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rebelspykatie · 9 months

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Rushin’ through me like a fire Part 3

A Steddie Club AU

“You bought a bar, but you don’t like people?” Steve tilts his head curiously.

“I’m an enigma, I know.” He flaps his hands around. “My Uncle Wayne always told me I’m as crazy as a rainbow trout in a car wash.” He laughs at the face Steve makes and scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, I never really understood what that meant either until I bought this place. Got in over my head with it all and it takes a lot of work to keep it running. Should’ve known better than to buy a bar when I barely graduated high school.”

“Seems like it all worked out for you, though,” Steve looks around appreciatively, as if he’s not already well acquainted with these fours walls. “Robin and I love coming here. It’s our favorite place. Unless we count our house.”

Eddie cheeks flush a pretty pink color that looks delicious under the twinkling lights. “Such high praise from one of my best customers.”

Now Steve’s blushing, ducking his head to hide his smile. He swirls his drink around in the glass. Deciding to be a bit bold, he says, “If I had known you were out here on slow nights, maybe I would’ve come in earlier in the week.” He takes a sip of his drink to stop himself from saying more.

“Are you saying little old me is enough to bring you in on a slow night?” Eddie leans forward, closing some of the space between them. It feels wholly different from when Austin did it, butterflies kicking up in his stomach and palms perspiring, instead of cold dread. The people sitting around the bar or dancing behind him have completely disappeared, his focus only on Eddie and the adorable way he’s biting his lip, playing up being coy but still looking secretly pleased at Steve’s attention.

“I think you’d be enough to bring me in any night.” And Steve gets to watch his cheeks blossom a bright cherry red as a delighted zing of pleasure wraps itself around his heart. Perhaps he hasn’t lost his touch after all.

“Aren’t you just a charmer?”

“Guess my lines do work, then, huh?” Steve asks, unable to wipe the goofy grin off his face. Pushing his luck, he asks, “Is the owner allowed to dance, or are you too busy?”

Before Eddie has a chance to answer, Gareth leans over his shoulder and says, “He’s not too busy.” Eddie elbows Gareth in the ribs. Gareth ignores him. “Go on, boss. Have fun for once.”

Steve hesitantly adds, “It’s ok if you don’t want to. The rejection won’t crush me or anything.” And so what if he’s lying through his teeth and it would definitely crush him completely if Eddie backed away from him after all the electricity he felt between them? He’ll keep that to himself.

“No rejection here, sweetheart,” Eddie sheepishly grins. He drags Gareth away with him by the arm, both of them whispering feverishly to each other as Eddie rounds the end of the bar. The hairs on his neck stand at attention knowing that they’re definitely talking about him, but he tries to stay focused on Eddie agreeing to dance with him.

With one last exasperated look, Gareth turns Eddie around by the shoulders and frog marches him over to Steve, who has hopped down from the bar stool to wait patiently along the edge of the dance floor.

“He’s all yours, Steve,” Gareth smirks and pushes Eddie forward with a little shove, then runs back behind the bar to continue helping customers.

“We really don’t have to, if you’re that uncomfortable,” Steve says once more, making sure that Eddie doesn’t feel pressured into anything.

“It’s not you,” Eddie glances at the dance floor, eyes nervously darting around. “I wasn’t kidding before. People make me nervous. I’m not used to anyone touching me unless they’ve known me since I was in diapers.” He rubs at the back of his neck. “I’m afraid I won’t be very good at all of that.” He gestures towards the bodies moving together.

“It’s not really about being a good dancer. At least, not for me,” Steve shrugs. “I like the release I get when I just let the music take over and it drains all of the stress out of my body.”

Eddie has turned away from the crowd, staring intently at Steve’s face. “You’re still a good dancer, though.”

“Are you admitting that you’ve watched me on those cameras of yours?” Steve can’t help the way his heart races at the thought. He wants to be the center of Eddie’s attention.

“I saw you earlier with that idiot,” Eddie tries to argue, but his cheeks are rosy and he looks a little skittish. Hard to tell if that’s a lie or if he really is that nervous.

Steve reaches out to grab Eddie’s hand, keeping eye contact and hesitating for a second, waiting on Eddie to give him an approving nod. He wraps a hand around Eddie’s and takes a step closer. “You know what else I love about dancing?”

It’s almost too dark to catch, but Eddie’s eyes flick down to his mouth. He runs his tongue over his bottom lip and Eddie’s eyes track the movement, giving Steve a rush of confidence.

“What?” Eddie asks, a bit dazed, like he barely heard Steve.

“How it lets you get close to someone.” He takes another step closer. “You can feel heat passing between bodies.” Another step. “The way the beat runs through your veins down to your hips.” He places a hand on Eddie’s hip and can actually see the full body shudder run through Eddie. “You can pretend like there’s no one else in the room.”

Eddie nods along, eyes glazed over and focused on Steve’s mouth, like he’s hanging on every word.

As the song changes, the beat switches to something softer, a little slower. A sensual jazzy undertone that makes him want to turn off the lights and move his body in time with someone else. It’s exactly the opening Steve needs.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #katie writes

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yamameta-inc · 5 months

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it isn't about the gintama essays but i would love to hear your elaboration on phoenix kristoph etc!

oh man. sure! i don't really know where to start if you want me to explain them from scratch.

basically, kristoph/phoenix to me is just a much funnier (and thus better) hannigram. the game of gay chicken (and legal/murder chicken) is really heightened by the fact that kristoph is committed, due to his own ego and atrocious personality, to pretending to be nice and caring while phoenix acts like the most obnoxious person on the planet. not directly to kristoph, since he also has to keep up the pretense. but like come on. it's established that they have dinner together, what, almost every day of the week? that's insane. normal working adults--certainly lawyers of kristoph's calibre and renown--don't see their best friends that often. they don't see their family that often. can you imagine how busy kristoph is, how many other things he'd rather be doing? but instead phoenix makes him come to this shitty ass fake russian restaurant, where the tables and shit are covered in snow. phoenix makes kristoph freeze his ass off in order to eat bad food and listen to his shitty piano playing almost every day. and kristoph has to do it. he has to do it because the persona he chose was of phoenix's incredibly selfless saviour.

and the best part is that in addition to this it's also genuinely toxic and traumatic. these two are doing "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" to such an absurd degree and it's my favourite mix of drama and comedy. phoenix is obsessive, resentful, and insanely stubborn and he once again restructures his entire personality in order to deal with kristoph. and the fact that he could be intimate with kristoph (and here i cross into the realm of very subjective interpretation) in a self-harming way while also doing the above borscht bowl nonsense is incredible to me. i don't really care at all about kristoph outside of their dynamic and his impact on phoenix, but i do think this extremely manipulative and abusive villain having to grit his teeth internally and take the absolute nonsense phoenix says at him (grapes are tasty and easy to eat) is also the best part of his character. kristoph would absolutely say "the trout is a nietzschean fish", but then phoenix would say "huh? oh, gesundheit" and kristoph would have to breathe into his silk handkerchief for a moment and feign choking on a fish bone, and then phoenix would get to go "aww you have to be careful with those. i once knew a guy who swallowed a fish bone and it grew a new fish inside of him."

beyond that it's incredible to me that they set up kristoph as a sort of... well, to put it bluntly, an edgeworth rebound. where is edgeworth in AJ? it doesn't matter. he isn't here. but instead there's this other (uglier) guy who has superficially similar traits to him (and who's even more of a queer-coded villain). fancy, faux european, INTJ meme, a gay little thing around his neck... and they even make him assume a rehash of wrightworth's backstory as his public entry into phoenix's life. like hey. why did they do that. he literally mimics edgeworth's position relative to phoenix, becoming his sole defender in a big scary trial. we all know how deeply edgeworth's actions as a fourth-grader who knew phoenix for like one year impacted phoenix and rearranged his brain chemistry. it stands to reason that as an adult going through a genuinely terrible and miserable patch of life, phoenix would've been.................... Something about kristoph. and then he would've learned the truth, felt betrayed, etc etc. did i mention that for some reason kristoph also perfectly fits into his self-proclaimed Most Hated Things In The World list, born from his bad experience with his evil ex-gf? really makes you think.

