#you can count them on a single hand but they're fierce

[ndostairlyrium]

Rules: Make a poll of your favourite female characters (no limits - as many or as little as you want) and see which your followers like the most!

I was tagged by @shivunin and @greypetrel 💛 thank you so much dears ;u;

...because I think only two of these would pass it lol

Hit me up with a 🍋 in the replies if you wanna get tagged u-u because I know all of my mutuals have already been tagged / done this lol

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

✨Staticmoth wedding headcanons✨

Because I have a lot of thoughts but can't come up with the plot to turn it into fic

��� Vox absolutely loses his shit. You would think that Valentino would be a groomzilla material but oh no no, Val just wants sexy dress and enough coke to last three days of partying. Vox needs everything perfect. He has his grand vision and is ready to tear with bare hands everyone who does not deliver. During the preparation time, he murders as many people as Val usually does. Velvette bails on being the wedding planner after just two weeks because it was seriously straining their friendship. But after a month, she's back in the game. Why? Because Vox strangled three other wedding planners in frustration, and things weren't moving forward, so Val was starting to freak out.

✨ The event is held at the Vees' Tower. I reckon they've got a venue suitable for hosting conferences and porn award shows.

✨ It's a grand event. I'm talking Grand™, like the Kim K and Kanye West of Hell kind of grand. But it's also elite, so the guest list isn't that long, around 200 invited people plus 50 ticketed spots for anyone willing to drop 100k hellish bucks to attend. Everything is dripping with gold and diamonds because "quiet luxury" isn't in the Vees' vocabulary. The whole affair reflects Val's aesthetic more, as it's Vox's love letter to him. Vox already had his wedding, and now it's time to fulfill his husband's dreams. So Val makes about 90% of the decisions without shouldering any real responsibilities. Which is fine by everyone because he's annoying as hell when it comes to picking roses, flamingo feathers, and starters. Nobody wants to put him in high-stress situations. Expect lots of red, pink, and gold, with heavy, decadent fabrics and neon lights; it's like an exclusive brothel meets the Las Vegas strip.

✨ When it comes to flowers, they settled on roses because they're Vox's favorites, which naturally made them Val's favorite too, given the sheer number of bouquets he's received. Vox, being the freak he is, counts every single bouquet he's ever given to Val. So, for their wedding, he ensures there are twice as many roses. Yes, he's a pathological overachiever.

✨ As for attractions, there’s a plethora of erotic dancers in cages and mesmerizing drone light shows. Karaoke, slot machines, live cooking stations, and all the drugs you can imagine. And let's not forget a fountain flowing with tequila. It's a true adult wonderland.

✨ Valentino skips the whole white dress thing and rocks a fierce red latex gown that's very Mugler but with a fetishcore twist. Vox keeps it sleek in a sharp black three-piece suit. His shirt's a bold blue, and his tie matches Val's dress. His shoulder pads are pointy, his waist is slutty, his ass looks divine. Oh yeah, about slutty waist - underneath the shirt he is hiding a leather corset, as a treat for the wedding night.

✨ Also none of them really have friends other than Velvette, just associates so there are no groomsmen/maids.

✨ Since there aren't any traditional churches or government officials in Hell (if there's even a government at all), Velvette takes on the role of officiating the wedding. Vox isn't entirely thrilled with this choice because there's always the risk she might crack a joke or publicly rib him, but hey, there's really no one else who could pull it off. I imagine that a wedding in Hell is also some form of magical contract but more about partnership than ownership. They do not exchange rings but blood sksksk also I don’t think that Vox can really wear rings with his claws? And they couldn't quite agree on a design that satisfied both of them. In the end, Val ends up wearing his illegally imported engagement ring from Earth, featuring four pink diamonds shaped like a moth's wings.

✨ Val's vow is, well, atrocious. It's the kind of thing that would definitely land him in one of those TikTok compilations of terrible grooms ruining their weddings. He mentions cream pieing Vox at least once. Vox at first freaks out but seconds later realizes Wow that's the man I'm marrying. I wouldn't want him any other way On the flip side, Vox's vow is immaculate. Crafted with the assistance of Voxtek's CMO and practiced to perfection, it leaves everyone in awe. He has out-of-body experience playing this role of prince charming.

✨ For their first dance, they opt for a steamy tango. Picture this: swirling red smoke on the floor, making it seem like they're dancing on the sky of the pride ring when the sun is setting down. Little do the guests know, the smoke is laced with drugs, sending most of them on a wild trip. The party quickly goes off the rails, but in the best way possible (according to the Vees’ standards).

✨ The cake is a five-tier monstrosity with five different flavors: tres leches and chocolate-cherry chosen by Val, confetti cake and strawberry cheesecake chosen by Vox and Red Velvet for Velvette because she couldn't shut up about it To top it all off, there's a big chocolate figure of Vox and Valentino dancing. Val is later caught drunk, eating it with his bare hands like the filthy animal he is.

✨ Velvette’s wedding gift is a pair of customized matching guns with small engravings that read "Partners in Crime."

✨ Valentino pulls off a surprise special pole dance performance as a wedding gift for his husband. Let's just say it's scorching hot and leaves at least 50 guests with, uh, visible excitement. Later on, things almost escalate to a full-on table bang, but...

✨ Velvette spends the entire evening reminding them that they can't just vanish to consummate their marriage because this whole party took months of preparations, and they need to be present. After all, people paid good money to be around them. The threat of cock cages hangs over their heads, but they promise to behave. However, Val being the horny beast he is, ends up taking Vox to the bathroom for a quickie anyway. Velvette decides to let it slide this time.

✨ At least 20 casualties mark the night. Vox ends up zapping one of the guests who gets a bit too clingy with Val during the dance. Meanwhile, Val gets into a brawl and, well, let's just say it doesn't end well for the other guy. Surprisingly, everyone seems to be having a great time, but hey, these are the Vees' colleagues we're talking about—they thrive on violence and sex.

✨ Yeah, there's no shortage of sex at this party. With a guest list mainly consisting of businesspeople, adult performers, and mobsters, tensions escalate rapidly. By around 3 A.M., half of the party is busy getting down and dirty in every corner imaginable.

✨ When Vox reaches the perfect level of drunkenness, he seizes control of the DJ station. Surprisingly, he's a natural, dropping beats like a pro and having an absolute blast. Val, meanwhile, goes absolutely wild watching him, thrilled to see Vox letting loose and embracing his creative side.

✨ Derek, Vox's assistant, is the odd one out, the only low-status person to snag an invite because Vox felt kinda generous. But truth be told, Derek hates the idea and wasn't keen on attending. However, when Melissa caught wind of his invitation, she practically dragged him there to be his plus one, desperate to get closer to Velvette. Derek's terrified of most of the guests, but Melissa's over the moon. She later fucks him as a reward for being a very brave boy. Angel is not invited because he would ruin mood of both grooms.

✨ Valentino had prepared the filthiest, kinkiest, most elaborate wedding night, but it doesn't go as planned. Surprisingly, things turn out very vanilla for their standards, with a lot of missionary, eye contact, and hand-holding. After 16 hours of non-stop action, they're both too exhausted to even think about getting creative.

Thank you @purrpleowl @watcherofeternalflame @canadianlucifer @aroromantic @malu897 @staticmothed @chaggieslovechild @gumm1defloor @mayflowersfly for your thoughts!

[stonedcoldfoxtarot]

What do people admire about you?

Ft Margot Robbie as Barbie

Pile 1 -> Pile 2

Pile 3 -> Pile 4

Pile 1

8oC, 10oS, WoF, 2oW, Devil, AoP, Lovers, 4oP (Temperance)

You're the kind of person who’s bounceback is always greater than the setback. When life throws you a curveball, you have a knack for transforming negative energy into abundance and success for yourself and those around you. Moreover, you value your worth and are ready to let go of anything that no longer serves you. It's clear that you have been blessed and are naturally lucky. But you don't rely on luck alone – you actively create your own opportunities and pursue what you want in life. You disregard the word "can't" or "won't" and consider every "no" completely erroneous.

In addition to your leadership skills, there's something about you that attracts people effortlessly and without even trying you make them want to shower you with gifts, money, or financial support. If you ever need help or a way to make ends meet, you have a network of people who are more than willing to lend a hand. Money seems to flow effortlessly to you, and whatever you spend comes back to you several times over. Many of you have a radiant aura that attracts beauty, love, and positivity into your life and it's not uncommon for people to fall head over heels for you or view you as their ideal romantic or platonic partner. Sometimes, they may struggle to let go or hold on too tightly, but you always find a way to bring balance and harmony back into the situation. Pile 1, your ability to alchemize negative energy or situations into abundance and growth and material success is what makes you stand out to those who admire you. 

Channelled Song: Speed Drive (From Barbie The Album) by Charli XCX

Pile 2

Hermit, 9oC, 9oW, 6oC, 7oS, 3oW, 6oP. 7oP (Justice)

Pile 2, many of you may have recently embarked on a journey of self-discovery and emerged on the other side with a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and self-control that surpasses that of the average person. You faced your inner demons/shadow side and endured challenging times to become the person you are today. Difficult situations that would make those around you fold don't even faze you most of the time, and people can clearly see your strength when confronted with adversity. You've earned everything you have through hard work and you will fiercely protect what is rightfully yours. Anyone who dares to challenge you or interfere with god’s plans for your life will have to go through you and your angels first.

What people really admire about you is your knack for thinking strategically, staying focused on your goals and holding your ground once you've accomplished them. They're also incredibly impressed by the fact that you can achieve all of this without depending on anyone else besides yourself. And while they know you work tirelessly, they also see that you know how to treat yourself every now and then in order to create the life you've always wanted. You might also be a single parent who works hard to give your child the things you never had growing up, and your child sees you as their hero and biggest supporter.

Pile 2, you know how to move in silence when it counts, but you're also a kind and generous person in your interactions with those you love. You never forget a kind gesture and always strive to repay others in the same way. Some of you may also be your own boss or have achieved success on your own terms which makes you a role model to many. You know how to take charge of your future and make sure you get everything you want and more in this lifetime which sets you apart from the rest.

Channelled Song: Angel (From Barbie The Album) by PinkPantheress

Pile 3

7oW, Star, Sun rev, 2oS, AoC, Lovers, AoP, Hermit (AoS)

Pile 3, you are a badass and a force to be reckoned with. No one can mess with you, even if they wanted to. You have unwavering confidence in yourself and your ideas and you're never afraid to tackle any challenge head-on and fight for what you deserve. Whether you're dominating your social circles or making big strides in your career, you're steadily climbing to the top where you belong. You never back down from a challenge and you're always ready to fight for what you're passionate about, giving you a major advantage in achieving your goals.

Pil 3, your star power shines bright, even when you're just being yourself. Setbacks don't hold you back for long, much to the surprise or dismay of those who want to see you fall. Even when people try to block your path or dim your shine, they quickly realize they can't touch you because you're loved and adored by many and you have the favor of the most high on your side. You walk through life feeling incredibly blessed, as if you're truly god’s favorite. And everyone else? They're just Ken.

But no matter how strong-willed and influential you are, you also possess a heart full of love, empathy, and kindness. Your intentions are always genuine, and those who care about you may even find themselves falling in love with you, both platonically and romantically. To truly know you is to love you, and if someone doesn't love you, it's likely because they haven't gotten to know you well enough or are simply envious of how you always seem to get what you want out of life. In fact, you're so popular that opportunities seem to come your way effortlessly. People may even go out of their way to assist you because it boosts their own self-esteem to be associated with your success, and many more will continue to admire and look up to you as your star continues to rise.

Channeled Song: Barbie World (with Aqua) by Nicki Manaj, Ice Spice

Pile 4

2oC, 4oS, 4oW, 6oW, Hermit, 3oW, 9oW, 6oS (AoP)

Pile 4, you are a natural people person who always leads from the heart and shows kindness and respect for others no matter what. Making friends comes effortlessly to many of you, even though you mostly prefer to stay low-key and out of the way. You may notice that others usually find solace in your presence and are often drawn to you like a magnet wherever you go. And even if they never say it, just know that many of your loved ones are addicted to your energy and miss you so much whenever you're not around.

What makes you stand out is your commitment to being a positive role model in your community. While others around you might be focused solely on themselves, you often go out of your way to help or bless others whenever you can. For some, you may volunteer your time or money, and for others you help by inspiring others simply by being yourself and going after what makes you happy in life. Please believe your acts of kindness don't go unnoticed, as the universe sees all that you do for others and rewards you with good karma threefold. And though you may not be living a lavish lifestyle just yet, rest assured you will continue to be protected and provided for in many unexpected ways in this lifetime and the next.

Pile 4, I also see that being in your presence empowers others, as you naturally gas them up and boost their self esteem. And you're not one to offer empty compliments or platitudes either; your words hold weight and sincerity. Many recognize your wisdom and view you as someone who knows what they’re talking about when it comes to winning in life. They see you effortlessly overcoming obstacles and bouncing back from any temporary setbacks as if they were never in your way. In fact Pile 4, a lot of people can't help but think you're destined for something extraordinary in this lifetime and some even speculate that you may achieve fame or recognition for your work very soon. They can tell you are on a road less traveled and even if parts of it are still unpaved, you are definitely on the right path for future abundance and success. 

Channeled Song: Dance The Night (from Barbie The Album) by Dua Lipa

Thanks for reading🔮✨

© 2023 stonedcoldfoxtarot. All rights reserved. Please do not copy, translate, edit or redistribute.

[imarvelatstars]

She Walks In Starlight

Pairings: Clone Trooper Sister x f!Reader

Content: slight angst, rex's clone uprising, tbb s3 spoilers, vague description of blood and injuries, inspired by feast of starlight from the hobbit

Word Count: 2.6k

originally posted march 17th, 2024

[masterlist] [ao3 link]

Sister knows a disaster when she sees it; she's been through enough of them with the 212th. It's just that she's never had a disaster of this magnitude happen to her.

There's so much blood. It slicks her gloves until they're soaked, streaks across her armor until the pink and blue brushstrokes are entirely gone. And her heart. It's pounding in her ears so fiercely that she can feel the veins there ticking, feel her skin pulsating with each beat.

She scrambles out of the wreckage, but she's dizzy and her visor's busted, and everything feels wrong. Everything's too tight, too constricting. Her body's hot and cold all at once. And her head hurts like a kriffing clanker just walloped her in the face.

The helmet comes off and clatters atop the cobbles she's crashed upon. Then her knees give out.

The world is hazy now, distant and far away. Something in the back of her mind screams that this is bad, but she can't find it in her to care. Somehow, that seems bad too.

With the last of her strength, she forces her eyes open and fixates on the burning wreckage of her ship. Hardly a ship now when it's busted into pieces and melting all over the forest floor. But she made it, she realizes in a moment of clarity, and that makes her smile. Even if she dies here, even if this is the end of her story, she's proud to have made it this far. She escaped the Empire and that was all she wanted.

Well. Almost.

A breeze comes drifting through the leaves then and as it stirs her hair, Sister finds herself regretting just one last thing. She wishes she could have seen you again.

"We need a medic!"

Whatever was left of your tiingilar goes spilling across the table as Samson, Greer, and Koa breach the main entrance, half tripping over themselves as they carry a- is that kriffing body? Fireball swipes the remainder of his shit off the table - a data pad, his helmet, his own empty bowl - while you run for the nearest medpac.

"She's bleeding out. I need gauze!"

It doesn't hit you until the moment you return, when you see her, what he's said. She.

The body. The body wearing clone armor, painted blue and pink at the joints and chest, covered in blood. Is it her own? Utterly frozen, your eyes drop to the chestplate that's scored with dirt and vibroblade marks, chipped with paint that you know like the back of your own hand. Maker help you, you know that armor. You know her. Even without the armor, you'd know her.

The medpac is ripped from your hands and someone's grabbing you, shouting at you, but you can't hear a single thing they're saying because she is everything - everything you see, everything your universe contains - and she is bleeding out on the table where you take your meals each day.

You reach for her, but you never manage to grab hold. "Sister," you say, but the word is gritty and raw, dry in your mouth. "Sister. She's..." You don't even dare to say it for fear of speaking the nightmare into existence. But she's bloody and pale, and she's not waking up. And you know she's probably going to die. "Help her."

