#angst august

[beloathedbabe]

Yeah the kinktober masterlist was disappointing goodbyeee u r weirdos

Hi wdym incest?! 😳😳 Nty im not hungry

[thankssmitin]

Quick angst from the prompt: ‘Mer AU with tiny mer Hitoshi’ #angstaugust

cw: babies in captivity, humans suck, children being taken from their homes.

-

Merbabies Hitoshi and Izuku were told multiple times not to leave the reef. Their parents warned them constantly of the dangers of coming into contact with a human but they were just so curious. The colours of the things their parents called ‘boats’ were pretty, and the pups loved collecting the little things that fell from them to the ocean floor.

It was while they were out collecting some of the shiny things, putting them around their necks and laughing as they pretended to be their mothers, that a huge net, far larger than the ones their pod used to store things, scoops them up.

The two mer pups cling onto one another as they're pulled out of the ocean and flung into giant see-through boxes. They cry in terror at the strange creatures who look at them, poke at the thing holding them and torment them with sharp things that they poke into the water.

It's utterly terrifying.

They don't know how long they cling to one another, as the strange creatures take them somewhere, only that eventually it's not as bright outside and their see-through box thing is moved.

The creatures, humans Hitoshi realises, eventually finish whatever they're doing and much to their detriment decide to drag them out of the water. Hitoshi and Izuku scream, clawing at the humans and desperately trying to get to one another but they're held apart.

Hitoshi sobs as he's put onto a strange, cold thing with no water that makes his skin and tail hurt. It gets harder to breathe and he wants his best friend, wants his mama and papa. And as the humans pull at his scales, tie his arms and tail down to the cold thing he screeches.

He cries in pain and fear until he doesn't have the energy to do so anymore. Everything hurts, it's hard to breathe and only the strange wet material that the humans put over his gills every now and then help. He thinks he can hear Izuku crying but he doesn't see his friend.

After what feels like forever Hitoshi feels the cold thing he's laying on move. Opening his eyes, he's not sure when he closed them, he sees the strange roof of their cave pass them by and realises that they're taking him somewhere.

He starts shaking in fear, whining for his parents and desperately looking around for Izuku to no avail. And then he smells it, the sea. It doesn't smell as fresh as it normally does but he'd know that smell anywhere.

Before he has time to consider it any further the human pushing him stops and suddenly he's tilted upwards. The things holding his arms and tail drop off and Hitoshi finds himself falling. It's a horrible sensation considering you cannot 'fall' when underwater, which is why he cries out and tries to hold onto something with no success. And then he hits the water and he can /breathe/.

Looking around he tries to find something to hide behind but is greeted by only open water. Still, he swims and swims, hopefully outrunning the humans wherever they may be, at least until he hits an invisible barrier. Panicked he throws his hands out and finds something in front of him. This must be one of those see-through things again, only bigger. Oh no.

They've managed to trap the sea as well!

There's another splash and then he hears Izuku's panicked call. Whipping around he searches desperately for his friend, scouring the dark water until he spots a familiar green tail darting around in the distance.

"Zuku!" He calls, swimming towards the other mer as fast as his short tail will allow him.

"Toshi!" Izuku shouts back, coming to meet him halfway. Or he would have, if there wasn't another of those invisible things stopping them from touching.

Both cry out in despair, hands scrabbling at the strange thing as they try to reach one another, only to eventually break down in tears when it becomes clear that they won't be any time soon.

"I wanna go home," Izuku sobs, rubbing his eyes with the hand that isn't trying to hold Hitoshi's.

Hitoshi can only nod in agreement. He'd give anything for one of his mama's hugs or to have his papa show him how to open another clam.

Everything is so scary. His tail hurts so much from where the humans were pulling his scales, and they managed to trap the sea as well! It doesn't make sense, papa always said the sea was the biggest thing ever.

If the humans have managed to catch it...he shudders and presses himself against the barrier, as close to Izuku as he can get.

