and ale were shared and the longer they were consumed the more rowdy the Northerners became, much of the night spent speaking with many as Jon would ensure you stayed right beside him with an arm pulling you into his side if you strayed too far.

The way in which some joked with you, did Jon's hand on your waist hidden by his fur still over you, slip down to your hip in a tight grip had you wondering just as you did over four years ago.

What exactly did this wolf have hiding in his desires?

When the crowd had noticed the newly weds had snuck off, they had no idea when you both had done so. Only some with the vague memory and ideas, that such a practice seemed common amongst the Stark men on their wedding nights. The tradition is fun when it is anyone but their own wife.

It was almost strange that it felt normal. As your eyes were trained out of the window, the new moon overhead on the clear night as Winterfell felt alive and the woods just beyond were as calm as they looked serene. Crackling of a fire increased as more wood was added to it before that warmth came and enveloped your back.

Jon's hands weren't greedy as he slipped his fur from your shoulders, letting it sit to the side as he pressed his chest into your back, one arm slipping around your front and holding your hand firmly over your stomach, the other running up and down your waist as he silently looked over you from his angle.

Neither of you rushed anything when he brought you back to his room, Jon's gentle rasp murmuring in your ear to give him a moment to stoke the flames that had gone low in his absence, leading to you finding the open window. His room was always on the colder side, more air blowing through that chilled things right down but in exchange Jon was diligent about keeping the fire properly tended too. Keeping warm in the bed was not an option for so long, only the easy to fake innocence of spending time on the fur before his fireplace was where Jon would explore you in early years together.

Both of you for the time were content looking out the window, Jon resting the side of his head against yours as you partially turned to nuzzle a bit into the feeling. Your voice was quiet as you could feel two scenarios swirling as images in your mind. “Jon, I know it won't change anything or why I'm even thinking of it..but, before everything, before Robb..I'm sorry I wasn't ready for you that day.”

His brows furrowed as he looked down at you, but your eyes looking wide at the outside winter but your voice was quiet and restrained. “There's nothing to be sorry for. I wasn't ready either.”

But you shook your head, throat a bit choking as you spoke. “I know, but I- we promised that day, that we would wait for the other to be ready. To have our first proper time with each other..but I didn't..” Jon tried to follow your thoughts but it went somewhere he didn't expect you to go on such a night. “I promised I'd wait for you, but I didn't. My first time was with Robb.”

You swallowed heavy, no regret was in that night together but the other image in your mind was something you thought you knew what it was, until he had yelled at you otherwise. Your voice quiet, “I'm sorry it meant that you..” You trailed off, but a distant and strained low tone in Jon finished as the hand around your front pulled you closer.

“It meant my first was Ygritte.”

He said nothing of it, but you felt the stiffness behind you. Your hand running along his arm as you moved to push the soft material up over his wrists to lightly trail over his skin. “No one deserves that to be their first. It should've been with someone who actually cared about you.”

Feeling him hid his face somewhat in your neck before turning to press a gentle kiss to the skin he found there, his voice was heavier then he wanted you to pick up on. Something painful he wanted to hold back from you noticing. “Don't apologize for what she did. None of that was your fault, you married Robb. You're first time was right to be with him.” Trying to protest that he didn't deserve what happened to him but he cut you off. A more firm and confident kiss pressed to your neck this time.

Silent for a moment, but what he said next had made you firmly pause. “I saw you, in the middle of..I saw you.” The hand over your front slowly made it's way to your scar as your breath hitched. His voice low in your ear, “You were telling Robb you were pregnant. I saw you both, could hear you together, and I kept seeing a child that looked like mine. Had your eyes, but looked like me. I kept seeing it, and it's the only thing that got me through that night.”

Finally turning in his arms, Jon settled them along your waist both as you reached up to cup his cheeks, leaning up to press a single kiss to his lips. Pulling back his grey eyes were painted over with a tenderness that was brewing with something close to adoration, and he found exactly the same in yours to his. Speaking in a whisper as you ran your thumb along the facial hair trailing his jawline. “I can't take away what she did, but now we have all the time in the world to let me make it up to you.”

Leaning forward more, you could feel his breath on your skin, his hands smoothing down to your hips running them over your dress a bit more sensually. “You've more then made it up to me, and I don't want her to have any part between you and me. She's gone, we're here and you're my wife..” As he tried finishing his thought, a breathless laugh left him weakly as he looked you over, a shine melting down to a genuine smile as he look at you. “My wife, you're really my wife..”

Nodding, your smile was close to something that threatened to swallow you whole, the ingenuity in his face that was so incredibly rare. “Your wife. Baratheon, then a Stark, and now a Snow.” He shook his head with a half hearted laugh trying to act as a scolding disapproval but not a hint of malice was in your words and it clearly struck something deep in his heart over the ease of it on you. “Hey, you were the one who claimed it sounded pretty attached to my name.”

Invading your space, Jon ran his lips again over your neck making a sensitive path to just below your ear before rasping into it, “And you're the one who said I was biased about you.”

Your hands trailed to grasp at his shoulders, ever so slowly moving to take his leathers and armour off as you tried not to shiver. “That was because you were trying to pretend as if men wanted to get my attention when we both know that's not true.”

Chuckling, Jon didn't stop you from slowly undressing him. Knowing the moment he took your dress off he wouldn't stop, and you almost shivered more at the thought. Your early time with Jon was so soft and innocent, going from that to Robb's dominating and filthy nature had been something close to a culture shock at the time. But now, it was finding out the darker part of Jon's mind may have been locked away more then you once thought.

The leather armours and tunic now off, left in a softer grey undershirt he snatched your hands when you went to pull it off. Looking down at you with a darkening in his eyes. “I could name fifty men out there who would do anything for a chance to fuck you.” An embarrassed fluster ran over your nerves so fast that Jon even picked up on it. Stepping forward with your hands still in his as they now sat at your waist, him pushing you backward. A small smirk at you trying to modestly shake your head, “So if I brought Tormund in here you're going to tell me he wouldn't jump at the first chance he gets to be inside you?”

Gods be good, Jon and Robb were both just as sadistic about embarrassing you, and you were pretty sure they both got off on it. Everything about the woman you tried to be all your life, and the two wolves with the love of your heart managed to be smug that they knew how to make you fluster in an instant. “He..we don't, it's only banter Jon I promi-”

Pushing you back further his eyes darkened more and his voice dropping more to a husk every time he spoke, “That wasn't an accusation, darling. Only a fact.” Just when you found a voice to say something playful back to try and gain any upper hand, Jon let go of your hands just as he shoved your back into the stone wall, pressing you into it as he rested both hands on either side of your head.

A knee pushing your legs apart as much as he could from under your dress but he refused to take it off of you. Just enough space to slide his foot in the under of your skirt to keep you more trapped on most sides to escape him. In juxtaposition to his rough tone, Jon gently ran his nose along yours before nudging it playfully. Your hands reaching up as he spoke, letting his curls fall loose. “If I wasn't here, he'd be the one to spend all night fucking you.”

Fingers raking through his curls, stopping gently to readjust when they'd reach too wild of a tangle to be gentle with, each time your nails scratched his scalp as he swallowed harshly enough you could hear as he did so. “I only want you, Jon. I promise, you alone.” He exhaled heavily, the fact that his mind was tied between his lust and such an innocent way you had spoken that with had him stop his teasing.

Trying to reign himself in to not scare you off, but you continued to run your hands through his hair and for a moment of weakness, Jon let his head fall into your neck with a grunt at how good it felt. Not even pulling or tugging, just raking through his curls as you felt his chest rising and falling a lot to keep himself collected. He tried murmuring your name, but the soft tone was light and airy close to your ear, now that held no seductive, playful intention despite how pressed into the wall he had you.

Jon pulled back a bit more from you. One hand running through your hair as he looked at you with a quiet in them. “I try to be gentle, I want to be gentle with you.” A conflict once more sat in the grey as you let one hand run over his hair back, while the other rested close to his cheek. “When I would imagine what our first time would've been, I always thought it would be slow. Take our time, never imagined me being so rough with you.”

This time, you grabbed his hands making your way both to his shirt as you covered his to pull it up and off, letting the material drop wherever it landed without a care. Reaching himself, you still in the ivory dress Jon had made specifically for you, knelt down carefully. Your palms braced on his thighs as you looked up with eyes shining wide at him. “And yet I love you all the same.”

Not waiting much for him to respond, you moved to take everything else off, leaving only his pants before you looked back up at him. The black ink seeped into his gaze again, one hand ran down the back of your hair while he looked at you with a silent, dark sternness as he nodded down at you.

A shaky exhale left at just how brooding yet confident he seemed as he looked down to you, slowly pulling them down his legs until there was nothing left on him. Your hands returned to his thighs, flat against his skin as you were so close to his cock. Already it looked thick, and painfully in need like he had been hard for quite some during throughout the night before even getting to his room.