It's then that you realize why you can't reach her. It's Echo. He's holding you back, a hand wrapped around your elbow and the scomp on your back. You turn to him, but you don't see him, can't see him. All you see is her. Her hair, her eyes, closed but you know they're dark and warm beneath the lids. You know the path of her scars and the shape of her callouses, and she's here and you can't find her, and you can't see Echo, and it's all too much because it's all so wrong.

"Echo," you start. You're squirming as he fights to hold you back. "Echo, she's, she's not... She's bleeding. Help her."

"Samson's got her taken care of," he assures you. "You need to give him room to work."

But you shake your head. "No." That's not right either. "She needs me."

She's dying. Why else would there be so much blood?

"What she needs is for you to give them space to save her. She'll be alright."

And maybe she will be. Perhaps in some other dimension, she makes it out of this alive, but that's not here, that's not now. Here and now, you're watching the woman you love bleed out on the dinner table and it's the first time you've seen her since before the Republic collapsed. And you'll be damned if you're not by her side the entire time.

Echo doesn't seem to see it the same way, and that's what gets you detained in a holding zone for the next hour.

"She's stable now," he tells you once he returns to let you out. "You okay?"

Kriff no, you're not okay. Your stomach is churning and the whole inside of your cheek is raw from chewing on it, and your leg won't stop bouncing nor will your heart stop pounding. Because you really thought you'd lost her.

But for his sake, you attempt a polite grimace. "Yeah. Can I see her?"

His palm flattens against the door controls. Heart in your throat, you follow him across the compound to the table she rests on. All of her armor's been removed and stacked in a vaguely neat pile along the nearby supply crates, but it's still stained with blood, all crusty and rusted pink. Her body is crisscrossed with gauze strips and bacta patches, her blacks torn to shreds to the point where they're hardly useful anymore. But she's there, alive, and realer than any dream you've had before.

"Cyare."

Your hand finds her jaw before you even realize you're doing it. And for a moment, one singular, fleeting moment, it's as if you're back on Coruscant, as if this war had never happened, as if she's just got back from deployment and you're welcoming her into your flat. The way it used to be. The way it should have been.

"What happened to you?" you ask, though there's no one to answer you. Sister may be alive, but she's thoroughly unconscious and likely will be for a while if her injuries are anything to go by.

Your hands find one of hers and lift it to your mouth to press a kiss there, like you always used to do, but your lips are met with gauze. And it breaks your fucking heart.

"It's okay. It's okay, baby." You kiss the wrinkled slip of gauze across her knuckles. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Keeping busy is the only thing you can do. Your mind is too scattered to be of much use to anyone, so your usual duties are taken over by Greer, and the time spent anxiously waiting for Sister to wake is used on other things that won't drive you mad - checking her injuries and changing her bandages, scrubbing the blood from her armor, quietly whispering all the things you've longed to share with her in the year she's been gone. You tell her how you found Rex, the work you did in the early days of his rebellion shuttling food and clothes to the Martez repair shop. You tell her about the brothers that were lost and the brothers that were found, how every day you hoped and prayed you'd find her among the clones fleeing the Empire. You tell her that you never gave up searching, never stopped believing you'd find her again. You tell her you love her, but it's not enough to wake her.

Rex takes the empty end of the bench. "How're you holding up?"

The truth is too painful to verbalize, so you opt for a half-truth instead. "I'm okay. I'm just glad she's here."

He nods, almost smiling, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "You want me to watch her for a while?"

"No," you say far too quickly, and with a frantic urgency that should be embarrassing. It's not. Not when it's her. "Sorry. I just, I wanna be here when she wakes up."

A dozen different strings of thought seem to cross his mind then, though he doesn't speak any of them. Whatever he's thinking, he ultimately chooses to keep to himself. "I understand. It's not easy being the one who has to wait."

No, it's not.

"I'd suggest you take a break and get some sleep, but you're not gonna listen. Are you?"

You could apologize for it, but you'd both know it to be a lie. Instead, you offer Rex a smile that says everything you don't know how to say. He sighs.

"Once she's up. I promise."

"Alright." His hand rests gently on your shoulder and then he's gone.

Your attention returns to Sister, to the gentle rise and fall of her chest that marks a rhythm so familiar it might as well be carved into your very bones. "You'll be up soon, huh?" You lean in to nuzzle your cheek against the upper swell of her arm. "It'll be okay, cyare. I promise."

But by now, you're not sure if it's a promise you can keep. The Empire has taken so much from all of you, it would make sense for it to take her too. If you had never known she was still alive, it might have been easier. If you had been forced to endure the rest of your days believing in a dream that could never be, it might have been endurable, but now that you know she's been alive all this time, now that you know she tried to come to Teth and join the uprising, you're not sure you could ever know a moment of peace if she died here.

She has to live. There is no other option.

Hope comes late at night when the stars are out and your body has given in to exhaustion. You're stirred from your slumber when your head thunks solidly on the table. Still half asleep, you jerk into a sitting position and look around in an attempt to assess the situation. Is it an attack? Is something wrong? Is Sister alright?

"Mmh, where... am I?"

That voice. Oh Maker, that voice, you'd know it anywhere. You fear for the longest moment that it's a figment of your imagination, the product of your sleep-addled mind conjuring hallucinations, that this is all just another dream, but no. No, it's real. She's awake and blinking, frowning. She's alive.

You're so frantic to stand that you nearly trip over yourself trying to extract your legs from the bench. "Sister? Baby, are you-?"

"'s so dark," she slurs. "Can't... Where...?"

You're shouting before you even realize it. "Rex! Rex, she's awake!" You're so happy, you could cry. You are crying. "Cyare, honey, it's okay. It's me."

Her head tilts to one side, then the other as she tries to assess her surroundings, but it's clear she's struggling. A concussion, one of her brothers had said, a side effect of the crash that had nearly cost her life. Between that and the dimmed lights, it would be a miracle if she could make out anything in the entire compound.

Her furrowed gaze settles on you a moment later, only without a shred of recognition. "Who, who are you?"

Your heart is shattering. Every broken shard of it is piercing through your skin, ripping you apart from the inside out. Does she truly not remember you?

You press one of her hands to your face. "It's me, Sister, your..." Her what, exactly? There had never been a true label on the thing that simmered between you. In your head and in your heart, she had quite simply been yours as you had been hers. Now, though, you wish for a word deeper than girlfriend and more vibrant than lover. "You remember me?"

Rex, Nemec, and Samson come running in then with a couple of spare medpacs and wide, frantic eyes. Rex wordlessly asks for your hand - to take you away, no doubt, to let their brothers check her over. You know they need to, you know she needs the medical attention more than she needs you, but you hate having to leave her.

"No, wait, Rex, I can stay. Let me stay."

"That's not a good idea," he answers with a shake of his head. He's already starting to pull you away. "She'll be fine. Let's just give the boys some space, alright?"

You lunge for her hand as you're maneuvered apart. "Cyare, cyare, it's okay! It's okay, just stay awake for me, baby, okay? Rex, lemme-"

"Is that...?" It's as if your voice is a magnet, drawing her up until she's sitting upright, blindly searching the room for - for you? Your name is desperate on her tongue in the worst possible way. "Can't be..."

"Easy, vod," says Samson with a hand at her collarbone. "Lay back. You're still pretty roughed up."

Nemec leans in with a bacta stim. "Talk to me, Sister, okay? Can you do that?"

She frowns as she's laid back down. You've stopped struggling by now, but it's more from your own shock than anything else. This all feels too real and somehow not real enough. You're watching her as if through a lens, as if she were far away, as if your reality has ceased to exist while she wades through her the uncertainty of her own.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Sister grunts when Samson starts swiping disinfectant over one of her wounds. "My ship... They shot me right before I, I went to hyperspace, and then..." She starts to sit up again, but Nemec holds her down. "Where is she?"

"Your ship crashed in the jungle. Not much of it left, I'm afraid."

"No." She says your name again, softer this time, as Rex's arms tighten around you. "She was here, but... She can't be." You know the separation is for the best, that you'd be little more than a distraction if you were free, but it kills you just the same.

The two brothers exchange looks.

"Made sure of it," she mutters, and her head falls back against the table. "'s not safe."

You strain against the press of the Captain's vambraces, but he holds fast. "Rex, please."

Nemec offers her a comforting pat on the shoulder. "It's alright, vod, you're safe now. The Empire's not gonna find you here. We'll get you all taken care of."

But she keeps babbling, mumbling half-finished sentences that don't make any sense, about Kamino, Coruscant, the Empire, you. She keeps asking for you as if she were indeed still stuck in a dream, caught somewhere else where the world is vast and hope is a sure thing.

"Promised her I'd come back. Never, never did. Now she's far away." She smiles in the prettiest way she ever has, half delirious and broken, and you swear nothing's ever hurt so much as this does. "She's... she's like, like starlight."

Samson's head tilts in your direction, eyes dark and tired, but you think he might be inclined to smile. He applies another bacta patch to the worst of the wounds with gentle, steady hands. "Tell us about her."

"She's gone," she laments. "She'll forget about me. 's, 's for the best..."

Later, though, when the boys are gone and she's lucid, you'll tell her just how wrong she is. You'll tell her how you would have waited a lifetime for her, you'll tell her that she's too deeply imprinted on your heart for you to ever love another. And you'll hold her 'til the stars fall from the sky, 'til the universe crumbles around you. You'll tell her that she is the truest starlight you've ever known, always illuminating the darkest night with her brilliantly shimmering heart and her undying hope. You'll tell her that she walks in starlight in another world, and you're simply blessed to follow along in her wake.

[thecoddaughter]

Secret Life as Every The Crane Wives Song

(EXTREMELY LONG POST WARNING)

 

Etho: 

Nothing at All  “Do you ever feel nothing at all? I do, I do, I do. I would not wish that on you”

Counting Sheep “Feign contentment for a while, that's all you know how to do.”

Grian:

Sleeping Giant “I feel the mountains, I feel the mountains shifting under me. The sleeping giants are finally waking.”  (This man knows things about the sudden arrival of a ominous deity like entity)

Steady, Steady “I can take for better but for worse can't condone. Most of all for good just makes me ache to be alone.” (Not teaming up with people for so long because of fear of hurting them)

Ancient History “My dreams keep digging up the bones of memories. Discarded remnants of former times.” (Again, watchers…)

Pearl:

I Talk In My Sleep “I talk in my sleep when my demons won't let me be. They twist the things I say when you are far away.”

How to Rest  “Though you've convinced yourself, you're safe and sound within. The thing you fear the most never need get in.”

New Colors  “Old towns here are mean. Spit fire and gasoline. But all I want is solitude. I have half a mind to climb up in the sky and hide myself inside the moon”

The Crooked, The Cradle “I'm nobody's daughter. I'm nobody's daughter. My enemies crow. "We're alone with the kill"”  “I won't pretend my season won't end,  but I pray, when it's done, when it's through I'll have something left for you.”

Scar: 

The Garden  “The crows in the garden are laughing at my expense, drowning out all the lies that I might have told instead” (his scamming and scheming butt can't escape me)

New Discovery  “Sometimes I feel like I’m lost in the desert… I see my footprints in the sand so I know where I’ve been”  (desert... like the desert duo... i'm so clever!)

Can’t Have It All  “I won't bargain, I won't break. My mind's made up, though my head still aches and all my love you tried to take, but you can't have it all.”

Cleo:

Ribs “Brick and mortar between my bones. Built a kingdom fierce and fortified. My name fading from the yellow page. Stones are laid upon the mountainside.”

Tongues & Teeth “I will poison all your happy thoughts. I will love you like the ashes in my cigarette box and if you're fine with that you can be mine.”

Impulse:

Little Soldiers “I fought with tooth and nail before the flag had flown but you were already gone”

Strangler Fig “You built your kingdom around me. Now I'm trapped within your walls and all I want is to be free.” (That man died and joined the apocalypse willingly to be at Gem's side)

Scott:

Pretty Little Things “Cracked lips and hands, calloused hands. I still feel his touch against my skin. Past loves linger like phantom limbs.”  “Don't buy me flowers, it pains me to watch. Pretty little things wilt away.” (this man hold's onto past alliances in her heart, only second to Skizz)

Shallow River “Red sky morning, lovers' warning. Oh I know that the promise you wear, well it ain't for me.” (red sky and love refer to Jimmy’s death. The “You” is Gem though)

Bdubs:

Never Love an Anchor “It's a secret I keep tucked inside my chest with this heart of mine that's guilty, not remorseful” (him not so subtly jumping between mounders and roomies, maybe? idk. its also just kinda his vibe.)

Naked, the Night Falls “Turn your ghosts into mine. All the years, all the years I'm alive.” (him finding Etho and Cleo again)

BigB:

Hard Sell “Hoping I can find a better me. A fresh new start buried under me.”

Metaphors “I've gotten good at leaning on metaphors. I've gotten good at living on someone else's page. I cut my teeth on second-hand sentiments. You can't trust a single thing I say.” (his cryptid butt is not escaping metaphors this go around)

Martyn:

Turn out the Lights “Sometimes all you can do is say goodnight and tuck your demons into bed cause they're not worth fighting.”

Rockslide “This wild weather's got the mountain shakin' weak. Oh I know you want to plant your feet but we best get a move on or the devil we will meet.” “That monster's comin' and it don't care for you or me. Don't look back now, honey” (This has been in my head since Martyn moved in with Jim at the top of the Mesa.)

Show Your Fangs “A ballad of a lonesome peak. I curse the ground, shed my old sins. For weight will only make me weak” “Bravely I will wield my weapon. I made from fangs of those that died.” (Big Dogs… RIP)

Skizz:

Know How “I keep my focus on what is safe. You drew a line. Made up your mind and now I'm struggling to realize.” (This song is Imp and Skizz’s relationship post Imp’s attack)

Easier “The only peace I have ever known is the peace I made with you. I won't move, but I can't stay here.” (Skizz and Tango’s relationship throughout the season)

October “Take my word but keep the upper hand. I know you, you're the daughter of a lonely man.” (My interpretation of SL!Skizz is this super caring guy who his haunted by this vague memory of bloodlust that comes out in empty threats to people he doesn’t really want to hurt.)

Gem (all of these are about session seven specifically!):

Allies or Enemies  “They spread like some awful damn disease” “Are we allies or enemies? This will be the death of me.”

The Glacier House “You cursed the Earth you settled under… Under… Understand I had to go.” “Bundle up darling, you're on your own now. Seasons change as they do. Maybe I'll see you when your shivering is through.”

I Ain’t Done “I am a pretty young thing. I am consumed by selfish wanting. Carelessly broke you down but I’m not done.” (this girl came in and told a winner and a runner up that they need to get their act together and that she was gonna be the one to get them to the end. I love her!)

Joel “Loves his wife” Smallishbeans:

Down the River “'Cause ain't it easier to just move on? One door closing means another one. Opens unto some unsuspecting fool. “Sure, you can forget about all the things you've done but what about the rest of us? High-tail it when it gets to be too much.” “Too many people with your name on top of their lists.” “You were never the one to suffer.” (All of Joel’s anger about Jim celebrating Lizzie’s death and the fact that Jim then also immediately died, leaving him alone.)

Unraveling “But now my love is gone and I am left unraveling.” “And I am left here withering” “And I can't help the fracturing”

The Diving Bell  “I descend so well, in an open diving bell, the beauty of the deep. Far into abyss in your silent lips call me will I sleep” 

Caleb Trask “"When a flower blossoms red. That's the day, that's the day, that's the day. I'll love you. That's the day, that's the day. I'll love you." (I’ve stated before that this is his song, not specifically bc of SL. I think of azalea’s and I think of Joel.)

Tango:

Curses “There's a fire in my brain, and I'm burning up” “Every word I say is kindling but the smoke clears when you're around. Won't you stay with me, my darling, when my walls start burning down?” (Our fire man and his forever teammate…)

Safe Ship, Harbored “Where does your faith form in me? Don't break the bottle. Don't waste your blessings on me.” “A safe ship, harbored losing all of my good years to the shallow water. I ain't proud.” (The Heart Foundation [in my opinion] seemed like a great way to make alliances and be well liked, however, it also kinda put them at a disadvantage never getting any hearts of their own.)

