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silverynight · 16 days ago

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The heart of the barbarian King

<---Previous

Chapter 6

Walking into the city is an amazing distraction; there's a lot to see, and the place is already buzzing with life. Everyone seems to be ready for all kinds of activities.

The people seem to be very welcoming too; they all notice the barbarian groups, but they don't stop any of them from walking in.

As Ashido had told them, they continue exploring the place in two groups, and each one goes separate ways, but they vow to reunite at night.

"This is a trade city," Jiro explains, as if she's currently reading Izuku's mind. "That's why it's not that strict with security. Usually, not many people are interested in attacking it because it's not the core of the Todoroki's kingdom. It'd be a waste of time to try to take this one. Besides, almost everyone benefits from it; there's a lot of things that can be found here."

Izuku nods, already thinking of adding that piece of information to his journal when he gets back ho–when he gets back to Katsuki's house.

That city market is completely different from the barbarian's. They sell all kinds of stuff in there, and some of them come from different parts of the world.

Izuku is absolutely fascinated.

The omega watches as Kirishima buys a few cute necklaces for Kaminari. The beta blushes but smiles before giving his alpha a kiss on the cheek.

They're absolutely adorable. Izuku wishes he had something like that in his life. But maybe love like that it's not meant for him.

He should just focus on breaking the curse.

Suddenly, as he's inspecting a talisman that a woman claims it's against all types of dark magic, Ashido puts a hand on his shoulder and pulls him closer to herself.

The omega can smell her scent turning into something very protective out of the sudden.

"What is it?" He asks.

"That guy has been looking at you for a while now. I think he's been following us."

Izuku tries not to think about Chisaki's men; the thought of him trying to get revenge has occurred to him a couple of times.

He turns around, but he just finds an unfamiliar face. The man is tall and strong, but young; he stands like someone who's been trained in sword fight all his life, but he's wearing common folk clothes.

He's a fascinating contradiction; his clothes are new, but cheap, like he just got them, he doesn't walk like other people do, not the ones around him at least.

His hair is dark, as well as his eyes, but there's something wrong with them, and Izuku can't tell exactly what it is. He's a handsome alpha that smells like summer and winter at the same time.

However, the omega doesn't feel threatened around him. Yes, the alpha seems to be looking at him a lot, but he seems curious.

"Maybe he just wants a friend!" Izuku says, before walking towards him, Ashido doesn't have the time to stop him.

"Hi!"

The alpha blushes upon seeing him so close and Izuku regrets approaching him like that. But then, the man smiles back at him and relaxes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..."

"It's fine," the alpha keeps smiling, looking slightly amused this time. "Your friend probably noticed me staring at you. I didn't mean to... it's just... I know you come with the barbarians, and you're clearly wearing their clothes, but you don't quite move like one of them."

Izuku is quite impressed; it seems like he's not the only one who's been noticing weird things about the other.

He decides to be a bit honest with him.

"I've been with them for a couple of weeks. But I was not raised by them."

The young man nods as he takes a couple of steps closer to the omega.

"Why is that?"

"It's a long story," Izuku answers, prompting the other to smile at him. "You don't walk like common folk do."

The smile becomes wider somehow; the alpha seems intrigued, in a good way, by Izuku's observation.

"I don't because I'm not."

"And why is that?"

"It's a long story too."

The omega chuckles at that; he decides right there and then that he likes this stranger. He can feel in his heart that he can trust him.

"I'm Midoriya Izuku. It's a pleasure!"

"I'm To–Takamura Daisuke."

"Do you want to hang out with us today, Takamura?"

"I'd love to spend more time with you, Midoriya."

The others don't trust Takamura at all. They keep an eye on him all the time, but the alpha doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

At some point, Kirishima pulls Izuku aside to talk to him.

"Are you sure about this? We don't know him."

"You guys welcomed me in your group without even knowing me," Izuku kindly reminds him. "And I'm really grateful for it. I just feel like he's... kinda lonely."

"Your situation is completely different, Midoriya," the alpha with red hair explains, although he looks back at the omega with a fond expression. "We... kinda knew you already. Because Bakugo talked about you all the time; all the things you two did together when you were kids. Besides, we could tell from the moment he brought you that you were his... I mean, we know you're special to him. He trusts you completely."

His heart twists painfully at the words; this is why Izuku has to make sure he doesn't ruin Katsuki's life by staying with him.

His arrival had made some of the clans lost the trust they used to have in their own King. Sure, there's just three of them, but Izuku doesn't want to make things even worse for his friend.

"Let's just give him a chance," the omega insists. "Besides, he's just one and we're five. Pretty sure we can stop him if he tries to do something."

Kirishima sighs, but he nods at him before ruffling his hair.

"Alright. He can tag along."

Takamura doesn't speak that much and mostly respects their space, which Izuku can tell the others appreciate. But he does try to engage in conversation with the green haired omega a couple of times.

Izuku learns a few things about him, just by the way he speaks; he's clearly someone who has read a lot, and most likely has received some sort of education, which is weird among common folk. Izuku was lucky to get an education too, mostly because Toshinori made sure of it. He gave him lessons on all types of things.

"There's an inn nearby," the alpha with dark says after a while. "They sell good food in there."

Since they all are starving, the barbarians even smile at him at the suggestion. Izuku is glad they have started to get along, even though none of them will see Tanaka after that day again. He doesn't look like he belongs in the city either.

Even if they come back, it's not that very likely they'll get to see him again.

***

"You're not that bad," Kaminari says after a while, leaning further into his seat as he finishes his second meal. "The food here is really good."

Takamura nods, silently accepting the compliment from the beta, before turning his head towards Izuku again. Jiro narrows her eyes in suspicion nonetheless.

"I think we should go to the bakery!" Ashido says, eyes almost sparkling with joy at the mere thought of it.

Izuku has heard about those; stores often found in big cities that sell different kinds of bread. He beams, looking at the others expectantly.

"Of course we will!" Kirishima nods, prompting his beta to nuzzle against him before purring.

"I want to buy a few loaves of bread for Kacchan!"

"Is Kacchan your pet?" Takamura asks, so genuinely curious, no one around gets mad at him.

Jiro is the first to burst into laughter.

"Alright, that was funny!"

As the others laugh too, Izuku shakes his head, blushing to the tip of his ears.

"No! Uhh.. He's my friend!"

"He's talking about our King," Kirishima clarifies, still a bit amused by the situation; Izuku wonders if he and the others are planning to tell Katsuki about this just to see his reaction.

The omega looks at his friends' expressions and suddenly he doesn't have any doubts anymore; he knows they will tell him everything to piss him off.

"You mean Bakugo Katsuki?" The alpha with dark hair asks, intrigued. He gets closer to Izuku as he narrows his eyes. "He doesn't seem the type to have many friends."

"Do you know him?" Jiro asks him, mistrust shadowing her eyes again.

"I've heard about him and his short temper."

"It's true that Kacchan is not a very patient person," Izuku says, feeling the need to defend him. "But he's a very good man, who always tries to help those who need it; he's helped me a lot!"

"Is he nice to you?" Takamura asks the omega next to him. Still not sure if he should believe his words. He puts a hand over Izuku's, looking worried about him.

"All the time!"

The alpha nods, before rising from his seat and paying for everyone's meals.

"You don't have to!" Izuku says, flustered. Katsuki gave him enough money for a reason.

"You seem to have a lot of coins for a commoner," Ashido observes, pressing her lips together.

"I have a job that pays very well." The alpha responds, although he doesn't mention the kind of job he has.

Nobody asks him either.

***

"We also have to go to Uraraka's store to buy something to keep the bread fresh!" Jiro reminds them as soon as they walk out of the inn.

It's getting late.

"Who's Uraraka?" Izuku asks, curious.

"The witch! The friend I was telling you about!" the female omega reminds him with a huge grin.

Finally, someone Izuku can ask about his problem; he supposes that witch doesn't use dark magic, otherwise she wouldn't be that easy to contact, but perhaps she knows a way to break the curse Chisaki started.

The omega gets slightly startled when he feels a hand in his. Although he relaxes as soon as he sees Takamura right in front of him.

"I'm afraid I have to leave, Midoriya" he laments, bringing Izuku's hand to his lips to give it a quick kiss as he bows. "It's been a pleasure. I hope you can consider me your friend now."

"Of course!" Izuku mumbles, getting a bit flustered and confused at the same time. He's pretty sure common folk don't say goodbye to their friends like that.

"I'll see you again." He says, like a promise.

Izuku waves, nodding as he smiles, even though he knows that's very unlikely.

"That guy is super into Midoriya," Kaminari says after a while. "Glad we won't see him again."

The green haired omega blushes, shaking his head.

"He's not! He was just being nice because we're friends now!"

"Now I kinda get why you say the same about the gremlin King all the time," Ashido chuckles, rubbing her hand against Izuku's arm. "You're an oblivious, sweet omega."

Before Izuku can say anything else, he notices that Jiro starts stroking his other arm.

"What is it?"

"The guy had a strong alpha scent and it seems it clung to you for some reason. Bakugo will be pissed if he notices it on you." Jiro explains.

"You know what, forget it!" Ashido says after a while. "We can ask Uraraka to neutralize it with a potion of something."

"You're right!"

"I don't think Kacchan will get mad over something like this! I can explain to him that I made a new friend!"

"Of course you can, Midoriya," Kaminari says with a mischievous smirk on his face. "And I want to be there when you do it."

"Honestly, I think a conversation like that will be good for both of you," Kirishima cuts in, putting a gentle hand over Izuku's shoulder. "You two really need to communicate better. Especially Bakugo."

Izuku thinks they communicate quite well already, but maybe Kirishima's right, a little talk won't hurt. That way the omega can ask Katsuki if Izuku's presence is causing him trouble.

He hopes Uraraka has the solution to his problems. At least the most important one.

He really doesn't want to become a burden to Katsuki.

***

You can read Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 on my patreon already!

Patreon

#mha fantasy au #mha #bnha #my hero academia #bkdk #bakudeku #bakugou katsuki #izuku midoriya

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vexwerewolf · 9 months ago

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Hi Vex,

I had a mech idea/concept that I really want to flesh out but I'm not exactly sure how to best build it. The idea came from a conversation I had with my group about the Mecha genre vs the Sailor Moon/Magical Girl genre. And I thought, 'what if they kissed worked together?' So I decided to try and build a Magical Girl themed Mech.

So far, I am considering using Manticore as a base frame because I am really tempted to call it Sailor RA and do the whole "In the name of RA, I will CASTIGATE you!" thing. Other than that I'm thinking about maybe a Controller type build and/or maybe focusing on the really weird/paracausal abilities? Do you have any ideas for this kind of build?

Thank you!!!

Since we're doing Sailor Moon Magical Girl stuff, have you considered that instead of using the Manticore, you could use the Lycan, a Manticore altframe from the upcoming Operation Winter Scar module?

-- HORUS Lycan @ LL6 -- [ LICENSES ] HORUS Manticore 2, IPS-N Nelson 2, IPS-N Blackbeard 2 [ CORE BONUSES ] Overpower Caliber, Gyges Frame [ TALENTS ] Executioner 3, Nuclear Cavalier 3, Walking Armory 3 [ STATS ] HULL:4 AGI:2 SYS:0 ENGI:2 STRUCTURE:4 HP:21 ARMOR:2 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:8 REPAIR:5 TECH ATK:+1 LIMITED:+1 SPD:4 EVA:8 EDEF:10 SENSE:8 SAVE:13 [ WEAPONS ] Integrated: Shock Claws Integrated: Fuel Rod Gun FLEX MOUNT: Thermal Rifle HEAVY MOUNT: Nanocarbon Sword (Thermal Charge) // Overpower Caliber [ SYSTEMS ] Personalizations, Beckoner, Smite, Armament Redundancy

I call this one ECLIPSING BINARY SUPERGIANT PRISM POWER MAKEUP.

So the Lycan's basic conceit is that it's a two state system. You start combat with your normal stats as listed above, and a dormant superheavy weapon called the Shock Claws that cannot be used.

It has Slag Carapace just like the Manticore, giving it resistance to Energy and Burn damage. However, it replaces the Manticore's Unstable System, Charged Exoskeleton and CASTIGATE THE ENEMIES OF THE GODHEAD traits with two new ones. Interference Field causes nearby enemies to take Difficulty on attacks that don't target the Lycan, and Power Flux, which causes enemies to potentially become Impaired and Slowed if you take heat.

Your mech plays mostly like a normal Manticore for the first part of the fight. However, at any time, you may activate your core power, GO LOUD, which as a full action causes your mech to violently shed its outer plating. You lose Slag Carapace and Interference Field, your base Armor becomes 0 and your base speed becomes 6. You may then immediately move your speed and attack an enemy with your Shock Claws.

That's not all, however: you can charge up your Shock Claws by watching your allies get hurt.

If your friends take Structure damage before you GO LOUD, it charges up your Shock Claws. They initially deal 3d6+6 AP Energy damage (Overkill) in Threat 1 (although Gyges Frame already bumps that up to Threat 2) and cause another nearby enemy to take 1d6 AP Energy damage. If you see an ally take Structure damage, that goes up to Threat 2 (Threat 3 with Gyges). If you see an ally take Structure damage a second time, the damage increases to 4d6+6 AP Energy (Overkill) and the number of enemies who get struck by secondary damage increases to 2.

If an ally is destroyed in your line of sight before you GO LOUD, your Shock Claws instantly charge to full power, no matter what state they were in before.

This is a little bit more Super Saiyan than Sailor Moon, but you do get to go through a whole transformation/power up sequence and smite your enemies because they were mean to your friends.

#lancer #lancer rpg #lancerrpg #lancer-rpg #mech #mecha #lancer builds #manticore #lycan

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ecargmura · 3 months ago

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A Terrified Teacher At Ghoul School

Another anime befitting spooky season with the yokai theme and such, but it’s a lot different than Dandadan’s spooky premise. Ghoul School focuses more on the comedy. However, the pacing feels a little awkward to me. It’s like they meshed a few chapters into one and the clunkiness shows a bit. Why does Satelight keep doing this? They did this with Cherry Magic back in Winter!

The premise of the story is the MC Haruaki Abe who moves to Hyakki Island to teach at their high school. Haruaki is a sniveling crybaby who is super-sensitive to the point that his first teaching job at a public high school had him resign after thirty minutes. It’s only thanks to the school principal at his new school that he got a new job despite him having a lack of proper teaching experience. However, the biggest twist is that the school he’s teaching at is one specialized for yokai. Given that Haruaki is a big wimp, he does not take this fact well. Another big twist is that the school principal is also a yokai and that he hired Haruaki because Haruaki is descended from a famous onmyoji named Abe no Seimei, which means that he’s special in a way? It makes sense given that he deflected two yokai spells in the first episode alone.

