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niqhtlord01 · 3 years

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Humans are Weird: Soldier without a war. Part I

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“You sure the speks don’t patrol there?”

“If they did do you really think I’d bring this rust bucket along for a job?”

Melp strapped himself into the copilot’s chair and looked over the console readings one last time. All systems were showing minimal operational capacity which normally would have been setting off alarm bells but with how things had been going for him and his captain lately it was the best they could ask for.

Melp was part of the salvage company “Outlying Star”, co-owner in fact with his partner and current captain Galem. When the war against humanity had started the two had thought it was the best idea to make a fortune with all the wrecks floating between star systems from fleet combat and had went all in on a converted freighter to pick through the bones and sell what they could.

At first Melp and Galem had made a killing, bringing in semi functional sub space drives and salvaged fully automated hard shell loaders from human ships. They made enough to fund a fleet of five ships and live the good life back on Valfha without a care in the world; for a little while at least.

Galem thought it was because of the government’s restrictions on salvageable items that had hampered their business but Melp believed it was because they were just too good at it that and had inspired countless others to take up the salvage game. Soon markets, both legal and black, became flooded with salvaged goods and people willing to undercut each other to make a quick buck. Neutron cannon went from 3.5 billion credits in value to just under 300 million credits in the span of six months. As a side effect of the sudden influx of salvage parts the government began taking notice and cracked down hard. Salvagers were called “Scavies” and deemed criminals by the government and the military would all too happily fire on any scavy ship they spotted. Seems they weren’t too happy about people rummaging through the wrecks of ships that once held their friends and the government would turn a blind eye if a scavy ship was destroyed during “Live Fire Exercises”.

Soon the jobs became even riskier and Outlying Star lost three ships after they were caught and destroyed. Another had to be sold for parts and salvage and now the final ship, the Morning Gale, was the last hope for Galem and Melp to make back some money.

“How do you even know this site hasn’t been picked clean already?” Melp asked over his shoulder as Galem entered the cockpit and locked the door behind him. “We could be wasting our time on a fantasy.” Galem shook his head which did little to ease Melp’s concerns.

“I got it from a reliable source that there was a big fight in the Glipi Cluster that we lost to the humans.” Galem began as he took the controls and slowly pulled back on the engine throttle as the ship ascended. “It was so embarrassing that the navy wiped all records of the battle and said the destroyed ships were lost in a freak transition from sub space into a rogue comet cluster.”

“If the data was wiped how does your source know about it?” Melp quipped as the ship breached upper atmosphere and exited the travel lanes for the jump point.

Galem smirked as he engaged the sub space drive.

“They were there.”

As the salvage ship exited sub space Melp let out a gasp. He blinked several times and rubbed his eyes yet when he opened them all he could see was a shroud of purple. Galem saw Melp’s confused expression and chuckled.

“It’s the color of the gas filtering through this entire cluster.” He said calmly as he flicked on several scanners and filter units. “Try looking now.”

Melp looked again as the shades of purple faded away and let out a startled gasp. Upon gazing out of the cockpit window he could see why the navy had wanted to cover up this place so badly.

Floating around them were dozens of lifeless wrecks of Mibari warships ranging from light destroyers to several cruisers. Compared to their tiny ship it was as if Melp and Galem had entered the realm of giants. Melp was transfixed by the wrecks and became utterly enthralled when a massive shadow draped across their vessel.

“Is that what I think it is?” Melp spoke sheepishly as his blue hands trembled and changed to a soft orange color. Galem leaned forward in his seat to look out the window and whistled as his eyes caught sight of what had terrified Melp.

“A galaxy class troop carrier.”

The massive ship spun slowly in place like a top that refused to stop spinning, the metal interior exposed in several places from weapons revealing a dark interior of metal supports and long dead hallways. Melp looked towards the front of the ship as the command deck slowly spun into view and he was surprised to see the name of the ship had survived the damage it had taken.

“The Vault of Ohya…” Melp softly spoke. He reached out with an arm and shook Galem who was smiling like a hatchling on birthing day. “That’s the Vault of Ohya!”

“A piece of her hull to the right collector would be enough to refurbish this little dingy,” Galem said as he playfully smacked the command console, “into one hell of a floating casino.”

The two of them broke down into fits of laughter as if they had just been driven mad by their findings; but it was not of madness that now drove them but the sheer joy of their discovery.

These dozen ships floating lifelessly in the cluster were more than enough to bring the two of them back into the life of luxury they once held and keep them there until their dying days.

Melp was still star gazing at the shattered troop carrier when something else suddenly grabbed his attention.

“What’s that?”

Melp tore his gaze away from the Ohya and saw what Galem was looking at.

A new vessel slowly drifted out of the shadow of the troop carrier and came into view. It was clearly a human vessel of some kind; the lack luster design a clear give away. The body of the ship was missing sections of itself, but rather than appearing as if it had been damaged in the battle it looked more as if the ship had not finished being built. Sections of the body were lacking armor showing a complex network of pipes and corridors. The hull was painted in a soft grey color that stood out sharply among the ever shifting gas cloud surrounding it. Rows of gun ports ran along the sides, their openings revealing nothing of the pitch black interior giving them the appearance of small gaping mouths ready to consume Melp and his ship.

The more Melp looked at the ship the more he felt something was just wrong with it. Galem must have felt something as well as he pulled up the virtual display and began interacting with it.

“Not sure what that thing is but it’s not listed in the records.” He said as he closed the display and leaned over the controls to get a better view of it. The tingling feeling at the bottom of Melp’s three stomachs was starting to grow stronger as his uneasiness did not subside.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that there’s no record of that ship variant from the entire war with humanity on any recorded file.” He popped open the virtual display again and flicked it over so it was hovering in front of Melp to view while he fiddled with the controls again. “Which means it’s worth a whole lot more than anything here.”

“How do you figure that?” As a response to Melp’s question he waved his arm across the scattered wrecks.

“Out of all the ships here the human ones are all clustered around that one as if they meant to protect it.” Galem said as he began moving the ship closer to the strange human ship.

“They could have bugged out and ran, but instead they all fought and died just to protect that thing; which means something on it must’ve been worth defending.”

Melp knew what Galem had some merit, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still very wrong; but before he could raise his concerns though a loud shudder ran through the scavenger ship.

“Get your suit on,” Galem said as he exited out of the cockpit, “let’s go find us some treasure.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the exterior of the ship had uneased Melp, the interior down right terrified him.

No sooner had the airlock door opened the two scavengers leaped back in shock. Standing at the entrance was a humanoid looking figure. Galem screamed and grabbed hold of a nearby cutting tool and swung it at the figure before Melp could even say anything.

A shower of sparks eradiated off the figure’s body as the plasma torch cut into it, all the while Galem was continuing to scream, and cut a decent size hole through the beings torso.

“Shut it!” Melp shouted at Galem, forcing the scared halfwit to calm down some while Melp inched closer and retrieved the still burning plasma torch. The figure had not moved and inch even as the torch had melted away his exterior and as Melp moved closer still he noticed why.

“It’s an automated drone you idiot.”

Melp motioned him forward and the two of them inspected the machine.

It was human shaped but it was entirely of metal and wires, a mindless drone used for menial tasks such as inventory handling or maintenance. It wore a human uniform for some reason which clashed with its blank reflective visor face.

“Why’s it standing here?” Galem asked as he nervously tapped the drone. The touch pushed it off the ground and the dead drone slowly lifted off the ground in the zero-g environment and floated back into the ship, bouncing off the back wall before continuing to silently float away.

“Maybe it’s here to greet us?” Melp chuckled as he activated his mag locks and his feet latched on to the metallic floor. Galem followed suit and the two began entering the derelict ship.

“Can’t be,” Galem began as they reached the airlock secondary doors and began slowly opening them, “these tin cans would run out of power in a day and it’s been years since this tussle went down.”

With several loud grunts as the two strained with the manual release the inner airlock to the human ship finally cracked open. The two entered slowly, not knowing what to expect, and took stock of their surroundings.

They entered a long hallway that seemed to stretch out far into the distance passed the reach of their head lamps. Melp could see side corridors scattered every few dozen feet no doubt leading to other sections of the ship, but likewise they too were pitch black.

Something about Melp’s comment made him pull out his data scroll and do a quick scan. The device beeped rapidly as the scan commenced before ending with a loud “DING” and displaying a waterfall of information.

Melp read the data as the two continued to hover by the airlock entrance.

“It says here that somethings still giving off a power signature here.” Melp commented as he ran he scan again to be sure.

“Give it here,” Galem said as he turned to Melp with his hand outstretched, “you must be reading it-“

When Galem didn’t finish his sentence Melp looked up and saw something akin to a mixture of fear and surprise on his face. He was staring at something over his shoulder so Melp slowly turned in place , his magnetic feet latching heavily to the decking with each step like two magnets smashing together.

When he finally turned around he let out a yelp of surprise and tried to jump back, but his magnetic feet kept him firmly locked to the floor leaving him in an almost comical off balance state.

Standing directly behind him was another of the drones, this one dressed in what appeared to be some sort of security uniform even including an empty weapon holster at his side.

Neither of the scavengers knew how the thing got there as it most certainly hadn’t been standing there a moment ago. Before either of them could respond the drone’s visor lit up and displayed a pixelated face. The visor was damaged with a deep crack running the length of it making the display flicker in and out on half the screen giving it an eerily ghost like visage.

“The captain,” the drone began as it stepped to one side of the hallway and extended a hand into the darkness, “requests your presence on the bridge.”

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #scifi #story

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karahalloway · 3 years

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(Un)Common Attraction: Chapter 25 - When You Move

Series: TRR (following the events of Book 1, with some changes)

Pairing: Drake Walker x OC (Harper Gale)

Rights belong to Pixelberry, most characters and some dialogue belong to them.

Book Synopsis: Harper Gale is a small-town girl working as a waitress at a seedy New York dive bar. After a chance encounter with nobility sees her jetting halfway around the world to compete for the hand of the Prince of Cordonia, her dream of seeing the world starts to come true sooner than she expected. But as the completion heats up, Harper quickly learns that life at court is a lot more than just pretty dresses and fancy balls, and that the polished aristocratic smiles often hide deceit. Does she have what it takes to rise above the gossip and intrigue of the social season, and beat the nobles at their own games? And, more importantly, does she actually want to become the queen of a small European country? Or will her heart have other ideas?

Masterlist: (Un)Common Attraction

Chapter Summary: It’s the night of Drake’s surprise birthday party and Harper finds herself in an intimate situation with Drake…

Word Count: 3,600

Rating/Warnings: M (swearing, angst, a sexually charged situation)

Chapter theme song:

Bonus Material: Extract from Harper’s Scrapbook + Comic

Please read: Author’s Note

Also available on Wattpad.

Chapter 25 - When You Move

We stumble out of the third bar of the evening, laughing rancorously.

"Good God, Maxwell!" cries Leo, wiping a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye. "I had completely forgotten about that New Year's Eve party!"

"I can't believe Bertrand let you use a vintage sword to crack open an equally vintage bottle of champagne!" I exclaim, still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Bertrand used to be one of the resident party animals.

"Yeah, I miss those good old days," sighs Maxwell. "But we do have the Beaumont Bash coming up in a few weeks, and I'm planning to pull out all the stops!"

"I'm not sure how many more stops you can pull before the whole thing comes crashing down," mutters Drake dryly.

While I had by no means let Drake off the hook for his out-of-character throwing of the pool game, he was right that tonight was not the best time to discuss it. I had organised this outing for him, and I didn't want to ruin it by getting into an argument on his birthday.

So, when we had gotten to the first stop, I had gone straight to the bar to buy him another round, which he had accepted in silent acknowledgement of my truce, and the rest of the night was able to proceed without any further tension.

"Oh, there are plenty more left to pull," grins Maxwell confidently. After a moment he adds, "I don't know about you, all this talk of partying has put me in the mood to hit the dance floor!"

"When are you not in the mood?" chuckles Christian.

"Very rarely," admits Maxwell exuberantly.

"I know the perfect place," declares Leo. "Follow me!"

He leads us down the road until we arrive at a hip-looking venue. Well-dressed patrons were mingling outside on the various tiered decks, sipping colourful cocktails. The faint tendrils of music can be heard seeping out onto the pavement.

Making our way up the steps to the front door, Leo has a quick word with the maitre d' standing behind a podium, checking guests in. He discreetly hands the man some cash before turning back to us.

"They're pretty full, but Bernard has managed to squeeze us into the VIP section."

"Well, you are certainly pulling your weight tonight, Leo!" I remark as the bouncers open the doors for us.

Stepping inside, I am hit by the sound of sensual Latin beats thumping from the speakers, while partners spin in a frenzy on the crowded dance floor.

"What is this?" I gasp. "Havana Nights?"

"Only the best salsa bar this side of the Med," grins Leo as we make our way through the press.

"You're into salsa?"

"Got into in with Katie while on the cruise ship last summer. Have you ever tried it?"

"The closest I've come is a couple of Zumba sessions at college."

"I'll show you the steps," he replies as we arrive at our booth and we deposit our stuff while Christian orders a round of drinks. "They're quite simple actually."

"Lead on, Patrick Swayze!"

Arriving at the dance floor, I spot Maxwell already teaching the moves to Hana. They give Leo and me a quick wave before turning their attention back to each other.

"There's something in the air between those two," observes Leo as he takes my hands in his.

"I know, right?" I reply. "Good to know that I'm not going crazy imagining things..."

"Maxwell could do with a girl with his life."

"No kidding!"

"Shall we get to it, then?"

"I'm all ears."

"Right, as I was saying, the steps are quite simple. Salsa works on an eight-count beat, with beats four and eight being resting beats. The basic step is a forwards and backwards," he explains, demonstrating. "You can also do it side to side and you kind of build from there."

"Looks simple enough," I admit.

"There is also a basic spin that the guy can lead you into on your back step. If you feel your arm being raised like this," he says, demonstrating again, "that's your cue to twirl. Ready to give it a go?"

"More than ready!"

A couple of songs later, with Leo's expert tips and pointers, I have the basics down.

"Mind if I cut in?"

Glancing up, I can see Christian looking at me expectantly over Leo's shoulder.

"Of course," replies Leo, giving me a quick dip before passing me over. "Harper's a natural."

"I know," grins Christian. "She made short work of the waltz as well."

"It helps having a confident partner," I reply as Christian pulls me into a close hold as another song starts up. "Though I didn't think salsa was a typical ballroom dance..."

"It's not," confirms Christian. "But when you've been dancing as long as I have, you pick up new styles pretty quickly. Are you up for a bit more complex routine?"

"Sure," I grin.

After all the drinks I had consumed tonight, I was feeling warm and relaxed and more than happy to pretend that this was just a normal night out with friends, no pressure, no expectations.

I let Christian lead me through a series of slides, spins and dips, culminating in him chucking me onto his hip to twirl us around in imitation of Dirty Dancing.

"I wish we could do that at the next ball instead of the waltz," I pant as the song winds down.

The dance floor was getting busier by the minute and the press of bodies in such a confined space was definitely turning up the temperature.

"Yes, salsa is certainly a much more lively dance," agrees Christian, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Maybe when you're king, you can pass a decree to introduce some other dances into the ballroom rotation... spice things up a bit."

"It's certainly worth a thought," he admits. "Up for one more?"

"Sure!"

Christian grabs me again, and I lose myself in the rhythm of the guitar and trumpets. Halfway through, Maxwell joins us with Hana, and the guys lead us into a mini rueda, swapping partners every couple of beats.

The song ends and I find myself in Maxwell's arms. "Up for another round?" he asks.

"Let me grab a drink first!"

Rushing back to our table, I am relieved to see that Christian had had the foresight to order a large jug of iced water, garnished with limes and mint. Pouring myself a large glass, I tip it back greedily, before pouring myself another.

"Ready?" asks Maxwell, waiting patiently at the edge of the dance floor.

"You bet!"

Grabbing my hand, he pulls me into the crush. We start off rather sedately, but the tempo quickly increases. Maxwell can't help himself and he launches into a complicated solo routine, complete with the splits and all I can do is stand and stare.

"You've got moves, bud!" I exclaim as he collects me again.

With a wink, Maxwell spins me out as the song comes to an end and suddenly I find myself up against Drake's chest.

"Whoa there..." he grins, steadying me.

"Thanks," I gasp. "Maxwell got a bit carried away back there."

"Doesn't he always..."

Another song starts up, this time with a more hypnotic beat.

"So, what do you say, birthday boy?" I ask. "Shall we dance?"

I see the muscle in his jaw working. "I suppose I do owe you one..." he concedes, trailing his fingers down my arms to clasp my hands, leaving my skin tingling in the wake of his touch.

"Wait... this isn't salsa," I realise as he leads me expertly into a series of side steps.

"It's not," he replies. "It's bachata. Now flick your hip."

I gape at him. "Who are you, and what have you done with Drake Walker?"

He chuckles. "This... may not be my first time in a Latin bar. Now spin."

"Then why did you tell me in Lythikos that you couldn't dance?" I ask as he twirls me around.

"Never said I couldn't," he murmurs into my ear as he pulls me back against him, a hand on my hip to guide my movements. "I just said I don't — not at court anyway."

"Not one for performing like a trained monkey in front of the aristos?" I ask, laying my hand on his as I luxuriate in the feel of our bodies moving in sync.

"Definitely not," he confirms, guiding my hand up above my head in a graceful arch.

"Dirty dancing more your thing then?" I breathe as he trails his fingers down my extended arm, and then my side, making me shiver.

"It's definitely... sexier than a waltz."

He gives my hips a shove to spin me out to face him before pulling me back in.

"Drake!" I exclaim as I find myself straddling his leg, our bodies pressed together. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing," he replies softly, his hand splayed possessively against the small of my back as we sway to the beat. "Like everyone else."

Tearing my gaze off Drake, my eyes widen as I realise that all the other couples on the dancefloor were entwined suggestively, moving together in such an erotic manner that anywhere else it would've been considered public indecency.

"They're not dancing!" I gasp. "They're having sex on the dance floor!"

"I wouldn't go that far... But this dance did originate in the brothels of the Dominican Republic, so it is quite sensual."

"No kidding," I breathe, feeling a rush of heat in my core as his leg rubs provocatively against the inside of my bare thighs with each step. "If this isn't foreplay I don't know what is..."

His breath tickles my bare shoulder as he scoffs softly, leaving goosebumps on my skin.

"...I can see why you'd prefer it," I add, brushing my lips against his neck.

A low groan escapes him as I feel his hand fist into the material of my dress, as if getting ready to tear it off me. "This...this was a bad idea."

I stagger as he pulls away from me suddenly. "Drake...!"

"I...I need a drink," he grits, pushing past me into the crowd.

I am left staring mutely, my heart hammering and my body on fire.

"Harper! There you are!" Looking up, I see Maxwell emerge from the throng. "Where's Drake?"

