Tag: Charlie Vanderbee

  • Spoiled by a Dragon

    Spoiled by a Dragon

    dragon!charlie

    “You’re my bride now,” he chirps. The dragon wraps his tail around Thandi’s legs, nosing her hands. “So, you have my protection. You can go anywhere! Do anything! No one will ever harm you.”

    Thandi blinks at the creature staring her down, a beast that defies her concepts of size by a vast amount. She reaches out to pat the nose of this thing.

    “Okay, but um. I wasn’t exactly expecting this to happen? Are you sure you’re fine with me?”

    “Well yes, just look at you. Wonderful form.” His tongue darts out and tickles the hollow of her throat. “And you smell wonderful. Like an honest, hard worker. I want to spoil you.”

    “Um. I’m sure that’s all well and good, but really, I’m sure you can do better—”

    “Oh? You would rather compete? Very well! I’ll call all the greatest warriors in the reach of my call and you will see how you outrank each of them!”

    Thandi watches him draw in a breath, chest swelling, scales glittering, and she sees through his skin faintly: light. Before he could shoot the flames, she rushes to his chest, tripping over his tail as she does.

    The creature swallows his fire with a cough, snout smoking as he catches her with his face. “Oh?? Oh?? No longer wishing to compete, my dear?”

    “Um!! They’re probably all busy, these people! Why don’t we have a trial period? To see how we do together?”

    The dragon purrs and again, his huge tail comes up around her. “Certainly.”

  • Miscommunication

    Miscommunication

    like it says on the tin

    What did he say?

    Thandi avoids him lately. Perhaps his feelings have finally frightened her? He knew he shouldn’t have been so forthcoming!

    She squeaks when she sees him and darts off with half of an excuse.

    “Oh! Bathroom!”

    “Oh! My mug is out.”

    “Oh! I need to be not here.”

    She’d flash her smile and off she went. Charlie finds himself slipping into a melancholy, grasping his chest as he thinks on it. He complimented her beauty. Told her how he felt, what it did to him.  Told her how much he supported her dreams.

    Is it him? He is certainly isn’t good enough. Oh, no. He frightened her. He’ll fix this next chance he gets.

    It’s two days later. Charlie reaches out, “Wait! Wait. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t be around me. I promise that you won’t see me anymore. Really, you don’t suit me. Not one bit. Enjoy your life.”

  • It Wasn’t the Radio

    It Wasn’t the Radio

    modern

    Thandi begs. No, she pleads. She grasps his arms and spoils him with kisses, giving him sweet, wide-eyed doe eyes that make him crumble.

    “Only a little bit. I’m not much of a singer, dear. I hate to disappoint.”

    Thandi gives him a playful pat on the chest. “You could never disappoint me. Just a little! I want to know!”

    Charlie takes a deep breath and clears his throat. Thandi stares at him as he closes his eyes. A low tune slips out in a hum, oddly musical despite the lower key. She can feel his chest rumble with it and it makes her smile.

    He quietly sings a few lines, and they’re sweet. Sort of sad. But full of… love. It feels like a personal message to her. And…

    The tune is oddly familiar. Where has she heard it before? Hands on her cheek, a cold cloth on her forehead, and the radio… it wasn’t the radio.

    Oh, Charlie.

  • Karaoke

    Karaoke

    drunk!charlie

    Drunk at a party is certainly not in Charlie’s list of preferred activities, but he’s made an exception today. It’s just the band celebrating privately and nothing more. They’re even at Tirel’s home, a private little suite. Sometimes the spirit moves him and things just end up working out.

    There’s karaoke. Pike is busting out song after song, everyone clapping and singing. ■■■■■ and ■■■■■ watch Charlie with amusement. He clings to Thandi, keeping her in his lap as he keeps his face hidden in her hair. Thandi acts like this is par for the course, talking and cheering and even sometimes wiggling a little dance.

    Everyone is having a good time. Singing. Dancing. Drinking. Chatting. Charlie barely talks, clinging to his wife, but every time he says something it’s always waxing poetic about her. It’s so much sweeter than usual.

    The only sour spot is when ■■■■ holds the microphone out to Charlie. Charlie’s face goes sullen and he shakes his head.

    “I? I don’t sing. Thandi can sing enough for us both, her voice is like a choir… a whole choir…”

    Thandi laughs. “Just one, darling? You sing so well.”

    “I don’t sing. I hate to contradict you, dearest, truly! But your taste is clouded by your adoration, as all I can do is mumble my sweet nothings—”

    “Gross, dude,” ■■■■ snorts. “That’s all right. Tirel, duet!”

    The two clamber back in front and Charlie resumes his place in Thandi’s locks.

  • It’s the Radio

    It’s the Radio

    modern

    Thandi is sick again, struggling with fever dreams. Charlie is careful as he tends to her, keeping her company.

    All she can remember clearly are his hands, stroking her face, keeping her cool, making sure she was comfortable… and a low song that seemed to weave in and out with her consciousness.

