#then I leave and she howls like she’s abandoned and tries to either sneak out or bite her way out. one way or another. tries to find me

[beaversatemygrandma]

So my ancient boofer here, who knows nothing but sleep and spaz for a treat or walk, needs a treat toy or puzzle toy. And I have no idea what to get her.

Tabby is 14 and couldn’t care less about toys anymore but immediately sits up to beg on her haunches when presented food. And everything I’m finding is for very small dogs. (I guess she’s just uncommonly old or smth but she’s puppy.) *baby kitten and thigh for scale

Anybody with an old dog have advice on a treat toy?

[missyasf]

Game Of Hearts

| 2 |

↳ Summary: Your life is in monotonous tones of grey, day in, day out. Nothing matters besides your sister, the only thing you remember is seeing fireworks before waking up to Tokyo abandoned . Soon enough you are properly introduced to the deadly Borderlands where you must fight for your life in Games to survive. When things can’t possibly get worse soon division arises and rivalries are made. No matter what though, you are constantly plagued by a blonde who, no matter how hard you try, just can’t seem to go too far without.

↳ Pairing: Chishiya/Reader

↳ Genre: Angst, smut, thriller

Word Count: 7k

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Trigger Warning: ⚠️ much like the manga/Netflix adaptation this will be a dark fic which includes mentions of prostitution, attempted murder, child ab*se, sexual harassment, heavy grief and attempted suic*de among other things. Additional warnings will be added for chapters when triggers are brought up. Please read with caution if these are triggers for you or just skip all together! 

“So...you beat a 6 of diamonds by yourself on your first try?” 

..what the fuck was your sister doing. No really. What did she think she was doing? She had this...look on her face ever since she had been formally introduced to Chishiya and you didn’t like it one bit. Akari had exchanged glances with you several times as you wanted to wilt in embarrassment while your sister continued to parade with this act.

“It was a game of Blackjack, I wasn’t familiar with the rules but after one round it was easy to pick up.” If anything this was a good stroke on his ego which he had to know was getting on your nerves. 

It was painfully obvious your sister was trying to make an effort to show some sort of attraction to him to get his attention? You weren’t sure, truthfully all you knew was that if you knew it had to be clear to Chishiya as well who as always kept that same stoic expression on his face, not the slightest interest besides potentially making you mad, “Losers were hung and cheaters were shot.” 

You scrunched your face as you watched his eyes flicker to yours briefly, a glimpse of a cheshire smirk on his lips that vanished instantly making your eyes hone into a childish glare. He knew you didn’t like this! He knew it! You just knew that he did! 

“Hey, not to come off strong or anythin’ but…” Akari scrunched her nose, “Is your sister a virgin or something? She seems like she really wants to hop on that guys dick.” 

You didn’t mean to flail at her words but they were just so jarring to hear. Virgin? Dick? Chishiya? No way in hell should those three words ever be in the same sentence. This drew his attention briefly despite not hearing what Akari had said- thank god.

“I don’t fucking know…!” You whispered harshly to her, “And it’s none of my business but…” you rubbed your neck as you sighed, “She probably is.” You relented making Akari howl laughing as you pinched the bridge of your nose, “She’s always had this thing with being insecure and feeling like she’s never enough for guys…personally I always felt the opposite.”

“You’re extremely attractive and no man is worthy of you?” Akari tilted her head as she shrugged, “I can see it.”

“No!” You replied a little flustered, tugging on a strand of hair, “I mean I feel like if she was just confident in herself she’d get laid as much as she wants…” you had decided to not continue your original words with what you had intended. Which was, Nanami always compared herself to you. Nothing made you feel worse than knowing she constantly beat herself up because of you. 

Many considered it pretty privilege. It existed, sure.

Did you experience this? More than your fair share, more than you ever wanted truthfully. To the point of feeling dehumanized in a way. Particularly in your line of work as a prostitute before all this happened. Or maybe it was before then? You can’t remember anymore. 

Regardless, you often found that while people were much nicer to you. They are always extremely insincere. Particularly men. Watching Nanami get a little closer to Chishiya made you immediately stand up as you gave her a menacing smile, “Nanami, can I talk to you for a second, alone?” 

….

“What’s the problem with it!” Nanami had that sour pout she always sported when you call her out on something that wasn’t typically considered- but she also knew- wasn’t a good idea either, “Sure he’s not a prince charming but…” She tugged on a strand of hair as she let a tiny girlish smile tug on her lips, “He’s still pretty cute, and besides we almost just died tonight! I feel like I earned it.”

Shifting away from her, you facepalmed as you sighed, you understood. You did, you all almost died and now what better way to celebrate then getting finally losing your virginity in celebration. No you couldn’t relate to that in particular but you understood. Still...couldn’t she have picked someone a little more… “I just...don’t think it’s a good idea talking to him. That’s all…! I mean seriously, look at him. He’d probably stab us in our sleep if it meant he got an extra charge on his phone.”

“What? So you’re saying I can’t talk to him?” Nanami crossed her arms as she glared at you ungratefully, as you wistfully sighed, looking out to where the other two sat, they were a good distance away where they both sat talking at the fire Akari had built.

You glanced away from her as you puffed a breath, not sure why she was getting such a sour attitude, did she seriously like this guy that much already? Because that wouldn’t do, at all, “Look I’m not saying you can’t talk to him I’m just saying...stop...whatever you’re trying to do! Chishiya is...Nami…!” You cried out in frustration as you grabbed your head, “A guy like that is only going to gaslight the fuck out of you! Take it from me, no amount of skill in bed is good enough for that! He’s trouble Nanami.” 

“Then why did you ask him to come with us?” Nanami accused you as she glared at you even more sour than before as you groaned. To be fair he did decline at first. Initially you had asked Chishiya about the beach just as a start to figure out what the guy Ryu was talking about but all of sudden Chishiya said he changed his mind and he wanted to stay with you all. Probably out of curiosity of what the Beach was. You couldn’t blame him. 

“He wanted to come with us regardless of me because of looking for the Beach!” You retaliated, why was she getting so defensive!? You just had her best interest at heart here! Whatever if she really wanted to sleep with him that much it wasn’t your business but you didn’t want to deal with her crying when he busted one and conveniently found a reason to leave again. You paused your thought as you glanced at Chishiya who was looking up at the sky.

Would he really do something like that though? Brief hesitation passed through you, you didn’t know. You didn’t know anything with him. For the first time in your life, you didn’t know. And it put you on edge. Severely. What was his intention here? A part of you doubted he’d even sleep with Nanami, just because of who he was. 

Regardless of what happened, you still weren’t sure about him. Just because you had been partnered with Chishiya, you had the distinct feeling, it would be wise to not trust him completely. Not yet at least.

Nanami groaned as she stomped her foot, “Why are you always like this Y/n! Can't you just let me do what I want? I am an adult now.”

Yes that’s right, she was an ‘adult’ now, making very adult decisions. Sighing you rubbed your forehead, deciding to just give up for now, “Yeah you are, clearly. Do whatever you want.” You didn’t have the energy after tonight to try and do this right now. And maybe Chishiya would leave on his own, he seemed pretty intended on that before you had brought up your search. 

Puffing a breath you watched as Nanami stomped away as she crossed her arms and headed back for the camp. You couldn’t believe her right now…! Out of all the guys she had to choose she wanted to choose the most lifeless guy possible…?

You knew why she was doing this, well you couldn’t know for sure but you had the sneaking suspicion it was because when you both were younger it was because guys always tended to linger around because of you. Perhaps that’s where that sense of insecurity came from…? 

Truthfully you never wanted a rivalry between you and your sister, in some ways you considered yourself her caretaker, when no one else was there for her you made sure you were. Every, single, time. You wished she’d just be a little more transparent when it came to things like this and you could work things out without so much emotional stress. Especially now that your life hangs in the balance between life and death constantly. 

Wrapping your jacket around yourself you let out a soft sigh shaking your head before turning to face the car parking building, it spiraled upwards and suddenly an idea struck you. Rather than going back to the camp you entered it, pushing into the small room of staircases where you walked up. 

Your legs ached by the time you pushed the door open to the top floor that overlooked the night sky. A smile slowly crept on your face as you inhaled the cool night air, you used to love doing this back when you were still in school. Climbing up here all by yourself to listen to some music and overlook the city lights. 

Grabbing onto the ledge that overlooked the city you frowned again looking over the wash of black, all the venues must’ve been finished tonight, where some had a game clear or game over would never be known to you. But still, just the notion made you feel nauseous, who could ever do something like this? You tried tracing your memory back but you drew a blank.

Hoping up you sat down on the ledge letting your legs swing out over the blank unknown, looking down you came to the conclusion that if you leaned just a little too far, you’d probably die from falling. Who would’ve thought that would be a kind death compared to other people here. 

Hearing a loud blast you jumped as you looked up at the sky only in horror to watch red lasers shoot from the sky all in synchronicity. Your stomach churned once more at the sight that was straight out of a horror film and within a brief second, suddenly it was gone. 

“It happened last night too.” 

You jolted once more at the cool toned voice as you grabbed your chest, “Jesus do you want me to just slip to my death!?” You chastised as you turned to Chishiya, when did he even get here? Heaving a breath you grabbed back onto the ledge as you leaned back on your hands, “...I guess we know what happens to those who don’t participate in games…” 

How horrid, really...how could this even be reality at all? Was this really some kind of simulation or...experiment? A cruel one? Your mind drifted to the Beach again where Ryu must’ve hoped you’d go with them...His girlfriend though...you weren’t sure you trusted her either to be honest. 

“...Where do you think we’ll find the Beach?” You turned to Chishiya, his hoodie covering his head as he leaned onto the railing overlooking the city that was engulfed in darkness, his eyes however cast out to the sky where those constellations from before only became more vivid. 

He snorted, “Over a body of water, clearly as the name suggests. An actual beach would be too literal otherwise a full name would’ve accompanied it. Perhaps a ship or a hotel? I’ll need a map tomorrow and we can narrow it from there.” 

Tucking your tongue into your cheek you heaved a breath, “I’ve known you less than a day but...I get the feeling I’d hate to be your rival.” It was the truth, Chishiya if anything, was not someone who was considered all bark and no bite. Something about those eyes looked so cold and ruthless. As if he genuinely held no concern or resolve for anyone but himself. You frowned as you watched him carefully, what a sad life to live if that was the case. 

You watched something akin to a smirk twist on his lips, as if he was proud to hear those words despite it insinuating some amount of fear in you. Which you’d say was partially true, not that you truly feared him but...If he was an enemy? You were simply glad he wasn’t. Especially if he was as ruthless as he appeared.

“So you don’t want me to talk to your sister?” 

Your eyes immediately shot open from their lazed state as you twisted to face where Chishiya leaned on the railing, something so annoying about those smug eyes of his as if he was just talking about the weather. Tucking your tongue into your cheek an annoyed smile appeared on your lips, “Oh, so that’s why you’re here? What did she tell you.” 

Chishiya didn’t say anything only looking at you with that cocky smirk and dark eyes as slowly your expression faded as you realized she didn’t tell him anything he just took a guess as to what happened between you both and you just confirmed, “You are very annoying you know that?” Your voice lowered a little as you leaned a little closer to him, your expression dry at the realization you fell right into his trap. 

He shrugged, but you could tell in his demeanor even when you weren’t meaning too you were still feeding that massive ego of his, “Now that you confirmed it, what’s the problem?” You weren’t scared of him in terms of confrontation. Even if you felt the internal voice in the back of your head tell you that you should be. 

“It’s nothing personal against you,” You shrugged, deciding that regardless, it would be best if you were careful with your interactions with him, “Nanami is just…” You pressed your lips together, looking out over the night sky as you spoke, “This world doesn’t deserve someone like her, and someone like you?” A lopsided smile twisted on your lips as you laughed a little, “Be honest with yourself, I shouldn’t have to even explain that.” 

“Someone like me?” Chishiya challenged much to your surprise as you looked at him, it was your turn to be amused as he waited for an answer that you didn’t want to give. Why would you? And personally, it was as you said, it was nothing against him. 

You had no problems with him, “What about someone like you?” His expression turned smug and cold as he spoke, “I get the feeling you just infantilize your sister to the point she feels suffocated, if she chooses to do something stupid it’s only to get away from you. So what does someone like me have to do with this?” His expression became all the more sinister at your face darkening, “It shouldn’t be me you should be worrying about.” He shrugged, that calico smug smile of his on his lips as he shrugged, “So by all means, explain your wording, I’d love to hear you blame shift to ignore your own problems.” 

You glared down at your shoes, infantilized? You didn’t…! Anger simmered in your veins as you took a shaky breath to calm yourself as you let out a short laugh, suddenly looking up with a strained expression as you spoke, “Alright, I was going to be nice, but since you have no social ethic I’ll tell you why. I took one look at you when we first met and all I see is someone who’s completely hollow on the inside. Someone like you?” 

You spat out as your brows furrowed, “Has no remorse or care for others and after trying to figure out why I realized it’s not out of a bad life or mistreatment of any kind. You're just that kind of person that really doesn’t care. You’re the worst kind of person Chishiya, you don’t have any reason for the way you are, and I think you know that more than anyone else. This isn’t me trying to blame shift, I’m very well aware of my own problems, this has to do with someone like you manipulating and taking advantage of anyone, in your own words, stupid enough to fall for it.” 

You shrugged, your expression dim as you had hoped maybe Chishiya would’ve intervened to counter you and dispel your argument, but the more you spoke, the more you watched his expression become more cold and the more your own words were confirmed to you, “And you know what I think?” 

You frowned a little now, somehow saddened by the fact that there was obviously some truth in your words, “I think deep down, you're envious of people like us who can at least outwardly muster the attempt to be kind to people. Where as you?” You laughed a little, “You're so empty, you can’t even fake that. Every time I look at you, I see nothing. No concern, no care, not even anger. Just, nothing.”

The silence between you both, for the first time, felt very loud. Tapping your lip you hummed, deciding to shove even more salt into the wound, a bitter aftertaste about his words previously making you speak, “You know…” You turned around as you hopped off the ledge, now looking up at Chishiya’s figure that was still outlooking the city, “I’d diagnose you as a sociopath, but well...typically they’re charismatic. So I really don’t know what you are. Other than an incredibly sad existence.” 

Walking down the steps by yourself you felt the silence loud as your footsteps echoed. A part of yourself was licking your own wounds at his words, infantilizing…! You didn’t...you paused at the bottom of the steps, your expression wavering as you rubbed your neck...did you really do that to your sister…?

Looking back up at the steps you suddenly felt the urge to go back up and apologize to him, you were incredibly honest in your assessment, but...he did ask for it. Even after you tried to be polite about it. And if you could get anything from that, it was the assumption that he just genuinely thought you couldn’t read him or anyone else that well. 

You shook your head as you went back to the camp, whatever...It’s not like you’d be in contact with this guy for long. Once you all figured out what this Beach was, you’d simply part ways afterwards and you would no longer have to deal with him. Laying down on the taller grass wasn’t a great bed as you looked up at the sky. 

Still...it seemed like you were fire and ice together. You starkly remembered the look on his face, similar to now but something was different when you had both heard the words Game Cleared...you groaned as you rolled onto your side. 

Men were so frustrating.

“Are you sure this is it?” You felt a little reluctant at the sight ahead, there were certainly a lot of people but...it was as if they were far, far away from the reality of the Borderlands. And then it became apparent. Escapism, at it’s pure finest, if you had seen anything like it before. 

Chishiya’s eyes scanned over the map as he nodded, “If it’s anywhere, it’s here.” He confirmed as you all looked ahead as you curved a brow before shrugging as you sighed, it was better than nothing and you could use some answers. 

Strangely, it was as if last night's conversation didn’t exist between you both. You had woken up this morning and continued on as you had before, it was...very strange. You had anticipated he’d either leave or he’d alienate you. Maybe both? But then it occurred to you, he probably just didn’t care what you thought. 

You thought back on his expression which lead you to assume that no...It wasn’t that he didn’t care, granted he definitely didn’t care what you thought, that was a give but it wasn’t that he didn’t care in another way...That expression, it was dark and cold, not angry but...something bitter...How strange. You couldn’t pinpoint it. You were just glad you could, at the very least, co exist for the short while you’d be together.

“Well! Let’s go say hi then! I’m sure they’ll take us right to the leader or something...right?” Nanami leaned over to you in confirmation as you gave a weak smile before shrugging. You didn’t see any weapons and everyone was too busy playing around in the pool for you to assume otherwise. 

“Well shit let’s go! That looks like a lot of fun!” Akari was the first to bolt and Nanami was quickly after her as you and Chishiya walked behind them both and upon someone seeing you they had called out, “New comers!” 

And it was as if the whole party stopped. You wrapped your arms around yourself as you rubbed your neck, “Talk about party crashing...” You mumbled, immediately feeling unwelcome. 

“Hey…! You guys made it!” Ryu had pulled himself out of the pool in excitement as he ran up to you all, a boyish grin on his face in awe, “You found us surprisingly fast! It usually takes most people a week at most.” Well most people didn’t have a brainiac in their group...You briefly glimpsed at Chishiya who stayed just as stoic as always. Had it not been for him it probably would’ve taken two weeks to find this place. 

“Well if you’re here to join us I’ll take you to number 1!” Ryu nodded as he gestured to you all to follow him as you carefully looked around as you frowned, this place almost felt too good to be true...What even was it? 

Opening the doors to the upper level where all the higher ranked...members? Stayed you weren’t sure what you were expecting, “Welcome to Utopia! The Beach!” The man held up a bottle and his frizzy blonde hair swished around with his eccentric waving hands. It was the wall behind him that first you noticed. 

Playing cards had been drawn and only a little more than fifteen were X’d off? Was this supposed to be a whole playing deck? “Number 1! This was the group I told you about last night…!” Ryu waved a hand to you all in excitement, “I think they’d be a great addition to the Beach and it’s search for the cards!” 

“Cards?” Akari echoed out as she crossed her arms, flicking her hat up a bit to see better as you looked between both men.

The man let out a hardy laugh that made you wince a little...why did it feel like he was more than just...eccentric…? “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Ryu.” The man slammed him on the back a little to hard making him jump as he rubbed his neck sheepishly, “Allow me to introduce myself! I’m Danma Takeru formly, most know me as the Hatter. Here in this paradise we foster hope for all! Drink as much as you’d like, eat to your heart's content do whatever pleases your soul!” 

This was way too good to be true. It had to be...

Something about Hatter seemed absent but you couldn’t figure out what only for it to immediately strike you, it wasn’t that he was eccentric, no...He was definitely neurotic, you weren’t sure how or in what way, but your professor had made your class do a project based on the signs and symptoms of neuroticism based in serial killers that could be attributed to the lead up in their crimes. Not that you assumed this was the potential for Hatter but...well it was the Borderlands and surely it had taken a toll on everyone to a degree...some more then others...

“There’s only three rules to allow you to stay here! The first being when on Beach property, swimwear is required!” He pointed a finger before lifting a second, “The second can be considered quite important.” Hatter turned around as he waved at the large wall, “It’s quite simplistic and I can’t leak my source. There’s only one escape from this hell, and that’s by collecting all the playing cards!” 

All potential problems aside your chest fluttered a little at his words, escape…! So this really was real, and you all were experiencing it and the only way out was through collecting a whole deck? Hatter madly grinned as he spoke, “A team of players is created each night as a group of three or four with balanced strengths in their respective game type where the chances of death are lowered significantly! The way this works is simple, rule two is to give up all your cards.” 

Really? That's all it took, this was…! This had to be full proof, a part of you still felt this was too good to be true, and you were sure part of it had to due with Hatter, despite his obvious signs of some sort of mental illness, he was quite the charming and upbeat person, it would be hard for anyone to not want to match his energy, “That’s right!” Hatter crossed his arms triphumantly, “Once we collect a whole deck a single person will be chosen to leave!” 

What…

Just…Just one person! “But…wait- how does that work? I don’t understand.” You immediately spoke up, pushing forward a little bit as Hatter’s gaze turned onto you, that wild grin of his showing as he chuckled. 

“We have a whole ranked system here! The more cards you collect the more your rank moves and the value of each card contributes to your rank. Creating one full deck is impossible for one person but the impossible becomes possible when you band a whole crew together, we have a lot of repeating cards so once the first person leaves more will soon follow after. That’s the goal of our utopia The Beach!” 

“I can’t believe we’re actually a part of something so…! Hopeful!” Nanami squealed from behind the barrier, she had finished changing faster than you but she was too excited, a brief smile tugged on your face as you glanced at the barrier before back to your dilemma, “I’m gonna go lay out at the pool! Catch up later?” 

“Yeah! Don’t wait up for me I’m...probably gonna be awhile…” You sighed as you rubbed your neck, you never really liked swimsuits all that much…

Nanami hurried out of the room as you sighed, picking up the bikini top in dismay...did they really expect you to wear beach attire the full time? Grabbing the halter top you hummed...beach attire! Okay you could make this work.

It had taken a little longer than you expected to find something that didn’t make you feel so exposed but in the end it worked out. Pulling up the high waisted shorts you ignored how far up your ass it pulled. You’d make it work! Pulling up the sheer beach cover you nodded in affirmation. Still somewhere in your mind lingered an important question, was this really worth it? 

Much to your surprise after Akari had agreed straight away Chishiya was the one after to agree, he didn’t seem thrilled...hardly excited either. It made you briefly wonder if he was only staying because this place had electricity which Ryu explained on the way to the dressing room that was fueled by a mass of propane tanks.

Regardless you wouldn’t be picky...It didn’t seem too terrible here. Just cards for free stay to food and a warm bed? It’s not like you’d get a full deck on your own, much like Hatter said you’d prefer to just live out your days at least in functional condition. And hey maybe if you gathered enough cards you’d move to a higher rank. You still wanted to chat with Ryu but just how the Borderlands worked. 

Closing the door the room you decided you’d search for him immediately.

The hotel was massive and not even all the floors were in use, looking down at your bracelet that was slated with 52, there was only currently what…? Forty members? Maybe a little more? Stepping out onto the terris your eyes scanned the large crowd that was all laid out, some in the pool and you could spot your sister surrounded by three guys, clacking your tongue you shook your head as you watched her giggle. It was hard to believe she had a complex some days but men not liking her...Honestly. 

Close to the middle of the pool you spotted Ryu and Hiroko, who for once had a smile on her face as she splashed him with a giggle. You felt brief hesitation, not wanting to interrupt but...you did want to hear a more detailed explanation about...well everything and Ryu seemed the most approachable…

Shifting a little as you looked down at your attire as you sighed in exasperation, finding a pool chair before shimmying your pants off and kicking off your flip flops before sitting at the edge of the pool dipping your feet in, “Hey Ryu!” You waved over, “Hiroko! Can I have a minute?” Hiroko frowned immediately upon sight of you but with a few whispered words from Ryu she adhered. 

“Hey…! I never did get your name. I really am glad you made it! Hatter has been asking us to go out and find people to bring it to help keep growing the Beach.” 

You offered a small smile as you kicked your feet in the water, it was the heat of july after all and the water was perfect for swimming, “Y/n, and that's my sister Nanami over there.” You nodded towards Nanami who was giggling over two highscool boys who kept shoving each other in hopes of getting her attention, “Thanks by the way, for last night. Honestly if it wasn’t for Chishiya it probably would’ve taken us weeks to find this place. It’s nice here.” 

