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bokettochild · 3 years ago

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Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

Angst! My Beloved!

Not a lot of whump here, but I put Wild through the wringer!!! Lots of BotW2 ideas and concepts here, but nothing really cannon.

Also, disclaimer: I think Flora is a wonderful person, a bit harsh and sometimes unkind, but I feel for her a lot. The prompt submitted to me however asked for her as an ass, so that's what's here, for angst reasons. THIS IS NOT HOW I PLAN ON WRITING HER NORMALLY!!!

When Wild left the Chain behind in the woods, it was with a soft smile and a hesitant wave of his right hand. It was with a gentle ‘See y’all later’ that made Warriors shake his head with a sigh while Twilight offered a wobbly grin.

He would join them again, he knew that. After all, Hylia wouldn’t have chosen him to go with them in the first place if he was only supposed to leave before they’d even really started to know what it was that they were meant to be doing.

He’d see them again, and he’d fall back into a routine with all of them, sparring with Warriors and teaching Hyrule to cook and shield surfing with Wind and learning to carve from Sky. He’d go back to sewing with Legend, to exploring with Hyrule, to learning the Ocarina with Time and teasing Twilight about his terrible singing. He could work with Four on the Sheikah Slate and experimenting with different plants he’d gathered. He would see them again, and he’d go back to being busy and smiling nearly every day.

For the time being however, he had to square his shoulders and harden his jaw as he stepped through the swirl of black that had repulsed all the others every time they tried to enter. He had to tame his mind and wild spirit and come to stand before the Princess of Hyrule in all of her stern glory and receive the scolding he was due for wandering off without permission.

He never had time to question what she meant by being gone for ‘two whole weeks’ before she was marching off towards the labs and explaining that there was a new task for them to complete.

Such a task was one that left in his mind no time for thoughts of his brothers save on the lonely nights in the sky when the islands above the clouds were silent save for the birds about him that reminded him of Sky, or when he ran across the forests and was reminded of the wolf that once ran at his side. And, alright, the tiny people in the grass and the fountains reminded him of Four and Hyrule. When the wind sang strong in his ears as he dove towards the earth from the highest places in the sky, he couldn’t help but envision a small hero whose laughter danced like the sea and who’s fingers mastered the currents of wind and sea both.

It was a lonely quest, just like his last before it, but somehow it was more painfully so, now that he knew what it was to have brothers at his side to catch a monster’s blade when he was too slow or to help him patch himself up afterwards. It was quiet when the Princess and he sat around the fires as night, she studying him as he sat still and stonelike as she worked.

The hand that had waved goodbye to his brothers now flickered green and ethereal in the night shades, iron bands clinging to the wisping appendage and acting as a bond to hold its form together. It was nothing like what he’d known or studied in the Sheikah technology, or even what he’d seen from the many worlds he’d traveled with the other, and it earned many a stare and twist of the lips from those he met and traded with during his journey.

The arm was only the first of many changes, it’s power seeping through his body and altering him before he even knew what was happening. He’d hated it at first, disliking how it changed him, made his eyes glow and his hair touch with the same ethereal shades, red bleeding through at the roots and earning him even more wary looks.

Ganon, in all his terrifying power, had been a surprising comfort during the quest, an aid to discovering his new abilities and training them to bend to his own will. The Princess had been wary of their relationship, but had accepted it when she saw what he learned to do, and every evening she would require a report of his newfound skills, as well as the occasional demonstration or examination.

It all came to an end both too soon and not soon enough.

Ganon was gone, as if he’d never been there at all, and the Princess was as cold as ever even after their second adventure at each other's sides. And now there was no use for the abilities that had fused to his soul like the arm had to his flesh. He’d asked Purah if there was something that could be done to restore his body to its normal Hylian state, without the glowing limb that earned his only stares and insults from the village people, but the Princess had overheard it and declared that such a thing should not even be attempted.

“You don’t understand, Link. Don’t be foolish! We have here a scientific marvel ready for our investigation and exploration and you want to get rid of it just because it looks odd?”

He’s shuffled his feet slowly, resisting the impulse to rub at his chest where the Hylian part of him ended and the eldritch horror began. “I can’t live like Hylian anymore.”

“Because you aren’t one!” Her Highness rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Sir Knight, after everything I certainly doubt that Hylian even applies to you anymore! Hylians do not possess the qualities that you now do, and they most certainly do not travel through stone or time or any other such thing at will. Think would you! You’re something else entirely, and I intend to find out what that is!”

Purah had frowned at that, eyes full of sorrow as they met his own with an apologetic sigh. But there was nothing the de-aged scientist could really say against the royal Sovreign of Hyrule, not as a Sheikah sworn to the service of the royal family. The woman/girl had offered him a sympathetic pat on the head later after climbing up to reach high enough to do so, as well as a few dumplings that Paya had sent on her grandmother’s behalf the day before. It was a welcome gesture, but amounted to so little on the grand scale of life. Not when so many others he had once called his friends had so blatantly rejected the mere sight of him.

Bolson and the other carpenters shied away from him with harsh whispers as they spat insults across the distance.

‘Half-blood’.

‘Gerudo Bastard’.

‘Freak’.

‘Demon’.

There were favorite insults spread from stable to stable and up and coming village to up and coming town and slowly all of Hyrule knew of the monster that had once been the hero. Gossip abounded, and he couldn’t even turn to shield his face with his hood without drawing attention to his arm.

It was only the koroks that welcomed him, themselves all too accustomed to the strange and ethereal. Them and the blupees.

Maybe it was the knowledge of how it felt to be shot at for his oddness that allowed him to ease into the graces of the flighty animals. And maybe it was his lonely heart crying for comfort, but when nestled in their midst, it almost reminded him of how it felt to be hugged by the salty veteran, on the rare occasional that the pink-haired hero had let down his guard.

The fairy’s tangled themselves in his hair and the blupees gathered at his feet, koroks dancing around him and flying to his side as if he was some sort of forest god, but the strange rise of his spirits in their presence shattered the instant a traveler caught sight of him.

Arrows and fire, once his favorite of weapons, were turned against him as words in every language of the New Hyrule had burst from the mouths of its people, and like his namesake, he ran before them, darting through the forest and fading in amidst the trees, hiding, incorporeal and translucent within the halls of the forest as those he’d once seen as allies pushed him away.

He’d begged the new Queen for aid, for relief or even just a word to the people that he wasn’t the evil they had come to think he was, but she only waved him aside with a purse of her lips. “You are not meant to be here without first asking.” The Child of Hylia declared, eyes as cold as the Shrine’s waters themself. “And why should I make a declaration on behalf of a man who refuses to even speak to me properly? You come groveling like a worm, yet for years it was I who you ignored. See how it feels, Sir Hero, to be the one left helpless at the hands of the country. Know what it is to be scorned by those who you thought would love you.”

He’d barely made it out of the window before the trainee guards of the newly repaired Hyrule Castle had caught him and Queen Zelda Diana Hyrule had stared after him with eyes colder than Hebra’s tallest peaks.

It was the Father Tree -the Deku Tree as the Queen had called it, but the koroks laughed at him for using the name, so he’d adjusted in kind- who suggested that he hide the changes, and he’d begun to wander Hyrule as much as possible to find the materials he would have needed.

The Queen still required his presence regularly so she could inspect him; her love of science no ways tainted as to stop her from ordering him to appear regularly, as there was now no need or safety in his acting as her guard. The Queen sought her people’s respect, and to employ such a being as himself, not Hylian and not quite mortal, would be to spark fear in the people. Indeed, when he skirted villages, he would wince at word of ‘the queen’s monster’ as gossip was traded. Those who didn’t see him themselves knew him as a beast of feral nature who lived amid the lost woods and destroyed any who came close.

“A specter that glows with the light of the shrines.” They would tell each other over campfires. “It has eyes like a ghost, empty and lost, with no care for humanity or Hylia’s chosen. They say it was once the Hero of this world, but he died ages ago.”

“I heard it’s the body, possessed by a being beyond this realm, a monster escaped from the edges of reality that tried to hide in our midst but corrupted it’s host so that it only scares away others, leaving it roam the earth in a shattered body. If you get too close to it though, it’ll take your instead.”

He’d stayed away from towns after that.

The blupees and koroks had been happy to help him to find what he needed to hide among the Hylians should he wish though, and two in particular guided him; the korok swinging little twigs like they were batons and humming swinging little shanties as it hopped along the path, the blupee snorting softly and nipping at his heels when he wandered too far, unnatural purple eyes staring up at him with something that was fondness and a reprimand all at once, and in their care he’d made his way across the land of Hyrule to find what would be needed to return to his once life.

The fairies and their Great cousins had been welcome help, and in time, he’d been able to walk amid the populace of Hyrule like any other, as long as he kept a long cloak about him and his hair pulled back to hide where the roots would begin showing again in gold and ethereal blue.

Once Hyrule had talked about needing to hide in his world, about the curse that followed him and made the Hylian people afraid. He’d thought it bizarre and ridiculous of the people at the time, but now he understood what it was to live it.

When the portal opened beneath his feet the day that the Queen had reprimanded him for concealing and potentially damaging the strange limb, startling the Skeikah scientists and Queen both, he’d nearly cried tears of relief.

He was going away, somewhere where he wasn’t a science project and where, unless they traveled to his world’s future, no one would know how much he had changed. His copy of the slate had enough hair dye to last him a few months, and he was certain he could make more over time, and as long as he continued wearing the tunics and gloves the fairies had helped him to adjust to hide the glow the others would probably never catch on. Or well, he could extend it anyway.

His brothers greeted him with open arms and teary eyes, and in a strange parallel to his adventure, he found himself thinking of blupees when Legend had curled against him, stiff and cold on the outside, but with fingers that clutched his tunic just a bit too tight to really be reluctant. And Four, Hyrule and Wind’s exuberant hugs and chatter brought to mind tiny forest people and koroks with twigs for batons.

It was good to be home.

It was good to cook for other people again, and they were glad to have him cook for them, even if his fondness for both Gerudo spiced dishes and fae like sweet things had increased exponentially during his newest adventure. It was good to fight at their sides, even if it was strange to once again have to take others into account before he could select a weapon. It was good to sit around a fire and talk with the others too, but that was perhaps the hardest one; it had been ages since he’d had a proper two-way conversation with anything other than a tree or a korok, and neither of those was good at either staying awake or staying focused for very long.

There were some harder things to adjust to though. Fire, for one. Unlike before when he’d have been happy to burn an enemy camp to the ground, now he was wary of using faming weapons or spreading heat further than necessary. The same went for hunting; he couldn’t bring himself to shoot an animal unless it attacked first or they needed the meat it would provide, and even then, he felt a bit bad for doing so. Is this what Twilight had felt like? Is this why the rancher never liked hunting? Because he too knew what it was like to be on the other end of the bow?

But the hardest thing by far to readjust to was his name.

‘Wild’ they had called him again, and after months of ‘the wild one’, ‘wild beast’, ‘monster’ and every other insult, slur or title that had been used on him, it made him flinch ever so slightly at the words. And unlike the other things where his brothers dismissed it as a change caused by his adventure or an increase of maturity, it was something that the others seemed to either not notice or to excuse as situational.

He had adapted though, learned to keep a smile on his face where blankness had once been required in his knightly duties, and the more he wore the mask the easier it was to put on again.

He’d reveled in traveling across time again, in dancing through battles and exploring the world without the Queen reprimanding him in her cold tones to stop wandering off. He’d pushed himself to learn more music in the last adventure, and even if his experience was more with what few instruments Ganon had had time to help him learn, he’d enjoyed sitting down with the others and borrowing one or another instrument to play a tune and sometimes he even got to sing.

He fell to comfortably into his role though, even with the changes, and he hadn’t even noticed when they’d come back to his world. To be fair, it was different in the daytime, and Hyrule had changed so much in the absence of her hero as he hid himself away from the eyes of civilization. Towns and roads had sprung up where there had only been fields before, and the Guardians that had littered the land had all been dug up and hauled to the castle to be either restored or destroyed by the Sheikah, depending on what Queen Zelda decided after she looked at them herself. The world was so different to him, so unlike that which he knew, that he’d failed to keep as alert as he ought to have been when he wandered about an open market with the others, laughing and chattering away with the other younger ones as Time and Legend herded them towards the needed stalls.

It was a traveler that was his downfall, a man who’d seen the Monster Hero and had been among the first to discover the disguise he wore.

No questions were asked when the word spread, and Wild hadn’t caught on to the whispers until a stone had struck his cheek and he was stumbling forwards on the path.

“Wild!” Twilight was at his side in a minute, Time right after him as Legend launched a barrage of insults at the guilty party who’d thrown the thing.

“’m fine.” He was careful to wipe the blood away with his cloak, holding the fabric to the wound to prevent bluish blood seeping down his face and exposing him to his brothers. He wanted to keep them as long as possible and proving himself to be a monster, not even Hylian, would surely have them turning their backs on him.

“Get away from him!” A woman scolded, grabbing ahold of two of the younger heroes while several other shoppers had like ways grabbed Legend and Sky. “Are you dears alright? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Freaking what?” Legend shrieked. “Who’s the injured party here?”

“I’d avoid that thing, son.” A man huffed through a frankly walrus like mustache, eyes hard as they trailed to where Wild stood, cloak still pressed to his cheek as he attempted to wave off a fussing Twilight and Time. “It’s not natural. Sure, it looks like a normal Hylian, but that’s just an effective ruse.”

Another villager nodded. “It’s one of the Calamity’s puppets, a Gerudo-Bastard set on destroying the kingdom!”

“He’s the freaking hero!” Legend shrieked, barely being held back by a steely eyed Sky. “He saved all your freaking asses and all you can do is insult his flipping guts? Who’s the-”

“Enough.” There were few times that Sky’s voice reached levels worse than Twilight’s growls, but the stern command, regal and firm, froze all present as the man stiffened with a cold nod towards the villagers. “I see we are unwelcome here, and with that being the case it would be wise to spend our rupees elsewhere. Legend,” A tug to the boy’s shoulders. “Let’s join the others and be out of their hair. If they cannot be welcoming and kind to our brother than they will not receive our patronage.” And like a swan gathering it’s cygnets, Sky swept down the street, cape fluttering as he ushered the rest of them out of the town and back to the safety of the wilds. The village stared after them with wide eyes, as if they’d just been judged by a breathing god.

The stiffness in Sky’s shoulders faded as they neared the edge of the forest, and instantly the Chosen Hero been tutting over Wild, gently but firmly prying his hand away from his face with a kind smile that almost set Wild at ease. Almost.

“It’s fine, it’s just a scrape.”

“Still.” Sky crooned softly. “I’d rather we clean it up now and make sure it’s nothing worse than let it sit and get infected later.”

And though he’d tried to fight, his single Hylian hand was no match for the firm grip of the Skyloftian, and within minutes his face was exposed to the shocked faces and flickering eyes of his brothers.

“It’s blue...” Wind breathed as Hyrule darted forwards, hands already glowing softly only for them to stutter to a stop over Wild’s skin.

“It’s... Wild, why is your blood- why is-” The healer’s eyes had flickered golden for a moment, wide as they stared up at him. “What happened to you-”

“What the freak!” Legend had startled, blinking in surprise as he stared. “Your eyes are glowing!”

Shit! The healing properties of the arm had already taken affect and it was making everything act up all weird! He shot a glance down at his arm, one hand raising to tangle in the long hair he couldn’t even see at the moment, praying silently beneath his breath that nothing was showing through. It wasn’t, but that didn’t change how Hyrule had come to fixate on his right arm, or how the healer's fingers hovered over it sparking and eyes twinkling as he whispered softly under his breath.

“Wild.” Time had sighed. “I think this one is going to need an explanation.”

All the breath left his lung in instants.

He’d panicked to say the least and Time had eventually shooed the others away to make camp as the eldest hero had sat at his side, waiting silently for him to regulate his breathing. Touch was too much right now, and any attempts from the others to ease him down or help him level out his breathes had only made him panic more. But when at last his blue eyes blinked back to clarity it was to see Time sitting at his side, a gentle tune wafting from the Ocarina at his lips.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, trying his hardest not to startle Time or otherwise make the situation worse. “I should have said something, I know. I just- missed being Wild and I wanted to come back and be normal and I didn’t want to-”

“It’s alright.” Time’s voice rumbled softly, a single blue eye turning to him with a pained look, even as the man offered him a hint of a smile. “None of us talk about our adventures either.”

“Yes, but you’re people.” He sighed, rubbing the fingers of his glove together. “You’re allowed to choose things.”

There was pain in Time’s voice when their leader answered. “And you’re not?”

“I’m not Hylia anymore.” He whispered. “I don’t count.”

“You count to us.”

“That’s because you don’t know.”

Time shifted, turning to face him fully as the ocarina was set firmly in the grass. “That’s because you’re family and we care. Wild, I don’t care if Demise himself named you the king of the dead, you’re still my kid and Nayru knows I’m not going to let you go without a fight. If that means fighting you, alright, but you’d best better believe that no amount of physical or mental changes will break the bonds we all have with you.”

Something, something damaged and crushed and stitched up and torn open again clenched inside of him, tears pricking at his eyes as he stared up at Time’s royal blue gaze. “W-what?”

“You could be granted godhood, made a monster, I don’t care. You’re ours and you’ll have to deal with that.” Time smiled, warm even with the pain in his eyes as he looked down at him. “So how about you start again, maybe with the facts rather than the insults. Or,” Time softened, brows furrowing lightly. “If you want, we can just sit here and you can choose to talk about this later. We do need to know, so we can help you and keep you safe, but you don’t have to tell us right now. You can take some time to figure out what you want to say if you need.”

And, well, shoot him, but Time’s arms had always been a safe place and there was one thing he’d wanted more than anything since he had come back. Wild threw himself into his grand-mentor's arms with a soft sob, clutching tightly to the other, ignoring the armor and its sharp points and awkward shapes as he tried to hold back all the emotions swirling in his chest.

Time’s arms folding around him broke the floodgates though, and when the man’s hand had stroked through his shortened hair, he’d had to bury his face in Tim’s neck to muffle his sobs.

“There, there,” Time hummed softly, rocking slowly as he held the broken wild hero. “Let it out, little one. I have you, I’ve got you and I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”

#whumptober 2021 #linkeduniverse #linked universe #idiot writes angst #idiot writes whump #lu wild #lu time #lu sky #lu legend #sky is scary when he's mad #wild whump #botw2 #botw2 theories #mean flora #flora bashing #zelda botw bashing #I ACUALLY LOVE FLORE PLS DON'T HATE ME!!!!#father time

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multifandhoem · 4 years ago

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Home || Issei Matsukawa x Reader

A/N: This is my present for @seita in the Haikyuu HQ Secret Santa event! It’s longer than I expected, but I hope you like it!

Genre: smut

Warnings: pseudo incest, stepbrother!Issei, softDom!Issei, virgin!reader, first time, oral (male receiving), spanking (female receiving), fingering, unprotected sex, squirting, cum eating, slight manipulative!Issei, a creepy guy tries to hit on reader at the beginning

Word count: 4713

READ THE WARNINGS, DO NOT COMPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU READ SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE!!!

“I’m going to the store do you want to come with me?”

Issei was leaning on the doorframe to your room, watching with a smile on his face how you excitedly crawled out of your bed, eager at the thought to spend time with your nii-chan. He was home from Tokyo for a couple of weeks and it has been so long since you could really spend some time with him, but with your parents, on a weekend vacation, you had him all to yourself.

Even if he wasn’t your biological brother, something made you always want to spend time with him. He was always radiating a sense of security. You really couldn’t imagine any safer place than in his arms.

Issei chuckled at the way you excitedly stood in front of him within minutes, ready to join him on his quest to the store, so you two would have food for the next three days.

“Well, then let’s go little one.”

Your heart jumped at the endearing nickname he had given you when you were first introduced as his little sister. You really loved your nii-chan so much it hurts.

*-*-*-*-*

It was the weekend before Christmas, so the store was packed.

Issei used his height to his advantage, scanning the aisles and navigating through the least crowded ones, with you clutching the ends of his jacket to not lose him.

“Hey, little one, we need some cheese, milk, and yogurt, can you get these here? I will go grab some cornflakes real quick.” He threw a reassuring smile in your direction before he already dipped down into some aisle, leaving you in front of the refrigerated display shelf.

