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nimpnawakproduction · 2 years ago

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The ultimate reference sheets for all of Vash's outfits in Trigun maximum (with commentaries)

IT IS DONE. I'M FREE. Now I can forget all about Trimax and draw Trigun stampede designs only hahaha (just kidding I have things for Trimax on the stove).

Trigun bookclub was an awesome initiative, I loved the manga with my all heart and wanted to honor Nightow's designs ;w; I also wanted to help my fellow artists with references for Vash's clothes because DEAR GOD it's difficult to understand how the hell he dresses himself in the morning. I have a lot of fun dressing and undressing him like a barbie doll. My hyperfixation is completely healthy.

I put a "read more" section to avoid spoilers :) !

The July coat

The very first coat in Trigun chronology and the one he wores during the destruction of July ! There is not a lot of panels to take references but I tried to stay as close as possible to the manga. I don't know what number of prosthesis he had before but let name this one Prosthesis 1.

Scars map

Next, nakey Vash ! There's A LOT of changes between one panel to another. Scars changes places and forms panel to panel and the design evolved from the first chapters of Trigun, the time we see him naked as Eriks and his undressed state while he was a prisoner on the Ark. I drew the scars that appeared more than once or were in clean view in a panel (but really you can do like Nightow and draw as many scars as you want without thinking about consistency, this boy has been in a meat grinder)

After July underclothes

Or the jumpsuit that gave me grey hair. His suit does not make ANY sense, I don't know how the hell he dresses himself in the morning with this. My solution is that it's very long gloves and chaps strapped to a belt. The position and shapes of the belts changes IN EVERY PANEL. Same for his knee guards, sometimes they're here, sometime they cover his shins, sometimes they are tiny..... I gave up in the end and draw them as we see them in the very last panel he wears this suit. But damn he looks good in it.

Also in all of the 13 volumes, there is not a single panel with a clear view of his holster (I checked...) so here is my interpretation.

This is prosthesis n°2, the design is a little different from the first one so I guess Prosthesis 1 got destroyed (this happens a lot).

After July coat

The very first Trigun coat he wears in the manga ! Very simple, very basic, it gives him impossibly wide shoulders but Vash deserves it. The first one is worn Post July until Vash's confrontation against Brilliant Dynamite Neon. The second one is the state of his coat after the sandsteamer incident. He loses his prothesis after his fight against Monev the gale. He meets Wolfwood with only one arm and stays that way while he fights Knives for the first time.

Eriks

I took liberties with colors because there's no colored panels with Vash as Eriks. Yes I drew him without suspenders because he has them for like 5 panels and then Nightow drew him without them for the rest of Eriks arc so I made choices ;w;

I love the fact that Vash choose to wear tight jeans even in his casual outfits, this boy will not let his skin breath. This is now Prosthesis 3 ! It's way less advanced than the ones he wore in the rest of the manga, the other ones seem to replicate skin.

After his years as Eriks

And now the first Maximum coat, he wears it until the famous Yuri hospital arc! Finally an undersuit that makes sense, I love it, too bad Nightow-san decided that I had to suffer and changed it again to add BELTS EVERYWHERE. We only see his legs in this part of the manga so I gave him the same top because I can.

The tubes he has on his waist are filled with bullets, he can connect them to his prosthesis to have a mini machine gun.

We are now at Prosthesis 4 !

Hospitalization on the Home ship

The famous Yuri hospital phase! Vash definitely shared his wardrobe with Wolfwood, you can't tell me otherwise.

The first outfit still shows Prothesis 4 but he keeps it for like 5 minutes and lost it again against Nine-lives. I don't really know if the prothesis comes with the integrated glove or if there's synthetic skin under it but why would he keep the glove on if it's not intergrated?

The second pictures is the different outfits he wears during his convalescence. I took liberties with the colors, I drew this in like 10 minutes, everything seems easy when you don't have to draw BELTS. We are now on Prothesis 5 ! Nightow drew it as a regular arm so I guess Vash wears gloves on top of it??????

Back on the road in pursuit of Knives

He wears this one after his stay at Home, throughout the Dragon's nest ark and until his 2nd fight against Knives.

I liked the design of his jumpsuit until I looked closer at the panels and saw that the design change ON EVERY ONE OF THEM. Knee guard on only one knee? No kneeguards? Two??? WHO KNOWS ??? I tried to make it work but really go wild with this one, even the author does not know how his pant looks.

Still prosthesis 5, BUT UNTIL WHEN?

Prisoner on the Ark

THEY MASSACRED MY BOY. Did they even feed him at least in 7 months? Those pictures are the definition of the drenched kitty cat left under the rain. Give this man a blanket and a therapist.

Bye bye Prothesis 5 ! And see what I mean when I say that his outfit does not make sense????? It comes out in parts????

After his imprisonment on the Ark

The last suit in the manga! He keeps this coat until the end of the story. From this point, only his hair changes (or the color of his coat).

I adore the little angel wing symbol on his left arm, such a cute addition. Too bad it appears in one of the most traumatic event of his life.

Speaking of his jumpsuit...The return of belts.... But at least this outfit stays relatively coherent except for his kneeguards who appear and disappear panel from panel but most of the time he doesn't have any, so no kneeguard it is. Prosthesis 6 hello !

Final battle and end of the story

It hurted to drew those outfits ;w; And working on the design of his coat when he fights Legato made me realize where Orange studio took inspiration to chose the colors for Vash's coat in the final episode of Stampede ! Great job ! I tried to color the same effects as one of the illustrations showing dark Vash but I'm not really good with colors..... He actually radiates energy but with some purple undertones, I took some liberties because those are my drawings I do what I want.

I'm not sure at 100% that he has a tuft of blond hair left when his outfit turns black but his hair is all black at the end of the fight. His prosthesis is destroyed at the end of the fight. He got another one in the final chapter. So 7 prosthesis throughout the story!

#play with vash like a barbie doll #I love reference sheets #took years to do but it helps so much when drawing comics #or writing fics #how the hell do you expect me to show him undress if I don't know how his clothes work #anyway enjoy #vash the stampede #vash #trigun #trigun maximum #a's art

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lunemai · 1 year ago

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•• -Mornings With You- ••

Demigod!Y/n x Luke Castellan

Summary - Waking up with Luke on your birthday in a cabin near the beach feels like a dream or at least it was going to be, until some people decided to interrupt.

Warnings - Y/n's godly parent is not specified, she/her pronouns, softness, talk of kids, kissing, no betrayal universe, teeth rotting fluff, marriage, and that's it I think.

part one - part two || can be read as a standalone. ||

•••••••••••••••••••••★•••••••••••••••••••••

The distant waves and the birds singing walking the shoreline are sounds you look forward to when waking up, this time, it was a different sound, a more annoying sound, a very familiar voice.

"I didn't even mean it like that-" Percy tries to say but is quickly interrupted by the sound of Annabeth's voice, "Yes, you did."

"Okay, you came to my house on this glorious peaceful morning to talk about your.. -marital problems?" Luke talks in between both of them. I can practically hear Annabeth's eye roll, "Of course not, we came to give your prisoner her annual 'congrats on not dying' birthday cake." right.

Everyone knows as demigods living a long and prosperous life is not guaranteed, therefore; congrats on not dying birthday cake. Though I think that's what every “normal” person gets, it's just very subtle.

“what? she’s not my prisoner.” I hear Annabeth scoff as I get up from bed and head towards the bathroom door inside mine and Luke’s room, quietly. duh.

“right.” Annabeth says, there’s a pause before Luke answers, “Right?” though he’s trying to be assertive it sounds more like a question than a statement.

there’s another pause before I hear that same voice that woke me in the first place, “So are you going to let us in or??” I hear Annabeth shove past him and Luke and head towards the kitchen where the boys also seem to follow.

since I can no longer hear their voices I finally enter the bathroom to brush my teeth and my hair, no one wants to look like a monster around Demi-gods of all people, might end up without a head.

coming out of the room I immediately hear the sound of Percy and Annabeth having a conversation about why having too much blue food coloring could ultimately be damaging.

Finally coming into view I see Luke making coffee with his back facing us and the soulmates sitting in bar stools awaiting their drinks.

Percy has a cherry muffin in front of him and Annabeth had buttery popcorn, in the morning.

“Oh hey sleepy head, I’m surprised your kidnapper lets you out of your room,” Annabeth says, Luke turns around with a coffee mug in his hand and leans against the kitchen counter while Percy simply awaits Luke’s rebuttal.

“Same, I guess I must be his favorite victim,” I say, encouraging Annabeth to jab at the fact Luke and I haven’t left our home in 2 weeks since our honeymoon.

“who’s side are you on?” Luke says with his brows furrowed. “The winning side, mine,” Annabeth answers for me.

I raise an eyebrow at Luke walking towards him, wrapping my arms around his waist once I reach him to look up at his eyes.

“Hi, baby.” He says looking down at me he places one hand on my hip, and his forehead meets mine.

“Hi handsome, you make any for me?” I say pointing at the mug in his other hand with my eyes.

he squeezes my hip with his hand and nudges my nose with his, “Of course I did, you’re my favorite victim.” he meets my lips with a matching soft smile on his face, 2, 4, 5 seconds and I hear a voice,

“Did you make any for us?” of course, it’s Percy.

sadly, Luke pulls away from the kiss to look at Percy. “You think I want you to have any more energy than you already do?”

Percy sighs in disbelief, “What energy? I’m a ball of sarcasm, not happiness.” Luke lets out a laugh and replies, “Sure Perse, there should be enough in the pot.”

Luke looks back down at me and pecks my cheek, “You want your ‘congrats on not dying cake’ or me and the beach first?”

with a soft laugh, I respond “Depends, who made it this time?” I say while turning to look at the two occupying the kitchen island.

“Me.” Annabeth says, and that’s all I need to hear, “Cake first then.” Percy shrugs and decides I have a right to say that after last year’s cake.

“I thought adding salt to things made it more flavorful or whatever, I mean they do it with chocolate milk.” even though he’s right, a whole cup of salt on a cake was not the right move.

“Right, but the point is not to aim for a salty flavor.” I have to admit, reading and following instructions will never be an easy feat for a Demi-god, dyslexia, and all that.

“That’s why you have to re-read things Percy,” Annabeth says while getting the cake out of the box.

Annabeth hands each of us a slice of red velvet cake and we all eat with glee laughter, and sarcasm since Percy and Annabeth are here.

“Okay, now that we ate and used dishes we don’t have to wash, Happy birthday prisoner, try to find an escape route soon,” Annabeth says standing up to hug me and put her dish in the sink for Luke to wash later.

“Yeah, thanks for using water in the only way I could never, Luke,” Percy says also putting his dish in the sink on top of Annabeth's.

“Don’t worry, I know I can handle water more than you, son of Poseidon,” Luke says gathering mine and his dish, to stack them atop the rest.

“Happy birthday newly kidnapped.” that didn’t sound grammatically correct, but I wouldn’t know.

“Thanks, Perse, and also thank you for not making the cake.” with a nod full of fake sympathy, Percy and Annabeth walk out the door with a last goodbye hug and a wave.

closing the cabin door, I feel arms wrap around my back, leaning against Luke I feel his chin on my shoulder.

“You know the beach will be here all day,” he says in between the kisses he’s now placing on my collarbone, all leading up towards my jawline.

“Yeah, you’re right about that one,” I say closing my eyes and enjoying the sensation of him making a path of kisses up my neck.

“so maybe, we should just go back to bed for a little while.” he finally reaches my cheek, and I open my eyes to turn my head towards his, nudging my nose against his.

“That sounds like a great plan,” I say turning around in his arms to put my hands on his chest.

“Yeah?” he says softly with a deep and passionate kiss following.

breathing heavily I manage to respond

“Yeah.”

notes: this is my first fic in sooo long!! i’m so happy to have this done, it’s 1,081 words and i’m so ducking proud of that.

Thank you sm for reading! I promise there’s many more coming.

REQUEST ARE VERY MUCH OBLIGED.

#luke castellan #luke castellan x y/n #luke castellan x you #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x fem!reader #pjo #luke castellan fic #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #luke castellan fluff #annabeth chase #percy and annabeth #percy and luke #luke castellan imagine

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gghostwriter · 10 months ago

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Yours Truly, Romeo

Chapter 7 __ Violent Delights

Spencer Reid x FOC

Summary: Washington, DC - A string of grizzly murders and obsessive love letters causes Olivia and Spencer’s paths to intertwine. With a serial killer proclaiming his undying devotion to her and the thick tension surrounding her and her agent turned bodyguard, Olivia’s life is writing out like a contemporary love story that she, as a successful writer, could see herself publishing.

Trigger Warning: This chapter contains kidnapping and beginnings of s*xual assault. If you cannot stomach this warning, feel free to skip this chapter and wait for the next one to publish

previous chapter || series masterlist || next chapter

“Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?” - Act 2, Scene 2. Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

It was bright and cold when Olivia came to. The walls were painted in this light green color, her favorite and the space was decorated with items for two—a couple sofa, a queen size bed, and a dining table for two with a chair she was currently chained to, with her hands and feet bound with prison chains. She knew where she was, in a pretty cage held captive by Elijah, her co-worker and a man with a dark delusion for her. There was a candle-lit dinner meal laid out nicely in front of her and the bed to her right peppered with rose petals. She shuddered to think about what would happen there. She chanced a look at the door ahead of her, deducing it was the entrance.

The same door swung open and she screamed at the monstrosity that came through. It was her captor shirtless—wearing a full body skin suit and a face that wasn’t his own. She scrambled to get away from him, pressing further into her chair as if merging herself with it. Sobs escaping her chapped lips as his hand reached to caress her cheeks.

“No please no,” she begged with blurring vision, fervently wishing the nightmare away.

He wiped her tears away and sighed her name. “You don’t know how long I waited for this moment, Olivia. There’s no need to be afraid. We’re meant to be, don’t you see?” He gestured at the whole room. “I prepared all of this for you. I’ll wait by you hand and foot, just tell me what else you need.”

“Let me go, please,” she whimpered. “Please Elijah, we can go out on an actual date outside, yes? We can get you all the help you need just please, let me go.” Her voice cracking at the end.

He laughed, the body suit moving with his laughter. “Now why would I want that? I have you here all to myself and no Paris to intervene.”

“Paris? Romeo & Juliet’s Paris?”

His mask scrunching to showcase his anger and scoffed. “Yes, Paris. That FBI agent sniffling around my beautiful flower, trying to take what is mine.”

