Heyy, rlly love ur work, especially a rose admist thorns - wasn't rlly sure if u take requests or even still post but was wondering if we could get a one-shot or a couple of drabbles about how Henrietta and Xaviers relationship went from cute courting to full on abuse?
Like maybe Henriettas first couple days on the ranch and seeing what she's gotten herself into?
No problem if not, love ur work, all thr best <3
(Sprry for all the typos lol)
Hello! I am so glad you like my story! I do still post and I am still working on A Rose Amidst Thorns. I've been in a slump ahah but you have inspired me with this ask!
I wrote Henrietta and Xavier's first meeting for you. I think it's interesting to see what attracted them to each other in the first place.
thank you and I hope you enjoy! I'll write the last two chapters of ARAT eventually I swear lol.
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Henrietta spotted him from across the bar as she played her violin. Usually she could ignore the gaze of most of the drunkards there but this was different. Most people who stared were bewildered, or full of hatred. Father had called it jealousy. The white folk there never played music as well as they did. No one played music as well as they did. None of them were singers but good music didn’t need a voice. Not if it had something to say.
Most people couldn’t feel the meaning but this gaze was different. It was like this man was actually listening. His eyes were watching her every move and she met his gaze. He was dressed in all black with a brown vest. A black hat sat on the bar counter. Black hair, a mustache that was almost laughable, and watery eyes.
The song ended.
She gave her violin to her brother and made her way to the man's side of the bar. The man grinned at her and nodded his head to her.
“You were starin’” she said to him.
The man laughed and waved down the bartender, “A drink for me and the lady, please.”
Henrietta sat down next to him and she realized his eyes were a dark green.
“I was starin’,” he admitted, “your music isn’t like anything I ever heard. It was beautiful,” he complimented, as the bartender handed him a whiskey double and gave Henrietta a shot. Her usual. “Is it original?"
“Yes. My father wrote it. He’s very good.”
“You ever write anything?”
Henreitta watched him take a sip of his drink and shook her head, “No. I don’t have anything to say yet.”
“The song you played just now… what was it called? What was it sayin’?”
She thought for a second, wondering if she should even answer. This was a random man in a bar she performed at. She didn’t know him, but there was something about him. He intrigued her.
“It doesn’t really have a name. But it’s about my mother. He wrote it when they married. They played it until the sun came up.”
They stared at each other for a moment and Xavier held out his hand for her to shake.
“The name’s Xavier Reede. It’s very nice to meet you…” he paused, raising a brow at her, expecting an answer.
Henrietta grabbed her shot and drank it. Then she grabbed his hand and shook it with a smile.
“Henrietta Belaqua. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Henrietta, if you’re not playin’ the next song? May I dance with you?”
She laughed in surprise and withdrew her hand. Why would this white man want her? It made almost no sense. But he was handsome and it wasn’t a Sunday.
“Only if you answer a question,” she conceded.
“Ask away.”
“What did the song remind you of? When I was playin’”
Xavier smiled at her and he took another sip of his whiskey. “My ma, and my sister.”
A family man then, she liked that.
“I’ll dance with you. But you better keep up.”
She stood up and walked away, grinning to herself.
TAGLIST for ARAT: @flowersarefreetherapy @badgerwhump @whumpbees @whumplr-reader @cyberwhumper @demondamage @angst-after-dark @just-a-silly-little-whumper @tictac-murder-spaghetti @crash-bump-bring-the-whump @jumpywhumpywriter
27. "Breathe.. Breathe.. look at the stars kid."
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Xavier never wanted to be a parent or anything close to it. But he held the bundle of skin and bones close to his chest, gently carding a hand through red curls as the boy sobbed. It had rained earlier, they got caught in it. Jesse couldn't handle rain anymore. Not since his mother died.
The boy curled over, taking heaving breathes that rattled his ribcage. Xavier could feel it. He sat down, taking Jesse with him and held him tight. "Shhh.." he whispered into red curls. "Shh,, breathe.. breathe.. can you look at the stars kid?"
Slowly he relaxed his hold enough for the kid to crane his neck back to look at the sky. The clouds had cleared and there was a breeze. The sobs quieted slightly. "There we go kid. There we go. You're good. You're okay."
