#writing a resume

[earnfromwriting]

https://discover.hubpages.com/business/writing-a-resume

[spacedace]

Still thinking about the Social Worker Jazz concept that @gilbirda posted about and it's slowly turning into a full Anger Management fic send help

-

Jason at length - much longer than it really should have taken really - set the resume down.

The new Social Worker’s resume. Because she was there, in his office, trying to convince him to hire her as a member of his criminal organization.

Crime Alley’s new social worker. A bright eyed Midwestern transplant from some tiny speck of a place that only qualified as a city because there was nothing bigger in a hundred miles in any direction to claim otherwise. The new social worker who had a Psy D. and three masters degrees and who had graduated Valedictorian. The one that had high paying private gigs lined up all over the country with the offering companies fighting over her.

The one who had, apparently, decided to take a shit job in Gotham’s shoddy social services department instead. The one that got kicked to Crime Alley - which was its own division despite technically being a small neighborhood in the grand scheme of things - within her first month. Supposedly for the sole purpose of scaring her off or getting her killed for all the questions she was asking and secret dealings she was sticking her nose into.

That social worker.

“I’m gonna need you to run this by me again.” Jason said, never so grateful for the voice modulator in his helmet as he was in that moment. It stripped out the bewilderment that had bled through into his words and made him sound stoic instead.

“I’d like to work for you.” The social worker - one Dr. Jasmine Nightingale - repeated primly. Back straight, clothes neat - if skewing more on the librarian side of professional - expression confident and hopeful. Completely and utterly oblivious of how fucking insane she sounded. “I was told that you’re the person in charge of Crime Alley.”

He resisted the urge to scrub at his face. It’d just look weird with his helmet on and not do anything to actually settle him in that moment anyway. “I understood that part.”

“Look, Doc,” She earned a doctorate and she was crazy enough to waltz into the office of one of Gotham’s most powerful Crime Lords, he’d be respectful about using her proper title at least, even if he suspected she was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag. “You’re going to have to tell me why. I was under the impression the only reason you ended up dumped on our end of the city ws because you wouldn’t play ball. But now you want to sign up for my crew?”

Nightingale frowned a little at that.

“Is that what people are saying?”

“What else are they gonna say?” Jason answered, leaning back in his seat, “Head of the department only dumps Crime Alley on folks he don’t like. And everyone knows he doesn’t like anyone that can’t or won’t play his game by his rules.”

“Alright, well. I’ll give you that.” Nightingale conceded, “Payne doesn’t like me. The feeling’s mutual. But for the record,” She added giving him a wry smile, as if sharing wry smiles with Red Hood was just something people did, “I asked to be assigned to the Park Row and Bowery neighborhoods.”

“You wanted to work here.”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit.”

Nightingale laughed. It was a bright sound. Not especially clear or pretty, but warm and welcoming in a way that carefully calculated giggles or overdone guffaws couldn’t be. Something with real and honest amusement in it, that encouraged those nearby to laugh along. Not the kind of involuntary, nervous chuckling people tended to slip into when they thought they had pissed someone that scared them off.

She just wasn’t intimidated by him at all, was she?

Behind his helmet, Jason found himself smiling. Just a bit.

“I’m serious.” She assured, blue-green eyes meeting the dark stare of his helmet without a moment of hesitation. He watched as she brushed a lock of her bright red hair behind her ear and out of the way. She’d woven it all into a practical, neat braid but a few sly pieces had snuck out to bounce around her. Gilding her quiet professionalism with a playful charm that worked well with her academia but make it cottagecore kindergarten teacher aesthetic.

“I’ll admit, Gotham wasn’t part of my plan when I first graduated. Time and choices take you funny places sometimes.” She plucked an invisible bit of lint off her soft blue cardigan, not nervous but absent as her gaze went distant for a moment. Thinking back on the events that had led her to his fine city. In a blink, those sharp eyes were back to focusing entirely on him. “But Gotham is where I am now, and I want to help.”

She looked at him, a serious, determined expression settling easily on her face. “The city as a whole has so much chaos and crime breaking out all the time.” No censure or horror in her voice, just a neutral fact to be observed. “But where the rest of the city has millions of dollars poured into it by various foundations or charities run by the Waynes, Park Row is largely ignored.”

Jason watched as steeliness sharpened her gaze, the blue-green shifting from the shine of a bird’s wing to the warning hue of something poisonous and deadly. “No one deserves that. No one.” Her chin tilted up, proud but not imperious. “So yes, I want to work here. There are people in Park Row and the Bowery who need help and I refuse to let any of them feel like they are going to be ignored.”

Jason considered her.

Really looked at her. Pealing back his initial off handed impression of her as some clueless transplant in over her head with no idea of what she was doing or what she was poking her nose into to find the real woman beneath. Her confident poise, her clear unshakable belief, her unflinching willingness to look danger in the eye and not blink. The tense curve of her frown, the lines of pain at the corners of her eyes, the simmering anger beneath it all. There was an edge to her, too. Something sharp and dangerously well hidden by the cardigan and folksy charm of her accent.

It was personal for the woman before him, Jason realized. Maybe not Crime Alley specifically, but something about the whole situation. The treatment the neighborhood and its residents received from the city at large, from those even beyond it.

Crime Alley wasn’t a place that received much in the way of charitable thought. The average joe with their house in Somerset and job at some corporate shithole hating every second of their life but thinking at least I don’t live in Crime Alley. Those asshole hoity-toites in city hall throwing money around equally between shit that’d get them re-elected and their off-shore slush funds in the Caymens doing their damn level best to pretend the black mark on the other end of the city just didn’t exist. Bruce, flooding the entire city with charitable programs and carefully constructed infrastructures shying away from the manifested grief and trauma that was the place he watched his parents get murdered.

For the most part no one from outside of the Alley gave a shit about the Alley other than as a place to avoid at all costs. And most of the time those natives that manages to claw their way out into better and brighter lives didn’t ever turn to glance back. Orpheus could have learned a thing or to from an ex-Alley Kid who managed to eek out a steady 9-to-5 and move to Burnley.

And something about that seemed to piss Dr. Jasmine Nightingale Psy. D right the fuck off.

He could see why Bill said he liked her enough to let her in.

“Alright.” He said, tilting his head, watching the woman seated across from him carefully, “Still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here. Why you’re trying to get on my payroll.”

“I’m not trying to get on your payroll.” She said, some of the glinting edge softening, but the steel remaining. Strong and unyielding. “I’m trying to get into your community outreach program.”

Jason thanked god and all the saints once again for the gift of his helmet. That baby had saved his ass more times than he could count both by keeping his head in one piece and keeping his stupefied expressions wrapped up and hidden from view. Dr. Nightingale was one hell of a woman to make him have to rely on that fact twice in one conversation.

“Wasn’t aware that was something I had.”

Nightingale, not fortunate enough to have a full face covering helmet of her own, had nothing to hide her stupefied expression behind. Jason had a feeling she might have removed it to make sure he saw even if she did though. She looked like she had caught him eating glue like it was a cheese stick.

“Yes you do.” She said, sounding deeply confused but unshakable confident in what she was saying. “I’ve seen it. The soup kitchens, the shelters, the collection boxes for donating old clothes, the after school day care.” Nightingale ticked off on her fingers, “I’ve lived here for less than two weeks and I’ve lost count of all the things I’ve seen setup to help people struggling in the area that I’ve been very reliably informed you and your organization are behind.”

Oh.

Those.

“Those aren’t part of some community outreach program.” He said, “We are simply locals offering services for our neighbors.”

He watched as her caught-him-eating-glue expression shifted into one that said she’d stumbled upon him licking electrical sockets for a mid-day pick-me-up instead. He had to give it to her, the woman was not afraid to let one of the most dangerous men in the city know she thought he was a fucking idiot.