You were always shy and unsure in situations outside of your comfort zone, but getting some ingredients.. you could make that work, you were sure of it!

Otherwise, Issei-nii chan would be disappointed with you and that was something you really didn’t want.

And everything went great, you nearly got all of the stuff Issei-nii had told you to get when suddenly this one man started talking to you.

“I can think of a better cream you can get.” He didn’t even introduce himself, just sleazily standing way to close to you after you had turned back around, cartons of milk in your hand.

“T-that’s milk.”

You wanted to duck away from the uncomfortable situation, when he suddenly took your wrist into his hand, tugging you back towards him. “Don’t be like that, I was just making friendly conversation!” The grin on his face made shivers appear all over your arms, but maybe it was also the cold shelf you stood in front of.

You shouldn’t think so badly about people or men in general. Stereotyping was bad.

“I’m sorry, I just have to get back to shopping.”

You tried to drop the cartons of milk into the cart, but he still had an iron grip on your wrist. “You haven’t even introduced yourself, that’s not very nice of you. You see, I’m-“ The rest of his words went down in an unattractive squeak, as he was suddenly ripped away from you.

You felt tears arise in your eyes when you saw Issei-nii’s furious face appear behind him. You really messed up this time, you didn’t want Issei-nii chan to be angry at you.

“Get away from her, you scum.” His voice sounded so scary, but after his face softened immediately when he laid his eyes on you you relaxed a bit.

He took the milk out of your arms, dropping it into the cart, before squishing you firmly into his side, navigating the cart with only one arm.

For the whole duration of your shopping spree, he kept you pressed against him, not speaking a word, which made you rethink if he really wasn’t angry with you.

He also had a mean look on his face, but you still couldn’t help but feel safe, tucked under his arm, nearly buried inside of his jacket, tightly clutching his sweatshirt in your hands.

*-*-*-*-*

By the time you arrived back home, you were sure that he was angry with you.

He had gripped the steering wheel unusually tight and he still hadn’t said a word to you.

“Nii-chan…” You fiddled with your fingers, standing in the kitchen while he was aggressively placing all of your purchases in the respecting cabinets. “I’m sorry I upset you. I really didn’t want to, please don’t be angry anymore!”

Your nii-chan was never really angry at you, so for him to be so aggressive now made you very uneasy, to the point that tears started appearing in your eyes, slowly rolling down your cheeks.

“Oh, my cute little baby, I’m not angry at you, come ‘ere.”

He took a big step in your direction, engulfing you in his arms. Immediately you felt warmth blooming in your chest, something only your nii-chan was able to produce.

“I could never be angry at you, baby. I love you too much.”

Issei pressed little kisses onto the crown of your head, his fingers caressing your back gently.

He wasn’t angry at you? The relief made you cry a bit more when the refrigerator started beeping due to being open for too long. Issei silenced it with a kick to the door, still cradling you in his arms.

_______________________________________________________________________

He slowly guided you to the couch where he seated you on his lap, pressing you tightly against him.

“My sweet, sweet baby. I love you so much. It’s okay. You’re just so naïve, I should have known. You’re just a small little baby, I should have never left you alone.”

He raised your head by your chin, kissing your wet cheeks repeatedly with his soft lips, making you sniffle. “I love you too, nii-chan.”

His heart exploded in his chest as you said that. Yes, you loved him. He could not have wished for more. But you should love him. He was your nii-chan. He protected you, he cared for you, he kept creeps like the man today away from you.

The whimper that escaped your lips made every little doubt and regret vanish. You were just so cute. When you clumsily started to move your lips against his, reciprocating the kiss, he wondered if you have ever kissed someone before.

Something primal in him growled at the thought of being your first kiss and within that second he was determined to not only be your first kiss.

Your cheeks were flushed, and your tear flow had stopped when you finally ended the kiss, resting your forehead against his’.

“I just don’t want anyone else touching my sweet little baby.”

“I didn’t know! I thought he was being friendly, nii-chan, really,” you defended yourself, desperate to make him happy with how you acted.

“Nobody is ever ‘just friendly’. Remember that. But you’ll only let your nii-chan touch you from now on, right?”

His hands roamed over her back and he smiled contently when you nodded wildly. “Only you, please, nii-chan.”

This time you took the initiative and pressed your lips to his, willingly opening your mouth for him to slip his tongue in.

The heat in your chest was overwhelming you, spreading through your whole body. You wanted to be good for your nii-chan. Wanted to show him that you’re his good little baby.

“Nii-chan!”

A shudder traveled over Issei’s entire body at your whimper of the title and he felt his dick twitch in his pants. You were still pressing yourself tightly against him, so he moved a hand to the lower part of your back, slightly pushing your hips forward until you were nestled against his sizeable bulge, even if he wasn’t even fully hard yet.

You moaned again, continuing to slightly hump him even though he wasn’t pushing you anymore.

_______________________________________________________________________

Did you know what you were doing? He wasn’t sure, but for some reason the thought only made him get more aroused. “You feel good, baby?” He couldn’t hide the slightly teasing tone in his voice when you kept humping him.

The face you made was so innocent but so vulgar at the same time, he loved it. “Yes, nii-chan!” You were already a bit breathless, moaning loudly when he moved his hips in time with your thrusts to maximize the pleasure.

You were extremely happy with the smile that had been on Issei’s face as soon as you started to push your hips against his. He seemed so proud of you. You never wanted it to end.

You have never done these things with anyone in your life, but your nii-chan would help you, you hoped. And he would still be proud of you. You increased your pace, humping him even harder and faster, moaning every time his cock was angled in the right direction, pressing against your little clit.

You had to do good for your nii-chan. You pushed yourself forward, lips crashing against his messily, your teeth colliding, a bit of salvia dripping down onto your chin.

“Easy there, baby.”

You had done something wrong. You realized it the second he assisted you in pushing your hips forward again.

_______________________________________________________________________

“I- I want you to feel good, nii-chan,” you stammered as a defense and he chuckled.

“You want me to feel good? Then stop humping my lap and get on the floor.” It took a couple of thrusts until you could stop yourself, abandoning your pleasure to shakily climb of his lap and sit on the floor.

“No, baby.” Issei chuckled at you, stretching over the couch to get a pillow he threw on the floor in front of him. “On your knees.”

You scrambled around to get in the right position, embarrassment burning on your face at your stupid mistake. You were now on the same height as the obvious bulge in his pants and uncertainly, your hands moved to his thighs and then the band of his sweatpants, to pull them down.

“Tch.” You pulled your hands away as if you burned yourself. “Did I say you could do that? Don’t be so greedy. Just wanting to get right down to business, I hadn’t expected for you to be such a whore.” You flinched at the insult.

“I’m sorry, nii-chan. I thought this was what you wanted, I only wanted to obey you.” The proud smile he had had on his face earlier had disappeared and you desperately wanted it back again.

“Put your mouth to better use.” He didn’t even wait for you. His hand just snaked itself into your hair, pushing you against his clothed erection, nuzzling your face against it. “Lick it.”

You tentatively started licking it, a sharp tug at your hair reminding you to not be too soft. It felt weird, your mouth was getting dry and fuzzy, but you still tried your best in licking his erection up and down, even sucking on some parts and all in all making a mess of his sweatpants.

“Good girl.” You doubled your efforts at his praise, trying to produce as much spit as possible in your mouth to continue slabbering against his crotch. He raised his hips a bit, finally sliding his sweatpants off, letting his half-hard cock spring free.

You looked up at him uncertain, waiting for permission to continue. A small nod of him was all it took for you to vigorously start lapping at his length, cradling it in your hands while wetting it all over.

_______________________________________________________________________

Issei loved the sight of you on your knees in front of him, tongue playing with his cock.

He wasn’t even fully hard yet and still, your face and hands next to his dick looked extremely tiny in comparison. But you were his tiny little baby, so what else did he expect?

He used the hand he had in your hair to align your mouth with the tip of his dick, pushing it into your warm cavern.

“You look so good sucking cock, baby.” You beamed around his cock at the praise, pushing down even further and promptly choking around his massive length, sputtering to get off it right after. His brows furrowed, his hand keeping you in place.

You weren’t even halfway down, you had to do better than that. He had to teach you. “Relax your throat, if you want to be good at that. I’m not even halfway in, there has to be more that little mouth has to offer.” Tears were welling up in your eyes as you felt him in the back of your throat, the corners of your mouth burning from the stretch around his girth.

You had read somewhere that you should not use teeth under any circumstance, so you tried your best to keep them shielded with your lips, even though your whole mouth was filled.

You wanted to suck, make it tighter and more pleasurable for him, but there was no room for that. And he still didn’t stop.

When you started violently gagging, he held still for a moment, but he didn’t let you retreat. He wanted at least three-quarters of his cock buried in your mouth. Anything else would be unacceptable. He couldn’t have a little sister who could only fit half of a cock in her mouth.

And you understood. Your eyes were big and filled with tears, but you still gazed at him with adoration in them. Your nii-chan was teaching you how to suck dick properly. How to pleasure him properly. And there was nothing more that you wanted, other than your nii-chan feeling good because of you.

_______________________________________________________________________

After he was content with how much dick you could fit in your mouth, he pulled you off of him, letting you breathe for a couple of seconds before shoving you right back down, now bobbing you on his dick.

You tried doing something, eventually giving up, relishing in his moans while he fucked your mouth. Every surge of pleasure of his was a different pleasure for you.

Seeing your nii-chan get off with your mouth, feeling his dick becoming fully hard, because of you, it was the greatest pleasure you ever experienced.

“Good little baby. Sucking my cock so good.” The praise made your insides bloom with a comfortable warmth. You did good. Your nii-chan was happy with you.

One of your hands cupped his balls, fondling them, unsure what to do with them. But he moaned louder, so you were sure you were doing something right. You wanted to see his face, but the tears streaming out of your eyes obscuring your vision, only getting more with each time he hit the back of your throat.

_______________________________________________________________________

The sounds you made were heavenly. Issei wanted to record you to always hear them.

The choking and moaning around his cock was something he could never grow tired of. He wondered if you would swallow his come like a good girl.

He would make you swallow it one way or another, either directly from the source or licking it up from his fingers, his cock, or the floor.

The thought sent shivers down his spine and he thrust even harder. The image of you licking his come off the floor. He had to try that sometimes.

Probably not today, if you behaved. It was still your first time after all and he was a good nii-chan.

“Keep going, baby, just a bit longer.”

Praise made you more eager to please, practically devouring his cock, tongue moving everywhere it could while he was still restlessly thrusting into your mouth, nearing his climax.

You were just so cute, with spit and tears all over your face, humping the air while kneeling between his legs. Issei was sure you weren’t even aware you were doing that. You just loved him so much.

_______________________________________________________________________

His thrusts grew more and more erratic and his groans louder. You tried to blink the tears out of your eyes, but new ones were appearing over and over again.

You just wanted to watch your nii-chan lose himself in the pleasure you gave him. When you could finally make out his facial features he had a breathless smile on his face. A feeling of accomplishment bloomed in your chest, especially when he gently took up more hair in his hand, pushing it out of your face in the process. You just felt so loved.

And then he came.

You were so grateful for your nii-chan’s come, even though you had to choke a bit when he pressed you deep down onto your dick, shooting his seed deep into your throat.

He still kept you around his dick, as his breathing came down again, enjoying the slurping noises you made around his dick, desperate to not let a drop escape. Seems like he worried for nothing.

“You did great, baby.” He finally let you come up for air, chuckling at your proud smile. “Thank you, nii-chan. I really enjoyed it.” He mentioned for you to come back up onto his lap again, letting you sit on his lap again, his sweatpants still dangling around his knees.

“Leave it there. I like you messy. Especially when I’m the reason for that.” He stopped you from wiping your spit and tears from your face. You looked so good with a wet face.

“I’m never going to be messy for anyone else, nii-chan. Only you.” He groaned at your statement, feeling his dick springing back in motion again.

“That’s right, baby. Only messy for me, right?” He chuckled at her nodding, tapping your ass. “Then let’s reward you for being a good little baby. Lay over my lap.”

It was borderline funny how fast you scrambled to get into position, even though he had to help you a bit until your ass was positioned right over his crotch, his large hands roaming over your cheeks.

_______________________________________________________________________

The teasing touch already made you twitch thanks to the pent-up frustration you had from sucking your nii-chan off. But a warning slap to your right cheek made you remember your position immediately.

With one final movement, he pulled your leggings down until they were hanging below your ass, only exposing your round cheeks and nothing more.

“Such a pretty baby,” he hummed appreciatively, fingers dancing over your naked cheeks, sometimes even dipping between them a bit.

You whined against the pillow you were pressed against, drool already sullying the cover.

“Don’t be an impatient brat.” He spanked your ass again, making you moan. “Let nii-chan be gentle with you, you won’t like the alternative.”

You weren’t sure if you could dislike anything your nii-chan did to you. But you trusted his judgment, biting into the pillow to refrain yourself from whining.

Finally, his hand dipped down between your checks for more than a quick brush over your lower lips. He let out a surprised moan when he let the tip of his pointer finger dip between your lips.

“Oh, baby, you are embarrassingly wet. Did sucking me off turn you on that much?” He laughed a bit, swirling his finger around in your wetness, eliciting quiet sighs from you. “I like making Issei-nii feel good,” you confessed, missing his content nodding.

“Yeah, you do. You’re the perfect little sister, aren’t you? My slutty little sister.”

He dipped a finger into your hole, making you arch your back, pressing up against his finger. He immediately removed it again.

“Look at that. You suck your nii-chan off one time and suddenly you think you deserve more than I decide to give you?” You whined in apology, forcing your ass back down.

“I’m sorry, Issei-nii.” He returned his finger back to your entrance and this time you were a good girl, not moving.

There was a slight squelching noise when he started slightly thrusting his finger in and out of you, enjoying the way you obviously had to hold yourself back from impatiently moving.

_______________________________________________________________________

Even though Issei’s fingers were thick, one of them was not nearly enough to quench your thirst. Especially when he was neglecting everything else apart from caressing your asscheeks with his other hand.

But apparently, your silent prayers were heard, since he gently started prodding at your hole with a second finger. You immediately felt much fuller, even if it wasn’t enough yet. If he could move a bit faster, or harder, the situation would change, but at the moment you were breathing into the pillow.

“Moan for me, baby. You shouldn’t move, but you can make me hear how good I’m making you feel.” He scissored his fingers a bit, promptly eliciting a moan from you.

“Can you move faster, nii-chan, please?” He allowed you to talk, right?

Apparently not, when he pulled his fingers out from your pussy, delivering a harsh slap onto your ass, making you flinch in surprise.

“I allow you to moan and you are already requesting stuff? Bratty little slut. Well, I’m going to give you something more.” He pushed you off his lap, roughly tugging you upright, pushing your leggings off of one leg, so you were straddling him again.

He took your face into his hand, squishing your cheeks together, smearing your essence all over them in the process.

The big dick of your nii-chan was already hard again and the second you wanted to gently rut against it, he lifted you a bit, aligning his cock with your entrance. Excitement filled every one of your pores at finally being one with your nii-chan.

That was until he slowly pressed into you.

_______________________________________________________________________

With the way your hole fought against his dick, there was no way you weren’t a virgin. The thought of being your first made him slow down for a second to contain his excitement. And he still didn’t want to hurt you too much.

He had wanted to prep you more, but you had decided to be a little brat. He worked his cockhead into your little cunt, groaning at the feeling of your wet insides engulfing him.

“Too big, nii-chan. Too much.” You were whimpering against him, tears streaming down your face once again.

“Remember, you decided to be a little brat and not let me stretch you properly first. So now take it like the slut you were trying to be.” He spanked your ass again before taking mercy on your shaking form and moving his fingers to your neglected clit, rubbing it gently.

Suddenly your whole body tensed up, a rough shiver moving through your whole body, legs twitching, mouth opened in a silent scream.

It took a couple of seconds for Issei to realize what was going on, but the erratic clenching of your pussy was, what gave you away. He was only inside you with the head of his dick and you had come.

Your cunt kept sucking him in, making him slip in a couple of centimeters further. He really had to hold himself back. You just looked so fuckable. He couldn’t believe you just came, without him really doing anything. Not that he had anything against that. You were just so fucking perfect.

“Fuck, baby.” With a deep growl, his hips thrust up a bit, sheathing him inside of your cunt halfway. “That was the hottest thing I have ever seen.” A tired smile was on your face, happy at the praise, even though you weren’t really understanding what had just happened.

If he had known that you were so sensitive, he would have fucked you a long time ago.

_______________________________________________________________________

Issei gave you a small break to come down from your high before he started massaging your clit again, ready to elicit more of your beautiful moans from you.

And he was not disappointed.

Your mouth was dry from the continuous moaning he made you do, his skilled fingers making you relax more and more, making you forget the pain while you slid further down onto his cock.

You were already so full of your nii-chan’s cock. You couldn’t imagine anything more having space inside of you, but when you looked down you saw that there was still a bit left. And you were determined to take your nii-chan’s cock fully.

So, you kept sinking down more and more, until you were fully pressed against him, his dick completely inside of him. The proud smile on Issei-nii’s face made you forget about all of the pain as you blinked the tears out of your eyes, stretching yourself to connect your lips again.

It was only when he slowly thrust his hips up again, that you felt a bit of pain return, but not nearly as strong as before. On the contrary, the pain was kind of.. pleasurable?

You felt dirty at the thought, but your brain was emptied again when Issei-nii began to move normally, thrusting his cock in and out of your stretched cunt at a slow pace.

_______________________________________________________________________

He kept his eyes fixated on your face to see any signs of discomfort immediately. You were looking so hot. Your tongue was rolling out of your mouth, you were panting, and your eyes had a delirious sheen to them. You already looked so fucked out. And he hadn’t even really started.

He quickened his pace a bit, but still no signs of discomfort. Your moans got louder, and you tried meeting his thrusts with your hips. You really were perfect.

He moved you until your back was pressed onto the couch and hastily shoved a pillow under your ass. Now he could really let go.

Already the new position made you see stars. It felt like he was even deeper in you if that was even possible. He hooked your legs over his shoulder, leaning over you until your knees were pressed into your body. And then he started practically hammering into you, eliciting a loud scream of his name from you.

It took only a couple of thrusts until you were spasming around his cock again, but he couldn’t stop. He was in way too deep. He just had to ruin you now.

“Issei, Issei, nii-chan, I – I – fuck, please, please, more.” The words you were slurring had no context, you just didn’t want him to stop. You felt something good coming.

Issei wasn’t even thinking about possibly stopping. He was too enamored by your tight cunt sucking his cock in over and over again.

He felt his release approaching. But he wanted you to come one last time around his cock, so he squished his hand between your bodies, furiously rubbing at your clit, watching you lose yourself with a loud scream, your body twitching with the intensity of your orgasm, liquid spurting out of your abused cunt. It was the sight of your face and the feeling of you squirting that made him lose his composure, shooting his seed deep inside your cunt.

_______________________________________________________________________

You were breathless, slowly coming down from your high, while Issei-nii peppered your face with kisses. “You did so good, baby. So good. Perfect little baby. I love you so much.” The praise made your heart bloom, and you gave him a tired smile. “I love you too.”

You whined when he pulled his cock out of your abused hole, watching with fascination how his cum dribbled out of you, mixing with your fluids. He scooped the mixture up on two of his fingers, hovering them in front of your mouth, not waiting long until you had sucked them completely clean.

“Messy little girl, squirting all over me, ruining the couch.” You were too tired to pay any mind to his words, only continuing to suck his fingers every time he offered them to you.

He cleaned you up correctly after having you eat your cum, gently wiping you clean with a washcloth. He would have preferred to shower you, but you already seemed like you were going to pass out every second.

You felt his gentle hands around your abused cunt, removing the sticky feeling and sliding clean clothes onto your body before carrying you somewhere, probably his room, if you could go from the scent.

And in the back of your mind that was still conscious, you couldn’t help but be excited about everything the next few days had to offer.

#Issei Matsukawa #matsukawa x reader #matsukawa issei x reader #matsukawa smut #issei smut #haikyuu #haikyuu smut #seijoh smut #multifandhoem #steamy #issei steamy

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earnestly-endlessly · 4 years ago

Note

Hey! I hope I'm not bothering you, I just found your blog and I love it sm, and I saw you sometimes do cherik fic recs. Do you have any Canon divergence aus/fix it, preferably after Cuba, that are 30k or longer and have a happy ending? If not thats okay! You don't have to answer this. Have a wonderful day!