"Th-the bar," I stammer, my mind in flux. "I'm...I'm going to go freshen up a bit."

"Probably a good idea," nods Maxwell. "This type of dancing does work up a sweat! Don't be too long though. Christian said we'll need to start heading off soon. It's getting late and we should all catch a couple of hours sleep before day two of the Apple Blossom Festival tomorrow."

"Su-Sure. I'll meet you outside."

"I'll find Drake and let him know as well."

Making my way off the crowded dance floor, I find the bathrooms, which are — miraculously — empty.

Leaning against the back of the door, I take a shuddering breath in an attempt to slow my rapidly beating heart. But as I close my eyes, all I can think about is the feel of Drake's body as he had moved against me on the dancefloor, which gets me even more riled up. I knew that I probably shouldn't have asked him to dance — especially not such a sexually charged routine — but in my inebriated state, I had not been thinking straight... and had Drake not called a time out when he did, things would've spiralled very quickly out of control.

God... This was going to be impossible...

It seemed that every time Drake and I found ourselves together, the sexual tension ratcheted up to a whole new level... and I had no idea how long we could keep dancing around each other before one of us cracked.

Pushing myself away from the door, I stumble over to the sinks. Looking up into the mirror, I grimace when I catch sight of myself. My chest and cheeks are flushed, my hair was a frizzy mess, my dress was rumpled, and the hem had ridden up way too high. No wonder Maxwell hadn't objected when I had said I needed to clean myself up!

Straightening my dress, I grab a couple of paper towels from the dispenser. Wetting them in the sink, I dab them on my skin to try and cool myself down a bit. But as the damp towel touches the swell of my breasts above the dress's neckline, a low moan escapes my lips.

"Dammit, Drake!" I hiss, slamming my hands down on top of the vanity as wanton need flashes through my core.

Clenching my eyes shut, I try to calm myself down, but I instead, I feel anger and frustration bubble up inside me – at Drake, at myself, at Christian, at everyone for this entire stupid mess and how it was making me feel.

With a growl of annoyance, I throw the paper into the trash and stomp out of the bathroom.

Hopefully some fresh air will help clear my head!

I'm so caught up in torrent of emotions raging inside of me that I barrel right into the person coming towards me.

"Easy there, Gale!" exclaims Drake, his hands coming up to steady me.

The intoxicating scent of his aftershave, combined with the heat of his body hits me like a ton of bricks. My baser instincts take over and in the next second, my lips are fused to his in desperate passion. Threading my fingers into his hair, I arch my body into his, channeling all my pent-up frustration into the kiss. He tastes like spice and whiskey, and I want to drown myself in him, knowing that I would never be able to get enough.

He freezes, like a deer caught in the headlights. But in the next second — whether because of the inhibition annihilating effects of the earlier alcohol, the mutual teasing around the pool table, the highly-charged dance routine, or a combination of all three — his self-control collapses as he grabs the back of my thigh to yank me forcefully against him with a low growl, his tongue invading my mouth in turn.

My body responds instantly to his sudden fervour. Threading my fingers into his hair, I arch into him, channeling all my pent-up frustration into the kiss. He tastes like spice and whiskey, and I want to drown myself in him, knowing that I would never be able to get enough.

A moan escapes me as he shoves me back against the wall with a low growl, his tongue invading my mouth as he grabs the back of my thigh to yank me forcefully against him.

God, I wanted him!

"Fuck, Harper..." he groans, breaking off the kiss to rest his forehead against mine. "What part of 'we can't do this' did you not get...?"

"It's your birthday," I breathe, trailing kisses down his neck. "I think you can get away with one drunken kiss..."

"Yeah, but the party's over," he sighs.

"Are you sure?" I ask saucily. "Because someone disagrees..."

He sucks in a ragged breath as I nudge my pelvis suggestively against the tell-tale bulge in the front of his pants.

"For Chrissakes, girl..." he grits, eyes clenched tight in an effort to maintain control over himself. "Don't make this harder than it already is."

My shoulders slump as I let out a low exhale.

As riled up as I was feeling, I had to acknowledge that Drake was struggling just as much as me... and it was not fair on either of us to keep goading him like I was.

"I'm sorry... I just wish we cou—"

"I know..." he replies softly, dropping a kiss on my nose. "And trust me, so do I. But we can't. And we need to get going before the others come looking for us."

We pull apart reluctantly and I straighten my dress while Drake adjusts himself. With one last heated look at each other, we push our way outside, picking up my clutch, Drake's jacket and bottle of bourbon from the VIP booth on the way.

"There you two are!" exclaims Christian. "I was just about to ring you."

"Sorry, it was my fault..." I reply hastily. "The line for the ladies' was insane. Drake was kind enough to wait for me."

Christian flicks his eyes between the two of us, but doesn't say anything.

"Well, now that we're all here," says Leo, "I'm going to bid adieu."

"Are you sure you don't want to come back to Applewood with us?" asks Christian.

"Not this time, Chris. This has been fun, but I need to get back."

"Everything alright?"

"More than alright," replies Leo with a grin. "We recently found out that Katie was pregnant. I promised that I'd get back so we can celebrate."

Christian's jaw drops. "Congratulations!" he exclaims, pulling his brother into a tight hug. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"It's something I wanted to share in person," replies Leo. "But I didn't want to steal the spotlight from birthday boy here."

"You don't have to worry about that, man," grins Drake, clapping Leo on the shoulder. "You know I hate being the centre of attention. Congrats, by the way."

"Thanks. Lovely to meet you, Hana," continues Leo, dropping a kiss on Hana's cheek.

"The pleasure's all mine," she blushes in reply. "And congratulations – you must be overjoyed."

"We are," smiles Leo, "Max, give my regards to your brother."

"Will do," replies Maxwell, as the two clasp hands. "And congratulations."

"Thanks. And last but not least," says Leo, turning the full force of his swoon-worthy smile on me. "Harper. Thank you for inviting of me. I had a blast."

"You're more than welcome," I reply as he pulls me into a hug.

"Don't keep those two in suspense too long," he murmurs into my ear, before fixing me with a knowing look as he pulls back.

I feel my cheeks flush in embarrassment as I force myself to nod. "C-congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks, everyone," smiles Leo. "It's been great catching up. Hopefully we can do this again soon."

With a final salute, Leo jumps into his waiting cab, while the rest of us pile into the limo.

As the car pulls away, I stare out the window, Leo's words echoing in my head. If he had been able to pick up on the sparks flying between me and Drake after just a few hours, maybe we were being more transparent than either of us realised. But I'm not able to focus on the matter for long as the gentle movements of the car, combined with the sleepless nights of the past week, the copious amounts of alcohol and the dancing lull me quickly to sleep.

"Gale," murmurs Drake, shaking me gently awake. "We're back."

"Already?" I grumble sleepily. My eyes snap open suddenly. "I-I wasn't snoring, was I?"

Drake chuckles. "Thankfully, no," he reassures me as he helps me out of the car. "But you really did not want to be woken up. The others have gone in already."

"What time is it?" I ask, stifling a massive yawn.

"Late," he replies, looping my arm through his to guide me inside. "We should get you to bed before you pass out here on the steps."

"Are you offering to tuck me in?" I ask sleepily, leaning my head against his bicep as we make our way towards the bedroom wing.

"Not a good idea and you know it."

"A girl can dream..." I mumble.

"I'd wait until you're in bed," he advises softly. "This is you, I believe," he says, pulling to a stop outside my door.

Unhooking my arm from his, I fumble with the clasp of my clutch.

"Here," he says, taking the bag from my hands and clicking it open.

Reaching in, I extract the key to my room and slot it into the lock. Turning it, I hear the bolt click back and I push the handle down to open the door.

Glancing up, our eyes meet and for a moment, the air is filled with the promise of possibility.

"Thanks for walking me back."

"Anytime."

He takes a step closer, and I feel my chest tighten in anticipation.

"Don't forget this," he says quietly, placing the clutch into my hands.

My breath catches in my throat as I see that he's gazing down at me with that impenetrable look of his.

It would be so easy to—

"Goodnight, Gale." His voice scatters my hazy thoughts. "Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight," I breathe.

The story continues in Chapter 26 - Cordonian Bake-Off

A/N: Yes, Drake can dance... and if you don't like it, you can lump it! Just kidding! But in all seriousness, it makes sense for him to be able to, given that it's a great way to pick up girls and growing up with Christian and Leo, he would've probably been roped into ballroom dance practice anyway.

If you like dancing and have not tried a Latin or Cuban bar, then you are seriously missing out! My best nights out have been salsa nights! As mentioned at the top, this chapter was partially inspired by the song Despacito, by Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee (original Spanish version – not the watered down Justin Bieber one). This song is actually a reggaeton (different beat to the bachata I describe in the chapter) but if you are interested then a ‘typical’ bachata is e.g Obsesión by Aventura and Te Extraño by Xtreme.

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@twinkleallnight @lovingchoices14 @petiteboheme @aussiegurl1234 @queen-arabella-of-cordonia @tessa-liam @alyshak92 @secretaryunpaid @princessleac1 @walkerdrakewalker @choicesficwriterscreations @fictionloveevie @angelasscribbles @drakewalkerisreal @nestledonthaveone @tinkie1973 @drakewalkerisreal

#uncommon attraction #harper gale #drake walker #drake x mc #maxwell beaumont #prince liam #hana lee #leo rys #trr fanfic #the royal romance #choices fic writers creations

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captainseaweedbrains · 3 years

Text

The Dance of the Color Guard, Op. 64 Ch. 4

Katniss and Peeta used to be best friends when they were kids, but now in high school, they're barely on speaking terms. It isn't until they are forced together as the titular star-crossed lovers for their marching band's field show that they will have to face their past mistakes and try to get along if they ever hope of defeating the notorious Capitol Height's Imperial Marching Crusaders in competition.

It's all about winning and if that means pretending to be in love with Peeta Mellark, so be it.

A/N: Thank you to @rosegardeninwinter for editing and helping push me to finish! You are the best and any mistakes found are mine. :)

Start at the beginning on Ao3: X

Ch. 4 Ao3: X

June

“Peeta really isn’t that bad,” Madge said for what felt like the millionth time. Katniss rolled her eyes and flipped the page of her magazine. Ever since learning that Peeta was going to be the Romeo to Katniss’ Juliet, Madge had been defending him every chance she got. “He’s really not. And he’s so smart, Katniss. Picks up on things real quickly. So all this moping around you’ve been doing all week is stupid.”

Katniss frowned and shoved her sunglasses further up her nose, preferring the screams of the children running around them on the pool deck to Madge defending Peeta Mellark to her once again. Was she being overly dramatic about this? Maybe. Was Madge right that Peeta wasn’t as bad as she made him out to be? Perhaps. But it still sucked and she couldn’t stop complaining about it.

“I know you’re Team Peeta,” she sighed, “but would it kill you to see things from my perspective just this once? Isn’t that what girl friends are supposed to do? Side with their other girl friends?”

“Maybe if you were right about him being a bad person, I would,” Madge sniffed, picking up her own gossip magazine to flip through. “But as of right now, you’ve provided me no evidence in support of your claim.” It was times like these Katniss wished her friend wasn’t the daughter of a prestigious lawyer.

“Gale sides with me,” she argued, pointing at her tall friend standing in line between two twelve-year-old kids for their slushies. “Doesn’t that count for anything on my behalf?”

“Gale’s an idiot.”

“An idiot you’re dating.” Madge stuck her tongue out at that, unable to refute her long-standing relationship with Gale and Katniss smiled. Of all the relationships she’d seen throughout the years—and band romances had provided plenty of weird, random romances, the weirdest being Johanna Mason and Melinda “Cashmere” Hewitt—Madge and Gale’s was the only one she saw that made no sense on paper yet made complete sense in person. The spoiled rich girl with a heart of gold and the rough-around-the-edges boy from the bad part of town? She never used to buy it in the movies, thinking the concept too ridiculous, but Madge and Gale proved her wrong time and time again.

Even when they had broken up sophomore year, claiming they were just too different, Katniss was still proven wrong because they couldn’t shut up about each other—griping about how she just didn’t understand and he always has to be right and I can’t believe I lost my virginity to that, a fact Katniss could have gone her whole life not knowing. When they got back together, it was hard to say who was more thrilled about it: the happy couple or Katniss.

“Come on, Madge,” she sighed, flopping back in her lounge seat. “Why must you always be the diplomatic one?”

“Someone has to be between your impulsiveness and Gale’s anarchy attitude.

“Did someone say anarchy?” the anarchist himself joked, handing Madge her lime-flavored slushie with a kiss on the lips for a tip. He handed Katniss her watermelon one and jokingly asked where his tip was. Katniss threw her three dollars at him with a “Keep the change” rebuttal. Gale laughed and pocketed the cash, lifting Madge’s legs up and over onto his lap so he could sit.

“So what did I miss?”

Madge snorted and offered her boyfriend a sip of her slushie. “Here’s a hint: it’s Katniss’ favorite subject.”

Gale rolled his eyes and accepted the drink. “Mellark again?” He took a large sip and winced at the sudden brain freeze, handing the large cup back. “God, I’m so sick of hearing about that guy. Katniss, get over it and move on already.” Even Gale was getting sick of her talking about it? Somehow, that hit lower on the pathetic scale. Gale was her complaining companion. Her bitch buddy. The person she reserved all her annoyances for because she knew he’d have his own trivial things to complain about. Hell, their friendship was founded upon complaining, starting in 8th Grade Science when their teacher kept giving them busy work to cope with the very public scandal of his wife sleeping with their school principal. They complained about everything with each other.

And now even Gale had said enough.

Well this sucked.

“Fine,” she said, not really feeling fine about it. “I won’t talk about it anymore.” Her friends looked doubtful. “I mean it! No more talk of Peeta Mellark and how my whole summer is practically ruined because I have to have extra practices to teach him how to dance on the field. And I’m not going to talk about how that cuts into my shifts at Aunt LuLu’s store, which means my spending money is going to be next to nothing by the time school starts. So if you two ever want to do anything more fun than hanging around the school parking lot, I guess you’re shit out of luck.”

Gale smiled sweetly at Madge. “I’m so glad she’s not talking about it anymore.” Katniss scowled and gave them the middle finger, causing them both to laugh.

“I think you both are very biased over this whole thing,” Katniss said after a while. Gale and Madge didn’t say anything, too focused on tanning and summer reading homework. That didn’t seem to stop Katniss from continuing. “You’re both too friendly with him because of classes and band. He’s gotten to you.”

“One of us is biased,” Gale said, “and it’s not us. It’s you. You’ve hated him for as long as I’ve known you.”

“With good reason!” she huffed, crossing her arms. They didn’t ask her to elaborate on that, already making it clear they were done talking about Peeta Mellark and all the annoyances he brought to her life, and she hated the fact that she did want to keep talking about him. About marching band. About the whole stupid situation. But she kept her promise and kept her mouth shut.

No one said anything further until Madge declared herself starving and Gale suggested they stuff their faces with greasy burgers and fries at Sae’s.

**********

Sae’s Diner was packed with its usual lunch crowd—men and women from the factories nearby on lunch, sitting at the worn pastel-colored counter; a couple of kids they recognized from school goofing off in the corner booth, shooting straw wrappers off the straws; and a book club filled with women in their fifties discussing some brick of a book over coffee and Sae’s famous blueberry and cream pie sitting in the center of the small diner. The old woman herself smiled warmly at them when they’d walked in, asking if they were wanting the usual.

“You’re the best, Sae,” Gale thanked as they waved and headed to their booth next to the front door.

As they waited for their cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes, Gale chatted about some war movie he and his brothers saw that sounded god awful boring, no matter how much he tried re-explaining the plot to them. Madge and Katniss rolled their eyes and told him if he wanted to see the movie again so badly, to go see it by himself. “I’m not going to the movies by myself like some weirdo,” he scoffed, taking his hands off the table as the waitress deposited their plates of food and drinks.

“Why not?” Katniss asked, picking up a french fry to dip into her milkshake. “I do it all the time.”

“Because you hate people.”

“So do you.” He shrugged, not having much to argue there, and picked up his burger.

“So what time is Trinket summoning you tomorrow?” Gale asked, changing the subject completely, and tearing into his burger. Grease dripped down his hands and Madge tossed a pile of napkins at him. He accepted with a smile and slid his side of pickles over to her, something he purposely ordered more of because he knew how much she liked them. Madge happily bit into one, her eyes gazing at him with such adoration, Katniss rolled her eyes. Their coupling was too much for her sometimes.

“I thought you didn’t want me talking about marching band,” she said innocently enough, taking a bite into her own burger.

“I didn’t want you talking about Mellark,” he said pointedly, wagging a fry at her. “Marching band is different. Less annoying and less boy drama. So what time does Miss Cream Puff have you coming in?”

It irritated her that Gale simplified her great dislike for Peeta Mellark as mere boy drama because it was far more complicated than that, but there was no point trying to explain it to Gale. He understood a lot about her, but when it came to Peeta… Well, it was best to let him believe whatever he wanted. “Eight a.m. sharp,” she said sourly, dipping another french fry into her milkshake.

Gale winced. “That sucks. Why so early?”

“Peeta couldn’t get out of working his afternoon shifts and it was either that or not have a single weekend off until November.” She was still bitter about the change in schedule. Originally Miss Trinket wanted them twice a week outside of color guard’s normal rehearsal times, but with Peeta’s work schedule not being as flexible as Katniss’, she’d decided to make it morning rehearsals and make those shorter, which forced them to add another day of rehearsal to make up for the cut time. Now instead of having rehearsal four times a week, Katniss had five with her weekends full of shifts at Aunt LuLu’s shop for the extra cash she desperately needed. This summer was going to blow.

“I still think you should’ve been picked for Juliet,” Katniss told Madge teasingly. “You and Gale, maybe?” she cooed. “The true star-crossed lovers of Athens Ridge.”

Gale scowled. “I’d rather drop dead than have to deal with Trinket when she’s in choreographer mode. She’s a total tyrant.”

“She’s not so bad once you get used to her.”

“Tell me what you think after dealing with her for a whole season, oh captain, my captain.”

Point taken.

Much like at the pool, they talked for a bit about things going on in their lives—Madge taking some online French class because her grades last semester weren’t great; Gale’s successful find for parts with Thom in the junkyard. Katniss didn’t say much as she munched on her burger and fries, afraid Madge would lecture her again on Peeta Mellark and her inability to let things go with him. That and she promised she was done talking about him. But outside of marching band and him, not much was going on in her life. She felt a bit pathetic about that.

Conversation picked up when Sae came over, asking how things were doing. The three smiled at the old woman, happy to fill her in on all the small details of their lives. Sae was the unofficial grandmother of the Seam. Always there to show her support for her kiddos. Her small diner was covered with pictures of sports teams she’s sponsored over the years, pictures of her and kids dressed in dance gear, holding certificates.

