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shitouttabuck · 7 months

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Buddie unintentional cuddles can power me through a whole week, so the prompt 3. Person A waking up to Person B curled up and sleeping on top of them really spoke to me <3

hiya thank u frida and @colonoscopys for sendin this one in (and an anon too!!!) very much distracted me from my wisdom tooth woes. i need to add a disclaimer that this is NOT kink it’s just sleepy drunkenness please trust me lol (rated t even!!!! not horny!!!!!!! just unbelievably stupid!!!!)

bed-sharing prompts: person A waking up to person B curled up and sleeping on top of them

put on a slow dumb show for you | 2.2k | read under cut or on ao3

Buck wakes with the same unshiftable heaviness on his chest that he gets mid-panic attack. Except—his body is incredibly confused, because while the physical pressure is bearing down, making breathing a struggle, every other cell in his body is telling him the opposite: no reason to panic, he’s warm and swaddled and safer than he’s ever been.

His brain scrambles to organise this juxtaposition of sensations. The room is dark, and not unfamiliar, even if he’s spent the night in here less than a handful of times. Eddie’s digital alarm clock is blinking at him, and Eddie’s recently mounted décor of three framed photographs on the far wall is facing him, and Eddie’s entire fucking body is draped over Buck’s and crushing the breath out of him.

Oh. Okay. The second half of his cells were right, then—he’s safe. His heart can stop racing now. And it does, a bit.

But his brain keeps reaching for puzzle pieces, laying them out for assessment before him. His mouth tastes like he licked the bottom of a public trash can, and there’s a sharp twinge behind his temple, and he feels more than a little nauseous.

That’ll be the last five tequila shots Ravi pressed into his hands pre-karaoke. Eddie’d just stumbled off stage, arm-in-arm with Karen, fresh off a You’re Still The One duet that had Karen sniffling half-way through and making grabby-hands at an amused but equally-smitten Hen. Buck had only enough time to whoop as Eddie curtsied dramatically before they were calling his name.

Buck’s good at a lot of things, but singing is not one of them. He’d whined and stammered and straight-up crawled under the table before Ravi, sweet, evil Ravi, had ducked down to join him with a tray of shots. After that is—a bit of a blur, to be honest. There was some Carly Rae Jepsen, maybe? He remembers sliding back into their booth next to Eddie and watching the rest of their friends be disgustingly romantic.

That, coupled with the best friend he’s a little unbearably in love with singing the most hopeful love song ever written, is just a recipe for Buck’s heart to get a little messy. And maybe it made him bolder with his affection than usual? Clingier, anyway. He must’ve been pretty needy for Eddie to let him crash in his bed. But Eddie’s always making sure Buck has what he needs, so that isn’t anything new. And Eddie must’ve been pretty wasted too, if this total lack of personal space is any indication.

Buck doesn’t think Eddie’ll mind waking up like this—a perk of having a physically affectionate straight best friend is that he’s mostly oblivious to a classic no homo situation. He breathes deep, weight on top of him grounding instead of suffocating, lets himself tentatively wrap an arm around Eddie to hold him steady as his chest rises with the depth of his inhale, and closes his eyes again.

Except Eddie snuffles and shifts and then jams his knee directly into Buck’s bladder. After the drinks he put away tonight? Buck’s dangerously full bladder.

“Fuck,” he squeaks, desperately trying to shift Eddie to the side. “Oh—fuck.” He clenches—everything, really, because he’s too old to wet the bed and too fond of the life he has to wet Eddie’s bed, as the aftermath of that really only involves fleeing the country.

In the end, fear of that outweighs any qualms he has about waking a peacefully slumbering Eddie, and he all but shoves him off, gasping a breath of relief when Eddie’s weight shifts from his bladder to his thighs.

“Whu—what?” Eddie slurs, scrambling up with a pinched expression. “Buck? What’s wrong?” He sits up clumsily, straddling Buck’s thighs.

“Nothing,” Buck says, voice strained. “Sorry, I’m sorry, just—really need to piss. And…” He gestures uselessly between them, face contorted in apology.

“Oh,” Eddie frowns. “Okay. Cool.”

“Cool,” Buck echoes, feeling hysterical. “Um, I’m gonna…” He tries to tug his legs free from under Eddie and Eddie clambers off obligingly.

Buck swings himself out of bed and hurries down the hall to the bathroom, cursing himself for everything from waking Eddie to ruining what could’ve been the cuddle session of his dreams to going and fucking falling in love with his best friend in the first place.

He lets the door swing shut behind him and absentmindedly lifts the toilet seat, shoving a hand into his boxers and then just about leaping a foot in the air when the door squeaks open again and Eddie shuffles over to stand behind him, resting his chin on Buck’s shoulder.

“Um,” Buck says, feeling dizzy for reasons that are only partly alcohol related. “Uh.”

“D’you need a hand?” Eddie asks sleepily.

Buck laughs nervously, frozen facing the wall with his hand down his boxers. “Uh. What?”

Eddie yawns, muffling the back-half of it into Buck’s shoulder and crowding closer, plastering himself along Buck’s back. Does Buck have alcohol poisoning? Is this the tequila version of an absinthe hallucination?

“D’you need me to hold it?” Eddie clarifies, nuzzling Buck’s shoulder gently.

Buck chokes on his own spit, body buckling as he pulls his hand out his underwear to thump his own chest. No, he skipped straight past the alcohol poisoning, he’s dead, not even a coma could dream this up.

Eddie steps back, frowning in concern when Buck finally spins to face him, eyes wide. His whole body is taut, stark contrast to the sleepy slump of Eddie’s shoulders.

“Do I—what?” he manages.

“Sorry, I wasn’t, like, trying to baby you,” Eddie says, looking unsure. “But after earlier—”

“Earlier,” Buck echoes. Eddie’s gaze has dropped to south of Buck’s navel, where his boxers have rucked up enough to leave a considerable amount of his happy trail on display. He yanks the waistband up quickly, and Eddie’s head snaps up too, cheeks dusted pink. Then his face, his perfect, beautiful face, falls.

“Wait, Buck—do you not remember? After karaoke?” he asks, taking a step back. “Oh, I—I didn’t think you were that drunk.”

“I wasn’t,” Buck insists, racking his brain, and oh.

The tequila-soaked memory swims up, Buck desperate for the toilet and stubborn about being able to get there himself, despite tripping over his stupid Bambi legs not two steps from their table. Eddie laughing and slinging an arm around him, half-carrying him to the men’s room. Buck standing in front of the urinal, frowning and arms flopping helplessly at his sides.

“Eddie,” he’d whined. “My hands aren’t working.”

Eddie’d laughed again, fond and warm, and asked if he wanted to sit in a stall.

“No,” Buck had pouted. “My zip…” He’d turned to Eddie, lopsided grin and beseeching eyes, and Eddie’d shaken his head and come to stand behind him. He’d undone Buck’s zipper and asked, “Alright?” and Buck had pouted some more.

“Can you help?” he’d asked, mortifyingly pathetic. Eddie’d raised an eyebrow and snorted, and then Buck had said, “Eddieee. These are my nice jeans. My hands don’t work. Your hands are perfect.”

Eddie’d muttered, “Might as well happen like this,” and slipped a hand into Buck’s jeans and—ah. Held his dick while he peed.

“Oh,” Buck says now, voice small. “Fuck, Eds, I’m sorry.”

Eddie narrows his eyes, somewhat blearily. “Why? I wouldn’t have if I didn’t want to.”

“Yeah, but I know—I don’t think we’re on the same page. I don’t—” Buck closes his eyes and presses the heels of his palms into them. “I don’t think it meant the same thing for us.”

“Oh,” Eddie’s face is suddenly unreadable. He crosses his arms over his chest and takes another step back. Buck wants to cry. He basically tricked his best friend into touching him—doesn’t matter if Eddie did it platonically, because drunk or not, genuinely needing help to piss or not, Buck’s pretty sure his own intentions were not all that innocent.

“I’m so sorry, Eds,” he says. “I was drunk as hell—that’s not an excuse, but it won’t happen again. I—I’ll be better at keeping it to myself. The last thing I ever want is to make you feel uncomfortable around me.”

Something passes over Eddie’s face. “Wait,” he says slowly, “you asked me to hold your dick as friends?” There’s an uncertain lilt to the question, like he truly doesn’t know what the answer is anymore.

“Uh,” Buck says. He could use the confusion to wrestle the cat back into the bag and then ship said bag one-way to Nicaragua, but Eddie’s looking a little lost, arms crossed in his black vest and boxers and mismatched socks. Buck can’t be the cause of that. “No. I’m sorry. I wasn’t—I swear I wasn’t trying to trick you. I was just really drunk.”

“Okay,” Eddie says, stepping forward again and reaching out to tug Buck in by the hem of his t-shirt. “What’s the problem then?” He slides a warm hand under Buck’s shirt, smoothing it across his skin.

Buck inhales sharply, blood rushing to his brain and cheeks and cock so quickly he reaches for the porcelain toilet tank behind him to steady himself. “W-wait. Were you holding my dick as friends?”

Eddie blinks at him, disbelief slowly overtaking the slack sleepiness of his facial muscles. “You thought—is that generally something your friends do for you?”

“No, but…” Buck falters. “Why—why did you, then? Why else would you…”

“I was holding your dick because I want to kiss it,” Eddie snaps, and then claps a hand over his mouth, eyes wide and horrified. “I want to kiss you,” he amends. “You, not your—I mean, sure, that too, but. Can you say something.”

The many million times Buck has daydreamed and fantasised and wished for this, he’s never anticipated fuzzy patches in his memory of it. But these things are clear: waking up with Eddie plastered to him like he wants to touch Buck at every possible point, Eddie following him in here unprompted and pressing up against him with unchecked affection, because even in his sleepy state Eddie just wants to make sure Buck has what he needs, even if what he needs is help holding his dick in a context that’s soft and sleepy and miles from sexual.

“You came in here to hold my dick,” he says, grin spreading.

Eddie’s cheeks are so rosy, rosier than they’d been with the flush of alcohol, even. “I came in here because I didn’t want your uncoordinated drunk ass pissing all over my bathroom.”

“Aw, Eds, you romantic,” Buck says, stepping closer. Eddie sighs exasperatedly, tilting his face up expectantly anyway. But, oh—

“Did we kiss already?” Buck asks, heart dropping. “Do I not remember?”

Eddie brings up one large palm to rub Buck’s sternum gently. “Nah. Didn’t seem like the right time. I kinda—I wanted to do that not-drunk.”

“Oh,” Buck says, sagging with relief. “Good.” Eddie gives him a sleepy, wonky smile, and Buck says, “I’m not drunk now.”

Eddie huffs a laugh, stepping back and patting Buck’s chest. “Nope, just hungover and harbouring the most toxic tequila-flavoured morning breath anyone’s ever had.”

“Don’t forget desperate to pee,” Buck grins. “You gonna help a guy out?” He flaps his arms limply, batting his lashes at Eddie.

Eddie grumbles unintelligibly, lips twitching with amusement as he bodily rearranges Buck to face the toilet again. Buck melts back into the cradle of his arms, safe and sleepy and sated enough that his dick doesn’t do any more than he needs it to right now, even with Eddie’s warm hand wrapped around it.

They stumble back to bed, Buck belatedly remembering he’s not washed his hands but deciding not to care if Eddie doesn’t, and when Buck flops down, Eddie’s right back on top of him.

Buck wheezes as the breath’s punched out of his lungs, and it becomes a laugh, and this time he wraps both arms firmly around Eddie to hold him tight. Eddie exhales into the crook of his neck, breath hot and a little gross, and then lifts his head to press a close-mouthed kiss to the corner of Buck’s lips.

“This one doesn’t count,” he murmurs against Buck’s cheek. “I just can’t believe you thought I wanted to hold your dick as friends, so. It’s an almost-kiss. An IOU. Tomorrow I’m gonna kiss you till one of us passes out. Not as friends.”

“As enemies,” Buck whispers solemnly and then grunts when Eddie digs an elbow into his ribs. “As anything you want, s’long as I can keep the kissing and the dick-holding and—this.” He tightens his arms around Eddie, feeling his chest reverberate against Buck’s as he laughs.

“Deal,” he agrees, nestling closer, messy hair getting in Buck’s mouth as he shifts. “But just so you know what I want—and I don’t mean to skip ahead—though I guess we’re doing the regular dating bases all out of order anyway—” He sighs, deep and satisfied as he gets comfortable, and says, “I’m ready to have and to dick-hold you every day of the week, you know?”

Buck didn’t know, but now he does, and in eleven months’ time when he and Eddie are saying these words in front of their friends and family, sans penis, not one single person can blame him for lurching forward and kissing the adoring smirk off Eddie’s face miles before poor ordained Bobby gives him the go-ahead. Doing true love in order is overrated, anyway.

#911 fic #buddie fic #this might be the silliest thing ive ever written im so sorry frida and rain #911 #buddie #i was gonna say i have no defense for this bc the only painkillers i’m on are ibuprofen and paracetamol #but turns out i’ve had a fever all afternoon so let’s conveniently blame cognitive impairment for whatever this is yeah #nina writes #im posting it to ao3 because its over 2k but like. perhaps it shouldnt be immortalised over there.#bed sharing prompts #mine

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dragonwritersblog · 16 days

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She Was Like A Sunflower

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1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12

Yeah, I just finished this so there may be some spelling mistakes. I just didn't want to delay the second chapter any further so I'll fix them when I wake up. Also, WHO PUT DOOMED YURI IN MY FUNNYBUNNY FIC?!?! Also, come support me and Pandora's new au on our shared tumblr called 'The Amazing Digital Redacted AU'. If you love indie horror like Bendy and the Ink machine, Poppy Playtime, FNAF then you'll love this AU. Here's the link Don't forget to check out twitter as well All that said, enjoy chapter 2! (and dont kill me pls)

2. Marjorie

What died didn't stay dead

You're alive, so alive

And if I didn't know better

I'd think you were singing to me now – Marjorie by Taylor Swift

Cloudy skies, not a hint of light coming through. It was going to be that type of day today, and that type of mood by the way Winter observed Riley’s behaviour this morning. The redhead was at the table, drinking coffee and bouncing Percy on her knee. Winter could tell whenever a smile was pretend, and the way her wife smiled right now was no exception.