Because of the school setting, the comedy is mainly centered around poking fun at Haruaki and making him miserable whenever possible from embarrassing him in front of the class to getting chocolate shoved in his face because a student hates humans to getting German suplexed by another student towards the end of the episode. It does get hilarious with how much the author wants the MC to suffer yet at the same time, it gets a little tiresome seeing him so miserable all the time like one episode of misfortunate feels enough, yet we’re going to have to sit through 24 episodes of the same thing. I just hope the comedy gets creative enough. On top of that, the MC is a teacher who has a school uniform fetish, so it does get a little weird when he’s being bribed with a catalog book of school uniforms. The fact that it seems that he likes girls’ uniform more than guys does raises some eyebrows. It would be nice if he liked both genders’ uniforms…

There are so many students, so it’s hard to keep track of who is who, so for now, I’ll just talk about the major characters who appeared and how I feel about them. The principal himself seems like an enigma because he’s the one who hired Haruaki and is a yokai himself. I do wonder what sort of yokai he is. Then, there’s Sano, who is a Yakubyogami. Since he has ‘Gami’ in his name, which means god, does this mean he’s a god of misfortune and not a yokai? Anyways, Sano is usually composed, but does get irritated with Haruaki’s sniveling and whining. He brings misfortune to whomever he touches, so Haruaki gets the brunt of it most of the time. Mamekichi Maizuka is a mamedanuki, which is like a small Tanuki yokai. He’s super adorable! The fact that the yokai encyclopedia says that his kind transforms by putting their scrotum on their heads to transform is a weird fact and that Mamekichi has to protect his dignity by denying all claims makes it hilarious. Then, there’s Hijita who hates humans and was mean to Haruaki. At least he apologized later on, but it was still mean how he took out his anger on Haruaki just because his sister married a human; he’s a Dorotabou, which is some sort of mud/dirt yokai? Last major character introduced is Zashiki, who is a Zashikiwarashi. She’s a shut-in who got addicted to gaming via Hijita. Fortunately, she’s still willing enough to go to school. I do like how Zashikiwarashi brings either good or bad fortune depending on the color of clothes they wear. I do like learning these little yokai trivia while getting to know these characters.

The voice cast is a mix of big names, rising stars and new faces. Haruaki is voiced by Ryota Osaka. This is actually the whiniest I’ve heard Osaka as he usually plays cool and suave characters. It’s weird to hear him shrieking and yelling, but it’s a nice change of pace from his usual roles. The principal is voiced by Jun Fukuyama. You know the principal is going to be important if he’s voiced by Fukujun. Then we got Ryota Suzuki who voices Sano. It’s funny how he played Kurosawa in Cherry Magic which was also produced by Satelight. Is he a Satelight staple or something? Mamekichi does sound like he’d be voiced by Ayumu Murase, which he did in the drama CD adaptation of this story, but he’s actually voiced by newcomer Reo Tanie who sounds very similar to Murase. That’s crazy. Hijita is voiced by Taito Ban whom I normally associated with stoic and aloof characters like Shizusumi from Given and Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling so for him to voice a hot-tempered siscon is a nice change of pace and it does show that Ban can be diverse in his roles. Zashiki is voiced by Akari Kito who surprised me because I normally associate her with sweet and cute characters so for her to voice the tomboyish and gruff Zashiki is also a nice change of pace. Seriously, the voice actors in this anime are just playing against their typecast and it shows how versatile they can be. I like that!

The animation was good, though. I can tell a lot of time and budget was poured into drawing all the students and their antics alongside Haruaki’s. You’re gonna need a lot of time to properly animate a lot of characters. Though, let me talk about the pacing a bit. It does feel like the anime meshed a few chapters together and made a clusterfuck of an episode. I never read the manga, but it does feel weird that Haruaki just decided to cut class to go find Zashiki to get her to come to school and that Hijita suddenly came back from Hawaii on the exact day he starts the new school semester. It feels as if the Hijita story and the Zashiki stories are supposed to be two separate stories, but got squished into one. Though, I do commend Satelight for making it flow, but the pacing still feels weird…

I honestly can’t wait to see what other misadventures Haruaki will have at Hyakki Academy and how much he’s going to suffer from his students’ antics. I want to know more about the other students too! I hope they get to have screen time! What are your thoughts on the premiere of this episode?

#youkai gakkou no sensei hajimemashita #a terrified teacher at ghoul school #Haruaki abe #Mikoto sano #mamekichi maizuka #Kotaro hijita #Beniko zashiki #school principal #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal #fall 2024 anime

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angeart · 5 months ago

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hhau mimic arc rambles part III bonus: the eclipse

(~2,8 k words) // other parts & au masterpost here

Every couple of years, there’s a total eclipse in this world. The moon is big, obscuring the sun in a horrible totality, entrapping it for what feels like too long. This is a big event, but not because people are eager to spectate the sky and bask in its weirdness. No, it has much worse connotations.

Because the eclipsed moon affects many of the hybrids. Especially the animal ones.

Hunters look forward to the eclipse because it promises a lot of loud, distressed, instinct-driven hybrids scattering about without many defences. They prepare traps specifically for this occasion and organise big hunting parties, eager for the upcoming bloodbath and bounty.

The eclipse happens mid-winter while Scar and Grian are on the server.

And it’s awful.

[cws violence, murder (no known characters), panic, mind-altering states and a loss of self control, haywire instincts, non-consensual manhandling, horrory vibes]

They don’t really know what is happening at first. Hermitcraft is a safe server which has many things coded differently, and because eclipses hurt many hybrids, they never happen there. So Scar and Grian have never experienced anything like this, and the yank it has on Grian’s state in particular is startingly sharp and terrifyingly confusing.

Scar himself is alright, because—and the two of them don’t know this at the time—vexes are immune to the eclipse.

Actually, that’s not quite accurate. The eclipse helps heighten their magic.

They thrive.

Grian does anything but thrive.

His instincts go absolutely batshit haywire. He starts getting disoriented and incredibly uneasy, anxiety holding him in a choke hold, and all rationality and caution leave him, replaced by pure fear.

He starts making inadvertent chirping sounds, panicked, and no matter what Scar says or does, Grian can’t seem to stop.

It’s so dark outside. And Grian’s chirping isn’t the only one that sounds through the forest.

In a world where they thought avians might be all nearly hunted to extinction, there are now suddenly, in this darkness, piercing faraway chirps. Just as panicked and lost-sounding as Grian’s own.

But those are not the only sounds the looming forest has to offer.

There’s also hollering and cheers. Whistles and barks. Twigs snapping under careless boots. Hunter parties following every single hybrid noise right to its source only to slice it shut. Shrill, chilling screams before some hybrid inevitably plunges into absolute, horrifying silence.

Scar’s desperately trying to get Grian to shush. He pleads him to stop, to be quiet. Tries to calm him down.

But it’s all futile. Grian has no control over himself. He can’t make it stop; it’s a wholly new kind of fear, overpowering and unfamiliar, yanking at his instincts. (It feels, a little bit, like a huge moon crashing down while the ground underneath him shakes and disintegrates.) (It feels like locking eyes with someone and not being sure if he’ll ever get to see them again.) (It feels like apocalypse. Like the end.) (His mind screams at him and he can’t help but scream along with it.)

Scar wonders if he should put a hand over Grian’s mouth. He doesn’t know what to do, but the hunters are out there, in large numbers, tireless and eager, and Grian’s voice is now the beacon luring them over, pinging with their exact location.

Grian is slowly backing away, hunched, feathers puffed. His wings are semi-curled around him, no longer tucked under the cloak, even though they’re out in the open.

He doesn’t seem like he’d do well with being touched.

But Scar needs him to be quiet. For Grian’s sake too.

Before Scar can do anything, though, Grian’s earwings flit wildly and he whips his head to the side, honing in on some noise.

It’s a distressed chirp, one that sounds closer than any of the other ones.

It’s an avian in distress calling for help.

Grian thought there aren’t any avians but him, and now there is one, still alive, so very close, desperate for aid, and— Grian’s mind blanks. There’s only one single thing to do here. He isn’t thinking. His heart beats wildly in overdrive. His body moves.

Blindly, Grian bolts in the direction of the sound.

And it’s up to Scar to scramble and run after him.

It’s more than that. More than just following Grian. Because there is so much at stake, and he needs to stop him and quiet him and— And he might have to exert force, and—

Oh. He is basically hunting Grian down here.

He is the hunter following in the steps of a terrified avian.

And Grian, in his dazed and fragmented perception of the world, feels just like prey. There is so much happening for him right now: it’s dark and all he can see is Scar’s piercing vex eyes when he glances over his shoulder; he’s lost in panicky instincts, trying to reach another avian in distress, hurtling blindly towards potential danger; and he does feel hunted.

On top of that, he can’t stop the stream of bird noises. He can’t pull his wings under his cloak either. He’s stumbling and tripping and scaping himself all over, but he feels like he needs to keep running.

He no longer knows if he’s even heading the right way. The chirping he was following fell dead silent. His head is just screaming at him. Hot white panic and a cacophony of unstoppable, overpowering instincts.

Scar has to stop him before he gets himself killed.

As awful as it is, Scar doesn’t care about that other potential avian (it could be a trap) nearly as much as he cares about Grian. His priorities here are clear, desperation thick and loud in his lungs, pressing at his ribs. There’s no time for bargaining or for steeling himself.

He needs to act.

Scar grabs Grian and tackles him to the ground.

He’s pinning him down, sort of straddling him, hands on Grian’s mouth, hopelessly trying to muffle the noises. He feels absolutely vile, but he doesn’t know what else to do. His breaths come in little sharp huffs of blue magic, shiny through the darkness as he expels a ton of emotional energy just to keep himself from panicking and crying.

He finds that it’s not as easy to hold Grian down when he doesn’t want to be pinned down. But also it is. It is easy, far too easy—harrowingly so. Grian’s so light. (It frightens Scar to even touch the thought of how simple this would be for the hunters too.)

He’s terrified of hurting Grian accidentally. He’s very capable of it; Grian’s made of brittle hollow bones after all, and Scar’s grip is a bit too strong, but he doesn’t have a choice here. Grian won’t stop thrashing, fighting to be freed. (But Scar knows that letting go would almost surely result in Grian’s death.)

And where Grian’s attention is kind of selective, not processing things at all, Scar’s attention is sharp—sharpened by panic—keenly attuned to their surroundings. He hears all the various noises come and go. Not necessarily chirps; other hybrids, too. Them falling silent. The hunters yelling. And the screams. God. The awful screams.

They’re all too far away for now, thankfully, but if Grian won’t stop, they’re bound to come this way. After all, if Scar can hear them, surely they can hear Grian too—?

Scar feels nauseous and horribly helpless. The hunters cheer and laugh as the hybrid noises go dead silent, one by one— only the hounds left barking and howling in their wake.

Scar knows that, even though it’s awful, they can’t help any of those hybrids. But he’s going to do everything in his power so that at least the two of them can survive this.

Despite all his (pointless) efforts, the hunters catch up to them anyway.

As they approach, Scar is struggling to quiet Grian down, and Grian isn’t thinking straight enough to properly fight. It’s the worst possible situation.

There’s no point in quieting Grian down anymore when the hunters are right here though, and so Scar moves on the defensive, ready to give it all to keep Grian alive. The fight is ugly, drenched in frightening desperation; Scar is numb to the pain even when something tears. Grian’s chirps get worse. Warmth drips down Scar’s face.

But then a different sort of howling breaks through Scar’s mounting panic, and—

A group of wild vexes rushes in. Not to save Scar and Grian in particular; it’s just a lucky timing.

Because as it turns out, just the way hunters set off to hunt down hybrids during the eclipse, the vexes—who are more powerful at this time, magic thrumming strongly in their veins—set off to hunt down the hunters. So nicely accumulated for them. So loud. So easy to find.

The vexes and the humans clash, and in the swell of the chaos, Scar manages to drag Grian away.

He wants to keep going, increase the distance between them and everyone else as much as possible, but all too soon the forest opens up into fields, and no way he’s pulling a dazed Grian out there where they can’t hide. So instead he swerves, anchoring them against a rock formation—an array of boulders and a jagged cliff wall.

He presses Grian into a small dent there, covering him with his own body (imprisoning him there, in a way). Hiding Grian’s wings, muffling his chirps, whispering frantic things that are meant to be soothing. The sky is still dark, and Grian’s still chirping, although it’s quieter now; it’s clear he’s exhausting himself, but he’s still making noises. Still unable to stop, despite the terror and the fatigue.

They get found again.

But it’s not the human hunters that find them this time. It’s the vex group, sneaking up on them, all their sharp edges drenched in blood, glowing with magic.

Scar turns his back to Grian, still pressing against him, tucking him against the rocks, hiding him as much as possible. He’s ready to lash out. He’s ready to fight with these vexes, even if he’s outnumbered. (He’s got no species loyalty here, after all.)

In a curious tone, one of the vexes says: “That avian is going to get you killed.”

The words register to Grian through the haze. He’s still absolutely lost amidst this all, barely understanding the world around him, struggling to process anything. But there’s something about the words avian and get you killed, and the thought of Scar, that makes it through the fog.

It only serves to make him more distressed. He breathes in sharp, shallow breaths, and his chirping grows louder again, high pitched. But it’s not just the chirps this time. Some of the sounds he makes are choked, merging into something more like himself—the sound of helpless sobs.

Scar is shielding Grian with his back, but that means he’s turning his back on Grian’s cries and all of his misery. He cannot comfort him. He has no words that would make Grian not afraid right now.

The vex suggest leaving Grian or—worse—using him as a bait.

Scar’s staring them down, growling lowly, one eye squinted as blood runs down his face. “How about you leave.”

The vex don’t budge. They think they’re after a good thing here, after all. Surely, Scar also wants these hunters dead?

What they’re suggesting isn’t to sacrifice Grian as a bait—they don’t actually want to outright hurt or endanger him, even if it maybe doesn’t translate well through their stance and words. They’re not malicious in that way. What they’re suggesting is simply pragmatic in their minds. (I mean, they wouldn’t grieve if the avian happened to die there, but it wasn’t their goal to let it happen.)

“We’re hunting the humans,” they note, as if that should’ve been enough to sway Scar. “We could use the avian—”

“No.”

One of the vex, white hair braided and smile sharp, peeks past Scar, trying to glimpse the feathers. The violet shade reflected in the glow of their magic tells him everything he needs to know, sating his curiosity, and he whistles, impressed. Amazed that an avian like this has lasted so long.

Scar lunges at him for getting too close.

He gets laughed at in return. What’s he gonna do, all alone? Not even channelling his magic to heal his own wound. It’s just funny to them. Cute. “What’re you going to do?” they tease, a bit too cheerily for the situation at hand. It rings threatening. “You’re outnumbered, pal.”

Scar doesn’t back down. “I’d take at least one of you down with me.” It’s a big statement. Covering up all of his nauseating fear and unending tension. Because he’ll do it. He’ll fight if he has to, and it will be ugly, and he might fail—he might die—but he’ll for sure give it everything he has.

And he can tell there’s camaraderie between this group of vexes. That they don’t really want any of them seriously hurt.

They, as vexes, know the best how dangerous a feral, cornered vex with something to protect can be.

There’s a sliver of respect this earns Scar, unbeknownst to him. The will to stand up to them even when he’s outnumbered like this. To not give in to the pressure and instead fight for his values. For what he cares for.

The white haired vex—seemingly a leader of the group of sorts—reiterates, tone a bit lower, that the avian is going to get Scar killed. That he’d be better off without him. (Essentially voicing the deep rooted fear Grian already has.)

He also extends an invitation, almost in the same breath, impressed by Scar standing up to them. But it’s only Scar who is invited, and it’s blatant—the condition laid down is drop the avian or let’s use him as a bait and hunt together.

With sharp ire and a swell of protectiveness, Scar counters that he’d be better off without them, actually.

There’s a snort and a mocking, “Aight, let’s see how long you can last.”

The relief Scar feels when they relent and leave is immense, leaving him weak in his knees.