“Did you hear the news about Katniss, Sae?” Madge asked when the topic of marching band came up. Sae was always interested in that, loving watching her talented kids play as they wove around the field. “She’s going to be our Juliet this year! Isn’t that exciting?”

Sae’s grey eyes warmed, turning to Katniss. “Is that so? Captain and the lead part?” She shook her head in astonishment, her salt and peppered colored hair coming loose from her hair tie. “You were always so talented with those flags. I’m not surprised. Who’s your Romeo?”

“Peeta Mellark.” The name felt lodged in her throat, but thankfully, it squeezed out without too much of a squeak in her voice.

Sae didn’t know all the kids on the west side, but she definitely knew Peeta. He would often tag along with her and her dad on their trips to the woods, stopping at the diner after for hot chocolate and pie. In fact, his picture was one of the first ones you saw coming in—Sae and six-year-old Peeta smiling at the camera, her arm around him as he proudly held up his lost baby tooth. Her dad had taken the picture, she remembered, and if the camera’s lens had shifted a little more to the right, it would have also captured five-year-old Katniss pouting on the side, upset that he kept losing his baby teeth when she’d lost none. It was a picture her gaze avoided whenever they visited Sae’s, unable to stomach the sight of an old friend turned asshole, the memory of her dad’s laughter as he took the photo.

“Oh, Peeta,” Sae chuckled, the familiar twinkle she always got in her eyes when he was around. The old woman doted on him when they were kids and he ate up her attention like there was no tomorrow. “How is that boy? Staying out of mischief, I hope?”

Gale and Madge looked to her with knowing smiles, wondering what she would say. Katniss cleared her throat and looked down at her half-eaten plate for a moment. “Fine, I guess. We don’t hang out anymore. You know that, Sae.”

She did know that, but it never stopped her from asking whenever he came up. “Aye, girl, I do. I suppose you aren’t happy with Effie Trinket’s choice, then?”

Gale snorted. “Happy? More like obsessively pissed. She hasn’t shut up about it since May.” She glared at her friend and he shrugged, popping a fry in his mouth. “What? You haven’t.”

Sae gave one of her warm, crooked teeth smiles. “Maybe this is the push you kiddos need to kiss and make up.” Katniss’ cheeks warmed at the mention of kisses, remembering Leevy’s comment how they were so going to have sex by the end of the year. She still hadn’t fully forgiven her friend for that suggestion.

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Sae,” she said, her voice still a little strained. “We’re just too different.”

“Ah, well. I suppose we grow in different directions sometimes,” the woman sighed with a shake of her head. A woman from the book club table called for her and Sae gave them a parting wave and smile. “Tell Peeta ol’ Sae misses her boy and that he needs to come in more. I haven’t seen him in ages.”

Katniss pointedly avoided Gale and Madge’s amused smirks, focusing on the burger in front of her. “I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” she muttered, taking a big bite of her food to avoid continuing this conversation. She loved Sae. Thought of her like a grandmother. But there was no way in hell was she telling Peeta that. No way. Then he’d think she was gushing about him to anyone who would listen, thrilled to be his Juliet, a role many girls at school would kill for (Probably. Maybe. She thinks.), and then his stupid ego would just get bigger and he’d be even more obnoxious to deal with. No, best not to mention anything and lie next time she saw Sae.

A small part felt guilty at that, though, because Sae was like a grandma who wanted the best for her, and Peeta too, she guessed, but again, Sae didn’t know what happened between them. And Katniss wasn’t going to fill her in on their broken history six years too late.

Her phone next to her plate vibrated, signifying a text message just came in. Wiping her greasy hands, Katniss frowned, picking up her phone. Who was texting her? Everyone who’d text her was either sitting right across from her or were busy at work or camp. The little text message lit up at her touch, showing it was from an unknown number, and her frown turned into a scowl as she read it.

Hey!!!!!!!!!1!1111!!!!!!! the message read with a thousand typo-filled exclamation marks. God, who text like that? Trinket gave me ur ######## Hope thats cool. Thought Id give mine!!!!!!!111111 🤗 Ill see u Mon dearest Juliet ❤️❤️❤️❤️!!!!!!!!!!!!111!😘😘😘😘!!!111!!!!!!

For the briefest of seconds, Katniss swore her vision blacked out. One moment she was staring at her phone. The next, darkness. Like her brain couldn’t process the simple text on her phone and chose to shut down instead. When her vision cleared, the message was still there, glaring brightly at her with those thousand exclamation/number marks.

Peeta Mellark texted her. He had her number.

Her stomach churned and now she feared that what her mother always warned about Sae’s greasy food would come true now and she’d throw it all up.

Peeta Mellark texted her. It was truly official. He had her number and she had his and they were partners now. If she had any doubts about this whole thing before—as if she had dreamt the last four weeks of her life—they were wiped clean now. Replaced with this typo-filled text message from the very boy who hurt her.

“You okay?” Madge asked.

Katniss nodded and clicked out of the message, tossing the phone into her bag. She’d deal with it later.

#Everlark #Everlark Fanfiction #The Hunger Games #The Hunger Games fanfiction #Everlark fanfic #The hunger Games fanfic #THG #It's been a while and I'm sorry #Life amirite?#My writing #The Dance of the Color Guard #The Dance of the Color Guard Op. 64

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thebibliomancer · 3 years

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Archaia’s Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance #12

The Journey into the Mondo Levidian Part 4

In this installment, they do not journey into the Mondo Levidian at all. Maybe this should have been titled Into the Guts and Back Again: A Gelfling’s Tale.

In part one, newly All-Maudra’d Mayrin deals with a Sifan separatist crisis but also plenty of unresolved mother-induced insecurity issues. She charters a ride with Captain Kam’Lu to speak to the separatist leader Fenth but a sea monster sinks the ship.

In part two, Mayrin and Kam’Lu are adrift at sea on a raft following the sinking but then they get eaten by a sea monster. The two meet the monster gut dwelling Boblings and learn that they have a limited time before the Mondo Levidian returns to the deeps and then there’ll be no escape for a trine. With the Bobling King’s daughter Gunda, the two set off on a journey out of the Mondo Levidian.

In part three, Mayrin, Kam’Lu, and Gunda set off on a journey to the Mondo Levidian’s porticol and fight a lot of Zoa. Mayrin and Kam’Lu become friends on the basis of name-shortening. And Mayrin flies Kam’Lu out of the closing porticol to save him from Zoa and prove her mom wrong.

So they’re out of the giant fish so what more is left of the story at this point? The answer is beneath the keep reading.

So let’s get started!

Dot arrives on SkekSa’s totally sweet monster/ship which she is very proud of.

SkekSa: “Greetings and welcome to the greatest behemoth in the Silver Sea, Ambassador Dot’leth! You’re aboard an unstoppable ship built with Skeksis ingenuity. Does our mastery of nature itself make you tremble in awe?”

Dot: “I assume you mean the second greatest behemoth in the Silver Sea, considering the attack on the Sifan ship that cost the lives of All-Maudra Mayrin and Captain Kam’Lu --”

SkekSa: “Well, yes, that was reported... but the captain of this ship has yet to find any proof of the alleged creature that destroyed the Sifan ship.”

Now, at first blush, this seems like SkekSa slipping up and accidentally admitting culpability like Prince Humperdinck in Princess Bride and his fastest ships.

But when the Mondo Levidian emerges from underwater, SkekSa goes from ‘what the heck’ to ‘i WANT that.’

SkekSa: “Second-greatest behemoth in the sea... bah! What does that ignorant old Vapran know about the sea! The only monsters here are --”

Mondo Levidian: -emerges-

SkekSa: “Oh. What other secrets are hiding in this infernal world...?”

And

SkekSa: “It’s been many trine since SkekSa discovered such a wonder -- and a majestic creature such as this deserves a naming ceremony! Vassa... You will be mine! The Mariner sails only the greatest creature -- er, ship -- in all of Thra!”

I had been assuming that the Mondo Levidian attack was a conspiracy by SkekSa to seize power for her preferred Gelfling clan. But it seems like it was just crazy random happenstance that she and Fenth got opportunistic over.

Also, holy crap, Dot has a full name?

And Fenth and Dot are implied to have History, being a little awkward around each other.

Over on top of the sea monster, Mayrin and Kam’Lu discover that the Zoa (led by the Zoa wearing clothes. The Necrozoa?) are following them up and out of the porticol. Mayrin and Kam’Lu have to take to the air again to try to escape to SkekSa’s ship.

Watching all of this happen, SkekSa settles on ‘bored of this.’

SkekSa: “New plan. SkekSa doesnt’ care anymore about your Gelfling squabbles.”

Fenth: “But...! But....! You said I could have power! We had a deal!”

SkekSa: “And SkekSa is bored of politics. I want that creature. I will be unstoppable, and all of Thra will be mine to explore! Entire lands waiting to be named -- named after me!”

I kind of like that SkekSa’s priorities are 1) Giant monsters, 2) Naming a lot of shit after herself, 3) The Sifan, I guessss. 2.5) is probably ‘ugh Skeksis politics uuugh.’

Mayrin manages to lead most of the Zoa swarm in front of the Mondo Levidian which jumps up and eats them.

She lands on the deck of SkekSa’s ship and has a moment with Kam’Lu.

This very good friendship has just become a kissing relationship.

It has been a hell of an enemies to lovers for them, huh?

The remaining Zoa and the Zoa-in-clothes, identified as being a queen Zoa? land on SkekSa’s dreadnought and Mayrin declares that the Zoa stand before a United Thra “Vapran courage and Sifan honor!” and for the Zoa to turn back or be destroyed.

Then there’s a massive Zoa vs Gelfling fight scene with SkekSa yelling for them to get off her ship.

I adore her.

Fenth gets upset that Mayrin is uniting the Sifa and Vapra and decides ‘hey, all kinds of things can happen in the heat of combat’ and throws an entire ass sword at Mayrin’s back.

But Kam’Lu blocks the attack with the goo shield (which he evidently kept). And its a bit of a broken pedestal moment considering Kam’Lu’s personality in issue one was ‘hey did you hear this cool stuff Fenth is saying??’

Kam’Lu: “Vile traitor! I trusted you! I believed in your lies and your wisdom! I thought you would lead us to something better... But you are the poison to all Gelfling-kind -- a poison I can no longer willingly imbibe!”

Good for you, Kam’Lu.

The war against the bugs ends when Mayrin stabs the queen Zoa in the eye and yells a defiant speech to her.

Mayrin: Queen, I am not one for violence -- But I will resort to it if I must! I will do whatever is necessary to save my kind -- just like you. We are the same! Please! Turn away! Turn away and end this needless bloodshed!”

And the queen Zoa does.

Whether actually moved or cowed by Mayrin’s speech or because she’s smart enough not to go in for sunk cost, the queen and the remaining Zoa take off.

Good job, Mayrin.

Although, it is funny that you tried to sue for peace when you earlier described the queen Zoa as “a monster filled with blind hate, resentment, and beastly rage. Something born in the pit of despair and darkness... Something that knows only hunger and power.”

But it won’t be the first time that Gelfling were way off in regards to the Arathim slash offshoots, nor the last.

Still, it feels right that the final boss of Mayrin’s plot was a giant monster queen wearing her mother’s clothes that she fends off by confidently telling to buzz off.

Fenth tries to blame the whole situation on Mayrin for leading the bugs to the ship, which is technically true. But Kam’Lu has become Mayrin’s biggest supporter because the boy believes with all his heart.

Kam’Lu: “You’re wrong! Mayrin is here because she had to save us at all costs! She is here because she is fighting to keep the seven clans together! She has been through a bizarre adventure, struggling through the stomach of monsters unknown!”

“I was just like Fenth -- I distrusted Mayrin because she was a Vapran. But Mayrin has saved my life too many times to count. She proved her strength in the toothrakes! She outwitted the horrifying King Bobling! She fought bravely and earned the respect of the greatest warrior of Bajula! She is what the Sifa clan needs. What all Gelfling need! In the darkness of the Mondo Leviadin, Mayrin led the way. I believe in her.”

“LONG LIVE ALL-MAUDRA MAYRIN!”

“And I swear, from this day to my last, when my body is taken by Thra, that I will fight for her -- by her side. As her friend... Her captain... Her...”

And then he trails off there because Mayrin holds his hand and the poor boy only has so much processing power.

Also, he kinda embellished Mayrin’s accomplishments by saying she outwitted the “horrifying” Bobling King. That guy was a kitten.

The Sifan Maudra is intrigued by all this love biz and asks Mayrin what she would do if the Sifans do decide to leave the clans.

Mayrin: “If we are to separate, then the seas will weep for the lonely Sifa clan. The mountains of Ha’rar will shake in the bitter Vapran gales. We must be the shining light of Thra -- together!”

“We are the living monuments of everything that touches us, be it the good and warm that gives us hope... or the malice and greed that drives us down darker paths. And... I wear my mother’s colors. I know it. I feel it -- I accept it. But I am not my mother.”

“I promise that I will bleed for you! I will fight for you! I will break my body in half to ensure that you have yours! To sail the sea as you see fit! So please, give me the chance to prove it to you! Give me the chance to fail and to succeed! if you do... Perhaps we may all grow old together -- knowing what unity is meant to be... knowing what love is --”

WOO!

Fenth is less than thrilled. Not just for his thwarted ambitions but because SkekSa has thoroughly gotten sick of him and is probably annoyed that she had to sit through all these speeches without even getting a giant sea monster.

She grabs him and drags him away through the crowd while everyone is distracted being jubilant.

SkekSa: “Take a long look at the Silver Sea, Fenth -- It will be many trine before you witness it again... Skeksis friend SkekTek the Scientist has plans for Gelfling who fail!”

Huh. Wonder what that means. This is way too soon for draining to be on the table.

Later, WEDDING TIME!

On the cliff above Raunip’s pass, the Sifan and Vapran come together for the wedding of Mayrin and Kam’Lu.

Dot assumes that Mayrin chose the venue so she can fly Raunip’s Pass with the power of love but Mayrin chose the venue so she can deliberately not do that because she’s done following her mom’s path.

Mayrin: “You have taught me the most important thing, Kam’Lu -- that I am the only one responsible for the path I fly. That we must all chart our own path -- and that we cannot do that when the dense cloud of grief fogs our vision. And that to be my best self -- no matter who it is that I am -- I must be myself. Faults and failures and scars and all. Understanding that acceptance is not the same as failure. We must think of the future of our kind.”

Its also implied that Mayrin is already pregnant as she declares that she’ll name her firstborn Seladon, after Mayrin’s mother.

... It is incredibly ironic. Mayrin declares that she’s going to set her own path and then chooses her mother’s name for her daughter. The daughter that she’s going to repeat a lot of Seladon I’s parenting mistakes with, giving Seladon II a whopping case of insecurity and unfortunately no character building adventure with a hunky sea captain.

Hm. I wonder what happens with Kam’Lu. That whole family situation probably would have been less of a timebomb with him around. Alas, the sea is a harsh mistress. Full of fish and salt.

So, the last arc of Archaia’s Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal Age of Resistance comics. I still have two of the YA novels to read but with the cancellation of the show, who can say when there will be more comics.

But the comic ends strong. We visit another parent when they’re young and get to see more wild Thra life. We get to see SkekSa! She’s a delight. We get to see another side of the Sifan than the brief appearances in the show.

Thanks for the good times, Archaia’s Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance comic.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #dark crystal age of resistance #Archaia's Dark Crystal #a prequel to a prequel #All Maudra Mayrin #Captain Kam'Lu #Fenth #SkekSa #The Mariner #Dot the Undaunted

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flameraven · 4 years

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Good Omens Fic Rec Masterpost - Part Two

Hello hello I have read MANY MORE fics in this fandom now so it’s time to add on to my previous recs. Part One can be found here: https://flameraven.tumblr.com/post/187742832545/good-omens-fic-recs-masterpost General info! No fics rated higher than M, and that’s usually for violence not sex. I headcanon the husbands as being in an asexual relationship, so any fics I rec will have no sex, or only have sexy stuff alluded to or briefly mentioned.

The Soft Zone (TM)

all the days - G / darcylindbergh

War of Attrition- G / out_there / 8k - 3 gifts Crowley gives Aziraphale

A Meddling of Houseplants - T/ wingedspirit / 6k - Ophelia (a peace lily) is tired of Crowley and Aziraphale’s hopeless pining, and takes matters into her own leaves.

Sweetest in the Gale - T / wingedspirit / 3.8k - Gabriel can sense Aziraphale’s love for Crowley, and confronts “Aziraphale” about it before his execution

Deck the Halls - G / forthegreatergood / 18k - two idiots attempt to acquire mistletoe for the holidays in order to convey their feelings for the other.

Tartan Wrapping Paper - G / Arej / 2k - Crowley may not have quite gotten the message about the tartan all those years ago

a prize-winning philodendron - G / Elsajeni / <1k - Crowley does look, and sighs heavily. “Angel,” he says, “of all the plants you could have tried keeping, why did you start with something this fussy?”

Silver and Gold - G / asparkofgoodness / 1.5k - Crowley buys a ring.

Futile Devices - G / ticketybye / 3k - Yes, Crowley has imagined. He has craved. But being in Aziraphale’s close proximity has had to be enough. He’s not even sure he deserves that. But this, this feels like it felt to be commissioned the stars. It feels like being entrusted with something precious and fragile.

The Weight of Words Unspoken - G / rattatatosk / 1.8k - Aziraphale has always hinted to Crowley when he needed to leave. After the Apoca-wasn’t, he asks Crowley to stay.

J’Aime (I Love) - G / yourpaceangel - Crowley is searching for what the ‘J’ means.

the other way round - G / darcylindbergh / <1k - Aziraphale gets hair pets for once.

Take My Hand (Take My Whole Life Too) - G / soft_october / 1.5k - Crowley is trying not to go to fast, ends up stalled out completely. Aziraphale decides he will have to get creative.

In Good Hands - G / Sunjinjo / 14k - Aziraphale was created wearing a golden ring. It’s now the last remaining aspect of his original attire.One day, he tries to take it off. The rest follows naturally. (Marriage Proposal)

One Golden Glance (Of What Should Be) - G / Sunjinjo / 8.5k - Crowley takes up painting after the Apocalypse.

Misfit / Safe Haven - G / Mothfluff / 2k - Aziraphale provides a safe space for the Soho queer community to gather

seasons, changes - G / the_pen_is_mightier / 2k - In the autumn Aziraphale and Crowley go out apple picking.

on the necessity of a temptation - M / darcylindbergh / 4.5k - Crowley squinted at him. He said, slowly, as if sounding around the words [...] “But doing things is what we do. Why would—what would be the point of me being here otherwise?”

In Other Words, Baby, Kiss Me - T / mikkimouse / 4.5k - Five times Aziraphale kissed Crowley and one time Crowley (finally) kissed him back.