Something moves in the corner of his eye and Hitoshi gasps.

"Toshi?" Izuku asks, "Toshi, what's wrong?"

"There's something over there," Hitoshi whispers, digging his claws into the thing keeping him from Izuku when a large, dark shadow swims past. Izuku gasps in shock, and then starts beating his little hands against the barrier trying to break it down. "Zuku." He whimpers.

"Go away!" Izuku shouts as the large shadow gets closer. "Leave him alone!"

Hitoshi cannot hold back his tears as the shadow gets closer, his panic starting to overwhelm him and then it just...stops.

For a few moments the pair fall into silence, with only the sounds of Hitoshi's quiet sobs to be heard. The shadow seems to be watching them, waiting, and Hitoshi wants to swim away but he's scared that they might try and follow him.

"What are you doing here?" Izuku and Hitoshi scream in surprise at the sudden, deep voice and the giant hand that mirrors their own. Claws bigger than his Papa's touch /another/ barrier and that's when Hitoshi and Izuku realise that the shadow isn't a shadow at all.

The shadow is a giant mer with the darkest hair and the brightest red eyes. Red eyes that are focused entirely on the two of them.

"A Leviathan mer," Izuku whispers and Hitoshi's heart sinks for the third time since the humans had scooped them up.

Leviathans were known to be the strongest mers, those who protected all of the other mers from bigger monsters.

They were heroes. And the humans had captured one. Hitoshi sniffles, wrapping his arms around himself.

They're never getting out of here, are they?

[tanaleth]

History

An Angst August gift for @fourletterepithet​!  (Also on AO3.)

With obligatory Florence lyrics.

-----------------------------------------------------

I'm gonna leave my body Moving up to higher ground I'm gonna lose my mind History keeps pulling me, pulling me down

—Florence and the Machine

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Cullen stared down into the drawer of his new desk. It held the scraps that had been in his pockets at Haven: a battered copy of the Chant, a singed handkerchief. And his philter. The box lay half-concealed under a stack of papers. He wasn't quite ready to part with it. He should be, but he wasn't.

The drawer was loose on its hinges. Cullen gave it a shove just as the door across from his desk opened to let in a long ray of afternoon sun.

It didn't help the headache that was brewing in his forehead. He'd spent too long talking with Her Worship in the courtyard—he should have known better, but she hadn't seemed to want to let him go. The thought had his cheek muscles twitching as he looked up to see a stocky figure silhouetted in the doorway.

"Hey, Cullen," it said. The voice wasn't that of his runner. It was, however, irritatingly familiar.

"Is that Varric?" Cullen pinched his nose and looked away from the light. They stung his nostrils, these headaches, with a pungent smell of decay that lingered for hours. It followed him no matter how fresh the mountain air or how pleasant the company. And he'd have preferred Velthei's company to Varric's, come to that.

"Don't tell anyone." Varric's silhouette took clearer shape as he shut the door and strolled into the office as if it belonged to him. "I'm lying low to avoid my hordes of admiring fans." He approached the desk and gave it a considering look.

Impudent dwarf.

"This looks familiar," remarked Varric, kicking the base of the desk. Cullen straightened and suppressed a wince as his skull throbbed in response. "Your old one from Kirkwall?"

"A well-intended gesture from our ambassador." Cullen sighed through his nose. "I could have lived without it, myself."

"Just tell me it wasn't Meredith's."

Cullen permitted himself a soft snort as he turned to his still-empty bookcase. "If you'd seen the state of her office after the Rebellion, you wouldn't ask that question."

"I saw enough," said Varric, still examining the inlaid arms on the desk. Cullen had been rather hoping no one would notice the Kirkwall heraldry, but from the dwarf's vantage point, it must be hard to miss. "I was there with Hawke," he added with a quick glance upward. "Just in case you forgot."

