#thank you Brinn

[brinnanza]

see the thing about the whole autistics take everything literally is that we don't actually take everything literally obviously many of us love wordplay no the thing that people MEAN when they say we take everything literally is that we believe what you tell us.

it is never the first impulse (for me at least) that something is a joke or a lie unless I already have evidence. take the grade school gullible is written on the ceiling. you look and the other person laughs at how gullible you are. except in my brain, and I suspect many other autistics as well, things are assumed true unless proven otherwise. and probably some of it for me is just like decades of extreme gaslighting until i became unable to trust my own experiences, memories, and sensations but also it's like... most of the time when people speak to you it is with some degree of authority, whether that is professional or an opinion they really have or their interpretation of something. so without any reason to suspect otherwise, I'm going to believe you.

and yes this is dangerous and yes this makes it very easy to be taken advantage of and yes it does sorta come around to becoming suspicious of everything all the time which is exhausting but maybe the klonopin will sort it out but my point is. in terms of autistics taking things literally. we are the ones being normal about human communication jokes are fun but man you gotta telegraph that or you just sound like a moron "haha it's a joke" no baby that's a lie you think is funny a joke requires a set up and an inversion of expectation you received a reaction that was reasonable for the given stimulus that's just cause and effect do you find the lightswitch equally compelling???

[idrisofficial]

i don’t think you’ve posted enough about the fucked up love square between adrian brinne kori and zuri. also kori and zuri deserve to hold hands and blush

ohh this is true. i will now begin to explain it to my audience of probably one (1) who already knows everything about it.

heartbreaking: mentally ill star crossed noble lovers are betrothed to absolute cinnamon rolls who don’t understand why their fiancés don’t love them.

in all seriousness it is pretty messed up. brinne and adrian went through an abundance of childhood trauma together and latched onto each other like the codependent traumabonded almost-gays that they are. despite being the children of the most respected people in the entire country, all of the other nobles hated them during childhood, and honestly still do, so they’re all each other has ever had. after brinne started distancing herself from adrian following artemis’s massacre, she practically lost her mind from the sheer isolation without him. even when she warms up to adrian again, it takes time for her to be able to genuinely open up to him like she did as a teenager. they both just kind of vaguely angst and then fuck nasty about it in the castle’s chapel.

and then right in the middle of her healing kori enters. and it gets So Much Worse. brinne adopted naturally hostile responses to most people even before the trauma of the massacre, so you can imagine that her reactions to new people are not so welcoming. yes she was somewhat prepared to meet the person she’s been betrothed to since childhood, but she was not expecting him to be seventeen. she was not expecting him to be a golden retriever boy who everyone fawns over. she was not expecting him to fall head over heels in love with her two seconds after seeing her. he’s the perfect guy, and she’s pissed. she has no trouble making sure kori knows that the sight of him repulses her. kori isn’t entirely oblivious (brinne is blunt as hell), but he stays optimistic through all of this. he’s definitely upset that his fiancée doesn’t love him, but wants to do his best to make her at least like him, so he keeps shooting his shot. he does not have the mind for politics, and while most of the nobles love him, none of them care about him enough to really get to know him. he’s extremely lonely and misses home. he just kind of wanders around confused most of the time, making it look like he’s happy and well-adjusted. kori also knows nothing about brinne’s affair with adrian, even though the entire noble court knows. none of them have the heart to tell him.

zuri is adrian’s fiancée. she’s a little different. she’s reserved and sweet and disciplined, and has tried to foster a good relationship with adrian for years. they just…don’t click. they’re too similar in too many ways for their relationship to truly be comfortable. zuri was also extremely shy as a child, and adrian was usually busy, so the two never developed a relationship early on. she knows about brinne and adrian’s affair, and has been aware of it since only a little while after it started. brinne and adrian were by no means subtle, and the nobles’ whispers about it became much louder over time. everyone pities her deeply, but no one wants to actually say anything about it. zuri tries to ignore it. she seeks adrian out and does nice things for him and tries to make herself attractive to him in all different ways. girl has tried everything at this point. it’s not working, and adrian feels awful about it. unlike brinne, he has a real connection to his obligations, and he also just values zuri deeply as a person. he can see how hard she’s trying and he wants to like her so, so bad. his demisexuality gets in the way of a lot of it, too (not that he knows what that is). zuri has no comfort, no real friends, and no support. she is putting everything into a relationship she knows is doomed to fail. adrian and zuri are a tragic couple and if they were given time and a little more anger inside, they would probably end up something like the alpha couple from tmg’s tallahassee album.

see, brinne and adrian are deeply in love and ultimately have no romantic interest in their fiancés. and kori and zuri are both the sweetest people ever and are distraught that their fiancés don’t love them back. in addition to this, kori and zuri’s personalities would match completely and they would likely give way to a relationship that helps them grow as people. the age gap between them is also smaller (still not great but it’s a fantasy story what do you want from me) and their life ideals match so much better together. i should just pair them up and let them be happy together, right? right? that would solve all the problems? or at least a lot of them? right?

well. i refuse to let anyone be happy. hope this helps :)

[shrimpydinks]

A poster I made for @ohshitsherry and their Character Brinn! By far one of my favourite characters of theirs, right next to Dollar. Both of the characters hold a special place in my heart and Greycity itself continues to inspire me every single day. So thank you Sherry! Your art and your work continues to be incredible so please, never stop cooking

[stokesy55]

:(((

I hate kevin so much! 🤬 Just when things were looking up for Stu, he has to go dig himself a new hole. Also, it's disgusting that of all the people in the world, it's Kevin who's the first to know Stu's secret. He didn't even get to tell Finny :((( And I hate that he had to split with Steven, and break his friendship with Jim and Ali. They were getting along so well too. 🥲 When Stu was panicking about whether Kevin had accidentally bonded him, I was horrified and praying so hard that that wasn't the case. Please tell me that Stu won't be bonded to Kevin at any point in time, please he deserves so much better than than 😭😭😭

Onto some happier stuff, I liked the part about Jossy getting attached to Stu, like awww that's going to be a very sweet friendship in the future 🥰🥰 And the Brokes scene ooomph! 🥵🥵 I love Ben being the romantic, only-one-omega type of alpha, and offering to protect Stui. Sigh. He's such a cutie patootie 🥺 Still rooting for Brinn to get back together though 😝🤣 But Brokes is slowly worming it's way into my heart, thanks to you!

Loved this chapter, can't wait for the next one! Happy writing! 🩷🩷

He is not a nice cookie :( it absolutely sucks for Stu that, after all he did the pull away from KP, he’s been dragged straight back in 😭

Jos is super interesting because Stu can see his and Freddie’s relationship in how Jos acts around him but he’s also so intrigued by the omega because he’s doing what Stuart never did - being openly out.

I like Ben being kind of opposite to how you would expect him to be. He seems the type that, when he was younger, would have slept around a bit, so making him the romantic, soulmates type it fun to play with a different side of him. We’ll get more of this in a later work :)

Thank you so much for the comment! So glad you’re enjoying the series 🥰

[fowlfics]

Ten questions for writers

Thank you so much for the tag, @katia-anyway !

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

At the moment of writing this post, 253!

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

I just broke 700k with my last fic :3c

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Whichever one I'm obsessed with at the moment xD Currently, I am thoroughly within One Piece's grip. Before that, there was BNHA, but I have written for a couple other fandoms in far smaller quantities before.

4. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I used to! But it became overwhelming fairly soon. Moreover, a lot of the comments I get are simple emojis or "this was cute!" and while i do appreciate them - of course i do! it always brightens my day to see them! - i find myself at a loss as to how to respond. I don't like seeing a chain of my own "thank you!" comments responding in the same way to everyone, and it feels like i'm cheating somehow, like i'm artificially inflating my comments count ajsdhkajh So nowdays I usually only respond if someone asks a question or says something that I feel I can respond to with something more substantial than just a "thank you <3"

5. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge (unless I am forgetting, which is also possible lol)

6. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh, yes, plenty! Lemme dig up the receipts. Most notably there was a ton of fic telephones in Fic Fight '22 which I'm still not certain if I've got all of them jotted down xD

Then there was that one Stain & Aizawa & Izuku & Katsuki longfic we had started with (listing in the order on our tracking spreadsheet) Addri, myself, LadyE, Blanc, Sophy, Ryuka and Kooky! We initially started it as a November NaNoWriMo challenge back in 2022 (inspired by the joint Whumptober completionist thing NWA did) and we've got up to 40k before life had caught up xD

OH and of course the NWA Two Perspectives in Feb 2023, where both Brinn and I wrote 11k of the same EraserMic fic (fic 1)(fic 2) each in one person's POV, it was a lot of fun!

Other then those, there might have been instances of me co-writing with someone, but I do not recall them! (my memory is a sieve, if you wrote a fic with me and i forgor pls don't take it personally :crypuddle:)

7. what’s your all-time favourite ship?

There isn't one! I am a notorious multishipper, and I'll ship anything that moves in the vicinity of my current blorbo (cough cough Sabo the Revolutionary and April O'Neil being the. current victim of that)

The ranking of my fav ships switches pretty much hourly, with individual blorbos taking a longer time (it's been a mix of Sabo, Ace, Luffy and Law in any order for the past half a year or so) and fandoms being the slowest to rollover (BNHA to OP pipeline across 4 years)

8. what are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm a speed demon xD You Are Loved (13k) got written over the first four days since my joining of MDL. I prefer to go all-in on a fic idea the moment I think of it!

9. what are your writing weaknesses?

If I let a story idea stagnate, I'll have to wait until I'm in the mood for that particular fic to write it again, and it could take months. I write fast, sure, but it doesn't exactly work if I have no words to put down on the page xD My writing is very motivation-based, which sucks for any kind of a schedule but alas, I deal with it

10. first fandom you wrote for?

Hmm I believe that'd be Danny Phantom! I've written entries for Phannymay back in 2017, but I have since moved those to an alt AO3 account due to the fact that I barely knew english at the time and didn't want those on my record xD

Tagging: @mangogreent @portgas-d-aroace @taizi @swordsmans @ceramicwings hi pookies <3

[stoookes]

Just read the latest chapter of Omegaverse and goddamn that was one hell of a ride! 😳😳

Firstly, I loved that Stu and Ali's friend group grew closer! Stu really deserved to stop pretending for Kevin's sake, and be among people who liked and accepted him for how he was. Also, kudos to Ali for persisting with Stu!

I loved the whole scene with England finally introducing an omega to the squad, but instead of announcing who it is, like BCCI with VK, they kept it secret like NZC with Tim. Ngl I thought it would be Joe, but it being Jos threw me completely, I never saw that coming! Stuart protecting Jos (yay!) and the J2 feels are already jumping out, I hope my baby Josephs atleast escape the angst? 🥺 Nothing but good things for them please 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

The Stu and Kevin confrontation was chef's kiss and then Brinn! Ahhhh that was quite possibly my favourite part of not just this chapter, but also the entire fic (okay second favourite, VK's introduction edges this out by a tiiiiny margin bc I can't resist cute baby fiery omega 🥹) I just adore Stuart and Steven's relationship, the way Stu trusts that Finny won't mind him being omega. They're so cute together 🥰

And then the last part of the chapter! Ugh I hate Kevin so much, and the dub con really made me shudder and feel so bad for Stu, being forced into such a rotten situation 😭 well done with the writing here! 😁 And then Kevin finding out Stu's secret 😭😭😭😭 please tell me he's gonna be fine?? jimmy do something, ali do something, author do something, someone do something I can't bear Stu being put through more shit please no no no no no no you can't do that to him please 😭

Can't wait for the next chapter, I'm dying to find out how the situation with Kevin resolves itself, and I'm also really eager for you to explore Brinn further. And can't wait for VK to properly show up too!

Lovely chapter, love your writing and excited for more! 💖❤️💗

ahaha - just a little bit of a rollercoaster 😂

Ali always knew Stuart was a good egg under the surface, pretending to fit in with Kevin and co for some reason. He's so grateful when Stuart opts to start spending time with them rather than Kevin and so proud when he stands up for Stevie 🥰

You just know the hiding was Ali's idea. ECB definetly wanted to make a big thing of it like BCCI did but Ali will be incredibly aware of how VK was treated/seen when he was announced. He wouldn't want that on a young player (especially one like Jos who is already having a hard time with feeling like they're good enough) so pushed HARD for the omega to be announced but stay anonymous.

It's so interesting because I was worried the Brinn would feel a bit shoe-horned in considering this is the first chapter Steve is even mentioned, but it does just work because Brinny just works 🥰 Stuart just knows; no one has ever treated him like Steve does. He can do odd things for an alpha and Steve just accepts it, accepts him. Not even Freddie did that.

Kevin certainly knows what he was and there is very little he won't do to get it 😓 It's another scene I'm glad doesn't feel forced because I obviously knew where it needed to get to, but I guess we've already established KP as a very cut throat character, so this vein of revenge on Stuart feels very natural. Don't think even he thought he was going to get this reveal though!

I'm not sure you want the author to do something... It was me who put Stui in this predicament in the first place 😅

Chp7 is already in the works because of how it flows on from this one, so hopefully the wait isn't too long for an update! Thanks again for your lovely comment and for reading - so glad you're still enjoying it 🥹

[designorconsign]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Pair Brinn’s Blue and White Porcelain Victorian Shoes / Boots.

[mirandamckenni1]