He thinks they’re foolish, risking themselves like that. In his mind, they’re the definition of the violent vex, that dark reputation that seems to now stick to Scar and follow him too by the virtue of being the same kind of hybrid. He doesn’t want anything to do with that.

And of course, he’d never leave Grian.

Grian is his last connection to home. He loves him, even if it never feels like it’s enough.

Excruciatingly slowly, sun eventually peeks back out. But even then, it takes Grian a very long time to untangle himself from these dazed, nonsensical instincts. It’s such a heavy, sticky veil and he’s left disoriented and confused for the longest time. Through his exhaustion, he feels weak and dizzy and out of it.

Scar is also exhausted, but they’re nowhere near safe yet. Still pressed against the rocks. Every nerve ending is flared up, Scar’s senses alert to the point of flinching at the subtlest sound, hypervigilant. But as Grian slumps and quiets down, Scar’s firm grip on him follows.

Slowly, so slowly, Scar’s hold on Grian becomes comforting instead of restricting and terrifying.

He can tell that it left bruises.

Scar hates everything about it, but— They’re alive.

The sun is back, Grian is quiet, and they’re alive.

But they still need to find safety. And Grian’s so frazzled, still processing what even happened. The blurred memories of chirps and howls and screams swirl through his mind. He feels lightheaded, and like his skull is stuffed full, unable to think clearly. He doesn’t quite understand any of it, and his body feels locked in place.

Grian wants to stay sitting here until everything starts making sense, but they don’t have that kind of time. They can’t stay. They need to move. They need to properly hide.

Scar feels awful, but he needs to push through. He needs to force Grian to move.

The snow is splattered with blood. The forest is dead silent, scattered bodies left behind all across it. The area is riddled with traps, some activated and others still hidden, waiting to be triggered.

The sun is shining.

The silence is eerie.

The scent of blood is thick and fresh and nothing feels safe.

Later, when Grian’s more coherent, he says, “They were right.” In an incredibly quiet, fragile, unsteady voice—but laced with determination—he tells Scar: “You should’ve taken their deal.”

Scar immediately tries to dismiss it. Preferably to not engage with this conversation at all. “Not interested.”

Grian registers the shut down of the discussion, but that doesn’t make it any less loud inside of his mind (and heart). He simply goes quiet and withdraws. Lips pursed, lightly frowning, staring somewhere away.

They don’t talk about it again.

Late at night, when Grian can’t sleep because he’s too high strung, he thinks of how it’d feel like, to be used by those vexes as a bait.

He dreams about it.

He dreams of faraway chirps and laughter and hounds finding him.

He has so many nightmares after this.

-------

BONUS screenshot for shits n giggles:

#hhau #mimic arc #yeah this was absolutely AWFUL #hope u enjoyed <3 #the scattered bodies might get looted later but the scene is dreadful #please imagine that human-vex clash like that fight in LOTR #you know the one #anyway also yes #this is where hhau scar gets his eye scar #this is just the first in a string of harrowing incidents that make grian lose control #we’re awful to him oops #this vex group is from the commune yes #nico mention #he said not nice things #no foreshadowing there at all dw dw #so anyway. this is where and how they met the vexes for the first time #it was far from pretty #mmmhm #the vex's mission wasn't to save hybrids #it was just to kill as many hunters as they can #hey is mimic part III now wrapped up????#nope!!#there's still one ramble left #which is what happened to juni!#does anyone wanna know what happened to juni?#after that disaster of a betrayal haha #we're really just jumping all the way around now between rambles and arcs pff #but i'm so very happy i finally got these eclipse rambles done for u!!!

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meetinginsamarra · 8 months ago

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mayprompts2024 #16, experiment

Read parts 1-11 on AO3 here

Part 12 only on tumblr so far

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The Perfect Place - Part Thirteen

John put the skull back on its place on the mantelpiece and pointed at the dagger Sherlock had stuck into the wood to keep several letters in place. He frowned and gave Sherlock a disapproving look.

“You shouldn’t keep such a sharp dagger in the wood.” John chided.

Oh dear, here come the admonishments, Sherlock thought.

He braced himself against what John was likely about to say. “It’s dangerous to keep a sharp object here. People could get hurt.” Or “You’re destroying the wood, it’s difficult to repair damage like this.”

John continued. “It’s really bad for the blade, it’ll get dull, you know? Also, the tip might break and get stuck in the mantelpiece. It would be a shame to ruin such a fine dagger.”

“Erm, okay?” Sherlock stuttered, surprised, “Yes, will do.” Not what I expected.

When John peeked under the sofa, he pulled out the Turkish scimitar that Sherlock had already missed.

“Oh, great, you found it! I’ll be needing it tomorrow.” Sherlock called out happily.

“What for?” John brandished the scimitar and made some thrusts into Sherlock’s direction. “You going to waylay guileless travellers?”

“No, of course not.” Sherlock decided to test John’s sense of humour. “I’ll need it to chop the remains from the latest flatmate-candidate. He insulted Billy and therefore he had to die.”

John looked Sherlock straight into the face, utterly deadpan. “Good then that I didn’t. Also, you’d better use this letter-holding dagger for precision cuts through the corpse’s joints.”

They stared at each other for three long seconds before they exploded into raucous laughter.

For the next ten minutes, Sherlock watched John hopping excitedly around the sitting-room, ogling things, pawing bits and fondling bobs.

It was an amazing sight of utter joy.

Sherlock was reminded of a toddler experiencing their first Easter egg hunt in a magical wonderland. He suppressed the urge of handing a basket to John so that he could put the found treasures inside for later perusal.

(Others might have been reminded of a squirrel suffering from dementia, getting excited over and over again about finding the same nuts it had hidden juts several minutes ago, thinking they were new.)

(And yet others would have thought of a cuddly hedgehog searching for windfall like apples and pears to gain weight for the next winter.)

John commented on every mysterious, unusual, weird or quirky object that he picked up, showing it to Sherlock and silently asking for more information, data that Sherlock was more than happy to provide.

“Are you needing a cup of tea as bad as I?” John asked after a lot of talking, “I’m parched.”

(Also, his throat was terribly dry from all the dust he had inhaled while scrutinizing Sherlock’s things.)

“Let’s make some,” Sherlock offered, “and you could have a look at the kitchen.”

Sherlock put the kettle on while John first commented on the lovely choice of green tiles on the kitchen wall and then asked about the array of chemistry equipment on the kitchen table.

“I’m doing a lot of experiments here,” Sherlock explained, “to gather data and evaluate clues in order to solve the crimes that I consult on.”

(This was true, of course. Also, it sounded much better than the whole truth. Namely, that Sherlock followed mostly some whims he had when he was bored and just experimented with whatever was available to him. He had produced mountains of laboratory journals with millions of spreadsheets of data that nobody would ever use. Like one of his latest obsessions when he had tested the durability of mummified Guinea pig embryos after being exposed to various kinds of acids and then thrown against a bed of nails.)

“What is it you’re currently experimenting on?”

“I’m measuring the coagulation of saliva after death.” Sherlock replied and poured the hot water over a teabag.

“Interesting.” John said. “I’ll get us some milk.” He reached for the handle of the fridge.

Sherlock suddenly remembered where the saliva had come from and an electric shock of terror struck him.

“No, don’t open…” he began to shout.

But it was already too late.

“… the fridge.” Sherlock whispered.

John’s shriek reverberated in the deadly silence that followed.

+++++

tagging some people @calaisreno @totallysilvergirl @lisbeth-kk @peanitbear @raina-at

#mayprompts2024 #calaisreno #number 16 experiment #my sherlock fanfics #the perfect place #no beta we die like (wo)men

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wannaeatramyeon · 2 years ago

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Hello!! Recently found your page and when i tell you i binge read almost all of your lookism content i mean it.

That being said i would love to ask if you could do a scenario where y/n and Goo hate each other but fake date in order to make Gun jealous and of course annoyed (in Goo’s case), however in the end they both fall for each other.

Aww!! THANK YOU FOR READING!! Isn't this community great. Isn't Lookism great.

I LOVE fake date fics! Slight deviation to just trying to prove Gun wrong (the plot is thin, okay).

Goo Kim x Reader: Fake Dating

"Get your hands off me!"

"It's called acting, you bitch!"

"Dumb bastard!"

"Stupid hag!"

"Four eyed fuck!"

"Shit for brains!"

A door slams shut. You and Goo freeze for a brief moment before throwing yourselves at each other. Your lips smash painfully together, and hands wander. It's for authenticity, you see.

(And it works.)

Gun stops in his tracks, "What the fuck?"

You had been chit-chatting as you usually do during one of the lulls in your missions with Gun.

"-and winter weddings are sorta magical, y'know? I like the idea of getting married and having snow falling all around me. But summer with the weather, I-"

Gun has had enough of your mundane chatter. "How the hell do you find the stupidest shit to talk about. You can't even get anyone to date you."

You throw a punch at him, "We dated!"

He dodges your attack, "And we broke up."

"Fuck you, loads of people want to date me!"

Gun peers over his sunglasses at you, he knows you are bullshitting.

Ugh. You'll show this asshole.

"Hey, you big lump," you kick Goo's chair. Oops maybe a bit too hard. You cackle as he tumbles into a heap on the floor.

"AHH! What was that for, you dumb bitch!" Goo gives you the filthiest look.

(On paper you and him should get on like a house on fire. But the first time you met, he had opened his mouth and asked who brought along this pretty little bimbo. You tried to rip out his tongue for that. Well, the rest is history.)

"So..." You eye up the blonde dusting himself off and readjusting his glasses. Is this one of your worst ideas? Probably. "Wanna piss off Gun with me?"

"I don't need you to do that."

"But what if we can take it to new realms of irritation?"

"..."

"I'll pay you."

"Why didn't you say so, Princess! I'm all ears."

Goo had always thought you were a little weird. As if this doesn't prove his point exactly.

Whatever.

He's making money and irritating Gun. Two of his favourite things. Add in beating someone up in there, and it's his holy trinity.

Hmm, maybe he could beat you up after this. That would be fun. He gives you a sly glance as you're explaining the 'fake dating' and what it entails.

Seriously, what an oddball.

After Gun discovers you two all over each other, he turns around and swiftly exits.

He did not care for getting involved in your love life. That ship had long sailed.

The only concerns are with his own sanity.

Having you and Goo together is a dangerously irritating, annoying combination. It doesn't just increase his chance of getting a headache and into trouble two-fold, it increases it exponentially.

...And the fake dating begins.

"Sweetheart, this song reminds me of you!" Goo gives a mocking smile that only you could see.

Gun is sitting in the back while Goo drives and you occupy the passenger's seat. That's fine as far as Gun is concerned. The further he is away from the both of you while you have this little... thing going on the better.

He honestly could not care less. But even listening to you two flirting is like nails on a chalkboard. The headache is returning. He should really invest in some headphones.

"Aww~ You are so sweet!"

You run your hands along Goo's thigh then brutally dig your nails in as you pinch him. This fuck. Did he think you couldn't hear the lyrics? The woman in this song is a useless doormat.

Goo blows you a kiss in return.

"Cupcake!" Goo matches pace with you and goes to hold your hand. You hear Gun's unhappy grumblings from behind. "There's a new hot restaurant that opened up. We should go on a date!"

"I would love that," That really would be thoughtful if you guys were an actual couple.

"We can have a nice night out and walk along the Han river."

"Perfect."

Goo's grip on your hand tightens, he looks deviously at you. Oh no. You prepare yourself for whatever comes out of his mouth next.

"And afterwards we can go back to mine for dessert? You know what I mean? By dessert? That's how everyone phrases it right? To mean we will just fuck all night? With my big, huge, throbbing-"

You hear a stumble and cursing from Gun. You look at Goo and feel him mentally high five-ing you.

Heh. That'll teach Gun for being such a dick. This isn't such a terrible idea after all.

"Sweetheart! Don't I look handsome!"

Gun questioned his life choices.

You and Goo had insisted on running into a designer store for something quick. 'Something quick' had turned into an hour of Goo parading around in suits. And now Gun is waiting sullenly in the corner for you both to finish up whatever the fuck you are doing.

"Hurry the fuck up,"

"Gun, you sourpuss! It's for the HNH function tonight. Goo needs to look his best."

Goo definitely did look good, you'll give him that. The blonde has a great body and a keen eye for fashion.

"Honeybun?" you turn your attention towards your 'boyfriend' as he strides out the fitting room. The suit looks like it was tailored especially for him.

Oh. Has he always been this handsome? You start to think maybe he isn't so bad until-

"You said you'll treat me for showing you a good time last night?"

You must be a better actor than you thought. Your mouth doesn't drop open at his boldfaced lie and your face remains neutral.

This prick. No doubt he's going to rack up an absurd bill and make you pay.

"Let's have a closer look then," you walk over to him, playing the part of a sweet girlfriend. Your hand smooths out the lapel and shirt.

"Silly, your tie is all askew," you adjust the knot and tighten it until it almost chokes this idiot.

Goo doesn't say a word, just looks down at you with a smirk. You feel the urge to wipe it off.

"I do like this one," you say. Your hand reaches out to caress his face. He stills at your unusually tender touch, his next backhanded comment gets stuck in his throat.

You push yourself up on your tiptoes to press your lips to his.

As if on autopilot, Goo's arms moves to circles your waist, pulling you closer and deepening the kiss. Something about the way you fit with him feels natural.

You nip at his lower lip. Hmm, Goo really is a good kisser.

Gun closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. You two are getting on his fucking nerves. He really shouldn't kick your asses here. He takes a deep breath and counts to ten.

Scratch that, maybe one hundred.

Goo, with his arm around your shoulder, eyes your Uno cards.

He had already won a couple rounds ago, and now you and Gun are determining who between you is the loser.

"No cutie-pie, don't put the green one down. Gun will +2 you!"

"Don't help her out!" Gun growls at you both sitting across from him. He gets awfully testy even with silly games.

You hum and haw at whether to trust Goo as he studies your hand, trying to come up with a strategy.

"Put this one down," he ignores Gun and points at a particular card, "cross my heart babe!"

Fine. You follow his instructions.

Gun huffs and picks up a card from the pile. Guess he couldn't follow your colour or number.

Goo taps twice on his cheek. You giggle and reward him with a loud smooch.

"Like this,"

Goo comes up behind you, pressing himself fully into your back and helping you adjust the grip on the golf club.

You subtly elbow him.

"Watch it," you whisper.

"You're paying for my boyfriend services," he responds under his breath, a grin never leaving his face.

Your voice returns to its normal volume, "I thought I was doing it right?"

"Nooo Princess, your swing is all off!"

He rests his head on your shoulder, actually telling you about where your hands should be and correcting your stance.

If you were a weaker woman, you would be feeling butterflies, and your face would flush. You would think about how sweet Goo could be, and how fun he is in a relationship...

You see Gun from the corner of eye and quickly derail any straying thoughts. Instead, you turn and lightly graze your lips on Goo's cheek and shuffle your hips into his crotch playfully.

Goo, delighted at your movement, chuckles.

Off to the side, Gun facepalms.

You open your mouth obediently as Goo spoonfeeds you.

"Isn't it extra delicious when your Goo-bear is feeding you?" He flutters his eyelashes. God, this guy is so ridiculous you couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you have to fucking do that? I'm trying to eat here." Gun glares at the display.

"Don't be jealous just because you'll never know love like this!" Goo snaps before feeding you another mouthful.