Could she blame her? Winter was a wreck when Jack went missing and knowing how close Penny and Riley were, it made sense for her wife to behave the way she did. But the thing is, Riley didn’t, or scream, or get angry. The passionate, loud, amazing women she married wasn’t the one holding their son at the table. There was only a shell. And after that visit she had with David, Riley’s shell had only gotten tougher.

If Riley said anything that related to Penny, it would be to trying to find her. She never spoke about how it made her feel, never saw a tear, or the grieved anger that one would expect. Riley was always so loving towards anything about her sister, it unnerved Winter seeing her wife like this.

“Look at him,” Riley cooed at the little baby on her lap. “We have the cutest kid in the world, look at him.”

Percy giggled as his mother held him up under the arms, thrashing his legs about as he peered at his mama over the kitchen island. “He is the cutest baby in the world,” Winter agreed. “Um, I know Captain Rae is okay with you working on this case. But are you sure-”

“We should get him a new mobile,” Riley cut her off, focusing her attention on Percy. “I think the other one isn’t working to well, he never pays attention to it.”

Winter pursed her lips, tapping her fingers on the kitchen counter. She wanted to at least say something about Penny before Riley had to leave to drop Percy off at Laura’s. “Listen, Riley,” she spoke, making her wife turn to her. “You have been nothing but patient when I found out Jack went missing, I know this type of this is so fucking far from easy. Whatever you’re feeling, I’ve felt it too. You…you know that right?”

“I know,” Riley smiled warmly. “You know, you can say if you’re missing Jack again. You don’t have to be light about it to make me feel better, okay Hun?”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m trying to say,” Winter pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’ve heard you in the night, waking up crying. I understand what you’re feeling, you can talk about Penny-”

“-Okay Percy,” Riley turned back to her son. “Are you ready to see Grandma?” She immediately stood up, holding him by her hip as she grabbed her own bag, Percy’s baby bag and car keys from the table.

It was as if a switch was flipped, a wall was put up and the shell was hardening. “Riley, wait!” Winter went round the kitchen island as she chased her wife to the door, “Riley.”

Riley froze as she opened the door, facing the outside, her face hidden. Winter heard her take a sharp intake of breath before facing her with the same faux smile that she had been wearing ever since she came back from David’s “Yeah?”

“I…It’s just,” Winter tried to find the words, to say something that didn’t involve her life leaving without at least finishing a conversation. But she knew that no matter how hard she tried, Riley would find an opening in order not to face it, and it would only make Winter’s efforts even harder. The dark-haired woman sighed, “I’ll see you at work later. I…love you.”

A glimpse of a real smile appeared on Riley’s face, “I love you too carrot cake.” The redhead pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” Winter nodded solemnly, “See you soon.”

With that, Riley turned her focus back on Percy and shut the door behind her. Winter let her soldiers sag, a painful ache forming in her heart. She knew Riley was hurting, she saw it flicker in her eyes every time a dead end came up for Penny’s case, she heard it when Riley awoke crying from nightmares – yet Winter pretended she was asleep in order for Riley to not feel ashamed – and she felt every single anger and grief that she knew Riley was having because she had felt it when Jack went missing.

So why wouldn’t Riley talk to her?!

Winter took a deep breath, trying to cancel out the negative energy. Everyone copes differently with these types of things. Besides, she and Riley were as strong as cement, they could work through this despite how bleak everything seemed.

Riley would come to her eventually…maybe…hopefully.

So why did Winter feel so lonely?

“Okay, let me understand this as best as I can,” Ragatha started. Pomni and Jax had set up some bean bags for everyone while they sat on the bed, just finishing up their rundown of everything that happened in the last day. “You two have your memories back?”

“Yup,” Jax nodded.

“And you two were engaged before you got sucked in here?” Zooble questioned.

“That would be correct,” Pomni agreed.

“And now you guys might know a way to escape this place?” Gangle asked.

“That is a plausibility,” Jax replied.

Ragatha pressed her hands together and held them near her face, taking a long, deep, exhausted breath, “This is a lot to take in.”

Pomni bit her lip nervously, “I know this is the last thing you were all expecting, but you’re all handling this well all things considered.”

“I’m just confused on how you managed to fall in love with Jax of all people,” Zooble muttered, glaring at the rabbit.

Jax rolled his eyes, “Thanks Zooble.”

Pomni frowned, taking his hand into hers and squeezing it tight, “Because he loved me despite everything, saw me at my worst yet stayed because he knew I could thrive into my best. And right now, he helped me find a possible way to get everyone out of here. Do I excuse what he’s done to all of you? No. And I’m still not happy with how he treated me and Ragatha on my first day. So don’t think I’m taking sides, I’m simply observing.”

Zooble sighed, almost feeling guilty…almost. But they trusted Pomni’s word, not Jax’s (they didn’t know if they ever would) but definitely Pomni’s. “Fine” she muttered.

Kinger looked more lost than he usually did. The usual quiet brainstorm he would have in the middle of the room increased like wildfire. “Memories…returning,” he mumbled. “This…I don’t…I haven’t seen anything like it.”

Jax turned to the chess piece. He didn’t like this reaction, not one bit. It brought up too many painful flashbacks of someone similar to Kinger going through the same thing a long time ago, “Kinger, buddy, stay with us.”

It was like going in one ear and out the either for the royal character, still shaking like a leaf, “How…what is…something is…a trip?”

Trip? Jax didn’t want to see how far this would go, how far Kinger would go unless he’d – no, he wasn’t going to finish that thought and he wouldn’t let this continue. “Kinger!” Jax clapped his hands, the sound ringing through the room and snapping the chess piece out of his mumblings.

Kinger blinked. Once, twice, “Oh Jax.” And once again, he was back to himself, “Apologies, I must have been lost in a dream. But it’s so nice to know you and Pomni were together, young love finds a way.”

Despite the chess piece giving them all a scare, that statement alone made the rabbit and jester blush. Would it be rude if he kicked everyone out and smother his fiancé with attention? Yes, yes it would. And while it was tempting, Jax couldn’t afford to indulge. Not when the giant elephant in the room was still being addressed.

“It is really sweet,” Gangle whispered. It sounded like a genuine compliment from the masked woman – and it was don’t get her wrong – but there was something else lacing her tone. Something else that suggested the bodied ribbons couldn’t be as happy as she wanted to be. But she didn’t say, it wasn’t her place. No one could even tell from that slight lilt in her voice that she felt this way.

But Zooble noticed.

“Okay, still a little confused but I think I’m getting there,” Ragatha finally spoke up again. “Listen, Pomni. You know I trust you whole heartedly, but we’ve been here for years and no one has seen an exit until now, are you sure that what you’ve seen is accurate?”

Pomni’s face fell. Despite the door in front of Ragatha, despite everything she told her, why did the ragdoll still doubt her? “But we told you. The exit door is right there,” Pomni pointed to the door on the wall, desperation filling her eyes. “I know it seems impossible but I really think we can get out of here!”

Ragatha gasped, covering her mouth with guilt at what she said, “Sorry, sorry Pomni I phrased that wrong. It’s just…we’ve all tried looking for a way out and it always backfired, even when we think we’ve gotten so close. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you.”

Pomni opened her mouth, about to speak when-

“Ragatha,” Jax spoke. Everyone’s eyes widened, he never said Ragatha’s actual name, and so seriously either. “We saw her mother. She saw us send out a message to her. She knows we’re alive.” He paused, watching the ragdoll process everything with shock written all over her face. “Someone knows we’re here now. I know you’re scared, but this is a real chance of finally leaving.”

Ragatha’s mouth opened and closed, cutting off words before they even arrived at her lips. She thought she knew everything about the circus, had accepted that no matter how much they tried they could never escape. It was a horrible thing to accept, but she had to if she wanted to stay sane and not end up like…she could still feel herself almost crumbling away when Kaufmo’s abstracted form attacked her. No, no! She can’t lose herself now. She should be grateful that Pomni and Jax managed to find a way to be free, so why did it feel so hard to grasp onto that hope? “Okay,” she sighed. “I trust you, Pomni. But what about Caine, do you think you’ll tell him-”

“NO!” Pomni cut her off, fear swimming in her red and blue eyes. Even everyone seemed shocked by her sudden volume. Jax held her close, hugging her trembling form as the jester took a few breaths to calm herself down. “No, I-I don’t think that’s a good idea. He already had a weird way of trying to make things ‘fun’ here, I don’t know how he’ll feel when we say we’ve found a legitimate exit. What if he tries to take that away?”

The rest of the group nodded slowly. Even before Pomni arrived, Caine had always shut down the possibility of an exit being possible. And every time it was shown to him, he would twist it and prove to them that it was just another part of the circus. It was like he feared an exit even existing.

“It’s just your imagination!” he always said, leaving them to doubt if what they saw was actually there. And if you lost yourself in those thoughts, then it was a one-way trip into the cellar. And nobody wanted that.

“Well in that case…” Ragatha trailed off, closing her eyes for a moment. When they opened, they were fierce and determined. “Keep doing what you’re doing. This actually seems like a true way to finally get out of here. But do not let Caine find out. Keep pretending that everything is the same, you two are just friends, you don’t remember your past and that there is no way an exit is even here.”

“Got it,” Pomni and Jax said in unison.

“Which means that you two should stop acting like a couple whenever you’re in public,” Ragatha stated.

“Oh we know,” Pomni smiled innocently.

“Yeah, it’s not as hard as it seems,” Jax replied cooly.

Ragatha raised a coy brow at the two of them, “Pomni, darling, you’re sitting on Jax’s lap.”

Oh, right, the two of them forgot about that. They were both quick to slip back in to how they used to be before the circus, which meant a lot of trusting physical contact that the two were proud to have developed over the years. But then again, Ragatha was right. Something like that would be extremely obvious to Caine that something was up.

Pomni slid of the rabbit’s lap, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly while Jax coughed nervously behind his fist. “Right, sorry,” Pomni laughed sheepishly, while Jax pouted at the lack of contact.

Ragatha pinched the bridge of her nose again, this is gonna be a disaster.

Riley paced back and forth in her mother’s living room, her phone held to her ear as she chewed on her fingernail. “Oh god I fucked up, I really fucked up,” she mumbled as the dial buzzed in her ear.

“Riley, sweetie, it’s gonna be okay,” Amber put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, ceasing her pacing. “If this Samual boy is as nice as you say he is I’m sure he’ll listen to you.”

“I was really awful the last time I saw him, Mom,” Riley winced as she remembered his cries, ignoring him as the elevator doors shut behind her. “And the worst part was, I genuinely believed he was telling the truth. You always told me to trust my gut and I did! With him! But then Jason Wood said stuff that sounded plausible, and I feel so fucking stupid because even my head was screaming at me not to believe him. I didn’t know whether to trust the facts because both of them were laid out to me and I-”

“Hey, hey,” Amber’s voice was soft yet firm. “This isn’t like anything you’ve ever worked on before. We are dealing with something that we didn’t even know existed, and its personal since both Jack and Penny are involved in this. In a normal case, maybe someone like Jason is right about this. But this isn’t a normal case, and we have proof that this Jason guy isn’t to be trusted.”

Riley nodded, “I have to let him know how sorry I am. This kid, he’s been through so much, all I did was make his situation worse. If Jason really treated him like that them…oh god…oh god Mom we really need to help him!”

Amber nodded feverishly. When Riley told her what Samual went through, with his parents going missing and how Jason was like to him whenever they were brought up, all the mother saw was nothing but red. The only time Amber looked like she was ready to kill was with David after the car crash all those years ago, and again when he showed up at both of her daughters’ homes unannounced.

Riley was about to speak when-

“Hello?” Samual’s voice answered through the phone.

“Ah, Samual!” Riley gasped, keeping the phone tight to her ear. “Samual you were right about everything! We couldn’t trust Jason!”

“M-miss Riley?!” His tone was small and frightened, almost trading on eggshells at the sound of her. “What are you talking about?”

Riley only wanted that type of fear from the voices of those who wronged her, not from innocent kids trying to help. She wanted to slap herself in the face for making that mistake, “Samual, you know the emails you showed me? Of the mystery person? The same thing happened to my Mom, my sister, I think she’s trying to get into contact with us.”

There was a small pause on the other line, before the boy spoke meekly, “You…you believe me?”

“Yeah, yeah kid I do,” Riley was nothing short of breathless. The last twenty-four hours have been nothing but a blur. But the way she spoke to him, at the height of her anger. Even if this situation wasn’t real, she shouldn’t have spoke to a hurting kid like that. “Samual, I owe you an apology.”

“Oh no, you don’t need to-”

“Samual, please,” she gently cut him off. “The way I spoke to you was nothing short of cold and rude. I was in a bad place and me and my family have gone through so much pain, but that’s no excuse and I should never have taken my anger out on you. I’m so sorry Samual.”

There was a pause, Riley waited with bated breath. Mere seconds felt agonisingly long until Samual finally answered, “I forgive you.”

Riley felt her lungs fill with air, finally letting herself breathe, “Really?”

“Yeah, I get it. Jason has a history of getting people to believe his stories,” Samual said. “I don’t blame you. And now I’m guessing we have more proof that he’s lying?”

“That’s right,” Riley confirmed, “Are you free to come check it out?”

“I’ll be there as quick as I can,” Samual’s excited and curious tone returned. “I can’t wait to get started on our secret FBI work!”

The line cut off before Riley could say another word. She grinned, shaking her head.

He forgave her.

“I’m guessing it went well?” Amber asked, her own smile gracing her lips.

Riley nodded, relief washing over her again and again, “We might actually be getting somewhere.”

Amber faltered a little. For a while, she was starting to lose hope that she would ever truly hear those words. But somehow, mercy was gifted to her and her family. “We’re gonna find her,” she stated firmly to her eldest daughter “We’re gonna get Penny back.”

“We will Mom,” Riley agreed, “We will.”

