#we thank the earth and the animal for the meal and we move on

[adore-laur]

Hey! Saw your post abt asking for more dadrry and I love sending these to you so here goes: Harry’s been noticing that his wife is a bit down lately. It’s not because of anything in particular she still loves all of them but she’s just a bit bored at home with him back at work after a short parental leave to take care of the baby and their oldest daughter at school now. So one day he concocts a plan with their oldest kid and takes her with him to the pet store to pick up something to keep his wife company

——

It was Harry's last day of parental leave, and he noticed you were apprehensive about it. He had been at home for twelve weeks, savoring time with his three girls. Now, he was leaving the little bubble of bliss and heading back to work.

He empathized with you, knowing the daily parenting routine would weigh heavily on your shoulders. A part of him didn't want to leave you. It wasn't that he didn't trust you—he simply dreaded missing milestones, cuddles, and the mere pleasure of watching you as a mother.

Harry was out and about running errands with his eldest daughter to enjoy some quality time together before tomorrow arrived. He stocked up on groceries so you wouldn't have to worry about it for a while. He had also already decided to freeze several home-cooked meals to make it easier on you, as well as occasionally bring dinner home from work if he had the opportunity. Next on the list was buying more diapers and baby powder.

You had told him the days would be long and boring without him home as the main entertainer for the girls. Last night, before he had fallen asleep, he brainstormed ways that you could pass the time while he was working. You obviously had the kids to take care of, but there would be moments, like during nap time, when you'd be sitting in the house with nothing to do.

It was easier with the first kid since all you did was nurse and soothe cries. Now, you needed a distraction for both the kids and you.

"Daddy, can we go see the animals?"

Harry was buckling his daughter in her car seat when she asked the question. Her little finger pointed next to the grocery store they were just at, where a pet store resided. He'd never ventured in there before simply because he had to reason to. Now, he had a daughter who loved every animal that roamed the earth and held a curiosity toward any signs of them.

He sighed and unbuckled her. There was no chance he'd have said no, even if he did want to soak up family time in the comfort of his home. But his baby girl got what she wanted, at least when it was a reasonable request.

Steady rainfall dotted his clothes and frizzed his hair as he speed-walked toward the automatic doors with his daughter on his hip. It was Sunday, so there was a slow stream of people driving around and walking past the line of stores and boutiques.

Inside the pet store, an unknown smell greeted him, as well as two green parakeets perched in a large, luxurious birdcage. His daughter gasped with a wondrous smile, listening to them chatter and squawk noisily. Further past the several species of birds placed near the storefront window were glass terrariums with bearded dragons, nonvenomous snakes, and slider turtles. They all moved leisurely and held zero interest in visitors.

In the back, a dark section dimly lit by blue aquarium lights showcased rows upon rows of glass tanks filled with freshwater fish galore. Some of Harry's cherished childhood memories involved lingering near the fish section at pet stores, feeling like he was in a secret underwater world that no human could enter.

"All right, lovebug," Harry said. "I have a question. Should we get Mommy a fish to take care of?"

"Yes!"

"Let's pick one out. I'll even let you get one if you want."

"Really?"

He jostled her playfully. "Of course. We'll put it in your room and help you feed it."

She rested her head on his shoulder and softly said, "Thank you."

His heart melted a little bit as he kissed her temple and set her down. "Anything for my sweet girl."

They walked hand in hand past the tanks and admired the different species of fish floating in the water—goldfish, cichlids, tetras, and ones he couldn't name.

"I want one of those." She pointed to some nearby shelves, where there were little glass containers with betta fish swimming around in them. Many were vividly multicolored. It seemed like a perfect distraction for your mind. Nothing too high-maintenance or in need of too much attention.

"Yeah?" He stalked over to the shelf. "Which one?"

"Purple," she said decisively.

"And which one for Mama?" he asked.

"You pick."

Harry browsed the options. They were all magnificent to look at, but one in particular grabbed his attention. On the bottom shelf, there was a pearl-white betta fish that looked like a wispy angel. Harry crouched and closely inspected the harmless creature. It was beautiful, with an appearance of quiet elegance. Just like you.

"Definitely this one," he said, picturing it in a bigger tank with aquarium pebbles and plants and maybe a rock cave to sleep in.

Harry waved over a store associate and got the checkout process started. Within ten minutes, he was carefully carrying two glass containers with the new pets and pushing a shopping cart with two separate two-gallon tanks, pellets, and a couple of cheap aquarium decorations.

When they arrived home, Harry walked through the front door and saw you sleeping on the couch. The baby must have been napping as well, which was really the only time you or he could catch up on sleep. He smiled to himself, a lovely ache pulsing in his heart. If it was possible, he'd stay home with you forever and have "parent" be his singular job title. Alas, he was a needed man outside the home. 

His daughter skipped toward you, clearly excited to reveal the surprise. Harry slowly walked over with the fish and crouched next to your sleeping form. Quietly beautiful. 

"Sweetheart," he whispered, softly stroking your cheek with his knuckles. 

You sleepily opened your eyes, squinted at his face, and then hummed happily. "You're home." The way you said it sounded relieved, which made him not want to be released from his sabbatical. If only he could work from home. 

"We got you something," he said, turning to his daughter so she could do the honors. She took the container with the white betta fish and held it out like it was a sacred gift meant to be handled with the utmost care and respect.

"What is... oh my, what is this?" you asked, your expression morphing into amazement. "Where did you get this?"

"We went to the pet store, and Daddy said that me and you could get pet fish."

You quickly noticed the other betta fish that Harry was holding, and your eyebrows drew together. "What's the special occasion?"

Harry tucked the blanket further up your body and said, "Tomorrow is going to be rough, so I thought you could use a distraction when the days are long without me here."

Your jaw dropped a little as you took the container and closely watched the wispy specimen swim in circles. "That's so thoughtful, Harry."

"Thank your daughter," he replied, kissing your head as he stood up. "She convinced me. Thankfully, she picked an easy animal to take care of." He couldn't imagine if he came home with a slithery snake or an obnoxious bird. This was a peaceful pet that didn't really do much of anything. Something you could simply admire and keep satisfied through simple measures.

He never thought getting you a fish would be a part of his lifelong repayment for two precious children, but it was the most spontaneous moments that mattered most.

——

[thepringlesofblood]

All The Fix Facts

thank u hank green for my autistic rights

also god bless the fine folks that put up episode transcripts on the d20 wiki so I can copy-paste these lengthy quotes directly

Ep 1

For every snake in the world, there is 1 snake dick/Every snake that has a dick has 2 dicks.

Bonus Brennan Facts:

komodo dragons are actually not poisonous, but the bacteria in their mouth is so powerful that it acts like a toxic venom

Ronnie shows The Fix a drawing he did of "a diagram of the indentations on a snake's lip that lets it detect heat signatures."

Ep 2

eyes can't be itchy. "The membranes around the eyes are innervated with itch receptors and pain neurons, whereas the eyes themselves only have pain neurons because, of course, evolution is strongly incentivized to prevent you from scratching your cornea with your fingernail. So your eyes are never actually itchy."

"The "tails" on a swallowtail butterfly serve no aerodynamic purpose. They're there because birds need something to grab onto when they're trying to kill a butterfly, and they are designed to capture the attention of a bird. The bird will grab onto that tail, and it will break off, and the butterfly is free."

Ep 3

the urethra contains taste receptors/tastebud-like structures

"when eagles grip onto something, they have to flex a muscle to un-grip... So an eagle can hold onto something so hard that even after it dies, it never lets go."

most of the pyramids on Earth are in Sudan

pelicans have 3 stomachs- one of them's just for bones

"it's really easy to detect an acid. But it's not easy to detect the presence of oxygen or carbon dioxide. But when carbon dioxide meets water, like it does in our blood, it creates carbonic acid. That means that our bodies can detect the presence of carbon dioxide, but not the presence or absence of oxygen. So as we move through our lives, if we are deprived of oxygen, we have no idea that that is happening as long as we are breathing out carbon dioxide. But if we are not breathing in oxygen, we just go to sleep and we die. But if we allow the CO2 to build up, we panic. We flail. We break. Until finally, we die."

Ep 4 (folks, we were FED tonight!)

"did you know...that people can have constipation so bad that it will back up and impact their vagus nerve? And as they are finally eliminating that impacted stool, it can have a effect on the nervous system so great that they forget who they are, called constipation-related amnesia. A woman in Tokyo forgot who she was for eight hours" [I just had to fact-check this one, I could only find the one article but still jfc]

"Bones are actually living, and do you know that the reason we produce blood inside of our bones is because it's one of the places that's safest from UV radiation?"

"There are also some birds that can produce a kind of nutritious substance that they'll, that instead of regurgitating their own food, they will produce a kind of milk. It's almost like lactation, but it evolved separately. It was a case of convergent evolution. Pigeons do it."

"There are some salamanders that feed their babies their own skin."

Bonus Brennan Bird Facts

"...there are some species of birds that have a secondary pouch in their esophagus or in their digestive tract where they actually contain, referred to as a craw that has stones or other hard material to help break up food matter before it passes into the rest of their digestive tract."

"Did you know that woodpeckers have a tongue bone called a hyoid bone that wraps around their brain because...it needs to protect their brain from the impact...of...smashing into the wood of the tree to, you know devour their common meal items, which of course are grubs and larval insects."

Ep 5

you can't hum while blocking your nose

Some reptiles have a light-sensing organ on top of their head so they can sense shadows from potential predators

the bootlace worm is the longest animal in the world (not a reptile though rip)

Bonus Brennan Snake Facts!

The black mamba has been clocked going as fast as 12.5 mph, meaning it could outrun even some of the fastest humans, and since its resting speed is 7.5 mph, it would have the stamina to catch up even after a long time, since most humans run around 6 mph

the reticulated python is the longest snake in the world: not the biggest, that's the green anaconda, but the longest.

[thank u brennan for creating a personification of my special interest in snakes and repeatedly including him in things]

Ep 6

some organisms in the ocean glow when disturbed so that if they get eaten, the thing that ate them glows and is eaten. (hank says it way better, I think the ones he was talking about were dinoflagellates?)

"Did you know that the North Pole is actually a South Pole, because when you look at a compass, it points north. But the north pole of the compass is what's pointing north, and north poles point to the south poles. So when we go to the North Pole, it's actually the South Pole." (as i think siobhan said, i don't think i'm smart enough to understand that just yet, so I transcribed his exact words)

Bonus Brennan Fact (from Pasha!)

Diners came to be because people would take old decommissioned dining cars from trains and turn them into stationary eating establishments.

Bonus adventuring party facts under the cut!

Ep 1

the snake dicks are called "hemipenes"

"it's more like the penis branches at the base...they're forked dicks. But you can't see the fork at the end"

Brennan: "Some snakes breed...in a big knot"

Siobhan: "echidnas have a four-pronged penis."

Siobhan: "Kangaroos have heat-sensing penises, 'cause they have to get real deep in there...[and] wobble around in there"

Hank adds "[to] find the right path" and then says "The multipath vaginal canal is like, are you fucking kidding me?" implying that kangaroos have multipath vaginal canals

Siobhan: "Pythagoras was a communist who ran a math cult...that murdered a guy because he gave away the secret of perfect numbers."

Brennan, Danielle, and Trapp all have things to say about the invention of the chocolate chip cookie

Dan: "a staggering amount of what we consider canonical American desserts are inventions by corporations to sell flour...key lime pie is a complete marketing invention."

Ep 2

look idk if it was a joke or not, but Hank did say "It's definitely true that if you cum in space, it'd push you backwards."

(yes, I know the original quote is from the McElroys)

Ep 3 - no facts, but a cool quote from Antonio R. Damasio - "We are not thinking machines that feel, we are feeling machines that think."

Ep 4 - no facts, but soft confirmation of Elias being neurodivergent!

"this sudden moment of someone who you say a fact to, and they say a fact back, and you suddenly go, wait a minute. Which feels very, that's not how every mind works, but it's how Elias's mind works, right? For this guy, this is the thing." (Brennan)

Ep 5

From Brennan & Danielle: Paralegals don't present in court, but rather review documents and speeches and information. Maybe not a new fact to y'all, but I didn't know that!

Trapp: the "hedonic treadmill" is a term describing the way that people are always returning to sort of a base state of happiness, always looking for the next thing that will make them more happy.

[adracat]

G-Witch episode 11 thoughts

This was an amazing episode!! The ball is rolling for Dawn of Fold and for our favorite girls. Ahhh I wasn't expecting a gundam Christmas miracle. Thank you G-Witch 🎁

Right off the bat, we're treated to another opening change with our eponymous witches from earth making their debut as antagonists. But let's delay the anxiety-inducing stuff for later. I wanna talk about how Suletta's doing...

And she's doing awful as expected. She's internalized her misconception of Mio's words in the last episode. She's thrown by Mio's assertion that she 'isn't needed' not understanding the compassion behind her actions and interpreting this as confirmation that Mio+others see her as a useless accessory. So she goes overboard trying to establish her worth, taking on extra chores and desperate to be useful. It's a relatable insecurity and so heart-wrenching.

Her words in this scene in particular say so much about Suletta's dim self-worth. Instead of asserting her meal was missing, she thinks it must be her fault. No one else is to blame ;-; We see if she had just spoken up, this little misunderstanding would be corrected. Just like with Mio.

Btw, Idk if I'm reading into this but as a child of a mother who was emotionally distant and exacting this feels painfully familiar-- and an indication of Prospera's true dynamic with Suletta. We get another hint towards this with Prospera's bland and ominous response to Bel later in the episode.

I love Belmeria though, and she remains the only adult I trust in this cutthroat corpo nightmare. Keep side-eyeing her, Queen.

Also, I find her conversation with Suletta a bit suspect. She offers a listening ear, but it just reeks of 'you don't need outside attachments beside me'. Again possibly reading into it and she could just be acting like a concerned mom... maybe.

But back to Suletta's gay misadventures, Miorine interrupts this mother-daughter chat and we're treated to the best sequence in the episode in search of her wayward groom. No lie, that chase animation was so smooth. I especially love how their hair behaves and the zeroG traversal.

Plus we're treated to Miorine being a flailing mess as she pursues Suletta like a screaming (and gay) Ghostface

Laughs aside, this was adorable. Miorine scolds her for fleeing and how it contradicts her moving forward philosophy. But Suletta is afraid and in her fear falls back on bad habits, which we can assume was returning to Prospera and allowing her mother to dictate how to act/think. Yet Miorine doesn't allow her, breaking her silence. She tells Suletta how much of an inspiring and positive influence she's been, dashing her pride once more to soothe Suletta's insecurity.

Miorine is so starkly vulnerable in this scene, declaring everything Suletta has become to her without any chance of miscommunication. For Mio, her prideful front was all she had before she met Suletta. Now, Miorine has so much more because of her and she won't allow Suletta to dismiss herself as nothing. It's so sweet, I'm gonna have a heart attack 😭

Shout out to Miorine acquiring the ugly blue keychain with a dopey smile. They're both so gone for each other; I don't wanna hear any slander about these precious babies. I'm so relieved the miscommunication was solved within an episode. It's a big pet peeve when some shows/books take an absurdly long time to resolve things.

Oh and terrorism is happening, but we kinda expected this. I do wonder if the leader is a remnant of Ochs Earth since both 'witches' are piloting Lriths, Ur and Thorn respectively. Poor Guel is certainly wrapped in a pickle. Jeturk is not having a good time either, as he's double-crossed by Shaddiq. But it's honestly his fault for expecting otherwise so, no pity.

Speaking of Shaddiq, he's being very cold-blooded here. I wonder if he's partly acting out of salt. If I can't have her, no one will sorta thing? Either way, I have to respect his ambition ngl.

Oh, and one of the witches, Sophie, seems to have an interest in Suletta's piloting so that's intriguing. Rivalry possibly?

I'm looking forward to how the attack concludes, but it's safe to say none of our main cast is going to have a good time. Suletta/Miorine are separated for now, but we shall see how long that lasts. Plz don't take until the next cour, I'm begging you :(

Have a bonus sulemio, Merry Christmas everyone~

[forasgaard]

Salvation

Series Masterlist

Masterlist

Part 8

The injury on Neteyam's finger wasn't as bad as it had looked before. I had cleaned it and put a simple plaster over it to cover it from dirt. Neteyam had mustered it with a suspicious look on his face.

In the evening, the Sullys (mostly Neteyam) had invited to to dinner. The whole family sat around a campfire and the sun had just disappeared behind the gas planet.

We just had ended our meal and I sat there with crossed legs. Neteyam sat pretty close to me, our knees only inches away and every time someone moved, they touched. This weird feeling I had on the glade today just didn't leave me alone. It was like I had formed a connection to him. A subconscious, magical connection. I felt so close to him at that moment, just like we've always been friends. I couldn't put it into words. Maybe it was Eywa's influence or the enchantment or the forest. Or I was just going crazy out here.

Suddenly, Jakes voice brought me our of my thoughts. "So, who wanna tell a story tonight?"

"You, Dad!", Lo'ak said enthusiastic. "You're stories are the best! Sorry, Sa'nok (Mother), yours are also good but Dad tells great war stories"

Neytiri just smiled. I reckoned that Jake told stories from his time when he was a Marine veteran. He laughed. "I told one yesterday!"

