#prompt28

Prompt: One (or both) realizing they’re in love @jilytoberfest

It happened one day in the library. They were gathered at a table, revising for their end of term exams before the Christmas holiday– a scene not out of the ordinary. 

She’d asked him to quiz her about the twelve uses of dragon’s blood discovered by Albus Dumbledore, to which he amicably agreed. She couldn’t remember the twelfth use for the life of her, and after a moment of grumbling she acquiesced and asked for the answer. 

“Spot remover.” 

“Ugh, I’m never going to be ready for this! I’m going to fail my exams, then fail my N.E.W.T.s  and I won’t get a job, then I’ll be destitute and have to live on the street!” Lily succumbed to the stress of days spent cramped up in the library. 

“Nonsense,” James teased, lightly tapping her on the nose with the pile of review parchments she’d handed him. “You know we’d never let you end up on the streets! We take care of our friends!” He said it lightly, and everyone at their table laughed at the new light-hearted teasing found between the two of them nowadays. Lily forced herself to laugh along with them, but found the task hard to accomplish– due to the newly formed stabbing pain in her chest. 

Newly formed wasn’t giving it enough credit. It had been there the last few weeks– more in the form of a constant ache, rather than a stab; but today the pain was acute and agonizing. She wanted to double over at the waist and cradle her chest against the pain. She’d always known James was a powerful wizard, but she’d never known him to be able to inflict such agonizing pain with just a word. 

Friend. 

It was as if it was an unspoken incantation, for the reaction it caused in her. Friend. 

They’d come a long way since the start of the year, and had anyone asked her before this exact moment, Lily would’ve said she was more than proud to be friends with someone like James Potter. 

But somewhere along the way, something had changed. Now she didn’t just anticipate his company, but longed for it. Her day didn’t feel like it had truly started until she saw him. When he smiled at her, the same friendly smile he bestowed upon all his friends, she felt her insides warm as if she was glowing from within. The more time she spent with him, the more she realized how truly funny and kind he was, and she noted his unwavering loyalty to those who were lucky enough to be called a friend. 

So really, she should feel overjoyed to be included in those James Potter considered a friend. Truly. 

But why did the word suddenly feel so empty? 

Read on AO3 or FFN

@thethistlegirl​ @doubi-ixi​ @linariouswrites​

Cute dragon under the cut

Such wow. Much Normal. Very oops. 

.................................

Laurance ground his teeth and shoved his head back into the ground under him. It had been a complete accident. A horrible happenstance. A malignant mistake. 

Laurance let out a breath and sat up to get a better look. He had to lay back down when his stomach flipped over. There was a stick jammed through his calf muscle. He had been running and jumped a fence, but a horse spooked him and he had fallen. Now there was a very splintery, very painful stick in his leg and it HURT. 

He hissed and laid there, grabbing handfuls of dirt and squeezing. His first thoughts were PAIN, his second thoughts were pain and fear, and his third thoughts were wondering if he was turning the dirt into rocks with the pressure he was using. He took deep breaths until his body normalized the pain a little.

 Being a Semni sucked sometimes. Sure, you didn’t ever have to worry about shock killing you or taking you out of the game, but without shock the pain was never initially numbed. You just… felt it at almost the exact moment it hit.

Laurance took another look to see if he should do anything about it. He wasn’t too worried about infections. He never really got them. So he decided to leave it in till an actual surgeon could get all the bits out. 

Laurance reached under his shirt and slipped his fingers into the pouch there. He pulled out a rectangular piece of silver metal and rubbed his thumb over it, focusing on Rin. A strange portal appeared in front of Laurance’s face when Rin answered. It was like a mirror had warped into existence in front of him but it was Rin looking at him rather than himself.

“Hey, are you okay?” Rin asked, putting down his beagle when he saw the state Laurance was in. 

Laurance winced. “I messed up,” he laughed nervously. 

“Yeah, you’re paler than a ghost, what happened? Are you hurt?” Rin asked seriously.

Laurance nodded and bit his lip for a moment. He released it and gasped, “It HURTS.”

“What happened?” Rin asked, his voice taking on a soothing property.

“I tripped,” Laurance whimpered. “And there’s a piece of fence in my leg.”