Yes the option to not go on Caine’s adventure was always available, but it didn’t mean that the ringmaster was too happy whenever someone decided to stay behind. Right now, Zooble was idly walking down one of the hallways on the tent, kicking their foot against the carpet a few times. Ironically enough, Zooble wasn’t the first and only one who volunteered to stay behind for the day. Nope, it was Gangle who asked first.

Normally the ribboned lady wouldn’t mind tagging along on an adventure with everyone else, but today she turned away at the offer trudging back into the circus. Zooble had instantly recognised that it wasn’t Gangle’s usual behaviour and decided to stay back too. He would deal with Caine’s shenanigans once the pair of dentures came back with the rest of the crew.

Zooble paced up and down the hallway, the day was nearly up but she hadn’t actually worked up the courage to see if Gangle was okay. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but Gangle was one of the sweetest and sensitive people here. Zooble cherished the fact that someone like her wanted to be friends with someone like him, to the point that they even got a bit nervous when talking with her one on one. But right now, there was something obviously wrong with Gangle and Zooble made the choice to stay behind to make sure that she didn’t feel less alone. Yet here she was, keeping a distance from the masked lady because he was nothing but afraid.

But then they stopped. When he was in the gloink hole, Gangle was the only one to realise he was missing, even being brave enough to try and bring her back. It would be selfish of Zooble to not at least try to comfort the girl and see if she was okay. Swallowing both his fears and pride, Zooble marched themselves down the hall to find Gangle.

He found her sitting on the stage, her silk legs drawn up to her chest as she sighed to herself, her comedy mask was once again broken and she had to rely on her secondary, sombre one instead. Under Zooble’s stoic expression, she was absolutely terrified. They didn’t know why, Gangle was their friend. Why did they feel afraid to start a conversation alone with a friend. Their sweet…kind…pretty friend. Ah! Pull yourself together! Gangle needs you!

Zooble took a deep breath, he could do this. And so, he walked up to the stage, slipping into their usual and calm posture, “Hey Gangle. No adventure today?”

She jumped a bit at the sound of her name, relaxing when they saw who it was, “No, not today. I wasn’t in the mood.”

“Oh,” Zooble nodded awkwardly. They weren’t really good at the emotional fluffy stuff, every time they tried she somehow always reached a dead end. But he didn’t want Gangle feeling this lonely, he had to at least try and help her out, “Any reason why?”

Gangle rubbed her arm, giving Zooble a sad smile, “It’s okay Zooble. If you have somewhere to be then you can go, you don’t need to stay and talk to me if you don’t want to.”

“No I do!” Zooble said a bit too quickly, making Gangle squeak. “Gah, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to sound like that. It’s…ugh how does Ragatha do this so easily?” They closed their eyes for a moment, breathing deeply before opening them again. “I’m here because I want to be. And I’m always willing to lend an ear if you need to talk. Gangle, if there’s anything you wanna say or do, I’m here.”

The ribboned woman seemed to be taken aback by that, not fully expecting that level of support from the usual reclusive assortment of parts. But she wasn’t complaining, she liked seeing this side of Zooble. “Well, it’s just…” she started, fiddling with the ends of her ribbons for a moment. “I’m happy that Pomni and Jax have their memories back, really I am. And it really is sweet that they used to be together, but…”

“But?” Zooble asked.

“…Jax has done nothing but torment us, prank us and make our lives miserable,” Gangle spoke. “Every day, he’s done nothing but go out of his way to annoy us just because he likes seeing funny things happen to people. And now he has his memories back and we’re suddenly happy for him?! After all he put us through. As if it erases everything he did to us! With Pomni, I’m glad that she remembers who she was. She was so scared when she got here and Caine has done nothing to help her, so it’s good finally seeing her smile. But with Jax? It might be wrong for me to say but it doesn’t seem fair! We’ve been trying everything to remember who we were, all the while he laughed at us for doing so! Like he hadn’t tried doing so in the first place as well yet he still made fun of us! And now he gets them back just like that! I wanna remember! I tried so hard to! Yet he berated me for trying and he-”

She covered her mouth, ashamed. She said too much. “Oh gosh, that’s horrible what I just said!” her eyes darted round the area. “I need to find my comedy mask, that why I’ll stop talking like this and be happy! Where is it? I swore I had it here somewhere, it’s not broken. Oh god, what if it is?! No, no, no! I need my comedy mask! I need it! I wanna stop feeling like this!”

“Gangle! You’re okay!” Zooble quickly caught Gangle’s flailing hands in theirs, holding them firmly yet gently. “You’re not a horrible person for saying that and I get what you’re trying to say. I know you don’t mean anything bad by it and I understand your frustration. Am I glad that bozo has his memories back, sure. But it doesn’t mean that I forgave and forgot all that he put us through, and you don’t need to either. If someone as weird as Jax can get his memories back, then someone as amazing as you can get yours back too.”

Gangle lips parted for a moment, speechless at the honesty in Zooble’s tone. “Y-you think I’m amazing?” she whispered.

Zooble’s voice got caught in her throat, her entire face flustering up as she removed his hands from Gangle’s. “Well, yeah,” they replied nonchalantly. “You don’t overwhelm me like Caine or annoy me like Jax. Plus I like your acts you put on.”

Gangle practically beamed at that, “You like my acts?”

“Hehe, of course,” Zooble’s eyes gleamed. “You got a real talent for that.”

The masked lady giggled, “You know, for someone who doesn’t think they’re good at soft stuff, I think you did a pretty great job with talking to me.”

“Oh,” Zooble blushed, clearing their throat before mumbling, “Thank you. And your comedy mask, you wanna leave it or…”

“No I can’t leave it,” Gangle quickly told her. “Everything just gets too much in here, I need my mask to make it easier, to make me happier. That way I won’t bring everyone down and I’ll be as happy as I need to be.”

Zooble furrowed his brows at Gangle’s statement, “But you don’t bring-”

“Oh, I think I know where it is!” Gangle grinned. “I’ll be back soon! Thank you Zooble!” She then tore off down the hall, all the way back to the bedroom quarters.

“Wait but…” Zooble reached out an arm to her, but Gangle was already gone. “But you don’t need your mask to be happy.”

They sighed. They had seen Gangle smile without the mask, a real genuine smile that wasn’t forced by some code from the character model forced onto her. If anything, Zooble swore that the mask only made things worse for Gangle, making her rely on it more and more. Zooble wished to see that real smile again.

Their train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a group of voices, tired and groaning. She turned, looks like the adventure was over for today. “Jeez, what happened to you guys?” they asked.

“Football stadium adventure,” Ragatha mumbled, rubbing her lower back. “Turns out when you put four inexperienced players against a group of NPC’s coded with tons of knowledge about it, you tend to face a lot of back pain.”

Zooble hissed through his teeth, “Yikes.”

“But it’s all a part of the adventure!” Caine boomed, making them all jump. “After all! How boring would it be if you didn’t learn at all!”

“You couldn’t at least give us a tutorial?” Jax grumbled. “Was that really too hard for you to do dentures?” He wasn’t really angry for himself. Well, he was. But Pomni had a really hard time on her feet during the whole game, easily being outnumbered and beaten by the NPC’s.

At one point, one of them kicked her in the leg instead of the ball, sending her to the ground. For a moment, Jax had forgotten all about the pretending, tackling the NPC to the ground before checking on his secret fiancé. Thankfully, Caine saw it as Jax thinking they were playing soccer (despite him literally kicking the ball for hours on end) and being a good teammate. Jax had never been more thankful for the AI’s naivety, especially when it gave him a chance to take Pomni to a nursing room and dressing her wound (he wouldn’t forget about how her cheeks turned red when he kissed the side of her bandaged knee).

“Anyhow!” Caine fiddled with his cane before tossing it away, a cartoonish sound effect resonating from where it landed. “I suggest you all rest up! We’ve gotten even more adventures planned for tomorrow and you’ll all need a good feast and rest before that!”

“Oh great, its not as if we heard that line before,” Jax muttered. Pomni crossed her arms over her chest, raising a brow at the rabbit. Jax only grinned, rolling his eyes at the pair of dentures before circling his finger at the temple of his head, clearing stating his opinion of the ringmaster. Pomni scoffed, failing to hide a smile at her fiancé. Jax’s face softened, he’ll never get tired of making her smile.

“I’ll leave everyone to themselves before dinner!” Caine boomed with his usual, yet unsettling, toothy grin. “Take care my superstars!”

Like the same song and dance he had done many times before, the pair of dentures vanished in a puff of smoke. Jax waited a few seconds, making sure that the ringmaster was gone before rushing over to Pomni. “How’s your knee? Does it still hurt?” he asked, brushing his hand over the bandage.

“Yeah Hun I’m okay,” Pomni reassured him, petting behind his ears. “I’m sure it’s just a bruise now with the way things work here.”

His brows furrowed worriedly, “You sure? No more aches?”

“No more aches,” Pomni repeated.

“Good, good,” Jax let his thumb brush over the bandaged skin one more time before standing up. “So, you ready to get back to business.”

Pomni took in a sharp breath, both excitement yet a hint of nerves washing through her, “Yeah, let’s go see my Mom.”

Jax nodded, the two of them going down the hall again, unable to feel the gaze of everyone else’s eyes on them.

“Still having doubts Rags?” Zooble turned to the ragdoll.

“A little bit,” Ragatha nodded, a bit of shame shown on her face. “It’s not that I don’t trust them. I guess I’m just…scared. We never had anything like this. It could go either really well or…” She didn’t want to finish that sentence. She didn’t want to finish that thought! Never before had they tittered on a tight rope so close to collapsing. If this went wrong, then all of them could suffer a fate worse than abstraction. No, no she wasn’t going to think about that. It she was brought down, then so would everyone else. And she wasn’t going to allow herself to act so selfishly, “Never mind, how about I go see if Bubble would like help making dessert?”

Zooble frowned at Ragatha’s shift in mood, “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Ragatha questioned innocently.

“You always do that, act like you’re not sad when you are,” Zooble told her. “You’re allowed to not have good days, you know that right?”

“Oh Zooble, you worry too much,” Ragatha patted his arm. “I’m absolutely fine, no bad thoughts in my head whatsoever. Now, I think a pie would do well for dessert for tonight, don’t you think?”

With that, the ragdoll turned on her heel and headed to the kitchen. That was two people in a row that pretended to be happy to Zooble. He hated when that happened, when they forced down any type of negativity in the fear of being abstracted. It wasn’t fair that this threat kept hovering over everyone’s head, and Zooble hated it that Caine didn’t do anything to sooth their worries, instead leaving them to wallow with shallow adventures that they all hated. It was another reason why Zooble felt bitter with Jax, he kept pushing them on the brink every single time while knowing how much they all feared the fate of the cellar, yet he never stopped. Zooble felt frustrated tears at the corners of her eyes, allowing them to fall. The others might be too scared to cry, but they didn’t want to (part of them was glad that Pomni felt the same way as well).

He felt a hand cover her shoulder, rubbing it carefully like a parent would do with their child. Zooble turned his hand, it was Kinger. His eyes didn’t meet theirs, still lost in his own worlds of chaos and insects. Yet his hands moved on their own, as though another part of his mind wanted to reach out and sooth them. Zooble sniffed, if they could smile then he would be smiling at Kinger right there and now. As crazy as it sounded in her head, Kinger somehow seemed to be the sanest of them all.

Knock, knock

Riley rushed to the door, opening it wide as it revealed the startled face of one Samual Abel. “Samual,” she gasped. “Thank you so much for coming! I’m so, so sorry!”

“Miss Riley, it’s okay,” he smiled softly. “I already told you I forgive you.”

“I know, I know,” Riley brushed back some of her red hair. “But you didn’t need to. You could have just accepted my apology and moved on, but you forgave me. Why? The way I spoke to you was awful.”

Samual shrugged, “When I was a kid, my Dad always taught me that forgiveness is a heavy thing. Many people will feign an apology just so they can unburden themselves with forgiveness without actually being sorry. I don’t forgive a lot of people, I don’t think I can forgive some of the people at C&A for lying to me and letting Jason control me, I know that if they said sorry it wouldn’t erase all that happened over the years. But you, you didn’t know. You were tricked and I know that you meant how sorry you were. That’s the difference that my Dad taught me about, I’ll know the right people to forgive and not to bring myself down with the people I don’t choose to give that right to.”

This kid was just too kind, speaking with a wisdom many people who lived longer on this earth lacked, “Your father sounds like a good man.” Not many people have that luck.

“Both he and my mother were great people,” Samual’s eyes were warm, lost in a memory of love and comfort from so many years ago. He blinked them away, his face simple yet determined. “Anyways, you got something to show me?”

Riley nodded, slipping back into business, “Yeah, let me introduce you to my Mom. She’s the one who got the messages.”

She led Samual into the house, shutting the door behind him. Amber came into the room, her hands clasped together and a cardigan wrapped around her shoulders. “Oh, hello,” she blinked in surprise at the sight of the boy. She turned to Riley, “Is this Samual?”

“Yeah, this is him,” Riley confirmed.

“Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” Amber walked over, wrapping her arms around him, his eyes widening in surprise. “Riley told me what happened, I’m so sorry all this happened to you.”

He stood frozen for a moment, as though he wasn’t used to someone wanting to hug him back. But his arms wrapped tight around Amber like Riley expected, burying his face into her shoulder. He was shaking a bit, she couldn’t hear any sobs but Riley was certain that the kid hadn’t received this level in security in a while. Hopefully with how things were going so far, that would change soon enough. Soon, Samual pulled away, trying to still his shaking hands. “Right, so,” he took a step back, his hands shoved into his pockets. “Ready to get to work?”

Amber nodded, grinning, “This way.” She guided him to the sofa, letting him sit down as the computer switched on next to him. “It was so bizarre. I’m not sure what your experience was like, all I know from Riley was that you only received messages.”

Samual lifted a brow, “I guess yours had more to it.”

“Yes,” Amber confirmed. “Before I got the messages, all my lights were flickering, like something or…someone was controlling it. That’s when I got these.” Once the computer was up and functioning, Amber clicked onto the documents that held the words from her daughter.

Samual shifted closer, “Yeah, this is certainly…different. I only got emails, but it looks like someone wrote this if it’s on a document.”