#why did they do this? well maybe they knew it was epic and awesome and hilarious.#aa

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ethereal-ineffability · 11 months

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Hi tumblr, this is a complete list of every ingredient you need (minus rupees) to upgrade all armor pieces in Tears of the Kingdom to full. I saw them in lists per set/item, but that didn't scratch my "run around collecting all the things efficiently then upgrade everything all at once" AuDHD gamer itch so I did it myself. I spent 2 hours of my life organizing this list so I'm back from the dead to save hopefully at least a single person the trouble. :'D

-Special Plants-

Shock Fruit x9

Fire Fruit x9

Ice Fruit x9

Puffshroom x9

Dazzlefruit x60

Brightbloom Seeds x90

Giant Brightbloom Seeds x105

-Normal Plants-

Voltfruit x15

Mighty Banana x30

Swift Carrot x10

Acorn x30

-Mushrooms-

Sunshroom x15

Chillshroom x15

Zapshroom x15

Rushroom x39

Razorshroom x15

Silent Shroom x24

Bright Caps x15

-Flowers-

Warm Safflina x9

Cool Safflina x9

Electric Safflina x24

Mighty Thistle x9

Swift Violet x90

Blue Nightshade x24

Silent Princess x72

Sundelion x75

-Seafood-

Hyrule Bass x15

Hearty Bass x9

Voltfin Trout x30

Sizzlefin Trout x30

Chillfin Trout x30

Stealthfin Trout x30

Glowing Cave Fish x15

Sneaky River Snail x15

Razorclaw Crab x9

-Insects-

Energetic Rhino Beetle x9

Bladed Rhino Beetle x9

Thunderwing Butterfly x9

Summerwing Butterfly x15

Winterwing Butterfly x15

Smotherwing Butterfly x24

Electric Darner x15

Cold Darner x15

Warm Darner x21

Sunset Firefly x15

Deep Firefly x39

-Lizards/Frogs-

Hearty Lizard x5

Hightail Lizard x21

Fireproof Lizard x15

Sticky Lizard x24

Sticky Frog x30

Hot-Footed Frog x30

-Stones-

Opal x276

Ruby x121

Sapphire x121

Topaz x121

Diamond x27

Flint x367

Amber x565

Luminous Stone x450

Star Fragment x100

Fire Like Stone x15

Ice Like Stone x15

Shock Like Stone x15

-Zonai/Constructs-

Zonaite x150

Large Zonaite x180

Large Zonai Charge x114

Soldier Construct Horn x15

Soldier Construct II Horn x15

Soldier Construct III Horn x15

Soldier Construct IV Horn x15

Captain Construct I Horn x15

Captain Construct II Horn x15

Captain Construct III Horn x15

-Misc mobs-

Courser Bee Honey x15

Dark Clump x15

Chuchu Jelly x15

Red Chuchu Jelly x24

White Chuchu Jelly x24

Yellow Chuchu Jelly x33

Gibdo Wing x24

Gibdo Bone x50

Gibdo Guts x5

Molduga Jaw x9

Molduga Fin x5

Molduga Guts x23

Octorok Eyeball x6

Octorok Tentacle x5

Octo Balloon x5

-Keese/Aerocuda-

Aerocuda Eyes x42

Aerocuda Wings x48

Keese Eyeball x30

Keese Wings x33

Electric Keese Wing x15

Ice Keese Wing x39

Fire Keese Wing x45

-Bokoblins-

Bokoblin Horn x15

Blue Bokoblin Horn x15

Black Bokoblin Horn x15

Silver Bokoblin Horn x24

Bokoblin Guts x42

Bokoblin Fang x9

Boss Bokoblin Guts x9

Boss Bokoblin Horn x9

Blue Boss Bokoblin Horn x9

Black Boss Bokoblin Horn x9

Silver Boss Bokoblin Horn x9

-Moblins-

Moblin Guts x18

Moblin Horn x9

Moblin Fang x15

Blue Moblin Horn x15

Black Moblin Horn x15

Silver Moblin Horn x9

-Horriblins-

Horriblin Horn x15

Blue Horriblin Horn x15

Black Horriblin Horn x15

Horriblin Guts x39

-Lizalfos-

Lizalfos Horn x9

Lizalfos Tail x18

Lizalfos Talon x15

Black Lizalfos Horn x15

Silver Lizalfos Horn x9

Blue Lizalfos Horn x15

Blue Lizalfos Tail x15

Fire-Breath Lizalfos Horn x30

Fire-Breath Lizalfos Tail x48

Ice-Breath Lizalfos Horn x30

Ice-Breath Lizalfos Tail x54

Electric Lizalfos Horn x33

Electric Lizalfos Tail x54

-Hinox-

Hinox Toenail x15

Hinox Tooth x15

Hinox Guts x33

Black Hinox Horn x9

-Frox-

Frox Fang x9

Frox Fingernail x9

Obsidian Frox Fang x9

Blue-White Frox Fang x15

Frox Guts x18

-Lynels-

Lynel Guts x30

Lynel Hoof x15

Lynel Saber Horn x6

Lynel Mace Horn x6

Blue-Maned Lynel Saber Horn x9

Blue-Maned Lynel Mace Horn x9

White-Maned Lynel Saber Horn x18

White-Maned Lynel Mace Horn x18

-Gleeok-

Gleeok Electric Horn x15

Gleeok Flame Horn x15

Gleeok Frost Horn x15

Gleeok Wing x36

Gleeok Guts x18

-Dragon Parts-

Naydra's Scale x5

Naydra's Claw x3

Naydra's Fang x3

Naydra's Horn x5

Naydra's Spike x15

Farosh's Scale x3

Farosh's Claw x3

Farosh's Fang x3

Farosh's Horn x5

Farosh's Spike x15

Dinraal's Scale x3

Dinraal's Claw x3

Dinraal's Fang x3

Dinraal's Horn x5

Dinraal's Spike x15

Light Dragon's Scale x3

Light Dragon Claw x2

Light Dragon Fang x3

Light Dragon Horn x3

Light Dragon's Talon x1

#tears of the kingdom #legend of zelda tears of the kingdom #totk #loz totk #loz: totk #legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom #armor upgrades #tears of the kingdom armor upgrades

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apocalypticavolition · 5 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 7: The Way Out of the Mountains

People, the fact that I'm using a generic image here is a failure on the part of the fandom. There should be art of this incredibly tiny chapter and its delightful moment! But Google finds nothing. This is outrageous! Great news, everyone! The wonderfully talented @pien-art did in fact make fan art and is even willing to let me use it on my silly little post. My unspoken plans to balefire you all are hereby put on pause. Please go check out their blog for more art!

Also, if you hate spoilers, this whole post is outrageous because I'm going to spoil everything about The Wheel of Time because I can!

This chapter starts with a Flame of Tar Valon icon because Moiraine goes fishing.

Lan spent most of his time scouting their path on his black warhorse, Mandarb, following Rand’s tracks as the rest of them followed the signs the Warder left for them. An arrow of stones laid out on the ground, or one lightly scratched in the rock wall of a forking pass.

Lan and Mandarb get all the more impressive when you consider that in addition to leading the way, he's probably also doubling around them (unnoticed by Perrin) and clearing out the signs he leaves behind so no one else can follow.

Her reply was always very much the same. “If you cannot move any faster than this, perhaps I should send you off to Myrelle before you get any older. Well, perhaps that can wait, but you must move us faster.”