“Let me see if I understand this right.” She said, and he appreciated that there wasn’t any kind of condescension in her voice, even though she very clearly thought he’d been dropped on his head as a baby. Possibly from the top of a three story building. “You have a large group of people working together to plan, organize and execute multiple services in your area - your community, if you will - that provide aid and support to those that otherwise would not receive it. Reaching out with your available time and resources to offer these services, that you provide. For free.”

Alright, Jason got it. He had stumbled ass backwards into creating a community outreach program. But he wasn’t just going to let her think she won this one. He was Red Hood, he had a reputation to uphold here.

“What makes you think any of that is free?” He tilted his head at just the right angle, the one that cast shadows across the planes of his helmet and made him look hell-touched and terrifying. “Just because we don’t charge money, doesn’t mean there isn’t a price to pay.”

Dr. Nightingale, dressed like a damn kindergarten teacher, laughed at him.

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[teddytoroa]

the thing about joe hills of nashville tennessee is that on a server of folks roleplaying mad scientists and zombies and kings and creeper-goats and kakashi of naruto and mayors and businessmen and slimes and iskall and dungeon masters and doom guy and dwarves and elves and aliens and whatever the gigaverse is, you have Joe Hills The Regular Human Guy From Nashville (Tennessee), and yet his normalcy is frequently more bizarre somehow than whatever else is going on. and this never ever fails to enchant and delight me.

[lightyaoigami]

☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ how to resume ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ

after 10 years & 6 jobs in corporate america, i would like to share how to game the system. we all want the biggest payoff for the least amount of work, right?

know thine enemy: beating the robots

i see a lot of misinformation about how AI is used to scrape resumes. i can't speak for every company but most corporations use what is called applicant tracking software (ATS).

no respectable company is using chatgpt to sort applications. i don't know how you'd even write the prompt to get a consumer-facing product to do this. i guarantee that target, walmart, bank of america, whatever, they are all using B2B SaaS enterprise solutions. there is not one hiring manager plinking away at at a large language model.

ATS scans your resume in comparison to the job posting, parses which resumes contain key words, and presents the recruiter and/or hiring manager with resumes with a high "score." the goal of writing your resume is to get your "score" as high as possible.

but tumblr user lightyaoigami, how do i beat the robots?

great question, y/n. you will want to seek out an ATS resume checker. i have personally found success with jobscan, which is not free, but works extremely well. there is a free trial period, and other ATS scanners are in fact free. some of these tools are so sophisticated that they can actually help build your resume from scratch with your input. i wrote my own resume and used jobscan to compare it to the applications i was finishing.

do not use chatgpt to write your resume or cover letter. it is painfully obvious. here is a tutorial on how to use jobscan. for the zillionth time i do not work for jobscan nor am i a #jobscanpartner i am just a person who used this tool to land a job at a challenging time.

the resume checkers will tell you what words and/or phrases you need to shoehorn into your bullet points - i.e., if you are applying for a job that requires you to be a strong collaborator, the resume checker might suggest you include the phrase "cross-functional teams." you can easily re-word your bullets to include this with a little noodling.

don't i need a cover letter?

it depends on the job. after you have about 5 years of experience, i would say that they are largely unnecessary. while i was laid off, i applied to about 100 jobs in a three-month period (#blessed to have been hired quickly). i did not submit a cover letter for any of them, and i had a solid rate of phone screens/interviews after submission despite not having a cover letter. if you are absolutely required to write one, do not have chatgpt do it for you. use a guide from a human being who knows what they are talking about, like ask a manager or betterup.

but i don't even know where to start!

i know it's hard, but you have to have a bit of entrepreneurial spirit here. google duckduckgo is your friend. don't pull any bean soup what-about-me-isms. if you truly don't know where to start, look for an ATS-optimized resume template.

a word about neurodivergence and job applications

i, like many of you, am autistic. i am intimately familiar with how painful it is to expend limited energy on this demoralizing task only to have your "reward" be an equally, if not more so, demoralizing work experience. i don't have a lot of advice for this beyond craft your worksona like you're making a d&d character (or a fursona or a sim or an OC or whatever made up blorbo generator you personally enjoy).

and, remember, while a lot of office work is really uncomfortable and involves stuff like "talking in meetings" and "answering the phone," these things are not an inherent risk. discomfort is not tantamount to danger, and we all have to do uncomfortable things in order to thrive. there are a lot of ways to do this and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. not everyone can mask for extended periods, so be your own judge of what you can or can't do.

i like to think of work as a drag show where i perform this other personality in exchange for money. it is much easier to do this than to fight tooth and nail to be unmasked at work, which can be a risk to your livelihood and peace of mind. i don't think it's a good thing that we have to mask at work, but it's an important survival skill.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ good luck ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ｡⋆

[mellowwillowy]

LISTEN YOU TWO IT IS ILLEGAL TO BE SO DEMURE AND SEXY. JADE AND HIS HAIR STRAIGHTENER, FLOYB AND HIS SHOULDER. SO SCANDALIS. SO SEXY. ON WHAT BASIS????

You and your stupid bandana or whatever. You and your stupid eel hairpin. You and your stupid bed hair. You and your stupid morning face. Stupid sleep wears stupid morays I'm gonna cook you two.

Yes you guys are stupid and I'm gonna double it RRRAHHHH I'm gonna be the one to bring you guys to bed because you guys are dumbbbbbbbb (melts)

[feroluce]

I think Hoyo should announce in-universe that they will allow one singular "fuck" in Honkai Star Rail.

Boothill: Finally, finally! F-

Dan Heng: Fuck.

Boothill: FORK!!!

[tathrin]

Hey, so do you ever stop to think about how the premise of Lord of the Rings being an in-universe book written by some of the characters who lived through that story means that they decided what parts and perspectives to use to tell that story...?

And when our authors weren't there to experience the events themselves, they have to rely on what they're told about them by the characters who were there, right...?

Okay so stop and think about the Glittering Caves.

We never actually go to the caves in the narrative. Tolkien LOVES describing nature and natural beauty, but we don't actually see the caves described "by him" the way we do other places. Obviously Gimli's words are Tolkien's, yes; but we only see the caves filtered through his words about them, after the fact.

When Gimli and Éomer and the other Rohirrim take refuge there, the narrative doesn't follow them. Obviously from a narrative standpoint this is to keep the focus narrow, and not to interrupt the battle-sequence with a long ode to the beauty of the caves, and to create tension in the reader who doesn't know if these characters are okay or not. Which all makes sense!

But think about it in terms of the book that was written in Middle-earth by the folk living there. Why DON'T we get to have a direct experience of those caves? Gimli obviously related several other parts of the story that none of the Hobbits were there to witness to them, and which were written into the books as Direct Events Happening In The Narrative (think of the Paths of the Dead scene, for one of the more visceral moments!). So why not the Glittering Caves?

Was it because they wanted to keep that narrative focus and tension, and so they didn't include his perspective on that part of the battle? Perhaps, that's certainly a possibility to consider.

But also consider: when we do hear about the Glittering Caves, what we hear is Gimli telling Legolas about the Glittering Caves. THAT is the part of that event that is considered of importance to include in the book: not Gimli's actual experience when he was in them, but rather the part where he relates that experience TO Legolas.

And I kind of just THOUGHT about that today.

And went HUH.

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi, so I've been unemployed for 4 years now (depression and anxiety), but I've done a lot organizational stuff to help with my parents. Ive also taken a 6 month bootcamp and completed projects with other people. I don't want to put down that I was unemployed on my resume cause then nobody will pick it up. Can I use freelance or something similar as a white lie? Is it possible to use my friends as an "employer"? Thank you 😊

"White lie"? "Unemployed"? Honey it sounds like you were plenty busy and occupied! You were ABSOLUTELY freelancing for ll that time.

If your friend employed you to complete a project (even if they paid you in beer), then that absolutely counts as freelancing.

Reframe, reframe, reframe your way back to full-time employment, my sweet baby mouse. Your priority should be securing an income, and we support you doing what you have to do to make that happen.

How to Frame Volunteering on Your Resume When You’ve Never Had a Job 

Ask the Bitches: “I Took a Career Break to Care For Someone. How Do I Explain My Caregiving Resume Gap?”