“That’s the thing,” Amber turned to him. “I don’t know how but Penny was in this room. I couldn’t see or feel how but she was there, controlling the lights and writing to me.”

Samual’s eyes widened, no disbelief was seen but rather surprise at this new revelation, “Your daughter is trying to communicate with you. She even managed to be here with you somehow.”

“Yes, yes!” Amber exclaimed, grinning. “She was right here in this room.”

“But you said not physically?” Riley asked, her tone curious rather than accusatory. “She managed to speak to you but her body wasn’t here?”

“Unfortunately,” Amber’s face fell slightly.

“So wherever she is, she’s still trapped,” Riley sighed.

Samual got up, facing the two women, “But it doesn’t seem impossible to find her. If she managed to get here the first time than its possible that she could come back.”

Riley bit her lip, “But how would we know?”

“Riley’s right,” Amber agreed. “I might have spoken to her then but I don’t know how to get in contact with her again-”

The lamp flickered, the trio’s attention focused in on it. “I’m guessing that wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me?” Riley observed, her toes curling at the thought of who she hoped it was.

“Nope,” Amber’s grin returned, whipping back round to the computer. “Penny, is that you baby?”

Hey Mom

I’m back

Riley’s hands covered her mouth, her knees dropping to the ground, “Penny? Is that really you?”

Unbeknownst to Riley, Pomni had done the same thing. Matching her sister as she tried to stifle a sob, “Hey Jax, do you mind?”

The rabbit chuckled behind her, watching the exchange go down. There were no memory-like pathways this time, just a simple walk through the door and they arrived right back in the living room, “Yeah babe, I got it.”

She’s here, she just got a little overwhelmed seeing you all again

Hi Mrs Reed

It’s good to see you again

Amber brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before realisation struck. There was only one other person that she knew who disappeared the way her youngest daughter did, “Jack?”

Yup, that’s me

Hope you’re not too disappointed

The older woman let out a breathless laugh, about to reply with how happy she was to see him…until she was interrupted by another voice, “YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

Jax’s ears pressed flat against his head as Riley stood from the ground, fury written all over her face. Pomni, Amber and Samual had to take a few steps away from the raging woman.

“YOU TELL MY SISTER THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO MARRY HER AND TRY TO MOVE AWAY ON THE DAY OF YOUR WEDDING! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!” Riley screamed loudly. “YOU’RE SO LUCKY I CAN’T SEE YOU OTHERWISE I WOULD RIP OFF BOTH YOUR ARMS AND LEGS AND FEED THEM TO WOLVES WHILE WATCHING YOU BLEED OUT!”

Jax gulped, he should have known this was coming. After all he heard from Winter how Riley slammed someone’s head against a table just because they looked at Penny funny, if he wasn’t in the circus he would be on a missing poster by now. He took a deep breath, typing away on the keyboard.

You’re allowed to be angry

Furious

What I did was unforgivable and I understand if you won’t forgive me

But please understand then when I say sorry, I mean it

I’m so sorry Riley

For hurting your sister the way I did

For everything

Riley crossed her arms as she scowled, letting herself think long and hard about it, emphasise on long (she wanted to make him suffer at least a little bit). Jack was an asshole for what he did, but she knew what he went through as a kid and how hard he tried to make things right both for himself and for everyone else. She looked to Samual, the boy giving her a smile and a thumbs up before she turned back with a sigh, “Thank you for your apology.”

Jax’s stomach did a flip. There was a thank you, but no forgiveness. It was expected, a bit disappointing, but also a good start.

You’re welcome

Riley’s face turned soft again, shifting her feet on the rug below her, “Penny, are you…can you speak to me?”

Pomni clenched her hands, grinning and trembling with excitement as she rushed over to the computer.

Hey Riles

Please don’t kill Jack when we get back

Riley sniffed, wiping a stray tear from her cheek, “I’ll try not to, but I’ll do it for you Pen. Oh my god I missed you so much.”

Pomni bit back her sob, if she missed her mother so much already, then the weight of missing Riley hit like a bag of bricks.

I missed you too

You’re making me cry Riles

“I can’t help it,” Riley laughed. “You’ve been gone for three months.”

I know

You have no idea how much I wanna hug you all – Penny (did that so you can tell who you’re talking to)

Jax hummed, amused by her quick choice, “Smart.”

She gave the rabbit a quick grin before she turned her gaze to the boy in the living room, tilting her head curiously.

Who’s that guy?

Jax followed her gaze, letting out a small gasp of realisation at who it was, “Samual Abel?!”

“Wait, you mean-?” she realised now who he was talking about.

“Penny, Jack,” Riley walked over to the boy. “This is Samual Abel, son of Kaleb and Quinn Abel. He’s gonna be helping us get you home.”

“Uh, yeah,” Samual replied nervously. “Hi again Mister Jack, nice to meet you Miss Penny. Um, I’m really sorry I couldn’t do more for you when Jason came up to you that day Jack.”

Jax frowned as his fingers reach for the keyboard again.

It was nobody’s fault but my own kid

I was the one who took up Jason’s offer

Don’t beat yourself up about it – Jack

“Copycat,” Pomni stuck her tongue out at him.

Jax chuckled, “Couldn’t help it little lady,”

“But I should have done something!” Samual stood so fast it nearly gave him whiplash. “Jason always does this! He knows it’s dangerous when people touch that stupid game! The moment he said where he was sending you I knew what job he was talking about! I could have stopped all this!”

Riley faced the boy, confused, “Game? What game?”

“That fucking game!” he cursed. “It’s been the root of all of our problems yet he never got rid of it! It started small with people disappearing in the company with headsets left behind, but then it started spreading somehow to the public! And now we lost the file! It keeps jumping from place to place and we can never catch it! All because Jason was too stubborn to get rid of it!”

“Sam, Sam, hey,” Riley clicked her fingers in front of his face, his attention solely focused on her. “What game are you talking about.”

Samual’s buried his face into his hands, a stressed groan leaving his mouth, “It was supposed to be a VR remake of the first game my dad made, but Jason kept making too many shaky choices with it. Then my parents disappeared. I hate that game… ‘The Amazing Digital Circus’.”

Pomni gasped, “That was the game I saw when I tried to find you!” She turned to Jax, “We’re stuck inside the game!”

“I-I remember!” Jax clenched his hands. “When I disappeared! That was the file I saw!”

It fell on deaf ears. “The reason why Jason wanted to send Jack away was because that was where the last person went missing, the last time we saw the file,” Samual told them. “He wanted to send Jack there as a way to retrieve the file and get back to working on the game again, even if he knew it wasn’t safe. Unfortunately the file routed its way back to this city and took Jack with him.”

“And then it took Penny,” Amber whispered.

“Okay,” Riley gathered herself, her mind settling back into business. “Jason sent Jack away and lied to everyone for all these years. That wasn’t your fault Samual.”

“But I-” he tried to speak.

“You told me that whenever you tried to speak up to talk to someone then Jason would get in the way and scare you into stopping,” she stated firmly. “Don’t blame yourself because a grown man was enough of a coward to bully a child.”

He looked like he was about to retort, but a stern glare from Riley was all that he needed to heed what she said, “Ok Miss Riley.”

“Next,” she moved on. “What should be our second course of action.”

Pomni quickly moved back to the computer.

No one else in the circus has their memories

Is there a way we can try and help them get them back? – Penny

“Oh, oh wait!” Samual piped up, an idea bright in his mind. “I overheard Jason talking about this. He has USB files of each person that went missing, including their past leading up to this point.”

“You overhear a lot of stuff kid,” Riley crossed her arms. “I didn’t mean that as a criticism, just observing.”

“Hehe, well, when you’ve been isolated from everyone and everything all your life you tend to get a bit bored,” Samual replied with a wry smile. “Case in point, eavesdropping on the guy you’re suspicious off in order to gather information.”

“So if we get the USB files and hook them into this computer,” Amber started to catch on.

“It could help get their memories back,” Samual finished. “I’ll get to see if my parents are there!”

“This is amazing!” Amber cheered. “Well, not fully amazing because their all still stuck but we’re getting somewhere. Oh wait till Winter hears about Jack being alive!”

A wide grin appeared on Jax’s face. Winter, his sister, he could finally see her again! Reassure her that he was alive-

“-Wait! No, no!” Riley quickly interjected, making everyone become quickly confused at her sudden outburst. “We can’t tell Winter, not yet at least.”

Amber blinked in surprise, “Honey, she’s your wife. She’s been missing Jack for so long, she needs to know the truth.”

Pomni watched as Jax’s ear twitch, a slight scowl was on his face. He didn’t like this one bit.

“I know that,” Riley said. “But you weren’t there when Jack was gone. She went nearly catatonic, unable to move, speak or eat. The devastation of losing him for so long nearly broke her. We nearly lost Percy in birth because of the impact. I…I can’t risk that happening again.”

A slow, angered breath released through Jax’s nose as he started to type again.

This is a mistake Riley

Winter deserves to know

You can’t keep this from her – Jack

Riley shook her head, “I’m doing this to protect her. It’s for her own good Jack.”

He wasn’t convinced, turning away from her. Riley shouldn’t have to make that choice for Winter, it wasn’t fair! She needed to know, not be kept in the dark!

Pomni patted his hand softly as she went to the keyboard.

But he’s right Riley – Penny

“I’ll tell her eventually,” Riley reassured everyone. “J-just not now, until I know for sure that everything will be fine.”

Pomni sighed. Riley was as stubborn as they came, there was no changing her mind with this.

Both rabbit and jester jumped when they heard the dinner bell ringing from outside the exit door. It was time to go.

We have to leave

You better know what you’re doing Riley – Penny

“What? But you just came back!” Riley cried.

Amber put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, “Don’t worry. If this interaction has proved anything, they’ll be back.”

Riley was unconvinced, but if there was anyone she trusted more than anything, it was her mother. “Ok,” she nodded, “Just…please be safe Penny.”

I will

And like that, both rabbit and jester rushed out the door. They were able to make it on dinner on time, and Caine was none the wiser about what happened. But despite the feast laid out in front of him, everything that Riley said left a bitter taste in Jax’s mouth. After Penny, Winter was the one he was closest to out of anyone in his life. He might not have been the greatest person, but Winter was the furthest thing from bad. She was the reason that he started to believe that good things could happen in his life, and now Riley was refusing to tell her that he was here and alive.

It felt so wrong.

Pomni’s hand was on his leg, still yet reassuring. It was a silent confirmation that she was on his side about this. He laid his hand atop hers, making sure it was out of Caine’s sight. He squeezed it, hopefully things would be okay…they had to be.

“Riley…”

Black, everything was black.

“Riley…”

It was like she was stuck in inky tar, unable to move her feet, stuck in the black substance.

“Riley.”

She looked up, the redhead gasped as she saw one very familiar, visible figure.

“Penny?” Riley’s voice sounded louder in her ears.

The brunette was wearing the same outfit Riley had last seen her in, a plain white T-shirt and grey leggings. Though it looked dirtier than she last remembered, and why were her eyes shut?

“Why did you leave me?” Penny’s voice echoed.

Riley was startled by the sudden statement, “What?”

“You’re my big sister,” Penny mumbled. “You’re supposed to protect me…yet you didn’t.”

“No, Penny I didn’t mean for you to get trapped!” Riley yelled out for her. “I’m doing everything I can to bring you home!”

“You said you would always be there for me,” Penny whispered back. “You said that no matter what happens I would be safe if you were there…but you weren’t…you didn’t save me…you’re a liar.”

“I’m so sorry Penny,” Riley sobbed, hands on her leg as she tried to pull them out, but to no avail. “I’m really sorry!”

“Liar,” Penny repeated.

“Liar!”

“LIAR!”

“L̷̩͚̯̲̖͖̙͔̹̬̮͉̲̝̑̊̀́ͅỈ̸̢̹̝̝͓͔̟̠̌́́̆͝Á̵̬͎͛̐̑̔̃̈́̓R̶̳̪̩̹̳̬̻̜̫͇̓̏̀͐͒͂̚͠͝͝”

Riley gasped, trying to run but she was frozen solid in the ink. Suddenly, the darkness was replaced by thousands of multicoloured eyes staring at her as Penny drew closer.

The brunette grabbed Riley by the collar of her shirt. It was nothing but silence.

Then her eyes opened.

Riley screamed when she saw that they were as hollow and black as the ink.

Penny opened her mouth again, the same ink leaking out from her lips as she screeched one more time.

Ļ̷̨̛͚̙̭̖̩̥̝͇̮̻̼͍͎̗͉͍̦͖̹͎͔͈̞̰̟̯̩̝̠̻̫͕̱̝̎͊̽̈́̇̀͊̄̑͋̅͊̔̄͒̃̀͌̈́̏̈͆͐̋̓͐̾͛̊̈́̈́́̏̋̀̄̏̈̚̚͘͘̕̕͠ͅÌ̶̧̧̧̛̛̪͔̝͚̫͎̝̬͈̺̫̭̱̞̹͖̞̹̳̻͖̫͉̋̓͋̈́̓͂͗͐̈́̐̈͐̒͗͆̏͛̈̏͌͗͑̈́̐͐̔̂̊͊́͆͆̒̓̾̀̀̾͘̚̕̕̚͜͝ͅͅA̷̢̧̛̛̻̳̞̬̟͇̟̟͉͔̻̻͙̩̣͈̖̘͙̪̱͎̰͙̝͚̣͈̓͒̎͛̆̓̋͌̅̈́͂̏̎̈́̅̍̈̈́̆̕͜͝͠͝ͅR̴̡͈̞͔̮̻̩͋͂͑̚ͅ

Riley awoke with a scream tearing from her throat, her hands fisting the bed sheets beneath her. She failed her, she failed Penny, she couldn’t save her, she was nothing but a failure-

“Riley, Riley!” Winter reached out, taking her wife’s hands in hers. “It’s okay, see, everything is ok.”

Riley was still trembling, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Breathe with me babe,” Winter told her, taking deep breaths in and out again. Riley gulped down a sob, repeating her wife’s pattern. Eventually, she breath was even again and she was calm enough to see her surroundings. There was no ink, no eyes. She was in her bedroom with Winter as the other woman turned the lamp on beside the bed. “It’s okay, it was just a nightmare.”

