#take a wild guess why i chose salmon

[krissis-averted]

Upriver

#majora's mask #loz #loz mm #loz fanart #mm fanart #young link #legend of zelda #meow art #take a wild guess why i chose salmon #passed out and woke up w this #found out i like drawing fish #link fanart

[ao719]

Split

Split - Carry You (Chapter 5)

Characters belong to Pixelberry

Title inspiration: Carry You - Ruelle

Summary: A change in the King’s behavior becomes the catalyst to revealing secrets buried beneath the surface.

Warning: This series will contain sensitive and NSFW material. If you read, you acknowledge you are 18+.

Catch Up Here

A/N: Huge thanks to @dcbbw and @sirbeepsalot for beta reading and all of your suggestions!

Tags: @bobasheebaby​ @leelee10898​ @speedyoperarascalparty​ @hopefulmoonobject​ @zaffrenotes​ @cocomaxley​ @gardeningourmet​ @blackcoffee85​ @gibbles82​ @annekebbphotography​ @sweetest-marbear​ @wannabemc2​ @indiacater​ @liamxs-world​ @smalltalk88​ @damienswhore​ @classylady1234​ @kazdog75-blog​ @lodberg​ @umccall71​ @texaskitten30​ @thequeenofcronuts​ @romanticatheart-posts​ @jared2612​ @custaroonie​ @drakesensworld​ @perfectprofessorherokid​ @blznbaby​ @iplaydrake​ @be-still-my-aching-heart​ @moneyfordiamonds​ @the-soot-sprite​ @ladyangel70​ @lynne1993​ @kate-mckenzie​ @emichelle​ @zilch3​ @princess-andromeda-nazario​ @mfackenthal​ @dcbbw​ @burnsoslow​ @bbrandy2002​ @sirbeepsalot​ @emceesynonymroll​ @debramcg1106​ @gnatbrain​ @thecordoniandiaries​ @janezillow​ @caroldxnvxrs​ @silverofdreams​

Alexandria stood in the entranceway of the beach villa, leaning against the doorframe; her eyes were trained on Liam who was down on the beach. He stood at the shoreline, gazing out at the ocean.

Liam and Alexandria had been on the private island for five days. After much coaxing and cajoling from Alexandria, he agreed to go.

Alexandria had told Liam she thought it would be good for them to get away, to take the time away from their every day, incredibly busy lives to clear their heads and decompress. For them to spend time together, alone, and reconnect. To focus on the two of them.

At first, Liam insisted they stay at the palace. Despite having gone two days without one at home, he feared he may have another episode while away and cause harm to Alexandria. He was worried he would hurt her. Again.

Liam eventually relented … with conditions. He insisted that if he were to have another blackout, act out of character, or put his hands on her in anything other than a loving manner, they would come straight home.

The first couple of days on the island Liam had slept a lot. He had been mentally and emotionally exhausted and it was as if his mind and body were trying to play catch up. Liam also had headaches, which Alexandria paid close attention to. They weren’t like the headaches he had experienced before, they weren’t the ones that signaled the onset of an incident. They were milder, and they went away with some rest.

By day four, Liam looked more like himself. Gone were the dark circles under his eyes and the tension in his muscles. He seemed to be more relaxed. But while he looked himself and seemed somewhat better, he wasn’t completely back. There was something bothering Alexandria. Liam seemed distant with her, both emotionally and physically. She knew why; he did too. Liam still felt guilty over grabbing her arm hard enough to leave a mark. In actuality, the guilt wasn’t the only thing weighing on him, and she knew that. She knew there was something else occupying his mind, something distracting him from her. She just wanted him to open up to her, to get whatever seemed to be still holding him back off his chest so they could move forward.

**

Liam’s eyes closed as he breathed in the briny aroma of the sea breeze. Curling his toes, he felt the softness of the sand, still damp from the retreating tide. His gaze settled on the far off horizon, the bright hues of the sun melting into the sky and ocean. The seemingly endless sea was masked with an apricot color; umber flowing into turquoise.

Alexandria had been right; this getaway had been good for him. He felt rested, and for the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel stressed. However, there was still something at the forefront of his mind. Guilt. For saying hurtful things to those closest to him. For not remembering; not remembering speaking down to and degrading his wife, not remembering breaking his promises to her. For putting his hands on Alexandria. For hurting her.

Liam worried it would happen again. Although he had gone a week without an incident, he found himself waiting with bated breath to wake in the morning to see that look in his wife’s eyes, letting him know something he couldn’t remember had happened.

They were on a private island with all the time in the world to get lost in one another, for them to reconnect on every level. He wanted to show her how much he loved her. Yet, he hadn’t touched his wife. He didn’t feel as if he deserved to touch her in the way they both wanted.

Liam saw the disappointment in Alexandria’s eyes often during the week: when he would turn down cozying up to her on the hammock outside, or the nights when she would attempt to close the space between them in the bed. Rather than give them both the intimacy they desperately craved, he chose instead to deny them both out of guilt and fear.

Liam heard his name being called and looked back over his shoulder; his gaze fell on Alexandria, leaning her head against the doorway of their villa. She motioned it was almost time to eat before she slowly turned and disappeared inside. He let out a soft sigh as he turned and headed towards the villa to prepare for dinner.

****

A short time later, they were sitting on the beach, having dinner, listening to the sound of the ocean tide gently lapping close by. They both had pan-seared salmon, wild rice, and asparagus. Alexandria glanced up to see Liam lifting a forkful to his mouth, clearly approving of the meal. She knew salmon was one of his favorites, so she had specifically requested it for him.

Alexandria wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin. “How have you been feeling today?”

Liam looked up at his wife. “I’m good. I feel good.” He nodded before taking a sip of his water.

She softly smiled at him, staying quiet for a moment. “You’ve seemed … to have something on your mind still. You know you can talk to me, right?” Alexandria gazed at him, waiting. Please … please just talk to me about whatever it is that’s bothering you still. She wanted to say the words aloud, but she was afraid to push him into talking if he wasn’t ready.

“I know, love.” He offered her a small smile, trying to hide what he was feeling behind it. He looked down and continued to eat.

After dessert, they sat in silence, letting their food settle. Liam glanced out at the water, watching the sun begin to dip below the horizon. “My mother loved the beach …” The words came out of nowhere, almost as if they were a thought that he had accidentally spoken aloud.

Alexandria looked at him. “I guess that’s something she and I have in common then.” She watched a genuine smile form on his lips. “Did you spend a lot of time with her down at the beach?”

Liam nodded. “We would come here when I was younger, she would take me down to swim. And then in the evenings, she would sit out on the beach for hours just watching the sunset, watching the sky as it turned.” He let out a soft breath as he looked down at his hands resting in his lap. “The anniversary of her death is in a few days …” he quietly spoke.

Alexandria stared at him. She wondered at that moment if perhaps the anniversary of his mother’s death had anything to do with why he seemed to be distant with her. “I know how much you miss her. Are you alright?”

“I am … she's just been on my mind a lot today.”

Alexandria didn’t know how, but she could sense the question in his mind as he stared off. “You’ve made her proud, Liam.”

Liam looked over at her with a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. Not recently, I haven’t, he thought. She would never be proud of the things he’s said and done to his wife or friends when he blacked out. “Thank you.”

****

That night Alexandria had asked Liam to come with her to sit in the hammock outside the villa. Liam could see the hope in her expression, all just to simply sit with him. Feeling bad about how he had been acting, he nodded and she took his hand. Once they had gotten comfortable, Alexandria had taken it upon herself and moved closer to him and curled up against his side. To her surprise, Liam draped his arm around her, his fingers gently stroking her arm as the hammock lightly swayed. She closed her eyes relishing in it.

Alexandria had stayed nestled against Liam for a long while, enjoying his warmth. She glanced up at him and he looked down feeling her shift against him. Liam offered her a small smile before she tilted her head up to meet his lips, kissing him softly. They parted, but just briefly before she kissed him again. Liam’s hand brushed across her cheek as her’s went to the side of his neck. She felt her hair wrap around Liam’s fingers when he felt her tongue against his.