“You mean the sour blonde?” Hiroko snorted as she glanced over near the pavilion they had set up, turning to follow her gaze you had spotted where Chishiya now was, sporting a pair of white swim trunks and his jacket still zipped up only with his headphones in and on his phone. 

“Is there even a wifi signal here?” You frowned as you tilted your head in wonder, he did look pretty sour sitting there, “Ah- anyways, yeah! That’s him, unfortunately he does live up to expectation.” You rolled your eyes a little as you returned your gaze back to the both of them before offering a weak smile, “What I wanted to ask was...God where do I even start, what are the playing cards, and what do they represent? Given we’re supposed to collect them I’m sure they have some significance, that’s a given.” 

“Playing cards are awarded for each game you play, the numerical value determines how long you’re allowed to stay at the borderlands on your visa, so if you were to complete a game at a value of five, you’d be allowed five days of stay” Ryu explained carefully, “Much like in a regular deck there’s four suits. What we played last night was a Clubs game, it stands for team building, meaning the game is usually associated with needing to work as a team to clear the game. Spades are related to physical activity- ah...not really my strong suit…” He rubbed the back of his neck feeling a bit sheepish. 

“He’s great at them!” Hiroko boasted, obviously proud of her boyfriend as she wrapped an arm around his waist, “He’s just modest- Diamonds stands for intellect and wit, typically anything that has to do with puzzle solving or use of logic and reason. Hearts though….” She winced a little as her nose wrinkled making you tilt your head in confusion, “I’m not sure to be honest, many say it’s a game of psychology, playing with the players minds to make simple game clears a lot harder. I’ve never experienced a heart game though. We’re still missing a lot on the board.” 

You tapped your lip as you hummed, “That doesn’t sound too terrible, I did notice they only have the 2 of hearts and the Ace up on the board...The most they’ve collected is spades and clubs?” 

“They’re the most common from what I’ve seen.” Ryu shrugged, “I’ve also never had a heart game, I had two diamond though and a lot of clubs and a few spades.”

You thought about it for a moment before nodding, alright this made sense, “And I’m guessing numerical value is the rating of difficulty?” 

Ryu brightly smiled as he nodded, “Yeah! We haven’t gotten anything past a seven though! And only one person experienced it and that was a Clubs too…” He rubbed the back of his head in thought, “Well things here only took off a few weeks ago to be fair…” 

“Just a few weeks ago?” Your mouth dropped in surprise before looking around in awe, “I never would've guessed! I thought it would take longer to build up such a crowd honestly…” 

“Not a few weeks-” Hiroko smacked Ryu on the back of the head as he whined a little, rubbing the sore spot as she spoke matter of factly, “It’s been a few weeks that we’ve been here...I think it’s been going for about a month altogether though...Things have been a little...tense…” She looked reluctant as she glanced away, a shadow cast over her face as you frowned, turning your head a little. 

Ryu and Hiroko exchanged looks as she nodded a little, “Well…” Ryu rubbed his shoulder as he lowered his voice, “Hiroko is in the top ten right now because of how much she participates in games, so one day she was with Kuzuryuu, Mihiru and An number 3, 4 and 5 right?” You nodded as you brows scrunched a little, wondering why Ryu seemed a little flighty as his eyes darted around as he lowered his voice once more, “Keep this between us alright? But when they opened the door with Agni- number 2 to a room full of slaughtered people. Apparently Hatter killed them all because they were hiding cards from him.” 

...Oh...so you were right? In assuming Hatter was definitely neurotic. Your professor would probably be proud but somehow you had a hard time taking pride in your assessment.

Hiroko winced a little at the memory as she looked away reluctantly, “...Hatter hasn’t really been the same, he only just created rule number three last week…” Right, rule number three. 

Death to all traitors. You had definitely suspected something was up with Hatter when he had explained that one but...you always tried your best to give the benefit of the doubt to everyone until you could no longer defend their actions by logic.

That one had admittedly caught your attention when Hatter explained that anyone with holding cards would be killed or if they tried to desert the Beach, a little scary but...again it wasn’t like it was possible for you to create a deck by yourself...But know knowing the story behind why that rule was put in place did make you feel a bit...Uneasy.

“That just happened?” Your face twisted a little as you wrapped your arms around yourself, both Ryu and Hiroko nodded. 

“Mhm, just last week. Things are slowly getting back to normal, there've been a few people resistant but I try not to think about it, word of advice? Just stay away from the militant sect, follow the rules and you’ll be fine.” Hiroko, for the first time offered a weak smile, despite her cool disposition she wasn’t too terrible. 

“Coming through y’all!” All three of you turned to watch Akari running full speed at the pool before jumping in making you jump as you covered the droplets of water that sprinkled you, “Whatcha talkin’ about over here? Secrets?” Akari swam up, floating on top of the water with a dorky smile, “I love secrets!” 

You couldn’t help but giggle as you splashed Akari with your foot as she yelped, flailing to stand up right, “Nothing that concerns you, did you abandon Nanami by herself.” 

“No offense but I think she’s doing pretty fine by herself.” Akari snorted as she nodded to Nanami, still yet again surrounded by boys but now had at least three drinks untouched sitting on the glass table next to her. Puffing a breath you rolled your eyes with a smile, typical. 

“They’re back!” Someone screamed before you heard more cheers making you straighten up as Hiroko puffed a breath, laying her arms on the edge of the pool as she rolled her eyes, “They went out to gather supplies because that snake tongue freak kept joking about using Ryu as target practice. I told Agni we were low on dry foods and alcohol so it worked out.” 

“W-well he wanted to set stuff on top of my head to um…” Ryu coughed a little as he looked away bashfully, twisting around you frowned as you watched several men walk in making your expression further contort. They all had guns. Like all of them. How has there not been a mass shootout? 

“We got all the liquor you could need! Get it fresh in the back everyone!” Your nose wrinkled at the sight of several piercings and you immediately knew who Hiroko was previously referencing to. 

“That’s Samura he just joined a few days ago,” Ryu spoke up as he nodded towards the guy with a fucking katanna on his back and tattoos all over his face, “People uh, just call him Last Boss though, he kinda looks like the end boss of a game that takes ages to beat. I think it suits him to be honest, a bit weird though…He immediately joined the militant sect as soon as he joined.” 

Hiroko rolled her eyes as she spoke, “Yeah Niragi apparently took a liking to him or something- I try not to keep up with them, they give me a headache. Plus that guy looks like a total shut in before he got dropped into the Borderlands, he has zero social skills.” You weakly smiled as you rubbed the back of your neck, that was a bit harsh...although you would say Last Boss did seem...there was something so focused yet...absent about his eyes. 

He in a strange way almost reminded you of a toddler that was still working on coordination between completing an action with someone's speech. 

The sun was suddenly blocked and a shadow casted over you as a raspy voice shouted out, “Well what do we have here? Fresh meat.” You glanced up to the tall dark haired figure, oh it was...snake tongue freak? As Hiroko had previously said, you would’ve in any other situation snapped something but this guy was carrying a sniper rifle like it was a loaf of bread. 

You wrapped your arms around yourself as you looked a little away, unsure of what to say as Hiroko suddenly stood all the way up, pushing herself out of the pool to stand up fully as she gave him a sneering glare, “Niragi go fuck with someone else.” 

The man- Niragi leaned back a little as he took a few steps back, cackling as he held up his hands, his tongue sticking out showing off the piercing briefly before he spoke, “Well excuse me miss bitch, I wasn’t talking to you.” A twisted smile appeared on his lips like it was some sort of sick amusement at Hiroko’s darkening glare, “Lemme see you kitty.” 

You made a noise similar to a yelp as you were suddenly dragged up to your feet and way too close to guy for comfort, his tongue sticking out and you were for a half a second wondering if he intended on licking you, “What a nice little body here, and such a pretty face too.” He cooed out sickeningly as he squeezed your face harshly, as you looked away from him, “I bet you and me would have a great time wouldn’t we.” 

You had dealt with a lot worse truthfully, and somewhere deep inside you were grateful you had otherwise you’d probably be in tears at how terrifying and semi psychotic this man was, “Sorry…” You winced looking up at him with an unappreciative look, “I only fuck people like you when they have a good paycheck.” 

Niragi howled out laugh making you briefly relax for a moment, offering a weak smile, at least he had a sense of- “Hey!” You screeched, suddenly being hauled against him as you squirmed to push away from him as you felt his hot wet tongue on your neck, “Let go!” 

His hands crawled their way up your waist as you squirmed, his tongue dragging up the lobe of your ear as he growled a whisper, “Why deny a good time huh? It’s okay, they’re always more fun when they resist.” He couldn’t get further when you jammed your knee between his legs taking the brief moment of his pain before harshly shoving him into the pool where a loud splash covered everyone who didn’t even pay any mind to the scene which obviously happened often much to your disappointment. 

Hiroko was immediately at your side, something motherish about the way she held you close as you watched Niragi flailed before getting his footing in the pool as he snarled, “You bitch!” Hiroko immediately brought you both back, her chest puffed as she glared him down as he crawled out of the pool, now towering over you both. 

What happened next baffled the both of you, something- No...a rock? It smacked straight across his head, not enough to cause any damage but enough to gain his attention, “These are quite useful for short range,” 

You whipped around in shock at the familiar voice, Chishiya had thrown a rock up before catching it as he glanced at the small thing, holding it up in examination, “Throw it hard enough and it could probably take out an eye,” He looked up at Niragi with perhaps the most frightening smile you had ever seen, his eyes in that classic cold sneer as he spoke, “Looks like you could use it given how blind you are.” 

You stepped away a little uneasy at the tension in the air that suddenly spiked as Niragi glared him down, Chishiya’s lips quirked into a smirk as he shoved his hands back into his pockets, not looking the least bit concerned. 

Wasn’t this just perfect? 

Note: I am by no means a Niragi simp but like,,,he lowkey kinda fun to write when Chishiya is constantly baiting this man into violence. Next chapter is v fun!! lemme know what you guys think so far! :)

[medeafive]

Blood and Stone -01

Masterpost

She's good. Really good. That's why Fury turns a blind eye (haha) when she sometimes sneaks out alone into the night. She's got senses. She's done this longer than almost anyone else and she can just tell. No one tracks vampires down better than her, so why would she let herself be slowed down.

Tonight, she is after two young breeds. She caught their trail somewhere around Anděl, followed it up the Petřín, lost it, picked it up again in Holešovice and traced it to the other side of the Vltava, a basement in Karlín. They're inexperienced, alone, reckless, hungry, and she's going to wipe them out before they can get their shit together. This ends tonight.

She needs to be careful, though, because young vampires actually have a keener sense of smell, coming with the insatiable hunger. There's no moon out tonight, which puts her slightly at a disadvantage. Still. Not waiting for backup. Not when she's got them right here.

She's prepared. She smells like mud, smeared her face with it, her neck under the bite guard, her wrists and hands. She stinks. She's armed, knives and guns strapped to her thighs, her back, inside her sleeves. She breathes deeply.

One of them is wailing inside, inhuman noises. It's been forever since she felt empathy for that kind of thing. Yes, it's painful, turning into a monster, but they're still monsters. She'll gladly put them out of their misery. So they won't rip more people with them and create more wailing families, actual wailing people. Not this scum.

The heavy wooden door is barred, so she'll have to slip through the shaft. There are scratching marks on the wood. They really don't know how to be careful. They'll pay for that. She smells blood, probably their own. Whoever turned them just abandoned them, and now they're easy prey.

She breathes deeply again, pressing the handle of her silver blade into her palm. The anticipatory adrenaline rushes through her. Now. She's ready.

She rips out the grid and jumps down the shaft, not caring about the noise. It's a little brighter inside, old broken furniture strewn around, bicycles, canisters. It smells of oil. One of the vampire fledglings jumps up, hissing, baring her bloody fangs. Young vampires sometimes feed on each other, as long as there is still human blood inside their veins. They're strong until they burn through it. Natasha grins, baring her own teeth, flashing the silver knife. The vampiress jumps onto her and she rolls out underneath her, slashing at her calf. The monster howls. The other vampire, barely more than a boy, cowers. Natasha lets the knife cut through the air, in his direction. The vampiress lunges at her again and she's strong, fast, but clumsy. Natasha kicks her in the chest so she crashes into a couple of flimsy bikes. The other vampire prowls towards her and Natasha spins to sink the knife into his shoulder, eliciting a whimpering growl. The vampiress crawls up again, blood around her mouth, eyes fresh red. Natasha elbows the other in the face, knocking out one of his fangs, then tangles with the first. She's strong, high on blood as she'll never be again, sinking her claws into Natasha's forearms. The armour holds, though it cracks, and Natasha knees her in the stomach, breaking her down, and she swings back to trade blows with the other until she slices his neck, shallow, she'll have to do that again later. Finish the job. Wait. Her hair stands.

She's knocked forward all at once, crashing into a solid wooden table, knocking the air out of her. Stars. Shakes her head to clear it. Vision blurry. The third vampire, tall, male, stalks towards her, sneering. This is bad. Something trickles down her forehead.

She rolls away before he slams the table to pieces, rolls away again before he kicks her, but then there's no more room, she scrambles upright, knife knocked out of her hand, barely dodging the claws of the vampiress, then he grabs her and flings her across the room like a dirty sheet, she hits the concrete wall groaning, now she's really dizzy, get up, get up-

There's a subtle woosh and then it's quiet all of a sudden. She preens her eyes open, ready to throw up. Black. Black cloak. She's only heard of those, never seen one before.

There's a thump as the now dry vampire hits the floor, pale, crumpled up. She crawls back in disgust. And fear. Hits the wall immediately. The vampiress is beheaded, body twisted unnaturally, and the boy's slit throat bleeds into a puddle. The black cloak turns. His eyes are white. Their eyes turn black once they've burned through their own blood but with every full moon they see, they become lighter. He must be old, just a sliver of grey left. Old and powerful. She tries to crawl back farther into the wall. No one survives seeing a black cloak. Hardly anyone.

The white eyes study her, stepping over the dry one's arm. This cellar is too fucking small. He's not armed, other than claws and fangs, and he moves excruciatingly slowly. Dressed in all black, like the freaks around the castle she wouldn't approach over her dead body. Even they do not dare to don the black cloak. He's either an impostor or, judging by the color of his eyes, the most dangerous vampire she's ever met. He stops. "I know who you are."

The silver throwing star slips from her hand easily and he dodges just as easily, swiftly, she hardly sees him moving, just hears the cloak cut through the air. He straightens with annoyance, brushing dark hair out of his forehead. She bares her teeth at him, hissing, snarling. He mirrors her, automatically, presenting the longest fangs she's ever seen, streaked with gold. Yes, he's old, decades old. Maybe even a century. "I don't care who you are," she returns, even though she is burning to know.

He seems very annoyed with her. The hair on the back of her neck doesn't like it, any of it. "You're not difficult to find. The mud won't cover the smell of your blood."

Not for a vampire his age, no. "What do you want," she spits out, not really a question. Just bite her already, get it over with.

"There is something that-" He dodges the next throwing star as well, swooshing cloak. "You know what, under vampires, that is just considered rude."

"Under humans as well," she returns. Nobody ever considered her polite. And she's done caring. Now that she's going to die anyways.

"Would you let me finish," he demands. "I'm not going to kill you. Or you would be dead already."

Fucking liar. She's heard about that. Old vampires like to play with their fickle human prey. She brandishes her teeth again and he can't help but do the same. The black coat has golden patterns stitched into it. Would be considered nobility, under any other circumstances. "Go on. Please."

She pushes herself up while he is momentarily distracted with a car going by outside. Reckless, at this time. She leans against the wall, still dizzy. Ready to throw up. The smell of blood and death doesn't help. Oh wait, now's her chance to-

He knocks her against the wall roughly, gun clattering on the floor. Oh, now he's angry. He doesn't smell dead, sort of like an old book. His eyes look less white from close up. "Seriously," he hisses, though no breath hits her. His fingers are tight and cold as stone. "I'm not going to kill you. Get that into your-"

The silver slashes through his forearm, barely missing the bone, and he groans, recoiling, flesh turning gray, she doesn't bother kicking him and runs. If he were human, he might just have bled out from that. The door's only held shut by a broom stuck through the door handles, easily discarded, and then she runs , the hair on the back of her neck not going down until she reaches the hunters' stronghold.

 "Are you fucking serious ," Fury hisses at her, even though she's barely dressed. "Alone? Again?"

Bruce studies the bruises on her arms, not saying a word. She can tell he agrees, though. "It was just two," she returns feistily. "Well, three. I could have handled three."

"Is it so fucking hard to ask for help," Fury curses. "Would it cost you an arm and a leg or what? Ruin your cold, heartless persona?"

Bruce folds the scalpel kit and pulls the blanket over her. Like she's not going to get up and dress. "She's right. Not even a scratch. Plenty of bruises, though."

"You're the luckiest bastard I know, Romanoff," Fury snaps. "Are you sure it was a black cloak?"

"His eyes were almost white," she repeats, pulling a clean jacket on. "You think I'm making things up?"

"And he just let you run away," Fury remarks sourly. "On foot. You do know they can basically fly ."

"That's just a stupid rumor." Natasha waves him off. "I've never seen a vampire fly. "

"I have," Fury returns dryly. "Believe me. A black cloak would've never let you get away."

"I cut his artery," Natasha repeats, slipping off the table. "Guess that slowed him down enough. Stop doubting me, I have no reason to lie to you."

Fury does not look convinced. "And he was looking specifically for you."

"I guess," Natasha agrees, tugging her pants up. "Claimed he knew who I am." She leaves out the rest. No need to tell them those lies.

"So you have a black cloak on your trail," Clint remarks, quietly leaning in the doorframe. "Guess you're not going out anytime soon."

"If there's really a vampire like that in Prague," Fury interrupts. "We're all as good as dead. I don't care about your bloody arteries."

"Well, good," Natasha agrees, even though she doesn't. "Then I can sleep till sundown and go on another round, yes?"

 "Are you sure you're okay?" Pepper asks. "I can cover for you, if you want. Haven't paid you back for last time."

It's very invasive but matter of fact is, going out when you're on your period is a risk and they have to plan around that. Just like when you have a small cut or a recent nosebleed or anything. Can't risk vampires smelling that and going berserk. And rather than informing Fury about their exact menstrual cycles, they rather just switch the shifts around. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"Really?" Pepper repeats unconvinced, tightening her ponytail. "Bruce said you crashed into a bunch of things. It's okay to just take a break."

"I don't need a break," Natasha returns, fastening the thigh holster. "You can pay me back another time. Go see whether you can detach Tony from his project instead."

A faint smile enters Pepper's face, automatically. "Probably not, but I'll go try. But really, if you need anything, just a word."

"I don't need anything," Natasha replies, putting the magazine in. "But thanks."

 "You're not taking this seriously, are you," Clint remarks.

"If I did," Natasha returns, giving up stepping lightly. "What would I do? Hole up inside the tower? How's that going to save anybody?"

"You don't have black cloaks in Russia, do you," Clint asks. Natasha shakes her head unwillingly. "They're not just strong vampires. They were turned by Schmidt himself during the first Uprising. Lots of them were killed but some went into hiding with him. They're fiercely loyal and only listen to him. Every other vampire who dares wear a black cloak is brutally slain."

"Yeah, yeah, the famous superspreader." Natasha scoffs. "But I thought he's somewhere West. Why would he send a black cloak here ?"

"They're enforcers," Clint explains. "Take out hunter cells that get too annoying. Or clean up unallowed newborns. You know, there's long been rumors those crazyheads over in the castle swore allegiance to Schmidt."

"So we could all die," Natasha repeats. "Is what you're saying."

Clints grins. "Eh, life's dangerous. Stop, I think I hear something."

Something turns out to be a stray cat, jumping on a trash can, almost giving them a heart attack. It hisses at them. Clint gives it the finger, though that doesn't appear to impress the shoddy beast. "Where were we. Oh, yeah, there's all sorts of rumors, that they have special powers and all that. Of course, nobody knows what's actually true because no one-"

"Quiet," Natasha whispers. "It smells, doesn't it?"

Clint tries, over the trash can. Natasha slips past, peeking onto the next street. Deadly quiet. She smells blood, vampire blood. Must have passed from the other side of the river again. She unlocks her gun, holding it close to her chest as she proceeds over the street. All her senses tell her they're here. Clint's close on her heels.

Probably infighting. Those baby vampires never manage to form significant groups without killing each other. Not that she minds. Makes things easier for her. She breathes in through her nose and follows the scent to a backyard.

Corpses. Impaled. That's not infighting, that's an execution. She shudders staring at the bloody wood peaking out of their chests. Five. Five of them, though two of the bodies are ripped in half, strewn across the yard carelessly. A shitton of dark blood. Pretty fresh. "Tasha," Clint remarks quietly.

She looks up from the carnage, taking a second before she spots the dark figure towering high on the roof. The cloak still sends a shiver down her spine. He's staring down at them and they're helplessly cornered in this backyard. Then he drops off the roof, swoosh , like the wind, and then he's gone.

"Well," Clint remarks, shuddering visibly. "He certainly was wearing a black cloak."

"Shut up," Natasha mutters. "Let's get back to the tower before he realizes he doesn't have to run from us."

 Fury goes full tower defense mode, putting up more traps, more alarms, increasing the guards on each shift, constantly accounting for everyone and not letting a pin drop without his knowing. She can tell, though, that he doesn't really believe in it. She's heard rumors that he lost a whole hunting cell to a black cloak, himself escaping only with one eye, the lone survivor. She's not sure it's true, though. And how are a couple of booby traps going to prevent this from happening to them, too?

She hates being controlled like that. Free spirit, as Alexei used to say. Just because she couldn't stand being around him after some of the stuff he did. She has her red lines, too, though not everyone believes that. So, she drops out one night, just slipping through the window down the grey stones of the powder tower, and then she's gone.

 Prague's always quiet at night, as every vampire-infested city, but tonight it's especially quiet. She wonders how many people have heard of the black cloak in town, how far the rumors have spread. There's not a single open window as she strolls through the Old Town, no noises coming from inside. She feels weirdly at ease. At least she's pretty sure there are no more baby vampires in the old districts. The Malá Strana is, of course, a totally different business.

"Reckless," the awful voice remarks. "Going for a walk alone at night."

She looks up and she could've sworn he wasn't standing next to the Astrological Clock just seconds before, but now he is. "You do know those are the Twelve Apostles right next to you."

His white eyes make it very hard to read his expression. As if that monster's expressions mattered. "You do know that sort of thing has no effect," he returns calmly.

She breathes out with annoyance. "Are you stalking me?"

"Yes," he replies. "Pretty easy, as I said, you're the-" It looks like he knocks her knife away with his cloak, though that's obviously not it. She doesn't believe in fairytales about magical cloaks. The knife clatters on the cobblestone. "Could you stop throwing stuff at me?"

"Sorry," she replies, not sounding it. "Force of habit. Go on."

He scoffs. "You're the worst smelling human I've ever come across."

She snorts. "Oh no. So, if I cut my palm right now, you won't care at all?"

His nostrils flare just at the mention. He rolls his eyes, dropping off the ledge, cloak flaring up, landing soundlessly without really bending his knees. "What's wrong with you?"

"Got a vampire stalking me and can't get rid of him," she replies, unconsciously reaching for her gun. "Not for lack of trying, though. I thought that was obvious."

"How about you leave that gun where it is," he suggests. "And you just let me talk. As I said, I'm not going to kill you."

This fucking liar again. She's not in the mood for games. "Did Schmidt send you?"