She was about to bring Riley back into her arms, before the redhead pulled away and stood up, “Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll go sleep in the guest room, to let you rest before work.”

“No, wait, Riley!” Winter shouted as her partner gathered up her pillow and a spare blanket. “I just wanna talk, you don’t have to do this.”

“I want to get some sleep before work, alright? Conversation over,” Riley stated, gathering what she needed in her arms before marching to the door.

“Riley enough!” Winter yelled, making Riley freeze in her tracks still facing the door. “We can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” she retorted bitterly.

“You avoiding me,” Winter told her. “Especially when you’re hurting. You can’t keep pretending that I don’t exist just because you’re too scared to talk about Penny.”

Riley bit her tongue, nearly drawing blood, “I’m not scared Winter. Stop it.”

“Where were you last night?” Winter questioned, unrelenting. “Yesterday you wouldn’t answer your phone after I tried calling you for hours. Where were you?”

Riley couldn’t say, she couldn’t. If Winter was told about Jack, she feared about what could happen. She still remembered Winter’s pale face, nearly slipping in and out of consciousness during Percy’s C-section. She nearly lost both her wife and her son that day. She couldn’t tell her, it’s for her own good.

“My mom’s house, my phone was on silent,” she said, her voice void of emotion. “I’m tired.”

She slammed the door behind her, leaving Winter all alone. The black-haired woman brought her knees to her chest, too exhausted to cry. Too tired to keep having these moments with Riley. She would give anything just to have her wife back.

“Well good morning little lady,” Jax bowed as he walked out of his room the next morning. “And how was your sleep last night?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be subtle?” Pomni placed her hands on her hips. “Cause as far as I can’t tell, I don’t think this is what it’s supposed to be.”

“But it made you smile, right?” he smirked.

Pomni blushed, he was right, she was smiling, “Shut up.”

He chuckled, nudging his head to the direction down the hallway, “Hungry?”

“Yeah, I could eat,” Pomni nodded. She was about to walk beside him when she noticed something in the corner of a door from one of the past circus members. She cocked her head to the side as she inspected it further.

Jax paused in his tracks when he noticed that his fiancé wasn’t next to him, “Pen?” He saw her staring at the door of an old string-worm character, coming up behind her carefully so he wouldn’t spook her. “What is it?”

“Do you see that?” she inquired.

“See what?” he asked.

She pointed to the corner, “That.”

Jax’s eyes squinted as he followed her fingers, they widened when they finally noticed what Pomni was talking about. The corner was glitching, similar to how Ragatha was when Kaufmo attacked her on the jester’s first day. “How is this possible?” Pomni observed.

“I…I don’t know,” Jax replied honestly. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this.”

Suddenly, the glitch sparked wildly and loudly, making them jump back in surprise. It started to spread across the door, erasing the face of the string worm with its flashing colours. Jax held Pomni protectively, guiding her away from the door as they stepped away slowly. They watched as little by little, it swallowed up the door, before disappearing entirely.

Both of them panted in surprise, this wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. “I think we need to hurry with our escape plan,” Pomni told the rabbit holding her.

“Agreed,” Jax nodded. “We’re on a timer Pomni.”

“The question is how long do we have?” her voice shook slightly, gripping onto him.

“Long enough for us to get out of here,” he told her, reassurance in his voice. “That much I know.”

“O-okay,” Pomni hated that she was stuttering, but the sudden fright of what happened didn’t seem to be letting go of her anytime soon.

“Come on, let’s get downstairs before Caine tries to find us,” Jax stood, holding out his hand and helping up the jester.

While the two walked down the hallway, they couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling of what just happened. Did they really not have enough time? Was it just another strange part of this world?

Those questions rung through their mind as they walked down the hall, unaware of a second little glitch behind them in another little corner of the hall.

#the amazing digital circus #jax #pomni #pomnijax #funnybunny #ragatha #gangle #kinger #zooble #caine #bubble #my writing #dragon rambles #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #jax x pomni #pomni x jax #jaxni

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jocelynships · 4 months

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Azalea finally has a design!

I inspired her off of 80s popstars like Cyndi Lauper! Originally I was gonna go with a 60s theme based off the genre of “sunshine pop”, but it wasn’t sticking. And as of now, her voice claim is Carly Rae Jepsen!

More about her + tag list below the cut!

Azalea, despite her being Poppy’s best friend and part of the Snack Pack, is relatively shy! She’s more on the soft spoken side and keeps to herself for the most part, even if she’s with the group. She’s closest with Poppy and Branch, as she feels like she can be her complete self around them!

She can be a bit spacey at times, zoning out and getting distracted easily, but she’s a loyal friend and is always looking out for those she cares about. She also gets overwhelmed easily, and when that happens she tends to clam up and hide if possible. Usually it’ll be behind Poppy, Branch is another option if she isn’t around.

In the first movie, she’s one of the trolls that gets taken by the chef. In the second movie, she’s with the snack pack when they hide from Queen Barb and go off to rescue Poppy at the end. She isn’t really present in the third movie but her story picks up after the events of it!