Moiraine, I love you but what the fuck? Lan is doing an incredible job and you're joking about sending him off to get raped because it's not good enough for you.

“No day soon,” Lan said, and surprisingly, there was open anger in his voice. “Never, if I can help it. You will outlive me long, Moiraine Aes Sedai!”

She probably will, but how much longer, I wonder. Did the Finn steal her longevity when they stole her strength, or will she still age according to the power level she was born with? If the former, then she might not even have two centuries of lifespan in her. (Also note how touchy Lan is, to use such a formal address.)

“As difficult as that?” Moiraine murmured. Her hands slipped into the water—and a moment later came out with a splash, holding a fat trout that thrashed the surface. She laughed with delight as she tossed it up onto the bank.

Perrin thinks it's luck because Perrin is very, very silly. Also he doesn't know that she's best friends with a former fisherwoman.

Perrin thought about reminding her that whoever took the fish was supposed to clean them, too, but just at that moment she caught his eye. There was no particular expression on her smooth face, but her dark eyes did not waver, and they appeared to know what he was going to say, and to have dismissed it out of hand already.

Perrin, be grateful that the nice witch caught you a huge dinner. Another problem with not communicating is that of course Moiraine is probably doing useful magic tricks like this all the time with exactly as much fanfare and while effortlessly keeping her composure so Perrin has no idea that as far as the party dynamics are concerned, he and to a lesser degree Loial are the potential dead weight.

“I doubt she sees it that way. First she had to put up with Rand arguing with her all the time, and now you’re ready to take over for him. As a rule, Aes Sedai do not let anyone argue with them. I expect she means to have us back in the habit of doing what she says by the time we reach the first village.”

Loial's probably got a point too about Moiraine's Aes Sedai pride influencing her behavior. She likely strongly feels that she fucked up by giving Rand too much independence (even though really the boy needs as much as he can get) and is aiming for damage control by being extra shitty about things to Lan and Perrin as well.

Loial gave in to it as inevitable, but not Perrin. He tried refusing, resisting, but it was hard to resist when she made a reasonable suggestion, and a small one at that. Only there was always another suggestion behind it, as reasonable and small as the first, and then another. The simple force of her presence, the strength of her gaze, made it difficult to protest.

Perrin is getting worked over like he's saidar and it's a little funny.

He accused her of using the One Power on him, though he did not really think that was it, and she told him not to be a fool.

It is indeed very unlikely that she's Compelling him when she's just so good at social engineering.

The wolves should not have been there. Wolves avoided places where men were, but Perrin could still sense them, an unseen screen and escort ringing the mounted party.

The wolves are of course sticking around because Noam's also in the area.

Short chapter, huh? Next time: Fourteen hundred weddings and no funerals!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #lan mandragoran #moiraine damodred #loial

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intertexts · 4 months

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ok you asked about my sad fish boy i hope u know how much of a mistake that is. holy shit. dude jrwi is so fucking good. if u need a new dnd podcast may i please recommend jrwi..theyre pirates. ohhh my god theyre pirates .

so. uhm. fish boy. his name is gillion tidestrider (champion of the undersea, hero of the deep, etc etc about a billion more titles that he just keeps aquiring as the campaign goes on) and hes a paladin with ohhhhh so much of a hero complex. oh my god. dude. hes so . everything to me . (played by charlie slimecicle btw. that guy is so fucking good at balancing silly goofy moments with heartwrenching voice acting. in one of the most recent episodes he is literally. hanging from a hook through his hands missing chunks of skin on 1hp literally only alive because he happened to cast death ward on himself. and hes wearing those goddamn trout fish sandals that u see on facebook ads or whatever.)

uhm. so. holy shit. where do i even start. he is the chosen one of a prophecy that says its his duty to one day choose who will survive between the undersea (triton, underwater creatures, where he grew up) and the oversea (basically. land.) and the other will be destroyed. so when he was very young (i want to say maybe like..5 or 6? i dont remember im actually searching for that info rn for the thing im writing) he was taken away from his family to begin training with the Elders (basically the. rulers of the undersea) . my boy he was raised to be a weapon. he was raised to be a tool (<< real canon words out of his own mouth). my favorite little child soldier. he wore armor that was too big for him and carried swords that were taller than he was. he was raised to put protecting others over his own safety so he rushes out into danger without even thinking about how it might affect him. he is so passively suicidal and ready to sacrifice himself at any minor inconvenience that when this information is eventually put in front of him his response is "what? no, thats what im Supposed to do." a very important phrase for him in early episodes was "whats one more burden?"

also he has a pet frogtopus (frog + octopus) her name is pretzel and she rides around in a little orb on his belt and also on his shoulders sometimes. i love her

(<- official art. shes so perfect in every way)

I THINK I MIGHT BE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE SOON BUT HE ALSO HAS AN OLDER SISTER AND SHES EVERYTHING TO ME OHMYGOD . her name is Edyn and shes so. uaghghhh if i think about her for too long i start crying. im writing a fic from her pov as we speak. she was the only one who would visit him during his training as a kid she was his best friend she wanted to protect him but she was also just a kid so she couldnt do anything but try her best to comfort him. shes the one who gave him pretzel. ohhh my god. i lvoe you edyn tidestrider youre everything to me. giving you a freshly written unedited at all snippet from the fic im writing because it describes how i feel about their dynamic so much better than i could possibly type out in a tumblr ask::::

uhnmmm what else. im so insane about the tidestrider siblings forever. do not get me wrong the other PCs in this campaign are also excellent and i love them (Jay is the daughter of a navy captain who defected to join a pirate crew to figure out what caused the death of her older sister. Chip is. oh boy. orphan who was taken in by a pirate crew when he was 7. pirate crew in question was swallowed by some sort of magic force that corrupted literally a fourth of the globe. but he somehow survived and is now trying to find out if his old family is still alive. jay and chip are like adopted siblings to me. chip and gillion had to roll a performance check for a kiss one time and they both got nat 20s and its all gone downhill from there for them. i love jay and chip dearly but something abojt gillion just scratches a very specific itch in my brain i love him so much and its only partially because hes a fish and im the fish guy.) ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION GILLION IS CANONICALLY ASEXUAL and this is a fact that actually has come up within canon and is not just a word of god twitter mention fact. no. my boy is actively asexual and it makes me soooooo happy forever.

uh. sorry for the wall of text. infodump over. im forever crying abojt pirates and fish people . thank u i love u

OUSUGHFGHFJHH................... I LIKE UR FISH BOY MAC. IM A BIG FAN OF UR FISH BOY. i heard paladin with a hero complex & it was immediately a direct hit thats so... ouuhgh. child soldier character type of guy makes me go bonkers!!!! this whole paragraph is like five critical hits in a row... im so curious now.... also ive seen SO much art for these guys jay also looks so cool? her art is always so compelling 2 me... anyway OUHG. i'm currently working my way through friends at the table twilight mirage (meticulously crafted post-utopian cyberpunk/science fiction about mechs and gods and mech gods and more specifically Dead mech gods & living in their husks & humanity & nonhumanity & empire, etc) + tryna catch up on critrole but... hgghhbh. we'll see. we'll see what happens...

#IVE BEEN IN A BIG PIRATES MOOD LATELY. SO.#mac tag!#TYYYYY for telling me ab ur guy i love him i lovelovelove hearing ab ur little guys always & forever.. :]]]

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saints-who-never-existed · 2 months

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For the six characters:

Collins, Fitzjames, Gore, Sophia, Little and Blanky

Good lord, these really are getting harder! I want to marry and smooch and be nice to all of them!