Jesse sniffled, leaning his head back into Xaviers chest. The twelve year old was getting ridiculous with the whole not being wet thing. But still, Xavier held him. One day.. Jesse would have to learn to deal with this on his own.
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Thanks for the ask!!
Hello friends. This is a drabble I wrote because I wanted some good gore. Everyone thank Ev for this idea!! haha. This takes place around 15 or so years before the main plot! So its a bit of a prologue of sorts. __
CW: graphic descriptions of injury, blood, broken bones, restrained, sadistic whumper, GORE GORE GORE, eye whump, torture, Xaviers FUCKED Up thinking process, umm.. implied character death but left up to interpretation??
word count: 1.3k
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“Bernard? Do you know what I do to traitors?” Xavier asked, laughing slightly at how pathetic the man looked down on the floor. Hogtied, face half pressed into the dirt by his boot. The man had stolen from him.Tried to take some of the jewelry from his house. The man went into his house. His house, the place where his sister slept.
Xavier released his boot from the man's head, Bernard winced as he looked up at Xavier. Shaking his head slowly.
“Use your fucking words Bernard.”
“No sir. No sir, I don’t know-”
Xavier cut him off with a swift kick to the teeth. He could hear the man choke and spit on blood. It made him smile. He crouched down and grabbed the man by the hair, lifting his head to look him in the eye. Bernard had blood dribbling down his chin.
“I didn’ want that many words.”
A whimper came from the man and Xavier couldn’t help but laugh. Letting go of Bernard's yellow hair and the man’s head fell against the dirt floor. Breathing labored as he spit out more blood. He looked so pathetic there lying on the ground. Hard to believe that the man had almost successfully stolen from him. Stuck into his house in the middle of the night, stole his sister's jewelry while she was sleeping. Was lucky Abraham was there, caught him in the act before he could even leave the room. But Abraham was weak. He wanted to let Bernard go. Take all of his things and turn him loose into the world.
Why let him go? Why would he ever do that when there was a chance of him coming back? Xavier couldn’t have that. Bernard needed to know that he had done wrong. Xavier needed to make sure he never came back. Never could come back.
“Bernard? Are you ‘fraid of the dark?” Xavier asked, kicking the worm onto its back. It squirmed like one, hands and legs pressed against the ground, making its back arch painfully.
It groaned and shook its head. Tear streaks made down its face, showing the light skin beneath grime and blood. Strange wasn’t it? The way blood washed away so easily when people cried.
“Words Bernard,” he chided, pressing a boot to the things stomach, forcing his back straight. His spur dug into the shirt.
“N-No,” Bernard answered with a sharp gasp. Sucking in air through his teeth.
“Then this shouldn’t bother you too much.
Xavier’s boot removed itself from Bernard's stomach. He took a step back, then circled the man for a second. Watching the way he squirmed and fought to try and make a more comfortable position. The way his face was contorted between pain and panic as he stopped above him. His boots on either side of the man's head. He looked even smaller from this position.
He lifted a boot and Bernard started a garbled attempt at pleas.
“Please, please.. PLEASE. Don’t do this, don’t. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, please don’t. I won’ steal another thing long as I live please.”
There was something about that pleading that made Xavier shiver with excitement. Wanted to hear more. The heel of his boot connected with Bernard's nose with a crack. Blood flowing from it, onto his lips, over his chin, down his neck. There was a feeling of fascination there as Xavier’s boot connected. He ground it into the bones on Bernard's face, hearing as the bones and cartilage ground against each other. The man beneath him was screeching, but Xavier could barely hear him over the sound of his own blood roaring. Adrenaline fueling him. Fascination with the way the bones sounded, the way the blood flowed.
He tilted his head and grinned down at Bernard.
“Try to take a deep breath for this one Bernard.”
He tilted his boot slightly, spur hovering over the man’s left eye.
“No! No, no, no no nononono PLEASE!” Bernard screamed, nasally and half choking on his own blood.