But you didn't presume, and you waited for Jon as he moved to gently gather enough of your hair in a large hand, holding you steady without controlling your every movement. Enough that you knew he intentionally made sure none of it would fall in your face. Him putting his mouth on you made you nervous, but somehow as you knelt there, you knew he was struggling to let you do it to him.

His voice husking in a deep gruffness, “This is what we're going to do,” Your posture straitening up instinctively at the low authority he spoke with. “I'll let you take me like this tonight, but you have to promise me that you're not just doing it beacuse you think you should.” Your brows rose in a surprised question as he let his free hand trail across your jaw and lips. “I don't expect this, and I don't want you thinking I expect this. I'll let you have me in your mouth tonight, but you need to promise me you'll let me take care of you properly from now on.”

Your heart raced, something strange at how wanted to be the one to taste you, without any return when you'd give it willingly as much as he wanted. “Can we not negotiate equal terms, your grace?”

Jaw clenching, you also felt how much he was trying not to tighten his grip too much with his handful of your hair. “I want to take care of you, the only thing I want you to do when we're together is to feel good. Help me make you feel good, and I'm happy.” Your name came from his lips softly, “Are we alright with that?”

Genuinely watching with a true question before relaxing as you nodded. “I am.” Seeing there was something else on your mind he waited patiently as if his cock wasn't tinged a bit red there was so much blood rushing into it. “Is it still alright if I..” Your fingertips braced on his thighs a bit more as you bit your lip a bit nervously as if he'd say no. But he nodded silently for you to continue.

Gentle licks to the tip of his cock before you slowly made your way down his length, licks and pressing your lips all down him like a kiss. Down one side and then the other as Jon's stomach tensed at the sensation. One proper kiss to the tip before you slowly took him into your mouth, cock sliding easily in your mouth from how well you already licked his length but you didn't stop until you made it half way down.

Letting him slide in and out of your mouth half way, a hum around his cock too as you sucked. You wanted to savour it, savour how heavy he felt on your tongue and how much your jaw stung from the stretch so early.

Your eyes were closed as you made another small noise in your throat like a humming whine when you went deeper. Took more of him, half way to over two thirds of the way before you hadn't had enough air, by the time you could suck up and down his entire size up to the black coarse hair around the base. Your heart racing at the panic of him so deep but you just whined instead. Jon's cock soaked in your warm mouth, you hating coming off of him for too long, wanting to keep him in your mouth properly, always making him feel good, always feeling him twitch and throb at each deep suck.

Your fingers tensed against his thighs, and with not much room to go behind you at the wall, Jon readjusted his grip on your hair before ever so slowly moving. Giving you enough time to relax your throat, as he guided your head to bob along his cock at a steady, slow rate. Pulling you nearly off him before sinking so deep in your throat you couldn't take anything else and slowly right back. Never giving you a second to catch up but he also never pushed you anything close to rough or demanding.

Throbbing in your mouth, Jon felt that sensation almost too soon. Worked up almost from the very moment he had seen you looking at the very dress still adorning you. Him bare with his cock being soaked by your warm mouth as you almost lost yourself to the feeling. The beautiful ivory dress showing nothing even risque. Just modest, long and covering like you were most comfortable with but the image of such a sight mixed with such a filthy act drew him close.

He told you he'd let you have this, but his insides burned and the feeling too out of control as the desire to shove you down his entire cocks length roughly, over took him, did he suddenly pull you off him entirely. The sight of you gasping for air as a mix of your saliva and what of his seed already coated your tongue visible from the sudden movement.

Looking up at him with a question, “Jon?” But as Jon helped you stand he barley gave you any time to form more of a sentence before he grabbed both of your cheeks. Pulling you into him as your hands wrapped around his waist to steady yourself. Shoving you hard against the stone wall Jon pressed himself tightly against you, one hand slipping to your jaw to tilt your head up, making it far easier for him to bite your bottom lip and slide his tongue into your own mouth.

Your hands pressed flat against his chest, the jagged feelings of his scars sending a distressing feeling in your mind but Jon wouldn't part from your lips long enough to let you linger on the thought. Licking and brushing his tongue against yours as he felt you start to writhe against him.

Trying to call his name between the only breaths be let you have, Jon pulled back with a heaving pant and seething in his teeth as he looked you over. A full foot back from you as he eyed you down as if you had nothing before he knelt just enough to grab the skirt of your dress. Pulling it up and up until he could toss it onto the ground, yanking the fabric hiding your soaked core from him down enough that it tore as he slipped it down your legs.

A hand on your hip almost prompting you to step out of them as Jon looked you over once more, were it not you one might have mistaken his look for unimpressed but you knew all to opposite. The darkness in his eyes as he grabbed one of your hands, guiding it to his cock. You looked small trying to wrap around how thick he was, even moreso as his hand stayed, guiding you to stroke his cock with tight, quick and somewhat rough strokes.

Your eyes flickering up to his, Jon nodded in bright approval before letting you stroke him on your own, one hand cupping your cheek and the other around the back of your head, threading through your hair and somewhat grabbing the back of your neck. Jon once more captured your lips, biting your bottom one every time you let his kiss distract you. His breathing as he kissed you picked up, demanding you let him deepen the kiss as the sounds were almost loud against the fire crackling on the other side of the room.

Your veins felt too hot, the room cold with the window beside you wide open but you could feel sweat forming as if your entire person burned in Jon's presence. His grip on you tightened as he shook in your touch, cock twitching in your hand.

Just as he groaned a mumbling of your name into your mouth, Jon send the hand on your cheek down to wrap around your hand on his cock again. Moving along with your strokes as he came, painting your lower stomach where your own scar was with his seed and on your mound. Grunting out as he moved to bite at your neck as the last of him covered your skin.

You almost felt too overwhelmed, like Jon's mind was racing far quicker then you could keep up. Finally moving your hand from his cock only to grasp at your wrist, and slamming it up in his hold against the wall beside your head as he stared at you. A small ask of his name as he stared you up and down.

Pulling away suddenly Jon did outstretch a hand to guide you to the other side of the room. Turning to stand somewhat behind you running all along the skin of yours he could reach. “Our first time was almost right here.” Leaning to rasp in your ear, “Will my wife let me fuck her in our bed?” Nodding, Jon kissed the side of your head in response. Pushing you forward, “Lay down for me.”

Braced up on your palms as one knee bent slightly as you lay on the fur, Jon just looked at you with a shake of his head to drive a thought out of his mind it appeared. Slowly he almost appeared to approach you on the bed like a predator, prowling towards what he wants. Climbing up on top of you though, Jon left a lot of that on the ground outside of here.

Kissing you gently, no tongue, no teeth, your hands innocently running along his shoulders and back as Jon held himself up with one hand and caressed the skin of your waist with the other. Nudging your nose with his in between each kiss, he pulled back to look at you, that intense greed not so close to the surface. Jon moved to partially lay beside you but leaned over enough so you were on your back still looking up at him, your legs intertwined with the other. His hand tracing your cheek as he leaned to kiss you softly again.

Your hand ran along his shoulder and up through his curls. “I love you.”

The smile was almost boyish that came over his face. A brightness back in the greys of his eyes as he muttered back, “I love you, more then anything. A year ago I still thought you were dead, now you're my wife.” A small huffing laugh like he was simply in disbelief.

“And you're King in the North. Finally home where you belong.”

Almost a bashful look came over him, your grin pulling a incredulous one from Jon as he rolled his eyes playfully. “Big home for just the two of us.” Your heart lightened but Jon just looked at you with an adoration as he felt lost in his own mind. “If we're lucky, this time next year maybe we'll have at least one more to add.”

Both of you laughing at how easily you slipped such a dry, “Oh, just one? Changed your mind?”

Jon looked at you once more before leaning down to kiss you, marking his way down your neck and collarbones, as you sighed out high pitched. Jon climbed back to rest between your legs, stopping his mouth at your breasts. Greedily grasping rough handfuls in both hands he groped the skin as his lips kissed around them before jumping with a bite to your nipples. Pulling a gasp and your legs failing to close now as they were on either side of his body.

You could feel the spark inside of you growing, you core feeling more like matches striking at it trying to ignite but still overwhelmed as you hissed at each rougher tug of his teeth. Just as you cried out at one did Jon relent, soothing your breasts in more of a caress before moving to pull your legs open more to fit his broad upper body.

Slinking his hand through his own seed covering your mound, Jon dragged two fingers through it before landing on your clit, rubbing tight, harsh circles into it that had your head arching back. Your core burned the touch and yet you couldn't decide if you needed more of less, but you trusted Jon to give you exactly what you needed. Rubbing rough and fast your orgasm snuck up on you suddenly, a tightening in your stomach that had you cry out.