Spencer. Olivia’s eyes widened. “W-What did you do to him?”

“Nothing for you to worry about, my Juliet,” he sat down across her and waved at the dinner in between them. “Now, let’s eat. I’ve cooked all of this for you—” he sliced a piece of the steak and offered it to her on a fork. “—medium rare, your favorite. Now, open those luscious lips and take a bite.”

She shook her head. Her stomach queasy at the thought of what he may have done with the food.

He sighed as he brought down the fork to his plate. “Is there anything else you’d like, then? Tell me, I’ll make it for you.”

“Why are you doing this?” She ignored his gentle questioning. “Y-you’ve never shown any inclination that you liked me. Why couldn’t you have asked me out normally without killing all those innocent men?”

“Would you have said yes, my love? With how I originally looked,” he gazed into her eyes and found the answer to his question. “Those innocent men you say. They had something I need of, tragic that they had to lose their lives but they had something that should have been rightfully mine,” he gestured at his whole being. “Now, I embody your characters. You can no longer say no to me.”

He picked up his utensil again and waved it in front of her lips. “Eat, my love.”

She took a small bite.

He smiled, believing that his affections are finally being returned. “That’s good, Olivia. You’ll need sustenance for what happens next.”

Her eyes widened as his shifted a glance at the bed, his insinuation clear.

No.

Tears streaming down her face, she swallowed the meat as if it was a rock she was forced to digest. She wished for Spencer. She wished to be back in his titillating presence. She wished she had kissed his soft lips before all of this went down. A good memory to tied her through this horrific ordeal. Most of all, she wished he still alive. The guilt of having had him killed was eating her alive.

Another piece was forced into her mouth—everything tasting like sand.

“Very good, Juliet. I knew you would see it my way, “ he encouraged her between bites. “Here, have fruits also. We need to keep your body healthy for our future children.”

That made her want to retch all her stomach contents. “Can I ask a question—” she paused waiting for his consent. “—What did you do to Spencer?”

She winced as the metal utensils banged on the table. Elijah’s demeanor shifting at a 180. “Spencer?” He repeated with a sneer. “You’re on a first name basis with the agent?”

Silence.

He pushed his chair away and towered beside her in an instant. “Flirted with him, did you? Did you bat those long lashes at him? Did you—did you kiss him with those lips of yours? Tell me!”

She shook her head, too frightened to answer with words.

His face twisted further as he reached to unchain her from the chair. Tugging at the collar around her neck, she planted her foot down to no avail as she realized where he was dragging her to. To the pristine queen size bed situated at the far corner of the room.

“No. No. No, please. No!” She screamed out. She’d rather die than be humiliated by this monster. “Please, don’t do this! Please, no!”

Olivia struggled as he hooked her bound hands to the headboard. She kicked her feet repeatedly as he attached each leg to a corresponding bed post. There was no need to guess as to where this was heading. As to what he was planning to do. She bucked her hips, trying to detach his body on top of hers. “Get off me! Elijah, get off me!”

He brandished a gun and pointed it to her forehead, rendering her momentarily speechless. “Tell me, Olivia. Did you like Paris? That FBI agent—Spencer? Did he touch what was mine? Did you like encourage his advances? Did you kiss him? Did you?!”

“No, no, no,” she repeatedly whispered out.

He cackled manically, fully losing his grip on reality. “Lies! I saw the looks you’ve given him. Your advances and how accepting you were to his. Is my love for you not enough? Answer me, Juliet. Answer me!”

She sniffled. “It’s enough. It’s enough, Elijah. Please, let’s finish our dinner and talk, okay?”

“That’s not my name, my love.”

Silence.

“R-Romeo?”

“Yes, Juliet?”

Olivia struggled with her bounds. “Romeo, romeo. Please, can we finish our food? I’m still famished.”

“Tsk tsk. My pretty Juliet, that’s not how it works,” he reached out to the bed side table, brandishing a fresh roll of duct tape. “My Juliet is no harlot. She needs to be taught a lesson.”

She mumbled her refusal again as he ripped a piece in his hands. Elijah leaned in, swallowing her cries with his mouth. Tongue violating the insides of her mouth, trying to wrap with hers as tears fell from her eyes. She wanted to gag, she wanted to escape in the confines of her mind, she wanted to die.

Gathering a bit of strength, she mimicked reciprocation before biting hard on his tongue, wanting to rip it of off him as her last ‘fuck you’ to her captive.

He pulled back, blood dripping from his lips. He pistol whipped her in retaliation and cackled. “My Juliet, how spirited you are. A wild beauty, a fest laid out just for me.”

Elijah leaned in for one last peck before placing the duct tape on her mouth, silencing her rejections. He licked his lips and went down her neck, leaving a slobbering mess as he went. She shuddered, wishing she was anywhere else but here with the sick man intent on violating her and taking away her dignity.

Her muffled cries escaping the confines of the tape, unable to do anything but watch as his eyes flashed with delight as he reached the beginnings of her blouse. Taking his time to unbutton and kiss every new piece of flesh exposed and caress each taken path with the gun. Tears streaming down her face, she hoped for Spencer to come and save her from this hell on earth and if not, she feverishly hoped for death to come and collect her. With her top now pushed open, she shrieks once more for Spencer, for anyone to come and save her.

And as if the heavens had her pleas, the main door busted wide open and in came Spencer, her knight in a kevlar vest with his gun drawn in front of him.

“Elijah Williams, FBI!” he shouted.

#spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fic #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid x fem!oc #criminal minds fic #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #Gw fics #ytr fanfic

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moonyasnow · 3 months ago

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Li Donia Fawq

—Act 1, Scene 3— [ Chapters list ]

An Introvert's Nightmare

OC(S) : Artemisia OTHER CHARACTER(S) : Jamil, Kalim

OC x TWST : Artemil 🐍x🦢

TYPE : Fic (~2,5k words)

Despite the Heir's noble intentions, his particular brand of comfort is by no means a one-size-fits-all solution.

Dreading the occassion, the Princess let her mind stray back into itself.

-Artemisia-

"And remember—"

She stopped in her tracks mere moments before colliding with Jamil's back.

"I know, Jamil." the boy nodded enthusiastically. "I'm only gonna eat the food you made, and I'm gonna cover my cup until I've finished it!" and in a sing-songy rhythm continued "I super double pinky swear, cross my heart, hope to—"

"Please don't." Jamil paled, just as a petal twirled in her line of sight down to the ground. Following its trajectory back to the source she was met with white jasmines hanging in pots attached to stone beams in the ceiling. The flowers decorated hanging and grounded, immaculately detailed vases alike, petals even strewn across the floors, though if they were placed there on purpose or fell from the ceiling, she could not say.

"Why don't you go have some fun? Relax a bit!" He beamed his usual smile. "Hm?" he turned to the call of someone or other in the room, then dashed off without another word to greet them.

When the only other person present whom with she had any familiarity made himself scarce to the other side of the room, the already uncomfortably rapid thrumming of her veins increased in tempo.

The large, rectangular hall she found herself in was adorned in flowing curtains with patterned and sheer fabrics in every color she had ever seen, hung to cover the gaps between the pillars which made up two of the 'walls'— one of the short sides, and the longer wall right beside it. Just past them she could see a long balcony which seemed to wrap around the whole room.

Jamil mumbled under his breath: ("Impossible, with all the people who could be planning something.")

His words sent a jolt of anxiety through her heart.

Alongside the hanging flowers were chandeliers, shining brightly upon the nearly shadow-less chamber. She cowered further under the veil of translucent silk of her new robes, which hung around her form like the cloudy shroud of a rainstorm, coloring the world the same shade of moonstone blue due to how far she'd pulled it over her face.

Though the billowing fabrics of the gown were less constricting than her old dress, her ribs felt as though they had grown several times smaller, constricting her lungs in a prison of bone. Each breath felt woefully inadequate in their task of filling her lungs with air, as though stopping at half capacity.

She felt unfamiliar fabric under her hands. Looking down she saw her hands were clinging to the grey sleeve of Jamil's thobe. Eyes wide, one sharp beat of her heart kick-started a loud allegretto thrumming through her chest. But an attention shift brought about by a raucous laughter echoing through the hall flared her anxiety high enough to drown out her embarrassment, and she clung harder to his arm.

'What should I do? I cannot leave. And I cannot read.'

~ Why not speak to Jamil? He is right there. And as he has not yet told us to let go of his sleeve, perhaps he will not mind... ~

= Could we truly do such a thing? We are utterly dreadful as it concerns the art of conversation, flitting this way and that way with no rhyme or reason. We will most assuredly bore him to tears! =

~ We will never know unless we try. ~

'Like Cerise said...'

Her cheeks filled with warmth. She sucked in a short breath, fingers curling tighter around the fabric which steadied her.

'What am I meant I say?'

~ Anything; the first topic which comes to mind. ~

"Is it true that you have been watching over Kalim in such a way since you were young?" he at first only nodded, then seemingly thinking better of it and answering:

"Yes." all the while he did not glance at her. Following his gaze, it was locked on the various guests of the party, one of which came close to choking on their drink. She felt his arm tense. The look of neutrality on his face was betrayed by a twitch of his brow.

She felt her eyebrows knit together of their own volition, her lips forming into a faint frown.

"To live in the ever-present shadow of danger…it sounds exhausting, to be forced to be wary of every little thing."

He exhaled, looking far away. "That's why I'm here. So he doesn't have to."

She shook her head, the feeling of the fabric swishing to and fro still unfamiliar.

"That was not what I intended with my statement." her gaze rested on the empty air in front of her just in time to feel his settle on hers. Her breath caught in her throat. But still, she persisted.

"While I do believe that life in his shoes would be frightening as well, yours is a heavier burden, is it not? Not only must you watch out for yourself, but also for him, and any dangers which may lurk in the shadows. And unlike him, there is no one to guard you."

She lifted her head to meet his eyes, finding them wide.

"That," she had no choice but to lower her gaze to his shoulder if she wanted any chance of being able to finish her sentence "sounds far more frightening."

"I..." he mouthed in a low voice.

"I need to check on the food." his expression was back to the blank neutrality she had come to expect of him. She felt the fabric she'd been clinging to torn away from her grasp as he walked away, leaving her adrift in the middle of the room.

'Ah…' She watched him go, brows subtly quirked up. 'Did I say something wrong?' Her face fell, excitement at being at his side fading to give way for a twinge of sadness.

= Yes, that must have been it... As already established, we are not adept, in any definition of the word, at holding conversations. Why had we hoped this time might be different? =

~ He did not seem to mind when last we spoke... Neither did he in the laundry room. ~

= We were not watching his face then. =

'...'

~ I miss him already... ~

Her stomach had seemed to be filled with what she'd liken to the buzzing of fireflies, a feeling that tickled softly and sent sparks through her veins. Like anxiety, although...good, somehow. Having it torn from her side sent a ripple of disappointment through her.

Another ripple quickly took its place.

The rippling of goosebumps along her skin. Sprung back to alertness she tensed her shoulders and quickly glanced around the room, meeting one, two, three pairs of eyes in the swiveling motion.

It was a chain-reaction. Even as she walked in large strides to the side of the room in an attempt to hide in the sliver of a shadow of a particularly large vase, she could see that the moment one of the attendants caught sight of her, they gasped and stared, causing those around them to do the same, after which they began to whisper amongst each other.

She pressed herself against the wall and clutched her arms tightly around herself, grasping for a shield that wasn't there.

Every laugh that echoed in the room felt aimed at her. Since she dared not raise her head to check, for all she knew, they could have been.

Her mind fished up flashes of a silvery ballroom from a much lower line of sight than her current stature, groups of well-dressed adults and peers alike staring, whispering behind fans with scorn, disgust and fear written plain in their eyes; the first expression she learned to read on the faces of others

Her lungs froze in her ribs, tightening past the point no air could reach the empty bottoms.

Each second standing where she did stretched on for hours, the multitudinous cacophony of voices and laughter wearing away at her like a grater put directly to her cochlea.

She closed her eyes as tight as they would go, pressing them shut with such force that it felt painful, pressing her closed hands against her eyelids. She felt even further distress well up in her being forced to acknowledge she could not use her hands to cover her ears and face at the same time, and as she did her throat ached with the tears she knew would shortly come to stain her face an ugly pink, leaving her looking every bit the ugly, wrinkled, oversized infant she'd always thought the color made her appear.

='I want to go home!'=

A silent tap on her arm sprung her eyes open to meet with shades of cool charcoal.

She startled at his visage for a moment before, as usual, her traitorous heart only worsened her racing pulse at first sight of him. That rush, at least, was more bearable. One might even describe it as pleasant. He stood in front of her, blocking her sight of the people in attendance. He glanced over his shoulder, then back at her, and nodded his head toward the kitchen entrance. She wasn't certain if it meant he wanted her to follow him or not…it might, but she wouldn't be able to ascertain if it was so or not without asking. Yet still she followed, grateful for the way he shielded her partially from sight.

She bent her neck down as far as it would reach, her hair shielding her on both sides of her face, and she placed one foot in front of the other as fast as they would carry her away from the lion's den. The cacophonous sounds of so many people cheering and talking and singing drilled into her ears all at once.

Her neck hurt. Her eyes stung, and that along with a dull throbbing behind her eyes signaled the beginnings of a light-induced migraine.

She only recognized they had arrived in the kitchen by a door being closed and the noise becoming muffled. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, rubbing her hand over the closed eyelids as though to will away the aching.

Only once away from the discomforts of the sound and light did all the words of the attendees filter through her brain. Though she wasn't sure if those in attendance really had said it; she could not understand the language they spoke. Yet the words, like imprinted marks in her mind, glowed to life and resounded in her ears all the same:

"Ghastly"

"Albino rat"

"Changeling"

It became difficult to breathe, the telltale burning in her nose heralded the beginning of tears building in her eyes. Her hand sought a wall, and upon coming into contact with it, not-entirely smooth stone pressing jaggedly into her silken soft palm, she slid down to the floor. She closed her eyes and clutched her hand ever-closer over her heart, like a life-line, hunching over even further.

Her jaw opened of its own volition, clenching as a wet sob sounded against the cool stone wall.

Curled into her ball, she held her breath for as long as she could before sob tumbled from her lips like the bumbling ripples of a flowing brook.

She clutched her veil closer around her, as though it might cloak her in some spell of invisibility.

'I wish it could.'

A gentle clinking sound penetrated the bubble of her solitary mind. She saw from the corner of her eye his hand retreat, having placed a plate of, as he had previously informed her, 'kibbeh saniye' on the floor next to her. She pushed herself up and blinked away a few stray tears, wiling her blurry eyes to focus on the sight even through her squinting.