Marry - Collins! He's kind-hearted and selfless! He's intelligent, loyal, and capable! He's - and I cannot stress this enough - very, very large and hairy! What more could a gal ask for? Again I sayeth - Hubba hubba! 👀

Kiss - Gore! Because he's a good lad and he deserves it. I think he'd be very gentlemanly about it and surprisingly chaste too - let me make that lovely man blush, please! :)

Be Room-Mates With - Blanky! Need I explain? I feel like there'd always be something new with him in the best possible way - just mad Dad/Uncle shit left, right, and centre. One minute he's stripping down an engine in the living room, the next he's building an incredible bit of furniture from scratch, the next still he's brewing beer in a cupboard or raising a school of rainbow trout in the bathtub. I feel like he'd just be good at everything - infinite madness, infinite fun. :D

Wrap a Blanket Around - Sophia! Get your slippers back on and come in out of that cold, snowy courtyard, babygirl, I've got you! <3

Push Off a Cliff - Fitzjames! I've really been trying to shake things up between each ask just for fun but my answer on this one must remain the same this time. Fitzjamie is built for base-jumping, ultra-marathons, cave-diving and other such adrenaline-based nonsense. Push him off a cliff with a rudimentary parachute, 100%.

Set on Fire - Little! I do feel bad about it since he is of course my all-time blorbo. Can we just pretend that this means I mildly singed him while lighting candles for a romantic bubble bath? Or that he burned his tongue on some delicious non-Dundy soup I prepared for him? Please?!

#I feel like I'm rapidly veering away from the proper spirit of things here #It's becoming less about what I would actually do and more about how whimsically I can justify it for my own amusement #More a mechanism through which to share very silly headcanons #Nevertheless I persist #This is such a delight to me #(I finished the job application by the way)#Asks #Ask Game #Friendos!#Sillyposting #So silly

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bright-eyed · 10 months

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Four Questions Regarding the Dreams of Animals

BY SUSAN STEWART

1. Is it true that they dream? It is true, for the spaces of night surround them with shape and purpose, like a warm hollow below the shoulders, or between the curve of thigh and belly. The land itself can lie like this. Hence our understanding of giants. The wind and the grass cry out to the arms of their sleep as the shore cries out, and buries its face in the bruised sea. We all have heard barns and fences splintering against the dark with a weight that is more than wood. The stars, too, bear witness. We can read their tails and claws as we would read the signs of our own dreams; a knot of sheets, scratches defining the edges of the body, the position of the legs upon waking. The cage and the forest are as helpless in the night as a pair of open hands holding rain.

2. Do they dream of the past or of the future?

Think of the way a woman who wanders the roads could step into an empty farmhouse one afternoon and find a basket of eggs, some unopened letters, the pillowcases embroidered with initials that once were hers. Think of her happiness as she sleeps in the daylilies; the air is always heaviest at the start of dusk. Cows, for example, find each part of themselves traveling at a different rate of speed. Their bells call back to their burdened hearts the way a sparrow taunts an old hawk. As far as the badger and the owl are concerned, the past is a silver trout circling in the ice. Each night he swims through their waking and makes his way back to the moon. Clouds file through the dark like prisoners through an endless yard. Deer are made visible by their hunger. I could also mention the hopes of common spiders: green thread sailing from an infinite spool, a web, a thin nest, a child dragging a white rope slowly through the sand.

3. Do they dream of this world or of another?

The prairie lies open like a vacant eye, blind to everything but the wind. From the tall grass the sky is an industrious map that bursts with rivers and cities. A black hawk waltzes against his clumsy wings, the buzzards grow bored with the dead. A screendoor flapping idly on an August afternoon or a woman fanning herself in church; this is how the tails of snakes and cats keep time even in sleep. There are sudden flashes of light to account for. Alligators, tormented by knots and vines, take these as a sign of grace. Eagles find solace in the far glow of towns, in the small yellow bulb a child keeps by his bed. The lightning that scars the horizon of the meadow is carried in the desperate gaze of foxes. Have other skies fallen into this sky? All the evidence seems to say so. Conspiracy of air, conspiracy of ice, the silver trout is thirsty for morning, the prairie dog shivers with sweat. Skeletons of gulls lie scattered on the dunes, their beaks still parted by whispering. These are the languages that fall beyond our hearing. Imagine the way rain falls around a house at night, invisible to its sleepers. They do not dream of us.

4. How can we learn more? This is all we will ever know.

#w #favorites #kennapost

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destinyclan · 3 months

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Before Moon 0 (3/8)

"I was kidding, Snakefur" Oriolespeckle seemed the least bit scared of the way the deputy looked at him with sheer disdain. "but if it makes you feel any better, sure: I'm so sorry for eating the last trout. Let me go make up for it."

And without another word, Oriolespeckle turned around and marched out of the camp grounds. He didn't need to hear what exactly it was that Snakefur snarled in response, all it took was the annoyed tone to make Oriolespeckle purr in amusement.

It's been a fruitless effort lately, to try and reason with Snakefur, or anyone else in this clan for that matter. It seemed as though everyone was far too busy negotiating with the other clans - or talking about said negotiations - to have a little fun. Not that Oriolespeckle didn't care at all, after all an empty fresh kill pile is not a sight to take too lightly, but was it that important? He was hungry, prey is meant to be eaten, and he could always bring back more.

Unlike a certain other clan right now, he thought.

His mind wandered, and wouldn't you know it, he found himself right on the pathway toward the brook, the current line between clan life and pure chaos. Though it wasn't too long before he heard a couple of pawsteps approaching from behind him. He turned around to a rustling of bushes, soon seeing a familiar, tabby face poke out.

"Hey!", the she-cat spoke up, "I heard you and Snakefur arguing."

Oriolespeckle gazed at her, his clanmate Bouncerise, with a bit of confusion as she stepped out to approach him, not long before he felt the undying urge to complain.

"Can you believe him? He treats me like a lazy kittypet that does nothing but sleep and eat the pile empty, despite the fact I'm bringing home more prey than him!" He got louder as he voiced his thought about the deputy, though Oriolespeckle hardly cared right now. The two of them were out of earshot by now anyway.

Bouncerise tilted her head to the side, looking at him. "He really lets being the deputy get to his head. You know he tried to schedule me for the dawn patrol on both sides of the territory a few days ago? And when I told him, he hissed at me and told me to be more respectful!" She stopped for a moment, to scratch herself behind her ears. Oriolespeckle stopping as well, waiting for her while she added: "He can't take criticism!"

The two resumed walking through their hunting grounds, still not doing what Oriolespeckle said he would since the two of them foudn themselves a little caught up in the topic. Lately, Oriolespeckle had noticed, it seemed that Bouncerise took an interest in him. Not a romantic one, at least as far as he could tell. It was a little strange, the two of them had barely talked since back when they were apprentices. They grew into different circles within their clan, naturally. But as the times changed further, it seemed nobody could ahndle being around Bouncerise anymore. Her need to stand up against the authorities of her clan got on the other cats' nerves, whether or not she made good points.

It was all right to Oriolespeckle, however. He had found himself in a similar situation, so having a cat around to talk to was nice, even if most they did was talk in union about how annoying the leader and the deputy were.

They had reached the brook, an ever so streaming body of water that had turned dark over the past moons. The storms and floods have turned it to rushing water at most hours, leaving barely any fish to be caught, though occasionally one would be washed down here, already dead. To his clan's leader, this brook was a symbol of victory, of justice. To Oriolespeckle it was just a useless brook though. Sniffling around for any dead crowfood fish, he found nothing. Curiously, he turned his attention toward Bouncerise, as she stepped away, seemingly. Then, she leapt over the brook, only barely scrambling as her hind paws almost landed her in the water. She looked over her shoulder at Oriolespeckle, a daring look on her face.

"Come on, we wanna make Snakefur proud, don't we?"

Oriolespeckle, he couldn't deny, was surprised and a bit shocked. "You... you want to hunt on the other side?"

"Obviously." Bouncerise rolled her eyes. "Why shouldn't we? They have a smaller offshoot on their side, maybe we'll find some fish there."