Legs around Jon shaking just at the peak of you lungs stopping in desperation of on overwhelming pleasure swimming through you, Jon tugged your hips up to his mouth. Licking sloppily at your clit and down flat along your folds. Running that pattern up and down as if smearing what wetness you granted him to soak all over you, before he would taste it all for himself. Sucking at your clit making you jump with a surprised whine of an over stimulation.

But Jon licked and sucked more at your clit, holding your legs and moving them over his shoulders before grasping tight at your hips, as he ran his tongue just as his fingers did but he kept soaking you. Licking, a nibble of his teeth that had your back arching in sparks of need only to have him sooth it with a kiss before licking gently back down to your cunt where you were soaked.

His tongue running inside you, your breathe hitching even more as if no air would come to you, but Jon's hands were gentle and his tongue was precise. Knowing what made your insides twist like a burning coil, your hand gently running through his hair and none of it held the intensity of just before neither of you rushing towards an end this time.

Despite the cold air from the window blowing in you felt a thousand leagues warmer then you should have between the fire beside, the fur under and Jon between your legs you could feel sweat dampening your hair, stuttering breaths as you felt the coil twisting inside as Jon licked deep inside of you along a sensitive wall that almost made you feel something swell up like tears.

His hands on your hips tighter before finally yanking you to his mouth, soaking you as much as you were him. One hand changing paths, Jon reached up grasped at your breast, groping as the hand not in his hair held onto it, Jon licking sloppily along your cunt to your clit and back before burying his mouth inside you, twisting the hand on your breast to hold yours resting now in the space between them.

That burning pleasure tightened and tightened until the coil snapped and you were blinded by the light that had you arching your back and crying out Jon's name. Growling into your cunt more as your hands tightened in his hair until you were shaking from the sparks of pleasure still hitting you after. Rising up, Jon used that hand with yours to push it against the bed, keeping your fingers interlocked as he used his other hand now to align his cock with your soaking core.

Looking down at you, your eyes wide and red from tears begging to fall as you heaved for proper air Jon gave you one kiss before slowly sinking inside you. Not a single instance of resistance as his cock slid as deep inside of you as you could take him, clenching soaked, tight and warm around him he already throbbed inside of you with a groan. Burying his face in your neck as he slowly pulled out only enough to get halfway before needing to seek you out again.

Whatever show the open window let sounds out free to be heard with, was non existent in the reality of your own ears. Jon slowly thrusting in and out of you, face buried in your neck as the sounds from you were weak cries that you couldn't spare the energy to muster enough for. Only music for Jon it was what he could hear of how wet you were around him.

His other hand reaching up grab yours, and push the same down just on the other side of your head fingers intertwined as he kissed you. Tongue asking for gentle permission across your lips before brushing against yours, his kiss as sensually slow as his cock sliding in and out of you.

Pulling now out to almost completely outside of you and right back to as deep as you could get. His hands held yours tightly as his kiss grew more needy, a bit deeper and urgent as you clenched around him. His cock dragging along such a sensitive wall you were almost embarrassed it was causing you to soak him so much more.

Legs shaking around him, Jon slowly fucked right along that wall until you cried out against his lips, a beg for air and reprieve neither of which was granted to you. Fucking you slowly, until Jon had to start thrusting harder to get as deep when he had enough. Grunting he let go of your hands and snatched you up, surprising you as he flipped you both so he lay on his back.

You now more perched up in his lap, looking down at him your hands braced on his chest as you suddenly turned very flustered at the angle he was looking at you like. Lungs paused, not normally a position you found yourself in, but Jon's eye were bright and adoring as he looked up at you.

Finding your hips he guided you to hover back over his cock, your nervous eyes finding him as he husked out, “It's alright, darling. You're doing so well,” His grip slowly helping you sink down on his cock but from this angle he was deeper then ever, seated so fully inside of you if he came this deep inside you, you didn't know how you wouldn't find yourself with child in the morning. Groaning himself, Jons head flew back against the pillow as his eyes closed. Hands never leaving you, guiding you to move up and down his cock at his own strength and his own pace.

Moving you so that you were dragged along that sensitive wall against him as your eyes sealed closed with a stuttering breath. Airy voice as your nails dug into his chest as you moved slowly along with his hands moving you up and down. “You-fuck, Jon you feel so good, so, so good inside of me please..”

But Jon didn't speed you up or let you speed up. Just keeping you on a slow, overwhelming pace that had you feel every single inch of him every wet slide inside you. Dragging you along for his own ride that had your muscles burning and tingling, a fire amongst the wetness Jon sunk his cock inside.

A whine clawed it's way from your throat, begging his name but your eyes sealed closed trying to catch your breath with each thrust inside. Sitting up suddenly, Jon shifted you both so you were straddling his lap more, as one of his arms wrapped around behind you to keep you steady against him, the other holding onto your hip as he begun to move you a little harder against his cock.

Your hands reached for him, winding behind the back of his neck and up into his curls as finally the sounds of the room begun to slap together more as you moved with him bouncing on his cock with a more raw need. Tight around his neck, Jon took the arm behind your back and grasped at one of your breasts, tugging and twisting your nipple as you kissed him.

By each second you lips were exploring one another, Jon moved you harder up and down on his cock. A bigger yank to pull you onto him as you moved just as eagerly as the pace increased in speed. A steady sound smacking of your skin together and your cries grow more to quiet whines that stuttered with every single bounce on his cock.

Tugging somewhat at his hair, made Jon fuck up into you a little harder each time you did as he moved from your breast to keep your lips to his, a hand at the back of your head not that you wanted to go anywhere else. Let the fire of his desire burn through you until nothing was left but what you could offer his lips and his cock.

Faster and rougher, using both hands, yanked your hips up and down on his cock as the sound grew louder in volume and tempo. Holding onto one another tightly Jon felt you seize up in his arms the coarse hair around the base of his cock raw as it rubbed against your clit each time and just as your orgasm washed through you was it mixed with the hot seed spilling deep inside you. Balancing the other out as your legs almost widened around your straddling more almost desperate to feel such hot cum was tearing through you but kissing Jon meant you wanted no parting words over it.

But then he kept fucking you, kept bouncing you on his cock at the same speed and roughness. Instead of easing you back up he dove back in, the wetness graced his ears as music better then anything someone could come up with. Letting go of your lips, Jon looked up at your eyes, his own blown out and pitch black, now both his hands on and guiding your hips still. “Fuck, should never leave.” His voice a deep rasp, “Should stay like this together for good, keep you right here with me until I know I've given you a child..”

A faint moan came from your mouth as you felt that burn of desire again and Jon swallowed your cries into his kiss until you could compose a sentence.“Anything to make you happy..I promise...”

Nodding, he whispered up at you, “Then we stay here, right in our bed, however long it takes..” Your orgasm slipped past your notice as he was shallowly thrusting deep, seizing in his touch and around his cock before Jon groaned your name out too, spilling deep inside you again and yet he still was hard.

Kept fucking you, as you both wrapped your arms around the other as you felt tears for the pleasure setting you on fire only screaming for Jon, the world outside of him did not exist.

Once or twice you rested, Jon keeping you on your side more as he would gently move to tip a drink of water gently down for you, keep you with the right energy, but it wouldn't last. Jon would flip you once more onto your back as he took you more times then he or you could count.

For once, neither of you had any real dream of sorts and as you stayed wrapped up in each others close arms facing one another, Jon pulled you into his chest. Neither of you also had noticed that you both only fell asleep mere hours before the sun rose.

You fell into a slumber with no real thought, cunt burning and aching from Jon's cock, stomach thighs anything else painted with whatever cum you couldn't take deep. Your mind was safe and settled that night in Jon's arms, and Jon had no dreams to haunt him the same.

The only peace left in the brewing storms of the world at least was found in your bed, in Jon's arms.

[lucifers-little-light]

Charlie, I think your Dad and Alastor have some important news to share with you.......on top of the pregnancy.

In a flash, they’re enveloped in a shimmering portal that whisks them back to the hotel. As they emerge, the familiar sounds of laughter and chatter greet them, but there’s an unmistakable tension hanging in the air.

Lucifer: *gesturing toward the bustling lobby* Welcome back to the hotel.

Alastor: *takes a deep breath, steeling himself* Right. Time to face the music.

As they step further into the lobby, they’re met with a flurry of reactions. Charlie rushes over, her expression a mix of relief and concern.

Charlie: *beaming* Alastor! You’re back!

Alastor: *forcing a smile* I am.

The others gather, their worried faces reflecting a blend of joy and apprehension. Husk approaches, still holding a half-empty drink.

Husk: *grumbles but with a hint of relief* Finally decided to join the land of the living, huh?

Alastor: *chuckles softly* I did.

Angel Dust saunters in, feigning nonchalance but clearly invested in Alastor's wellbeing.

Lucifer steps back, allowing Alastor to bask in the warmth of the crowd, but he remains vigilant, eyeing everyone’s reaction.