Liked on YouTube: How Capitalism Stole the Internet || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLLxpAZzy0s || I look at the history of the internet, from ARPANET & NSFNET, through privatization, to Tim-Berners Lee, Yahoo, Netscape, Google, eBay, and Facebook, examining Microsoft's antitrust court case and their battle against Open Source and Free Software, Bill Gate's Open Letter to Hobbyists and the leaked Halloween Documents. Then we take a look at the emergence of Surveillance Capitalism, and how platforms like AirBnb & Uber coopt the idea of the community and lobby politicians. Finally, we take a look at some alternatives. Thank you to @WereInHell @zoe_bee @Tom_Nicholas @EpochPhilosophy @RadicalReviewer @unlearningeconomics9021 @PoliticalPhilosophyChannel for their help with this video. Bibliography: https://ift.tt/q4it6Fr Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction to the History of the Internet 04:06 – Building the Net 20:37 – The Browser Wars (Microsoft vs the United States) 44:35 – The Californian Ideology (eBay, Yahoo, Google and the Libertarian Mind) 01:07:26 – The Raiding of Privacy (Surveillance Capitalism) 01:18:05 – Facebook 01:26:07 – The Theft of the Community (Airbnb & Uber) 01:40:31 – No Place (Utopian Dreams) 01:49:38 – Open Source vs Microsoft 01:59:24 – Conclusion: Politics, Policy, and Alternatives Then & Now is FAN-FUNDED! Support me on Patreon and pledge as little as $1 per video: https://ift.tt/O5rutPz Or send me a one-off tip of any amount and help me make more videos: https://ift.tt/r48DqTK Buy on Amazon through this link to support the channel: https://amzn.to/2ykJe6L Follow me on: Facebook: https://ift.tt/AzGVcX4 Instagram: https://ift.tt/CgE2r9y Twitter: https://twitter.com/lewlewwaller Subscribe to the podcast: https://ift.tt/OxMKbmP https://ift.tt/5IisFvd Credits: Babbage Engine video - Seth Ladd, CC BY 3.0, https://ift.tt/aLq5DT4, via Wikimedia Commons Pierre Omydar photo - Joi 15:42, 2 August 2007 (UTC), CC BY 2.0, https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons Yahoo Sign, Beraldo Leal from Natal / RN, Brazil, CC BY 2.0, https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons Page & Brinn photo, Ehud Kenan, CC BY 2.0 https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons Yahoo sign photograph, Sebastian Bergmann, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://ift.tt/dh6vkZG, via Wikimedia Commons Napster Screenshot, Njahnke, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://ift.tt/iv3W79o, via Wikimedia Commons Sean Fanning, Joi Ito, CC BY 2.0 https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons Metallica photo, Kreepin Deth, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://ift.tt/iv3W79o, via Wikimedia Commons Bill Gates portrait, By Kuhlmann /MSC - https://ift.tt/nRtg4I7, CC BY 3.0 de, https://ift.tt/reqlt45 Richard Stallman Photograph, Sam Williams, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://ift.tt/3paCzNb, via Wikimedia Commons GNU Manifesto, Raghavendra Kamath, CC BY 4.0, https://ift.tt/Qgq8Mjw, via Wikimedia Commons Linus Torvalds photo, Unknown photographer who sold rights to the picture to linuxmag.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://ift.tt/3paCzNb, via Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia globe, Slashme, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://ift.tt/iv3W79o, via Wikimedia Commons Wikimania, Rory O'Connor, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://ift.tt/iv3W79o , via Wikimedia Commons Bill Gates photograph, Kees de Vos from The Hague, The Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://ift.tt/dh6vkZG, via Wikimedia Commons Mark Andreessen photo, JD Lasica, CC BY 2.0 https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons AOL disc, Thiago A. from Brazil, CC BY 2.0 https://ift.tt/iqK9Zln, via Wikimedia Commons Ebay photo, Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://ift.tt/iv3W79o, via Wikimedia Commons

[bronzetomatoes]

"i wish i could trade my boobs, for like, a crisp $5 bill"

[jaynovz]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💖

lol yall are gonna hate this, these are basically all angst/fucked up-- a stained glass variation of the truth aka the Silver backstory: 

This is my fucking... heart and soul. A character study and a writing exercise, just one potential “what happened to Silver,” by no means a definitive take since that doesn’t exist. But I wrote this to get into his head more, or to have him get into mine maybe lmao, to fully embrace and understand him as a character as much as possible. It was hard, excessively researched, gave me fits, and was fucking PAINFUL EMOTIONALLY lol but I love it to pieces.

Also was the first podfic if you would rather listen.

in this garden there’s no feeling aka Hanahaki/flowers au:

This might actually be the piece I’m most proud of from a technical and story angle. Got to explore the Howell-Silver dynamic the way I always wanted while executing the hanahaki trope in... a very Silver-y way. 

This is not for the faint of heart lol.

the sweetest devotion, hitting me like an explosion aka Cupcakes:

Funny, sweet, and sad all at the same time. The baker Flint and guitarist Silver rom com, complete with an INTENSIVE beat for beat structure that like, god I’m so fucking proud of. I love this verse intensely, basically the only time they get a happy ending :P

hand in unlovable hand aka The Worst Ending AU:

What it says on the tin lads. What I find to be the most likely interpretation of the ending of Black Sails and my first true collab with Brinn. Holds a very special place in my heart and it’s guaranteed to break yours.

Also exists in podfic form.

darkness in his fingertips, eyes just the same aka Kill Billy:

I finally got to kill Billy Bones and “fix” canon, in a sense. MadiSilverFlint budding ot3, just... full on Dark Mode Silver which was... so satisfying to lean into. This may be the most cathartic thing I’ve ever written.

--

Thanks for the ask, mwah

[brinnanza]

so I've been seeing this guy for a little while it started off as work and now it's just some weird kinky thing we're doing anyway I'm not exactly in the closet for anyone but I'm willing to do girl drag if it makes my life easier ykwim anyway I really like him etc whatever but the point is hes like, a straight dude right like when we met I was doing girl drag but it turns out we're exactly the same kind of crazy so I'm not bothering with the drag so much and I am watching this man become bisexual by sheer force of will I can see him testing out little gender things to see if he's cool with them like this dude likes me so much that he wants to respect my gender so rather than secretly view me as a woman he's apparently decided he's just gonna make himself okay with being with a guy

[idrisofficial]

well now i am curious abt this “sexuality rant” 👀👀

NOOO DONT ENABLE ME…😈😈😈

brinndrian are the queerest “straight” couple to exist in the history of ever i think. i put straight in quotes for a variety of reasons, most of all because adrian is actually demi, but also because of idris’s general concept of sexuality. i really wanted to create a universe with some societal gender fuckery going around, so i built idris as a society where bisexuality is the norm and gender is considered to a much lesser degree than one might expect. the expectation of bisexuality comes with a culture that is also much more accepting of people not wanting kids— generally, it’s standard practice that people who want children will pursue opposite sex relationships and people who don’t will pursue same sex relationships.

this is kind of a chain reaction for the degree of sexuality people expect within individual relationships as well. people tend to associate opposite sex couples with more sexuality than same sex couples, because of the “choice” evident in the pursuit. nobles don’t get a choice in their future spouses as they are all betrothed heterosexually, but this culture still carries over. …which is to preface that brinne and adrian likely would have gotten in far less trouble if they had been a same sex couple. still considerably more than even an average pair of forbidden noble lovers, because they are at the very top of nobility, but if they were gay it would have been more easily brushed off.

brinne and adrian’s relationship begins in a place of completely innocent childhood friendship, as a respite from both of them being shunned by all their other peers. there’s an intense devotion embedded early on in their relationship because of their deep loneliness and contrasting personalities; with each other, they feel whole.

their coming to terms with sexuality in their early teen years is an awkward thing. brinne has never met her fiancé (who happens to be five years younger than her anyways — a big difference when one of them isn’t even a teenager yet), and adrian knows for a fact that he isn’t attracted to his fiancée (zuri) either. adrian feels immense guilt for his discomfort around zuri, but there’s something constantly repulsed in him by her many romantic advances. adrian is even more cognizant of this once brinne begins to reveal her own romantic intentions, and he feels very differently about her. for adrian, his demisexuality really stems from a place of vulnerability; when he is able to unmask his layers of repression and also experience someone else placing their full trust in him with their own insecurities, attraction comes to him much easier and much faster. of course, being as anxious as he is, he has no courage to make any first moves with brinne, but when she makes her intentions clear, adrian is happy to reciprocate.

the analysis of brinndrian’s romantic/sexual escapades from brinne’s perspective is totally different. brinne is a person who feels a lot of emotions and feels them amplified tenfold. it barely even crosses her mind not to act on her attraction. yes, there’s a small element of her questioning whether it would ruin their relationship, but ultimately, she can’t not tell him how she feels. and as soon as adrian indicates that he feels the same way, brinne has no hesitations about taking things to the next level. in fact, she’s only spurred on by adrian’s apprehension about pursuing something romantic. sexuality, to brinne, becomes another means of rebellion: by pursuing adrian, she’s not only satisfying her romantic/sexual needs, but also spiting her parents and everyone else trying to force her into the conformity of typical noble relationships.