"Is...is it truly alright for me to eat on the floor?"

"Would you like to move?" He asked in a soft tone. Letting out a heavy breath, she shook her head.

"No, here is…"she took a moment to quell her tears, swallowing down her next sob, lest her next words sound just as pathetic "...here is good. Thank you."

He muttered something she couldn't make out for once. Further scraping along the floor lead her attention to turn to him nonetheless, seeing him stand on a stool, blowing out the candles in the hanging lanterns one by one.

"Eat, before it gets cold." he instructed once he'd caught her gaze.

She nodded, turning her gaze back to the food.

"...Thank you..." She was met with only silence.

Her shaking hand clasped the spoon tightly in an attempt to keep steady, and she scooped up some of the dish. Swallowing another hiccup, she brought the spoon up to her lips, blowing shakily on it. She inhaled once more, a small whining noise escaping her mouth. She inhaled through her nose instead, then blew one final time on the contents of the spoon before bringing it to her lips.

She tasted the food, chewed, and swallowed. The pit of hunger she'd only just realized was present in her stomach growled at the first bite. Only then did she realize it wasn't nearly warm enough to warrant it; the burning sensation she was used to never came.

Face still streaked with tears that were still drying, making the corners of her eyes sting, she smiled gently.

"It truly does taste wonderful. Thank you."

As she ate, she heard him leave the room several times and then come back in, the sound of submerging porcelain accompanying each return.

Eyes following her finished meal as he knelt down to take her plate, she inquired:

"Does it not make it difficult to see for you, in this light?"

"Not enough to be an issue."

"If you are truly certain..."

"I am. The only thing left to do is the dishes. I can do that with my eyes closed either way."

"Truly? Is sight not required for such a task?" her eyes glued themselves to his figure like an eager student.

"It helps, but isn't strictly necessary. I can just feel with my hands if a plate is still dirty."

"I see." she glanced down to her lap at her hands. "I have never cleaned dirty dishes before, so I would not have been aware of such a thing."

"Ah..." she began to feel slightly embarrassed as her eyes widened in realization. "Although I suppose that is a fact which should go without saying."

She heard him chuckle.

"That's an understatement."

Looking up, she saw the traces of a smirk on his face, eyes focused on the dishes crinkled softly, reflecting the single candle standing on the windowsill.

She placed her hand against her warm chest, where her heart beat like the drums in the party's music performance, carrying with each beat an unfamiliar warmth through her body. After a while of what she eventually realized was staring, yet could not seem to stop, he noticed, and met her gaze.

His eye widened, and she observed a deep red come to dust the top of his cheek, just underneath it. She wished she could engrave the sight into her heart, so that it might be what she pictured in moments of duress from then on.

He looked away, eyes narrowing and brows scrunching.

'He almost resembles a pouting child...' She couldn't help but giggle at the mental image, catching him shoot her a questioning glance in her periphery.

The silence between them stretched on comfortably. Only broken one last time by a whispered:

"...Thank you."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yayyyyyyyy after this I can finally start writing more on chapters where the events have an actual basis in the plot of the song the fic is based on!!!

Tag list: @another-random-paradise @thehollowwriter @faefum @cactus13-rolloflammesimp @beneathsakurashade

@nyx-of-night @theolivetree123 @babyghoul138 @skibidibabygirl @screamintoad

@gingacat @buttholesparkles @scint1llat3 @jadelover69 @angelwishess

@crimsonrose34 @nerenda @chillygourami @kirans-wonderland

Please let me know if you ever wanna be added or removed! ^^

#twst #twisted wonderland #moony's ocs #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #🦢artemisia #artemil 🐍x🦢#jamil viper #jamil x oc #jamil viper x oc #jamil twst

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nasiens-father · 7 months ago

Note

Tristan fans DO know Tristan, he’s a very well developed character and you thinking that people don’t know that is honestly sad. And I’m sorry that you are so dead focused on cannon that when people want to put a spin on it by making him something different in a FAN FICTION you think people don’t understand him. And I agree with you with people constantly thinking he’s some twink, when he’s not. But at the same time that shouldn’t stop you from loving and understanding a character just because of the fans. Tristan is strong where it matters and is kind, caring and just an amazing character. People do understand that Tristan is more then a twink, at least I certainly do, but just because someone isn’t talking about how well developed he is doesn’t mean they don’t see that. A true fan can see the pros and cons of a character but just because he isn’t talked about that constantly isn’t a bad thing.And I don’t like when Tristan is constantly perceived as a woman either, he’s a strong character with a deep personality. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t allowed to play around with said character. Trust me, the world will keep spinning.

First, just say it without anon it's fine like I don't mind it's cool, second I feel like u took it personally and idk, I think it's obvious that the post was about certain group of people on the Tristan fandom and NOT ALL OF THEM and at the time I didn't thought that I had to really put the "not all of them" cause like it's obvious that not all of them and said group of ppl is on twt that's it, easy peasy, and about the rest of the fans ofc they know him, your whole argument against what i said does not apply to you so there was no reason to yea.

About being dead focused, when in my post i mentioned canon or something hwkskd wait ✋ and I also don't mind that people lives out of canon when did I said that that was bad and again when did I said that ppl that does fanfiction is wrong or something waiiiit✋anddd the way his fandom perceives him doesn't stop me in loving him why would it stop me on loving him and agaaaiiiiin when did I said that it would stop me on loving him, he's my SECOND child I ain't letting go, I will not let him go Nuh uh and to finish all when did I said that ppl should not perceive Tristan like they want to causeee I didn't say that either. And also about being dead focused why were u so mean 💔 I thought we had a family w three kids 💔 so ye no, I think that a dead focused person wouldn't noticed when a character is hypersexualizazed(Jesus gotta take spelling lessons dawwwwg) in the most random situations of said character cause istg I have seen thing.s on where I said I saw them and no ye that that was mean waiit 💔

The whole thing about my post was about Tristan hypersexualization¿ (Idk how to spell that word) And his hyperfemenization¿ (Idk how to spell that word EITHER SJKD) andd if you know me or idk at least had a look to my blog or my art blog I. In fact. Do not follow canon with Tristan. I perceive him as a vkei boy so ye no ye. And I also love when oomfs do their own interpretation of Tristan's character cause they awesome I love em mwah and cause I'm not new to this fandom to know that this fandom lives WITH FANON not with canon, canon is an unknown word to us, and that's it idc at all and whatever someone decides to do w Tristan is none of my business cause im not the Tristan police or something. Wait being the Tristan police will be something like "Wait there, that's actually a color that Tristan would never wear, you will go to prison for that" do u guys think my writing is fire yes or no

And yes the world keeps spinning, it never stopped for me, this is just my blog and I have the right to say anything I want and if you don't like that's fine, ppl don't have to agree w me and I don't have to agree w ppl and ppl don't have to change their opinions on something bc I don't think the same and vice versa, that's all 😽 and tysm for telling your truth 🐬💕

#why is this so long #its loong cause i keeped messing around #BUT UTS MY WRITTING FIRE YES OR NO #and remember that i have the “sensitive”#in my blog intro #which means that keep it down w me #pls muehe #arepita ask #(I HAVEN'T USED THAT TAG IN AGES

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annabelle-creart · 3 months ago

Text

@gelu-the-babosa-multiversal

KO x Chase. 6 (Bookshop Au) and 16 (Prison Au)

Gelu me puso a chambear😔

Two for a Lie

Context: humanformers.

Notes: I'll use the original names but all happens in Earth, normally

---

The ring chirped, calling the bookeeper and barista's attention, who recieved with a smile and a greet, Chase went again on his book and his coffee, not noticing who it was until the person sit at his side

"It took you long enough" Chase commented, low as it should be in a library

"You promised you'll stop insulting me if I helped you" Knock Out sat next to Chase, he, for once, dressed normaly with a simple shirt, simple jeans and shoes, but his flamboyant attitude was still a clear hint of his over-flavored personality "watcha reading?"

"I know you tend to talk faster but I would be glad if you change that manner"

"Pfft, you're such a killjoy" Knock Out yelled, putting his attention of a cup on the little table, taking it and drinking it with confidence

"That's not yours!" Chase exclaimed with frustration, keeping his voice low

"But yet you're unfortunate our taste in coffee is the same" Knock Out ignored Chase's demand and took another sip

"Idiot" Chase murmured angry

"Prig" Knock Out said with no remorse

"Here's your second order" the bookshop keeper brought to Chase's table with a cute smile "are you enjoying our recomendation?"

"A lot, thank you" as if nothing happened, Chase changed his behavior into a smiley, educated man

"I'm glad to hear that! If you need something just call" the barista and bookeeper said and then went away, Chase took the cup of coffee and gave a sip

"You knew I would do that, right?" Knock Out made a funny, yet dobious smile

"I like my coffee complete. The whole cup" Chase gave Knock Out a piercing look, at which KO reacted at it with a low laugh "now, the actual manner. How are you going to convice you're a convenient criminal?" Chase returned to his neutral face and asked his fellow, Knock Out waited for a pair of seconds before raising his hand a showing a pair of keys with a blue tamagotchi on the keychain. Chase spilled part of his coffee in surprise

"How did you-?"

"I have my methods" Knock Out made a funny smile and threw the keychain to Chase "so, what's the real plan?"

"You enter, you get information, and you get out once a week as if you're talking with a lawyer to really get out" Chase saved the keychain, this time on the other pocket, the one Knock Out wouldn't reach without getting on feet or surrounding him

"And you'll be the lawyer?"

"I am, yes"

"And of all places, why to meet here?"

"Because I like here" Chase closed his book and went to his bag, searching for another and gave it to KO "and because of this"

"Pride and prejudice? In prison?"

"Limited edition with comments, hardback with golden features and illustrations. It is not for prison, it is a thanks gift for helping me"

"Aw! You wanted to give me something pretty?" Knock Out took the book in hands and got closer to Chase "illustrations did you say?"

"Drawed by hand with ink and colored in watercolor"

"Really?!" Knock Out opened the book, which was indeed big, the paper felt soft, and as expected, it smelled like a good new book, KO and Chase's favorite smell "how did you knew?"

"Know what?"

"What book to give me"

"Remember the time you started that bar fight?"

"Eh eh eh, I was doing my part of the deal, you said something you shouldn't"

"Whatever it was. You said you would prefer being reading in your house rather than sitting in the cold alley with a black eye. And I remember you once said you lost a copy of this one"

"Aw, Chase" Knock Out expressed, looking again at the copy "...You know I hate you, but thanks for this. Is beautiful"

"No worry about it" Chase looked at KO by pure instict and education, nonetheless, a cute smile and soft eyes met him "but-! I hope this works as fuel for you to do your job"

"Pfft! Prig. Always thinking on work. I'll make the best job you had ever seen! For nothing I'm the best informant of the city"

...

"..." Knock Out waited for Chase to say a word... or a sound, but nothing came of Chase's mouth "so-"

"In what were you thinking?!" Chase shoted in the low as much as he could, cleary mad at the situation

"Oh, come on! It is not my fault! I mean, it is but there was no other option!"

"To fight in the middle of the hall was your only option?!"

"Yes! Chase, I know you like things to happen as you want and like but this is real life! There's no ethical way to get someone to like you in prison"

"To fight is NOT a way to do so"

"Is not the fight! Is the manner behind that"

"...I made a mistake-"

"Give me two hours and I'll let you know I was right" Knock Out interrupted Chase clear and steady, no doubts on hand or eyes, despite one of them was again black and all his knucles had a redish color

"...fine!" Chase let out, with lots of doubt but no other option but to trust in the process "get out of here" Chase gave up, while Knock Out with half a smile went out of the room

And fuck the process, Chase thought, mostly on deception, on himself of course, because despite he hated to admit, KO's plan worked... fuck, it really worked

#😎✌️#prison x bookshop where Chase is a police detective and KO a private detective and informant and both work together because someone in-#prison that is important for them to get on a case #and they both love literature a lot #like... a lot (that pride and prejudice copy was something Chase bought for himself but gave to KO when it arrived)#transformers #humanformers #maccadam #rescue bots #tf #tfrb chase #tfp knockout #tfrb #tfp #tf prime #tf fic #ask game #Anne's writings

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justinewt · 30 days ago

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Shifting Sands - THE 100 REWRITE Chapter Thirty-Eight

[THE 100 MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: The situation escalated quicker than they could have predicted, or even expected, though they did expect it to not go too smoothly with a bunch of criminals.

Words: 3.7k

Warnings: The 100 season 5 spoilers (episode 5 "Shifting sands")

They were at war now. The situation couldn’t have gotten worse in so little time. They tried negotiating with them and they tried to fuck us over. Octavia, or Bloodreina as her “followers” liked to call her with her blood-colored facial war paint, was dead set on going to war with the prisoners of the Eligius. Michelle could understand her sentiment. They were so many corpses, so many casualties from the shooting last night. It was terrible. Trails of blood, wounded grounders everywhere. Michelle was putting things away with Bellamy when they heard Clarke chasing after Miller with a determined step, calling after him, but the latter kept on ignoring her. Bellamy went straight towards Miller and the grounder accomoagning him as they headed for the gate. Michelle just stood there, watching them as they spoke, hearing them just fine as she was not that far.

“Where are you going?”

“Wish I could tell you, Bellamy.”

“Octavia told you not to?”

Clarke finally caught up with them and looked at Miller who purposefully avoided looking at her. His gaze also instantly turned into a glare the moment Clarke entered his field of vision, and even though he wouldn’t make eye contact with her, she quickly understood what they had in mind, “They’re going to shallow valley.” Michelle lips parted slightly, dropping what she was holding. This was the place where their parents had been taken. Clarke took off, followed by Miller, shouting and eventually grabbing her arm, making him turn towards him. Michelle approached, going to stand beside Bellamy.

“You can’t just do whatever the hell you want here.” Michelle observed him, his face, the way he looked at Clarke and couldn’t quite understand why he seemed so angry or hostile towards her.

“I’m guessing you’re moving ahead of the army,” She responded to him with just about the same energy as he was giving her. “to scout forward terrain. Which route are you taking? It’s sandstorm season. The wind moves in a predictable path. I’ve made the trip dozens of times. Trust me. You need my help.”