Vaggie, who’s been standing beside Charlie, gives a small smile.

Vaggie: We’re just glad you’re okay.

Alastor: *feeling the weight of their concern* Thank you, all of you.

As the excitement buzzes around him, Alastor can’t shake the undercurrent of anxiety. The reality of his new life, his marriage, and the child growing within him all loom heavy.

Lucifer: *quietly* You don’t have to put on a show for them.

Alastor nods, appreciating the reassurance but knowing that whatever comes next won’t be easy. The world has changed, and he must learn to navigate it—ring on his finger, a child on the way, and a future that remains uncertain.

After the initial flurry of greetings and relief, Alastor exchanges a look with Lucifer, signaling that it’s time to speak with Charlie privately.

Alastor: *clearing his throat* Charlie, can we talk to you for a moment?

Charlie: *nodding eagerly* Of course! What’s up?

Lucifer: *gesturing toward Charlie’s office* Let’s step over here.

As they move away from the group, Alastor’s heart races with anxiety. Soon they were in Charlie’s office.

Alastor: *glancing between them* So, um… we have something important to share with you.

Charlie: *looking intrigued* What is it?

Lucifer: *sighs, running a hand through his hair* Well Char-Char…I don’t know ahow to tell you this…but Alastor and I got married.

Charlie: *eyes widening in surprise* Married? Like, actually married?

Alastor: *nodding, his expression serious* Yes, and it happened rather quickly.

Charlie: *still processing* But… why?

Lucifer: *stepping in* It was a complicated situation. I made a deal with Alastor, and, well… it led to us getting married.

Alastor: *internally* He couldn’t remember the word ‘companion’ but ‘consort’ was easier to remember.

Charlie: *crossing her arms, concern etching her features* A deal? You mean, like, an actual marriage deal?

Alastor: *taking a breath* It’s more like a partnership. We both agreed that intimacy isn’t part of it. This is about protection and status more than anything else.

Charlie: *narrowing her eyes* And you’re okay with that, Alastor?

Alastor: *hesitant* I’m… still processing it. The truth is, I didn’t have much choice in the matter. It was either this or remain chained to my previous Overlord.

Charlie: *softening* Oh, Alastor…

Lucifer: *continuing* We wanted to tell you before the media catches wind of this. It’s important to us that you hear it from us first.

Charlie: *nodding, her expression shifting to determination* I appreciate that. But this is a huge deal! Have you thought about how the others will react?

Alastor: *exhaling slowly* Not entirely. I’d rather not deal with the tabloids and their sensationalism, but… we thought that being open about it might help.

Lucifer: *leaning closer, voice low* We’re in this together, Charlie. We’ll figure it out as a team.

Charlie: *looking between them, reassured* I’m here for both of you, no matter what. Just… please keep me in the loop.

Alastor: *smiling weakly* Thank you, Charlie. It means a lot.

Charlie: *smirking* Besides, this is going to be a hell of a story to tell my baby brother or sister when they arrive!

Lucifer: *leans in* Charlie has always wanted siblings. I’m sorry it took 200 years to give her one.

Alastor: *looks at Lucifer strangely* Come again…?

[angrybell]

An Israeli author was supposed to appear and give a talk about her books at the Pushkin House, part of the University of London. It was due to occur on . With the date approaching the people at Pushkin House sent the following to Ms. Rubina.

Good afternoon, Dina

The Pushkin House advertised our upcoming discussion on social media and immediately received critical messages regarding your position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They would like to understand your position on this issue before reacting in any way.

Could you formulate your position and send it to me as soon as possible?”

Natalia! “

Ms. Rubina responded with the following open letter.

An OPEN LETTER

from Dina Rubina

“Dear Natalia!

You have written beautifully about my novels; I am very sorry for the time you have wasted. But it seems we’ll have to cancel our meeting. The University of Warsaw and the University of Torun have just cancelled lectures by the remarkable Israeli Russian-speaking writer Yakov Shechter on the life of Jews in Galicia in the 17th and 19th centuries – “to avoid aggravating the situation”. I suspected that this would also happen to me, because now the academic environment is the main nursery of the most disgusting and rabid anti-Semitism, hiding behind the so-called “criticism of Israel”. I was expecting something like this, and even sat down three times to write you a letter on the subject… but I decided to wait, and so I have waited.

That’s what I want to say to all those who expect from me a quick and obsequious account of my position on my beloved country, which now (and always) lives in a circle of ardent enemies who seek its destruction; on my country, which is now waging a just patriotic war against a violent, ruthless, deceitful and sophisticated enemy:

The last time in my life I apologised in the headmaster’s office, in the ninth grade. Since then, I have done what I think is right, listening only to my conscience and expressing only my understanding of the world order and human laws of justice.

And so on.

I’m really sorry, Natalia, for your efforts and the hope that you could “cook something with me” – something that everyone will like.

Therefore, I ask you personally to send my reply to all those who are interested:

On Saturday 7 October, the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the ruthless, well-trained, carefully prepared and perfectly equipped with Iranian weapons Hamas terrorist regime ruling the Gaza enclave (which Israel left some 20 years ago) attacked dozens of peaceful kibbutzim and simultaneously pelted the territory of my country with tens of thousands of rockets. Atrocities that even the Bible cannot describe, atrocities and horrors that make the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah pale in comparison (captured, by the way, by the frontal and chest cameras of the murderers themselves and boastfully sent by them in real time to the Internet), can shock any normal person. For several hours, thousands of gleeful, blood-drunk animals raped women, children and men, shot their victims in the crotch and in the head, cut off women’s breasts and played football with them, cut babies out of the bellies of pregnant women and immediately beheaded them, tied up small children and burned them. There were so many charred and completely burnt bodies that for many weeks the pathologists could not cope with the enormous burden of identifying individuals.

My friend, who worked in a New York hospital waiting room for 20 years and then spent another 15 years in Israel identifying remains, was one of the first to arrive in the burned and blood-soaked kibbutzim with a group of rescuers and medics… She still can’t sleep. A medic used to cutting up bodies – she fainted from what she saw and then vomited all the way back to the car. What these people have seen is beyond words.

Together with the Hamas fighters, the “civilian population” rushed into the holes in the fence, joined the pogroms on an unprecedented scale, robbed, killed and dragged whatever they could get their hands on into Gaza. Among these “peaceful Palestinians” were 450 members of the UN’s UNRWA scum. Everyone was there, and judging by the stormy total joy of the population (also captured in these inconvenient times by hundreds of mobile cameras) – there were a lot of people – Hamas supports and approves, at least before the real fighting starts, of almost the entire population of Gaza… The main problem: our residents were dragged into the beast’s lair, more than two hundred of them, including women, children, the elderly and non-essential foreign workers. About a hundred of them are now rotting and dying in the Hamas dungeons. Needless to say, these harassed victims are of little concern to the “academic community”.

But that’s not what I’m talking about. I am not writing this to make anyone sympathise with the tragedy of my people.

For all these years, when the world community has literally poured hundreds of millions of dollars into this piece of land (the Gaza Strip) – and the annual budget of the UNRWA organisation alone is a BILLION dollars! – All these years, Hamas has used this money to build an empire of the most complex underground tunnel system, to stockpile weapons, to teach primary school children how to dismantle and reassemble a Kalashnikov assault rifle, to print textbooks in which the hatred of Israel defies description, in which even the maths problems go like this: “There were ten Jews, Shahid killed four, how many are left?” – with every word calling for the murder of Jews.

And now that Israel, shocked at last by the monstrous crime of these bastards, is waging a war to destroy the Hamas terrorists, who have prepared this war so carefully, planting thousands of shells in all the hospitals, schools, kindergartens… – here the academic world of the whole world has risen up, worried about the “genocide of the Palestinian people”, based, of course, on data provided by… who? That’s right, by the same Hamas, by the same UNRWA… The academic community, which was not concerned about the massacres in Syria, the massacre in Somalia, the mockery of the Uighurs or the millions of Kurds persecuted for decades by the Turkish regime – this very concerned public, wearing “Arafat” around their necks, the trademark of the murderers, rallies under the banners “Free Palestine from the river to the sea! – which means the total destruction of Israel (yes, many of these “academics”, as surveys show, have no idea where this river is, what it is called, where some borders are…). – Now this very public asks me to “take a clear position on this issue”.

Are you serious?! Are you serious?!!

You see, I’m a writer by profession. All my life, for more than fifty years, I have been folding words. My novels have been translated into 40 languages, including Albanian, Turkish, Chinese, Esperanto… and many others.

Now, with great pleasure, without using too many expressions, I sincerely and with all the strength of my soul send all the brainless “intellectuals” interested in my position to the ASS. In fact, very soon you will all be there without me”.