Did we just help you out? Tip us!

[aliceismypixie]

Please can you so a jasper x reader where the cullens and Bella all think that the reader or oc isn't good enough for jasper so jasper and the oc or reader elope and the cullens meet them again you can make the rest up.....

Can you please tag me if possible if you end up writing this weird story idea thats keeping me up at night

Thank you

Let's run away together

Pairing - Jasper x human!reader

Pronoun - She/her

Warning - No proof read, meantion of blood bag (vampire stuff yk yk), light swearing, Jasper gets mad but no Major

Words count - Too lazy to count y'all will have to do with it

Set - After Eclipse to after Breaking Dawn

Main Masterlist - Characters Masterlist

"Let's run away together."

These were the words Jasper told you a few years ago. You met each other at school, you were sixteen, almost seventeen, and he was supposed to be eighteen. You arrived in the middle of the semester of senior year. Due to you amazing intellect, you were a year advanced and you found yourself in the same english literature class as him.

"Alright class, we have a new student joining us for the rest of the year." Mrs. Danvers told and you entered the class.

The sound of your heels click-clacked on the ground as you entered in the class, a low waisted blue jean along with a black off shoulder with pale pink furr at the top. Your hand bag in your right hand was made of pale pink furr to match your top and your school hand bag was around your left shoulder. You had a golden necklace with a heart locket, a bunch of golden bracelet around both wrists and very rosy cheek. Overall you guessed ut, you looked like the perfect mean, fake and plastic girl.

"Hi, I'm Y/n L/n/n I moved here from New York and I'm sixteen, almost seventeen." Your voice was sweet like honey and suddenly every boys of the class were drooling.

"Thank you miss. Y/n/n you can sit beside Longbottom." The teacher told and a red head boy quickly rose his hand to the annoyance of the rest of the class. The girls because you were competition, and the boys they were jealous.

As you reached your sit, you saw your new sitmate move the chair for you and you widened your eyes a little before letting out a soft giggle. At this sound every boys of the class awwed while the girls huffed as you sat down.

From the back of the class, Jasper heard his brother, Edward, scoff before rolling his eyes and the blond empath looked at you once again. He didn't knew why but he couldn't feel anything from you. He was curious, because he couldn't feel anything from you but you weren't numb either. It was as if you were feeling something but you weren't. Then Jasper realize that in fact you were feeling something, he was the one not feeling anything anymore. From the moment you stepped inside of the classroom, everyone else's emotions disappeared and only your calm state stayed. At the end of the class, Jasper wanted to greet you, only to be blocked by a bunch of boy running to carry your bag or propose you a bunch of snack and you disappeared between the hue of students.

The next time Jasper saw you it was at lunch. At first he didn't notice you, but when Bella's akwardness toward Mike and Carter's love sick feeling for Alice suddenly disappear, Jasper couldn't help but look up. And there you were, surrounded by a bunch of guys as they were holding your bag, trail of food or handing you some homeworks to copy.

"Please not the new girl." Jessica groaned and everyone at the table looked toward you.

"I had a class with her this morning. I heard that her father was the CEO of a car company that was moving here. She is so spoiled, in class she almost crying because Jane took her notebook and wouldn't give it back when she asked." Jessica started her daily gossip and Edward rolled his eyes.

"She can't fool just anyone with that smile." The mind reader huffed as you passed beside their table.

"Hey Y/n !" Mike grinned like a lost puppy and you looked up from your pink cell phone toward the sound.

"Oh hey, Micheal right ? In spanish ?" You tilted your head and Jasper suddenly felt like his dead heart skipped a bit.

"It's Mike actually... but it's fine ! Wanna sit with us ?" The boy grinned and you looked around the table.

Then there was a silence as you glanced at everyone, noticing their rather annoyed or uneasy expression on their face before that your e/c eyes met his golden eyes. It was as if the world stopped, you held your breath in aww as you looked at his golden lock and his sharp jawline. He had a pale skin, very pale, like three other people at the table but his looked the best of them all. His golden orbs were shining due to the light of the cantine and you couldn't help but want to press your pink glossed lips over his.

"Y/n ?" Mike called and you snapped out of your trance, looking back at him with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry. But I don't think I'll sit here." You walked away and the group could here the boys bombarding you with invitation to lunch as you went to the back of the cantine.

"Shoot ! Man ! It's your weird hair that scared her !" Eric teased and the two boys started to bicker.

"She doesn't seem that bad...?" Angela hesitated and Carter passed his arm around Alice's shoulders who looked tense.

"I don't think we should be friend her." The petite vampire expressed and Jasper frowned.

"Why ?" He asked and Alice shared a glance at Edward before looking back at her untouched trail of food.

"Just because."

After this day Jasper would see you everywhere, in the corridor, the parking lot, in class, he even saw you in the forest a few time, by a lake that flowed close to the town. Yet even with Alice and Edward's warning he couldn't help but want to see you. Whenever you were around, he would feel at peace. So he started to chance his path at school, passing by your locker so you would be near by, waiting until you start to head inside to head in english, parking his car near yours every morning. He wanted to be beside you as much as possible but still respect your boundaries.

"Alright class ! Today we'll start a few group project about the book rode in class. You will be paired up by two and work on a presentation of one of the book we studied in class." Mrs. Danvers announced and you looked up from your pink fluffy notebook.

"Before anyone ask. I am making the group and I want no complaining." The teacher told and everyone groaned in annoyance.

"I said no complaining ! Alright now let's form the group." The brunette teacher announced and started to name a few people of the class.

You weren't expecting anything. You would go along with anyone. You just hoped that you wouldn't be paired with Edward Cullen or Jasper Hale, even if he was handsome, because strangely enough, their entire family and himself hated you for some reasons.

"Tonny and Mark." Mrs. Danvers told and Tonny, your sitmate, groaned.

"Sad we could have been together !" He told you and you sent him a half sad smile.

"That's unfortunate." You replied and he slouched on his chair.

"Y/n and Jasper." The teacher announced and you felt your blood run cold.

Turning around toward the said blond, you ignored the whine of the boys and your eyes locked with his for the second time since you moved here. You couldn't read him. You didn't knew if he felt happy or horrified that he was paired up with you. Yet you knew that it was definitly not going to well between the two of you. He hated you for whatever reason and your father hated boys in general.

At the end of the class, you went to your locker, followed by your usual among of boys and put your english stuff in your locker before seeing Jasper approching you from afar. You quickly told the four boys around you to go and fixed your high poney tail before that the godlike blond stops before you.

"Hey." Jasper greeted you and you sent him a shy smile with a tiny wave.

"Hey, Jasper right ?" You asked. It was a habit of yours, always checking if you had their name correctluy first.

"Right, and you're Y/n right ?" He asked back even if he knew it.

"Right, that's me." You let out a shy, uneasy laugh and the boy smiled softly.

"So for the english project, are we doing it at your house or mine ?" Jasper asked and you frowned slightly.

"Cloud we do it at yours ? My father isn't really happy when I bring someone home, especially when it's a boy you know." You looked and away and Jasper nodded.

"Right okay. So this afternoon at mine ?" He clarified and you nodded quickly.

"Yes ! This afternoon, at yours !" You confirmed with an excited shime in your eyes and Jasper chuckled.

You were cute. He could feel how excited you were. He didn't knew if it was because you wanted to work of if it was because you would get to see his house, or even if it was because you wanted to spend some time with him, but he hoped it was the later, because he couldn't wait to spend some time with you.

So for the rest of the afternoon he waited patiebtly for the end of class to arrive and once he finished his biology class, he quickly made his way to the parking lot, seeing you already waiting by your car.

"Hey !" You greeted and he smiled a little.

"Hey, ready to go ?" Jasper asked and you nodded closing your cell phone before putting it in your hand bag.