"He wants you," the vampire replies.

"Dead," she specifies.

"Alive," he corrects. "He wants to turn you. Recruit you."

She shudders inwardly. "Oh, so you are going to kill me."

"I will merely bring you to him," he claims. "So he can turn you himself."

She scoffs. "If I end up bitten by a vampire, you better believe I would walk straight into the sun."

"Trust me," he returns softly. "You wouldn't."

She bares her teeth at him, him doing the same. Can't shake it. "Sure. I've seen plenty of young vampires, I know turning is just great ."

"It's painful," he admits. "But you'll always want to live."

She sneers. "That's not living. You're not alive ."

"Point of view," he says. "But I certainly won't kill you."

"Why me?" she questions. "What's so special about me, except for my horrible smell?"

"You're giving Rumlow a hard time," he states. "Ever since you came here. So why not turn a pain in the ass into an advantage?"

"I'm not going to be an advantage to you," she repeats. "So you can just kill me, really, that's easier on both of us."

He scoffs. "Again, not doing that. But take your time. I have a couple more nests to clean up."

"You really think I'm going to agree to being turned?" she asks, bewildered. "I'm a hunter. Are you sure you thought that through?"

"You will," he replies. "Trust me."

"I don‘t," she clarifies. "Even if I'm not currently throwing silver things at you."

"So you don't want to hear about the nest in Žižkov," he remarks.

She groans inwardly and asks the stupid question. "So you're not going to kill all of my hunter friends?"

"Oh right," he states. "I won't. If you agree to be turned."

It knocks the wind out of her. "What?! You just forgot the extortion part?!"

"Sorry," he actually replies. "So yes. I think you will agree."

Fuck. How could she- she's not cuddly or anything, not even polite, pretty prickly actually if you ask anyone but Clint, but sentencing them all to death - but she's going to do worse if she's a vampire. The perfect dilemma. Hurting people either way. She grabs the silver knife, he already looks annoyed, but she only slits through her left palm, hissing at the sting. Blood on the blade, blood in her palm, blood dripping on the cobblestone. He sniffs, involuntarily, fangs coming out, eyes turning into animalistic slits, growling. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Just suck me dry," she says. "Really. I'd prefer that over turning into a monster."

He comes closer, though he clearly doesn't want to, the scent drawing him in. Apparently, her blood doesn't smell bad at all. She holds out her hand, waiting. He growls, prancing back again, moving incredibly fast. Pupils blown. He's shifting so much, breathing in the scent, dragged towards the source, yanking himself back, trying to escape but not really wanting to. She waits, afraid, hand shaking, more blood dripping down. She smells it, too. He growls again, fangs bared, resolve growing thinner and thinner, though he is way more controlled than any other vampire she's ever met. He's still a monster and she never wants to be like him. He has the face of a hungry animal, starving animal, predator. She wiggles her fingers, pressing out more blood. He sneers, sniffing, nothing remotely human about it. Her hand's still shaking, even more.

He flings himself at her, too sudden for her to see, she tries to slash at him but he knocks the knife out of her hand easily, dislocating her right shoulder in the process. Good Lord, he's strong. He yanks her left hand towards his face, breathing rapidly, all tight, she's got tears streaming down her face because fucking shoulder, his eyes are almost all black now, fangs just a few inches from sinking into her hand, but he stays there, blinking rapidly. She groans, get on with it, make the pain-

"What did you put in there?" he snarls, sounding not even remotely human. "What did you put in your blood?"

She presses her eyes shut, praying he'll just do it already, kill her already. "Nothing," comes out as a faint whisper. "Just do it. Suck my blood."

He growls, yanking her hand even farther up, she moans in pain. Just end it already. Just do it.

She's pushed back, all of a sudden, at least a dozen feet, crashing into the chairs of some outdoor restaurant, the pain becomes even worse, she rolls about, groaning, whimpering, trying desperately to breathe. Run over by a truck, that's the feeling. She preens her eyes open, just in time to see him- not fly but jump, black cloak flaring, onto one of the towering ring buildings, 30 feet, 50 feet, she's too broken to estimate, then jump again, seemingly carried by the wind, and he's out of her field of sight. She groans, pressing her eyes shut for just a second and then dragging herself up, limping back towards the tower.

[the--sad--hatter]

Phantom Pain (15)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - Bucky X Reader 

WARNINGS - Bad Habits and Rough Sex, Angsty and Dark AF. 

DESCRIPTION -  Everybody in the world knew of you, but not who you really were. Some called you a vigilante, some called you a criminal and some called you a hero but all of them called you The Phantom. Only two people knew your real identity and they swore to never tell anyone but when The Avengers need to infiltrate a high-security facility, Bruce Banner deduces that you’re the only one who can pull it off. That decision puts you and Bucky Barnes on a path you can’t turn back from, even if neither of like where it’s leading.

Series Masterlist

Chapter Fifteen - The Betting War 

“I bet you can’t piss Bruce off WITHOUT triggering The Hulk.”Tony challenged when he won the coin toss.

“Bruce, Tony dared me to phase through the Shield and I broke my arm!” You screamed loudly.

“WHAT?”

“Oh no, I see a hint of green. Run!”

You and Tony scampered as quickly as you could.

“I bet you can’t get Cap to swear.” You said while you hid in an abandoned meeting room.

“Oh please.” Tony said, strolling out of the room.

You invisibly followed him as he walked up to Cap.

“Cap, I bet princess she couldn’t get you to swear so watch your language.” Tony lied, twisting the truth on it’s head.

“Fuck off Tony.” Steve said without hesitating.

“I knew you’d take her side you gullible old man.”

“Damnit Steve!” You said, reappearing and making the Captain jump.  

Tony clapped his hands loudly in excitement.

“I bet you won’t take the Falcons Wings out for a spin.” He shouted.

“No, bad idea.” Steve said.

“If I don’t, I lose.” You retorted.

“I’ll steal them for you.” Steve said immediately.

Ten minutes later when you crashed through a window you were too proud of yourself to care. Much.

“I bet you won’t help me stop the bleeding.” You groaned, holding up your bleeding elbow.

Tony grimaced as he picked you up and carried you back to the lab.

Halfway through being stitched up, Sam stormed into the lab.

“What the hell? You can’t just steal a mans wings, not cool! I hope that hurts. Actually that does look like it hurts, are you ok?” He said, his anger giving way to genuine concern.

“Tony made me do it.” You pouted, giving Sam your best puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t blame me for the fact you don’t have a backbone. Though you do have an elbow bone, I can see it.” Tony said, retching a bit.

“Puppy dog eyes don’t work on me. I’m immune after being exposed to Cap’s.” Sam informed you.

You added a deep frown to your expression and looked down in shame.

“I’m sorry Sam, I won’t do it again.”

“It’s ok, it was Tony’s idea. If you want to try flying I’ll take you next time.” Sam said, patting you on the shoulder.

Tony snorted and shook his head.

“Ok Princess, you’re all stitched up. I bet you won’t sneak up on Romanoff.” He said and Sam looked afraid for you.

“Damn you Snark. Damn you to hell.” You snapped, getting up and storming away.

“I’ll keep the first aid kit ready.” Tony shouted after you gleefully.

He said you had to sneak up on Natasha, he didn’t say you had to be successful. You went invisible and stomped your way down the hall loudly.

“Will you stop doing that.” Bucky snapped from inside a room as you passed.

“Doing what?” You asked innocently.

“Using your powers for mundane things. It’s hurting you so why are you doing it?” He said, sounding annoyed and walking towards you, reaching out with the Vibranium arm to grab at your invisible arm.

“Ow!” You hissed and dropped the invisibility.

“What happened to your arm?” He asked with narrowed eyes.

“I flew through a window?”

“You’re a fucking idiot.” He snapped and you recoiled in shock.

“Beg your pardon.” You asked.

“I haven’t even known you for a week and I’ve spent most of it worried about you, can you make it a little easier on me and stop putting yourself in unnecessary danger?” He asked, pulling back the bandage to check the stitches.

“I didn’t ask you to worry about me and your feeling aren’t my responsibility. I don’t have to change who I am just because you walked into my life and asked me to.” You told him, yanking your arm out of his grip.

His expression softened and he looked guilty.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t want to change you, I happen to like you the way you are. I’m just sick of seeing you in pain.” He said softly.

“Then stop watching.” You snapped, going invisible again and leaving before he could stop you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Why are you not hurt? Did you fail?” Tony asked when you walked back into the lab and threw yourself onto a chair.

“Friday my love?” You said.

“She succeeded.” Friday informed him.

“Again, how are you not hurt?”Tony asked in disbelief.

“I may have made a deal with the devil.” You hinted.

“Why do I feel like that deal is going to bite me on the ass?��� Tony asked.

“Because you are a genius?” You said, grinning evilly at him.

“Alright princess, your turn.”

“Time to end this Snark. I bet you... won’t open up emotionally to one of your team members other than Bruce.” You said dramatically and Tony gaped at you.  

“Oh that’s cold.” He said.

“You’ve got an hour.” You told him, confident you were about to win.

“Hey princess, you’ve been on missions. That makes you a defacto member of the team.”

“Really? Me? You’re going to open up to me?” You laughed.

“You’re basically a younger, less intelligent, less attractive version of me.” He said.

“Great start.” You scoffed.

“And you’re braver and better than I ever was. You were a superhero long before you stepped into that radiation chamber kid and you and Parker are two of the best people I know. I lie awake at night hoping I don’t let either of you down. I made a mistake with the Accords, I thought we needed accountability but I was projecting my own fears onto the team. When we fix my mistake, I want you to join the Avengers.” He said.

You didn’t know how to respond or what to say and just stared at him. He waved a hand in front of your face.

“Ok, want me to pour you a drink and we can forget this moment ever happened?” He asked.

“Oh God yes.” You said in a rush.

He chuckled and wandered off to pull a bottle of scotch and two glasses from a desk drawer and poured it, handing a glass to you.

“Tony, if you ever repeat this to anyone I’ll phase your intestines out of your body and strangle you with them. I know people joke that I’m a young, millennial Tony Stark but the truth is I kinda wanna be you when I grow up.” You admitted, throwing back the scotch with a grimace.

“Well, just to tank you for that glowing endorsement, I’m going to do you a huge favour. I bet you won’t make out with someone in this building, in front of Barnes.” he said, smirking at you.

“What the hell Snark?!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You had raged, you had freaked out, you had paced and now you only had six minutes left to kiss somebody in front of Bucky. Bucky, who was currently watching a movie with Sam, Steve, Loki, Thor, Wanda and Vision while Frank reclined on his lap.  

You took a deep breath and walked into the room, waving at everyone who looked over at you. Wanda smiled brightly and patted the seat next to her and you shook your head minutely. You could feel Bucky’s eyes on you but you couldn’t meet them.

You had chosen Loki, figuring he was your best option. He was the God of Mischief after all. You wandered over and sat on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. He didn’t seem to mind and shifted his body to give you more room.

“I need something from you.” You whispered and he looked down at you with interest.

“Go on...” He said lowly, his voice dripping with intrigue.

Your breathing was shallow and rapid, your palms were sweating and your heart was hammering in your chest.

“I need you to...” You swallowed the lump in your throat and tried to get the words out.

“To what?” He asked, smirking at you.

You fidgeted in your seat and wiped your clammy hands on your knees. You made the mistake of looking at Bucky, of meeting his concerned gaze and something snapped into place in your mind.

“Loki knows, he will play along.” Wanda said inside your mind.

You took a deep breath and relaxed your shoulders, turning to Loki with a confident smile.

“I need you to stop teasing me with all your flirting and just kiss me already.”You announced.

“With pleasure.”

The pale god leaned down and captured your lips with his, and even though you were kissing a literal god and a devastatingly handsome one at that, all you could feel was guilt as you heard Frank’s howl of displeasure as Bucky stood up and stormed away. Loki pulled away from you with a smirk.

“I believe you have won the bet, now run along little princess, before you lose something more important.” He said.

You didn’t hesitate to take his advice and ran after Bucky.

“Bucky wait.” You called as you followed him down the corridor.

“How many of The Avengers are you planning on making your way through?” Bucky snarled at you, turning around so quickly he nearly knocked you over.

“I’m not. That’s not what that was. I had to kiss him, it was part of the bet.” You insisted.

“The bet? Your bet with Stark meant so much to you that you were willing to...”

“To what? It was only a kiss, you were one who said a kiss wasn’t that big a deal.” You snapped.

“That doesn’t mean you’re allowed to kiss anyone else.” Bucky snapped.

“Allowed? This might surprise you Barnes, but you don’t own me.”

Bucky’s metal arm closed around your throat and you found yourself pressed against the wall, squeaking in surprise.

“But I do want to own you Domniţă, I have since we met. You crawled under my skin and I can’t get you out and even if your mind rebels against it, you know you feel the same way. You are mine and I am yours.” He growled.

You body was limp in his hold even though he wasn’t actually putting any pressure on your throat.

“Tell me to let go and I will, I’ll release you and walk away. But if you don’t, it means you accept that you’re mine now.” He said.

Two choices, push him away or pull him closer. Your whole body was thrumming with anticipation and your blood was thundering through your veins as you realised this felt right. As terrifying as it was to be held in place by him, no matter how angry he was you knew he wouldn’t hurt you. All you had to do was make one little choice and he would take care of the rest.

You must have taken to long to answer because his eyes suddenly filled with regret and shame and he abruptly released you.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, backing away and holding his arms out at his side.

He was about to leave and that snapped you out of your daze and you made the choice.

“Kiss me.”

His eyes widened for a brief second and then your back hit the wall again and his body was pressed so tightly against you that were pinned in place as his fingers tangled in your hair. His lips crashed into yours and he wasn’t just kissing you, he was devouring you. He was claiming you and without a shred of doubt, you submitted.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I’m just going to leave this here and run away.... 

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[maxlovespigeons]

The Memoirs of The Snork

Chapter 1

Summary:

After spending most of his days in the Orphanage, Snork's life enters someone that is about to teach him responsibility and how to care for another person. Something he never had to do before. In the return, he gets something he never had - love and a family member.

Notes:

So, I tried writing a fanfic for once! I gotta say I'm proud of it! If you actually spend your time reading it, thanks! It means a lot to me, really! As i never write fushfhd

Word Count: 2179

Read on AO3!

The night was quiet, even the wind didn't howl like it always does, giving the bare tree branches life on their own creating the shadow creatures that would always scare the kids in the Orphanage.

A lot of different kinds of children considered the spacious, old building at the end of the narrow pathway running through the forest, their home. It wasn't the best home, heaven forbid, but they haven't known any different home. After all, each one of them has been an orphan all their lives, the only company being other abandoned kids.

Well, most of them anyway. Little children of different ages hardly ever agreed on something, but there was one case that was an exception for it.

There was a Snork. Nobody knows anyone's age in the Orphanage, but the curious ones would guess he was about 10-13 years old. They couldn't be sure, though, as the Snork himself didn't know his own age, much like all children who spent most of their life in the Orphanage. Even if he knew, though, nobody would dare ask him about it as everyone rather avoided contact with him.

The Snork was quite specific. He liked having everything in perfect order and he liked to study, which was enough of a red flag for every other kid. Nobody talked to him, because he would always start speaking in a weird, very confident and not understandable manner. Nobody really bullied him, either, though, they simply let him be. There was no such thing in the Orphanage as bullying, anyway.

The Snork didn't seem to mind the lack of contact with others, though. He was always buried in his books or notebooks he snuck out of the bookshelf, not the fairy tale one that kids would sometimes take books from to read when they were bored, but the bookshelf in the hallway. The books in that one had a lot of difficult words almost none of the children understood, and the ones who did considered them very boring. The fact the Snork willingfully decided to read them in his free time was yet another red flag for the others.

The Orphanage wasn't a good place. It was led by a lady Hemulen, who just loved having everything under her control. She was incredibly strict and very rude to most of the Orphanage's inhabitants, but the children didn't know it was not the right way to behave as they never had proper homes.

Sometimes some adults would arrive. Rarely did they pick any children up and adopted them, though, as most of the adults would simply find lonely children somewhere around in the forests or try to steal something from them. 

But the older children would sometimes speak of these rare adults, the one who would come to the Orphanage one day and take one of them away for good, to a new house where they would become their new parents. Other kids considered it rumors as they had never seen such a thing occurring before.

On the quietest night of the year, the Snork opened eyes and looked at the moon illuminating the sky outside of a window on the end of the bedroom. He had a dream - he wasn't entirely sure why it woken him up, it wasn't a scary dream. He was dreaming of a little girl, much smaller than him. He didn't know that girl at all. Once he woke up, though, he completely forgot the dream.

He wanted to go back to sleep, but he then heard footsteps. The Hemulen must've gotten up for whatever reason. The Snork knew it wouldn't be the best idea to follow as it could cause him trouble later, and he didn't like trouble. Curiosity was much too strong force, though, as it pushed him out of his bed and had him sneak out of the bedroom, trying to not wake the other children up, right into the hallway where he'd seen the Hemulen in a night dress walking towards the front door. Her way was illuminated by a candle she was carrying in her left paw.

She was muttering something, but the Snork didn't dare to follow close enough to make anything out of it. He was hiding behind the staircase when he felt the cool air catch him after the Hemulen opened the door. She took a step outside and stopped so suddenly that the Snork quickly jumped farther into the shadows behind the staircase. After a moment he looked back to see that she has stepped outside far enough not to be seen, leaving the door open. The Snork considered following her for a split second before he noticed she returned back inside, carrying a basket in her right paw and muttering angrily (she liked to do that).

The Snork squinted to try to make out what was in the basket as the Hemulen put it on the ground to close the door. He jumped a bit again, noticing movement in it. Something under the sheet moved. At first he thought it could be his imagination, but no, it moved again and even the Hemulen seemed to note it. She picked it up again.

The moment the Snork has realized that she was not going upstairs but was heading down the hallway, his heart dropped. He backed away and practically hugged the wall under the staircase to hide, at the same time imagining the awful punishment he would get if he were to get caught.

The Hemulen seemed to be too angry and too focused on whatever she was mumbling to notice him in the shadows, though. As she was passing by the staircase, a tiny head popped up from under the covers. It took the Snork a moment to realize it was a child. It looked like a troll creature, too.

That was enough to peek up his curiosity. He knew the reasonable thing to do would be to run back to the bedroom and pretend none of this has ever happened, but he wanted to know about this new child so much. He wasn't even sure why. He wasn't stupid enough to actually follow the Hemulen to the Wash Room as there was no place to hide around there, so he just ran back into the bedroom and hid behind the doorstep, keeping a close watch to the hallway.

It felt like hours before the Hemulen left again. She wasn't carrying the basket anymore, though. She was leading a little child by hand. It was visible that it was struggling to walk by itself and that the Hemulen was pretty much pulling her alongside, probably too impatient to wait for it.

The child had pale fur in purplish hue, it looked afraid and it probably didn't know what was going on. The Snork kind of forgot about hiding for a second, therefore he didn't realize the Hemulen was heading to the bedroom. When he finally did, it was too late to run to his bed - in despair he ran behind the door, hoping the Hemulen wouldn't notice him on the way out.

They entered the room, swinging the door open, which hit poor Snork in the nose. It was clear the Hemulen didn't care if the children would be woken up by her presence - even if they were, they would be too afraid of a punishment to get up and see what was going on.

The Snork groaned quietly, pushing the door a bit so he had more space to move around. Then he peeked from behind the door to see the Hemulen letting the child go in the middle of the room, or rather pushing her towards it. Her words were a bit louder than her mumbling, therefore the Snork was actually able to catch them.

"Choose a free bed and go to sleep," she said in an aggressive manner, turning around. The Snork quickly hid again. Then everything went weirdly quiet.

Then the unbearable silence has been interrupted by the door cracking, slowly closing. The Snork was about to sigh with relief when something grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his hiding place so forcefully he fell on his stomach with a yelp. He looked up immediately, his terrified eyes meeting those of the Hemulen that were burning with fury.

"What are you doing here, you unbearable, ungrateful little brat?!" She yelled with a squeaky, hostile voice. "Get to bed right this instant, 21(as she addressed all children with assigned to them numbers), and I'll think of a punishment for you tomorrow! But for now you can be sure you are not getting breakfast!" With that she left, slamming the door behind her as she walked. Her steps were heard all the way upstairs.

When it went quiet again, the Snork was still staring at the ground (which he did when the Hemulen began yelling at him), waiting for another what felt like forever just to be safe nothing else would happen.

At last, when he slowly began getting up, his arm hurting as it was pulled so suddenly, he noticed some eyes were peeking up from the beds to look at him. Among these eyes were the eyes of the little child, that now seemed to… have a different fur color?

The Snork knew only one species of this looks that could change colors, and he was sure it wasn't just made up by his brain, as the child was clearly pale purple before, and now it was green. Its face was also terrified.

The Snork got up from the ground and for a second forgot what just happened, just approaching the child curiously, but then he began thinking of the awful punishment the Hemulen was about to make up for him in the morning and he imagined how much worse it would be if she found him wandering about like that, not in bed yet (although right now it was pretty much impossible as the Hemulen was already in her own bed and didn't intend on going downstairs even if there was a fire in the house). In one moment he rushed back to bed, hiding under the covers from the eyes of everyone, who hasn't decided to go back to sleep yet.

He fell right onto his hurt arm, too, which caused him to whine and forced tears out of his eyes. He changed his position and sobbed, replaying the situation with Hemulen that just happened in his head. He didn't like trouble. And now he was in big trouble.

He sat like this under the covers and would probably pass out eventually if he hasn't felt a pull on the sheets. He tried to ignore it at first, but it kept disturbing him, so, after wiping off the remains of tears from his own cheeks and nose, he threw the sheets off of him with one movement and looked for the source with kind of annoyed expression.

It was the new child. A little Snork. It stepped back a bit after seeing that the Snork reacted. It looked flustered. The Snork's expression softened a little.

"...I…" the child squeaked. "I can't… get on…" it pointed the bed right next to the Snork's. The Snork understood what it meant and decided to slide off of his bed. He then wondered what exactly he's supposed to do, so he simply attempted to push the child up as it tried to get onto the bed. The Snork decided to put the blanket on the child as well, just in case. He didn't want to get up again if it wanted any more help.

The child smiled to him, its green color slowly beginning to shift into more yellowish hue. There was no doubt, it was another Snork. The Snork never met another one of his kind, so when it reminded him what it was, he felt some warmth inside of himself. The two of them were of kin, more or less! And that's the closest thing to family he's ever had.

"You're sad" the child suddenly pointed out. The Snork looked at himself and noticed he was blue, a color he must've changed to under the sheets or before. He didn't know how to react to that, so he just softly nodded.

"A little" he said afterwards. Then he got off the bed (which he sat on before, when he pulled the blanket over the small Snork child) and headed to his own bed.

"Who are you?" He heard a quiet, squeaky voice after he sat on his own bed. 

"...Snork" he whispered. He began putting his own sheet around himself, getting ready to sleep.

"Goodnight, Snork" the voice squeaked through the darkness. 

The Snork got a bit surprised. Nobody has ever wished him goodnight before. Sure, he heard some other kids wish it to each other, but it was never addressed to him. He looked back at the tiny child that was sitting in a large bed under the covers. It was barely visible there.

"... Thanks. Goodnight, little Snork Maiden."