He kept quiet, thinking, looking down but without lowering his head. He knew she was right. She was the one who lived on the ground for the past 6 years, and got to know how it was like now. He, and Octavia and the rest of them lived sheltered in a bunker, and Bellamy, Michelle and the others had been stuck in space. If there was one person, they should be listening to in order to get anywhere now, it was Clarke. Michelle and Bellamy followed the three others to where Octavia was and there she was, discussing strategy with two of her people and looked over her shoulder upon hearing the door open behind her.

“Miller, your orders were to go—”

“I know my orders.” He glanced at the woman who addressed him and continued. “I think we should listen to what Clarke has to say.”

“You can’t take the sea route.”

“Why? You said the sea is gone?” Indra asked. “Is it passable, or not?”

“Yes, maybe. But you have to understand—”

“Maybe’s good enough for me. Let’s move out.” She went to walk straight past Clarke and was stopped in her way by her brother. He raised his hands slightly and grounders pulled out and cocked their guns and he stopped moving. “Stand down.”

“Please, O, just hear us out.”

“Octavia, we’re all on the same team.” Clarke spoke and what she said, or her words, or something, seemed to make a sort of smirk appear on her interlocutor’s face. “No one wants to get to that valley more than me. It’s my home. But this way is too risky.”

“Risky how?” Indra wondered.

“Show me.” Clarke walked up to the table as Octavia turned around. She looked at the map, following the paths with her index finger.

“You chose the shortest route, which makes sense, but the dry seabed is hit by almost constant sandstorms.”

“We have the tents from the second dawn. Sand won’t be a problem.”

“It’s not just sand. Some of it crystallized in praimfaya. I’m talking shards of glass like razor blades. Your tents will be torn to shreds, and so will you.”

“Bloodreine is right.” Her guard insisted. “Besides, we can only carry rations for 7 days. The sea route will take 6. The next shortest path adds 50 miles. That’s two days, if we’re lucky.”

“How do we know there won’t be sandstorms on the longer routes—”

She cut Indra off and cut short any other comment that might have been made, “Enough. We’re doing this. The hydrofarm is barely feeding us now, so if this is the last living valley on earth, then it should be ours.”

“Diyoza thinks the same thing.” Bellamy said with a concerned frown.

“And so we fight.” The grounders in Octavia’s guard walked out, bumping Bellamy's shoulders without much care. Indra addressed him, but her words weren’t of much reassurance to him.

“Your sister needs you, Bellamy. I’m glad you’re here for her.” On her way out, she turned to the three left in the room, mentioning the packs of rations by the door, and left, calling the first battalion to mount up already.

“Am I crazy, or were they gonna kill me for getting in her way?” Bellamy was pretty dumbfounded, frowning still.

“She has amassed a following in that bunker. They’re not just loyal, they’re devoted to her. Fanatical. It’s like she made herself her own little cult. It’s just— insane.” Michelle crossed her arms, sighing quietly and Clarke couldn’t help but shake her head in disbelief.

“What do we do?” She then said.

“Raven and Murphy are in trouble. I have to go with them.” Bellamy nodded to himself, his eyebrows still brought together, his forehead now visibly wrinkled from how worried he was. Michelle didn’t like seeing him like this. He picked up a bag lying by the door, “6-day hike through sandstorm country with a gladiator cult. What could go wrong?” and handed one to Michelle, and another to Clarke.

They walked until nightfall. Bellamy, Michelle et Clarke were sitting together, apart from the rest of the clan, and watched Octavia in the distance, as they ate their rations around their small fire.

“All of me for all of us.” Clarke said, repeating the phrase they had heard on repeat. It seemed to be Octavia’s clan motto. “It’s kind of beautiful.”

“On paper, sure.” Michelle was leaning her elbows on her thighs, tearing bits of the slice of dried meat in her hands, and taking her time chewing each and every one of them. She felt Clarke looking at her, and the feeling it gave her was the same as when she used to date Murphy and let his personality rub off on her. Her face showed no reaction, but it got her thinking, wondering if she had always been a little sassy or if it really all came from her time with Murphy, or at least in his vincinity. Maybe she was always a little like that, though she used to really follow Clarke’s every move and decision back on the Ark, like a good, little soldier.

It had been some time since anyone had called her that, too. Maybe she had become her own person eventually, setting herself apart from Clarke. It was true that until they were sent to the ground, she never interacted with people outside of Clarke and Wells. Never cared enough to talk to other people anyway. It seemed obvious and natural, that after becoming surrounded by a hundred people her age, it would make her change in some aspects, and she didn’t even really think about it, or realize. She was too focused on the losses she went through. It occupied her mind, for the most part. And after spending years in space, she spent quite some time alongside Murphy again, so he maybe rubbed off on her more than he did the first time. She also caught Bellamy, the same look on Eligius when she sided and agreed with Murphy a bunch of times. She wasn’t too sure what to make of it though, ans she had lost tracks of the conversation, so she had no idea where they were at right now. “What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything. Clarke was talking.” His tone wasn’t what she expected. For some obscure reason, she expected him to have almost of an accusing tone, as though he could hear her thoughts and would be mad or something, almost as if she had forgotten he did love her too and was rarely mad at her, especially for no reason, and without talking it out. They were sitting on the same narrow crate, pressed against each other, his hand on her lower back and slid it all the way up to her shoulder, gently tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Are you okay? You’ve been chewing on the same bite for a while. You look preoccupied.”

She shrugged, sitting up, “I’m just worried about my dad. I can’t get it out of my head.” And it was only partially true. She was preoccupied with her father’s safety, but it was not at all what had been on her mind a moment before. Clarke seemed to accept that answer, though she maybe suspected there was something else, but Bellamy clearly knew she wasn’t telling them everything. He squeezed her shoulder. Michelle gave him a smile and continued eating her ration. It was small and she was barely halfway through it. She tried to look less lost in her thought and finish her piece of food.

“I’m tired. You can have the rest of my rations. Omon gon Oson.” She handed her food to them, but Michelle declined as she wasn’t too hungry, so Bellamy grabbed it. Clarke stood up and left the pair by the fire. With his arm around her, his hand now on her side, under her ribs, he squeezed slightly, and she let herself fall against his chest with a sigh. Only then did she realize that they hadn’t shared a moment like that in a minute, probably since going on Eligius actually. She rested her eyes, listening to him trying to reach out to Monty on the radio, not getting much more than silence in return. He let his hand fall on his thigh and put his face on the top of Michelle’s head, dropping a little kiss and breating into her hair, thoughtfully. It was so soothing; she was almost falling asleep when she was awakened by screams in the distance. Bellamy’s arm went from just holding her side to wrapping around her stomach, and across her chest with his hand holding the radio, as though to shield her, before recognizing the scouts, including Miller and standing up to go and help them. The latter was carrying his partner and screaming incoherently. At first, everyone thought they were under attack because of how alarmed he was but he began shouting and rambling about how something was wrong with the other guy. He put on him on the floor. They stood around him in a circle as he was having what looked like a seizure, but it was clearly not that.

“Out of my way. I can help.” Clarke had even got to get the med kit but a guard stopped her. The guy on the ground was violently twisting his body in all kinds of directions. Clarke called out to Octavia, who was just standing there, watching, and finally, she ordered for her to be let in the circle. The poor young man had seemingly calmed down and stopped moving around. “He’s breathing, but his heart is racing.”

“What the hell happened out there?” She questioned Miller, who was just beyond upset and distraught.

“We separated to cover more ground. Then I hear him screaming that they’re everywhere. Then I get to him and there’s nothing. It’s just more screaming and—” They all let out a loud gasp, stepping back instantly as something moved in the man’s abdomen, pushing against his skin. Bellamy was half-turned towards Michelle, his head looking at the man on the ground. It had become clear that there was something inside of him, but none of them knew what. They hurried, getting him in a tent and cutting off access to anyone else but Clarke and another few. Bellamy seemed to notice something on his lef as she was making the hypothesis that it could have been caused by the rations. She looked closer as he held his flashlight a little higher, revealing a hole in his leg.

“It came from the sand.” Clarke guessed. “We have to go back.”

“No.”

“Octavia, he told Miller that they were everywhere.”

“Yes, but Miller just said he saw nothing.”

“Everywhere could mean everywhere inside him.” A guard added. “I agree with Bloodreina.”

“Of course—” Michelle was about to mumble to herself, unsurprised the latter agreed with her dead bloodreina, and heard Indra having a similar reaction to the guard’s comment.

“We march on at first light.”

“An Obika?” Miller wondered.

She turned back to the young man, “If he’s not better by then… I’ll end his pain myself.” And she left, coldly, emotionless. It prompted Clarke to look at Michelle and Bellamy, somewhat shocked. The latter frowned, slightly shaking his head. The guards followed her outside. Clarke got to dress Obika’s wound and Bellamy sat there, staring into space, and it was clear to the two young women that he was very much concerned with his sister’s change of behavior. This wasn’t who he remembered she was, but his memory of her was outdated. The memory they all had of her was quite old. Bellamy had trouble to reconcile the two versions of his sister that he now had in his head. They clashed.

“Octavia’s not the only one who’s changed, you know. You could’ve killed those prisoners in cryo,” Michelle turned her head to the opposite direction. She had sided with Murphy on that decision and wanted to kill those prisoners in cryo, but Bellamy was opposed to it. “but you didn’t. Diyoza would have killed me if not for you. Madi would be alone. You got that bunker open.”

“Who knew it would turn out to be Pandora’s box?” He said heavily and shrugged, looking away as though he was ashamed or guilty of something that wasn’t his fault.

“I’m serious, Bellamy. The heart and the head.”

“The heart and the head.” He repeated quietly.

“So… what does your head say about two armies fighting a war in the only green place on earth?”

“Same as yours.” The conversation was cut short when they heard screaming outside again. Bellamy jerked to his feet. The three of them ran outside the tent, alerted. Their eyes widened. Large clouds of sand had formed over the hills in the horizon, pierced through by lighting. The infamous sandstorms that Clarke had already warned Octavia about.

“Can we outrun it?” Indra asked.

“As long as it keeps moving laterally from east to west, we shouldn’t have to, but if the wind shifts…”

“The wind hasn’t met Wonkru.” She turned to the people behind her. “Now there’s no choice. We keep moving.”

Bellamy got in her way, “Keep moving? Thanks to you, we’re stuck between razor-blade winds and burrowing, parasitic bugs.”

“Thanks to you, we’re at war, Bellamy.”

“Only if you insist on fighting it.”

“Fight or die. That’s all there is.” He frowned, looking at Clarke and Michelle who were just as concerned. “You don’t understand. I get it. Because you’re not one of us.”

“Is Obika one of you? Hmm? Because you’re about to end his life like he means nothing. I understand that.” He raised his voice. The female guard always agreeing with Octavia stepped forward but was grabbed and stopped by Indra while another of the grounders urged Bellamy to show respect. It was just surreal.

“I’d stop if I were you.” Octavia advised her brother to lower his tone. When Obika started shouting, Clarke rushed out. He had woken up and when they got to the tent, he was violently twisting his body around again, yelling, telling them to get whatever was inside of him out. They held him down as strongly as they could and stared with wide eyes as what lurked inside his stomach pushed hard against his skin, bursting it open like bubbles, splashing them with blood as they gasped. Clarke and Michelle lost their balance and fell to the ground, holding onto each other as they landed on the ground. Michelle’s hand was shaking as she wiped some blood from her cheek.

“Everybody out! Now! Go!” Bellamy shouted. He helped Clarke and Michelle out as well and Octavia then ordered Indra to burn down the tent, along with all the parasites inside. She urgently lit up a torch and threw it inside. Octavia had fallen, tensing up in her brother’s arm as a parasite slithered under her skin. They dragged her inside another tent, putting her infected arm on the table. Clarke was adamant; they couldn’t let it reach her torso. What happened to Obika couldn’t possibly happen to Octavia. Clarke was panicked by the urgency of the situation but as always kept focused. She spoke fast, telling Michelle to get anything she could find to make a tourniquet around Octavia’s arm and the latter nodded, quickly finding a lacing cord and gave it to her. The second thing she asked for as she was tightly wrapping the cord around her bicep was a knife. Octavia groaned as the blade cut through her skin. Clarke stuck her fingers in the open wound and searched for the parasite, eventually getting a hold of it when someone called out to them on the radio. “Monty, it’s me. Something tells me we got your emergency beat.”

“I doubt that. The prisoners have an eye in the sky on the mothership, and a missile system on their transport ship. They’re on their way to you right now. You have to move. Hide somewhere. Take cover.”

“Hide from an eye in the sky? How are we supposed to do that?”

“Murphy says we have a friend inside. If he’s right, the eye won’t be watching. You have a window, but you have to move now.” The parasite wheezed as it was pulled out and shoved into a jar.

“Where do we find cover from missiles in the middle of a wasteland?” Indra inquired.

“If they see us retreat, they’ll stand down.”

“You still don’t understand.” Octavia’s voice was a little weak, but she still hadn’t changed her mind despite what just happened to her. “Wonkru does not retreat.”

“You do if you want to live.” Bellamy tried reasoning with her.

“Now is not the time for a debate. Even if we did retreat, the path home puts us in the middle of a sandstorm.”

“Those ruins are not our home.” Octavia added, glancing at Indra. “That valley is, and we’re taking it back.”

“Octavia, easy.” Clarke helped her stand. “The venom’s still in your system.” But the latter didn’t care and while her brother stared at her in disbelief as he did since he saw what she had become now, she advised for him to understand, and quickly, and she left, despite barely standing on her own. In any case, they had to move. They left the tents behins and ventured in the middle of the sandstorm, everyone from the bataillon huddled together, forming a dome over Octavia and Clarke. Indra shouted for them to hold, repeatedly. Michelle felt shards of glass fly over her head and back, wincing as the sharp edges cut through her shirt and skin. When the storm cleared and they let go of each other, Michelle straightened up, took one step and lost her balance. Her jacket had suffered some cuts here and there but, it was an old US Army jacket, so it wasn’t too destroyed, but the back of her legs was another story. Bellamy caught her, instantly worried and saw the blood stains growing at the back of her pants and cried out for Clarke. She made sure Octavia was alright and went to her best friends. Michelle’s calves and a part of her thighs were riddled with tiny pieces of glass. She couldn’t possibly take them all out by hand. She deemed the pain Michelle must be feeling as worse than the bloodloss from the cuts, which was thankfully not too bad, but she was a little more concerned about the large shard of glass stuck across the top of her calves. Less than half an inch higher and it would have cut through her knees’ tendons. She wanted to use a piece of fabric but feared that tiny pieces of shards might be in her pants and hurt her more, so she didn’t know what to do, until Bellamy pointed out that the bottom of her jeans was stuffed inside her boot. With the tip of a blade, she cut it and after taking off the big shard of glass, wrapped it around her leg. Bellamy Others fell around them. By the time the sun had risen, some even died, about a dozen according to Miller.