Mumbo:

The Moon Will Sing “On some level, I think I always understood that these hands of mine were clumsy, not clever.” “With this heart of mine that's guilty, not remorseful. There is love that doesn't have a place to rest. But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders” (Something, something. The love Mumbo has for Grian.)

Back to the Ground “Little buds make their graves as the warmth inside us fades but I still don't know shit about letting go.” “Our hearts lay still and cold, under frozen soil. I can't stay here anymore so remember when I go.” (Something, something. The miner destined for accidents.)

Jimmy: 

Not the Ghost “If only I could break the chain of disappointments, weighing me down. Shake off the ghosts that whisper warnings.”

Keep You Safe “When I watched my friends ride to the tops of the trees. With the risk of fall, I never climbed at all.” “Time is not your friend. Time is not your remedy. No amount of waiting will make you, make you brave.”

Canary in the Coal Mine  “You and I are friends of empty graves”  (he does not escape this song!) 

Lizzie (all of these songs with Lizzie in mind makes me cry):

Can’t Go Back “The time has come for moving on. You can't be always trying to dig up. What you've already buried.” “It's not fair (When have you ever known the world to be a fair place?) It's not fair (All things end and all things change) It's not fair (You'll look back and laugh someday) It's not fair (Or at least you'll learn to be okay)”

Of Everlong  “And if my lover will not hear it. Take my voice and take my spirit, leave me weakened and dig my hole. Only my lover, not I, can keep my soul” (Only Joel mourns her and it’s a sad sad day)

Icarus “Til your far away and breathing cleaner air, oh my brother…” (her brother... the man cursed to die... named after a bird who dies of poisoned air... who'd a thunk it...)

Unplaced songs: The hand that feeds, hole in the silver lining, Once & For All

[keithal]

Do you have any supernatural fic recs?

ANON. i have been waiting since 2019 for someone to ask me this. prepare to regret this decision (FYI: i'm taking all these recs & following notes from my public bookmarks on ao3, which you can find here. i'm cutting the notes short, so if u don't mind spoiler-y drawn-out comments, check that out too if u want!)

deancas focused:

A Reasonable Amount of Trouble by xylodemon -> an spn au where dean is a p.i. and a hunter on the side, cas is still an angel, and they get caught up in a plot that's a mix of seasons 4, 6, 8, and 9. this was my introduction to spn and deancas. the characterization is flawless and the prose is beautiful (very cs pacat-esque). the plot is crafted with close attention to detail and the pacing is perfect

the point of our being by noviembre -> a post-s15 fix-it that takes place immediately after the penultimate episode. noviembre is undoubtedly my favorite spn writer of all time. one of the best dean voices i've ever come across. this ties up the narrative threads into a beautiful, sound, satisfying ending, and both destiel & saileen survive. despite the odds, they're happy.

i projected onto dean winchester when i was twelve years old and now im making it your problem by alittleduck (amidsizedfrog) -> another post-finale fix it. and, to date, the funniest thing i've ever read. every fic in this series has a good balance between scenes that make u laugh so hard u hurt ur throat and Scenes That Make You Want To Gurgle Cement.

So Says The Sword by komodobits -> a s4 au and a fandom classic for a reason. if u haven't read this, i'm of the firm belief it's best to go in as blind as possible. but definitely keep this verse in the back of ur mind while reading: "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father" (matthew 10:29)

sir this is a wendy's by noviembre -> yall remember when misha collins said that a modern au deancas would be like if a wendy's janitor and the president of the usa fell in love? well noviembre took that seriously and now we're here. and u should all be thankful bc it's somehow the single funniest and most romantic thing i've ever read

the pie isn’t a metaphor (it’s just pie) by noviembre -> post-finale s15 domestic deancas fic that's the emotional equivalent of drinking tea and lying under a warm weighted blanket. it makes me so happy and i think abt it every time i eat a pastry. i just sit there chewing like “dean and cas are eating fresh pie in their kitchen” and it puts a smile on my face.

Muscle Memory by komodobits -> a "50 first dates" au that i think abt every single day. i'm not joking. it's so sad and touching and sweet and unexpectedly funny, and no one writes deancas like komodobits. it just FEELS so them and i'm obsessed w it.

Strandlines by aeli_kindara -> au where s4 cas meets stanford-era dean. dean's voice and characterization is incredibly in-character with the early seasons and his voice doesn't falter once. and of course castiel! robotic s4 cas with this tremendous power and this fierce yet wavering loyalty to heaven that eventually focuses solely on dean! likewise, his character is spot-on and i enjoyed reading from his pov immensely.

[podfic] right hand on his rife, swore it on the bible by be_brave13 for quensty, floorsirens -> u can't possibly expect me NOT to include this. YES my friend and i wrote the fic but be_brave13's love and appreciation for it makes it feel like a completely separate work. my favorite podfic (and gift) of all time so i implore u to give it a listen.

something suddenly everywhere by noviembre -> the finest post-s15 fix-it of all time. cas is in the empty, they've defeated god, jack is gone, and all that's left is sam, eileen, dean, a bunker, and trying to move on. i know i already said that but this is the same author so it still counts! i cried, i laughed, i grieved, i jumped from excitement. it's a rollercoaster of emotions. it should be put behind a velvet rope at a museum so we can all gather around and clap.

To Boldly Go by 8daysuntiltheapocalypseiguess -> au where dean writes star trek fanfiction. it follows him from the beginning of the show to the older seasons and is told entirely thru his fic summaries, reader commentary, and livejournal dms. warning that it is unfinished, but it's a masterpiece

saileen focused:

Loveletter (Dear Eileen) by voynichs (Xenerik) -> a short and beautiful meditation about love and eileen from sam's pov. it's only 300 words but it feels like 15k. definitely at the top of my fave saileen fics of all time. when i first read it i stayed up until 2 am crying abt it

Livin' on a Prayer by Dredfulhapiness -> EILEEN MEETING EARLY SEASONS DEAN AND SAM I'M SCREAMING. do u understand how this could've changed the timeline but, more importantly, me as a person. eileen there when dean and sam were trying to find a way out of the deal, there when everything happened with ruby, there for dean's resurrection, there before they met cas, there after sam dies and dean retires and cas goes m.i.a. and DEALING with the aftermath of a foiled apocolypse. everyone hates the winchesters but the winchesters are gone and all that's left is eileen to deal with the brunt of it.

With Hands Clasped by Xenerik -> a handful of snippets from the eileen wedding that explores gender and religion and love so beautifully. i haven't been able to read it completely yet, but i can tell this is going to be another saileen fave.

other pairings/no pairings

The Love Story of the Runner Up by Margo_Kim -> told from the perspective of a guy cas had a brief affair with as a semi-drunken story he tells a friend in a bar. it's technically deancas but since cas's relationship with another man takes main focus, i elected to put it here.

Ten Years by Margo_Kim -> a bela talbot character study and the best i've been able to find, no contest. *rowena voice* good girls are pathetic here's to evil skanks <3

The Archangel Gabriel Is Dead by seizethefire -> fics that have half a million kudos in my mind. it's about how and why rafael comes to think that god is dead. it expertly explores the familial relationship between gabriel, lucifer, michael, and rafael. it's devastating and beautiful in equal measure. definitely a personal favorite and one i think everyone should read

put them in a box somewhere by amidsizedfrog -> a mary & dean fic told from mary's pov from before she died. a gut-wrenching story about performative/toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia and mothers.

lastly, if ur interested, i also write spn fic >:) which u can find by clicking here. happy reading!

[harudnae]

As part of the Great Draft Eradication Plan, today's fic is a Shakky x Rayleigh songfic!

Title and rest of lyrics borrowed from Crowned & Kissed by Esperanza Spalding, I thought it fitted them well 😊

Also posted on AO3 on 2024.01.04

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Shakky x Rayleigh, Roger x Rayleigh

Summary: Shakky and Rayleigh, over the years.

Content warnings : timeline goes from Roger Pirates early years to post-Return to Sabaody, spoilers for chapter 1059 too, canon character death, feels™, alcohol drinking, rated M for aforementioned topics + mentions of sex but nothing graphic

Word count: <3k

👑 My king, my king, my, my my my

"Ship ahoy!"

Shakuyaku climbs over the prow and glares in the direction the lookout points at.

Sure enough, there's a ship there, and not just any ship: The Oro Jackson herself, and aboard it the Roger Pirates are piling over the railing, gathering from bow to stern to observe the Kuja Pirates.

The Empress smirks and turns back to her crew. "Alright, girls. These ones are strong, but we'll show them the Kuja aren't weak either. Get ready to fight them!"

Everyone aboard cheers and prepares the boarding.

Shakuyaku stands at the prow, proud and thrilled at the prospect of a battle against one of the most ill-famed crew of the Grand Line. She spreads her Observation Haki further out, and digs her senses into what's happening on the Oro Jackson.

As expected, there's excitation about the upcoming battle, as well as eagerness, mostly among the strongest foes.

Shakuyaku intensely studies the Roger Pirates, eyes lingering on their Captain and First Mate once they're close enough to be discerned among their men. She senses they're the most troublesome, and she's on the verge of calling for her crew when–

"Let's go, men!"

With a single glare from their Empress, the Kuja Pirates instantly throw themselves into battle.

The Roger Pirates give them hell to deal with but the Kuja manage to give them a good fight, their Haki and snakes effectively making up for smaller numbers.

Shakuyaku's crew bravely defend themselves for a couple of days, but they eventually lose the fight. Their Captain orders that they sail towards the closest island, determined in doing whatever she can for her people, even in defeat.

The Roger Pirates tail them and moor at the rocky beach next to the Kuja's ship.

Shakuyaku walks to them and kneels in front of their Captain, offering her head in exchange for the safety of the rest of her crew.

Roger huffs a laugh, then says, "Get them tended to. You'll need that for next time."

Proud and stubborn, Shakuyaku asks him, "Why don't you claim your victory like you men do?"

Roger raises an eyebrow. "You fought well. We should do that sometime again", he says before offering a hand to help her up.

Shakuyaku is confused beyond belief, but she accepts the help up. She quietly studies the rest of the crew that's setting foot on land behind their Captain: no trace of malice or any more animosity inside either of them, some curiosity but none of it bears ill intentions. Her gaze falls on the Dark King against whom she fought for a good while, stretches out her Observation Haki and finds... respect? Frowning, she returns to her crew.

All the Kuja launch themselves at their beloved Empress, glad she's returning to them unscathed and they're all free to go.

Shakuyaku gathers her crew and orders them to patch themselves up and the ship so they can leave soon.

Meanwhile on the other side of the beach, the Roger Pirates are apparently preparing for a feast.

The Dark King comes by the Kuja just as they make preparations to set sail again. He asks if they want to join the party.

Shakuyaku observes him warily. Fiercely unnerved by his casual attitude, she glares. "What makes you think we would party with any of you? Why should we–"

Rayleigh interrupts her. "We don't have hidden motives. We won't hold you back if you really want to leave. But if you're hungry or anything, feel free to join us."

Shakuyaku silently studies Rayleigh's face, his soft smile and gaze, and her Haki doesn't discern any bad intention. What's with that man that makes me want to trust him?

Rayleigh's smile widens. "Do what you please. Either way, you've got amazing skill, it was a good fight. See ya!" With that he leaves to join the rest of his crew around the fire pit.

The Empress remains stunned for a while. Finally, she glances at her crew, an inquiring eyebrow raised.

Some of the Kuja Pirates shrug, some of them eye towards the Roger Pirates.

Shakuyaku shakes her head and sighs.

Eventually, they join the other crew and party until dawn.

That night, she learns that some men can earn her respect, and even make for good company around a fire pit. Some might even make her smile while warmth blooms in her chest. What do you know?

Where is the throne For you, whose tender strength can heal a thousand souls Everyone you touch just turns to gold

Back home in Amazon Lily, Shakuyaku falls sick. Her fever is high enough that she can't attend her usual duties, and the previous Empress of the Kuja stays beside her while her most trusted women took charge.

Gloriosa slides her a knowing look. "Did you meet a man that made you feel different than usual?", she asks.

"Maybe", Shakuyaku eludes, hoping her illness goes away soon.

It doesn't. In fact the symptoms go from bad to worse, and in just about a few days she's bed-ridden, barely coming out of a bleak sleep in-between fevers.

After some more prodding from Gloriosa, Shakuyaku eventually admits, "The Dark King, they call him. I don't know why, but I knew I could trust him and–" She coughs, then heavily pants, head heavy.

Gloriosa heavily sighs. "Empress, you're suffering Love Sickness. The only way to cure it is to accept your feelings towards that man."

Shakuyaku acknowledges her feelings for Rayleigh, for the sake of her own health. She picks her best fighter in the crew to take the helm and lead the Kuja, then she leaves Amazon Lily and goes to the Sabaody Archipelago. She opens a bar there and starts a new life as Shakky.

Many have tried But you're the one whose noble touch has gently pried The sword from my heart

The Roger Pirates eventually barge in some day, looking for a good drink.

Shakky's heart flutters when her gaze finds Rayleigh in the middle of the rowdy crowd, but she soon notices that Roger has all his attention. She swallows down her love and simply does her job as bartender.

"Why would the Empress of the Kuja leave her people?", Rayleigh asks when he comes by the bar for a refill.

"I have my reasons", she says.

Rayleigh shrugs and offers her a smile. "Alright, I won't pry. But I'm still curious, so feel free to tell me if you want to, some day."

Shakky smiles, cheeks a little warmer. So he wants to visit again. This is going to be something.

As it is, the Roger Pirates go through the Sabaody Archipelago regularly enough that she meets them often, and they make sure to always come to her bar when they're on the grove.

Shakky keeps tabs on the crew through newspapers and an information network she slowly extends between their passages. Each visit is an opportunity to make friends with everyone over time, and she grows fonder of the cabin boys too. Shakky's love for Rayleigh only blooms further, but the more she observes the deep bond between him and Roger, the more she keeps to herself. She truly respects the relationship they have, and she figures that if her illness subsided this long without her needing to voice out her feelings, she'll always manage. At least she gets to spend some time with him along the way.

Years pass, and the News Coo brings news of the Roger Pirates having reached the final island of the Grand Line.

She openly cheers for them that day, hoping to see them soon and celebrate with them.

Once you put a smile on the sun Once you paved the road for everyone And you shed the worries of another

Gaban came alone for a drink a few months ago, and told her that the crew had been disbanded. He put a comforting hand across Shakuyaku's shoulder when she frowned, and answered her untold question. "Rayleigh stayed behind in the East Blue with the kids." Gaban tells her before leaving her bar, that he's going to the New World soon, and the rest of the crew scattered everywhere so there are chances she'll meet them one day.

Shakky broods for a while without seeing any of the Roger Pirates– former Roger Pirates, she keeps repeating herself, still not quite believing that this crew is no more.

Piling up with the void left in her bar and her heart, the newspaper brings news of Roger's impending execution.

Shakky doesn't open her bar on the day Roger dies, and she sheds her fair share of tears. She drinks to the amazing life he had, and drinks some more for his crew who must be heartbroken. Shakky wonders how Rayleigh is faring these days, especially today, and she drinks again, heart heavy.

The Dark King comes back to the Archipelago a few months later and visits her. He's sad, lonely and heartbroken from his loss, from not being in contact with any of the former crew, and more so from lack of news about the former cabin boys who never returned after Roger was executed.

Shakky comforts him the best she can, offering him a shoulder to cry on, shelter and care for the next months. With time, once Rayleigh's intense sadness subsides and he regularly smiles again, she decides to reveal her feelings. "Do you remember when you asked me why the Empress of the Kuja would leave her people?"

Rayleigh tilts his head, his lips curling into a small smile. "I do. Feeling chatty now?"

Shakky nods the affirmative. "I got sick, like many did before me, like many will after me. This... sickness is the reason why I left."

Rayleigh raises an eyebrow. "What kind of sickness forces you to leave your people?"

"Love Sickness."

"You fell in love", Rayleigh states.

"I did", Shakky softly smiles. "It may sound odd for an outsider, but it's fatal to us if left without acknowledgement. I needed some time to accept it, but I eventually did, and I left the island to pursue said love."