"Eva", Neteyam suddenly suggested, a mischievous smile on his face. I rolled my eyes, pretended to be annoyed. He did that on purpose! I didn't know any good stories.

"Can you sing a song from earth?", Tuk asked. Sing? Me!? But I couldn't resist Tuk's giant golden eyes.

"Oh yeah! And Jake has to guess which one it is!", Kiri called out. Jake raised his hands with a chuckle. "Hey, I am not that cultural. It's been a while since I left Earth."

"Come on" Neteyam nudged my elbow. I sighed. A song from earth, huh? But which one? It had to be an old one so Jake would know it. Then I had one in mind. It was really old but everyone knew it. So I began singing:

"Almost heaven, West Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River"

It didn't sound beautiful but I continued. Even after the first verse, Jake recognised it. "Argh, I know that! Wait wait wait..." He closed his eyes and tapped the melody with his fingers on his knee.

I saw how Lo'ak bit his lip in excitement. Then I sang the chorus.

"Country roads, take m home. To the place I belong..."

"WEST VIRGINIA!", Jake called out as loud as he could and joined my singing. "O Eywa! Dad!" Kiri laughed and pressed the hands on her hears.

We finished the whole song and Jake grinned from one ear to another. "Man, I almost forgot about this song!"

I laughed. "You're welcome"

"Now I'm gonna show you my favourite song from Earth", Jake announced. He suddenly seemed so many years younger.

"Oh no Dad please don't!", the children groaned and Neytiri started to laugh. "He sings this song all the time!", Kiri rolled her eyes.

"C'mon Kids, it's fun!", Jake wailed and started singing. His favourite song was Star Walkin' by Lil Nas X. It was ancient but I knew it and joined Jake in the chorus. Tuk jumped on her feet and danced around us.

The evening was wonderful. We sang songs and told stories. Neytiri sang a traditional Na'vi song and I didn't understand a single word because they were ancient words. But her voice sounded so beautiful. The Sullys offered me to stay overnight and I was really touched by their offer. I accepted it with thanks and when it was time to go to bed, I layed down next to them under a woven blanket. I listened to the sounds of the forest, could hear the animals and the quiet breathing of the Sullys. Now and then, Lo'ak muttered something in his sleep and I had to grin.

Through the entrance I could see the shadows of the trees and over them the night sky. It was inky black and sprinkled with stars. Suddenly a deep calmness spread over my entire body.

I felt light and timeless. Free. I've never felt something like that before. I heard the wind in the leaves and eventually it started to rain. Raindrops pattered onto the tent and I could smell the typical scent, which was the same here on Pandora as it was on Earth. And I suddelny knew that everything would be alright. Like a deep internal trust that everything would be fine. I would find the right plant and heal the Na'vi. Everything would be alright. I just had to trust Eywa.

[fanfictionroxs]

Hey pal, quick question? How do you reconcile all these hot men we simp for from BL and KPop being presented as angels on earth, but at the same time they are not even remotely vegan? Felix from Stray Kids, his animal in the SKZoo is a chick (baby chicken) and he recently did a live in which he ate a HUGE amount of fried chicken, but then got upset at someone who pointed out he was eating Bbokari (his chick SKZoo animal). I really want to like these men without asterisks, but I'm denied all the time. It's also so fucking rare that a desirable, popular man is proudly vegan and it makes me sad.

Simple. I don't respect them or like them as actual people. My ethics are clear. Animal slavery is unacceptable and your looks/packaging being hot doesn't cover up your very real unattractive nature of treating fellow animals like property/products.

I enjoy the fictional worlds, but have slowly distanced myself from fangirling over the actors. I used to be a massive bts fan earlier and then their mcd promotions thing started where chicken nuggets were part of the bts happy meal. Whew! It was a wake up call for me. I felt betrayed on behalf of the animals and my chickens who were rescued from poultry farms and meat shops. I had fights in some army groups and left them (but some people over there ended up going vegan because of those fights and one of them is my best friend now 😍). It was the start of my breaking away from the parasocial relationships we all very often get into with these actors and singers.

Honestly though there's very few people in life I reapect and each and every one that I do respect does not partake in animal slavery. I don't care if it's part of your culture, I don't care if that's how you were brought up. You have the internet and most of the world is aware of what vegan is. But most of them chose to remain lazy and selfish in regards to animal rights because animals cannot speak up or offer organised resistance.. and their fans are also totally fine with that since most fans are animal oppressors themselves and the few that aren't refuse to speak up.

But I always keep hope for change. If some slaughterhouse workers and dairy farmers can get it through their skulls that animals have moral worth and their exploitation is wrong and become vegan/animal rights activists, then surely everyone else can too! However, my trust is very very limited when it comes to celebrities and their intentions. Most of them time, I don't even trust vegan celebrities. So, I just enjoy the shows and move on. Some shows I'm entirely unable to stomach like cooking shows and shows romanticising animal 'farms' and so I skip them.

So.. don't force yourself to like men or women who don't share your values because most of them will never give animals even a fraction of the importance we unnecessarily shower on these actors. Just enjoy the content, detach yourself from the actors/creators and move on. Sounds sad and maybe even bitter, but really helps in the long run with your mental health, makes you have mad unhinged fun while keeping your priorities in order and even strengthens your resolve to end animal exploitation!

PS I LOVE your fics on ao3 and how you weave animal rights into them. Thank you for your great service, beloved author! You give me courage to be more open in my own fics and not worry about hate 💚

[rubydolly]

HIGHLIGHTS AND MAIN MEMORIES OF 2023 FOR ME

2023 had many memorable times for me, some great and some not so great but all together they are what made my year the year it was. How was 2023 for you? I recommend copying this format and making a post about 2023 for you.

JANUARY

Lost My Father I am actually struggling to put this devastating experience into words, however I feel like it needs to be acknowledged as it was such a major thing that happened this year. I will not disclose what happened as that is private information that I do not wish to share, however I will say that I love and miss my Father every single day and the pain a year later is still so raw. R.I.P. Dad <3

FEBRUARY

Fitness Photoshoot James, the photographer who I also worked with last year, called me back to do another photoshoot. The theme of this photoshoot was fitness which required a natural, dewy look. The poor model had so much olive oil on her body to create that "sweaty" look.

Mardi Gras I got in contact with my Makeup Teacher from back when I did the Diploma Of Screen And Media, Cherine and she invited me to come along with her to a job she had for Mardi Gras. The staff members of the Marriott hotel, were going to be on a float and needed their makeup done, they were representing W Hotels, the luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International.

MARCH

Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat Last year my mum bought me tickets to see Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Capital Theatre. The show was absolutely amazing and I defiantly recommend seeing it, if it is coming to your state.

Sunderella I had the amazing opportunity to work as an Assistant Makeup Artist to Geeta on the set of Sunderella. Sunderella is a bollywood drag version of Cinderella, the show went for a 5 nights and was a huge success.

MAY

Photoshoot Another photoshoot I did with James. The model in the photoshoot is Jina Lim, she is such a beautiful and down to earth person and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with her and her beautiful face.

Went To Singapore This was my first overseas trip since 2018, I was very excited to finally be leaving Australia again. I went with my Mum and my Boyfriend at the time Aaron. I already made a blog post about the trip earlier in the year, however to do a quick recap, my trip was amazing. Singapore is a very clean and beautiful country and so much fun!!!! the highlights of the trip for me were: - Gardens By The Bay - Seeing the amazing Cloud Forest and the floral fantasy and then returning at night to see the Garden Rhapsody show that takes place every night. - Mandai Wildlife Reserve - Two zoo's in one and easily the best zoos I have ever seen, the "Amazon River Cruise" ride in the River Safari is amazing, my favourite animals in both zoos were the Panda's. Jaguar, Western Gaboon Vipers, Horned Viper and Poison Dart Frogs. - Haji Lane - A fun, bright and vibrant little area that comes alive at night. It is also the location of the famous Sultan Mosque - Lau Pau Sat - The BEST!!! Meal I had in Singapore was at this famous hawker centre. I had chicken satay stick, haianaese chicken and rice and spicy tofu - Universal Studios - I don't feel I need to explain much here, had great fun at this amazing theme park, my favourite rides were Revenge Of The Mummy and the Jurassic Park Rapid Adventure.

Aaron And I Separated After five years together, Aaron and I both made the difficult decision to seperate. The split was totally amicable and there are absolutely no hard feelings between either of us, we just simply felt we had grown apart and it was time to move on. I wish Aaron all the best for his future and thank him for the good memories we made together over the time we were together.

JUNE

Bathurst My Cousin Cameron and his wife Anna, left to go to Ireland so before they did, myself and my family all met up and had a little farewell party for them at my Aunty's house in Bathurst. Since we were already in Bathurst, Mum and I decided to stay for a view days and have a little holiday. We ate our favourite restaurant The Church Bar and visited the amazing Abercrombie House. Of course I also stopped off at my favourite Ice Cream shop Annie's.

Alyssa's Wedding My Cousin Alyssa got married to her now Husband Josh, so myself and my family all went up to the Sunshine Coast for the wedding. It was such a beautiful and relaxed wedding, Alyssa was an absolutely beautiful bride, Josh was a gorgeous groom and their two little boys were the most adorable pageboys ever. They took their vows at the beautiful Coolum beach and the reception was held at Kawana Waters Hotel. The night before the wedding, we all went out for dinner at the local Surf Club and had a great night.

Love Bites I was given the opportunity to work as a Special Effects Makeup Artist on this very important film that highlights and brings awareness to domestic violence. The film is by Fabio Caprarelli but the New South Wales Police also had a hand in it, the film will be shown in schools all throughout New South Wales in 2024.

JULY

Barbie Movie I very much got all caught up in the Barbie craze that went around following the release of the movie. I went and saw the movie 3 times!!! I also went as Makeup Artist Barbie on Halloween and I am still not done with the craze yet, I even have a page on my Tumblr of every Barbie doll ever made from 1959 until now.

AUGUST

Diploma Of Beauty Therapy Nothing makes me happier than being able to work as a Makeup Artist, it is my true calling, however a I do Makeup for film and theatre, work can be very unpredictable, there is not always work. I decided this year I needed to find myself a small consistent job somewhere for when I don' t have makeup jobs on. I saw that TAFE was offering a fee free Diploma Of Beauty Therapy and I immediately enrolled myself into it. I have learnt nails, waxing and lash and brows and next year I will learn so much more and hopefully when I am done with the course I will get a job in a beauty salon.

South Coast My Mum's good friend Michele turned 50 and had a big party at her place. She lives in the South Coast so Mum and I decided to make a little weekend trip out of it and stopped in at Kiama on the way. Michele's party was amazing!!! the food was great, the music was great and we all had such fun. Her beautiful daughter Grace had an exchange student from Japan staying with her and her and I instantly bonded over Studio Ghibli and Japan in general, oh how I wish i could go back.

Maddy's Birthday I have been with Horizon Theatre since year 11 when I was sent by my school for work placement. The woman who runs the theatre, Maddy is the only Marionette Puppeteer in Australia!!! She is amazing, so amazing that she she and Horizon Theatre have won awards over in Romania and Russia, anyone who knows anything about puppetry and performing arts knows that this is HUGE!!! as puppetry and performing arts unlike in Australia is huge in these countries and throughout Eastern Europe. Maddy turned 70 this year and Shab, who is an Actress but also runs the theatre with Maddy organised a surprise party for her. She put on a performance called "Beauty" which I got to be a part of, and in the meantime people set up the party outside the theatre. Maddy got such a lovely surprise when she went outside at the end of the show.

SEPTEMBER

Singaportal Mum and I missed Singapore so much that we jumped at the opportunity to experience it again, albeit in Sydney. Klook hosted an event which basically brought Singapore to Sydney, one of the supertree groves from Singapore was actually flown out for the event, and there were stalls selling hawker style food, a pop up Raffles bar and live music. This event really took us both back to Singapore.

Oz Comic Con I attended my first Oz Comic Con this year with my good friend Izzy. I was originally planning to go as Wednesday, however with a trip to Uluru booked in for November, I needed to save money so I instead went as Broken Heart Harley in Birds Of Prey. We both had a great time, met some lovely people (I ran into my friend from TAFE Destiny and her family) and spent more money than we should have (so much for me saving money).

OCTOBER

Tarot Photoshoot James called me back to do another photoshoot. This photoshoot, was based on medieval tarot cards, and Alison was such a perfect model.

Dance Photoshoot Alison from the Tarot photoshoot, asked me to do a photoshoot for her. Alison is currently completing a Bachelor Of Dance at AMPA and is as part of her course has to put on a dance piece. The dance is called "Beauty's Beast" and she needed to do a photoshoot to promote the dance, James was the photographer and I did makeup for Alison and all of her dancers, it was such a great experience.

Halloween If you know me, You know how much I love Halloween, it made it into my Highlights And Memories list last year as well. This year I had four of my very good friends come over to my place and celebrate the spooky occasion with me. Everyone's costumes looked awesome and we had lots of fun, I went as Makeup Artist Barbie.

NOVEMBER

Uluru My Mum and I took a trip to my favourite state in Australia for my birthday, the Northern Territory. We stayed for a week at Ayer's Rock Resort and explored the magical Uluru and surrounds. Learning about the Anangu people and their culture was a wonderful experience I will never forget, as was walking around the base of Uluru and seeing Kata Tjuta change colours at sunset. I made a blog post about my trip which you can find here

DECEMEBER

Girls Weekend My good friend Izzy and I went to the Australian Museum to see the Ramses II exhibition and we decided to stay overnight in the city. The exhibition was amazing!!! this particular exhibition had never left Egypt until now. Izzy and I are both fascinated with ancient Egyptian history so this exhibition really ticked all the boxes for us. We stayed at the Pullman Hotel and that night we had dinner at Lotus in the Galleries. We spent the entire next day swimming in the hotel pool.

Bathurst Christmas Party Mum and I went up to Bathurst for our annual family Christmas party from my Dad's side of the family. We went up a day before the party and did our last minute Christmas shopping and chilled out by the hotel pool and I of course had an Annie's or two. For dinner we went to the Church Bar which does amazing wood fired pizzas. The family Christmas Party was the next day and it was great, it was so lovely to see all of my family and catch up, I also got some awesome presents, they know me so well, the two highlights were a replica skull of a West African Gaboon Viper. and an Emu Egg

Christmas Of course its a given that Christmas made this list, how could it not? This year my Mum and Grandparents spent the day together, I decorated the house and Mum cooked a lovely Christmas Lunch and we all sat and enjoyed lunch together. In the afternoon we went to my Aunty and Uncle's house, stayed there until night and ate lots of good food and caught up with lots of lovely family and friends.

[itsyourchoicedevotionals]

Back To The Beginning

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28ESV

There’s a trend going on across my Facebook feed back to the beginning. Many have moved out into the country; bought small truck farms; started growing gardens; began raising chickens, goats, cattle, rabbits, sheep and some even have horses. In actuality, this is where we began in the Garden of Eden with animals and food.

A difference came in between chapters 1 and 4 of Genesis. Adam sinned. Striving to be better than others began. Later in Genesis, people gathered together to start building a tower, a work to show themselves more powerful than God, see Genesis 11.

Of course with danger from wild animals, people gathered together in villages, and towns for protection. In the beginning of our nation, we built walls around our towns, called forts. These forts were to protect against the Indian population whom our ancestors had stolen from and killed in the first place.

Now as Marxism-Communism tries to steal our country away, evil people are buying our farmland and stopping production of foods. They’re trying to groom our children into sexual roles not intended by God….. Oh they should know that everyone who does such evil has a hotter home in hell than all others, see Luke 17:2. But these people don’t even believe in hell or heaven. In fact, most of them are convinced their idol gods are real and Yahweh-Jehovah-God-Almighty is fake. Boy are they in for a rude awakening— one which is coming soon.

More than people moving out of the cities where grave harm and danger awaits on every corner, people are learning how important what they are saying is. God wants our words to align with His words. What is God telling us to say? Please read the rest of this devotional aloud. ‘I am calling in freedom for our nation in 2023, freedom in my church, freedom in my finances, freedom in my body from all sicknesses, diseases, oppression, depression and discouragement, freedom for my neighbors and other citizens in our town from every sort of bondage and addiction. I’m calling forth JOY in the Lord, great victories for conservative values. Hereby I decree the end is here for tyrannical government controls, family divisions, and hopelessness. God wants us to be free and say so, therefore I say so and every day going forward.’

God gave us His creative power in our text scripture. Through our born again experience with Christ Jesus, we are back to the beginning with all power and authority. Rather than speaking the evening news, tell the trees to clap their hands and the plants to rejoice for their Creator is liberating us. Remember Proverbs 18:20-21NLT “Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction. The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” You get what you say. What will those words be? It’s your choice. You choose.

LET’S PRAY: Almighty Yahweh Ruler over all You told us to subdue the earth and have dominion over it… We receive only freedom for ourselves, our family and our nation. Freedom to worship You as we choose, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.

by Debbie Veilleux Copyright 2023 You have my permission to reblog this devotional for others. Please keep my name with this devotional, as author. Thank you.

[thaoilations]

The Ring doorbell alarm sounded on Mimi’s phone and she frowned, the pair never got many unexpected guests that didn’t already have a key (liberally passed out by Thao herself, much to Mimi’s not so pleasant surprise when she’d walk out her room in just a tshirt and find the likes of Cooper rummaging through their fridge.)

