#that really wasn't supposed to happen

[amyriver]

this scene is about twenty billion times sadder after watching season 6

[lunarharp]

more phoenix wright situations

[iwonderwh0]

More like a headcanon, but I like this one

[chronosdawn]

Pact - Patron!Neuvillette x Warlock!Reader

Fantasy AU, GN!Reader

Content warnings: Very minor descriptions of gore at the beginning, slightly weird power dynamics and age difference because Neuvillette is not human (but to be clear, the reader is an adult).

Word count: 2.6k

“Neuvillette wishes to speak with you.”

It was an effort not to sigh when you heard the soft sweet voice behind you. You turned, already knowing the sight that would greet you as you wiped a smear of blood from your cheek. Low and behold, a well-dressed Melsuine stood before you—Sedene, if you recalled correctly.

You’d known this was coming, had felt the tug in the power that flowed through your veins—water currents twisting, drawing you back towards their source.

“Is it urgent?” you asked, keen to put this encounter off for as long as possible.

“I was asked to wait until you finished your work and then guide you to the closest source of spring water. You have finished now, haven’t you?” You’d never been able to read Melsuines’ expressions particularly well, no matter how much contact you had with them as Neuvillette’s subjects. Sedene—if that was indeed her name—was looking past you, something that might have been pity in her eyes as she took in the bodies. You stepped carefully in front of the worst of the gore, suddenly struck with a small twinge of guilt at your part in the grim display.

“I…” You could lie, could take advantage of Sedene’s innocence and say you were not in fact finished with your work, that Neuvillette would have to wait. The power in you surges once more, pulling at your core, likely attempting to drag you to whatever spring water Sedene had mentioned.

“Yes, I’m finished. Let’s go.” As you stepped towards her, you cast your hand back to the carnage, a cool sensation washing over your arm as your borrowed magic went to work, turning flesh to water until the only evidence of your activities was your blood-stained clothing.

If the Melsuine disapproved of your use of Neuvillette’s power, she did not say, instead lifting a small blue-green arm in the direction of a rock formation some distance away. “This way, please.”

You walked in near silence, the caw of magpies—their black and white shapes weaving through the few trees dotted about the grassy slope—the only sound aside from the faint crunch of plant matter beneath your feet. As you neared the large, slate-gray rocks, you realised they actually made up the mouth of a cave, the entrance just large enough for a person to fit through.

Sedene stepped through the opening without a hint of hesitation and you followed, pausing when you were met with only beckoning darkness.

“Is it much further?”

“It’s not far. Spring water flows from the mountains through this cave, a pool has formed in its depths.”

“I er…” you faltered, the taste of weakness bitter on your tongue. “I can’t see in the dark.”

“Oh.” She turned back to face you, the pink of her eyes dulled to gray in the thin strips of sunlight filtering through the cave entrance. “I’m sorry, you’ve been Neuvillette’s for so long that I forget you do not see as we do.”

You bit down on your tongue to avoid saying anything you might later regret—especially if enough of Neuvillette’s power had already manifested here to allow him to hear it. Sedene extended her arm towards you. “Don’t worry, I’ll lead you and make sure you don’t get hurt along the way.”

Her hand was cooler than yours, you noted as you wrapped your fingers around it, although you suspected the both of you ran cool compared to regular humans. You hoped she’d assume the trembling of your hand was due to nothing more than a fear of the dark as she led you into cave, turning a bend that robbed you of any remaining scraps of light. Truthfully, you didn’t like being in the dark as it forced you to rely on your other senses, including the one you’d received the day you signed your pact with Neuvillette—your sense of him. Clearly, he’d been waiting for you for a while, the already claustrophobic atmosphere heavy with his magic.

You knew you were close to your destination when you felt a sudden change in humidity, a fine mist spreading over your skin like a welcoming embrace. A shudder ran through you as Sedene came to a stop.

“We’re here, would you like me to guide you to the pool?”

“No,” you replied, letting go of her hand and then fighting against the panic of losing your only anchor in the dark. “I’ll be okay, if you could just wait nearby to help me when I leave that would be great.”

There was a lengthy pause, though without being able to see her face, you couldn’t even begin to guess at what the reason for it might be.

“I will show you the way out once he has finished with you.” The sound of soft footsteps back the way you’d come told you she was leaving and you struggled against the instinct to surge after her. It was likely she was just giving you privacy out of respect for Neuvillette—it certainly wouldn’t be his interests to leave you stranded in a cave in the middle of nowhere, or at least you hoped it wouldn’t anyway.