It's Getting Hard, This Holding Back - T / ZehWulf / 13k - Crowley decides to lure Aziraphale into Explicit Gestures of Romantic Affection. Aziraphale sets a cuddle trap

give you more to hold on to - T / cryptidkidprem / 4k - Crowley nods. "It's..." He looks down at their joined hands, and takes a long, deep breath. “We’re not— We’re not supposed to need this, y’know?” He lifts their joined hands up, lets them fall again. “You and I. Angels, demons. We're not meant to need all this. This touchy-feely stuff, all this affection, this—” a hitch in his breath— “Love.”

two parallel lines -lineffability

don’t let me wake up - acuteangleaziraphale

how to let go - jlmarch

Mornington Crescent -politeanarcy

Wingfic

Symmetry in Favor - G / kedreeva / 8k - Five times Crowley preens Aziraphale's wings, and one time Aziraphale preens Crowley's.

London Calling - G / forthegreatergood / 30k - Come for Crowley’s ridiculous 1970′s bed, stay for Feelings and extensive wing pets.

Hurt/Comfort

Be Ye Therefore Merciful - T / AmberDiceless / 9.5k - Book!Verse. Crowley does something utterly unexpected, and Aziraphale must face an opponent who cannot be thwarted.

Pigeon Girlfriends with a Long Preamble - T / SleepySelfLoathing / 8k - All Crowley wanted was to spend a nice night in with his husband, so of course he ends up summoned by a bunch of cultists instead. Why would he expect anything different....This would probably be a lot easier to deal with if he wasn't wearing Aziraphale's fluffiest bathrobe.

All Creatures that Have the Breath of Life - G / Elsajeni / 4k - Aziraphale fishes a very sodden Crawly out of the water during the Flood.

Touched by an Angel (And it Bloody Hurts) - G /hedgehog-o-brien / 7k - Aziraphale can’t touch Crowley without burning him.

Douse the Fire, Help Me Breathe - G / Arej / 1.5k - Even demons fear fire, when they've watched their world burn.

In a City Under Aerial Bombardment - G / battle_cat / 3k - After the church and the bomb and the books.

Small Mercies - G / rattatatosk / 4k - Crawly gets smited. Aziraphale lends a hand.

Easier Than Air - G / A_Candle_For_Sherlock / 3.5k - The world hasn't ended, and everything is fine. They're fine. It's terrifying.

attachment - T / artenon / 4.5k - Crowley crosses over to open the passenger door for Aziraphale, and Aziraphale’s attention is drawn to Crowley’s uneven gait, the light, too-quick steps and the rocking back and forth on his heels as he holds the door open and waits for Aziraphale to get in.“Oh, Crowley,” Aziraphale says, heart sinking, “your feet.”

Hell Freezes Over - M / charliebrown1234 + Turcote / 18k - The year is 2002, and Crowley and Aziraphale are sent to Alaska to investigate a decommissioned entrance to Hell. What could possibly go wrong?

Better The Demon You Know - T / mikkimouse / 1.2k - When Crawly falls out of the sky and into the flood, he gets help from a very unexpected source.

Gently, gently - G / the_pen_is_mightier / 3k - Heaven is cold and lonely. Hell is filthy and crowded. Aziraphale badly needs to be touched; Crowley needs fresh air, and light, and space. They can’t seem to connect on days after they’ve returned from their respective head offices.

Of Firsts and Foremosts - T / kedreeva / 6k - Aziraphale is left vulnerable and injured as his first molt approaches. Crawly comes to the rescue for the first time.

The Brazen Serpent - T / ImprobableDreams900 / 11k - Some other angels come to help Aziraphale at the end of the Isrealites’ 40-year exile in the wilderness, unfortunately for Crawley.

hold my hand tight (we'll make it another night) - G / cryptidkidprem / 3k - The night at Crowley’s flat. He’s having a hard time not panicking.

Harbours of My Own - T / wingedspirit / 30k - Crowley knows that, as a demon, his freedom is limited. He doesn't get to have a home; he doesn't get to love. Aziraphale would very much like to change that, but he, too, is limited in what he can do. It takes the better part of six thousand years, but they'll get there.

crack me open, feel me shatter - T / rattatatosk / 2.5k - Crowley dreams of the Fall. Aziraphale is there to catch him when he wakes.

Angst (w/a Happy Ending)

Where His Angel Dares to Tread - M / PinkPenguinParade / 16k - Crowley is taken by Hell. Aziraphale disguises himself as best he can for the rescue mission. Newt and Anathema help.

Remembrance of Things Past - T / Fyre / 18k - Hell takes Crowley’s memories all the way back to Eden as punishment for his crimes.

Drunk Theology - G / battle_cat / 3k - Aziraphale had been hoping tonight for Giggly Drunk Crowley, which was his favorite drunk Crowley. That didn’t seem to be how things were working out, though.

Like a River Flows - T / kedreeva / 15k - Five times Crowley was not allowed to love Aziraphale, and one time he succeeded.

The Cultivation of New Growth - T / Vitreous_humor / 3k - “I mean,” he said carefully, “if you want a plant, let me give you one of the snake plants or maybe the big coleus. They'd be good for the shop, pretty stalwart in the dark...You don't want this one, it's rotten.” “Actually,” Aziraphale said firmly, “I do want that one.”

The Holy Essence of Experience - T / Dragonsquill / 4k - They know how they feel, but giving it a name would be too dangerous. Ineffable husbands from the beginning to the end of the world, aware and wanting.

AUs/Crossovers

be mine tonight (be mine forever) - T / artenon / 11k - Human!AU. When Aziraphale finds out his coworkers have made a bet that he won’t bring anyone to the company party, he asks his best friend Crowley to go as his date just to spite them. Things quickly spiral out of control.

Siren’s Song - T / kedreeva / 30k+ (WIP) - Siren!AU. Crowley, a lone siren, calls a ship to wreck upon his reef, but finds when he meets pirate captain Aziraphale that sirens are not the only ones able to lure another creature to their heart's desire.

Adopt Don’t Shop - G / lucky_spike / 6k - Cat!AU based on Chekov’s “Good Meowmons” comics.

The Ones Who Walk Away From Nevaeh - T / soft_october / 15k - AU based on “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”

The Grinch Who Sold Christmas - T / darcylindbergh / 60k - Human AU / Hallmark Movie AU. Crowley is a big city lawyer sent to seal the deal that will destroy the quaint town of Tadfield forever, right before Christmas... and then he falls in love with the town, and a certain bookshop owner. Ridiculously sappy fluff that hits all the right notes.

The Odd One Out T / RainyDayDecaf / 2k- A meeting of many different Crowleys and Aziraphales.

Beat Again - T / TeaCub90 / 7k - Human AU. Two neighbours keep each other and their respective conditions company in the dead of night

Outsider POV

Ophidiophobia - G / lyricwritesprose / 7.6k - Pepper is afraid of snakes. When this is abruptly revealed in an encounter with Crowley’s serpent form, she immediately goes about trying to cure herself of it.

What’s in a Name? - G / lyricwritesprose / 4k - “You do realize,” Brother Francis said, “that Warlock is just your name, not some sort of, of directive?”

Damaged - G / lyricwritesprose / 6k - Aziraphale is struggling after the Apocalypse. Madam Tracy offers some advice. (Very good spooky/nonhuman Aziraphale in this one.)

Angel’s Favor - T/ PinkPenguinParade / 10k - A hundred years ago, Aziraphale gave one of his feathers to a woman who helped him. In the modern day, her descendant calls in the favor.

Protective Camouflage - G/ politeanarcy/ 2.3k - The Antichrist isn’t the only one with defenses against being noticed.

Disposable - T / lyricwritesprose / 7k - Eric the Disposable Demon attempts to become Crowley’s vassal after the Apoca-wasn’t. Nothing goes the way they expect after that.

on deceiving appearances - G / asideofourown / 2k - The Disposable Demon realizes the truth of Crowley’s deception in Heaven.

Anthony J. Crowley, Retired Demon and Airbnb Superhost - G / TheOldAquarian / 3k - What are you supposed to do when you've been fired from your sweet job in Hell for thwarting the schemes of Satan, you've got a swanky flat in Mayfair, and you're looking for an excuse to spend all your time in someone else's bookshop? Obviously, you turn to the dubious world of short-term vacation rentals.

Other

the best laid schemes - T / asideofourown / 4k - How Crowley got his Rat Army

Incongruous States of Being - T / ZehWulf / 8k - “Who would win: Aziraphale or Crowley.” “Oh!” Aziraphale startles. “Well—such a question. It’s not as though either of us has engaged in so much as fisticuffs in ages, and one does need to keep up practice with these sorts of things.” His fretting dies abruptly when Crowley cuts over him clearly, baldly: “Aziraphale.”

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition - T / WoodsWitch / 12k - The Arrangement is 500 years old, and Crowley and Aziraphale have been having a fine time in Renaissance Florence. Things start to go a bit pear-shaped with the arrival of a Friar Savonarola, so Crowley suggests that they meet up in his favorite refuge from the rest of medieval Europe: Spain. ((Don’t let the title fool you, this is an incredibly in-depth and well-researched historical fic and deserves way more hits than it has.))

#fic recs #good omens fanfic #good omens fic recs #fanfiction

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the-melting-world · 3 years

Text

Warm Water 🍋

Kipling x Tikos

~ In which a humble gardener has dinner with a daring pirate…

This 🍵 was infused with “Warm Water” by BANKS

I had so much fun writing this fic with @dreams-of-the-arcana’s Tikos the pirate! So, technically this is Tikos and Kipling’s third date, which *cough cough* usually means….

cw: slow burn lemon

~ 1.8k words

Kipling Bronne is about to board a ship set to sail for Nevivon. She’s traveling on business to pick up a shipment of a rare ivy that doesn’t export outside of the port. To Kip’s surprise, the captain of the ship has hired a certain blond pirate and his crew for security.

***

“No wonder the tickets were so cheap,” Kip grumbled.

Tikos the pirate tossed his head back and laughed good-naturedly. He casually threw his arm around her shoulder and steered her up the ramp onto the deck.

“Kip, come on. You have nothing to worry about! Think of my presence as nothing but a small insurance policy. Trust me, these trips are so standard that the chances of us running into petty thieves is slim to none.”

His words caused Kip to relax a little, but being out at sea still made her nervous. She hadn’t been on a boat since she left her island more than a decade ago. Tikos may not have known the source of Kip’s unease, but he was quick to detect it. So he turned her until she was facing him and asked, “Would you like to join me for dinner tonight, Bee? I’m making it from scratch.”

For a moment, Kip forgot about the past and looked up at the pirate. The midday sun reflected sharply against his bleached curls. That combined with his tapered ears and swarthy complexion made it easy to believe that he was born from some pirate fairy tale.

“You can cook?” Kip covered her mouth at the rude slip. But Tikos merely laughed as he drew her in by her waist.

“I love to cook.”

Kip felt her face grow warm at the close contact. Tikos didn’t seem to care that they were in plain sight of the ship’s crew and passengers. Kip lightly rested her hands against his ribs, hoping he would wait until they were below deck before making another move.

“What are you going to make?” Kip asked, trying not to lean too much into his strong chest.

“That, my sweet honeybee,” he gently lifted her chin, “is a surprise.”

***

Rich, pearly light shone down on the ship’s passage over dark, warm waters. Kipling stood outside of Tikos’s cabin in a dress the same color as the moonlight. The garment fit snugly above her waist before it flowed and rippled loosely about her frame. Kip checked and smoothed it down for the millionth time before knocking on the door.

When Tikos opened it, his radiant smile slipped. “Kipling, you look –”

“Too formal?” Kip blurted. “Or not formal enough?”

Tikos shook his head as he stepped through the door and pulled Kipling against him the same way he had that afternoon. Only this time when he lifted her chin, he gently muffled her questions with a slow kiss. Though this wasn’t their first time, Kip’s eyelids drifted shut and she let herself get lost in the moment. Tikos always made it so easy to do so.

“You’re too beautiful,” he said as he pulled away, “that’s all.”

Kip blinked herself back to reality. She suddenly noticed the rich scents wafting out into the hallway.

“T, that smells incredible.”

Excitement took over Tikos’s face as he tugged Kip along. “I made souvlaki!”

Before Kip could even ask what that was, Tikos guided her to a small bistro setup in the center of his cozy cabin and pulled out a chair for her. Kipling nearly fell speechless at the sight of the rustic, yet elegant spread of mezes, quartered lemons, and of course, the entree – a combination of skewered meats and vegetables. After they both took their seats, Tikos started to pour the wine. “The souvlaki is made with–”

“Wait! Don’t tell me!” Kip held up her hand. “I want to see if I can figure it out on my own first.”

Tikos’s smile nearly took over his whole face. He hardly paid attention to his food as he watched on while Kipling slowly savored each bite and worked through all the possible flavors in her head. Most of her guesses were correct, though Tikos teased her a few times to see if she would second guess herself.

Eventually, their game evolved into more mature conversation. Kipling took a sip of her wine and asked, “Does it make you uncomfortable to talk about your eye?”

The pirate’s gaze turned sly. “What would you like to know? It’s brown like yours and looking at the most enchanting lass it’s ever seen.” He propped his chin on his fist and deliberately fluttered his eyelashes.

Kip tried to stifle her laugh behind another sip of wine. “I meant your other eye.”

Tikos pushed some of his hair back to show off the full patch as well as the scar snaking out from under it. “There is no other eye, Bee. It’s all just glass now.”

The wine suddenly tasted sour.

“I’m sorry.”

Tikos let his curls flop back into place. “I’m not. People wanted me dead. Did everything they could and all they got out of it was a useless eye.” He stretched his arms above his head as he leaned back. “Meanwhile, I inherited the sea, the gales and the winds, the fish and all their kin.”

Kipling smiled. “Sounds like you found all the treasure a pirate could ever need.”

Tikos came out of his stretch and leaned over the table until he was face to face with Kipling.

“Exactly.”

Before long, they were sharing soft, savory exchanges, tinged with wine, lemon, and heat from the spices.

“Kipling,” Tikos whispered against her lips, “would you like to stay for dessert? And then, maybe you wouldn’t mind staying a little longer…?”

Kip met his steady gaze, but before she could answer, the door to the cabin burst open.

“Bandits! Above deck!”

Kipling felt her veins turn to ice, but Tikos grinned as he rose to the challenge. Brandishing his sword, he offered his other hand to Kipling.

“Come with me.”

Kip kept close to Tikos’s side as he whisked her down the hall and onto the deck. It wasn’t quite pandemonium to Kip’s relief. The invading pirates wanted to steal rather than harm, but they still had weapons and wouldn’t hesitate to fight off those that got in their way.

Kipling hung back while Tikos pursued those trying to take off with the most valuable cargo. The gardener clung to the side of the ship and did her best to keep track of Tikos with nothing but the moonlight to assist her.

How could he manage to smile and laugh at a time like this, she wondered. The pirate’s blade caught and tossed the light as he entered a complex sword dance. He spun, leaped over steel, and somersaulted away from some potentially fatal blows.

“Tikos – watch out!”

The pirate defended himself in time, but not without taking a hit. Kip ignored the danger and ran to his side. Luckily, the last of the bandits were retreating and Tikos’s crew were crying out in victory. By the time Kip reached her pirate, he was trying to hide his flesh wound so he could celebrate with the others.

Kip took it upon herself to tuck his arm around her shoulders and encourage him to lean on her as she guided him below deck. After she helped him out of his shirt and wrapped the wound in his side, Tikos simply couldn’t help himself.

“Sorry our dessert got ruined.” He smiled at her from where he rested on the cot. “I suppose you won’t want to have anything to do with me for the rest of the evening.”

Kipling got on her knees and came up beside him. “Oh, I want something to do with you.”

For the third time that day, Kipling kissed the pirate. But there was something more restless and urgent about it than before. When the things they both wanted couldn’t be any clearer, Kip drew back and glanced at his shirtless torso in concern.

“What about your ribs?”

Tikos gave a lazy shrug. “I’ve been in worse shape while having, uh… quality time.”

Kip snorted and shook her head. But she took Tikos for his word and easily slipped out of her underwear before carefully straddling him so he wouldn’t have to move.

“I’ll go slow anyway,” She mused, dropping her gaze in order to focus on unfastening his belt.

Tikos sobered a little, a faint blush spreading over his freckles as he watched. “That is… much appreciated.”

Making sure that she didn’t jostle him, Kip leaned over Tikos and kissed the scar by his patch while she made herself snug and comfortable around him. Tikos grunted in amusement and then again in excitement as Kip eased into a rhythm as natural as an ocean wave.

The pirate’s hands drifted up her thighs and under her dress, resting around her waist. He held firmly to her warm curves, encouraging her with light squeezes whenever he needed a change in pace.

Kip kissed him one last time before positioning herself upright for better control. Usually she would have let go of the shyness by now, but it was hard to do so with Tikos. She closed her eyes off from his low, teasing gaze and simply concentrated on showing him a good time.

Tikos, meanwhile, never stopped looking at the gardener. His breath hitched at the sight of her pierced nipples tenting against the cotton of her dress. His hand drifted up and touched one, which caused Kipling’s hips to buck unexpectedly.

“Oh,” Tikos gasped, barely noticing the stinging in his side. “Can you do that again, Bee? It felt good.”

Kipling opened her eyes. Her cheeks were warm with sweat and lingering blush. Some of her concentration broke as she chuckled nervously. “T, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

Tikos couldn’t resist teasing her. “Please?” He pushed the fabric of her dress back and brushed a sea-weathered thumb across her turquoise stones and hardened bead of flesh.

“I know you want to.”

Kipling gasped and leaned over him, her hips bucking impatiently. Tikos rushed to kiss her. Kip moaned into his mouth and then into his shoulder, unable to hold back now. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she didn’t want to stop either.

“Tikos, I’m –”

“Mmmm,” Tikos hummed, “me too.” He captured her hips between his hands and held fast as they both lost a little of themselves to the other.

When their bodies finally let them rest, Tikos helped Kipling snuggle in between his good side and the wall. The food, wine, and not to mention all that action above and below deck was more than enough to send Kipling directly to dreamland.

Tikos, however, lay awake for a while, watching the humble gardener’s breath rise and fall against his tanned chest. He read the spaces between her freckles and springy curls like they were bedtime stories. Because he was a pirate and the sea was his only constant, Tikos committed Kipling’s features to memory. Then he let sleep take him to the same place as his humble gardener.

#kipling the apprentice #tikos the pirate #pirate tale #kip of cups #my writing #the arcana #kipling x tikos #slow burn #lemon

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flumphmatingritualsexpert · 4 months

Text

Just putting a giant thread of BG3 (but mostly Gale) tarot cards in here and then people can add to it bc I have a big list compiled. PART I Other part(s) linked at the bottom

Link to PART II

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate #baldur's gate iii #baldurs gate #baldurs gate iii #gale #gale dekarios #tarot cards #tarot #tarotcommunity #megathread #threads #all the art is so pretty #let's make a whole deck of Gale #I love everyone actually #let's make an entire deck for each companion

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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

Text

February Contest Submission #8: The Treasure Of Doggerland

words: ca. 5000 setting: Modern AU lemon: No cw: None

The Ocean held so many wonders and mysteries. While mankind had chartered the stars and heavens above, so little was known about what lay underneath the oceans and seas of the world. And for Anna and her colleague Kristoff, their life’s work had been to discover the mystery of one of the most fascinating underwater locations on earth.