“Let me see,” Rin said gently, hands grabbing either side of the strange dimension mirror to pull it closer to look.

Laurance pushed the mirror down through mid air so it was over his leg. Laurance heard Rin’s intake of breath but decided not to say anything.

“I’m coming, Laur,” Rin said soothingly as Laurance pulled the mirror back up. Rin was gathering up some stuff. He was in his potions room. “You stay very still, Any enemies I need to worry about.”

“Just a horse,” Laurance said, feeling sick. “Hurry, please.”

Rin nodded and waved his hand. A portal appeared beside Laurance. Rin stepped through just as the mirror shattered to nothing. Rin knelt by Laurance put a potion to Laurance’s lips. A pain killer with the side effect of putting the drinker to sleep. Laurance took it eagerly. He groaned as Rin pulled Laurance up into his lap and waited for the potion to kick in.

“It’s alright,” Rin said as Laurance grabbed onto his best friend’s shirt. “We’ll have that out of you in no time. Just breathe. You’ll be fine.”

Laurance enjoyed the moment before passing out immensely as the pain faded completely, knowing he was safe and that he’d be fine when he woke up. 

“What in the unadulterated fuck was that out there? What part of this forest is alive and does not want you fucking with it was unclear? When I said it? When the Adders said it? When the gods damned Hearers said it?”

A creak of both wood and leather rises up from the grip the roegadyn was taking on the doorway into the former Dragoon’s office, glaring at the man with the one eye that was capable of doing so. His own soured expression was turned back upon her, though far more for what had just come out of her mouth than any concern of the aftermath of their most recent mission into the Shroud.

“You’re overreacting, as you are apparently wont to do, Bremwyda. Everyone got home in once piece and we resolved the trouble. I’m.. unhappy with what happened to the child, but it’s out of our hands now. I’ll deal with him over it wh-”

He breaks mid word as the giant’s palm draws back and slams into the wood of the door frame, splintering the wood. From there she launches into his office proper, stalking up to the other side of his desk and jabbing a finger at the air towards him as if she were prepared to drive it straight between his ribs.

“We got lucky, stupidly so. Shit out there was playing with our minds, and frankly we don’t even actually know it’s done. This could all be it just keeping things going for what we could tell of things while they were happening. I’m no stranger to risks but this is going too far. Just because you have a fucking death wish you’re trying to sprinkle with honor doesn’t mean the rest of us want to follow you into an early grave. You are a leader, you have fucking responsibilities and you have to start fucking living up to them.”

A scowl drug it’s way over the raven haired Ishgardian man’s lips as he pushed up to his feet. It still left him having to look up to the Sea Wolf, but he was doing his best to posture himself to claim the woman’s statue in aura if not in the physical. His voice doesn’t come right away though, left to simmer down to something more pointedly calm instead of her enflamed rage.

“You have been a valued asset to the Outriders, Bremwyda. Not just for the resources and logistical expertise, but your combat prowess as well. I still think you are incredibly useful to the mission. However.. if you question me like this again I will haul your ass back to the Vault myself. Gridania won’t be able to save you from a noose for insubordination after you volunteered for service. Are we clear, pirate?”

The seething anger for the man, his profession, his actions, and most of all his nation were pouring from the roegadyn like sweat on a muggy day. Even unarmed, she was confident she could snap his neck before he could yell for help. Just end it here and go on the run. Not how she planned to get out from under her parole terms, but it wasn’t as if the thought hadn’t hit her before. Her fingers tighten down, eyes of both teal and red boring into his own. In the end she turned from the man and his desk, glancing back over her shoulder on the way out.

CW: Battle and violence but not particularly diving into the bloody details ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “GET BACK TO THE BLOODY SHIP!”

The words come roaring out of the sea wolf’s chest shortly before another round of thundering cracks of The Broadside firing off at the Garleans bearing down on the scrap they were currently bunkered behind. The intent was to lay down covering fire while her crew made their escape, and figure out how to save her own skin after that. Instead after the first few rounds there was a horrifying click of her gun’s hammer landing on the back of spent shells. She’d taken out a few more soldiers with the heavy caliber assault, but those had a clear shot on several of the other pirates and wasted no time in taking them, cutting down two more of the young men under her charge.