Luckily, today your father was the one to drop you off at school which mean you didn't need ton follow Jasper in your car but could simply ride with him to his house. On the way there, the two of you had a short discussion. You discovered that he had two more sibling as a plus of Edward, Carter and Alice and that they liked to go hiking on sun days. You learned that the loved to have game nights when everyone was at home and you couldn't help but smile at the way he was talking about his family with such a big smile on his face.

"What about you ? Anything to share ?" Jasper offered and you thought, your eyes drifting to the scenery around you.

"Well, my mother dies when I was seven, since then I live with my father. In contrary of what people could think, he's a very present father even if he's busy with work. Sometimes, when he comes home, we have a few dinner together and we always share a few joke. He loves to bake so whenever we can' we're baking together ! We also paint a lot together, whivh you saw me a bunch of time by the river painting the scenery." You grinned and Jasper's eyes widened.

"How do you know that I see you ?" The golden eyes boy questioned and you giggled.

"You're not very well hidden by the trees you know ?" You teased and if he could, Jasper would have blush in embarrassement.

"It's okay, you can join me next time Jaz." You giggled before realizing how you called him.

"I mean-"

"It's alright. You can call me that." Jasper cut your apologize and you mirrored his smile.

"Alright." You looked back at the road as a soft music was playing from the radio.

You couldn't wait to know him more.

Then you and Jasper got closer. At first it was only a few shy 'hi' or tiny waves but after two weeks on working on your project together, Jasper would pick you up everyday, and bring you home everyday. At first your father didn't like it, but he came around eventually. After three weeks of hanging out together, Jasper told you that he was a vampire. He knew it was dangerous but when you squealed and told him how cool this was, the empath couldn't help but love you even more.

"You can't be serious ?" Edward glared and Jasper huffed.

"Yes I am, I don't see why Bella could have dinner with us but Y/n can't." The empath replied angrily.

"Come on, you should have told us sooner, Esme didn't cook enough for two ! And Alice already told you to not hang out with that girl ! She is dangerous !" The golden brunette scolded.

"We all know that Bella never eat everything Esme made and no Y/n is not ! No one of you even tried to befriend her ! And what did you even see to be so reculant into meeting her ?" Jasper glared toward his sister.

"Jasper don't talk to your sister like that !" Esme stepped in and the blond rolled his eyes.

He had enough. Everytime you would come to his house for the english project, his family would say rude comment regarding you. From the way you dress for Alice to your weak looking body from Emmett to your parfum from Rosalie, they were always criticizing you somehow and each time Jasper could feel how it upset you or made you sad. He had enough of it.

"What did Alice see for you all to be so rude with Y/n !? Even you are Esme when we know that you are the sweetest woman on walking on Earth !" Jasper pointed out and the rest of the family stayed silent. Even Bella was there and she looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Then Emmett moved to open the door, revealing your figure about to knock at the door. He boy shoot you a tiny glare and you sent him an uneasy smile with a hint of fear.

"How long have you been standing there ?" The bearlike vampire asked and you shifted nervously under his gaze.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to overheard anything but then I heard shouting and I didn't want to knock in the middle of an argument. I can leave if you-"

"Yes."

"No." Jasper glared at Rosalie, who rolled her eyes, before sitting and joining you at the entrance.

Looking at you, Jasper frowned a little as he notived how you weren't wearing your usual tight shirt with dentel and a vest but you had a fletter sleeve white t-shirt instead, your usual low waisted jean was replaced by a high waisted jean with large leg, your heels were replaced by a pair of sneakers and your usual high pony tail was down, letting your hair cover your neck as much as possible, blocking the slight ordor of the different fragrance you used tonight. Jasper noticed how you tried your best to hide the freckles on your face with some make as one time Bella made abad comment about them. He noticed how you changed your entire look just to please his family's taste and he hated it. He loved how you would always ask him to tie your hair for you, or how he would count your freckles when he was bored.

"You look different." He acknowledged and you smiled brightly, but he could see it was fake.

"Yeah ! I didn't want to wear my usual style today ! Trying something new you know. Do you like it ?" You asked hopefully and Jasper frowned slightly as he heard Edward's snicker in the living room.

"It's... unusual for sure ?" The blond vampire replied as he moved out of the way, inviting you in.

"I must say, this smells really good Mrs. Cullen." You tried to compliment as everyone sat around the dinning table.

"Surely it smells better than you." Rosalie muttered, but made it loud enough as you could hear it from your sit and your smile fell a little while Jasper glared.

During the dinner the mood was tense. You knew it was because of you and Jasper could feel your guilty from across the room as you slowly ate your food.

"So Y/n ?" You immediately rose your head and looked toward Carter curiously.

"Jasper told us your mother was dead when you were younger. It must have hurt." The bruney male pointed out and you let out an uneasy laugh while looking away.

"Yeah it was." You muttered.

"How did she die ?" Bella asked blantly and you held your breath a little, image of your mother's death replaying in your head.

"She hum... she died in a car accident." You tried your best to not stutter and Jasper looked at you with worry, all he wanted was to comfort you.

"How old were you again ?" Edward smirked slightly, keeping the topic on.

"I was seven." You lowered your head and they hummed.

"That's young, how can you be so okay with it ?" Alice asked and Jasper glared at his siblings.

"Guys, stop." He growled lowly.

"No no, we want to know how did she cope with it all." Rosalie gave you a sickening sweet smile and you felt your stomach fell inside of you.

"I... Well I guess it was with time. And I was young, I didn't knew my mom very well-"

"So you didn't felt a tiny bit sad ?"

"What ? Oh no I felt devastated-"

"Were you in the car accident too ?"

"Yeah I was-"

"But you're fine ? Don't you think it's a little unfair for your mother ?"

"Guys. Stop. That."

"I think-"

"Don't you wish it was you ?"

"You don't even have a scar."

"I fould feel guilty if I were you."

"That's kind of unsensitive if you don't."

"I'm sorry. My father want me home." You stood up quickly without even looking up, afraid to show them you tears stained face.

Quickly walking out of the three story mansion, you didn't see the grins on the Cullen kids' faces and Jasper's worried and alarmed expression as you stepped in your car;

"Y/n/n I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"It's okay Jaz. I don't even know why I showed up when I knew that your family hated me." You wiped away a tear as Jasper stood by the window of your car.

"No no, none of this is your fault don't feel guilty please I should have known they were going to be like that. None of this is your fault they were just a bunch of asshole please don't cry darling." Jasper put one of his cold hand against your cheek and you grabbed his hand in yours leaning in his familiar touch.

"I'm sorry Jaz... For not being good enough for you or your family... I'm sorry I couldn't reach their expectation." You started your car and Jasper moved away with sad eyes.

"Please don't leave me darling." He whispered and you looked down at your lap before sending him a sad look.

"I'll see you later Jaz." You drove away and Jasper watched your car disappear between the trees of the forest, his hand slowly clenching into fist.

He was mad. He didn't understand why was his family so rude with you. They all accepted Bella when she forced herself on the family why could they not accept you even after how hard you tried to reach their standart, how hard you tried to understand their life style and always covering for them whenever a teacher would ask here they are when they hunt. Jasper hated how his family blantly hated you for no reasons at all when all you did was making him happier than he ever was.

"Why would you do that ?" Jasper whispered not even turning around to face his family.

"Jasper you have to understand-"

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT !?" It was the first time Jasper rose his voice and his eyes were dark, almost black.

"Jasper don't-"

"Please don't. You two did nothing while they are harassing Y/n questiong that clearly made her uncomfotable what is wrong with you all !? I was finally at peace !! I was finally truly happy, not because someone else felt happy but because I felt genuinly happy for once in my immortal life and you had to ruin it !? You had to be rude, you have to make her feel worthless !?" Jasper growled and his siblings and Bella frowned slightly.

"Why do you care so much anyways ?" Emmett crossed his arms on his chest.

"BECAUSE I LOVE HER !!" The empath reveale and everyone stood there in disbelief.