And like Poppy, she is also a big BroZone fan! They often spent time singing and dancing along to their music, even if by that time the band was broken up and no one knew what happened to each of the brothers. So when she finds out those are Branch’s brothers, she gets a little overwhelmed meeting them (she missed JD crashing the wedding for some reason I have not decided yet), but eventually she opens up to them and becomes close with them too! Especially considering she catches Bruce’s eye.

~~~

Tag list!

@gible-love-nibles @frozenhi-chews @eldritchships @purple-jackett @eggsywifey @soulnottainted @amaltheasdreams @starsstruckpeaches @cherubdulce @wisp-herr

DM to be added or removed 🫶

#Joce’s art #self ship #self shipping #self ship community #self shipping community #self insert #S/I: trolls

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lightningmickqueen · 1 year

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formula 1 drivers as karaoke songs

yuki tsunoda: don’t go breaking my heart except he’s doing both parts because pierre didn’t want to stand up

alex albon: a thousand miles

george russell: i’m gonna be (500 miles) because idk if you guys know this but george russell is british (gasp!)

fernando alonso: fernando by abba but specifically this one edm version of it i’ve been obsessed with for the last 2 years. if the karaoke place doesn’t have it he will provide his own backing

lewis hamilton: total eclipse of the heart. he’s also actively turning around every time he sings “turn around” but it works because he is sir lewis hamilton

esteban ocon: my heart will go on by celine dion. he sings it staring at pierre

pierre gasly: bad blood by taylor swift. he is slut dropping and glaring at esteban who is staring smugly back

max verstappen: good time by owl city and carly rae jepsen because he wants to get it over with so he chooses a song that’s not TOO awful but is bland enough that by the time it’s over people forgot he sang at all

charles leclerc: i want it that way. he loves it. i bet he listens to this song constantly. during race weekends you’ll hear a quiet “NOW NUMBER FIVE” coming from his drivers room. he chooses the song during karaoke so he can scream it

lance stroll: don’t stop believing. this man thinks he is finn hudson and also i think he’s fully powered by the belief of one man (lawrence)

carlos sainz: hair by little mix. he’s got a choreographed dance too but dw it’s SUPER no homo he just thinks his hair is amazing and interprets the song as supporting that

lando norris: angels by robbie williams. everyone begs him not to but by the time he’s feeling weak and his pain walks down a one way street everybody is feeling it and groovy and loving angels instead ❤️

nico hülkenberg: sweet caroline. this man has no personality other than being tall and german and he wants to make sure you know that

zhou guanyu: turn the beat around. he can hit those notes and he looks good doing it prove me wrong.

sergio perez: before he cheats by carrie underwood because he very emphatically wants people to know he did NOT cheat on his wife because clearly she didn’t do any of these things so it didn’t happen! also a banger

kevin magnussen: hit me with your best shot (kmag edition) aka he takes it so personally anyway it’s the best performance of the night

logan sargeant: jolene. idk anything about this man but i believe in my heart he would belt out dolly

valtteri bottas: love shack by the b-52s. he also listens to this song unironically on his own

honorary grid members (third drivers and recent pensioners):

daniel ricciardo: wannabe by the spice girls. it’s the only song he has memorized and he knows all the parts. he’s going for that second red bull seat he’s got incentive and he’s gotta get with christian’s friends (wife)

mick schumacher: fuck you by lily allen because he’s got so much rage but he’s still so polite!

sebastian vettel: hey jude and it’s not even the single version it’s the full 7 minute 11 second one but no one minds because 1) it’s seb 2) it means they don’t have to listen to latifi sing

nicholas latifi: absolutely anything by britney but it’s always a car crash (ha) so it’s queued at the end and there’s just not enough time to get to it so the world lives to see another day

romain grosjean: i will survive

#f1 #formula 1 #this is powered by melatonin nyquil and sleep deprivation #i will NOT be taking criticisms #f1 grid #rach posts

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oonajaeadira · 1 year

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For the Love of Fic: February 13

Zero writing done, but I’m getting through my gigantic read list!

Here’s what I enjoyed this week!!!

🪐 = Year of Themed Creations work!

PERO TOVAR

First Kiss by @hopeamarsu 🪐 Holy BALLS was I left breathless and yearning with this one. I think I’m still recovering. What I wouldn’t give to make Pero stop for a hot second and realize what a kiss means to him. To not let me go. To want more.

The Herbalist: Part 3: Appearances Can Be Correct and Part 4: Sticking Your Nose In by @blueeyesatnight A wild Pero appears (proceeded by odor and followed by cussing) just as reader is described as “a lady.” You think he cares? These two couldn’t be less likely or suited to enjoy each other’s company...and I can’t wait for them to crave it.

Love and Red by @chaoticgeminate This is actually a fanwork of leslie-lyman’s Stranger At My Gate. Readers of that story will recognize the Walsh family members, as well as Pero and Tess and their red string. It’s wonderful to look at a fan paring from an outsider’s POV while inside the story itself!

In the Belly by @grogusmum 🪐 Hazel’s Hedgewitch and Mercenary are preparing to reap the fruits of their Beltane tumbles. Since his Mariposa is supposed to be resting, it’s up to Pero to get the Imbolc ritual right. After being put through a quiet test, he’s about to get what he deserves!!!

Whatever Comes Our Way by @writeforfandoms Okay, come on now. Jen’s modern!Pero is one of my happy places because he’s such a toddler of a man. Pouts, grumps, refuses to give into force. But his defenses can be eroded by the funniest things...in this case, a ferret. Watching Pero bond with a ferret is... *giggles* delightful.

JOEL MILLER

The First You by @yelena-bellova I love this meditation on Joel through the eyes of his Tess-like companion, sleuthing out little gestures and behaviors that point to an inner Joel, someone with passions and preferences he’d rather not let anyone be privy to. Which is a shame...because he’d benefit so much from the love. Beautiful and aching.

I Lied by @flightlessangelwings 🪐 When Joel gets protective, he gets protective. And when you belong to him, he’s not gonna let anyone else have you. Swoon.

Saying I Love You After A Fight by @songsformonkeys 🪐 Hanna’s going for my heart this year in all the different ways one can say I love you, and she’s already making me yearn on this first one. The way the reader and Joel trust and know each other--know how they argue, the sound of sleep vs. laying awake, the words that are unspoken and those that are... It’s just a beautiful quiet moment of making up in the quiet way Joel has, and I’m here for it.

Home by @radiowallet Cat revisits the moment when Tess denied that she had a home with Joel and how it affects him. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful like all of Cat’s writing, but that last line goes for the throat and the pain is so exquisite that I’ll gladly just lie here staring at the ceiling and letting it bleed out....

Getting Lost is Being Found by @littlemisspascal This is an absolute stunner. Dark AU, hellhound!Joel, alpha/omega dynamics. Sometimes I feel like Rae is the good witch of this fandom, peering through her cabinet of ingredients and skillfully poitioning the most amazing fics from them. Her writing in this one is particularly beautiful, her descriptions and worldbuilding just gorgeous. This is one of those fics that takes me out of time and places me somewhere else for a while. Perfection.

Anywhere But Here by @prolix-yuy A bleak and beautiful examination of Joel and Tess’s relationship from Tess’s POV, from a supposed meeting right up until the greatest thing she’s ever done. LJ’s writing is absolutely gorgeous as usual, and she really knows how to make it sing while it stings.

Men Who Are Fighting To Be Warm: The NSFW ABC’s of Joel Miller by @something-tofightfor Listen. When Rachael writes Joel, she writes JOEL. And even if this is a headcanon format, you’re going to get in deep to Joel’s head and learn about him beyond the bedroom. The man has stories from so many lifetimes--from Texas, Boston, Jackson...he’s got his triggers and his traumas, but it’s nice to see him on the road to having the semblance of a quiet and loving life.

SPECIAL GUEST CORNER: THE LAST OF US EDITION ELLIE AND SAM

Not A Monster, Not Alone by @beecastle Bee wrote us a fix-it fic for Sam and Ellie. And it’s so bright and wonderful that it just breaks my heart all the more...

OBERYN MARTELL

Does Your Mother Know? by @simpingcowboy 🪐 I’m in love with the ABBA theme. I’m in love with this version of Oberyn. And I’m in love with how he toys with her and leaves her wanting more. I’m not an age-gap kinda girl, but I adore Oberyn’s way of saying something shocking as if it was not taboo at all. Because, to Oberyn, little is taboo. But even he has his limits.

Sweet Reds and Starlight Mornings by @lowlights No joke, when Oberyn’s told to make a mess, he’s going to enjoy making that mess. And there’s no mess like a honey and fluids mess. What a fantastic birfday gift. Lap. It. Up.

MR. BEN

What The Hell Are Fancams? by @musings-of-a-rose I’m kind of still reeling from this. I usually stick to reader fic or OC (this one’s first-person narrator) so nearly took a hall pass...and I’m so so SO glad I didn’t. I love the narrator a lot and her student Chelsea is a little mischievous queen. (Can we talk about her mutual student crush and how adorable they are???) This is just wall-to-wall mutual crush at first site and holy balls this is so fluffy and cute and my heart was just fluttering all the way through it and pulling for them the whole time. Srsly. NO. CRUMBS. LEFT.

EZRA

Glory by @insomniamamma 🪐 I never want J to stop writing for Ez and Prickle. And since she so cleverly writes their story out of order in moments and assignments, expertly weaving in just the things you need to know in order to follow that particular installment, you can read any of them as standalone or read them as they come up, as if you’re getting scattered stories of a life lived, as many life stories are told. This one isn’t of just one instance but many, of how love looks and acts with Ezra at the wheel. And forgive me if I disappear after this one as I have melted and am slowly seeping into my couch cushions...

JACK DANIELS

Spare Parts by @haylzcyon I am in love with the balls on this reader character. How she knows when she’s not wanted and leaves without a fuss. How she speaks her mind. How she tells her man exactly what’s on her mind. And, of course, how she puts him in his place--secure in her heart and bed. <3

MARCUS MORENO

YSC: Heartbeat by @deadhumourist 🪐 This fic gave me emotions that I don’t really know how to define. For her first Year of Science Fiction installment, Ani takes Marcus and gives him a new heart. Which sounds lovely and poetic. Until you realize this is sci-fi. And then things point toward the darker side.

#for the love of fic #the great wall fanfic #pero tovar #tlou fanfic #joel miller #got fanfic #oberyn martell #snl fanfic #mr. ben #prospect fanfic #ezra #kingsman golden circle fanfic #jack whiskey daniels #agent whiskey #wcbh fanfic #marcus moreno

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heavendear32 · 1 month

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7. Not Explicitly Stated

Summary: “I know that gods roam the earth because I used to walk with them”, Haneul is an immortal being with powers that most humans would kill for. When Haneul gambles with the gods, she loses her powers and without her powers she’s cursed to die by the next full moon. She hurries to get her powers back with the help from the last person Haneul wants to be around: a demon.

Pairing: Demon!Hongjoong X Fem!O/c

Word count: 3,583

Warnings: mythical creatures, mentions of getting cursed, spiritual messages, mentions of religions, cussing, allusions to smut, mentions of loss of blood and drinking blood, mentions of possession, mentions of magic usage, mentions of death, death, violence, drinking, gambling, other idols are mentioned, pet names (darling, babe, baby, my dear), deals, misogyny, mentions of illness and postpartum depression.

Lee Haneul was born as a gift from the Heavens, or that’s at least what her mother told her. Between her dazed stated and the days where all she did was sleep, Ryu Dal-rae explained where Haneul came from. It was known to the girl that she was the only child her parents could have, her father’s attitude told her that. What wasn’t known to her was that Haneul came from the gods.

Close to their little village was what the villagers liked to call “The Heavens”, it was plot of land close to the road where travelers stopped and traded. It had no usual vendors nor did it sell the usual items, its vendors consisted of the very many gods.

You could not trade for cloth or feed for your animal, but for magic. Many people flocked for this small taste of magic, wanting their wishes to be granted. The villagers asked for help with things for their families or the village.

“Please grant us a good harvest.”

“Please let my daughter marry a rich man.”

“Would you please make sure my animals grow healthy and strong.”

“Allow my son to get a good job as an official.”

They flocked in huge groups but many wishes and magical items came with their price, some costed the person a year of servitude for the god or their first born, sometimes it costed them their memories. Dal-rae had always tried to be the best for her family, she never talked back to her parents and did her chores without any issues, she took care of her family and always did what they said and this included going to meet the Gods.

Dal-rae watched as her friends raced off through the stalls, she always stood just outside of the circle watching as those made deals with the “devils”. As she grew and matured, the woman forgot about the Gods. Instead she welcomed the arraigned marriage, that her parents found, with open arms wanting to be the best wife for her husband.

The man she married was harsh and aggressive, resenting his parents for the arraigned marriage. Dal-rae tried her best for the marriage, as she did with her parents but there was one thing she wasn’t able to do for her husband. She wasn’t able to have kids, no matter how hard she tried. Dal-rae tried everything, going to every physician and tried every elixir they suggested. Dal-rae tried going to Shamans, hoping that a blessing would change her circumstances but nothing ever did.

The woman became more depressed, as her body betrayed her desire to do the only thing she could do. She watched as all her other friends and the women in her village gave birth to their sons who grew up to be great young men and with that, her shame and sadness grew. All Dal-rae wanted was a child, but all she got was shame from her village and family and even her own husband started to become revolted by her.

The only thing that brought her happiness was the daily walks through nature Dal-rae took. It made her think of when she was younger, when she would chase after frogs after filling the buckets with water from the stream. Her mind raced but the second she started singing, it seemed like everything faded away until one day she wasn’t the only one humming.

Dal-rae had wandered to close to the place she always stayed away from, she hissed as a boy ran into her. The woman took a couple steps forward to steady herself but her eyes searched the stalls, the people seemed so happy as they sold and bought. A smile crossed her face for a second as she wondered why her parents kept her away from such a happy place, her feet moved faster than her mind and before she knew it; Dal-rae had crossed over into “The Heavens”.

It felt different inside the market, more energized but also so draining. Dal-rae had never felt so driven before but also so tired and sad, she drug her feet forward and fell to her knees in front of one of the Goddesses.

“Please!” The woman cried. “Please grant me a wish, I’ll do anything for you.”

Her hands reached out, her mind too clouded to think reasonably and her hands clasped onto the Goddess’s dress. It went silent and those around the two gasped, the mortals whispering to each other as the Gods were frozen too scared to approach the distraught woman or furious Goddess.

“You dare to touch me moral?” The Goddess spat out and tried to pull her dress from the woman’s hands

Dal-rae didn’t let go, “I beg of you, I’ve done everything right.”

She clung on for dear life and a circle cleared around them. Everyone was sure there was fire in the Goddess’s eyes, as her jaw clenched tightly. Women covered the children’s eyes sure that this was the last they would see of the woman.

“Get off me, you don’t deserve to touch me.” She brought her hand back and hit the woman, it was hard enough to push Dal-rae off of her but she just continued to beg for the Goddess’s help. “I’ll give you anything you want, money, servitude, my family. Please.”

The Goddess opened her mouth to bark something at the woman but another voice called from the crowd. “Jowangshin.”

The deep voice made everyone jump except Dal-rae who was now on her knees and crying into the ground. The crowd parted like the seas and a man walked into the middle, his gaze piercing as he glared at the Goddess. More people started whispering as they saw Mireuk, he stopped in front of Jowangshin.

“What is going on?” He asked

“Didn’t you see her, she grabbed me.” She hissed but Mireuk stepped closer to her. “That is your job, you comfort humans and grant their wish.”

“Then you do it.”

Dal-rae felt a hand on her shoulder, and slowly she sat up looking at the person. A smile covered her face as she saw another God.

“What is wrong my child?” He asked softly, the woman brought her hands up begging the God. “Please grant me a wish.”

“And what is that?”

“Please give me a child, my husband won’t look at me and I’m an outcast in my own village.” She cried before wiping away her tears

The God let out a sigh, he was stuck with a predicament. He had to make a deal with her, that was his whole job but the woman was so broken. She had no one, the man she had been married to wasn’t even there for her and she had been ostracized from her village.

“I’ll make you a deal, I’ll grant you your wish.” Dal-rae et out a sigh at his words almost jumping forward and pulling him into a hug. “Thank you so much, you are a powerful God.”

“But-“ He said pushing the woman back. “If it is a boy, he will inherit his father’s anger and hatred. But if it a girl- are you sure you want this?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll loose what you value the most.”

9 months later, Dal-rae wish was granted. Haneul was born healthy but her mother fell into a sickness, bedridden and unable to take care of the newborn so the job fell onto Yong-sam. He found it hard and uncomfortable at first, unsure how to take care of a baby along with his usual routine but as she grew he found a way. Yong-sam tried to teach Haneul as his son, shamed that he had a daughter instead of a son.

“Hold your sword up Haneul.” The young girl held up the stick she was using as a sword. It was bigger than her and felt like twice her weight

Her arms felt tired from picking it up and holding it over and over again for what felt like a hour. Yong-sam gave a smile before going on with his lesson.

“Now you never want to hold it-“ Haneul zoned out as she stared off, she tried to listen but what her father was talking about was boring

She stared off, watching as the other children ran off. They squealed and laughed as they played, chasing after each other. It looked like fun.

“Pay attention.” Yong-sam hit the back of his daughter’s head, “you need to know how to hold a sword if you want to use one.”