Alexandria thought that night might be different; she hoped it would be different. They parted and she carefully stood from the hammock and turned to him. “Why don’t we go to bed,” she suggested with a smile.

Liam looked up at her, hearing the invitation in her voice, seeing it in her eyes, sure his own eyes were lust blown. But instantly the worry and guilt crept over him, winning once again. “You go ahead … I’m not ready for bed yet ...” The look of disillusionment in her eyes at that moment crushed him. “Alex … I … I’m sorry …” She stood there waiting to him to further elaborate on his apology, but he just stared at her without explanation.

“Ok …” she whispered. She slowly turned and walked inside the villa.

Once Alexandria was out of view, Liam leaned forward on the hammock and dropped his head into his hands as he let out a breath. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Alexandria, he did, more than anything. He wished he could let go of his guilt, follow her inside and her in his arms. To spend the night touching her and kissing her until she was breathless. To spend the night utterly wrapped up in one another to a point where they lost all sense of themselves. It was clear that she had let it go, that she had forgiven him for it all. If only he could be so forgiving with himself.

Liam stayed out in the hammock for a while before finally making his way inside, only because he knew that Alexandria was now sound asleep. When he approached the bed he looked down at her, the moonlight coming in through the window bathing her skin. He crouched down at the side of the bed and brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, careful not to wake her. He watched her chest rise and fall slowly with each breath. “I’m so sorry, my love,” he spoke in barely a whisper. He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead before standing. He stripped down to his boxer-briefs and slipped into bed on the other side. He turned his back to her, willing the guilt to leave him so he could close his eyes.

*******

Liam woke late the following morning, stretching the sleep from his body as he shifted in the bed. His eyes slowly opened and just like he had every morning since they arrived on the island, he waited a moment to see if anything would come; a piercing headache, or confusion. But nothing happened. Eight days, he thought. He had now gone eight days without an episode. Liam turned his head to Alexandria’s side which was empty and he let out a small breath before he slipped out of bed.

When Liam stepped out onto the porch at the front of the villa, Alexandria was seated at the table with a cup of coffee and an almost empty fruit plate in front of her as she stared at the beach. It was clear that she had been up for quite some time.

She glanced up upon hearing him step outside. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, love.” Liam moved over to her, leaned down, and kissed her cheek before taking the seat across from her. “How did you sleep?”

“Well,” she replied. Liam knew something was off by her despondent tone. And he didn’t need to pretend to know what was bothering her. “You?”

“I slept fine,” he replied.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

For some reason, that simple question set a wave of nervousness coursing through him. Maybe because he had heard that very same question in the mornings after one of his episodes. Although it was said in a much different tone than one she had just spoken it in. On the mornings after one of his episodes, there was a hint of anger mixed with nerves in her voice. That morning, it was more stony, as if she were just making conversation, but it still made him worry. “I … I’m feeling good,” he replied as he looked at her curiously.

Alexandria nodded and turned her attention back to the beach. “I think I’m going to go for a walk.”

“Oh … ok.” Liam’s eyes followed her as she stood and stepped off the porch into the sand, making her way down the beach. She didn’t invite him to join her. She always did before, but not that morning. And even more guilt hit him at that moment.

Liam knew he needed to get out of his own head. He needed to open up to her, but he was finding it hard to do. He didn’t want her pity and he didn’t deserve her understanding. Liam also knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before she would drown out that voice inside her head telling her not to push him into talking, and she would ask him.

****

That afternoon, Liam and Alexandria sat on the veranda of the villa for lunch. When Alexandria returned from her walk along the shore, the two of them had spent the rest of the morning on the beach before coming to eat.

Liam’s gaze swept over Alexandria as she rested her chin on her hand. He stared at her with longing in his eyes. Her hair was loose, framing her face as it fell to her shoulders and beyond. It was lighter from her time on the island. Her skin was sun-kissed, and her nose lightly freckled. When she glanced over at him, meeting his gaze, he noticed the gold flecks in her eyes seemed to stand out even more against her tanned skin, but there was something missing in them; perhaps it was the way her smile hadn’t quite reached them, or the lack of the usual sparkle they normally held. Instead, her eyes held sadness ... and it was because of him.

While on the beach, Liam found his resolve dissolving.

Liam’s eyes dropped to his wife’s lips, tinged with a soft pink gloss, before meeting her eyes again. He lifted his hand to her cheek; his thumb brushed across her skin, warm from the sun, and slightly damp from perspiration. “I’m sorry, love,” he whispered.

Alexandria searched his eyes. “Sorry for what?” She wasn’t expecting an apology from him, and it made her curious as to why exactly he said it and where it was coming from.

“Everything … I’m sorry for it all, Alex.”

She let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t really know how to respond to that, Liam. You … you’ve been so closed off this entire time. And you’re not even telling me what you’re apologizing for.”

Liam could feel himself becoming nervous, unsure exactly why, but it caused him to get frustrated with himself. This was Alex, his wife, and there was no reason for him to have this much of a difficult time opening up to her. As he continued to look at her, he couldn’t get the words to come out. Liam abruptly stood from the veranda and walked inside the villa.

Alexandria lifted her head and rose from her seat, her tenacity taking over. She had tiptoed around it long enough. He’s going to talk to me. She stepped inside the villa where she could see Liam sitting on the bed across the room. He looked up meeting her gaze as she stood in the doorway before she approached him. “Liam,” she said softly, a bit of hesitancy in her tone.

Liam looked up at her, a softness in his eyes, but distance as well. Alexandria sat gingerly on the mattress while giving him a tentative look. “We need to talk …”

Liam knew it was coming. He knew his wife better than anyone, sometimes better than she knew herself. And after seeing her that morning, he knew she wasn’t going to allow this trip to end without at least attempting to get to the bottom of their problem. His problem. He nodded his head, and she moved further onto the bed.

“This trip seems to have helped you ...” she began.

“It has,” Liam agreed. “I feel less on edge. I feel more rested than I have since I can remember.”

“I ...” Alexandria paused as she let out a breath. “I’m beyond happy that it’s helped you, Liam ... but as I said outside, you’ve been closed off. I feel like you’ve shut me out since we’ve been here. I feel like ... we’re here together, but we’re not ...”

“I don’t want to shut you out, Alex ... I just ...” Liam trailed off, trying to find the right words.

Liam stayed silent for a long moment. “Please, Liam … just talk to me ...” Her voice was pleading as were her eyes when he looked up to meet her gaze. “I didn’t want to push you into talking ... I wanted you to come to me ... but I can’t take the distance anymore ...”

Liam let out a heavy sigh, able to feel the sting behind his eyes and the lump forming in his throat as he stared her. He needed to be truthful. It was time he told her. “While I feel less stressed ... my mind and conscience aren’t completely clear. I can’t ... I can’t stop thinking about the things I said to you, how I made you feel. I can’t stop thinking about what I did to you …”

“Liam-”

“I’m scared, Alex!” There was a vulnerability in Liam’s eyes that she had never seen before when he spoke. “I’ve gone days without any blackouts where I don’t remember, but it’s as if I’m waiting to wake up one morning and see that look on your face that tells me it happened again. That there will be something else I’ve said,” he closed his eyes, “another mark I’ve caused.” When Liam opened his eyes to meet his wife’s gaze, a single tear rolled down his cheek. “I never thought that I would be someone to hurt you … not emotionally, and certainly not physically. But I did! I did both of those things. And I don’t think I will be able to handle hearing that I’ve done something to you again. I haven’t forgiven myself for the hurt I’ve already caused you … and truthfully, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to. And I don’t want you to be understanding of the situation because there is absolutely no excuse for what I did. None.”