Gun rolls his eyes. Why does Charles curse him with the most idiotic partners.

"Yeah I'll just pay for mine and the wifey's food," Goo smiles at the waitress, handing over some cash.

"Just pay for it all you cheap asshole!" Gun is exasperated. It's a goddamn hole-in-the-wall, not some fine dining establishment. The total is pocket change.

"Nope!"

"You fucking-"

The waitress clears her throat awkwardly.

"Pay for it yourself, you prick," Goo retorts as he nuzzles into your neck.

Gun angrily slams down some money.

"What's this?"

So much for doing work. Goo loudly makes an entrance into your office and wafts a piece of paper in front of your face. You snatch it irritably.

"My invoice!"

What? This wasn't the duration that was agreed.

You narrow your eyes at him, "But we're not done yet!"

"No, we're not."

"So?"

"So I thought I'll give you a 100% discount for the foreseeable, sweetheart."

Your eyebrows knit together. Does this mean what you think it means?

Goo is a picture of nonchalance, he perches on your desk as he examines his nails.

"You mean you actually want to...?"

"I'm having a good time. You look like you are too."

Hmm, you couldn't deny it. And you never thought kissing him could be so pleasant.

"So we're really...?"

Goo gives you a smile and a casual shrug. "If you want to, Princess."

How does nothing ruffle his feathers. How can he be so relaxed about this?

You mull it over. What's the worst that could happen? The last few weeks have been undeniably fun. You don't think you had ever laughed so much.

You school your expression and give him a nod.

Goo's easy smile turns into a toothy grin. He pulls you close and kisses you, like all the times he had before. But this one feels sweeter. Real.

Goo fucking Kim is actually your boyfriend. Who would have thought?

When you finally pull away, you both stay within touching distance, beaming at each other like morons.

"Bastard."

"Bimbo."

Goo suddenly frowns, and the magic breaks. "This doesn't change anything. You still need to pay the bill!"

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ace-reviews · 1 year ago

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WINTER 2024 ANIME RECOMMENDATIONS

I counted and there are 8.5 blonde ladies in either a lead or primary love interest role this season (8 if you count the one whose hair is sometimes black as half of one). Do what you will with this information. I only share it because it’s something that was ticking me off that I noticed.

Anyway, we’re trying out a new format this season: Instead of only recommending anime we’re not familiar with, we’re each picking one we are familiar with and one we went into completely blind.

ACE’S RECOMMENDATION #1: MR. VILLAIN’S DAY OFF

After the deluge of isekai that try to teach the importance of having a healthy work-life balance by having the lack of one kill off it’s main character in the first five minutes of the episode, it’s really nice to have something that teaches the same lesson by choosing to model what one looks like rather than killing anybody. It’s also got a lot of pandas in it, which is always nice.

ACE’S RECOMMENDATION #2: SENGOKU YOUKO

Satoshi Mizukami seemingly can’t catch a break with anime adaptations of his manga: Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer sucked and this one is being seriously overshadowed by all the other really good and/or long-looked-forward-to adaptations this season. (Planet With was an anime first so it escaped the curse.)

Anyway, please watch this and have your friends watch this and buy the Blu–Rays and have your friends buy the Blu-Rays so my dream of a (good!!!) Spirit Circle anime can someday come true.

---

CHARLIE’S RECOMMENDATION #1: SOLO LEVELING

(for the sake of our more sensitive readers, actual screenshots of the anime cannot be shown at this time)

If you like Cheat System anime, and don’t mind “a bit” of graphic violence (read: so much. There’s just so much violence.) , give this a shot. It’s based on one of the Korean manhua that made the genre what it is today, and as far as I’m concerned, they’ve done a good job being faithful to their source so far - they didn’t even give them Japanese names, you guys.

CHARLIE’S RECOMMENDATION #2: A SIGN OF AFFECTION

(adorable)

It’s cute, and disability rep is always a bonus. I like how they animated the sign language, which seems fairly realistic to me, someone who speaks no sign languages.

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FEN’S RECOMMENDATION #1: LOOKING UP TO MAGICAL GIRLS

This is a series I’ve been following since there were only five chapters out in the manga, so I would like to preface this recommendation by saying I’m the only one who’s actually right about it. I’m a veteran, a true soul who’s stuck with it for the past x years since it first released, and as such everything I say about it is valid and correct and anything people who aren’t as familiar with it says is complete horseshit pulled out of their ass. This is a factual statement.

Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete, which has been translated for the manga as “Looking up to Magical Girls” (correct) and by vile HIDIVE as “Gushing Over Magical Girls” (bad and wrong) is a trashy, over-indulgent yuri series for weird perverts that is good, actually, (genuinely), and if the adaptation manages to capture Onanaka Akihiko’s remarkably deft hand in weaving the series’ fetish gags with the story’s genuine moments of pathos and surprising character depth then the anime will also be good, actually.

Dude trust me.

FEN’S RECOMMENDATION #2: METALLIC ROUGE

This is an anime original series about super fighting robots on Mars doing a hitman shit on android rebels for the government and also yuri, maybe. ACAB includes Rouge Redstar, watch this show.

---

BONUS RECOMMENDATIONS: DUNGEON MESHI AND ‘TIS TIME FOR “TORTURE,” PRINCESS

A recommendation to watch Dungeon Meshi is the most redundant thing on the planet this season, but even so you should still watch Dungeon Meshi. Also, Fen and I had a bit of a back-and-forth over who would recommend Torture Princess since it was something she was familiar with and something I had only heard of and I wasn’t going to recommend it because I thought she would and she apparently chose not to recommend it because she thought I was going to so take it as a recommendation both from someone who is and someone who isn’t familiar with Torture Princess to watch Torture Princess.

#solo leveling #dungeon meshi #metallic rouge #sengoku youko #mr villain's day off #a sign of affection #looking up to magical girls #it's time for torture princess #winter 2023 #first impressions

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xihe1874 · 4 months ago

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Hello everyone!!! I know it's been quite a while (who am I kidding it's been a year or so). But here I am, posting stupid nothing about these stupid lover boys again.

This is a Harry Potter crossover, but you don't have to have read Harry Potter to understand this.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you like this, please let me know as this author lives for comments and likes <3

Wish you all the best <3

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Relationship: Iceman/Maverick

Tags: Fluff, Humor, Mutual Pining, Angst, but just a little bit, because they are both idiots, Idiots in love, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Mildly Dubious Consent, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Alternative Universe - Magic, Love Potion/Spell, Truth Serum, Actually the tags are spoil alerts, Not actually unrequited love, Requited love, First kiss, Falling in love

Word count: 3534

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"Goose, you sure it's the real thing? Why does it look so weird?"

Pete shook the vial and regarded the liquid in it with a suspicious face. Even if it was just a prank, he — the youngest Seeker Gryffindor had ever seen in history who had terrified so many enemies both on the oval pitch and in love — needed to ensure that it was the best prank of this century. Using some fake stuff? Totally unacceptable.

"Of course." Nick nodded, holding a book as thick as a brick. "Absolutely. Transparent, colorless, bubbling. Exactly the same as written in the book. Besides, it was from Carole's third aunt's second cousin who has connections in the Knockturn Alley. So if you doubt this potion, you will be doubting Carole."

There seemed to be something wrong with the logic. But Pete was not gonna argue with his best friend.

"But I thought it would be a bit… fancier? Like, I don't know, pink? After all, it's…"

"Love Potion, I know. But love is just like this, Mav." Nick sighed sagely. "When love approaches, there is not necessarily any obvious sign. You won't be noticing anything. But when it strikes, it's arresting, overwhelming. Like the peace before a storm."

Pete couldn't help but howl with laughter. He shook his head, massaging the aching stomach. "Such a poet, huh, Goose? How many Carole's Muggle fics have you read?"

With great amusement, he watched a blush climb its way into Nick's cheeks, and the taller wizard began to stammer out a feeble denial.

"All right, all right. Like you could have me fooled by that. But it's not bad, considering that we will add it to water. Less likely for them to notice."

Nick was visibly relieved. He put the book down and summoned the cup they prepared.

"Carole told me that the Love Potion is custom-made, and it will not push whoever drinks this to fall in love with us. Rather, it will let them love a random somebody. The effect lasts for one day."

Pete smirked with mischief. "What a pity. I'd rather be loved by some dumbass Prefect, and then dump them. Must be delicious."

Something unreadable flickered across Nick's face. He opened his mouth, then decided against it. Just as Pete was about to ask whether his friend was hiding something from him, Nick took the vial from his hand and opened the cork.

Instinctively, Pete inhaled.

A strange feeling spread from the tip of his nose, like a long winter that was finally clearing up, with warm sunlight gradually seeping into his blood. He felt his heartbeat suddenly quicken as if it were trying to break free from its restraints and reveal all the secrets he had hidden away. Pete felt like he was dreaming. He wanted to wake up but knew he would rather give up everything—except Quidditch, maybe—than let this dream end.

He felt both excited and scared.

The air was filled with... the unique pine fragrance of a brand-new Firebolt, the sweetness of chocolate cookies, and another scent, not overpowering, but it instantly captured all of Pete's attention.

Mint.

It was a faint minty smell similar to a Muggle snack called chewing gum.

He knew this snack because there was someone who loved it. The said person was always chewing it, a habit that could be annoying, but the minty scent around him was actually pleasant. So every time Pete saw him, he couldn't help but lean closer—though most of the time it was to tease and counter-tease. Each time he passed by him on the Quidditch pitch, catching a glimpse of the other's sweaty blonde hair and rosy cheeks from the corner of his eye, Pete couldn't help but close his eyes and take a deep breath, unable to resist imagining whether the man's kiss would also be...

"What did you smell, Mav?"

Pete was snapped back to reality.

"Uh, well…" His voice was a bit hoarse. "Just, Firebolt."

Nick frowned at him with disbelief written all over his face. Pete knew his own face must be flushed, but he stubbornly stared at his friend, refusing to back down.

Fortunately, Nick was just as clueless about the Patronus charm as Pete was. Otherwise, he would discover Pete's extremely awkward crush.

A crush on the biggest rival of Gryffindor in Quidditch.

A crush on the Ravenclaw prefect, the Quidditch captain, and the Straight-A student—someone who should have been Pete's sworn enemy.

The crush on Tom Kazansky.

Pete cleared his throat, grabbed the potion, and added two drops to the cup in front of him, trying very hard not to let his hands shake too noticeably. "We need to hurry, Goose, only a few minutes left."

That was true, though. Only five minutes later, the Prefect's meeting would start, as the time announced on the bulletin board, and they still had to sneak back to the secret room behind their dormitory.

Nick shrugged and let it pass. But Pete knew he would eventually ask about the love potion again.

He'd deal with it later, Pete thought.

That was his life motto anyway.

Five minutes later, Pete stood in the empty common room, starting to doubt his entire life.

"Where is everyone?"

Nick shook his head, indicating he didn't know either.

"Then what was the point of all this preparation?"

"Preparation for what, Maverick?"

Great. Just fantastic. It seemed that fate had decided to make things harder for him, as Kazansky chose this moment to walk into the common room.

Pete cursed under his breath and slowly turned around.

Fuck. He shouldn't have done that.

Kazansky had just finished a round of Quidditch practice, it seemed, as he was still in his sweaty suit that clung to him. A few beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, sliding down beside his perfect lips and along his perfect cheek. His face was slightly flushed, probably from the exercise, and his breathing was a bit heavy.

Pete had to clench his fists to prevent himself from doing something stupid (like reaching out to touch Kazansky's hair, as he had been wondering if it was soft).

Kazansky took a step closer, tilting his head. The mint scent surrounding him made Pete a bit dizzy.

"What the heck are you up to this time?" he asked, leaning in further, fixing his gaze on Pete.

Pete would retort back, he really would, but that would have to wait until something meaningful solidified in his brain. For now, he could only stare into those icy blue eyes, desperately praying that his gaze wouldn't drift down to Kazansky's lips (or that he wouldn't be caught if it did).

The suspicious and slightly annoyed prefect mode somehow made Kazansky look even more attractive, which was unreasonable.

"We… got you some water!"

Both of them jumped at Nick's cheerful voice. Pete turned to see Nick holding up a cup of water.

Holding up that cup of water.

No.

He was about to speak when Kazansky interjected, "I don't believe that you guys would be so kind…"

Pete nodded vigorously toward Kazansky, at the same time trying to signal to Nick with his eyes that they were not gonna do this.

"Yes, that's right. Don't trust it, Iceman."

He wasn't ready to face Kazansky, who had taken the love potion and fallen in love with a stranger, even if it was just for a day, even if it was all fake. Whenever he tried to imagine Kazansky tenderly looking at someone who had a blurred face, smiling at that person, slender fingers holding the other's wrist, then slowly, slowly moving closer, gently giving the other a mint-flavored kiss, Pete felt his heart tightened suddenly as if he had just eaten the most bitter Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean.

"...But seeing you agreeing with my point of view makes me doubt again."

DAMN.

"It seems like your plan is to not let me drink this cup of water."

It's not. Not at all.

"Then I'm definitely going to drink it."

Seriously, how did Kazansky get into Ravenclaw with this only brain cell?

In slow motion, Pete watched Kazansky reaching for the cup.

He quickly raised his wand, intending to knock Kazansky unconscious, but the other easily deflected his attack, swiftly dodging to the side.

"Really, Maverick, Stupefy? Just for this glass of water?"

After speaking, Kazansky raised the glass and drank it in one gulp.

Pete stood dumbfounded, unable to speak or move. Kazansky licked his lips with his tongue, and put down the empty cup.

"Sweet, tastes like butterbeer. Wait, now it's kind of... like... like..."

Kazansky furrowed his brow, his gaze searching the room, then settling on Pete. Pete watched as the clarity in those blue eyes gradually faded, replaced by a strange, dazed determination.

"Pete."

Kazansky pronounced his name softly, as if it's a prayer, as if in murmured whispers, as if this name meant more to him than the whole world, as if this name was the only thing he wanted, as if...

As if it belonged to his lover.

No.

No!

Nonononono.

Pete took a step back, then another. He turned towards the wall to escape, but Kazansky strode over, grabbing his wrist with a searing warmth that clutched his pulse.

"Pete, don't go, I have something to say..."

"I don't wanna hear it."

"You... you don't want to hear it?..."

Pete froze, even though the blonde had already let go of him.

Kazansky sounded... soft. Cautious. Quite unsure.

Very sad.

Pete squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He knew he would regret this, but he didn't want to hurt Kazansky, even if it meant his own heart would shatter into a million pieces.

And this might be his only chance to feel what it's like to be loved by Kazansky, said the part of Pete's heart that was accustomed to self-deprecation.

He took a deep breath and turned around.

—And then forgot how to breathe.

While he was steeling himself for the inevitable, Kazansky had moved a few steps closer, trapping Pete between his strong body and the wall. Now there was only a breath's distance between them. Pete could feel the hot breath of the other brushing his cheek, making him shudder involuntarily. He had to lift his head to gaze into the eyes that had occupied countless of his dreams, eyes that were now looking back at him with endless affection.

Kazansky leaned down, his lips close to his ear.

"I remember you said you didn't want to hear it?"

Pete bit his lower lip to keep himself from making any embarrassing sound.

"So, you want to hear it now?"

Their bodies pressed tightly against each other. Pete felt the other's warmth, the scent of mint around them so heady that it clouded his thoughts.