Oriolespeckle scraped at the ground with his paws, uncomfortable. "... Yeah, but they already have problems with their prey, don't they?"

"And are they the clan proficient in catching fish?" Bouncerise replied to his question. "Our fresh kill pile is getting smaller too. It's not our fault if they don't learn how to hunt in the brook." With a less exasperated tone, she added: "You don't have to come if you don't want."

He felt dared, though a bad feeling crept up on him. However... Bouncerise had a point, hadn't she? Sure, he could go and find something, but it would take forever, and however good it is, Snakefur would still moan and complain. Best to get it over with quickly, right? And maybe she was right, and there were perfectly fine fish going to waste over there that could feed Rindlewater, Plumberry, or the newly expecting queen Thornshine!

Oriolespeckle looked her in the eyes, a serious gaze. Then mimicked her actions from before, taking a few steps back before accelerating his tempo. With a large jump, he found himself next to Bouncerise, across the brook.

#destinyclan #clangen #before moon 0 #prologue #bm0 part 3

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istumpysk · 2 years

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Operation Stumpy Re-Read

AFFC: Brienne I (Chapter 4)

Brienne, my beauty!

"I am looking for a maid of three-and-ten," she told the grey-haired goodwife beside the village well. "A highborn maid and very beautiful, with blue eyes and auburn hair. She may have been traveling with a portly knight of forty years, or perhaps with a fool. Have you seen her?"

Is that the greatest opening of any chapter ever?

I realize I'm biased.

+.+.+

"If she's on the roads these days she won't be no maid for long," said the older man. The younger wanted to know if the girl had that auburn hair between her legs as well.

Brienne, you have my permission to kill them.

+.+.+

"I will find the girl and keep her safe," Brienne had promised Ser Jaime, back at King's Landing. "For her lady mother's sake. And for yours." Noble words, but words were easy. Deeds were hard.

That's why she's the best. She walks the walk.

+.+.+

She had to have gone elsewhere . . . but elsewhere is a big place. If I were a maiden newly flowered, alone and afraid, in desperate danger, what would I do? she had asked herself. Where would I go? For her, the answer came easy. She would make her way back to Tarth, to her father. Sansa's father had been beheaded whilst she watched, however. Her lady mother was dead too, murdered at the Twins, and Winterfell, the great Stark stronghold, had been sacked and burned, its people put to the sword. She has no home to run to, no father, no mother, no brothers. She might be in the next town, or on a ship to Asshai; one seemed as likely as the other.

Think, think!

Sandor knew where to ransom Arya, and Shadrich knows where to find Sansa. Come on, Brienne! You've got this!

+.+.+

The girl could go by sea if she had the coin, but the harbor at King's Landing was still in ruins, the river a jumble of broken quays and burned and sunken galleys. Brienne had asked along the docks, but no one could remember a ship leaving on the night King Joffrey died. A few trading ships were anchoring in the bay and off-loading by boat, one man told her, but more were continuing up the coast to Duskendale, where the port was busier than ever.

It was possible, Brienne! It was possible!

+.+.+

A young septon galloped past upon a palfrey as fine as any lord's, and later she met a band of silent sisters who shook their heads when Brienne put her question to them.

Brienne. . .

+.+.+

Jaime would not do that. He was sincere. He gave me the sword, and called it Oathkeeper. Anyway, it made no matter. She had promised Lady Catelyn that she would bring back her daughters, and no promise was as solemn as one sworn to the dead.

Groan.

+.+.+

"We have trout enough for three, ser," he called out.

Sometimes trout is just trout. I think this is one of those times.

+.+.+

Had Brienne been a man, she would have been called big; for a woman, she was huge. Freakish was the word she had heard all her life. She was broad in the shoulder and broader in the hips. Her legs were long, her arms thick. Her chest was more muscle than bosom. Her hands were big, her feet enormous. And she was ugly besides, with a freckled, horsey face and teeth that seemed almost too big for her mouth.

+.+.+

The nearsighted hedge knight scratched his head. "I recall no such maid. What sort of hair is auburn?"

"Browny red," said the older man. "No, we saw her not."

More like dark honey.

+.+.+

"Come, dismount, the fish is almost done. Are you hungry?"

She was, as it happened, but she was wary as well. Hedge knights had an unsavory reputation. "A hedge knight and a robber knight are two sides of the same sword," it was said. These two do not look too dangerous. "Might I know your names, sers?"

Ha ha, get it? It's funny because her ancestor is Ser Duncan the Tall.

+.+.+

Ser Illifer crooked a bony finger at her shield. Though its paint was cracked and peeling, the device it bore showed plain: a black bat on a field divided bendwise, silver and gold.

She's wearing the Harrenhal shield! Bran's Harrenhal!

+.+.+

"You bear a liar's shield, to which you have no right. My grandfather's grandfather helped kill the last o' Lothston. None since has dared to show that bat, black as the deeds of them that bore it."

[...]

"A barefoot man looks for a boot, a chilly man a cloak. But who would cloak themselves in shame? Lord Lucas bore that bat, the Pander, and Manfryd o' the Black Hood, his son. Why wear such arms, I ask myself, unless your own sin is fouler still . . . and fresher." He unsheathed his dagger, an ugly piece of cheap iron. "A woman freakish big and freakish strong who hides her own true colors. Creigh, behold the Maid o' Tarth, who opened Renly's royal throat for him."

Should I care about the Lothstons? Is this important?

+.+.+

"That is a lie." Renly Baratheon had been more than a king to her. She had loved him since first he came to Tarth on his leisurely lord's progress, to mark his coming of age. Her father welcomed him with a feast and commanded her to attend; elsewise she would have hidden in her room like some wounded beast. She had been no older than Sansa, more afraid of sniggers than of swords. They will know about the rose, she told Lord Selwyn, they will laugh at me. But the Evenstar would not relent.

Damn, I totally forgot about Brienne's history with roses. We need to fix it.

+.+.+

She had never slept easily in the presence of men. Even in Lord Renly's camps, the risk of rape was always there. It was a lesson she had learned beneath the walls of Highgarden, and again when she and Jaime had fallen into the hands of the Brave Companions.

Am I forgetting something?

+.+.+

She wondered whether Sansa Stark was cold as well, wherever she might be. Lady Catelyn had said that Sansa was a gentle soul who loved lemon cakes, silken gowns, and songs of chivalry, yet the girl had seen her father's head lopped off and been forced to marry one of his killers afterward.

She's still a gentle soul, Brienne. 🥺 They can't break her. 🥺

+.+.+

If half the tales were true, the dwarf was the cruelest Lannister of all. If she did poison King Joffrey, the Imp surely forced her hand. She was alone and friendless at that court.

I love hearing the public's opinion of Tyrion Lannister.

Enjoy those history books.

+.+.+

In King's Landing, Brienne had hunted down a certain Brella, who had been one of Sansa's maids. The woman told her that there was little warmth between Sansa and the dwarf. Perhaps she had been fleeing him as well as Joffrey's murder.

Would that be Renly's former maid? Maybe you should have asked her a few more questions.

Brella was serving Varys, so Varys could now know Brienne's searching for Sansa. Does this matter? No, I doubt it.

+.+.+

As Brienne mounted up again, she glimpsed a skinny boy atop a piebald horse at the far end of the village. I have not talked with that one, she thought, but he vanished behind the sept before she could seek him out. She did not trouble to chase after him.

"Did anyone pass by during your watches?" Brienne asked them.

"Such as a maid of three-and-ten, with auburn hair?" said Ser Illifer the Penniless. "No, my lady. No one."

"I had a few," Ser Creighton put in. "Some farm boy on a piebald horse went by

Who could that be? He he.

+.+.+

Ser Creighton was lost. "Sparrows?"