She checked the camera, seeing a uniformed man wielding a large cardboard box. Either someone was trying to dump a dead body on the couple to frame them, or Thao had ordered a package. Mimi buzzed the man up and he arrived at the door not so long after, helping shuck the large heavy box into the hallway before politely departing. The brunette stared at it, wondering what on Earth could be so heavy. She dragged it with all her might, dumping it in the living room before standing back, blowing hair out of her face.

“What are you?” She whispered to herself, digging her toe into the side of the box. She didn’t think Thao would appreciate her opening her packages (realistically, she wouldn’t care that much.) so she wasn’t going to. After having a boring day slinking around the apartment in her little black slip dress, curly hair pulled into a claw clip with no girlfriend to entertain her she decided to distract herself by starting dinner. She decided a chicken and potato meal with tender-stem broccoli would suffice as she knew on days like this her girlfriend was unlikely to be able to answer her text asking what she wanted.

She put it in, and as she sat down on the couch with her glass of wine the door unlocked, Thao arriving home early. Mimi stood up, animals following suit as she walked to the door with her glass where Thao was kick her shoes off to swap into house shoes. “You’re home early!” Mimi greeted gleefully.

“Yeah, they didn’t need me.” She held her arm out and Mimi swanned in to hug her like they did everyday.

“You have a package. Dinner won’t be ready for a while, I just put it on.” The younger girl update and Thao perked up at the mention of the package, moving through to the living room.

“S’okay, it’s early anyway. What the hell did I order?” She chuckled at her own forgetfulness, staring down at the box before lighting up. “Your shelf.” She turned to the brunette poking her lightly.

“My shelf?” Mimi repeat. The two had only moved in recently, and there were few odd pieces that their home was lacking.

“Yeah. For your stuff, we didn’t have enough space remember?” She reminded and Mimi nodded, although she was pretty sure Thao was referring to a conversation that never happened, perhaps she’d dreamt it.

“Well thank you.” Mimi watched, still confused as Thao pulled one of her keys from her pocket and sliced down the middle of the box through the tape, ripping it open.

“I’m gonna shower and stuff and then I’ll build it.” She pulled her phone out her pocket, beginning to check her messages as she walked out the room.

Fast forward an hour or so, and Mimi was sat with her legs curled beneath her on the couch, watching Thao build her shelf. Dixie sat right beneath the brunette on the floor, curiously watching her owner whilst enjoying the warm presence of her new-ish residence sharer. Mimi continued to sip at the wine, and quite honestly she had no idea what was on the TV, having far more interest in watching her girlfriend build for her. Thao pushed her sleeves up her arms in concentration, much to Mimi’s delight as she lugged around white planks of wood, setting them in the correct order to build in along the floor. They didn’t really speak, as Mimi had decided it was much better to let her concentrate.

“The fuck?” She frowned quietly at the manual, glancing between the paper in her hand and the planks on the floor.

“Wh’sa matter?” Mimi tilt her head to the side, highly attentive.

“If there’s a plank missing I swear to fucking god I’m gonna shoot myse—oh I’m sitting on it.” Thao shuffled, pulling it from beneath her. Mimi giggled, and Thao no more than glanced up at her fully concentrated on her building mission (And also not quite grasping how funny she was without trying.) Mimi cleared her throat, mentally scolding herself when she noticed the curly tendril around her finger she’d been twirling. Dixie turned and looked at her comically and Mimi sent her a look back, pursing her lips together and telling herself to get it together.

Mimi finished her second glass of wine, forgetting her height, weight, and of course how much of a lightweight she was — she stood up and felt the tipsiness hit her head on making her wobble on her legs and giggle. Dixie stood up to follow her, and Mimi giggled more at the thought that Dixie was going to follow her to make sure she was okay. Thao was tightening the screws on each shelf, and as much as Mimi wanted to stay and watch that she had to get the dinner out the oven. Humming to herself, she told herself to be extra careful — not wanting to ruin the mood by burning herself and having Thao tend to her wound.

She prepared the meals and brought the food to Thao, seating herself to eat also. She expected to her girlfriend to sit on the floor where she’d been sat building the shelf, but she picked up her plate and came and sat right next to Mimi, their knees touching making Mimi grin. “Hi.” She smiled and Thao greet her back silently by touching her back in a lazy side hug before stealing the TV controls from her other side.

After they ate together, Thao helped Mimi clean up in the kitchen. The food had rid of Mimi’s tipsiness, simmering it down into a warm, sleepy affectionate buzz. Thao stood, drying a plate singing a song that had been stuck in her head since she’d heard it on the radio earlier in the day. Mimi placed a plate back into the cupboard before turning slowly and staring at her. She was only wearing a band t-shirt and shorts but to Mimi she was the coolest and best looking person around. She smiled to herself before calling her name. Thao turned to her and handed her the plate.

“No, c’mere.” Mimi smiled shyly, suddenly much more interested in her hands. She turned around and placed the plate in the cupboard, and when she turned back Thao was closer, waiting for Mimi to tell her what she wanted. Mimi giggled again and Thao leant her hands either side of Mimi on the counter.

“What?” She chuckled, waiting for her girlfriend to say something ridiculous like she so often did.

“Nothing just…” She sighed and wrapped her arms around her. Thao wondered if she had been sad or something and wrapped her arms around her, slightly curious to the affection outburst.

“What’s wrong?” She squeezed the brunette.

“Nothings wrong I just … I know I love you but also I… have a crush on you.” She admit, and giggled at how funny it sounded, her voice muffled into Thao.

“Oh. Well. I’d hope so.” Thao sarked and Mimi rolled her eyes, shaking her lightly. She pulled back but kept a fistful of Thao’s t-shirt, trying to squeeze affection out of her. “Are you holding me hostage?” She deadpanned and Mimi sighed.

“No. Ugh. I just… I like you.” Mimi frustratedly told her girlfriend. Thao tilt her head, expression softening ever so slightly — a mixture of amusement, confusion and slight concern.

“Mimi. I like you too. Is that…what you needed?” She chuckled, confused at where the sudden frustration came from. Mimi sulked, flapping her hands by her side and shrugging petulantly.

“Well. You can love someone and not like them. So. M’just checking. Whatever.” Her bottom lip curled out puffily. Thao resisted the urge to roll her eyes (Good naturedly of course, but she knew it would be taken the wrong way.) and placed both hands on Mimi’s shoulders, shaking her back and fourth.

“Stop it, lady.” She joked before stabilising the shorter brunette by placing both hands below her cheeks on her jaw. “Luckily for you I love you and I like you and I wanna be with you and I wanna kiss you and bite you and eventually marry you. Sooooo.” She pinched the girls cheeks and her eyes lit up, grinning at the mention of marriage. Thao squint jokingly. “Eventually.”

Mimi giggled and pulled her down for a kiss before wrapping her arms around her neck again, squeezing her once more.

[butch-bakugo]

Honestly, sanitizing the origins of meat, leather and fur and bone to something just stated and never shown, is why white americans who dont hunt look down on indigenous communities irl.

The average white middle class american who dosent hunt game and eat it has no idea what gose into to making their natural products from the steak on the table to the yarn they knit with. They have no connection to the food they eat and products they use and thats why it has no value to them. They've never seen people kill, clean, cook and eat a cow all at once so when they watch an African tribe do it in a documentary, they are disgusted and horrified. When they natives in a docuseries kill and eat a seal then wear its fur for warmth and survival, they are upset. They were never taught or ever experienced a native way of living. Living close to the land, thanking the great spirit for another meal because there is no grocery store, what they catch is what they eat.

Americans are conditioned to feel sorry for any animal death and cry when they do instead of realizing this is the natural cycle of life. Of course the blood and gore of a dead deer is gross to you but only because you were never shown the reality of your food. Horror movies and exofascists want you to be disguested by any gore so seeing a dead bloody animal is 'horrific'. Of course this isnt an excuse for those who needlessly harm animals, thats fucked up, but a hunter and the act of hunting game isnt gross. Its survival and many people's lived realities. We, as a society, have got to stop fearing blood and need to desensitizating ourselves to meat and hide.

Because it fuels racism and ecofascism. It fuels racism when the only black people you see are on tv with a white commentator telling you about this "savage and uncivilized tribe in the Sahara who sacrifice cows and goats to this god "who they'll mispronounce or peta blaming the extinction of seals on inuk people that hunt them and use them to survive on their tribal lands. It makes hurting the african american people and indigenous people around you much easier when the only place you see them is in a bad light on the tv screen. It gives you a bias when you only see natives cutting open a dear with slasher music behind it. Not only that, but it makes good natural survival techniques that could save you one day look uncivilized and grotesque. It makes you see factory farming as more humane when the only difference is the amount of animals killed and the amount of bones and "useless" cuts of meat wasted. The amount of people i know who eat dry as shit well done steaks because they cant handle the thought of red meat or still juicy aka bloody meat in their mouths is ridiculous. My medium rare steak is the same as your well done one, the only difference is the time used to cook it. The blood is still there, its just less concentrated. Thats the reality of eating meat.

So just remember that killing and eating animals may be your ancestry but its many people's reality and its not uncivilized or gross, its day to day. Its natural and when done correctly, beautiful. Your an omnivore and meat is a necessity to a natural diet. Embrace it. Nature gave you that rabbit so you could live and its life lengthens yours. Thank the rabbit for its meat and stop anthropomorphizing your food. The rabbit cant talk to you or cryd cause either you would of gotten it and killed it humanely or a coyote would have gotten it and ripped it to shreds. Its do or die out there and passisim wont keep you alive.

[husbandohunter]

A Furry Predicament, but reversed (Reader turns into a cat)? Pretty please with a sweet lil cherry on top? (I recently stumbled across your blog and may I just say that I absolutely adore your works??) Thank youu and take care~~

A Furrier Predicatment [Genshin x Cat!Reader]

♤♡◇♧☆

Synopsis: It's your turn to be a cat after this incident.

Characters: Diluc, Kaeya, Xiao, Albedo, Zhongli, Childe, Venti

(A/n): Ah you did OwO that's very sweet of you. It's alot of fun to write, especially when your imagination is stunted and you just gotta spit out something silly.

=======================

[Diluc]

Any beloved pet owned by Master Diluc would be under the most high quality and meticulous treatement. Mostly for cats since they tend to be calm while elegant...to some extent. If they were dogs then he'll ensure that they also serve as a partner for sniffing out trouble such as a certain bard who'd might've sneaked into the wine cellars. But you weren't either, so to say, you were both a beloved AND a cat.

As he picks you up gently into his arms, Diluc would be a little baffled on what to do next. He has no idea how to care for delicate creatures as he never had one (other than a pet tortoise but that's different) in which he needed to look for help. But who? The staff? Certainly not, no one can find out that his partner turned into a pet (imagine all the scandals he'll be in). Jean? Anything but the knights of Favonius. And most certainly not his brother.

So Diluc ends up figuring everything out by himself (old habits die hard). All the sweets and regular meals you craved were no long in your menu, you were forced to have a proper cat diet because he believed it was healthier. Half of the time he has no idea what he's doing, since you were a cat and all you could do was "meow" (which Diluc forgets. He tries to have a mundane conversation until you stare at him with feline eyes. That was when he remembered).

"What would you like for tonight's dinner, my love?"

"Meow." He has alot to learn.

Though Master Diluc often gets very tired and he attempts to take a quick nap before killing himself over the next set of duties. That is, until you could help it. Being a cat has it's furry and comfy advantages. So you leapt up to the bed as quietly as possible and onto the side of your lover, circling a few times to see if he was really asleep. When he was you snuggled close to keep him warm, hoping it would lull him into a rest even deeper. He slept like a baby.

~xx~

[Kaeya]

If the Cavalry Capatain were to own a pet, they would either be charmed by him or snaring their teeth because of his unreadable and suspicious aura. Animal instincts are quite powerful. But your case wasn't the latter, thankfully and he could feel himself growing fond of this new found relationship. Almost. What should he do with you now that you're a cat, Kaeya wonders.

Belly rubs and a lot of them. He absolutely adores the way your cute little nose scrunches up while he runs his fingers on the center of your tummy (though he knows when to stop, Kaeya is rather gentle with you nowadays). You found that he absolutely adores the shape of your nose, would pick you up and boop yours with his own somehow knows how to be his flirty self despite your unusual form.

There was this one incident where you saw something shiny flashing over the wall. Slowly you followed it as the bright dot moved futher and further away, evetually gaining speed. Little did you know it was Kaeya who was watching you swipe your little paws up and down against the wall while he was just cleaning his sword. How could he help it? You were often so headstrong and independent, now you were just an adorable little kitten that loves to play with yarn and shiny things. It backfired him though, now there were a bunch of scratchmarks marring the surfaces (which he had to pay for repairs).

Takes you out to Windrise so that you could get some fresh air (also for you to find somewhere else to shed your fur other than his humble abode). Kaeya sits back under a tree while you either chase a butterfly or start slapping against the dandelions (only sneeze when they fly into your face). He wasn't sure if you were aware of what you were doing right now, if you were then he'll have lots of things to talk about once you turn back into human. If not, then at least he had the opportunity to witness such a soft side coming from you.

~xx~

[Xiao]

If any animal were to go close towards the adeptus, they would run away. Xiao isn't very good at interacting with others, pets included, usually they would run into the alleyway or hide around the legs of their owners while he glaringly, blankly stares at them (Even though he wouldn't admit it, Xiao thinks to himself, how soft is cat fur?) Now he gets to touch your cat form and turns out that fur is very ticklish yet pleasant against his skin.

Would be the most awkward conversationalist, the poor yaksha was already terrible with his words (often coming out harsh so he prefers to either keep away or say nothing at all) and even with you sometimes, now it was almost impossible to communicate. Xiao is not very good at reading a cat's body language. When you want him to hold you again, you'd walk in circles. He assumes you were hungry and leaps out the window to go fetch some fish...for the nth time there was a pile of raw salmon stacking upon the floor. Xiao thinks that maybe salmon species weren't to your liking, hence he does out to find another one.

As he plays his flute, you'd magically doze off on his lap. (There was one thing that you both can communicate with at last). Slowly but surely, he comes to learn the different gestures you make for certain situations. You often rub yourself upon his leg which he had heard to be a cat's way of claiming their territory. That was when Xiao picks you up, FINALLY. Though the real reason why it took him this long was because he was hesitant to hold you. He never really held a pet so naturally he has no idea how to hold a cat. Ends up cradling you in his arms because it seemed to be a safer option <3

"I never thought I'd be able to hold you like this," Xiao softly says to your lazy form, observing the way your ears perked up at the sound of his voice, "But I...forget it. We can stay like this for the time being, if you'd like. If not, that's fine too."

You stay.

~xx~

[Albedo]

The only pets Albedo had were for his alchemic experiments (plus they were put in cages too). Fact be told, he would make a terrible pet owner with the lifestyle he has now. The alchemist would be so absorbent into his work that he'll most likely forget that he has someone to feed and by the time he realized it, they would have already starved to death. After hearing glass bottles crashing to the floor, Albedo bursts into the rooms as the smoke fills it completely, finding a cat lost between it. The cat was you. He knows because he made the potions.

Sometimes he'd a little too scientific for his own good. Albedo assumed that when you turned into a cat, you've gone into cat mode and ends up treating you as such. "No, don't go near any bodies of water. You wouldn't like it." He almost forgets that you were once human which is very much like him if you had to be honest. Though when he does find out that you still carried human traits, Albedo must find ways to adapt things to your liking.

He makes your food himself. He's not a cook but he sure is good at everything he does, even if it's something he never did before. This goes for other areas too such as the size of your bed, if you need a little couch to stay on or maybe some tools to play around. (The only time when he is a good pet owner). In his sketchbook he'd have a bunch of blueprints and contraptions of what to make next. There's something enjoyable when spoiling you, those little reactions when you're pleased, like the twitch of your whiskers or the lift of your tail. Albedo finds is very cute.

On top of all that, he could also make you a potion to turn you back into normal. It seemed that it was the last thing he thought of on the list. Albedo was too occupied with treating you like a cat that it all flew over his head until now. Time flies when you're having fun.

~xx~

[Zhongli]

Unlike Albedo, anyone who has Zhongli as a pet owner would be considered to be a very lucky animal. He radiates a calm and serene aura that gives the perfect environment to have infinite nap times. People look at this man and wonder why his pet never gives him any trouble, especially when cats were considered to be both fiesty and needy. But they just didn't know that the cat was you (not like it would make a difference, any animal would know that Zhongli was no ordinary man).

How on earth does he know what you're saying? Maybe it's because he was once an archon. You could meow and he knows exactly what you would like to snack on. You could tilt your head, he takes it that you were curious on what he was currently doing (which was exactly what you were wondering), you can say nothing at all yet as if he could read your mind, Zhongli comes over to pet you with his gloved hands.

"How can I tell? Indeed it is because you're my lover, of course. Throughout this time we spent together, I've come to learn the way you speak through your eyes. They seem to hold true no matter what form you take. It's rather comforting."