He nodded.

Kazansky looked into his eyes and grinned broadly.

This was the first time Pete had seen him like this. Kazansky radiated pure joy, flashing his white teeth at him. There were small lines at the corners of his eyes, his nose slightly wrinkled, as if nothing would make him happier than Pete willing to hear him speak.

"I love you, Pete Mitchell. I love you so much."

Pete felt his eyes stinging with tears, but he fought to keep them open.

Tom was confessing his feelings to him. He couldn't cry.

Even if it was all fake.

"Really?"

"Really. I have been in love with you for so long. Ever since I saw you fly for the first time. No, ever since I saw you. I noticed you, Pete, you must have forgotten. But I noticed you in your sorting ceremony in the first grade. You were queuing up for your sorting, and I looked up and our eyes met. I was completely stunned at that moment. All I could think was that I had never seen such beautiful green eyes."

Pete hadn't forgotten.

During the sorting ceremony, he felt like others were all rumoring about him, so he was a bit lonely and scared. But he stood tall, chin up, putting on a brave look. Then, a blonde boy sitting at the adjacent table looked up, his clear blue eyes earnestly observing him. Somehow, Pete felt more at ease, walked with his head held high to the front chair, sat down, and then walked to the Gryffindor table, where he saw Nick smiling kindly.

"You were sorted into Gryffindor, I was a bit disappointed—though later, after getting to know you, I found out you were indeed not a Ravenclaw—but you made it into the Quidditch team. You know, every time I saw you on the Quidditch pitch, I couldn't help but stare at you. Pete, I just couldn’t focus. You flew like a maniac, but you're always laughing, tilting your head back to let the wind blow through your robes, always risking yourself to help your teammates out of trouble—although, to be honest, most of the trouble was caused by you. I've been secretly watching you all the time, and it's a miracle I haven't been knocked out by a Bludger yet."

It's unbelievable, Pete thought, that Kazansky hadn't noticed him staring back.

Oh. Then he remembered. It's just the Love Potion speaking. How could Tom really love him?

"Do you remember when Nick got injured last year? When I saw you then, I just wanted to reach out and hold you, tightly and never let go, to let you know that everything would be okay, to tell you I'd always be here, whether you wanted me or not."

He wanted. He wanted so fucking badly that it almost hurt.

"Can I..." Kazansky lowered his gaze to Pete's lips, then back to his eyes, "Can I kiss you, Pete? I've wanted to kiss you for so long, and that’s all I could think about sometimes."

Nodding was too easy. He didn't even need to say anything, just tilting his head slightly, and he would be meeting Kazansky's lips, to know if his kiss truly tasted of mint.

Everything he wanted was right in front of him.

The only problem was, it was all fake.

Tom's love was fake, Tom wanting to kiss him was fake, Tom's gentle gaze was fake, everything Tom said was fake, all because of that stupid Love Potion.

He could kiss Tom, but after today, the Love Potion would wear off, and he would return to a life without Tom, the only difference being that now he knew the feeling of the other's lips on his own. But he could never have them again.

This was your life, his inner voice began to mock him, always sabotaging yourself, always fantasizing about things you could never have, ending up with an empty heart trying to grasp ephemeral love.

"I want to kiss you, I love you, Pete, I..."

"Enough."

Pete blinked, ignoring the tear that fell at last.

"Enough, Tom. I'm sorry, but I can't let this go on any longer."

He raised his wand, hesitated for a moment, then raised his left hand to touch Tom's cheek. Tom turned his face into his palm, his gaze shifting to the wand.

"Although you won't remember..." Pete hated the tremble and choke in his own voice, "but I love you, Tom Kazansky."

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but Pete didn't give him the chance.

"Finite Incantatem," he whispered.

Magic flowed from his fingertips, and Pete felt like a part of his soul had gone with it. He closed his eyes and only wanted to return to his room and sleep for three days after Kazansky left.

"...You love me?"

Pete opened his eyes sharply.

Kazansky hadn't left. He was frozen all over, unmoving as if turned into ice (excuse the pun). He looked at Pete, his face transitioning from disbelief to surprise, then ecstatic joy, then to cautious hope.

"You love me?"

What's wrong? Pete racked his brain, trying to recall the spell he had just cast. It should've worked, thinking of the Love Potion, pointing at the target, casting the spell, it should've broken the charm—though honestly, he spent most of his time in Charms class stealing glances at Kazansky instead of listening to the Professor.

He raised his wand again.

"...Finite Incantatem?"

Kazansky was still there, squinting his eyes at him.

"Alright, it is quite dubious now... Have you been under Imperio, Maverick? That could explain you saying you love me..."

"What? No, I haven't!!"

"He hasn't, I can prove that. It's you."

Pete was startled by Nick's voice. He had completely forgotten his best friend was still in the room. Kazansky took a step back. Pete turned to look, and Nick's face was a mix of awkwardness and amusement.

"I've been under Imperio?"

"No, no. More precisely..." — Pete closed his eyes, preparing for the impending embarrassment and heartbreak — "You've been under Veritaserum."

"What?"

"What??"

"The truth serum, the strongest kind, a precious baby." Nick held up the vial in his hand.

"But weren't we supposed to use Love Potion, Goose? How did it turn into Veritaserum? You clearly told me..."

"Where did you get the Veritaserum? This violates Educational Decree number thirty-five, I should hold you in..."

"...Carole's third aunt's second cousin has connections in Knockturn Alley? Wait, so you're saying this idiot here just..."

"...detention. Wait, Nick, he mentioned Love Potion? You were planning to give me a Love Potion? And this idiot here..."

"...drank Veritaserum? But he clearly said..."

"...did he also drink it? Because he just said..."

"...he loves me."

They said in unison.

Pete felt like all his thoughts had become a tangled mess in his mind. His breathing hadn't calmed down yet, and he could only stare at Nick in front of him, watching him raise his wand and point it at Kazansky, reciting the antidote spell for the truth serum.

Kazansky took in a sharp breath beside him.

"Although I didn't understand most of what was said earlier because you two morons were too loud, I heard the last sentence. Yes, you both said it. Now, I'm leaving this room. Firstly, because that will definitely be the most embarrassing memory of my life, even if I include the time I accidentally rode my broomstick into the Whomping Willow when dating Carole. Secondly, because I have some tasks to report." Nick gestured towards the door, "So… Enjoy yourselves. Don't ever tell me what happens."

"Report?" Kazansky asked, deliberately avoiding looking at Pete.

"Chipper and Sundown posted the meeting notice. Wolf and Wood got the special truth serum, Slider was mainly responsible for letting you know Mav is here."

"You..."

"We couldn't take it anymore, bud. If you two don't bone each other for one more second, we will all go crazy."

"So Carole wasn't involved after all?"

"Carole's suggestion was to snatch your wands and lock you both in the broom closet, but I thought that was too violent."

Nick winked at them and left the room.

In the silence, Pete felt his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He stood stiffly, his gaze fixed on the ground, feeling like his knees were about to give way any second.

He didn't know how to make sense of what had just happened. Should he pretend nothing happened and flee the room, taking advantage of Kazansky's distraction...

"Maverick."

Well.

The blonde hesitated, reached out a hand, and clasped his wrist. His pulse throbbed against Kazansky's palm, like a kind of declaration.

"Pete, I..."

"Do you really love me?"

"You are asking the floor?"

Pete raised his head, meeting Kazansky's gaze. His eyes had always been sharp, but now that light was soft with his long eyelashes slightly lowered. Like Pete was the most precious treasure in the world and he didn't know how to express how much he loved the person in front of him.

Pete knew this feeling so well.

"Yes, I love you, Maverick, Pete Mitchell."

"You think I can't get into Ravenclaw?"

Kazansky—no, Tom—rolled his eyes, furrowing his brow in feigned anger, but the curve of his lips gave him away.

"After all those heartfelt words I said, that's what you remember?"

Pete shrugged and tiptoed closer until their breaths mingled.

"I just want to make sure you remember what you said."

"Do you remember, then?" Tom tilted his head, brushing Pete's cheek with the tip of his nose.

"Remember what?"

"If you play dumb, I will leave now."

"Don't! Don't," Pete laughed, reaching out to wrap his arms around Tom's neck, "I remember. I love you."

"You didn't drink any love potion?"

"Seriously? Tom, you are my love potion."

Seeing Tom's expression like he had just eaten a whole lemon, Pete grimaced too.

"Sorry, cliché. But..." He pulled Tom closer. "...you like it?"

Pete tried to make it sound like a confident tease, but some insecurity seeped in and it ended with a slightly trembling question mark. Tom probably sensed it, because he reached out to embrace Pete's waist, leaning down to press his lips against Pete.

Pete closed his eyes.

"I love it."

Mint. he thought dimly. Soft, sweet, perfect minty taste that was exclusively his.

#top gun #icemav #top gun 1986 #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #iceman x maverick #top gun fandom #top gun fanfiction

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snowbazzledestielshipper · 4 days ago

Text

This either ends with a fist or a kiss

An excerpt

Summary: Simon and Baz agree to a truce and a fake dating plot (Baz’s idea), to undermine the Mage and a new magical weapon that he plans to use on the old families, but when they go home for winter break, they are met with an icy attitude and understandable distrust from Malcolm. They decide to leave and head for the Pitch summer home and get swept up in the magic of the winter hols. Will they be able to stop the Mage in time and gain the trust of Malcolm and the rest of the families before it’s too late? And will Penny ever be looped in?

Tags: Fake dating, getting together, canon divergence, smut, winter romance, cozy adventure, mystery, minor political intrigue, canon typical violence, canon typical vampires, they were roommates, penny gets left out but I promise it isn’t on purpose, swearing, proposal, not all tags here are featured in the excerpt,

Simon

The bastard fainted.

I don’t know if he was angry, mad, or both, I don’t even know why he was still in here, but I stepped out of the loo, thinking I was alone, and Baz was suddenly on the ground!

I gasp and move over to his side.

He hit his head on the way to the floor, and it’s bleeding slightly. His nostrils flare wildly, but at least that means he’s breathing. I sit on my feet, pick up his head, and place it on the end of my knees, cradling him.

“Baz? Baz, wake up! What’s happened?”

He flutters his eyelashes with a flair of dramatics that I’ve come to expect from him.

“Simon, next time you decide to step into a room starkers, would you please give a warning?” He opens his eyes completely, and then blinks a few times like he’s trying to wake up from a dream.

I wasn’t even starkers?

His eyes meet mine and his mouth falls open slightly, and he has a weird look on his face.

“Baz, you’re bleeding, can I help you?”

“I suppose, but please put on trackie bottoms.”

We both blush and I scramble off the floor, dropping his head and sending it banging on the floor again.

“Fuck!”

“Ow! What the hell, Snow?”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry Basil.”

I shift from side to side, not knowing what to do as Baz shakes off the presumable dizziness and gets up unsteadily.

I grab the trackie bottoms from my suitcase after making sure Baz is steady, and pull them on quickly, before taking him to the loo to bandage his head. I seat him on the toilet and get to work.

“How do you know how to do this? I thought the nurse always patched you up after our fights and when you get back from missions.”

“I get into a lot of scrapes during the summer. Usually other children ganging up on me because I’m different. There’s no one to patch you up in care.”

“Oh,” He says quietly. “I’m sorry, that sounds lonely.”

“It is a bit.”

“Stay with me this summer, no more care homes, food when you need it, and I promise to patch you up after I’ve bullied you.” He smiles softly, but I can’t tell if he’s serious.

“Baz,” I warn. He must have banged his head too hard, he isn’t making sense. He’s looking at me, softly!

“I’m serious, Snow.”

“I’d like that, but your parents don’t like me, you don’t like me.” I finish off the bandaging, it wasn’t a huge cut, but it needed to stop bleeding.

“I may hate you, but I don’t dislike you, Simon.” There’s a sparkle in his eye, and something else.

“Sure, you’ve been bullying me because you fancy me, and I’m the queen mum.”

He blinks, looking shocked and starts blushing to his ears.

“Baz?”

“Hm.”

Then three things happen at once; I realize how close we are, Baz stands, trying to leave and brings us closer, and I realize that, holy shit, Baz wasn’t lying or acting or even taking the piss slightly. He doesn’t hate me, I think he’s in love with me.

I spin us and pin him to the wall, we’re even closer.

“Simon-”

I don’t let him finish, I kiss him gently, insistently, just like I’ve wanted to. Hopefully like he’s wanted me to.

He kisses back, keeping pace at first, then speeding it up until it’s desperate, never losing the gentleness somehow.

He pushes me back, until I’m pressed to the bathroom counter, never breaking the kiss.

Why would we?

Air, I need air, I haven’t taken a breath in a minute. Fuck.

I pass out this time, my lungs giving out, my brain starving for oxygen, my heart beating wildly for so so many reasons.

Baz

He passed out.

Simon Snow is at my family’s summer cottage, passed out because we were kissing and he forgot to breathe.

I catch him as he’s falling and shift him to the floor, settling his head into my lap.

We’re mirroring earlier when I was in the same position.

I kiss his forehead, chuckling as he blinks awake.

“Hello, Snow.”

“Basil, were we…”

I freeze.

“Yes.”

“Good. Thanks for saving my head.” He grins. It’s one of his chosen one, Simon “Sunshine” Snow smiles. The kind that have never been directed at me. “I wish I could have saved yours, I’m sorry about that.”

“Simon, you are amazing.”

“No, I’m the worst. I couldn’t even save you from the floor.”

I kiss him.

“Simon, you could never be the worst.”

“Let’s go to bed, Baz.” He changes the subject.

I let him get away with it and nod, not trusting my words.

“Baz? If it wasn’t obvious before, I fancy you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Snow? When did you know? That you fancy me?”

“I’ve been hiding from myself. You called me Simon earlier.”

“No I didn’t. How long has it been?”

“Years.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“You could have told me. I was hiding it from myself, so I didn’t know, but you did. We could have been doing this much sooner.”

I wish we could have. I don’t think we would, though.

“You would have punched me.”

“I would not!” He protests.

“Simon, we’ve been antagonizing each other since we met. You would have thought I was taking the piss.”

He sighs.

“Basil, I can’t say that I wouldn’t have, but I have a hard time believing anyone could love me. I haven’t had anyone other than Penelope tell me that.”

“I do. I have.” I pause to gather myself. “I love you, Simon.”

“I do too, to you. I just can’t say it yet, but I will.” He stumbles over the words, like we’re in class and he’s casting a spell. These words are more magic than a spell though.

He’s so lovely. I want to kiss him.

I can kiss him, so I do. Slowly, I explore his lips, and he matches my energy. It feels almost holy, like walking into Notre Dame.

A shiver runs down my spine and I yawn, accidentally breaking the kiss.

Tomorrow I will wake up in his arms.

Tomorrow he will still be mine. I’ve gotten everything I’ve ever wanted and it feels unreal.

Thank you so much for reading this little tidbit, I hope to have the full fic up by end of February at the pace I’m currently going, but who knows what might happen between then and now!

Come find me over on Ao3 at Snowbazzle_Destiel_shipper, where I have been writing since 2016!

I have a few other Snowbaz fics up currently, several more to come, just shy of 20 for supernatural, and a few other various fics I’ve written over the years!

https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snowbazzle_Destiel_shipper

#snowbaz #simon x baz #simon snow #baz pitch #simon snow series #carry on fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic excerpt #my fic #fic #baz x simon

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headfulloflettuce · 1 month ago

Text

The Human Who Fooled All of Prythian

34. A Sleep Deprived Vacation

“Strangers are just friends waiting to happen.”