Thousands of years ago, around the time of the last ice age, there was a large mass of land that connected the United Kingdom to the rest of Europe. Modern-day scientists had termed it Doggerland and there had been several expeditions to the area over the years that had dredged up all sorts of things, from bones to primitive tools used by early man.

For Anna and Kristoff though, they hoped to be the first explorers to make a complete survey of the whole area and finally make a map of every notable point of interest. Their work would hopefully be the backbone for all future research and exploration in the area for years to come.

Sadly, their work had hit a slight snag. They had been unable to fully acquire funding for such an expedition and so, had to go about it themselves. They’d flown to Denmark, hired a submarine, a ship and a captain who would take them out to sea.

It wasn’t much, but Anna hoped that at least part of the survey would allow them to convince investors to further support their efforts. But of course, that all did indeed depend on this whole endeavour being successful.

After being out at sea for over a day, Anna and Kristoff were ready to begin, starting with Anna going down in the submarine to make a survey of the area near their ship, before moving onwards to another area the next day. Anna had hoped that everything would go smoothly.

However, the weather had certainly gotten worse. As Anna stood on the deck of the ship, she felt torrential rain batter the deck of the old rackety vessel. The storm was one of the worst she’d ever seen. A wind that howled and threatened to carry Anna off the deck of the ship at any moment, to the waves the size of small houses, battering the sides of the ship every once in a while, drenching the deck in brine.

But Anna wasn’t scared. If anything, the storm was actually motivational for her, triggering some primal instinct to push onwards no matter what the weather was like. And besides, it wasn’t like she’d be above the water when she’d be doing her survey.

“Hell of a storm out here!” A voice called to her.

Anna turned, seeing the captain of the ship, Eric, walk over to her. “Yeah, not it’s a real tempest out here.”

Eric chuckled. “Not scared of a bit of thunder and lightning, are you?”

The redhead scoffed. “Hell no. Besides, where I grew up, we used to get storms like this every day.”

“Heh, you seem like a born sailor,” Eric remarked.

“Actually, my dad was a fisherman,” Anna explained. “I guess I got my love of the ocean from him.”

Kristoff soon joined them on deck, almost slipping over as another massive wave rocked the boat. He clung onto the railing, sighing in relief that he hadn’t been thrown overboard into the sea. As he stumbled back onto his feet, he walked over to Anna, clutching his coat as it was blown about in the gale.

“Did we have to do this in the middle of a storm?” Kristoff asked, his tone reflecting how unsure he felt.

Anna walked over to her partner. “Hey, when life gives you lemons.”

Her friend shot Anna a rather serious look. Kristoff had always been the cautious of the two, as far back as when they had met in college. He’d always had to be the one to keep Anna out of trouble and from the looks of this storm, it was probably suicide for Anna to go out in that.

“Anna, this storm is battering the ship!” Kristoff cried in alarm. “Are you sure you wanna go down in the sub now and not wait until the storm passes?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” Anna called back. “Besides, I’m going under the water, not across it.”

Kristoff folded his arms. “I don’t like it at all, feisty pants. With this storm, the sub might get caught in the currents and you could be dragged away. Or maybe smashed against some rocks and sink.”

“I’m a good swimmer,” Anna argued.

“Yeah, but you’re going thousands of feet down to the seafloor,” Kristoff reminded her. “You really think you can swim that far?”

“Kristoff, we spent five years planning this,” Anna argued. “I don’t intend to stop now just because of a bit of bad weather.”

Kristoff sighed, giving in. “Alright, I know never to argue with you when you’re stubborn like this. But I’m gonna keep in constant radio contact. The first sign of trouble, you hit those ballast tanks and come straight back up, right?”

“Sure thing,” Anna stated, putting a hand on her shoulder. “And Kristoff? Thanks for being here with me.”

Kristoff smiled. “Well… we are in this together after all.”

“Good” Anna stated. “You and Eric prepping the sub. I’m gonna get changed into my wetsuit and remind myself of the area we’re surveying today.”

As Anna went below decks to get changed, Eric chuckled.

“And what’s so funny?” Kristoff wondered.

“Oh, nothing. Just your girlfriend here reminds me a lot of my wife. Stubborn, very confident in herself… and a redhead too.”

Kristoff blushed. “Uh… she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Oh I apologise,” Eric said. “It’s just I thought that maybe…”

“Yeah, you aren’t the first but… I’m not exactly Anna’s preference if you get what I mean,” Kristoff said.

“Ah,” Eric nodded in understanding. “Duly noted.”

Down below, Anna was getting changed into her wetsuit. As she looked at herself in the mirror after tying her hair up in a bun, she felt a sense of butterflies in her chest. Finally, today was the day when five years of hard work were going to pay off once and for all.

As she went to a nearby table to look over the map of the region, the area she was going to survey, she looked at an old family photograph she’d brought with her. It was of her mother and father from when she was a little girl. Anna thought of how innocent she looked then, with her twin braids. These days, she felt much more mature about herself, wearing her hair longer.

“Well dad, I promised you I’d go see the sea for myself,” Anna whispered. “I bet you’d be proud of me.”

Tragically, Anna’s father had actually died at sea. His ship had been caught in a massive storm and capsized. The coast guard sadly never found his body, but the tragedy hadn’t stopped Anna from wanting to unlock the mysteries of the ocean itself. If anything, it had influenced her.

Anna smiled. “Maybe if I find anything down there, I’ll show it to you next time I’m home.” She sighed, remembering the coastal town in Maine where she grew up and spent her weekends on the beach, gazing out at the sea. It had been years since she visited her father’s grave, though she wasn’t exactly keen on seeing her mother again anytime.

But Anna didn’t have time to be dwelling on all that now, she had a route to memorise. She looked at the map again, making a mental note of the area once more. She wanted to survey the entire site, right down the last detail, leaving no stone unturned as it were.

When she was done, Anna headed out on deck, ready to begin her adventure.

xXx

Sometime later, Anna was on board the submarine as Eric lowered it into the water with the large crane on the back of his ship. As the crane let go, the yellow and black vessel plummeted down into the water, making an almighty splash as it hit the waves below.

Kristoff looked over the side of the ship, still concerned about the weather. He took out his pocket radio and spoke into it. “You all set down there, Anna?”

“Yeah, I’m about to fill my tanks now,” Anna replied.

The ballast tanks on the submarine soon filled with water and Kristoff watched as the sub dove under the waves. Anna sat at the controls of the craft, looking out of the glass cockpit at the ocean that surrounded her, watching the bubbles of air float to the surface as she descended.

As the sub sunk deeper and deeper, Anna switched on the submarine’s massive spotlights, illuminating the darkness surrounding her. She also switched on her sonar, the familiar echoing sound filling the canopy. On a nearby radar screen, Anna saw a monochromatic map of her surroundings appear next to her.

When she reached the ocean bed, Anna started up the sub’s engines. The small propellors on the craft pushed it forward, Anna driving across the sea bed. As she followed the route she mesmerised in her head, she looked around at the wonders that surrounded her.

Coral reefs, schools of fish, even a shark in the distance. But so far, there didn’t seem to be anything of much note. Though Anna wasn’t expecting to find much on her first trip. This was mainly so she could make a map of the actual area.

it would others later on that would likely be doing the real archaeological work.

Anna peered into the inky blackness as the submarine cruised across the sea bed. As she stared out of the window, seeing schools of fish swim through the glow of the submarine’s spotlights, she took a moment to enjoy the wonders.

But she thought about what this sea bed would have been like thousands of years ago when it was a vast grassy plain, where early mankind had once lived.

As she scanned across the seabed, Anna looked at the sonar screen to her left, seeing how it was picking up the nearby school of fish to her left and large rock formation to her right. It seemed like she had been coasting along the vast seabed for hours and covered some vast distance, but she had only gone a few miles away from the ship.

“How’re things going down there?” Kristoff asked.

“Kinda boring so far,” Anna admitted. “I’ve only covered about thirteen per cent of the area and I haven’t seen anything of much value besides some fish.”

“Well, we’re not likely to strike gold on our first day doing this, fiesty pants,” Kristoff replied. “How’s your oxygen meter doing?”

“I’ve got plenty of time,” Anna stated. “How’s the weather up there like?”

“Still not great, ” Kristoff stated. “Be careful down there.”

“I will,” Anna promised.

Over the next few hours, Anna’s submarine cruised across the seabed along the route, the oceanographer taking note of anything of interest. As time ticked by though, Anna started to become a bit bored. She partly wished she’d brought her phone down here with her to listen to some music, but she remembered why she hadn’t.

If she had to go out in her scuba gear, the canopy would be flooded and last time she checked, phones weren’t waterproof. But Anna knew she needed to do something to pass the time. So she started to sing a merry tune to herself, something from her dad’s old record collection.

“We all live in a yellow submarine,” Anna sang to herself. “Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.”

“Is that the Beatles you’re signing there?” Eric’s voice chimed in.

“Oh uh,” Anna stuttered, blushing bright red in embarrassment. “Yeah, yellow submarine was my favourite as a kid.”

“You’ve certainly got a lovely singing voice,” Eric complimented.

“Hey uh, captain, mind staying off the radio?” Kristoff said. “Anna’s doing important survey work down there.”

“No, it’s fine, Kristoff,” Anna replied. “Still pretty dull down here.”

However, just then, Anna heard a very loud ping from the submarine’s sonar. Anna’s eyes widened, looking at the monitor to her left. Though she couldn’t tell what it was, the sonar had detected something massive near Anna’s location.

“Woah, what the heck is that?” Anna wondered.

“Coral reef maybe?” Kristoff suggested.

“I’m gonna check it out,” Anna stated.

Turning her submarine to the left, Anna headed in the direction of the mysterious sonar signal. Though she hadn’t expected to find anything on the first day, she wasn’t exactly complaining now. The thought of whatever she was about to find filled her with passion for her adventure.

Eventually, after cruising for a while, Anna noticed something out of the cockpit of the sub. The ocean around her was starting to grow… lighter. There was something in the distance illuminating the surrounding ocean, just beyond a nearby rock formation.

Switching off the sub’s spotlights, Anna radioed Kristoff. “Kristoff, whatever I’ve found, it’s lighting the ocean up like a Christmas tree.”

“That’s odd. The storm is still raging up here, so it can’t be the sun.”

“No, it’s something here at the bottom of the sea,” Anna stated. “I’m going in a closer look.”

As Anna’s craft flew over the rock formation, her eyes widened as she looked upon what she had discovered. Just in front of Anna was a giant scaly, ring-like structure that encircled a large area of the ocean bed. It was at least the size of a football pitch, the structure of the ring made of a sparkling mineral that gave them the appearance of ice. One part of the ring seemed to resemble a dragon’s head.

But what intrigued Anna the most was what was at the centre of the ring. On some sort of strange stone plinth, there stood what appeared to be a statue. The statue was made of the same mineral as the giant ring, sparkling and glowing with unnatural light.

Taking the sub in closer, Anna gazed at the statue. It seemed to be around seven or eight feet in height, in the shape of what appeared to be a humanoid woman with pointed ears and long hair, wearing a flowing dress of some kind.

Her heart pulsing in her chest, Anna felt a strange sensation when looking at the statue. She was mesmerised by how beautiful it appeared to be, She almost could have sworn it was smiling… at her. She couldn’t take her eyes off it, no matter how hard she tried.

“Uh, Anna?” Kristoff spoke into the radio. “You okay?”

Anna didn’t respond.

“YO FEISTY PANTS!”

Gasping, Anna shook her head. “Uh, yeah big guy?”

“Are you alright ?” Kristoff wondered. “You went quiet for a moment there.”

“I… I think so,” Anna stated. “I’ve found the source of the signal. It’s some sort of massive underwater crystalline structure. No idea how old it is, but there seems to be some kind of statue here made of the same mineral.”

“What? How is that possible?”

“I know right! This changes everything we knew about this area,” Anna remarked. “Maybe those old rumours of Doggerland being the British Atlantis weren’t far off after all.”

“Maybe,” Kristoff stated. “But you should really finish up your survey. Come back to this area later, Anna.”

“No,” Anna insisted. “I… I think we should bring that statue back to the ship for further study. I’ll finish the survey tomorrow.”

“What?” Kristoff wondered. “Anna, I thought we were supposed to be only surveying the area.”

“Change of plans,” Anna said. “We’re bringing this statue up.”

She wasn’t sure what was happening, but some sort of strange influence was compelling her to protect this statue. She… She didn’t want to just leave it down here. Something so beautiful didn’t deserve to be hidden away from the world, in the depths of the ocean.

Kristoff sighed. “Alright, I’ll have Eric bring the ship over to your location. Hang tight there.”

“Thanks, Kristoff,” Anna replied.“

Taking the sub in closer, Anna activated its large, robotic grappling arms. The two massive claws extended from the craft as Anna positioned her vessel in just the right position in front of the statue. She had to be gentle though. The last thing she wanted was to damage the beautiful figure of ice before her.

Carefully, Anna manipulated the arms, their mechanical fingers gently clutching onto the statue. With a little tug, the statue was pulled free from the stone base it was attached to, now being held in the arms of Anna’s vessel, thankfully without a scratch or being chipped.

"Yes!” Anna cheered.

As the submarine floated upwards, Anna reached forward, her hand touching the glass of the canopy. She stared into the statue’s icy eyes, feeling that somehow, they were staring back at her. Anna smiled, feeling that she had done the right thing.

This was certainly something her father would have been proud of her for.

xXx

Once Anna was back on the surface and aboard the ship, the strange statue she’d recovered was brought down the cargo hold. Over the next few hours, Anna and Kristoff studied the mysterious sculpture, Anna in particular still mesmerised by its gorgeous features.

And she wasn’t alone in thinking that. Eric had complimented on how beautiful the statue was, which had made Anna feel unusually jealous. But right now, she and Kristoff were looking over the statue, trying to figure out what it was, what it was made of, and more importantly… who could have carved it.

But Anna wasn’t entirely focused on her work. Now that she had the statue with her and nothing was between them, she felt she could spend forever just staring at the gorgeous woman. She reached out, caressing the cold, icy surface of the statue in her hands.

For a moment, she felt as though her hands were meeting cold skin instead of rock and ice. Soft, smooth skin that belonged to whatever being the statue was in the image of. As she stroked the statue’s head. she imagined her fingers threading themselves through locks of soft hair.

It was quite an unusual sensation, the feeling as though this statue was, in fact, a living being and that Anna felt as though she and it were… connected somehow. Nothing in her life had made Anna feel quite like this before.

“So who do you think made it?” Kristoff wondered.

“I… I don’t know,” Anna admitted. “My guess is there was some sort of civilisation in this part of the world thousands of years ago that were wiped out when Doggerland fell under the sea.”

“You think so? This thing would predate the Egyptians if it did and I find that hard to believe,” Kristoff stated. “My guess is maybe it fell off a Viking ship or something during the middle ages, that it was carved around that time.”

“That doesn’t line up,” Anna admitted. “I didn’t see any shipwrecks in the area where I found her, or that stone plinth, or that weird ring structure that surrounded her. She’s quite a mystery.”

“That it is,” Kristoff admitted, though he was a little confused by Anna referring to the statue as a woman, despite it not being alive. But he brushed it off for the moment and looked at the statue. “It’s remarkably well preserved. Whatever this stuff it’s made of, it’s lasted for centuries.”

“She’s certainly unique,” Anna remarked, staring at the statue. “I doubt there’s anything else in the world quite like her.” She found herself gazing at the statue again, being lost in its features.

Kristoff gave her a look. He couldn’t ignore this now, especially now that Anna seemed to be consistently calling the statue a woman. “Uh, Anna… you know this statue isn’t a living being right?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Then why are you calling it a she?” Kristoff asked. “I mean, yeah it’s depicting a female figure, but she’s not exactly… alive. Are you sure you weren’t down there in the ocean too long and you’ve caught the bends?”

“W-What?!” Anna exclaimed, blushing bright red. “I’m fine, really! But… I hadn’t realised I was calling her a she. I… I can’t help it. It’s like she’s really here with us and she’s more than just some statue I found at the bottom of the sea. She’s… She’s completely perfect.” She looked away. “Don’t judge me, okay?”

“I won’t, don’t worry,” Kristoff chuckled. “Now I realise why you wanted to bring it up so badly. She is rather pretty and hey, wouldn’t be the first fictional person you’ve fallen for.”

Anna blushed redder, remembering how Kristoff used to tease her for her crushes on various fictional women when they first met. Lara Croft, Wonder Woman, Jasmine from Aladdin, Anna clearly had a type and this statue fitted it. She just hoped Kristoff wasn’t going to tease her too badly over it.

“But this is the first time I’ve seen you fall for a statue,” Kristoff remarked.

“Oh I can’t help it,” Anna sighed dreamily.

Her partner just smirked. “Even after all these years, you’re still a useless lesbian. I swear Honeymaren had no right to dump a cutie like you.”

Anna groaned. “Please don’t bring that up again… and for the record, this statue is still important regardless if I’m in love with her. If we show her to people, we’ll definitely get more funding to continue our research here and who knows what else we’ll find. Maybe some idea as to what the people who carved her were like.”

“Yeah and you get to look at a pretty girl,” Kristoff teased.

“Ugh, I hate you,” Anna groaned.

But Kristoff wasn’t wrong though. The statue was indeed gorgeous and… in a way, Anna wished she could keep it for herself. It didn’t deserve to be in some museum, with so many people staring at it. She wanted the statue to be hers, all hers. Part of her wanted to lean in and kiss the gorgeous statue… though that was a little weird even by her standards.

As she stared intently at the statue, she reached forward, caressing its crystalline surface. As she did so, she noticed that the dress of the statue seemed to be lined with strange runes, symbols that weren’t familiar to Anna at all. She thought about what they could possibly mean.

“Uh, Anna?” Kristoff then spoke to her.

Anna shook her head, drawn out of her daze again. “Uh yes?”

“I’m gonna go get something to eat. All this exploring has worked up an appetite. You coming?”

“Uh sure,” Anna replied flatly, still gazing at the statue.

She then left the room with Kristoff, going to get dinner with him. After leaving the room, however, Anna never saw the runes she’d been looking at on the statue were now glowing a mysterious white aura, as were the statue’s eyes. Clearly, there was definitely more to it than either of them could have imagined.

xXx

Anna was standing on a strange rocky beach in the middle of a storm, thunder and lightning crashing around her. She wasn’t sure what was happening or where this beach was. She walked around, feeling the freezing cold all around her. She desperately sought out shelter as rain pelted down from the sky.