"You're still single, though", Rayleigh remarks.

"I learned how to be patient", she quietly says.

"How long has it been?"

"Seventeen years."

Rayleigh intensely studies her face, then his eyebrows shoot up and he exhales a single, breathless, "Oh."

Shakky softly looks at him. "As I said, I learned how to be patient. I'm here, I've been for a while... And I'll stay here, so you know where to find me, if and when you want to."

Lay your burdens down Don't even make a sound Don't worry about a thing I'm here to love you

Busy behind the bar, Shakky smiles to herself. "Feel like settling for a while?"

Another few months pass and Rayleigh announces that he'll stay on Sabaody for good.

"I figured I could do just like you did: going by another name and finding myself a new job. I'm thinking of being a ship mechanic. What do you think?"

Shakky approvingly hums. "I'm sure you'd do great. That way, you'll get more chances at seeing your crew again if they come through here, right?"

Rayleigh's voice softens. "There's that... and there's another thing I don't want to miss."

Shakky turns around and finds Rayleigh leaning over the bar, a hopeful smile on his lips. Shakky's heart beats fast when she reaches out for his hand and their fingers interlace.

Rayleigh adopts the nickname Shakky gave him, and he starts working as a coating mechanic. He got news of his two apprentices too, and couldn't be happier that they're making a name for themselves. He's also curious about a young boy Shanks told him about when he last went through the archipelago, and he's hoping to meet him someday.

Shakky and him take their time but eventually fall into each other's arms, slow and gentle, loving and tender, careful and attentive. Finally, Shakky feels the lingering ache in her heart melt away.

My kisses are your crown And I'm your queen So now lay with me my king I'm here to love you

Ray and Shakky have been married for a while when a familiar straw hat makes an appearance on the newspaper.

They both keep tabs on the kid Shanks told them about, as well as who's left of Ray's nakama.

Eventually Luffy and his crew arrive on the Archipelago, and barge into Shakky's bar much like the Roger Pirates once did.

Shakky smiles to herself when she notices the similarities between the straw hat wearers, understanding what Shanks saw in him. She happily treats Luffy and his crew just like she did with Roger and his men, fondly imagining what Rayleigh will say when he meets him.

The straw hat is always a magnet for trouble, and the shit hits the fan soon after Luffy's crew set foot on the groves.

Ray comes back to the bar with a sour face after the young crew's disappearance and what the Shichibukai Kuma said running in his mind.

I'm a leader of the Revolutionary Army. I want to help the Straw Hats escape this place.

Shakky gives him a warm hug. "Have faith in them", she says, "Trust that they'll get through this." She doesn't know who she's trying to convince more between Ray and herself, but she does it anyway.

Go ahead take on the world I'll be beside you as you vanquish pain and war Each battlefield transformed now Hope can grow

Hatchan and Camie remain at Shakky's bar to get some rest. The mermaid is worried sick about Luffy and the others.

"They're up against an Admiral. It's not enough just to be strong", Shakky grimly says, reminiscing with a shiver her encounters with former Admirals from her days as a Kuja Pirate.

Garp gave her hell to deal with, too, and he never got past Vice-Admiral.

"We'll be sailing dangerous waters from there on. A big wave like no one's ever seen is heading this way. They can't let it swamp them." She looks towards the ceiling, thinking of Roger and his legacy, entrusted to the future in the form of his former crew paving the way for the next generation. "Can you hear it?"

Hatchan frowns. "Huh?"

"The times are about to become as rough as these seas."

Ray leaves the bar when Ace's execution is broadcasted on the Sabaody Archipelago.

Shakky stays behind but keeps an ear on the news. She winces when she learns of Roger's son and of his bond with Luffy. Oh Ray... I'm so sorry... Pain and dread fills her guts, she sense that very little good can come out of the impending execution.

Oh, this just sure can do what none other I know even the strongest man needs Someone to hold him

After the Summit War, Ray comes back and drinks her bar dry. He's worried sick about Luffy's whereabouts, disheartened by the whole situation and he almost considers throwing the towel.

Shakky manages to comfort him, saying that he should be proud of his kids being safe and sound, and that Monkey-chan should be alright if Shanks and Buggy were around. She tries to guess where the boy might be, and suddenly it hits her like a brick. Ah. Hancock is a Shichibukai. So that's how it is. "I know where Monkey-chan is."

"Huh?"

"It'll all make sense if we assume Hancock's fallen for Monkey-chan. He's quite the catch! If I were Hancock, I'd fool the Navy by hiding him on the island of women."

"Ha ha! Isn't that idea rather far-fetched?"

"I don't think so." Shakky slides Ray a knowing look.

Following Shakky's hunch, Ray goes to Amazon Lily.

Shakky smiles to herself when her husband appears on the newspaper a few days after, along with Jimbe and Luffy. Told you.

Rayleigh next spends a year and a half on Ruskaina training the boy.

Ray comes back a few months before the promised rendez-vous, looking happy and hopeful.

Shakky welcomes him with open arms and his favorite drink. "How's Monkey-chan?"

"About ready to claim his title."

Once you carried all the weight on your shoulder And you made a way for the future

The Straw Hat crew finally comes back to the Sabaody Archipelago, under Ray and Shakky's approval. Oh, how they've grown!

Shakky is sure this time they'll make it.

Another storm brews on the groves after their reunion, and Ray helps his latest apprentice escape.

Shakky joins him as he watches over the Strawhats' departure.

"Are you thinking about the past, Ray?"

"Well... I suppose so."

Lay your burdens down, don't even make a sound I'll be beside you as you vanquish pain and war So hope can grow Everyone you touch just turns to gold I want you to know I'll be by your side I'm here to love you

Rayleigh wipes a couple of tears off his eyes. "Maybe there's no such thing as coincidence on this world. Maybe everything that happens is inevitable. Destiny just goes on in its plodding way. And yet, Luffy has grown into a man even more worthy of that hat. It might not be a bad thing to live just a little longer."

Shakky smiles and embraces him. "You worked so hard, Ray. Come rest." Shakky gives him a tender kiss.

Ray softly sighs. "Yeah, I think I'll do just that." He looks up, gaze fond and hopeful. "Thank you, I love you."

[mxmasters]

who do u consider closer friends out of the GAW?

ahh, well, "close" is relative. GAW is a lot like family, in that there's lots of people in the mix and you don't really know all of them as much (or as little) as you might want to.

mind you, they're also comrades, so I'd step up and fight for any of 'em. Especially the kids. it's a fucked-up world and they need someone in their corner.

last thing: I have, uh. problems. sharing past events. so I'm scared of getting too close to certain people. you know how it is.

aside from that... wait, am I allowed to be specific?

I don't see a problem with it, so long as we make one thing clear: only a few of these characters are original to the MxTape. Everything else is based on my interpretations of existing works, and the original authors always have the final say.

MxTape Originals, aka Steal These OCs

Doreen Gray (alwaysbpositive): Met her because of my delivery work. She needed some ethically-sourced B+, and I knew some queer people with units to spare. Not like Canadian Blood Services wants it! Homophobes. Anyway we've been friendly ever since. She's got two moods: energetic and depressed. I can relate.

meatgerm: I've crashed on this man's couch twice and still don't know his name. Do NOT eat his cooking! He WILL prank you. Really good fiddle player, though.

Tanya Miller (twilight_tone): Extremely close! We are partners! Sometimes we even dream together.

Louis (WHEREISMYHOG): never met IRL but he's got some wild stories and a solid understanding of magical theory.

Penelope Gore (whistl_stahp): yo we've talked about this.

MxTape Guests, aka Upcoming Attractions

Desmond Callaghan (gothicalfallacy): really, really cool! Hand member. Fellow Jojo appreciator. Probably the only person I know who understands theory better than WHEREISMYHOG. Go-to-guy for questions. Too bad he's only available, like, half the time.

Judith Feingold (thisisstupid12345): Desmond's sister; also a Hand member. Barely involved with GAW, but she kept logging into her brother's account and bones said that was against the rules, so here we are. Not magical, but very, very keen on guns, so she mostly talks with _FuddruckeR_.

GAW Members, aka "Janitors call us PoIs"

bones: we got to talking after the whole "terrestrial years" thing, and as it turns out... it's not doing a bit! an actual alien satellite. That sorta blew my mind. bones is a bit short and perfunctory sometimes but I think it's just doing the absolute best it can with people it doesn't entirely understand, which... same, tbh?

acuterobot: adorable. following her tumblr blog got me in some trouble, but I don't hold that against her.

polaricecraps: ehhh complicated. I see a lot of myself in PIC, but he's smarter than I was at his age and that cuts both ways. He's in it for the right reasons but speaking from experience, that's a great way to shoot yourself in the foot. He also lost my fucking TAPE but I puked in his van a while back so we're calling it even.

Andressa (gaycopmp4) and Dahlia (hetcopogg): literally the cutest couple I've ever seen. Fierce, passionate, committed to justice... and, uh, their kid? pretty sure Heather (Ms. Mad About Video Games) counts as their daughter. I send them tons of care packages with how-to books and chill retro games.

Armand (harmpit): extremely funny, lots of cool tricks, really difficult to understand in conversation. Marginally easier in text.

kkrule and kektagon: drive me ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE. They're basking in the low-grade background radiation of the Internet and they're going to get emotional cancer. I've been there and I desperately want to help steer them out of it but GOD DAMN they are insufferable.

opossum: even worse. Probably the single most abrasive person I've ever met. Always arguing. Banned multiple times but never perma'd.

FreakyGhostBed: doesn't get out much, so I installed a media server in his family's basement so he can keep busy while they're asleep. we've hung out a few times since then. we mostly talk about movies.

_FuddruckeR_ and orbhorse: live and work on a ranch in the Southern States. Fantastic hosts, so long as you can tolerate Fudd plinking at targets all day.

CommunismAnarchismNihilism: incredible source for zines and materiel, a decent percentage of which have some kind of juice to them. We trade stuff. we also argue a lot (politics) but that's all in good fun (I think?)

fallout_meta.txt: escaped some real nasty characters to become a better person. I respect that, and I respect their top-tier opsec, because I don't know a single thing about them besides what's necessary.

FunkoPopFan1: not very active in the chat (super shy), but extremely resourceful, good at manipulating plastics, and passionate about her hobbies. Sadly one of those hobbies is collecting funko pops.

tabris, hybridRainbow, starspark, chokerless and bluefootedboobies: I would ride or die for all these kids.

And finally, The Big Three.

Esther Kogan (lesbian_gengar): friendly in the chat but we haven't met in person, bc she has deep ties in Three Ports and maybe she heard something about my fuckup back in 2008. On the other hand... remember what I said about having a type? The type who could kick my ass? Well, LG could definitely do that. In fact she could probably fry my brain. Yow!

JJ (jockjamsvol6): this dude defies description. I mean yes, he's hot, and he's chill, but the second he walks into a room... you know you're in for some shit. JJ is always EXACTLY where he's supposed to be, and as a genre-savvy person, that is TERRIFYING, because the narrative flows AROUND HIM. It's like watching someone waltz through a hurricane; it's cool, but not super safe for whoever stands around gawking.

And lastly... Jude Kriyot (bluntfiend). The man, the myth, the legend. The guy who walked away from AWCY and lived to tell the tale. (Or lie about it, at least.)

This is where things get really difficult for me, cuz... well, I'm an anarchist. The idea of following any one guy doesn't appeal to me. BUT! there is no GAW without Jude, and once you meet him, you can understand why. He's got something special. Not confidence or charisma or whatever (he's actually a clumsy dork), but heart and integrity, for sure. He believes in humanity. He believes in something good, and when you're hanging out, you want to believe in it too.

That said, he's also a fucking mess. I'm not judging (I'm a mess too), but on some level, I like to think I'm getting my shit together. Jude is more like... uh, a shonen protagonist between story arcs. You know? He just sorta stews in his own funk. Depressed. Off in his own little world. Like Johnny Joestar, before meeting Gyro. There's only one person who can reliably shake him out of it, and... well, it's not me.

I admire Jude. I really do. I want to trust him with my secrets, but I can't, because he doesn't trust me with his. That's... fair. Trust is hard to earn. It's easier to lie. But when the chips are down, I've got Jude's back. I hope he'd do the same for me.

[atthegeniusfactory]

i will never change

it seemed like his friends made it a goal to not let jihoon spend a single day stuck in his hotel room during their japan trip. each day, someone would barge in his room and pull him out of his bed to go out, eat somewhere, or just simply take a walk outside. 

jihoon never said no to them and they never really have to beg and force him. he just likes to tease them more when they start acting cutely. 

the day is almost ending and to his surprise, no one has knocked on his door yet. jihoon spent his time as usual when he’s locked up; laying down all day, watching anime, making music, and ordering food. he tried not to look at the door from time to time. one time he thought he heard someone knocking that he turned his head so quick his neck cracked. he mentally slapped himself.

he’s talking with their manager asking what food to have for dinner. while scrolling through the restaurant’s endless menu, he heard a soft knock on the door. his thumb paused moving, body freezing, he stopped breathing for a while and waited for another clearer knock. 

nothing came. jihoon wanted to jump out of frustration because why is he so nervous and expectant? with a much defined pout on his lips, he went back to scrolling on his phone. he is probably just hungry that he began to hear things, he tried convinced himself.

as he opens his phone, he heard it again. two soft knocks on his door. he didn't move an inch and waited for whoever is on the other side to come in. his members know he doesn't really lock his door. 

he counts mentally, deciding if he'd ask who's there. 

one. two. three. four. five. si-

his phone pinged and lit up. 

jihoon-ah are you sleeping?

he stared at the two notifications on his phone then on the door. now jihoon is so sure he wants to jump and throw himself out. he can't face him yet.

his phone pinged once more and he panicked, tossing around and pulling his blankets to hide underneath. 

manager hyung was asking if you decided what to order yet.  i can here you rolling on your bed.  im coming in. 

jihoon thinks this is the longest time he ever held his breath and stayed still. hiding under his blankets, he can hear when the door opens, the light footsteps he's quite familiar with. 

he tried his best to listen for the other's movements, sensing where he's standing, planning which way to turn to avoid making eye contact with him. he chose a very awkward position and his left arm is starting to feel numb from carrying most of his weight. but he doesn't want to move first. 

he feels it, someone coming closer. hears the fast beating on his chest. sees the softest pair of eyes he's been trying to avoid the past days.  

soonyoung giggled seeing the shock on jihoon's face, watching the contours of his face change as he realized what's happening and how close he is. before jihoon can snatch the blanket closer, soonyoung was able to lift it higher. jihoon is stronger though so he pulled fiercely and tucked himself in. 

soonyoung can only sit back on the floor, laughing softly as he shakes his head. he missed this. they both do. 

"shut up." 

"come on, dinner's on me."

and jihoon never says no to them, especially not on soonyoung. but sometimes jihoon likes to tease him more than the others and have him begging and forcing him out. and sometimes soonyoung doesn't like it and it ends up with them frustrated and avoiding each other for days. 

jihoon doesn't know where they are headed. friday nights in japan is not really silent at all but the two walks silently with soonyoung guiding him through alleyways. they have been walking for fifteen minutes now and jihoon thinks they're headed nowhere. 

before he can ask, he felt soonyoung's hand on his back steering him towards another alleyway. he saw lights coming from the only restaurant present and figured it's where they are headed. 

"how did you find this place?" he broke the silence as they were ushered inside. the restaurant smells of karage and curry and ramen and honestly jihoon is just so hungry right now. 

"mingyu did. said he went here with dk and the food's great." soonyoung pulled out a chair for jihoon and sat next to him like how they always do. jihoon thought he'd sit in front of him tonight since the two have not made up yet. 

or maybe they already did when soonyoung first knocked on his door. 

the two spent dinner enjoying their food and catching up, asking where the other went, what food they ate, what things soonyoung bought impulsively yet again. they spent the night laughing and falling in each other's arms. jihoon had to cover the taller's mouth when he laughs loudly and soonyoung slides down on his seat a little so jihoon can lean comfortably on his shoulder. 

"do you want to stay for a while?" jihoon asked when they stopped in front of his hotel room. 