Dina Rubina

[screamingcrows]

Pyrogenic Sprouts II

Notes: I also banged this out in what can only be described as a fit of delirium. Let this be my first venture into writing Wuthering Waves, unedited and made without a single thought in my mind except Mortefi spinning like a rotisserie chicken. Part one is somewhere on my blog. Keep this out of AI. ~1.5k Link to I Tags: Mortefi x reader, first meeting, fluff, reader is not Rover, strangers to lovers Minors, blank and ageless blogs DNI

It had been a moment of spontaneity when his morning walk had diverged from his usual route through Jinzhou, barely awake after working through most of the night to catch up on various projects. The sentinel wasn't finished, not by a long shot, which once more prompted the question of why he found himself standing at your stall, checking the watch on his wrist and faintly wondering how long it would be reasonable to wait before leaving. 

His mind was quickly lost to thoughts of tests that would need to be done, who he could delegate it to, components that had to be ordered; he was all out of 6mm screws and getting his hands on more scarletthorn would be beneficial, the combination of toughness and slight flexibility preferred for maintaining structural integrity and absorbing residual frequencies to ensure no harm came to the wielder. 

"Come to finish the job have you?"

Mortefi was startled out of his thoughts by the weight of a body colliding with his. There wasn't enough time to stop the click of his tongue, hand moving to put the glittering metal -when had he even picked it up- back into his pocket. Morning dew dripped from the velvety petals and onto your hands, sunlight reflecting with only half the intensity in the droplets as it did in your eyes. Arms filled with your harvest and not another person in sight. It wasn't exactly a surprise that you had gone out alone despite all logic.

That didn't help the uneasy feeling that bloomed beneath his ribs. 

"Despite your best efforts to paint me as a villain, I don't exactly consider myself a pyromaniac. Being on a morning walk is hardly a crime," he crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling none of the chilly breeze that made the hairs on your arms stand on end, "and if that were the case, I can currently see someone else who would be in just as much trouble."

He felt a small wave of uncertainty at the way his comment was met with nothing but a roll of your eyes, had he been hoping for a laugh? 

"Then I'm curious to know why you were waiting for me," it was wholly non-accusatory, and Mortefi found his mind reeling as it searched for hidden meaning.

Despite himself, a hand ran through his unruly hair while he hesitated to provide an explanation. Truthfully, doubt was currently coursing through his blood, licking along the veins like the fire he'd spent years tempering, the fire for which there was no proper use except destruction. This would have been easier had you followed the customs Huanglong, speaking with overt politeness and layers of false praise, he knew exactly how to deal with that. 

With a sigh, he came to the conclusion that a small embellishment on a truth he was loathe to admit would be best, "You're correct in assuming I was waiting for you, I wanted to-"

"I already said no yesterday," the dismissive tone as you carefully arranged both delicate and durable blossoms alongside each other had him biting back a scoff. The faint trail of blood that ran from your palm to disappear under your sleeve had him pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Let me finish damn it," you truly were adamant in testing his patience with your carefree movements, "I need a bouquet of flowers. Consider me picking this spot an apology for charring your wares, even if it did save you from your own carelessness."

People's lives were their own concern, and each have a responsibility to weigh their options and act according to their own convictions. Mortefi could provide instructions, optimal paths, tools that could aid the pursuit of a goal, he couldn't force anyone to utilize it. Knowledge that was both freeing and infuriating. 

"Oh. Well, that's another matter entirely then. Occasion, colors, budget, and if you have any specific requests for a flower that you don't see here," you shrugged your shoulders, "then you should've made the request yesterday."

He felt his eyes widen at the number of considerations, glancing around the still empty streets and briefly wondering what you would do with the little stand if a storm ensued. 

"You put no thought into this did you?" You were smiling now, like a rose stripped of thorns as you caught on, "let's start with occasion. If it's for a lover, we wouldn't want to put a flower symbolizing dishonesty in there now would we?"

How you had managed to get your hands on wintry bells was something best left unconsidered, he did however appreciate the crisp scent of them, almost a little prickly if not for the enveloping softness of the belle poppies that nestled like drops of blood in the snow. For all the 'subtle' artistry of making it resemble him, perhaps he hadn't been as subtle in his excuses as he thought - this was clearly made with him in mind, and the work you put in to gather them fresh each morning, the price had almost made him laugh in disbelief. 

Breakfast was consumed in silence, pondering if he should leave the flowers at home where they would stand and wither without truly being enjoyed, or if he should accept the contamination of his laboratory to not let it go to waste. 

Mortefi never overestimated his own abilities, if he found a barrier then he worked his way through. That was all there was to it. The languid notes filling the room were a stark contrast to his own growing unrest, fitting the small components together in the intricate casing a Sisyphean task with the way his leg had been bouncing under the desk for the past thirty minutes. 

Just a little longer, surely, and then he could put this all behind him. Need to be useful fed and satisfied so it could crawl back into the pits of his being. It would be so much easier if you had simply taken the offer, made him some insane request with greed in your eyes, he could have accepted, made something to fulfill it in the worst way possible - a sentinel with an obnoxious alarm that doesn't turn off unless some ridiculous parameter was met? 

You loathed to admit that the visits from Mortefi had quickly become a treasured part of your daily routine, more often than not finding him already waiting for your return. The occasion was never more than a string of grumbled sounds, noncommittal in a way that had you grinning as you picked out foliage to substantiate the bouquet. Extra income was nice as well, being on a relatively tight budget after spending most of your savings on moving. 

But it was for the better. The people here were nicer, even if you hadn't really had the time to socialize much. Getting through was your specialty, having always been, lovingly of course, likened to a persistent weed. You would find your footing in Jinzhou as well.

Handing over the carefully bound arrangement of various crimson flowers, you'd even found some vines that grew black thorns, positioning them far from anywhere a sane person would hold, you couldn't help but smile at the grumpy looking researcher. 

"I'll see you tomorrow Mortefi, good luck on your research!"

The huff that left him sounded dry as ever, he'd been less talkative today, dark circles under his eyes suggesting someone might be overworking themselves. Over just the past few weeks, you'd grown accustomed to hearing him mumble to himself about projects, occasionally finding the courage to simply start asking, even if the thought of weapons made you stomach churn. It had been vague and technical at first; 'what exactly is tacetite?', 'how do you use reverberations?', but it had quickly become clear that he was prone to being sidetracked provided the right prompts.

Today had been one such day, with him having ended up talking for half an hour straight after you'd asked how he even came up with all those ideas and innovations. It felt oddly intimate, voice firm and eyes focused before finally pulling out a notepad to visualize the thought process, leaning so close that you had no choice but to laugh and shove him away to have room to work.

You saw him shift, looking almost uneasy with the flowers cradled gently in his arms, crimson eyes focused on something in the distance as he spoke, "I enjoy afternoon teas most days. There hasn't been time lately, but I plan to remedy that tomorrow. I was wondering if you would join me, considering these morning talks have grown rather lengthy, perhaps it would be better to more properly dedicate time to it."

Part 3

[thebigbiwolf]

Starvin' Darlin - Chapter 2

Pairing: Not quite friends to lovers Astarion x OC/F!Tav

Chapter Summary: Seeing Evelyn with Gale stirs up some unfamiliar and VERY unwelcome feelings in Astarion. And for some reason, she graces him with a midnight visit. I'm terrible with summaries but here's what's in store for you:

* A bit of possessive!Astarion if you squint

* More pining

* More biting

* Deep DEEP emotional constipation (my personal favorite)

Fic Tags: Minor spoilers for Act 1, The Bite Scene, Emotional slow burn, Angst, Teasing, Frottage (god I'm sorry), Pining, This is my first ever fic so idk how to tag things appropriately but you get the gist.

Fic Warnings: Eventual Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI), Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Dubcon (I cannot stress this enough), Bloodlust/Loss of control, Mentions of blood, lmk if you need anything else tagged.

Read on AO3: Here

Word Count: 5k

A/N: School and life have been kicking my ass but I finally got around to finishing this chapter and I couldn't wait to post it! I'm having so much fun writing in Astarion's POV. Huge thank you to my bestie @imaginarydromedary for being the best beta ever and for your endless patience with me.

The morning that follows that fateful night in Evelyn’s tent goes rather well, all things considered.

She approaches Astarion first. A pleasant surprise, considering they could hardly look at each other after he ravaged her the night before. 

He looks over the novel he had been skimming, Shanties for the Bitch Queen . Admittedly, not one of his favorites, but reading material was scarce these days. He closes it with a soft thud and rises to meet her, all pleasant smiles and perfectly coiffed hair. 

“Good morning.” he says, a curious tilt to his head. 

She looks a bit more pale than usual with faded, grim circles forming underneath her eyes. Her bun is a bit unruly, some strands falling into her face and parted by the wine-dark bone of her horns. She either didn’t sleep well or is still reeling from the anemia. 

The bruise he administered had spread and darkened, plainly visible even under the black ink of her tattoos. It seems she found no use in hiding it, then. Very well. It’s not like they keep extra scarves laying about the camp, anyway.