brinne doesn’t bother to hide anything from anyone, much to adrian’s chagrin. this is where their relationship gets a little more ambiguous. in most regards, their relationship is wholly consensual, but there are times when power dynamics and communication issues do impede the “wholesomeness,” so to speak, of their relationship. adrian is devoted to brinne not only as his sole source of companionship, but also as her servant. ultimately, she is the heir to the throne, and she will be his monarch. adrian certainly feels the weight of this even when they are teenagers, but is too nervous to breach the subject with brinne. brinne maybe thinks about this in passing a few times, but the power dynamic is hardly on her radar. to her, the future high priest of idris is virtually on the same level as the future monarch. while in terms of power she’s correct enough, in terms of social dynamics she couldn’t be more wrong. brinne also consistently disregards adrian’s concerns about their romantic relationship becoming obvious to other nobles. brinne invites and welcomes this judgment because she’s accepted that the noble court will never view her in a positive light, but adrian is still worried about the repercussions for both himself and brinne. whenever he brings this up, brinne ignores him. it’s shitty on her part, and adrian doesn’t have the strength to push it, even when he’s certain it’ll turn out for the worse.

after artemis’s massacre and brinne’s withdrawal from…everything, the landscape of their relationship is completely changed. brinne tries to sever everything between them because she can’t bear to be vulnerable anymore, and she knows that she won’t be able to keep from breaking down in adrian’s presence. adrian is crushed. after seven years of close friendship, three years of a romantic relationship, and the recent onslaught of trauma that’s left him newly disabled and with PTSD, brinne abandoning him is the one thing he just can’t take. especially when he sees her in pain and knows that he could help, and she still pushes him away. this is made significantly worse when brinne starts to use religion as a coping mechanism, as she goes to the chapel frequently and proceeds to act like nothing ever happened between her and adrian. adrian does actually manage to express his disheartenment about it, but brinne closes herself off emotionally so thoroughly that it barely reaches her.

in every iteration of the story’s plot, there has been an important aspect of brinndrian’s reunion. at this point i don’t really consider one draft or another to be the “actual” version of the story, so there isn’t really a concrete place about where they end up, but it’s pretty inevitable that they magnetize again. they can only function so long forcefully breaking their codependency. also they’re still horny for each other and that’s not going away. so. let’s be real it probably happens through a spontaneous chapel hookup

[clumsy-wonderland]

Little Bird of Betrayal - Part 5

Pairing: Fili x OC Word count: 5357 Applied warnings: Swearing and a bit of blood and panic at the end there, but nothing crazy. The author’s quick note: Finally some interaction between Brinn and Fili in this one. And a big thank you to @jester-junk for generously stepping in as my temporary beta-reader for this chapter and all the great advise she gave and @scyllas-revenge for supplying me with a brilliant line that she so gracefully allowed me to steal from her!

Tagging: @fizzyxcustard @faeriefics @jester-junk @i-did-not-mean-to @guardianofrivendell 

Previous Part - Next Part - Masterlist

The morning was bright and clear on the day of their departure. Brinn wanted to wait for the Wizard, but the Dwarves insisted on leaving at the crack of dawn and so she said nothing while they slipped through the valley, grey shapes in the first light, disappearing from underneath the watchful eyes of the Elves who thought their quest to be a foolish venture.

The previous night, during the velvety silence of sundown, she had questioned the Wizard.

“So, they want the mountain,” she had said to Gandalf, bent over the collection of yellowed maps and dragging a measuring rope across the ink stains on old parchment. “Why are you meddling in their affairs?”

“That mountain troubles me, Brinn. Oh, yes, it troubles me greatly, not just because of the serpent that lies there, but for its strategic position.”

She had absentmindedly tapped a finger against an intricately carved compass, seeing the needle jump to life, and glanced up to find an absent look in those all-knowing eyes. “What position?”

“Soon the days will grow darker and the light will be hard to find when the shadows of lurking evil spread,” the Wizard said, his shoulders dipping low with invisible pressure underneath a threadbare robe. “It is paramount that this quest should not fail, it is of the uttermost importance.”

“Why me?” she had demanded to know, pausing in her search of the quill she had tossed onto the table earlier, the purity of a white swan-feather blinking from its hiding place underneath a map with torn edges. “There are other smugglers who know the way, better even, perhaps, who would serve you just as well.”

Gandalf had displayed that strange half-smile she had never quite gotten used to, the riddles falling from his lips aggravatingly unfamiliar to her usually sharp ears. “After the mountain is won, I will tell you why I have asked you above all others. I fear you will not thank me when that day comes, for this will not be the last time I call upon your help, but it must be done.”

She had shaken her head in disbelief at the puzzles he was spinning and returned her attention to the maps. “I’m not exactly biting at the bit to start this quest of yours, but after it is over, I shall make sure to jack up the price of my sword, so you best find yourself some wealth if you plan on making Kit and I stumble through the mud with you again.”

He had chuckled behind her, but it was a hollow and brittle sound that held no joy, his voice stretched thin with tension when he spoke again. “Brinn, the girl, you must make more of an effort with-“

“Don’t speak to me about Kit!” she had barked out, the sharp bite of frustration welling up inside her stomach that twisted itself into knots.

The memories were still so harsh and blunt, raw and reluctant to heal, skin unwilling to knit itself together over the open wound. Perhaps it would never heal.

“Kit is fine,” she lied, for her clumsy attempts at something that barely resembled love had brought nothing but destruction upon the child.

She thought about that lie during the first day that consisted of manoeuvring across the sloping wasteland of dry grass that crept up to the foot of the nearest mountain, turning steeper with every step until their legs went sour and their aching feet started tripping over rocks and roots springing from the earth. The country was rough and barren, the going was slow, their bodies felt like lead by the time they made camp, hidden in the treeline, and Brinn stopped the Dwarves when they started to tear into the hastily packed food.

“Don’t eat that. There are no animals to shoot in the mountains and no fires can be lit at night to cook anything. We hunt now, save that for later,” she explained, cold and chipped, on one hand not really caring if they grew hungry or not, but on the other not trusting them to stop themselves from rooting through her own pack when their stomachs would start to growl unrelentingly. “Kit.”

The girl rose, slinging a quiver full of arrows over her shoulder.

“Kili!” Thorin called out. “Fili, go with him.”

And then she was stuck. They rarely ever travelled with others, it had been the two of them for so long and they simply remained within eyesight of each other at all times. They couldn’t leave the company of the crownless King to plot and scheme amongst themselves, their packs left behind since they would make too much noise with them to shoot anything - weighing them down, their steps as they trudged through the vegetation too heavy, scaring all the wildlife away. Now Brinn was torn in between leaving their supplies unattended with a group of unfamiliar Dwarves or sending Kit off into the forest by herself with two strangers that she didn’t trust any further than she could spit.

The others saw the hesitation and she recoiled at this momentary sign of weakness and uncertainty that was displayed so clearly. “Go,” she said. “It’s all right.”

Kit hesitated and glanced over her shoulder a few times before she plunged into the thick treeline and disappeared from sight.

Brinn built a fire while she was gone, gently coaxing the wood to life. Each group had their own at a short distance, close enough to keep an eye on each other, far enough to reserve some form of privacy and if she strained her neck she could almost overhear snippets of a conversation whispering through the trees. Kit - an excellent shot on light feet that moved soundlessly - came back with a rabbit in no time at all and Brinn couldn’t bite back the grin that split her face in half when it wasn’t lost on either of the two camps that the Dwarves hadn’t made it back yet. Her Kit was quicker.

The next morning, when they were repacking everything, she clamped her hand around Kit’s arm tighter than a beartrap and pulled her aside. “When we’re up in the mountains, we’re going to be sleeping in the caves with them,” she said while checking the straps and buckles on her niece’s packs. “I want you to put your bedroll next to mine and stay close, every night, you understand? No wandering about.”