"I love her so much it fucking hurt to see her and feel her so demaged by the one who are supposed to support me forever. I don't understand why you would accept Bella when she pratically forced herself on our famil but can't accept the strongest and kindest girl walking on Earth. Why do you all hate Y/n so much ?" Jasper asked deseperatly but only got the silence as an answer causing him to scoff at his family before starting walk away.

"You all are unbelievable."

That night, Jasper showed up at your window to see you curved into a ball, soft whimper and sniffs audible from under your cover.

"Oh darling..." The words slipped from his lips and you looked out of your cover with glossy eyes, only killing his dead heart even more.

"I'm so sorry darling... I love you so much I'm so sorry..." Jasper whispered as he slided beside you and you immediately vurled inside of his arms, seeking for the warmth only he could give you even with a cold skin.

The both of you stayed in that position, for a while, him slowly caressing your hair and you sniffing from time to time as you listened to the silence inside his chest, calming your nerves. After a while, Jasper looked down at your figure debating if he should do his next move or not. But you needed to get away from them. Both of you.

"Let's run away together" His voice was calm and you looked up at him with red eyes from crying.

"But your family-"

"Won't do anything. I don't think I can trust them for a while after tonight." Jasper cut you and you frowned.

"Is it because of m-"

"Darling, nothing is your fault. We're going to pack your bag and tell you're dad what happened. He will understand." The vampire told you and you hesitated before nodding.

"But what about your family ?" You questioned silently.

"This is their fault. They will have to assume the result of their actions."

So here you were six years later, barely twenty-three years old, cooking in the kitchen waiting for your husband to come back from his day at work. Yeah Jasper was working. He was actually working in the library near the town you decided to settle in. You worked too, you were a teacher for pre-schooler. Then you heard the bell ring at the door and your dog, Fanny, barked loudly causing you to frown.

"Fanny ! Don't growl !" You scolded as youi wiped your hand on your appron before opening the door.

There stood a girl, she looked like she was eleven or something, and she held a box of cookies in her hands with a smile. To be honest she kind you reminded you of someone but you didn't knew who.

"Hey, can I help you dearie ?" Your soft adult side came out and Fanny ran at your feet.

"Hello ! My name is Renesmee and I'm here on behalf of my family ! My four siblings, our two parents and I moved a couple of miles away and we wanted to invite you and your family for dinner. These are for you." The girl grinned while handind you the box of cookie and you sent her an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry, I'm already making dinner. Come on in thought." You invited and the golden brunette smile while stepping inside of the house after you.

The little looked around in aww as the vintage style was all around the house. On the wall there was a few painting, along with some pictures of your dog, yourself and Jasper all around and the smell of fresh bread greeted Renesmee as she sat down.

"It's very pretty here." She complimented and you smiled.

"Thank you, my husband and I settled here a few years back ourselves. You could invite your family for dinner thought. I always love to meet new people." You replied and Renesmee nodded gently.

"Come by in thirty minutes, everything should be ready by then." You added and the girl nodded before walking out of your house, escorted by Fanny who got a few scratches behind the ears as a reward before that the little waved see you later.

So now, thirty minutes later, you were placing seven more plates around your dinner table that you extanded. You texted Jasper to tell him about the unexpected guests so he could prepare and you smiled as the bell rang and Fanny ran to the door.

"Ay you big girl, out of the way." You shooed her away before opening the door, a bright smile plastered on your face as you saw seven people by your door. They all looked oddly familiar but you and your amazing memory couldn't remember from where you knew them.

"Hi, hello ! You must be our new neighbor. I'm Y/n L/n/n-Hale, please come on in." You moved out of the way, missing the glance the family shared between themselves before stepping walked in the dinning room and they all sat around the dinning table while you grabbed some hot plat with a kitchen glove.

"You're house is lovely." A wavy brunette woman complimented and you grinned, she looked around twenty-six to twenty-eight years old.

"Thank you, my husband and I designed it a few years back, he should probably be home soo-" Your reply was cut short when Jasper bargged inside of the house with a serious yet worried expression.

"Darling are you alright !? I've smell a couples of vampires around the house and-" Jasper cut himself when he noticed who was sitting around your dinner table while you froze in confusion.

"Jasper ?" The father of the family asked and you forwned slightly before that it cklicked inside of your head.

"Shit !" You swore under your breath as you finally recognized the people in your dinning room.

"What are you all doing here ?" Jasper growled slowly making his way to you.

"Jasper we weren't-"

"Why are you here ?" Jasper glared and you moved around the table to join his side.

"Jaz, honey, calm down alright ? They were not going to do anything." You bit the inside of your cheek as your husband leaned into your touch.

"If he is my uncle Jasper then are you the problematic mean girl ?" Renesmee asked and you turned to her in confusion.

"I'm sorry ?" You replied.

"Y/n was anything but problematic." The ex-soldier stepped in and Edward glared at him.

"She made you run away from us ! We're literally your family !" The golden brunet replied and you looked down, it was the same thing all over again.

"If you all weren't that awful with her I would have never proposed her to run away with me. You all were blantly rude and totally ignored her discomfort, you made her question her whole being from her personality to her way of dressing, I had to spent years, YEARS, to help her regain her confidence again do you know how helpless I felt ? Listening to the love of my life criyng herself to sleep without being able to make her feel better because it would have just creat her some fake happiness ? Do you know how I felt when no one of you even tried to befriend her while alml of you sacrified your life plenty of times for Bella while she was just human ?! You disregarded my feelings and thought only because you were selfish enough to think that I only belonged with you. You made me run away from you." Jasper revealed with venom as his eyes darkened and the room fell silent.

"Jasper we're so sorry..." Alice's voice was small as she took a step foward and you felt Jasper hold tighten around your waist.

"The day Y/n arrived at school I- I saw you both together. And you were happy. But the rest of us weren't. And then I saw you both running away and I thought- I thought that Y/n somehow turned you against us. I saw us fighting over her I thought- I thought that she would break us apart somehow and..." Alice trailed off and you frowned slightly at the realization.

"You didn't want to lose your best friend and brother..." You finished silently and everyone turned to you.

"I know how that feels." You chuckled bitterly before moving away from Jasper's hold.

"Jasper was the first person you ever considerated family, you both spent years together before finding the rest of your family. Even I could see the close bond between you two. Between you all." You smiled softly, disappearing in the kitchen before coming back with a letter.

"I understand why you did what you did. You could have probably be less harsh sure, but I understand. And I forgive you. Not because I know that Jasper would never forgive you if I don't but because I genuinly forgive you all." You put the letter on the table and everyone awwed at your kindness.

"We got your letter Rosalie. At first I didn't believe that you would be the first one apologizing, after all you were probably the scariest, but your words really had an effect on me." You told and the blond godess smiled.

She sent you this letter over four years ago, you didn't knew how the letter actually got delivered at your house but when you received this letter, you and Jasper just had marry and it was probably one of the best wedding gift ever.

After that everyone was now in the living room, catching up with each other. Jasper was still a little bit tense, his family understood why, but you didn't pay attention to it and continued to smile, offering them a cup of blood you had in your fridge in case Jasper had an emergency. You learned about Bella's pregnancy and the whole half-human, half-vampire baby war while the Cullens learned how Jasper made a lot of improvement being around humans.

"We're very sorry for the way we treated you before Y/n." Esme apologized one last time and you shrugged it off.

"Please forget it, the past is the past and we have plenty of years ahead of us." You joked and they all smiled.

"Are you planning on being turned by the way ?" Bella asked you and shook your head causing a few of them to rose their eyes.

"I'm waiting until I'm atleast 25 years old. I want to enjoy my youth as much as possible without passing like a weird girl being married to a twenty year old librarian. But until then I'm just fine while being human." You announced and the rest of the Cullen nodded in understanding while you poured Renesmee some apple juice in a tea cup.

"I still can't believe we thought you were bad..." Emmett muttered and they all shared an awkward laugh while you brusted in a fit of giggle.

"It's okay really. And it got me some times alone with Jaz for a while." You replied and your lover passed his arms around your waist, resting her chin on your shoulder.

Then a loud gasp was heard.