The roe hisses through her teeth as her back slams back into the cover and she goes digging through her long coat for any additional rounds. Normally she’d have enough to cut through a moderately sized mountain, but this was meant to be a quick salvage stop from a recent Garlean loss. Grab anything magitek worth a damn, throw it into the hull, and get out before the Alliance or the Empire could swoop in with their own recovery teams. Instead they were about finished loading when an imperial squad came bearing down on them unsuspecting. Too many had been cut down too quick, and the ship itself was too far away because of the lack of fitting spots to bring it right into battlefield. 

How she got to that point became immediately less important as another volley of imperial fire crashed against the remains of the vanguard she was taking cover behind, sending her back down from her attempt to raise up and survey the oncoming danger. “Fuckfuckfuck!” The words come bursting out as a heavy plate that was already half pulled free from the automaton’s core came flying free and nearly too the woman’s head off. With the shielding gone though, the remaining flow of energy in the magitek construct was laid out more clearly for the half-panicked pirate. Nothing she would have ever noticed years ago as a first mate, but her recent magical training not only made her aware, but left her at least some what understanding what was going on within. It wasn’t the same as a beast’s aether being artificial as it was, but in that moment huddled against the machine as her only shield she had clarity on what had once made it tick. “This is stupid.. this is stupid.. this is stuPID!” With a forceful push of her own aether in as close as a proximity to ceruleum running though it, she manages to get one arm of the construct raised and pointed towards the incoming gunfire. The half broken machine gives out one harsh screech of steel upon steel as it’s busted mechanisms manage to fire one last time, launching a blast from it’s drill canon directly into the front lines of the very confused squadron. 

Each of the sea wolf’s steps rang clear through the cave as she made it through the long tunnel into a broader chamber, letting her thoughts roam as free as her eyes once she’d made it in properly. The space was certainly large enough, but they should be far too many yalms underground for it to be useful the way she’d intended. “I don’t doubt it’ll fit. Hells, there’s probably even room to get it lifted and turned around in here, but.. I’m seeing a pretty big flaw in the deal you’re trying to cut here, ‘old friend’.”

The lalafell she’d followed down this path shot her one of those disturbingly large grins, the kind that only helped to reaffirm her guess that the race were the children of imps. “Bremmy-Brem-Brem! You wouldn’t think I was just out to sell you a hole in the ground, would you? No no! Come, you’ll see!” Striding with the special sort of confidence only someone the size of a large gourd could muster, he makes his way to the cave face furthest from their entrance, and fusses with a crystal for a couple of moments before the rock vanishes. The roe blinks a couple of times as she approaches the new opening, staring directly out into one of the many crags that runs through the Shroud. The stretch just above them nearly curves to the point of forming a land bridge, but as far down as they were there was plenty of width to work with, and the gorge stretched on for nearly a malm before curving out of sight. “If you can’t fit it through there, then you don’t deserve to be called a sky pirate!”

The roe’s lips do their very best to match that impish expression the lalafell was still wearing, taking a deep breath of the forest air from the edge of that cliff. The Cutlass Fury called a similar place home port, though without the benefit of a fancy glamour. Seclusion and good will of the locals through greased palms had been their tricks, but she could definitely appreciate the benefits of a few well placed crystals these days. Years of bringing home holds full of plunder to that musky hole in the ground all came rushing back, knocking most of her haggling sense right out of her head.

Anisha took deep breaths. She lost control on her magic and her eyes blurred as he scales came out of focus. Her eyesight had gotten worse. She focused the scales again and she looked up, tired and hurt. 

A man stood over her. He smiled and kicked her in the side. She rolled a couple of times and stopped, coughing and spitting blood. She hurt. She hadn’t hurt this much in a long time. The Dragoni’s wings flopped slightly as she tried to convince herself to get up and stop uselessly bleeding on the floor. She was about to roll to her knees when a boot came down on her wing with a crunch. Anisha wiced as he body told her that the wing was broken. 

“What a pathetic little dragon,” the man said, grabbing the broken wing and wrenching it. Anisha hissed in a breath, slight curses about gravy and mushrooms falling from her lips.