“You’re planning on guarding me?”

“Yes.”

Kit snorted. “From a group of Dwarves?”

“From a group of fourteen males that we don’t know nor trust who are going to be stuck in a cave with a young girl all night. Don’t be foolish. Use your brain, it’s in there somewhere.”

“Fine,” Kit mumbled, lifting her pack onto her back with a great grunt of effort, bending her knees to test if she could carry the weight and slapping Brinn’s hand away when she started picking things out of the bags to dump into her own. “I’ve got it, it’s not too heavy.”

They walked and stumbled until they were weary, creeping through the days that looked much the same as the one before, while a bitter cold wind streamed through the trees and their coats seemed unable to keep out its frigid fingers. Slowly, but steadily, the mountains drew nearer, looming over them and bending westwards and when the sunlight slanted upon their peaks tipped with snow, they shimmered.

Their climb was steep and difficult, full of sharp slopes and winding paths, twisting treacherously through the wilderness, carrying them to the edge of a sheer fall from where they could see the bleak valleys below, filled with turbulent waters. At night they heard eerie noises in the darkness, shrill cries and wild howls and dull rumblings whistling over their heads.

“What’s that noise?” a Dwarf whose name she didn’t care to know asked Brinn one day, nervously gazing down into the hidden depths, watching the river disappear in the folds of the darkened land and the clumps of trees melt away in a green haze.

“Giants,” she answered.

He heaved a disagreeable snort through a large nose and shook his head. “Surely not.”

She grinned at his ignorance and said nothing.

There were many paths that led up into the mountains, some were dead ends and most were infested with evil things and dreadful dangers lurking about. Only a handful could take travellers safely through, but those were hard and treacherous, crooked and narrow, long and lonely, carved into the side of the mountain, the threat of falling into the abyss forever present. One could climb for days while the wind cut through skin and bones, howling and echoing, pulling at the boulders that came galloping down the mountain sides.

The days grew colder and clouds hurried overhead, dark and low, heavy with the threat of rain and shrouding the great peaks above, the track carrying them along the edge of a deep ravine to the right. Rivendell was now a forgotten speck hidden in the distance behind them, invisible in the gulf of darkness, and the fear of tumbling into the depths below started settling into freezing bones underneath soaked coats.

Thorin found a rock that overhung the path and wanted to shelter there for the night, but Brinn moved up along the line towards him, which proved to be difficult. She had to get close, brushing past shoulders and manoeuvring in between feet, for the narrow walkways couldn’t handle anything more than a single file.

“This won’t do!” she screamed at him, the wind hollering in her ears, seeing her own reflection in the blackness of his pupils. “There are plenty of caves nearby that make better shelter!”

“Caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied!” he yelled back, plucking strands of wet hair away from where it stuck to his skin and obstructed his view.

She nodded. “We know which ones are safe,” she assured him and went ahead, grabbing the rock wall to the left as her feet shuffled unsteadily on the slick stone.

She dutifully inspected the first one she found. Kit was a silent shadow on her heels while she dragged her fingers along the floor and walls, prodding and poking, looking for cracks that hinted towards hidden doors and traps. When she deemed it safe the Dwarves and their Hobbit poured into the dry cave, wringing out their braids and peeling drenched coats from their shoulders.

“Is that why they call you ‘the Snake-Eye’?” the archer with a mop of unkept dark hair asked when they all tucked into their cold and cheerless dinners of whatever food they had brought, pointing at the left side of her face. She had quite forgotten his name.

“A little decorum, Kili,” another Dwarf demanded, the one with a long beard of white silver and gentle eyes, dressed in scarlet robes, whom Gandalf had introduced as Balin, son of Fundin. “A lady is not to be asked such a question.”

“Hardly a lady,” the archer mumbled under his breath and someone else - whose name she had never learned in the first place - had the good sense to kick him in the shin hard enough to draw a high-pitched yelp from his throat.

It was bound to come up sooner or later, for the massive scar that cracked her face in half was difficult to ignore and her left eyebrow stubbornly lingered behind when she tried to raise it at him, the muscles severed by the deep cut, leaving her left side strangely limp and lifeless.

He was still staring, waiting, and her deceitful smirk twitched around a mouthful of bread when she answered. “Nope.”

Next to her, Kit muffled a snigger with her sleeve.

It was a tight squeeze in the cramped and gloomy cave. The dwarves were at the far end, their youngest in the middle, the others spreading out their bedrolls in a wall around them, protecting the heart of the circle. Brinn was closest to them, Kit safely tucked away to her left, and she leaned against the stone wall while keeping her eyes trained on the entrance of the cave.

There was a leak somewhere. She could hear the water spilling down and dripping on the rocks and with every little splash her eyes twitched, growing more annoyed by the second. She shrugged off her coat and leathers, leaving her in a simple tunic tucked into the waistband of her trousers, twisting the water out of the fabric and laying it out to dry in their damp surroundings.

“Let me have a look at it,” Kit said, wiping the crumbs from her lips and patiently waiting for Brinn to flop onto her stomach. She peeled the tunic away and inspected her handiwork on Brinn’s lower back, tracing the edges of the wound that she had stitched up a few weeks ago with delicate loops.

“It looks good,” Kit announced, rummaging through her bag for her salves. “The skin has knitted together nicely, there’s not too much scarring.”

“Lass?” Brinn heard Balin ask and Kit’s hands stilled on her back. “If I may, how old are you?”

Perhaps he had noticed the last slivers of childhood desperately clinging to those puffy cheeks and soft jawline, age not yet having sharpened the round lines of her features into angular planes. It stood in sharp contrast against the scar that wrapped itself around her throat, the silvery pinkish tone of newer skin shimmering against copper flesh, making her appear older.

She had seen and defied the sharp sting of death once, but terror was a living thing, forever lying in wait to take more from her and everyone else.

“Twenty-six.”

“And when would your kind be considered to have reached adulthood?”

“I’ll have the ceremony when I turn thirty-five,” Kit answered.

Conversation stilled immediately, Brinn awkwardly cleared her throat under the numerous cold eyes that turned her way in disapproving judgement, leaning on her elbows and glancing over her shoulder at Kit who smeared salve on the old wound. “You want first or second watch?”

“One of my company is already taking watch,” Thorin grumbled from the back of the cave, hands clasped around a mug of cold tea.

She made a great show of rolling her eyes while Kit carefully tucked her tunic back into the waistband of her trousers. “If I told you not to bother and that we would take care of the watch, would you sleep easy?”

Silence, then a heavy sigh. “No.”

“Exactly.”

And that was that. Brinn took watch until it was time to wake Kit up, one of the dwarves took watch as well, and no one felt the need to utter another word. The air was thick with tension in their cramped cave, neither group trusted their new travelling companions and a stifling blanket of silence spread over them, filled with the heavy tossing and turning of Dwarves on edge.

Sleep did not come easy for any of them, but one by one, they slowly sank away into unconsciousness while Brinn picked at her nails near the flickering flame of a lantern. When Kit took over she rolled around endlessly, listening to the Dwarves snore. They were so loud, their great rumbling roars of breath echoed up the stone walls, cheeks blowing out as their bellies heaved and fell.

Her dreams were chaotic and turbulent, difficult to keep track of and even harder to remember when Kit woke her up in the morning, shaking her a bit too violently, and it felt as if she had only shut her eyes for a few minutes.

“You look dreadful,” Kit commented as she rolled up her blanket and stuffed it into her pack.