"The sparrow is the humblest and most common of birds, as we are the humblest and most common of men." The septon had a lean sharp face and a short beard, grizzled grey and brown. His thin hair was pulled back and knotted behind his head, and his feet were bare and black, gnarled and hard as tree roots. "These are the bones of holy men, murdered for their faith. They served the Seven even unto death. Some starved, some were tortured. Septs have been despoiled, maidens and mothers raped by godless men and demon worshipers. Even silent sisters have been molested. Our Mother Above cries out in her anguish. It is time for all anointed knights to forsake their worldly masters and defend our Holy Faith. Come with us to the city, if you love the Seven."

"I love them well enough," said Illifer, "yet I must eat."

"So must all the Mother's children."

"We are bound for Duskendale," Ser Illifer said flatly.

One of the begging brothers spat, and a woman gave a moan. "You are false knights," said the big man with the star carved on his chest. Several others brandished their cudgels.

The barefoot septon calmed them with a word. "Judge not, for judgment is the Father's. Let them pass in peace. They are poor fellows too, lost upon the earth."

Boy, that escalated quickly and for no reason whatsoever.

The High Sparrow being introduced so close to Aeron Dam-phair's first chapter is perfect. Should have thrown Melisandre in here somewhere.

+.+.+

"A man would need to be a fool to rape a silent sister," Ser Creighton was saying. "Even to lay hands upon one . . . it's said they are the Stranger's wives, and their female parts are cold and wet as ice." He glanced at Brienne. "Uh . . . beg pardon."

That's. . . weird. I'm holding on to that one.

+.+.+

The merchant produced a crossbow, the knight a blade. "You will forgive me if I am suspicious," called the merchant, "but the times are troubled, and I have only good Ser Shadrich to defend me. Who are you?"

Fuck.

+.+.+

"I am searching for my sister." She dared not mention Sansa's name, with her accused of regicide. "She is a highborn maid and beautiful, with blue eyes and auburn hair. Perhaps you saw her with a portly knight of forty years, or a drunken fool."

SHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!!!

+.+.+

"You're a strapping healthy wench, I'd say."

Ser Jaime's mockery had cut her deep; the little man's words hardly touched her. "A giant, compared to some."

He laughed. "I am big enough where it counts, wench."

Hello, Braimes? Is anyone home?

+.+.+

Ser Shadrich was a wiry, fox-faced man with a sharp nose and a shock of orange hair, mounted on a rangy chestnut courser. Though he could not have been more than five foot two, he had a cocksure manner.

[...]

"Ser Shadrich of the Shady Glen. Some call me the Mad Mouse." He turned his shield to show her his sigil, a large white mouse with fierce red eyes, on bendy brown and blue. "The brown is for the lands I've roamed, the blue for the rivers that I've crossed. The mouse is me."

Rodents we don't like.

+.+.+

Ser Shadrich laughed. "Oh, I doubt that, but it may be that you and I share a quest. A little lost sister, is it? With blue eyes and auburn hair?" He laughed again. "You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well."

Brienne kept her face a mask, to hide her dismay. "Who is this Sansa Stark, and why do you seek her?"

"For love, why else?"

She furrowed her brow. "Love?"

"Aye, love of gold. Unlike your good Ser Creighton, I did fight upon the Blackwater, but on the losing side. My ransom ruined me. You know who Varys is, I trust? The eunuch has offered a plump bag of gold for this girl you've never heard of. I am not a greedy man. If some oversized wench would help me find this naughty child, I would split the Spider's coin with her."

[...]

"I know no Sansa Stark," she insisted. "I am searching for my sister, a highborn girl . . ."

". . . with blue eyes and auburn hair, aye. Pray, who is this knight who travels with your sister? Or did you name him fool?" Ser Shadrich did not wait for her answer, which was good, since she had none. "A certain fool vanished from King's Landing the night King Joffrey died, a stout fellow with a nose full of broken veins, one Ser Dontos the Red, formerly of Duskendale. I pray your sister and her drunken fool are not mistaken for the Stark girl and Ser Dontos. That could be most unfortunate." He put his heels into his courser and trotted on ahead.

Even Jaime Lannister had seldom made Brienne feel such a fool. You are not the only hunter in the woods.

FUCK.

Alayne turned abruptly from the yard...and bumped into a short, sharp-faced man with a brush of orange hair who had come up behind her. His hand shot out and caught her arm before she could fall. "My lady. My pardons if I took you unawares."

"The fault was mine. I did not see you standing there."

"We mice are quiet creatures." Ser Shadrich was so short that he might have been taken for a squire, but his face belonged to a much older man. - Alayne I, TWOW

+.+.+

"I can pay for the three of us." Brienne did not lack for coin; Jaime had seen to that. In her saddlebags she'd found a purse fat with silver stags and copper stars, a smaller one stuffed with golden dragons, and a parchment commanding all loyal subjects of the king to assist the bearer, Brienne of House Tarth, who was about His Grace's business. It was signed in a childish hand by Tommen, the First of His Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms.

Damn, she's packing.

Last time we saw the Hound he was broke, and carrying around a worthless piece of paper. Bwah!

+.+.+

She ordered goat for Ser Creighton and Ser Illifer as well, since they had shared their trout with her. The hedge knights and the septon washed down the meat with ale, but Brienne drank a cup of goat's milk.

Big girls drink their milk.

+.+.+

"You come from King's Landing," one of the locals said to Hibald. "Is it true that the Kingslayer's been crippled?"

"True enough," Hibald said. "He's lost his sword hand."

"Aye," Ser Creighton said, "chewed off by a direwolf, I hear, one of them monsters come down from the north. Nought that's good ever come from the north. Even their gods are queer."

False. A wolf never maimed him.

She's getting a second chance though.

+.+.+

Jaime had done many wicked things, but the man could fight! His maiming had been monstrously cruel. It was one thing to slay a lion, another to hack his paw off and leave him broken and bewildered.

Okay, but consider this: it's funny.

+.+.+

Her scabbard was a plain thing, wood wrapped in cracked brown leather, and her sword was plainer still. She had bought it in King's Landing, to replace the blade the Brave Companions had stolen. Renly's sword. It still hurt, knowing she had lost it.

She's moved on. New sword, new purpose.

+.+.+

But she had another longsword hidden in her bedroll. She sat on the bed and took it out. Gold glimmered yellow in the candlelight and rubies smoldered red. When she slid Oathkeeper from the ornate scabbard, Brienne's breath caught in her throat. Black and red the ripples ran, deep within the steel. Valyrian steel, spell-forged. It was a sword fit for a hero.

Yes.

+.+.+

When she was small, her nurse had filled her ears with tales of valor, regaling her with the noble exploits of Ser Galladon of Morne, Florian the Fool, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, and other champions.

Aww, she's starting to sound like someone else we know. :)

+.+.+

Each man bore a famous sword, and surely Oathkeeper belonged in their company, even if she herself did not. "You'll be defending Ned Stark's daughter with Ned Stark's own steel," Jaime had promised.

Kneeling between the bed and wall, she held the blade and said a silent prayer to the Crone, whose golden lamp showed men the way through life. Lead me, she prayed, light the way before me, show me the path that leads to Sansa. She had failed Renly, had failed Lady Catelyn. She must not fail Jaime. He trusted me with his sword. He trusted me with his honor.

[...]

Her candle burned out. Darkness settled over the Old Stone Bridge, and the inn grew so still that she could hear the murmur of the river. Only then did Brienne rise to gather up her things. She eased the door open, listened, made her way barefoot down the steps. Outside she donned her boots and hurried to the stables to saddle her bay mare, asking a silent pardon of Ser Creighton and Ser Illifer as she mounted. One of Hibald's serving men woke when she rode past him, but made no move to stop her. Her mare's hooves rang upon the old stone bridge. Then the trees closed in around her, black as pitch and full of ghosts and memories. I am coming for you, Lady Sansa, she thought as she rode into the darkness. Be not afraid. I shall not rest until I've found you.