"i'll wash up first and come back. you do too, okay?" jihoon nodded and he understood what soonyoung meant.

he cleans up his room a bit after washing up. fixed his bed and placed two pillows on top of the other on the left side. minutes after, soonyoung entered and laid down next to him immediately. 

like clockwork, their bodies tangled up. jihoon rests his head on soonyoung's firm chest and hugs his tiny waist a little too tightly. soonyoung found his hand gently brushing through the smaller's soft hair and the other caressing the arm wrapped around him. 

"i'm sorry."

"i'm sorry too. i missed you."

"hmm. i love you."

"i love you too."

—

no matter what happens don't worry, i'm by your side

i want you  protect you who's sleeping next to me in this night

—

happy birthday, our jihoon ❤️

[twitter]

[pars-ley]

One night

Pairing: Jimin x Female reader

Summary: When you meet a previous one night stand on a speed dating night, how can you possibly resist another go with the guy who turns you on beyond belief.

Genre: Strangers to lovers au / Speed dating au / One night stand au / Smut / Drabble

Rating: 18+ (NSFW)

Warnings: Oral f and m receiving / Rimming / Anal fingering / Bathroom sex / Protected sex / Sex from behind / Nipple play /Jimin with nipple piercings / Explicit language / Spitting / Swallowed oral cumshot / Mentions of sex toys

Word count:1.8k

Notes: This is a request for @a-violet-suga-kookie​ sorry it took me so long! I hope you enjoy it! Thank you to @yutasgalaxy for helping me photoshop the pic for my banner.

Beta: Thank you to @eatjeanjin​ your enthusiasm and suggestions helped a lot

You walk begrudgingly into the room following behind your friend, tables for two all spaced apart and a big timer at one end. 

She smiles nervously at you and you return an encouraging thumbs up. As soon as her back is to you your eyes roll at the thought of what you are about to do. Speed dating is one of your worst nightmares, but in order to show support to your newly single and emotionally vulnerable friend, you put that aside.

"Welcome, please take a seat at a table and get comfortable. I shall bring in the other participants and we can start." announces the female host, with a smile large enough it looks almost painful.

You sit down at an adjacent table to your friend and give her a reassuring wink, before the door opens and the timer has begun. 

Mundane questions and boring responses are leaving you wishing you stayed at home in your pyjama’s and a date with your vibrator. At least you would be guaranteed satisfaction.

Suddenly, striking blonde hair catches your eye a couple of tables down and as you glance over he's already looking at you.

His full lips curve into a delicious one sided smile before returning his attention to his date. 

Park Jimin. Your thighs press together automatically, recalling the night you spent with him. Every perfect detail of it and him, sails seductively behind your eyes. The one night stand that was never meant to happen but did and blew your mind.

It feels like time stops, while you wait for another agonising two rounds for him to reach your table. 

"Well, well, well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." He says, as he sits down in such a commanding fashion you can't help but find your bottom lip tucked painfully between your teeth.

"I was just thinking the same thing about you."

His pupils expand at your words as his eyes trace over your outfit, pausing briefly at your cleavage. "What brings you here?"

"I'm here for moral support for a friend." You tilt your head to your right and he glances at her. "You?"

"Would you believe me if I said the same? Dark hair, tattoo sleeve and big doe eyes." You look behind him and see who he means, recalling your conversation with him to have been the least boring here.

"What are the chances?" You laugh.

He watches you for a moment, a smile playing at the edges of his perfect mouth.

"You never left me your number." He interjects your thoughts.

"You never gave me yours." You quip.

"You didn't give me a chance." He raises an eyebrow at you. A simple move that he manages to make devastatingly sexy. "I woke up and you had vanished without a trace. All I had was your name and the taste of your pussy on my lips and you can't imagine how much that can drive a man crazy."

Hearing him say something so filthy so casually had your cunt throbbing violently with desire, a pool of liquid-want starting in your underwear.

"I would have liked to call you and see you again." He presses.

"I'm here now." You reply, leaning onto the table; your breasts swelling even more with the movement.

His hand on your thigh under the table surprises you but your heart responds instantly pounding wildly with need. "Meet me in the big toilet as soon as the break starts," the pleading in his voice is too hard to resist, not that you were planning on it anyway. 

He got up swiftly and just like the wind, he was gone. You receive a few looks from neighbouring tables, your friend being one of them, but you just shrug and smile innocently.

The much awaited break time was finally announced and you can't scramble off of your chair fast enough, out of the door before anyone else is even away from their tables. But disappointment pangs when you read the "OUT OF ORDER" note taped on the toilet door. Frantically glancing around, you decide to chance knocking. Much to your delight, the door opens and you are pulled in briskly by the hand.

The door is closed and locked as you're backed against it.

"God, do you have any idea how often I've thought about you?" He whispers, so close his breath fans across your face, pulling you in. His eyes burning with a need so fierce you're winded from the impact.

"Probably about as often as I've thought about you." Your fingers already fumbling with the button on his jeans.

His mouth crashes against yours, tongue eagerly dancing with yours as you become a mass of grappling hands and frantic kisses. He pulls away leaving you gasping for air but wanting more of his soft lips on yours. He pushes up your leather skirt and yanks your underwear down, pulling it off each ankle as he sinks onto his knees. 

He throws one leg over his shoulder and looks up at you. 

"Trust me?"

You nod and he wastes no time doing the same to the other leg, taking all of your weight as he plunges his mouth straight onto your needy pussy.

The sinful sound that vibrates through him as he tastes you has you moaning in response.

You're thrown down memory lane instantly, the way his lips and tongue explore every crevice, how he sucks just enough on your clit drawing his name from your lips like a spell. Even his tight grip on your buttocks keeping you firmly in place, makes you rabid with lust. You start grinding against him, unable to control your body. He moans against you, making you quiver signalling that familiar tight pull coming closer. But before you can let go, your feet are returned to the ground - legs wobbling underneath you - and he's turning you, your face pressing hard against the door. You feel his warm, wet tongue glide along your arsehole, the sensation nearly shooting you through the roof but he holds you firmly in place, spreading your cheeks harshly as he does.

Your toes curl as his fingers wrap around you and he begins massaging your clit. Your heavy breaths creating a pattern of condensation across the door.

And then his grip on you is gone and you feel unsteady as he stands and pulls his wallet out of his jeans pocket. 

When you see the glint of the foil wrapper, excitement blooms in your already tight core; coiled and ready to spring. Ripping it open with his teeth, he pushes down his boxers and glides the condom onto his generous erection. 

He wastes no time in pressing you back up against the door and sliding into you, gasping when he bottoms out.

He pauses there for a moment and you feel something hot on your arsehole that quickly turns cold as the air hits it and you realise he's spat on you. The thought has you clenching around his rock hard cock.

"Oh, you like that, huh?" He says breathlessly. "Do you like this?" He asks as he slowly pushes a finger inside your rear.

"Ohh, yes." You moan.

He starts rocking his hips and finger in a simultaneous rhythm. Feeling so full and deliciously stretched had you dripping off of him. Your nails, clinging onto the door frame, embedding and no doubt leaving little crescents in the wood.

You feel the build up take hold to a point you can't return from as you tighten around him.

"Oh yes, baby, let me feel you cum around this cock." He whispers in your ear as you unravel. Spasming uncontrollably and calling his name from behind his fingers now caged around your mouth, the action just heightening all the sensations you feel. 

As your orgasm subsides, your legs trembling, he pulls out leaving you feeling empty. You turn to face him and his mouth is on you instantly.

"You're so fucking sexy." He says against your lips. 

Your fingers find his shirt, undoing the buttons and pushing it off his shoulders. The glint of something in the light catches your attention, as you hold him at arm's length and admire the sight before you.

"They're new." You say, genuine surprise in your voice.

He looks down at his pierced nipples and back up to you with the cockiest smirk. "You like ‘em?"

You shake your head, "I love them."

He grins at you pulling you in for another kiss as you can't resist pinching and rolling one of them between your fingers. 

He jolts but moans against you and bucks his hips, his dick pressing desperately against you, aching to be touched.

Your lips go straight for the silver bar, sucking it hastily into your mouth. The sound of it hitting against your teeth and the feel of the cold metal inside your mouth, all of it spurring you on.

"Go and sit down." 

You order, the light of lust although briefly sated had not died down.

He puts the lid on the toilet seat down and does as you say. 

On your knees, you gently slide the condom off and delve onto him with the same urgency he showed you. When he gasps and his hand goes straight to your hair, you can feel his wildness beneath you. Hips bucking up matching your rhythm as you take him in until he's hitting the back of your throat with every suck.

"Look at me." He whispers and as soon as your eyes hit his, he becomes a shaking mess.

"Oh fuck. Yes, yes, that's it." He strains before his hot, salty orgasm releases into your mouth. You swallow as he grinds into you, holding your hair off your face and watching every movement you make.

He helps you up once he's done and you both tidy yourselves up. 

"So, see anyone you like out there?" He asks as he does up his shirt.

You shake your head and scoff. "No. What about you?" You hate the small, sick feeling in your stomach at the possible answer. He's just some guy you've fucked twice, that's all.

"No, I couldn't keep my eyes off you." 

When his gaze meet yours in the mirror it's sweet and gentle, a complete contrast to before.

"Listen," he turns to face you. "I know that one night stands are not ideal to start with but I'd really like to take you out to dinner?"

There's a hesitancy in his voice that intrigues you, a very vulnerable side to the confident man you're used to seeing.

"What about after this?" You reply.

His eyes light up. "Yeah, sounds great." 

You smile awkwardly at each other and he kisses you on the cheek as if 5 minutes ago he didn't have his lips smothered on your arsehole. 

[liptonsbabe]

Chains of a family [B.W]

Bill Weasley x Grant! Reader

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Summary: Molly knows about the reader’s relatives and she’s not so sure to put her trust in a girl that had just betrayed her own family

Word count: 1.9K

Warnings: Swearing

A/N: Hi! i’m so happy that you guys liked this thing! thank you so much for your support and, again, if you want to keep reading this let me know. Same note as ever, english not my mother language, so tell me if something’s is wrong.

Chapter 2: Not your family

The next morning turned out to be quieter than you imagined.

You slowly got out of bed and looked at everything around you noticing how quaint Bill's old room was. The ceiling was lined with grainy wallpaper with stacks of photographs of Quidditch players hanging from the reeds that moved from side to side, simulating the playing field; the right side of the room had a huge hole behind the small stool that tried to hide it, and from that hole a small garden gnome was sleeping peacefully with a small piece of cloth on top of his head. You stood up, walking towards the huge window that gave you a beautiful view of the Weasley's garden that at that moment was covered by a thin layer of drizzle that had fallen during the night.

Molly's fruit trees gleamed under the faint rays of the sun and you saw how a doxy from between the leaves poisoned Mrs. Weasley's apples, causing them to fall from the tree branches in a thick black mass with a foul smell coming out of it. You shook your head, excited to witness a very different way to wake up.

Even though several minutes have passed since you woke up, the house continued to remain in a strange silence that made you think that the family had decided to leave the burrow with the intention of buying more supplies or something like that. You knew that Bill wasn’t at home precisely for his obligations within the Order, so you didn’t worry about looking for him around the room, so you decided that a better option was going down to the dining room and know what was happening.

As you went down the spiral staircase, you cursed in a whisper when you forgot to put on your slippers before leaving the bedroom cause the floor was so cold that you slipped a couple of times. Back in the days, when you were still welcome in your parents' house, you had many servants who did all the things for you - putting on your shoes as soon as you woke up was one of those things - but now that your life had changed so much, you assumed that you would have to adapt and start taking care of your own needs.

Your curious eyes roamed the walls covered in family photos that caused a big warmth in your chest. In each of those photographs, all of Molly's children appeared along with their father, smiling for the camera and sending effusive greetings. A pic was hanging at the fireplace were Molly and Arthur were carrying a small white bundle crying his lungs out. You assumed it was Bill as his parents seemed too young back then and even as a small baby, you could recognize those tantrum features anywhere.

A giggle escaped your lips when you noticed a funny sequence from that same photo in which, even with Bill crying in his mother's arms, his father tried to carry him for a moment to calm him down, however the baby's cries didn’t stop. The baby was so annoyed that he ended throwing up  the milk ration that he must have had before the photo session on his father's neat shirt.

You laughed because you knew that William's impertinence was something he had carried with him for several years now.

"Bill hates those photos." You jumped in your place scared to see Molly standing behind you. Your cheeks turned red “He says that it’s embarassing but i think that’s nonsense. He was an adorable baby”

"he was," you answered, looking anywhere but into Molly's shrewd eyes. "but I guess displaying them in the fireplace isn’t the right thing to do."

“Is it not?

"No, they should be at the front door where everyone can see them”

Molly giggled as you watched the sequence of photos over and over again. A silence settled between you, but surprisingly it was not an awkward silence, but one that was allowing you to create a bond that neither of you expected. Mrs. Weaslsey brought up a rag, wiping it around the corners of the photo from the dust.

"Arthur and I had to save up for months to take those pictures," she mentioned wistfully, "we just had Bill and it seemed like a good idea to welcome him into our family with a gesture like that. Arthur was new in the ministry and wasn't earning too much, but we had that quirk and decided we could afford to skip certain things to pay for the pictures. It cost us ten galleons and it still took us four months to gather them”

“Oh” You didn't know what to say, but you just kept looking at the photograph feeling a bit uncomfortable. You never had those problems at home because your family was insanelly rich thanks to the inheritance in life that your grandfather Tim had left to his son and later to his grandchildren. Even the descendants of your grandfather's servants came to work in your house, reason enough for you and your siblings to grow up with no sense of responsibility other than your own wishes. Molly sighed remembering those times when life seemed to be easier.

"So when Bill asked me to remove it from the fireplace, I refused. He doesn't know how hard it was to raise that money, but I think he has nothing to be ashamed of, he was too adorable!

"I don't doubt it for a second, Mrs. Weasley."

"You can call me Molly," she said, walking back to the kitchen where you continued watching the way the pans moved back and forth preparing breakfast. You were not very good at cooking - in fact, you had never cooked before- however, that didn’t stop you from offering your help. So you took a pan, placed it on the stove, and decided that you would find a way to make a good mountain of strawberry-filled pancakes just like your dear nanny did. Molly observed you carefully. "I think that now that you are living with us it is appropriate to have a more cordial treatment.My son told me a lot about you”

“Just the good things, i hope”

“Kind of” You stopped mixing ingredients to look at her carefully” He told us a bunch of marvelous things about you and how you two met. Actually, what worries me the most is what he didn’t tell us”

And there was the recrimination you were waiting for. You were aware that it had to arrive sooner or later, however, you would have been grateful that it did it when Bill were by your side to give you the opportunity to defend yourself properly. You cleared your throat uncomfortably, knowing that what Molly needed to hear from your own lips was which family you came from. You continued your task with the pancakes, turning out as bad as you expected.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way, Mrs. Weasley."

"Molly," he corrected.

"Molly" you smiled slowly "But believe me when I tell you that it was me who asked William not to mention anything about my last name or where I come from. I know that in this case, with the war above our heads, it is necessary to be certain of the people who enter your family and I apologize for that, it's just ... Bill is very important to me” Molly's eyes narrowed “Since we met ... I have found a home in him and well, all that feels when someone is in love. "Mrs. Weasley shook her head, understanding the feeling." I have experienced the rejection before. When people know that Tom Riddle is my family ... they run away in fear, curse my family and even walk away from us, as if sharing a blood bond makes us as evil as he is.

“And it’s not like that?” Molly asked with a hand on her neck. She didn’t want to be like the others and judge you without knowing the full story, just as she had promised Bill the night before that she would, but it was so difficult not to remember the death of his brothers by Voldemort’s hands and to pretend nothing had happened in the past. You sighed because the eggs you cracked on the bowl got mixed with their own shell “ I've heard of the Grants before, they're all Death Eaters, including your siblings!”

“It is difficult to have to choose a side  when you don’t have your own convictions”

"And you have it?"

You looked at Molly in pain. Of course you expected those reactions from Bill's mother, she was within her right to be upset that her oldest son never told her that he was in a relationship with a girl who seemed to have the most fucking powerful and evil wizard in the world as a great-uncle. No, Molly wasn't mad, she was deadly angry, she felt like she was bursting!