Octavia was lying on the sand, Indra a few feet away from her, wheezing and having trouble breathing. From what Michelle heard Clarke tell Octavia, the grounder probably had glass in her lungs. Michelle could stand up now too, though she did have a subtle limp because of the sting at the back of her knee.

“Thank you for saving my life.” Octavia spoke quietly.

“You saved ours.” Bellamy approached, joining Clarke by his sister’s side. “You were right. Wonkru is strong. Just like their leader.”

She clenched her jaw a bit, leaning on a mound of sand and then on her brother’s arm to sit up, “I’m glad you’re alive, big brother.” The softness in Michelle’s eyes as she watched Octavia place a kiss on his cheek and embrace him soon disappeared with her following words, which were literally a threat; “But if you ever speak out against Wonkru again, then you are an enemy of Wonkru.” She grabbed his head, “And you are my enemy.”

Michelle saw the expression on Bellamy’s face; he was disturbed by what his sister had told him, and just stood up and walked away.

[To be continued…]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (03/30/2025) by Andrea

Taglist: @mirellef2001

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mittenlady · 1 year ago

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why klavquill

originally i thought of the pairing as a joke because simon would totally hate klavier, but like… i thought further upon it and now i fr am invested. i could say sooooo many things. so:

here’s a post i made a while ago explaining

here's another post focusing on the aspects of other dynamics that would be affected; less important but fun to mention

and let me provde an updated (attempt at being more concise but simultaneously more elaborative) version:

• thematic similarities in that they both helped usher in the dark age of the law BS. klavier got phoenix disbarred (which ig because he’s the golden boy is the end of the world but TBF the crazy ass corruption he exposed in his first three (?) years as an attorney does make him incredibly significant and a sort of figurehead) and simon went to prison for “murder” a year after that

• adding onto that, klavier and simon worked at the prosecutor’s office for one year of overlap (2019-2020) prior to simon’s sentence. even if they didn’t know each other directly, they would have known of each other (guy who got phoenix wright disbarred during his first trial and guy handling an international spy case with criminal affairs) (also i really love the estranged friends to lovers narrative)

• and even at that, they likely WOULD have had to interact during turnabout academy. simon was literally prosecuting the case. yes, klavier didn’t have an official investigation, but you’re telling me that they’re working on the same case without a single interaction???? frankly it’s just poor writing and they didn’t want to put in the effort to connect AJ’s narrative properly; which was an actual writing direction they had so why am i surprised.

• juxtaposition of older sibling situations; both in prison but for different reasons. i want to analyze this bit more but there’s something there

• sharing a narrative of healing from the ghosts of their pasts after DD :)

• both are incredibly melodramatic and theatrical in court. they’re on the same wavelength; and speaking just from a writer’s perspective, writing their interactions is some of the most fun i’ve had lol. if you’re curious, here’s my ao3 series containing all the fics i’ve written for them so far :)

• they also do have similar aesthetics in the sense that they both wear darker colors. klavier has a more grunge (?) / generally alternative (and like 70s-80s generic rockstar) style and simon… dresses like he’s from the victorian era yes (not counting the jinbaori) but he has more of a goth / emo vibe? i’m articulating this very poorly they both just look very well together. also men with long hair :)

sparknotes version: i think they have a lot of similarities and parallels and narratively, i believe it would make more sense for them to be together. part of it may also be wanting to connect the narratives of AJ and DD properly but idk. it just makes more sense, at least to me, in comparison to other pairings

#klavquill #ace attorney #ask #i hope this explained :)#also i’m sick of seeing a 9.5 paired with a 6. why is a literal rockstar dating someone who looks 12 #idk i just think they’re better suited for each other #i could elaborate on that as well but i prefer to say minimal things on that at least online as to avoid stepping on toes #not that it would be bashing necessarily but idk i’m really just here to write #but feel free to DM me if you do wish for an elaboration #im taggin tthis proeprly because i keep having to show it to people instead of explaining Guys listen. please

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linagram · 10 months ago

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Hiii! Don't know if you remember me, I send you Naomi and Asahi sketches once. I want to repeat how much I like your project and I'd love to draw more for it, but I miscalculated how much free time I have so it took some time (I was supposed to finish the second drawing two months ago or smth...). Anyway! I present to you: the goddes of Linagram, Andou Miki! (I wuv her) Same as last time, I tried to make it look more like Milgram style, this time with color even. Not sure how accurate it turned out, but I kinda like the result. Tbh at first I just wanted to make an art of her, but now looking at the composition and background style... Dunno I just think it looks like it shoud be a series of art of wardens... I really want to make it into a series, but not sure if I will be able actually do it Aaand I guess I kunda screwed up some of her design details (jokes on you, I coildn't even be consistent with her design in my own drawings lol), but it's too late to change anuthing so whatever In the end I want to wish you good luck with both T3 Linagram and Linagram2 development! Oh, oh, and I also want to ask something, but you obviously don't have to answer: are there any special gestures or facial expression traits that your characters (both prisoners and wardens and maybe even victims or side chars) have that you'd like to point out? Like Shun having closed postures or Kei smiling a lot even if it doesn't look like he feels like it? I suppose you've talked about this before, or maybe someone even sent you a similar ask... If it's true, I'll search it!

SHDJAJASJKSJSJ SHE LOOKS AMAZING THANK YOU SO MUCH!! (and yes i remember you!) i love her expression in the first drawing so much she looks like a tiny scared kitten.. (and she kinda is one) i really love the shading on the second one too it looks so much like the milgram art style!! (and it's okay i kinda forget things when it comes to my own designs too 😭)

oh and also i haven't received an ask like that before so here it is! so sorry i think it turned out a bit long ><

akio is one of the characters who has changed the most throughout the seasons. in season 1 (and before milgram), he usually had this kind of annoyed or more serious face expression (but i really like to make his expressions look like he's a bit nervous or even scared maybe? like he's just putting up a front..)

in season 2 he looks much more tired and traumatized for obvious reasons and he's supposed to look like he's in a lot of pain (and he is).

and in season 3, he still looks very tired, but i like to think that now he just kind of.. accepted everything that happened to him. akio doesn't think he'll be able to live that long even if he's able to leave milgram so 😔 akio's character arc is just a humbling experience took too far

aimi's an interesting case! she's actually a character who has the most consistent face expressions and by that i mean. she's literally almost never seen without a smile on her face.

like this art is the only exception??

but also, in season 1 the faces she makes are usually more sad or apologetic-looking! she also likes to do. The Thing with her sleeves

she still has some of that in season 2, but she starts to smile a bit more calmly and even confidently.

and in season 3? she's in her girlboss era!! she's much more confident now, her smile is more wide, she doesn't look sorry at all!!

but some of the art that is supposed to show her outside of milgram shows her having the same smile too.. like she started to look more "like a victim" only when she came to milgram.. huh..

shun is a fun character to draw because most of the time he's either supposed to look stressed (or like "physically he's here, but he's not here mentally") or he's supposed to look so confident that it's kinda scary considering his usual personality. i like to think that in season 1 he mostly looked like the former and started to act like the latter in season 2 only to act like the former again in season 3 because of his punishment.

like!! the difference!! also im not sure if it's easy to notice but when i draw shun i try to make his poses look a bit.. tense? i like to imagine his movements being a bit unnatural, almost like he's in pain or he genuinely doesn't know how to move or make certain poses. it also could be related to why he has his hands close to his face so often, it's almost like he's trying to check if he's real or not!

like aimi, naomi is almost always smiling and her expressions and poses are supposed to make her look like the "mom friend".

she also has her hand on her chest very often, to make her look more.. confident, maybe? like she's supposed to have this "don't worry i'll take care of it :)" vibe!

SHE IS LITERALLY STILL SMILING EVEN IN SEASON 3 it's just that her smile is more wide now and it's supposed to make her look more unhinged rather than someone reliable. like aimi, literally the only case of her having a different face expression is this art.

I HONESTLY CAN PUT KEI, EIKO AND RIKU IN THE SAME SECTION all of them are the smiley characters too but the way they act is a bit different.

kei's smile is supposed to show that there's something. Wrong with this man. like you shouldn't trust him. i'm also not sure if it's easy to see but kei often has this expression like he's looking down on someone. he's supposed to look all cool and when he's drawn with another character, he's almost always going to either look at them or look somewhere else, like there's another person that we don't see.

this is also one of the reasons why this art with him and someone who is (or was?) very precious to him is so important bc he's!! looking UP at the boy!! and he's not smiling!!

riku also likes to smile a lot but it's often supposed to look a bit. forced. it's like kei really believes that he's better than others and breaks when he realizes it's not true, meanwhile riku has the same belief about himself but he KNOWS he's not really special or unique, so he has no choice but to fake it until he makes it. when i draw riku, i always have this sort of rule (?) in mind: riku's smile is never sincere. he is always too worried about his image, popularity and reputation. he hates himself too much to be truly happy even for a moment. which is why him suddenly not smiling in his t3 art is so scary to me it's like.. idk, it's like he's too broken to even pretend to smile now..

eiko is very interesting bc unlike the guys she is a genuinely very confident woman! she doesn't have that many issues with her self-esteem, yes, she's a bit too much of a perfectionist, but honestly, she just has very high expectations from others and if we compare that to kei and riku's problems, that.. doesn't seem too bad to me. her expressions are also often supposed to look like she's laughing at someone or she's about to tell a joke or she's just being playful.

asahi's expressions are surprisingly hard to come up with when i draw him, so i usually just go with whatever i think is cute or shows his personality well. so most of the time he looks disgusted or angry, but i like to make his expressions adorable at the same time too! like akio, he also often looks a bit scared or stressed on the inside. he is also often seen chewing on something.

yurika is another character i find hard to draw when it comes to expressions and poses.. but that's also why i like to take advantage of her. reputation in the linagram fandom and i like to make her look a bit insane!! i get to go crazy with her poses too like girl get a snickers or something!!

and when she's not in a silly goofy mood she just looks kind of >:( i also have a rule similar to the one with riku: if yurika is smiling, her smile is usually fake.

tumblr pic limit is killing me we have to do the rest of this quick!!

reina is another character that changed a lot and if in season 1 she was usually seen smiling, she quickly dropped the facade after it ended and now she is only seen with a more cold and emotionless face expression. who knows, maybe she will smile again one day..

eiji, ironically, was supposed to have expressions and poses a bit similar to kei in season 1, but after it ended and the plot (and yurika) hit eiji badly, i can only imagine him looking more and more stressed with each day. the fact that he's actually similar to kei, but he can't pretend as well as he does..

miki is almost always seen being a bit sad or scared, and she only starts to smile more when season 2 begins and she starts embracing her role here. interestingly, her smile isn't supposed to look fake or forced, and it's actually more sincere compared to kei and riku. when season 3 starts, she lets her hair down and her eyes become more empty (same goes for eiji, who had "swirly" eyes in season 1 and the beginning of season 2) and her tone is more cold.

hinode is a bit.. too relaxed for a guard. he often presses a finger to his chin, like he's curious about something, he's always smiling and his smile is like.. you can't say it's sincere, but you can't say he's faking either. he also often has to lean on something or someone because he gets tired a bit too easily so he's usually seen either sitting or lying down and if he's standing, he's either leaning on a wall or someone's shoulder (usually miki's).

#i have thoughts about the side characters and the victims too but i really should draw them more..#again so sorry if this is too long aaaaaaaa!!!#and thank you so much for your kind words i really appreciate it <3 #maybe i should have a fanart tag..#❔answering asks ❔#🌼guard 002: andou miki 🌼#wait ykw i'll tag everyone #🗡️guard 001: sanada eiji 🗡️#👑prisoner 001: miyagawa akio👑#🌸prisoner 002: hanasaki aimi🌸#💔prisoner 003: ishizu shun 💔#🌿prisoner 004: chiba naomi🌿#🍓prisoner 005: sanada kei 🍓#💎prisoner 006: yoshioka eiko💎#🍬prisoner 007: yano asahi 🍬#🎀prisoner 008: maruyama yurika 🎀#🎸prisoner 009: kuroki riku 🎸#🎭prisoner 010: himura reina🎭#❤️‍🩹 guard 003: kuroki hinode ❤️‍🩹

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dia-souls · 2 years ago

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Diabolik lovers Angel and Devil Story [ Epilogue ] + CG

Epilogue

Everywhere was full of laughter. A colorful and beautiful world in which I lived happily. It was an endless joy because I had everything. I had wealth, love and family at the same time and I thought I was the happiest person in the world. I loved this happiness and wished it would never end.

Losing everything made me enter darkness for life. But this darkness was not beautiful. This darkness drowned me in an endless nightmare. A nightmare from which there was no escape. All the doors were closed on me and no one could hear my cries and pleas. I was alone in this darkness.

I have never seen the dark color of life. But my life did not remain colorful and happy forever. I was a child who had everything. But I lost all my possessions in just one day. Not only did I lose everything, but I also lost my beliefs.

When I entered this darkness and became even more alone than before, I decided to let go of the only little belief I had left. This belief was the reason for my life until then. And by losing this belief, I will no longer live. I was alive and looked at the world in silence and loneliness. I had lost my faith in love.

Everyone said that love is the only reason for human life. But I no longer live among people as a human being. I was a devil. A devil who is going to take revenge on innocent people because of his bitter past and torture them. Yes, if I cannot live a happy life, then no one has the right to experience a happy life.

When I lost my humanity. I forgot to live as a human being. I forgot all the beliefs of people. I forgot love and kindness and the warmth of a romantic hug.

I was drowned in this darkness and my soul was getting darker and darker in silence every day. My dark heart polluted my soul every day and invited me to more hellish nightmares. These nightmares did not end. Every day these nightmares became more and more frightening and stole the peace of a small dream from me.

In loneliness, I was losing my hope forever, I had come to believe that there is no love and that people only pretend to love, but in reality they are scary demons hiding behind the mask of their fake smiles.

While I was walking towards death on the dark road, I heard a familiar voice from a familiar song. This voice was very beautiful. It was like the voice of an angel. And the song she sings reminds me of my past. This lullaby was very familiar to me. Someone used to whisper this lullaby in my ear and caress my head so that I don't have nightmares.