[kenshi-vakarian7]

MERweek2019 - Day 1 - Tall Tales

Event hosted by @cactuarkitty with fanfic prompts by @vorchagirl

Prompt - All relationships have those stories. You know the ones. Those famous stories. The good ones. Like the time Shepard took down the reaper on foot. Or Kaidan got involved in the Vorcha mafia. Or the time Vega got drunk and kissed Steve. What? It happened. It totally happened.

---

“The Shifty-Looking Cow Incident” aka How an unlikely friendship began.

Once again, to the surprise of absolutely no one, the Mako needed field repairs.  Commander Amy Shepard went up and down one too many steep hills out of sheer stubbornness.  Not for the first time, the tire on the front, right passenger side got loose from its axle.  If it were up to Urdnot Wrex, he'd throw a grenade at it and watch the fiery explosion with impish glee.  It would be heck of a lot more fun than playing guard duty a few yards away from the driver's side of the Mako.  Shepard guarded the other side while Garrus Vakarian worked on the repairs.

Hours ago, they landed on this green, stormy planet called Ontarom for a mission which included a fire fight (the highlight of Wrex's day so far).  After that business was done, Shepard and her team decided to explore the surrounding area for resources (practical but boring, something everyone on the team agreed on).

Well, that was what they were doing until the Mako had to be repaired.  From where he stood, Wrex could hear the turian working on the axle, and the krogan let out a low growl out of boredom.

This better be quick, Wrex grumbled in his head after ten minutes of standing around – which was more like an eternity.  Or else I'm gonna fall asleep out here. At that thought, he nearly laughed at the idea of Shepard and Garrus (especially the turian) being forced to drag a sleeping, 800-pound krogan back into the Mako with no biotics to speak of.  That would definitely make his day... well, besides the fire fight from earlier of course.

Out of boredom, Wrex reached for a compartment in his armor that hid his credit chit.  He figured it wouldn't hurt to count his money for the second time today, especially after his recent win at the Quasar machine from their last stop on the Citadel.

Except when he reached his hand into the compartment, nothing was there!

“What the-” he uttered, feeling bewildered.  He quickly doubled checked the compartment.  Sure enough, his credit chit, including his Quasar winnings, was gone!  He then checked other parts of his armor.  Maybe he placed it in another compartment of his armor, but all he found was a paperclip and a piece of lint (and he didn’t even want to know how either of them got in there).

Might be in the Mako, Wrex suddenly thought.  He began to head to the rover's driver side and opened the door as soon as he was within reach.  He then jumped in with a little more force than usual.

“Wrex, what the hell are you doing?!” Garrus yelled out in annoyance as the Mako shifted under Wrex's weight.

“Looking for my damn credit chit,” Wrex grumbled as he pulled the drivers set back to see if it fell under there.  Nope, not there either.

“I didn't see your chit when I went in there to get my tools earlier,” Garrus mentioned.

Those words made Wrex suspicious as he glared at Garrus through the passenger side window.  “And you know this how?”

“...Because I didn't see it?”

“...Or maybe you took it for yourself.”

Garrus's mandibles flared with both shock and anger over the accusation.  “What?  NO!  Why the hell would I take your damn credit chit?”

“Why wouldn't anyone?” Wrex mentioned as he stepped out of the Mako and back onto the ground.  He slammed the door behind him (causing the vehicle to sway a bit) and walked around the rover to where Garrus stood.  “There were enough credits to feed myself three lunches and four dinners at Fishdog Foodshack!  As you can imagine, that's a lot, even for a krogan.”

“I swear on the spirits, Wrex, I did not take your credit chit,” Garrus tried to reason.

“Well if it's not in my pockets, or in the Mako, or on the grass, then where is it?”

“How should I know?!” Garrus yelled, now annoyed with Wrex.  “For all you know, you might've dropped it back at the facility we fought in earlier!”

“Not possible,” Wrex said.  “I checked my pockets while we were checking for resources.”

“Why would you even bother to bring your credit chit to a mission on a mostly abandoned planet anyway?”

“And why would I leave it back on the Normandy for just anyone to take?” Wrex reasoned.

“We have lockers, you know!” Garrus pointed out.

“My best shotgun already takes up enough room as it is!”

“That's a dumb excuse!”

“Better than letting anyone mess it up while I'm not around!”

Just as Wrex said that, Garrus happened to turn his head as he noticed something.  Wrex didn't bother to look as he was still arguing with the stubborn turian.

“Wrex-”

“What?!” Wrex bellowed.

Garrus glared at him and didn't say another word, but he did lift a hand and pointed a single talon towards a particular direction.  It was clear that Garrus wanted him to see something. With a roll of his eyes and a grunt, Wrex turned his head to see whatever it was that Garrus was pointing at.

In that moment, a thresher maw could've sneaked up on Wrex and swallowed him whole, because what got his full attention mere yards away was nothing short of ridiculous.

The mammal he saw nearby was, as humans called them, a space cow (despite being more of a cross between a deer and an ant eater with two extra limbs that served as arms), which was known for having, as humans also called them, a shifty-looking face.  All this time, neither Wrex nor Garrus ever noticed the animal's presence until Garrus spotted it.  Were they really that stealthy that even a krogan couldn't pick up on it with their superior hearing?

Not only did that thought throw him off, but Wrex soon spotted a very familiar item in one of the cow's hands – his credit chit!  He really did drop it somewhere on the ground!  How it happened didn't matter.  He was about to run after the cow and get his chit back, but one thing managed to stop him before he moved...

With his own eyes, Wrex saw the cow actually take Shepard's own credit chit from one of her gear pouches!  What was even more insane was that Shepard – the Commander Shepard – didn't even notice it happening as she continued to remain on lookout!

Only then did Wrex truly understand how the cow got his chit in the first place.  That sneaky little pyjak!

Wrex turned to Garrus, who clearly saw what the krogan saw by how wide his eyes were and the way his mandibles flared and dropped.  They turned their heads again to look at the cow just as it added the newly stolen chit to the 'pile' in its other hand – with Shepard still unaware of what was going on mere inches behind her.  Then their looked at each other again with bewilderment.

A split second later, it happened.  A krogan and a turian - natural enemies for years ever since the start of the genophage – both lost it and howled with laughter at the same time.

This went on for a few seconds before Garrus tried to speak in between “Oh spirits – aahaha! – Y – did you s – aaahahaha!”

“It's so ridiculous!” Wrex managed to say.  “And – dammit, it got me, too!” he added before he howled again.  At this point, he wasn't even angry about being pick pocketed anymore, even if his chit was worth three lunches and four dinners at Fishdog Foodshack.

Then they both happened to look up – and actually made eye contact with the cow.  The mammal stared at them momentarily, its eyes wide with terror as it realized that it was caught red handed.  And then it actually began to scurry away from the group.  Not run – scurry!

They both lost it even more right there.  Garrus nearly keeled over while Wrex fell back against the Mako before he actually grabbed hold of Garrus's shoulder.  The turian didn't even try to brush his hand away – or he just didn't notice at all.

Of course, their fits of laughter caught Shepard's attention and she turned to look at them both.  She did spot the cow then as it continued to scurry away, but paid it no mind otherwise.  Neither Wrex nor Garrus every noticed the wary gaze she gave them both, especially since neither of them really got along until now.

“What's so funny over there?” Shepard asked aloud.

They both stopped laughing and became serious in an instant.  “Nothing,” they both said in unison, though Garrus cleared his throat right after.  Shepard gave them both a peculiar gaze before she shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to them.

“Should we tell her?” Wrex ended up asking with a grin, and low enough that only the turian heard him.

Garrus's mandibles flared again, this time with amusement.  “Mmm... maybe in a minute.  Just wait until the rest of the crew hears about this.”

“Ha!  They would love this story, wouldn't they?”“”

“Yeah.  ...Did we just become friends?”

Wrex snorted with amusement.  “You wish, turian.”

Garrus’s mandibles flared even more.  “Ah, probably for the best.  I’d hate to make you look like an amateur when it comes to which one of us is the best shot.”

Wrex grinned.  “If that ever happened, I’d just feed you to a thresher maw.”

Wrex wasn’t about to admit it out loud of course, but it was true... he and Garrus really did get along for the first time since they joined forces with Shepard.  Neither of them knew at that time that this moment was the beginning of what would become an lifetime friendship.

---

*And yes, Wrex did get his credit chit back, because of course he wasn’t going to let that shifty-looking cow get away with it.  That’ll be a story to be told for another day (just not for MERweek2019).

[ascension-soliloquy]

First read - Mistborn book 2: The Well of Ascension part 2.5 chapters 20-27

[Spoilers for the chapters covered and all previous chapters]

Predictions:

•Now I’m going to do a complete reversal, and say Marsh will remain on the good side until the end. That way, when he inevitably turns on everyone it will take me by surprise. 

•The koloss will destroy the other two armies, and then turn on each other, leaving Luthadel unscathed. (Or at least that’s what would happen if Douglas Adams had written this story. Either that, or Luthadel would be completely obliterated with no survivors. Either way, the ending would be pointless.)

•Captain Demoux is the kandra. Wouldn’t that be something, if the person who brought the skeleton to their attention was the impostor. Way to throw them off the trail. This idea came to me when I read chapter 13, and he popped in briefly. He didn’t even do anything suspicious, my mind just comes up with random things sometimes. Whoever it ends up being, OreSeur will sympathize with his fellow kandra and help him behind the crew’s back. 

Part 2.5: Ghosts in the Mist (chapters 20-27) 

Chapter 20

There’s a meeting with the usual crew to discuss Elend’s upcoming meeting with Straff. Vin burns bronze and feels a pulse from Breeze. She knew he wasn’t the kandra, but she likes the reassurance of him using allomancy. She realizes he is using it to make Elend more confident.

After everyone else leaves Tindwyl stays behind to give Elend more pointers about being a king. Talk turns to his relationship with Vin, and he gets defensive. Tindwyl apologizes and says she had to be sure he really loved Vin. 

Captain Demoux interrupts, saying a visitor from Cett’s army is there. He then clarifies, saying it’s Cett’s daughter, there to see Breeze. 

Chapter 21

They meet with Cett’s daughter in the palace atrium. She greets Breeze exuberantly, and he looks embarrassed as she hugs him. He introduces her to Elend. Her name is Allrianne. She seeks asylum from her father. Elend agrees to her request, for the time being. He has servants prepare rooms for her, and has them show her to those rooms. 

Vin comes in, scandalized that Breeze would be with such a young girl. Breeze accuses Vin of once pining for Kelsier. “You’re a sick man...Kelsier was like a father to me.” When Breeze begins to retort, Elend puts a stop to it, saying, “this line of discussion is useless.” When Breeze remains quiet, Elend thinks, “they will listen to me if I act like I expect them to.” They discuss what to do about Allrianne, and Elend decides to let her stay for now. 

Chapter 22

Vin follows Ham as OreSeur waits, hiding. As Ham passes, OreSeur jumps out howling. Surprised, Ham burns pewter, thus proving he’s not the kandra. 

Vin and OreSeur have an important conversation. She tries to relate to him, and opens up to him about her time as a street urchin, being mistreated and feared, but also used for her allomancy powers by thieving crew leaders. I don’t think I can do this conversation justice trying to recap it. It needs to be read in full. 

OreSeur detects a person walking. They go to follow, and Vin realizes it’s Sazed. She hugs him, and he tells her he needs to speak to Elend. He says there are “problems and troubles.”

Chapter 23

As servants prepare a meal for him, Sazed tells the crew about the koloss, and about the mist. Ham and Breeze argue; Elend asks if they have always been like this. Dockson replies that they always have, and have gotten worse over the years. I feel like this comment from Dockson could potentially rule him out as the impostor. It makes it seem like he actually has known them that long. Then again, maybe the kandra is that good of an actor. 

Allrianne interrupts. Elend and Vin both notice she is dressed, but has disheveled hair, so neither believe the act she’s putting on. So, is Allrianne an inept spy? Was she sent by Cett after all, or is she trying to get back into his good graces by spying?

Tindwyl is waiting for Sazed in his room. She doesn’t approve of him returning to Luthadel, and thinks he should be teaching people in the Eastern Dominance. She thinks he’s mistaken about the danger the mist poses. He insists that there is a danger, and that he needs to help. 

Chapter 24

Zane looks for Vin at Keep Hastings where they usually spar, but she doesn’t show. He goes to Keep Venture, and there she is. She isn’t in the mood for sparring. He tries to convince her that she is being used by Elend. There is some part of her that might be afraid of this, but she is resistant to his argument. 

Chapter 25

Vin is woken when OreSeur barks, warning of an intruder. It is Tindwyl, who wants to take Vin to buy a dress. When Vin goes to meet up with Tindwyl, Allrianne and Spook are there also. Vin tells Spook to burn tin, and he does, thereby ruling him out as the kandra. 

They go to a dress maker’s shop to try on dresses. Tindwyl asks Vin questions about herself. “Why haven’t you married him, child?” Vin gives her reasons, thinking she’s not right for Elend; that Elend fell in love with her when she was pretending to be something she was not. Tindwyl asks if he has abandoned her now that he knows the truth. She tells Vin people are more complex than they may seem. “You are so much more than you are willing to accept.” 

A crowd of people gather outside. Vin wants to run away, but Tindwyl and Allrianne convince her to go out and talk to them. She Soothes them as she does. Some are scared of the armies, but Vin maintains that she and Elend will take care of them. The crowd is mostly satisfied, and begins to break up. Vin feels like she lied to them. “Well, make a decision then...either give up on the city or believe in it.” 

I wonder if we can take Tindwyl at her word. I’m not sure how to feel about her yet. Does she have ulterior motives? She really seems to care about Vin in this conversation. Is it genuine, or an act?

Warning drums from the city wall begin beating. They were being attacked by one of the armies. 

The attack only lasts briefly. Clubs says it was a test. Elend thinks about it, and decides it is the sort of thing his father would do. The meeting with Straff would still happen, but, “Straff wanted Elend to know something. I can take this city any time, the attack seemed to say. It’s mine, no matter what you do...”

For a moment I suspected Clubs of being the kandra, but now I’m not sure. Elend notes that he had never heard Clubs be as forceful as when he yelled at Vin to not go down to the fight. But then Elend notices a look of worry on his face. Would the kandra show that expression? I don’t think so, but it could be an act. I guess I’m trying to read between the lines, but I’m not sure if I’m getting it right. 

Chapter 26

OreSeur tries to convince Vin that it is a mistake to meet with Straff as she gets dressed. OreSeur notices a note fall from the dress box. It is from the dressmaker, Feldeu, saying he modified the dress so that it would be easier to move in, and to be able to hide weapons and vials of metal in. 

Elend and Vin travel to the camp. They reach Straff’s tent, and have dinner. 

Chapter 27

Elend pretending to be weak doesn’t work the way he planned, but Vin’s ploy to get Straff to underestimate her does the trick. Changing tactics, Elend successfully threatens Straff, with help from Vin Soothing and Rioting Straff’s emotions, by saying that if he kills Elend, Vin will kill him and all the leaders of his army. 

Zane comes to Vin, but is surprised he once again isn’t able to sneak up on her. He continues to try convincing her that Elend is using Vin, and that Elend will never understand her. She insists that Elend loves her. Straff tells Elend to leave. 

Straff is scared by Vin’s power. He orders Zane to kill her. Zane says it won’t be easy, and that he will need a team of special Allomancers who can’t be detected. 

On the way back to Luthadel, Vin seems uncomfortable. Elend tries to comfort her, but it doesn’t seem to work very well. When they get back and tell the crew how it went, he refers to Vin as a weapon. I feel that may have been the wrong way to say it. That plays into the way Zane has been trying to come between Elend and Vin, seemingly confirming what Zane has been telling Vin. I don’t think she’ll turn against Elend, at least not yet, but it will make Zane’s arguments more seductive to her. 

Dockson brings Elend a letter from the assembly informing him that they have reached a decision of no confidence in his leadership. 

And that’s the way the cookie crumbles...

[imagine-loki]

Sneaky Trigger Warning : Rape and Drug Use

TITLE: Sneaky

ONE SHOT

AUTHOR: ToshiSurtsdottir

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine a girl has been living on Asgard for a couple of years. She moved out of the village she used to live in and now sneaks around the palace. The goddess of thievery, however, cannot stop stealing and one day finds herself in Lokis room, stealing what she can when suddenly a cold hand grabs her shoulder.

RATING: MA

NOTES/WARNINGS: rape, drugs, curse language

Toshi woke up in the middle of the night. For a couple of months she had been sleeping in an abandoned part of the palace. It was old and withered, plants grew out of cracks in the walls and here and there was some kind of fluid leaking out of them as well. She wasn‘t quite sure if it was water or something else, but she didn‘t feel the urge to find out. It was the howling wind that woke her up that night. It had been stormy for a view days already and during these days sleep had nearly been non-existent for her. She groaned and sat up in her ‚bed’ which was only a pile of pillows and hay and turned to look out of the window. Big clouds were blocking her view on the stars, making it pitch black in all of Asgard. The young firegiant raised her hand and let a small flame appear in it, so that she was able to see at least a bit of her surroundings. Her room was filled with all kinds of gold, silver and jewelry. There were different piles of stuff, mainly shiny objects that sparkled in the light of her flame.

She left the room and walked down the old, dark corridor. Water was dripping from the ceiling, the rain having been too much over the days for the old building. Toshi didn’t make any noises as she walked, her bare feet allowing her to move as quietly as a mouse. She wasn’t the goddess of thievery for no reason. Whenever she was bored and didn’t know what to do, she would make it her mission to steal whatever she could and bring it back to her stash. Odin had long noticed that someone was constantly stealing gold and other valuable things. Through all of Asgard soldiers were searching for the thief. Odin had promised that who ever would find him or her would be rewarded greatly with money and earn Odins respect. Two people had nearly found out about Toshi, a small girl, probably the daughter of a servant and a soldier who patrolled in the abandoned part. The girl was easy to shut up. Toshi had given her a generous amount of money, knowing that she and her family wold need it. As for the soldier it was a bit harder. She had offered him money but he didn’t want that and tried fighting her. The battle had soon been over and Toshi had gotten rid of his corpse by burning it to ashes.

A few minutes later she arrived at the main hall of the palace. She decided that tonight she would take a stroll through the east wing, wanting to see what it had to offer. She knew that the east wing was where the royal family had their chambers, which made it all so much more interesting for her. Her hands were tingling from excitement, wanting to take one thing from each chamber. Erasing the fire, she snuck through the long hallways that were lit up by huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. No part of the palace apart from the crowning room was this magnificent. On the walls hung big paintings, portraits of glorious soldiers, Valkyries, the warriors three, departed kings and of course the current royal family. She stopped in front of a picture that showed the complete family: Odin, Frigga, Thor and Loki all standing together. Although they didn’t look like a happy family, Toshi knew that their relationships weren’t even closely as bad as her relationship to her father and sister. She shook it off and proceeded on walking, having a mission after all. In front of a dark wooden door, she stopped. It was a big hinged door, more than double as big as she was tall. She didn’t know who’s room this actually was, but she was sure that behind it would be something precious for her to obtain. She quietly opened the door and peeked inside the room. It seemed empty as far as she could tell. In the middle stood a huge king size bed, long curtains hung down the sides of it. They were pulled back and Toshi couldn’t see anyone in there. After looking around a bit longer she finally entered the room. She closed the door quietly behind her and used a small flame to light up the room as much as she dared to. What she saw surprised her.

The room was full of various books, stacked up to the ceiling at times. She had to be careful not to knock over a pile and cause a fuss, meanwhile she had a hard time finding anything shiny she wanted to steal. „What is this..“ She whispered quietly, frowning as she looked around. Was this actually a bedroom? She sighed and sat down on the bed to think. When something on the bedside table caught her interest. There lay two shiny daggers. The blade was extremely sharp and the metal shone nearly white. The handle shimmered in green and blue. It was so beautiful that she felt magically drawn to it. Just before she was about to take one of them into her hand she felt movement in the bed. Before she could get up and look at the bed, she felt a cold hand holding her in place by her shoulder. „If I was you.. I would not even think about this.“ a dark voice said. She felt shivers running down her spine, the voice sending trembles through her body. Before she could do anything, she felt a sudden sting on the side of her neck. Everything went black shortly after and she could feel herself falling back on the bed until she was knocked out completely.

3 hours later

Toshi woke up with a nightmare of a headache. It felt as if her head was going to explode any second. As she tried moving to sit up she found herself unable to do so. Something or someone held her back. She opened her eyes and after they had adjusted to the light, even though it wasn‘t much, she was able to see. She was still in the room with the books. She looked down on herself and saw that she was tied to the bed by her ankles with some weird glowing ropes. She turned her head a little to look at her wrists and saw that they were restrained as well with the same glowing rope. Scared of what was going to happen to her, she started to wiggle and squirm furiously. After a while she screamed loudly in agony, there was no chance she would be getting out of there. She took a deep breath and concentrated, heating up her body so much that the rope should go up in flames and release her. Nothing happened. It was some kind of magic she couldn’t do anything against.

„Are you done then?“ someone asked, it was the same voice she had heard before. It was coming from a darker corner of the room. She couldn’t see enough to tell who it was. „Good. Now, let’s talk about this.“ The person walked out of the darkness and stood right in front of her at the end of the bed. Now all of this made sense. The books, the magic, the daggers. These were the chambers of prince Loki. Toshi looked at him in shock. She had heard horrible things about him so far. He was said to torture people just for fun, that he was ruthless, arrogant and all in all just an asshole.

„You are the thief that the allfather is searching for so desperately.“ he commented, tearing her from her thoughts. Toshi just looked at him with wide eyes. She took a deep breath again and quickly shot a fireball at him out of her mouth. He raised his hand and simply waved it away, raising an eyebrow. „If you try this again I will have to teach you some respect.“ Toshi glared at him, starting to squirm again. „Let me leave! I’m not the one you think I am!“ That just earned her a dark chuckle in response. „I am the god of lies sweetheart. Lying to me is useless.“

He snapped his fingers and let a chair appear behind him. He sat down and leaned forward, smirking a little. „Now, the most wanted person on Asgard is helplessly tied to my bed. How fortunate.“ Toshi could feel his gaze wandering over her, taking in her body. „You aren’t just wanted here on Asgard, aren’t you? You are Toshi Surtsdottir, Surturs daughter. The one who fled from there before her father would kill her. I knew that the second I saw your scars.“ He snickered and raised an eyebrow. „I could bring you either to Odin who would lock you up for the rest of your miserable life or I could bring you back to your father and watch him kill you. Both would be quite delightful, wouldn’t they?“ He grinned. Toshi was raging inside, waiting for him to make a mistake so that she could shred him to pieces. „What the fuck do you want from me you asshole?“ she hissed at him. Again she noticed him looking over her body. His tongue licking over his lower lip quickly as if she was his next meal.

„I wonder.. what could I possibly want in exchange for letting you free?“ Without a warning he slowly started to stroke over her ankle, smirking. „Can you think of something?“ he asked teasingly. „Don‘t you dare touch me!“ she shouted, trying to withdraw her leg but she couldn’t. Loki just rolled his eyes and moved to get up. He walked over to a small desk and took a bottle with blue shimmering liquid inside it. He walked over to the side of the bed, standing right next to her head. „Alright. You can fight it and choose the hard way. I am willing to let you enjoy this as well. But if you continue being a little bitch like you are right now, I will make sure this will be the worst experience you have ever made.“ He held the bottle up and shook it a little. „So, what will you choose?“ Toshi looked up at him in fear. She didn’t know what was in this bottle, maybe it would poison her, maybe make her unconscious.. anyway she didn’t want to drink this or whatever he was planning to do with it. „I… I will obey..“ she finally decided. She watched as a wide smile grew on Lokis face and he straightened up, opening the bottle. „Good girl.“ Against her expectations, he was the one to drink the liquid. „Wha-“ „It’s so that your silly fire cannot affect me in any way.“ he winked.