Though there were many moments where you sneak up behind Zhongli. His hair, his ponytail- so long. Must play with. As you jump up and down with his thin strand swings side to side, it'll take a few seconds for him to decipher what your were doing. The minute he turns around he catches you with his hands midair and laughs heartfully. Cats were very endearing creatures.

~xx~

[Childe]

Back home in Snezhnaya, Childe would probably have owned a dog or two. They were mostly meant for hunting purposes, big and large furry creatures with thick skin suitable to endure the harsh cold. He has dogs because cats hate him for some strange reason. They either hiss or snootly turn their backs on him, one time he picked one up as a kid but his face bleeding after the cat scratched him with their paws. But of course you wouldn't do that to him. You would never~ he was your cutie pie anyways.

He was an obnoxious hugger, not gentle at all. Childe forgets his strength as a human man and when he squeezes you tightly against his chest, you'd spike out on all ends because by the archons, you're suffocating. But it was your fault for feeling so comfy and warm! Similar to Kaeya, they're both obnoxious but Childe deemed himself to be even worse. He'd rub his face against yours, commenting on how sensitive it sways. Tonia once told him that she wanted a pet cat instead, maybe he should also bring you back to his homeland now.

Yes he would love to play with you. Bring in the cat toys...or not. This was the eleventh Fatui Harbinger, what were you thinking? Normal cat activities? Not here. He's gonna teach you how to hunt like how he taught his dogs to hunt in Snezhnaya. You gave him the most deadpanned and dissapointed look with your large feline glare. Not only was he disliked by cats but he certainly was not good with them.

Though he can take it down a notch sometimes and just indulge in relaxing activities. When there was nothing else for him to do or when he was just tired after a productive day, he'd sit by the kitchen and you on top of the table. While you yawned and leaned down for a nap, Childe plays with the small of your paws to the soft edge of your nails. If he taps your nose, your whiskers twitch. Your ears are nice, maybe he should get you a headband version once you turned back to human.

You immediately wake up when he touches your tail.

~xx~

[Venti]

Achoo!

You sometimes wonder how is it that the anemo archon was able to live through 2000 years without getting beaten up by a cat. If andrius was a large cougar than a wolf, maybe he wouldn't be an archon now. Which is why you are to stay miles far far away from him unless you want the whole of Mondstadt to be blown away by the wind.

Wears a mask (as if this were the covid19 pandemic), although it doesn't take away all his problems, at least it'll minimize it. Venti always has a box of tissues ready but you can tell by the puffiness of his eyes that he's been sneezing alot. He really tries his hardest to pitch in every once in a while when Albedo was working on a cure for you to go back to normal. Though acts as if he was quarantined by staying all the way at the other side of the room.

"Ahahaha don't mind me. It's your local bard of Mondstadt dropping by to see how things are going. I wanna make sure how long it will take for you to make the potion? Just curious!"

No hugs, cuddles or anything involving close proximity. This makes Venti very pouty and impatient. Albedo finds it very hard to concentrate with all the sniffling and sneezing that he had no choice but to kick him out. It didn't help that the location was Dragonspine, now he was sneezing even more.

[zorya-wellness]

Lammas/Lughnasadh Pagan Holiday

Lammas or Lughnasadh is a Pagan holiday celebrated on August 1st. It symbolizes the end of the summer period (yes, even though you may not want to hear that we are on our way to the end) and the beginning of magical fall.

The Lammas holiday is also closely connected to the harvest season.

It is traditionally believed that the period of Lammas celebration was very important in the religious communities, not only from the perspective of Pagan or Christian traditions  but also due to its agricultural significance.

Lammas versus Lughnasadh. What Is The Difference?

First of all, let’s talk about terminology a bit.

Lammas comes from Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, "loaf-mass", therefore also known as Loaf Mass Day and it is a Christian holiday.

The celebration of this holiday by the Christian community is in part similar to what we will be discussing later. The holiday signifies a period of being blessed by the first gifts of the harvest season. The wheat collected is often used to make the Lammas bread that would later be brought to church for a blessing.

Lughnasadh or Lughnasa is the name used by the “Neopagan” community and just as Lammas, marks the beginning of the harvest period. It is the time when we are grateful for the abundance of the Mother Earth.

How to pronounce Lughnasadh?

The term Lughnasadh comes from the Irish spelling of the word. The Modern way of Irish  pronunciation is Lúnasa and pronounced Loo-nuh-suh. The Classical pronunciation is /’luɣ.nə.səð/ like LUGH-nuh-sudh (where “gh” is pronounced as i a word "give" and the “dh” is like the “th” in “that”.) It is probably the most correct pronunciation of Lughnasadh, as Lugh or Lug is the God from Irish mythology and the one this holiday is dedicated to at the first place.

How Lammas Originated?

Lammas came from a desire of people to thank and celebrate the “father” Sun and the Mother Earth for the fruits of their “love” - the harvest.

To bless the marriage of God and Goddess and ask for a buy dance and prosperity in the upcoming months.

It was considered that August 1st marks the first day of fall. And on August 2nd it was already the time to pick up the harvest and so the days of hunger and need would we over.

The holiday was widely celebrated in:

Ireland: the name Lughnasadh comes from the Irish God Lugh and is translated at “the marriage of Lugh.

Scotland

Isle of Man

In Slavic countries (called “medovyi spas”)

Let’s Talk More About The Harvest.

When we hear “Lammas”, we often think about the period of harvest right away. It is the most talked about moment of Lammas or Lughnasadh but we need to truly understand what stands behind the concept of harvest.

If you are a careful reader, you have noticed I specifically say the beginning of harvest. I also want to explain more what I mean by the time of being grateful.

You see, Lammas is the day of the beginning of the harvest period and NOT the time when we are assessing the outcome and are drawing conclusions of how successful we’ve been (there will be another holiday dedicated to this, called Mabon).

But the first day of harvest is the time when the quality of life changes. It is the time when it becomes predictable what expectations we can have and taste the first ripe fruits.

Simply put, it is the moment when something you worked so hard on, finally becomes tangible and it also becomes YOURS.

A skill you were developing is almost acquired but not to the point when it becomes a reflex. The investments you’ve made are starting to produce some cash flow but still need your attention.

You also need to understand that it is not possible to continuously perfect something or wait for an opportune moment.  At some point, you need to release into the world what you have the way it is and improve things on the go.

Where am I going with this philosophical deviation, you probably are wondering…

This is what Lammas period really is about. It is the time when we transition from preparation to action.

What does it mean for you in real life situation?

Lammas gives you are opportunity of the perfect time to do something you were afraid of doing.

It may be that you were working on a website for your very own blog but we’re too afraid to press that “publish” button, thinking it is not perfect yet.

Or you may have been writing a book but haven’t started to search for a publisher, changing and tweaking things in an attempt for it to be perfect.

You may have been doing research for a new job you always wanted or university program you wanted to apply for but haven’t felt ready to finally made the move and submit an application.

Do you see the pattern?

Lammas is the time when you were ALREADY in the process of doing something but haven’t had the energy for the final step. And this period of the first week of August is for you to pull yourself together and make the move.

And when Mabon comes, we will be assessing the results of our actions.

"Can I celebrate Lughnasadh if I’m not pagan?"

First of all, like I mentioned in my other Blog posts related to the Wheel of the Year, you don’t need to be Pagan to celebrate or acknowledge Wheel of the Year holidays.

RELATED: What Is Pagan Wheel of the Year and How to Celebrate It? Beginner Pagan's Guide

You need to be aware of the existence of the energy of the Mother Earth, it’s changes and shifts and how this affects our lives.

So, What Can You Do To Celebrate Lughnasadh/Lammas?

Lammas/Lughnasadh Traditions and Rituals

Do Some Lammas Divination Work

The period from July 31st to August 6th is the perfect time for divination work. Tarot, Runes and oracles will provide with great messages, especially in career/money (material) and love questions (especially compatibility related).

Don’t forget to show gratitude to the Universe and Mother Earth. It is important to maintain the energy exchange, at the very least with the well known gratitude and love practices.

Show gratitude towards others too, don’t forget to show acknowledgment and say “thank you”.

Make Lammas Bread

During this period, it is the great time to infuse your food and drinks with the energy of love and gratitude, as well as thank the Source and the Planet for its generosity. Of course, the best way to celebrate this holidays is to make Lammas bread. I am giving you this quick bread recipe that does not require a lot of products or special skills

Lammas Abundance Bread Recipe

For this little Ritual you will need to make (not buy!) corn bread.

Lammas Bread Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of corn flour

1 1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of sugar 2 tbs of cooled down melted butter

4 cups of milk

2 tsp of baking powder

Instructions:

Mix flour and salt together in a deep bowl.In a separate bowl with milk add baking powder;  then add sugar and butter.Mix all the ingredients together in one bowl until the consistency is that of a sour cream. It will not be similar to regular bread dough you may be making at home.

*While you are mixing, talk into the bowl anything you want to accomplish that is related to the abundance. Whatever the abundance means to YOU. It does not have to be financial. Maybe you will feel abundant and complete when you have a large family. Then go for it.

Pour the Lammas bread dough into a baking dish (don't forget to butter the dish). Bake for about 40-50 minutes at 360 degrees F.When the colour is nice and golden, take the bread out and let it cool.

When you sit down for a meal, break off (not cut) a large piece of Lammas bread and say: "Large piece of bread in my hand will bring me abundance and plenty." Don’t forget to share your food with the Gods (leave some bread in nature, the way you see fit and depending on the type of deity you are working with.)

Lughnasadh Home Blessing and Abundance Ritual

This ritual can be done during the same time as you are making your Lammas bread.

It is done to invite luck and abundance into your home. BUT. You can change your intent to protection, if you’d like.

All you need to do is to set aside some dough when you are making it for your break and create a figure of an animal. My personal suggestion is to select a farm animal due to the nature of the energy of this holiday.

When you are done, you will need to follow basic figure talisman activation steps. I have adapted the suggestions of Vadim Zeland for this.

*If you are interested in who Vadim Zeland is, click here to read more about him. His book Reality Transurfing has changed my life forever.

Animal activation steps:

Come up with a name for your animal

Take a deep breath. Now breathe into the animal, imagining giving it energy and life.

Tell the animal its name. Tell it that you love and care for it and, in exchange, it's helping you with (whatever you want to ask for).

Place the animal anywhere in the house, depending on the task you give it.

Don't forget to revisit daily and remind the animal of your love and the important task it is doing for you.

Don’t forget to check out complete Blog Post on my website for more information on Lammas traditions, as well as my other Blog posts on Pagan holidays, Rune Meanings and more.

[smurphyse]

Loki is dating a young woman who is a fantastic cook and one day he realizes his pants are a tad tight. He’s gained some weight but doesn’t have the heart to stop eating her wonderful food

Southern Belle

Word Count: 1691 words

Tags: body issues (not like anything too triggering, I don’t think), mentions of sex

I always love feedback, but like, please be nice lol

Send me more Loki prompts! <3 I love doing oneshots!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here we go,” she sing-songed, carrying a large baking dish over to the table, the little hand-painted ladybugs that decorated it’s sides seeming just as excited as she.

Loki sat patiently, smiling at her as she set it down on the blue checkered tablecloth next to a tub of ice cream. She set down a few brightly colored plates, all painted with various bugs and flowers, decorated by her own hand- which were still stained with paint, he noticed fondly. 

“Peach cobbler,” she grinned, shaking her shoulders in excitement, “Just like Mamaw used to make!”

She watched him closely as he took his first bite, giggling when his eyebrows knitted together in bliss. Fuck, everything she made seemed to come from Valhalla.

His girl, his Southern Belle. The two had been dating for only a few months, ever since Loki had come to San Francisco during his travels. She had been poking around an art fair, her long curls pulled up into two pigtails as she pulled out pieces to observe.

She’d been wearing a pair of dirt smeared overalls, detailed with little butterflies and flowers, obviously hand-embroidered. They were rolled up at the ankles, her neon Converse forcing his eye to her like a shining beacon in the night. 

He’d been drawn to her, like a moth to the flame, unable to control himself as he pushed past the crowds to meet her. As he came face-to-face with her she glanced up at him and flashed him a megawatt smile. He’d been speechless, utterly besotted. 

“Can I help you, darlin’? You look lost,” she drawled, and it took a moment for the Allspeak to translate her thick Southern accent. 

“I think I’ve just been found, actually,” he chuckled, finally finding his voice. 

Her smile seemed to grow brighter, the little crinkles around her eyes deepening as she flushed deeply. 

Loki had offered her a coffee, and she took it. He’d been living in bliss ever since.

She’d come to San Francisco to be an artist, picking up little commissions here and there, working in various galleries and zipping from place to place to help out her fellow creators. She was constantly buzzing around, full of excitement and energy about the whole world around her, ready to take it on day by day.

She gave Loki courage, made him see the little details of this Odin-forsaken planet that he had mostly overlooked. He loathed to admit it, but she had made him love Earth, so long as she was on it. 

One day he would take her to Asgard, and he would watch as she painted the skies in her excitement and ecstasy. His world would be born anew in his eyes, just from the little things she would point out, things he’d never seen. 

They found time for one another whenever they could. Loki had kept himself busy working in various art fairs, finding himself a good organizer for such events. One activity that they had found pulled them together, besides the lovely rapture that was their sex, was cooking. Loki had taken it up when he arrived on Earth, mostly enjoying food closer to Asgard’s cuisines. She was from the South, whatever that meant Loki was not sure, but she insisted it meant all things ‘comfort food’. 

And comfort it gave. She’d shown him Tennessee Barbeque, ‘Pop Pop’s Soaked Ribs’, a bunch of things having to do with cottage cheese, and of course, desserts. 

He was settling down. Norns, if Thor could see him now. He’d likely have a joke or two to make of his unattached, emotionally distant brother finding love in such a creature as her. 

Loki could hear her now, singing some country song in the shower, her deep twang echoing off the tiles and through her small apartment. 

He was getting ready for the day, pulling on a deep green undershirt as he stood in his boxers. He pulled a pair of black slacks out of his little designated area of the closet and pulled them up.

As he buttoned them, he noticed they felt a bit tighter than the last time he’d worn them a few weeks ago. They had one of her art events to go to for lunch, and he’d been wearing jeans mostly when he was working at the fairs. 

Turning, Loki checked out his ass in the mirror. He still looked fabulous if he had to say, but his pants were tighter. 

Could this be a trick? Had Thor tracked him down and performed some spell to throw Loki off his game? It certainly would not be the first time something similar had happened. 

He lifted the shirt, turning to the side as he patted his tummy, his finger pinching along his sides as he sighed heavily. He stepped closer to the mirror, pressing the back of his hand under his chin. His mouth dropped open in shock, and he glared at his reflection.

He’d gained weight.

“I wouldn’t have nothin’ if I didn’t have you,” she sang as she walked back into the bedroom in a fluffy pink towel. She came up behind him and wrapped her hands around his waist, giving him a squeeze as she placed a kiss between his shoulders.

“Hey, handsome.”

Loki scoffed, feeling quite uncomfortable suddenly. She frowned against his back, her hands squeezing his sides lightly, his love handles.

He pulled away from her with a groan, the air feeling heavy around him. He turned to look at her, her lip set in a pout on her concerned face.

“I’m not feeling very handsome today, kitten.”

“Oh,” her frown set deeper for a moment, but was quickly replaced by a mischievous smile, “Is there something I can do to make you feel handsome?”

She tucked her lip between her teeth as she sauntered back up to him, placing her hands on his chest. He smiled down at her, his heart bursting in his chest. 

Loki dipped his head, catching her lips with his own. Her hands tangled into his hair as her towel fell away, and Loki took the opportunity to lift her into his arms and carry her over to the bed.

“I think I have something in mind,” he grinned, pulling her under the covers as she giggled from his touch. 

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

They arrived at the event a little late. The only craft she was not talented in was the art of makeup, but luckily Loki was, and they’d had to spend a few extra minutes covering up some of the hickeys someone had left on her neck and chest.

They were at some vegan restaurant in town that doubled as an art studio. Loki would never understand it, all these hybrid businesses were too niche, they’d have a hard time lasting in this market. But, she liked going and supporting other artists and friends, enjoyed having her art displayed on the walls of local businesses, and who was he to deny her that fun?

The little buffet table was filled with all sorts of leafy greens and vegetables of all colors. It was a vibrant exhibit, accentuated greatly by her art that complimented the bright green and orange paint job of the establishment.

“How come you don’t make food like this?” he asked, waving a blackbean taquito toward her as she gazed at another artist’s work.

“I make vegetables all the time,” she shrugged, snagging the taquito out of his hand and taking a bite.

“You make vegetables with Crisco, which I believe is just butter and animal fat mixed together.”

“I thought you liked my food, honey,” her big eyes clouded with worry, and his chest crumbled in an instant. 

“Oh, my sweet,” Loki sighed, snaking one of his hands around her waist, the other moving to cup her chin, “I do, it’s just-”

“Just what? You’ve been acting weird all day, Loki. What’s going on?”

He felt the heat creep across his cheeks, embarrassment flooding his every vein as he looked down at her. He hated feeling like this, vulnerable, but he wanted to be honest with her, to invest in this relationship.

“I’ve gained some weight recently… and I think it’s from your cooking.”

Her eyes widened in shock, “I haven’t noticed.”