“I understand that you’re afraid, if we’re being honest, I am too. But not of you … for you. Please don’t shut me out. I need you to let me in, Liam … let me be there for you.” Alexandria slipped her hand into Liam’s as he stared at her. “I love you, Liam, and I know how much you love me. I know that you would never intentionally hurt me. And I want to be here for you, I’ve been here … waiting. You’ve always said that you’ll carry me, carry us … it’s been your way of trying to protect me. But there are times, like now, when you can’t and shouldn’t shoulder everything. And in those times, I need you to let me be the one to carry you.” Liam swallowed over the lump in his throat as another tear slipped out. “We're in this together … I need you to rely on me the same way I rely on you.”

Liam pulled her to his lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist as hers went around his neck. “I’m sorry, Alex ... I’m so sorry,” Liam spoke in a broken whisper. “I need you … and I promise I won’t … I won’t shut you out.” Alexandria’s fingers ran through his hair to comfort him as he held her that way for what felt like the first time in forever.

After a while, Alexandria drew back just enough to look Liam in the eyes and her hand went to his cheek, gently wiping the wetness away. She searched his eyes as she slowly drew closer to him, her fingernails lightly grazing the back of his neck. He brushed his lips against hers and her eyes fell shut with a sigh. “Liam ...” she whispered. The way she said his name told him exactly what she wanted, what they both needed.

Without hesitation, Liam captured her lips in his and the moment they connected, he felt a weight lift from him. The last of his doubts, worry, and resolve faded. She was his safe space, his beacon. She had reminded him that she always had been.

Liam kissed her slowly as if it were his first time with Alexandria. His tongue curled experimentally against hers; their lips moved together while their hands pulled and tugged at clothing. Pressing his bare skin to hers, Liam rolled Alexandria onto her back. His lips found her neck, gently kissing and nipping as he traced a path: her neck to her shoulder to her breasts, her skin erupting in goosebumps everywhere his lips touched. His hands roamed her body, feeling like fire to Alexandria’s skin. Liam touched every sensitive part of her that made her gasp and she drowned in anticipation for more.

Alexandria bucked her body against Liam’s, desperate for friction, but Liam moved at a torturously slow pace, drawing out each touch and every kiss. “Tell me what you want, Alex,” he whispered against her skin.

“All of you, Liam,” she pleaded, “I need all of you.”

“In good time, love,” he teased.

Ignoring his wife’s growl of frustration, Liam’s lips trailed down to her concave stomach and across her hip bone. His hands ghosted her thighs and calves as he moved down in the bed until he was at her ankles. He kissed and licked his way up her body until he was at her center, his teeth grazing the inside of her thighs. He was rewarded with a hiss of pleasure from Alexandria.

“Liam, please,” Alexandria breathed, her need for his touch where she craved it most reaching its peak.

“Patience, my love,” Liam chided as he brushed his lips against her. Alexandria shivered at feeling his hot breath against her core, letting out a breathy whimper. Liam stilled his movements, amazed as always that he could elicit these sounds from her.

Liam wrapped his arms around her thighs and dropped his head down between them. He placed feather-light kisses everywhere but where she needed them. Alexandria’s fingers fell between her legs; she parted herself, allowing Liam to slowly lick her length, causing an instant moan to fall from her lips as her head fell back on the bed with relief. His hands moved to her lower stomach, lightly pressing against her skin to keep her locked in place as he licked and sucked, teasing her with each stroke of his tongue and sweep of his lips against her. Every pull of his mouth sent heat flooding through her body, the sounds dripping from her lips almost sending Liam over the edge.

Alexandria’s fingers feathered through Liam’s hair, tugging hard as she arched into him. Feeling Alexandria’s body respond to him, Liam reluctantly tore his mouth from her when he knew she was at the edge; he heard her whimper at the loss. He pulled his body up to hover over her, the tip of his cock nestled against her entrance. Liam leaned forward and captured her lips in a deep kiss at the same moment he pushed himself inside her. He entered her slowly, one inch at a time until he was buried deep inside her. He slowly pulled out before sliding back into her, his body shuddering with a groan as she lifted her hips to meet his thrust and their tongues continued to leisurely tangle together.

Liam’s lips never left her; he poured affection over every part of her body that his lips could touch as he continued to bring her closer to the edge. He took his time, drawing out her pleasure; his strokes were languorous, and Alexandria lost herself in his long, purposeful thrusts. Every movement was punctuated by the coaxing words he moaned in her ear; telling how good she felt, what she was doing to him, and how much he loved her.

His movements and his words left Alexandria dizzy and desperate. Every stroke rubbed against her clit just before hitting that perfect spot deep inside her. She wrapped her legs around him to pull him in even deeper, their moans and gasps mingling together before their lips did.

Their lazy pleasure soon turned into demanding need. Liam’s thrusts became more deliberate and powerful, driving into her as she clung to him, her nails digging into his skin. He could feel her quivering around his cock, the change in the sound of her moans telling him she was close. “Come for me, my love,” he murmured against her skin. With those whispered words she shattered, the pleasure moving through her like a wave as they came together. Liam erupted inside her, dropping his head with a deep groan as his body tensed.

Liam lifted his head, brushing his lips against her cheek before finding her lips and kissing her deeply. He dropped on the bed next to her as they caught their breath, their bodies covered in a sheen of sweat as waves of pleasure continued to ripple through them. Liam pulled her to him and she rested her head on his chest. He held her tightly as their bodies unraveled together.

Alexandria felt his hand brush against her cheek and she looked up at him wearing a satisfied smile. “I love you, Alex,” he whispered before kissing her again. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

*******

Over the next couple of days, Liam and Alexandria had attempted to make up for what they had missed during that week on the island. Their last two days were spent wrapped up and tangled in one another’s arms. They seemed to lose all sense of time between laughs, kisses and losing themselves in each other. Liam was back to himself; back to the man that Alexandria had fallen in love with. Things appeared to be exactly where they both wanted and needed them to be.

They discussed Liam’s worries about when they returned to Cordonia; what would happen when the stress that was sure to come built up again. Liam promised to be open with Alexandria if he were feeling like things were becoming too much. And he planned to continue abstaining from any alcohol, per the doctor’s orders.

****

Alexandria sighed as she stepped out of the villa, the hot sun hitting her face. “I wish we could stay …”

“Oh, we’ll definitely be coming back.”

“What, are you going to make some royal decree when we get back stating that the King and Queen must go to their private island once a month … alone?”

“I could do it if I really wanted to,” he smirked. “Perks of being a King.”

“If only,” she chuckled.

Alexandria went to step off the veranda but Liam grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. He cupped her face in his hands as he looked at her. “Thank you … for convincing me to come away … for staying by my side … for being you.”

She smiled at him. “You don’t need to thank me for that, Liam.”

“I love you … more than I will ever be able to find a way to say or show you.” Liam leaned down capturing her lips. “Maybe … we can stay … for just one more day,” he spoke between kisses.

“Ahem,” they heard a throat clear. They slowly parted and turned their heads to see Bastien. “Your Majesties,” he bowed.

“Hello, Bastien,” Liam smiled. “You look like you got a nice tan.”

Bastien chuckled. “I can’t say I didn’t mind the small escape, sir. I trust your stay went well?”

“It did,” Liam nodded.

“The jet has been prepared and is ready to go.”

Liam looked down at Alexandria and smiled. “Let’s go home …”

*******

Liam and Alexandria arrived back at the palace that evening. They greeted staff as they came out to get their bags and take them to their quarters. As they walked down the corridors, Liam stopped by his study to check on a few things, Alexandria going inside with him. While she waited, her phone rang, and she stepped out into the hall to take to the call.

“Hello, Olivia.”

“Your Majesty. Did you enjoy your trip?”

“We did.”

“How is Liam? Did … anything happen?”

“He’s better … much better. And no … no episodes the entire trip.”

“That’s good to hear …” Olivia’s voice dropped lower, “Are you with him right now?”

“He’s in his study. I’m outside the door in the hall. Why … what’s going on?”

“I took it upon myself to do a little digging while you were away. I found something, Alex, and it’s imperative we talk.”

“Found something regarding what?”

“Madeleine … and possibly Liam.”