Haneul rubbed the back of her head and looked back at her father, he picked up his own and showed Haneul who followed his lead. The man continued with the basics and Haneul just followed along, every once in a while looking over at the kids playing.

One of the girls stopped, facing Haneul. She laughed and smiled, holding up her hand and beckoned for Haneul to come play. She smiled back at the other girl, know her well and wanting to play.

“I want you to hit me Haneul.” Yong-sam’s voice pull Haneul into the present. “As hard as you can and with good form.”

The young girl tightened her hands around the stick and lifted it up. Haneul groaned and wobbled a bit before running up to her father and pushing the stick forward, it barely moved and did nothing to her father. He gave a laugh as he pushed the stick away and watched the young girl pant.

“You call that hitting? I want you to try with all your might.” He egged her on

Haneul shook her head and took a breath, “dad, I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t think sword fighting is for me, can I go play?”

Yong-sam’s expression changed, he clenched his jaw as his eyes glared down at his daughter. He was stupid for thinking of training Haneul as a son, she would always be a daughter and wouldn’t bring anything but shame to him.

“Fine, go on.” He spat and Haneul smiled racing off to see her friend

Yong-sam wanted a child that wouldn’t bring him shame and Haneul wanted someone to understand her. Neither would get what they wanted, at least not in this lifetime.

••••

“Next time can you find someone who can actually help me?”

“What do you mean? Didn’t Yeosang help you?”

Haneul rolled her eyes, “no he didn’t, he just told me about another guy who can help me. Something called a Dokkaebi I don’t know what that is.”

Hongjoong let out a laugh, he had many run in with Dokkaebi, they were fun because of how mischievous they were. He had so many fun memories because of Dokkaebi’s but they also were mean.

“What are you laughing at?” Haneul eyed the Demon but he just shook his head. “Nothing.”

“I didn’t even know a Demon could laugh, I always thought they were just cackle menacingly.” Haneul told Hongjoong as they walked back down the path

“And I didn’t think Gods had feelings.” The Demon crossed his arms but Haneul held her finger up. “Ah not a god.”

He rolled his eyes and mumbled, “yeah you’re just a human now.”

Haneul stopped and turned to the Demon about to say something when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away. San pulled the girl away from Hongjoong, his big hands clamped on her shoulders.

“Are you okay? Did anything happen?” He bombarded her with question, Haneul just laughed and placed her hand on his. “San I’m fine, I’m glad you’re worrying about me. Can we just go home.”

She bent down and slowly picked up the umbrella, the rain had lightened up but San was drenched. Haneul smiled at him and turned away, getting into the car.

“Don’t look so eager San, your puppy is showing.” Hongjoong walked past San, and opened the car door

San let out a growl and got into the driver seat, the car sped down the road and back into town. It looked better than it had that morning, San lagged at bit behind the Demon and Haneul.

“Had he really been asleep for a hundred years?” She asked and Hongjoong nodded. “Yeah, last time he had seen the city cars were becoming big.”

“Wah, image how weird that be going to sleep when cars were barely a thing and waking up when you have so much knowledge in the palm of your hand.” She giggled and looked back at San. “Right San.”

“Yeah.” He answered and pushed past them, walking up to the door of his cafe

He pulled his keys out but when he grabbed the door, it opened. His eyebrows furrowed as San got ready to fight whoever was stupid enough to steal from a werewolf, his hand opened up and his claw grew. Hongjoong pushed Haneul behind him as the two men walked in.

“Finally some damn service.” A voice spat out

“Who are you?” San saw the man sitting in his cafe, Hongjoong stood by San making a wall in front of Haneul

The unknown man stood up, “someone called for a Dokkaebi.”

Haneul’s eyes went wide as she perked up, her feet pulled her up to the men as she looked around them.

“That was me.” She said and the two men relaxed, San closed his hand hiding his claws. “Yeosang said that a Dokkaebi could help.”

“We have to hurry, I’m kinda wanted by Mireuk.” He said and Haneul gasped almost running up to him. “Do you know the gods?”

Wooyoung stepped backwards, making some space between them. “You know who you’re talking to, unlike those two over there I have a creator that I work for.”

“Yeah Seokga-“ Hongjoong stopped San before he could say anymore. Haneul glared back at San. “Can you help me. I need to get to the gods.”

“I could help you but why should I?” He asked and crossed his arms, Hongjoong was the one to step forward. “Because I’m sure there’ll be some mischief along the way, and no Dokkaebi would be willing to say no.”

The Goblin opened and closed his mouth, Hongjoong and San smiled knowing they had cornered him. Wooyoung gulped, they were right he sure did love mischief.

“How about we talk over some food.” Haneul said begging, needing the help from the gods and this Goblin was the only thing standing in her way

“Yes!” He answered. “A plate of buckwheat jelly, Sorghum and red bean rice cakes would be nice.”

Haneul founded herself sitting, on the edge of her seat, in front of the Goblin watching as he shoved food into his mouth. The smell of buckwheat and red bean filled the cafe, San walked out from behind the counter and placed a plate of red bean cakes on the table. Wooyoung smiled and thanked the werewolf through a mouthful of food.

“So how do you know Yeosang?” Hongjoong asked standing away from the others. Wooyoung looked up. “We’re friends or well we were friends. Since he couldn’t use his powers outside of the forest, he relied on me. That was before he met you.”

The man glared over at Hongjoong before going back to eating, he smiled as he shoved another spoonful of food into his mouth. Haneul became impatient and so she blurted out:

“Can you find the gods?” Wooyoung froze as he looked back up at Haneul. “Didn’t I just tell you I’m wanted by Mireuk.”

Haneul leaned back and huffed out, “I wouldn’t think that would stop a Dokkaebi.”

The metal chopsticks fell from his hand and clattered on the plate. “What for? Why do you need them?”

“I don’t have to explain myself to a Goblin.” She hissed out angering the man more. “Fine but it’ll take a couple of days.”

“What!” Haneul yelled out. “I can’t wait a couple days, can’t you just teleport to wherever they are.”

“If that was possible then why don’t you.” Wooyoung stood up yelling back at the woman. “If it was so easy why did you want my help or Yeosang’s huh?”

“Shut up, just shut up.” Haneul slammed her hands against the table as her eyes filled with tears

She got up and turned, rushing out of the shop as San and Hongjoong yelled after her but Haneul just continued forward. She wanted to be alone or drunk or asleep, Haneul just didn’t want to be here right now. Her hands flew up to her face as she wiped the tears falling from her eyes.

••••

The music was enough to drown out Haneul’s feelings but the alcohol was just a bonus. She swayed to the music, letting herself get lost as she continued sipping on her drink. Haneul usually wouldn’t be caught dead in a club or anyplace with loud music and alcohol. That’s where the Gods hung out and Haneul never considered herself a god but that was before her life was shaved down to 27 days.

Her heart raced and her head was fuzzy, but she wasn’t drunk and was barely tipsy. The stupid memory from that Goblin weighed on her mind, and her mind refused to blackout. Between the memories of her old life and the wild goose chase for her powers, Haneul just wanted to live as a human for her last couple of days. So she took another shot and found herself on the dance floor.

This place was Hongjoong’s home, it’s where his powers thrived and he seemed to be more alive. His eyes darted around the club, eyeing some girls as his body screamed for him to relax and chase after those girls. His mind told him otherwise, find Haneul and he groaned every time he remembered. If his past self had seen him now chasing after a human girl, he would’ve been livid but the Demon justified it as his survival. Hongjoong felt like he was babysitting Haneul but it was for his survival, Hongjoong had to make sure she was safe so that he was safe.

The Demon pushed through the crowd, hissing under his breath about how this was stupid. The crowd cleared for a second and Hongjoong saw Haneul, she stood in the middle of the floor jumping and dancing around. He was frozen for a second, she seemed like she was having fun something that was…unusual for Haneul. Ever since he had met her, the woman never seemed like the type to let loose and just have fun. Hongjoong almost didn’t want to stop her fun and just watch her but he shook the thought out of his head.

“Haneul!” He called her name as he got closer to her. “Haneul, let’s go.”

He grabbed her hand, pulling her from her clouded mind but she pulled back. “No, leave me alone.”

Hongjoong sighed, from the slurring of her words and the reek of alcohol told all that he needed. “How many drinks have you had?”

“Not enough to make me not remember your nagging voice.” She answered basically yelling over the music. He really did feel like a babysitter. “You can’t just fall into alcohol to ease the pain.”

She let out a laugh, “you’re sounding like San now, I thought you were supposed to be the fun one.” Haneul hissed before hitting his shoulder and walking off into the crowd

He let out another low groan as his hands clenched into fist, reminding himself that he couldn’t do anything but protect her. Hongjoong turned around, as Haneul disappeared into the crowd, and chased after her. Finalized he found the woman standing over at the bar, his eyes wide as he saw what she was about to drink.

“Thank you.” He said as he pulled the nectar from her hands. Haneul glared at the Demon. “Are you trying to kill yourself? You can’t have nectar as a human.”

She clicked her tongue before spitting out. “it’s better than just waiting to die. Why do you care anyways.”

“I can’t lose the person keeping me alive.”

“Stop saying that to me! You don’t love me, it’s just one of your tricks. Just leave me alone.”

Haneul pushed past the Demon again, stumbling towards the door and out into the night. She fell onto a bench close by as tears clouded her vision, Haneul never wanted it to end this way but she guessed she would never get her happy ending. The woman stared up at the sky, looking up at the stars always calmed Haneul but she couldn’t help but let the tears pour.

“Do you like watching me suffer? Why do you keep on following me?” Haneul sighed not even looking over at the Demon to know that he was there. Hongjoong just laughed. “You won’t like the answer.”

“Can’t you leave a dying Goddess in peace?”

“Ha you finally admit you’re a Goddess?”

“No I just- it’s uh just. I’ma go back inside-“

Haneul was cut off as the Demon moved, he got down on his knee’s in front of her. His eyes almost seemed to shine with love and happiness and the sight made the fuzziness in her head disappear and reappear in her stomach.

“Let me take you home, you’re in no shape to go out.” He said softly with a smile

Haneul had weird feeling in her gut, something new and unusual. Hongjoong knew that he was obligated to protect Haneul but there was nothing explicitly stated about falling in love.

#ateez fanfic #ateez fic #ateez hongjoong #ateez imagine #ateez san #hongjoong #magic #mythical creatures

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beyondthegame · 8 months

Note

if it’s ok to send another prompt (but if it’s not i’m so sorry please ignore this sjdhsjdjs) can i please ask for “immediately looking at the other after telling/doing something funny in hope to see their smile” with e?? thank you <33

“People say you’re musically talented,” you say jokingly as you glance over at E.

It’s your day off and for E it’s one of those days they force themselves to rest. To ignore their phone for a while and actually breathe. They were doing a good job at ignoring their phone, that is until their thumb hovered over your name in their contacts.

Now you’re at their house. Their penthouse, actually. Even though it’s incredibly spacious, full of neutral tones, and slightly minimalist—it’s cozy. It has E’s identity in every corner, even down to the artwork on the walls.

E raises their brow a little at your statement. “I mean, I’m not that talented,” they say, continuing the joke, their bright eyes trained on you. “It’s not like I get paid to sing or write music or anything. Like I don’t even go on tours. It’s just a hobby, I don’t even know if I’m that good at—“

“Okay, you sarcastic ass,” you interject with a laugh. You move over to pluck their guitar off its stand before holding out to them. “Teach me.”

E looks between you and their acoustic guitar. “You want me to teach you how to play Rae?”

“Rae?” you ask. “Who’s— Wait, you name your instruments?”

“No,” E says all too quickly, as though they’re slightly embarrassed. “Well, just three of them.” They beckon you over. “Anyway…”

You wander over to them with a light smile. It’s always nice learning little things about E. The stuff they’d usually keep to themselves, the stuff you never get to read about in the media.

You’re standing in front of them now. They’re gazing up at you, and you’re sure you see their eyes sparkle that little bit. It looks like adoration. So much so that E’s lips part. They quickly suck in a breath and clear their throat, to rid themselves of their little daze.

“Um, turn around,” E mumbles the instruction softly. You follow it, and after a moment you’re sitting on the edge of the sofa in front of them.

Their arms hover over your waist and hips, E’s chin is close to resting on your shoulder, and they move their hands to go over yours.

“Have you ever done this before?” you ask E as their fingers intertwine with yours to position them over the chords.

“Hm, done what?” they question, their focus on your hands.

“Taught someone how to play the guitar.”

You glance over your shoulder and crane your neck up a little to look at them. It’s obvious to E now. One move forward and their lips would brush yours, a second move forward and you’d definitely be kissing.

It’s a good thing your back isn’t pressed against their chest because you’d feel how quickly their heart is hammering at the thought.

“Not like this,” E breathes out, answering your question. “I mean, not in my house and not so… closely,” they say, referring to your entangled position at the moment.

You haven’t turned away, and the only thought going through E’s mind right now is whether you’ve been thinking the same—how easy it could be right now to start kissing.

They smile a little. “Don’t look at me, look at the strings.”

“Right, okay,” you laugh. “I can strum now?” you ask, still seeing that E still has your fingers positioned over the right chord.

“Yep.”

Your thumb goes over the strings, and though the sound lasts for less than a minute it’s still melodic all the same.

E chuckles, you can feel their breath on your neck, their lips close to your ear, and now you’re feeling the steady beat of their heart as they softly say, “Look at that. I’ll make a musician out of you yet.”

#drabble #e acevedo #nikka 🫶🏼

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running-tweezers · 2 months

Text

Music Tag Game!💕

Very late I am so sorry

Tagged by @autisticempathydaemon (so happy to have infected you with the Killing Kind Marianas Trench virus, btw)

Rules: On Repeat playlist, shuffle post the first 10 songs

Disclaimer: I’m currently making playlists for an 80’s AU I’m writing with my OCs, and that is skewing this playlist heavily lol

A song for my #1 specialest little blorbo OC Zephyr’s 80’s playlist. I love my weird freaky goth child more than I love to breathe.

A song from my other special little OC Nate’s 80’s playlist. Technically he belongs to the bestie but him and Zephyr are a package deal now and I have joint custody.

I spent a lot of the beginning of this month sick and unable to sing, and the SECOND my voice was back I was belting this in my kitchen

Is it even one of my playlists if this album isn’t present somehow?

I am a Carly Rae Jepsen stan first and a human being second

Literally one of my favorite songs of all time, has not left my top songs in 4 years

Once again, a song for my Nate’s playlist (but if you wanna hear me doing a very unprofessional impromptu karaoke style rendition of this song you can hear that here)

Yet another song for Nate, what can I say, the boy has taste

Pls listen to Chappell Roan, I saw her live on Halloween last year and it was such a great show. Her music is very fun and very gay, she’s fantastic

Morgan Redacted Audio is a Talking Heads fan, pass it on

No Pressure Tags: @redactedbloop @floofdeloop @your-local-mom-whore @zeerohpunk @batch-of-pengwings @4letteraroace @angelicaether @pinksparkl and whoever else wants an excuse to share their music 💕

#Spotify #tag game #marisa speaks #I’m like balls deep in writing this AU rn it’s all I can think about #it is seeping into all aspects of my life #including my Spotify #pls forgive me

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justellie-b · 8 months

Text

Castle Parallels - Carly Rae Jepsen

- from “Call Me Maybe” used as a ringtone to being a guest star in the show itself. Someone in that network/show must be a fan 😂

5x08//7x22

Castle telling Carly Rae Jepsen that both him and Kate are huge fans, but we know who’s the real huge fan right?! 😂

Then that few seconds when Carly just started her performance; we see Kate turns to look at Castle and smiles adoringly at him at how he’s waiting to hear Carly sing. Sigh.. and of course that dance 🥹🤍 S1 Kate Beckett would have never though 😂😂

#castle #castle parallels #kate beckett #richard castle #caskett

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lgbtqmanga · 1 year

Text

New Releases Oct. 11, 2022

Black and White: Tough Love at the Office vol. 1 by Sal Jiang

Sparks (and fists) fly in this violent yuri love story.

Shirakawa Junko is headed for the top of the corporate ladder in the Overseas Investor Department at the bank where she works–until Kuroda Kayo transfers over from Corporate Sales. Kayo is another all-star employee, and she has a foreign university degree to boot. When Kayo and Junko are assigned to work together, their heated rivalry reaches critical mass. Whether they’re banging each other’s heads or simply banging each other, these two office rivals are ready to go at it!

Black or White vol. 5 by Sachimo

Shige has decided to costar in a drama with Tatara, a veteran actor his boyfriend Shin adores. Tatara has made it known he thinks Shige is only going to drag Shin down as an actor. Wanting to prove him wrong, Shige puts on a performance to rival that of his far more experienced costar. Meanwhile, Shin’s best friend, idol Hanasaki, reveals to the public that the two are friends as a way to pursue his own agenda!

Hyperventilation by Bboung Bbang Kkyu

Myongi and Sunho haven't seen each other since they were 18 years old. Now 27, they run into one another at a high school reunion, and the romantic feelings they had for one another come rushing to the surface. But are they the same people now that they were back then? This book contains sexual content and is intended for an audience aged 18 years and up.

I’m in Love with the Villainess vol. 5 (Light Novel) by Inori, Hanagata

THE LOVE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Rae and Claire saved the world for each other. Now they must fight to keep it. As they lead the united forces of their kingdom and its neighbors against the demon threat, they begin to uncover strange and unsettling secrets. The hidden truth of the world has devastating implications not only for the lives of everyone they hold dear, but their very selves. The thrilling conclusion of the second arc!

FINAL VOLUME

Last Gender vol. 1 by Rei Taki

Welcome to BAR California, a place for you to reveal your true self.