“How do you feel?” he asks, gently. He doesn’t mean to provoke her, but his curiosity is getting the better of him, and the slightest hint of shame is beginning to burrow its way into his conscience. Ugh . He thinks he prefers the tadpole.

“A bit woozy.” She responds, “I woke up this morning with the intention of asking you how one usually fares after being drained, but then I remembered,” she stops herself when she realizes what she’s about to say: I was your first. Unspoken, but lingering between them . It makes him want to laugh; A woman with a reputation such as hers acting so bashful .

“It’ll pass,” he reassures, “Just be glad I’m not a true vampire. A bite from one of them and you might wake up as a vampire spawn, like my good self. All of a vampire’s hunger, but few of their powers.”

“Speaking of hunger,” Evelyn says, realizing she’s famished. She turns from him and begins making her way towards the campfire. Finding that only charred logs and old cinders remain, she runs the black tip of her boot through the ashes with the intention of stoking the fire back to life, dust clouding, then dispersing before her.

He follows closely behind, observing. She seems well, all things considered. A bit out of sorts, but nothing a bit of rest couldn’t cure.

“You know, I had considered bringing you an apple,” Astarion starts, hovering by the pit, “Leaving it by your bedside before you rose for the day - ever the gentleman, but,” he clears his throat. 

That newly recognizable twinge of something is curling its way back into his chest, causing him to squint in discomfort. 

In truth, he didn’t know how she would react to him encroaching on her space. Not after that dreadful attempt on her life. He is a monster, after all. That, and she had already been so insufferably forgiving. Such kindness is likely to reach its end sooner rather than later.

“I - erm, didn’t want to disturb your rest.” is what he finally settles on. Polit , he thinks, Best not overdo it.

“That would have been nice of you.” She says it quietly, more to herself than to him.

“Oh, darling, you have no idea how nice I can be.” The flirtation sneaks its way out of him on an impulse. He’s about to apologize, something he seems to be doing a bit too often for his taste, when out of the corner of his eye, he catches one of their companions making their way towards them. 

“It appears we have company.” Astarion sneers, “And here I thought I was going to have you all to myself this morning.”

To the elf’s surprise, most of them were quick to come around to the idea of a vampire spawn slinking about. Especially once they found themselves in the middle of an ambush, and Astarion very quickly made good on his promises to her. 

Newfound strength coursed through his body, her blood weaving threads of heat through his veins as if it were his own. His speed was unmatched, cutting down half a dozen goblins before they had a chance to wail.

 It was exhilarating . 

The day flew by in flashes of red. Despite the many unnecessary stops Evelyn insisted on making to help undesirables, Astarion’s emotional high managed to remain relatively intact. That was, until their group settled in for the night.

As most of the others retired to their tents, the elf prepared for his nightly ritual: sifting through his collection of tomes and selecting one to read under the stars - his favorite way to end the evening. 

It was supposed to be perfect. Uneventful. Quiet .

But, there was Gale: lost in thought and muttering to himself, or maybe to the conjured image of some woman’s head floating above his hand. Astarion may have been able to ignore that in itself, but the sound of light footsteps drew his attention. 

Evelyn was approaching the wizard. 

He scoffs. Of course Gale was showing off in hopes of procuring her attention. The man was practically putting on a damn light show in his desperation. It’s not enough that the wizard eats valuable items they could be using to pawn for coins, but does he really have to be such an unbearable distraction as well?

“Pretty,” he recognizes the word as it leaves her. The sound of their chatter was too faint for it to carry its way to his beautifully pointed ears, but he could just barely read Evelyn’s lips at this angle.

Gale startles, dropping his hand along with his focus. The woman’s visage vanishes. He looks embarrassed, shifting uncomfortably as he no doubt explains himself in some horribly mundane fashion.

Astarion returns to his book, scanning over the page, but the words refuse to settle in his mind. He stares at the ink, willing the sentences to fill his head with anything other than the nonsense unfolding in front of him, but his focus stubbornly remains on the chattering pair.

Gods, he’s talking her ears off. 

At any moment, Evelyn will dismiss the man, embarrassing the hells out of him, which will make for an excellent show. That in itself is enough reason to keep watching. But the longer this goes on, the less he’s sure. 

She seems to be enjoying their chat, nodding in agreement at Gale’s words, listening to him without so much as a hint of impatience. Gale then steps behind her, a bit too close for the likes of an average, friendly conversation. His chest almost touches the woman’s shoulder as he moves into her space, the cloth of his nightshirt just barely grazing her. 

Something within Astarion begins twisting in protest. His thumb runs over the long-forgotten page in circles. The rough texture reminds him that yes, he was supposed to be reading, or at least attempting to look disinterested, but he can't will himself to turn away.

Gale smiles softly down at her, then begins to move his arms in a way that could only be described as a poor imitation of a wounded bird. Purple light emanates in front of the two of them in response. More magic tricks. Of course. As if that would be enough to impress the woman who’s supposedly been at the receiving end of every imaginable courting attempt in Faerun. 

Astarion rolls his eyes, content to continue his chapter of The Realm According to Bumpo, before he notices Evelyn following suit, imitating the very same motions. She, however, has a grace about her, unlike the bearded beast at her side. Her movements are quick and decisive, abandoning all flattery for precision. The burst of light emanates from her palms, just as it had for the wizard.

She looks pleased. Elated, even. This is the first time he’s seen her smile since she made a fool out of him in her tent, caressing his body and reveling in its reaction, like he was some sort of toy. Though her expression looks different to him now. He can’t quite place his finger on why.

He swallows, attempting to alleviate the tightness in his throat. 

A purple aura starts radiating around them, dancing and swaying in waves, as if the two were surrounded by a flowing channel of lavender, smelling of rosewater; the sun setting over a dark ocean. Even from a distance, the sight pulls at something inside him. An unwelcome ache settles within his chest.

Evelyn turns to the man next to her, unaware that they’ve been drawn closer by the magic enveloping them. She tilts her head back to meet Gale’s gaze. The way he’s looking at her, the flecks of gold in her irises locked with his: deep, brown, and moving, makes Astarion’s skin itch.  

He finds himself wondering what color his own eyes were before his transformation. Were they so seemingly honest, so trustworthy in their melanism, before they became what they are now? Sharp, red, and tinted by bloodlust. Wouldn’t they be boring? 

“You’re staring.”

He’s pulled from his brooding by the sound of Shadowheart’s observation. He hadn’t noticed her approaching him, distracted by that sickening, sweet smell. “Or has the tadpole gifted you with the ability to telepathically commune with books?”

“I’m simply admiring our wizard’s talents.” Astarion says, dismissing her with a wave, “Making sure all those expensive boots and rings haven’t gone to waste. It would be a pity, wouldn’t it? Unnecessarily sacrificing clothes that may have suited you while you’re having to traipse about in a tin can?”

The cleric snickers, “I see. Is that why you look like a kicked pup? Or, are you upset that your master’s replaced you with a new lapdog?” 

He slams the book closed. The sound surprises Evelyn, and the magic surrounding her and Gale dissipates. 

He doesn’t dignify Shadowheart with a response, nor does he spare a second glance at the others before retreating to the quiet solace of his tent.

”That wretched little…” He grumbles to himself as soon as he closes the entrance, tossing Bumpo atop the other novels in his collection, all piled haphazardly on the small desk occupying a corner of his living space. 

This type of reaction was unusual for him. Astarion would normally be happy to engage in petty banter. The more scathing, the better, but Shadowheart had somehow weaseled her way into a tender area. It left him feeling exposed, and a bit nauseated at the idea of allowing someone so clearly beneath himself, at least in terms of wit, to get the better of him. 

Taking a deep breath, Astarion focuses on releasing the tension in his jaw. Best not to let this ruin his entire night, he reasons, before lighting  several half-melted candles littering his quarters. Their flames emanate a soft, golden glow, and the process is meditative enough to finish soothing him. 

He doesn’t have watch tonight, so he allows himself some extra comfort, removing his shirt before sinking down into the soft furs of his bedroll. Astarion closes his eyes to trance, thinking the extra rest will do him some good, but the image of Evelyn rushes back to his mind -  the way her soft lips parted in surprise, realizing her and Gale’s close proximity, and how his gaze flitted down to her mouth in return..

The wizard should be wearing a damn collar around his neck with how she commands his attention. It’s pathetic.

It couldn’t be a matter of coincidence, surely. She must know the effect she has on the man. If Gale harbors feelings for her ( yuck ), even if it were the result of close quarters, Evelyn could use it to her advantage. She had just revealed the effectiveness of similar tactics to him last night, and a powerful wizard would be a powerful ally. 

Whereas, Astarion is just… a vampire spawn. Not even a true vampire. A slave. A nobody.