Just the reminder Cullen's headache had wanted to spring into full maturity. He leaned back against the bookcase and folded his arms. "What do you need, Varric?"

"A moment of your time, if you've got one to spare."

"I don't."

"Well, that's just too bad." Varric strode across the room to shut the other open door. There was a strong breeze outside, but Cullen winced as the draught disappeared and the room grew quieter. He liked it airy. Better a half-crumbled tower than a confining one.

"You've got some nerve, dwarf."

"Just a big mouth. So." Varric gave an easy grin that didn't quite reach his eyes, and Cullen braced himself for the worst.

"So?"

The dwarf shoved his hands in his voluminous pockets and looked speculatively up at Cullen. Despite his position and his greater height, Cullen felt more than a little intimidated, and more than a little annoyed at his own response to such a simple ploy.

"You and the Inquisitor," said Varric.

Cullen dropped his arms. "I beg your pardon?"

"Don't play dumb." Varric leaned back, a little too casually. "You might fool Leliana with that pretty face, but I know better."

"I don't see what business it is of—" Cullen shut his eyes briefly. His ears were buzzing. "That is, there's nothing to discuss."

Varric lifted a brow. "That was about as convincing as an Orlesian virgin's blush. If you're going to be a great leader, you'll have to play the Game better than that."

"I'll leave the diplomacy to our ambassador," Cullen snapped. But his pulse was jumping with something akin to hope. Varric was close to Velth—to the Inquisitor. Had she said something about—

"I've seen the way you look at her," said Varric flatly. Brutal as a bucket of cold water to the face. "And I'm not the only one. Andraste's ass, man, what's wrong with you? Look, I like the elf. But forget my personal feelings. She's in charge of the whole damn Inquisition. You think it won't mess with her head to get involved with a templar?"

"I'm not a templar."

Varric scoffed. "Sure, pal. You tell yourself that."

Cullen paused, then moved with slow deliberation to the other side of the desk. He didn't even have a bloody chair yet—at least, not one that wasn't covered in rubbish—so he could only stand there with fisted hands, leaning his forearms on the tiled surface of the desk, and glare down at the dwarf.

"What business is it of yours?" he bit out.

"None. Zero. Except that I knew you in Kirkwall, and she didn't."

"None of us were at our best in Kirkwall," Cullen said pointedly.

"Maybe. But not all of us were second in command of the freaking Gallows. I don't know everything that went down there, but I definitely remember the things you said about mages."

Cullen could almost have laughed, except that there was no humor in it. "Are you asking my bloody… intentions towards her?"

"No." Varric met his eyes directly. "I'm telling—" as Cullen's fists clenched, he held up his palms in a pacifying gesture—"all right, all right, I'm strongly advising you to keep it professional."

Cullen's vision was starting to blur. "It's not your place to advise me."

"Well, someone's got to say it. I saw you flirting in the courtyard earlier like a pair of kids. Cut it out, is all I'm saying. For the sake of everyone here. Even if you don't care about her."

"Of course I—" His voice caught. He ran a hand over his face, then dropped it and gave Varric a hard look. The dwarf didn't even look unsympathetic. Just honest.

And he was right, wasn't he?

"Just don't mention this conversation to her," Cullen muttered, defeated. "Varric..."

"I won't." The dwarf nodded and turned to the door. "See ya, Curly."

Cullen found himself still speaking.

"I'm not that man anymore," he said. Pleaded, even.

Varric glanced back over his shoulder, his face uncharacteristically serious. "Aren't you?"

The door clicked quietly shut, as quietly as the low curse Cullen let out before turning back to his papers. There was work to do. A mountain's worth of work to do.

But it was getting harder to ignore the contents of that drawer.

[ravenqueen89]

Mercy and truth

(I’m slowly but surely catching up with the massive writing backlog, woop, but it also means everything else is on the back burner, so I’m keeping up with things even less than usual)

Iiiiit’s Angst August, and apparently I don’t do things by halves when it comes to angst. 