But before Anna could reach a nearby cave, she looked out at the ocean as a massive wave rose above her. She screamed, trying to outrun it before she was drenched in the water. As she was dragged along the beach, Anna coughed and spluttered, seawater having jumped down her throat.

As she got to her feet, she looked around, seeing the storm only growing in intensity. At that moment, the howling wind was interrupted by a strange voice calling out to Anna in a melodic tone.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

“Who… Who said that?” Anna asked. “Where are you?”

Aaaaaaaa, the voice called out again.

As the howling wind resumed, Anna looked out at the stormy sea Was the voice… coming from the ocean? Anna wanted to know and suddenly, she sprinted into the ocean and to her amazement… she was somehow walking on the surface of the water itself, the waves turning slowly to ice beneath her feet.

“What the heck?” Anna asked, but then heard a loud rumbling as a massive sea serpent burst out of the water, flying over Anna’s head. The creature let out a deafening, hissing roar before it dove back into the water. For a few moments, Anna saw that it had scales made of the same crystal as the statue.

Then, she heard the sound of galloping, as a strange, horse-like creature galloped along the waves beside Anna, before also dipping under the waves. Anna blinked, confused as to what exactly was going on. But before she could think about that, she felt the wind pick up again.

Looking up, Anna saw a figure floating above her, flying on the wind itself. She couldn’t make out what the figure looked like, but it clearly had long flowing hair and was wearing a dress with a cape of some kind. Was this… was this the statue come to life?

Glowing blue eyes gazed upon Anna and the redhead felt… strangely comforted by them. They seemed so warm and inviting. And yet, Anna still had no clue what was actually going on here? Where was she? What were those creatures? What was this strange woman?

There has been an awakening, a voice then spoke. You have been chosen.

“What?” Anna asked. “I don’t understand.”

You are the one who will awaken us.

“Me? What are you-”

And then, Anna woke up.

The redhead panted as she shot out of bed, wiping her brow of sweat. She was glad that it had all just been some sort of crazy dream, yet she found herself filled with more thoughts about the statue. She… she felt that it was in danger somehow, that she had to be near it.

Quickly getting dressed Anna tried to make it out of her bedroom, only to trip up and fall over, banging her head on a wall. “Ow!”

She groaned, realising the storm outside the ship hadn’t calmed down at all. After rubbing her head, Anna made her way down to the cargo hold, wanting to check on her mysterious statue. Something about it was drawing to her, something she knew was connected to her dream.

Fortunately for Anna, the statue was safe. It hadn’t moved an inch, much to her relief. After going over to the statue, Anna let herself become lost in its beauty once more. She was glad to be alone with the mysterious statue, entranced by its wonders and secrets.

It sounded crazy to her now though, that she had indeed fallen for the statue. She felt guilty though, seeing as it was just a statue and not a real human being. No matter how much she wished the statue could come to life right before her eyes, Anna knew magic was only a thing that existed in fairytales.

It also seemed pathetic that the only woman she would love was a strange crystal figure she found at the bottom of the sea. Her love life hadn’t exactly been great. Most of her time she’d been focused on her work, but the few times she had tried dating it hadn’t gone well.

Honeymaren was the one that had stuck with her longest, but she had to leave her when her family had to move to the other side of the country. Anna understood why she left, even if Kristoff still insisted that she should have tried to make it still work between them.

Still, Anna knew that a statue wasn’t going to truly give her the connection and love she had truly wanted. It just wasn’t meant to be.

“I’m sorry,” Anna whispered. “You’re so beautiful, but I guess I should look somewhere else for love.” She caressed the being. “You can’t hear me, but I just want you to know that… I’m glad I found you and I know you’re going to help my research so, so very much.”

But the statue indeed didn’t respond and Anna felt guilty again, that the statue was heartbroken that Anna had to end it between them. And Anna realised she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t let go of her icy love, no matter how badly she knew it couldn’t work.

“Oh damn it,” Anna swore. “I’m sorry… I won’t leave you. I… I’ll make sure you’re safe, and where we can be together for as long as I live.” She caressed the statue. “I… I love you so much… my goddess.” And then at that moment, Anna kissed the statue’s lips.

As Anna kissed the statue deeply, pouring all of her love into it, the crystal figure started to glow an eerie blue. Unbeknownst to Anna, the icy crystal that the statue was made from started to melt like liquid, forming a puddle on the floor beneath her, flowing like water.

Anna felt the watery feeling against her lips, suddenly pulling away in shock. Her eyes widened as the glowing blue fluid melted away from the statue, giving way to skin and hair. The redhead covered her mouth in shock as the runes on the statue glowed again.

With the crystal having melted, the figure stood before Anna, a seemingly human woman with long blonde, almost white hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was dressed in a flowing, sparkling white dress, seemingly made of the same crystal that she had once been entombed in.

“What… What the?” Anna spoke, lost for words.

The blonde woman looked at her hands, feeling rather confused.

“Who… Who are you?” she asked her, and then looked around in wonder and puzzlement. “Where… where am I?”

#elsanna #submission #february 2021 contest #prompt: ancient worlds

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kryptored · 4 years

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“Just get in the fucking blanket fort.”

Pssst! @gale-of-the-nomads @australet789 I made a fic. Enjoy.

PROMPT: here

Their relationship was a scandalous affair, or so Chat Noir would dramatically claim while Marinette looked at him with a raised brow, a plate of baked snacks balanced on her hand. At the moment, the leather-clad cat-themed superhero was stretching his entire body on the deck chair as if he was asking to be painted like one of those French girls. Honestly, the cat was a stray through and through. The nerve he had to lay like that as if he owned the place.

“I see that you’re back. And with no shame or whatsoever.”

“Oh come on, purrincess! I know you missed me so, come and hug this touch-starved cat and show him how much you appreciate his mere presence.”

“You’re such a drama king, Chat.” She places the plate of snacks on the table in front of him, and she watches the blond swipe a pastry or two in the blink of an eye. Seriously, was anyone feeding him at home? “Anyway, it’s Friday. That means we get to watch a movie.”

She watches his head swivel to her direction, his eyes fully dilated while a huge chunk of an éclair hangs off of his mouth, his sharp canines glinting from the moonlight and fairy lights. “And before you say anything, swallow your food before I perform the Heimlich Maneuver on you. Again.”

Chat takes a large gulp before replying, “Of course, Your Highness. Wouldn’t want to trouble you into keeping me from dying now, do we?”

“Mhm. You better keep food from getting lodged into your windpipe. Honestly, you know better than to talk while you’re busy inhaling food in the speed of light.”

“Are you calling me fat?!” he says after his dramatic gasp, a hand pressing into his chest like an easily offended and highly sensitive noblewoman.

“So dramatic. All I’m saying is that you slow down and eat like us civilized people. You know, with proper etiquette?”

“Meowch! I feel so insulted for being called a caveman.”

“I didn’t call you a caveman. Not directly, anyway. It was more of an implication.” She picks up the plate of snacks and turns around, crouching carefully as she opens the trapdoor to her bedroom. Chat’s second pair of ears twitch in curiosity and straightens his posture, his attention now fully caught.

“Where are you going? I thought that we were watching a movie.”

“Yeah,” she says, “but we’re watching it in my room.”

Chat could almost feel all of his saliva dry up in surprise. “You…your room? B-but we’ve always watched movies outside. Here. On your balcony!” He stands up, and his arms gestures wildly that even a stray moth on its way to one of the fairy lights gets slapped. On any other day, Chat would’ve laughed at it and took the opportunity to name it Hawkmoth.

“Why are we going in your room?!”

“What, is there something wrong with my room?” the trapdoor remains open, but Marinette has turned back to him and placed her free hand to lean on her hip. Chat gulps in nervousness, thinking he might have offended her.

“No. No! It’s just… we or I’VE never been in your room, except for that time during Troublemaker. I just thought that it was off limits and too private for you to share to someone like me. You know, a superhero who gets his powers from a magical ring? Not to mention, I’m a man?”

“You mean boy.”

“Let me have my moment, please.”

“Mhm. Keep going.”

He lets out an exasperated sigh, leans back, his hands hang limply by his sides, and his head tilted up to the sky. His brows are furrowed and there are wrinkled on his forehead, but she can tell that he’s not that annoyed at her. Not really. “Mari, we’ve been meeting up like this for a while now.”

He quickly faces her with his clawed finger pointing accusingly at her. He almost admits how adorable she looks with her bluebell eyes staring right at his finger, resembling a curious kitten ready to paw at the big red dot. Almost.

“And don’t say anything, because I know you were going to make a joke again and then it’ll distract me from what I was going to say.” Her eyes track back to him, this time keeping contact with his. So cute. “As I was saying – your room.” His hand drops, and he crosses his arms as he lets the situation sink in. “Your room.”

“Yes Chat, my room.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend?” his eyes narrow in suspicion, but on the inside he’s glad to finally earn that title with both sides of his identity (even if it meant his masked side had more access to Marinette’s comfortable and smart-ass side).

“Is that really it?”

“That, and because I trust you.” She slowly steps forward, and his eyes can’t seem to ignore how her face softens the closer she gets to him. “We’ve been hanging out more than anyone would’ve expected us to be, considering the circumstances or that there’s no one but us who knows about it.” She places the plate back on the table, and her hands gently take hold of his arms. He uncrosses them to give more room, but also to feel the warmth from her hand. He really was touch starved.

“But asides from all that, hanging out and talking with you in a balcony still makes me think that we’re complete strangers. And we’re not. We’ve come a long way to where we are now, and I think that welcoming you inside a place that truly defines me” well, not ALL of me, “is my way of saying that yeah, I trust you with my life and I’ll be honoured to be a part of Chat Noir’s life if he wants to be a part of mine.”

She didn’t want to break the moment by pointing out that his eyes were glistening far too much with his tears, or even joke about the non-existent snot dripping down his nose. No, she’ll let all that sink into his pun-riddled brain and have him realize that she basically gave him unlimited free pass to disturb her with his ‘dead cat yowling’ solos.

You really mean that?” She almost gives in to the weak trembling of her knees as she looks at his wide, teary green eyes and wobbly pouting. Almost.

“Yes Chat, I really do.” She picks up the plate for the second time and goes back into her room, leaving the trapdoor open. “You better hurry up and close the door after you,” she shouts from the inside, “I don’t want my room to get chilly.”

He does what he’s told, and she knows that he’s made his day. She could tell from the way he was vibrating as his eyes took in every side of her room. His head was swivelling in every direction while rapidly exclaiming his excitement, it was nearly worrying if whether or not she had broken him. Then again, this was Chat Noir.

“This is so cool! Does this mean I get to play dress-up with your designs?” he asks her as she goes into the blanket fort with their snacks.

“Does this mean I get to play video games with you on your computer?” he asks her as she starts up the movie.

“Does this mean I get to watch you sketch and make your designs?” he asks her as she arranges the many blankets and pillows.

“Does this mean I get to have a sleepover with you and play Truth or Dare?” he asks her as she looks back at him blankly from her spot.

“Just get in the fucking blanket fort.”

He does so with great gusto and hugs her tightly. His wide smile stays throughout the whole movie, yet Marinette couldn’t find it in her heart to do anything about it. Not in the slightest.

#Marinette Dupain-Cheng #chat noir #ml fanfic #marichat

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everlarkficexchange · 4 years

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Everlark Fic Exchange. PROMPTS

Springtime Edition 2020.

These are the prompts we’ve received so far.

Crossed out prompts have already been selected and are being turned into fics!

A huge ‘Thank you’ to everyone who’s taken the time to come up with an idea and send it our way. Your prompts are the heart of the Exchange. Without them, our authors wouldn’t get to write all those beautiful fics. So, please, keep them coming!

You haven’t sent anything yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time. We’ll be receiving prompts until March 8. Don’t be afraid to inspire us!

Prompts:

Prompt 1: Middle Mellark brother never wanted a baby bro. Spends half his life defending or admiring or manipulating Peeta, but the other half hating him for being so perfect (the favorite sweet talker and best baker wrestler). Whether to help or torment him, Rye asks reserved Katniss on a date to get a reaction. Maybe told as a wedding toast? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 2: Katniss is a high end house painter who works with expensive decorators, hired to paint an up and coming artists home. Turns out it’s Peeta, the boy her mother saved from an abusive home, who then disappeared. [submitted by @niceworksherlock]

Prompt 3: Imaginative only child Prim loves acting out all sorts of adventures with her favorite action figures Katniss and Peeta. (Toy Story-ish talking toys?) [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 4: Gale attempts to shoot Peeta during a hijacking episode on the Star Squad. Leaving Peeta wounded but not fatally. Katniss thinks Gale killed him. [submitted by Anonymous]

Prompt 5: Prompt has been removed.

Prompt 6: Medieval Au: Queen Katniss is in love. Too bad the person, Peeta is a renounced rebellion leader now turned into the personal sexslave of King Cato Snow, the son of Coriolanus Snow. With each passing day its becoming more and more dangerous for this star-crossed lovers to survive. Will she risk her family (sister Prim and mom) for love or will she be able to utilise the secrets of the castle Capitol in her favour to usurp the evil King and his father? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 7: Katniss Everdeen the daughter of a billionaire tries to antagonise her father. So she decides to date poor, uneducated simple boy Peeta. Her whole family (even Prim) hates him. Too bad his father has already arranged her marriage with his business partner's son Gale, a smart, handsome and successful man. Will she really fall for Peeta or will she bow to her father's will? Does Peeta feel himself worthy of Katniss? [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 8: Peeta is a rich ceo and in love with another who disappeared before their marriage. So he withdraw within himself. But then he meets katniss( her background is up to you ) and falls in love for the second time. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 9: Katniss is a commoner and peeta is a cruel king. He wants katniss to be his mistress. How will they fall in love is up to you. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 10: katniss and peeta are best friends who were in a friends w benefits arrangement in the past. now the hunger for each other is coming back. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 11: in panem au where everlark isn't reaped and peeta knocks up katniss. [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 12: katniss walks out of the fitting room wearing only a bikini to ask her friend if it suits her but it isnt her friend at the other side of the door but peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 13: Katniss and Peeta work things out after the first Games and become closer and closer, and their love grows deeper. One day though, they are caught by Mrs. Everdeen and a fight ensues...(outcome is up to you, as long as it is Everlark!) [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 14: THG The Witcher AU with Katniss = Geralt, Peeta = Yenn, Prim = Ciri [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 15: A Below Deck inspired Everlark. Bonus points for including Odesta. [submitted by @historywriter2007]

Prompt 16: Hades!Katniss/Persephone!Peeta Katniss has stolen herself a husband. As Peeta becomes acclimated to being co ruler of the underworld Katniss finds herself bewitched by him beyond any measure she believed possible. But someone is not too happy with Katniss and has vowed vengeance. Vengeance in the form of the husband Katniss has come to revere. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 17: Everlark enemies to lovers, a long standing grudge (could be anything, even simple) but somehow it is discovered that Katniss is a bone marrow match for Peeta. If she doesn't donate he will die. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 18: A Wrinkle in Time AU - Meg!Katniss, Charles Wallace!Prim, Calvin!Peeta. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 19: Everlark inspired by Netflix show Love is blind. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 20: Peeta is the CEO and katniss is his secretary. They have an affair and katniss gets pregnant but when she tells peeta he doesn't believe her and accuse her of trying to trap him. What will he do when he realize his mistake and how will he win katniss back. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 21: High school romance based on the movie Wild Child. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 22: Set in early 20th century. Katniss and Peeta are from two rival families who have been enemies since forever. They have a chance meeting which led to them falling in love. They are completely unaware of their identity. Will their love survive or will their relationship crumble. [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 23: Rumor: MrEverdeen crossed fence dividing Town and Seam, kidnapped Mrs Everdeen making her his commonlaw wife. Years later, Mellark sons plan to avenge their father by raiding Seam and kidnapping one of Everdeens daughters for one of them to take as a wife! Does Katniss “volunteer,” does she escape, how do the 3 brothers decide what to do with her since they didn’t plan it all out well? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 24: After Prim survives her first reaping, Katniss realizes she must have better plan for Prim’s future; fights to reclaim rights to the apothecary; wins it back after drawn out legal battle; installs her mom and Prim as owners. But Katniss not welcome in town for her Seam looks and distasteful takeover of a town business, and she’s not welcome in Seam as she refuses to marry Gale. So now 18 and past reaping, what will she do, where will she go, does anyone need her, can she let herself need anyone? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 25: Panem’s Mellark bakers are practically royalty, but with power comes responsibility. Peeta struck deal long ago to someday take reigns of Corp and settle down once dad retires if he can sow wild oats until then fucking everything that moves. Time’s up! Must propose! Publicity stunt for Mardi Gras - will bake engagement ring into cupcakes, makes sure his choice of wife will get that one, but mixup! Some girl in D12 gets it by mistake! Can’t admit his error! Katniss feels miracle, $ woes over! [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 26: the night before the Quarter Quell, in the sleepless dark, Katniss and Peeta allow themselves to indulge in the bittersweet dream of a future they’ll never have together (“if it wasn’t us, what would you do?” “I’d want to marry you” “tell me”) [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 27: Pick a “what if” - what if Katniss was at Peeta’s bedside when he woke after losing his leg? - what if Katniss hadn’t been locked inside her room after wandering at night when she decides to seek out Peeta? - what if Haymitch hadn’t left the train when it stopped and upset Peeta with his comment? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 28: The truth finally comes out years later: Lily broke off the engagement only after the baker had knocked up her best friend, and for the baby’s sake she had left to run a free clinic in the seam where she does find true love. Her family invites her back to the apothecary now that they know and they forgive her for marrying a mine worker now that he’s deceased anyway. How does young Katniss adjust to life in town; Peeta, Delly, Madge as neighbors; not needing to go over the fence but wanting to? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 29: Post-MJ, Growing Together. Peeta is finally showing his affection and love for Katniss as they heal and reconnect. Katniss, being Katniss, seems to act like she doesn't appreciate this, and is less than enthused. Peeta, taking this like an adult, stops showing her with the affection and tries to show her his love in other ways. Katniss, however, does not appreciate him stopping those things and set out to try and get him to continue it again because she misses it. [submitted by @albinokittens300]

Prompt 30: When Prim needs a bone marrow reconstitution that can only be accomplished via genetic matched umbilical stem cell transplantation, Mrs E confesses that the baker is Prim’s father. Prim’s best chance of survival depends on Katniss having a Mellark’s child for the donor cells. How does she get one of the Mellarks to agree? And what are negotiations like regarding conception and what to do with the baby once it’s born? What if it’s more than one baby because of the medication Katniss is given? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 31: “We never see you two so much as kiss in public but last night we all heard you have sex.” Who says it (Johanna, Haymitch, Finnick or ?) and under what circumstances (vacation rental, baby monitor mishap or ?) is up to you. From BBA [submitted by Buttercupbadass]