His head cocked to the side, his lips pursing in disbelief. She noticed everything, from the ants on the sidewalk to the stars in the sky, she saw it all. 

“Loki, if you want me to make healthier meals, I’m more than willing. You just seemed to like my comfort recipes so much, and I wanted to make you things you liked,” she wrapped her arms around his waist, tugging his hips tightly against hers. “I have lots of recipes in my book, darlin’.”

“I do love your cooking. I guess I just feel a little… insecure right now,” he admitted, his face starting to cramp from the blazing blush across his nose.

“I really didn’t notice anything, but,” her hands dragged back to his belly, patting it softly as she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “Now that you mention it, I do like the little bit of cushion I’m feelin’.”

“Wow,” he chuckled, kissing her again. He covered her hands with his, giving them a soft squeeze of thanks. 

Suddenly, he had an idea. He leaned in and whispered hotly against her ear, “Think you can help me work some of it off?”

“Oh,” she feigned innocence, her southern drawl coming out in full force, “what kind of exercises do you have in mind?”

“The kind that includes me, you, and a locked bathroom door fifteen feet away,” Loki smirked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. 

“Oh, I’m gonna be so sore in the mornin’,” she laughed as Loki dragged her to the other end of the restaurant, admiring his ass in his trousers unabashedly. 

Loki pulled her into the bathroom, locking the door behind them as he lifted her onto the sink. She grinned at him, her eyes full of light as he looked at her lovingly.

His girl, his Southern Belle.

His favorite thing to eat.

[diaryofadaringwitch]

Tips for Solar Witches/Sun Worshippers During the Winter

If you're like me, in the Northern Hemisphere and dealing with winter- you might be finding it hard to be consistent with your witchy practice, especially if you're a green/nature witch.

Of course, magic is always present in nature but it can be harder to feel connected when everything is dormant, depending on your particular environment. Where I live, there are very few animals that stay active throughout the colder months and the plant life here thrives in our hot and humid summers.

I've always had difficulty with my nature practices in the winter, but this winter I'm facing a new obstacle- worshipping a deity associated with the sun. And yes, Apollo has many other domains like music and poetry, but the sun is still one of the most recognizable of His symbols.

So what's a witch to do?

Well, I've collected a few ideas that I've begun incoporating into my practice that I hope will be useful to you. While I am a devotee of Apollo, these ideas can be applied to any deity associated with the sun or just used as an aspect of secular witchcraft if your craft revolves around solar or green magic. 

1. Spend time outside

This one is obvious, but important to mention anyway. I am a big believer in the magical powers of sunlight, since Vitamin D is a main component of multiple compounds that keep our brains happy. Go for a walk, enjoy your morning coffee on the front porch, or even linger a bit after you take out the trash. Look up at the sky and take a deep breath, allowing the light to wash over you and fill you with its life-giving energy.

This is also a great opportunity to practice earthing. I don't practice this very often in the winter (no thanks, frostbite) but if the day is warmer than normal, it's a great way to connect with the energy in the Earth, even if it's dormant. Just make sure to be safe and keep an eye out for any hazards.

2. Saying thanks at meals

Being raised Catholic, prayer at mealtimes feels very natural to me and since I'm home for the holiday break, it's an easy form of discreet practice. Sunlight is ultimately responsible for every bit of food we eat, so giving thanks before I eat is a great way to show my appreciation for the abundance of energy and life the sun provides. This doesn't have to be elaborate or a singular prayer you say every time. Try pausing for ten seconds to focus on your meal, how it will fuel your body, and how you are grateful for it.

3. Using alternatives to artificial light

As we approach the solstice, the days become shorter and shorter, leaving less and less daylight for us to enjoy. A great way to honor the sun during these limited hours is to find alternatives to artificial/electric light sources. Use candles, fireplaces, or oil lamps to add light where you need it. The flame from a candle is a minature sun, fueling and warming our lives. 

If you want to challenge yourself, make light an offering. Try to spend a day without turning on any electric lights in your home, or limiting your source of light to only one or two key lamps. During the day, you can open your blinds and let the natural light in, appreciating it for every moment that it shines on the world.

4. Music/Devotional Playlists

This one is slightly more specific to Apollo, but I highly encourage you to make a devotional playlist to your deities or to the sun and play it throughout your day. Listen to one of my favorite playlists here.

You can get super creative with this. Think about what songs you associate with a bright, sunny day and add those. If you have a strong connection with the beach & sunlight, try listening to ocean sounds or ambience during a meditation session or just when you're going about your day.

5. Embrace the cold and darkness

Like it or not, winter teaches an important lesson. There is no light without shadow, abundance without hardship, summer without winter. Winter is not the enemy of the sun, but a natural complement, just as death is the natural complement to life. As hard as it is, take some time to think about what has left your life or what you need to let go of before you can move on to the season of spring renewal and growth. Take time to mourn that which you have lost, to fully acknowledge regrets and what you could have done better.

This is not to make you feel bad about yourself or about the tragedies of this particular year, but to face them as they are, not avoid them or diminish them. I truly believe that we cannot ignore the darker parts of our lives or our world if we are to truly grow and move on from them. This isn't easy, so please take care of yourself and don't push yourself beyond what you are mentally and emotionally prepared for. When in doubt, go talk to a professional.

6.  Plan a celebration and ritual for the Winter Solstice

If you're in the northern hemisphere, you still have plenty of time to prepare something special for the winter solstice on Monday, December 21st. The longest night of the year is a great chance to do any of the aforementioned ideas, or create your own ritual to honor wintertime. It's the first day of Yule, so I know that many of you will already have celebrations or traditions planned, but the solstice is one of my absolute favorite days.

At the end of the longest night- the sun rises with a bright and shining glow as winter will begin to recede. If you can, you can stay awake for the longest night until the sun rises or I always make sure I wake up early enough to watch the sunrise and welcome the start of the Yule season. (I'll be sharing a list of virtual Yule ideas soon, so keep an eye out for that.)

I hope this helps you feel more connected to our amazing sun during this colder season. Feel free to add your own tips and rituals below, including your deity associations if that's a part of your practice.

If you're a witch and your practice is especially connected to the winter months, I would love love love to talk with you and learn more. I've been working on embracing the winter season as part of my practice and I would love to learn from you.

Have a wonderful day, fellow witches. Stay safe, mask up, and be blessed!

-Kate

[thesunshinebunny]

When the world falls apart, the only thing we can hold onto is ourselves (Part V)

Series Master list

pairing: canon Eren Jaeger x reader

content: Angst, unstable relationship, breakup, smut/nswf+18, major character death, violence, blood (obviously), war (pretty obvious)

summary: War and hate. It’s what defined the world at this exact moment. You failed your comrades, and by failing them, you failed yourself. Your relationship is hanging by a thread and your enemies will not only be found on the other side of the sea, but also in the mind of the person you love the most. How will you take the reins in the face of so much destruction?

Chapter summary: Eren and reader meet face to face and are determined to put an end to the tension that has been building around them since Eren returned from Marley.

Word Count: 7.9k 

The light wind blew the few leaves that had fallen from the trees around me at the same time that it generated a slight comfort, as if the same wind was hugging me and holding me between its countenance. The branches moved to the beat of it sweet music and danced a slow tango around two figures ready to end the other. We were both facing each other, each positioned perfectly and vertically above the other's line of sight, only a few steps separated, perhaps two meters apart, but still the difference wasn’t an obstacle to inspect each other.

Eren standed stiffly on the muddy floor, a position that was becoming a habit lately every time he was about to confront someone, either with words or with blows. His shoes were dirty and torn, some small holes showed through the cloth. Strands of hair fell on his forehead and some were stuck to the skin due to the mud and earth that the footsteps threw into the air. His eyes...just as empty of any light and life that might exist.

His jaw was clenched as well as one of his fists, I didn't find any sign his hand was hurt or his palm was bleeding and dropping a few drops to the floor, so I assumed it wasn’t in his plans to transform here and now. But that didn’t mean that I could be calm.

As for me, surely Eren was looking at me the same way a wolf looks at a little sheep or a poor dwarf white rabbit, one of the most defenseless animals in the food chain. Apparently I was the meal and it was time for lunch. But I was very sure that Eren hadn’t limited himself to looking at me with that horrible analogy, he’d surely noticed my torn and bloody clothes, as well as dirty with mud and some other things that I wanted not to investigate or put my nose in them. He had probably also noticed the multiple scratches on the skin of my arms and on my face, wounds already dry and in the process of healing thanks to the sweat from adrenaline and the race through the forest made in a few minutes. He had probably noticed little strands sticking to the crook of my neck and cold sweat dripping down my spine.

I don't doubt he surely noticed the fire burning in my eyes, my gaze radiating determination, a determination to get out of this place as unscathed as possible and find a way to fix this whole damn situation. He would have noticed how my figure was a reflection of his, I wouldn’t move if he didn’t move, I wouldn’t stop squeezing a finger if I didn’t see he stopped squeezing his. It was like being on the other side of a mirror, copying each and every one of the other's movements.

"So ... wanna make the first move?" My breathing was ragged, however neutral my face might be. Inside I was afraid, I was always afraid, it was a normal feeling and sensation. I was already used to feeling this unconditional fear when going out into the world.

The wind blew around us again, it was like a sweet melody cradling my ears, it was like feeling a hand caressing my battered face, a caress that I hadn't felt for a long time. If the moment had been different, it would have taken me some time to close my eyes and enjoy the breeze. If I did that right now, I would end up badly beaten and dejected, perhaps dead as well.

The breeze was dancing for a few seconds and stopped short, as if the world and time itself had stopped, only the two of us were able to move and yet neither did. Everything around us was silent, not the chirping of a cricket or the footsteps of an animal could be heard. Neither did any footsteps or voices from the other Jaegeristas, completely ignoring their locations, while ignoring the whereabouts of my beloved horse. It was just me and Eren in this little airless bubble.

Seconds of silence and in an instant Eren stepped forward and instinctively I stepped back, letting my left foot hold much of my weight on this. I was leaning back with the possibility of running if necessary, but knowing Eren I would only run a couple of meters before having him on my back and holding me like we’re playing hide and seek. My hands were raised to my torso, palms facing the ground and in position to become fists or grab something, whatever was out of the trees to counter or defend myself.

It wasn’t a position that I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with, was like reliving the old days as cadets in training, each one trying to search for the opponent's strengths and weaknesses, evaluating the chances of attack and their effectiveness. It really was like self-defense practices, practices that Eren put so much effort and determination into. I used to watch him from afar when my partner ended up on the ground given the multiple blows to the stomach that I had so proudly learned from my father. I used to see his frustrated face when Annie managed to knock him down with a simple leg movement or when Reiner was too abrupt to the point of knocking him to the ground from his high height. And yet, no matter how many blows and humiliations the poor boy felt when practicing self-defense, he never stopped fighting and asking for more blows, as if violence and physical damage were his only form of training. Already in the first practices I knew he was completely crazy, that he had something bad in the head, but his determination and that sparkle in his eyes when he got angry at losing, in the same way that a small child gets angry when they don’t have what they wants, was what caught my attention the most.

I used to fight him repeatedly in these same practices, being positioned in the same places we are now, one of us with a flabby wooden knife, but capable of doing a lot of damage if we didn’t use it properly. I was already used to the agile movements that I could perform with a simple kitchen and hunting knife, living much of my lifetime in the middle of a small town lost in the woods. I was used to defending myself and attacking animals with little rational intelligence, which made them much more dangerous than a simple human. I was equally used to dodging punches, and punches, able to redirect them and hit the weakest points of my prey. But I wasn't used to the low blows this boy was capable of. I always had to cover my back because I didn't know when he was going to jump on me and throw me to the ground, like the first time I knocked him down with a blow to the chin and when I was about to change partners, he grabbed my back and neck to throw myself on the floor and make me eat dirt. I didn't know if even throwing him to the ground multiple times he would go against my leg and bend it, hitting my head not only against the floor but also against his shoulder. I didn't know when he would apply the same technique Annie had taught him weeks ago. Unarmed or with a damn wooden knife Eren was dangerous because he was willing to keep fighting, even if he was going to fight dirty, without rules or codes.

I have faced him multiple times throughout the three years of training and in each confrontation there was something new that surprised us both, be it his various angry movements or my simple stances and punches capable of stopping the fight in any way. And that same uncertainty was also reflected in the times we went out to fight with what, at that time, we thought were simple and common titans, unable to deduce the actions of the other, evading death many more times than we could count.

And all that uncertainty and determination on the battlefield started with simple training with the wooden knife. A wooden knife.

A knife.

I withdrew my hand from in front of me and with great care I directed it towards the back pocket of my pants, without stopping looking at Eren who had taken advantage while I wandered in my imagination to approach and settle half the distance that separated us. When my hand reached the pocket, I stuck my thumb and forefinger inside it, grasping a small doctor's knife which I apparently had unconsciously put away in the morning when I finished treating my last patient. I secured it tightly and kept my hand behind my back until Eren again took a big step towards me and, in a protective movement, I positioned the knife in attack mode, eye level, as if was a real fight knife.

"Well that's not very fair-"

With a clean flick of the wrist the small knife rested on my thumb and forefinger and I tossed it to the side, striking perfectly even on the bark of a tree. It had been nailed cleanly and the sound it generated on impact gave certainty that it would be difficult to get it out of that place. Eren never moved from where he was, he simply followed the movements of my hand and at the moment of impact he inspected the cut on the bark before turning his gaze to me.

“I am unarmed… without weapons, without my movement gear, just my bare hands. But it still wouldn't be a fair fight, would it?"

In the four years that we were officially in the legion, at no point had we taken a day to practice our close combat as we did before. You could say that our fighting days were over on the night of our graduation. Although those days were behind us, I was completely sure he had never stopped training, he would continue to launch those unpredictable movements at any moment, let alone his unnatural power.

"You have your titan powers and each hit that hits you will heal, instead I will continue to bleed and spend days with a black eye and broken bones, if that is the case"

I saw what his fists could do to someone like Armin and what they had done to my neck and nose, if this fight went on longer than it should or turned in a bad movement, my body was going to end much worse than it already was; I was even beginning to think that maybe Eren would go as far as turning into a titan and crushing me once and for all. I had to be careful and hoped luck was on my side to make it out alive a second time.

“Come on, let's finish it once and for all” In position and waiting for the first hit, this is how they taught us and this is how I would be mentally prepared from now on, until the moment of my death, even if it were in a few minutes.

He was the first to cut the distance between us, raising his fist to my face. His knuckles slammed into my arm, propelling it toward the contour of my face by the wave and force of the impact. His other fist tried to hit the pit of my stomach, but I could catch his movement and block him with my other arm, hitting him to no effect with the bone. I raised my left leg to hit him on the ribs, but like me, Eren was faster and dodged just in time, avoiding my foot and moved it to the side. As I touched the ground again, I raised my leg again and this time I managed to hit him on the hip, propelling him forward and hitting his body again, this time with my right knee on his face.

His body didn’t move from where he had fallen to the floor, sensing that my blow hadn’t been strong enough to unbalance him, but to mislead him for a second. His face was thrown back by the impact of my knee and I hit him again in the same way, this time right in the center of the face, right on the septum and the mouth. My hand lunged for his hair, grabbing his already disheveled manbun and pushing his head back, my other hand was about to hit right in the neck area, but before I could even put my fingertips on him, his fingers closed tightly on my wrist and twisted it outward, drawing an uncomfortable groan from my throat.

His other fist managed to make a hook towards my chin causing me to loose the grip on the manbun, my legs were unbalanced and I felt blood spurt into my mouth, and one of his feet rose high enough to hit me in the chest and pull me towards him. back and hitting the head squarely against the hard dirt floor. Eren wasted no time and took a short leap towards my figure and placed his hands on my neck for the third time that day. It was like reliving the restaurant scene, me on the floor and him finding a way to position himself on me and immobilize me.

"God, what about you and your choke kink?" With my throat so battered in such a short time, I could barely speak and what I managed to get out was nothing more than hoarse and breathy moans, as if my voice was breaking little by little.

Both of my hands went straight under his armpits holding them in the shape of a sword and digging the bony ends into his weak skin. His arms loosened, giving me the chance to elbow him on the back of his neck and push him away from my body. I put my hands on the ground and got back to my feet with my arms and legs now muddy and dirty, but what was my intention to put myself on guard ended up turning into a new face fall down to the floor, having one of his legs hooked on my knee and making any escape movement impossible. I hit him hard with my free leg on the knee that was hooking me, managing to displace it and perhaps break it on the spot given the creaking sound that echoed through the bark of the trees. With my leg released, I turned around and now that same leg was on his broken knee, applying pressure to the floor, and my other leg took a moment to impact right on his face. His body was now flat on the floor and I positioned myself on top of him without wasting time, pulling his arm back and hitting his ribs with the elbow of my free arm. One, two, three blows, until I felt an impulse bring my body back to the floor as well as a blow on my left cheekbone. I hadn't seen his fist come to my face when he lunged against my body to get me off.

His knee hit me in the pit of my stomach, curling into a fetal position and his fist slammed again into my cheekbone. I tried to scratch his arm the same way I did with his face hours ago, but I failed miserably, as if the pain of the flesh peeling off his skin didn't affect him at all. So I hit his knee with mine, moving him off my stomach, driving him to the ground, and back hitting him on the ribs. Eren lifted his body for a moment to avoid taking any more impacts and gave me enough time to place my legs under his chest and stretch them towards and send him flying against the tree behind him.