#trr #choices trr #the royal romance #choices the royal romance #ns*w #lemon #trr liam #choices liam #king liam #trr king liam #choices king liam #liam x mc #trr liam x mc #choices liam x mc #king liam x mc #trr king liam x mc #choices king liam x mc

[drabbledragon]

Linktober: Surprise

This post is very close to the day 4 deadline but honestly, I had a lot of fun creating and tampering with the plot! Be cautious, though, because there is quite a bit of violence in this one.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26749021/chapters/65454667

Summary: A new friend is brought to camp, and it surprises a certain Ordonian

Warnings: Some violence

Day 4: Surprise

It was a surprisingly cold day out, Twilight mused, although that’s to be expected as the season goes further into fall. The cold, crisp air and colorful leaves reminded him of his home back in Ordon Village; if memory serves, he would be harvesting Ordonian pumpkins with Fado right now.

He sighed wistfully and tended to the campfire with a long stick. He wondered how everyone back home was doing. Beth, Talo, Malo, and certainly Colin missed him, and he was sure Fado was struggling to herd all the goats back into their house without his and Epona’s help. And of course there was his mentor, Rusl - well, one of his mentors, he supposed, now that he met Time - along with his wife, Uli, who were most likely busy taking care of their newborn child; it’s a shame that he was never able to meet their new baby, but if he knew anything about Rusl, he would excitedly tell Twilight all about his child from sunup to sundown.

And how could he forget Midna? Their meeting may have happened by chance but he felt that they were destined to meet. They had grown to be close friends during their travels across Hyrule - maybe even more than that - and not a single day goes by where he doesn’t think about her. He wondered what would happen if he managed to say what was on his mind before she disappeared into the Mirror of Twilight; if his thoughts and feelings would be enough to make her stay, or allow him to live in the Twilight Realm alongside her. He could only speculate at this point. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a tan snout poked at his shoulder.

“Wild, is that a bear?!” He shouted, and he looked up to see his protege sitting idly on the creature’s back, a goofy grin on his face.

“Yeah, isn’t it great? I was out looking for herbs when I found a bear following me around! He looked like he was hungry so I did a little bit of fishing for him -”

Which meant Wild had jumped into a river, Twilight frowned, again.

“- And then we became best friends! Like he watched me cook them by the fire and everything! Although he was starting to lose his patience towards the end.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if a bear watching him cook was just another daily occurrence. “ Anyways, did you know he’s a big fan of Hearty Salmon? I’m more of a Voltfin Trout guy myself but to each their own, y’know?”

Twilight was barely able to make it through the whole story without pinching the bridge of his nose, “ Wild, you can’t just bring a bear to camp. You know full - well that that thing likes to go through food and attack anything it sees moving.”

“But he won’t, I promise!” The smile from Wild’s face had now given way to a defensive look, “ He’s very polite and friendly and hasn’t done anything to hurt me at all! Plus you always let dogs and cats follow you around, and you don’t even care when Legend brings a whole flock of seagulls to camp!”

The Hero of Legend stopped whatever he was doing at the mention of his name and gave the two a pointed look, “ Hey, you two leave the seagulls out of this.” But he was paid no mind.

“That’s because cats, dogs, and seagulls aren’t actively trying to maul me to death!” The Ordonian’s voice dropped to a lower volume in order to prevent the others from overhearing. “ You know how many times I almost got killed by a bear? Eight, and five of those times were as a wolf. The last thing I need right now is to make that number nine, or to have anyone die thanks to some idiot bringing a bear into camp. Really, you’re like the only one here who’s constantly putting us in danger.”

Perhaps he went too far on that one. He watched all the fight leave his protege like a potion being drained of its contents, giving way to wide eyes and a pale complexion.

“Wait, Cub, I didn’t -”

But Wild didn’t want to hear it. With a gentle tug of the bear’s fur, the Hero of Wilds nudged his companion towards the forest and left, not a single hint of hesitance shown in his actions. 

Twilight watched as the figure disappeared behind tall trees and overgrown bushes, and a large part of him just wanted to shift into his Twili form and run after their trail, but he paused instead.

Wait, why should Twilight go after him? Sure, he’s his mentor and all and he feels like he has a personal obligation to protect the kid but now that he thinks about it, hasn’t he been coddling him too much? Too many times has he taken to his Twili form to find a lost Wild that had wandered to the other half of a Hyrule just because he had a need for adventure, and too many times had he had to answer to Time for the crazy stunt his charge had decided to pull just for curiosity’s sake. Despite being 117 years old, Wild acted like a child - a feral child, at that - that would rather spend the whole day messing around in an open field rather than helping the people who needed him the most.

He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. Seriously, how was Wild supposed to grow up and take responsibility for himself if Twilight was always there to bail him out? Maybe it’s about time for the Hero of Wilds to learn that he can’t just do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He’ll learn in due time, Twilight assured himself, and he’ll be back by tonight for sure.

With that being said, he turned his back and went to go tend to the fire.

Wild wasn’t back that night. Everything seemed well among the remaining heroes, though: Warriors and Legend were locked in their usual banter, Wind and Four were telling exaggerated stories about their adventures, and Sky, Time, and Hyrule were all idly sitting by, amused by everyone’s antics; the only real difference tonight was Twilight and Wild, where the latter was nowhere to be found and the former worried profusely about his charge’s absence. 

Twilight restlessly tapped his foot against the ground and stared into what Hyrule would call dinner. Seriously, where was Wild? The Ordonian thought that he would be back in maybe two, three hours max but it had been ten hours, and there was still no sign of him. Had he gotten hurt? Was he attacked by a hoard of Darias or Gerus that Hyrule often warned them about? Had a Zora grabbed him by the ankle and drowned him in a river? Twilight knew that his protege was very friendly towards Zoras so it really wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.

“Go.”

He looked up to Time and stuttered out, “ H - Huh?”

Without ever shifting his gaze from the fire, he quietly whispered to his protege, “You’re worried about the cub, aren’t you? So you should go and find him; I’ll cover for you in the meantime.”

He processed the words for a few seconds, and then nodded. The old man was right: no matter how irresponsible, thoughtless, and careless Wild could be at times, he was still his protege, and as his mentor, Twilight should be there with him every step of the way, ready to help him up when he couldn’t find his footing in a situation. He left the group without so much as a sound, and as soon as he was out of sight, transformed into his Twili form and left, fervently following the scent of the former champion’s trail.

It had been about ten minutes by the time Twilight had finally found Wild. He was located in a small clearing of trees with, oddly enough, his bear companion laying down next to him; there was a small campfire going with a makeshift pot held over it, and the wolf could easily smell the tantalizing taste of Salmon Risotto.

He shook his head: this wasn’t the time to be salivating over the smell of real food. With a gentle command to his Shadow Crystal, his form shifted to that of a Hylian’s.

“Cub, I -”

Go away, Wild signed, and as if to emphasize, the large bear beside him growled.

The Ordonian immediately took a two steps back and sighed. This was going to be hard: not only did he have to worry about his friend fleeing if he got too close, but he also had to worry about a bear potentially running up and attacking him, and he really didn’t feel like defending himself from a creature twice his size. He finally chose to settle himself on the ground instead, intent on making himself seem as small and non - threatening as possible.

“Listen, I didn’t mean anything I said back there, alright? We got stranded in Hyrule’s Hyrule, we’ve been travelling for days, infected monsters are always showing up and trying to kill us, and I guess I was thinking about what was going on back home, so I was just really stressed out this afternoon. When you brought a bear to camp, I guess that was the final straw and I just took out all my anger on you. I mean, yeah, you really shouldn’t bring a bear of all things to a camp but that thing about you always putting us into trouble was completely wrong. If anything, we put ourselves into trouble, and it has nothing to do with you being here.”