Hi anon, thank you so much. I’m happy you both like my blog and my recs. You are certainly not bothering me, and feel free to send me an ask any time. I have plenty of recommendations for you. Some of them diverge a bit from your request because I couldn’t help but recommend them as well. I will put a note on those who diverge from your request. As always, I only recommend fics I have personally read and enjoyed and I sincerely you love them too.

-Canon divergence aus/fix it, post Cuba, 30k or longer, with a happy ending cherik fic recs-

Not Half As Blinding- keire_ke

Summary: Cuban beach AU. Charles discovers that death does, in fact, solve everything.

Lay down beside me (so still and so soft) – C-Gracewood

Summary: A different take on the events of the film.

Rumor Has It – blueink3

Summary: "Did I hear the doorbell earlier?"

"Yeah, but I'd steer clear if I were you. It seemed a little tense. I don't know what's going on, but there's a kid out there who looks freakily like the prof."

Nearly six months after Cuba, Charles' life is turned upside down for the second time. Though he's slowly learning to adapt to the first, he's not sure he can handle the second. Luckily for him, there are a few people out there more than willing to help.

Forward Momentum – AsYouWish

Summary: Six months after Cuba, Charles and Erik find themselves thrown fifty years into the future, where they meet their older selves, the Avengers, and a world that's very different from their own. Faced with the pieces of their broken relationship, an unparalleled adversary, and dealing with Tony Stark on a daily basis, Charles and Erik do their best to adapt while trying to find a way back home -- and to each other.

When an Unstoppable Force Meets an Immovable Optimist – ToriTC198

Summary: "You are always trying to save me, Charles." Erik mused aloud. "Ever since you dove into the ocean and dragged me out. Did it ever occur to you that I might not be worth saving?"

A genuine smile broke out on Charles' face as he brightly answered, "No, my friend, not once. I have every confidence you are well worth saving. But, I never truly believed I could save you. You are not the sort of man who someone saves. The choice to be a better man has always been yours to make and I hold no illusions that I can make that decision for you. I simply have faith that one day you will save yourself. I only hope I am still at your side to witness it."

What if Erik and Charles had been able to find a middle ground in the end?

Take the First Option – ShowMeAHero

Summary: When Erik becomes unbalanced, Emma presents him with three options: go back to Charles for three months and learn to deal with whatever he has going have going on, lose his Brotherhood, or let Emma control his mind.

He really only has one choice.

Virtue to Which We Aspire – varlovian

Summary: Nine months after Cuba, Charles is found by Erik's Brotherhood in the smoldering ruins of an abandoned CIA base, exhausted but alive. As the only known survivor of the CIA's vendetta against mutants, recovering Charles' memory of the incident—which he admits to having forgotten—just became paramount.

But the harder they push, the closer Charles gets to breaking point. When he finally cracks, the X-Men and the Brotherhood will learn the truth, but it comes with a price...

Some doors, once opened, cannot be closed.

Some minds, once broken, will never be the same again.

The Waking of the Red King – rustingroses

Summary: When Charles' heavy injuries on the Cuban beach conspire to leave him in a coma and living in fantasy of his own making, Erik, the man who once threatened to divide the mutant cause, finds himself desperately trying to hold everything together. First of the Red King trilogy.

Wake Up and Smell the Pancakes – Ayra Sei Ethari

Summary: In one universe, Erik left Charles. In another, he stayed. So what happens when the two Eriks get switched? "At first, Erik thinks he's dreaming. Then he realizes that this is Charles. Who is not paralyzed. And kissing him.

Rage and Serenity – MagickMaker, TheFangedGoblin

Summary: After Charles is shot on the beach, he is rushed to the hospital and paralysis is prevented. Ridden with guilt, Erik finds that he cannot leave him. He helps him heal, and eventually, Charles learns to trust him again. But when they set out to rescue Emma from the CIA and accept her onto their team, tensions rise. Will love keep Erik and Charles together despite their differences?

No Yesterdays on the Road – pocky_slash

Summary: It's been two months since Cuba and things are settling down for Charles, Erik, and the beginnings of their mutant school. Right up until Charles disappears, that is. Faced with the possibility that a bitter Emma Frost has kidnapped Charles, Erik is forced to team up with Moira to hunt down the remainder of the Hellfire Club. From there, they hope to locate Frost and retrieve Charles, without killing each other along the way.

(Or: Erik and Moira Drive Across the Country and Talk About Their Feelings.)

What Can We Do Without You? – SwoopSwoop

Summary: Charles and the boys were holding onto a secret more dear to them than their own lives when Charles disappears into the night; Erik is betrayed and finds himself returning to Westchester in the hopes that the government was just trying to trick him. All the while the boys are stuck in the middle, left guarding the secret from the man they are most afraid of finding out who is weaselling his way back into their lives alarmingly easily.

Note: Includes Mpreg, but don’t let that discourage you from reading it because it’s a really great fix-it.

Survival Instinct – Lindstorm

Summary: It’s been months since Charles pulled Erik out of the ocean, and Erik is beginning to wonder how many more times he can choose Charles, and still keep his vow to kill Shaw. Cooperating with the CIA is straining Erik’s patience. When a fact-gathering mission goes wrong and Charles is kidnapped, Erik is left trying to hold their mutant band together while Raven and the rest of them fall apart. No one can foresee how the mutant Charles meets in captivity will challenge all his assumptions about his own power, and twist Charles’ telepathy out of his control. In the race to stop Shaw's nuclear ambitions from coming to fruition, Charles makes a crucial misstep. Erik’s decision between Shaw and Charles takes on unexpected ramifications when [spoiler deleted].

Needles (Series) – Skull_Bearer

Summary: AU where everyone's born Dominant or Submissive

Once a Dominant and Submissive pair is born, they are linked to each other, no matter how far apart they are. This link doesn't actually tell the Dom or the Sub each other's thoughts, but it does allow them to know how the other's doing and serves as a reassurance that there's someone meant for them out there.

Another one of the reasons that Erik hates Shaw so badly is because Shaw managed to break Erik's link to his Sub. Now Erik doesn't even know if his Sub's alive because breaking a link like that can kill a Submissive.

Meanwhile, Charles hates himself for not yet having telepathy strong enough to contact and help his Dom, especially after feeling the pain his Dom was forced to go through. He truly believes that his Dominant is dead. Hopes it, some nights when he remembers how his Dom was forced to suffer. It's better than to think of his Dom still being forced to bear that pain.

And then Charles pulls Erik from the water

Time to Grow – zarah5

Summary: In which you'll find chess dates which aren't dates (or maybe Charles is wrong about that). -- Based on First Class, this turns (slightly) AU during the beach scene.

Note: This fic is less than 30k words but it’s such a fandom classic and just a great read if you love your fix-its.

Faults for Fixing – beren

Summary: Charles sees the events of the missile crisis and subsequent weeks when he uses Cerebro to touch the mind of a mutant with the power to see the near future. When he wakes up he is determined that he will not allow them to happen and he will not lose the people he loves.

Note: A bit less than 30k words long but another great read.

It’s like one of us woke up – kaydeefalls

Summary: "You came here for me," Charles said, meeting Shaw's gaze levelly. "So let's not waste any more time."

Canon!AU in which Charles and Erik do find Shaw in Russia.

Note: XMFC fix it, but the events in Cuba don’t happen.

Afterlife – Anna (arctic_grey)

Summary: A year after Washington, Erik wakes up in excruciating pain as sudden awareness washes over him: Charles is dead. Erik has to adjust to yet another future: no extinction, just a world without Charles. But the death of his former friend leaves Erik weak and his powers drained. His quest for answers leads him back to Westchester, where Erik has to face his past with Charles and put together the puzzle pieces of what happened to the man he once cared for.

The Burdens We Long to Carry – arcapelago (arcanewinter)

Summary: When mutant-supporter and ally President Kennedy is assassinated and all pro-mutant progress is dismantled, Charles is no longer so confident that he's on the right side, and extends his hand to Erik after a year of animosity. They settle tentatively into their old partnership, but not everything is the same as it was--and not everything can be. When Hank develops a metal frame to move the lower half of Charles' body for him if he wants it, Erik offers the use of his mind and his ability in order to make it work. Both find out what they're willing to do for each other, and neither knows if it'll be enough to keep them together.

Other Futures Than These – midrashic

Summary: In which Cuba doesn't break them apart, but that doesn't mean that their futures are tied together. (Except that it does.)

A Days of Future Past AU where only one person can defeat the Sentinels and save the future: the man whose imprisonment and torture created them, and Charles Xavier's ex.

The Winter of Banked Fires – Yahtzee

Summary: Charles Xavier has returned from the dead -- but is lost within his own mind. Rogue has cast aside her own power and doesn't know where she fits in the world any longer. The production of synthetic Cure means mutantkind itself is newly at risk. And Magneto, turned human against his will, is in despair until the day he feels a familiar consciousness tugging at his own --

Set after X-3 (with much desperate fix-it applied), during XMFC, and every time in between.

#cherik #cherik fic recs #asks #earnestly answers #for some reason Tumblr refuses to post my entire answer #feel free to ask me whenever you want anon #I really love making these lists

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mfpeace · 4 years ago

Text

@justbeingedgy @weird-colombian-gurl You asked me to elaborate on the "Ches already has a kid" theory in the notes of that one mf analysis post (which I really liked, go check it out!!), so that's why I'm making this one, cuz notes are a bit too restricting for what I want to talk about!

Though next time think twice before asking me to talk about something I'm interested in, because you never know when you're gonna wake up lovecraftian horrors!! :DDD you'll see what i mean when you press read more :))

So, I'll say it right now - this post is largely inspired by the second story highlight of this Instagram user (sorry, I don't know their name, only that their Instagram handle is dee_girl_metalfamilyfan), it's in Russian though, so keep that in mind

Alright, so I'll break this theory into two parts: the first one will be all about Ches, and the second will be about his potential child (spoiler: you might've seen her!)

Without any further ado, let's get to the Ches part:

1. The creators said that they're gonna explore Ches' character in the second season. Obviously, it doesn't mean anything on it's own, but just wait.

Dima: Let's talk about the second season a little. Of course, the seconds season will show development of the old characters, as well as new ones. That's in short. As you see, Ches looks a bit different here.

Alina: Yeah, we'll show a bit more about Ches at the ages of 18 to 20. His past. We'll reveal a bit more about his complex character, as much as it's possible.

(The source of the translation) Also I think they also said at one point that adult Ches will get some character development too? But that's probably a given, considering that we wouldn't see his youth if it wouldn't have affected him in the present, flashbacks without any relevance to the overall story don't sound so good

2. Not sure about this one (we don't know how much in character it was) but I can't not mention it.

Alina: Actually there was this one fanfic that I really liked. I don’t remember what it was called, but it was about Ches having a daughter, which is a cool topic. It was relatively in character and truly interesting. It’s great when people focus not just on sexual relationships of the characters, but also try to look at their development. That was a really interesting one. That’s it.

(UnityCon '19)

3. This one's a pretty big one, in my opinion. So, this is what they said on ArtWave '19:

Dima: Ches also has flaws.

Alina: [to Dima] Don’t spoil stuff.

Dima: His flaw is that he's very... irresponsible, let’s say.

So, maybe, just maybe, Ches does have a child but he, you know... left them? As the Instagram highlight from the beginning say: "he might be irresponsible enough to leave his child, and he's probably irresponsible enough not to use any contraception" (rephrased, not the exact quote)

4. Alright, so, the only mention of this one I can think of right now is the aforementioned Instagram highlight. The Metalfamilyfan says:

I contacted Korg/Корж, (admin of @ metal_yama [and I believe one of the organizers of the Metal Family Meetup in Moscow]) and she asked Alina on one of the meetups: "if Ches were to be a father, what kind of father would he be?"

And she said: "The kind of that would say "kid, look at that birdie over there!" an then he would run away"

Someone's words are not the perfect source, but they did tag Metal Yama and from what I know they didn't disagree with what the author of the page said. if anyone has anything to say about this (disprove or definitely prove what I said) feel free to do so in a reblog, notes, DMs, send me an anonymous ask, or in any other way you feel comfortable with

5. Ches has literally been through the same thing, and we know how important the theme of the cycle of abuse is in Metal Family (or, in this case, the cycle of neglect? Abandonment? Idk)

You managed to hide your PREGNANCY from me! AND you've been hiding the child from me for a whole year!

YES, because you would've insisted on aborting him!

AND NOW I'M INSISTING ON PUTTING HIM UP FOR ADOPTION! OR I'LL LEAVE RIGHT NOW!

6. Here we can see Ches with a blonde girl. Nothing too special, probably just a one time hook up. He doesn't seem to be interested in her, and she seems to be annoyed with him.

But wait...

What is this?

Like, it doesn't even matter if there's actually a punk/rock/whatever band named MOM or not, I just think it's pretty weird to put it in this particular drawing of Ches and this random woman who is implied to have slept with him. It's not integral to Ches' character as, for example, Korol i Shut is. It's just... there. For some reason.

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

Alright, now, finally let's get to the second part of the theory: who is, exactly, his child?

The short answer is, according to this theory, her:

First, let me list every single instance of her appearing in canon (and by canon I mean everything made by the creators. Even with this definition of canon it's not much, I promise): The screenshot you can see above on the left (it's a screenshot from the second season and it appeared here), an instagram story posted by Alina (above, right), and two drawing with a lot of characters where you can spot the girl which I'm gonna call her PinkHair or PH for short, I'll mention them later I feel like I should mention this, comparing the sources of the images and the dates when they were posted, it's safe to assume that the screenshot in the classroom has the latest and final version of her design. The red hair most likely doesn't mean anything

1. Alright. So. we've seen Dee and PinkHair in a classroom together, so they're most likely related in some way, or at least they know each other. Their exact relationship doesn't matter here, because all that matters here is that they're related story-wise

Let's look at the first image. This is the banner of the main Metal Family channel. Ches is near Heavy (they get along quite well and I'm sure Heavy aspires to be like Ches in many ways), Dee (we can see his classmates/friends near him, they're all about his age), and we can see people related to Glam on the left side of the image (including Ches!), and Vicky's - on the right side (notice how the hell sign is also there)

Now, I'm not absolutely sure about this one, but it's still kind of weird - look at the image on the right (it's from ArtWave 2021 btw) - wouldn't it make more sense to put PinkHair near Dee? Also, Curiously enough, not only is she not close to Dee on this image, but she's also standing next to Ches.

Though this whole thing could be explained by art theory (too many small things in one corner of your drawing isn't great composition wise lol sorry PH) but I still can't quite skip this point

2. Remember the "MOM" lady? Fun fact, she has the exact same pearl earring that PinkHair has on the screenshot.

3. I'll put all similarities with her supposed parents in this point: Mother: * She's also pretty uh.. glam? for the lack of a better word? Or feminine in a traditional sense, yeah I think that's a better way to put it. Like colors they prefer to wear for example, and jewelry. Characters like that aren't common in Metal Family * She's gotta be a blonde. I can't imagine her being anything but blonde. If she manages to maintain that hair color as a brunette I'm just straight up assuming her character arc is gonna be killing God because these kind of people are capable of anything. I fear them with every fiber of my being. * I can't say for sure because of the shading, but it seems like they both have gray eyes, and she also has darker skin compared to most MF characters. Though, it's likely that Mom just applied a lot of fake tan Ches: * We know that Ches for sure has darker skin * AND grey eyes * There's also some possible personality similarities but I'm not sure if you can compare a child to a parent they've never really known in this way

That's about it, I suppose, I hope there isn't that many grammar mistakes and logically unfinished parts and whatnot in this post I forgot to edit lol x) I'm not sure how to end this post other than to remind you guys that almost all the points in this posts are inspired by the "тупая теория" highlight on the dee_girl_metalfamilyfan's Instagram page, so go check them out and subscribe, they post Dee x The Quest Girl fanart and and always credit the artists. Without them this post would be much, much shorter.

Thanks for reading this post, please feel free to let me know your thoughts on this post <3

#i tried to organize this but #yeah #also damn i hope PH's mother isn't in the same situation as Ches' :'(#at one point i misspelled parent in the context of ches as paren't and now i can't stop giggling like an idiot #these tags have completely different moods to them because I wrote them at different points in time btw #paren't #heh heh #metal family #metal family ches #metal family pinkhair #this seems like it's made up but if words end in ent or ant or something like that sometimes i automatically put an ' in without thinking

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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The Trieste Venture (Part 2 - Mourning the Lenin)

GAME CANON VERSION: The second part of the rewritten Trieste Story Quest. I wish they had added more of the emotional stuff for the MC. I don’t think it would have been hard. They had like, some nice elements. They just didn’t use them well or not at all. Below the Cut!

You watched those lung snails slowly swallow Caesar and Chu Zihang like a mudslide, while you sat with this bloodless coward in the cockpit.

The lung snail attached to the Lenin's outer wall probably weighed several hundred tons, and could kill a man if it hit him. Chu Zihang was trying to climb towards Caesar, but he was further away from the nuclear power module than Caesar was. He was carried askew by the currents when he fell into the lung snail pile, and his landing point was not as good as Caesar's. According to the instructions for use, the suit can only support five minutes and is used to repair the shell of the deep submersible if necessary, but now Caesar's suit has been outside for seven minutes, and Chu's has been out for two minutes. Caesar is unconscious, and Chu Zihang's vitals are getting worse and worse. He is relying on blood rage to support himself, but the effect of blood rage in this extreme environment is also unknown.

The chances are getting smaller and smaller. The Chu Zihang in his spherical submersible is still paddling his arms in the pile of lung snails. He understands that he is doing his best. He’s obviously the kind of person who is not too concerned about anything, but as long as he has any strength left, if there is even a glimmer of hope, he will not let it go.

Chu Zihang finally broke through the lung snails in front of him and grabbed the handrail behind Caesar's suit. He tried to use a strap to tether the Caesar’s submersible to his suit, but how the two suits are joined side by side and this is a big problem.

Your rage has gone and left you feeling empty inside as you watched. It wasn’t like the heart-pounding explosions, the gunshots and the desperate screams of the dying at Black Swan Bay. This seemed cold, clinical and distant. The cabin was completely silent while you watched them struggle.

There was no need for you to be here. Caesar and Zihang were absolutely wrong. There was something you could do.

You slip off the headset and take off the seatbelt.

“Not you too! What am I supposed to do?” Lu Mingfei cried.

Because Caesar and Zihang would live, they would be able to provide him with instructions. That was a fact. So there was no need to say anything to Lu Mingfei or answer his questions.

“There are only two suits. You’ll die if you go out there!” He protested.

“That’s the point.” Because Lu Mingfei meant nothing to you, and his feelings didn’t matter, it was easy enough to say what was in your heart.

“Really? Suicide?!” He whimpered. But, just as you expected, he was too weak and cowardly to stop you. He didn’t even move to unbuckle his seatbelt.

“You’ll understand later. I’ll be back with them.” You stepped into the cockpit hatch and shut it. Inside, you could hear the rushing of the ocean over the vessel. It reminded you of the time you fell into the ocean after being pushed there by your dear friend. You’d survived extreme ocean conditions before.

You close your eyes to focus. In your mind, swirling serpents appear in a vision. They part to reveal flaming golden eyes.

“Wait!” Lu Mingfei’s fists are pounding on the hatch. Your eyes are golden, your pupils have turned to vertical slits, and large blue-black veins are crawling up your neck and face followed by bright golden scales. Because you were going to die, it didn’t matter if you died like a monster. With this strength, with Blood Rage, you could live, just like the mermaids lived. From within the hatch, your heart beat loud like a drum. In a single inhale, you sucked the air. When you opened the hatch, the water rushed in, pressed in on you and forced that breath out of you. The water was pitch black, but you could see just fine.

More and more mermaids crawl out of the ground, creeping and swimming, reminiscent of millions of earthworms crawling from the mud in spring. A huge crack appeared, cutting lengthwise into the long river of lava. Hundreds and thousands of tons of lava gushed into the crack. Something huge struggled in the lava, its scales black, its dorsal crest bearing barbed bone spikes, black metal hooks piercing its muscles, locking it firmly under the rubble. But the metal hooks were just barely able to restrain it, and it lashed the ground furiously with its thick tail. The buildings that still stood collapsed in pieces, with metal fragments floating up with the gravel, forming a blinding fog in the sea.