- Rod Mckuen

Cosette was ashamed to admit that she used the pain of the bruises to not fall asleep, keeping herself sitting in uncomfortable positions or gently pressing down to make sure she didn’t clock out and potentially suffer something worse due to the hex.

She was grateful that at least she managed to wait out the first period of exhaustion and need for sleep and made it to her current state. The one where she just felt tired.

After applying the medicine the healer gave her, Cosette ended up changing into a different dress from the one she had worn yesterday, unable to wash away the stains of dirt that ended up on it after her fall.

“Good morning Linus.” Cosette greeted the man, closing the door to her cabin.

He looked put together, dressed for another day of work.

“Good morning.” he did a double take when seeing her face, “What’s wrong with you?”

“What?”

I had checked in the mirror. I looked fine, no new bruises.

“Did you even sleep?”

“Well the healer told me that I can’t sleep until we leave Night Court waters, sooo…” Cosette yawned, “I am stuck like this for the time being.”

Linus cringed, “That sucks.”

“Yeah it does.” she agreed, “Are you helping Amelio with work today too?”

“No.” Linus sighed, “Amelio said he would take care of things today and that I should take a break or something.”

“Well that’s nice.”

“No, not nice.”

“Right, let me guess you’re one of those workaholic types?”

“Ha, no. That’s not the problem here.”

You don’t deny it.

“Then what is?”

“You’re really dumb you know that?”

“Way to turn to insults.”

“It’s not an insult, it’s a fact. You think Amelio telling me to take a break is a good thing?”

“Yes…?”

Would a teacher not want his student to take a break?

“That’s not what he’s asking for.”

“What do you mean?”

Linus however didn’t answer her, instead beginning to walk down the hallway and up to the deck.

Cosette followed him.

“Why are you following me?” he snapped.

“I am not, I am just also going to the deck.”

Linus let out a frustrated huff, but still held the door open for her when they clambered onto the deck.

The two walked over to the breakfast table where the captain and sailors were chatting, chugging coffee and getting ready for the day ahead.

“There you are, Linus, thought you already left with Amelio?” the captain smiled at the younger faerie.

“I am staying behind today.”

“I see. Well it would be a shame to just stay at the ship, all we’ll be doing is packing up the cargo and making sure everything is stored properly. You two should head out into the city for a bit.”

“I would love to stay and help you instead.” Linus quickly offered but the captain shook him off.

“Nah mate, you go and have some fun. A couple of the younger sailors are going out into the city today, you should go with them. Just make sure to get back by 2:30, we’re leaving at 3.” the captain winked, “Unless you want to get stuck here.”

“That would actually be hell.” a sailor groaned, “Imagine being stuck with the Night Court fae and their weird mind magic and freaky day cycles until the next boat came.” he shivered, “I think I’d just start swimming back to Winter Court at that point.”

Linus looked even more annoyed but didn’t say anything, instead grabbing some food from the table.

Cosette picked out some fruit and ate it, forcing herself to swallow even though it hurt her chest. Watching the faeries around the table interact it was clear that Amelio sought out more talkative employees as most of the faeries were chatting and smiling. A couple however were a lot more similar to the average Winter Court fae she had encountered: reserved, and quiet, eating their food along the sidelines and exchanging only a few words.

She glanced at Linus who was also silent.

You act more like them than Amelio at times.

“If you’re going to go out into the city we should go together.” she proposed.

Linus glared at her, “No thank you.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

“But you’re going to go out into the city, no?”

“No, I will do something more productive with my time.”

“If I see you sulking around the ship Linus I will kick you out!” the captain called out, putting his plate away into the dirty tray, “You should escort the miss since she is asking you.”

Linus’s face scrunched up in displeasure but he conceded, “Fine.”

Cosette was on her tenth bite when she decided she wouldn’t be able to eat anymore and put her food away.

“You should eat more.”

“I am not that hungry.”

Hard to eat when it physically hurts too.

“I am going to get my bag and soggy wallet.’

“You better hurry or I’ll leave.” Linus called out after her.

Cosette purposefully walked slower, looking him straight in the eyes. Linus groaned, turning away and looking down at the water over the edge of the deck.

Despite his sour expression, Linus had waited for her and helped Cosette down the gangway.

Upon her return he immediately asked, “Why is your wallet soggy? Did you manage to drop it into the Sidra River or something?”

“No, a male stole it from me and then I found it by the Sidra River. He probably dropped it while running and then it washed up somehow.”

Or a kind civilian picked it up, since it was on the sidewalk and the river’s waves don’t reach that high.

“You got robbed?!” he spun around, “Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”

“Well I got the wallet back. Besides, I was with Azriel and Elain at the time and neither he nor the faeries around managed to catch the culprit.”

Linus gaped at her before a short laugh escaped him, “You’re telling me the Night Court’s Spymaster couldn’t catch a single thief?”

She shrugged.

The thought seemed to lift Linus’s mood as they exited the port, with Linus taking the lead of walking through the streets of Velaris, even offering his arm to Cosette.

“I don’t understand you.” Cosette stated, taking his hand, not wanting to get separated in the bustle of the city.

“Hm?”

“You act like an asshole at times yet still hold the door open and stuff.”

Linus rolled his eyes, “That’s basic etiquette, nothing more. All proper faeries should do it.”

Cosette was about to call out the fact that Azriel’s behavior did not apply to everyone, beyond whenever Elain had asked him to do something, but stopped herself.

When you’re too exhausted to think properly, the smartest thing to do is to just not speak. No one can catch you making a mistake if you simply do nothing.

That was my brother’s life lesson from middle school that he passed onto me when I was graduating fifth grade. Easy to say the teachers were thrilled to have a miniature version of my brother running around the same school he had just graduated from.

Cosette considered badmouthing the spymaster of the Night Court in public, in the city of Velaris where he lived, to very much be a stupid mistake. So, she remained silent.

Silence was not a challenge for them as Linus clearly did not want to speak to her. Cosette didn’t mind though, just enjoying the city’s beauty.

She however tugged on his arm, stopping him when they passed by a bookstore.

“Wait, I want to get a souvenir for a friend back home.”

I am going to follow in Ophelia’s footsteps and get Fermin a picture book.

“Are they business associates?”

“No…?”

“Then why are you getting them a gift?”

Cosette gave him a weird look, “Because we’re friends and most faeries never visit a different court so getting them something would be a kind gesture.”

Linus returned the weird look but followed her into the bookstore. Cosette made a beeline towards the picture book section, pleasantly surprised by the selection, and horrified by the high prices.

“Can your friend not read?”

Cosette was starting to get a bit annoyed, shutting a hardcover book more aggressively than she intended, “No, he is a child. Didn’t you read picture books as a child?”

Linus didn’t say anything back, picking up a history text from a neighboring shelf.

Cosette flipped through children’s books, eventually picking out a cute one about a frog and a knight going on an adventure to save the stars from an evil snow wasset that was determined to eat the whole sky.

As far as she was concerned the snow wasset was just an overly large water weasel with tiny legs and a long body.

“Linus, he looks like a worm.” Cosette showed him a funny picture on one of the pages.

Linus closed the book he was reading, not impressed by the worm-like creature, “Is that supposed to be a snow wasset?”

“Yeah!”

“They drew it wrong, it should be fluffier.”

Wait, is this thing real?

“Okay, well, I don’t think the goal here is biological accuracy.”

“I guess.” Linus didn’t sound convinced.

“So…what does a snow wasset normally eat?” she asked.

“Do they never migrate to your area?”

“I never noticed them.”

“Guess that makes sense, they prefer sticking to colder areas, only going to warmer waters during our coldest months. That’s why they’re considered native to Winter Court. The Faerie Realms would take a long time to travel to.”

“Why would they go to the warmth if they like the cold?”

“They prefer the cold but if it gets too cold they might not be able to find stable access to food, so they move to Summer or Spring where they hunt on land. If it gets too hot they either hibernate or move up further North.” Linus said, “But, to answer your question, they eat anything.”

“Even stars?” Cosette quipped sarcastically.

“If they could reach them they would most definitely eat them too.”

Cosette laughed, moving deeper into the bookstore.

Linus followed after her, picking out books as they went and flipping through them, keeping some and putting away others.

“Are you getting those for your business associates?”

“No, they’re for me. Like you said, most faeries never travel to another court. It’s good to stock up on another court’s books.”

“Don’t you want to get Solene or Amelio anything?”

“What’s the point? They can already buy anything they want with money.”

Cosette rolled her eyes.

“You could make them something. Or perhaps a sentimental gift?”

Linus ignored her, so she didn’t bother continuing the conversation.

What can I get Theo? He and Ophelia are the only ones I haven’t really gotten a proper gift for. I don’t want to get him woodworking tools since he already has those.

“Excuse me.” Cosette addressed a short faerie with small horns stacking books in the corner, “Do you have textbooks on wood carving? Or any educational texts?”

The faerie looked at her, nodded and pointed to a neighboring bookshelf.

“Thank you.” Cosette looked through the books, with various titles: ‘From Concept to Product’, ‘Night Court’s Greatest: A History of Woodworking Masters’, ‘Materials and Where to Find Them’, ‘Night Court’s Woodworking: The Basics’. Cosette paused on the last one.

Although Theo was certainly not a beginner, an introductory text to another court’s wood carving arts is a good place to start.

Cosette purchased the two books with Linus getting a whole stack of them for himself. When their orders got wrapped and prepared, he took her packaged book away and put it into his own bag to carry, offering her his hand again,

Cosette took his hand with a small sigh and they returned to the street. Passing by a familiar vendor with the strange sweets she tugged on Linus’s hand again, dragging him over to it.

“Wait, I want to get some of these for my friends.”

“How many friends do you have?” he muttered.

Clearly more than you.

Cosette took a closer look at the bizarre sweets: sparkling star-like candies, caramels that looked like bubbles, cinnamon rolls in the shapes of cats with numerous eyes, and purple flower pastries, to name a couple.

She ended up picking out a bag with a combination of the various candies and chocolates. Although the cinnamon rolls looked extremely appealing she didn’t want to risk one going bad on the way home.

“Are you done?” Linus drawled.

“Do not rush me.” she glared, paying the vendor, trying to take the pretty cloth bag the goods came in, but Linus snatched it away before she could even react, smugly extending his arm to her once more.

“Shall we?”

“You’re…” Cosette tried to find the right word.

“Respectful? A gentlefaerie?” Linus seemed to be enjoying himself.

“A prick hiding behind the visage of respect.”

“Same thing.”

The two carefully maneuvered about some carts that had turned onto the wrong road and were now trying to get back to the proper route with the help of a few pedestrians.

“Those newcomers…don’t even know how roads work.” a passing by faerie slammed into Cosette’s shoulder, eliciting a growl from Linus.

“Oi, watch where you’re going.”

“What did you say to me?” the older male, turned to face Linus, his face, despite the natural bluish hue, looked a bit red.

He was drunk.

“I said watch where you’re going drunk.” Linus smirked, “What kind of male are you, failing to walk in a straight line?”

The male narrowed his eyes at Linus, “Oh…you’re from that court aren’t you? The popsicle one?”

Cosette felt Linus’s hand clench into a fist. She gently squeezed his arm.

Stay calm.

“Of course you little wendigos would be so uptight how a faerie walks. How many glaciers have you shoved up that ass of yours?”

“You-” Linus’s face twisted in fury.

“We apologize for the disruption.” Cosette interrupted Linus.

It would do us no good getting into an argument here.

She could already see people stopping to stare.

“We didn’t mean to bother you.”

“Shut up, female, nobody was speaking to you.”

“How vulgar.” Linus chuckled, “Of course I wouldn’t expect anything less from a stupid male off the streets of Velaris.”

The male laughed, “Does the little snowdrop want to fight?”

“The three of you! Cut it out!” the shopkeeper of the place before which they had stopped before had come out, “If you want to brawl do it elsewhere!”

“Mister, those two ice shi-”

“I know.” the shop owner’s tone turned softer as he spoke to the drunk man, “But rules are rules, they are allowed to be here. Go take a small breather, okay? They’re not worth it.”

The large male growled, but left.

“What are you two still doing here?” the shop owner’s face snapped back to Cosette and Linus, “Away with you!”

Cosette pulled on Linus’s sleeve before he would try to defend hers or his own honor again.

“What a prick.” Linus muttered under his breath, matching Cosette’s step, not struggling against her grip.

Once they were a good distance away, Cosette slowed her walking speed, taking deep breaths as the bruising began to hurt.

“What’s wrong? Did he hurt you when he walked by?

“Is that concern I hear in your voice?” Cosette massaged her stomach.

“Oh drop it, what is it?”

“It’s the bruising from the hex, I need to sit down.”

Linus nodded, beginning to lead her over to a bench before stopping, “Do you think you can walk a couple more meters?”

“Why?” she wheezed.

“There’s a good cafe I know that’s close by. If you can make it we can rest there instead.” he pointed to the cafe.

He was right, it was pretty close.

“Alright.” Cosette agreed, leaning on Linus slightly as they walked, collapsing into a chair on the patio once they made it over.

Linus waited for her before she sat upright again, “Better?”

She nodded.

“Do you want anything from the cafe?”

“Hot chocolate.”

He left, returning soon with a cup of steaming hot chocolate and a sweet smelling coffee.

Cosette reached for her wallet to pay him back but Linus shook his head, “What kind of a prick hiding behind a visage of respect would I be if I made you pay?��

She wanted to argue but the pain was too much so Cosette dropped the topic. Taking a couple more deep breaths and taking a small gulp of her hot chocolate she spoke, “It’s sweet?”, she gestured to the coffee.

“Yeah, they add some native plants to make it. Balances the bitterness quite nicely.”

“I thought faeries drank coffee because of the bitterness?”

“You see that was Amelio’s argument but sometimes you just want something a little sweet, you know?”

“That’s why hot chocolate exists.”

He sighed dramatically, “You don’t get it either.”

“Here, you try the hot chocolate, and I try the coffee.” she offered an exchange.

Linus held her gaze, not about to back down, “Deal.”

They exchanged drinks, taking a small sip each from a spot where the others’ lips hadn’t touched the cup.

“You’re right, it’s good!” Cosette licked her lips clean of the foam from the drink.

“Exactly.” he pushed her hot chocolate back to her, “Your drink is average just so you know.”

Cosette was flabbergasted.

He laughed at her expression, waving a hand placatingly, “It’s not bad, I just think Winter Court’s hot chocolate is better.”

He was kind of right; the hot chocolate there definitely felt cozier.

Cosette huffed, taking a sip of her hot drink again, “Say, have you been to Day Court?”

“No.”

“Really? But you had so much to say about their philosophers.”

“That’s based on texts that I have read written by them and stories from Solene and Amelio who have been there.”

“Wait, why have you not gone?”

Linus went slightly pink, taking a sip of his coffee.

“What? Why have you not gone?” she leaned in.

Don’t think I miss that blush of embarrassment.

“...Amelio and Solene don’t allow me to go.”

“Ha!” Cosette smiled, “What? They don’t want to deal with your tomfoolery?”

His expression shifted to one of offense, “No, they don’t want me to get stabbed to death.”

“What?”

He rolled his eyes, “Right, of course, my apologies, I forget you’re stupid.”