He watched anxiously as his protege stirred the pot, never daring to meet Twilight’s own concerned gaze. He could see the bear beside Wild carefully watching him, paws resting readily on the ground as if it was anticipating for the Hero of Twilight’s one bad slip - up. After what seemed like centuries, the former champion finally let go of his ladle and brought his hands up to sign again,

You’re wrong, and that made Twilight lean forward, my whole life’s been nothing but bringing trouble to everyone. Back when my Hyrule wasn’t destroyed, everything I ever did just made things worse: I followed Zelda around, and she hated me; I protected people from danger, and now the Yiga are trying to kill me; I did everything I possibly could to prevent Zelda from dying, and I literally ended up dying right in the middle of Fort Hateno, and I was lucky that Impa was willing to put me in the Shrine of Resurrection. Now I’m here with eight different Links from eight different timelines and it looks like everywhere I go, trouble always follows. Just two weeks ago I led a bunch of Bokoblins to us because I took a couple of their weapons, and then five days ago I dyed Warriors’s hair green because I tossed him a green potion and it hit a branch and spilled all over him. 

“Well that could happen to anyone,” Twilight interrupted, “ Those bottles are fragile so one small hit and they’ll shatter.”

Fine, but what about everything else? The Yiga, my Zelda, my Hyrule - everything’s a mess because I can’t get my life together; I can’t even remember what my life was like in the first place!

“That’s different! The part about your Hyrule being destroyed is all Ganon’s fault, not yours!”

Then why couldn’t I live up to be a true Hero of Courage like the rest of you? Why couldn’t I just stop this whole thing from happening in the first place?

Twilight was growing frustrated. Where was Wild getting the notion that he could’ve prevented an immortal evil demon from corrupting his Guardians? He was just a 17 year old kid back then, for Hylia’s sake! 

He opened his mouth to respond back, retort at the ready, when a sudden axe whizzed by and lodged itself into the tree behind him. His surprised gaze quickly met Wild’s for a brief moment before he abruptly stood up, Ordonian sword at the ready. Just a few seconds later, a horde of snarling enemies pushed their way from the forest and surrounded the heroes from all sides.

The Hero of Twilight knitted his brows as he slowly stepped back toward the center of the clearing, “ Darias? But I thought Hyrule said they only show up around Death Mountain!”

“Infected.” Was all Wild whispered back, but Twilight completely understood. It had become a common occurrence by now to see monsters that they were sure only showed up in one place and one timeline now showing up all over different eras; and as if some of them having to fight monsters that they never encountered before wasn’t enough, the enemies’ blood seemed to make them stronger, allowing them to have the upperhand on any poor passerby they could fight.

And it looks like Twilight and Wild were a couple of those poor passersby.

The Hero of Twilight swiftly leaned his head away as one of the Darias swung its axe and in the same breath, the former pierced its chest and forced his sword up, causing the enemy to crumple to the ground in defeat. He rose his sword out of the corpse and grimaced: black blood, these are infected.

He perked up when he heard the dull thuds of feet running towards him and ducked just in time to avoid a monster from either side going to swing at him with their respective axes. He winced when the sound of two heads clunking filled the quiet night air and hastily got back onto his feet to slash at the two Darias writhing on the ground. 

He felt light on his feet as he continued to attack the oncoming enemies. Some came to attack him on their own while others stayed stubbornly in pairs, but the process was all the same regardless: step, lean, duck, sidestep, block, spin, and end his foe with a well - practiced stab. If there were two coming at him, he just needed to be quicker, and that was no problem for a hero who was used to facing five Shadow Beasts at a time. 

Every now and then he would catch a quick glimpse of his protege fighting just a few steps beside him, and just like always, every attack was graceful and cleverly calculated. The Ordonian grinned: Wild may act like a child at times, but he took his fighting seriously, and it showed through his undeterred concentration. No enemy should have ever made the mistake of crossing paths with the Champion of Hyrule.

The last enemy fell down in a graceless heap, and Twilight wasted no time in ending its life with an Ending Blow. There was something poetic about it, he mused as he sheathed his sword, ending a battle with an attack that his predecessor had taught him long ago.

He took an eager step forward towards his protege, congratulatory praises at the ready, when a scaled hand reached from behind and dug into his shoulder.

“Twilight!”

Wild’s shocked shriek rang through the air and Twilight had to do everything in his power to make sure that his pained yelp didn’t join it. His other hand scrambled to grab at the Daria’s wrist and when he did, he used every bit of energy he had left to force it back. The threat of an axe raised just above his head made adrenaline rush through his veins, and he became acutely aware of the blood running down his shoulder and soaking into his tunic; but he couldn’t pay any mind to it, because he needed to focus on biding time for a panicked Wild so he could swipe through his Sheikah Slate and find the weapon he needed.

But he didn’t need to wait for that because in a blink of an eye, a rush of brown fur dug its fangs into the enemy’s side and pushed its body aside, freeing the Hero of Twilight from the Daria’s grip. He watched the brown mass - which he now noticed was Wild’s bear companion - tear at the infected foe with sharp white claws and no mercy. The animal finally stepped back when the creature had been torn to shreds, and took a few seconds to make sure it was dead.

Twilight’s breath hitched when the bear started to pad towards him. He wouldn’t necessarily say that he had a fear of bears per se, but the sight of the very same creature that liked to use him for hunting practice was walking towards him did tend to make him feel a little bit unnerved.

However, to his complete and utter surprise, instead of the animal coming over to attack him, it instead gently nudged at his side and whined. 

He froze. Was this bear trying to comfort him? 

And with that very same suspicion in mind, the Hero of Twilight reached his free hand forward and tentatively placed it on the creature’s head, ruffling the fur in the same way the other Links did when he was a wolf.

“You saved me back there,” He smiled sincerely, “ Thank you.”

The creature yawned back in response.

He startled when he felt a gentle hand touch his good shoulder, and turned just in time to see the Hero of Wilds offering him a red potion.

“For your shoulder,” He urged, and when he saw his mentor ready to protest, he added in a quick, “ Don’t worry, I got 25 more in my bag.”

Twilight drank it greedily, and felt its healing effects immediately. He could dimly feel the gentle knitting of skin beneath his tunic, and when he looked at the injury, he found that there was nothing left but a few white scars; but even those would fade in a day or so.

He looked to see the former champion staring at the ground with his curtain of hair hiding his eyes, “ Jeeze, that was stupid of me. I should’ve kept an extra set of arrows at the ready; I could’ve helped you the second that Daria got you.”

“You did help me, well -” The Ordonian patted the bear standing quietly beside him. “ - your bear helped me, but you know what I mean. Sure, the thing saved me and all but if it wasn’t for you taming him in the first place, I wouldn’t have a ten foot tall animal here to save me. So really, because of you, I avoided getting an axe to the head.”

The Hero of Wilds beamed at him and for some reason, his small smile reminded him of Colin’s back home. 

Ah, he wondered how Ordon Village was doing back home; how much Colin, Beth, Talo, and Malo grew up while he was away, and how Rusl and Uli were doing with their newborn, and how Mayor Bo and Ilia were running and keeping the town safe, and how Fado was doing with preparing the ranch for the winter; and how could he forget Midna? The leader of the Twili, the one who was always there to guide him on his adventure, the one he had grown to love. He missed them all dearly, but he knew he wasn’t alone.

Twilight ruffled a hand through his protege’s hair, “ Y’know, as much trouble as you are, I wouldn’t trade you for the world.”

Because when Wild laughed, he was reminded that the Hero of Wilds was his family, too, and he would do anything to protect the ones he loved. 

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#linkeduniverse #hero of twilight #hero of wilds #fanfic #linktober2020

[minrazinc]

Remembering another night involving Bill

I don't know what to say. On my way back, I thought a lot, but when actually putting them into words I find myself once again wordless. After all, what words can be used to describe such a human being.

Since 2016 September the first time I saw Star Trek and quickly fell in love, I've been to five of his theater events, cons not included, plus two tickets bought but unable to attend. I love him for he's an actor, nothing less, so my most desired way of seeing him is to see him on stage. And up till now, five times, five cities, across half of America. I travelled through them without a driving license and car. Itself is almost like a spiritual journey, a boldly going. Every time seeing him, being in a city, besides the joy of seeing him, the adventurous spirit that emerges because of a new place is another reason I love doing this. And every time, no matter how I feel grudges before the event because I hate myself for being craycray again, for not having a life, for having a disconformity between my ideology and my behavior, I always feel so gratifying to a almost spiritual level (why this word so avoidable ) after the event.