How is it possible that you also know this lullaby? Why is your voice so beautiful? How can you charm me just by singing a lullaby? I don't know who you are but I know only one thing. And that is that the sound of your lullaby has saved me from death.

This beautiful voice was ringing in my ears in the dark and calling my name. After hearing this voice, I could see the light again. The light that encouraged me to go towards freedom. This was very bright and beautiful. This light was the path to my freedom. The way to free me from my dark heart to return to life and find happiness and love again.

At that moment when I felt that I could no longer live in this world, only one thing could change my mind. It was you. You are my beautiful goddess. You are my dear lover. You were the legendary Eve who saved me from the dark prison of my heart and brought me back to life and gave me your love as a gift.

Every moment I look into your pure and innocent eyes, I see life. You are the reason for my life. You were the one who gave me this happiness and beautiful life. But I did not see it. I was a monster who ignored all your feelings and pure love and left you in the heart of darkness and sadness.

But I came back. I came back because without you I felt that something is missing in my life. Something I can't live without. What made me see the light of love and hope again after being imprisoned in my dark heart. I came back because I know that I need you because you are my Eve.

My destiny was not to be with you. I was not destined to have you for myself. But I don't want to surrender to this fate anymore. Because this is not the fate of you and me. This is not our destiny. I want to stay with you to make our own destiny. I want to stay by your side to change this fate.

The past of both of us is full of sadness and longing. We both lost our families and were lost in loneliness. We were accepting our fate until we found each other and realized how much we love each other.

I searched for your lullaby when I realized that my heart would sink into darkness again without you. The pleasant voice of your lullaby guided me towards the light of freedom. When I reached that light, I saw you. You are the angel who saved me from this darkness and gave me freedom.

After finding you, I came to you to stay close to you. So that I can see your sweet smile again. I came next to you to hug you again and feel the warmth of your arms again. I came forward to kiss your cold and soft lips again and experience the feeling of life again. I came near you to experience this love again.

I don't care what and who wants to take you from me. I will never leave you again. I don't care what my fate is, I will change this fate to stay with you.

I experienced the beauty of life again with you and I don't want to lose this happiness anymore. I want to stay by your side forever and ever. My beautiful Eve. You are my dear angel.

Fate asked us to stay apart, but we overcome this fate and build our family together. We will never be separated again because we will not surrender to this fate.

Yui, my dear Eve, please sing me your lullaby again with your beautiful voice. I want to listen to your sweet voice forever. My dear Yui, please call my name many times, I want to always feel your love for me. Yui, come back to my arms, I want to feel the warmth of your heart forever.

You are my beautiful angel. Please stay with me forever. Let's change our fate and stay together.

#diabolik lovers #dialovers #yui komori #komori yui #ruki mukami #mukami ruki #ruki x yui #yui x ruki #rukiyui #angel and devil novel #angel and devil epilogue

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weirdlet · 2 years ago

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This is what I've noodled out for tomorrow's game. It's rough, but so was this week.

After three days of purification, breathing in incense and bathing in seawater, it’s down to this. The Harbormaster has come forth from his seclusion, clad in sail cloth and sea glass, escorted by the silver ladies who had instructed and guided him. He’s a vision like dawn upon the waters, the colors that the sun turns the clouds when the moon is setting.

At least, that’s what the Selunite priestesses tell him. But the last of his nervousness was banished when they had brushed out his hair with his mother’s ivory comb, and chased out further evil by parting it with a spear that had killed a great whale. There’s nothing more to be done for him on the spiritual side, and as for looks- well, he’s confident in that as well. Walking out amid the bustling of last-minute preparations, barrels of wine and ale and broad trestles being loaded with food, he holds his head high and his wings proudly mantled.

Burton stands at the ready, looking very gruff and official as he speaks the words to sanction this ceremony on the deck of his ship. The old pirate has had great fortune in his dealings with Leilon, maintaining the open port with its easy restrictions on most things but a strict ban on slavers, and a steady stream of profit has flowed into the town coffers with only a little diversion into the pockets of his own. Glory gives him a knifelike grin as they assemble in their places.

When prompted, he stands with his back to the groom’s party, wings hooked over his shoulders like a cloak. The priestess sets the silver mirror in his hand, and he tilts his head up to look with unclouded eyes, rotating it this way and that as he takes a glimpse at his beloved, in all the many phases to come.

Young and old, sickness and health. A vicious, feral thing, with greased hair and wild eyes. A child grown hungry and cold, reaching out to any that would make him feel safe and strong. The serene, collared prisoner he had once known, had initially feared- and then loved, when he had learned that the calm was no front, but simply hard-won and true.

An old, old man, with long grey beard and white robes and the same dark eyes, peers out of a wrinkle-seamed face- and winks at him, smile still broad and warm.

“I’ll take him,” Glory says, a chuckle caught in his chest. The priestess smiles, and takes the mirror from his hand. Next it’s his turn to stand about and be reflected, to show himself to his betrothed in all his flaws and radiance, and let them be considered in turn.

It’s not for him to know what Carver sees there, but after a long moment, he can just tell by the set of his shoulders- the answer is yes, yes, of course he’ll have him.

They touch the mast, the centerpoint fixed and ever true, even if all the world is moving around them. A red ribbon is bound around their hands, tying them to it, as vulnerable as if for a lashing, and before a hungry crowd just the same. Carver produces the knife, small and clean, made especially for this task and unsullied by any other purpose.

Bloodied palm and bloodied lip, bound to the wood and the soul of the ship. The silver lady, with her net and veil, opens her palms and bids them speak.

“The tide rises; the tide falls. Speak now a truth that is constant as the waves.”

Glory opens his mouth, his voice feeling cracked despite the honeywine and special teas in the days leading up to this moment.

“Yours was the first open hand offered to me- without condition, without pause. You make me feel holy without ever once changing what I am.” His free hand touches his chest. “You helped me become a man. I want you by my side, here or there or anywhere.”

“The tide rises; the tide falls. Speak now a truth that is constant as the shore.”

Carver drowns him in his dark eyes, long and gentle, before his answer rumbles up from his chest.

“You give ease to my soul in ways I never thought possible. A wild thing choosing to rest in my hand, trust unearned- you helped me become a person again. I would have you with me through all the trials of this life and the next.”

“The tide rises; the tide falls. Speak now a truth that is constant as the stars.”

Together, now; “We were promised nothing in this life- but we promised each other. And that is greater than all the many treasures of the worlds.”

The priestess frames her hands in the crescent that cradles the sky.

“By my duty, and the light that guides, I see it done, and say it is so. Captain, do you also say this is done?”

“Aye- by the duty of my office, and the rightness of this ship, I do see and say that it has been done right and proper- and I give my leave. Ring the bell, bo’sun!” The ship’s bell clangs, ringing out across the gathered witnesses on the docks and the salt-air of the harbor. And even as the cheer goes up, the rumbling voices of the gathered crew rise above it, singing of the mooring-song, for when a sailor finds their bride ashore.

I’ll sail no more- no breezes blow

I’ll stay becalmed within these waters, I won’t go away

I’ll sail no more- my search is through

For the wonder that I found, I found was you…

#Glory's Travails #Selune #d&d shenanigans #wedding fic #tiefling #fantasy wedding

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dynamic-k · 10 months ago

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I just saw 'The Dark Lord' in a fic that wasn't even about ava/avm.

I SWEAR I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HYPERFIXATED ON A FANDOM-

anyway i need to actually ask a question now.

Okay, I'm fairly sure that the Government is one of the antagonists of Arc 2.

sooo... What is the Government's intentions? Why were the two people watching the clip of Second's powers? The Government is an organisation -I think-, so who is allowed to know their plans? What are their plans?

Are they targeting Vic, Second, Chosen, or Dark? OR Kaori or ALan?

wait i just reread and I think it says Second is the primary focus.

Also it says:

'I'd always assumed the main objective with collecting all these powered individuals was so we could make some, I don't know, supreme ultra powerful stick or an ultimate individual source of energy.'

AYO? WHY ARE THEY REFERRING TO THE 'powered individuals' LIKE POKEMON CARDS?!? why did i say that iv never even played pokemon

'Collecting'?

Oh yeah why does Vic Chosen Dark and Second even have powers in the first place? Same with like- the villains.

Nearly all the heroes and villains have powers, so I'm excited to see Color Gang as heroes without powers, just tech.

I've always liked seeing people without powers and just technology and/or their talents beating people who just rely on their powers.

I'm not sure why. I think that's why I like Agent so much more than the others.

Thanks for listening to me ramble and Have a great day!!

-R

also for the crossover ramble- i dont actually have any ideas and my brain is just drawing a blank. A blank, empty, sad, depressing, endless void.

[aha not me referring to a story that i made xd]

I TOO DO EXACTLY THAT-

Literally in any other media where there is a Dark Lord- I just think of a certain hollowheaded red boi, with no regard to the color scheme of this other fandom Dark Lord- XD

I also have never been this hyperfixated on a fandom- XD My favorite fandom ever in ever. You and I are best friends now. XD

O v O Well well well~ Somebody is poking around for info on the Government within Super Sticks~ Whatever shall I do-

They are an organization, yes. They rule a lot of areas, but are not all-powerful or in a position of full-on tyranny.

There are places that are private property, owned by a single stick or perhaps two sticks, and leased or available for public usage, that the Government cannot do much about. There are also small organizations of some groups of sticks, that built up their businesses to help improve the city. The properties they own and let the public around also is unable to be touched or interfered with via Government hands.

One of those such places, is the police station that Vic is currently imprisoned inside. Government cannot touch him there, even though they are very well aware that Vic has powers. They were quite put off and frustrated when Vic made arrangements for both himself and Primal to go to that specific prison~

[The non-Government station itself and the guards/officers thereof actually don't know Vic has powers right now. This fact comes into play later, for a future scene I have already written~]

They are... targetting a LOT of sticks, actually- XD They even have code names for some of the higher priority sticks, as seen when "Target Amnesia" was mentioned.

Second is the highest priority thoouugghhhh~ I wwoooOoonnndeeerr whhhhhyyyyyY~ >:D

Every currently imprisoned stick in the Government right now: ...Yeah, I guess we're Pokemon cards now- It's accurate-

XD I love Pokemon, although I've only seen Indigo League. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily into the fandom either, but from what I have seen of the show I have loved dearly.

| Oh yeah why does Vic Chosen Dark and Second even have powers in the first place? Same with like- the villains. |

....

[*looks at canonically powerless Alan*]

[*side eyes Kaori*]

I have absolutely no idea. I don't believe I have the faintest notion what you're insinuating. [*nervous sweating*]

Now- Anyone with abilities, obviously it's genetics where the ability came from.

Hence, Rum: the mother of Vodka and Whiskey, shares a similar power. Jade has a different power, but he is Rum's husband so he's family though not by blood. And the Alcoholic Twins ended up inheriting their Mom's powers rather than their Dad's, so nobody except me at the moment knows what Jade can do, ehehehehhee

The title of Pretzel might have something to do with it, but that is ALLLLLLLL I will be saying on that front- /total-lie, I-can't-keep-my-mouth-shut, /silly

Color Gang is absolutely going to be epic with their non-powers, I will say this much. I AM VERY EXCITED TO SHARE WITH EVERYONE WHAT THEY'LL BE ABLE TO DO, but I gotta break it to the readers slowly over the course of the four building the upgrades-

I do got the specifics all figured out, thoughhh~~ Not the names, yet- But the upgrades for each quadruplet, I have that down and ready to implement into the plot at will.

Canon!Agent is so cool, yes- I think he may be my favorite as well! [although I LOVE HAZARD so much too...] And! That is one of the big reasons why, as he doesn't even have any abilities, he uses a tech weapon. On a similar note, Mono of Super Sticks is much the same way, and on an even greater note because leg injury~ :D

It's funny you should mention reliance on one's powers, as I have a bit of a motto/theme built up in relation to that. In Spark AU. :3 Do with that information what thou will...

It's fine: I have plenty of crossover-related ideas for the both of us!! LIKE- THE NAME-

My sister, Trixie, suggested something to do with Kindle/Kindling. Because that sparks a fire and also is usually tiny sticks. XD

She's a straight-up genius- XD

[i will no-hesitation read anything you write- gimme-] /silly /but-also-serious

#Ask Scarlett #Scarlett Post #Super Sticks AU #The Spark AU

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maggie32432 · 2 years ago

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Prisoners - Finnick Odair Imagine (Part 3)

Finnick Odair and Sirena Nighthart both won their respective Hunger Games at age 14. Both from District 4. Finnick and Sirena both grow up in the Capitol, though keeping their distance from each other. What happens when both get reaped at the Quarter Quell for the 75th Hunger Games?

Third POV

A few floors above Finnick and Sirena are Peeta and Katniss.

This morning Haymitch Abernathy is taking the time to show Peeta and Katniss all the tributes that they will be facing. Tributes that he is all too familiar with.

"Cashmere and Gloss. Brother and sister from District 1," he says while showing the pair of siblings on the screen. Both tall and extremely well-built for the Games. "They won back-to-back Games. Capitol favorites, lots of sponsors, and will indeed be lethal,"

The screen switches to Brutus and Enobaria from District 2. "What's with her teeth?" Katniss asks, referring to the sharpened teeth on the woman,

"She had them filed into fangs so she could rip people's throats out," Haymitch says, increasing the nerves of both Peeta and Katniss.

"District 3. Wiress and Beetee. Not fighters, but indeed brilliantly intelligent," Haymitch says, showing the two older tributes on the screen, "He won his games by electrocuting six tributes at once,"

They both raise their eyebrows, impressed that anyone without fighting skills was capable of winning the games,

"District 6. The morphlings. Basically, won their Games by hiding until everyone else was dead," Haymitch explains, "Self-medicating ever since. Which I applaud, but indeed not a threat," He says.

The screen switches to reveal a blonde man with a white sweater on the screen, a smirk plastered on his face. Beside him is an intense-looking girl with bright blue hair and shocking blue eyes, she doesn't share the same smirk, but instead a serious look and sharp jawline. "Finnick Odair and Sirena Nighthart, right?" Katniss asks,

"Yes, both from District 4. Both won their respective back-to-back Games at age 14, being the youngest ever. They both are the Capitol darlings and are deeply loved here. Finnick is known to be extremely charming and smart. He and Sirena are both extremely skilled in combat, particularly in water,"

"What are their weaknesses?" "None. That I currently know of," he says, making Katniss and Peeta both more nervous.

Sirena's POV

I stand intensely still as about a dozen designers and make-up artists work on my face, hair, and costume for the tribute parade. My dress is blue and quite ocean-y, which is always the goal for District 4.