With that said, he started undressing her. He used his daggers to easily cut away her pants. He took his time, slowly dragging the blade over the fiber. Once he was done with her pants, he ripped them off of her and tossed them to the ground, grinning. As she laid there, only in her long sleeved black shirt and underwear, Loki could feel his cock stirring in his pants, making them feel incredibly tight. „You look as divine as you are, slut.“ he purred, crawling over her body. She stared up at him in fear, not daring to say anything. He leaned down, dragging his teeth over her neck. „You will be all mine.“ She moved her head away, wanting to be as far away from him as she possibly could in this situation, without much success however. He brought his hand up to her cheek and turned her head back so that she had to face him. „Now, don’t do that. I want to be able to look into your eyes when you feel me come inside you. He grinned darkly and pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek.

Feeling himself getting rock hard, he couldn‘t resist much longer. He sat up and ripped open her shirt, revealing her chest. He slid his dagger between her breasts and sliced open her black bra, freeing her breasts. „Delicious..“ He rumbled, leaning down to lick over her right nipple. He dragged his tongue over it slowly, smirking as he saw it hardening almost instantly. „I told you that you would also get to enjoy this, pet.“ He moved on to her other nipple and remained there for a while before sitting up again.

He let his hand slide down between her legs, covering her with his big hand. She felt humiliated, especially when he tore off her panties and let his fingers slide through her folds. „Getting rather wet, aren‘t you?“ Continuing to stroke over her, he let one finger slide into her, purring as he did so „Oh you are welcoming me darling.“.

He looked over her as he undid his pants, seeing his saliva glistening on her breasts. As he saw her staring down at his crotch, he decided not to let her wait any longer. A green shimmer surrounded him and seconds later he was hovering above her small body, completely naked. His rock hard cock was standing up straight. Toshi could see it twitching eagerly. He was a god indeed, anything but small.

„Do you enjoy this view? Tell me..“ he asked huskily, positioning himself between her legs. He slowly moved and let the hot tip of his cock stroke through her wet folds. „Answer me.“ he demanded, sounding angry when she didn’t answer. She had to overcome her disgust, scared he would hurt her if she didn’t answer. „I.. yeah. I do.“ she whispered quietly. „I didn’t hear you.“ She could feel him pushing against her entrance, making her want to jump up and flee. „I do! I love it!“ she yelled out. He smirked, obviously pleased by her answer. „You shall get what you deserve then.“ He pushed into her with a single, slow thrust. Leaning over her again he lustfully growled into her ear. „Mhh, so warm and wet. You were made for me..“ She had to admit that even though she was disgusted by him, he felt surprisingly good. She took a deep breath to stay calm when he started moving. At first his thrusts were slow and gentle, but it didn’t take long until his breathing got erratic and Loki started to speed up. His hips snapped against hers mercilessly and his moans filled the room. He moved his hand beneath her, lifting up her hip. When he did that, he was able to hit her sweet spot. He smirked knowingly when finally he could make her moan as well. „Isn’t too bad, huh?“ he panted. She could feel him stretching her so wonderfully, he wasn’t bad at all. In fact, that was probably the best sex she had ever had. He let go of her and was pleased to see that she held up her hip on her own. He leaned down, biting hard into her shoulder as he could feel himself getting close. Toshi screamed out in pain. She hadn’t expected him to bite her this roughly, it only adding to her own pleasure. Without a warning she gushed over his cock, moaning his name loudly as she came. Growling deeply, he fucked her through her orgasm, not giving her a single second to calm down. After a few more hard thrusts he came as well, spilling his seed inside her. He slowed down and stopped. Panting heavily as he pressed his lips onto hers without a warning. She wanted to withdraw at first, but when she found herself enjoying the kiss, she closed her eyes, letting it happen. Toshi felt his sperm leaking out of her and running down onto the mattress. When he slowly pulled out she felt the ropes disappear, setting her free. She wasn’t free yet however, as Loki laid down on top of her, breaking the kiss. She was trapped beneath him now, feeling his wet cock rubbing against her stomach.

„I think I will keep you, pet. Unless of course you would like to go to prison.. or die.“ He whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

[a5h3ph3rd]

Samuel goes through many many layers of crisis

-Start Session Two-

We pick back up with Samuel loudly vetoing the abandoned graveyard séance plan, bringing up the point that abandoned graveyards are abandoned for a reason. One of Zack's roomates hears the discussion and comes down stairs. He is another frat brother, a hockey player named Chet. (Race: human, Class: jock subclass: medicine)

Chet is really stoked to see people at the house and introductions are made, Samuel surreptitiously steps in front of Zack's laptop screen, which is still open to the police stations database. Chet is suuuuper chill, and thinks a séance would be rad.

Mari pipes up from the doorway. She's Diego's twin sister and she eggs everyone on, taking Blair's side instantly. Samuel eventually caves into the peer pressure and agrees. It's nearing midnight now, so Blair and Samuel sneak back to their dorms, nearly getting caught by campus security on the way. The moon is full, making finding shadows to hide in more difficult. 

Once inside, the pair start to hear wolves howling in the distance. Because the dorms are near where the forest surrounds the campus Samuel waves it off as a hunting pack passing way too close to human habitation. Blair, on the other hand, spins a theory that the security officers are actually werewolves by making a compelling argument with evidence such as: there's a full moon out, wolves and security guards are good at sniffing things out, are both prone to protecting their perceived territories, and are both pack animals. Samuel humors her for a bit before heading to bed, the sounds of the wolves slowly fading into the forest.

The next morning Samuel and Blair head into town again, meeting up with Chet along the way on his way to work. Blair picks up an extra shift at her own job, while Samuel heads to the library to look up information on Lieutenant Dominic, the lead investigator for the group of campus murders 25 years ago. Mr. Archer, the librarian, tells Samuel that Lt. Dominic was already nearing retirement at the time of the investigation and has since passed away, though he did have a daughter.

Samuel looks her up in the white pages and gives her a call, leaving a voicemail with a story about him doing an interview for the campus paper on local police heroes and if she would be willing to talk about her father. After, Samuel has a small crisis about all the lying he just did.

He heads back to the campus library to look up the school yearbook from 1994, the year the massacre happened. (I have a crisis over how 1994 was 25 years ago wtf). Unfortunately, the yearbooks don't provide much information and Samuel meets up with Blair again later to wait for nightfall. Zack, Cole, Diego and his sister Mari, and Chet meet the two of them and they head off into the woods behind their dorm.

It's a two hour hike, in the dark, and Samuel is visibly freaked out, clinging to Zack and jumping at every twig snap. Blair successfully distracts him from his anxieties with a discussion about ducks and the strangeness of seeing normally daylight animals active at night.

The group eventually breaks out of the forest onto the edge of a large clearing, the standing but decrepit headstones making it clear that this is the graveyard. That and the large amount of low hanging mist creeping across the grass. Blair assures Samuel that, since they're near a lake, the fog is completely natural and that he will know when it isn't. Samuel doesn't feel better about that. They all make their way to the center of the graveyard, where a large stone crypt is still standing. Samuel and Blair note the names on many of the standing stones bear the surname Thornhill. Samuel is apprehensive but of course this is where they decide to hold the ritual. Blair and Mari, in perfect synch, take the lead and start to set up the candles, ouija board, and black mirror, forming a protective pentagram with the items.

The boys, all uselessly standing around, form a protective circle around the girls and everyone links hands, then Blair and Mari start reciting their incantations. They're both speaking in Latin, because of course, and Samuel can't understand most of it, which only freaks him out more. (He silently curses the fact that he spent his time learning Vulcan instead of Latin) Mari cuts her palm open and drips some blood into the circle and Blair dramatically asks the spirits if Angela Mayers, the bisected Professor, is among them, or if any of the spirits of the graves surrounding them are willing to speak.

Samuel, expecting an immediate response like horror movies depict, is momentarily calmed in thinking it hadn't worked, though Blair assures him it normally takes time. Eventually, the wind picks up and the fog becomes denser (Samuel notes with distaste that he -could- in fact tell when the fog became unnatural) The candle flames flicker and then all snuff out, except for the one in the very center of the circle between Mari and Blair. Blair welcomes the spirits very politely and waits for a response.

The sound of intense whispering starts to come out of the woods surrounding the graveyard, and though they initially can't make out the words they can hear the tone become increasingly panicked. Samuel, unfortunately, manages to catch snippets as the whispers grow louder 

"-shouldn't be here he's coming run-"

"-no one should be here it's too soon-"

"-he's coming-"

"-HE'S HERE-"

The whispers instantly cut off and complete utter silence fills the graveyard, not even crickets or night sounds can be heard, and the fog masses into a dark cloud around the circle.

Behind Mari a pair of red eyes burn through the fog. Blair, kneeling in front of Mari, looks up and sees, but forces herself not to react. Unfortunately Samuel is seated directly behind her and also sees. Samuel tries to warn Mari, but can't seem to speak through the abject terror he's experiencing, and the red eyes advance behind Mari, a third glowing eye opening between and above the two.

A gravelly voice made up of multiple voices speaks from just outside the circle, responding to the girls in the old tongue as well, so Samuel still can't parse the words.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

Blair explains that they're here for answers to the recent murders, which are obviously not done by human hands.

A deep dark laugh starts to move around the circle. Samuel, unfortunately, catches glimpses through the fog of the tall creature as it moves, of 6 arms, a long whip-like tail, and extremely clawed hands and feet as the creature circles the group. He nearly blacks out from fear.

"You come into MY forest, without the decency of knowing where you trespass. Why should I give answers."

"We didn't seek answers from you specifically, and have no quarrel with you." Blair is surprisingly holding it together.

"Yet my home you intrude upon."

"It was not intentional."

"And am I supposed to just forgive?"

"It would be the kind thing to do."

"I am not kind."

"A shame to go through life without kindness." Blair has the balls to reply.

"It never suited me. Your kind only come to me to make deals. So. What deal do you wish to make?"

"Knowing how these things go, I may not be willing."

"Shame."

"Different beings deal in different things. If I were to negotiate, what would you seek?"

The creatures eyes the group, then focuses back to Blair. 

"You distrust me because I am not human."

Blair hedges. "I distrust in general."

"It is wise to seek terms before committing."

"I will release you if you retrieve something for me."

"What?"

"An item from Thornhill manor. A heart. My heart."

"Who stole your heart?"

"That is not your concern.

Blair negotiates with the demon, he wants collateral so that they are forced to return and Chet offers himself. The demon answers one of Blair's questions to show he's willing to seal the deal.

Blair asks the obvious "who killed Professor Mayers?" The demon, however, gives a dodgy answer saying. "It is someone you know, but someone you would not recognize now."

"That's not a very satisfactory answer." Blair is careful to make her next words a statement rather than a question.

"I need to know who to look for."

The demon, amused, responds. "You will know their sigil when you see it. Though be careful of the company you keep. One cannot always see the beasts around you." He extends his hand. "Give me your palm."

"You know as well as I do that I can't break this circle."

The demon slowly closes his hand. "Clever. But I am a creature of my word. I nor anything else will harm you. If you return to me in two days time, no harm will come to your companion either, and I will answer your questions to the best of my ability."

Blair makes eye contact with Mari. Mari joins Cole and Diego's hands before letting go and offering her own palm. Razaroth burns his own sigil into her palm. "This will tell you when you are close to the item I seek."

"Come with me Chet." Chet, surprisingly nonplussed, goes for a fist bump and the demon grabs the fist and pulls Chet into the fog.

Samuel is loudly freaking the fuck out about this, though Blair speaks over him. "Who should I call for when we return?"

"Razaroth.

Blair tries to calm Samuel down, while Mari pulls Zack, Diego, and Cole away to whisper a discussion with them. Blair explains to Samuel what happened and, while Samuel starts to go into full on existential-crisis mode, Blair goes over to Mari to confirm a suspicion she has.

"Are you werewolves?" Straight to the point.

Zack looks guilty, Cole and Diego eye each other warily, and Mari speaks for them. "We're shapeshifter, actually. Calling us werewolves is kinda rude."

Samuel is too busy pacing back and forth and trying to rationalize the events of the night to hear this discussion.

Mari explains that the Thornhill manor is a bit of a hike away, though they know where it is as it's rumored to be the lair of a Witch Hag. 

Samuel, in shock and apparently the only one here reacting normally to the confirmation of ghosts and demons in the world, follows along with the group without protest as they make their way there. It's nearly another hour's hike away, and in this time Samuel manages to calm himself down, successfully compartmentalizing this knowledge since he's Catholic and was already halfway into believing in ghosts and demons anyway. He's quietly thankful he thought to get a rosary and holy water from Father John before all this.

They reach the gates of Thornhill manor, they're tall and imposing and Samuel tries to wedge the gate open with his crowbar. Zack takes over and succeeds and they walk about 20 minutes across the sprawling grounds of the estate before seeing the house. Despite it being a century old, the house looks in decent condition. 

Mari kicks the door open and they all enter. Samuel, half expecting it, turns around to look at the door and finds nothing but a wall. Dismayed, he heads to a curtained window and finds nothing behind the fabric either. The group briefly discusses possible locations for a demon's heart. Samuel suggests they clear the rooms on the ground floor, then head upstairs and clear those before checking out the basement. Not because he is afraid, but because it would be methodical. And also because he is very obviously afraid. 

They make their way to the kitchens, where pots on the stove are bubbling with gross items like fingers and such. Samuel notes that this all seems specifically designed to scare them, and while he's scared, he's starting to find it hard to take it seriously. The house seems to be an odd mixture of old and new architecture as they clear the kitchen, dining room, and foyer before heading into the study. The sigil Mari's palm gives no indication that they're close, and there are no doors or windows leading out of the house.

Samuel, very much the type to stop in a dangerous situation when there are books around, stops in the study to pull out some of the books. They're all, frustratingly, in languages he doesn't know, though he hands one in Latin pertaining to demon summoning and binding to Blair. The group turns around to head back to the foyer, but the doorway instead leads to the attic. Samuel, hysteria creeping into his voice, jokes that the house is making them do a Speed run and they must've clipped through the ceiling. The attic holds only old dresses and Victorian era photos, some with the name Elena Thornhill written on the back. Samuel notes it's still all very horror-movie adjacent. 

They find a ladder leading out of the attic but it leads straight into the basement, and Mari mentions that her hand is starting to itch. The door out of the basement leads into a bedroom, which Samuel notes is very stereotypically decorated like a creepy grandma's bedroom, complete with creepy porcelain dolls, as expected. 

Mari asks if he expected that, and points to the shrouded four poster bed, an indistinct figure resting there. Samuel asks her not to open the bed curtain, but before he gets the words out Cole has stepped forward and done so. The bed is empty. Samuel weakly asks the group if the figure is behind him, but there's nothing there. Then the group all slowly look up. There's a decrepit woman on all fours on the ceiling, and her head rotates backwards to see them and she shrieks at them. The group scream in return and run. 

The doorway heads into a dining room, where the table is set for a dinner party, complete with the disembodied sounds of music and faint laughter. Samuel makes sure to grab Cole and Diego so that they don't do something stupid like reach for the food, and then the hag's shrieks can be heard approaching and they bolt through another door. They cross from mismatched room to missmatched room, going thru more rooms than even a large manor should hold, before ending up in a room that is creepily full of mirrors; walls, floor, and ceiling. There doesn't appear to be an exit. Frustrated, Mari jumps up to try and reach the ceiling, thinking its maybe an illusion, but when she lands the floor tilts and falls away to deposit them in another basement, though a different one from before. 

It looks closer to modern, with wood paneling on the walls, and there's another doorway which looks like it leads into another study. Zack borrows Samuel's crowbar and starts prying the wood paneling off, and instead of dirt or brick like Samuel expects its another room, the glass walls of a conservatory just barely showing from amongst the massive quantities of plants filling it.

They head in and Samuel immediately spots the source of most of the flora. There's a glass case suspended from the ceiling filled with dirt, with black vines pouring out of an opening in the top. Being well-versed in video game logic, Samuel takes the metal spiral stairs up to the second floor and smashes the glass case with his crowbar, causing dirt and vines to cascade to the ground floor. They all immediately hear outraged shrieking approaching and Samuel races back down while Blair starts to dig through the dirt for the source of the vines. 

He and the rest of the group form as much of a protective circle around Blair as they can and the hag bursts into the room. She looks just awful, with her lower jaw hanging open and her tongue lolling out as she shrieks at them, approaching. Samuel, emboldened that she looks nearly identical to a ghost hag from The Witcher games, strikes at her with his iron crowbar. It doesn't work like he thought it would and the ghost passes through him, chilling him. She reappears on the other side and heads towards Blair, who has exposed a beating black heart from the dirt and is frantically cutting it away from the vines growing from it. Samuel fumbles in his bag for his bottle of holy water and faces her with his crucifix, starting to recite an exorcism as he backs away from her away from Blair.

The hag angrily turns to him and materializes enough to strike out at him. Samuel takes the blow and as she goes to strike him down again the jaws of a large black wolf clamp down on her now-solid arm. Samuel whacks her with the crowbar and she screams in anger, the concussive force of it sending him and the wolf flying backwards into the wall. Blair shouts that she's got the heart free and gains the hags attention once again.

Samuel, dazed, stands and stumbles after the hag and manages to douse her in holy water. She screams in anguish as her flesh(?) burns away and now corporeal once more, three other large wolves pile onto her. Blair manages to stuff the massive heart into her backpack and Samuel douses the hag with the last of the holy water and the flesh of her exposed chest melts away to show a frantically beating red heart. Unable to escape the jaws of the wolves, she struggles in vain as everyone pins her down and Samuel stabs through the heart with the crowbar. With one final shriek, the hag disintegrates beneath them and the heart in Blair's backpack starts to quicken its beating, starting to glow red.

The fight now apparently over, Samuel sits down heavily to process everything. He belatedly wonders where Zack and everyone else are and Blair makes knowing eye-contact with the largest wolf. "Mari?" The brown wolf inclines her head as a darker brown and a grayish wolf flank her. The black wolf comes limping into view with its tail tucked, looking apprehensive at Samuel's reaction.

"So uh. They're shapeshifters Sam." Blair is as direct as always. Samuel is too exhausted to react to this information with anything other than bland acceptance.

He looks over to the black wolf. The wolf carefully approaches. Samuel turns back to Blair. "Ok, lemme make sure I got this right. I just killed a ghost. You have a heart in your backpack. And you're all werewolves." He gestures wildly to the rest of the room.

Blair cringes. "Yeah no, I thought so too, but that's rude. They can control it, so. Shapeshifters."

"Right. Sorry." Samuel assumes, correctly, that the wolf who got its ass handed to him while defending Samuel is Zack. "Come here?" The wolf is briefly reluctant, but eventually approaches. Samuel pats it on the cheek. "Alright. This may as well be happening." The wold hesitantly wags its tail.

They all leave the house, and Samuel thinks to check his phone for the time. The date, however, is wrong. They've been trapped in that house for a day and a half. They immediately head back to the abandoned graveyard to complete their deal. Razaroth is a lot less formal now that there's no ritual involved in their conversation. Chet is returned in exchange for his heart, and Blair asks the questions relevant to her part of the bargain. Unfortunately, as he is answering to the best of his ability as stated in the contract, Razaroth doesn't actually provide any more useful information. Blair is briefly outraged, before she realizes that she too has a pact mark on her, amd and therefore can summon Razaroth as she pleases.

On the return hike, Samuel laments being the only squishy human in the group now, since "Blair is like I dont know a warlock or something". But Blair assures him that he's probably like their wizard now, the squishy thing to be protected. Samuel is...partially appeased.

They all head back to the dorms and Samuel pulls Zack aside now that he's human again to talk while everyone goes on ahead. Zack starts to apologize for not telling Samuel, but Samuel waves it off. 

"Yeah, I've seen movies and shit. I know why you didn't want to tell me. Guess my boyfriend is just a wolf sometimes. That's life I guess." 

Zack grins at the mention of the word boyfriend and Samuel tells him to shut up and get some rest and heal his probably broken ribs. They kiss and Samuel heads off to his dorm to get some rest before another day dawns and the murder mystery continues.

Samuel will likely have a breakdown later but right now he's a sleepy boy.

-End Session Two-

[mythalsknickers]

For DA Drunk Writing! Pairing of your choice "Thank you, I love it."

TITLE: A SparkPart of Vir’sul El’u EolasPAIRING: Solas x Fen’aslan/EvunialaRATING: Teen?TAGS/WARNINGS: Post-Trespasser, Angst, Magic Solves EverythingWORD COUNT: 1911

I hope you all enjoy this labor of unedited love, once I am not tired I will probably go over this a bit better so it can be incorporated into a later chapter of my post Trespasser fic. This is unbeta’d and a sneak peek. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. @dadrunkwriting

Silence hung over the castle like the starless night. A soft smile took shape on her lips as she stared up at the sky watching the way the pitch turned to navy, every once in a while, there was fragments of green and each time they flared on the horizon her breath caught in her throat and her heart raced with hope he would tear the veil down before her scouts found him, hope he was finally coming back to her.  The mist-like magic that made up her new forearm gleamed like its own star as it flared briefly. In the months since she had come back to the Inquisition, they and the humans sped towards open war with Solas’ forces. It was not a path she wished to walk. He was her Vhenan.

As she parted her lips to whisper the same phrase she had been asking every night since her return, a hum of magic traveled through the ancient wards to her by prickling the hair on the back of her neck. It was an alert, not a warning, did she dare hope. Knitting her brow she pushed herself up looking over the grounds. In the gardens, a too familiar blue glow was barely visible over the wind battered rooftops.

Her heart lept into her throat, she didn’t want to hope, but she couldn’t stop the way her heart raced, or how breathing became a struggle. There was no proof it was Solas, it could be someone here to spy on her, or to kill her. She was trying to reason with her self vainly they were logical arguments, steps that in another world she would have taken if she had been in his position, she was his greatest threat. Stepping away from the balcony she entered into the dim amber warmth of her room.  As much as she wanted to convince herself it wasn’t him. She didn’t believe it even though it was the most likely answer. Instinctively her hand found her staff, it wasn’t needed for this hunt, but it would help her focus on her task. Carefully she made her way to her desk, silently she pulled the chair out and sat down.

Magic began to bleed into the room, as the phantasmal forearm lost the defined shape, reverting to a cloud of magic. Her opaline eyes shifted into a silver only found in the moon. Letting her magic reach out into the ancient wards, she began to search the echos of magic for her guest. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she focused around the Eluvian.

“Show me.” she rasped her voice choked with hope as a silent tear ran down her cheek.

Each echo was a fragment of memories etched into the very soul of Skyhold. The oldest being when Morrigan had arrived from the Winter Palace. But no sign of her guest. The silence of the night was broken by the howl of a wolf, her soul was calling for him. It was at that moment where the still of the night and the hum of magic shattered into a single mournful howl.