Now I could easily stand up, but the pain in my stomach made it difficult for me to breathe and to be able to stand firmly on the ground. I took quick strides towards his body and when my foot was about to hit his face, Eren wiped away a considerably thick branch from the ground and struck my face with the tip, impacting the leaves and small branches on my wounds and throwing me to the ground from the burning. I was in four against a tree, behind me I heard how the dry leaves crunched under Eren's feet and how he was getting up to jump on my back; But this time, I was faster and managed to turn around to hit my leg on his neck for a good time and throw him again towards a crooked tree on our side, hitting his neck against the bark and tearing the skin with friction. From where I was lying I could see blood coming out of his neck, it seems he had torn the jugular area and was bleeding. I could also see the pain on his face and how his body was getting rid of the tension that the fight had caused.

We were both gasping for air, at the moment neither of us could take it anymore and both bodies were asking for a limit, but I knew it was a matter of time before Eren fully recovered and a new fight would take place again. If there was a moment to act, this was perfect. I tried to get up, but my back didn’t give in to my directions and I was thrown back to the floor. My eyes were fixed on the tops of the trees, which let a few rays of the sun slip into our little forest bubble. The sight was almost angelic, if it weren't for the multiple blows that were burning like a bonfire. I saw how some leaves fell slightly accompanied by the wind which had blown again when our fight ended. I felt physical and mental relief as I listened as the smoke rose from Eren's skin, quickly healing his wounds, but still suffering from the bleeding in his neck. My vision began to blur, nothing that was in front of me was seen clearly and I was afraid I was about to faint.

Ahead of me I began to see a familiar sight, quite familiar indeed; the training days, Eren and me in our younger years. I saw us in one of our first confrontations, being completely dirty from the sandy earth but still standing on our two feet, our eyes like daggers about to be thrown at our opponent. Each one prepared to deliver what seemed like the last blow and define the confrontation before ending the day and heading off to the canteen for dinner, ready to define our fifth confrontation with hatred for the other in the veins. Eren, as not, was the first to approach and to be dodged by a young me and give him a poor punch in the face. He complained about the impact, backing off for the next instant to pounce on my shoulder and hook me on the knee to finally throw me sideways to the ground for the fourth time in that three-hour workout. I groaned in pain and grabbed onto my shoulder, injured and battered from so many blows. I stretched out on the floor, in the same way that presumably I was now and I stared at the orange sky, observing how little by little the sun was setting on the horizon and fine dark blue lines welcomed the night.

"Ha, how many times have I beat you today?" his voice and breathing were ragged but still I could tell the false vanity and self-centeredness in his words. He had hunched over his knees resting his tangled hands on them and brought his face closer to mine, covering my beautiful sight and replacing it with his horrible green eyes. I fixed my gaze on his damn crooked smile, the same one he gave to any asshole he had the guts to challenge and finish. I closed my eyes to avoid looking at him and in less than a second I moved my leg over his, hitting his balance and causing him to fall headlong to the floor, hitting the side of his temple. The blow echoed across the ground, earning laughter from some of our friends and whispers around us. I didn't stop to listen to what stupid people might be saying about what had just happened, but stood up heavily, still having a semi air of victory over my body, I wiped my hands on my pants, which deserved a full-fledged clean, and I ducked down to his figure on the floor.

"Not so bad for a country one, huh?" and with that I turned and walked towards the canteen, hoping to be in time before Sasha ate my slice of bread like most nights.

Back at my self lying on the muddy, doughy ground, my breathing come back to normal before my vision returned to having the leaves of the trees in sharp focus. I felt a great heaviness on my body and at the same time I felt like a feather, as if I was experiencing an out-of-body episode ... or was simply rambling. I got up in the same way as in that wonderful memory which for some strange reason happened to appear in my consciousness, and I leaned back on a tree before compiling myself and dragging my feet on the leaves.

"That’s it, I’m done" To be honest, I couldn’t do this anymore. To be honest, I wanted to disappear from the face of the earth and reincarnate in another life, many years in the future. To be honest, my sanity couldn't keep fighting anymore, but I was too cowardly to take my own life. I was tired, not only tired of fighting, but tired of this damn world that the only thing that achieved was to put us in a circle of hatred and anger between each other.

I took a few more steps towards some side of the forest, knowing that I had no idea where I was going, if it was the same side I came from or another completely different, heading right towards the hands of the Jaegeristas. Likewise, if they caught me, they would take me to the others. Would it have been worth it to have escaped from the beginning? Surely not, but I was praying with my few walking neurons that I had managed to take a little time out of them.

"I can still going"

I heard him say a few meters behind me. I could still hear the smoke coming from his veins, this time with much more vigor, a sign that he was about to heal completely. Damn bastard, he'd perfected his healing technique over the years and it didn't take more than five minutes to heal all of his wounds.

"Well I can't!" I screamed reluctantly, as if I was trying to convince myself to give me a break, even if that break meant losing the battle against a terrorist group.

My feet kept moving over the leaves until they hit a fallen tree branch and half caught up with it, causing me to lose my balance and fall sideways onto the bark of the same tree. I instinctively placed my hand and with the fall, the hand didn’t stay sufficiently attached to the surface and drifted to the side, scratching my skin and exposing the raw flesh. I rested my healthiest shoulder on the surface and held my hand. The blood came out slowly, in time with the rapid pumping of my heart, the palm was throbbing and I felt that throbbing not only in that area but also in my ears and in my chest. I blew on the wound to remove the small traces of dirt and grime on the flesh.

"I'm tired of continue fighting, I'm tired of fighting with you and I'm tired of this world, I'm going home"

"What home?" ok, of all the things Eren could have said right now, or all the things he said to me over the past few weeks, this was the one that had hurt the most, the one that had touched my heart the most.

The image of my mother being killed in front of me by a bullet in the head at the age of ten, the image of my father or what was left of him returning to my village after years in training, the image of my family's house destroyed and split in half, while parts of the steps were burned and made charcoal. The image of a cabin in the middle of a field, far from the city, calm, empty and silent, the one that for a couple of years was my residence and now it was used by the queen herself to give birth to the heir. All those images appeared in my mind without invitation to haunt me in a matter of seconds until I gave my answer.

"To what is left of it" I broke away from the surface of the tree and devoted myself to looking ahead and following the path that at first I was taking.

“Wait” behind me the sound of the smoke had stopped and the only thing I could hear was the rustling of the leaves under Eren, who was getting up and standing on his feet.

I ignored his claim and kept walking, always looking ahead and taking good care of where I stepped, I wasn’t in the mood to rip my other hand or fall back on the one that was already badly hurt.

“I said fucking wait” was the only thing I heard before feeling his hands on mine and my shoulder.

I no longer know how many times my back was hit against a surface, I just knew that at this point it would be full of bruises or most likely my back would be a whole bruise, having all the skin covered in a nice purple or black color. My head suffered the same fate, chunks of bark digging into my scalp and some snagging on my hair. Strands got tangled over small branches halfway out of the trunk and pulled my head that way, putting me in a very uncomfortable position. The hand Eren was holding stretched forward, threatening to stretch it further and dislocate my shoulder in the process, the other hand holding my shoulder tightening more and more against my flesh while holding the bone in an impossible way with his long, slender fingers.

If my heart wasn’t already racing too much, the pulsations went crazy when I felt his hand leave mine calmy and position my arm at my side with great care to move to free a lock of hair from the bark and position it behind my ear. Then he stroked my cheek in the same way he had done so many times before. His thumb wandered over my shallow cuts, pulling out the dried blood that had accumulated, and made circular motions over my badly injured cheekbone, as if he was trying to remove the pain that he himself had caused. I leaned my head to the side trying to prevent him from keep touching me, fixing my gaze on the floor, on his feet, on mine, and I hid my face behind the few strands that were loose.

“Look at me” his voice was nothing more than a whisper, only the silence of the forest gave the opportunity to hear him clearly.

My gaze remained embedded in the grass that surrounded the tree below our feet. His thumb, now positioned on my lower lip, forcefully applied pressure downward on the open flesh, parting my two lips and sticking his finger in just enough to play with the tips of my teeth. His index finger came under my chin and forced me to turn my head in his direction.

“Fuck. Look at me! ” His eyes penetrated mine and for the first time in a long time I could see a small glow reflected in them. But that glow, I guessed, wasn’t good at all. It wasn’t the same kind Eren had when he was fifteen, knowing he had the whole world ahead of him and he could be of use to humanity, but instead was the same kind he had before annihilating with extreme anger his opponent.

We stare at each other, his face getting closer to mine. I could feel his breath on my skin and his thumb was still playing with my teeth. The hand that was holding my shoulder began to caress the skin that was visible outside the shirt, over my neck, also sore and full of scratches.

In an attempt to get him to leave my lip alone, I bit down on the tip of his thumb, not hard enough to rip off a piece of meat, but hard enough to make him fucking pull his finger out of my mouth. He waved his hand trying to ease the pain and grabbed my other cheek, stretched it out, pinched it and left a red mark on the area, burning me for a few seconds.

"I missed you back in Liberio" He grabbed a lock of my neck and twisted it between his fingers, playing for a moment and pulling the roots so that my head leaned forward.

The fingers on the skin of my neck continued it’s movements, sometimes going towards the back of my neck, scratching the beginning of the root and pulling a few strands. The caresses were soft, like the massage of a feather, it gave me chills up my spine at the same time that I was having trouble breathing with each step of his fingertips on the bone of my neck. He stopped playing with my lock and cupped one of my cheeks in the palm of his hand, his skin cold compared to mine, warm from adrenaline. It was a somewhat invasive sensation, but at the same time, comforting and uncertain. His thumb again made circular motions over the wounded skin but this time avoiding the scratch marks.

"I missed the warmth of your cheeks and the shapes of your hands" His face moved closer to my neck, his nose brushing against the bruised skin and his breath tickling the tender spots between my neck and collarbone. His breathing made me shudder from head to toe, as if lightning had struck my body.

"Eren" it was pathetic to see how with a simple touch, my body responded so submissively.

I was trembling and not from the wind that blew from time to time over us, but from the multiple caresses on my neck; my cheek being forgotten and now the waist was being the focus point, his lips playing with my mental stability as he delicately rested on me neck, but not enough to lean on and kiss it. My brain was telling me everything was wrong, that I shouldn't be doing this, but my body asked for more, asking for a break, relax and let go. My innermost desires were screaming, begging, to be released, imploring me to succumb and break the tension that was obvious to them, but less to me.

What seemed like endless minutes, were limited seconds before I felt Eren's lips on my warm skin, his hand now resting completely on my neck and my waist, drawing me closer to him, at the same time that he imprisoned me against the tree. I was in the middle of two hard walls and unconsciously I didn't feel like moving. His soft lips compared to his hands and his acting from the last year, roamed under my chin and collarbone, making a path up and down, always repeating the same line of kisses that he left behind. The more kisses he implanted, the more aggressive, open and needy they were, all the while getting wetter and leaving a trail of saliva all around. His knee shifted between my legs, separating them and lifting me to sit barely on his leg, my crotch gently placed on his covered flesh and with each movement his leg applied the necessary pressure to begin get pathetic moans out of me.

"Better keep quiet, you don't want others to find out about our whereabouts" he growled through his teeth as he continued attacking my neck. Now I was sure that, not only would I end up with scratches, but also a few hickeys if Eren wasn't careful enough. What would be more embarrassing? They founding us hot and bothered against a tree or the fact that I was getting carried away sexually with the most wanted person in Paradis?

"Fuck, Eren ..." the hand on my waist tightened and I grabbed onto him, pulling me impossibly closer, fusing both bodies, one against the other's chest.

His hand guided my body back and forth, continuing to generate pressure on my core, a sweet agony that built very slowly, too slow for my liking. My legs were starting to feel numb from the bad posture Eren had me in and were shaking as his leg touched a weak spot. His fingers intertwined with my locks, tightening them and pulling my head back, having better access to my neck and being able to run his teeth through the fine skin. Eren always had a damn habit of biting, and biting hard, not to the point of bleeding, but under the circumstances, I doubted he had enough self-control to even mind ripping the skin. When his fangs aggressively bit my collarbone I grunted in discomfort, but even that feeling, the pleasure was much better. It hurt and it felt good.

Another bite, this time reaching the shoulder. His hand left my hair in peace and stretched the shirt, revealing more clearly his work on my neck and how the curve of my shoulder became more visible under the fabric.

My breathing was shaking, my hands resting on his biceps trying to find a point of balance, my nails dug into his jacket and my leg trying to curl over his for fear of falling. When his teeth came into contact with my shoulder again, aiming for the bone, I screamed in pain, pressing my body against his to dissipate the burning of his teeth on the broken skin. He let go of my shirt and squeezed my cheeks, fixing his eyes on mine violently and commanding me to shut up.

"Stay quiet if you don't want me to fuck you raw until you bleed" Before such a comment I was speechless, my neurons could not connect and I was left blank; the only thing in command now was my animalistic desire.

"Make me"

His lips slammed against mine, needy and eager. They were dry, too dry, and every brush against mine hurt, but neither of us cared about having two pairs of chapped and possibly bleeding lips. All we cared about was melting into each other. My hands dug into the hollow of his neck and his bun, which was already disarmed and strands fell on his forehead and sides, some fell right in front of his eyes, tickling my forehead and eyelashes.

I felt his hands descend to the curve of my butt and grab a good chunk of both cheeks before fully holding them. A little pressure and I was already jumping so I could hold on comfortably. Now we could both feel the center of each other, hot, throbbing and twitching. Every move Eren made to hold us together against the tree sent chills through my entire body, his notoriously erect and hard member rose in the right places and my moans were drowned out by his savage lips.

My nails dug into the back of his neck as I felt a stronger and more violent thrust on my sweet spot. I wanted it, needed it, and desired it. I wished this lustful feeling was the only thing I felt, that I would succumb and refuse to feel any other feelings. I wanted to give myself to him and use me if it meant letting go of all the negativity that had accumulated for weeks. I wanted to remove his clothes from him, to feel his sculpted, chunky muscles on the palms of my hand, wanted to feel his chest throbbing and warm on mine, wanted him completely. I pulled the jacket off his shoulders, getting stuck in his arms. Eren dropped me on the floor with a spear and took off his jacket to leave it god knows where.

"Hey! What the fuck- ”He didn't take long to kiss me again, now with his colossal body on top of mine.

I felt small under him, much more submissive, the sensation of his hands prowling the ends of my torso, reaching under the shirt and feeling my skin burning didn’t fix anything to the situation. His fingertips tickled my stomach, making me shudder every time they made their way to my abdomen. His tongue played with mine, distracting me from his deft fingers and his wickedness as he moved towards my chest and began to work on my nipples. He was a teassing bastard. His fingers poked and twisted one of my red, erect pebble. It was torturous to feel like between the puncture and the circular movement he took the time to stretch it and make it harder. With his other hand, he held my hip next to his, keeping it in it’s place as he balanced his hips against my pelvis. My legs opened involuntarily to better feel his member and in an agile movement he positioned himself between them, reconnecting both hips and placing them on both sides and holding him at the waist. With this, neither could escape the grasp of the other and we slowly melted away with each thrust and twist.

His hand came out from under my shirt and he started unbuttoning my shirt, one damn slow button at a time. Having my chest semi-exposed, his lips wandered towards my clavicle, passing the corner of my lips, the cheek, the jaw and the already sensitive neck, causing a groan to come out unexpectedly. His lips on the crook of my neck, his hands on the skin of my abdomen and his crotch on mine, I felt like I was exploding. I didn’t know where to put my hands, they went through his tousled hair, his shoulders, his biceps until they ended up under his shirt, feeling insecurely on the fingertips as touching his marked abs.

Every time I had the opportunity to admire his sturdy and worked body, it never ceased to amaze me how well puberty had done to him. His body able to surround me and cover me against the floor, pressing so that we could both feel the heat emanating from the other. I hadn't been able to tell him when he was in prison, but seeing him hunched over and exposing his torso and back muscles really had a great effect on me, seeing him wet, being able to discern some drops falling from his head onto his neck, was like seeing an oasis and I was a thirsty one, eager to sink my face into its sweet waters. I had been deprived of touching them at the time, but now that I was doing it, it wasn’t enough, I needed to see them with my own eyes as my fingers ran over them, while I ran my nails and left small marks that would dissipate in seconds. 

The hand back on my chest was the boost I needed to lift his shirt up to his neck. Eren detached himself from me for a few seconds and got rid of the garment in the same way as his jacket, but he didn’t attack my neck like I so much wanted. Instead, his eyes stayed glued to my chest, seeing the work his deft fingers had done on my swollen nipples.

"Fuck" he growled as he ran his eyes over my semi-naked submissive body on the grass.