Now it was her turn to look offended, “That’s not nice, and you call yourself a gentlefaerie.”

“A gentlefaerie should speak only in facts.” his mischievous eyes met hers from behind his cup, “You must know of their dueling system, right?”

“Of course.”

Aristippus wrote about that, how could I forget?

“Well faeries from other courts aren’t excluded from that system. Especially during major public gatherings, duels are encouraged between various court members.”

“Oh…” Cosette realized what he was getting at, “So they don’t bring you for your own safety?”

“Yeah, they think I’ll just keel over and die if a faerie tries to attack me.”

“Well they are speaking facts”

Linus frowned, “I can hold my own in a fight.”

“Please, I bet you can’t even hold a sword.”

“Of course I can, don’t be stupid. What kind of faerie can’t even hold a sword properly?”

“I can’t.” Cosette laughed at his incredulous expression.

“You’re joking.”

“Absolutely serious. Briar and Aquilo tried to train me but failed miserably.”

“No way.”

“Well, in my defense I am getting better since my first lesson with them.”

“A faerie so weak she can’t even hold a sword upright…” Linus shook his head, drinking down his confusion with coffee.

“How did you meet Amelio?” Cosette asked, “You’re his student, was there an application or something?”

Linus took a deep, long sip from his drink, “It’s a bit complicated, but no, there was no application. He just helped me out when things were rough and now we’re here.”

“Uh huh…”

“So, tell me about your perfumery.” Linus quickly changed the subject, “If I am going to be insulting you over it, might as well hear from the creator herself regarding said business.”

“What do you want to know?”

“How did you get the idea to make a perfumery business?”

“Well that’s a generic question.” she giggled much to his displeasure, “When I first came to Winter Court I walked around the streets with my friend in search of a job or any sort of opportunity. When Blanche showed us the perfumery street I knew I had to take advantage of the market’s lack of quality products.”

“Blanche? Forrest’s wife right? The inn owner’s?”

“Yeah! You know them?”

“Somewhat, they’re weird like Amelio.” Linus paused, his eyes looking down at his cup, “No, not like Amelio, but still weird.”

“I mean I would say like Amelio. They’re very smiley and welcoming unlike most Winter Faeries…no offense to you.”

“None taken, however, I disagree that Amelio is welcoming.”

“Why?”

“You wouldn’t get it because you’re dumb.”

“Okay, I am going to need you to stop calling me that.”

Linus smiled playfully, “Back to the conversation at hand. Tell me about how your business was when you first started it.”

“I mean it was rough at the beginning.” Cosette said, “I didn’t even know if we would succeed. I bought a building for dirt cheap and permitted the people who lived and worked there before to remain.”

“Where did you live?”

“A hotel.”

“Eh?”

“Even though the building wasn’t too expensive it still took out a large portion of our savings meaning we had to budget our spending big time while not even knowing if the business would take off.” Cosette rambled, “That’s not counting the fact that Theo and his father owed money to the faeries who had given them the building, and they had to pay them back right after the solstice so there was a harsh time crunch too.”

Linus stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Theo is great. Really hard worker but his father is a bit challenging to deal with.”

“So, not only are you an idiot…you are also a self sacrificing workaholic.” he ran a hand through his hair, “Your business model is fucked, and you claim to not take risks?”

“Well, I would argue my risks were well calculated and minimized.”

“Your risks were in fact not calculated. You have planned your secondary venture for farming better than your primary business.”

“How would you have suggested doing it?”

“Well you said it yourself, you lost a bunch of your savings with purchasing the building. How were you going to ensure you had the resources to pay for materials to produce the perfume?”

“I ended up investing in some cheaper materials for making perfume and then to save money on renovating the building we had Theo build a stand from the extra stuff they had left over from woodworking. We then used that to sell our products out on the street and manufactured the perfume inside.”

“Well-...actually that’s not horrible…Still risky but better.”

“Technically no business is without risk. Perhaps I am wrong in saying that I would rather not take a risk at all.” Cosette mused, “However, I like odds that are in my favor or a situation in which I am comfortable in rather than leaving my victory up to chance, you know?”

“I get what you’re saying.” the male looked at her thoughtfully, taking another sip of his coffee, “What about you day to day life? What do you do?”

“Well, me and Ophelia get up and open up shop. During the early morning I work on making perfumes and designing the next scent to be released. When it’s rush hour I help out Ophelia. Theo is usually around to help as well though with the farming project he’s been busy.”

“Ophelia, she’s the one you traveled to the capital with, right?”

“Yup! Well, now it’s your turn. What does the life in a day of Amelio’s student look like?”

“It’s nothing special.”

“Aww, come on. That’s not fair! I told you about me a bit, share something about yourself.” she smiled, “Who knows, maybe it’ll make us grow closer.

“I highly doubt that.”

“You still don’t like me after all that effort I put into telling you a story?”

“That wasn’t a story, you just answered questions. And as for liking you, I thought you said you didn’t care.”

“I mean, I don’t but I would rather we be amicable than at each other’s throats.”

He narrowed his eyes but obliged, “Fine, what do you want to know?”

“Well, what exactly is your job? You mentioned that you make sure stores are still stocked with food. That you are busy ‘maximizing the remaining alliances Winter Court has’. What is it you actually do on a daily basis?”

“That’s pretty much my job. I am in resource management. I track how much stuff various trade agreements or routes bring in as well as businesses via their profit reports. If I see that we are lacking in a certain area of produce whether it be food related or raw materials I make a plan of suggested changes and notify Amelio of the problem. He then works with Viviane and Kallias to support businesses that are lucrative yet struggling, or to tweak agreements with businesses or neighboring courts to maximize profit.”

“So does Amelio have you help him in his projects?”

“Yeah, he usually employs me as an assistant. If he thinks I am ready he’ll give me a more challenging task, though still under his supervision. Granted, before he would give me more projects to work on by myself, now I am expected to take initiative.”

“Wait, that’s terrifying. He expects you to write project proposals and carry through with them on your own?”

“Yeah. It’s reasonable though, what’s he supposed to do otherwise?”

“I think I would cry giving a business proposal to Amelio.”

“It’s basically what you did with your perfumery, and if you’re so sensitive that you would cry over it then you won’t survive being a businessfaerie.”

Fair point, though I never wanted to be a businesswoman so ha! I don’t technically have to be competent as I’ve had no training! Apart from college and life experience…

“Still, I can say it’s intimidating before I try it.”

“Guess so, though for me the more I think about how scary something is the less likely I am to do it.”

“What about the weekends?”

“Hm?”

“What do you do for fun Linus?”

“Well, I read.”

Do you not hang out with friends?

“What books do you like to read?”

“History, economics, philosophy, anything that interests me really.”

Cosette hummed, “Do you have anywhere you like to go to hang out?”

“No, why would I?”

“Really you don’t have a cafe or library you enjoy visiting?”

“The public library has nothing on Amelio’s or the palace’s archives. It’s quite pointless to go there if you want to find something of interest.”

As I suspected, I am going to need to target the courts’ palace libraries. There must be something in those that will help me get home.

“What books are the most interesting ones in the palace?”

He shrugged, “I guess books about magic are deemed the most interesting, but I personally prefer more data based texts. Records, you know?”

“What kind of magic books do they have?”

“Various, anything a palace library should have.” he narrowed his eyes, “Why are you berating me about this?”

“Can you blame a female for being curious about a massive library she’s never gotten to see?” Cosette leaned in, “I am quite the reader myself.”

“Oh yeah? What books have you been reading?”

“‘Politics and Tea: A Partnership’, ‘A Lady’s Guide to Proper Behavior’, ‘The History of Winter Court’s Trade’, ‘A History of Winter Court’s Trading Routes’, and ‘Fae Courts and Customs: A Comprehensive Guide’” she listed off a few of the titles.

Still have to read ‘The History of Winter Court’s Fish: Did They Evolve?’.

“Right, so baby stuff. Guess that makes sense since you’re a newbie at this.”

Cosette smiled.

Could this man say a sentence without insulting her? I am only being patient because he might speak more about that damned palace library.

Linus however didn’t bring up the library again, instead continuing on to ask, “That last one is by Aristippus, right?”

“Yeah.”

The man, the myth, the legend.

“I would take Aristippus’s words with a grain of salt though.”

“Why?”

“Did you not listen to my explanation back on the ship? Day Court’s philosophers and scholars are on payroll, their texts are extremely biased.”

“Well, arguably all authors are biased.”

“I guess, but not in the same way they are.”

“You know Linus, I think you’re just salty you haven’t gotten a chance to go to Day Court.”

“I am not salty.”

“Yup, definitely tasting the salt.”

The more he talked the more she realized Linus didn’t seem to interact with many people besides Amelio’s coworkers and traders. ‘Aren’t you lonely?’ she wanted to ask but decided that was insensitive.

“We should get going if we want to walk around a bit more.” Linus said, checking the time, “We’ll have to head back soon.”

“Good idea.” Cosette got up, not trying to beat Linus to the bags having gotten that it would be pointless.

Let the male act like a gentleman if he wanted to, she certainly wasn’t going to complain about not having to carry extra weight.

The two made it back to the ship at exactly 2:30, with Amelio waiting for them at the gangway.

“Good, you’re back. Did you have a good day out?” Amelio took a couple bags from Linus, carrying them onto the ship while they climbed on behind him.

“It was good, I got souvenirs for friends.” Cosette said.

“Ophelia and Theo?”

“Yeah.”

“Good work.” Amelio glanced at Linus, “How about you?”

“I purchased a couple historical texts.” Linus reported.

Amelio nodded approvingly, patting his student on the shoulder, “We’ll be leaving soon so make sure you have all your belongings on board one last time.”

Cosette followed Linus down to the cabin area, putting her bags away and making sure all her previously bought goods were as they were. Coming out of her room she found Linus waiting for her.

“Do you have everything?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, we should head back to the deck, I want to watch us leave port.”

Cosette followed him, pausing when a young sailor joined them, carrying a small critter in his arms.

“What is that?” Cosette stared at the mass of black fur in his arms.

“A cat! Or well, a special Night Court cat!” the sailor showed her the creature excitedly, “I got one to bring home. My family and I are big fans of felines.”

Linus eyed the critter, “I remember, you have like five maine coons. How many of these guys did you get?”

“10!”

“10?!” Cosette didn’t want to think of shedding season.

“Don’t worry, I live on a farm, it’s the perfect place for them. It’s also right near the forest so they can explore to their heart's content. Besides, the rest are smaller than this one. I am pretty sure they’re still kittens.”

Cosette was skeptical as to how much smaller the rest of the brood was considering the large size of the fur ball before her. Nonetheless, she patted the cat and it purred, the black mass shifting to lean into her touch.

Despite it looking like a cat it wasn’t exactly a cat. The fluff was rather fluid in its movements and it had no eyes, though Cosette assumed the critter simply tucked its face away.

Linus didn’t pet the fluff ball, tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for the two of them to hurry up.

By the time they made it up the ship had slowly begun leaving port. Faeries were yelling instructions at each other, with Solene and Amelio relaxing in some chairs nearby, not getting in the way of the captain and his men’s work.

“Look, over there is the central Spirit shrine.” Linus led Cosette over to the edge of the ship, pointing out various buildings and monuments.

“How many times have you been here?”

“This is my third time.”

“Wow, you’ve already been to so many places.”

“Well, Velaris isn’t that big of a city and the first time we came here it was due to a High Lord meeting between Rhysand and Kallias so the whole delegation got a tour of the city plus some time to explore by ourselves.”

“You two are getting along quite well.” Amelio’s voice boomed as he leaned in between Linus and Cosette, a conspiratorial smirk on his face.

Cosette smiled.

“No, we’re just amicable.”

“Right…” Amelio handed the spyglass to Linus which the younger excitedly took.

After a while the Night Court’s port began fading away, mist covering the glowing lights of the city. Cosette shivered, leaving the edge of the deck to sit next to Solene who poured her some black tea, pushing some fruits towards her. Cosette sipped the tea and nibbled on the fruit.

It still hurts to eat. Hopefully resting back home will get me on my feet quickly.

Cosette’s eyes began to droop at the peaceful atmosphere: the fog, the faerie lights, the warm tea, the sweet taste of fruit on her tongue…

Suddenly she felt a hand roughly shake her.

“Keep those eyes open Cosette.”

She blinked groggily, looking up at Amelio, absolutely miserable.

He gave her a sympathetic smile, “I know, but we’ll cross Night Court water soon and then you can sleep under the careful watch of our healer.”

“Couldn’t I have slept under her watch while I was here?” Cosette yawned.

I’ve lost count of how many hours I am sleep deprived.

“Sure, if you wanted to play it risky. It’s considered safer to do the action triggering the hex’s consequences out of reach of the caster.” Amelio sat down next to Solene on the couch, with Linus in the chair beside Cosette.

The tall ship had at this point picked up pace, flying on the waves. The sailor who had shown them his newly acquired friend was introducing him to some other coworkers who were on break. The group was laughing, petting and feeding the large fluffy blob.

All was well, until the screams started, and the sailors scattered, covering their eyes.

Amelio quickly grabbed Linus and Cosette shoving them down towards the floor, landing close by them

Cosette was now very much awake.

“What’s-”

Amelio brought a finger to her lips.

Cosette exchanged a confused look with Linus.

The ship was now still and silent.

Solene, with closed eyes, carefully got up, moving away from their sitting area and into the center of the deck.

Amelio’s breath hitched, but he kept himself and them staring at the ground.

What was going on?

Suddenly the sound of ice hitting wooden boards and a yowl pierced the air. Several more thuds followed, then silence.

“It’s safe.”

Solene’s voice resulted in Amelio standing up, pulling Cosette and Linus into standing positions as well.

“What’s going on?” Cosette looked around.

The desk was covered in ice spots, with crystals extending in all directions. Near their sitting area was a partially destroyed box full of rope and the massive fluffy thing. Except it wasn’t just a black mass anymore. It had expanded to an even larger size than before due to it having stretched out its four legs and tail.

The most notable however were the eyes. Countless eyes covering its face, all of them disfigured or destroyed by the expanded ice.

The creature’s limp body, cut open by ice shards extending in various directions, was picked up by the captain, looking to Amelio and Solene for an explanation.

When they gave none he turned to the faerie who had purchased the thing, “Sailor, what is this thing?”

The young sailor sat there, dumbfounded.

“Sailor, I asked you a question.”

“Where are we?” the male looked around confused, “Who are you?”

The captain frowned

“Who am I?” the male looked like he was about to start hysterically crying when one of his coworkers swiftly knocked him out.

“It’s a glawackus.” Amelio murmured.

A what?

“I have never seen one before.” Amelio approached the carcass with almost a wondrous expression, poking at it, “It’s a native Night Court creature. It lives in the forests and mountains. Based on its fur one could guess it burrows in snow. How in all of Pyrthian did that male get his hands on one? They shouldn’t be near cities.”

Cosette couldn’t look away from the creature’s multitude of eyes, all gushing blood, still staring in various directions, its mouth still open, the canines glistening with saliva.

“If you make eye contact with it, the creature wipes your memories. Well, technically it steals them, feeds on them.” Amelio pulled away from the creature, “They warned us about it the first time we came here but it was done in such a joking manner I didn’t think the creatures actually could make their way into Velaris considering all its defenses and the creature’s supposed preference for the mountain steeps and forests.

“Is there any way to protect yourself against it?” Cosette managed to break eye contact to look at Amelio instead.