But that wasn't the worst of it. What looked like swarms of fireflies were flying out of that chasm!

It was those ghost-toothed dragon vipers! They had first appeared further up from the trench, but no one had expected the ruins to be their nest. The dragon vipers poured out like silvery bands of light in the sea water. They were not interested in small things like lung snails or corpse guards, but gradually closed in on the struggling Caesar and Chu Zihang. Your mind explodes in a rage. You remembered what Chu Zihang and Caesar said: the ghost tooth dragon viper gathered in groups and chewed the bronze pillar to eat. They can secrete strong acidic mucus, and chewed metal with their horrible teeth. Can the titanium-magnesium alloy used to make men’s equipment stand up to the dragon viper's teeth?

You weren’t about to let them find out. The Dragonblood in your body was surging and you let out an inhuman cry, a cross being a baby’s cry when it is first born and a wildcat’s scream. Your body powers forward, undulating like a dolphin, knowing how to swim like this even though you weren’t built like a mermaid. The dragon vipers didn’t know you, but your fierce charge marked you as an opponent and, for a moment, they instinctively changed course as one school, spinning away from you.

Caesar and Chu Zihang couldn't run, they were completely trapped in a pile of lung snails. Chu let go of Caesar, plucked the lung snails in front of him, and headed for the nuclear power module. Apparently, he had heard your scream and understood the situation at hand. He was trying to see if he could fire up the nuclear pods before the dragon vipers pounced and tore into them, but all he knew was that the code had something to do with Nono's birthday.

The swarm has come back around, this time in even greater numbers. The urge to survive is pushing your blood rage to higher levels and now you don’t even think twice about focusing on the group and lashing out with claws, slicing the fish open neatly, blood and entrails filling the water.

The viperfish are not above cannibalism and this throws the swarm into a frenzy, biting into their wounded brethren and occasionally taking chunks out of healthy fish who are then rendered skeletons in an instant. The feeding frenzy doesn’t go unnoticed and more viperfish are coming. You cry out from the sharp pain of one latching onto your foot. You dislodge it, but the numbers of fish are starting to over take your ability to fight and those on the outer edges of the school suddenly turn their attention back to Chu Zihang and Caesar.

Fortunately, the toughness of titanium-magnesium alloy is far more than bronze, so these small things they have to bite very hard.. Chu Zihang is exhausted, he is still less than 5 meters away from the nuclear power module, but his metal prosthetic limbs have broken, he can not enter the passcode. You want to save them, but the moment you turn away from the school of viperfish, they pounce on you, biting at you like gigantic mosquitos! You start to realize that you might not rescue Caesar and Zihang after all, that maybe… just maybe you wouldn’t be enough…

Again.

The spherical figure suddenly stood up. It was Caesar, who had been unconscious! His pupils burned brightly, and he used metal prosthetics to crush the dragon viper attached to his body. With the power of a rock driller, he plucked away layer after layer of lung snails. He passed Chu Zihang step by step, approaching the nuclear power module. You’re stunned for a moment and then you feel a sudden thrill, like the sudden excitement of descending the first hill on a rollercoaster!

Your body really is moving on its own. You slice through the fish like a blender, claws ripping, teeth tearing. Scales floated through the water like it was glittering confetti for New Years Day at Times Square! They turn to bite back but you’re too fast, zipping through the school with such power they were forced to part ways or get bludgeoned to the side by your own body. You’re lost in the amazing power of it. Was this you? Was this happening? You’re laughing, but you don’t feel breathless! How was this happening? What was happening? Your mind was screaming with giddy joy, but you’re not sure where this is coming from. It was as if you were on some sort of high from a powerful drug and your conscious mind was taking a back seat.

Caesar was a little drowsy, slowly entering the code. A confirmation of success! The nuclear power module reignited, the cadmium rod recovered neutron density and rose. This time it wouldn't go into safe mode. It really became a nuclear bomb. Caesar turned around and grabbed Chu Zihang who was struggling in the pile of lung snails, and removed the lead dive weights from their suits. The weight was reduced and they immediately surfaced, taking with them the ghost-toothed dragon vipers that were biting at them.

You follow them into the pressurized cabin as door began to fill with water, followed by drainage, when the pressure in the pressurized cabin returned to the same as in the cockpit, Lu Mingfei could not wait to pull open the pressure door.

You were a mess of half human, half servitor and bitten a thousand times. As the strange power left you, you found yourself unable to stand any more and slipped to the floor. The pain was unbearable as your muscles and bones reminded you that even though you couldn’t feel it in your moment rapture, they were working beyond their limits. The strains, sprains, bites and bruises crashed into your mind all at once. It hurt so much you couldn’t even cry, only gape wordlessly.

“Get Caesar! I’ll take care of her!” Chu Zihang had already shed his spherical suit. He drew his blade and brought it down hard against the dragon fish that were still clinging to it, beheading them as neat as a sushi master. He then left for a few seconds and returned with the injection that was supposed to save you. Still, he held that bright blade against your throat just in case. You didn’t even feel the needle only the serum’s burning course through your veins.

“It’s okay…” You tell him. He didn’t have to try to save you. In fact, you don’t know why you even came back to the submersible. You were just following the natural order of events and you felt fine. Why did you bother coming back? You were supposed to die out there. That was the plan, right?

Chu Zihang held your hand up and examined it. Little by little, the scales and black veins were starting to retreat, albeit, slower than he would have liked. “Stay in here, I’ll bring a first aid kit.”

"What the hell kind of fucking fish is this!" Lu Mingfei was screaming. You watch as he takes the fire extinguisher and sprays the fish still clinging to Caesar’s suit with it. Even though they were powered by Dragonblood, they still needed oxygen to live. The foam sapped them of that oxygen and they dropped off Caesar’s suit. Turned out that Raccoon Boy as good for something after all.

A bump attracts your attention. Through the inches thick glass, you see that the gold scaled mermaids are flying past you in a swifter river than before, streaming upwards. Chu Zihang returns, carrying a blanket and pulling on a roll of bandages with his teeth.

“Hey is she alright? Do you need help?” Lu Mingfei asks, with approaching footsteps.

“Stay out there! Tell me what’s going on outside!”

You finally look down and see that your clothes have been near completely shredded save a bit around your waist and neck.. Chu Zihang was kneeling in front of you to obscure you from Mingfei’s view.

A wall of flames rose slowly from the side of the Trieste, and the sound of thunder resounded in the depths of the trench. Rivers of magma erupted! Millions of tons of magma spurted out of the chasm! The magma was golden red when it was newly ejected, before gradually solidifying and turning black, rising to about half a kilometer before it completely solidified, forming a giant black wall, and the seawater next to it instantly vaporized, as if a million thunderstorms had exploded continuously at the bottom of the sea. The Treiste and the mermaid hybrids were only a few hundred meters away from the wall of lava, and there were still streams of lava spewing from below. The newly solidified volcanic rocks above had begun to fall. So the mermaids gave up the attack and started to flee again. Even these things can't help but be afraid in front of a huge disaster, and it's obvious that when the lava wall collapses, everything will be destroyed.

From the beginning, they fled not because they were afraid of the nuclear power module, but because they sensed the eruption of the volcano under the sea.

Chu Zihang finished bandaging your wounds and covered you with the blanket. He then picked you up and carried you to your seat to strap you in. "It’s already too late to call the Sumeru. We have to accelerate away. Mingfei, you control the rudder and stabilizing wing. In a few moments the nuclear power module will explode. We must reach beyond a safe distance!"

"But we have no power! We've already lost the nuclear power module! Just the lithium batteries aren't fast enough!" Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded.

"I'm an engine too." Chu Zihang strapped himself firmly into the seat.

His golden pupils burned up, and the four walls of the cockpit were illuminated in gold as heat waves reverberated through the air.

Royal Fire erupted! Swirls of black flame appeared in the seawater below the submersible. It was the most concentrated state of the Royal Flame, with internal temperatures of several thousand degrees, yet not a trace of heat was escaping. The black vortex slowly rotated in the seawater for a second and then collapsed. The heat leaked out. The huge amount of seawater was instantly vaporized. The swirling white steam stream roared in the deep sea. The water vapor and the flame were entangled and swirled together to create a flaming vortex!

You were all starting to rise! Even though the rock wall was collapsing around you, the Trieste brushed past the falling debris. You’re holding your breath hoping that you wouldn’t end up buried anyway.

You stared at the screen. The screen is an external camera shot of the Takamagahara. The scene was solemn and magnificent. The ruins are slowly sliding along the tilted sea bed into the lava river, the last buildings gradually tilting and crumbling, high towers snapped off, thousands of bells rolling in the streets of the city. You feel that at the moment they play sad music like the song sung by desperate birds. A small mountain of volcanic rocks fell from above, spewing out lava as they splashed in the ruins. Lava was converging into small rivers along the streets, as if cleaning the city with flames. Tides of magma from the fissures swallowed up more and more of the ground. Certain shattered pieces of land disappeared forever into the rivers of lava, and soon with the sun-bright explosion of the nuclear powerhouse, Takamagahara was lost to the world forever.

　　The Lenin slid along the tilted foundations, its huge hull collapsing countless buildings along the way and rolling into the magma. The embryo inside did not struggle, and the Lenin floated in the lava for a few moments before gradually sinking. The fractured metal tower rolled over and smashed into its middle, destroying its bridge. The high temperature burned the fleshy layer covering the Lenin, exposing the carbide red five-star of Soviet Russia on the bow, which was the last to sink. By now the Trieste was far from the depths of the trench, and the bright river of lava in view was fading.

It was just a ship, but it was one of the last remaining memories of your past. You remembered anticipating the visit of this ship every Christmas with its gifts of chocolate for Vera and vodka for Herzog, new clothes and shoes for you. Up until now, when you thought of your past, you thought of a terrible end. The blood and the fire and the smoke. You shed no tears then.

But watching the ship and the city sink irretrievably, it finally hits you that everything happy is gone. Gone is the ship and its presents, burned forever and it was never going to arrive again.

You hold the blanket against your reddening face and stain it with your tears, all your sorrow bursting out an a flood.

#Dragon Raja

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starrlikesbooks · 4 years ago

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Let’s talk about upcoming books!

It’s hard to believe the year is nearly over, but it’s equally hard to believe that it’s somehow still 2020 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Either way, the new year means at least one good thing- cool new books!

Click the read more for a little on each and why I’m excited! And have a great new year! 💓🎉

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey is Gailey’s third full-length novel, and their second Adult novel. It’s an SFF story about a woman whose husband is cheating on her… with a clone of herself… which he made by stealing her research. The layers of betrayal! Obviously her and the clone have to kill him, what other choice do they have? I’m super excited for another one of Gailey’s fun, complex characters and the concept alone sounds so, so cool.

The Valley and the Flood by Rebecca Mahoney I’ve already had the pleasure over reading and I am PUMPED to get other people to read it! This is a magical realism story about grief and baggage mixed with a southern (western?) gothic vibe with the town in the desert full of otherwordly “neighbors”. This is a beautiful story of PTSD and healing and as well as a lushly magic one.

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore is another one I’ve already been lucky enough to get an advanced copy of. This is a magical realism story about the trauma of two characters’ unfortunately closely connected sexual assault. This one is heavy, and if you’re sensitive to stories involving rape and/or blackmail you may want to avoid it, but it’s well written and honestly an excellent story of healing and reflection.

Lycanthropy & Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal I…. have also already read! Sorry- I am just a very lucky reader of books! This is a really modern online friendship based story of a girl and her community of people with chronic illnesses, like the one that forced her to come back home from college. But it turns out her best friend’s chronic illness is a little… weird. I love the humor in this book, I love the characters, I love the representation of these illnesses and the online communities they form, and I honestly think that anyone who 1) like werewolves and 2) is still on tumblr will love this book.

Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller combines three of my favorite things- bladesmiths, magical quests, and the author of The Shadows Between Us. A magical bladesmith takes a commission from someone far more dangerous than she knows, and winds up with an uber powerful sword able to steal secrets, on the run, and with some surprising friends. I can’t think of anything I don’t like from that, and I know I already love Levenseller’s characters, so!

Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater has… that title, but is also the sequel to Call Down the Hawk, Stiefvater’s Ronan Lynch centric TRC spin off. CDTH was incredible and ended with a massive cliff hanger, so I’m chompin at the bit for this book. More magical dreams! More disembodied voices! More murder and art theft and Declan Lynch failing at pretending not to be weird af!

May the Best Man Win by ZR Ellor has the potential to make me cry right from the get go. This is a MLM trans lovers-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story and my God I’m vibrating. Basically it’s a battle for prom king between exes who had a messy break up because one of them ended their relationship in order to come out & transition. The cover is so cute and I’m ready for this to be fluffy and fun.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston is McQuistion’s sophomore novel after Red, White & Royal Blue, so… obviously? This one is sapphic and involves falling for someone who is literally in the past. I trust McQuiston so much I’d need this book immediately even if the concept didn’t sound amazing, but I’m feeling blessed that it does!

Violet Ghosts by Leah Thomas is about being best friends with (and crushing on) a ghost while also coming out to yourself as trans. As an enby who likes ghost books- may I just say trans rights? This book also involved parental abuse, so beware if you find that distressing or triggering!

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury not only has a stunning cover and a main character who looks like she means serious business, but it’s a dark urabn fantasy about witches. The main character fails her ritual to come into her magic, she’s forced to kill her true love or strip her whole blood line. Ah, I love difficult choices, gray morality, and magic, so I’m already in love with this.

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson I’m astounded and super excited to know is going to exist at all. I loved the Truly, Devious trilogy, and while this isn’t exactly a part of that it is the same main character and it is still a mystery about an unsolved murder! Plus, I love summer camps, so a summer camp murder mystery makes me happy.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta is a sappic enemies-to-lovers about two girls on opposite sides of a war fought by giant Windups. This is a cyberpunk book of spies and pilots and gay love, and it’s also the first in a series!

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell is the third and (most likely) final book of the Simon Snow series and it’s gonna be GOOD. My only wish is for it to be about 500 pages longer because I want a full out door stopper of tying up loose ends.

The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters is the second book by the Ghost Wood Song author- which was on my most anticipated list for 2020 last year! That one was creepy and folky and queer, and this one looks to be the same. This one has a sister disappear and some strong magic to find out what happened to her, and if their mother was the one who did it.

Mark of the Wicked by Georgia Bowers is a dark fantasy about a girl who comes into her powers but has some different ideas about how she should be using them. I love morally gray or just plain dark main characters, so I’m ready to jump right on this one. This one also involves memory loss/blacking out and being framed, which always adds a cool mysterious layer!

Among Thieves by M.J. Kuhn involves queer, selfish thieves forced to band together. I have a soft spot for characters who are really flawed and don’t want to work together (especially if it leads into found family!) and this also has a slow burn sapphic relationship and a lot of possible betrayal in it, so I’ll probably go crazy from reading it.

Beyond the Ruby Veil #2 by Mara Fitzgerald doesn’t have a title yet but it does have a great plot to work off of. I loved the first book- which was creepy, had a completely awful, villainous main character, and full (I mean full) of murder- and it ended in a way that point to the sequel being just as good if not better. The first one had the quality of just watching the world burn, and I have a feeling this one’s going to be the same thing with maybe more flames. If you plan on picking up either of them, consider checking out the CWs, though!

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen got added to this immediately because Owen definitely gained my love and trust via The Merciful Crow duology, and I’m certain it’s going to be incredible solely because she’s a wonderful writer and her characters are a lot of fun- and speaking of characters, she’s already shared some drawings and info on them and they’re GREAT I cannot wait to meet them. This is a retelling of The Goose Girl story, from the maid’s POV!

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan was originally on my 2020 most anticipated but then 2020 happened so… yeah. But it is actually coming out in 2021, as long as the world doesn’t end again (fingers crossed). Inspired by East Asian mythology, this one is about a dangerous cult, a peasant cursed to steal souls, and an exiled prince!

The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta is going to be one of those cute, fluffy, feel good reads, which I think we probably all need about now. I love Capetta’s work and their very queer characters, and I love the idea of a magical baker both breaking up and then getting couples back together. Also, the MC is agender- we love to see it.

The Second Coming by André-Naquian Wheeler follows a teen with a traumatic past falling for a boy who might be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Honestly, I’m a little nervous about this one- but also I almost wrote my own queer second coming story, so who am I to talk? I don’t know much more about this book, but I’m excited to see what it turns out like!

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greennightspider · 5 years ago

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Hearts Entwined (Dwalin Oneshot)

Author’s Note: First time writing for the LOTR/HOBBIT fandom so be gentle! Just a bit of Dwalin fluff because he’s mah boy.

Summary: Joining a company of Dwarves you thought that your hair would be the least of your worries. But as it turns out, it matters more than you thought.

Dwalin x Reader

The sun had just crawled over the mountains when Thorin decided it was time to make camp. At his words you and some of the other company fell to your knees in exhaustion, you rolling on your back as you steadied your breathing.

“I feel like my legs are gonna fall off.” Ori whined, as he lay collapsed on the ground beside you, to which you chuckled.

“Don’t you live in mountains?” You turned your head.

“Emphasis on the ‘in’. Its not like we climb up and down these every day.” Bofur groaned.

You could tell who the more battle hardy members were, as more of the older men of the troop stood unfazed. One dwarf in particular looking like he had just gone for a morning jog.

“Aw come on you whippersnappers, you’re fifty years too old to let a leisurely walk like this defeat ya.” Dwalin grinned, poking at your leg with his boot.

“Lesiurely??!” Ori panted.

“Walk??!” You cried.

Your dramatics caused many in the troupe to laugh heartily, which was a much needed mood-lifter after such a long day. Even Thorin the Serious smiled as he passed you by.

“Come on, we’ll make for camp.”

You lay on the ground for a moment more, letting your eyes cover your gaze as you enjoyed the view of a certain dwarf, sweat glistening his muscles and brow in the waning sunlight.

Perhaps climbing mountains did have their perks.

Even though it had only been two weeks, it felt as though you had been a part of this rag-tag troupe for years. You were an unexpected surprise, not unlike Bilbo, however your meeting was far from peaceful. They had found you tied up as a troll trio’s appetizer, and after they had rescued you, Gandalf offered that you travel with them.

At first there were objections to having a stranger join, but with you promising to prove your worth to Thorin they obliged. In all honesty you had no idea what to expect in a quest of Blue Mountain dwarves. But you had felt the times changing, work as a bounty hunter becoming more dangerous for a lone wolf. So, it made sense to travel with a group of warriors, peculiar though their quest may be.

Over time you had become accustomed to the Dwarven band, and they you. You liked sparring with Dwalin, listening to Bilbo’s packing tips, and even getting into trouble with Fili and Kili, but unconsciously you found yourself always looking out for Ori.

He reminded you of your younger siblings, and so you tried to make sure he was never left behind. Dori had also noticed your kindness, and had taken it upon himself to be your guide if ever you had questions about the trip, dwarves, and anything in between.

Sure Fili and Kili were friendly enough, but you could never be sure if their answers were serious or offered as a wick to a flame. Which wouldn’t help your case if they knew of your more romantic curiosities about a certain rugged dwarf.

As soon as camp was set up you dug into your bowl almost as heftily as Bombur did, your mighty excursions leaving your body depleted. Sighing as you patted your full belly, you enjoyed the warmth of the fire while propped up against a hefty log, one that Dwalin happened to be sitting on.

“Good to see you’ve revived lass.”

You tried not to let the blush creep into your cheeks as he spoke your nickname with such a warmth that pulled at your heart strings. “Good to see you’re still kicking too.” You shot back, Dwalin smirking at your response.

You remembered the first time you saw him burst out of the trees with a mighty roar. Even hanging upside down, you saw the sheer strength and courage he launched himself at a foe five times his size. Yet his gentleness surprised you as he cut you down and carried you in his arms like you weighed nothing.

I mean, how could you not fall for him?

As everyone cleared off their bowls for the night you tried to stretch your muscles as best you could. The strain on your shoulders was beginning to ache, however it was a familiar pain now, and one that you would try your best not to let show.

You rolled your pack out close to the face of the mountain, since once before Dwalin had to drag you back from almost toppling over the edge in your sleep.