Letting out a sigh, you carefully took to removing your boots and socks, rolling your trousers up to the knee as you did so. After a bit of feeling your way around, you managed to find a wall to place them near, hoping that you’d be able to find them again when it came time to go. The water at least, you didn’t have to fumble your way to, Neuvillette’s power so apparent in it, you could feel the draw in every part of your body.

You slowly lowered yourself into it, wincing when you found the water line came up not to your knees but your waist, soaking your clothing. The moment you touched the pool, the effect was immediate, pale blue lights appearing in the water, allowing you to finally see the place you’d been brought to. The cave itself was fairly unremarkable, the lack of light resulting in little growing over the walls. The figure slowly forming from the water however, was an entirely different story. No matter how many times you’d seen this little party trick of Neuvillette’s, you couldn’t imagine you’d ever not be at least a little in awe of it. Water rising upwards and twisting together, coalescing until it formed pale skin and long white hair. Soon, the tall figure of Neuvillette was standing before you, and though the shape he took on was human enough, the violet hue of his eyes was not.

“Ah, there you are,” he said, his voice echoing in the small space.

“You wanted to see me?” You shifted awkwardly in the water, all too aware of how close he was.

For moment, there was no reply, Neuvillette simply regarded you with an expression you couldn’t read. “You’re covered in blood. You’re injured.”

“It’s not mine, it’s—” you started to say but cut off as you felt something caress the back of your thigh followed by a sharp sting. “Shit, I guess one of the guys I was fighting must have snagged me, but it can’t be anything more than just a scratch.”

“Hm.” The figure of Neuvillette remained standing in the water before you, even as something began to gently prod at your wound. Of course, this humanoid form of his was just put on for your benefit, for a water spirit such as him, the entire pool he’d turned his power towards may just as well have been his body—something you tried extremely hard not to think about while stood waist deep in it.

“Honestly, it’s fine we can just—” you let out an abrupt yelp as a surge of magic ran up the back of your thigh accompanied by the unpleasant feeling of your flesh knitting itself back together.

“It’s been taken care of. Are you injured anywhere else?”

Without waiting for a response, you felt the water slowly begin the creep higher over your body, searching for any other tears in your skin.

“Wait! I promise, I’m fine!” The water stopped but one look at Neuvillette told you it was not the end of the matter.

“Show me.”

“I’m telling you—”

He cut you off by speaking your name, and you were struck with the full magnitude of the influence he had over you. You could remember your mother telling you names had power, recounting you with bedtime stories of what happened to people who were stupid enough to use them to sign contracts with spirits in exchange for the magic equivalent of table crumbs. A pity you’d failed to take any of those lessons on board.

With no small amount of reluctance, you crouched down in the water, low enough that it covered you entirely. You gave Neuvillette roughly ten seconds before you stood up again, trying very hard not to imagine everything he’d been able to feel in that time.

“Satisfied?”

“Yes, thank you. I am relieved you came out of your confrontation relatively unscathed.”

You made an effort to wipe some of the water from your face with your sleeve. “So, what was it you summoned me here to talk about?”

“Ah yes. You remember the terms of our pact, I assume?” Your head snapped up to look at him. Of course you remembered, that pact bound you, body and soul, forgetting even a single line of it would have been foolish beyond reason.

“I do,” you replied carefully. “Did you want me to repeat them for you?” It was a relatively simple pact as far as these things went. The power you had been entrusted with was only to be used to harm those with ill-intent, you were to protect innocents and uphold order whenever possible, and should Neuvillette require you to use your skills in a particular place, then you were to go. Somewhat to your surprise, that last term had never come up, although you suspected it was because a being of his power never really needed a warlock to do their bidding.

“No, I trust that you are being truthful. However, I brought you here as I suspect you are unaware that you are close to breaking one of those terms.”

“What?” you snapped. “That’s not possible, I’ve taken every care not to. Those guys today were traffickers I’ve had my eye on for well over a month, there’s no way they don’t count as having ill-intent!”

“It is not the people you fought today I speak of.” Perhaps the worst part of this conversation was that Neuvillette didn’t even sound angry—at least certainly not the way a patron was supposed to when a pact came close to being broken. “It is with regards to the protection of innocents.”

You could only blink at him, utterly baffled. Had there been someone at the fight today you hadn’t noticed, someone you were supposed to protect?

Noting your confusion, he elaborated, “or did you not realise such a term extended to yourself?”

“Myself? What are you talking about?”

“When you first approached me, I was initially unsure of entering into such an agreement. You were young, even by human standards.” You’d been eighteen, not young exactly but more than a little stupid. “But you were so desperate to do good in the world, so full of compassion for it that I knew if I refused you, you would likely seek out another, perhaps one who was not so benevolent. And so, I decided I would take you as my own, and include a condition in your pact that would mean you would need to take your own safety into account.”