“No, no known way. The only immune ones are said to be daemati, but I don’t know how true that is.” Amelio sighed.

“The male said he had purchased 10 of them.” Linus spoke up.

Amelio let out a soft curse, “Alright, we’ll have to send some faeries down to extract them.”

“I will go.” Solene began walking towards the door leading down to the cabins.

“Not alone you’re not.” Amelio followed right after her. Several of the larger faeries joined them as well, grabbing various weapons and objects to defend themselves with.

The remaining faeries secured positions on deck, and put the body of the Glawackus into an empty cargo box.

“I am coming too.” Linus moved to join the group but Amelio put both of his arms on Linus’s shoulders.

“No.”

That was probably the most firm ‘no’ Cosette had ever heard.

“But-”

“No.”

“I don’t think they should join us, but they shouldn’t stay out here.” Solene said, “They’re too young to fight it properly. It’s best to leave them somewhere secluded and safe.”

“We’ll put them in a cargo box.”

“What?” Cosette and Linus said in unison.

“I am not letting them down there into any of the rooms. That creature could have gotten out of the sailor’s room for all we know.” Amelio crossed his arms.

“Hm, you have a point.” Solene nodded in agreement, “Captain, put these two and the rest of the younger faeries into the empty cargo boxes. Make sure they sit facing away from the air holes.”

“Will do Lady Solene.” the captain quickly got to work with a couple other older faeries, dragging cargo boxes over to the center of the deck and opening them up, helping some of the younger employees hide in them.

“Wait, hold on. You can’t just put us into-” Linus got shoved into the box first by Amelio.

Cosette decided to not wait and climbed in voluntarily.

“We’ll be back soon.” Solene waved goodbye as they, and a few others were trapped inside boxes.

They could hear the footsteps of the team heading into the ship’s lower levels, the door slamming shut behind them.

Cosette looked to Linus, the two of them leaning against the wall of the box that had the air hole so that neither could physically see a potential eye.

Linus sighed, letting his head hit the wall, “So much for getting home in record time.”

Cosette yawned.

Even the adrenaline wasn’t enough to keep me awake properly.

“Oi, stay awake.”

“Tell me a story or something…” she murmured.

“Are you 20?”

“Ha…No.”

Close though.

Cosette didn’t want to think of the fact that her birthday was steadily approaching.

Another year spent in Prythian. Whoo…!

“Fine. Once upon a time there was a stupid sailor who brought onto the ship a thing that looked like a cat but that turned out to be a memory stealing piece of vermin that hunts whatever it can smell.”

“That’s a bad story.”

“Well it’s the one we’re living in right now.”

A pair of soft footsteps passed by them.

“Will the ship be okay without everyone monitoring it?”

“It’ll be fine mostly. They have a few people on look out in case something goes wrong.”

“When Solene killed the glawackus its eyes were pierced, any particular reason?”

“The eyes remain deadly post death, you have to destroy them to properly disarm it.”

Footsteps passed by again.

“Why are they walking around then? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stay at their designated posts?” Cosette was confused.

The soft footsteps stopped before their box and the little dot of light cast by the air hole disappeared.

Cosette tensed up.

Now that she thought of it, those footsteps hadn’t sounded like that of boots on wood.

A small meowl sounded from the outside and a fluffy tail was stuck through the hole.

Cosette almost yelped as it tickled her but Linus covered her mouth, pulling her close to him.

“Close your eyes.” he mouthed.

She shut them closed, gripping onto Linus’s arms. His heartbeat was racing just as fast as hers.

There was now scratching at the box. Like chalk on a board it persisted and gnawed at the wood until a crack resounded and a satisfied meowl was followed by purring.

Linus’s grip on her tightened, pulling Cosette closer as something soft brushed against their side.

Cosette cried as the ‘cat’ dug its claws into her dress, piercing the layers and reaching her skin. A soft tail brushed away her tears, followed by another meowl. Soft fluff butted against her cheek, brushing against Linus for good measure.

A small wet nose prodded at them, sniffing.

Cosette tensed as the creature brushed against her again but this time Linus hissed.

How did they even manage to get here?

She squirmed as the glawackus dug its claws into her, an annoyed yowl escaping it.

Why wasn’t it attacking properly? This just seemed like unnecessary acti-

Cosette cried out as the glawackus slashed at her arm.

I spoke too soon.

She yelped again as she was kicked.

“Sorry.” Linus grunted, kicking again, “I was hoping it would get bored but clearly that was hopeful thinking.”

“It’s fine…” Cosette did her best to move closer to him again, rubbing the place where she got kicked. Feeling with her fingers she could tell that the gash left by the creature was fairly large but not deep enough to cause concern.

The glawackus growled as Linus managed to land a hit, sending it flying against the other side of the medium sized crate. Putting some distance between them and the creature he pulled Cosette closer again, his body slightly shielding her.

“Should we start yelling for help?” she whispered. Cosette could hear the soft pitter patter of the creature’s footsteps as it approached once more.

“And draw in his other pals that clearly managed to make it onto the deck? You want to fight a horde of these while blind?”

The glawackus went quiet.

“Linus?”

Linus shrieked.

“Linus!” Cosette grabbed at the man, flailing her arms in random directions to try and shove the creature off. She managed to punch it off and Linus quickly squirmed away from it, pulling Cosette along with him as they shoved themselves into a corner once more.

The glawackus growled, its soft tail swishing as it drew closer until it stopped. Cosette and Linus also stopped, listening as a strange thrashing, growling sounded from the deck of the ship.

The three individuals currently sitting in the cargo crate felt their blood run cold as the sound began drawing closer. It was when a different glawackus screeched and a bone snapped that the creature beside them quickly tried to run.

However, it was too late as something large, wet and furry burst into the crate. As Cosette felt the walls of the container fall apart, she and Linus were pushed away by the new wet creature’s tail as the glawackus screeched and yowled in pain.

Cosette threw a punch when something grabbed her.

“Ow!”

“Sorry!” she covered her mouth, not intending to hit Linus.

He didn’t entertain a response, instead just pulling her closer and using his hand to feel the deck’s floorboards and surroundings to move away from the fight.

Neither had opened their eyes but they could hear other cargo boxes getting smashed or opened as the crew had realized what was happening and began pulling out the hidden faeries from their spots.

Screeches from the glawackus filled the air as something else audibly chomped down on them.

Linus and Cosette startled when a hand gently tugged on their arms, signaling they could stand.

“You can open your eyes.” Amelio’s voice said.

Cosette blinked a couple times, staring at the scene before her as white long fluffy creatures with small legs and arms, wriggled across the deck, leaving water everywhere as they extended their large mouths to reveal mouths full of teeth before throwing their body weight at the glawackuses which hissed and scratched at them. It almost seemed unnatural for them to be hunting on land.

Cosette looked away so that she didn’t stare into glawackus’s eyes when she realized,“Wait a minute…is that…”

“Yeah.” Linus nodded, his hand gripping at his side where the glawackus had bit him, “Snow wassets.”

Solene, Amelio and the rest of their crew had returned to the deck, a couple of them carrying corpses of the glawackus, throwing them to the snow wassets which quickly devoured them.

The larger of these furry long tailed worm-like critters practically squashed the glawackuses under their weight before gulping them down whole. Their battle was not without losses as a couple snow wassets lay on the deck confused.

Seems even magical creatures could get their memories wiped too.

That however didn’t stop the snow wasset’s appetite as the creatures began wriggling once more, and moving their short arms and legs to try and chomp another passing by glawackus.

The crew merely stood in silence at the massacre, not daring to intervene. As the last cat-like creature got swallowed the faeries around Cosette tensed, expecting the snow wassets to attack them next, but instead they just wriggled their way back into the ocean. Dropping into the water with satisfying, clean splashes.

The critters that seemed to get their memories wiped tried to approach the crew who quickly began nudging it away with some shields, moving it back to the edge of the deck. The rest slithered after their counterparts.

Amelio walked over to the deck

“Cosette, Linus, come look.”

The two walked over to the edge staring down at whatever fascinated Amelio.

Cosette gasped, eyes full of wonder.

In the water she saw countless white spots moving up North to the Night Court. The water made the white fur of the snow wassets sparkle, creating shimmering ripples in the waves. The massive group moved quickly, with some jumping out of the water, others chasing each other and twisting in various patterns. A few of the smaller snow wassets, that looked like otters rather than giant icy sea creatures, bobbed their heads out and stared up at them on the ship before diving back underwater and rejoining their friends.

“I have never seen so many in one spot.” Linus stared in wonder.

“They must be moving to a colder area from Dawn and Day.” Amelio noted, “They’re not usually together in such large groups. Migration season is one of the few times you could ever get to see something like this.”

The crew watched as the snow wassets disappeared.

Linus winced, his hand covered in blood as he tried to take a look at his injury. Amelio only needed once glance for his expression to harden and drag the younger faerie over to a sitting area on the deck. Cosette almost couldn’t believe seeing the casual Amelio so concerned.

“Stay still.” Solene began cleaning Linus’s wound, not minding how the blood stained her beautiful wintery dress.

Linus hissed in pain.

Solene frowned, “Amelio call for the healer, it’s not just a simple gash.”

Amelio disappeared without another word.

If he hadn’t covered me with his body then, it would be me with a chunk of my side chewed off.

Cosette shivered, looking away from the wound.

Linus yelped as Solene dug the sanitizing wipe deeper into his body. She didn’t scold him for squirming, simply holding him in place while she worked.

Cosette sat down across from them, deciding to try and distract Linus from the pain, “From your explanation I thought the snow wasset was a creature native to the Winter Court.”

“It is.”

“Then how come it’s out here.”

“I told you, they migrate. Although they’re native to our lands they move around depending on their relations with the land. They say that some left our court because fisher faeries began excessively killing them off in some regions and forests to sell their pelts.” he said through gritted teeth.

The healer approached the group, taking over Solene’s attempts at treating a squirming Linus, “I have checked in with the sailor who has lost his memory. I am afraid there’s not much I can do to help him.”

Amelio nodded solemnly, “I will speak with his family once we return. Is there any hope of him regaining his memories with treatment?”

“Unfortunately no. The glawackus don’t induce temporary amnesia or merely stun their opponent. They feed on their thoughts, their memories. It’s all gone now. ”

“How do they feed on it?” Cosette asked, “Like do they store the memories or do they digest them somewhere?”

“We don’t know.” the healer shook her head, beginning to bandage up Linus, “Faeries have just tracked that the creatures can’t survive without stealing memories.”

Cosette hummed.

You could maybe find out more if you knew about proper surgeries. Cut open the creature’s head and see how it all works inside. Although, that wouldn’t answer all your questions. We’ve been cutting humans open for how long and there’s still stuff we can’t explain about the human body, not to mention the brain.

“We were lucky.” the captain approached the group, “Despite the fact that most operations of the boat stopped due to the glawackus outbreak the wind blew strongly enough, and in the right direction that we kept moving towards the border and have now entered Dawn Court’s waters.”

“Lucky indeed.” Amelio exhaled, leaning back on the couch, “Next time, we’re requiring everyone to get their souvenirs checked before they bring them on board. ”

“Well, you know what that means.” the healer stood up, giving Cosette a small smile.

“I can finally sleep?”

“Don’t get too excited, if the hex is still effective I will have to shake you awake.”

Cosette practically ran to her cabin, just happy to finally be able to have a small minute of proper rest. The healer bandaged up her gashes and scratches left by the glawackus. Cosette snuggled up in the bed immediately once she finished, however one question didn’t permit her to rest.

“How did the creatures make it onto the deck all the way from the lower cabins?”

“Ah,” the healer looked up from the book she had begun reading, “Through the ventilation systems and cracks of the ship. They’re surprisingly…squishable. Though, I suppose that’s expected of feline species.”

Despite her newfound fear that something would crawl from one of the tiny corners of her room Cosette was hit by the exhaustion of the past 24 something hours and she passed out without a second thought.

Fortunately, no one woke Cosette up and she got to catch up on her sleep. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they didn’t encounter any more beautiful sea critters but the history texts were enough to keep Cosette company.

In under a week they had managed to make it home and her bruising had improved significantly. She had been shocked at the travel speed of the Winter Court’s boat with how strong the winds were blowing against them, but when she took into account the water magic being used to help the ship move forth on the waves, she assumed it was plausible.

Amelio had even claimed that Summer Court’s ships were the fastest due to their Spirit’s specialization in water.

The wind today was cold, almost colder than usual as their ship was preparing to boat. Amelio, in a slight frenzy to make sure everything was in order, was rushing between cabins and ship levels, checking in with various faeries.

She was pretty certain that the phrase ‘behind schedule’ was exclaimed on multiple occasions so Cosette didn’t get in the way and simply hung out in the sitting area of the deck, bundled up in her cloak.

“Preparing to enter port!” someone yelled and Cosette stood up, walking over to the edge of the deck, watching as the ship was carefully but confidently navigated in between cliff sides and jagged rocks.

She looked up at the sky. A single eagle flew with ease through the environment they were navigating through, perching on one of the very tall rocks, staring down at them with interest.

The waves crashed against the lower parts of the port sending sprays of water everywhere. That didn’t stop the sailors from safely docking the ship, with the workers on land raising a bridge for the main deck and several of the lower levels, where the cargo boxes were located.

“Clear!” a different sailor yelled.

Amelio was about to rush past Cosette again when he did a double take and gave her a smile, “Cosette! Hi!”

“Hi.” she smiled back.

“Since we have docked you’re welcome to head home before us.”

“Are you sure you don’t need help with anything?”

“No, we’ve got it covered. Besides, I am sure your friends would love to hear about your project’s progress and adventures.”

“Thank you again for bringing me with you.”

“Of course, it was a pleasure. I just hope it was helpful.” he gave her his iconic smile before rushing away once more.

I hope so too.

Cosette waved goodbye, collecting all her bags, stopping by Linus’s room before she left.

“Hey, I am heading out.”

“Okay? Why are you telling me that?”

The man had been put on bedrest by Solene and Amelio for an undisclosed amount of time, but it was most likely indefinite since the man had been pissy ever since.

“Just wanted to let you know.”

“Okay, great. I am in the know, now go, I am reading.”

“Thank you for protecting me against the glawackus.”

“It was nothing.” he shrugged her off.

“No, it was definitely something.”

“Any proper, educated faerie would do the same.”

I think you underestimate sentient beings’ capacity for self sacrifice and protective instincts.

“If you say so.” she conceded, “Nonetheless, I appreciate it.”

He grumbled as she headed out, “I’ll see you around.”

“Oh? I thought you’d be happy to be rid of me considering how ‘stupid’ I am according to you.” she rolled her eyes.

He narrowed his eyes, “Trust me I am overjoyed to see you leave but I find your antics amusing. Besides, what if they land you in trouble and you need help? It’s only right that I as the mature one, offer my assistance.”

“Right…right..” she laughed.

Cosette happily waved goodbye to the rest of the crew, thanking the captain for getting them home safely. She sighed with relief when her feet touched the Winter Court ground.

Finally back.

She breathed out a puff of air, watching it disappear in the wind.

“Miss Cosette?” an armored guard with the crest of Winter Court on his chest approached her.

“Hello? Can I help you?”

“We’re under orders to escort you to the palace. Please follow us.”

Glawackus reference

Snow wasset reference 1

Snow wasset reference 2

Back: Chapter 33 - Dangerous Dreams

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