“No more sleeping near the cliffsides you wriggly worm.” He had growled sternly, to which you could only nod, having woken up to being carried by your saviour once again wondering if it was another dream. You’d had to bury your cheeks under the blanket so he couldn’t see your satisfied smile.

“Glad to see you learned your lesson.” Dwalin teased as he watched you from the fire.

“Well I’m sure if I had gone over the edge you could’ve used your beard as rope.” You teased back.

Dwalin and the others roared around the fire, as he looked at you with a mischievous grin.

“You tease this fine work of art missy, but from the looks of it your hair is gonna look worse than mine within a week.”

You brought your hand up to the back of your head and realised that it was, indeed, becoming a matted mess. You kept your thick hair in braids for the practicality, but on this journey you had not found the time to manage the upkeep. Which was important, as your curls answered to no one but a tooth comb and plenty of oil.

You huffed and started to unbind your hair, working your way behind before you felt yourself stuck. Seems one of your more intricate braids had become an intricate knot.

“You might as well just shave it off lassy, we can have matching hairstyles.” Dwalin roared with laughter. You tried your best to give him a grumpy look but you soon found yourself in fits of laughter too.

“You can help me braid my hair then you big ol’ grump.” You grinned, walking purposely around the fire and plonking yourself on the ground between his legs cross legged.

“How about that?” You puffed triumphantly.

But instead of more banter, you instantly you felt those around the fire freeze, Bofur dropping his spoon back into his bowl.

“You didn’t tell her?” Kili hissed at Dori.

“Well its not like I expected it to come up!” Dori argued defensively.

“Am I…. missing something?” You turned your head to look up at Dwalin wondering why he was silent too. However, you didn’t expect to find the most ferocious man you had ever met as red as a beet!

“Um,” Fili chuckled nervously. “Y/N, you-“

“Dwarves have very particular customs when it comes to our hair, or braiding other’s.” Thorin spoke decisively from his place as lookout, arms folded. “Customs that usually amount to offers of courtship.”

Your jaw dropped, realizing that you may or may not have in no small way proposed to Dwalin. “Oh.” You struggled to get words out. “Oh no, I didn’t know, I-I am sorry if I have caused offence!”

“It looks like you’ve caused a heart attack sweetie.” Bofur replied before being elbowed in the ribs by Kili.

You looked at everyone around the fire trying to look for some indication of how to proceed, finding that all of them were looking behind you. “Dwalin?”

“Its okay lass, you didn’t know.” Dwalin replied, the tepidness in his voice almost breaking you.

This really wasn’t how anything was supposed to go! Yes you liked Dwalin, you liked Dwalin a LOT. But you never thought the day would come when you would be ousted by your own foolish actions, and in front of half of your companions too.

“It was an honest mistake.” You heard Dwalin try to joke.

You scrunched the dirt underneath your hands into your fists. You were Y/N. You were bold. You were daring. And while your actions may have been a mistake your feelings certainly weren’t. Could you pretend it all away? Could you live with yourself now if you lied and hid your heart away? No. You had never run away from anything in your life. And you weren’t about to start now.

“If its all the same to you Dwalin, I still would like your help to braid my hair.”

You winced as you heard Ori gasp dramatically. When you peeked up you found Fili and Kili staring at you while simultaneously kicking each other, Bofur almost letting his bowl slip from his hands. Even Thorin raised his eyebrows at your boldness.

You felt the dwarf behind you exhale. “Are you sure lass?”

“Yes.” You tried not to twiddle your fingers, somehow transforming more and more into a shy milkmaid by the second. “Unless you would like me to ask someone else to braid it.” You insinuated daringly, even with fear he would say yes and offer your heart to someone else.

But no sooner were the words out of your mouth then you felt his hands brush against your back, taking the first of your plaits in his hands and unweaving it slowly.

“Well look at that I think its time for bed!” Bofur sprung up and yawned purposefully. At this the remaining troop instantly scattered, leaving you both alone with each other by the fire. Even Thorin had moved so that he was perched around the side of the mountain out of respect for his loyal warrior.

“I’m sorry if my hair is hard to handle.” You offered shyly. “It’s hard to do the plaits on my own.”

“No need for sorrys.” The rugged dwarf answered quietly, cursing his hands for not being nimble, or delicate. His hands were leathery, worn from his early years in the forges. But he had never thought his hands would be weaving in your hair as they did now. “Am I hurting ya?”

“Are you kidding me?” You laughed at his concern. “My mother would have me and my siblings crying after a braiding session when we were younger, this is….” You then paused. “This is much better.”

Dwalin’s own heart swelled at your contentment, fit to burst from his chest. Ever since the day he had cut you down and carried you in his arms, he couldn’t deny that you were the most beautiful cocoon he had ever seen.

He thought it was just the normal jitters when one saw a pretty face, but as you travelled as companions and then as friends, he fell in love with your character. The way you laughed, the way you fought, the way you would look out for Ori. You had proven your worth to the company as you had promised, but along the way you had won Dwalin’s heart.

Of course, he never thought in a thousand years though that a strong, strapping youngling would ever fall for him. You were human, and he considered the fact that maybe you wouldn’t feel attachment like dwarves did. He had thought for sure you would have become interested in one of the princes, anyone younger than himself.

Obviously, Dwalin was wrong.

The fierce warrior reluctantly finished the last plait, the process of taming your hair long but pleasant, as both of you swapped small stories of memories and times long past, even content to sit in silence.

You stretched and then turned to sit facing him. “Thank you.” The warmth in your smile more than Dwalin could take.

Before he could even think the dwarf had taken both of your hands in his, letting his thumbs slide gingerly across your small hands.

“Yes Dwalin?” You looked up at him with pools of dark hazel that glinted in the firelight, taking his breath away with the way you looked at him so keenly. He had never seen you like this before. Then again he mused, you had probably never seen him look like such a blushing fool before either.

“I’ll help you with your hair whenever you need Y/N, if that’s okay with you.”

You smiled at took the chance to hold his face in your hands, planting a small kiss on his forehead. “Its more than okay with me.”

Your own Dwarven Hero.

————————————————————————————————–

“Told you she’d be the one to do it.” Fili chuckled, kicking the bundle next to him that was his brother, gaining him a grunt. “You owe me a pint.”

#dwalin fluff #the hobbit fluff #the hobbit fanfiction #dwalin x reader #lotr fanfiction #lotr fanfic #greennightspider #the hobbit fanfic #dwalin #dwalin hobbit #i have no idea what to tag this #dwalin x woc #the hobbit woc fanfiction #dwalin oneshot #the hobbit oneshot #Please let me into this fandom pocket i promise ill be good

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itsbenedict · 4 years ago

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Two-Faced Jewel: Session 3

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Saelhen and Looseleaf, having acquired a band of allies to keep them safe on their entirely bogus quest to fulfill "Lady Noeru's" succession rite on behalf of the college, set out on Suika Highway towards the jungles of Thunderbrush. On the road, they face two extremely deadly combat encounters.

After checking in on the writhing hellpit they opened in Yoshimimoto Plaza (it's under control, they threw some nets over it), the party heads out onto the highway. Customs by the overland roads couldn't give less of a damn what they're bringing out of the city, so there's no scrutiny and they're well on their way.

A good thirty miles or so into the grassland, and the party has to make a perception check. Looseleaf is the one to nail it- her antennae pick up on a suspicious rustling in the tall grass by the side of the road. And even those with slightly worse rolls notice...

There's a green dragon circling lazily in the sky above them. This is bad, because dragons are... well, chromatic dragons like this green one are malevolent and extremely deadly giant monsters, is the main reason, but the other reason is that dragons are... cursed, is what the common understanding is.

To speak with a dragon is to be condemned to some sort of great misfortune, brought about by your own hand. You know the Simurgh from Worm? Listen to its song for too long, and you become sort of a sleeper agent of self-destructive carnage? It's like a diet version of that. Whatever path your conversation with the dragon puts you on, it's invariably bad for you, somehow. The metallic dragons, who're ostensibly "good", will still ruin your life in some way just by talking to you, even if your immolation does some good for the world on the way out. Nobody wants to talk to a dragon.

Luckily, they don't have to- this one seems content to circle way up in the sky, not saying a word to them. Instead, they just get attacked by a direwolf and several horrible monsters.

The whole party botches their Arcana rolls to determine what the heck these things are.

Benedict I. (GM): None of you have any idea what these things are. They're small, roughly humanoid, and... they look sort of like they're made of mud and tangled grass. They're wielding knives, some multiple knives to a hand, and they look vaguely ethereal, not quite real- possibly animated by something. The dire wolf is, of course, charging you- and the other monsters are following suit. They screech and hiss with obvious hostile intent. Roll initiative!

The party dismounts from their giraffes, since they're not trained for combat and the party isn't trained in mounted combat.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ruffians," she mutters, with the approximate tone a non-elf might use to say "fuckers."

The party's two new melee combatants take up position in the front, while Vayen... stands behind the giraffes, doing nothing. The direwolf lunges, closes in, and... misses entirely, as Oyobi dodges gracefully out of the way. Razzafrazzin' elves...

Then it's Orluthe's turn, and he...

Benedict I. (GM): Orluthe looks around nervously- not at the wolves, but at the party. "Don't... tell anyone about this," he says, and pulls something from his pack. It's a warball helmet. Custom-forged. Looseleaf: Uh. Okay? Is what Looseleaf thinks, in response to this. Benedict I. (GM): I... don't think either of you two would have the context to know what this means, but Oyobi's jaw is on the floor. Looseleaf:Didn't realize that playing warball was apparently something to be ashamed of! Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Your weird secret is safe with me," whispers Saelhen, in the bushes. Benedict I. (GM): Orluthe dons the helmet, and as he does so, he seems to grow larger. There's a shift in his stance, and you hear a growl from beneath the helmet. He howls- and Zero, you're in control of his combat actions here. So what's he do?

Hm.

Orluthe(?) goes ahead and attacks with his halberd, and- being a paladin- opts to SMITE. He impales the thing and burns its wound with divine magic for more than half its health- and then Oyobi's turn comes up and she slices the thing open with her longsword. The party's choice of allies specialized in melee fight seems to be paying off!

Of course, now the other monsters get to take their turn, being unfortunately still alive. One charges at Orluthe and whiffs, but the other... uses some sort of crude slingshot, and hurls some sort of crackling ball of energy at Looseleaf.

Benedict I. (GM): Being hit by this thing suddenly makes you seize up. You remember... Looseleaf, tell me about a time you wanted some physical object very very badly, but didn't get it. Something it hurt you to not have. Looseleaf: Once, when Looseleaf was young, there was a traveling caravan that brought into town a collection of what looked like books for sale. Looseleaf being herself, she of course wanted to buy some of them- but nobody in town would let her go near the vendor! Something about 'inappropriate for young childrens' eyes' and 'mature content warnings'. To this day she's still more than a bit resentful of that, and also she has no idea that the traveling caravan vendor was actually selling basically porn mags. Her memories are interspliced with imaginary counterfactual ideas of what might have been in those books, which are almost certainly not at all what the books actually contained. Benedict I. (GM):You remember that incident, vividly. All that emotional pain, compressed into a single instant of agonizing desire. It leaves you momentarily short of breath, and you take three psychic damage.

Looseleaf attempts to retaliate, but scores, um... a critical failure.

Luckily, that's the last thing these monsters have go right for them- the next few turns are a barrage of successful attacks and AoOs from the party's heavy hitters. Orluthe cuts one in half, provoking a disturbingly human-sounding ghostly wail as it dies. Saelhen throws a dagger from her hiding place in the grass, and...

Benedict I. (GM): Nice! The second dagger takes off this thing's head. It hits the ground with a squelch, and there's another human cry of agony. farnham: "HAH," goes what must be a very large and triumphant and majestic bird in the brush.

As soon as the combat is over, Orluthe returns to normal, and the dragon circling overhead... just flies away, apparently losing interest. Wonder what that's about.

Looseleaf attempts to Soul Read the corpses to learn more about why they were attacked, but unfortunately... the wolf corpse doesn't remember anything unusual that stood out to the spirits of its decaying body parts, and the spirits of the mud and grass left behind by the other monsters only recall being uprooted from the ground and forced to attack people- the spirits animating them seem to be gone.

They are able to figure out what those things were, though- they were Greed Echoes- some sort of evil spirits that echo strong emotions they encountered, and form homunculus bodies with which to act on those emotions. Greed Echoes like these were probably leftover from highwaymen and bandits who've attacked travelers on this road before- playing out their ugliest intentions.

It's weird, though- these are the grasslands, not the mountains. Monsters like these tend to come up out from below mountains, so it's not too common to see so many of them this far from where they spawn.

Moving on, the party reaches a point where the wild grasses suddenly stop, replaced by a uniform tall green grass- corn, apparently. Cornfields mean farmers, and farmers mean civilization.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: "How delightfully rustic." Benedict I. (GM): It's not much longer before you see buildings down the road- it looks like the center of a farming village. There's a sign, as you enter the town- "WELCOME TO CORN". Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...how rustic."

They roll into town and notice not much of interest- it's a pretty standard farming village, with a Temple of Diamode (the hypertraditionalist family-values goddess Orluthe claims to be a cleric of), an inn (apparently very busy, with a lot of people going between it and the temple), and a branch of the Deathseekers' Guild (the adventurers' guild, which is very up-front about how dangerous it is to fight monsters as a career).

Orluthe looks a little nervous around the temple, so they head first to the inn. They enter, and they're immediately met with a riot of colors. The inn is packed with halflings in fancy outfits. Not like, rich people fancy, but down-home farmer fancy. Lots of flower patterns and the like. There's a band playing music in the back, and a bunch of halflings dancing while others chug whiskey and hoot and holler. The human innkeeper is struggling to keep up with all the mugs that need washing.

Discounts are in the cards, though- the bearded guy with the whiskey steins is happy to see out-of-towners joining the celebrations- a very proud father, he is, as his son Merrick was just married. This is the wedding reception, and in his mind, the more the merrier.

He puts forth something of a challenge: his son claims that city folk can't dance, see, and he, a dissenting opinion, wants to demonstrate otherwise. So, if the party can defeat his son and daughter-in-law in a dance-off... he'll pay for the night's stay!

How does a dance-fight work? Exactly the same as a normal combat, except the hit points are made up and the actual stats don't matter. You substitute your performance modifier on your rolls! Maybe you have a battleaxe, so you roll to attack with your battleaxe, and what that really means is you're doing a wild swinging dance move that really wows the crowd.

Enemies, meanwhile, know different "dance styles", inspired by CR-appropriate monsters I picked out of the monster manual to non-literally fight in a nonlethal dance battle. The happy couple are a pair of Duergar warriors, squaring off against the party's two squishies.

youtube

(3:06)

The combat is- well, there's not much to it, just a bunch of back-and-forth attack rolls, ultimately decided by clever use of flanking and attacks of opportunity. Looseleaf tries her best, but her Performance modifier isn't nearly as high as Saelhen's, as she's not the daughter of Kanzentokai's Dance Emperor. She does do a cool thing where she leaps into the air and does a wing-assisted pirouette thing, but all that accomplishes is taking her out of the fight for a bit- and concentrating fire on Saelhen.

Their rolls are pretty bad for a while, but things turn around once they outmaneuver their foes and pull off some attacks of opportunity.

Benedict I. (GM): So, you two- describe your combo dance move that totally floors these two. With musical accompaniment, s'il vous plait Looseleaf: okay you know how in ballet there's a move that's, like, one dancer picks up the other dancer and hoists them in the air turns out that move is a lot more effective if the lifting dancer literally has wings. Saelhen du Fishercrown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRoWiTcO7dk Saelhen gladly lifts Looseleaf, and for good measure gives her a little acrobatic toss and flips her in midair, catching her on the drop. Looseleaf: just to add insult to injury, looseleaf uses a whole conjunction of her fancy-schmancy special effects spells- minor illusion to create the effect of golden butterflies flapping around themselves, druidcraft alongside her wingbeat to scatter a bunch of her seeds and have them bloom into flower instantly Saelhen du Fishercrown: She's breathing heavily but... actually enjoying herself, despite the obvious competitive streak motivating all this. Looseleaf: it's a lot of visual spectacle on top of the move itself, and that's what puts the icing on the cake. Benedict I. (GM): There's raucous applause from the audience, and Aridrey is beginning to flag. She laughs, and- it's all she can do to keep up with Merrick, who's himself starting to have trouble keeping up.

(Meaning, while she's still his dance partner, she's "out", and no longer a battlefield presence.) Merrick, wifeless, tries to counterattack, and...

...makes the mistake of trying to copy their moves.

Benedict I. (GM): He hoists Aridrey above his head, and tries to spin her around the same way, and... they've been dancing all day, they're tired, and this is their first real attempt to improvise. "Wh- Merrick, wait-" Saelhen du Fishercrown: MERRICK I'M SO SORRY Benedict I. (GM): And she collapses on top of him, to laughter from everyone, particularly his dad. Saelhen du Fishercrown: (saelhen stifles giggles extremely well because a noble lady would never)

The battle seems more or less over, but Merrick is determined to see this through- breaking into a furious solo jig that puts the floor in grave danger of scuffing. None of his efforts land attacks, though- ultimately, Saelhen finishes the fight by delivering the ultimate humiliation- successfully copying his moves, a storm of fancy footwork. When the dust clears, the jig... is up.

Benedict I. (GM): His father laughs. "What'd I tell you, son? Don't get a big head, aye?" He slaps five gold pieces down on the counter. "Get 'em some rooms, Jonnem!" Merrick... he's been thoroughly humiliated, and doesn't take Saelhen's hand at first. Then Aridrey comes over and pulls him to his feet. "C'mon, honey. Grace, right?" Merrick vibrates for a moment, then lets out a sigh. He goes to shake your hand. "...Ffffffffine dancing," he says. Looseleaf: "That was a lot of fun!" Looseleaf is vibrating like crazy. Just hopping all over the place, like she hasn't quite gotten the dance bug out of her system yet.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: ("For what it's worth, man," she whispers, letting her gracious victor's smile collapse into a slightly shit-eating kind of grin. "That could've gone either way.") Benedict I. (GM): Meanwhile, Oyobi and Orluthe... I was going to say the outcome of their match would match yours, and I guess I'll stick to that, but Orluthe does not know how to dance, and Oyobi is drunk as hell. Orluthe may not know how to dance, but he knows how to hold on for dear life, and keep Oyobi vaguely upright as she flails around wildly. It's probably for the best that Saelhen's attention was elsewhere, because she would not have been able to keep a straight face at Oyobi's scandalous dance moves. Whatever's going on over there, the crowd is loving it- so all together, that's another 400 XP divided four ways.

With that victory, the party gets to stay the night for free. The next morning, they report the Greed Echo encounter and the dragon to the local Deathseekers' Guild (getting 10gp for their trouble, and turning a profit on this pit stop.) And with that... it's back on the road to Thunderbrush, next time!

#twofaced jewel #tfj log #d&d 5e

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the-phoenix-heart · 4 years ago

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Sorting Hat Chats - The Last Unicorn

I don’t care if literally no one else cares about this but me WE ARE SORTING THE LAST UNICORN CHARACTERS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!

(You can find the basics of the system I’m using here, by @sortinghatchats!)

(Also my reference for this is the 1982 movie and the 2010 graphic novel. As Peter S. Beagle, the actual author of the book, wrote the screenplay for the movie and the graphic novel has everything else the movie missed+an author’s note from Beagle I think it’s safe to say that I’ll get an accurate read on these characters.)

(Also also you don’t know just how long this has been in my drafts)

THE UNICORN, or AMALTHEA as she’s known in human form, is a Badger primary. It’s important to remember that Badgers are loyal to people, but what they view as people doesn’t have to be a human. The Unicorn views other unicorns as people and it’s why at the beginning she’s willing to leave behind her entire forest that she cares for, just for the small chance that she might be able to save them. Also, her saving the harpy, despite the fact that the harpy would surely kill her. She does that because the harpy, Celaeno, is real like her. “We’re two sides of the same magic.” It doesn’t matter if Celaeno is a creature that would kill all the other animals she’d just freed or Mummy Fortuna. She’s ‘real’ like her, and therefore people to The Unicorn.

When she’s been transformed into a human she says, “How can anything that is going to die be real?” Dehumanizing is a thing Badger primaries do a lot of the time, and here The Unicorn is literally saying that what is ‘real’, what is people, are immortal magical creatures (and regular animals), and anything else isn’t ‘real’, isn’t people.