Her hands became fists and without knowing how, you found yourself between the wall and Molly's big arms from one second to the other. The pancake batter was forgotten, as was the woman's promise to treat her son's girlfriend in a good way.

"How is it possible ..." Molly questioned in an agitated voice, pressing your arms against the wall, "... that a single deer leaves the nature of its own herd?" How can you ensure that one rotten apple even in a gold container doesn’t rot the others?”Your breath caught at the questions of the woman in front of you. Once again, you were aware that your presence wouldn’t be good news to them, but at least you hoped they understood your motives before judging you “Explain to me, (Y/ N) Grant, when have you seen a pig away from his equals?”

Your words caught in your throat at Molly's fierce question. Bill had talked a lot about the temper of his mother. Even if she could be really grumpy at times, she was in general a very sweet, pleasant and maternal woman with everyone; however, you didn’t fit into that generality because it seemed that the woman was determined to kill you with her own hands.

"If my presence bothers you so much, then you shouldn't have let Bill and I to stay here."

“He's my son! All I want for him is to be happy, and that's why I don't understand what he managed to see in you”

"Maybe the same thing you saw in your husband." Molly's lips twitched in anger, but you didn't stop. You hoped that she would at least understand what your words meant, because that would make it easier for both of you to try at least get along better, even if Molly seemed not to want to do it under any circumstances. How is it that this haughty little girl dared to compare herself with her dear and wonderful husband? "I'm sorry, but I don't think this conversation is going to take us anywhere."

"If someone betrays his own family ..." Molly stopped you before you walked out the front door. The others got down the stairs, seeing the scandal formed in the kitchen “The rest of us can't expect too much, can we?

Your eyes blured.

[prismatales]

Reminiscence

Word count: 1.8k

Bingo slot: Fireflies

Pairings: None (Sibling bonding! Touya x Reader)

Tags/Warnings: Fluff, slight angst, slight mention of injuries.

Synopsis: Touya takes his little sister on an adventure to see the "fairies".

This is my first entry for @bnhabookclub's bingo event! Special thanks to @pixxiesdust, @honeytama and @samanthaa-leanne for beta reading this for me!

There are things Touya dislikes in the world. But if there's something he absolutely despises with a strength nearly as powerful as his flames, is when his father's actions end up hurting someone in his family.

Like right now, for example, as he holds his crying sister in his arms. Poor little Y/N can't seem to stop weeping after the constant mistreatment of their father. The man's harsh attitude eventually took a toll on the little girl. All because she turned out to be quirkless, or as he deems her, "Just another failure".

Touya's glaring at nothing in particular as he thinks about the old man. His self-restraint is challenged when he has to hold back the anger to evade lashing out at the man they have the misfortune of calling "father."

But right now, his main focus is calming down the little girl, crying in his arms while he's sitting on his futon at the same time he tries to console her.

"Shhh, It's okay y/n."

He may not admit it, but out of all his siblings, she has to be his favorite sister. After all, she's the only one out of their brothers and sister who shares the most traits with him. 

Growing up, Touya came to despise his appearance. Every time he looked at his reflection in the mirror, the sight of that crimson hair and those teal colored eyes always made him feel alienated from Natsuo and Fuyumi. 

After all, they only had some slight streaks of red hair, unlike Touya, who's whole head sported the same red locks of hair as him.

So, when his mother gave birth to a healthy pair of twins, and he saw the little boy who's left side of his head had the same hair color as him, as well as the little girl, who's hair was completely engulfed in the same shade of red as him. Touya almost wanted to cry in the spot, and that loneliness in his heart stopped soon after that.

He actually cried, but if you ask him, he'll always say otherwise.

His eyes wander around his room in search of a distraction, and something catches Touya's attention. The calendar at the top of his desk, with the current date circled down in a fine line of bright red marker. It gives the teenager a great idea, one, that would most likely calm down his little sister instantly.

"Hey, Y/N." She sniffs weakly, wiping away the teardrops rolling down her face with her tiny hand, before looking up at her big brother. "Did you know that there's a place nearby, where you can see fairies?" 

As soon as he mentions the magical creatures, her eyes instantly light up, wide open in wonder as she looks at him with pure innocence in her eyes. 

"Really?" she asks her brother, who smiles in relief upon seeing her reaction. Touya nods eagerly, playing along to distract her from the past events.

"Yes! But they only appear if you're a strong person! Are you strong, y/n?" He pokes her in the nose with his index finger, and she can't help closing her eyes in surprise. Squeals erupt from her throat by her brother's antics, and he struggles to fight back a chuckle.

"I am strong!" she shouts, still rubbing the small tears away from her puffy face.

"Strong enough to stop crying?" he asks her with vigor, and his attempts to cheer her up work when she sniffles one more time, before nodding at him with a fierce pout, the sight nearly makes Touya clutch his heart, amused by the little rascal pretending to be brave.

"Yeah!" 

"Good! Then go get ready, 'cause I'm taking you to see the fairies!"

She gasps loudly, nodding rapidly at her brother before dashing out of his room with hurried steps, and once the sound of her footsteps disappear in the distance, Touya lets out a relieved sigh, before bursting into a wholehearted laugh at her enthusiasm.

He stands up from his futon in a hurry, and begins preparing everything he'll need for their small trip. 

......

"Are we there yet?" 

In one hand, Touya holds on to his sister's tiny hand as they walk together. In the other hand, he's holding the strap of a messenger bag hanging over his shoulder, careful not to graze the bandages wrapped all the way up from the wrist to the shoulder.

"Patience y/n, we're almost there." 

The sunset fills the surroundings in gorgeous hues of pinks and purples, and if it wasn't for his current motivation, Touya would have stopped in the middle of the bridge to stare at the bright, glimmering reflection in the water for hours. 

"Give me a minute, y/n." Rummaging through his bag, Touya pulls out a camera. He starts taking pictures of the sunset reflecting in the water below the bridge, capturing the aesthetically pleasing scenario before him. He takes a look at the final result, and after humming in approval, he puts the camera back into his bag, before taking his sister’s hand to continue walking.

The closer they get to their destination, the sky begins to change colors again, until nothing but blue shades fill the sky.

"Here we are!" Touya stopped in front of a small, empty playground, and y/n quickly began looking around, waiting for the "fairies" to come out any moment now. This time, her brother couldn't hold back his laughter.

"This is only the gateway, come on. The fairies are waiting."

At the other side of the playground, there's a small trail leading into a forest. Touya takes her sister along with him along the rows of trees, and the deeper they go, the darker it seems to get around them. 

Until Touya finds the place he was looking for, a small lake deep inside the forest, surrounded by bushes and lilies all around it.

"Isn't it pretty y/n?" he asks his little sister, who won't stop looking at her surroundings, admiring the scenario before her. Right as she's about to question her brother, the teenager crouches down in front of her, and points at a spot in front of them.

That's when she sees the small dots of light start to appear all around the forest, illuminating everything around them with their gentle light.

"Look, the fairies are here!"

But the little girl becomes awfully quiet, and for a minute Touya begins to worry. Until she turns to look at him with the most awestruck look he's ever seen on her tiny face, and starts pointing at the shining creatures flying cheerfully all around them.

"F-Fairies are real! Touya, they're real!"

She's already running off to look at a spot in the grass, where these fairies seem to be having a good time.

While y/n is distracted by the fairies, Touya sits down on the grass, watching the lake's surface where the lights seem to dance happily.

"Touya look!" She quickly approaches her brother, and in her tiny hands, there's a small light in her palm,  without a single worry in their miniature soul.

"I guess the fairies like you. Do you know what that means?" 

She tilts her head in curiosity, before shaking it softly.

"It means you're one of them now!" Touya yells excitedly, and that brings a bright smile to the face of the little girl standing in front of him.

"I'm a fairy?!" She bounces on her spot, careful not to hurt her little friend resting in the palms of her hands.

"Even better than a fairy." He ruffles her hair reassuringly, turning her hair into a wild mess of red locks. "You're a firefly!"

"Firefly?" She looks back at the little bug, sitting nonchalantly in its place, before looking back at her brother, smiling at him one more time. "I'm a firefly!"

She happily runs back to the bushes, where she releases her friend back in place. More lights begin surrounding the lake. And Touya smiles at the child's antics before he starts looking through his bag again, and pulls out his camera before taking pictures all over the place. 

y/n is too distracted by another handful of fireflies, to notice her brother taking a picture of her. As he looks at the final result, the small screen displays the current hour, and Touya can't help wincing once he realizes they've been in the lake for a longer time than he thought.

A small, contagious yawn catches his attention, and he watches as y/n it's starting to doze off. 

"Come on firefly, it's time to go back home." Touya puts the camera back in his bag, before helping his sister crawl on his back. Her tired eyes look back at the lake, and the small dots of light still dancing around eagerly.

"Hey, Touya?" She's struggling to fight back her drowsiness, and manages to ask her brother a question before her eyes begin to close, and she slowly falls asleep on his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Can we...Can we bring Shouto along next time?" 

Touya can't help but grimace, knowing that with their father around, it would be impossible to take their little brother along, but he doesn't have the courage to tell y/n the truth, and with a deep breath, he answers.

"...Of course we can."

As Touya passes by the same bridge from before, he can feel his sister's body go limp on his back, sleep overtaking her tiny body. But even with the slight pain coursing through his bandaged arm, he can't bring himself to move her from the place. At least, not until they're finally back home.

The house is dead silent once he comes inside, and with a careful pace, he takes y/n to her room. Tucking her into the futon before walking back to his own room, where he pulls the camera out of his bag and on top of a shelf, and lets himself faceplant on his own bed with a slight bounce.

..........

"Come on Shouto, this way!" Shouto tries to keep up with his sister, but she just keeps walking with an excited spring on her step as she guides him through the forest, eager to take him to this place she's been talking about for weeks now.

"Are you sure we should be out here this late?" He can't help being amused by her enthusiasm. This is the first time he's seen her this excited after they started spending more time with each other.

"It's fine, trust me!" She stops in her steps before turning to both sides of the forest, and with a triumphant "aha!" she starts walking to the right side of the forest.

"I used to come here with Touya, and I've always wanted to show you this place! You're going to love it, trust me!" 

@bnha-ra @bnhabookclub @gallickingun @godtieruwu @hanniejji @mysticalite @savagetrickster @shoobirino @songsforbnha @sugacookiies @t-amajiki @unbreakableeiji @undead0relived @wesparklebitchu

[orime-stories]

Fic ask game: 10 + 21 for your FFXIV fics... and 13!

Thank you! <3 Asks here. More answers here: x x x x x x

10. Who has been your favourite character to write about in your FFXIV fics? What do they bring to the fic?

I'm going to cheat and choose a cluster of characters rather than just one, but Aurelle's family. I wanted to challenge myself to write a character that has a happy, healthy, loving family for once (that hasn't been killed off for the drama), and I'm having way more fun with that than I thought I would. I've only shared a handful of small moments with them so far (x x x x x), but I've got a fic I'm cooking up where Aurelle's mum accosts her while she's showing Aymeric around Gridania and insists that she invite him round for dinner. They're still keeping the relationship quiet at that point so Aurelle keeps asserting that they're only friends, but her family is having none of it, getting straight down to business in determining whether he is suitable for their youngest or not. As for what they all bring to the fics, they help to ground Aurelle in her home - to show how much she loves it and how fiercely she'll fight to keep it safe. They're also a safe place to rest in between plot dramas. A source of comfort and wisdom when she's faltering on her journey.

13. Do you prefer writing multi-chapter fics or single-part fics? Do you prefer reading multi-chapter fics or single-part fics?

A question I don't have an answer to yet as it's something I'm actively experimenting with right now! I've been publishing my Pillars of Eternity stories as one big multi-chapter fic, and then I'm trying out publishing my Final Fantasy XIV stories as individual pieces in a larger series to see which style I like better. Having things as one multi-chapter fic encourages me to fill in the blanks between key moments so that everything flows together better as one story, and since all the comments and views are happening on the one work, it certainly helps those numbers look nice and big. Plus, every time I update, the whole story gets pushed back to the top of people's searches, maybe making it easier for new people to come across it all.

But then having things as individual stories in a series makes it easier for me to clearly tag what happens in each one rather than there just being one giant incomprehensible list at the top of everything that might or might not be relevant to each chapter, and this style probably feels a lot more accessible to some readers too since it's cutting the word count down into smaller chunks they can dip in and out of more easily. It also makes things feel more flexible for me if I want to bounce around with the story and not fill in every single little detail, since they're all presented as standalone works that are complete in their own right. It also allows people to leave kudos on multiple parts of the story should they want to. So both methods seem to have their good points, and I'm curious to see which one I vibe with better over time. As for reading, I'm always happy to consume stories in whatever form they come in.

21. If you were a character in your FFXIV fics where would you fit in?

Hahahaha, I'm not sure? I'd probably be a throwaway npc somewhere that the characters encounter between plot points. Maybe a random shopkeeper or innkeeper. Might even add a bit of background exposition to things if I'm feeling particularly fancy that day.

[deberiaestarescribiendo]

Saint Jude's Miracle: A Javier Peña x OFC (Isa) Fanfic (Chapter II)

Summary: Chapter two is a little plot heavier than Chapter 1. Javier wakes up the next morning after the raid he had attended as a consultant for the DEA and the questions he avoided during the night are still very much unanswered and Isa, his wife, needs to know more about what’s going on. The second part of the chapter is in the past so we get to know how Javi got to be a consultant and how this affect his family life.

Word count: 3.4k

Warnings: Domestic Javi!, fluff, implied sexy times. Spanish and thoughts in cursive, translations are between parenthesis right after the dialogue line.

A/N: Hey, thanks to everybody that liked and reblogued. I was a bit weary of uploading this ‘cos this fic feels more like a characters study than any other thing. I’m just fascinated by Javi, from this chapter plot will move faster. S.

Chapter 1

Double life

"Daddy, wake up" Elvira grabs her father's arm that rests languidly at the side of the bed and shakes it until he answers:

“Morning" his face smashed against the pillows and his brown hair disheveled

"Good morning" she kisses him on the cheek and stays really close to his face, still pretty much asleep Javi starts snorting softly again “Daddy wake up!”

"You're hungry?" Javier clears his throat and opens widely his eyes as to convince his body that it has to get up. Elvi grins at him, with those honey eyes and that crooked smile she is the cutest creature on earth.

"You lost another one" he points at her mouth

"Yeah, yesterday, it was moving really funny so mami convinced me to get it out. I didn't even cry!" She tells proudly

"Such a strong girl! Let's get you a good breakfast then, what do you want?"

She smirks devilish and looks over Javier’s shoulder to make sure her mother doesn’t hear, but she finds her laying on bed completely naked and she seems puzzled for a second

"Why is mummy naked?"

"Oh" Javier pushes the covers over Isa that sleeps soundly. "You want those sugary things...the captain..."

"Cap’n Crunch!" Elvira raises her small arms excited

"Yeah, let's get those"

Javier adjusts his underwear under the sheets making sure everything is in place and gets out of bed. He lifts Elvira to his chest while she giggles.

"I love you, daddy" she holds his face on his little hands and he thinks his heart is about to explode.

"I love you too" Javier kisses her forehead, resting his child's head on his just for a second. He feels how the tangles around his heart become undone with her small, warm body against his. Everything seems kinder, happier, like if all of the sudden sunshine had pierced him deep inside where he hid his fears, regrets and pain.

He smells her hair for a second and then leaves her gently on the ground

"Let's eat"

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

The light between the curtains is like a knife to her eyes even under the covers. Her body is exhausted, her muscles relaxed and unwilling to cooperate to get her up. Isabel had heard her daughter’s laughter but thought that Javier could handle the situation and make up for the time he had expend who knows where the day before.

She doesn’t complain about being busy all the time with Elvira, she actually really likes it and is dreading the moment when summer will be over and she’ll have to spend the day alone with Elvi being at school. But every day she finishes the daily routines tired and instantly falling asleep when she goes to bed, after juggling between doing the chores and entertaining her daughter. It has been months since Javier’s head was elsewhere.

Knowing she is not gaining any more sleep, she gets up. The heat of Texas comes through the glass windows and she feels that even as naked as she is she could melt.