Prompt 32: Pre-books fic about a young Peeta crushing on Katniss. His friends tease him about his crush constantly, and it irritates him because everyone seems to know except Katniss herself. But he just rolls his eyes good-naturedly whenever his friends say something about it. [submitted by @madetofly]

Prompt 33: Roommates+Friends-with-Benefits: It’s finally March and Katniss is hankering for a Shamrock Shake because “Damned it, Peeta! I can taste the mint!” So he drives her to every McDonald's in a 40 mile radius without luck. She cries, surprising both of them ‘cause she never cries… Peeta takes matters into his hands, buys ingredients for a homemade 🍀 shake plus a pregnancy test just in case. You decide what’s the result and what Everlark does with the knowledge/scare. Extra points for humor. [submitted by @alliswell21]

Prompt 34: Peeta Mellark is the owner of a popular bakery chain and has no time for romance. Katniss Everdeen is struggling, about to be evicted, in deep debt and desperate, she jokingly tells her friend Madge over a cheese bun, she needs a Sugar Daddy to put her trough college and Peeta happens to overhear it. She’s a regular at his main shop, and is cute if a few years his junior. He offers her a deal she can’t refuse. Age gap. Extra cookies for accidental toastbaby and falling in love. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 35: No reaping AU. At 19, Katniss considers marrying Gale for practical reasons; the fact she just heard the baker’s son toasted and was assigned a house at the edge of town has nothing to do with it... maybe. What happens next? (was Peeta really married or was it his brother? Does she marry Gale? Does Everlark ever talk? Will Peeta cheat if he’s actually married? Can Katniss admit she loves the Boy with the Bread? Is this forbidden love?) is up to you. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 36: Frustrated and stressed out Single dad!Peeta needs a fuck desperately. His best friend, Katniss, unwittingly offers to help him out. Things get murky with repressed feelings, but one thing’s certain, Peeta can’t keep his hands to himself anymore and Katniss is all too willing to oblige at the drop of a hat, regardless of place, time and her own emotions, as long as he keeps whispering all his sexy, filthy thoughts into her ear. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 37: Not-Reaped, In-Panem AU where Peeta and Katniss have begun quietly seeing one another. It is very early on and they are really only just getting a bearing on how deep their feelings are when one day Katniss sees Peeta beat by his mother and no amount of will power will stop her from going and confronting the witch. She goes in there on a war path but stops when she sees just how hurt Peeta is this time, with open gash on his leg from when he had fallen to the ground... [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 38: Everlark inspired by Netflix's Spinning Out (But honestly I believe it was the other way around!) [submitted by @justhereforthefanfiction]

Prompt 39: Taylor Swift - Mary’s Song (aka childhood best friends to lovers to husband and wife) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 40: No choice - friends Katniss and Gale must wed to become legal guardians of siblings. Still not enough to avoid financial ruin. Convinced only way to get desperately needed fast cash is for Katniss to first offer virginity to highest bidder. But how to find him or her, how to negotiate terms, does she confide in anyone, how should she prepare, will it all be quick and forgotten as she hopes, what could go wrong, can she keep this secret, can she use a fake name, can she hire a service? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 41: Inspired by the dancing kid meme. A video clip of either Katniss/Peeta as a child becomes a huge meme. How do they handle it? Maybe it gets them together? Maybe it’s creation tears them apart? [submitted by Buttercupbadass]

Prompt 42: Every time there’s a really bad storm, a bolt of lightning precedes Katniss getting transported to another life. She’s always Katniss with all her memories, but everything around her is different. Peeta is always there, she just needs to figure out if he’s friend, foe, stranger. And, damn it, the storms this spring with global warming sometimes has her in and out of situations before she can figure anything out. Gale complicate things further. It’s enough to drive her crazy... [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 43: Katniss post-war becomes crazy cat lady, dedicates herself to caring for every stray, calls them all Buttercup, don’t get along with Haymitch’s geese. Now does Dr Aurelius make a house call? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 44: Believing that taking a new young bride every 5 years will keep him youthful, Snow arranges to marry wife #12 from D12. In the hours between the ceremony and the wedding night, he drops dead. 16-yr-old Katniss returns to 12 but now she’s “Widow Snow.” Can she ever be Katniss, district huntress again? With all that $, wedding gifts, etc that were sent on the train with her? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 45: Prompt has been removed.

Prompt 46: Pacific Rim inspired AU with drift compatible Everlark (or not if you’re inspired by angst). I really just want to see more of that aspect of Pacific Rim explored than what they did in the movie and what better way to do it than with Everlark! [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 47: katniss and peeta have a one night stand after meeting at a bar. when katniss visits her gyno turns out peeta is her new doctor. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 48: best friends!everlark who take each other's virginity. [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 49: "I'm your boss, give me your pants. Now." [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 50: everlark discovering on their date that they've missed each other their whole lives (living in the same city, went to the same high school, going to the same halloween and nye parties, were set up before by different friends but stood each other up, shopping at the same store, etc.) [submitted by @sunflowerslyf]

Prompt 51: Katniss E, the Valedictorian of Panem High school, is perfect in all fields of life. And that is the crush of awkward, average in studies, not so popular, never had a girlfriend, often bullied Peeta M. Not only does she have a very popular friend circle but also a handsome, popular boyfriend Gale H. Will she even want to be his friend? Is his crush doomed to fail? Eventual Everlark. [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 52: “The Tao of Peeta” - maybe setting is as (small, remote, surrounded by wild creatures) D12 is being used as a penal colony for dangerous (political?) prisoners? Bring in other victors? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 53: Katniss’s parents finally convinces her to attend the military ball because they are honoring her dad after some time of trying to distance herself from the military world. At the ball, she meets a handsome, charming man that might bring her back into the world she was trying to leave. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 54: Heart wrenching angst Everlark based on the song “Me Dedique A Perderte” by Alejandro Fernandez. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 55: The Prophecy states: “A powerful witch that’s born from the two worlds,will reunite them and will bring peace. “ Everyone thought that the prophecy was talking about her. And she did bring change and hope to everyone but who ultimately brought the peace was her unborn child. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 56: Who dun it? Shortly after Katniss goes to one of those paint and kiln your own porcelain places, (owner artist Peeta), people start disappearing. The only connection seems to be that they were people she bitched about while sipping too much wine and painting her piece. She becomes prime suspect. No bodies can be found, how are they vanishing? Can she offer an alibi for each disappearance? That guy Peeta keeps popping up, is he following her? She’s sure she caught him looking at her... [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 57: In a place where the world prospers with a female dominated world, Coriolanus Snow successfully does a coup over the reigning Everdeen family with ruthless bunches of man to create a world where men dominate.But the people’s hope is in the form of a Katniss Everdeen and Snow did not know that she was right under his nose the whole time before it was too late. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 58: Historical au where princess katniss and duke peeta are secretly sleeping together, are caught, and now have to marry each other. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 59: Growing up Peeta started loving her. It was a gradual thing that happened throughout his childhood and into his teens. But something changes when he hits puberty. Her scent has heightened, he can spot her from miles away. He gets a bit possessive. But the biggest thing is when his body starts to heat up and even just the thought of you gets him hard for days. He finds out the family secret of his werewolf genes, something his parents thought passed him. How can he go by with his day and be with her without scaring her away by humping her because of his heat. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 60: After severe flooding(?) community urged to open homes to disaster victims. Mrs. E offers to take in children only. Peeta and bro assigned there temporarily. Peeta quiet, polite? Bro constant source of embarrassment? Prim doesn’t want them to ever leave? Does Gale have anything to say about this? How does Katniss deal with it? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 61: Peeta knew better, but he did stupid things when he got drunk. Now he’s caged at the animal shelter in his wolf form. And, omg, Katniss Everdeen let her little sister drag her in to see the dogs?! He knows he shouldn’t, but teen hormones. He just wants to lick her hand. Get a tummy rub. Hump her leg. Sleep on her bed. Omg, they take him home!!!! He needs to let his dad know where he is. Omg. He needs to figure out his bakery shift. “God, don’t let Katniss catch me licking my balls.” [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 62: one night stand!everlark sleeping together the same night a terrible snowstorm hits the city and everything gets shut down with no way to get home. perhaps a two night stand? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 63: katniss and peeta who are exes wake up together naked, hungover, and married. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 64: She’s a good girl, goes to confession weekly. He’s a bad boy, on the run, slips into the confessional booth just in time. Now he’s stuck hiding in here for a bit hearing the some dull some crazy confessions of the elderly - and of one young girl with the sexiest voice. May go to hell for this, but he’s a guy and can’t help himself with what he says/does next. One of them ends up saying, “Oh, God! Yes!” [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 65: Everlark fluff based on the song Sugar by Maren Morris. [submitted by @lovely-tothe-bone]

Prompt 66: Everlark post apocalypse, katniss and peeta are neighbors and the only two that make it to katniss's father's bunker in time. Over the course of several years the two have grown quite close having no one else, but now provisions are running low. Do they face the unknown outside or stay put, knowing they only have food to last another week? [sent by anonymous]

Prompt 67: Her parents said that it was just a childhood crush and that she will outgrow it. But why does her heart flutters. When she’s finally old enough to get a job, she immediately gets a part time job to be close to him. Will is pursue her love against people’s negative views because he’s so much older than her. Or go for it and make him fall in love with her. Age Gap Older!Peeta. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 68: Dark Coffee Shop AU - Capitol Peeta runs a Coffee/Pastry shop in the poshest part of the Capitol. Near by President Snow’s Mansion. Capitol!Katniss is a frequent customer. Things in the Capitol begin to deteriorate as the rebellion drags on. Are they sympathetic to the rebel cause? [submitted by @oakfarmer12]

Prompt 69: College boy Peeta helps incoming students move into the dorms. Katniss is his next assignment. Age Gap? Maybe Katniss is an older student going to college later? Grad student? Maybe Peeta is a senior, Katniss a Freshman? The possibilities are endless! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 70: Peeta picks up a hitchhiker in the mountains one night, only to find it's his childhood best friend and now escaped convict Katniss Everdeen. In a panic he calls police but after hearing her side of the story comes to believe she didn't actually murder anyone. Everlark on the run. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 71: King Snow forces the daughter of dead rebel leader Katniss to marry is adpoted son Peeta M and kills her father. P coming to know the truth on their wedding night vows to avenge Mr E's death. K hates him and carries on her own rebellion supplying her next clan leader Gale information from the Castle. When Snow is killed and rebels overtake Capitol chaos ensures. Ally of rebel, a neighbouring kingdom's queen Coin tries to use the situation in her favour. Whose side will K take? Eventual Everlark. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 72: Peeta is off a very abusive, poor home. His school friend Katniss has the exact opposite home: well loved and well off family. What happens when opposite worlds clash? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 73: I am a simple woman: I just want Katniss Everdeen content and loved and washed in moonlight I don’t care how you do it. [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 74: Katniss Everdeen is horny. It has been three months since she left asshole Gale to enjoy her life. She just needs a good fuck. She goes man-hunting to a local bar with Jo. The even ends up with her being naked on her bed, with the head of a very handsome blonde, stocky stranger between her thighs. But after her first orgasm of the night when he says: I’ve never done this before, will it be the last? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 75: An in-Panem arranged marriage a/u where Katniss is slightly older than Peeta. [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 76: Modern a/u Katniss is getting over the loss of her sister (you decide how) when she meets Peeta. She’s closed off but he finds a way in. Maybe she works for him? Him for her? Maybe she cries herself to sleep on his bread scented shoulder? (Please yes I need that) [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 77: Katniss Everdeen has a handsome neighbour. It dosen't help that she just came out of a shitty relationship with her ex Gale Hawthorne. Too bad he is a 19 years old virgin boy and she is a woman of the world at 31. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 78: Post MJ, the new government of Panem has finally decided to lift the exile to Twelve order off of Katniss. Where are Katniss and Peeta in their lives? What is the first thing they do? Do they just have a quiet celebration or do they go somewhere? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 79: Peeta has been planning this marriage proposal for months. It goes horribly wrong. Tell me all about it and what happens next?[submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 80: Katniss helps undo the lies Peeta’s mother (and the Capitol) told him about himself (namely that awful “stupid creature” comment) and reminds him that he is worthy and precious to her and really, that’s all that matters [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 81: Katniss finds her soulmate at her bachelorette party (aka Peeta)(Happy ending please) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 82: Post MJ, when Peeta touches Katniss’ neck wrong, she has a flashback of him almost strangling her and has to be heavily consoled. This leads to a conversation about his attacking her when he came back from the capitol. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 83: Katniss is whipped instead of Gale in Catching Fire, Peeta’s the one who’s there to take care of her after. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 84: [Historical AU: 1930s Hollywood] Silver screen star Peeta Mellark has captured millions of hearts, and housekeeper Katniss isn't immune. She's stunned when Peeta comes to court her eccentric heiress employer, Madge. Katniss' shock only grows when Peeta offers to pay for her help in winning him Madge's hand in marriage - and access to her fortune, with which he intends to fund his directorial debut. [submitted by @gamesmakers]

Prompt 85: During an episode of Peetas, he locks Katniss outside in the snow for an entire night. Haymitch is passed out drunk and doesn’t let her in, she can’t find anywhere else to go all night so she ends up catching a really bad cold. When Peeta comes to his senses he feels horrible and nurses her back to health. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 86: After MJ Peeta has a hijack relapse for a few minutes where he insults Katniss’ appearance and body (more extreme version of when he said she wasn’t very pretty in Mockingjay) which hits a nerve, especially since her body was damaged in the explosion that killed Prim. After he’s back to himself, he feels terrible, but Katniss brushes it off. It’s only when she refuses to have sex with him now that he realizes how insecure she might be. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 87: On the train a few days before the Quarter Quell, in another effort to break her before the second games, Snow orders Katniss to have sex with someone in the capitol who paid for her company. When she tries to refuse, Snow threatens her family. She agrees but partway through panics and tries to stop it, only to have the buyer turn on her and get physically violent. She comes to Peeta afterwards and he comforts her, holds her, takes care of her and promises he’ll never let someone hurt her again. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 88: Not reaped. Peeta and Katniss fake date. [submitted by @anxiouslyintroverted]

Prompt 89: Amish!world. Katniss and Peeta are courting each other and are just waiting for Katniss to be of age to get married cause Peeta’s 2 years older. But things gets tough when a Snow comes to their county and spots Katniss. He ask her father if she can be his wife. [submitted by @animekpopxx]

Prompt 90: anyone for an Everlark Alcott or Austen-esque period drama? because I sure am so just gonna speak that into existence. [submitted by @rosegardeninwinter]

Prompt 91: High school. Peeta is the perfect golden boy. Katniss is a rebellious, infamous girl who always skips class and who everyone fears. She is every boys wet dream and every girls nightmare. How will they both fall in love? [submitted by @mysteriouslycraftyreview]

Prompt 92: High school musical au: katniss and peeta as troy and Gabriella. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 93: Katniss is preparing for first Toastbaby and going through some hardcore nesting urges. Peeta, of course, thinks this is perfect and willing to help her anyway he can even if that means repainting the nursery for a third time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 94: Toastbaby gets into a bit of a scrape, nothing too serious, and Everlark struggles with finding the balance between being there for toastbaby but not being too overly protective. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 95: Everlark meet cute, “Oh wait... you’re NOT my blind date?” We’re they set up with each other or with someone else? How do they figure out the mix up? What happens after? Disgustingly fluffy welcome. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 96: Everlark in the verge of breaking up. Why? Are they married or dating? Do they fix it or go their separate ways? [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 97: Katniss makes three game changing shots, one in each of the books. What if... she missed? Pick one for her to miss and how does it change the story? Cato’s hand in THG, the forcefield in CF, or Coin in MJ. [submitted by @katnissdoesnotfollowback]

Prompt 98: I would love some good rated E Everlark smut. Post mockingjay, Everlark growing back together and when I say smut I don't mean porn. I mean they need each other. Can't live without each other. Pour their hearts out and heal each other with their love from all the trauma they went through and make up time that they wasted holding their feelings back and pining after each other. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 99: Peeta has been spending too much time around his brothers (lol), Katniss makes a remark about wanting a snack, he replys “I have something you can snack on” Peeta is instantly mortified by his stupid comment because he is a gentleman. What happens next? It’s up to you. Could be sexy, could be a different kind of tongue lashing? [submitted by @endlessnightlock]

Prompt 100: Peeta's thoughts/what really happened to him at the end of the war and his thoughts regarding Prim's death. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 101: The night of the interviews in Catching Fire, Snow delays the games by a few days after Peetas announcement that Katniss is pregnant and demands Katniss gets a forced abortion in the capitol. Peeta and Katniss try to tell the truth, that she’s not pregnant but Snow isn’t listening and she’s forced into the procedure. Peeta is allowed to stay with her during and after, lots of hurt/comfort, etc. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 102: Katniss is uncomfortable with relying on Peeta even post MJ(pre epilogue). She only accepts his affection after nightmares, she doesn’t think she deserves it otherwise. She feels like he’s still too good for her & that she’ll never deserve him, on top of how she lacks trust in anyone bc of her childhood & having to be strong for Prim and her mom. One night after a severely bad nightmare she blacks out and come to, to Peeta bathing her in the tub, being gentle & loving & affectionate & soothing. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 103: best friends!everlark where katniss sets peeta up on a date with her friend, when peeta and date hit it off she realizes that she's actually in love with him but does nothing about it, few years later, peeta and girl are engaged and after a night of drinking, peeta and katniss accidentally hook up. how they get together is up to you (hea pls) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 104: Katniss is captured instead of Peeta but instead of being injected with tracker jacker serum she’s beaten, starved, lashed and throttled. When her spirit is weak enough the capitol returns her to D13 where Peeta (and Haymitch/Effie) help her recover. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 105: what if one of them was a librarian and the other a (struggling? or drawing away patrons and stealing employees) bookstore owner (maybe who was more interested in things other than books) - Enemies to lovers? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 106: Everlark based on the movie Groundhog Day, where one (or both?) relive the same day over and over until they get it right. [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 107: Katniss gets jealous of Peeta paying attention to other girls during their “growing back together” period. Super jealous. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 108: A story based on the lyrics to Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 109: Dialogue prompt: "I deserve better than this!" [submitted by @xerxia31]