"ENGAGED OR MARRIED ALREADY ?" Alice rushed to your side, grabbing yours and Jasper's hand quickly and the rest of the family widened their eyes.

"Engaged. Y/n forced me to wait until all of us will get along again. She wanted my family to attend the wedding as much as hers." Jasper kissed you cheek and you chuckled leaning into his touch.

"Bless that girl, I hope you didn't expected to have you wedding without me." Alice playfully glared and everyone laughed.

If someone would have told you five years ago that you were getting along with Jasper's family you would have give them a big sad smile with an 'I wish' for answer. Now you couldn't wait for the awaiting future with your new family.

Taglist - @thisismyblogname5678

[rookinthecrownest]

Bedtime Stories For a Demon, Night 3.5: The Wigmaker Job (Lucanis x Rook Fanfic)

** Major Veilguard Spoilers ahead (srsly don't read if you haven't finished the game)

There was something amiss with Madeleina Mercar, and he wasn’t going to pry.

But a small part of him wanted to. Almost ached to know what she was doing, locked in either her room or the occasional visit to the infirmary. The infirmary is what he’s more curious about. Within hours of arriving at the Lighthouse he had scoped the entire place out- learned all the entrances, choke points, best defensible positions, etcetera. Within a day he has a fully fleshed out mental map of the grounds. He had peeked in the infirmary so as take to stock of all the supplies there. As far as he can tell, only Rook has ever stayed in that room.

She only comes out for brief periods of time to take a small meal from the dining hall back to wherever she decides to isolate herself. He tries to make sure there’s always something on the table for her to grab, if she refuses to come to dinner.

After they returned from Treviso, Madeleina had gone to Minrathous to check on Neve and the Shadow Dragons. Neve, understandably, had elected to remain behind and assist with the Shadow’s effort to rebuild. Between the dragon, the blight, and the Venatori, they had been decimated. He shudders to think about what the damage to Treviso might have looked like if she had chosen differently.

But the fact is, Madeleina hasn’t been the same since her return. Was it seeing the blight devour Minrathous? The Venatori taking control of the city? All of the above, or something else?

She made a quick appearance to the group after speaking with Solas, to tell them they needed a Fade expert and a Dragon Hunter. Both Bellara and Harding had leads, but it would take time to organize a meeting with either specialist. After that, her appearances become increasingly rare.

There’s a sort of hollowness in her gaze, whenever he can catch a fleeting glimpse of her. She won’t make eye contact for long, with anyone. Dark circles begin to rim her lower eyelids, mirroring his own.

She’s not sleeping.

Lucanis is certain he’s not the only one that’s noticed or concerned.

Bellara, tries and fails, to bring her out of the cocoon by offering to read together. Harding checks in on her, only to be met with a few polite words and a dismissive hand wave. Neve isn’t around to strong-arm her into snapping out of it. Davrin is too new to the team to broach the delicate situation around their leader.

And here he is, in the pantry, sitting on his cot. Doing nothing to help.

But what can he do anyway?

He doesn’t feel like he is any more equipped to breach whatever wall she’s put up any more than the rest of the group. Perhaps even less so. A year in the Ossuary had not exactly done him any favours in learning to deal with the emotional needs of others. His own were in a constant state of turmoil he can barely parse out. Some nights it grew increasingly difficult to tell where he began, and Spite ended.

On the nights that Madeleina sits with him by the fire, telling him a story with her magic, the lines between them stay a little sharper.

The demon bristles behind his eyes. He ignores it.

Compelled to break this inertia, he stands from his cot and makes for the door.

There is one thing he’s curious about that he thinks he could find the answer to. Lucanis decides that’s as good a place to start as any.

~*~

He finds Lace Harding tending to her garden.

Spearmint, he notices, growing in a neat row at the edge of the plant bed. He remembers picking that up with Madeleina when he showed her around the Treviso market. Remembers the awe on her face, and the warmth that settled in his chest at seeing someone appreciate his home like he did. The way she curiously picked at everything the vendors were selling, pet the stray cats, and clapped for street performers before tossing them a sovereign.

Warm glow of lanterns like bolts of light in her hair, the redness on her cheeks, her smile and –

Lucanis clears his throat, “Harding”

Lace perks up at the sound of her name and turns to face him. She’s surprised at first, but her face settles into an uneasy smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Not like it does when Madeleina is around.

“Oh, Lucanis” She pushes up on her thigh to stand, before wiping her gloves on her shirt. “Hi!” Her tone is light, but he doesn’t miss the undercurrent of weariness in her voice.

“I hope I’m not interrupting – “

Harding cuts him off with a dismissive wave, “No, not at all, just doing a little gardening. How can I help?”

“I wanted to ask you something …” He quickly adds, “About Rook”

Harding frowns. She motions to the stool across from her bedroll. Lucanis hesitantly takes a seat, and Harding settles herself on the bedroll.

“Yeah… she hasn’t taken losing Minrathous well.” She starts, crossing her legs.

“It’s not about that, actually. Although I suppose it may be related”

Harding tilts her head, now more curious than uneasy. He takes it as an invitation to continue but fumbles on how to word his question.

“Back in Treviso” he begins, lacing his fingers together. “Rook mentioned she had to check in with someone. Someone named Varric …”

At the mention of his name, Harding’s entire demeanour changes. Her spine straightens, and there is something flickering behind her eyes- an emotion or a memory he’s not privy to. Her mouth sets in a thin, hard line.

“Varric…” she repeats slowly. She sighs, her shoulders sinking with some invisible weight, “Right, you don’t know”

Lucanis gives her an expectant look.

Harding’s gaze drifts towards her lap. Her voice is low, and quiet.

“Varric…” She begins, then pauses. Like she’s not sure where to take her explanation next.

“Varric and I were in the Inquisition together. We’d been hunting Solas for the last ten years. We were the ones who recruited Rook out of the Shadow Dragons and started this whole…thing…” She gestures vaguely in the air, before continuing.

“You already know that we interrupted Solas’ ritual to tear down the Veil.” Harding’s hazel-green eyes meet his, and they’re glassy with tears just waiting to spring forth. “What you don’t know is that Varric was with us, and he died at the ritual. Stabbed by Solas’ Lyrium dagger.”

Harding takes a shaky breath and bites her bottom lip. He can see the gears turning behind her eyes as she tries to phrase the next piece of her sordid explanation.

“Harding …”

She brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them.

“Neve and I thought … we thought Rook knew too. But when she woke up at the Lighthouse, she started talking about how happy she was to see Varric survived. How… how she’d need to debrief with him after missions…”

Her voice is shaking now, and he desperately wishes he had a more comforting presence. Or knew how to be comforting in general. All he can settle for is patient silence.

“We’d hear her talk to him in the infirmary – well, talk to herself really.”

That explains her trips there.

“So, all this time… Rook has been talking to a dead man?”

Harding nods slowly.

Lucanis doesn’t know what kind of explanation he was expecting, but this was much worse than anything he could have come up with on his own.

 “I think … it’s her way of coping with what happened … Neve and I have just sort of been going along with it”

“Mierda…”

He’s surprised when Harding speaks next.

“Have you tried talking to her?” she asks gently.

He leans back in his stool, careful not to fall over.

“Me? No”

The dwarf stands up and pats her leggings free of some settled dirt, before returning to her garden.

“I think you should try” she calls from over her shoulder, while patting some dirt “She … she might listen to you”

He doesn’t answer. Lucanis stands to his feet, taking that as his cue to leave.

“Thank you, Harding” He says, as he starts for the door.

Though he’s not yet sure what to do with the information learned from Harding, he feels the awkward edges of a plan start to take root in the back of his mind.

~*~

Madeleina Mercar sits in Solas’ music room, surrounded by wisps and instruments from current and bygone eras, and …. Cheese. A lot of cheese.

She has no idea why the God of Trickery and Lies needs twenty cheese wheels in his music room. Doesn’t care to know the answer, either.