And this time is no different.

My first impression: PLEASE DON'T DO ALL THOSE EXACT SAME STORIES ALL OVER AGAIN... ugh here it goes... However, the weird thing that I don't understand is, even though my mind telling me those stories that I heard countless of times aren't funny as they used to be anymore, my body still can't resist laughing. And yes it's my body that laughs, not just faces, along with thousands of people in the theater. And that just feels sooooo good. This is something that I couldn't get from any other actors or theater events. This is something that he alone can bring upon, the ability to make people laugh so hard. It's like all the grudges, anxiety, depression I've had over the whole month went away instantly. I lost in pure happiness...

Second impression: there are still many parts of his talk that impresses me, whether I've heard it or not. For example, when he talked about the "unknown", about his experience interviewing all those scientists when he's making "The Truth is in the Stars", he talked about the true reason science fiction is loved and welcomed is because of its unknownness, that you can bring the reality into any direction. I probably heard him talked this for more than once, but this time is the first time I feel like I suddenly understand it. From the first moment when I watched Mind Meld while I hadn't watched a small part of Star Trek, I was instantly attracted to some of his ideology, I think. I always consider myself a far different person compared to him, but there's some unique ideology that he always likes to hold unto that really interest me, like the unknownness. I think of life itself as a constant transformable entity as well. There's nothing that's fixed, unchangeable. This more or less makes me a person who don't believe in an idea too firmly, because there's always alternative. As in Chinese it would be 中庸 moderation, but that's something that needs far more length to talk about......

Anyway, tonight when I heard his talk, it's the first time that I don't pay much attention on facts and details of his stories anymore, but trying to perceive it, understand it to another level. I didn't want to admit that there are times I don't understand him before, because I've watched a large parts of his works, read all of his books, watched countless of his talks, what's not to understand? But this time I've realized it that I don't always understand him, not stories, but the experience that lies behind that four times of my age years. This is just another part of him that fascinate me a lot, besides the aura comes from his name that sometimes scares me.

Also, the first question that comes from the audience tonight is "space force, are you in?" He laughed for like a couple of minutes just by himself, that kind of "ahhh you peeps want to get me into trouble" laugh with very high pitch. He said he'd deal with it at the end, cleverly avoided it, but of course at the end he didn't answer it still.

He talked about Ubantu again, during which perhaps is the only time I had an illusion he's starring at me, and this is perhaps the only time when I feel like he's starring at me but I wish this is an illusion lol. My poor eyesight...

Near the end of his talk, my illusion gets stronger (the obvious reason is my poor eyesight of course). I remember the words that the authors of Where No Man describe him when attending his talks during 70s, that his face is transformed. I actually felt it tonight! I think this word for one describes his essence as an actor, that he's always alive on stage, or performing, or just actualize his role as an actor (those theater critics who said his performance were wooden are pure fools). For another it probably comes from the subjective feeling of us audience when seeing him on stage. He's so pure, alive, full of life, and artistically canning, which makes him almost out of a physical form itself but an existence that purely belongs to art and a wild energy galloping in the field. It's such an extraordinary thing to see him when he's "out there", on stage, on camera, or even on horseback.

wow did I forget to mention my little encounter with him and Liz just before the show. It's just simply...wow... I decided to go to this restaurant to have dinner in the morning when I saw it on map, because I assumed it's a Chinese restaurant based on its name. But nothing weird came to my mind at this moment... At 4:30, when I finally went there to have my dinner, I was surprised by the inside decoration because it looks a lot like Cafe Firenze... at that moment I thought if he decided to have dinner near the theater this must be the place, even though on the other hand he obviously can choose to have dinner in LA and then drive here. So I was having my grilled Salmon, happily and gratifying, but that thought comes stronger and stronger without knowing why. I even peek at the door a couple of times since I was sitting right in front of it. I was finishing, and was considering whether I shall have a desert or not. Right at that moment here came that man's silhouette which I didn't realize right away but Elizabeth's handsomeness amazed me more. I was so shocked, and couldn't help myself. How many times could you experience such thing? Hope something to happen and boom it happens. I waved to them "Hello Mr. & Mrs. Shatner! "Liz waved back to me first and said hi. Bill acknowledge it and then came to the waiter. After he's done with waiter, he waved to me a bit as well. I was guessing Liz made him do it 'cause it's such a funny scene. I wanted so hard to take pictures, twisting my body back and forth on my seat, but eventually I decided love is best expressed in form of respect (but also because I was scared ah hhh)

I never believed in so called celebrity encounter, not to say "encounter" your fav. But this happened, and became the biggest bonus of this event to me. After I got out of the restaurant I quickly ran to the box office, hoping to upgrade my ticket to VIP (I deliberately chose not to when I purchased ). There's only one VIP seat left at that moment. The staff was helping me. But while they're processing my card, that seat was taken. I was somewhat disappointed, but also not quite. You've got to lose something when you gain.

what a memorable place lol 

this is to memorize those two tickets I bought but unable to attend 

#Bill #events #repo #TWOK screnning #simply amazing

[dzamie]

Fuckton of OC questions: Dzamie

Questions from @liaraliara‘s post here. Doing these for Dzamie, will do more for other characters eventually, whether y’all want me to or not.

1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything? Dzamie Deshulian. Dzamie is one of my common pseudonyms (linguistics joke I stole from a family member), and Deshulian... in-universe, he chose that name from a Chinese word for “skill” and the French "de.” It is almost certainly pronounced wrong, but it’s his name now.

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them? Holy fuck does he have titles. Well, descriptors mostly, though he does carry the moniker of Blue Bandit from his attempts at being a phantom thief, Lord of the Yellow Hive from Equestria shenanigans, and some places call him the Reaper due to his high body count nearby (he decided to get a scythe when he heard that, though he didn’t practice using it much for a long time). Title-wise, he’s described himself as a spellsword, archmage, weaponsmaster, assassin, illusionist, and complete fucking nerd. He self-describably “moonlights as a Lesser Spirit of Chaos.”

3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?  Oh man his childhood is tragic as fuck. Birthplace village burned down, his parents presumably killed or captured, and essentially left with his half-brother (HM) to fend for themselves. Managed to find their way to a really helpful... institution, for lack of a better word. Except it’s a place dedicated to teaching people how to kill dragons. HM happens to be a dragon. Dzamie went anyway, and HM sort of let dragon instincts help him survive, with help from Dzamie. Dzamie was at some point convinced to inflict an ambiguously-large amount of torture on a bunch of dragons, at first because... well, dragonslayer school at the time was fucked up, and later because science. And then people kept trying to kill him, but that’s just... that just keeps happening; it’s not a childhood thing.

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?  No strong memories. His father died in the fire or shortly after, and his mother is in hiding to keep herself alive definitely dead. No need to look for her.

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults? H.M. Deshulian is his half-brother (genetics are weird when dragons are involved). They’ve always had a pretty good relationship, though strangely tempered with a mutual feeling of “I don’t want it to happen for a really, really long time, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be the direct cause of my death.”  Dzamie is HM’s favorite food, and HM is the reason Dzamie decided to increase his acid resistance to a ridiculous level.

6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate? Dzamie was wonderful at the technical stuff, but completely refused the “dragons are evil”-type rhetoric, so he just barely got by, eventually graduating bottom of his class (though the dragonslaying done as the graduation test was definitely the most efficient and least risky of the lot). He’s taken a few college courses here and there, but all after timelines start getting weird around him, so it’s hard to tell when or how many. He enjoys applied math

7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?  He was completely study-driven, with HM being his only friend - though, it didn’t help that most kids he could’ve been friends with would’ve wanted to kill HM on sight. Interestingly, Kenny was in his year, though they never really liked each other much.