Lots and lots of sparkles on my nails, lips, and face. I also have this huge and heavy seashell crown on top of my head.

I groan as my hair is yanked to be put up in a big dramatic braid. Blue and gold makeup is done on my face while I watch in the mirror, they do fish-scale-looking makeup on the sides of my face. My lipstick is also a vibrant blue and purple color.

As it all comes together I do admit that I kinda look badass, and much cooler than I did the first time around. I get guided by all sorts of people down to where the chariots are awaiting us.

Just before I enter the area Finnick walks over to me.

His costume is insanely more simple than mine is. He has no shirt on and has a fishing net type of bottoms on. I can't help myself but stare just a little bit at his bare chest.

Just a little.

"Hey, Blue," he says with a grin and I raise an eyebrow, "C'mon if we're gonna be fighting for our lives together I may as well give you a nickname, right?" he asks and I smile just a little bit,

together

"You look gorgeous, by the way," he grins and I roll my eyes, "Flattery gets you nowhere, Odair," He smirks while taking my hand to walk into the main area. The hand holding is only a strategy at this point to get people to be on our side and adore us.

That's been the goal since we were 14 years old.

On the way to our chariot, we say hello to dozens of people that we both know including some victors we will have to fight very very soon.

I continue to remind myself to put on a smile, at least for now. I've always been known to be much more soft-spoken than Finnick, so in some ways, I'm relying on him to strengthen allies for both of us.

I look to my left to see Katniss Everdeen, and I gotta admit, she is pretty damn intimidating. "Should we go introduce ourselves?" Finnick asks me with a grin and I simply nod.

He keeps holding my hand, which I appreciate. "Katniss," I say and she turns to both of us walking over to her,

"Sirena. Finnick." She says and Finnick asks, "You want a sugar cube?"

Where the hell did he find that?

"I mean they're supposed to be for the horses, but they got years to eat sugar, whereas you and I...well if we see something sweet, we better grab it," he says in his charismatic voice.

Is that flirting?

"No thanks. But I would love to borrow that outfit someday," Katniss says to him, and I smirk as does he. "Well, you look pretty terrifying in that getup. What happened to the pretty little girl dresses?" he asks cockily,

"I outgrew them," "You certainly did," he says with a grin,

"Shame about the Quell thing. You could've made out like a bandit in The Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you wanted," He says, "Well I don't like jewels and I have more money than I need, so... What do you both do with all your wealth, anyway?" she asks,

"We don't deal in money," I say, speaking for the both of us, "Then what riches do you have?" "Secrets," I reply with a smile, "What about you, Girl on Fire? Got any secrets worth my time?" He asks, stepping close to her,

"I'm an open book. Everyone seems to know my secrets before I know them myself," She replies

I like her

"Unfortunately, I think that's true," he says, and he turns to see Peeta and Cinna walking over to us,

"I'm sorry you had to cancel your wedding, I know how devastating that must be for you, " Finnick taunts, leading me to smile again.

We all are well aware of the fact that their love story is a complete sham, anyone trying to survive the Games would've done the same thing.

#finnickodair #finnickodairxreader #finnickodairimagine #hungergamesimagine #hunger games #hungergames imagine #finnick odair x reader #finnick odair imagine #samclaflin

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rhythmicmeow · 2 years ago

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TIMING: Current LOCATION: The Mushroom Circle PARTIES: Elias @eliaskahtri and Leticia @rhythmicmeow SUMMARY: Leticia drops in on Elias at work after they discovered some shared interests on line. CONTENT WARNINGS: none

Wicked’s Rest felt like both a safety net and a prison. Leticia had avoided telling people her full name, dodging questions that might lead people to realize who she was. It was pure luck that she had encountered people who mostly had no idea about music and the internet. Funny, too. But when the humor passed and the worry of being discovered had faded, it was loneliness that replaced it. And longing - to be known, to have something familiar to keep her grounded - and that was what pulled her out of her mundane daily routine.

But all it took was a random person on the internet who was willing to throw all caution to the wind for the excitement of discovery and adventure for Leticia to drag herself out of her shop and reconsider the limitations she had self imposed. And the bar he had invited her to? The moment she stepped inside she felt comfortable. The chatter filled the air with mixed conversations and a variety of drunkenness - it was just like the place back in New York that she frequented.

Whatever nervousness and doubt she had in going out was gone now.

Leticia slid into one of the barstools and leaned against the counter, her chin propped up on her first as she eyed the bartender. It hit her as she waved him down that she had never asked the man online his name or what he actually looked like - all she had to go off of was handsome bartender and… “Before I ordered, I just wanted to make sure I’m in the right place… I heard there was a club for people who wanted to capture bigfoot on camera?”

It had been a relatively slow evening in the front of the Mushroom Circle, and Elias found himself wiping down the bartop with a clean rag, staring around at the various patrons, mostly lost in thought. It was such a stark difference between the front and back of the club, and it seemed as though he wasn’t allowed to tell just anybody about the back’s existence. Not that he could see why, all they did was cosplay, which he thinks that anybody should be able to behold, quite frankly. But still, he did his job and didn’t ask too many questions. He needed the money, after all.

As someone sat in front of him, Elias shook his head a few times to focus himself back to reality. As she spoke about bigfoot, he immediately knew this was someone he had had a conversation with online. “My spelunking buddy on the search to find a hotspring!” He exclaimed, putting the rag underneath the counter with a big smile across his face. “Elias Kahtri, at your service.” He flourished with a bow, patting his hands on the bar’s surface. “Come to see if I was attractive in person as I proclaimed online?” He joked, tilting his head to the side as he did so.

Leticia’s excitement was plain on her face. “Good — I should have gotten a name from you, or a number, or literally anything because I was worried I was going to wave down the wrong bartender.” And knowing her luck and the culture surrounding bars, asking for the ‘handsome bartender’ wasn’t the best way to make a first impression. And depending on their humor, Leticia might have found herself paying above standard price just for the audacity.

“Listen, listen, listen. I just heard a rumor and I thought that someone should confirm it. And why not me? No risk, no reward. I would have never had the life I did without taking a few risks. And you too, I’m sure.” An interesting life didn’t happen without stepping outside the lines a little. “If I say yes and that you passed that mark with flying colors, do I get any points?” Leticia teased, crossing her arms on the table. “Checking to see if the internet vibe was the same as the one in person, too.” It was hard enough making friends in person, but with the filter of the internet and simple text on a webpage, so much got lost. “You’re not pulling my leg with all the throw caution to the wind talk, right?”

“Lucky for you, it was me working tonight and not Beatrice.” He thought for a moment about the quite no nonsense type that was Beatrice. She also had a cool costume. Sage green hair and tall antlers, man he wanted a pair of cool antlers. “And lucky for you, I make a killer cocktail for being a newbie.” Elias grinned, bringing up his barkeeper bible that was a giant book of every cocktail one could think of and then some.

Elias raised his hands as she began asking if he was lying about being curious. “Oh trust me, I have long gotten myself in trouble for being too curious for my own good. I’ve already planned an expedition to the reported cheese caves.” He nodded his head, thinking to the fun that could be. “This town has all sorts of weird things, and I plan on getting to the bottom of as many as I possibly can.” As he spoke, he began to lean in conspiratorially. “You can even ask my family and friends, they’ll one hundred percent go on about how annoying I can be once I set my mind to something.” He paused, thinking about all the times he’d gotten himself into trouble by looking into things that he shouldn’t have. Especially the time he ran away from home as a child on his first big excursion to prove the existence of Bigfoot. Good times.

“So tell me all you know about these caves that everyone seems to be so terrified to go near.” He asked, pulling out a glass. “After you give me your drink order, of course.” He then added, realizing he had a job to do first before he started getting into the nitty gritty of all things strange in Wicked’s Rest.

“No nonsense?” Leticia asked before shrugging. “I could have always tailored the pick up line, you never know! Maybe she’d be absolutely charmed by me.” Not that she had the nerve to insert herself like that in someone’s workplace. She was always more reserved romantically and couldn’t imagine actually hitting on someone while they were working a shift. Elias brought out the book and she leaned forward, as if she was going to see something magical herself on the inside of the cover.

There was a clear look of relief on her face that she quickly hid under a smile. “I am glad to hear it — and better that I found you before you went there without me. I’ve been trying for months now and no one has been biting.” Most people she spoke to seemed interested in discussing the mines or speculating about what was going on, but no one wanted to look. And what was the fun in participating from afar? Leticia nodded her head, realizing quickly that Elias wasn’t like her. He had no idea where those very real rabbit holes would lead him. “I would be happy to be your partner in crime,” she immediately offered. While the curious things that happened around town did spark a desire in her for exploration and mischief, Elias was nice. She didn’t want him to get hurt.

“At the risk of sounding boring, a Long Island? Or a random page from the book you haven’t explored yet?” Leticia relaxed into her seat, thinking as she tapped her fingers on the counter. “When are you off shift? I don’t want you getting in trouble by taking up all your time.”

Elias raised his brows, a pickup line? Now there was something that went right over his head. That was, if it actually was. He was such a romantic klutz that it hurt everyone else around him. Him though? It didn’t really bother him. He found himself leaning heavily on the aro/ace side of things. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone attempt a pickup line on her, but I would be very interested to see it.” He shot the woman a conspiratorial wink as he spoke. “I have no doubt that anyone would be charmed by you, dear Leticia.” He added.

He waved a hand at the idea of going without his supposed spelunking buddy, knowing it was probably too dangerous to go at it alone with all of the wild things people have told him over the internet, and the reports that had been published online as well. “Wouldn’t dream of it, spelunking partner.” He replied with a grin. When she offered to be his partner in crime, it only made the smile on his face grow, eyes alight with excitement. “Well I accept! It’d be nice to have someone to go on these weird adventures with, especially if a random sighting of one thing actually turned out to be a very dangerous other thing.” He frowned, thinking of running into a big moose that would only make him run screaming in the other direction.

He began going to work on putting together a long island, one of the cocktails he had finally started to be able to do without referencing the recipe too much. “Hm?” He responded eloquently about the time he got off work. “Oh, I’m here until…” He looked at his phone to see the time, then back over to her. “Nine. So another hour or so.” He shrugged, unbothered that she was taking up his time. It was welcomed, actually. Usually the most conversation he got was from people gawking at him before going into the back room.

There was a fragment of a plan forming in her head — work was still an off limits place to make a move on someone, but maybe she could get Elias to at least facilitate an introduction and then it wouldn’t be so weird if Leticia said something after work. “You know…” She glanced at him and then made a face. “Oh, are you trying to get me in trouble? I thought we were going to be best friends and here you are encouraging me to make a fool of myself.” There was no heat in her words, and by the look on her face… she was still considering the bad idea regardless.

“Well, as long as you’re not going to get in trouble.” It took little more than that for Leticia to get comfortable. Others around them were engrossed in their own conversations and while they could have been in a more public location, there was no worry that people would be leaning over trying to get a hint of their conversation. “But the caves…” She had heard a lot of things, but none as lighthearted as the mysterious hot springs that could be or might be there.

“The hot springs was the selling point for me but there were a lot of other rumors when things started heating up.” Looking up to the ceiling, she ran through all the things she had heard over the last few months. “There was this wild rumor going around about the mouth of the mines… like… god, what did they compare it to?” Tapping her fingers on the counter she shook her head. “I think they said it sounded like a choking… it sounded like an animal inside the mine. I think they said whale?” It was a strange description, but Leticia had learned not to question strange behavior in Wicked’s Rest, it always ended up biting her in the ass. “So, you know, we better keep our eyes out for land whales.”

Elias’s grin only widened as it was clear on the woman’s face that she considered it. “Sadly for you she’s not working today.” He admitted, gesturing to the empty bar, as it was only him working at that moment. He simply neglected to inform her that there was a weird speakeasy backside to the bar where, in fact, Beatrice was working. For some reason, his boss made him swear not to tell just anyone about the backside of the Mushroom Circle, and for some reason he just had a feeling he had to do just that.

There were other people in the bar tonight, true, but it was slower than it usually was, so for him it might as well have been the two of them. It had been so long since he had someone who had a sense of wild adventure like he did, it felt like a breath of fresh air. Sure maybe he shouldn’t spend so much time on back alley forums about random cryptid sightings and weird stories that happened in this town in particular, but it was just an itch he couldn’t scratch. He was interrupted from his thoughts at the mention of land whale, however.

“Land whales, weird smells, maybe a hot spring.” He shook his head, thinking on all the secrets this place held. “Oh and apparently deadly.” He added on, looking over to the woman with a raised brow. “Heard that from more than one person when I expressed interest.” He frowned, making himself a glass of ice water and took a sip before hiding it back under the counter. “Sounds like we should go in prepared,” he suggested with a serious expression. “And maybe a gas mask if it really does smell that bad.” He tacked on, narrowing his eyes in thought.

“I can’t do it at work,” she reminded him, waving a finger in the air as she spoke. “That’s just in poor taste. If that’s the move people keep making, it’s no wonder they haven’t hit the right tempo with her.” Leticia was putting a lot of thought in this joke. And by tomorrow? She would have likely forgotten all about it. “Point is, I didn’t make a fool of myself. And I won’t anytime soon — I got this right, didn’t I?” By pure luck, perhaps, but she wasn’t going to remind him.

“And crabs.” The other warning signs that were blaring at them would have been enough to stop anyone with a sense of danger and self preservation, but it was the idea of a crab pinching at her or crawling the way it did in her direction. Leticia made a face and tried to push the thought away. “Gas masks? Do you know where to get those?” Considering the air quality as of late, especially around the mines, it wasn’t the worst idea, she was just… curious. “Have you worn one before? Do they work? I always see them in horror movies and it never ends well.”

After a beat of silence, Elias smirked. “That, and the fact that everyone that hits on her are all men. “ He added with a knowing nod. “Men are gross and don’t think with their heads very hard when it comes to a pretty lady. I’ve seen my fair share of blunders here.” He then said, chuckling to himself as he remembered the few instances where a drunk man would try to hit on the female bartender, only for her to swiftly cut them off and send them on their way. He appreciated her tenacity, really.

Oh yeah, he had forgotten all the crabs people had been talking about online, as well as the weird things they’ve been reported doing. “The crab talk is weird, are they really all over the place like people have been saying?” He hadn’t been in town long enough to really figure out that mystery for himself. He’d seen a few shiny little dudes around, but didn’t really pay them any mind. Maybe he should have.