The Unicorn’s secondary is harder to get a grip on, seeing as for half of the story she spends her screen time standing melancholic on high twisted towers looking out into the sea. Turning into a human is her moment when she burns. As Amalthea she is lost and forgetting herself, and also almost certainly has developed depression. Lir says that Amalthea heard about his horses burnt legs and she immediately went to it to try and heal it, only for nothing to happen. She literally tried to unburn something but it didn’t work guys. Before all that though, as a unicorn, I think she was a Lion secondary.

When she finds out she might be the last unicorn in the world she decides to charge out into the world and find them, or die trying. When she’s mistaken for a simple (but pretty) mare she goes off on that little farmer. She stands her ground when the harpy is gonna kill her. She saves Schmendrick from the tree he accidentally made fall in love with him just by marching up to it and shutting it up. She saves Molly and Schmendrick from thieves by rearing up and threatening them with her hooves (she’ll stomp you with her fucking hooves if you even think of looking at her friends). And at the end she saves her friends from The Red Bull by charging at it and herding it into the sea. She’s described as “rearing up like a scimitar” and screaming (which no immortal has ever done) when she fights back. Even when she is transformed into Amalthea. When she’s still just been transformed she stops Mabruk pretty much by staring him down and possibly using her magic. Even at her most burnt, when she is willing to give up on the other the unicorns, she does so by being blunt and standing her ground.

Lion secondaries also have a habit of collecting people, like a Badger secondary, but I still say The Unicorn is a Lion secondary because the way she collects people (’people’ it’s two people and you can’t count Lir because he fell in love with Amalthea who was so burnt it wasn’t really her) isn’t because she is exceptionally nice (she’s not, not by human standards) or because she’s so hardworking (she doesn’t work that much in the story, because as a unicorn she doesn’t have to), but because she’s so magnificent, so true, so powerful. Those are Lion traits drawing people to her.

And honestly it makes sense that she’s a Lion secondary. As a unicorn she’s close to all powerful, nothing can touch her. She doesn’t have to put in the work like a Badger, doesn’t have to gather the knowledge like a Bird, and has no use for Snake transforming. I wouldn’t be surprised if all unicorns had a Lion secondary. Honestly I love seeing how non human characters are sorted because they are so different from human characters.

SCHMENDRICK is a Bird primary. He truly believes in the system of the world working like a fairytale and unlike a lot of stories where this would be a bad thing and disproven at the end, Schmendrick is right about the system. He doesn’t have to learn to be right about the system, he’s right about it from the start and it’s not like he hates how the system works, he loves and finds comfort in it. A lot of great lines go to him. And you can also see Lion primary Molly and Snake primary Lir are questioning just about everything he spouts.

Molly: “They deserve their fate, they deserve worse. To leave a child out in the snow-” Schmendrick: “Well if they hadn’t then he wouldn’t have grown up to be the hero of all this. That’s the way these things go.” Molly: “But if he’s the hero, what is [The Unicorn]?” Schmendrick: “[You and I] are the tale-but [The Unicorn] is real. [The Unicorn] is real.”

Schmendrick: “If it changes a unicorn into a human being, then that was the only thing to do. I am a bearer, I am a dwelling, I am a messenger-” Molly: “You’re a stupid messenger, and a stupid, stupid magician.”

Lir: “You have to do something.” Schmendrick: “I can’t.” Lir: “Do something. You have power. You changed her into a unicorn. Do something to save her. I will kill if you don’t.” Schmendrick: “Not all the magic in the world can help her now. If she will not fight him, she must go into the sea with the others. Neither magic nor murder will aid her.” Lir: “Then what is magic for? What use is wizardry if it cannot save a unicorn?” Schmendrick: “No-that is what heroes are for.”

Molly: “Oh, the poor man. Poor Lir.” Schemdrick: “It’s not altogether bad. Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed.”

(I could quote this book for eons people I swear)

He’s also the one who tells Lir he has to rule over the people of Hagsgate when Lir is two steps away from killing his birth father who says it was good he abandoned Lir so he could one day become king. He thinks that he has done The Unicorn more evil than Mommy Fortuna or Haggard or the Red Bull because he turned her into a human and turned her back into a unicorn. He tries to comfort Lir about The Unicorn by telling him his land is blessed because all the unicorns ran through it in freedom, and how The Unicorn will remember him, “when men are fairytales in books written by rabbits.” (god I love that quote)

As for his secondary, he’s a total Snake secondary. He pickpockets, he lies to villagers about being an actual great wizard, he haggles for good payment in Hagsgate so long as he assassinates Lir (which he has no intention of fulfilling), he lies his way into the castle, when he needs to get the wine to drink itself he just drinks it and gives it to a skeleton who can’t tell the difference between and empty bottle or a bottle of wine.

There is however one time in the story where Schmendrick drops his rhetoric about how the world works. They’re in the Red Bull’s cavern and Amalthea doesn’t want to become The Unicorn again and wants to stay with Lir.

Schmendrick: “Let it end here. Let her marry the prince and live happily ever after. Molly: Schemendrick, if we don’t do this there will never be another chance. All the unicorns of the world will remain his prisoners, forever, except one, and she will die. She will grow old and die. Schmendrick: One good woman more in the world is worth every single unicorn gone. Let it end.

This is not what he believes. It’s him tricking Lir, making Lir remember that he is a hero, and to let there be no more unicorns would go against his being a hero. Molly tells him he forced him, and that he did it so he could become a real magician. Schmendrick disagrees. Like a Snake he doesn’t see it as forcing Lir to make a choice, he sees it as the right thing to do, and only way to do it.

MOLLY GRUE, lovely Molly. She is a Lion primary, who was burnt by something in the past, which is probably how she ended up with Captain Cully, and she unburns at the sight of The Unicorn. Molly’s beef with The Unicorn at first is that she never visited her when she was young, despite her love of unicorns. It’s such a Lion primary thing to me to ask something like a unicorn why they never came to her, and then to forgive a unicorn when unicorns are not to be questioned or forgiven. Molly as soon as she learns of The Unicorn’s quest doesn’t even go back to get her things. She leaves right that second with her, saying that her things don’t matter now that she has seen The Unicorn. Molly hears about what the people of Hagsgate did to baby Lir and she is willing to throw down with them right then.

Lion primary Molly doesn’t want to poke holes in the system of the world. She could care less about understanding the system, she just does things because her moral compass says it’s right. She doesn’t care that ‘unicorns are not to be forgiven’ she’s going to forgive The Unicorn dammit (it’s a pride thing. Molly feels she was wronged even though technically unicorns don’t owe anything to people, pride is also very Lion primary). I

She has a Badger secondary. When she was burnt she found a community for herself to live/work in-Captain Cully’s Band of Freemen. When she’s in Haggard’s castle she gets a job as the cook and cleaner and puts herself to work to survive. She gets information from the talking stray cat, and she helps out Lir as much as she can, quickly becoming his friend.

PRINCE LIR, is a total Snake primary. He falls hard for Amalthea, and then decides that he’s gonna start doing great deeds and become a hero just so he can woo her. He doesn’t really care for anyone but Amalthea and Molly, he’s willing to kill Schmendrick if he doesn’t save The Unicorn after she’s transformed back into herself. Molly says that Schmendrick reminded Lir that he was a hero, but what Schmendrick really did was remind Lir that he was a hero for Amalthea.

He’s willing to kill his own birth father for abandoning him, and when he is to be king he talks about how much he hates it because he’ll rule over people he hates and be alone the rest of his life. When he dreams about The Unicorn, and she doesn’t say anything to him, he takes this as her not caring about him like he loved her, a betrayal. The real reason why she didn’t say anything to him is because she remembered him, and his love, and loving him, and cared more about him, but Lir just doesn’t understand that.

His secondary is a Badger. When he falls for Amalthea his idea of courting her is doing great deeds and working to be a hero. He’s slain black knights, basilisks, seas serpents, and five dragons, he’s faced fatal riddles and glass mountains. He starts trying to write poetry after all these fail to touch her. He puts in as much work as he can to try and woo her. He literally sacrifices himself for her, not as a Lion charge, but instead as using his body as a tool. His sacrifice is so that The Unicorn will fight back.

I will say however that he has a definite Lion performance. It isn’t a model, because he actually doesn’t care about the Lion secondary it’s just him performing as a Lion secondary hero to try and woo Amalthea, which doesn’t work.

When he’s confiding in Molly he words a Badger secondary in love perfectly, “I want to serve her...I wish to be whatever she has most need of.”

KING HAGGARD is super fucking burnt, and a Snake primary. What he only cares about is trying to be happy, and keeping his unicorns with him. He gets cursed by a witch that one day his castle would sink into the sea with him in it, and his reply was that any good tyrant’s castle needed a curse. He wants to be happy of course but he doesn’t really care if he dies. He dies laughing. The scene where he monologues to Amalthea about how he has all the unicorns is my favorite, and he pretty much gives the perfect description of his primary.

King Haggard: “All things die when I pick them up. I do not know why they die, but it has always been so, save for the one dear possession that has not turned cold and dull as I guarded it-the only thing that has ever belonged to me.”

King Haggard is greedy. He wants to own things. He wants to have his Snake connections like a healthy unburnt Snake but that doesn’t work. It’s never worked. He found Lir and decided that since he’d never been a father maybe he could have a Snake connection and be happy, but the connection did the same as all his other connections. The connection died, even if Lir didn’t. There is only one thing that has ever brought him the happiness of a Snake connection, and that was the unicorns. It’s a one sided connection, but he does truly love them. He does also have the Red Bull, but we don’t know what that relationship is like and it’s likely he views the Red Bull as more of an extension of himself (in my take of the character that’s how I view it).

He hoards the unicorns, and in a way that while very Snake Primary is also very Bird secondary. Haggard collects things, and tries them out so that he can figure out what makes him happy. What doesn’t work he usually throws away, and what works (the unicorns) he hoards. He collected Mabruk not in a communal way, but in the way that he would collect a book, and when the book isn’t good enough he throws it away and picks up another. He’s also super fucking smart for a bastard. He explains about how he figured out Amalthea was a unicorn and talks about how her every action no matter how small was his spy.

It’s also a neat parallel that both Lir and Haggard are Snake primaries. The book ends with Lir resigning himself to be as unhappy as Haggard when he loses Amalthea. However, I do think that Lir will probably end up better than Haggard because he had some support from Schmendrick and Molly, and the book ends with a princess being sent to Lir to seek help. Lir will end up a healthy snake.

So...

The Unicorn - Badger primary that sees immortal creatures as people/Lion secondary, both of these burn when she becomes Amalthea

Schmendrick - Bird primary/Snake secondary

Molly - Previously burned Lion primary, unburns after she sees The Unicorn/Badger secondary

Lir - Snake primary/Badger secondary, Lion secondary performance

Haggard - Burnt Snake primary/Bird secondary

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hortensemitchell · 4 years ago

Text

Into the Woods: Chapter One

After Big Time Rush, their lives seemed to only get more hectic. So on the rare chance their schedules lined up, they had to make the most of it with an epic camping trip for the ages.

Rating: M

Pairing: Kendall Knight/Carlos Garcia/Logan Mitchell/James Diamond

Words: 1889

The morning light drifts through the cracks in the curtains, shining directly onto Kendall’s face. If it were any other morning, he would turn over and groan into his pillow desperate for five more minutes of sleep. For once though, he could stay still and enjoy the quiet hum of the city outside his window and the soft snores from the man still asleep against his chest.

Kendall rarely had the time to stop and fully appreciate how beautiful his boyfriends were. Life was so chaotic when they were in a band together, and somehow it became even more so as they each chased their dreams. But here in the early hours of the morning, he was free to stare till his heart was content.

Carlos was still fast asleep, completely unaware of the morning light. When awake Carlos was like a hurricane, boisterous and barreling through the world at breakneck speeds. But while he snoozed, Kendall got to appreciate the softer side of him.

He carefully raised his hand to trail his fingers across Carlos’ cheek, feeling his morning stubble and warm skin. The man was practically a heater, which was wonderful when they visited Minnesota. Back home, he, James and Logan would go into an all out war over who would get to share with Carlos. And the shorter man reveled in the attention he received. The arguments usually ended with them attempting to crowd into one bed like they would when they were younger.

Every time they did that though, they would wake up with back pain and achy limbs and promise they would never do it again. But it never took long before they broke their promise and made the same mistake again.

In LA that warmth was practically a death sentence. Pair it with Carlos’s tendency to attach himself to you like an octopus, and you had a recipe for a sweaty disaster. Fortunately Kendall found that if he kept to sleeping with just a sheet and a box fan, he and the other boys could make it through the summer nights.

From downstairs, Kendall could smell the pot of freshly brewed coffee and the scent of bacon Logan was no doubt frying in the kitchen. The other men would be expecting them to stumble down the stairs sometime soon.

He laid his hand against the small of Carlos’ back and began rubbing slowly as he trailed his hand up and down coaxing the other man awake. Against his chest, he felt Carlos begin to stir and watched as he blinked the sleep from his eyes.

“Morning Sleeping Beauty, did you sleep well?”

Carlos glanced up at Kendall with his warm brown eyes. “You know I did”, he said with a soft smile. He leaned up slightly in an attempt for a kiss, but was kept in place by Kendall’s hand on his shoulder.

Kendall turned his face to the side, “Ah- no, I’ve totally got morning breath.”

“And I totally don’t care.” He replied, moving impossibly close into Kendall’s personal space. “Now let me give you your morning Carlos Kiss.”

Kendall sighed before leaning in and meeting him for a chaste kiss. If Carlos wasn’t too upset about the state of his breath, then there really wasn’t a point in worrying about it. He did make a mental note to brush his teeth in the bathroom before going downstairs though, just in case.

Beside him, Carlos suddenly jolted upright in the bed taking the sheets with him. “I smell bacon.”

“You smell bacon every morning, why is this any different?” Kendall replied sitting up as well. He begins to stretch his arms, trying to regain feeling in the left one that was under Carlos all night.

“Because today is our mini vacation and I figured Logan would sleep in.” Carlos was already up and heading for the door. “But if he’s awake that means I’m late on giving him and James their morning kisses.”

With that Carlos was out the door and Kendall could hear his heavy footsteps heading down the staircase. He leaned back against the headboard taking a moment for himself. Today was going to be a good day, he could feel it.

After a quick stop to the bathroom to make sure his breath was minty fresh, he finally made his way downstairs. In the kitchen Logan stood at the stove frying an egg. Carlos had his arms wrapped around him from behind while he rested his head against his shoulder and watched him work.

Kendall stepped into the kitchen, pressing a kiss to Logan’s cheek as he passed. He pulled the blender from the top cabinet and began the necessary steps to prepare a smoothie.

Their morning routine almost moved like clockwork. James was the first of them to wake up, his beauty rituals took a surprisingly long amount of time. Before he took off for the bathroom though, he’d always start a fresh pot of coffee for Logan.

Logan was the next awake, although awake was a generous term for it. He generally had a hard time falling asleep, so in the mornings he operated like a sleep deprived zombie until he was at least halfway through his second cup of coffee.

Once he came back into the world of the living, he’d start frying up breakfast for Kendall and Carlos. Both of them had pretty physically demanding jobs, being a professional hockey player and police officer. And Logan would often lecture them about the importance of a well balanced and hearty breakfast.

The smell of bacon was usually enough to pull Kendall and Carlos down the stairs, and they would take up their usual tasks. Carlos would begin setting the table for breakfast and Kendall would start preparing James’ breakfast smoothie.

With their crazy schedules, morning was the one time they all could just relax and enjoy the company of one another. Sometimes it made Kendall long for the days of Big Time Rush where they spent so much time together that they got sick of it. But then he would take one look at his boyfriend’s faces as they accomplished their dreams, and he realized the time apart was really a small sacrifice.

Besides they made the time count when they did find time to be together. Kendall chuckled to himself as he remembered their last day off together. What was supposed to be a relaxing day turned into an all day affair of playing knights. He’d been given the role of ‘Evil Eyebrow Wizard’ who had kidnapped the fair prince Logan. They hadn’t played like that since they were small children, but damn if he hadn’t had fun.

His thoughts were interrupted as the bathroom door creaked open, letting a hefty amount of steam into the small kitchen. Kendall glanced over and took in the sight of a freshly showered James, clad only in a towel. His skin always seemed to glow after his routine and Kendall had to tear his eyes away from a stray water droplet as it made its way down James sculpted stomach. It was sort of unfair how in shape he was considering Kendall was the pro athlete, but James did put the work in and certainly showed.

However, Kendall had some pride and refused to let James know he’d been staring. Instead he turned back to his work chopping up some bananas for the smoothie. He shot a smile in James' direction before asking, “Would it kill you to wear some clothes?”

“No, but you guys seem to appreciate all of this so much,” He said, gesturing to his body. “I figured why hide it.”

Kendall rolled his eyes good naturedly, as he watched James make his way to the kitchen table. Carlos was hot on his heels, obviously on his quest to secure his final morning kiss. Left on their own, he and Logan were able to work together to finish preparing the rest of their breakfast. And soon they were able to join their other boyfriends at the table.

Kendall glanced down at his plate and noticed how the food was arranged in a happy smile. The orange slice eyes, the egg nose, and bacon smile were impossibly adorable. From the way Carlos was eagerly scarfing down his food, Kendall doubts he noticed the plating. Still he leaned over and squeezed Logan’s knee, flashing him a small smile to let him know his extra effort was appreciated.

A comfortable silence began as the men worked on finishing their breakfast, and Kendall let his mind drift off with the sounds of the forks clicking against the plates. He was quickly brought back to the present though as Logan pulled a binder seemingly out of nowhere, and slammed it onto the table.

Logan looked around the table to make sure he had everyone's attention before flipping open the binder. “Well now that everyone is here, we can quickly go over a couple things.” He reaches into a flap pulling out a stack of paper, passing copies to each of his boyfriends. “I took the liberty of making not only a packing checklist, but a safety protocol for our trip.”

Kendall had to admit, the amount of organization was pretty impressive. But he also knew Carlos and James, and there was no way they were going to follow any rules or regulations. Especially on what they deemed a fun trip.

James leaned forward, placing his hand on top of Logan’s across the table. “Listen, Logan we love you, and clearly you put a lot of time and effort into this. But camping isn’t about lists and protocols, it’s about winging it and making it through the cold unforgiving wilderness with only your manly instincts.” He looked over to Carlos for some backup.

It took a moment for Carlos to finish his mouthful of eggs before he joined in. “James is right! Today is all about reckless adventure, that’s why people go camping in the first place.”

Logan squinted his eyes, throwing an analyzing look at the two men across from him. “You guys haven’t started packing, have you?”

“Yes we have! We just- we needed some last minute supplies.” Carlos said with an innocent smile. It was almost believable if James didn’t look so confused. He gave James a sharp elbow to the rib cage in an attempt to get him on board. “Remember?”

James' eyes opened comically wide, feigning remembrance. “Yeah the- the supplies. Now I remember.” He pushed himself away from the table. “I’m just gonna go check, make sure everything we packed is there. You coming?” He held out his hand to Carlos, who happily took it and the pair took off for the stairs.

“Hey, don’t worry. If you and I follow the packing guidelines then we’ll have enough to share when they inevitably forget something important like water or deodorant.”, Kendall said as he cleared the dishes from the table. “And if worse comes to worst? We’ll have a doctor on call all night.”

Logan shook his head as he helped Kendall gather the rest of the mess. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t get that far. It’s our mini vacation after all.”.

Kendall came around to the other side of the table, wrapping his arms around Logan’s waist. “It’s going to be perfect, I promise.”

#my writing #Kendall Knight #Carlos Garcia #Logan Mitchell #James Diamond #ot4

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argent-vulpine · 4 years ago

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Play Stupid Games...

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Rating: G

Characters: Sylvain/F!Byleth

Read it on AO3

He’d gone to bed alone for once, ignoring Felix’s dour stare and slipping into his room, decidedly not slamming his door behind him. Sylvain could admit to himself – and only to himself, in the privacy of his own room – that he’d messed up with the professor. And he’d messed up badly.

This was worse than the first time the professor had caught him mid-break-up with a town girl. At least then he’d only made a fool of himself by blatantly flirting with her, meaningless as it may have been. She was more than nice to look at, he had to admit, and it was worth a shot even if he knew it would go nowhere.