8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?  Well, he has HM No pets to speak of. Closest there is is Smugleaf, a Serperior who occasionally lets him have her Pokeball and direct her in combat. He loves birdwatching, snakes, and a bunch of other animals.

9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals?  Animals are generally somewhat neutral towards him, though he can regularly get pretty close to wild animals without them caring.

10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect? No (but he does well with them anyway), yes, no, neglectful, not too bad (just because it’s not much interaction. Facades are tough to keep up over long times)

11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies? Will starve without meat. His species generally views bread as a mild poison, but Dzamie being Dzamie, he no longer has to care.

12. What is their favourite food?  Brownies, the chocolate-ier the better.

13. What is their least favourite food? Sourdough bread.

14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal? Nothing in particular. He remembers being food a lot, especially for HM, but that’s not really the same.

15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking? He’s amazing at cooking, especially at arguably-taboo meals (though he won’t make anything he wouldn’t eat). He has a lot of fun with it, because he “gets to play with knives and fire, and out comes delicious food.” He’s quite the showman while cooking, which can be hit-or-miss, but most people like his cooking, assuming they like the dish he makes (i.e. he obviously can’t make a PB&J that someone who’s allergic to peanuts would like).

16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it?  He hoards knowledge, gold, and some shiny jewels, which he blames on growing up with HM. Additionally, he keeps trophies - the left horn of each dragon he slays, and the sword of any dragonslayer he bests in combat (not usually kills, just leaves weaponless for a while. It’s a slayer thing).

17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos? Nope! He likes to be on camera, but photos aren’t really his thing.

18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else Books: Fiction with interesting worldbuilding stuff. He tends to visit those places. Music: Anything with a good rhythm and tempo, since he often fights in time to whatever’s playing in his head. Electro-stuff is good. TV shows: No preference, really. He doesn’t watch much. Films: Same as books, though he tends to riff on the films he watches. Video games: Platformers with tight controls.

19. What’s their least favourite genres? Most things to do with rural stuff, come to think of it. 

20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes? He likes the idea of musicals, rarely the implementation. Music is very important to him, especially as he can mimic male voices, and move precisely to rhythms.

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper? He kind of does. He’s pretty patient, and tends to do the silent-rage sort of thing when upset enough. Though, it’s a little bit of a tell that his magic spikes and its color turns from green (pride) to red (anger).

22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back? He’s definitely the kind of person who’ll insult someone to their face, either backhanded or up-front. Either directly pointing out flaws (”Let’s get this straight, you thought coming at both me and HM unarmed was a good idea? Did you maybe think the price on his head is that big for a reason?”) or just calling them names that probably don’t make sense if not for inflection (”You absolute salmon.”). Mostly for suicidal lack of common sense.

23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces? He has good auditory and muscle memory, but can’t remember faces, and names are tough. He knows a lot of trivia, and has memorized a bunch of really useful dragonslaying regulations, but it can be kind of random what he remembers.

24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress? He sleeps whenever. Nobody’s known when or where he’s ever slept for almost two years now, save for a few times people could make guesses from him somehow waking up in a pile of dragons.

25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves? It’s really hard to predict, except for puns. He loves puns. He makes a lot of them, too.

26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions?  If it’s necessary to keep up a Facade, he hides his emotions well. If not, he smiles, sings and hums, and sometimes fiddles with knives.

27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad? Not much, actually. He hasn’t cried in years, and nobody’s really known if he’s sad - even him.

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? HM deciding he’d rather not have him around. HM with a large tactical advantage over him. Manic grin, blatant rules abuse.

29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective?  Depends on if he likes them or not. If he does, he usually doesn’t bring it up, and warns them if something he’s about to do is gonna be really scary (though he usually does it anyway after telling them how to avoid experiencing it). If he doesn’t like them, he’ll try to abuse that fear as much as he can without letting on that it’s him doing it.

30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out? “Does playing with people trying to kill me count? Because if not, all I’ve got is sparring with Kenneth and HM, and occasionally going for really long walks.

31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing? Nope, but he can act it really well!

32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like? He has three modes of dress: comfortable and casual, ridiculously-accurate cosplay, and naked. To sleep, generally just a comfortable pair of PJ bottoms and a t-shirt. Dzamie doesn’t usually wear makeup, but does an excellent job of dying his fur to pass for a tiger or leopard when he needs to have a non-magical disguise.

33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties? Boxer-briefs, if he’s wearing anything.

34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body? Lean, somewhat muscular (but it doesn’t show through his fur at all). He’s roughly 6 feet tall, and makes sure he’s very comfortable with whatever form he’s in - he’s very physically expressive, and also does a lot of things that require knowing exactly where every part of him is.

35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure?  His guilty pleasure is probably making up identities to pretend to be online. His totally unguilty pleasures are a good swordfight, casual pickpocketing (though he generally returns the stuff he swipes), and being eaten, usually by HM, Smugleaf, or Sylvia.

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing? Dzamie’s good at... a lot of stuff, actually. He’s kind of a Mary-Sue. Most of my OCs for the Combined Setting are poorly-written, really, so I don’t write stories with them. He likes playing videogames, making his hoard look nice, and bothering talking with HM. And yes, he’s an amazing singer, pitch-perfect and flawless rhythm. Has trouble with female-sung songs, since he can’t just mimic those.

37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction? Fast-ish reader, prefers fiction (fanfiction especially). Dzamie enjoys poetry and abhors free verse.

38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had? Fuck if I know. He wishes he could learn a telekinesis spell (he’s fundamentally blocked from doing so, ever), but this fosters resentment, not admiration.

39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging?  Definitely emails.

40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert? “Awake and alert” is his default state, but he’s not known to turn down sugary snacks.

41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship? Self-described as “complicated, or alternatively ‘straight plus also into women’” (he has a variety of transformation spells, and form affects mind). Physically, he likes... scales, tails, and forked tongues. Mentally is a bit tougher, but usually stable and steady enough to not go off the deep-end when he, HM, Dream, and/or Kenny inevitably do something... sanity-testing.

42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition? Dzamie doesn’t have any goals in particular. He’d sacrifice anything but his or HM’s life for, well, his or HM’s life. No secret ambitions, really.

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people? He’s not very religious, though if he had to choose he’d say he “observes” Eris (the chaos noodle, not the Greek deity), and he does tend to celebrate major Jewish holidays (Yom Kippur isn’t really “celebrated,” but you get the gist) and Christmas out of tradition. Nobody really knows where this tradition came from. He generally doesn’t really care about people’s religiosity or whatever, so long as they’re not bonkers enough to try to, say, ritually sacrifice him or someone he cares about, or to try to stop his kobolds’ “cult” at the source by killing Azurel (him as a dragon).

44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most?  Definitely autumn, and heavy cloud cover (but not quite overcast). He’s pretty good in the cold (fire spells just in case) but complains about high temperatures, blaming his fur coat for his crabbiness.

45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves?  They generally think Dzamie’s a bit to the side of normal and sane, but almost disturbingly effective. Those who aren’t used to him find him a bit unstable, but HM, Dream, and Kenneth figure he’s surprisingly predictable - just not in ways most people are. He, on the other hand... actually, he’d agree with all of that.

46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves? He doesn’t usually have the opportunity to make a good impression; most new people Dzamie meets are met amidst chaos. “Introductions” tend to range from “Hey, I don’t suppose you’ve seen, like, six kobolds run through here?” to “Hi. I’m Dzamie Deshulian, but you can call me your worst nightmare.” to “Don’t worry! This spell should last for at least ten seconds, so you should run that way before it stops working! Name’s Dzamie, by the way.” to “Good evening. I suppose I should mention a bit of a hole in your security system. It’s about Blue Bandit-sized, which is going to be a problem about two minutes ago.” to “Hi. Dzamie Deshulian. I noticed you guys used to have a dragon problem with a nifty reward. Note the past tense. Here’s her horn.”