The lyre she was practicing with lies discarded at her side. She tries and fails to tune it. Tries and fails to play a few runs from a lullaby she can barely remember. Then, she gives up and lets the poor thing rest against the wall.

She nibbles on a small wedge unceremoniously torn off the closest cheese wheel.

Tarquin’s harsh words, Viper’s affliction with the blight, and Neve’s hurt loop in her mind like a never-ending dream. An eternal nightmare.

This is all you. The risen gods. The blight. The dragon. Now the city’s lost to the Venatori –

And although Viper had cut him off, the reassurance felt hollow from someone who was lying on his death bed because of her actions. Because of her choice.

This is all you.

Even if Tarquin didn’t mean his words, they pressed against her heart like a brand. Even if he tried to take them back, they’d been spoken into existence and burned into her forever.

It was all me.

Minrathous is gone because of me.

She brings her knees closer to her chest.

Somewhere deep down, she wants to believe that’s not true. That her being in Minrathous might not have drastically changed the outcome. She was just one person after all. They had barely managed to wound the dragon in Treviso. Had Ghilan’nain not called it back, she doubted the merchant city would have fared any better than Minrathous. Maybe even worse.

But she can’t bring herself to accept it.

She’s the leader. The consequences fall on her head, and her head alone.

And she is utterly terrified for the choices to come.

Maker’s breath, she would kill for a glass of wine to go with this cheese. Something to take the edge off. But she can’t bring herself to walk into the dining hall or the pantry.

She knows this can only go on for so long. She’ll have to start showing her face to the rest of the team at some point. To Lucanis.

She’s already starting to miss the little ritual they’ve developed.

A warm fire, good company, good food, and a good story. Spite’s occasional interjection when the story doesn’t go the way he wants it to. Scolding him like a misbehaving puppy when he does.

She doesn’t know how much she’s missed it until she’s gone a few nights without it. Doesn’t realize just how much comfort he finds in his presence. His quiet, steady confidence off and on the battle field. The surety in his step and his voice. She feels like she can falter, and he’ll be there to catch the misstep. To catch her.

She wonders if he misses the stories as much as she does.

Madeleina wants to move, to seek him out, and ask him to share a story with her.

But her limbs are made of lead. Her breaking heart is a stone in her chest, keeping her rooted in place.

She debates having another go at the lyre, but her arm only moves to bring more cheese to her mouth. What a pathetic sight she must make for someone who is supposedly this world’s only hope against the Evanuris.

Maker, I hope no one sees me like this –

Before she can even fully finish the thought, the stone door to the music room slides open. In walks the one person she wants to see, is terrified to see, and the last person she expected to see.

Lucanis Dellamorte.

She straightens up against the wall and quickly swallows the cheese already in her mouth, not bothering to chew.

“Lucanis” She says, stupidly. She wipes her hands on her shirt and shakes them out. A smile tries to pry its way onto her features, but it doesn’t quite get there.

“Madeleina” He answers, taking a few steps closer towards her. She’s still getting used to hearing her name roll off his tongue. It sends her chest fluttering every time he does.

He’s standing over her now, with two cups in his hand. She recognizes the smell. Sweet and warm – cioccolata calda. Lucanis casts a sidelong glance to the partially eaten wheel of cheese by her side. His brow quirks.

“You’ve been busy” He remarks dryly.

Madeleina’s cheeks flush.

“I … was just trying to tune this stupid lyre …” She reaches for the instrument and holds it up for a brief moment. Doesn’t want to say the real reason she’s alone in the music room eating through an ancient Elven god’s cheese stores. “Got hungry”

“Mm” He makes a noncommittal noise and nods slowly. “I see”

She knows he doesn’t believe her and is thankful he chooses not to say anything.

When he sits down on the floor next to her, she reflexively shifts over a bit to keep more room between them. He hands her the cup in his left hand, and she takes it gratefully. Takes a brief smell of the sweet aroma before her sip. The warmth of it is a balm to her sour mood.

They sit in companionable silence and with anyone else Madeleina would feel the moments stretch into an eternity, but not with him. The silence, like his presence, is like a warm blanket on a cold winter’s day. The longer she is surrounded by it, the less she wants to disturb it. It takes her by surprise when he is the one to do so.

“Did I ever tell you the story of how I got my nickname?”

The Demon of Vyrantium. The personal boogeyman of every crooked Magister and Blood mage in the imperium.

“No …” She starts, turning to face him. “I remember hearing about the incident…”

“But you don’t know the whole story”

She shakes her head.

“Would you like to?”

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t curious. Everyone in the Shadow Dragons had heard the rumours when the news first started making its rounds a year ago. Over forty casualties, including Vyrantium’s premiere Wigmaker, and high-ranking member of the Venatori, Ambrose Forfex. But that’s about all anyone knows. For days his name was a silent cheer among their ranks. He had the Venatori on edge, and it made them sloppy – which made the Shadow Dragon’s jobs easier, and did wonders for their mission success rate.

She takes another sip.

As much as she wants to retreat further into herself, to cut herself off from everyone so they don’t notice how much of a failure she is, one look into his patient, kind, brown eyes destroys any resistance floundering in her chest.

“Yeah… I’d like that”

Lucanis flashes a lopsided smile, and she thinks she may unravel on the spot. She’s grateful for the large cup in her hands and uses it to partially shield her face from view. The flush she knows is creeping onto her cheeks, her neck, her ears.

He quickly launches into a tale that is a mix of a classic caper, a spy escapade, and a horror story. She rolls her eyes when Lucanis goes into Illario’s lines he uses to pick up the guard captain. Equally surprised as he was that it worked.

She visibly recoils as he describes the slaves hanging from Ambrose’s ceiling, and the wig-based abomination he becomes. But there as much hope in his tale as there is despair. She smiles as he talks of freeing the slaves in Ambrose’s estate and stopping a dangerous man from committing any more atrocities like the ones hanging in his dungeon.

At the conclusion of his tale, Madeleina finds the strength to stand up.

Lucanis throws a curious glance at her but stays seated on the floor.

“You know, I think Illario’s wrong about you” She begins, tightening her grip on her cup.

“Illario is wrong about a great many things, you’ll have to be more specific” He grins.

“That you’re all stomach and no heart” Madeleina smiles.

“You’re a lot more heart than you give yourself credit for”

She thanks him for the cioccolata, and with renewed strength and purpose, leaves the music room to check in on the friends she’s been neglecting for the last few days. The warmth that settles in her chest, that familiar, safe feeling, acts as a bulwark against the darkness of her thoughts. Her regrets.

Instead, she’s focusing on one question in her mind – a question that brings her great comfort amidst the chaos encircling her life.

What tale should I tell him next?

[rebouks]

Previous // Next

[Brodie flicked through the mail, instantly recognising the scrawling handwriting of a certain redheaded little boy. Scaring a few birds in the process, he bellowed up the stairs: ALEEEEX!] Alex: [breathless] Is it for me?! Brodie: Nah, but I could do with some help carrying this super heavy envelope upstairs. Alex: Who do you think you are, Johnny Zest? Brodie: I’m better than that guy, c’mon…

… Hi Alex! Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to you, I promise I didn’t forget! I guess I just didn’t really know what to say cos I’ve sorta not felt like myself recently. My mom says I disappear into my own world sometimes so I sorta did that again and found it hard to think of anything fun to say. I don’t think I’d mind if you wrote to me about the less fun parts of your life though n’ my dad says you shouldn’t really keep everything to yourself all the time cos it ends up hurting so I thought I’d write anyway n’ just force myself not to worry about being boring or whatever. Your letters and your life always sound so exciting compared to mine though so sometimes it’s hard not to!!

I got in a fight at school which sounds like it should be an exciting story, but it wasn’t really. There’s this kid called Levi in my class that always picks on me (don’t worry though, I don’t care about that) and I couldn’t be bothered listening to him anymore so I hit him a couple times, I thought he’d hit me back but he just freaked out so I sorta felt bad about it afterward. He still makes fun of me but he doesn’t get up in my face as much so that’s a plus. Who says violence doesn’t solve anything? Hahaha I’m kidding! It wasn’t nice of me but maybe he should know better than to push people around so much.