It was as if a fuse had ignited in the ancient wards. Silver eyes widened as she could feel the echos of his steps. Like ripples from a stone being dropped in a still pond. Her breath stuttered as she snapped her eyes shut. It was a burning ache in her chest, it couldn’t be him. Not after all this time. Squeezing her eyes shut tighter, salt-stung at her as tears threatened to burst into sobs. Like snapping a bowstring her magic recoiled into her. She trembled with the shock and heartache. Reflexively her hand tightened around the ancient ironbark of her staff. A hopeful but aching sigh was all that broke the silence as her eyes opened taking a purple shift to them. She would wait for him to come to her.

Time seemed to stand still, as the moon’s light fanned over her casting her copper hair in a silver sheen. The waiting had given her a chance to collect herself slowly pulling the silver magic back into the shape of her forearm. Her words beginning to haunt her.

The Inquisition will bow - but it will not be to either of you.

She had implied they would bow to the will of Divine Victoria, a Divine she had installed on the sunburst throne, but in the too still silence of waiting for him, a doubt had taken root in her stomach. How could she bow to someone she put into power. It was as if her organization was too powerful, to be drawn into the reins of Thedas’ current political powers. Ferelden who had tried to disband them, Orlais who sought to enfold them in the deadly game, and the Chantry who sat silent and judging the threat. Neither could control the wolf they had created.

Finally creaking wood echoed in the silent room, granting her a reprieve from her thoughts. Carefully she observed the stairway, her staff resting against her shoulder forcing her face to be the picture of calmness. Her heart began to pick of speed as the ancient protesting of her door opening, the soft clamor of armor rubbing together. Parting her lips she sucked in a breath as golden armor caught the faint amber light.

“Vhenan” her heart froze as she met his eyes. It had been easy to issue biting and ego cutting speeches to the exalted council or even to the nobles who came here seeking her aid in defending them their mistreated servants. She couldn’t make out what he was carrying aside from the color, it was a stark white. Everything about how he stood, screamed he was waiting for her to respond. Two leaders who were pitted on opposite sides of the coming war. What had Mythal said? Alas, so long as the music plays we must dance. She had never said anything about changing the music, or the dance.

It seemed like an hour had passed before in a single moment she shattered the silence that had fallen with a piercing screech of wooden legs against the ancient stone. As she stood her ironbark staff clattered to the ground. Carefully she stepped over her staff and around the desk, letting him see the magic that made up her forearm.

“Vhenan, what brings you to the heart of…your rival’s fortress?” She canted her head, her eyes fixed on him looking for the barest hint of anything in his body language.  It was as if two great wolves met and they were weighing the threat the other posed. Cautiously he took a step forward and she also stepped forward. She was at home here and she could not afford to lose what little control she had of the situation.

“You are not my rival, Vhenan. At least I hope not.” Her stomach fluttered as her face warmed. Her hands held onto her tunic desperately hoping that he was not going to abandon her. Not again.

As they drew closer she could see he carried a white wolf pelt, and dreams she had barely started to remember surged forward. Her phantasmal arm pulsed. Under ancient trees, she and Solas ran white and black paws stirring up the leaves. Under the full moon, she often ran ahead of him like the mural encouraging him to chase her.  She squeezed her eyes shut trying to shake away the distant memories. It wasn’t the time to sort them, to understand her past.

The silence seemed to stretch between them as slowly her eyes opened shifting from an opal reflecting stands of purple and turquoise to a moonlit silver.  He was here, outside of the fade and while everything in her wanted to close the distance he had forced between them. She couldn’t though, she was the Inquisitor, the leader of Andraste’s faithful, and with that came expectations, she would lead the fight against him as much as she and a small force of her most trusted, and probably a few of his spies worked against that, and the guilt of that tore at her to know if he died she would be the cause and that if she died he would likely blame himself again.

“Vhenan.” despite how quiet his voice was it shattered the silence and tugged her back to where they were now. Her eyes met his, did he know the secret she had worked to carefully keep hidden from most of the world. She drew in a breath as he stepped closer, something had changed, in the way he walked and held himself.

“Vhenan…” he paused just a step away from her “Please before we run out of time…come with me.” She drew back, her lips parting as her eyes widened in silent shock. Her thoughts raced as she searched his face, his posture, anything for a clue to what had changed to cause him to seek her out to bring her into his fold.  She knew since her return that Solas had agents in Skyhold, she didn’t have a definitive list of names but she had a few guesses and she couldn’t think anything that would have been reported back to draw him out.

“Why?” She couldn’t keep the suspicion away from her voice, even as struggled against the sting of tears threatening to fall. As she waited for his answer her eyes fell to the fur he carried, it wasn’t stark white, there were hints of cream and silvers in the long fur.  A slight shift as he adjusted his hold in the fur showed something that was almost like that looked like fine silk.

“Fen’aslan, I…” he paused holding her gaze there was no hardness and almost as if he had dropped the walls he had put up when he left her in the ruins. “I cannot apologize for my behavior, there is nothing that could make what I have done forgivable.” There was another pause. “We both carry burdens we cannot shrug off despite how much we may want to, however, I want to offer you a way to remove that burden completely.” Slowly he unwrapped the pelt to reveal the silk gown that seemed to be made of storm clouds. “A gift, should you wear it anywhere, at any time, someone will escort you to the crossroads and to a haven.”

Her fingers gently stroked the dress and fur, both seemed to be made for her, she could picture how they would compliment her.

“Solas…” she met his eyes. “Thank you, I love it.” it was a way out an escape from an already planned future. Tears that she had struggled against began to stain her cheeks as her mouth went dry. He was trying to save her in the most delicate and from what she could tell a well-planned way. From the outside, it would look as if she had been stolen away and imprisoned but it was a plan. Leaning forward she took the fur and gown from him.

“Please stay Solas at least for the night,” she whispered brushing her lips against his. Her chest tightened in a fragile thread of hope, he nodded his hand touching the magic that made up her left arm.

“Just the night Vhenan.” She gave a genuine smile that reached her eyes, for the first time in years. The world could wait for a single night.

[toshisurtsdottir]

Sneaky, one shot

WARNING: Rape, curse language

This is the first fic that contains smut that I will actually upload. I hope it‘s not too bad haha

Enjoy :)

Original imagine: Toshi has been living on Asgard for a couple of years. She moved out of the village she used to live in and now sneaks around the palace. The goddess of thievery however cannot stop stealing and one day finds herself in Lokis room, stealing what she can when suddenly a cold hand grabs her shoulder.

Toshi woke up in the middle of the night. For a couple of months she had been sleeping in an abandoned part of the palace. It was old and withered, plants grew out of cracks in the walls and here and there was some kind of fluid leaking out of them as well. She wasn‘t quite sure if it was water or something else, but she didn‘t feel the urge to find out. It was the howling wind that woke her up that night. It had been stormy for a view days already and during these days sleep had nearly been non-existent for her. She groaned and sat up in her ‚bed’ which was only a pile of pillows and hay and turned to look out of the window. Big clouds were blocking her view on the stars, making it pitch black in all of Asgard. The young firegiant raised her hand and let a small flame appear in it, so that she was able to see at least a bit of her surroundings. Her room was filled with all kinds of gold, silver and jewelry. There were different piles of stuff, mainly shiny objects that sparkled in the light of her flame.

She left the room and walked down the old, dark corridor. Water was dripping from the ceiling, the rain having been too much over the days for the old building. Toshi didn’t make any noises as she walked, her bare feet allowing her to move as quietly as a mouse. She wasn’t the goddess of thievery for no reason. Whenever she was bored and didn’t know what to do, she would make it her mission to steal whatever she could and bring it back to her stash. Odin had long noticed that someone was constantly stealing gold and other valuable things. Through all of Asgard soldiers were searching for the thief. Odin had promised that who ever would find him or her would be rewarded greatly with money and earn Odins respect. Two people had nearly found out about Toshi, a small girl, probably the daughter of a servant and a soldier who patrolled in the abandoned part. The girl was easy to shut up. Toshi had given her a generous amount of money, knowing that she and her family wold need it. As for the soldier it was a bit harder. She had offered him money but he didn’t want that and tried fighting her. The battle had soon been over and Toshi had gotten rid of his corpse by burning it to ashes.

A few minutes later she arrived at the main hall of the palace. She decided that tonight she would take a stroll through the east wing, wanting to see what it had to offer. She knew that the east wing was where the royal family had their chambers, which made it all so much more interesting for her. Her hands were tingling from excitement, wanting to take one thing from each chamber. Erasing the fire, she snuck through the long hallways that were lit up by huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. No part of the palace apart from the crowning room was this magnificent. On the walls hung big paintings, portraits of glorious soldiers, Valkyries, the warriors three, departed kings and of course the current royal family. She stopped in front of a picture that showed the complete family: Odin, Frigga, Thor and Loki all standing together. Although they didn’t look like a happy family, Toshi knew that their relationships weren’t even closely as bad as her relationship to her father and sister. She shook it off and proceeded on walking, having a mission after all. In front of a dark wooden door, she stopped. It was a big hinged door, more than double as big as she was tall. She didn’t know who’s room this actually was, but she was sure that behind it would be something precious for her to obtain. She quietly opened the door and peeked inside the room. It seemed empty as far as she could tell. In the middle stood a huge king size bed, long curtains hung down the sides of it. They were pulled back and Toshi couldn’t see anyone in there. After looking around a bit longer she finally entered the room. She closed the door quietly behind her and used a small flame to light up the room as much as she dared to. What she saw surprised her.

The room was full of various books, stacked up to the ceiling at times. She had to be careful not to knock over a pile and cause a fuss, meanwhile she had a hard time finding anything shiny she wanted to steal. „What is this..“ She whispered quietly, frowning as she looked around. Was this actually a bedroom? She sighed and sat down on the bed to think. When something on the bedside table caught her interest. There lay two shiny daggers. The blade was extremely sharp and the metal shone nearly white. The handle shimmered in green and blue. It was so beautiful that she felt magically drawn to it. Just before she was about to take one of them into her hand she felt movement in the bed. Before she could get up and look at the bed, she felt a cold hand holding her in place by her shoulder. „If I was you.. I would not even think about this.“ a dark voice said. She felt shivers running down her spine, the voice sending trembles through her body. Before she could do anything, she felt a sudden sting on the side of her neck. Everything went black shortly after and she could feel herself falling back on the bed until she was knocked out completely.

3 hours later

Toshi woke up with a nightmare of a headache. It felt as if her head was going to explode any second. As she tried moving to sit up she found herself unable to do so. Something or someone held her back. She opened her eyes and after they had adjusted to the light, even though it wasn‘t much, she was able to see. She was still in the room with the books. She looked down on herself and saw that she was tied to the bed by her ankles with some weird glowing ropes. She turned her head a little to look at her wrists and saw that they were restrained as well with the same glowing rope. Scared of what was going to happen to her, she started to wiggle and squirm furiously. After a while she screamed loudly in agony, there was no chance she would be getting out of there. She took a deep breath and concentrated, heating up her body so much that the rope should go up in flames and release her. Nothing happened. It was some kind of magic she couldn’t do anything against.

„Are you done then?“ someone asked, it was the same voice she had heard before. It was coming from a darker corner of the room. She couldn’t see enough to tell who it was. „Good. Now, let’s talk about this.“ The person walked out of the darkness and stood right in front of her at the end of the bed. Now all of this made sense. The books, the magic, the daggers. These were the chambers of prince Loki. Toshi looked at him in shock. She had heard horrible things about him so far. He was said to torture people just for fun, that he was ruthless, arrogant and all in all just an asshole.

„You are the thief that the allfather is searching for so desperately.“ he commented, tearing her from her thoughts. Toshi just looked at him with wide eyes. She took a deep breath again and quickly shot a fireball at him out of her mouth. He raised his hand and simply waved it away, raising an eyebrow. „If you try this again I will have to teach you some respect.“ Toshi glared at him, starting to squirm again. „Let me leave! I’m not the one you think I am!“ That just earned her a dark chuckle in response. „I am the god of lies sweetheart. Lying to me is useless.“

He snapped his fingers and let a chair appear behind him. He sat down and leaned forward, smirking a little. „Now, the most wanted person on Asgard is helplessly tied to my bed. How fortunate.“ Toshi could feel his gaze wandering over her, taking in her body. „You aren’t just wanted here on Asgard, aren’t you? You are Toshi Surtsdottir, Surturs daughter. The one who fled from there before her father would kill her. I knew that the second I saw your scars.“ He snickered and raised an eyebrow. „I could bring you either to Odin who would lock you up for the rest of your miserable life or I could bring you back to your father and watch him kill you. Both would be quite delightful, wouldn’t they?" He grinned. Toshi was raging inside, waiting for him to make a mistake so that she could shred him to pieces. „What the fuck do you want from me you asshole?“ she hissed at him. Again she noticed him looking over her body. His tongue licking over his lower lip quickly as if she was his next meal.

„I wonder.. what could I possibly want in exchange for letting you free?“ Without a warning he slowly started to stroke over her ankle, smirking. „Can you think of something?“ he asked teasingly. „Don‘t you dare touch me!“ she shouted, trying to withdraw her leg but she couldn’t. Loki just rolled his eyes and moved to get up. He walked over to a small desk and took a bottle with blue shimmering liquid inside it. He walked over to the side of the bed, standing right next to her head. „Alright. You can fight it and choose the hard way. I am willing to let you enjoy this as well. But if you continue being a little bitch like you are right now, I will make sure this will be the worst experience you have ever made.“ He held the bottle up and shook it a little. „So, what will you choose?“ Toshi looked up at him in fear. She didn’t know what was in this bottle, maybe it would poison her, maybe make her unconscious.. anyway she didn’t want to drink this or whatever he was planning to do with it. „I... I will obey..“ she finally decided. She watched as a wide smile grew on Lokis face and he straightened up, opening the bottle. „Good girl.“ Against her expectations, he was the one to drink the liquid. „Wha-“ „It’s so that your silly fire cannot affect me in any way.“ he winked.

With that said, he started undressing her. He used his daggers to easily cut away her pants. He took his time, slowly dragging the blade over the fiber. Once he was done with her pants, he ripped them off of her and tossed them to the ground, grinning. As she laid there, only in her long sleeved black shirt and underwear, Loki could feel his cock stirring in his pants, making them feel incredibly tight. „You look as divine as you are, slut.“ he purred, crawling over her body. She stared up at him in fear, not daring to say anything. He leaned down, dragging his teeth over her neck. „You will be all mine.“ She moved her head away, wanting to be as far away from him as she possibly could in this situation, without much success however. He brought his hand up to her cheek and turned her head back so that she had to face him. „Now, don’t do that. I want to be able to look into your eyes when you feel me come inside you. He grinned darkly and pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek.

Feeling himself getting rock hard, he couldn‘t resist much longer. He sat up and ripped open her shirt, revealing her chest. He slid his dagger between her breasts and sliced open her black bra, freeing her breasts. „Delicious..“ He rumbled, leaning down to lick over her right nipple. He dragged his tongue over it slowly, smirking as he saw it hardening almost instantly. „I told you that you would also get to enjoy this, pet.“ He moved on to her other nipple and remained there for a while before sitting up again.

He let his hand slide down between her legs, covering her with his big hand. She felt humiliated, especially when he tore off her panties and let his fingers slide through her folds. „Getting rather wet, aren‘t you?“ Continuing to stroke over her, he let one finger slide into her, purring as he did so „Oh you are welcoming me darling.“.

He looked over her as he undid his pants, seeing his saliva glistening on her breasts. As he saw her staring down at his crotch, he decided not to let her wait any longer. A green shimmer surrounded him and seconds later he was hovering above her small body, completely naked. His rock hard cock was standing up straight. Toshi could see it twitching eagerly. He was a god indeed, anything but small.

„Do you enjoy this view? Tell me..“ he asked huskily, positioning himself between her legs. He slowly moved and let the hot tip of his cock stroke through her wet folds. „Answer me.“ he demanded, sounding angry when she didn’t answer. She had to overcome her disgust, scared he would hurt her if she didn’t answer. „I.. yeah. I do.“ she whispered quietly. „I didn’t hear you.“ She could feel him pushing against her entrance, making her want to jump up and flee. „I do! I love it!“ she yelled out. He smirked, obviously pleased by her answer. „You shall get what you deserve then.“ He pushed into her with a single, slow thrust. Leaning over her again he lustfully growled into her ear. „Mhh, so warm and wet. You were made for me..“ She had to admit that even though she was disgusted by him, he felt surprisingly good. She took a deep breath to stay calm when he started moving. At first his thrusts were slow and gentle, but it didn’t take long until his breathing got erratic and Loki started to speed up. His hips snapped against hers mercilessly and his moans filled the room. He moved his hand beneath her, lifting up her hip. When he did that, he was able to hit her sweet spot. He smirked knowingly when finally he could make her moan as well. „Isn’t too bad, huh?“ he panted. She could feel him stretching her so wonderfully, he wasn’t bad at all. In fact, that was probably the best sex she had ever had. He let go of her and was pleased to see that she held up her hip on her own. He leaned down, biting hard into her shoulder as he could feel himself getting close. Toshi screamed out in pain. She hadn’t expected him to bite her this roughly, it only adding to her own pleasure. Without a warning she gushed over his cock, moaning his name loudly as she came. Growling deeply, he fucked her through her orgasm, not giving her a single second to calm down. After a few more hard thrusts he came as well, spilling his seed inside her. He slowed down and stopped. Panting heavily as he pressed his lips onto hers without a warning. She wanted to withdraw at first, but when she found herself enjoying the kiss, she closed her eyes, letting it happen. Toshi felt his sperm leaking out of her and running down onto the mattress. When he slowly pulled out she felt the ropes disappear, setting her free. She wasn’t free yet however, as Loki laid down on top of her, breaking the kiss. She was trapped beneath him now, feeling his wet cock rubbing against her stomach.

„I think I will keep you, pet. Unless of course you would like to go to prison.. or die.“ He whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

[tatticstudio55]

The thumbs of Westeros

Little Thumbling and the Red Wedding / Thumbelina in the Great Grass Sea

You probably all heard the tale “Hop-o’-My-Thumb”, or “Little Thumbling” (Le petit poucet in French), but for those who’d need a refresher, Little Thumbling is the youngest son of woodcutters too poor to feed their seven children. The parents decide to abandon them in the forest, but Little Thumbling manages to find their way back by leaving pebbles behind him. Later on, knowing that their parents will want to abandon them in the forest again, he tries to sneak outside early to get more pebbles, but since the door is locked, must do with crumbs from the breakfast’s bread. Unfortunately, the birds eat the crumbs and Little Thumbling and his siblings can’t find their way back. They eventually come across an ogre’s house and ask for shelter because there’s wolves in the forest. The ogre’s wife let them in, feed them, and all is good until the ogre comes back and decides to have the children for his supper. His wife persuades him otherwise by presenting him with pork, veal and muttons, and Little Thumbling and his siblings are given a bed for the night, next to the bed shared by the ogre’s seven daughters – all wearing golden crowns. Worrying that the ogre might want to slaughter his “guests” during the night, Little Thumbling wait until the ogre’s daughters are asleep to switch their crowns with his own brothers’ hats. When the ogre effectively comes in the chamber with a knife and feel the hats on his daughters’ heads, he assumes it’s Little Thumbling and his siblings in the bed and slice his daughters’ throats. Little Thumbling and his brothers flee before morning, by which the Ogre realize what he’s done, put on magic boots and run after them. He comes to a halt at some point to rest, fall asleep, and Little Thumbling steal his boots, who magically adjusts to his size when he puts them on. He then runs back to the ogre’s house and tells his wife that her husband was captured by thieves who’ll release him in exchange for a ransom. The wife hands Little Thumbling everything she has, Little Thumbling return to his parents with the gold and they live happily ever after (I suppose).

Just to lay things out from the get go, I think Arya Stark is the Little Thumbling of asoiaf. The ogre, of course, is Walder Frey, and Arya’s “six brothers” are her mother and brother Robb.

-Arya is travelling by forest to reach the Ogre’s house (the Twins), after Sandor Clegane has taken her captive and plans on taking her to the Twins himself to get his ransom. Robb and Catelyn are also traveling (largely by forest) to the ogre’s house for Edmure’s wedding.

They had ridden so far in rain and darkness, through trackless woods and nameless villages, that Arya had lost all sense of where they were. - Arya, ASOS

As the gods would have it, their route took them through the Whispering Wood where Robb had won his first great victory. - Catelyn, ASOS

-It’s implied that there’s an abnormal quantity of wolves roaming those forests:

“Is it safe, my lord?” Qyburn asked. “Only three days past, Septon Utt’s men were attacked by wolves. They came right into his camp, not five yards from the fire, and killed two horses.” 

“It is wolves I mean to hunt. I can scarcely sleep at night for the howling.” (...)  It is queer to see the common wolves of the south so bold.” - Arya, ACOK

-After being captured by the Hound, Arya tries to help the brotherhood without banners to find her back by leaving marks on trees (the bread crumbs), until she’s caught red-handed by the Hound.

...but Arya still expected to see the outlaws every time she looked back. She had tried to help them by scratching her name on the trunks of trees when she went in the bushes to make water, but the fourth time she did it he caught her, and that was the end of that. - Arya, ASOS

-Arya herself has a lot in common with Little Thumbling: she’s small, skinny, very young and a disappointment to her parents (or at least, that’s how Arya perceives it), but she’s also quite resourceful and uses her wits to survive. Like Little Thumbling, she’s stuck with a pack of “travel companions” (the six siblings in the tale; Lommy, Hot Pie and Weasel in asoiaf) who aren’t very useful and wouldn’t make it far without her (even Gendry tells her as much in ACOK), despite her being the smallest and scrawniest of the bunch (except Weasel).

��She’s no use,” Gendry repeated stubbornly. “Her and Hot Pie and Lommy, they’re slowing us down, and they’re going to get us killed. You’re the only one of the bunch who’s good for anything. Even if you are a girl.” - Arya, ACOK

-The ogre’s wife tries to save the children by offering veal, pork and mutton to her husband. Arya and the Hound try to reach the Twins by pretending that they’re bringing salted pork and pigs’ feet for the wedding’s feast. 

"Got pickled pigs' feet too, ser." 

"Not for the feast, you don't. The feast's half done. And I'm a northman, not some milksuck southron knight." 

"I was told to see the steward, or the cook . . . " 

"Castle's closed. The lordlings are not to be disturbed." - Arya, ASOS

-The ogre’s daughters all wear crowns. Walder Frey wants (or wanted) to crown one of his daughters by marrying her to the King in the North (Robb).

-Little Thumbling and his brothers seek shelter because of the wolves outside. Robb is coerced into leaving his direwolf outside at the Twins.

The sight of the dogs made Catelyn wish once more for Grey Wind, but Robb's direwolf was nowhere to be seen. Lord Walder had refused to allow him in the hall. - Catelyn, ASOS

-Little Thumbling and his brothers are offered food and a bed at the ogre’s house. Catelyn, Robb and his men are offered guests’ rights at the Twins. The ogre’s wife knows that her husband eats children, but can’t do anything about it. Roslin Frey probably knew about her father’s plan to slaughter the Starks after the wedding, but couldn’t do anything about it either.

-The ogre slices his daughter’s throats after feeling the boys’ hats on their heads. Walder Frey let Catelyn slice his grandson’s throat, the one surnamed “Jinglebell” for the bell hat that he wore.

Robb had broken his word, but Catelyn kept hers. She tugged hard on Aegon's hair and sawed at his neck until the blade grated on bone. Blood ran hot over her fingers. His little bells were ringing, ringing, ringing, and the drum went boom doom boom. - Catelyn, ASOS

*This only concerns the show so far, but we have another scene where “Walder Frey” slaughter his own children:

-Little Thumbling and his brothers flee on time. So does Arya at the Twins (with a bit of help from the Hound), but she doesn’t manage to save her mother, nor her brother.