47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event? Generally hates them. Plays well, but generally expects a pretty big payoff (assassination target, scoping out a Blue Bandit target, some really good food, etc.) if he’s going to pretend he’s actually enjoying his time there.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?  He vaguely enjoys get-togethers, but often stays away from group conversations, content to just watch people do people things. If it’s a party where a lot of the guests are dragons, he can usually expect to wake up in a pile of dragons. He has no idea how this keeps happening.

49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them? Tough call between his twin katanas, his Dragonslayer blade, and the mana-crystal necklace he wears pretty much all the time. The katanas are actually everywhere he goes as well, but they usually don’t actually exist until they need to.

50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?  His spellbook and a bunch of knives. Everything else can be summoned, created, traded for, stolen, or... harvested, if they’re not the necklace (always on him) or his twin swords (also always on him).

#text #ocs #dzamie #tag

[lavieenjones]

August/September 2017

Greece: paradise, in sheep's clothing. The most beautiful vistas, water that sparkles like it's littered with diamonds, amazing wines and garlic-rich foods, and all the expensive trappings of a holiday in heaven- spa services, boat adventures, jewelry, all the wine, and VIP experiences. We did it right though I think; yolo'd the shit out of it in fact.

After meeting up with Rachel and Keith in Oia, we walked down "donkey road" to the water, turned left and after scrambling and side-winding across some rocks we had Amoudi Bay in our sights. We swam out to the jump off cliff and climbed up. Rachel showed zero hesitation and just took a running jump off the edge; she is my hero. Keith and I hung back for a minute but at some point I was alone on top with the other I-thought-I-was-made-of-more-grit non-jumpers. Rachel and Keith take to the cliff a couple more times and in the end let's just say that there was a lot of GoPro battery wasted in the build up of my jump, which never happened. Listen, if it weren't for the jump of 2015 where I almost but not entirely cleared my bed after jumping off a 12' lofted wall I might've been more willing to chance gravity and follow my adventurous companions. However, I can still feel the scar tissue around the fracture from that fateful jump and blah blah blah, cut-to me walking down the rocks and diving into the water from a 2' ledge. Like a normal person. After this death-defying excursion, we had tzatziki and mussels sitting on the edge of the bay in the late afternoon sun. Heaven. I'll also take this opportunity to note that we/I ordered tzatziki probably 15 times over 8 days. After this seafood delight by the water we made our way to Fira for dinner at a local taverna. Tzatziki (obviously), octopus, pastas, and meats were ordered. That octopus I'm still thinking about.

Day two was for the water. We chartered a semi-private boat and went all over the Santorini coast stopping at a hot spring- which turned out to be somewhat warmer water the color of spicy mustard because of the mud? I don't know. It felt like they just brought us to a shallow bay which would be naturally warmer and let us swim around in dirty water. Only real upset for the day though, the rest of swimming points were amazing. On the boat with us were: two Long Islanders, three Aussies, one Kiwi, and a couple of New York sorority sisters (I'm assuming; they sucked). The Cyclades are so small we ended up seeing this motley crew over the next week and various islands- our own little Grecian community. Anyway, we spent this day on and in the water and to say it was my bliss is an understatement. I did muster the immense courage to jump off the side of the boat I'll have you know. I wish I could accurately describe Rachel's zero build up to jumping because it was so casual and everyday. She'd just walk off the edge. No muss. Anyway, I was obviously endlessly impressed by this. We were back in Oia by around 4pm and lounging by the hotel pool by 4:30pm. Then, thanks to Rachel's perseverance, we sat atop some Grecian ruins for two hours waiting for the sunset to hit the West face of Oia. It was worth the wait and actually kind of emotional how beautiful it was. Following this, we did a little shopping (kind of on Rachel's side), and ate gyros and drank local beers while sitting outside a concert at an elementary school.

The next day we went wine tasting with California native and 30-year Santorini resident, Phoenix, which included semi-frequent chastisement for not paying enough attention, Old Testament fact checking, sensational claims to Atlantis, and some really great wines. After our morning lecture series Rachel and Keith set off for a massage and I swam at the hotel pool then ran some errands before my own massage. Then we had a private sunset viewing with champs on the spa terrace. Très romantique and perfect for honeymooners, or a married couple and one tagalong. 😒 Lol, it was actually super fun and we felt like celebrities with our own terrace. We ended up missing dinner by doing a little more (reckless/drunk) shopping, and got a wine flight (so good) and then some more wine at a few other places. You know, just living our best and most expensive life in Oia. Oh then we were desperately looking for food at 2:30am and a little kid, maybe 10 years old, with glasses and sweet face sacred the shit out of me by innocently running up to his family. I yelped and everyone laughed at me in greek. Or rather, everyone that happened to be Greek laughed at me. Also why was that kid up so late anyway?!

On our last day in Santorini we awoke with the sun to take some last chance photos posing with classical Santorini domes, then we set out for Mykonos. Oh boy, this place is so special and outrageously beautiful- might've been my favorite island. We checked into our hotel and spent the next ~4 hours drinking caipiroskas by the pool. Just heaven. Then we listened to the new Taylor Swift a few (10) times and went out in Mykonos. We were out too early though so we filled our time with drinking and getting lost in the labyrinth that is Mykonos old town. And as apparently this was the time to visit Greece, we met up with Steph and some of Keith's friends and danced our hearts out until 4am. Rachel also convinced me to get up on the stage and dance at some point in the night; her joy and abandon were contagious! Before you know it, my top was off and I was smoking a cig on stage wearing a bodysuit, jeans, and all the arrogance of.. the best dancer alive? Aka the best time. I also fell into a cactus on the walk home and a spike is still in my hand.. is this going to be a problem?

We had an expectedly shaky start the next day, eating hotel breaky in relative silence trying to recover from the night before with intermittent flashbacks to our running the Scandinavian for a night. Didn't matter though, within two hours of being awake we were laying in our cabana at beach club, Scorpio, feeling like bosses ordering bottomless rosé and pita chips and just having the perfect day. Rachel and I got a little carried away when we realized we too could live and look like everyone at the resort. That is to say we could spend hundreds on one or two pieces of Mexico-made woven textiles found in a tent at the entrance of the compound. Good thing we hadn't been drinking for hours in the sun otherwise we might've made some poor decisions. Like buying three of the same thing so you and your sisters could match.. for example. Oy vey Maria. Anyway we had dinner there and you can't put a price on table-side prepped beef tartar, incredible salmon and sea bass accompanied by more rosé and a breathtaking sunset. Or you can and it's so much money. YOLO.. ?

On Friday I parted ways with my sweet friends and head out for Naxos solo and they to Athens. I regretted slightly not going to Athens but was drawn to that island life and couldn't resist. I spent this day mostly poolside recovering from Mykonos. I decided to stay in and get room service but when I called they said the kitchen closed early for no reason (or no reason they cared to share) and so I was faced with leaving my cocoon of watching some Dutch (?) version of say yes to the dress and walking the 6 minutes to the nearest beachfront restaurant or rummaging my luggage for half a Toblerone from the flight in. I'll give you one guess which I chose. Anyway the next day I spent on the water again. I was the only person not on my honeymoon on this boat, but two of the three couples were fun and nice and took pity on me so I didn’t have to sit in silence the whole day. There were so many highlights from this trip, and this was no exception. The clearest, and coldest water, cave swimming exploration, and amazing views of the island’s arid coastline. When I was back ashore, I bought a few gifts and then tried not to throw up my dinner as 1) I was still rocking from 12 hours at sea and 2) talked into a local delicacy that was actually disgusting. I ate some, tossed some to the wild cats when no one was looking (hopefully), and then pushed around the rest on my plate like a kid not allowed to leave the dinner table. I also threw the shot of whatever digestif they gave me under the table (into the sand)- seemed more polite than just leaving it there? Maybe I was just ready for home, though I am already imagining my next trip back there. It takes less time Paris>Greece than it does Chicago>NYC, what kind of small miracle is that?

#parisiangypsy #LaVieEnJones #parlevousjones #americangirlinparis