He rubs his face in frustration. The Sharran did have a point. Astarion may have an insatiable appetite, happy to receive all matters of attention from whatever suitors decide to shower him with it, but what about her? What if Evelyn found him less interesting, less worthy of her time and, subsequently, her protection? 

No. His ego balks at the suggestion. 

Besides, he had felt her lust for him not 24 hours ago. It moved through him as though it was his own, and the taste of her still lingers on his tongue. He heard the hitch in her breath - felt it under his own lips, and reliving the memory still stirs a familiar hunger within him. 

Though, they still haven’t spoken about it. 

The usually quiet, insecure part of him wonders if she’d just rather forget it altogether. He could empathize with that, at least. It’s easy enough for him to imagine their last encounter may have left her feeling disgusted, used.

Guilt worms its way back into his mind, cozying up right next to his tadpole but oh, so much worse . 

He hasn’t felt like this since the beginning of his servitude. He assumed the emotion had been neglected long enough to be left entirely behind him, overshadowed by the threat of whatever new, interesting ways Cazador would think of to torture him at the mere suggestion of disobedience. But here, in the thin veil of safety he’s allowed himself to believe shrouds him, he aches. 

It’s unbecoming.

Instead of resting as he should, Astarion isn’t quite sure how much time he spends ruminating on ways to quietly rid the party of Gale, before he hears the faintest rapping at the canvas of his tent. 

At first, he believes he imagined it, and gives the noise little consideration before settling back into his trance. But then, he hears it again: quick, rapid tapping. A knock. 

It surprises him. He hurriedly moves to stand. In the faint glow of the candlelight, the shadow at his doorstep dances against the closed fabric, smaller than himself and horned. A visit from Evelyn at this hour? Strange.

He undoes the ties and opens his space to her. 

Her hair is undone, dark waves falling over her shoulders and obscuring the marks he gave her. She’s wearing the same clothes she wore to bed last night, the very same black breast band. It smells as if it's been washed, though, with no lingering scent of her blood. Her loose, matching trousers settle high on her waist, just above her navel. She looks exhausted. 

Being run ragged by the events of the day while also having to contend with a missing pint or two of blood may have had more of a negative effect than anticipated. 

Evelyn doesn’t say anything at first, but he catches her eyes glancing at his bare chest before retreating back to his own, cementing themselves there. He raises an eyebrow at her, smirking, and thinks about teasing her. The temptation threatens to get the better of him, but he refrains, not wanting this unexpected visit cut too short. “Need something?”

“I was hoping we could talk.”

Her stare is unwavering, a commitment worthy of admiration.

“Right this way.” Astarion bows slightly towards her, an arm raised behind him to gesture her inside. She steps past him, careful to not brush against his exposed skin. He closes the entrance behind them, shutting out the ambient noise and drowning them in silence. His space is large enough to accommodate himself and his essentials quite comfortably, but it's infinitely smaller with her here.

“I hope I didn’t disturb you.” there is a hoarseness to her voice. She must have woken up just before making her way over.

“No, actually. I was just catching up on some reading.” Not entirely a lie. He had been reading at several points tonight. “What is it you want to discuss? I’m assuming there’s a reason this couldn’t wait until morning, not that I mind.”

“It's about you.”

Oh. No midnight gossip, then.

"I’ve been thinking about how we’re going to continue feeding you.”

“You’ve been up all night tossing and turning because you're concerned about my eating habits?” he responds, unamused, and crosses his arms.

“I have not been tossing and -” she’s about to argue with him, he thinks, but her exasperation causes her to lose her concentration. She breaks eye contact, distracted by the toned curves of his biceps, then snaps her gaze to the floor. “Would you please put on a shirt?”

“Ha!” His laugh is humorless. “I’d like to think we’re well past the point of propriety. Besides, you're in my tent.”

Evelyn pinches the bridge of her nose. “I knew this was a mistake.”

“Come now, darling. Why are you really here?”

She sighs in frustration, as if he should already know.

“I wanted to talk about last night.”

“Ugh, I’ve already apologized. What more do you want?”

A moment passes in uncomfortable silence. He can practically hear the gears grinding in her head as she searches for the right words, and he'd give anything to reach out with his tadpole and take the unfiltered thoughts from her mind. Instead, he takes pity on her.

“Unless, you’re looking for another nibble?” 

It's a joke, a way to clear the tension from the air. Entirely unserious.

She doesn't laugh.

Instead, she looks around the room: first at his assortment of decorative pillows, then to the empty elixir bottles piled in a corner, anywhere but himself. "Well, I - I don’t know.”  She clears her throat. “I just figured after today’s performance, it may be for the best.”

Wait. What?

He stiffens, so taken aback by her suggestion that the elf almost believes he’s still mid-trance. 

“What?” 

“I may be willing to help you again, when necessary.”

She has to be joking.

“You’re joking.”

“No. I’m serious, if it would help.”

“It would.”

“Then, yes.”

They stand almost toe to toe, Astarion once again absorbing her warmth. He hadn’t noticed their height difference the first time they did this, too busy devouring the poor woman like some deranged beast, but it's notable here, on equal footing. Peering up at him, her nose aligns with his collarbones.

"Tonight, then?" she asks.

"Eager, are we?"

She shrugs with indifference, "Just in case we run into any trouble at the goblin camp tomorrow."

The very picture of practicality. What else did he expect?

"Alright, then."

"Alright."

That nagging sensation begins to tug at him again - the very same one he felt as he had stepped out of her tent last night. A weak but unshakeable tension, like a magnet, uncomfortable as it is alluring. The force of it draws his body closer to hers where she stands, hands clenched into fists at her sides.

Underneath her calm exterior, Evelyn’s heart is pounding. Though her breaths are steady, controlled, he can hear it from where he stands. For a moment, those are the only sounds filling the space between them, until the tiefling speaks up.

“You’re tall, for an elf.”

An oddly-timed observation, but a true one. His brother, Petras, was always outwardly envious of him for it. Though, he's not sure why it sounds so flattering coming from her lips.

“How kind of you to notice.” 

She scans the room, searching for something, until she spots the table. Her fingers run along the dark ringlets in the wood, tracing the hardened puddles of forgotten wax, until they reach his heaping pile of books. She taps her fingertips on his leather bound copy of Bumpo . 

“May I?” 

He nods, unsure of what’s been asked of him. 

Evelyn gathers the novels in her arms before piling them carefully onto the floor in a few leveled stacks, clearing the space. ”That should be enough room for one of us to sit,” she says, evenly. 

Then, there is a heavy silence; anticipation. It hangs in the air thick as smoke, twice as suffocating. She's only taken a few steps from him, but it’s as though she’s crossed an ocean. The distance between them begins to develop its own gravitational pull, making the hairs on his arms stand on end.

“Whatever’s most comfortable, dear."

The tiefling nods, then plants herself on the table’s surface, legs hanging over the edge. Evelyn is now eye-level with him, her irises glossy; catching and reflecting what little light dances off the few remaining candles beside her.

She tilts her head at him, expectantly. Her face remains neutral - practiced, as though she feels nothing at all; as if she isn’t trying to drive him mad.

She’s back to playing her little games.

Fine.

Astarion’s posture straightens as he strides towards her, confidently closing their distance. He places his hands at her sides, not quite touching her, but still close enough to feel the heat emanating from her body, even through her clothes.  

“Now, where would you like it?” The question sounds innocent enough, but the double meaning is not lost on her. 

Her grip tightens at the table’s edge, knuckles whitening. 

His head tilts downwards, looming over her like a predator, and the scent of vanilla invades his nostrils. The sweetness settles on his palate before spreading across his tongue, coating it with a rum-like burn. He runs the flavor over the sharp edges of his teeth.

"I could do it here," he whispers, dipping his nose and running the tip of it along her nape. He quietly revels in how she prickles beneath him, her body betraying her feigned indifference.

"Or, here." One of his thumbs trace the flat of her wrist in slow, circular motions, causing the pulse beneath it to flutter.

"Or…" His other hand slides atop her knee, fingers gripping and parting her thighs just slightly…

She snaps them shut.

"Just do it, dickhead."

He hums a laugh. 

“As you wish.” 

The cool brush of Astarion’s lips on her neck has Evelyn’s heart racing, a frantic drum beating against his ears. It’s just as intoxicating as he remembers, threatening to muddle the edges of his mind. “Just try to keep still for me.” he whispers.

The warning is sincere, but the stubborn woman misinterprets him. Thinking he’s toying with her, she opens her mouth, intent on insulting him, but stops short, whining pitifully when his fangs break the surface of her skin. Her body flinches at the initial discomfort, but otherwise remains virtually motionless; compliant.

Drinking from her now feels like an entirely new experience. This time, he anticipates the raging current - knows how to find his footing. Rather than being ripped under, it feels as though Astarion is floating, enveloped in warmth unlike any he’s ever known. At best, he would imagine it similar to a hug, had he ever been on the receiving end of one.