“Deep breath,” Xavier said slowly, before the spur on his boot dug itself firmly into Bernard's eye. The resistance was there, but all it took was a little extra force before it went through the layer of skin that was the eyelid, and sunk into the eyeball beneath. The scream Bernard let out was satisfying in itself. The way Xavier twisted his spur into the soft tissue of the eyeball, was even more satisfying. He could hear the way it squelched and moved as he twisted it left and right. A trail of bloody tears came from the eye. Adding to the already copious amounts of blood on his face. Who knew he could make someone bleed that much just from the face?
Lovely really.
Xavier lifted his boot with a slick popping noise that made him laugh over Bernard's screams. He dragged the flesh that had come up with the spur on the dirt above Bernard’s head. Humming thoughtfully as Bernard’s screams died to choked off sobs and groans.
“Did you know that eyeballs were that soft?” Xavier asked with a small satisfied smile. “I didn’t. Learn something new everyday ey?”
Bernard did not respond with anything intelligible. Not that Xavier expected him too. He’d just destroyed the man's eye after all. Xavier lifted his boot again, angling the spur that lightly pressed into the man's right eye.
“Again.. Really hope you’re not afraid of the dark Bernard. You’ll have to get past that fear real fast if you hope to survive this,” he said. There was only a garbled groan in response before Xavier dug his spur into the man's eye. This time, his eye was fully open, there was less resistance. It sunk into the soft tissue and he looked at it with a sense of fascination. The spur disappeared fully into the eyeball. Blood blossomed outward, covering the bright blue of the iris. He twisted his boot and the eye followed with it, shredding itself as he turned it the other way. Melting completely into the dull spur. More and more blood pouring from the eye. It was almost beautiful in a way. He pulled his boot, but this time, the eye came with it, stuck to the spur like a thorn.
It was the connection of the eye to the back of the socket that made him laugh harder. Bernard was no longer making noise. Passed out? Dead? Didn’t matter. He wouldn’t be bothering the Reede ranch anymore. He tugged the eye away, the connection making a snapping sound as he lifted the boot and grabbed the eye, pulling it off the spur himself.
It was soft, surprisingly so, he lifted it up to examine it closer. Damn, he really did crush it. But it still held a bit of its form on the bottom. Circular. It looked as if it had been carved into. He squeezed it between his fingers. It folded in on itself and leaked blood and fluid over his hand. Dripping down on Bernards face.
He threw the deformed and destroyed eyeball onto the man’s still chest. Wiping his fingers on his shirt.
Xavier didn’t do well with traitors. Especially not ones that threaten his sister's life. What was that saying? Eye for an eye? He liked that one. Made sense.
He crouched down to Bernard, feeling for a pulse. Fluttery, rapid, but it was there. Xavier grinned. Standing up and making his way outside the barn, imagery of crushed and destroyed eyes following him as he did. He stopped at the man with braids who stood outside the barn, face utterly neutral.
“Don’t do anything. If he’s alive by tomorrow, fix him up and send him on his way. If not, there’s a shovel, give it to one if the ranch hands and they’ll know what to do. Understand Solomon?”
The man nodded slowly, expression shifting to surprise. Xavier didn’t take it personally. Solomon was new after all. Had only been here a week. He’d come to learn. They all did.
“Eye for an eye Solomon. Eye for an eye.”
Xavier always liked that phrase. Now he knew why.
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Thanks for the ask Anon!! From THIS ask game
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🍎 [RED APPLE] Who does your OC value above all else?
Xavier values himself over anyone else. If he had to choose between himself or Henrietta, there is only one way that decision can go. He can get another wife, doctor, heir, dog.. but if he's dead, he can't really do anything else about that. His life, his values and happiness are worth more to him than any other persons, even if he does claim to love them.
🍒 [CHERRY] Who is your OC's perfect companion?
LOL. His horse. Deadass. Xavier has a brown mustang named Ranger, and he is the perfect companion. He doesn't talk back, he listens pretty well, and he doesn't really care how many people he's killed. Ranger is his bestie for the restie.
Hello. I am absolutely not normal at all about the boot spurs Xavier has. Just the mention of them-- tingles.
The way I laughed outloud at this. Az...
I have spurs on my boots too (yeehaw motherfuckers)
But yeah, Xavier likes to kick Miguel with them like he's a lil horsie to make him go faster!!! /hj
thanks for the ask you weirdo /aff
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