I believe you!!

Guys, Brienne gets me so in my feels. I just love her.

Final thoughts:

A knight on a mission to rescue a princess.

Now this is a hero's journey!

-> return to menu <-

#operation stumpy re-read #affc #brienne i

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wreywrites · 7 months

Text

Tiger Shark

Part 2: The Sea

Chapter 10

A wet nose nudges me awake. I open my eyes to the enormous face and horrible breath of a buffalo. I jump, bumping into something solid at my back.

The buffalo, as scared as I am, skitters a few steps away and watches me closely. The solid thing against my back is Mako. “What happened?” His voice is tight.

“Buffalo woke me up and scared me half to death.” I roll onto my back, stretching my cramped muscles. I must have slept all night in the fetal position.

“Well I’m glad they were here. I guess I fell asleep. Feels like I slept for quite a while too.” He rubs his eyes. “Sorry I didn’t…”

“It’s fine,” I say. “I couldn’t stay awake either. I guess we owe our lumbering friends for keeping us safe.”

“How about we agree not to kill any more of them. I’m already tired of buffalo meat.”

I nod.

We lay on our backs in the grass for a while, stretching and enjoying the sun on our faces and the relative safety the herd provides.

“We should go back to the cave,” Mako says. “I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had water since yesterday morning.”

I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until he said that. I nod, and we make our slow way back to the river.

~~~ ~~~ �� ~~~

After I update the scratches on the cave wall keeping track of who is dead, we spend the day fishing. Horrifyingly, it seems the fish have a taste for buffalo jerky, which is enough knowledge to keep me from swimming. Who knows what the Gamemakers have cooked up instead of normal trout.

Mako thinks it is funny that I willingly swim with sharks but I won’t brave this little river.

“All right, if you’re so brave, you go for a swim.”

He does not.

I start cleaning the latest catch. “I wonder what they’re doing at home.”

“Probably watching us. We’re mandatory viewing, remember?”

“Oh yeah.” Somehow it doesn’t feel like the Hunger Games. Being in the arena has removed all sense of what is actually happening. It feels like we’ve simply taken a trip away from the coast and when we are ready to go home, we will get on a train somewhere and travel home and everything will be how it was before.

The next day progresses just as calmly. Sometime during the afternoon, I see a thin trail of smoke rising from the trees on the far side of the cornucopia, but it is extinguished after a while and no cannon sounds. Once again, we have all retreated our separate ways and apparently have no intentions of hunting each other down. It makes sense though, the Career pack now has only two Careers left, plus the girl from Seven. They’re probably trying to regroup, get food, come up with a plan. They won’t attack us, as weak as they are. In a few days, probably, but not today. Then there is the boy from Three, who I haven’t seen scale or tail of since the bloodbath. I’m sure he is plotting some very intelligent way of killing us all at once. Mako and I are still alive. The girl from Six is somewhere out there, as are Stitch and Zalea. I wonder if they stuck together after the stampede or split up. The boy from Eleven is still alive as well—maybe Zalea found him. Though if he wasn’t in on Merritt’s plan, I doubt he and Zalea are working together in the arena. Maybe they decided to split from the very beginning to ensure neither of them would have to kill the other. And there is the boy from Twelve too. That makes eleven of us, and the seventh day of the Hunger Games is almost over.

Mako voices my concern. “It’s going so slow. How long before they start a fire or let some horrible mutts loose or something?”

I shrug, then laugh, remembering Claudius Templesmith and Caesar Flickerman on the night of the reaping, theorizing about how a field of mostly older tributes will change the Games. “Well Claudius,” I say in my best Caesar Flickerman, “I guess we know what happens when most of the tributes are older. None of them want to mess with each other. So far it looks like they’re just on vacation. A vacation that could be cut short by a sudden and horrible death at any time, but vacation nonetheless. I mean, look at them Claudius! These two are having a fishing contest!”

Mako laughs. “They’re gonna send something horrible after us for that.” But he is still chuckling. And half an hour later, when we decide to quit fishing for the day and compare usable fillet sizes, he announces loudly, “For those of you keeping score at home, I caught the biggest fish today.”

I imagine the laughter of the audience at the interviews, how they would eat this up—how they are eating this up, because all those people who laughed and cheered at the interviews are citizens of the Capitol. The Games have no great effect on them, they are just another program to watch.

Finnick sends us a pot with a lid that night as the anthem plays. There were no cannons today, so we largely ignore the spectacle, opting instead to try to reason out what we are supposed to do with a pot.

“Maybe he just wants us to make soup?” Mako says.

“And eat it with our fingers? And we don’t have bowls. Or anything other than jerky and blackberries.”

“You’re the one who spent so much time at the edible plant station.”

“Yes, and when I find one, I’ll let you know.”

From wherever the mentors watch the Games, I am sure Finnick is swearing and calling us every name in the book.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

I have been on watch for three hours when it hits me. “Coals!” It comes out much louder than is wise, but I am already on my feet and halfway to where we buried our fire.

I scrape the dirt away with the toe of my boot, and sure enough, there are the coals. They are no longer glowing or hot, but they will still be valuable for building a new fire. Carefully, I scoop them into the pot until it is full, then put the lid on and carry it back to the cave.

Tomorrow we can bring a pot full of coals in when we go to bed. It might keep our toes a little warmer.

Mako is awake. “You can’t shout like that, I thought we were being attacked.”

“Sorry,” I say, breathless, “I was just excited that I realized what we can use the pot for.” I open the lid. “See, coals! And if we scoop them up before they cool off, they’ll keep warm and it should, in theory, be easier to rebuild the fire in the morning. Plus we’ll have something warm for our toes while we’re on watch.”

He nods, wearing a bemused smile. “Actually not a bad idea.” Then he stretches and says, “Since I’m up anyway, I can take the watch.”

“If you want. I’m pretty awake, but I could go cut some more firewood. It kind of feels like it could rain tomorrow, you know?”

“Yeah,” Mako says. “Better to be prepared even if it doesn’t.”

So I take the knife and head into the trees, collecting what broken branches I find, then cutting down others until I have an armful of firewood. When I return to the cave, Mako is holding the carving rock. I prop the sticks against the wall well back from the entrance so any rain doesn’t blow in on them, then go back to Mako.

He hands me the rock. “I think we need to keep track of days, otherwise we’re gonna lose all sense of time. Honestly I’m already kind of struggling to remember how long we’ve been in here.”

“Alright,” I say, “Then let’s figure out how long it’s been and I’ll mark it.”

We work our way through time in the arena. Day one is easy. Day two we found the tree patch and the dam. The morning of day three we found the cave, which means it was very early on the fourth morning that we saw Merritt and Elsie kill the buffalo and later that day that we met Stitch and Zalea. Day five was the stampede and day six we returned to the cave. “So yesterday was day seven, making today day eight.” I start carving tallies in the wall below what Mako has started calling the Dead Chart. “Do you want me to make the marks at the beginning of the day or the end?”

“End. That way we know how many days we’ve survived.”

Makes sense. I stop at seven tallies. I will mark today’s tonight.

The next three days pass slowly and uneventfully. On day nine, the cannon booms late in the afternoon. It is the tiny boy from Eleven. The fact that he was the only death makes me almost certain that he and Zalea weren’t working together. That is also the day that Finnick sends us a pair of binoculars instead of our normal roll rotation.

On day twelve I am woken by shouting. I creep to the cave entrance where Mako, covered in his poncho, is blending into the shadows quite nicely. I kneel behind him and pull my own hood over my face, then tap his shoulder.

“River,” he whispers. “All the way down where it runs into the trees.” He passes me the binoculars and I peer through them.