I’m looking forward to summer so I can wander off a bit more and maybe it won’t rain so much! My mom doesn’t really like it when I go too far but as long as I’m back before curfew she tries not to freak out about it which is nice of her cos she knows I like to explore n’ stuff. I shouldn’t complain about my family cos I love them n’ stuff but I like being on my own sometimes and it’d be nice to have a bit of peace now n’ then. I’ve got SUPER good hearing so it’s hard to find anywhere quiet in my house, especially cos there’s always something crazy going on. My aunt Alma is sorta similar to me so she’s been helping me block out the noise with this meditation sorta thing, I guess it’s hard to explain but it’s not as lame as it sounds, it’s kinda fun to see how long you can stay in your own brain without people interrupting you. That probably sounds really weird but maybe you sorta get what I mean?

I finally have a treehouse now too!! It reminds me of your watchtower in some ways, but I guess it’s no way cooler than that, even though I know you’re bored of it by now. I wish we could hang out in it together cos it’s super awesome! Mom n’ dad don’t really bother me when I’m up there n’ my brother n’ sisters can’t manage the ladder yet so it’s all mine! It’s right at the bottom of the garden and looks out over the whole Bay too! Mom said she might let me sleep in it once it gets a bit warmer! It’d be cool falling asleep to the sound of the waves.. I hope it doesn’t end up making me need to pee all night though haha!!

Wren’s been obsessed with watching me play on the computer recently and I keep tryna teach her how to play herself but her little fingers can’t really reach all the buttons on the keyboard too well and she gets stupid mad when she dies so she just makes me play instead. She’d kick me if I told anyone but she’s a bit scared of some of the monsters too lol!! Mom told me I shouldn’t let her watch those ones but they’re the only ones she WANTS to watch and she jumps all over me until I give in so idk what they expect me to do other than lock her in the pantry, but I got told off for that so I guess I shouldn’t do that again haha (Wren thought it was funny though so it’s all good!) It’s a shame you don’t have a computer in the tower otherwise we could play together! Jude n’ Jacob aren’t really into that sorta thing so I usually just play on my own. Do you have a computer back home??

Oh! I got another badge for my swimming lessons too! I’ve almost got em all now which is neat but I sorta wanna avoid getting the last ones cos anyone that gets them all or has good attendance n’ whatever get an award at the end of the school year. They save em all up to give out at some stupid last year disco thing they put on before summer for the last year kids n’ it’d be so cringe to get called out in front of everyone like that. Some people think it’s gonna be amazing like my friend Jude, but I’d rather not go at all. Mom n’ dad keep saying it’ll be fun n’ everyone else is excited about it too but how fun could something be if you’re technically at SCHOOL? Bleh! I know you said you hate it sometimes, but being homeschooled sounds awesome to me lol.

I keep tryna bug my parents to go camping again so we could maybe see each other but they won’t take me out of school for a holiday n’ dad’s too busy with some work project so I guess we’ll have to keep writing to each other instead! Maybe if I keep annoying them about it we can come back in the summer! I hope so anyway but I guess I don’t wanna piss em off TOO much just in case my plan backfires or something.

I still feel really bad about not writing sooner but my dad said better late than never so hopefully you’re not too upset with me! I’ll try my best to write faster next time so you don’t have to wait as long. I’m looking forward to hearing about everything you’ve been up to!! Love Robin c: ps. my dad’s friend finally helped me fix that old polaroid so I’ve sent you some random pictures I took to test it out! I’m still getting used to it but the next ones will be better, I swear!

… the treehouse! it even has cool lights on it!! the back of our house! it’s so big it’s hard to fit in a picture.. it sorta looks fancy but it’s not really n’ dad said it was cheap cos it was a shithole a rare Byrd! (grumpy too – dad tried to take his dummy off him lol) he’s not supposed to be on my bed… the Bay! Jude says I sound girly for saying it’s so pretty here but I don’t care I could take a million pictures of this place n’ never get bored (I’ll stop now though cos mom says these polaroid things aren’t cheap for this model.. oops lol!!)

[babeluda]

I wrote a... fan-recipe? Truly no self control here if we're at the point where a fictional sandwich can take over my brain. Anyway thank you Aabria Iyengar for mashing together my grandmother's favourite summer starter of melon & cured ham and the revelation that was Austrian Tafelspitz marrow on toast.

Check out the winter-summer sandwich rendered by the Messrs. Callum magic cookbots' hivemind here:

Marrow-Melon Marvel

[lynzishell]

Love in Selvadorada

[writing-is-a-martial-art]

the thing about me is that I will chant. If you need a chanting guy please consider me I can chant about basically anything. The moon rising (moon! Rejoice, the moon is here, the moon, the moon the moon is here!) seeing a spider (spider, spider, most beautiful of spiders, all hail) any form of art (ART ART ART) flesh and gore (flesh and gore flesh and gore flesh and gore :3). I can be ominous and whispery or full on displaying the joie de vivre. I have mastered susurrus. I will not stop, probably not even if you want me to. I can chant passably latin-adjacent stuff and make ambient creature noises. I have about two voice impressions (faggy vampire and sad russian man) but I can chant in those too. I am not built for a competitive work environment but I can bite people. I am partial to basements, underground layers and wizarding towers. I love calling people my liege. My particular brand of not okay makes me ghastly pale and quite nocturnal. I am okay with being trapped in time loops if they count for overtime

[hellsite-detective]

Hellsite Detective in…

The Miku Bind

sometimes, a detective has got to do some work for herself. and i decided it was time to go after one of my white whales…

it was a cool, rainy afternoon in Tumblr City, like always. i had just wrapped up doin’ some cases and i was broodin’ out the window. but one image kept flashin’ in my mind. a vocaloid lovin’ foundin’ father that i’ve sought for my whole career. the fabled Thomas Jefferson Miku Binder.

to start my journey, i went down to the Search Bar, a night club in the heart of the city. neon lights shined on the sign out front and music could be heard pourin’ out the front door. i stepped in, drippin’ wet from the rain outside. the place was lively as ever, groups minglin’ and dancin’ to the music. and there, in a corner booth away from everyone else, was Don Google. that big time mob boss that acts as my informant. they sat there playin’ poker with a couple of lackeys, no one of note from what i could tell. they saw me walkin’ up and immediately called out to the waiter for another drink.

“well well! if it ain’t my buddy, Miss Detective! whatcha here for?”

i’m here for personal business, actually. i’m lookin’ for this…

i slid a photograph across the table. the photo that was so well known, it made even the Don pull back. they knew this was serious business.

“you sure you want this one?”

i’m sure, Don. you got it or not?

“oh, i got it. but it’ll cost ya.”

i wasn’t about to have my victory snatched away by this selfish old fool. the Don lookin’ for a deal was never a good sign, but i was desperate.

what do you want?

“oh, nothin’ much, doll. just do me a favor sometime down the line. then we’ll call it even. capisce?”

bein’ in debt to the Don was not something i wanted. whatever they asked me to do, i knew it’d be bad. but either way i needed this post. i needed to solve the case. so i made what would possibly be the worst mistake of my life…

it’s a deal.

“glad we could reach an agreement, Miss. i believe this is what you’re lookin’ for?”

they pulled out their black leather briefcase, their name engraved on it in multicolored letters. it would seem tacky on anyone else. but the Don had a style to them that made it work. poppin’ it open, they handed me the file i was lookin’ for. just sittin’ there at the top, like they knew i was here for it. i grabbed it, thanked the Don, and got up to leave. that’s when they grabbed my sleeve.

“Miss Detective. don’t forget about our arrangement.”

i pulled away, scoffed, and went on my way. whatever they wanted me to do, i’m sure it wasn’t great. either way, the job was done. and i finally had what i wanted. i went back to my dingy office, alone, and filed the post away. the rain still poundin’ down against the window.

Post Case: Closed