“I didn’t sleep a wink,” Brinn mumbled, rubbing at the dark circles crinkling the soft skin under her eyes. “How is it possible that they all snore?”

“I liked it,” Kit smiled. “It was like a little song, I drifted right off, slept like a baby and not a fussy baby, no, a very happy baby. Do I snore?”

“Sometimes,” Brinn grinned, a little lopsided, the scarred left corner of her mouth never moving much. “When you have a cold, but it doesn’t sound like you’re sawing down an entire forest or putting a diamond through a grinder, unlike some.”

Kit blinked at her in surprise. “But I have colds all the time.”

“Exactly. I’ve been sleep deprived for twenty-six years,” she said, slapping her knees, forcing herself up on her feet and kicking the nearest sleeping Dwarf in the back. “Up and at ‘m!”

It was freezingly foggy that day. The bitter cold was biting at their exposed skin, making their faces feel raw and numb and they hurried along the mountain pass as quick as they could, but the sharp rain from yesterday had made room for careful steps on icy stone and the going was agonizingly slow. The climb was rough, unforgivingly steep, making their calves sting with sour pain while sweat pearled on brows and pooled down backs.

“Where are you from?” a voice behind her asked.

She looked over her shoulder, hunched forward as she navigated the slippery path leading upwards. The dark-haired archer, he was strange for a Dwarf, she noted. His hair wasn’t braided, simply pulled away from his face and clasped at the back, his beard nothing more than a thin line of stubble on the curve of a strong jawline.

“East,” she mumbled.

“Where in the east?”

“Far in the east.”

“But where?”

She threw her head back, sighing in exasperation. “Give me strength,” she muttered up at the sky under her breath. Kit never asked this many questions, not even when she had been a young child, completely bypassing that stage where they asked ‘why?’ after every sentence.

“As far east as east goes, that’s what Brinn says,” Kit called out from in front of her, one of Brinn’s hands firmly wrapped in the girl’s coat in case she fell. She had considered tying a rope around that skinny waist and looping it through her belt, but if she fell then Kit would have been dragged with her and they had decided against it.

“That’s what Brinn says,” she repeated, nodding at the dark-haired archer behind her, turning her attention back to the path stretched out in front of her and abruptly putting an end to their conversation.

About halfway through the day Kit started sniffling, scrunching up her nose every few seconds, in the late afternoon the sneezes came and when they sheltered in a cave for the night she shivered in her bedroll under Brinn’s coat piled on top of her. When a hacking cough wrangled itself from her niece’s throat, Brinn seriously started considering just turning around, finding Gandalf to hand the money back and making their way to a more pleasant part of this world. Let the Dwarves and their strange little Hobbit friend fend for themselves, she wasn’t going to kill Kit over some coin.

One of the Dwarves shuffled over to their spot and Brinn eyed him suspiciously. He was up there in age, requiring a brass trumpet to aid his faltering hearing, his hair and braided beard faded to grey and white - harmless enough.

“Not to worry, lass,” he said with a hesitant smile. “I’m a healer, Oin is the name. This’ll only take a second.”

She watched as he carefully wiped away the whisps of dark hair, pressing the back of his hand to Kit’s forehead and then her neck. “Temperature s’fine, that’s good. Tomorrow we’ll boil some water for tea, I brought honey I can put in it to get rid of that nasty cough. She’ll be right as rain, you’ll see.” Then he bent down, grabbed Kit’s little foot through the pile of coats and blankets and gently squeezed her big toe. “In the morning we’ll get a little fire going, when the sun is out and the goblins don’t come up to nibble at your toes anymore.”

Kit giggled and Brinn managed a weak and joyless smile in gratitude at the healer.

“No fire, not in these parts,” Thorin ruled.

“We could all do with a nice cup of hot tea,” Balin said with a curt nod towards Brinn and no one said another word, the matter was closed.

Brinn started to suspect that they would have been a lot less nice to her if Kit hadn’t been there, with her easy smiles and her kind eyes and her child-like giggles that made even the coldest hearts melt effortlessly.

However, the next night, Kit wasn’t doing that much better.

The chamomile tea with honey the Dwarves had brewed in the morning had been nice and the paste of eucalyptus Oin had smeared on Kit’s chest had opened up her nose a little. Her cough was better, drier and smoother than the hacking rumbles she had spat into the crook of her elbow yesterday, but she was still a sneezing and sniffling mess.

It hadn’t helped that they spend the day in the drizzle while Brinn had it out with Thorin over which road they should take when the path split into two narrow lanes - stubborn fool - and she listened to Kit’s teeth clatter in her bedroll when they settled in for the night, fletching arrows to the sounds of a shivering girl.

It was a precise activity that her niece never had much patience for and she vowed to keep that quiver full at all times, for if Kit ran out of arrows then her last line of defence was nothing more than a small knife she was alarmingly clumsy with.

She was working in silence, a small pile of finished arrows at her feet, listening to the rumblings of Kit’s runny nose at her side and had just started shifting through the bag of cut feathers, looking for three of the same size, when something was thrown at her, making her drop everything in her hands to catch it in time. Surprised, astonished, more like, absolutely flabbergasted, she stared at the item in her hands. The brown leather on the outside was smooth, adorned with geometrical shapes burned into the fabric and when her fingers dug into it she found a soft layer of fur lining on the inside, still warm from the shoulders it had adorned mere seconds ago.

She looked up, finding the blond Dwarf who always hovered around the dark-haired archer as if he was a child, wearing nothing but his tunic, mail and undercoat, quietly dragging away at his pipe. Thorin was hissing disapprovingly at him in that hard and tough language that sat in the back of the throat and that she didn’t understand, but the blond Dwarf just shrugged, his voice a soft and indecipherable murmur when he waved their leader away.

She tossed the coat back at him and he looked up in surprise when it landed on his legs. “We don’t need the coat,” she grunted, eying a feather critically and comparing it to the others she had fished out of the bag.

“She’s cold. Why not just take it?”

He threw the coat at her again and it ended up a few inches away from her knee, turned away from her and while he spoke to the dark-haired archer, Brinn watched him. No, she hunted him. She observed the way his eyes slightly squinted together when he was momentarily lost in thought, how the absence of daylight sharpened his cheekbones and deepened the angle of his jawline, his teeth gnawing on his bottom lip to bite back a grin when the archer mumbled something in his ear, long fingers slipping through his partly braided hair, pushing it back from his forehead and reshaping it, like liquid gold.

She waited, quietly and patiently, until she noticed his shoulders dipping in relaxation, his rigid back easing into a slight curve, his white-knuckled fists loosening, proving how he had quite forgotten about her presence and-

She whacked the coat back in his direction with a little more aggression than necessary, grinned at the way he flinched and how his jaws clenched together. “We don’t need your coat,” she spat at him, a pathetic attempt to wound him and she wondered if she was losing her touch, if she was changing from a wild animal into a docile housecat. “Or your pity.”

She carefully dabbed glue mixed with beeswax onto the shaft of the arrow when she was satisfied with the three feathers she had selected, biting down on her tongue in concentration, trying to get the line as straight as possible. When the coat smacked right into the side of her face the glue went everywhere, the whole thing having turned into a game of dominance neither of them were prepared to lose. “Argh,” she grumbled, wiping the sticky mixture from the shaft with her sleeve. “Shit.”

He was watching her, brows raised in an unspoken challenge, his eyes carving a pattern into her skin that set her flesh ablaze, searching for answers in her features and she tried to read his face, but he had a blank expression that made her none the wiser.