Of course you’d never thought the term innocents would include you, you’d stopped thinking of yourself as such the first time you’d spilled blood to save another. But better for you to dirty your hands than let the world rot, or at least that’s what you’d thought at the time.

“So what? I came close to breaking our pact because I got a scratch? I’ve been injured before and it’s never resulted in this.” You gestured towards him and the pool.

“I appreciate such injuries can be unavoidable at times, thus why the pact specifies that you should protect innocents where possible. But is it not true that you have spent the past several months working yourself to the bone? I cannot remember the last time I felt you stop to rest for any longer than required to keep your body going.”

There was no accusation in his eyes, if anything, you thought there might have been a slither of care. What were you supposed to say, that you were starting to regret your choices? That the last time you’d been home, you’d been too afraid to touch your best friend’s newborn son for fear of the amount of blood on your hands, no matter how clean they may seem to everyone else. That you looked at all the people you used to know and felt like you’d ruined yourself for the peaceful life they seemed to enjoy and now this was the only road forward.

“I admit I may have pushed myself a little harder than usual, but I wasn’t aware it would violate our pact. I can stop, take a couple of days off in the closest town, before…” Before getting back to work. But you couldn’t admit that, could you? Couldn’t say there was nothing else for you to get back to.

“I fear that even though you are now aware of your mistake, you will not be able to stop yourself from repeating it. I have watched you, you know, from the rain and the rivers and the streams, and this is why I have decided to step in myself.” You felt your stomach turn to lead, the walls of the cave suddenly seeming to push in on you.

“What do you mean?” you asked, trying to take a step back only to find your leg wouldn’t move, the water holding you firmly in its grasp.

“It means you will rest here, with me, until I am sure you are in a condition to properly take care of yourself again.”

“Wait, Neuvillette!” You reached out a hand, only to watch, horrified, as the water rose up from the pool and spread up your arm. With no warning, you were pulled down under the surface, water filling your nose and mouth. Drowning was of no concern to you, the magic you’d received made sure of that, but being trapped in here with Neuvillette was. You’d heard stories of what happened to people who were exposed to a spirit’s power for too long, warlock or not, and they very rarely came out entirely human by the end of it. And that was without taking into account that a spirit’s sense of time was likely to be very different to yours. How long would pass before you were allowed back into the world? Would your friend’s son be a man by the time Neuvillette let you go? You were struck with the thought of all the people you knew, wrinkled or dead while the healing power of his waters kept you preserved through the decades.

You tried to struggle, but it was useless, had been the moment you’d entered the water. The current pulled you to the bottom, those pale blue lights dancing above you as Neuvillette’s humanoid form dissipated, collapsing back into the water. He wasn’t gone though, you could feel him all around you, gentle hands coaxing you to sleep.

Rest, I will stay and protect you while you do.

His voice came from all around you, from the very liquid inside your skull. No, you thought desperately, fighting to stay awake even as your limbs were held down. But in the end, it was useless, and you were carried away with the tide as lights winked out above you.

If you enjoyed this fic please consider checking out my masterlist. Thank you for reading!

[nattikay]

the brainrot is absolutely dizzying tonight lads

[interstellarlyinlove]

Love Confession (May 3rd)

Word count: 452

@wolfstarmicrofic

Remus has a speech full of metaphors and dusty pink prose (��Sirius, there is a specific spot in my heart that you occupy that is my favorite one. It looks like how taking a boat ride in Venice at night must feel like and smells of summer and youth and friendship that lasts forever. It’s full of blinding stars and overflowing sweet periwinkle love that–’), flowers and dried mangos stacked under his bed (dried mangos are Sirius’ favorite snack because he’s a bastard), and he’s acted out the entire thing before with Regulus (who wore a Gryffindor tie and tried not to scowl the entire time) two and a half times in this exact spot in the Astronomy tower. 

He’s looking at Sirius looking at him expectedly after he dragged him to the same place Regulus stood the day before, and he feels so out of his element he might as well be walking on a tightrope with an elephant wearing a party hat on his back, and there’s shark-infested water right under him, and he’s losing his balance and–

“Re, are you okay?” Sirius asks, smiling warmly. There are about three pages in Remus’ love essay detailing how Sirius’ smile equals the sun, and what a horrible thing Icarus never got to see it because if he had he would still be alive, but it’s also a good thing because Remus doesn’t think he’d want to compete with Icarus over Sirius’ affections. Hell, he can barely compete with Sirius’ seven hundred and thirteen Hogwarts admirers as it is–

“Remus?”