I got to write for the absolutely epic and extremely talented @dalish-ish (please treat yourself to her works, I’m slowly catching up!). I was terrified because she’s so skilled and also because writing anxiety, but I’m very happy I got to do this. I’m still sorry you had to read all these long sentences out loud, though, Dea!

You might’ve seen I had a take on Val Chevin re: Cullen a month or so ago, and when I got the prompt for this challenge (Cullen-stays-on-lyrium epilogue slide, Harding’s POV), I was all ‘yessss, now i get to go even deeper’. And deeper I went, for this is very heavy. oop.

All my thanks for the challenge, the support, and the love <3

Fandom: Dragon Age Inquisition (Tresspasser spoilers)

Title: Mercy and truth

Rating: Gen

Summary: Lace Harding is sent on a mission to confirm the rumours of a raving Fereldan man begging for alms in Val Chevin.

Warnings: content warning for drug addiction, drug withdrawal, major character death.

Notes: I’m not kidding about the heavy angst found here. Mind the tags <3

The ravens fly into Skyhold’s rookery with whispers and rumours fluttering along their wings. Lace hears them cawing through the fortress as she’s sitting on a bench, her face pointed at the sun, thinking of her next mission while her freckles multiply.

Divine Victoria is allegedly on retreat, but Lace has seen Leliana up in her tower, organising the peacekeeping efforts of the Inquisition as if no time has gone by at all. Being in Skyhold feels like home in a way Lace will never quite figure out, so she doesn’t spend too much time thinking about it. Being within the fortress feels right, as right as being on the road, as right as seeing places she had only been able to imagine before.

When she is summoned to the rookery, Lace isn’t surprised, but she does feel a tinge of regret at the sudden end to her peaceful sojourn. She’d learnt the word on one of her Orlesian trips, and it stuck. The Bull used to tease her good-naturedly for using it, but he’s gone now, away with the Chargers, doing work for the Inquisition and for themselves. Lace whispers the word as she climbs the stairs to the rookery, and smiles. She misses those who are away from Skyhold, particularly the Inquisitor herself, but they are all like her, on their own missions. And, like her, they will all come back. More or less.

Continue to read on ao3.

[roseforthethorns]

Lingering

The nightmare leaves him drenched in cold sweat. He had woken screaming and now stands with a drink in hand as he stares out at London from his window. Things look more peaceful now, but he can't shake the feeling of the gun in his hand or the image of the man he'd killed. He'd watched the light fade from those eyes, and the sight won't leave him. His lover is standing in the doorway, but he doesn't look over. Not yet. He feels so weak like this. He's broken by this memory, and he feels ashamed. It isn't fair, but his lover is quite fond of reminding him that life isn't fair. Now they're side by side and drinking silently. It takes a longer moment for Q to finally meet James's gaze. "It's the same for me every time." "I see them all. It stays with you," James replies before draining his glass. "Including that one. It shouldn't have happened. I should have been there." "But it did happen. And I'm alive. Isn't that what matters?" "I wanted to spare you this part." The words are very soft, and Q swallows past a sudden lump in his throat. He just wants to go back to bed, but the nightmare lingers. So he and James stay at the window and watch London until the sun rises.

[esperinkdraws]

Always Too Late

Written for Angst August!

TW for character death and implied violence.

The prompt is Always Too Late. Ft. Snake Nino!

“I’m trusting you, Nino,” Marinette says as she presses the snake Miraculous into his palm. She can’t find Luka, or even Juleka. There is chaos everywhere. She only knows where Nino is, as they had been together when the chaos began.

Nino nodded solemnly. He placed the bracelet on his wrist and Sass flew out, looking inquisitive for a moment.

“My transformation phrase is ‘scales slither,’” Sass hissed.

Both Nino and Marinette transformed. Before they took off toward the commotion, Ladybug turned to Nino and grabbed his hands. 