She tried to send him one of those looks that was sharp as knives, that would make him squirm underneath her gaze, trap him in her iron grip, but he was grinning, making the beaded braids in his moustache hitch up, and seemed amused by her glares. “I will not keep repeating myself, Dwarf, so you best get the wax out of your ears and listen, feeble-minded as you are. Keep the coat away fro-“

“Oh, for the love of Mahal,” the archer suddenly cried out, cutting her off, pinching the bridge of his nose in exhaustion at their shenanigans. “Will someone - anyone - just take the fucking coat already?”

There were shouts from every direction, scolding the poor archer into oblivion upon hearing his vulgarity, their screaming thundering through the cave until he squeaked out a quick apology.

The blond cocked his head to the side and his blue eyes softened, an uncertain smile playing with the corners of his lips, but he didn’t let it fully form there. “I am not offering you my pity, but Kit might still have need of it.”

Brinn hesitated for a few moments, but in all honesty, she would rather relinquish a sliver of her pride if it meant keeping Kit warm. If she threw the coat back at him, it probably wouldn’t return this time. With a sigh she spread it out over her niece’s form and tucked her in tightly.

It was big and heavy, Kit was drowning in it, her eyes and nose peeping out over the edge, like a comfortable little caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon. “It’s massive,” she squealed out from underneath it, then her voice softened into a breathless whisper and Brinn had to lean in slightly. “We can’t say fuck anymore?”

Brinn quirked an eyebrow at her. “You want to get scolded by a bunch of Dwarves?”

Kit shrugged, a surprisingly difficult task under the weight of the coat that buried her into the ground. “Suppose not.”

“Then don’t say fuck.”

She heard the heavy rumble of chuckles coming from the blond Dwarf echoing up the cave walls.

“You want to get under here? It’s big enough for the both of us.”

She glanced over her shoulder at Kit, those green eyes gleaming in the dim light of a few lanterns scattered about the dark cave. “I’m not cold, I’m fine,” she lied, shivering and shaking quietly with her legs drawn up to her chest, not wanting to give the Dwarf the satisfaction.

“Stubborn little shit,” Kit sighed, shuffling closer before wrapping herself around Brinn’s form and draping the coat over both of them. It was warm and smelled faintly of sweat, campfires and man - Dwarf, whatever.

The next morning she lobbed it back at him, a grin stretching across her face when it hit him right in the nose and she heard him curse under his breath. “Thanks.”

“Yup.”

That day the Dwarves realised that up there, high in the mountains, the rain and wind and unwanted articles of clothing were the least of one’s worries. For when the lightning pierced the skies above them, splintering on the peaks, casting spiky patterns of pale colours on the ground below, it cracked the mountain in half and split the stone into giants that came alive. They roared and gnawed, hurling rocks at one another for sport, their groaning shouts rolling and tumbling into every cave and hollow.

They found themselves stuck in the midst of this thunder-battle, being swung around on the kneecaps of a giant, clinging to the stone for dear life, their cries echoing through the valley. When the rocks had crumbled underneath their feet and they were separated, Brinn had screamed for Kit over the sound of the wind that whipped the rain and hail in her face, watching that child-like face twisted with fear disappear from her view.

Now she was here, being hurled through the air with half of Thorin Oakenshield’s company, her body trembling violently, knees wobbling underneath her own weight, the air being torn from her lungs with spasms of blind panic.

Even though Kit was far away from her, when she saw someone in front of her go down, a strangled cry leaped from her throat and she made a grab for it in pure instinct. She regretted it immediately, because those blue eyes didn’t belong to Kit and the Dwarf dragged her down with him. They slid down the steep flank, her bags torn to pieces on the stone, hands desperately clawing for something to hang on to and her fingernails scratched against the wet rocks, chipping and splitting and dragging streaks of red across the rough surface until they finally found a ledge.

A sharp intake of air, shock trembling up her limbs, and then she wailed as pain crashed over her in waves of stinging heat, his weight pulling her left arm out of its socket and dislocating her shoulder, cracking it into a terrifyingly strange angle.

Her feet kicked for something solid and far above her she heard the Dwarves scream out breaths of terror, barely a whisper above the ear-shattering sound of groaning and moving stone.

Panic shut her mind down, setting her thoughts ablaze as they turned to meaningless dust in her skull. Rage pushed itself through her body like thick sludge from a sewer, it was white hot and created a mean taste on her tongue, leaving her in a jumbled mess of frustration and anger that caught in her throat and ripped the air out of her body.

She tried to swallow her panic, tried shoving it down so far that it would leave her feeling cold and empty, but it came bubbling up effortlessly, tearing through the surface, stinging the inside of her skull like a swarm of restless bees. She could taste her own fear, smelled the sweat springing from her pores, heard her heart hammer in her chest and the blood rushing in her ears and for a while she just let the waves of terror wash over her until it smoothed out into something more manageable.

The great heap of rocks swung them around, the Dwarf was slipping from her grasp, the blood from her fingers dripped down her arm and she was nowhere near strong enough to hold them up. “I can’t, I can’t,” she squeezed out of her throat, tears pooling on her waterline, choking on her words.

The Dwarf twisted, kicked and squirmed below her, his fingers digging into the flesh of her lifeless arm. “No, no, no, wait,” he pleaded with her in a shrill cry.

She released all the air she didn’t know she was holding, bit back a scream, her fingers slipped from the ledge and the two tumbled down into the dark debts of the valley below.

[notmanagingmymischief]

(im not terribly good at this but just know I LOVED THIS FIC SO MUCH LIKE WORDS CANT EVEN DESCRIBE IT I SWEAR) (also I'm sorry, I know this took more than a few minutes) <33

Thankfully, she respects your age gap and does something similar to Enoch, lips just brushing yours before she pulls away, and you smile at her

This is really just such a good/cute detail! I love it!!

but you also aren’t a coward

LMAO DAMN RIGHT IM NOT

The ymbryne’s brow quirks up, gaze calculating.

1) i love details so much, especially small ones, and you put them into words so well, it makes my heart explode <333

2) so im reading the book and only just learned that ymbryne is pronounced imm-brinn, not imm-breene so look at me learning something new lmao

No, it points directly between him and Olive, right at the door, and therefore right at Alma. Slowly, your eyes raise to face the woman, who stares at the bottle in utter confusion; she most likely doesn’t know what this game entails. But you do, and you can’t help but be a tad excited. Though that dims when you realize there’s no way she’ll go along with it.

AAAA ALMAAAAA!!! Also yeah, would you bet your life on that y/n?? I should hope not cuz then you’d die and therefore wouldn’t be able to kiss alma :(

Alma’s breath hitches and her eyes widen just a hair in shock. Emma seems to not be having it as she calls out “It’s the rules Miss Peregrine! C’mon, please?”

C’mon alma! We know you want too, honey (also the detailllllssss!!!)

It takes everything in you to not let out any noise as she sucks gently on your lower lip, settling her own hand on your shoulder and tilting her head slightly to the right. Distantly you know that there are still children in the room, and this is most likely doesn’t mean anything to Alma

Y/N: this probably doesn’t mean anything

Alma: *literally sucking on Y/N’s bottom lip as they kiss*

"fine mom," and just to torture him you call out "Thank you son!"

Awwww!! Lol

But now it seems that Emma's gotten up to her tomfuckery yet again

This made me laugh sO HARD OMG LMAO

all of you, plus the headmistress this time, to gather in the sitting room once again. You're violently thrown onto the floor with a yelp of Emma's name that she ignores completely, even as you stare up at her incredulously.