Isa puts on one of the big, old, soft t-shirts that Javier rarely uses and a pair of his shorts. Wearing his clothes, with his scent still lingering on them, is one small solace she finds when he’s away. She takes her nightgown and panties and throws them in the laundry bin, seeing Javier‘s clothes from last night, she grabs them and inspects the pockets before throwing it with the rest of clothes. She finds a few coins, a pen and a half emptied Marlboro packet that she squeezes on her hand. Maldito veneno (Damned poison)

At the kitchen table, Elvira is telling every single detail of her pool day at the neighbor’s house that Javier had missed. When Isa arrives, she hugs her daughter from behind and kisses her head before grabbing a cup of coffee from the kitchen counter.

"Look, daddy prepared breakfast" she says stuffing her mouth with those multicolored cereals.

"Oh, I see, he grabbed a bowl, poured the cereal and the milk and voilà." She kneels beside her but is smiling directly at Javier. “Daddy of the year” she raises her cup and Javi smacks his lips but says nothing.

"No me diste los buenos días, princesa" (You didn’t say good morning to me, princess) Isabel holds Elvira’s hair and starts to untangle her mane with her fingers.

"Buenos días, mami" she kisses her leaving a sticky mark on her skin.

"After that you will eat a piece of fruit, me oiste?"

"Sí" she smiles engulfing another full spoon too big for her little mouth .

"And I don't get a good morning?" Javier adds looking at his wife over the cup of black coffee.

Isabel walks slowly towards him and brushes her lips on his forehead. She opens her right hand in front of him, the Marlboro packet squished inside.

"Morning"

With a dramatic gesture, she opens the trash can and throws the plastic packet angrily. Javi observes her but says nothing.

"You're mad at daddy?" Elvira asks looking between the two her little face concerned.

"A little" Isa responds

"Why?" Her little voice breaks

"I misbehaved. I didn't listen to your mother" Javier answers and pinches his kid chubby cheek softly “That’s why you have to listen to her always”

"Have you apologized?" Elvira leaves the bowl aside as to fully focus on this pressing matter and crosses her arms over the table

"I have, many times" Javier faces his wife with a smirk

"Twice" she clarifies “and they're not enough"

"Never" Javier sips coffee from his cup and winks at his wife. Elvira looks at them confused.

"Mami if he has apologized I think you have to forgive him"

“Yeah, I guess I have to" Isabel takes a sit at Javier's right side and holds his hand on hers. The simple golden ring in both their hands makes her feel a pinch on her heart, she was so young and so scared when they got married not knowing what she could expect from him and, and on top of that, having a newborn baby that demanded all her attention.

Now, 6 years later she can even begin to express how fiercely she loves her daughter and how all the sacrifices she made were all worthy for her beautiful baby.

Javier is another thing. Sometimes she thinks of him as the sea, something you can see, touch and be submerged in, but in the end there is a depth you are not able to understand. There are things that lie on the bottom of his heart and mind that she is not welcome to visit. And she loves him, and has an ardent passion and need for him but she feels as if he’s slipping through her fingers every time she tries to hold him.

"Can I finish breakfast watching TV, please?" Elvi’s question gets Isa out of her thoughts.

"Yes, but grab an apple"

The little girl jumps out of her chair already chanting some song she knows from her favorite cartoon show.

"So what was the operation that you had last night?"

Isa usually asks him about his job every morning and Javi always answers briefly without many details, mainly because he is not that interested but when he decided to counsel for the police, she started to insist more, trying to calm her worries, but Isabel grows more and more anxious with his vague answers. She had met him after leaving the DEA, and though he hadn’t told her about his life in Colombia, she knows that Javi was a broken man, lost in dark memories. In those six years of marriage he had been better, he was still the same, but he smiled more, was kinder, more open. But the shadow of his old self lurks through the house and Isa feels how her anxiety twists her stomach watching his husband crumble before her eyes.

"There were a few trucks passing the borders, they suspected they were hiding drugs” he finished his coffee and casually eats cereal from the box

"Why on earth would you be there at the moment they caught the transport? I mean, why were you on the raid?"

"You’re asking if I was ever in danger. The answer is no, I'm here, am I not?" Javi took her hand that still holds him and kisses her knuckles.

"Yes, you are, but my question is..."

"But" he sighs

"You're smoking again; you are not sleeping quite right. You think I haven't noticed? What is going on?"

"I'm fine"

"You're stressed"

"I said I'm fine"

"Then why are you back to the old habits?"

"You really are going to just drink a coffee for breakfast?"

"Don't change the conversation, Peña"

"Look, there's nothing to worry about. I was just there to help them out since I’m experienced” he turns the chair closer to her and poses his hands over her knees softly caressing her with the pads of his fingers “But everything is fine”

"Alright" she concedes "so is it done? The operation?" She looks at him from under her eyelashes

"I don't know, maybe they need me a few more times"

She’s about to say something when he presses his lips against hers and gets up saying "I'm going to see if I can repair the AC, it's fucking hot in here"

"Language" Isa says before he leaves the kitchen.

She finishes the coffee her gaze fixed on the trash can where she has thrown the cigarettes. Too nervous to eat anything she starts cleaning up the kitchen. The lasagna from last night still intact on the counter, the repetitive songs on the TV is loud and she feels the headache coming.

“Elvi turn it down, please!” The girl ignores her the first time, and a second...and a third time.

“¡Elvira Peña, baja la tele ahora mismo!” (Elvira Peña, turn down the TV right now!) She screams coming to the living room.

The kid pouts and turns it down looking angrily at her; the apple she took is still intact by her side “And eat your fruit!”

Gosh, this is what I’ve become, the annoying wife and the tiring mum

Javier doesn’t know many things, but one thing that is always true is that shit follows him like a dog after a bone at every step of his life. After all the chaos that occurred with Cali and him leaving the DEA, he had spent a few month with Chucho back in Laredo. But soon enough, the atmosphere grew thicker consuming the air in his lungs and he woke up every day sweating and out of breath. Dreams of blood were leaking from the darkest parts of his memory polluting his nights.

“Mijo, ¿qué pasó allá?” (Son, what happened there?)his father asked every time and he found himself out of words. Not because he hadn’t them in him, but out of fear that if he began speaking the words would choke him and the disappointment he’d see on his father’s eyes. If they only knew he thought. If they only knew the things I did.

So after a time, he had to leave home again. It was better for both of them to be parted. Javier found the most boring job out there with his skills: Consulting companies that imported and exported things from Latin America. He translated documents, made calls in Spanish, and basically died a little every day in an office job, with bad coffee from a machine and many cigarettes each day to cope with the absolute weariness.

But again, shit followed him. StarsTextile Exports INC, nothing more than a normal company that passed, apparently, textile goods from South America to the US but you just had to dig a little to see the shady numbers they managed, a tangled list of companies’ names and banks in various tax havens. When he untangled all that mess what was left was a clear link to the biggest Cartel in Mexico. Shit. He even thought for a moment to let it pass, to just turn a blind eye like everybody did. But after many sleepless nights, he made the call.

“Agent Murphy”

“Hi, Steve, it’s Javier” he said softly suddenly feeling a little embarrassed of the time that had passed without calling his friend.

“Jav?!” Steve exclaimed “it’s been a long time...H-h-ow are you?”

“Fine, fine, you?”

“Great, I’m in Miami. But why you call me at the office? You alright?” he asked with a concerned tone.

“Yeah, it’s...well, maybe it’s nothing. But I need you to take a look at something”

“What exactly do you want me to check?”

“Some documents, I’ll send them to you”

“Great. Where are you now? Still at your pops?”

“No, well. I’m in Texas but I live with my wife.”

“Wait! what! you said wife?!” he exclaimed

“Yeah, yeah. Long story”

Javier had to hear his old college laugh for a good five minutes before he could say another word.

“I need to meet her. Gosh, I can’t believe it. Connie is gonna die when I tell her”

“Yeah...”

“Listen, I know you didn’t want to talk about you getting out and everything but I’d love to talk if you want. You know that...”

“I’ll send the documents right away, okay? You can call me at this number whenever you have any conclusion” he interrupted.

“Alright, Javi. It’s good to know from you. I’ll check those out”

Immediately after hanging up the phone, Javier felt like shit. He hadn’t contacted Steve, a good friend, in a long time. He knows his big out of the DEA would be a matter of a long conversation with him, a conversation he doesn’t want to have as he doesn’t want to tell all that to Chucho or Isa. Those days were gone, that crap was far away, he repeats to himself knowing that his memories have dark claws that hang on him like his shadow, reopening wounds he thought were healed.

After that brief phonecall, more followed. Steve and Javi found a perfect hour to talk when both Connie and Olivia and Isa and Elvi were asleep. They chatted about the documents, clearly there was something weird and Steve, though he could not confide anything to a former agent, agreed to disclosure tiny details. The DEA was behind StarsTextile Exports from months, but anytime they came close, they would hide again with dubious moves like changing company names, CEO’s and corporate headquarters.

“I see your instinct is still intact, Jav. You should still be with us” lamented Steve in one of their midnight conversations

“Yeah...but what can we do? nothing” Javi huffed

“We’ll see, I keep you informed”

“Yeah, thanks” he agreed but a little voice inside him replied why do you care? why do you still care?

“So, can you tell me about your wife? Connie keeps asking me for more information” Steve asked

“Her name is Isabel. She’s younger than me”

“Nice! Is she pretty?” the agent jested

“She is. We met at a bar; she was bartending for the summer while she was off college. I had just arrived after Cali” he explained

“She must be quite special. I mean, Jav...you left another at the altar” Steve replied shyly

“Well, that was another time and yes, she is...she is...a good woman and a good mother” Javi lay down on the sofa and turned his face towards the aisle, he could see the dim light of Isa’s nightstand lamp still on. She was always waiting for him to come to bed.

“How long did you wait to have the kid?”

“We didn’t. She got pregnant unexpectedly and then we got married” Javi sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Oh! I don’t want to be indiscreet, but that’s why you married her?” Steve muttered

“Kinda, but as I said she’s an amazing woman”

“Are you happy?” Steve cut him

“What is this? Are you my therapist now?” Javi chuckled

“No! no! just Connie, well, Connie and I, we worried, we wanted to know if things were okay with you. It’s been a long time, Javi, and the things we saw... well, we’ve been through some shit”

“I’m fine” his voice cracked, the more he said those words the less meaning they got

“Fine, God, Javi Peña, a family man, I still can’t believe it”

Javi smiled

“Yeah me too”

“But it’s nice, it keeps you grounded. Now you have a place to come back”

“Right...”

And also thousands of questions, expectations, and nowhere to hide when all I want to do is be alone, he thought but didn’t say another word.

“It’s late and I don’t want to wake up the girls” he said before biding goodbye to Steve and promising to keep in touch.

A week after that conversation, Steve told him about the operation that the DEA was preparing at the frontier near Laredo. And last night, he rejoined the agents just as a consultant. But again shit followed him and they asked him to be present and advice in case they needed him.

Even though he was far up on a hill with a few other agents waiting for the transport to arrive, he heard clearly the gunshots and they left him with a terrible headache and a familiar yet horrible ring in his ears. He felt his heart beating hard and fast inside his chest. The rush, the thrill and the fear all very well-known to the old Javier and he could sense a part of him suddenly awake, begging for more, the tingling sensation on his muscles that he was doing what he was made for. It scared him. He had decided that he was through it all. He could not be back, but there he was, lecturing those agents, finding evidences where they looked clueless. He was made for this, and though he didn’t like the praise, he hadn’t felt as good about himself until that night.

But the DEA asked for more, always does. He had given them his all and they paid him with lies. But again he said yes to keep on going with this partnership and teach the field agents and give some advice on how you take down a cartel. Like if we actually won the war on drugs, like if we actually made things better

With all these, he kept Isa in the dark, giving just vague answers about who call him late at night and about what was going on at his job.

The look in her amber colored eyes breaks his heart with each lie he tells her. She had met a broken man in Laredo many summers ago, he never said anything really specific about his time in Colombia, but Isa was perceptive enough to see his cracks and shadows and everything he wanted to hide. She had lighted his life like a timid candle in the night, opening the darkest rooms of his mind and inundating them with her presence and comfort and domestic life.

There was no space for the old Javi, always running and burying his demons in alcohol, sex and cigarettes, in this new reality there were bills to pay, school supplies, family duties and morning conversations.

And at that moment, “family guy” Javi and the “ex-DEA but again working for the DEA” Javi were battling inside his mind making him feel like he was living a double life.

Half of him wishes to stay, go to the pool with Elvi, Sundays at his father’s house and hold Isa tight every night; but there again, the air grows thicker, the days are long and he misses the rush, the thrill, the only way of life he had known for so long.

[allegedlyfranzferdinand]

horses? in MY westerns?

It’s exactly as likely as you think! That is, very likely! The genre wouldn’t exist without them, and I feel like people should talk about them more often, especially wrt fics and fic-writing! So, that’s exactly what I hope to do: give a little run-down of how these very strange dogs work, and how to make them seem a little more real in your transformative works. 

DISCLAIMER: I’m an English rider who’s been riding English for almost ten years now! I don’t ride western, and I could count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been in a western saddle. Even so, the people in western flicks aren’t exactly competing in shows, and I think a lot of the basic principles carry through. If I get anything grievously wrong, though, feel free to correct me!

Long post below the cut:

PART ONE: ANATOMY 

Both of the horses and of tack, anatomy is important for understanding how things work! Since I suppose people only really need to know the anatomy of a horse as it relates to the equipment placed on said horse, I’ll mention it as it comes up. 

I. The saddle

Western saddles differ from English saddles in lots of ways, but the main difference between them is that western saddles are designed to be comfortable for the rider to be in for hours at a time. They have deep seats with a high cantle and pommel (back and front, respectively), which makes them easier to stay in than a flatter English saddle. That’s how people can stand to stay on horseback for those long trail rides, or days at a time spent in the saddle moving a herd across the desert. Saddles sit just behind the withers (above the highest point of the shoulder on a horse, that visible ‘bump’ after the neck ties into the back), usually with a saddle pad or blanket between the saddle and the horse’s back. The cinch, which is the strap that holds the saddle onto the horse, wraps around his barrel (essentially his belly and sides, the main barrel-shaped part of his body. Go figure.) just behind his front leg. Some horses also are fitted with a breast collar, which is a strap that attaches to the middle of the cinch and the front of the saddle through his front legs to keep the saddle from sliding back. 

The horn on the front of a saddle might look like a tempting handhold while you’re on the horse, but it’s not meant for grabbing. The horn comes from the saddle’s purpose on cutting and reining horses, and is for tying roped cattle to. Grabbing it while riding is more liable to put you off-balance than anything, as you’re hunched forward and out of the stirrups. 

Speaking of! The stirrups are the things that you put your feet in while you’re in the saddle, and they attach to the saddle with stirrup leathers. Western stirrups can’t be removed from the saddle like English stirrups can, but this is mostly because they’re a lot thicker than English stirrups, and combined with a high-heeled cowboy boot, it’s a lot harder for the rider’s foot to slip through the stirrup and get stuck, especially in the event of a fall. The stirrups are where a lot of the rider’s weight is while they’re riding, alongside their seat, and losing a stirrup can really throw you off-balance.

II. The bridle 

This would be the piece of tack on his head! Most western bridles don’t have nose bands (a piece of leather that wraps around a horse’s nose several inches above his nostrils) as they’re not really necessary for functionality, but most working styles do have throat latches, which is the piece of leather that goes around his cheeks, and a browband, which is the strap that goes in front of his ears, as both help keep the bridle more firmly in place. Both of these attach to the cheek straps, which run down his face lengthwise.

Honorary II.5 on this list is the bit, the piece of metal in the horse’s mouth that the reins attach to. In most of the westerns I’ve seen, most of the horses are wearing a Tom Thumb or some other kind of shank bit attached to split reins. Split reins are pretty much what they say on the tin: reins attached to either side of the bit but which do not connect with each other. This can give the rider more control, and also makes it real handy to just hop off a horse and tie one of his reins to a hitching post. 

Now for the bit ipse.