"We're here," she shouted. Her voice sounded thin and scared, a little girl's voice. "Robb's just in the castle, and my mother. The gate's even open." There were no more Freys riding out. I came so far. "We have to go get my mother." 

"Stupid little bitch." Fires glinted off the snout of his helm, and made the steel teeth shine. "You go in there, you won't come out. Maybe Frey will let you kiss your mother's corpse." - Arya, ASOS

-Little Thumbling steal the ogre’s boots, whose size magically adjusts to his feet, and also steals gold from the ogre’s wife. In Braavos, Arya steals boots (presumably her size – we’re told that the boots she previously wore were too big for her) from a Night’s Watch deserter, and cuts a purse in ADWD.

Someone slit his throat and pushed him into a canal, but they kept his boots." 

"Good boots are hard to find." 

"Just so." She tried to keep her face still. 

"Who could have done this thing, I wonder?" 

"Arya of House Stark." She watched his eyes, his mouth, the muscles of his jaw. - Cat of the canals, AFFC

She slipped her hand through the gap, slit the purse open with the finger knife, filled her fist with gold … - The ugly little girl, ADWD

As we can see, there’s a lot of parallels and foils here. I tend to view the boots as a coming-of-age achievement and a symbol of empowerment, but in my opinion, Arya’s story goes beyond that: she wants to go home and the “ogre” is the main obstacle to that quest. Her story arc in Westeros more or less culminate with the events at the Twins (her encounter with the ogre), where she powerlessly witnesses the slaughter of her family. The rest is details: she takes her revenge on Polliver and get her Needle back, which symbolically marks the end of her peregrinations as a prisoner. She frees herself from the Hound (another “ogre” figure, though this one is more ambivalent). Then she leaves. She embarks on another storyline with another “ogre”, the Titan of Braavos, who “eat the flesh of little highborn girls”. Braavos, essentially – what lays behind the Titan – is another ogre’s house:

Even so, she kept one hand on Needle as they slipped between his legs. More arrow slits dotted the insides of those great stone thighs, and when Arya craned her neck around to watch the crow's nest slip through with a good ten yards to spare, she spied murder holes beneath the Titan's armored skirts, and pale faces staring down at them from behind the iron bars.

And then they were past. – Arya, AFFC

The House of Black and White also tries to “eat” Arya’s family: Arya must forget about her mother. She must forget about her brothers. She must forget about herself and become No One. She must rid herself of her belonging. This time, nonetheless, she outwits the ogre by hiding her most precious possession (Needle) from him. The House of Black and White shares another similarity with the ogre’s house, for few who enters ever get out – actually, one could even make a case of the House of Black and White “digesting” those who came to die there: the servants clean the dead, take their purses, coins, clothes, and the faces are taken down a labyrinthine web of stairs, halls, doors underground (the “intestines”) before ending up in the Hall of Faces (as “nourishment” for the House of Black and White). There’s even a short scene in AFFC where Arya fears that the meat she’s given for her supper is actually the flesh of the dead (before the kindly man reassures her that it’s only pork).

Arya’s Little Thumbling can be taken as a criticism of the patriarchy displayed in the original tale: the woodcutter’s wife and the ogre’s wife are both depicted as passive victims of their husbands’ cruelty (the woodcutter’s wife tries to dissuade her husband from abandoning their children in the forest, but to no avail). The good mother/cruel father dichotomy is quite present in Arya’s storyline, especially in Westeros (the good mother Catelyn and the Hound, the meek lady Frey and the big bad Walder). Thus, it’s interesting that the Little Thumbling of Westeros is in fact a little girl disguised as a boy. It’s also curious that Arya herself takes the role of a mother to “Weasel”. And, as far as parents go, the Little Thumbling is also a story about the validation of the hero/heroine to his/her family: the sickly, skinny, useless Little Thumbling save his siblings from an ogre and presents a bag of gold to his parents at the end of the story. Arya “Horseface” Stark, the little sister who can’t sew, can’t stitch, can’t draw or sing, would’ve attempted (truly) to save her mother and brother by herself at the Twins – something the Hound scoffs at, because unfortunately, Arya’s story isn’t a fairy tale…

"We should go back," she suddenly decided. "We should go back to the Twins and get my mother. She can't be dead. We have to help her." 

"I thought your sister was the one with a head full of songs," the Hound growled. "Frey might have kept your mother alive to ransom, that's true. But there's no way in seven hells I'm going to pluck her out of his castle all by my bloody self."

 "Not by yourself. I'd come too." 

He made a sound that was almost a laugh. "That will scare the piss out of the old man." - Arya, ASOS

The Little Thumbling is also one of these stories where the hero’s “quest” centers around returning home. Another story of the same style would be Thumbelina: a tiny girl, the size of a thumb, is born inside a flower, stolen by a toad who wants to marry her to her son, and left on a waterlily so she can’t escape. She receives help from some fishes and a butterfly who carries her waterlily far from the toads; however, she’s then snatched by a beetle who take her up a tree for company, until fellow beetles show up and start calling Thumbelina “ugly”. Thumbelina’s abandoned again and wanders in the forest, making herself clothes from the grass and covering with a fallen leaf when the cold sets in. She finally comes across a mouse’s nest and is taken in by an old mouse who let her stay for the winter. During that time, Thumbelina finds a near-frozen, injured bird that she nurses back to health. The old mouse also introduces her to a mole who wants to marry Thumbelina, and although Thumbelina doesn’t want to marry the mole (meaning that she’d live under the earth forever), she’s not really given a choice. The day of her wedding, however, the bird she nursed back to life come to take her away and bring her to a flower field, where she meets, falls in love with and marry a tiny fairy prince who lives in a flower.

For analysts Iona and Peter Opie, the moral behind Thumbelina’s story is that people are happier when they’re with their own kind (make sense). Whereas we have Arya as the Little Thumbling of Westeros, Daenerys Targaryen would be Thumbelina: she’s “stolen” from her home soon after birth, is betrothed twice to men she has no wish to marry, goes from places to places, never really fitting in anywhere. Just like Thumbelina who can’t really find her place among toads, beetles and moles, Daenerys never really belongs with the dothraki, the people from Quarth or the meereenese, and just like Thumbelina, ends up “flying away” from an unwanted marriage and an unhappy home at the end of ADWD. Although nowhere near the size of a thumb (of course), Daenerys is described as quite small, physically, (and, like Thumbelina, dainty and beautiful). Moreover, when in the “green grass sea” in AGOT and ADWD, she could just as well be the size of a thumb, for the grass grows much higher than herself. In ADWD, Daenerys even tries to make herself some clothes (a hat) with grass.

(For those who’ve seen the 1994 movie “Thumbelina”, you might also remember how Cornelius, the fairy prince who marries Thumbelina, is temporarily frozen in a block of ice. If this doesn’t remind us of a certain westerosi prince, I mean bastard, ah, stuck around a big chunk of ice for some time.)

The paradox here lies with Thumbelina’s connection to seeds, plants and flowers, and the recurring “Dragons plants no tree” mantra from Daenerys’s story. Still, Thumbelina is a little girl in a shell: she’s born from a barley seed and sleeps in a nutshell (before being stolen by the toad). Dittos for Daenerys, a dragon in a shell who hatches in a sea of grass. ADWD leaves Daenerys in a situation that roughly mirrors Thumbelina’s forest wanderings at the brink of winter:

In this way the summer and fall went by. Then came the winter, the long, cold winter. All the birds who had sung so sweetly for her flew away. The trees and the flowers withered. The big burdock leaf under which she had lived shriveled up until nothing was left of it but a dry, yellow stalk. She was terribly cold, for her clothes had worn threadbare and she herself was so slender and frail. Poor Thumbelina, she would freeze to death! Snow began to fall, and every time a snowflake struck her it was as if she had been hit by a whole shovelful, for we are quite tall while she measured only an inch. She wrapped a withered leaf about her, but there was no warmth in it. She shivered with cold.

Near the edge of the woods where she now had arrived, was a large grain field, but the grain had been harvested long ago. Only the dry, bare stubble stuck out of the frozen ground. It was just as if she were lost in a vast forest, and oh how she shivered with cold! Then she came to the door of a field mouse, who had a little hole amidst the stubble. There this mouse lived, warm and cozy, with a whole store-room of grain, and a magnificent kitchen and pantry. Poor Thumbelina stood at the door, just like a beggar child, and pled for a little bit of barley, because she hadn't had anything to eat for two days past. (H.C. Andersen, Thumbelina)

Not to draws too many straws here, but the parallels with Daenerys are there:

Dany's clothes were hardly more than rags, and offered little in the way of warmth. (…) Sweat and grass and dirt had stained it, and Dany had torn a strip off the hem to make a bandage for her shin. I must look a ragged thing, and starved, she thought, but if the days stay warm, I will not freeze. (…) She was hungry too. (…) The grass was as tall as she was. (…) Though she walked through a green kingdom, it was not the deep rich green of summer. Even here autumn made its presence felt, and winter would not be far behind. The grass was paler than she remembered, a wan and sickly green on the verge of going yellow. After that would come brown. The grass was dying. (…) "I need a hat," she said aloud. Up on Dragonstone she had tried to make one for herself, weaving stalks of grass together as she had seen Dothraki women do during her time with Drogo, but either she was using the wrong sort of grass or she simply lacked the necessary skill. Her hats all fell to pieces in her hands. (…) "I am lost at sea," she said (…) Instead she began to shiver violently. (…) She scooped up a handful of mud and water in trembling hands. – Daenerys, ADWD

And both girls are rescued from this environment by flying creatures. Little Thumbelina is small enough to mount a bird. Daenerys, a girl of “regular” size, mounts a dragon:

"Yes, I will go with you!" said Thumbelina. She sat on his back, put her feet on his outstretched wings, and fastened her sash to one of his strongest feathers. Then the swallow soared into the air over forests and over lakes, high up over the great mountains that are always capped with snow. When Thumbelina felt cold in the chill air, she crept under the bird's warm feathers, with only her little head stuck out to watch all the wonderful sights below. (H.C. Andersen, Thumbelina)

Dany leapt onto his back. She stank of blood and sweat and fear, but none of that mattered. "To go forward I must go back," she said. Her bare legs tightened around the dragon's neck. She kicked him, and Drogon threw himself into the sky. – Daenerys, ADWD

Thumbelina flies to a country of eternal spring, where she meets the fairy prince and gets her happily ever after. The bird who carried her is sad nonetheless because she chose the fairy prince over him.

From what we know, Daenerys will soon be flying to a country threatened by eternal winter, where she will meet a prince (Jon) who connects both with flowers (the “blue flower from a chunk of ice”) and snow.

These are, so far, Arya’s and Daenerys’s journeys back home.

[im-tops-bottom]

Just an idea

Tony meets Bucky and Steve during WWII.

Tony worked alongside many teams such as the electrical repair crew, engineering, etc....while Steve and Bucky worked in the front lines alongside the howling commandos.

Tony always got into fights with Steve ever since training. Steve was always Howard Starks favorite. Howard never had time or paid attention to Tony. Tony was nothing but a regret, a mistake, nothing but a distant memory. Then again Howard was in love with the super soldier. So that made sense to him. At least he didn't have to worry about his father nagging him for being a complete failier.

To make matters worse, Tony didn't have any friends in the army. Everyone only used him to fix things up or work in a battlefield strategy. They were nice to him but not nice enough to sit with him during lunch, or just have an idle chat with him during breaks. He felt so lonely there. He used the loneliness to his advantage. Build up walls so they don't break. So they don't shatter.

What really helped was when James Buchanan Barnes aka Bucky aka Steve Rogers best friend/bodyguard told him to stay away from them. Bucky was very protective over Steve and things tend to get rough when people talk bad about either of them. Bucky just like his father told him that he was a good for nothing spoiled brat and the only use the army has for him is his brain. He said a whole lot of bad things after that.

After that Tony had told himself that he will never fall in love with anyone ever again. Push all his emotions aside. Since then he has never spoke to anyone that wasn't work related. He stopped trying to make friends. He pretty much stopped looking after himself. That was when the late nights planning fueled only by coffee kicked in. He kept on working until he passed out. As soon as he woke up he will get straight back into it.

A couple of days later, he almost faints but strong arms hold him up. He becomes dizzy as he tries to balance and almost drops again. He feels himself being lifted up and he starts complaining. He gets taken to his tent and is gently placed on the bed. He looks up and is too tired at the moment to be shocked at who had helped him.

"Bucky? The fuck you doing here?"

He watches as Bucky grabs a tray of food, sits beside Tony and starts trying to feed him.

"Eat!"

"Im not hungry"

"I don't have time for your bullshit Stark. Eat!"

"great me neither. Im not hungry"

"you haven't eaten in days. Now eat!"

"I don't fucken care. Just go back to Captain America and let me get back to work"

Out of anger, Tony finds the energy to throw the tray of food to the floor and get off the bed and walk out. He doesn't make it far as those strong arms he still has a thing for are wrapped around his waist and he is pulled back to Buckys chest. It was a good thing too as Tony began to feel dizzy again.

"don't act like a brat Tony"

"how else should an army brat act?"

Dizziness subsides and Tony breaks out of the hold. He doesn't look back as he walks away.

"leave me alone Bucky. Just leave."

"you're acting like a child"

"great!" Tony finally turns around to look Bucky in the eye "then I can do this"

Bucky crosses his arms "do what?"

Tony smirks "I quit" he turns around and walks away not even paying attention to Bucky's growlings for Tony to get his back there. Tony sighs contently at the feeling of freedom.

-2 hours later-

Tony's freedom is shattered. His dad refuses to accept his absence from the army. They have heated words. Well at least his mother managed to get food into him.

After that Tony sneaks back to his tent. He starts packing up his stuff.

"what are you doing Tony?"

Of course he shouldn't be surprised who it is. He just had his other half in his tent hours ago.

"what do you want Steve?"

He tenses as he hears Steve get up from the chair by the door.

"what, you can't handle a little heat so you run away?"

Tony finishes packing and grabs his stuff. He gets ready to leave but stops as Bucky walks through the door.

"oh great as if seeing today wasn't bad enough. Look! I don't care what you heard but just so you know, it's none of your business. Either of you. so if you boys don't mind"

Steps around Bucky and makes his way to the door.

"I'm leaving. This is me leaving. Have fun without me. Everyone else will."

Tony walks out and sneaks through the area right up to the entrance. He smiles as he sees that Bruce Banner is the one working security tonight. Out of all the people Tony has ever known, he never minded Bruce. Bruce kept to himself. He was just as friendless and lonely. People liked Bruce though. He just never wanted to make friends so he didn't have to worry about losing someone to the war. Tony had mad respect for that.

"hey Brucie bear."

"hey Tony. What's up?"

"I'm running. I told my father to get fucked, packed my shit and now this is me leaving."

"is that the same for those guys too?"

"what guy's?"

Out of confusion Tony turns to look behind him and finds two very angry super soldiers standing there with eyebrows raised and arms crossed. He can't help but roll his eyes as he turns back around.

"yeah fucken right they are. Nope I am doing this solo."

"good luck"

Tony and Bruce nod as Tony walks through the gate and sets off under the nights sky.

After what felt like hours of walking Tony huffs as he stops to turn around.

"how long do you guys plan on following me?"

"however long it takes for you to realize you are just being stupid and childish and that you should come back to base, apologize to your father and let things return back to how they used to be."

"oh fuck you Rogers. Go suck Howard's dick asshole. I'm done with him. I'm So fucken done with you two asshats."

"Bucky say something. He's being a brat"

Tony turns around so his back is towards them.

"no! How bout Bucky stays silent and you two to return back to base and fuck my dad's brains out in front of my mother. How bout you two just leave me the hell alone."

Tony takes a sip of water before he carries on walking. he hears shoes scrape against rocks and he prays to god that they are returning to base.

About a couple of hours later he finds an abandoned cabin. He slowly inspects the outside and sees everything is alright. He checks to see if the door is open and as he does he feels hands on his hips and let's out a yelp as he is dragged away from the house. Him and whoever has gotten a hold of him are thrown back as the house goes up in flames.

His body is shaking and he turns and presses against the body. He hears Buckys voice calming him and now he can put a name to the body holding him.

"it's okay Tony. It's okay. I got you."

"don't leave me"

Tony tenses as he feels another body against him.

"it's okay Tony. We ain't going anywhere. We won't leave you"

Tony calms as he hears Steve. Still shaken up, he let's his anger towards them subside and let's them hold him. He continues his chant of "please don't leave me" afraid that if he stops they will be gone.

After Tony falls asleep Steve looks up at Bucky on the other side of Tony with tears threatening to leave.

"we can't leave him Bucky. Promise me we won't leave him"

Steve is slightly shaking at what happened. He almost lost Tony if it weren't for his best friend noticing the trap right away.

"we won't. I don't wanna leave him."

Bucky is still trying to calm down and breathe. He clings on to Tony like their lives depend on it. He almost lost Tony and he won't ever let that happen again. Now with a more determined mindset, he gets up and picks up the sleeping Tony.

"we won't let him leave us. We'll stay by his side forever. Nothing is gonna to ever come between us no matter what. We lost him once, won't let that happen again."

Steve stood up also looking more determined after hearing Bucky.

"even if he hates us, we'll continue to protect him. I love him Bucky. Im not willing to give him up."

"same here Stevie. Same here."

They return to the road side and continue their trek.

A while later they find a cabin that has lights on. They walk up to the door and knock on it.

A lady opens up the door with a bright smile.

"hi there. How can I help you gentleman?"

Bucky being the more stronger one, places Tony into Steve's arms and steps up. He places a smile onto his face.

"hey I'm James. We are a little bit lost. We were looking for the base camp. We went for a jog but our friend got hurt along the way. Are we able to stay the night?"

The ladies eyes open wide and she drags the boys in.

"oh yes of course of course. Have you eaten anything yet? I'll make up some drinks. Oh dear boys. You need to be more careful around this parts of the woods. It's dangerous. You don't know what you will run into during the war. You guys do look familiar though. I'm not sure where I have seen you"

Steve smiles "probably not. We just joined the army awhile ago." Steve looks at Bucky who nods back. They can't trust anyone out here. Best keep to some white lies and half truths.

After they had a little something to eat, the lady takes them to her room where there is a big bed.

"this is mine and m husband's room. My husband is away at the moment. I will take the spare room. Theres a shower and I can provide spare clothes."

After they have a shower and going as far as washing a sleeping Tony, they get changed and head to bed. After saying good night and making sure Tony is tucked safely between them, they start to relax.

"we have to tell him how we really feel, don't we?"

"if it means that we don't completely lose him then yes we do. We also need to explain to him everything."

"even the reason for the fights and arguments?"

"yes. Right back to the training days"

"do i really have to tell him why I liked sending him down to the mat?"

"yes Stevie you do. It's bad enough he got his ass kicked by a scrawny asthmatic punk. Let alone being reminded of it and finding out the real reason why you started the future arguments."

"he's gonna be pissed"

"yes but at least he'll know. He'll probably be okay with it"

"yeah I can hear it now "oh yeah I'm totally fine with you getting a hard on Everytime you send me to the ground because after the first time, you had fantasies about dominating me in bed. It's gonna be better now that my dad who is totally in love with you had pumped you up with that god juice making everything twice as big. Hey did I mention the part about my dad" real smooth"

"I hope you do realize that that was a really bad impression"

"oh shut it"

After the laughter dies down. They get comfortable and fall asleep.

-the next morning-

Bucky and Steve wake up to no Tony. They call out to him and search around hoping that he's there. Unfortunately Tony is not around.

Things start to get wierd as the owner of the place is no longer there either. It's not until their super soldier senses pick up far away screaming.

Bucky and Steve look wide eyed at each other. "Tony". They run outside and see Tony being dragged onto a boat kicking and screaming. They run after him but the boat has already taken off.

"they took him!" "Calm down Steve!" "WE PROMISED. THEY TOOK HIM BUT WE PROMISED!" "I know. Come on. We'll head to camp and stock up." "We bringing him home?" Bucky watches the boat that says Hydra speed off "yeah Stevie. We're bringing him home"

[susan-gampre]

Foolish Lovers

The following story is a collab effort between @tomen-dawes and myself!

Mentioned: @renlavaye​

Mood

With the swift leave of Eilithe and Kurel, Susan was left in the wake of a very tense Ren and an equally confused Tomen.

Perhaps it was just her, but she could sense it... She could feel his disappointment, Ren's, practically radiating from his person. She could see bulges of veins pronounced against his skin, restraining himself from what she would think to be lashing out at her. This entire week she had been feeling quite as she did now, completely selfish. Acting like a juvenile, not trusting in her confidants to help her in making decisions, just... Acting without thinking. 

And now she was paying the price.

Quietly Susan downcasts her gaze, a frown etched onto her lips. The gesture did not go unnoticed, however, as Tomen slowly reaches to squeeze the woman's shoulder, his tone smothered in concern, "Somethin' wrong?"

Ren looked over his shoulder, tense as he mutters, "So many things Tomen," before leaving the office, slamming the door in his wake.

"... I don't like the sound of tha'--," Tomen turns and squeezes the woman's hand, aiming to comfort her,  "What 'appened now?"

What happened...

What happened? She was a foolhardy girl pretending she possessed the intelligence and experience to survive these fucking games, that's what happened.

Susan simply closes her eyes, a sheepish smile twisting her lips,

"Preserving the Brothel while we still can has led me to make some unsavory business deals. Ones that... Wont necessarily gain us anything but support and alliances. Does little good now," she acknowledges quietly, "But in the long run could be our saving grace."

Visibly the bartender's lips weigh into a frown, his brow knitting as he listens to her sounding so... resigned.  Moving in front of the madam, he squats some to bring himself eye-level with her, and takes both her hands in his, his voice soft as he muses to her,  "Oi.. ye know what ye should do? Cut 'em all checks and then run away with me to a cabin in the woods or some shit." She, for a moment, damned his existence for being so absurd... It was a dream, something to wish and wanted for, surely-- And then it registered that he was only trying to distract her.

Thus, Susan let forth a timid chuckle, clearly amused with the fellow. Though the longer she stares into his eyes the more aware she becomes that... Maybe he isn't joking. Thus she'd frown, her brows knitting together, "A cabin in the woods? Like... For a weekend?"

Tomen smirks some and rolls a shoulder in an unsure sure,  "Maybe? Or maybe if things get too 'ot around 'ere, and not in a good way, it could be longer, yeah?" Callused fingers wrapped around her hands tighter, and gave them each a tight squeeze - tight enough she might feel a bit of pain, but pain that was short lived.

She tenses beneath his stare, her gaze widening-- be it in astonishment of his honesty or frozen in pain by his squeeze, it is unsure. But either way her breath has hitched in her throat, her cheeks begun to fluster from a lack of oxygen.

Frowning deeply, his head ducked for a moment, eyes cast at the ground between them before he exhaled a sigh and lifted it to stare her down with some determination set within, "If somethin' 'appened to ye, Susan, or yer baby... I'd fuckin' lose it."

"You would?" she sounds doubtful, reasonably uncertain with his claim. Many times men have promised and sworn that they would love her unconditionally. So many times she had been told to fall back, that they would catch her and never let her fall only to be given a sharp reminder of reality when her backside would bruise after smacking the ground, their arms have never left their side in a feign that they had tried to help her naive self... She had been lied to before. She had loved so many times before, and been hurt over and over again-- But there was... Something in his eyes that she never saw in the others. Thus she did not immediately rip from his arms and high tail it screeching.