“What should I call you?” she asked. 

“Rattlesnake,” he replied. 

Ladybug nodded, letting go of Rattlesnake’s hands. She turned and bounded towards the Akuma. Rattlesnake followed.

When they got there, they assessed the situation. 

The Akuma was called Liability. He may have been just frustrated at first, but frustration builds and people lash out. 

That’s exactly what Liability did when people came close. 

Rattlesnake set his timer after Ladybug told him her plan. 

Their first attempt ended with Ladybug’s blood on the ground. 

Rattlesnake barely stopped himself from calling out her civilian name. He closed his mouth and his eyes, turned away, and said, “Second chance.”

He grabbed her hand when she started to rush in. “That didn’t work out,” he said. 

“Okay,” she said, “where did it go wrong?”

They reassessed the plan, but it went wrong again.

“Second chance”

And again.

“Second chance.”

And again.

“Second chance.”

“Second chance.”

“Second chance.”

Time started to blur together. 

“Wait,” Rattlesnake said, grabbing Ladybug’s wrist.

She turned to him and saw the look in his eyes. “How long has it been?” she asked.

“I’ve lost count,” he replied honestly.

“What tends to be the end result?”

Rattlesnake looked away, to the ground. He looked back up at her. “Why don’t we take a break?” he asked.

Ladybug bit her lip. “I have to do this. You know I have an obligation.”

In the end, Rattlesnake sat behind her, cradling her head in his hands.

[thonkingblorbothoughts]

Angst August Day 6 - Rough Night

Esplin sat in a dirty rooftop, like most of his living zone. He uncapped a bottle, and drank. He had no further plans tonight. The day had not been so bad. But then, of course, everything had gone to shit. Esplin did not want to think about that. Or what "his" gang could be up to now.

<We failed them. Again.> The morose voice in Esplin's head went ignored. <Fuck, could you at least try to give a singular shit? What will happen if one of them really gets it?>

The image managed to sour Esplin mood further. If one of those fuckers died, then he would be "responsible" for correctly disposing the body, saying dumb, sentimental stuff he didn't want to, and other human rituals.

"Fuck humans" he said, and drank.

<So not originals thoughts tonight, then.>

"Shut the fuck up. You're almost as bad as Edriss."

<Wow, what a compliment. I'm almost as bad as a invading slug. Thank you for that, I needed the morale boost.>

"SHUT UP!" Esplin screamed, and downed the rest of the bottle.

<Yeah, see, the problem with that is that you can't make me.>

"Humans are pests. One day, you will know your low place in the Yeerk Empire." Esplin smiled as he said that. The idea of humanity enslaved always brightened his mood a little.

<Right. The Yeek Empire that will definitely come because... Two drunkwards insist about it?>

"Shut up." Ugh. Back to the real world. And the bad day, and the alcohol. He grabbed another bottle.

<Edriss will be so happy to know you're spending your time so usefully.>

"She can't say shit to me." Reminded him Esplin. "Not after the other day."

<What, jealous of that guy?>

"Ha, ha. I do not concern myself with pests. Simply with wasted time, and opportunities missed by being stupidly in love with humanity."

<Because the hate you have for it is more constructive?> Luke deadpanned.

"Whatever." He drank again. "For awful days and shitty nights." He said to no one.

<And for being stuck seemingly forever.>

"That's a terrifying idea. I'll drink more for that."

And, in the darkness of the night, a slug and his human slave drank the night away.

[maehemthemisfit]

Angst august huh?

guess what I’m writing on my birthday.

GAHAHAHAHAH YOU ALL WILL BE IN GRAVE PAIN CRYING ALL OF THAT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE BLOOD THERE WILL BE SORROW AND THERE WILL BE HEARTBREAK

BURN. BURN IN HELL FIRE. I HOPE ALL YOUR ANGST DRAFTS SELF ALT DELETES OR AUTOCORRECTS TO FLUFF!