“As for a gask mask, a better solution would definitely be a respirator, actually. You know the face masks with the filters on them? A lot of people use it for industrial work, but if it keeps us safe, it may be worth the investment.” He pulled up a picture on his phone of a respirator mask, then turned his phone to show her. “Hopefully a better solution than a gas mask, if I really think about it.” He paused for a moment, looking upward as if lost in thought. “What do you think caused the incident?” He then asked, referring to the mines. “I haven’t been here too long, I don’t really know much of anything.” He confessed with a shrug.

“Elias,” she said slowly, placing her hands on the counter and sighing deeply. “Elias - you are doing absolutely nothing to deter me.” Leticia shook her head and tried to pretend she had heard nothing at all from him in the first place. Beatrice regretting all the men that approached her was a sign that either she was more interested in someone closer to Leticia - or perhaps not interested at all in that side of relationships. And both were valid, Leticia just had to figure out which one before she did anything to embarrass herself.

At least she knew he was going to be an excellent partner in crime — or a partner in encouraging her to make worse decisions than she woudl have made on her own?

Cursing herself, Leticia nodded her head. “I saw one, not in person, but a picture online.” It could have been faked and she had a feeling that he’d call that out quickly. “I really hate the way those things crawl.” Worrying at her lip, she shrugged a shoulder. “Considering all the other rumors about the mine and everything surrounding the mines has been true so far — I’ve had no reason to doubt it.” And she had no interest in investigating it, either.

She tipped her head to the side and took in the information, trusting that he must have known what he was talking about because he was giving a lot of options and details, and then quickly pulled up a picture of what he was talking about. Which, embarrassingly, was a good thing because Leticia had been lost. “I can fund our masks if you want to send me the link?” Drumming her fingers on the counter, the reality of the mines was a complicated one. “From what I heard, the miners made a mistake during their last expedition down there.” That was the political answer, but the reality? It was hard not to wonder if something supernatural was involved or not. “Did you come to Wicked’s Rest because of all the strange things happening?”

Elias frowned, thinking about the weird mines for another minute before deciding to drop it. Everyone seemed to have the same reaction when he brought it up. Talk about what they had heard about it, then drop it. Deadly and dangerous, maybe it was best to let it lie. Still, he couldn’t help himself but be curious. What if something interesting was in there that they didn’t want people to see? He had heard that the cryptid club believed there was a cryptid in the mines, so of course it piqued his curiosity.

But the caves! Yes, the caves with the possibility of secret hot springs, that was a lot less deadly, of course. “Maybe we won’t even need them, but with the air quality, it’s better to be safe rather than be sorry,” he decided out loud with a nod of his head. “I have a bunch of gear for hiking and getting into weird situations,” he then explained. “I got lanterns and flashlights, I’ve got a machete just in case we come across a bunch of plants and or a vicious animal…” he trailed off, thinking as he began to list things off and count them on his fingers. “And bug spray, bear repellant, protein bars, and a headlamp!” He grinned, clearly he had thought out his adventures with the utmost seriousness.

With her question about why he moved here, Elias thought for a moment. “Yeah, it’s definitely a big reason for it.” He admitted, looking down at his hands. “There’s a lot of cryptid sightings here, which of course I love, but it’s also as far away from where I grew up as possible. I needed a major change of scenery, and Maine is on the opposite side of the US map from California.” He shrugged, looking back up to the woman. He left out the part where he had become terribly depressed and hated his job and all of that.

“That’s just… a lot of gear for us to try and sneak in.” Leticia frowned slightly, trying to work out a solution, but the reality was, if they brought all the things they were talking about, someone was going to notice. And in this town, she wasn’t sure how many people would accept a false story of hiking. “We'll need a cover story,” she finally decided. It should have come to mind that the harder they tried to hide what they were doing, the more likely it was that it was wrong. But the thought never occurred to Leticia. Instead, she was thinking that the challenge would be fun.

“Wait,” Leticia arched a brow. “You just… have all these things?” She shouldn’t have been surprised, he was one of the only people interested in checking out the mines, and he had an interest in other strange things happening around the town, why wouldn’t he be well prepared? He was the exact kind of friend that Leticia would never introduce to her mother because she knew it would turn into a conversation close to: he’s prepared, why aren’t you?

A new sparkle touched her features. Unfortunately, as excited as Leticia was about them being from the same state, it was unlikely they lived anywhere near each other considering the massive size of the state. But the excitement she felt about her home wasn’t shared by Elias, so she pulled back that immediate feeling and nodded. “Home can be a complicated thing.” Worrying at her lip, she quickly added: “Sorry. I hope I didn’t overstep.”

“It’s a lot of gear, but we don’t need to bring all of it. I recommend the flashlights though.” He responded with a shrug of his shoulder. “Cover story. Right.” Elias frowned, thinking for a long moment. “I don’t know, I genuinely like to go hiking, I don’t see how this would be any different.” He finally spoke, clearly oblivious to the true extent that the strangeness the town truly had to offer. “I’m just a dude that’s new to town and doesn’t know any better, so we do have that angle to go off of,” he then offered with raised brows. After all, if he didn’t know any better, he’d just be let off with a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again.

Elias blinked, realizing that he did own a lot of strange things. “Well, I may or may not have a hobby of getting into things I probably shouldn’t,” he admitted with a sheepish smile, looking to the side, too embarrassed to look at her directly. “I did research into the strange rumors that inhabit this town, it’s one of the reasons I’ve decided to live here. If I’m going to get into stupid shit, I’ve got to at least give myself a fighting chance.” He finally looked back over to her, clearly embarrassed of himself.

Quickly shaking his head, Elias’s eyes went wide as she went to apologize. “No, don’t be sorry! I’m kind of an open book, much to everyone’s chagrin.” He explained with a soft laugh. “Home is a complicated thing, but I also believe that to be happy, we have to put the work into making home where you want it to be. So now I’ve decided a place surrounded by weirdness to be the perfect place to call home.” He gave a cheesy grin, as if proud of himself for coming to the conclusion on his own.

Leticia thought for a moment, tapping her chin again as she considered it. If Elias genuinely liked hiking, then it wouldn’t be a lie, would it? It would just… be an omission of what they were really doing. Though hiking would likely be a large part of it. “Okay,” she conceded. The thought crossed her mind to ask him what they would say if anyone heard they were going ‘hiking’ and wanted to join them, but how many people in Wicked’s Rest would actually want to go hiking? Not many, she was willing to bet. “Flashlights, mask, and snacks, bare minimum, I think?” The air had been getting to her in the recent weeks, so it wouldn’t hurt to bring masks just in case.

Hopefully, it would filter out whatever was in the air that was making the balam stir more frequently. And Leticia couldn’t manage a worse place to lose control than underground in a mine with someone who had no idea what kind of spirit shared her body. “Hey. You’ve got a dream,” she encouraged with a grin. “Might as well run toward it if you have the chance. Might not be a conventional dream, but those are always so boring, anyway.” Leticia, no matter how wild the ambition, was always supportive. She wouldn’t have been the woman she was today without having her own wild and seemingly unreachable dreams, after all.

“It’s not a bad trait to have.” Leticia wished she could be that comfortable with herself to share things so easily with others. Though he didn’t seem to be fully continent in the things he was sharing, she was still looking at him like he was inspiring. “You’re here for an adventure, that’s fun!” She shrugged before focusing on the counter again, wrinkling her nose. “I’m here because my mom said this would be the best place to go. Jury might still be out on that one. But it’s not a bad place by any means.” Just not like what she was used to. And nothing like what she longed for.

Elias counted off on his fingers as she named the items they should bring. “I’m an experienced hiker, so I’ve got all of that but the masks, which you said you could supply.” He nodded his head a few times, solidifying the list to memory. “If anyone questions my hiking story, I have so much proof of my hiking adventures.” He tapped his pocket where his phone was. He had done so many long and arduous hiking trails, it was the one activity he did that was actually good for his health instead of being detrimental to it, like desperately hunting for Bigfoot.

“It’s a weak dream, but a dream.” He agreed, giving a weak smile as she encouraged him. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do next, you know?” He patted the bartop, looking around the room for a moment. “I’ve got this job and a place to live, but what next, you know?” He shrugged a shoulder, knowing that as hard as he thought, he didn’t have a next step. “Tell me, what’s your dream?” He then asked, wanting to get to know the woman better. “Because if you have any better ideas believe me, I’m all ears.”

His expression turned thoughtful as she spoke to the reason she was in Wicked’s Rest, nodding his head slowly as she spoke of her mother. “My mother tried to convince me this was a bad idea. Kept bringing up the death statistics on the place.” He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. As much as he loved his mother, she had to let him be the grown man that he was. “Not to get too deep here, but what does home look like for you, then? For me, it’s surrounded by people that I love and that love me.” He gave a cheesy smile, lost in thought for a moment. “I’m not there yet, but I will be. Gotta make some friends first. Like a spelunking partner!” He pointed toward her, giving a wink.

“Absolutely. Gotta pitch in somehow. More than showing up,” Leticia agreed with a grin. She wasn’t entirely sure where to find masks in town, but she figured if she shopped around online she’d be able to find something. And he had enough proof of hiking that they, in theory, could pull this off without anyone trying to pull them back in town and scold them. “Seems like we’ve got a decent plan in place.”

The smile on her face did soften as he spoke. What was next? He asked, and Leticia couldn’t answer that for him. Her own life had royally imploded and his guess was as good as hers. “My dream?” She looked up from the countertop and at Elias fully, arching a brow at the question. Had he asked her last year, she would have made some joke about living the dream. She had been famous - what more could she have possibly asked for? She had reached for the stars and landed among them, only to to be caught by the Earth’s gravity once more and crash land back on the ground. The only place left to go was down. But that wasn’t what anyone wanted to hear. Least of all a man she had just met. “I actually own a vinyl shop downtown. The Vinyl Countdown?” She shrugged as the smile came easier again. “Maybe I’ll start DJing parties.” She didn’t know what possessed her to say it, but the idea was nice enough. But didn’t quite scratch the singing itch. “Give yourself time. Explore the things you love, that’s what I did. Music has always been my life. It sort of just… made sense, you know?”

Leticia made a face when he mentioned the death rates. She hadn’t looked too hard into them, knowing that this was a central point for supernatural creatures… it wasn’t all that odd to her. But there was still some surface level discomfort. It was washed away in an instant as Elias talked about what home was for him. Leaning on her hand, she offered him a warm smile. “I thought mine was on a stage. I spent twelve years performing and it was… the most comfortable I had ever been. Before that it was a shop on the West Coast that my father ran.” She wondered how much he would put together from both her answers, quietly hoping that he’d never look her up and just take it all at face value. “I always felt the most myself when I could give something back. Share what I love with people and make them feel those same feelings I have when I listen to music.” Clearing her throat, she sat up straighter, pulling herself out of the musical rant. “I guess I’ve been trying to figure out what it means to me here? But the more time I spend with people in this town the more this feels like a good place to start. The people here kinda rock.” And that included Elias, too.

Elias liked the idea of finding someone to hike with him. It was a hobby for him that had been built on other hobbies. After all, you can’t go cryptid hunting without hiking for an extended period of time. It had grown from that to being able to hike difficult trails to hiking from the bottom of the US to the top of the US by hiking the PCT. Any excuse to get someone to partake in that hobby with him was a win in his book. “Then I can’t wait! We’ll have to settle a day where we can set off and find this place!” He decided with a wide grin.

He listened to Leticia as she spoke of the store she ran, realizing that it was one of the very stores that he had been meaning to hit up as he got used to the town more. “I’ve been meaning to go there!” Elias exclaimed as he leaned onto the bartop, only looking up on occasion to make sure no one was trying to get his attention. To his luck, everyone seemed to be content. He gave a soft smile as she spoke of music, how important it was to her. “I guess… hiking? I say I love cryptids and all that, but from it, I learned to love hiking. I’ve done a lot of crazy trails in my life.” He smiled at the memories, but then shrugged. “But that’s hard to form a concrete dream on. After all, I completed the goal I had set with that.” He ran a hand through his hair. Turned out having a dream was more difficult than he thought. Well, one step at a time, he supposed. He realized that he should probably have some idea of who she was, but he truly wasn’t that good with keeping up to date with… well, anything. “You sing anything I would know?” He asked, tilting his head to the side with genuine interest. “I’m, ah. I’m really bad with music. I like listening to it, but I get stuck listening to the same stuff I like over and over again instead of branching out. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. I’d like to broaden my horizons.”

“I’m warming up to this place, slowly but surely.” Elias then spoke, giving a fond smile to nothing in particular. “It’s challenging my perception of reality, but I’ll… figure that out when I decide to figure that out.” He shook his head, pulling a face. “But I have met some really fantastic people, so I couldn’t see myself leaving if I wanted to. This town is now stuck with me.” He declared, shooting her a sly smile.

“You are welcome to drop in at any time, if I’m there, I’ll even drop a discount for you.” If she wasn’t the kids would just give out the discount to anyone who walked in the door like it was a challenge to see who could give away the most things. Leticia started to fold the edges of the napkin for the drinks, listening to Elias carefully as he spoke about the hobbies he had that weren’t quite ‘dream’ quality but still made him happy. Her mouth opened, about to tell him that her own dreams had been muddled because what she did was so broad that the options were endless, just like the ones he was confronted with now. But she stopped. Deciding that telling her new friend the specifics about her past was a bad idea. “You completed your goal?” She questioned, eyes flickering up from the counter. “I thought the whole thing about hiking was setting new benchmarks, you could find new trails around here to conquer. It might not be the most conventional hobby to build a goal on but...” She laughed and then shook her head. “That’s one where you have to keep challenging yourself.”

The conversation pivoted toward her response and for a moment, she thought of all the lies that she could tell him to throw him off the trail of the truth. But he was nice. Genuinely kind in a lot of ways that Leticia had learned to never take for granted when she worked in the industry she had. Worrying at her lip, she shrugged. “Really depends on the kind of music you listen to. And if you use the radio at all.” Not the one here though. She had blacklisted her own music on her station just to avoid tempting fate. “If you ever pop into the shop I would love to give recommendations though.”

She snorted when he spoke about reality. This place was strange in so many ways and more eventful than the home on the West Coast that she had come from originally. Which was funny considering that her mom had been the one to suggest the location and how much she had hated how they interacted with people as much as they did. “Well,” Leticia returned the smile, warm and soft. “Wicked’s Rest is better with you in it.”

#wickedswriting #char: elias #elias: in caves of friends

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