He bent down to level with his desired pebbles and caressed them with both hands, both giving them equal attention. I let my head fall back, closing my eyes and enjoying the sensation, but there was a moment when his fingers weren't enough anymore. I brought my hand up to his head, running my nails over his scalp, and pulled him forward, leaving him inches from my needy nipples. Eren got the hint because he quickly ran his tongue over one of them while the other was still torturing with his thumb and index finger. His mouth closed on the nipple and he sucked like it’s the only thing able to keep him alive, too painful but that didn't matter to me. He left a trail of saliva when he separated from the bundle with a 'pop' and dedicated himself to giving the other the same attention. I groaned at the needed action, causing his dick to hit my core. I was losing his mind, it was too much and at the same time, it wasn’t enough. I needed to continue, I wanted it with every fiber of my being. My nails had nothing better to do than run down his back and my legs wedged closer to his waist. I felt his dick throb and couldn't help thinking of the veins that ran through it, ending on his pretty and red head, he pre-sum that was surely coming out and wetting his pants, I couldn't help but wish to had him inside me and feel those same veins brush my velvet walls and go crazy with each thrust.

As my thoughts wandered of what was to come, Eren's lips left my nipples and focused back on my neck, this time on the side where my scar was. He left little kisses around the shoulder and around the mark, running up and down the shape, ending a little above the chest. His action was too sweet, too tender compared to his wild and hungry movements. My eyes widened instantly, if his intention was to make me uncomfortable, he had done it. If the intention was to ruin the fervid and hectic moment by reliving the scariest moment of my life, he was damned succeeding. How could I keep my composure when he was kissing the mark I had "earned" by going on a mission to rescue him? How could I stay calm when the memories of an onslaught of titans haunted my mind again, ready to devour me while I was lying on the ground with my movement equipment displaced and my shoulder immobilized by the bleeding wound? The memory of a stone flying towards my face, dodging it at the last moment and ending up hitting my shoulder bone, dislocating it, tearing the skin and flesh and noticing how the blood spurted out, soaking my shirt and jacket. My breathing started to hit, and not in the good way, and apparently Eren wasn’t realizing or hadn't taken it the wrong way.

It was like a bucket of cold water in pure winter. My mind suddenly cleared and every trace of heat my body ever had dissipated, leaving only a cold, stiff container.

"Wait, wait...no, no, this is bad" I put my hands on his shoulders and jerked him off.

"Why?" His eyes didn’t deign to inspect mine. Any normal person in their right mind, just by looking at my pale face could deduct that something was wrong.

"Why? I- You are the number one enemy in the world and of the military police, I would have to give you up and not making up with you right now"

I was babbling as well as shaking. I got up and settled onto my legs, sitting stiffly on the ground. Eren had come to the side before my body crashed against his when I got up and he was looking at me without any expression, as if nothing had happened, as if the only one who had been feeling something, even if it was a minimal sensation of pleasure, it was me, and that made me feel sick.

"I would have to be angry, make you shit on the floor and take you to pieces towards the wall Sina" at any moment I was going to throw up, I knew it. I knew my body perfectly to know that in every moment of tension and panic, my stomach would start to annoy me, to go into spasms and hit me internally. "I shouldn't be doing this with you"

"Is that so bad? Listen to your desires, follow your instincts? " His hands came to rest on my waist and without any permission from me, he placed me on his lap, both of us being face to face, chest to chest.

His words entered my ears and stayed reverberating in my mind. What to do? I was doing everything wrong, but at the same time they felt so good. I wanted to continue thoroughly, but I knew that morally it was wrong, more than wrong, it was horrible what I was doing, anyone could tell me that. I felt bad about myself, but ... deep inside me, there was a small feeling that was getting bigger and bigger and wanted, screamed, to be released. I was so indecisive and overwhelmed that all I could do was cry.

Pathetic. I was really pathetic.

I lowered my head on his shoulder, keeping the tears from being visible to this callous shit. His hands on my waist didn't feel at all comforting as he began to move his thumb in a circular motion. My hands formed into fists and I hit his shoulders repeatedly, each hit receiving a kiss on the head. My energies were exhausted at the very begining and I rested my fists on my waist, my head now barely suspended in front of him, not looking at him.

"I hate you" he kissed my shoulder.

"I know" another kiss, this time on the other shoulder, on my scar.

"I fucking hate you" my knuckles turned white from how hard I was clenching my fists.

"I know" he kissed a tear that had escaped my lashes and was running freely down my cheek.

"You're a piece of shit"

I opened my eyes to find a pair of beautiful turquoise eyes, bright and full of life. Eren placed his hand on my cheek, running his thumb every time a tear fell down it. He leaned down and captured my lips with his sweetly, the tears falling and falling, faster and faster and more forming in my closed eyes. The kiss had a salty taste, my heart was about to leave my chest and when Eren broke away I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to take it anymore.

"…I know"

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[graniairish]

Walking on Eggshells – Part 2

Hello my dears. I just couldn't resist and had to write a second part. (maybe there will also be a part 3)

Pairing: Daryl x female! Reader

Words: 5159

Warnings: language, sexual content, NSFW, 18+ (my first attempt to write smut in English - hope it didn't get too bad)

Part one

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

"Um ... what ..."

You stood in the door of your room, confused. Hershel had finally released you into "home care" after almost a week of continuous surveillance in the infirmary. In your opinion, the older man was exaggerating a little. You were fine, you had no dizziness, and the headache was gone. But that did not stop Hershel from telling you to take it easy anyway.

Your beloved work in the vegetable fields had to wait for the time being.

Somewhat reluctantly, you had agreed to everything, only to finally be able to go back to your own four walls. You wanted to sleep in your own bed again, even if it was just a simple Prison bed in the former director's office. But still, it was your home.

But you did not expect what you found there now.

As if rooted to the ground, you stood in the middle of the room and looked around with big eyes in disbelief.

Your room, your little private realm, should actually be here. But the room in front of you was no longer your room. Your things were still there, but they were not the only ones that filled the shelves on the walls.

The most noticeable change, however, was your bed. It was still in the far corner of the room, but it looked absolutely strange. Because right next to it there was now a second, and the way the sheet was stretched over it made it look like a double bed.

"I thought Hershel wouldn't release ya until tonight," you heard Daryl's deep voice behind you.

Still slightly confused, you turned to the archer. He stood uncertain in the doorway, Crossbow slung over his shoulder, hands clasped on the strap. His blue eyes were fixed on you as he chewed the inside of his cheek - his nervous tic.

And how this man was nervous right now, and it was not just his ears that betrayed him - which had just turned deep red.

Daryl did not expect to find you here now. He actually wanted to talk to you about it first and not just put you in front of a fait accompli. Though, somehow, he would have done it one way or another.

He was afraid he had done something wrong, crossed a line, or something like that.

"I couldn't take it there any longer."

Only now did you notice that his hair was wet and still dripping. Could it be that he had showered?

Daryl nudged his nose up in a nod.

“I know we didn't talk about it,” he began uncertainly, “but Hershel said it would be better if someone took care of ya. And since there is no chance that ya will move back into the cell block, I thought that would be a good solution."

“That's right,” you had to smile, “I'm not going back there so quickly anymore. I like my privacy."

"Well, if it bothers you ... that I ... then ..."

"No no, I don't mind" you might answer a little too quickly, "I ... I was just ... surprised."

The man across from you felt instantly relieved. You, the woman he loved, wanted to live with him. He could hardly believe his luck.

Daryl took off his Crossbow and leaned it against the wall by the door before walking slowly towards you, his eyes full of love.

“Y/N/N we wasted so much time. I don't want to waste another minute. We don't know how much time we have left."

Daryl lovingly cupped your chin with two fingers while he gently touched your lips with his.

You could not help but melt into his touch. That you could do this now was still a miracle to you, and you would enjoy every single second of it to the full.

"But I sleep on the right side," you finally said with mischief in your eyes when your lips had separated.

"Forget it", Daryl snorted and went to the bed, "I'm sleepin’ between the door and ya."

You rolled your eyes with a smile. Always the protector.

"Don't think I didn't see that."

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

A few weeks had passed since the incident during your run. You are now working side by side with Rick in the vegetable fields again. The plants were blooming and developing fantastically - and they would be very good yielding.

After a long shower to wash dirt and sweat from your body, you made your way to the inner courtyard of the prison, which was used as a canteen during the warmer months of the year. Dinner had just started, and so all residents, regardless of whether they were old or new, huddled together to have their meal together.

When Daryl returned from his shift at the Guard Tower, he spotted you chatting with Carol who was just distributing the food. He liked how carefree you looked at that moment.

Without thinking about it, he walked over to you and greeted you with a kiss on the cheek before you had the chance to notice him.

"Yuck, don't do that," you giggled, "you're all sweaty."

"And hungry," he said with a grin.

Carol shook her head with a smile before filling two bowls and holding them out to you.

"Here take these, you lovebirds."

Taking the bowls Daryl nudged his nose up in a nod and went with you to the table where Glenn and Maggie were already sitting.

You had not noticed how your loving and familiar way of dealing with each other had been uncomfortable for some - or at least for one.

Michelle was sitting at a table with several other Woodbury residents and had been watching you with narrowed eyes. Green with envy, she got up at some point and went back to the cell block where she lived.

But Carol had noticed, and she would move heaven and earth to keep this woman from disrupting your relationship.

Little by little, Rick and the other members of your sworn family joined you to enjoy the meal together and to end the day.

"We should slowly start bringing our supplies up to date," Rick skillfully changed the subject.

That was his less than subtle way of reducing the conversation to necessities.

"Or in other words, time for a run," Daryl said in a nutshell.

“Tightly sealable preserving jars would be important. It will soon be harvest time and we have to preserve the fruit and vegetables. Thank God we have a lot more than we need right now."

That was the first thing that came to your mind. After all, it was important to have vitamins in winter too. Even if cooked fruit and vegetables were nowhere near as tasty as fresh ones. But in those times, you were grateful for everything. And in winter, fruit and vegetables were actually a luxury.

“We should also think about how to heat the buildings. The winter could last longer than we'd like”, Daryl expressed his concerns.

"If we had animals, pigs or goats, maybe even sheep, we would be better supplied with meat."

Hershel had always been a farmer, and you could only agree with the man with a smile.

"Or chickens," said Maggie with a dreamy look, "once again a real roast chicken, that would be something nice."

"Or turkey," you added.

"I just think you can't find something like that on the next street corner," said Glenn, who now leaned over the map that Rick had spread out in the middle of the table.

"Well, the weekly cattle market will probably be canceled."

Daryl's cynical response made you roll your eyes.

"If ya keep doin’ this, these things will eventually get stuck," he said in your direction with a raised index finger.

"That's what my grandmother always meant," you said with a shrug, "and nothing has happened so far."

“You both sound like an old married couple. Really disgusting”, Carl shook himself.

You and Daryl looked at each other questioningly for a moment before you slapped the boy lightly on the back of the head at the same time - he on the right and you on the left.

For about five seconds there was absolute silence at the table, until everyone started laughing uproariously as if on command - except for Carl, who was rubbing his head tightly.

“What that would prove,” Rick grinned as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, “but seriously now. Does anyone have any ideas?"

“I know there was a farm supply center in the south. From seeds to packaging material to combine harvesters, everything was there. The only question is whether that still stands."

Hershel leaned over the map and pointed to an area southeast of the Prison.

“That's a good hundred miles, and only if you drive on the main roads. It will be a run for several days on back roads."

Your stomach cramped painfully at Glenn's words. You knew that Daryl would go on the run. Unfortunately, since the incident, it had become very clear to you that there was no assurance that someone would come back from a run. And the thought that something might happen to Daryl made you uneasy.

“While we're there, we might as well stop by this huge warehouse complex 30 miles to the east. I think there are still some useful things there. "

Glenn glanced at the place on the map Maggie was pointing with her finger.

"Wasn't that an Amazon warehouse?"

"Yea, why are you asking?"

"Well, I think that this time it won’t work with overnight express."

At Glenn's stupid saying you had to smile, like everyone else. Though yours was more of a bitter smile. This run would certainly not be overnight.

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

"Everythin’ okay? Ya are never that quiet."

It was getting late. The moon was shining through the windows of your shared room and you could hear the crickets outside. You were snuggled close to Daryl, your head on his shoulder, your legs intertwined. You stared in silence into the darkness of your room, which was only faintly illuminated by the moonlight.

Daryl gently stroked your back. Usually there was something incredibly calming about it, and it never took you long to fall asleep relaxed - but not today. The worries about what could go wrong with the run did not let you calm down that night.

In a few hours he would be gone with Maggie and Glenn, as well as a few others. The fear of losing him paralyzes your thoughts.

"Ya don’t sleep. I know that. I can hear ya thinkin’."

You did not answer, just took a deep breath - in and out again. What should you say?

> I'm afraid something will happen to you <

> I'm scared of losing you <

> Please don't go <

There was nothing to be said, just that nagging feeling was there. This fear that the man by your side could suddenly be snatched away from you.

Daryl put his arm around you and hugged you tight as he kissed the top of your head and let his lips linger there for a moment.

"We're a well-coordinated team," he finally began as he leaned his head against yours, "and it's not the first time we've done such a big tour."

It almost seemed as if Daryl had read your mind, yet all his confidence could not take away your worries.

"I promise I'll come back to ya."

"You can't promise that Daryl."

The archer released his hug and shifted his weight so that you were eventually half under him. Leaning on his left arm, he looked down at you, the contours of your face only faintly visible in the light of the darkness.

"I promise I will come back to ya Y/N. We both have our whole lives ahead of us, and I don't intend to miss a second of it."

"Nobody knows ..."

But you did not get any further, Daryl's lips were instantly on yours. At first the kiss was deep and full of longing, but after a while it became more and more hungry. Your fingers ran through his hair and played with them on the back of his neck while your tongues fought for dominance.

As Daryl's hands slowly moved down your ribs, your lips parted for a much-needed breath.

Right at the beginning of your relationship, you discussed that sex would not be an issue for you for the time being. After what had happened to Lori, Daryl simply could not and did not want to take the risk of pregnancy. Condoms were not to be found for a long time. And neither of you wanted to play Russian roulette - like Maggie and Glenn.

But there were other ways of showing how much you loved each other, how much you wanted each other - other ways of having fun together.

Daryl's right hand went down to your ass, which he gripped tightly as he pulled you close.

You moaned softly as you could feel him rubbing his growing erection on your most sensitive spot. Your arms wrapped around his neck as you pulled him closer to you. An approving growl left his mouth as he left hot kisses on your neck, making sure to suck the spot that caused your thighs to tighten around him.

You ran your trembling fingers through his hair, trying to hold onto the feeling of his lips against your skin.

The hand on your ass eventually moved down the back of your thigh - as he pulled it closer - which changed the angle of your pelvis significantly. The lustful moan that came out of your lips as you rubbed against him only made him harder against the layers of clothing.

God how good it felt for him when you took your pleasure into your own hands. But you did not get far, because Daryl's kisses slowly wandered further down. A pleasant shiver ran through you.

You knew exactly what he was up to and the anticipation made you almost impatient.

But he took his time, first freed you from your shirt and then devoted himself to your nipples with relish - first the right, then the left - until they were both hard and upright.

The longing feeling in your most private place became more and more unbearable and in an attempt to get some friction, you tried to rub yourself against his thigh.

Daryl only chuckled.

"Impatient, are we?"

Daryl's kissed down your stomach before leaning back. He was now kneeling between your legs. For a moment he soaked up the picture in front of him, burned it into his memory. How you laid in front of him, lower lip between your teeth, breathing heavily, your legs spread, the unmistakable traces of your arousal on your underwear.

A moan came from your lips as he finally ran his hands up the inside of your thighs. Without touching the place where you needed him most, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of your panties and freed you from this annoying piece of fabric with one flowing movement.

The sight the archer now saw made his cock twitch painfully.

It was almost like torture how slowly he ran his thumb through your folds and collected what already glistened there.

With faltering breath, you watched him as he slowly brought his hand to his mouth and licked his thumb clean with an animalistic growl.

You came almost instantly at the sight.

When he finally sank his middle finger into you, you threw your head back and closed your eyes in delight. He pumped his finger into you a few times before adding a second. He twisted and curled them in just the right way so that with each thrust he perfectly hit the spot inside you that made you squirm under him.

Your moaning grew louder as he closed his lips around your sensitive bundle of nerves and began to suck rhythmically. Your orgasm rolled closer and closer, and the knot in your stomach tightened until it was about to snap.

"Daryl - fuck - I ..."

"then let go - for me."

And that was exactly what you did. You came with his name on your lips, repeated like a prayer, and with each new wave Daryl took whatever you were willing to give him. You tasted like nothing else to him, and he could never get enough of you.

He slowly kissed his way back up to your neck while his fingers were still moving slowly inside you.

Your hands went into his hair and hungrily drawn his lips to yours. Just a moment later your tongues fought for dominance; you could taste yourself on his. Now your hands slowly made their way down to his crotch. He wanted to hold back. But he could not help himself, and grinded into your palm to find the relief he needed so damn bad.

Daryl's hips spasmed, thrusting forward a few times before he was groaning and shaking his head.

"No. Tonight is just about ya."

"But ..."

Before you could go on, his lips were back on yours in a demanding kiss.

" I wanna make ya feel so good today, that ya'll be happy to have a few days off."

And with that statement, his fingers left your hot core, only to re-enter with one more.

Your eyes rolled back when you felt him stretch you.

"Fuck," you hissed as you tried desperately to find hold while Daryl's fingers kept trusting into you.

As he felt the sweet pain of your nails scratching his back, his cock twitched painfully in his shorts.