Prompt 110: AU. Everlark live across from each other in fancy New York (or the like) penthouses. With all those large windows, they see each other daily and know the other's routine and all he/she does, but they've never met. A chance meeting occurs. What will happen? The circumstances of their living arrangements/any backstory and what happens between them is up to you. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 111: Hand Porn - looking, breathlessly touching, reading the story told by the calluses, the scars, the strength, while admiring all they’ve done, appreciating all they do, anticipating everything they will do for love - sensitive, expressive, powerful, creative, protective, sensuous hand porn. [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 112: 40-year-old virgin Peeta. Based as loosely as you want on the movie. Everlark, of course. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 113: Katniss saw Peeta naked in the arena after he got hurt but he hadn’t seen her. During CF while Peeta is training Katniss and Haymitch hard, Katniss falls out of exhaustion and being overworked and hurts her back slightly. Feeling guilty, Peeta gives strips her naked, gives her a bath and rubs healing lotions from her mom all over her. How does he react to the first time seeing her naked?[submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 114: Katniss trips and falls in the quarter quell and breaks her ankle, resulting in Peeta carrying her everywhere. She doesn’t like looking weak in front of the other victors but since she doesn’t plan on living through the games this time it’s good to be taken care of one last time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 115: During the victory tour, for whatever reason, author can decide, Peeta has to help Katniss undress at the end of the day, only to discover/for her to remember too late, that she didn’t put any underwear on underneath her clothes. His shock/her humiliation ensues. (But he tries to make her feel better ofc) [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 116: Peeta braids Katniss’ hair to soothe her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 117: AU where Peeta wasn’t hijacked when he returned from the capitol, just shaken up, during Star Squad, Katniss has a bad flashback and Gale witnesses Peeta be the only person who could comfort her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 118: the nutcracker au! katniss as clara and peeta as the nutcracker. and if there could be a scene with snow, that would be really nice! [submitted by @omercilessmoon]

Prompt 119: “If you were taken by the capitol and hijacked, and then tried to kill Peeta, is this how he would be treating you” a fic where it’s Katniss the capitol hijacked and the second part of mockingjay from their reunion on is reversed. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 120: “I know that everyone on the planet is born with heterochromia, but I’m blind, so literally anyone could lie to me and say that they’re my soulmate. Why should I believe you?” Blind!peeta soulmate AU. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 121: Peeta has returned to D13 along with Katniss. But she is being forced to be the Mockingjay and portray a new angle, that Gale is her actual lover, Peeta was being forced on her by Capitol and Snow. How does Katniss manage the peer pressure? [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 122: The soldiers bring back to district 13 Peeta but he is not hijacked. He has been beaten badly, starved and sexually abused. All this led him to become an emotional avox. Will Katniss be able to help him recover from the trauma? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 123: Katniss never volunteers instead she is picked. While peeta volunteers for his brother(what’s wrong with his brother is up to you) and promises him that he will try to win. Peeta turns into the mockingjay ( or whatever variation he will have). [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 124: In MJ I noticed Peeta became more of himself when Katniss was affectionate to him and it helped him fight the venom. So my prompt is when Peeta comes back from being hijacked Katniss realizes this sooner and it starts off slow at first but then they get to the point of having sex and it pretty much heals him completely. HEA for Everlark please. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 125: EFE Prompt: Everlark + Faith. Be it in people, spiritual, or otherwise. Explore the loss of it, regaining of it, or finding it for the first time. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 126: Anything AU based on the song “Talk” by Hozier. Simple enough I think. [submitted by @theliferuiner]

Prompt 127: The earth is in perilous danger from a great evil and only Katniss can stop it. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 128: Peeta saves Katniss from being raped by someone in the capitol. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 129: Katniss & Peeta had a baby. But then miscommunication caused them to split. Peeta is still heavily involved in his baby's life. Katniss is seeing someone else & quickly rising in socioeconomic status with her talent as singer. Peeta on the other hand is facing more & more troubles with his family life. He isn’t being able to spare time their child. Its also becoming difficult for him to keep up with Katniss. Will their rift grow? Or will Katniss finally acknowledge her true feelings for him? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 130: What if Haymitch hadn’t said thise words to Katniss when Peeta joined Star-squad in Mockingjay? Would Katniss have come to her senses or would she be still angry at Peeta. A Mockingjay AU. [submitted by @white-dandelion-seeds]

Prompt 131: “Do you love me? Do you really? Because I go through every day of my life, thinking that nobody loves me.” [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 132: Both Mellark brothers, eldest and youngest love Katniss Everdeen. She is engaged to the eldest but her heart belongs to the youngest. Jealous!Peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 133: Birth of their first child. Peeta helping and supporting Katniss. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 134: Visual Prompt. To see it go HERE [submitted by @javistg]

Prompt 135: Non specific prompt. Peeta called Katniss baby as a pet name. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 136: Katniss gets stung pretty bad by tracker jackers post mockingjay. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 137: Friends to lovers road trip au! Katniss wants to take a summer off to explore the country, Peeta volunteers to go with her. Bonus points if one of them is an absolutely oblivious idiot. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 138: Everlark loosely based off 90 day fiance. Could be AgeGap, one could have ulterior motives(until they end up catching real feelings), or it's a genuine connection. Author decides. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 139: There are fics where Peeta's mom tries to set him up with town girls. What if Peeta's mom tries to set him up with Katniss for once. Maybe both moms team up together? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 140: In Panem AU where Peeta is a Mail Order Husband. As the youngest son of a merchant class Capitol family, he has accepted he will never inherit the family bakery. But when his family contract him to an arranged marriage to further the business he will never own, he escapes by signing up to a programme to relocate and marry a district woman. Why Katniss needs a husband, is up to the author. Everlark endgame :) [submitted by @louezem]

Prompt 141: Katniss is the lone victor of 74th Annual Hunger Games. Peeta is a Capitaloit. Snow forces Katniss to be like other victor. How will they meet? How will they fall in love? What will happen when the revolution starts? [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 142: Gale comes to district 12 again years after mockingjay and runs into a little girl shooting an arrow, only to find out it’s Katniss and Peetas daughter. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 143: The girl of my dreams asked me if I needed a ride home from campus so I obviously let her drive me home then walked back to campus a couple of hours later to get my car. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 144: Peeta's perspective. A more in-depth look at how he joined and tricked the Careers and led them away from Katniss in the Hunger Games. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 145: Not reaped; Snow overthrown; D12 unscathed; miners unionize; postwar prosperity; Seam transformation; Hob center of commerce. Teens Katniss and Peeta have new options and new pressures. How do they navigate this new reality? How do they handle graduating? How do they find their way to each other without reaping and with seam now middle class and restrictions lifted? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 146: Powerful Matchmaker arranges marriage between Everdeen girl (to whom she owes a big favor) and the young cinnamon scented baker boy the girl has loved ever since he first slipped her a sugar cookie with her namesake flower beautifully decorated in frosting, the yellow primrose. What will Katniss do when she only learns of it in church as the first of the 3 Sunday banns are read? Has she ever spoken to Peeta? Will she search her feelings for him? Will he object to the match? Does he have any say? [submitted by @567inpanem]

Prompt 147: The movie "Me Before You" Everlark style. [submitted by @acpoe82]

Prompt 148: Gale dosen't design the bomb but someone else does. Prim lives, but Katniss still kills snow. Gale cones back to district 12 along with Katniss. But problems arise when Peeta cones back too. Eventual Everlark. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 149: Peeta is whipped in catching fire instead of gale. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 150: Everlark based on the movie Blast from the Past starring Brendan Frasier and Alicia Silverstone. Peeta’s family lives in a bomb shelter for an extended period of time and he has to leave and venture out by himself with no knowledge of the current world. He hires Katniss to help him out and they fall in love. (Rough summary!) Rated M/E would be spectacular! [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 151: Everlark based on the song ocean avenue. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 152: King Peeta Mellark of Panem is looking for a wife, and he isn't getting any younger. None of the potential suitors does it for him - until he runs across local dragon slayer Katniss Everdeen after his kingdom comes under attack. She's exactly what he wants. The only problem? She absolutely hates him and it's up to him to convince her to marry him. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 153: Katniss opens up to Peeta about her insecurities about herself and about how he’s too good for her. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 154: One where Katniss is humiliated and Peeta makes her feel better. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 155: Post Mockingjay but before epilogue, Katniss has a good dream about her dad still being alive and how much he’d like Peeta and how wonderful everything would be. When she wakes up at first she doesn’t realize it was a dream, but when she does she’s absolutely inconsolable. Peeta comforts her the best he can. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 156: Just any or maybe multiple times Katniss got her period around Peeta. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 157: Unfocused while hunting from a nightmare the night before an animal sneaks up on Katniss and injured her, not deathly but enough that she can’t make it home on her own. Peeta gets worried when she’s not back after dark and goes after to find her freezing cold and bleeding and shivering. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 158: Toastbabies make breakfast in bed for their parents anniversary, only to walk in on them doing the do. [submitted by anonymous]

Prompt 159: Katniss tries to make herself up to look pretty for Peeta but doesn’t know how to do it well and it’s a disaster but he thought she was beautiful just as she was. [submitted by anonymous]

#1st draft #prompt list #available prompts 2020

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

Text

Kissing Dead Pearls ( Part 18)

There are many rumors surrounding Sea Candle Lighthouse; hauntings, sirens, and beasts that come on the gales to name a few. Azula has even heard that the ghosts have been there before the lighthouse was constructed. She has lived there her whole life and she hasn’t seen one phantom.

But she and Zuko made a game of it. They earned social points with peers by inviting them to their ‘creepy’ lighthouse during softly stormy nights. Nights when the sea howls and throws tempestuous fits.

It was on such a night that she’d truly gotten to know Chan and Ruon-Jian. Their parents had a date night at a rather upscale restaurant across town, a date night that was extended until the storm could pass. And then extended once more when the roads closed at the hands of flooding. The storm itself hadn’t been notably bad, so she and Zuko invited company to spend the night. Nevermind the scoldings that they would get later.

Within the hour ten people had turned up; Mai, TyLee, Sokka, Katara, Aang, Toph, Jet, Chan, Ruon, and Chan’s older sister. And a half an hour after that, several more people turned up, neither she nor Zuko knew them. Azula recognized three of them from her first hour class and Zuko said he’d seen the other two in the cafeteria. They were nice enough company but Azula wishes that Chan would have asked before prattling to others about a small get together.

Of course nearly everyone in their school had been fighting for a chance to spend the night inside the haunted lighthouse. She vividly recalls a rather solid month of her freshman year being interrogated over rumors that she’d been posesseed. She isn’t sure that they have quite let go of that of that one. She also vividly recalls complaining to Mai about it and having the girl shrug and say, “welcome to the club, Azula.”

So it was that five fortunate strangers assembled on the floor playing card and board games with them. Azula can’t remember their names. One of them might have been Jin, maybe Jing?

It was Mai who swapped the tiresome monopoly board for an ouija board. Azula cracked a smile. Mai was always essential to the atmosphere of the Sea Candle sleepovers. Azula and Zuko wrote the stories and Mai expertly narrated them under the flickering orange glow of candlelight. On this occasion the storm hadn’t gotten around to knocking out the power so she and Zuko had to do the honors.

The rain continued to pour down ceaselessly as Mai began the story. It was a story from before the lighthouse had been constructed, a tale of a man and his wife. “There was a man and his wife. The wife always wore a pearl pendant on a silver chain.” She had begun as a rumble of thunder rattled the lighthouse and died away. “The couple had made a habit of climbing up to the very highest point of the cliff and watching the ships pass by. They didn’t like to go in the daytime though because there were too many people and the husband was a shy man.”

Toph had yawned.

“One night they went walking. It was raining.”

“Of course it was storming, it’s always storming.” Toph muttered.

“Shut up Toph, I’m trying to listen!” Sokka shushed.

Unperturbed by their bickering, Mai had continued. “It wasn’t storming. It was a light misty rain. But there was fog and a lot of it. By the time they reached the top of the cliffs, the fog thickened until you could barely see in front of you. They stayed there a while even though there were no ships to watch, sometimes they just liked to enjoy a night alone on the cliffs. The sound of the rain on the water was nice enough.” She paused before continuing in her droning monotone. A monotone that was truly made for ghost stories, if Azula must say. “But they did see a ship after all. It was worn down and beaten like it just rose up from the bottom of a trench. Its sails didn’t move in the breeze. As the couple stared at at a voice called out, ‘mama, papa, I can’t find my way home.’ The couple looked at one another. It was the voice of their son. Their long lost son. ‘Mama, papa, I can’t see, it’s too dark’. And so, upon these cliffs, they built a light. One that can be seen for miles in hopes that their lost son would make his way home. That is the first ghost to haunt the Sea Candle lighthouse.”

The story was as cheesy as any, but it had their classmates talking for weeks after a night of Chan, Ruon, and her other unfamiliar classmates swearing up and down that they could hear the boy crying for his parents between rolls of thunder.

She, Zuzu, Mai, and TyLee spent the night snickering as Toph and Sokka fervently tried to debunk the claims of Chan and his posse. Katara and Jet had nothing to do with it at all, declaring that to have a sleepover you should make sleep one of the activities.

It was all in good fun.

Only once could Azula swear that she’d seen a spirit. Only once when she looked out the window to see her mother wandering home as she would on an ordinary day. Only once and never again.

.oOo.

The storm broke suddenly. Suddenly and much earlier than anticipated. Such seems to be a recurring theme in her life. She wishes that, for once, a storm would arrive behind schedule as opposed to ahead of it.

Azula rubs her eyes and hustles on deck to see Ozai and Zuko struggling with a sail that had broken loose. Lord, they couldn’t afford to lose a sail. But, she notes with building horror, they couldn’t afford to leave the wheel unattended. Her stomach pangs as adrenaline cuts through her sleep deprived mind. She makes a beeline for the wheel, leaping over a table that has been upturned and rolled by the perilous rocking of the ship.

She catches sight of Katara as she wraps her hands around the wheel’s spokes. Azula runs through the details in her sailing manuals. She truly hopes that she is remembering correctly as she points the bow of her ship towards the waves.

Ozai catches her eyes and his own seem to fill with relief in seeing that the wheel is now attended.

“Zuko, I am going to open the storm sails!” He calls over the roaring wind and spraying waves. “I need you to keep control over the broken sail.”

She can’t hear Zuko’s reply.

The rain is beating brutally against her face, each drop giving her the feeling of being pelted with pebbles. She fights against a wheel that would rather do anything but keep the boat facing the waves. She finds herself constantly blowing streams of rainwater out of her mouth, but more comes to fill it almost immediately. And her hair, she wishes that she had chopped it off or at least tied it back before embarking. For it now whips about and obscures her vision until rainwater plasters it uncomfortably to her cheeks and forehead.

She finds herself breathless and surprised at just how much exertion it is taking just to hold the wheel steady, much less push it in the opposite direction when a particularly powerful wave knocks it out of place.

“Shit!” Jet hollars, finally emerging. He runs up to her and she waves him off.

“Zuzu…” she huffs. “Go help...Zuzu.” She nods her head in his direction. The flapping sail is fighting him with more vigor than the wheel is fighting her.

Jet nods and rushes to the sail. Azula’s heart seizes, she can’t see her father. The ship, as far as former pirate ships go, isn’t large. She should see him scaling the mast. Her attention is pulled to a sharp cry. The ship jolts and Katara is knocked off of her feet. She and Zuko both. With Zuko on the floor and sliding, the sail snaps and blows away completely. Jet lets go just on time to avoid going with it.

Azula has no time to be relieved over that. “Jet!” She hollers. As soon as he makes it to the wheel she passes it off to him with hurried instructions. This leaves her with no time to answer, “where are you going? What are you doing?”

She nearly slips down the stairs, and finds herself thankful for the balance that her years of surfing have afforded her. Her lungs burn the effort and her eyes sting with sea salt. She will be dreadfully sore if she makes it to the next morning.

Katara is hollering quite loudly as she fights to cling onto the rails. Zuko is more silent in his distress, exerting all energy into clinging to the rails next to her. They are both loosing grip quickly.

Blood beats behind her ears as her heartbeat picks up. It is the same thing. The same thing all over again. Her mother and Zuzu, she could only save one. She can see blood on the sea foam. She shakes her head, she is wasting time.

As she cautiously but speedily nears the both of them she can see it in Katara’s eyes, the absolute horror. The acknowledgment that she is a second priority. Azula feels sick. At least her mother had been out before the sea had claimed her, Katara was aware. She knew…

It might not matter anyhow, Zuzu is heavier than she and she finds that he is pulling her closer to the edge rather than she pulling him back from it. She is losing her footing and the grip that she has on a decorative post.

As her fingers slip, a strong arm wraps around her torso. It takes the wind out of her as it pushes into her stomach. But it keeps her from going over the edge, she and Zuko both. They are safely away from the rails but Katara is not. She springs forward before Ozai can keep her from it. She hears the man let out a string of curses.

Azula grabs Katara by the wrist just as she lets go of the railing. The sudden increase in gravity takes the both of them over the edge. She manages to grab the railing, her arm twisting painfully. She doesn’t let go of Katara and thanks every power that Katara is light enough to hold.

Thunder roars and the waves below surge up. Katara is frightened beyond screaming. She and Azula both. It seems like forever that they are suspended there. Azula looks up and in a flash of lightning she sees them. Those same phantom sails.

It must be the sail that Zuko has lost hold of. But she swears… Another flash. She swears that she can make out the haul of the Pearl Racer.

For a moment she forgets her predicament. She squints against the rain. But only for a moment before she is suddenly wrenched up. She gives a sharp cry as her shoulder pops, but she and Katara are laying on the boat instead of in the churning waters.

She sits up and scans the water. The sails are gone. They had never been there.

.oOo.

By noon, the storm has lessened into light rain and then a drizzle. Azula is still shaking. She hears Zuko speaking into the radio, they aren’t terribly far from a mass of land.

“Do you want me to pop it back into place or do you want to wait until we can get you to a hospital.”

She has been avoiding looking at her arm, she is nauseated by the way her skin bulges. “J-just do it.”

Ozai nods. He hands her a balled cloth. “Bite down on this.” She takes a deep breath and obliges. “Ready?” She is anything but, though she nods regardless. She squeezes her and and screams into the cloth as Ozai pops her shoulder back into place.

Her eyes sting with tears and her trembling doubles. She can see Katara cringing from afar. Ozai takes her into his arms and rubs her head, “that’s my girl. You always have been a fighter.”

She wishes that she didn’t have to.

“Get her some ice, boy!”

“Yes sir.” Jet half grumbles.

With him gone Ozai inquires, “why did you do it? You should have let me.”

She shakes her head. She is faster than he. He wouldn’t have made it. And even if it weren’t so, she had to do it. “Because I couldn’t save mother…”

Ozai’s brows furrow. “You couldn’t have, you were…”

“I chose Zuzu.” She cuts him off. “I couldn’t save them both. I chose Zuzu.”

He nods, understanding. He squeezes her more tightly. “She would have wanted you to save him. She always was fussy and protective over him.” He forces a chuckle. “She would have scolded you if you hadn’t picked him.”

The tears finally come. Tears that are years overdue.

“Does he know?”

Azula shakes her head.

“It is probably better if he doesn’t.” Ozai pauses. “You’re a strong girl. I raised you well.” His soft voice hardens some, “but don’t you do that again, you understand me?”

She nods. She doesn’t think that he has ever held her so tightly.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Zuko #Ozai #Katara #Sokkla #Jetzula #Zutara #Sokka #Jet #Fanfiction

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