This, though… this was just… bad.

His mask had slipped. It was difficult to keep it up, but it was even harder to do around the professor. Something about her made him want to relax, and in that moment of honesty… he’d panicked.

Sylvain strongly doubted that she took it as a joke, even if he’d claimed it was. They both knew he’d been serious.

Groaning, he put his head in his hands and flopped on the bed.

He didn’t bother to get up or uncover his face when he heard the door crack open; there was only one person awake at this hour who would even bother.

“You’re an idiot, I hope you know that. Pull yourself together.”

Sylvain peeked through his fingers in time to see a dark head of hair turning away, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

Shit. Had Felix overheard his conversation with the professor? That was doubly bad.

Sure, he was jealous of the professor. Growing up as a mercenary, protected by the Blade Breaker, living life away from the church and nobility – all while having one of the most powerful Crests in existence! – and not having to worry about the sheer politics involved with it… she was lucky. And he was jealous of that luck.

Jealous because the Crest system had made his brother despise him. It had ended with him having to kill his own kin. It meant growing up being told how he had to choose wisely in order to pass on the Crest to a worthy heir.

And… a part of him really did mean it when he’d said he would make her pay. Collect on that debt. But another part…

Another part was calling him worse names than Felix ever did, because despite himself, he liked the professor. He admired her, even. Sylvain flopped onto his side, staring at the wall and really thinking about what he’d said, what he’d done… why he cared.

The professor had a solid tactical mind. Her refusal to use the Sword of the Creator unless absolutely necessarily was beyond admirable; she refused to rely on her Crest or the (dubious) perks that came with it. Her swordsmanship was excellent – he’d heard Felix attest to that on numerous occasions – and even her magic was solid, though he doubted she’d ever be – or want to be – as proficient as, say, Lysithea or Annette or even Dorothea.

She liked tea, played board games, was an overall amazing instructor, even so far as going out of her way to learning other styles of combat in order to better teach her own students. She didn’t mind going out of her way to returning lost items to her students; even Sylvain had found himself the recipient of such treatment, though he had to wonder, sometimes, how she’d known when an item was his.

And lately, he’d gotten better at reading her micro-expressions. Maybe it was because of being friends with Felix; you just had to learn to read the subtext, but with her, it wasn’t so much what she didn’t say, it was her eyes, the subtlest quirk of her lips when she smiled, the slightest tightening that was her frown.

Sylvain had come to value her smiles, rare as they might be, and today all he’d done was earn not just that frown, but a disapproving stare, and the narrowing of her eyes that he knew meant trouble.

He grabbed his pillow and pressed it against his face, releasing another long groan of annoyance with himself.

And the worst part was… he knew he wasn’t going to be able to suck it up and apologize. He’d just have to continue the charade he’d started.

No one could possibly have predicted the events that happened next.

In the wake of Jeralt’s death, the professor’s quest for revenge against Monica – or Kronya or whatever her name really was – and the girl’s sacrifice by Solon, sealing the professor in darkness only for her to cut through the sky and step out a changed woman (literally), there was no time to really apologize even if he hadn’t been so bent on sucking it up and playing the philandering asshole he’d been for so long already.

Then had come the disaster in the mausoleum, Edelgard’s betrayal, and… war.

He found himself at the professor’s door two days before the Imperial troops were set to arrive, a board game tucked under one arm and a pouch of tea in hand. Sylvain drew a breath, wondering to himself why he was even here, and knocked.

The door opened a crack, then widened when she saw who it was. “Hello Sylvain. Is something wrong?”

“Ah… no, Professor, not… not exactly. Are you free? I brought tea,” he said, lifting the pouch, “and a game.”

Her vibrant green eyes (he was still getting used to those) flickered down to see the game tucked under his arm. “Sure,” she finally said, opening the door fully and stepping aside to let him in. Her room was less than immaculate, which was a bit of a shock. Papers were strewn about the desk, map figures knocked over or placed haphazardly.

It was in complete disarray, and he knew he was right to come, despite his own misgivings. Was she nervous? It was almost too unreal to believe.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing at the little table in the corner. At her nod, he set the game on it and moved the entire thing to the middle of the room, somewhere between her bed and her desk, giving her the option of where to sit.

She’d already pulled out her tea set, setting out cups and saucers on the table once he’d put it into position. The professor even pulled out a small box of shortbreads she must have had tucked away, adding that to the growing collection of items on the little table.

Sylvain poured water from a pitcher into a kettle, heating it with a touch of magic before pouring hot water and tea into the teapot to steep.

The professor had chosen… the desk chair, to his surprise, which left him the only other seat available in the room: her bed. He swallowed a lump in his throat and settled down onto it, angling himself so that his long legs wouldn’t disturb the table between them.

The door, of course, remained open. No doubt a requirement by Seteth, but Sylvain was glad for it for once.

They set up the game in silence while the tea steeped, the professor arranging the board just so. Nervous fidgeting, he guessed, watching her tweak the board into position. He let the silence drag on for a while longer, carefully setting the pieces up.

Perhaps King’s Table wasn’t the best choice of games, all things considered, but he liked games of strategy, and the professor seemed to enjoy them as well. And this way, she could still strategize and hopefully relax a little all the same.

Why do you care? came the voice inside his head. He didn’t have an answer to that.

“King or attackers?” he said instead, gesturing to the board once it was set up.

“Attackers,” was the prompt reply. Sylvain was surprised, actually; she usually took up the more defensive position of the king. But he nodded and settled in for the game, pouring the tea for the both of them when it was ready.

They stuck to lighter topics, for the most part. Places they’d visited or wanted to, sweets they enjoyed, jokes they’d overheard. The professor’s sense of humor had surprised him, once, having been convinced she didn’t have one at all. The fact that it was somewhere between dry and bawdy had frankly been the most startling to him, but once he considered her mercenary background, it made a lot more sense.

She was relaying a tale from her days with her father’s mercenary band when she suddenly stopped, shooting him a puzzled look, her brows furrowing rather adorably. “Sylvain, are you okay?”

He blinked, then flushed when he realized he’d been staring. “Ah, yeah, sorry… you were saying about the horse?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if gauging him, before she launched back into the tale, pausing only briefly to move one of her pieces on the board.

He glanced down as she finished her story, too shocked to register its end, though he knew it was amusing. He would have laughed, even, had he not seen that her finger rested on top of the king piece. When she knew she had his attention, she very carefully knocked it over.

He’d been surrounded and hadn’t even noticed.

“Sylvain, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I need your head in the game. I… I’m counting on you.”

He dragged his eyes back up to hers, clearly shocked at the admission. “Why?” She tilted her head, questioning. “Why me? I’ve done nothing but antagonize you all this time. Why would you count on me for… anything?”

The professor began to straighten the board, putting the pieces back into their starting positions, while she considered his question. After what seemed like an agonizing amount of time – though he knew it was only a few seconds – she spoke. “You try to hide it from the others behind this façade of yours, playing the fool, but every time we have tea, you play board games with me. Not easy games, either; you always bring something that requires serious thought, strategy, technique. You’ve even beaten me on numerous occasions.”

She toyed with her teacup, her thumb stroking along the handle absently as she thought of what to say next. “You – despite all your efforts to show otherwise – are one of the best tactical minds I have available. I think the only person who beats you, really, is Claude, and that’s just from how willing he is to play dirty.” A pause and then she sighed. “Okay, maybe Yuri as well, but for the same reasons. The point is, Sylvain, I need you. I need you to have your head on right for what’s to come, because I’m counting on you.”

The professor stood then, pacing around the little space in the back of her room. “Yuri has his orders; he’s preparing escape routes in Abyss for us, just in case we need them.” That drew a frown from Sylvain; it was the first he’d heard of that kind of contingency which meant…

“And Claude’s schemes can only get us so far.” She was worried. More worried than he’d thought.

“Professor…” She stopped her pacing and turned to face him. “I get it. I really do.” He gestured at the seat across from him. “Your tea is getting cold. We’ve got time for another round, don’t you think? Attack again. I think I know where I went wrong.”

This time, he paid more careful attention, knowing that this was, in a sense, another way for her to impart a lesson on him. She’d chosen to be the attacker for a reason, and he’d realized that too late.

She was counting on him to keep their people safe when Edelgard’s army attacked.

The thought sank into his gut, leaving him with a feeling of unease for the battle to come.

“Sylvain, find Claude! He knows the way to Yuri. Get everyone to safety!” It was the last thing the professor had said to him before she’d run off, sleeves flapping in the wind, sword glinting in the light as she cut down foe after foe, headed toward something that shouldn’t have been possible.

He did as she’d asked, herding his classmates, his friends, after Claude, lingering just long enough to see her fall. His heart clenched, a pang of grief he hadn’t expected, but he tamped it down. She was counting on him, after all, and he would not let her down.

#sylvain jose gautier #byleth eisner #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #Golden Deer Sylvain #Golden Deer #mentions of C support #mentions of B support #Sylvain has FEELINGS

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doomedandstoned · 4 years ago

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10,000 Years Take Us Into The "Gargantuan Forest"

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Review by Billy Goate

Album Art by Francesco Bauso

Leaving the world For salvation yonder Quest for eternity To suns beyond

Gazing upon our past Out into forever To a future obscured What glory awaits?

To begin another week of awesome original content at Doomed & Stoned, we're getting you better acquainted with the Swedish juggernaut 10,000 YEARS.

Last summer, the band dropped their eponymous debut to welcome ears and in just a few short weeks 10,000 Years come roaring back with a follow-up. Y'all know I'm a sucker for a good concept album. The eight-track full-length record 'II' (2021) picks up the trail of the Albatross research vessel, which has been galavanting 'cross the nether reaches of the galaxy on a potent rocket fuel made of sludgy stoner rock and doom metal.

If that sounds epic, wait'll you get a load of what's next for our interstellar crew. It helps if you picture the following text as a Star Wars-style screen crawl, slowly working its way up the page against the backdrop of a starry night.

After narrowly escaping the confines of the strange planet and its surrounding dimension, the Albatross and its crew finally return home to Earth. The re-entry is rough and the ship crashlands in a forest. The earth that greets them is vastly different from the one that they left.

When the ship travelled back to earth through the wormhole, it created a rift in the space-time continuum which propelled them far into the future, as well as allowing the Green King and other ancient gods from the other dimension to cross over to our dimension. They have since taken control of not only the earth, but the entire solar system.

After various harrowing experiences and encounters, the truth finally dawns on the surviving members of the crew. They are indeed back on earth, but ten thousand years in the future from when they started their journey. And to make matters worse, they find evidence that the Green King has been known and worshipped by secret cults and societies on earth for millenia, since before humankind even existed.

The surviving members of the crew come to the conclusion that the only way to set things right again is to repair the Albatross and take it back through the rift again in order to close it.

Now that's a saga I'm ready to get invested in. George Lucas, eat your heart out!

The record revs to a start with "Descent," a track that can best be described as terrific panic. It had me thinking of KOOK's "Escape Velocity" from their recent second album, though that's an eight-and-a-half minute slow burn and this is a quick twenty-six second fall from the sky. I wish this little notion had a chance to develop into something longer, but regardless what a thrilling way to open an album!

With rapt attention, I'm waiting to hear what comes next. The ship seems to have crash landed deep inside a "Gargantuan Forest." As an aside, it would be a blast to smoke a bowl o' something (anything, really) with Erik Palm (guitar), Alex Risberg (bass, vox), and Espen Karlsen (drums) just to gab it up a bit about sci-fi lit and horror flicks. I mean, check out the trove of B-movie greats referenced in their preface to the new single (which Doomed & Stoned is debuting today):

In this ABSURD (1981) video, 10,000 Years enter a FOREST OF FEAR (1980) as they access THE BEYOND (1981) and enter a BLOODBATH (1971) with THE BOOGEY MAN (1980), otherwise known as the Espbeast. The Espbeast stalks and haunts the bodies and minds of the characters in this C-grade homage to the horror movies of yesteryear.

The characters FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE (1976) through insane NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981). If they survive the AXE (1974) they may still end up in an INFERNO (1980) and risk being EATEN ALIVE (1976). All the same risks face the viewer, so don’t watch with the lights out, don’t watch by yourself and DON’T GO IN THE WOODS ALONE (1981). Because after all, isn’t there an Espbeast in all of us?

10,000 Years have picked the ideal setting for the music video. The forests of Sweden stand tall and dark, the ground packed with snow. Screw you, Blair Witch Project -- this is where I want the next found footage flick filmed!

The song opens with a mysterious theme on solitary electric strings, surrounded by hazy reverberation. Drums and bass accent the motif as it's repeated several times over. Dazed by their graceless fall to earth, the crew wander about, checking one another for injuries, seeing if the faithful Albatross has even hope of another journey. As the shock begins to wear off, their hopeless plight reveals itself.

Screaming from the sky Blasting through the atmosphere

Come to rest On the forest floor Still alive What fresh new hell is this?

Surrounded by swamps A strange bleeding from the earth

Giant trees A dense horror taking root Same old sun Unfamiliar rays shine down

Is there something lurking about in the Gargantuan Forest? I'm sure no one wants to wait until nightfall to find out! The so-called "Espbeast" (which the band may actually have been first to name) is more than likely some strange amalgamation of guitar and creature, ripping through foes like a berserker of sound with scraps of High on Fire's "10,000 Years" echoing perversely through the treetops as it stalks and ultimately slays you. Nobody wants to be around when the Espbeast is on the prowl.

Now see, I'm letting my imagination get carried away! Then again, maybe that's what the band had planned all along -- for listeners to join in the fantastic adventures of these cosmonauts, to see through their eyes and feel through their body as they touch foot to strange soil. What will our adventurers find next?

The answer comes all too soon: "Spinosaurus!" This gruff beast charges angrily through the woods knocking things about, displacing rocks, snapping branches, royally pissed and ready to make somebody pay for the noise that snatched him away from a damned good nap. The repeated note riff, with its odd strumming pattern, does a nifty job of representing the crude movements of the Spinosaurus as it lumbers about the forest. Eric is a virtuosic mess of frantic tremeloes and wiry noodling against Espen's stampeding drums, as Alex narrates the scene with a terrifying shout:

Is this our earth? No time to dwell Dorsal sail cutting air Cretaceous ghost made flesh

Staring into Dead end eyes No place to hide Theropodic annihilation

Teeth into flesh!

What the crew is experiencing on their homeworld thus far seems foreign, almost ancient. Through some curse of Einstenian logic have we zipped through a wormhole only to return to the distant past? "The Mooseriders" are about to challenge our assumptions about what's possible on this Rock.

Thundering hooves crack the sky Dark robed wizards appear in the light Travellers in ether descending Protectors of the realm

These are the oath-bound eternals -- interdimensional templars, if you will -- who have arrived at this precise moment in time to take on the Green King. Complex rhythmic drumming with precisely stricken odd beats, is accompanied by a hyperactive bass and progressive metal riffmaking. Together, the band conjures the trot and hustle of the approaching entourage. A wilding guitar heralds a message from the great protectors:

The hour draws near The endgame is nigh Divine prophecy Even death may die

The mood now turns stately. A brave theme is introduced and developed with dashing prowess. This track would fit perfectly into a playlist with Mastodon, Ape Cave, and Zirakzigil. I found Alex's vocal approach especially appropriate for the frantic depiction of "antlers clashing with steel" in this battle to the finish. "Even death...may...DIE!"

"Angel Eyes" greet us on the B-side, and it's not a cover of the Jerry Cantrell song (though that would have been unexpectedly awesome). No, the hard-charging mood and raspy vocals are pointing to something far more apocalyptic.

Hooves of burning coal Let loose upon the world

Return of the warlord Eternal fire scorches the earth

Heavenly gaze Order through chaos

At times Alex seems exasperated, practically out of breath, as he gives these dire words his all. It's a style the 10,000 Years frontman owns as well as his counterpart, Simon Ohlsson of Vokonis, who has a comparable vocal attack. A bass-fortified guitar establishes a second theme that adds a Wagnarian touch of high drama, and this ushers in the song's curtain fall.

If 10,000 Years is to be compared with High On Fire at all, the rumbling riffstorm "March Of The Ancient Queen" surely merits it (to say nothing of their mutual love of alternative histories).

Her royal blood Once ruled these lands Generations Buried by time Dynasty of dust Rise from the sands Rise from the dead The Green King's servant

March!

March Of The Ancient Queen - Single by 10,000 Years

That last lyric is uttered with the most blood-curdling all-caps conviction that I was immediately drawn into its sentiment, miming "Maaaaarrrrrch!" with my ugliest war face on every time it came up in the song. The NWOBHM-style finish is so deftly executed that it comes across as orchestral. 10,000 Years paint with big, bold strokes here.

"Prehuman Walls" is a welcome shift down, with its chugging "Bury Me In Smoke" tempo. You sludge fiends will find moments of Zen here, with riffs that bend and twist and saw 'neath the summer sun. The crew have chanced upon a temple of sorts, though not one made with human hands. Nothing seems to make sense here at all. It's like Area X from the film Annihilation (2017), where everything is a contortion of reality. Then the "truth settles in." This alien monstrosity, we find, bears the mark of the sinister Green King. We thought we'd escaped him, only to find that he both followed us and was here millenia before.

Unholy worship Feed the Green King Eyes pried open Sanity stripped away

At last, we reach the final track in our journey: "Dark Side Of The Earth". So many revelations have been made in this second chapter, so many loose ends that need to be tied off. Naturally, a third chapter must be written. "We must go back, set it right," deliberates an exasperated Albatross crew. "We must go back, whence we came."

Dimension walls broken down The fabric ripped and torn apart Thread the needle once again A journey of ten thousand years

We must go back, set it right We must go back, through the tears

Insanity the only way The dark side of the earth

Following these words, the song develops instrumentally and the mood gets quite emotional. I found myself drawing parallels between this "bastard version of earth" and our own, wondering if we ever can go back and make it right. For us, perhaps it should be about moving forward, for there is no golden age or better time to which we can return. We make this world a heaven or hell tomorrow by the choices made today.

The album was recorded by Tomas Skogsberg at Studio Sunlight. Totally diggin the awesomely swamp landscape that Francesco Bauso of Negative Crypt Artwork created. It reminds the five-year old me of Luke's sopping wet landing on Dagobah, though guitarist Alex Risberg says the band's more inspired by Planet of the Apes than by Star Wars.

The album will be released on June 25th as a special vinyl "Green King Edition" by Interstellar Smoke Records pre-order here), a cassette tape "Forest Edition" from Ogo Rekords (pre-order here) and "Swamp Edition" from Olde Magick Records pre-order here), with the digital and compact disc formats handled by Death Valley Records (pre-order here).

10,0000 Years have in II their most accomplished album to date, with powerful moments that will stay with you long after the record's stopped spinning. Fans of High On Fire, Black Tusk, and The Sword listen up! You might just discover your next favorite band.

Give ear...

10,000 Years - Gargantuan Forest (Music Video)

Some Buzz

Having previously played together in the original lineup of Swedish underground heavyweights Pike, Erik Palm (Guitars) and Alex Risberg (Bass/vocals) found their way back to each other, musically, in early 2020. The creative fire reignited and stoked to a burning inferno and through a mutual love of heavy riffs and thundering stoner rock, doom, and sludge metal, 10,000 Years was born. Finding a drummer would prove to be an easy task and with Espen Karlsen the final piece lay firmly in place. The groove they fell into during the first rehearsal hasn’t stopped rumbling since.

After spending the first-half of 2020 writing and rehearsing, 10,000 Years recorded their self-titled debut EP during one weekend in June in the legendary Studio Sunlight with equally legendary producer Tomas Skogsberg. The self-titled EP was released on July 10th and immediately struck a chord with the heavy underground worldwide, and 10,000 Years garnered rave reviews and accolades.

10,000 Years by 10,000 Years

10,000 Years' musical and lyrical world revolves around the tale of the terran class III exploration vessel Albatross and its mission to explore the Milky Way and nearby galaxies in search for a possible new home for humanity. The EP tells the tale of its first foray into space and what happens when the crew accidentally travel through a wormhole and end up in an adjacent dimension populated by ancient gods and giant beings, ruled by the Green King. The EP ends with “From Suns Beyond,” where the crew make it off from the strange planet, back out into space in search of a way back home. The new album picks up the story as the Albatross blasts through the atmosphere of a seemingly unknown planet and crashlands headfirst into strange new adventures.