The thought that you marked him, that you would let him run around with declarations of your love on his body for the next few days, almost drove him mad. He started rubbing his crotch against your thigh for some relief as he fluidly moved in and out of you, getting you closer and closer to your next release.

The knot inside you got tighter and tighter, and you tried desperately to keep it from snaping again. Your legs started to shake involuntarily, and you knew you would not be able to resist much longer. Your breath came in shorter intervals and your moans got higher and higher. It would not last long till you would be swept away by pure bliss.

When the wave finally hit you, it was an overwhelming feeling. Your inner walls clenching and unclenching around his fingers again and again as your orgasm swept you away like a tsunami.

It took you a few moments to come back from your high while Daryl's gentle movements of his fingers let your orgasm slowly fade out.

"Okay", you began with a trembling voice as he slowly left your inner core, "that was something else."

Daryl’s head rested on the crook of your neck as you slowly recovered your breath, but you could still feel him chuckled lightly.

Slowly you stroked his hair and patted his neck. When he shifted his position slightly so that he did not crush you any further, you noticed that his shorts were suspiciously stuck to you.

Apparently, he had enjoyed this whole interaction too.

"I love you," you whispered before leaving a kiss on his sweaty forehead.

"Love ya more."

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

You patiently worked your way through the corn plants with the rake. The work was strenuous because the plants were close together - after all, you needed the greatest possible yield in a small area - and the relentless Georgian sun burned down on you.

Your hair stuck to you and the sweat kept dripping from the brim of your straw hat. Your arms ached, and despite the leather gloves you wore, you had blisters on your hands where they were tightly gripping the wooden handle of your gardening tool.

But despite everything, you kept working. You had to work through the soil so that the weeds had less chance to dispute the valuable nutrients from the crops.

This large field that you had laid out in the style of the "three sisters" was your whole pride. Corn, beans and pumpkins, the holy trinity of this bed, were perfectly coordinated. The Native Americans had already cultivated these three plants in this way.

And what worked for them could work for you too.

You have been toiling for hours. Your clothes were soaked in sweat and your back ached. Nevertheless, you continue to work, moving slowly but steadily through the beds.

"Here," you heard Rick say behind you at some point.

With great effort you straightened up and massaged your back. You felt every single vertebra as it slowly popped back into its original position. An exhausted moan could be heard as you finally turned to the man behind you.

Rick just stood there, bottle of water in hand, his eyes fixed on the fields.

You gratefully took the bottle from him and took a few sips of the refreshing liquid. Especially with such sweaty work in the blazing sun, it was incredibly important to drink enough if you did not want to suffer sunstroke.

And unfortunately, you were predestined to forget it sometimes. But Rick paid attention. You were family, and family looked after each other.

“Looks really good. If the plants continue to grow like this, we will be able to bring in quite a good yield. You are really a talented little farmer."

You looked at him in surprise with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not sure right now whether I should thank you or whether you insulted me."

“Believe me Y/N”, Rick laughed and put his hand on your shoulder, “that was meant as a compliment. An honest compliment. If we didn't have you, we almost certainly wouldn't even be able to harvest half as much. You really have a knack for it."

“Well, everyone does what they can. And I can do that."

You lowered your gaze. You felt uncomfortable when someone complimented you, so you tried to belittle it.

"No", Rick smiled at you friendly, "some do more than others."

After a long day of work and a long - but cold - shower, you sat down with Carol for dinner. You missed your family members. You missed Daryl.

The presence of the older woman had been a comfort to you in the last few days. This run had been going on for five days now, and it was impossible to tell when they would be back.

The feeling you felt in the pit of your stomach was almost the same as when Daryl had disappeared into the forest with Merle. Back then you thought you would never see him again.

But it was different now. Now you had hope that you would see him again.

Maybe.

“It's only been five days Y/N/N. It's too early to worry,” Carol tried to cheer you up.

"I'm not worried," you said stubbornly while you continued to stare at your now cold food.

"Yes of course. That's exactly why you've been poking around in your meal for ten minutes. You haven't even taken a bite."

You looked tiredly at the woman across from you.

“Eat, you worked hard. And tomorrow you will work as hard again as I know you. You need the calories. And believe me, you'd rather eat it voluntarily than have me cram it into you."

Carol had used her best mother voice. Even if Carol was not many years older than you, this woman had somehow become a mother's substitute for you.

After a few moments you finally began to empty your bowl slowly.

Getting around the days was easy. There was always enough work in the gardens and in the fields, you were busy and did not have much time to think.

In the nights it was different. They were bad.

The bed was way too big for you alone, and you lacked the warmth of Daryl's body.

Even on the hot nights of Georgia, you always fell asleep snuggled together. Ever since you had spent your first night like this, you knew that you could never do it again without it.

Now you were alone. Yet again. Daryl was still on this fucking run, and the solitude in those four walls that you had always enjoyed before, now seemed overwhelming to you.

What is he doing right now? Was he okay? Was he thinking of you, too?

With these wistful thoughts, you finally drifted into a dreamless sleep.

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

"If they are not back by tomorrow, we will send a search party out," announced Rick over breakfast.

You made no reply as you continued to choke down your small portion of porridge, bite by bite. You were not really hungry, but Carol's stern look had kept you from skipping breakfast.

“I'm sure they are fine. They will definitely be back here soon, "said Hershel soothingly," they are all experienced with such actions. They are sure to be fine."

Yes, they were all experienced, knew how to behave and how to protect themselves, but that nagging feeling persisted in you.

You had spent the whole morning working in the fields again, laboriously dragging buckets of water to provide the crops with enough moisture. If it did not rain soon, this would probably be your main occupation for the next few days and weeks.

You had two canisters tied to the outer end of a thick wooden stick. So, you could carry the heavy burden on your shoulders and not in your aching hands.

As you were trudging up the hill again with a full load of water, Rick was leaning against the base of the central guard tower, smiling, and staring into the distance.

"Looks as if we could save ourselves the search."

These words made your body tingly and you immediately turned to face the gates. You could not prevent an unspeakably bright smile from spreading on your face.

"Oh my god," you whispered when you saw the column of cars approaching the prison.

An unmistakable chopper at the head of the convoy.

An army of butterflies exploded in your stomach when you saw Daryl. He was back. He really came back to you.

When he finally brought his bike to a stop and casually dismounted it, you couldn't hold back any longer. Without further hesitation, you dropped the water canisters, which hit the floor with a thud, and immediately spread their moist contents over the floor.

You ran quickly towards Daryl. But even before you had covered half the distance, he was already coming towards you - a radiant smile on his lips.

When you finally met, you immediately put your arms around each other in a tight hug. Your head rested on his chest while he laid his head lovingly on top of yours.

Cuddled so tightly you could hear how fast his heart was beating, and an indescribable feeling of happiness flooded your body. Daryl was back - back by your side.

"Did you miss me," he finally began, and you could hear him grinning right away.

“No,” you answered, “not at all. Not one bit."

“Felt the same way."

With these words, his strong arms tightened around you even more, as if he were trying to melt into you.

So absorbed in your reunion, it took some time until you noticed that Rick and Carol were already discussing the successful run with the rest of the group.

"We got almost everything," you heard Glenn say when you had finally separated from each other and now went to the cars where everyone else was standing - your little fingers still hooked together.

"We found hundreds of canning jars and even seeds," added Sasha.

"Wheat, oat and a lot more." Maggie pointed to the back of the overcrowded pickup truck.

"And we also solved the problem with the heating," said Daryl mysteriously.

This run was really a complete success. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

> C O C K A D O O D L E D O O <

Suddenly the gushing and loud greeting was silent. Inquiring eyes met knowing faces.

You and Rick looked at each other as to ask if you really had heard this now.

> C O C K A D O O D L E D O O <

"What the hell is that", Rick wanted to know.

"What did it sound like?"

Daryl grinned mischievously and leaned casually against his bike; arms crossed over his chest. His chin raised challengingly.

"No," was all you could say at that moment.

"Yea," Daryl nodded, still grinning.

"No way!"

"Yea, a rooster and six chickens."

"How? Where? How?"

You were completely surprised and had to grin broadly. That was one of the best that could have happened to your community.

"Believe it or not, they were just walking around on a street corner," Glenn explained, looking incredulous about his statement himself.

"So the cattle market wasn't closed after all," you replied sarcastically.

Immediately Daryl had to roll his eyes.

"Just don't start with that," you chuckled and gave him a playful clap on the upper arm.

“You really missed something Y/N,” said Maggie with a grin, “believe me it was really impressive to see how Daryl caught the poultry. Didn't know that he was doing so well as a farmer."

"Yea, ha-ha, very funny!"

Daryl's ears had turned deep red, but then he had to laugh himself at the thought of this chicken-catching operation.

"I really would have liked to see that," you said with a laugh.

"Well, maybe there will be a repetition," said Glenn, "we have to get the critters out of the car somehow without them getting lost again."

"Ya can forget that right away," Daryl announced in a stern voice.

"Don't worry, I'll help you", you smiled at your boyfriend.

After a few minutes of reunion, you started to get the supplies out of the cars and to distribute them in the storage rooms.

Building a chicken coop was definitely on your to-do list for tomorrow. And it has been a long time since you had been looking forward to a job as much as this.

"And I found something for you too," Maggie whispered to you when she put her arm around your shoulders in a friendly manner.

You two had just cleared away a load of canning jars and were about to trot back to the cars.

"And that would be?"

Surprised you stopped and looked at her questioningly. You did not ask her to get you anything.

“I won't tell you yet,” she smiled, “but you will definitely enjoy it - as well as Daryl."

With these words, your best friend left you in the yard as she made her way back to the cars with a mischievous grin.

Part one Part tree

[toomanyfandomssss]

His Girl - Four

In a sort of protective manner, Violet opted to walk with Clarke and Wells in case Bellamy and Murphy decided to pull anything. And of course, her intuition was correct.

"Hey, hold up." Bellamy pushed through some trees as he and Murphy caught up with Violet, Clarke, and Wells. Waving his gun in the air he continued,"Whats the Rush? You don't survive a spear through the heart" he smirked arrogantly. A tone Violet thinks she'll have to get used too from now on.

Murphy pushed Wells forward, "Why don't you do something about it, huh?"

Clarke interrupted, "Jasper screamed when they moved him.  If the spear struck his heart, he'd have died instantly, doesn't mean we have time to waste."

Bellamy grabbed Clarke's wrist and help up her arm, "As soon as you take this wristband off, we can go."

"The only way the Ark is gonna think I'm dead, is if I'm dead. Got it?" Clarke challenged, snatching her wrist back.

Bellamy smirked, "Brave princess."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind the group. "Hey, why don't you find your own nickname?" Fin called out. "You call this a rescue party? You've gotta split up. Cover more ground. Clarke. Come with me."

✶✶✶

Violet and Wells walked together a little ahead of Bellamy and Murphy. The doe eyed brunette had little interest in being around her boyfriend at the moment. As they continued on their way Violet kept catching Well's glances at the spacewalker and princess.

"Are you okay?" she looks at him concerned.

"Yeah," he forcibly smiled at her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Violet just looked at him, then reached over and squeezed his arm in a comforting manner.

Wells was able to give her a more genuine smile after this act of kindness. Why is a girl like this dating a guy like Bellamy Blake?

Not wanting to see his girlfriend near another guy for any longer, the man himself interupted the moment between the two. "Guess we got more in common than meets the eye, huh?" Bellamy glanced at Clarke and Finn as he spoke. Violet rolled her eyes.

"We have nothing in common." Wells denied.

"No? Both came down here to protect someone we love," Bellamy wrapped his arm around Violet.

Wells stayed quiet, so Bellamy continued. "Your secrets safe with me. 'Course, for you its worse. With Finn around, Clarke doesn't even see you." "It's like you're not even here." he finished, grabbing Violet's hand and pulling her forward to walk with him.

✶✶✶

After Clarke and Finn's discovery of Jasper's goggles near a bloodied rock, they had met up with the other half the group to follow the trail.

Murphy broke the silence, "Hey, how do we know this is the right way?"

"We don't. Spacewalker thinks he's a tracker," Bellamy mocked.

"It's called "Cutting Sign." Fourth-year Earth skills. He's good." Wells defended the long haired boy.

Annoyed, Finn interjected "You want to keep it down or should I paint a target on your backs?" He stopped at a plant as he noticed some blood dripping down. He sunk to the ground to see a rock that had drops of blood on it, coming from the plant above. He and Clarke shared a look.

Bellamy chose this moment to taunt Wells even more, "See? You're invisible."

"Give it a rest Bellamy!" Violet harshly whispered to him, completely over his constant teasing of the chancellor's son. She separated herself from him as much as she could.

He was shocked at the small outburst, getting mildly angry that his girl was defending someone else. His girl.

A loud moan broke out and everyone looked up . "What the hell was that?" Murphy spoke all of their thoughts in the moment.

"Now would be a good time to take out that gun." Clarke suggested.

Everyone moved forward towards the direction of the groaning. They all stopped once they came to the source of it. There was Jasper, strapped to a tree. "Jasper!" Clarke gasped.

Violet was the second one to move forward, after Clarke. "Jasper!" Clarke called out again. "What the hell is this?" Bellamy said before there was a loud snap.

Clarke has stepped onto a trap and was falling when a hand caught onto hers.

She looked up to see that Violet had caught her before she could fall. The brunette immediately tried to pull her up but was having a difficult time by herself.

"A little help?" she called out to the boys behind her.

Bellamy came rushing over and grabbed Violet at the waist as the rest of the boys helped her pull Clarke up. The blonde was breathing very hard after her near death experience. She looked at Violet, "Thank you," she nodded gratefully.

"Anytime," Violet said, letting out a small laugh.

Clarke looked back up at Jasper. "We need to get him down."

"I'll climb up there and cut the vines." "Yeah, yeah I'm with you." Wells offered to Finn.

"No. Stay with the girls. And watch him." Finn orderd. He then gestured to Murphy, "You, lets go."

Clarke noticed something on Jasper, "There's a poultice on his wound."

Wells questioned, "Medicine? Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?"

"Maybe what they're trying to catch like's its dinner to be breathing," Bellamy suggested, making Violet grimace.

"Maybe what they're trying to catch is us." Finn said from his spot by Murphy and Jasper, making everyone worry.

As the two boys worked to get Jasper down, there was a strange noise that came from behind them. "What the hell was that?" Murphy asked no one in particular.

Bellamy quickly grabbed Violet and pulled her close to him. "Grounders?"

Clarke noticed a panther beginning to charge at the four, "Bellamy! Gun!" However when he felt for it, he couldn't find it.

The, gunshot came from over where Wells was. He was aiming it at the oncoming animal, hitting it once but it wasn't enough. He kept shooting randomly as the animal made it's way into the grass in front of Bellamy and Violet.

Bellamy was quick to push Violet behind him, shielding her. He would move her and himself the opposite way of where he could hear the dangerous animal.

All of a sudden it went quiet. Hearts racing, the couple held onto each other.

The panther had made it's way behind Violet when it finally jumped out. Bellamy shoved her to the ground and covered her, waiting for the impact of the panther.

When he had heard another gun shot and felt no impact, he looked up. Wells finally was able to shoot and kill the panther. He slowly got off Violet and helped her up, holding her close to his chest. He looked at Wells, "Now she sees you."

✶✶✶

After an eventful day, the small group made it back home to their camp. Bellamy and Murphy who had been carrying the now dead panther, dropped it as Bellamy shouted "Who's hungry!"

Bellamy and Violet embraced Octavia as the 100 celebrated finally having food to eat.

The price of that food though, ended up being wristbands. Violet shook her head as she watched the boy she loved and his hench men taking off wristbands. When Clarke and Finn had come out to see what was going on, they detested it as much as she did. Finn had went up to grab two meat sticks for him and Clarke, knowing Bellamy wouldn't let his girlfriend go hungry. When he went up he was greeted by Murphy who had taunted him about not following "rules".

"I though there were no rules," Finn said before turning around and walking back to the two girls.

One kids who has seen the spacewalkers act of defiance had decided to follow, grabbing his own stick. Unfortunate before he was able to get away, Bellamy punched the poor kids in the face hard enough for him to fall to the ground as the brooding leader glared at Finn.

Violent instantly went to help the boy up, much to Bellamy's dismay. After glaring heatedly at her power-hungry boyfriend, Violet walked the boy to his tent.

Instead of dealing with anymore bullshit today, she opted to go to her and Bellamy's tent to sleep off every stressful event that has happened on the ground so far.

✶✶✶

Feeling herself being lightly shaken, Violent opened her eyes only to see Bellamy sitting next to her, one hand on her shoulder and one hand cradling her face.

He takes the hand from her face and reaches next to him to grab the panther meat he had saved for her after she had walked off. "You need to eat angel," he softly demanded.

"You need to stop being an ass." Violet retorted, accepting the food.

"I have to be strict or else the kids won't follow orders," Bellamy defended.

Violet tiredly shook her head, "There's a difference between being a leader, and being a power-hungry dictator Bell."

The boy sighed, equally as exhausted "Can we please not fight, I just need you to eat angel."

Nodding, Violet silently finished up her meal before laying in her boyfriends awaiting arms. She put her head on his chest listening to the sound oh his heartbeat, lulling herself into a deep sleep.