Remus mentally slaps himself and he tries to smile back. “I’m okay. I just have something to get off my chest, I think.” Sirius nods and Remus takes a deep breath. “Sirius, there is a specific spot in–” Remus trails off and looks into Sirius’ endlessly gray eyes and he thinks that nothing in life is fair. Because telling Siirus how much Remus adores him really won’t make Sirius adore him in return. If the outcome of that would just be Remus’ wounded pride he would’ve said everything a hundred times over already, because keeping it in is cement drying in Remus’ lungs. But Sirius is Remus’ friend, above all else. The thought of Remus screwing the best thing in his life up over some unrequited fantasy is worse than how trying to breathe with cement lungs feels like. 

So Remus smiles and comes up with something or another to complete his sentence. He crumples the papers (papers! As in more than one) the deepest secrets of his heart are written on and he tries to convince himself that he’ll eventually get over Sirius Black because he simply has to. 

(He won’t.)

[eikichi-supremacy]

and they were singin', bye-bye Miss American Pie // american oldie i think kuwabara unironically listens to

(low effort lyric edit im queueing here in May cos im probably gonna forget it exists otherwise)

[kaseyskat]

since ive already been pretty open about this and im not afraid to whack a hornets nest i'll go ahead and say it: if you were raising a kid in a pseudo-apocalyptic setting and then you found out that said kid was going to be the one to defeat the eldritch god that you have tried to defeat for half your lifetime and could never manage. that she was going to FACE that eldritch god it was prophesied. you would teach her how to defend herself and how to fight. like god i am not saying hero's trauma from it wasn't justified because i do think the twins took it too far but the initial process of training her makes so much more sense if you approach it at the angle of "this kid is going to do something we've been trying to do since we were twelve and couldn't manage and we might not even be there to help her so we have to make sure she doesn't die in the process" and not "we're going to make her fix our mistakes" it makes sense. goes along with lark's running theme of not being strong enough in the moments that matter and wanting to make sure nobody else ever feels as helpless as he did when walter was injured. goes along with sparrow desperately tempting fate with normal's name- not because normal was an accident, but because sparrow never wanted to lose even one kid to the doodler and it was a fervent, desperate wish to let normal get to be normal

[radioisntdead]

I have the worst luck with nail salons dear grace, what I wanted vs what I got

[its-all-papaya]

Oh girl I promise you I will be THRIVING reading 100k words. There is not enough long chapters fics in this fandom.

You write to whatever your heart desires. If long chapters is what happens then you write those long chapters 😤😤 and I will happily read every word.

- og dad!Lando anon ofc

there are in fact ONLY 15 landoscar fics on ao3 currently over 100k. in reality i know it's like. an insane amount of work to write a 100k fic (clearly bc my brain has melted 26 times over the last three months) and that's why there aren't that many, but i'm still like.... there isn't really a model to reassure myself with.

ANYWAY. it's the length it is. and it's obviously going to get posted regardless bc i worked really hard on it and i love it and i know there are dedicated readers such as you, dear dad lando anon, who will consume it all regardless. and that will be enough for me!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

5 years later ghost posting from jason sweettooth williams: "In honor of Halloween and all things ghostly, here is the picture I took of a ghost from the stage of the Lyceum Theater on Broadway. I was on stage in the middle of tech and looked up and spotted this. I think about her often but especially tonight on Halloween! #happyhalloween #ghost #theater #bemorechill #broadway"

[trashyandtiredsol]

If y'all ever see me IRL- it'd make so much more sense why my Sona looks how it looks

[wildflowercryptid]

i'm. suddenly realizing the parallels between sada sacrificing herself for koraidon and florian throwing himself infront of kieran when he's about to get hit by terapagos's tera blast... after everything that happened in area zero, florian was determined to not be like sada. only to do something very similar to what she had done.

i think in that moment — when he's not sure what the end result of his actions will be, if he'll make it out of the underdepths alive — florian starts to understand her a little better. he thinks " oh, that's why she did that. because she didn't want to see something she loved hurt. "

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

'...you know jokes like those actually hurt me, right?'

"who said I was joking?"

.

.

.

'oh.'

[pa-pa-plasma]

i don't think i'll ever get over how people treat kids that aren't good in school as worthless no matter what. "oh it can't be that bad" my guy idk how to tell you this but the last time i went to a normal high school the principal called me into his office to brag about how he failed me in all of my classes before the semester was even finished & i should quit while i'm ahead cuz i'm too stupid ("officially" diagnosed as such by a school counselor & a psychiatrist!!) to succeed. & this is considered normal

[cuteniaarts]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

Who's the fairest of them all?