He begins to lap at the wound to keep it from closing, the press and drag of his tongue drawing out a few small, involuntary twitches from the girl. She’s being so good for him, staying put like she’d been told; fighting her own restlessness, the urge to squirm in place.

If only she would allow him to reward her, to offer his body in exchange for this endless parade of favors, he would take the chance in a heartbeat. It would be so, so easy with her, unlike any miserable encounter he’d been forced into partaking in the last few centuries. He knows he would enjoy her body, along with all the lovely little sounds she would make for him; the temporary bliss.

And it would be a fair price to pay for keeping him safe, fed, and warm . 

The mental image has Astarion’s hand moving without his knowledge, too engrossed to notice his own palm caressing the side of her face. His thumb traces the edge of her cheek as he holds her there, allowing the weight of her head to rest against his fingers. Dark strands of hair brush against his knuckles, bringing him back to the present.

He thinks Evelyn hasn’t noticed yet, believes himself safe to correct the mistake without any mutual discomfort.

Which leaves him infinitely more overwhelmed when her smaller hand grazes up the length of his arm, wrapping it around his wrist to keep it in place. Her body relaxes into his touch, seemingly more grounded. 

The intimacy is like a punch to the chest.

She’s suddenly too close for comfort. It’s claustrophobic - suffocating, strangling him along with whatever sense he had left, apparently. That damned vanilla, the dizzying scent of her blood -

Air, he thinks, I just need some fresh air.

Astarion pulls away from her, readying an apology and an excuse to swiftly dismiss the woman. 

But when Evelyn meets his gaze, the words die prematurely.  

She is a vision , freckles dappling her skin like star-covered porcelain, now flushed red from nose to cheeks. The whites of her eyes have gone glossy, dazed and dream-like, tempting him further into her space.

Her tongue darts out to wet her parted lips, the small gesture commanding his attention. He finds himself entirely fixated on them, as if it would take another life-altering, unnatural disaster to pull his focus away. 

Evelyn’s lashes flutter in recognition, then she quickly releases his wrist. The residual heat fades before he can appreciate it, leaving him cold once again. 

“Oh, sorry.” 

“My apologies."

Their speech overlaps, then silence fills the room again, and they are left to stare at each other. His hands suddenly feel much too idle at his sides, itching. He throws on a polite smile, a familiar mask, but the expression doesn't quite reach his eyes.

Astarion has never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. His hunger is sated, and he should feel satisfied. He should feel like a new man. 

So why, then, does he only feel this intolerable weight in his chest?

Why does his stomach turn at the idea of her so carelessly offering herself up to any vampire spawn, let alone himself , despite the obvious danger? 

Why is he so deeply frustrated by her lack of self preservation?

Isn’t this exactly what he wanted; to have her crawling back for more?

He can't help but wonder if this sudden apprehension is part of her little plan: to confuse him, drive him to distraction, then bring him to his knees like every other unfortunate man she’s had in her sights before robbing them and tossing them aside.

Out-seducing a vampire would admittedly be an admirable feat, but why? What could her angle be, when Astarion has nothing to offer her? 

“Are you alright? You look… lost.” 

He blinks back to the present. 

“I - ” He coughs, " Ahem . Yes, dear. Of course.” 

Hot, crimson streaks drip down the sharp bone of his chin. He springs into action, away from her unfavorable concern, and grabs his nightshirt from off the floor behind him. He has just the one, beautifully embroidered and sewn back together countless times by his own hands, now being used in place of a common napkin. 

Evelyn gasps. The sound is like ice, piercing his chest when he realizes his mistake. The devil’s never seen him without a shirt on before now. Meaning, she had never bore witness to the elaborate poem carved into his back - ugly, raised scars painting his flesh and soiling his otherwise perfectly sculpted muscle. 

He regrets not humoring her request to redress earlier. 

The elf plays off the noise as if he hadn’t heard it, turning to hand her the clothes and hoping she knows better than to mention anything of it. She silently takes the garment from him and places it where he had bitten her. A blooming red stain soaks into the pale fabric. He’ll have to work on getting it out for the next several days, if it decides to come out at all.

Evelyn finally moves to stand, teetering a bit from lightheadedness. Astarion reaches out to steady her, but she shakes her head, declining. 

“I’m okay.”

He retracts his hand. The damned thing’s gotten him into enough trouble tonight already. 

“Well then, you should get some rest.” 

She scoffs, “Wow, not even a thank you?”

He lowers his voice, practically growling at her, “My dear, if you’d allow me to properly thank you, you wouldn’t be leaving this tent. Maybe not for the next week, if I’m feeling generous.”

A pretty little flush once again spreads across her face. He’s rather pleased with himself, thinking he’s finally stunned her. 

“And if you weren’t feeling generous?”

Rising to meet him, then. She is playing a very dangerous game.

Astarion closes what little distance there is left between them and grabs her face by the jaw, grip firm . The force has her stumbling, the back of her thighs meeting the hard edge of the table. Wood digs into her skin as the legs grate loudly against his decorative rugs, shifting from the sudden push.

Evelyn’s eyes shut, brows furrowed and panting as she clutches his forearms to steady herself.

To his wicked delight, she does not pull away.

His thumb drags over her bottom lip. The effort she’s expending not to whine at his gentle touch has him reeling. Her skin burns beneath his palms. 

“Then, I’d strip you, tie your limbs to this desk,” he murmurs against her lips, before tilting to whisper his confession hot in her ear. 

“And you wouldn’t be leaving this tent. Ever . ”

He abruptly releases her, turning away and waving her off. 

“Now, go. We have a big day tomorrow.”

Not sparing the woman a glance, he begins gathering his books and setting them back onto the table beside her.

She says nothing in response, but he hears her tear open the entrance to his tent and step out into the night.

[stari-hun]

The Atlas : Scrapbook

The tone of the captions within the Atlas imply that narrator for them has a level of omniscience the newest one doesn’t have (1.4 patch and onwards).

[In Our Time], “The apostles got closer without making a sound. The apostles of heaven roared as the light shone through the hole. Many saw me off. It's time to make a choice.”

The text shows dialogue similar to a persons thought process, it's not similar to anyone who's present in the scene besides Druvis iii herself, but it is something she could've thought at another time. The CG here illustrates as Druvis iii fights our main characters. But it also shows the possible common thread/theme for reaching Insight 2. My theory is that Insight 2 is the peak of a character's power and introspection into themselves. In this scene she shows a Manus version of her Insight 2 outfit when she had chosen her path in life out of bitterness towards humans, and to go back in the Storm with the Manus. In 2.6 after seeing the Rowan twig still had a will to continue on underneath it's charring, Druvis iii decided to do the same and join Vertin to stop the Storm. This also shows the nature of people within the Manus as a whole as well, and how they can be people who started off friendly to arcanists then becoming a danger to them when they don't align to their own views.

[Tender Is the Night] shows the caption “What are these to those humans? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's curious.” It connects the conversation between Vertin and the Manus while directly relates to the scene happening at Sotheby’s house. It’s a nod to the [Player], directly addressing us as they mention Manus isn’t the only one curious about what humans truly value.

[Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien], “This is not even a punishment for her.”

The starting scene in Book 3, [Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien], shows Vertin's attitude and personality as a child. The entire book shows the reader and audience how she was apathetic towards authority, and unlike her peers (Matilda, Mesmer Jr, and most importantly, Sonetto) she didn't follow authority without reason. She follows Madam Z and Tooth Fairy because they helped her, and we see Tooth Fairy allude to on many occasions how she became a close adult figure to Vertin. Alongside Madam Z, they were the guiding forces in her childhood while teaching her how to be a functional person. We learn the most about Vertin's personality in this book, and in the opening scene as the first thing the book decides to show us about her is that silent isolation time isn't a punishment to her.

[El Oro de los Tigres], “Through the flourishing vines and leaves, people finally remember where she comes from.”

This is where we first see Druvis iii's insight 2 form after her leaving the Manus and her decision to live for the future. The text references Druvis's own dialogue and the manner she speaks in, but also references how Constantine talked about Vertin's group of refugee arcanists. Referencing how Constantine had referred to them as unenlightened and unrestrained arcanists behind her back before Druvis and the others proved how "unstable" arcanists truly are. Lilya also showed this nature in the chapter as she broke Vertin out of Laplace, notably as Mesmer Jr had a panic attack from the outburst of violence, the caption from [The Atlas] shows how arcanists are liberated by the use of their power.

Book 5, [The Prisoner in the Cave] captions “Cast off your shell, enter the silence. The answer you seek is within reach.”

The caption from [The Atlas] here mentions the answer Vertin seeks is within her reach, but not the truth. The answer to why the island was shrouded in mystery as well as the mysterious rules being enforced by arcane creatures, but not the truth behind the Storm.