The above is what a modern Tom Thumb bit looks like. It’s a jointed piece of metal that goes inside a horse’s mouth, attached to a shank that’s anywhere from 5 to 7 inches long. I’m grouping all shank bits together here, since they all have basically the same effect: pressure at the poll (the top of a horse’s head behind his ears) and pressure on the mouth. Since the reins are attached to the bottom of the shank, the rider is given a significant amount of leverage when they pull on the reins; a general rule of thumb is that with a 5″ shank, every pound of pressure the rider puts on the reins is multiplied by three in the horse’s mouth. This lever motion puts pressure on his poll and his mouth, and when the rider pulls sharply, a lot of pressure on the corners of his mouth, and a twisting of the jointed part of the bit that makes it come into contact with the roof of a horse’s mouth. This can cause a horse to toss his head and gape his mouth, something that’s unfortunately seen in lots of westerns. 

Shank bits like this can be incredibly harsh in the wrong hands, and can damage a horse’s mouth if they’re used too aggressively. Honestly, I feel bad for most of the horses in these films, where they’re under an inexperienced rider who often saws away at their mouth with a harsh bit like this. If you’re writing a story, remember that for most horses, it isn’t necessary to haul back on the reins to get a horse, even a hot horse, to slow or stop. 

III: miscellaneous 

Shoes: shoeing a horse makes him better suited to hard surfaces and long-term work. Any horse expected to be used for work would be shod. Horses can throw (somehow get rid of, don’t ask me how, little buggers. . .) shoes to varying degrees of trauma to the hoof, and while it should be fixed as soon as possible, it’s rarely too serious.

Spurs: technically a piece of apparel for the rider, but since everything else a rider wears is kind of a given for any self-respecting cowboy, I’ll chat about spurs. The stereotypical janglin’ cowboy spur is a rowel spur, named after that funky star-shaped thing that spins. Spurs are used to help encourage forward motion, and trained riders can ride a horse in rowels without any harm done to the horse. Even so, overuse or misuse can lead to damage and bleeding on a horse’s side, and deaden him to your legs. 

PART TWO: ACTUALLY RIDING A HORSE 

Unsurprisingly, riding a horse for a long time can be very tiring. Even in a saddle designed for comfort, someone unaccustomed to riding for long distances will find their back and core hurting something fierce. Worst of all, though, would be the strain it would put on a rider’s legs. Riding for extended periods of time makes your thighs ache, and can rub you pretty raw in the inner thighs and knees even with proper trousers. It can also have you walking bowlegged, which is pretty funny to watch.

Stability when riding starts from the bottom up. A good rider has a steady seat and good legs that grip the horse without pinching at the knees or the ankles (remember those big spurs you’re wearing, cowboy? ouch!). They stay with the motion of the horse, which can be difficult when you're just starting out. Beginner riders might find themselves too tense and easily thrown off-balance, since they're not working with the horse. Though western saddles make the act of staying on easier, developing a good seat and the muscles necessary to stay balanced on horseback can take a while. 

In western riding especially, the reins don’t need to be taut while you’re riding. The horse isn’t responding to aids from your hand, he’s responding to your seat and your legs. The reins are helpful to direct and to slow him, but they’re not the star attraction. A horse moves forward in response to pressure from the lower leg, and if he doesn’t listen to that, a rider can angle their foot to press the spur into his side, removing the spur and the pressure as soon as the horse responds to the aid. To slow, a rider settles into the saddle and applies gentle pressure on the reins, escalating as needed, but again, removing the pressure as soon as a horse responds. Anything else is more energy expended than necessary on the rider’s part, and it’s also just kind of mean.

In addition, though I hope I don’t actually have to say this, flicking the reins will not make a single horse on god’s green earth go forward. Why is this a thing. 

SO, LIKE, HOW LONG CAN I KEEP DOING THIS?

Mileage varies a lot as to how long a horse can run before he gets tired. A good average is about twenty miles a day if you’re planning on going long distances, which obviously can also vary depending on an individual horse or rider’s endurance. A horse can only gallop (their fastest, four-beat gait--think racehorses) for a mile or two before he’s exhausted, but he can canter (a three-beat gait that’s generally around 10 or 12 mph) for a while longer. Quarter horses, which I assume most of the horses in these movies are meant to be since they're the standard horse for working cattle and ranching in the U.S., aren't built for running long distances; they're significantly better at running short sprints. If a rider wants to cover a long distance in a short amount of time, it behooves them to switch horses along the way so he’s never riding a tired horse, and can run the horse they do have harder while they’ve got him. 

An important thing to remember is that a horse should always have a chance to walk for a bit after he’s been working hard. Walking is more effective to cool a horse than just standing still is, as it allows the blood flowing through their legs to cool down. As well, it’s generally a bad idea to let a horse just drink his fill after he’s been working. Ideally, he gets smaller amounts of water over time. 

A lot of these examples of less than stellar horsemanship might seem a bit like splitting hairs in fiction, but I think they can serve lots of different purposes. Does your villain have a horse whose skin is rubbed raw behind the cinch since he never lets up on his spurs? Does your hero have to make a daring escape, only to find his horse sick from exhaustion? Horses are a pivotal part of many stories, and there's lots of aspects to them as creatures and as methods of transportation that can be used in many different ways!

BONUS PART THREE: COLORS

Horses of every color show up in westerns, mostly because quarter horses can come in just about every color! Here’s a brief rundown of what different colors are called in horses, so you’ve got some words better than ‘brown’ to work with. 

Chestnut: also called ‘sorrel’ when talking about western horses, a chestnut is a horse whose mane and tail are the same color brown as their body. They can range from light, cool browns to deep red browns, but the main thing is that their mane is the same color as their body.

Bay: a bay horse can have any of the same colors as a chestnut, but his points (that is, his ears, nose, mane, tail, and all four feet) are black. A bay horse can still have white markings on his feet, as long as all of his other points are black.

Palomino: a classic western horse, a palomino is a golden or yellow horse with a white mane and tail. A chocolate palomino has a body darker than a normal palomino's, but maintains a white mane and tail.

White/gray: while many horses may have white hair, very few are truly white. A white horse has white hair and pink skin, while a gray horse has white hair and black or brown skin. Most ‘white’ horses are, technically, gray. Generally, it’s safer to refer to a horse as a gray. Horses will also become a darker gray as they age, even if they’re born white.

Buckskin: A buckskin horse has tan or gold hair similar to a palomino, but black points like a bay. Similarly, a dun horse also has a tan coat and black points, but also has a black stripe called a “dorsal” stripe down his spine, a remnant of ancient breeds of horse. 

Roan: a roan horse has a coat that’s equal parts white hairs and colored hairs, and solid-colored points. They can have a blueish or blush-colored look, depending on what colors are mixed in their coats.

HEAD AND LEG MARKINGS

Stars and snips: a star is a white mark on a horse’s forehead, and a snip is a white mark on his nose.

Stripe: a stripe is, rather self-evidently, a white stripe that runs from a horse’s forehead to his nose. They’re generally fairly thin, because when they’re thick they’re called a 

Blaze: a blaze is a thick stripe of white down a horse’s face that does not cover his eyes.

Bald face: a horse with a bald face has white on his face that does cover his eyes, and usually most of his nose.

Socks/stockings: socks are white marks on a horse’s leg that only goes about to his fetlock, the first joint above his hoof. Stockings are white markings that come up between his fetlocks and his knees on his front legs and his hocks on his back legs.

IN FINE

Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be! Hopefully it helped someone. 

I thought about talking about feed on here, but honestly, I have no idea what feed looked like in those days, and this post is long enough without advice that amounts to “probably they got lots of grazing on what you can find in the desert”, so. . . 

Most of the information here is pretty basic, but there’s lots of resources online for further research!

Happy riding and happy writing!

[datheetjoella]

Fantober 2020, Day 12: Enchanted Forest

Author: DatHeetJoella Fandom: Free! Pairing: MakoHaru Rating: T Part: 12/31 (read the full collection here) Word count: 1,799 Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Human!Makoto, Elf!Haru, First Meeting, Magic, Fluff Read at: AO3, FFn, or right here!

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Tired and worn-out from his travels, Makoto weaved through the dark woods in search of a place to camp out for the night. Preferably at a river or a creek, somewhere he could refill his flasks and wash his face. His horse was starting to lose speed, so hopefully, he would find a good spot before she had to give in to exhaustion.

Then, the sound of running water drowned out the symphony of owls and crickets. He followed it and to his delight, he stumbled upon a glade at the bottom of a cliff. A pristine waterfall cascaded down the rocks, flowing down into a moderately-sized lake.

Relief engulfed Makoto from within and he leapt off his horse, guiding her over to the edge of the lake so she could drink from it. He kneeled and peered into the water. Moonlight shimmered on the surface, illuminating every droplet. Never before had Makoto seen such clean water; there were no fish or algae in the lake, not as much as a leaf or a branch floating down the stream or caught on the sides. It seemed almost divine and the mere sight of it made his scratchy throat even drier.

He cupped his hands and let the water flood his palms, gratefully drinking as much as he could get. The water tasted even better than it looked, fresh and crisp like it rejuvenated him from the inside.

Once he'd quenched his thirst, Makoto checked the trees to see if anyone was around. When he was sure the coast was clear, he disrobed himself and dove into the water headfirst.

When he broke through the surface, he felt reborn. The fatigue and strain of his travels slipped off him, leaving nothing but contentment and serenity in his heart. Although he was miles removed from home, Makoto had never felt quite as comfortable as he did within this lake.

Alas, this feeling did not last.

A shadow moved behind the waterfall and Makoto let out a strangled screech, hastily covering his nude chest. Through the stream emerged a man, someone whose presence he hadn't noticed before.

Fear spread through Makoto's body like he'd been hit with a poison-tipped arrow; he was alone in the dark forest in a rather compromising position. Even if he hadn't been, he was not exactly the type suited for combat anyway and he saw no opportunity to make a quick escape.

But when the man stepped forward and the moonlight showered over his face, Makoto's fear evaporated.

Long, dark robes that reached down to the ground were wrapped around his slender body. Pointed ears poked through a curtain of dark hair, framing his small face. His features were soft and elegant and his pale skin contrasted the darkness of the night. But the most mesmerising parts of him were his eyes, blue and piercing. Like he could peer straight into the past, present and future.

Elves were rumoured to be gorgeous and although Makoto had never seen one in person, he was certain this man was among the most beautiful in their entire species. His appearance made him forget about the world around him, enchanted by a single glance.

But then, the elf's expression shifted, from neutral to confused. Or rather, shocked.

"Who are you?" he said, and despite the vibrant distress in his tone, his voice had a calming effect on Makoto. "How did you find this place?"

"Oh, um I," Makoto stuttered, unsure which question to answer first. "I was looking for a place to rest for the night. I heard the waterfall, so I followed the sound and it brought me here."

"Impossible."

"Sorry, am I not supposed to be here?" Perhaps he was trespassing on elven territory without his awareness. "If that's the case, I'll leave immediately. I don't mean to cause any trouble."

The elf seemed to be at a loss for words and the uncomfortable, misplaced feeling in Makoto's stomach grew.

"The water…" the elf said after a brief pause, "did you drink from it?"

"Yeah," Makoto said, cowering into himself like he was being scolded by his mother. "My horse did, too. Is that bad?"

A loud groan left the elf's lips and before Makoto could blink, his robes were flying through the air and water splashed upwards, sending ripples of waves throughout the lake. He emerged right in front of Makoto's nose, shaking the beads from his hair.

It startled Makoto and heat warmed his cheeks when he realised how clear the water was and how he was still very much naked. The look inside the elf's eyes was fierce and sharp and Makoto wasn't quite sure whether he should be embarrassed or scared.

"Listen, if I did something that I shouldn't have, then I sincerely apologise," Makoto said, frantically waving his hands as if to prove his innocence. "Please believe me when I say that I had no ill intentions. I just wanted to wash up and fill my flasks, I meant no harm."

After another second of staring in scrutiny, the elf relented. "I believe you. What's your name?"

"Makoto. And yours?"

"I'm Haruka. Haru," the elf said. "Say, Makoto, you have no idea where you are, do you?"

"Not a clue." Makoto sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck.

"This is the Sacred Moon Spring. Every droplet of this spring has been infused with ancient magic and every full moon, its magical properties are replenished and the water is at its most powerful." Haruka looked up at the sky and Makoto followed his line of vision; the moon was large and round, standing out brightly between the trees.

This was not good. No wonder he felt so refreshed. "We drank from the sacred, magic water…" Makoto stated the obvious. "So, what happens now?"

"I don't know. My clan has been guarding this spring for centuries, but no human has ever come near here, let alone drank from the water," Haruka said, "To be honest, I'm not sure how you even found this place. There's a protective spell around this area, a barrier that's supposed to keep all non-elven creatures out. Not even birds or deer can pass through."

"Oh," Makoto said, drawing circles on the surface with his fingers, "Well, there's this story in my family that my mother's great-great-grandmother was a Woodland Elf, but I always thought that was just a tale. Do you think it could be true?"

Haruka shrugged. "I guess it is. I don't have any other explanation why you would be allowed to pass through. The barrier must've detected elven blood in you."

"But there's so much more human blood in me, and I don't look like an elf at all."

"You don't," Haruka said as he took a step closer. "But your eyes do."

Makoto frowned. "My eyes?"

"Hm. They're… vibrant." When Haruka noticed how close he'd gotten and how breathy his voice had been, he blushed all the way up to his ears and increased the distance between their bodies. The pink hue looked immensely cute against his pearly skin. He coughed and tried to regain his aloof demeanour. "So, I suppose you are a descendent of a Woodland Elf."

"But what about my horse? I don't think she had a great-great-grandmother who was an elf."

"Were you riding her when you arrived here?" When Makoto nodded, Haruka said, "Then that's why. You lead her here, and your authority granted her permission to pass through, too."

That did make sense, as much as any of this magical spring situation could. Maybe there was an off chance he had bumped his head against a low hanging branch and was hallucinating, or maybe he fell asleep beneath a willow and this was all a dream. But was his simple mind truly capable of conjuring up something so fantastical, or someone as beautiful as Haruka?

Ashamed of his thoughts, Makoto said, "If I'm not supposed to be here, then I shall leave. I wouldn't want to disturb the balance of this place."

"You can stay, if you'd like," Haruka said, brushing his fringe back to appear nonchalant, "if the barrier let you through, then I see no reason to reject your presence."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose on this sacred place. If there's a barrier to keep humans out, then I can't imagine it's okay for a human to bathe himself in this water."

"As the guardian of this sacred place, I'm sure," Haruka said, "To be honest with you, no one is allowed to touch this water with their bare hands, not even I. It's used in important rituals in my clan."

"Then I should get out! I'm so sorry," Makoto said in a combination of disbelief and panic; Haruka didn't seem to care, but the last thing he wanted was to be struck with an elven curse if anyone else found out.

A hand on his shoulder held him back. It was small and felt cold, yet it also emitted a strange sort of heat.

"You already touched it and drank from it, so I don't see why I would send you away now. The water is already contaminated, and truthfully, it was long before you even got here."

"What do you mean?"

"How could I guard such a beautiful spring without going for a swim every night? There truly is no water like it." For a second, a hint of an adorable smile was visible on Haruka's face before he let himself fall backwards underwater and Makoto couldn't help but laugh. Haruka was the first elf he'd ever met and a rather odd one at that, but Makoto had an inkling they were going to get along very well.

All throughout the night, Makoto stayed inside the spring and talked with Haruka while floating beside him. They discussed their everyday lives, Makoto's family and his apprenticeship at a blacksmith a couple of towns away from his home, Haruka's clan and their traditions - and Haruka's disinterest in adhering to them -, how Haruka became the guardian of the spring and what effects the water could possibly have on Makoto and his horse.

The hours flew by and Makoto completely lost himself in their conversations and in Haruka. He didn't sleep a wink, but the water energised him like no amount of rest could and there was nothing that could whisk him away from this place. That wasn't because of elven magic, though, but because of Haruka. Makoto's suspicions were confirmed; Haruka turned out to be just as beautiful on the inside as he was on the outside.

Many things about his future were uncertain now, but there was one thing Makoto knew for sure: this would not be the last night Haruka and he spent together.