II by 10,000 Years

Now, less than a year after their first release, 10,000 Years are back with their first full-length effort, aptly titled 'II' (2021). Picking up right where the EP left off, II continues the story of the ill-fated Albatross mission and its exploration of time and space through a skull-crushing mixture of stoner rock, doom, and sludge metal. The album will no doubt continue to build on 10,000 Years' already golden reputation and prove to be an even bigger hit with the heavy masses.

Follow The Band

Get The Music

#D&S Debuts #10000 Years #Västerås #Sweden #doom metal #sludge #heavy metal #sci-fi #horror #music video #Interstellar Smoke Records #Death Valley Records #Ogo Rekords #Olde Magick Records #Doomed and Stoned

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missnight0wl · 4 years ago

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Do you place any of the time limited side quests at a different year from the game? For example, i think it makes sense for the Howling Halloween sq to be set after the sq with the forgetfulness potion in year 3 rather than year 1. The first Christmas sq also takes place in year 1, even though MC wouldn’t know Bill at that point. The patronus sq makes a reference to Mc being a legimellion even though they wouldn’t find that out till later.

I kind of stopped trying to fit all the TLSQs into my story at some point, but I still can’t help wondering where they belong into the canon story. And yeah, probably most of them don’t make sense where they’re placed by the devs (or at least would make more sense somewhere else). Now, I’ll try to keep it short, but I’m gonna comment on pretty much every TLSQ, so… beware.

YEAR 1:

Hagrid’s Birthday. It should’ve been at least Y2. Merula comments at one point that Dumbledore probably wants to give MC 100 House points (which really makes sense only after we got points at the end of Y1), and MC’s bond with Hagrid was much closer in Y2, so they’d indeed be the right person to throw his birthday. Especially that Hagrid canonically was born on December 6th, so in Y1, MC knew him only for three months.

Howling Hallowe’en. All right, so I personally HATE this TLSQ because MC duelling Greyback is stupid no matter their age. But if it has to exist, then as you said, it should’ve happened after “Penny For Your Thoughts”, so not before Y3. I believe Scarlett was supposed to die between Y2 and Y3, so before that, it doesn’t make sense that Penny’s fear of werewolves is so great. It also takes away from the relationship between Penny and Chiara (if Penny didn’t experience the death of her friend, it’s not that meaningful that she overcomes her prejudice for Chiara).

Christmas at Hogwarts. It CAN’T happen before Y2. When Rowan mentions Bill for the first time, MC doesn’t even know who he is. How would it make sense if they spent Christmas together a year earlier? Personally, I think it should be Y3 when MC’s friendship with both Bill and Tonks was closer already.

YEAR 2:

The Weird Sisters. This one should probably be Y4, even if only because of the Sisters’ age. Myron is supposed to be one year older than Bill, meaning that in MC’s Y4, Myron was in his last year. Orsino is supposed to be the same age as Percy, so at the same time he was in his second year – a bit young to be on the band, but possible (more likely than in his first year if you ask me).

Hosting the Beauxbatons. I guess it could stay in Y2, but MC talks quite a lot about the Cursed Vaults and how great they are at solving mysteries, so I believe that Y3 or even Y4 would make more sense.

Chiara’s TLSQ. It happens a year after the Halloween events, so it should be Y4.

Christmas at the Burrow. Again, since it happens a year after the previous Christmas TLSQ, it should be Y4. It goes well with Charlie coming to Hogwarts to rescue us because he and MC got pretty close in Y4 (working on the Forest Vault and all).

Meet the Malfoys. Lucius came to Hogwarts because the school governors were alarmed by the things going on at school, so it has to be after the Vault of Ice. Although, I’d argue that two vaults are more likely to be a reason for concern, putting the quest in Y4. Also, in MC’s second year, Draco was only five! He looked and acted more like a 7/8-years-old.

YEAR 3:

Become an Animagus. A friendly conversation with both Barnaby and Tulip at the very beginning of the quest suggests Y4.

The Frog Choir. It could stay in Y3 since Tulip acts rather uncertain about her friendship with MC. The problem is that it triggers too early. When I played with my second MC a while ago, I’m pretty sure it triggered even before I learnt from Tulip that she worked with Merula.

Flying Solo. It should be Y5 (I imagine that becoming an Animagus would take at least all Y4). There’s the whole conversation where Talbott talks about Rakepick’s white owl. In Y3, Merula thinks she’s about to meet Snape, but then, the mention of school owls doesn’t really make sense – it was definitely written with Rakepick in mind, so I just don’t understand why they placed it in Y3.

YEAR 4:

Become a Prefect. No complaints here.

Magical Creatures Everywhere. As far as I remember, there was nothing that wouldn’t really fit here, so I guess we’re also clear.

Celestial Ball. It’s a bit odd to have a ball when there’s the Sleepwalking Curse at school, but… sure, we can go with this.

Grand Pranksters. Yeah, I believe it all works here again. Tonks and Tulip are pretty close friends already, Rita returned like a couple of months after her second SQ (when we blackmailed her about being an unregistered Animagus). Even Ismelda’s part is okay since she was also one of the optional people to borrow a broom from.

The Patronus TLSQ. It probably should be Y5. The Legilimency scene you mention doesn’t happen if you do the quest in Y4, but the fact that it exists (and it’s quite developed) suggests that the quest was written with Y5 in mind. Again, I don’t understand why it was placed earlier.

First Date. I mean… sure.

YEAR 5:

Sir Cadogan. It definitely belongs to Y5 since it talks about Beatrice being trapped in the portrait. However, similar to the Frog Choir, it triggers too early. I believe it triggers in chapter 6 now. It’d make more sense after our fight in the Library (to remind MC how important it is to work with their friends) and after we found Scabbers in front of the Vault of Ice – so around chapter 14. In the TLSQ, Rakepick revived the Ice Knight, so MC shouldn’t have been that surprised seeing the cursed ice around the castle in the main story. Also, when they searched the Icy Corridor with Jae, it sure sounded like they weren’t there since Y2.

O.W.L.s. No complaints here.

Valentine’s Day. NOPE! Just nope. There’s no way Penny would care about stupid Valentine’s Day while Beatrice was trapped in the portrait. Similar goes to MC who was worried about both Haywood sisters AND they were anxious about finding Jacob in the next vault. Moreover, THERE’S NO WAY Rakepick would allow Lockhart to waste the time of her apprentices. I don’t know where else it fits better, but quite frankly, I don’t care.

The All-Wizards Tournament. I mean, I’m not mad about it being in Y5, but I actually like it better when I think that Hagrid and Kettleburn organised it to distract everyone after Rowan’s death. I’d say it’s more meaningful in Y6.

Festival Fun. Very similar arguments as for the First Date. Although, I suppose it could’ve happened on its own in Y5, just without the dating element.

YEAR 6:

The Dragon Sanctuary. Honestly, it’d probably make more sense as the summer holidays event or even post-graduation, but I guess Y6 is not bad.

The Headkid. Yep, makes sense.

#long post #hogwarts mystery #hphm #jam city #analysis post #ask #anonymous

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theskyisbrighthere · 4 years ago

Text

Meet Me in The Middle Chapter 3

let me know what you guys think!

Grace can’t say that she’s smart. In fact, she’s a bit of an idiot. Which is probably how she’s managed to land herself into this situation. By the Gods she hates this world. All the differences are so hugely different from her own. Although some things are the same (like her job, just the foods have different names and why the fuck they call Jarem Ebony she’ll never fucking know) she still gets hugely home sick.

Although some things about this world are better than her own; the added protection of the Kings men being everywhere, free healthcare, (and some ailments even cured by potions. But if you ask Grace, she’ll call it magic cause wow) liveable wage and even extra money left over every week. (And how nice to be able to pay rent weekly instead of monthly because fuck that.) Education was a right and not a privilege and all schools were top of the line and equal in its funding.

Not that she knows that. Grace had gone to school and graduated by the time she had gotten here. The hardest thing she’s had to adjust to the most though was the different Gods. All her life she’s followed her own and then getting to a different planet and being told (not that anyone knows) that her Gods aren’t real. It honestly felt like a kick to the face, one that hasn’t stopped happening. Despite that, Grace has continued to pray to her own Gods and swept these new ones to the side.

She just wants to know how she ended up on this planet and not the one she was supposed to end up on. Which begs the question. Where the hell are her people?

-X-

Grace is really trying her hardest to stay positive. But the dickhead that is her neighbour is really trying her patience, it’s been nearly two hours and the music that is very loudly pulsing from said dickheads apartment into her own is damn near driving her insane. Just as she’s about to get up and storm to said apartment to tell them to please shut the fuck up- (not that she would say that she’d be a bit more polite) the music stops. Just like that its quiet, her apartment no longer quaking. Its so sudden that Grace stops in shock and isn’t quite sure what to do now. Thinking quickly, she turns on her heels, her dress flaring out in the spin and heads back to the armchair to pick up the book that she had carelessly put down in her quest to yell at her rude neighbour.

Fully intent on getting back into the flow of the story, Grace settled in on the armchair throwing her legs over one side and settling her back on the other. She’s just settled in and has managed to get halfway through the page she is currently on when she starts to feel a familiar warm itch of arousal slowly stirring underneath her skin. Trying her best to ignore it she shifts slightly in a mild attempt to shake it off and continue with her reading. Feeling it get more insistent Grace groaned to herself, marked the page she was on with the bookmark threw it to the side and buried her face in her hands and did her best not to scream from frustrated desperation. She doesn't want this. Doesn't need it, it's almost cruel. She doesn't think she'll be able to make it through this one. The insistent itch happens multiple times a day and nearly always when its most inconvenient for her.

Groaning again Grace sat up and heaved herself off the armchair in search of a glass of water to try and soothe the Gods awful itch. Heading into the kitchen and reaching into the cupboard for a glass, she did her best to think about anything but the throb that had started to make itself known between her thighs. Squeezing said thighs together, she turned on the sink to fill up the glass and then brought it to her lips, she prayed that if she just ignored it then it would go away .

Yeah right, as if she’s ever been that lucky.

Putting the now empty glass in the sink, Grace did her best to think about anything but the ache between her legs. And in doing so and without meaning to thought about the Alpha that she had unintentionally abandoned. The ache between her legs magnified tenfold at the thought. Swearing to herself Grace knew that any thought of her pre-heat going away now was non-existent.

Pushing herself off the bunch that she had ended up leaning against, she made it her mission to get to her room before her willpower gave out and she shoved her hand down her into her underwear then and there to try and get the week from hell over. She made it to her bedroom doorframe before her logical side lost to her primal side. Pushing herself up against the inside of the door Grace does her best to suppress the moan that drags itself out of her throat once her hand makes its way underneath the waist band of her underwear and makes contact with her clit.

The thoughts on her Alpha return and she lets them. She thinks about her good he would be, the size of his hands and how they would feel on her skin, how he would grab and squeeze and hold. How they would bend inside of her and hit that sweet spot that makes her see stars. How his lips would feel pressed against her own. His lips against her skin, sucking and kissing. How his tongue would feel pressed against hers, pressed just right on her most intimate part and the thought tore a moan from her along with a burst of pleasure that was a lot more powerful than she was used too.

Bucking against her hand that was rubbing tight little circles against her clit, she did her best to try and slow down, feeling herself hurtling toward the finish line and wanting to savour it (which she thought was ironic seeing as she didn’t want this to start off with). Moaning again when she felt the hot sharp painful pang of pleasure flash through her, she did her best to stay upright on shaking legs, (of which she had arched up onto her toes without even noticing) as another bolt of painful pleasure surged through her again. She could feel her body starting to get warm and thoughts of her Alpha had resurfaced.

She felt another hot bolt of pleasure when she thought about his own body pressed against hers, his body weight forcing her into the mattress while he whispered lewd things into her ear, holding her down while he gave hard firm thrusts that would drive her toward her own orgasm, how he wou-

Her fantasy is cut short when her orgasm thunders through her with a furious tenacity that almost scares her. She rides her hand through it and slowly slides her way down her wall while trying to calm her breathing through the last of her aftershocks. When she attempts to stand a few minutes later her legs feel like jelly and she wobbles when she tries to walk forward. Slowly walking towards her bathroom she makes her way to the shower, turns on the water and while she waits for it to heat, takes off her dress (her underwear already gone from her shameful display) and gets into the shower after she’s done. Hoping that the painful orgasm will hold back her Heat for at least another day or two.

Standing under the heated water she thinks the one thought she’s been trying her best not too, lest she drag up the desperation she's been trying not to feel. How the rumble of his purr would feel pressed up against her. And its really the only thing she think about for the rest of the night.

And tries to ignore the rising fear that creeps back in every time she thinks of him. She's no closer to finding him than she was yesterday.

-X-

Its two days later when there’s a polite knock on her front door that turns her world upside down. Because standing on the other side of the door is her Alpha. Her terrified, alert Alpha. Who looks half out of his mind and ready to take her and run. Her first thought is what has him so terrified. Her second is who hurt him. And the third is how the fuck he found her when she couldn't even find him.

She’s stunned. Glued to her spot and it looks like he is as well. Neither of them is about to move anytime soon, which is when she becomes aware that they’re not alone. Standing not too far away from him leaning on the other side of the hall is the eloquent man she ran into in the shop all but 3 days ago.

Grace can’t say that she’s smart. In fact, she’s a bit of an idiot. Which is probably how she’s managed to land herself into this situation. But the first thing she does after being startled out of the daze she was in, is to step back and close the door. And then to immediately open it back up again to her Alpha’s wide startled eyes and her instincts screaming at her. Taking multiple deep breathes to try and calm her erratic heartbeat and heavy breathing (and to breathe in the scent of him because he's right there), she does her best to calm down. Even though she is nowhere near calm, she attempts a smile. He tries to smile back but he is still somewhat startled, and it looks more like he has done it out of automatic instinct than actual will.

“Hi-” She starts, and he jumps not expecting it. “I’m Grace, would you like to come in?”

A real smile spreads across his face this time and he looks beautiful.

“It’s very nice to meet you Grace. My name is Noctis.” Oh god, his voice was just as smooth as she remembered it. She moved to the side and made room for him to come into her home. She looked over at his companion after he had made her way into her home to see if he would be joining them. But he seemed to be in his own world with his attention fixated on a book that he must have brought with him. Leaning against the wall of the hall she decided to leave him to his own devices, it was probably best that this was done between just the two of them.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around and closed the door and tried to prepare herself for the conversation that was about to follow. Looking up she saw her Alpa- Noctis! She saw Noctis standing uncertainly in the middle of her living room. Taking another deep breath and inhaling more of his scent, Grace sent a quick prayer to her Gods for strength and hoped that they were listening. She was going to need it.

#final fantasy xv #Noctis Lucis Caelum #alpha/beta/omega AU #original female character #noctis lucis caelum/original female character #Smut

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bewaretheidesofmarchyall · 5 years ago

Note

Write some new years eve prinxiety!!

Okay!

Prinxiety, new year, got it!

All The Time In The World

-So all of the sides were really close friends as kids.

-They all met because their parents knew each other, and so at the age of nine they were all dragged to the most boring New Year’s party imaginable.

-They were all kind of shoved into a room, given pretzels, and told to be friends? Yet, some of them didn’t get along AT ALL.

-Despite that, the six of them were forced by boredom to join together in an epic heist to steal food that wasn’t stale pretzels.

-There were twists and complications, and Roman tried to dramatically sacrifice himself so the others would get away, despite all of them being fully capable of running away already. Eventually, the six of them escaped to behind some bushes and feasted on stolen snacks, their heist complete.

-They stayed friends through the rest of elementary school and middle school, their own merry band of geeks, chaotic neutrals, and people who just really like cats.

-Roman and Virgil have been will-they-won’t-they-ing for most of middle school, and Janus and Remus have started taking bets on when they’d get together.

-In fact, Roman and Virgil both independently planned to ask the other out at 8th grade graduation (the other four members of the group know that they’re both planning to do it at the same time. They find it hilarious).

-But everything changed when Roman and Remus’s parents split.

-Roman was dragged away from Florida to Massachusetts to live with his dad, and quickly fades out of the picture. He was kind of the uniting member of the group, so his departure combined with the new stresses of high school scatters the friends to the wind.

-TIME SKIP

-It’s 12th grade. Colleges are worried over, futures discussed, and people try desperately to avoid doing either.

-The six, now five, have drifted apart. It’s winter break, and no one really knows how they’ll spend their last one. Enter Remy, who is throwing a new years bash. It’s a “small get-together”, which means that everyone in western Florida will be there.

-Virgil is trying very hard to not give into the existential, timeless terror in the air, which could be there because of the inevitability of aging, the fact that the time between December 26th and New Years is on another plane of existence, or the fact that Janus has been summoning the elder gods in his basement (it’s a subplot, but not a huge one).

-He goes ice skating.

-Yes, there are some ice skating rinks in Florida, I checked.

-He isn’t paying much attention to anything but his thoughts, and crashes into a boy he thinks he doesn’t know.

-Can you guess who? Of course you can.

-Once Virgil stops apologizing and realizes it’s Roman...short circuiting emo.

-Roman’s visiting his mom and brother for the holiday. You can guess at exactly the type of shenanigans that will ensue.

-You like mutual pining? I do. I like it a lot. So we have these two disasters confronted with the fact that their feelings for their childhood sweetheart have come back full force, while simultaneously being convinced that, since they haven’t seen the other in years, there’s no way the other feels the same way.

-But enough romance, let’s talk side quests

-Side quests. They’re optional, but you know you’re going to do them for the satisfaction of completion.

-If you’re seeing this from Roman’s perspective, this game’s story-line is technically romance oriented, but the side quests are many.

-Logan: Logan is trying to invent something brilliant, mostly to bolster his college applications. He has many scuttling, clockwork creatures. And they were released.

Whoops.

Will Roman help Logan catch the six models of robot as well as remind him that are people out there who care about him? That’s side quests

-Patton: Patton is trying to help his friend Emile out. Emile has fallen for Remy like a sack of potatoes off of the Eiffel tower, and Patton is attempting to aid the matchmaking process. He’s also quite smiley and not burnt out at all doing great!

Somehow, there’s going to be a jar of live spiders in the wooing-Remy process, and Patton agreed to transport the spiders despite his phobia.

Where are the spiders? What will the spiders do? Why are the spiders? What will Roman do once roped into an arachnid transport scheme? And will he be able to remind Patton that it’s okay to not be completely selfless all the time? That’s side quests

-Janus: Jan is summoning the elder gods in his basement and they are destroying time. What’s a better time than the new year to ring in a new age where there are no more “new years”?

Most players choose to skip this quest :)

If Roman should choose to accept, he’d better bring a lantern and a match, a knowledge of the musical Hadestown, a healthy fear of the late 19th century, and a smile. That’s side quests

-Remus: Remus is determined to never miss his brother again. So even when he’s back from Massachusetts for a week, it’s not like he’ll stay, so it’s better to ignore him and not get attached.

Besides, he has other stuff to do. Remy’s party is going to be memorable, and he intends to have each and every guest leave with an expression of confusion and horror on their faces.

Just because it’s not Halloween, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a haunted house.

But Roman isn’t going to let his brother slip away from him so quickly (or maybe he will if the side quest isn’t chosen?). A storyline of fake blood, breaking and entering, races against time, and family. That’s side quests

-But back to the main storyline

-Virgil and Roman keep bumping into each other. Near confessions, almost said words, and things kept to themselves abound. Pizza is consumed.

-Finally, Remy’s party rolls around. And things happen. Holy shit, a lot of things happen.

-All of the side quests converge, madness is had, and the seconds keep counting down.

-When certain things got especially chaotic, Virgil and Roman hide up on the roof. They chat, a cool breeze blowing through the warm Florida winter. It’s cold out, so it is only natural for them to get closer.

-Both are praying that the other will say something.

-Say anything.

-Say something!

-One minute to midnight, Virgil makes a split second decision.

-He says something.

-Roman says something back.

-And you know the tradition where you kiss someone as soon as the clock strikes twelve on the new year?

-Roman and Virgil may not have each other forever. Roman is still 1,261 miles away, and time seems to go faster every day. But on this roof? They have all the time in the world.

Thanks for sending in this prompt!

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