Lmaoooooooo

I legit said “what?!” when you mentioned Alma. I was not expecting her to be there

But im not complaining lol

Finally you glance around and see the normal crew gathered, but are definitely surprised to see an exasperated Alma Peregrine sitting across from you on the small sofa. You make eye contact with her and all you can see is "What have I done to deserve this," in those eyes, as clear as if she'd said it aloud. It almost makes you laugh, but as to not get yourself in trouble you instead give the woman an apologetic smile and a clueless shrug.

THIS IS SO CUTE I CAN’T EVEN

Just the image of Alma and Y/N being the only adults in the house and giving each other these looks all the time and being able to communicate without having to speak is just aaAAA

"Abe! You told her about seven minutes in heaven? Really?!"

ABE C’MON MAN

That is, until someone else speaks up for the first time that evening; "Don't be like that y/n. Humor them. You might as well," Alma says, looking right at you, calm as can be. Feeling betrayed you stare back at the woman, irked that of all the times she could have taken their side, Alma has decided that tonight is the time to do it.

Pssshhh okAY ALMA :)

Figuring this is your chance at payback, you lean forward with a smirk and mutter "Oh come on. Humor them, Miss Peregrine." You only call her that in front of the children, but the use of her own words against her has the woman glaring at you in disbelief.

Again, this had me cracking up lmaooo

"Yeah I think it's better if you don't see that," you say, a laugh in your voice as she gives you an uncomfortable look, releasing the key and doing as told.

BWHAHA poor alma

“Yes, I understand, you don't have to explain darling."

Aaaaaaawwwwwwww!!!! Pet names (platonically or not) melt my heart

"We can make it look like I kissed you. Make them jealous. Make Miss Peregrine jealous."

I choked on my tea

AAAAA

You know it's worked when Alma's eyes zero in on the action, catching sight of the color now on the back of your hand. But you don't look at her much more, returning to your spot once more. When Alma does so as well, she's visibly more tense than before, and her eyes continue to dart between you and Olive incessantly. It would make you nervous if it wasn't so strangely attractive to see the woman jealous--if you could call it jealousy.

I mean i would call is jealousy but thats just me lol

This is such a good image :))

"There is no way in hell that I am doing that with Portman."

DO IT ENOCH I DARE YOU

But when the younger reaches in and removes Alma's piece he immediately drops it and says "Nope. Not happening. Absolutely not." Alma lets out a single note laugh.

BWHAHHAHAHA OMG ABE

I love the way you described Alma laughing!!

"Did you see the look on Miss Peregrine's face?" "She looked so mad!" "Maybe she was mad because she thinks an adult made out with one of her charges?" "No, Enoch. She was jealous." "Of who?" "Of wh--who do you think?!" "Oh. Yeah you have a point."

I laughed out loud omg this was SO FUNNY

And it's a shell. More specifically, your shell.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"She did it to make you jealous," hoping to get the woman to talk, to pay attention again. It works.

AAA

Okay but alma getting it backwards was just adorable

And yet it had left Alma reeling afterwards. Everything that she had thought she knew had come crumbling down quite rapidly at the first touch of your lips on hers, and the woman absolutely hated that she couldn't stop thinking about it for days. But now, as she watches your eyes waver, flickering between her own and something a bit lower, she understands why her throat had gotten tight with anger when she saw what she assumed to be the aftermath of some rendezvous with Olive. "Oh."

What an absolutely PERFECT way to describe this feeling!!! You are such an amazing writer and you honestly blow me away every time you post a new fic <333

you actually laugh, shoulders dropping and head tipping back against the shelf behind you. "'Oh', she says," you mumble, looking at the ymbryne with a teasing glint in your eye.

Eeeeee i love this!!!

Alma isn't exactly sure what she wants; you are, but aren't willing to admit that maybe, maybe, Alma wants it too.

SHE WANTS IT, TRUST ME SHE DOES

"I'd very much like to kiss you again."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA YYAAYYYY

Your blood pumping through your veins rushes loud in your ears, Alma's hands shake as she places them on your collar, having to lean into you for support as she feels herself once again losing the strength in her legs to hold her up properly.

THIS MADE ME WEAK IN MY KNEES

THEYRE SO SWEET TOGETHER I MIGHT ACTUALLY CRY

The heel of your palm brushes against a spattering of pins that hold various bits of hair in place, and they're cold against your skin.

“A spattering of pins” dude these details!!! SO. GOOD!!

your head is blank of anything except Alma's name and her lips, as if she's wormed her way inside your brain and settled herself there with no effort. You wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Okay but i cannot describe this scene properly so forgive me. BUUUTTTT it was just so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so SOOOO good (side note: bad idea by girl in red started playing while i typed that lmaooo) and i love it so much!!!

They work so well together and i need you to appreciate that you wrote that. You fucking wrote that!! GO YOU!!

The woman's hands shake something fierce against you, and you smirk, preparing to tease her, but before you can the doors to the study burst open to reveal all four instigators standing there with victorious grins.

OH OH OH AAAA NOOO (all said affectionately) not the kids walking innnnnnnnnn aaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA

"That might traumatize them."

YEAH NO SHIT Y/N

"They're old enough to get themselves to bed. You however..." The hand that had begun to gently play with a loose piece of Alma's hair carefully wraps around the back of the ravenette's neck and forces her head back. The look in Alma's glazed over eyes sends butterflies exploding in your stomach along with a familiar heat, but you push it down. "I think that you might need some help, isn't that right Alma?"

*SCREAMS* THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OKAY OKAY OKAY BUT LIKE THIS FIC WAS SO DAMN GOOD AND I DIDN'T DO A GREAT JOB AT EXPRESSING HOW AMAZING 1) IT WAS; 2) YOU ARE; 3) THE WRITING IS; 4) THE PLOT IS; ETC. ETC.

THANK YOU FOR WRITING IT, YOU'RE SO DAMN AMAZING!!!!<3333333333

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I'M SCREEEAAAAAMING

DUDE

HAPPINESS IS OVERFLOWING FROM MY VERY PORES

i wish i could tackle all of your points individually but i think i would die so i'm just gonna say overall I FUCKING ADORE YOU

you're definitely going to give @clinicallyinsaneteen a run for their money 😏😉 BUTEWGHRBJSNFAWJKDSRGFHJNVKBGDJZXFHNCMDJHXCBN everything about this is making me happy stim tgufshdiajak

[stoookes]

Omega Jos!!! Did not see that coming AT ALL 🤯🤯🤯 I thought it would be Joe. I loved Stuart finally getting accepted into Ali's group and realizing who his real friends were. And I love that now, after Freddie, Stuart suspects everyone in the England team of being a secret omega, because it makes us as readers do the same. Previously, Stuart wasn't really suspicious of anyone, and because we're reading the fic through his eyes, I didn't really give much thought to whether anyone else was a secret omega on the team, and assumed stu was the only one, but now I'm wondering! Love the Brinn, have been waiting for that ever since you made cookerson official, which of course ruled out any chances of branderson 😉 And then KP finding out ugggh I'm so scared why did you have to break me like that?? And ending that chap on such a cliffhanger too, I can't wait to find out how everything turns out and hoping it doesn't go totally south for Stu. Loved this chapter, even with the horror ending 😭, looking forward to the next one! 💖

Ehehehe - all my plans worked 😏 I knew you all thought it was Joe and that was the point 😉 And yes - being suspicious is likely wise. Did you really think only Stu would be a hiding omega?

I really enjoyed writing the Brinn - was nice to give Stuart some good, happy scenes for once. Plus I knew how it was going to end so I had to give you all a little bit of happy before it went to shit 🥲

I’m already working on C7 because it runs hand in hand with the closing reveal, so hopefully the wait isn’t too long! Thanks so much for reading 🥰

[designorconsign]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Pair Brinn’s Blue and White Porcelain Victorian Shoes / Boots.