Returning to reality she comes to acknowledge as Tomen grunts, his stormy hues narrowing to near slits as he detects that doubt in her voice.

"Course I bloody would. I'd be a fuckin' dead man, 'cause nothin' else would stop me from goin' after anyone who 'armed ye."  As his words went on, a growl built and spilled out with them, voice going guttural.

Susan would merely lean forward to rest her forehead against his own in a display of nonverbal comfort, her eyes fluttering shut midst tightening her hold around his hands in return-- though her squeezes are much more gentle. When her brow comes to rest against his, he exhales slowly to steady himself, and a bit of seriousness faded in favor of a small crooked smirk.  

After a handful of moments of silence she murmurs, "We may just have to play it safe for the remaining months. So... A cabin in the woods... Doesn't sound too bad, actually."

Teasing, he voices, "Ye'd get right sick of me quick but.. 'least I know 'ow t' live in the woods."

"I could always just resort to kicking you outside to sleep in the dog house when you piss me off," Susan smiles impishly, quick to change the topic, eager to stave off that... butterfly feeling that arose when he showed genuine care. Nothing frightened her more than that effect.

"Ye can't kick me out if I walk out first!" Tomen grins wider.

In a grand show the smaller woman widens her eyes and shoves his hands away in a dramatic show, all qualms and wariness from beforehand dispelled, vibrancy returning to her person. She'd grow to be quite animated, indulging him with a teasing tone, "You'd -abandon- your pregnant girlfriend in the woods? All by her lonesome, just storm out?! Oh!" She scoffs, twisting around in her chair, "The absolute -gall-!"

Tomen leaned back and flailed his arms about,  "Aye!  I WOULD!"  

Try as he might, he couldn't contain his amusement, eyes crinkled and lips wide, flashing his teeth.  The barkeep's voice lowered conspiratorially after a pause, and he added while  cutting her a sidelong dangerous squint, ".... and then I'd prolly’ sneak in through a back door or window and scare the shit outta ye."

Susan parts her lips and scrunches her nose, confounded by these claims.

"Ohhh! You are evil incarnate!" She accuses him!

"Muahahaha! Ye'll never see it comin'--!"  The man tosses his head back, causing his greasy mane to whip with, and cackles like a maddened fiend.  

"Don't start whimpering and whining when I chain you up outside for being such a naughty thing... Scary poor, defenseless women-- Bahh! What ever did I see in you?!"

Snorting at her threat, his head rolled back and he beamed like the doofus he was.  Shaking his head, he went for her hands again, this time more cautious with the squeeze he gave them. 

Still, with a light chuckle, he muttered, "I'm serious though, Suze. If uh.. ye know, aside from the baby, ye need any more motivation to get through the next months -alive-... well... ye better, so that way I'll be able to ask ye to marry me."

Susan smiles in the meanwhile of admiring the way his hands completely engulfed her own, that is until his last statement registered.

Now normally... She would stiffen. She would gasp, or laugh in good humor like a woman giggling at a joke. But instead of her normal response to such a milestone, she lifts her gaze to hold his own and... Smiles. A breathtakingly beautiful smile.

"Well... Between you and I, I have been looking into some real estate here in Pandaria. Find me a handsome little single family home somewhere in the Valley, or the mountains..."

Tomen was even surprised she didn't make some mean little quip, or shove at him, or even outright laugh in his face. Even if she had, he would have known she hadn't meant it, but for her to take his words to heart immediately had his thick brows inching upward. Cocking his head like a canine, he gave a thoughtful hum before rumbling, "As long as it's got a place for a garden, I don't give a shit where."

The little woman scrunches her nose up and teases, "And what makes you think you'll be invited to stay around there, huh? I don't need you hiking a leg and marking your territory everywhere!"

Perhaps what she loved about him most was how animated he was, like in this moment when he leans back and stares her down threateningly, though his impish grin dispels any thought that he genuinely was upset,  "Ye better watch out, love, or I'll mark my territory on ye!"

"I'm not into watersports, love," the Madam guffaws loudly.

"Then that's too bad for ye, isn't it?!"

His quick remark momentarily stuns her, her eyes widened before she groans and opens both of her palms, dramatically wagging her hands in an effort to shake his off, "No," she whines, "Baby, please no! That's simply gross-- You're nesteh," she mucks up the term 'nasty'.

Tomen throws his head back again and howls in laughter. "Course I'm nasty! ... which reminds me."  Picking his head up, a cheeky grin spread and he gave a big shrug with his stout shoulders before leaning forward to grip at her skirt, giving it light, annoying tugs, "Ye still owe me a bath.  Alban said so."

She dramatically thrusts herself forth, rising to her feet with a soft, "Hmmph--! -Fine-..," she huffs, "But not because I want to!"

Tomen hops up to his feet and starts to awkwardly sway his hips side to side, and by sway it's probably more like jerking back and forth.  Hands roughly smooth down his chest before he starts tugging his flannel shirt from his pants, and then outright rips it open, causing a few buttons to fire across the room and ping against the walls and a random vase.  Susan flinched and squinted in an effort to protect her eyes when buttons went a flyin', her nose wrinkled in mock disgust as she watched the fellow wiggle and jiggle in ways that were... Absolutely unflattering for him.

He grins like a fool and tries to talk in his deepest, more ridiculously sexy tone, "Ye sure ye don't want yer 'ands all over -this-?"

Eventually, she lifts a hand, closing her eyes fully and sighing out a, "Just... Baby, please. Leave the sexy to me from here on out."

[takadasaiko]

Stay With Me Part Two

FFN II AO3

Summary: The aftermath of Amanda and Vogel’s daring rescue of the other three Rowdies.

Part Two

He remembered their first escape years before. It had been wild, full of excitement and more energy than any of them could fully process. They had taken their opportunity and run with it, leaving a fiery heap of chaos in their wake.

This time had been different from start to finish. This time Blackwing had done everything to make sure they wouldn't find that window. They'd been kept separate, chained, and half starved. More than half by the end of it. Amanda had said he hadn't been breathing when she had found him. He could recall pieces of what happened after they strapped him down to the table, but he'd rather not. No, that was done and lingering on it wouldn't help him or his Rowdies. They needed him right then, and if he let his mind wander to the horrors they'd been steeped for the last however many months Blackwing had held them, Martin knew that he would be worse than useless to his little chosen family.

There was no celebratory shouting with this escape. No howling or cheering. Any energy coming from the panicked Blackwing officers was used just to keep them on their feet and get them out. They were quiet, everyone holding onto each other once they broke free. Vogel had Gripps and Martin had been moving to offer Cross help when his leg had nearly given out under him and Amanda had waved him off, slinging one of Cross' arms around her shoulder to make sure he had a place to lean. Martin had felt her watching him the whole way, though, as if she thought she might be able to catch him if he went tumbling in full. He didn't and they'd made it out.

They'd found what must have once been a storage warehouse to lay low in. It was old, abandoned, and in prime condition to wreck, but somehow no one moved to it. It might have been fun, but with no one but Amanda to feed off of from it, it would be all output without any input. No. They'd get some sleep that night and figure out where they'd go in the morning. Vogel jumped to searching the place out, his nervous energy starting to release some. They couldn't really feed off each other, but they could share, in a way, and as their youngest brother bounced around looking for useful junk left behind Gripps and Cross followed close.

Martin stood back and watched for a moment, blue eyes shifting around the dark warehouse and squinting at every shadow. They weren't the enemy. They weren't Blackwing. He and the Rowdies were safe. They would be okay. It was a mantra that he let play again and again and again, as if the repetition would cement it deep inside of him and push out the lingering fear that clawed at him. After a long moment and hearing Vogel finally cracking one of his infectious laughs around the corner, Martin pushed a breath out of his nose and turned. He needed some air.

The sun had dropped and the stars were out. It was clear and quiet, like they hadn't just been fighting for their lives earlier that day. He tilted his chin up, feeling his head ache a little as his eyes tried to adjust to the expanse without his glasses to help them. He was going to have to do something about that. He was going to need to do something about a lot of things.

"You look like you could use a smoke."

Martin tensed, the voice catching him by surprise and he turned, a snarl building deep in his throat, fist clenched so hard that his knuckles were white, ready to throw a punch at whatever enemy had managed to sneak up on him.

As quickly as the aggression had built, it dissipated at the sight of Amanda standing there, a pack of cigarettes extended to him, and her brown eyes wide in surprise at his reaction. He did everything he could to ease his expression, trying to force himself to relax. It was Amanda, not Blackwing. He was safe. He was okay.

"Sorry, didn't mean to spook you," Amanda managed, her words hesitant and awkward. Her eyes were watching him carefully, as if trying to gauge to situation, but she hadn't pulled back. Her hand was steady with the pack offered.

He took it and knocked one out, a lighter following it. He tried to ignore the fact that his own hands were trembling just a little as he put it to his lips, sparked the lighter, and inhaled deeply. Martin felt the smoke run down his throat, nicotine working its way through his system. Well that was going to help, even if just a little.

Blue eyes drifted slowly open and shifted to look at the woman that was still standing there. He took another long drag before offering it over. Amanda took it, lifting it to her own lips and he watched her curiously, grateful for a chance to focus on anything other than the shadows that might leap out at him and cage him again. Or worse, the others. He'd told them he'd protect them, but he couldn't. Not fully. All he could do once they'd been taken was try to put himself between Blackwing and his boys. It hadn't lasted long. They hadn't been willing to leave any of them alone. He could still feel the pressure of the straight jacket tied and hear the rattling of the chains as they had been pulled up from the dark pits they had been kept in. Martin hated the dark. The first few days had been drenched in silence, blinded by nothingness in every direction. By the time they had pulled him up he was not only starved for energy, but every nerve had been raw. They'd pushed every limit he had and drawn him past even those. It had left him drained and achy, dropping him back down into the tank only to realize that he could still hear Cross and Gripps' screams as they had gone at them next. He'd fought as hard as he could the first few times, but he couldn't break free.

"Martin?"

A chill ran down his spine and he realized he'd gotten lost in his thoughts. Amanda was offering the cigarette back and he accepted it silently, trying to focus on the familiar smell and taste.

"Hey," she said softly, her voice breaking through. He could feel the uncertainty rolling off of her in waves. She wanted to help him, but she didn't know how.

"Hey," he greeted back roughly and he found the same dark eyes on him that he'd seen when he had jolted back awake strapped to that table. She'd been afraid then. He could still feel that terror rushing through him mixed with…. he still wasn't sure. He didn't think she was either, if they got down to it, but it had been like a shock of adrenaline to his starving system that had gotten him on his feet and out with the others. Now, he felt it wearing off, and the deep exhaustion tugged him to the ground so that he took a hard seat with the cigarette still dangling from his lips.

"Martin!" Amanda yelped, immediately following him to the dusty ground. Her hand rested on his shoulder and he had to work hard not to flinch away. "You okay?"

No. That was the real answer. He wasn't okay, but admitting that, even to himself, could open up a floodgate that none of them could afford. He had promised to protect them. He had to be okay. "Just tired," he grunted.

She eased herself down next to sit next to him. "Never thought I'd want an attack so bad just to give you something," she murmured and she leaned her shoulder into him. He could feel the tangled emotions surrounding her and he breathed a few stray whiffs in. He felt her lean her head against his shoulder, a little hesitantly at first as if she were waiting for a sign it wasn't okay, by then a soft breath left her. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked, handing what was left of the cigarette back to her and she waved it off for him to finish.

"Not getting there sooner." She pulled in a deep breath. "Listen, I know you probably don't want to talk about it. I get it. I'm not saying you have to or anything, but…. I just need to know if you're hurt. Vogel told me about some of the things they did to you guys the first time and-"

"It was worse," Martin bit out, pulling the smoke down his throat and into his lungs. "Lot worse." She was quiet next to him and he flicked the butt of the cigarette out and watched it bounce off a rock, the last of the embers flying in a couple of directions. "Not your fault though."

She pulled away from him and he felt the shift to determination. He saw it in her eyes when he turned to look at her. Their little drummer had fought like hell to get to them, and she'd toughened up. He'd known she was special, and not just because of her disease. She was special.

"You didn't answer my question, you know."

Despite everything, Martin found himself smiling just a little. "I will be. We heal up pretty fast when we're fed."

She grimaced at that. "You were screaming just before we found you."

"Hurt like hell," he admitted softly. "The boost you gave me helped though."

He saw her cheeks tinge red. "Yeah. That."

His smile felt a little more real now. "You got a lot of feeling running around, drummer girl."

"I guess I do. Listen I…" She ducked her head for a moment, but when she looked back up her gaze was determined again. She leaned forward and Martin froze in place as her lips pressed against his, sending a rush through him that he wasn't accustomed to. Panic was good. Fear tasted amazing. Anger and frustration and confusion, all strong enough to dine on any time they were available. This though… this was what he had tasted when she'd jolted him back at the base. It was gentle but powerful, sweet and intense. He felt it rush through him, lingering even after she broke away, and from the expression she wore he thought she must have felt something from it too. "I don't know… exactly how I feel about everything that happened yet," she said quietly, "but i know I'm not ready to lose you, okay? They don't get to take you away. I won't let them."

A loud crash followed by Vogel's laugh drew both of their attention and Amanda smiled fondly and she stood. Martin followed her up, and touched her wrist, feeling the lingering spark of emotion between them as he did. "I ain't goin' anywhere," he promised her, his voice low and rough.

She smiled, the expression bright and beautiful in the middle of all the darkness. "Except maybe to get some sleep. I think we could all use some. C'mon." She shifted her hand into his and pulled him forward. He followed willingly back into the warehouse where the other Rowdies had found several mattresses that they had laid out to sleep on and even a few pillows. Those were being used in the only way appropriate by Vogel and Gripps who were engaged in an all out pillow fight with them, Cross watching from the outskirts.

The fear and the pain wasn't gone. It still hung heavy over the three that had been held and even the two that had been searching, but they would get past it. Together. That was the only way they knew how.

"Martin! 'Manda! We found-" Vogel's cheerful proclamation was cut short as Cross chose to join in, slamming the younger Rowdy square in the face with a pillow.

Martin smirked and he moved over to one of the mattresses to try to sleep off at least some of the exhaustion, lulled by the sounds of his brothers. No sooner had he laid down, though, he found himself joined on the single mattress by the others. They piled in nearly in top of him - Vogel actually sprawling out on top - like they'd just been waiting for him. It was comfortable for him after the way Blackwing had tried to tear them apart. They were there and they were safe. They were okay.

Amanda joined them on the mattress and Martin felt the corners of his mouth tilt up as she tucked herself in next to him. They didn't have all the answers, but they are whole again. They would be okay.

Notes: I somehow talked myself into writing a story based when they're trapped in Blackwing as well... heaven help me there's no stopping this madness is there? I guess I'm writing for this fandom no matter how much I promised myself I'd just sit back and enjoy what's already there. Ah well... best laid intentions and all that.....

[gus-dont-be-canada]

A Scout's Honor

I’ve been thinking of writing a Dragon Age fic from the perspective of Jim the Scout (Cullavellan shippers, you know who I’m talking about–the one who interrupted their first kiss). I’ve been toying with the idea of him doing it on purpose for the past week or so, and I’m pretty excited. Here’s a sneak preview*:

*Warning: hits you right in the feels, helps you up, then spits in your face and laughs. You’ve been warned…

He should have tried harder.

Why? Why had he waited until the commander and Inquisitor Lavellan were about to share their first kiss to intervene? Jim had seen their bond growing steadily over the months they’d been at Skyhold—no, before that. The moment Commander Cullen had returned to their makeshift camp after the attack at Haven, Lavellan’s limp form clutched in his arms, it was as if a match had suddenly lit, its flame flickering and weak amid the darkness and the snow churning in the air. It was uncertain whether that spark, fueled by the shaky promise of hope and hours of unsuccessful searching, ignited by one single, panicked thought—

Oh, Maker, what if she hadn’t made it?

—would sputter and die, suffocated under the mountain of loss which weighed on the shoulders of every soldier and civilian to have gazed upon the Herald’s Maker-given mark. Or would the spark grow stronger, take shape, and eclipse the shadows which had plagued them since the death of Divine Justinia? A passionate and loyal military commander, desiring nothing but the knowledge that—for once—he had chosen the correct side, together with the brave-but-still-hesitant Lavellan, a Dalish nobody who had walked with her head held high toward an inevitable death, the trembling of her left hand the only hint of her terror. She had faced Corypheus willingly, buried herself in an avalanche to save the very people who had held her captive and called her murderer. Without hesitation.

Jim had watched them in camp, and later near the soldiers’ barracks at Skyhold. Lying dormant under their discussions of military stratagem and debates with the other advisors was a mutual curiosity, the intrigue and allure of something new, something so much better than the bleakness which had marked their recent days. When the Herald had turned away to speak privately with Leliana, the commander’s eyes traced the line of her profile, his gaze as light as the caress of a warm breeze. When her lips parted in a smile, his echoed hers in an almost instinctive movement. When he realized what he was doing, he had turned away and covered his face with a gloved hand, imagining but fighting the urge to feel her lips on his.

At least, that was what Jim had imagined it had been like in the beginning. He had only just been named an official scout before they arrived at Skyhold, and consequently spent many weeks away from the fortress after their arrival. Although he was not as good at reading people as he’d have admitted, Jim would’ve had to be blind not to see precisely what thought crossed the commander’s mind when Lavellan walked into his office and leaned casually on the door frame. His cheeks flushed almost imperceptibly and once he even lost track of what he had been saying, right in the middle of a sentence. After that incident, he always refused to look in her direction until after the present soldiers had been dismissed.

Jim knew what Cullen was working up the nerve to do, but after a month passed and nothing changed, he had almost abandoned the thought that his commander was planning to act on his feelings—until the newly-named Inquisitor had taken it upon herself to invite Commander Cullen on a walk of the battlements. Jim knew then that he needed to act.

For the good of the Inquisition.

This had been the only thought on his mind when he had lingered in the doorway of the nearby tower, watching as the Inquisitor and Cullen strolled side-by-side atop the battlements. Lavellan stopped to admire the view—a sight which had always brought solace to Jim—and Cullen stepped closer, finally finding the courage to do the one thing which terrified him the most. He leaned toward her, and Jim stepped out of the shadows, report in hand.

Looking back now, Jim had been foolish to think he could have any effect on the outcome. His commander had done nothing but glower at him until Jim tucked tail and ran, and the inevitable had happened. They had kissed, and in doing so, set themselves on a path which would either prove to strengthen or shatter them.

In the days when happiness were so few and the body count constantly climbing, Jim wished no ill will on his commander, nor the Inquisitor. He admired her a great deal, almost to the point of reverence after everything she had accomplished. He liked his commander and studied him, not in the way the Tevinter mage watched some of the powerful soldiers in the training ring, but in that Jim had seen in Cullen traits he had wished for himself: humility, courage, strength, caring—even to the young men he commanded. But, if their relationship grew too all-consuming, would either truly have the capability to give everything they had to the Inquisition? The Inquisitor was a powerful mage, more willful than any other spell-caster Jim had met, but she was still more at Corypheus’s mercy than anyone else. If she truly fell under his thrall, would Cullen have the strength to deliver the final blow? Would he drive a dagger through his love’s heart to save his world, even if it meant nothing to him without her? And how would the Inquisitor handle the loss of a glorious soldier, kind and loyal, a friend and advisor since the beginning, if he died while fighting on the front line—as he always claimed that’s where a leader should be?

But now.

Jim shudders and looks to his right, where Cullen crouches, shoulders slumped. The sun beats down hot on the back of his neck, his brow beads with perspiration, but Jim doesn’t leave his former commander’s side. Cullen’s hand floats in the air, grasping nothing. Long grass sways around them, their whisper as they dance in the breeze a light buzz in the background. Neither of the two men hear it as Cullen rests his hand on the rich, dark soil of the freshly filled grave. The Inquisitor has no grave marker, but the nearby pier jutting into the serene blue water of the lake is memory enough. It’s where Cullen had told her of his childhood.

Jim’s chest constricts painfully. This broken man beside him, his head downturned and face hidden, shakes with silent sobs. Tremors rock his body. He no longer wears the shining steel armor with the red eyeball, and his magnificent, glorious lion’s mane cloak has been gone for some time, given to an orphan at its owner’s request. The money from selling this will allow them to eat for a week, Cullen had said as he dropped the cloak in the little boy’s arms, not even having the strength to look at it as he did so. What use have I for it now?

The memory of the Inquisitor’s last night comes in flashes at first. Rain pouring so hard the soldiers could hardly see five feet in front of them. Thunder rumbling. The smells and sounds of death echoing in his ears, warm, coppery blood spraying into Jim’s mouth with every swing of his sword. An inhuman roar filled the ravine where the ambush had caught them, and those still alive after Corypheus’s uprising swelled through the narrow gaps in the stones, appearing to materialize straight out of the cliff face. They were outnumbered three to one, with no hope of victory or escape.

 Shortly into the fight, a burst of lightning illuminated the sharp edge of a sword held high overhead. A dark creature sprinted toward Cullen, who was engaged with two others and oblivious to the approaching threat.

“Cullen!”

The Inquisitor—or, plain old Lavellan after Corypheus’s defeat—had seen it at the same time as Jim, and had had the exact same thought. At the same time, from opposite ends of the small battlefield, Jim and Lavellan sprinted to Cullen. Jim reached him first and, the ground shaking with the creature’s heavy footfalls as it sprinted ever closer, tackled him to the ground. Lavellan lunged forward and blocked the arc of the creature’s sword with her staff, a howl of pure rage escaping her small, graceful form. Cullen struggled out from under Jim, a word of thanks on his lips, but the flash of blinding light as the enchanted ironwood was cleaved in half froze everyone in the field.

Lavellan stood with both halves of the staff raised high above her head, crossed in an X. At the point where the two met, a trunk of lightning focused, then splintered into a thousand electrical arcs, each branching off one another. The ravine was bathed in light, as bright as midday under a cloudless sky. Every creature, three of them for every one accompanying Lavellan and Cullen, vaporized the moment the lightning touched their skin. They disintegrated into a gray dust, the particles illuminated by the light.

Lavellan stood in the center of the column of lightning, the eye of the storm. The most hideous, unnatural scream spilled from her lips, at such a high volume and so soul-crushing in its agony Jim was certain it was involuntary, an outlet for the pain from the thousands of volts of electricity coursing through her veins every second. A moment later, she stopped.

Just like that. Lavellan’s cry silenced. The light disappeared so quickly it left spots floating in Jim’s vision, and residual electrical tingles dances up and down his arms. He was certain his hair stood on end. Cullen had jumped to his feet, shock plain on his face. He trembled, already dreading what he knew was correct.

Lavellan was gone.

In the end, there had been nothing to bury but a few rags of singed cloth, their original color indeterminable, but Cullen had insisted on burying them here. His sobs slowly cease, and he wipes at his eyes before reaching into his pocket. He pulls out the lucky coin he had given to Lavellan, the coin which had followed him since he was a boy, through torture and war, and thinks that nothing he has ever done or ever will do will be this hard. He presses the coin to his lips. He kisses it once, and places it gently on top of the grave.

Jim’s stomach knots. He should’ve tried harder. He should’ve tried harder.

Because in the end, he had saved his commander’s life, but he had not saved his heart.