People of different genders, propensities, and sexual orientations gather at a certain chic bar that’s hidden from the public eye. While some come in search of themselves, others step into the establishment looking for sex and love. There are as many sexualities as there are people, and the patrons’ stories intertwine as they struggle to find happiness. A bisexual trans woman who’s been hurt by the voices of others wishes she had a “normal” relationship; a married, middle-aged salaryman secretly expresses his female side; and a pansexual cis guy is on the lookout for true love.

Moon and Sun vol. 2 by Akane Abe

Masahiro, heir to a yakuza syndicate, has been skating through life without much purpose, but that all changers when he meets makeup artist Tsubaki. Attracted not only to Tsubaki's outer appearance but also his inner strength, Masahiro can’t help but be affected by the statuesque beauty’s influence. But he’s not the only one growing from their relationship—the seemingly put-together Tsubaki can’t help but learn a little something too!

Ore Miko vol. 1 by Sakira.

NEED AN EXCORCIST?

Could the random assaults happening around town be the work of a demon? On a dark, rainy night after finishing his part-time job as a bartender, college student Kyou Izakura is attacked by a demon who’s disguised himself as a older gentleman!!

Before being completely devoured, cool but pushy exorcist Shin Goudo intervenes and discovers that Kyou has the power to absorb spirits into his body. However, in order to release the spirit from his body, Kyou must consume semen and Shin offers his help.

Follow Kyou and Shin as their relationship deepens while they work together to stay alive in this all new supernatural erotic drama by SAKIRA!

Shonen Note: Boy Soprano vol. 1 by Yuhki Kamatani

Yutaka Aoi is sweet, sensitive, and loves singing...so much so that he can’t help but be brought to tears whenever he listens to beautiful music. He also has a talent few boys have: He can sing soprano. So when Yutaka overhears his middle school’s choir group perform, he can’t resist joining in. Inspired by the angelic sound of Yutaka’s voice, the choir eagerly accepts him into their ranks. But when Yutaka’s voice begins to change as he enters puberty, the journey ahead will be one of self-discovery and reflection for not only himself, but also for those around him.

SHWD vol. 1 by sono.N

A hardboiled yuri tale about two special agent women fighting supernatural horrors!

Special Hazardous Waste Disposal (or SHWD) has a mission to destroy mysterious biological weapons left behind after the last war. Though SHWD mostly hires men, their newest recruit, Koga, a buff female operative, is assigned to Sawada, the only other woman in the Tokyo branch. Before long, Koga finds herself falling for Sawada, whose powerful psyche compliments Koga’s big muscles. Together, the unlikely duo must confront monsters beyond their wildest nightmares. Office romance meets buddy cops meets yuri horror!

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valyrianblooded · 1 year

Text

We are pleased to announce the arrival of LADY RHAENYS of HOUSE VELARYON to King’s Landing! The TWENTY SEVEN year-old CIS WOMAN is whispered to be IMPULSIVE & MISCHEVIOUS but in reality they are VIVACIOUS & COQUIETTISH. They are also said to resemble { ALICIA AGNESON }. They are FOR a new treaty of peace and unity between House Targaryen and House Stark. Things, however, are not always quite what they seem, are they?

rhaenys is now a velaryon instead of a targaryen! changes will primarily be found in the backstory / head canons section!

BASICS.

name — rhaenys velaryon

nick names — rae ( primarily ), nys ( pronounced ‘niss’ - rarely ),

titles & alias’ — lady of driftmark, the forgotten daughter ( whispered ), the smiling dragon ( by the people - largely due to the bright smile she often wields in their presence )

gender — cis woman

pronouns — she/her

romantic & sexual orientation — heterosexual, heteroromantic

age — twenty seven

place of birth — driftmark

current residence — driftmark, though she spends ample time on dragonstone and within kings landing

PERSONALITY.

positive traits — vivacious, coquettish, kind hearted, graceful, playful

negative traits — mischievous, impulsive, curious, prone to flights of fancy

likes — music & singing ( the woman will often go about a task singing to herself, particularly when alone or under the belief that she is only accompanied by her ladies maid ), dancing ( she will pull anyone and everyone into dancing with her ), poetry & storytelling ( particularly the softer sort — tales of romance more than anything, but she occasionally quotes tales of battles )

dislikes — being talked down to, being kept from her found family/loved ones, the thought of a loveless marriage

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

eye color — lilac/amethyst

hair color — pale blonde, nearly white

hair style — varies daily. tends to wear her hair either loose or in a complex valyrian styling ( often consisting of braids ). tends to weave flowers or gems within her hair.

complexion — pale skin

build — slim

height — 5′3

clothing — dresses and slippers. at most formal events, she’s dressing in red or black, though occasionally she'll wear the aquamarine of her house. she tends to follow the fashions of westros, though she enjoys showing a bit of extra skin, much to the chagrin of her family members. she does enjoy finer, light colors ( whites, lilacs, soft pinks and greens ) as well as darker purples and blues. on occasion, depending on weather, she’ll don clothing of thicker material and fur lined cloaks.

accessories & jewelry — several rings worn upon her fingers ( polished dragonglass, golds or valyrian steel ). she wears a singular necklace that was her mothers of valyrian steel and rubies.

faceclaim — alicia agneson

RELATIONSHIPS.

parents — lady valaena velaryon nee rogare & lord OPEN velaryon, lady OPEN velaryon ( stepmother )

siblings — no full siblings, various half-siblings through her father and his second wife

cousins — house rogare of lys ( there are a plethora of distant cousins that linger in essos ; and while she writes to some of them often, she's never truly met any of them )

romantic interest — to be determined

children — none, though she does want a whole hoard of children in the future.

pets — a hound that she’s named meraxes

MISC.

religion — she largely follows the faith of the seven, however given her slight obsession with old valyria, rhaenys attempts dabbling with the gods of valyria ; given that so much information has been lost about the valyrian gods been the doom ( and later the dance of dragons ), a lot of her practice tends to mimic how northerners pray to their own gods ( quiet contemplation, though often knelt before a fire or on the rocky cliffs of her home where dragons once soared in the skies above ).

known languages — common tongue, high & low valyrian

BACKSTORY.

TW: CHILD NEGLECT, DEATH IN PREGNANCY

house rogare is a house as ancient as the dragons themselves ; holding ties to the once prosperous valyria. but when the doom struck, a house that owned a bank rivaling ( surpassing ) that of the iron bank seemed to falter and crumble as well ( the dragonlords were gone, and the century of blood that followed was devastating ). they managed to sustain their wealth ( but a portion of what they had once laid claim to ) ; living within the upper crusts of society of lys by surviving on favorable trade deals, but not once did they forget what they had once been.

marrying into the targaryens here and there, house rogare managed to forge connections to westeros ( though these seemed to be lost when robert led his rebellion and seemingly killed the last of the dragons ). so when dragons flew over essos and daeneys stormborn turned her eyes toward westeros once more, an offshoot of house rogare ( a man and his young wife ) were quick to pack up their things in order to follow the mother of dragons. it was there they had their first ( and only ) child ; a girl by the name of valaena rogare ; a birth that assisted in integrating them further into the unburnt queens court ( for what house would be more loyal than someone who was with her long before they set foot onto westeros? ). upon coming of age, their daughter would come to serve as a lady-in-waiting.

lord velaryon, much like his ancestors, was a proud and greedy man and upon seeing the ties the rogares ( a house that had once meant nothing in westeros ) had made to the royal house, arranged a betrothal between himself and the rumored valyrian beauty. it was, perhaps, the furthest thing from a love match, but the rogare's who had traveled west saw it as an opportunity.

as the elder two rogare's returning to lys following the passing of their patriarch, valaena grew pregnant shortly after her marriage, only to pass after birthing a girl. devastated at the loss, the now grandparents refused to return west.

uninterested in his lack of a male heir, lord velaryon passed the girls care off to a wet nurse ( and later a septa ) barely waiting the appropriate time to grieve before marrying once more to yet another illustrious house ( his second wife providing him his much desired heir and spare within several years of marriage ).

growing up, rhaenys knew little of her fathers affection, nor her stepmothers care ; their attentions often focused on their own children, who seemed to be favored in all ways. her upbringing was largely due to driftmarks maester and septa ; the staff that riddled with castle and the smallfolks who spotted the land. they showered her with the love her father refused her and taught the velaryon girl everything she would need to survive in this world ( and yet still, she strived to earn some sort of acknowledgement from the man ).

HEADCANONS.

001. when bad weather rolls in to shroud the island of driftmark, rhaenys took the exploring the entirety of her home in the years of her youth. she learned of every nook and cranny; of rooms long forgotten and collecting dust. she came to claim one as her own, calling it a solar when asked despite the fact that it was so dreadfully far from her own chambers. the room is perch high up within driftmark, with windows overlooking both the sea and the greatness of the island as a whole. the room is often flooded with light. cleaning and rightening the space was a task she undertook herself. when she was not sitting lessons wandering about the island she’s come to call home, that is where she often squirrels herself away.

when the sun shines upon driftmark, and when the woman is capable of shaking her servants and sworn sword alike, she takes to walking the island alone. whether it be visiting the small villages that pepper the shores of her home ( by now, she knows all the names of the small folk ; knows of their families and plights ), or walking the vast shores themselves.

002. her septa taught her lengthily about old valyria per the request of her father ( the man wanting all of his children to know where they came from ). it sparked an obsession with old valyria and she has since collected everything from old texts, jewelry, antiques and clothing that hail from the lands. she has a basin she keeps filled with hot coals ; a spot to nestle a petrified dragons egg, should she ever find one ( in the hopes that while cradled amongst the coals it might crack and prove that she truly is a trueborn velaryon ; like a dragonrider of old ). the room she’s claimed as her solar almost a shrine and she meticulously displayed each and every one of the objects she’s found.

if it were not for the rumors of the toxic air surrounding valyria, rhaenys is certain she would visit herself in search of artifacts, dragon eggs and to explore the once great ruins.

003. despite being the first trueborn velaryon, her father has always treated her as if she is something lesser, leaving the woman feeling the need to prove herself worthy of the velaryon name. she tries to excel in all that she does ( her dancing is flawless, her needlework is admirable, she knows the histories of her house and that of the great houses of westeros, she’s more than proficient in several languages and holds herself well ). she tries to wear the mask of velaryon lady well ; and it is only those closest to her that can see the cracks and imperfections ( the wildness that she often restrains, the laughter that is just edging to loud when she’s truly surprised or joyful, the crumbling of emotion when deeply effected, the roll of eyes when recounting a conversation held earlier in the day with this or that lord or lady ). strangers though? to them, she plays any cracks or apparent faults off. attempts to make them seeming charming.

004. she has only asked her father about her mother a handful of times, but given the half-answers the man provided, rhaenys stopped trying to obtain any further information about the woman until one day a servant made an off handed comment about how similar she looked to her late-mother. it was then she began to ask the staff and driftmarks residents what they knew about the former lady velaryon.

it was also this encouragement that led the woman to taking to frequently writing the portion of her mothers family that had remained in lys. she's taken to corresponding with distant cousins and her grandparents alike. though none of them are aware of exactly how lord velaryon treated his daughter, there have been constant requests that she join them for a time ( a thought she's entertained but never dared follow through with ; wondering if she left if she'd bother to return ).

005. her father cared little of her whereabouts in her youth, leading the woman to travel frequently to dragonstone ( driftmarks' sister island ) and kings landing itself.

006. she has a way of warming & charming even the iciest of hearts. the woman is naturally charismatic and will be welcoming ( be kind ) to anyone… until her chosen family or those she cares for are threatened ( then she’ll likely hiss and spit as a kitten might ; the woman has no capability of bringing physical harm to anyone regardless of circumstance, but her sworn sword and the other guards that shadow her are more than capable of swinging a sword on her behalf ).

007. she carries around two small valyrian daggers, one is always strapped to her right thigh, the other is often hidden within her shoes. she’s been taught how to kill someone if the need requires it, but in truth, she’s easily overpowered physically. she relies on those loyal to her house to physically protect her.

008. given her proficiency in high valyrian, rhaenys will fall into speaking the language without realizing it ( particularly when highly emotional, or when trying to have a private conversation amongst her family members without others catching wind of what they are discussing ). she does often assign random little nicknames towards those she likes ( and occasionally those she dislikes ).

009. her favorite stories to be told upon falling asleep each night as a child were tales of great love. she came to idolize these couples and long for a great romance of her own ( it was only once she grew older that she realized each great love made into a song was only due to the tragedy that seemed to follow ). even so, she’s still under the belief that every person is destined for one great love.

her hopes for romance have been dashed with the passing of the dragon queeen and tensions raising within westeros. she knows peace amongst the great houses is nothing but piece of paper ; easily discarded. it’s the marriages that often accompany them that solidify things. and given her fathers greed, the woman knows her husband will not be one of her choosing, but someone the man picks to further strengthen house velaryon and bring it back to its true glory days.

010. her maternal grandparents returned to lys shortly before the passing of her mother due to the passing of another family member ( and despite knowing they have a granddaughter, have not dared return since ). once she was old enough to understand their absence, her septa took to writing letters on the young velaryon's behalf, bridging the connection to her mothers family. she now corresponds with them regularly on her own ( the elderly couple all but begging she visit them in lys before they leave the world behind ). despite the disregard of her father, there is something keeping her tethered to westeros. for that reason, her grandparents tugged a few strings and sent a handful of guards to watch out for her ( not trusting the lord velaryon ). one of them got along well with the eldest of the velaryon children and since swore their sword to her.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS.

her father. the relationship between father and daughter is near inexistent. the man viewed his eldest as a hinderance and burden growing up, but now that she's blossomed into a valyrian beauty, rhaenys is a pawn ; another means to strengthen velaryon ties to great houses and further expand their reach. i imagine rhaenys rarely speaks about against the man aside from the occasional biting remark.

her stepmother. i'm up in the air on this one ; i could picture their relationship rather bitter, seeing as rhaenys might view her as a replacement to her mother, or perhaps the woman is kind to her in little ways on occasion. attempts to act like a mother to her when lord velaryon isn't around but because its only when the man isn't around things are a bit tense.

half siblings. i can see her getting along with maybe one of her siblings but the rest probably aren't great, likely due to the lot mimicking how lord velaryon regards her. they probably carry an air of indifference and mostly ignore one another, but pretend to be a united front in public.

her septa & driftmarks maester. these two sort of were the front runners of raising her. i imagine in secret she refers to them as her mother and father, despite the two telling her countless times not to do so ( they've probably given up trying to correct her at this point ).

staff at driftmark ( cooks, maids, guards, etc ), as well as smallfolk of driftmark. people who watched her grow? who she befriended? whose houses she ate meals in, whose families she asked after? basically people who probably believe in her more than most.

possible betrothal. someone throw a big wrench into her plans with a betrothal. destroy her thoughts of a grand love for something political and strained. she's going to find a way to break it, but just to spice things up and add tension into her life for a bit

lovers. i imagine she’s kept a very, very small number of lovers ( 1 - 2 at most ). i’d particularly like to see someone who made her throw caution to the wind. who encouraged her to shed the ‘perfect lady’ mask to be a bit more reckless. someone she could really picture her life with and maybe they both longing talked about a future they couldn’t have for some reason or another.

sworn sword. probably from a westrosi house ( or perhaps someone from lys ) ; their family had ties to house rogare before her grandparents returned to lys and her mother passed, and her grandparents have since written expressing desires to have a close, trusted ally watch after their granddaughter. this person is well aware that lord velaryon is an utter asshole and has taken their duties very serious.... perhaps they could have been sent as a ward to house velaryon or even to act as a companion to rhaenys and have sort of stepped into the unofficial role of sworn sword as well if you'd prefer they keep a noble title.

hand-maidens/ladies maids. one or two people from houses loyal to house rogare or house velaryon. i imagine they’ve been with rhaenys for at least ten years. maybe they started as companions in her youth. i can see these as being the people ( aside her family ) she’s closest to. they’re her confidants.

friends. given she travels around the crownlands, she’s probably met countless people. she will try to find common ground with anyone and everyone. if they don’t see one another frequently, she’s probably penning letters every few weeks ( or if they’re good friends, occasionally sending along little gifts… or finding an excuse to visit most likely ).

#rhaenys velaryon — * development #//updated little intro now that rhae is a velaryon instead of a targ!#tw: child neglect #tw: death in pregnancy

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