There are three tributes at the edge of the trees. From the flash of blades, they seem to be fairly evenly matched, and locked in a three-way battle to the death. I expected a two-on-one fight, but no, they are all fighting each other.

“Not to critique their strategy,” I say, “but wouldn’t you…?”

“Focus on one and hope the other person took the hint? Yes,” Mako says. “But if you did that, you run the risk of the person you aren’t attacking taking you out. I guess there’s no good way to do it.”

“Don’t suppose you saw how it started?” One of them is struck, but quickly regains their feet and the fight continues.

“Nope. They worked their way out of the trees. If I had to guess though, two of them happened across each other and the third was probably hunting for someone to kill and found both of them.”

The shouts echo over the river all the way back to us. “The racket they’re making, the whole arena can hear them,” I say.

Mako nods. “Yeah, but are we going to go get involved? No. And I’d say everyone else is thinking the same thing.”

One of the tributes lands a solid blow. Their victim drops to the ground and the remaining two begin a vicious duel. After several seconds, the cannon sounds. Whoever is on the ground is dead. I hand the binoculars back to Mako. After what seems like an impossibly long time, one of them falls. The other staggers toward the river.

“What’re they doing?” I hiss at Mako.

“Getting a drink, looks like,” he says. Then, “Oh. Oh that’s-”

Whatever it is, I don’t find out, because the cannon booms once and then immediately again. I can no longer see the third tribute.

“What happened?”

Mako strains through the binoculars as a fourth tribute walks out from the trees and begins looting the bodies. “Tychus was in the trees watching. Sniped the girl from Seven when she was getting a drink. Either they already broke the alliance or he decided now was as good a time as any to just get rid of her. And the other two were… maybe the girl from Six? Was she blonde?”

“I think so.”

“Ok, the girl from Six then, and… oh.”

“What?”

Silence.

“Mako, who is it?”

“Stitch.”

****

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Tag List:

@avoxrising @snow-dragon-rider

#wrey writes #the hunger games #thg: tiger shark #annie cresta #canon typical violence #character death

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tickletricky · 2 years

Text

Tidal Waves

Mini-Fic: The Hunting Trip

A/N; This was a requested drabble with ‘slight romantic undertones’ but I royally fucked that up. With good reason, though, since this takes place after Tidal Waves Chapter 3 Part 2.

Summary: Moon invites Sun along to his usual hunting spot, only to discover... uh... Sun, have you ever hunted for your own food before in your life?

Words: 1067

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When Moon asked Sun to go on a hunting trip with him in an attempt to bond, he hadn’t quite expected this. Was he not carnivorous like himself? He watched Sun in a mix of charm and concern as he clumsily swam, seemingly overwhelmed by the school around him, getting smacked in the face in a quite unflattering manner by one of the fleeing trout — but Moon found it amusing, barely muffing a giggle behind his hand. “Oh, this is very funny to you?” Sun crossed his arms, failing to fake up an angry expression in time before he began to laugh in turn.

“It’s okay, it’s okay! Nobody’s perfect, I just… I thought you ate fish, too.” “Oh, I do, I just…” Sun fixed one of his spiny fins on his forearm back into place after the spines crossed over each other. “We warm-watered folk usually just let the humans feed us,” he admitted, and Moon let off a second, warmer chuckle. “You want help?” “Maybe. Yeah.” And Moon smiled gently. “Come on. We can always find another school. I can give you some pointers, and… maybe you won’t look like a weird starfish this time.” The shark gave a toothy grin at his own comment, and Sun gasped in mock offense. “A starfish?”

Moon felt himself playfully shoved, and he laughed, feeling a warmth blossom in his insides. “Okay, okay, fine. A not-weird starfish.” “Not any better, you rude little shark, you!” “Come on, your Majesty,” he commented sarcastically, feeling a connection between them spark as they smiled gently towards each other, and Sun followed Moon’s lead as though he’d been doing it his whole life.

The trip there seemed to spill over into the edge of eternity. Moon hadn’t realized how physically close they’d been during — and he’d been sure to give Sun his space. And yet it felt as if Sun’s fins might brush against his scales any second now, and he shuddered with anticipation at the thought. He was trying to figure out these feelings — the way he felt warm around Sun. Like nothing bad could happen if he just stayed by his side.

Especially when he felt like a pole was driven through his throat if Percy even so much as spared him his gaze.

“So, Mr. Dark and Mysterious, where’d you come from, exactly?” “Oh. Well-” Moon would’ve frozen on the spot, with the way that Sun was swimming in tandem with him, just beneath him and smoothing his scales without a care to if he might scratch his own delicate ones, like flower petals rubbing up against tiger teeth, and it completely melted him down in his touch.

“Well?” Sun looked at him expectantly, sunlight glinting in those teal eyes of his.

“I- uh… the Trench.” Sun’s fingers stopped dead in their tracks, and he leaned closer, his voice dwindling smoothly to an intrigued whisper. “The Trench? You know the rumors, right?” He moved his fingers up to make a shushing motion to Moon’s mouth, drawing a hesitant trill from his throat.. “You’d better keep that to yourself. I don’t know what Percy might do to that unsteady reputation of yours if he found out...”

“I have a reputation?”

Moon spoke with almost an innocent curiosity, but in reality he could not bear to do anything but keep swimming in that hypnotic tandem, his arms dangling limply at his sides.

“Everyone has a reputation in the ocean, moonflower. I guess gossiping just isn’t so important where you come from.”

“Well… what’s mine?” Moon asked cautiously, only to get a warm smile from this person who he felt so…

“Everyone’s unsure. But to me, I think you’re misunderstood. In fact…”

Sun paused, tracing one of the scars on Moon’s shoulder, near his collarbone, feeling him freeze and shiver. “I think you’ve got quite the story. I’d like to hear it.” “Oh, I’m sure it’d just-... Bore you to death.”

“Maybe you misunderstood me. I don’t want to hear your story for the plot, moonflower.” “O- oh?” All of a sudden, Sun’s face was a lot closer, their noses almost touching. “I want to hear it because you’re in it,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around Moon’s neck.

It was no understatement to say he’d known Sun for quite a while. Years, actually. He had been Moon’s definition of ‘best friend’, someone who never really found him annoying as he thought he’d be. He’d always been a charmer; in reality, a weekend friend, who he’d had less and less of a chance to hang out with in recent times. But for these years of quiet warmth to amount to floating in the water, looped around each other like this?

Moon hesitated, pulling back the first time, but smiled and huffed, closing the distance between their snouts. “Is that a yes?” Sun asked softly, drawing a soft trill from the shark and beginning to smooth down the scales on his back when he heard it. “I knew it.”

Moon hung there in the water, content until he heard his stomach grumble. “Mmm… What about the food?” Sun giggled to himself. “Oh, I knew you’d ask. Come on, it’s my turn to be teacher.”

Sun’s hold on Moon slipped off gradually, until his fingertips slid off his arms and he turned himself around to dig around a small cave carelessly.

“Hold on- ow!” Moon heard a snap and immediately came to investigate, seeing a bit of crimson seeping out of Sun’s arm, but with a wince, the brighter mer pulled the chunky brown crab out of the cave. “Spunky little guy.” He chuckled, smashing its head down and off with a single, swift motion, and Moon looked on in mild horror, but it faded as Sun carefully pulled out the meat from its now-limp pincers, offering it to his shark friend who took it gingerly as though he might hurt Sun if he didn’t. “You’re…” “Bleeding, I know,” Sun chuckled airily, rubbing the wound lightly and wincing. “Oh!” “This is pretty deep. You’re okay, right?” Moon held Sun’s arm delicately, wiping the blood off from around the edges with caution, shivering when he felt a hand stroke down his head. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Don't worry yourself.”

“Where to now?” “I think we should stay here for a bit,” smiled Sun, pulling Moon closer by his grip before relaxing into the still waters.

#mermoon #mersun #fnaf mermay #my fnaf merfolk au #tidal waves fanfiction

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