    It squeezes her heart when she tries to remember the words, the voice. Sometimes she asks Charlie what music it was that he played for her while she was sick and he always shrugs it off. “It was just the radio, dearest.”

  • PDA

    PDA

    modern

    Charlie snuggles up close to Thandi, nuzzling her as he finds his spot, face buried into her neck. She strokes his hair idly as he settles, relaxing into her touch and enjoying her warmth, her softness, that slightly tangy, slightly sweet smell that always seems to come from her.

    Charlie is exhausted. He just wants her, regardless of who is around, and usually he wouldn’t be caught dead cuddling up to his darling wife out in the mall. But here they are, standing outside the bookstore, Charlie pressing his face into her as she comforts him.

    Thandi kisses his forehead and murmurs to him, so he takes one deep breath and straightens himself out. They leave hand in hand, Thandi smiling for him.

  • Cold Weather

    Cold Weather

    fluff

    It’s freezing, and Thandi thinks she can manage dressed like that?

    Not if Charlie has anything to say about it. “Thandi. You’re going to freeze your tits off out here.”

    Thandi looks horrified and Charlie starts trying to justify himself, stuttering through his words before yanking off his coat and pulling it on her under her cloak.

    “Charlie, now you’re going to be…”

    “I’ll be fine. I’ve been out in worse with less! But you, you’re not… like that. So! Gods. Please?”

    She sighs and pulls his jacket tight on herself before unclasping her cloak and throwing it around his shoulders. “There. Even.”

    It smells sweet. He smiles at her. She buries her face in the collar of his coat and Charlie reaches out, buttoning her up. His face goes soft and he sweeps his hand over her cheek before pulling her cloak tightly around himself and moving to catch up with the group.

  • The Thoughts as of Clue House

    The Thoughts as of Clue House

    depression, tbo canon

    Everybody has been touching him. Sure, he had to touch people for his larger healing spell to work, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be touched. It made him sick to think about.

    First, ■■■■■.

    Then Marco or Marglo or whatever.

    Then this rude sube lady.

    Even later, Tirel touched him.

    His skin is crawling, like it’s just going to climb off of him and… ugh. So he’s a bit irritable today! And then he committed the crime of telling Thandi to shut up.

    Gods, between the guilt and discomfort, he might get sick and just throw up. Just vomit, right there, and then everyone will again remember what an awful creature he is and Thandi will wonder why she even keeps him around and that fucking dog, he can’t even get through to a little yappy creature.

    They prefer that thing that eats people! To him! And then he pushes away the one person who gives even a tiny fuck about him by telling her to shut up. So of course, he just. They’re walking in a circle, following something, and of course if they’re following something around, why not catch it in the middle?

    Plus he’d get a minute to catch his breath and not—

    Tirel and that orc are talking about him right there. Yeah, he knows. He’s an asshole. A horrible man. Disgusting. Wretched, foul, the only reason he’s here is because he can heal them! But fuck, you know what?

    A potion can do his job! What does Thandi need with a possessive idiot coward who snips at her for? Sure, she says she cares, but she’s made it explicitly clear that she only sort of likes him. She can’t possibly ever love him, not like he lov— not like he likes her!

    So he’s gotta. He’s gotta start to pull away again. Unless she asks for him, he won’t interfere. Besides, they had a spat already and even if this time she ended up cooking for him (and everyone else) it didn’t mean a damn thing. He fundamentally disagrees with her idea of killing things! Yes! Why is he so fucking fond of a murderer?

    But also, seriously, that people-eating orc was already being accepted and he’s just some guy who they save because he carries the fucking bandages. Ethically! It is bad to kill someone while they’re bound but he eats people but can he be reformed but he! Eats! People!!!

    Gods, Charlie is so fed up. Next chance he gets he is going to slip away and get on a boat to Cross. He doesn’t belong here. He shouldn’t even be bothering Thandi.

    Sure! She is the most beautiful creature he’s ever met, and the only person aside from his mother and Josiah who even thought he was worth giving a damn about, but he’ll wear her down and she’ll get sick of him.

    She doesn’t care as much as he does.

    No one cares.

    Hah.

    No one cares!

    No one gave a flying fuck when Nora blinked out of existence. Thandi has potions aplenty. ■■■■■ could probably learn to heal if they stopped morphing into a murder fountain every other fight. Tirel hates him anyway. ■■■■ has a shield and plate armor. ■■■■■ would prefer him dead anyway! When he disappears, they’ll shrug and say, well! Fuck that guy.

    Not as if there is any reason for anyone to care about him. He never gave anyone a reason. He tried being nice for a spell, but garbage stays garbage even when it’s in a prettier bag.

    When the group circles back around and meets with Thandi’s again, he wants to cry. He has to apologize later. The look she gave him earlier practically rips his heart out and steps on it, and she doesn’t even give him any acknowledgment…

    Yeah.

    He’s going home.

    At least there, he knows how to avoid a fucking table to the face, and he knows his enemy deserves to die.

  • Sleepy

    Sleepy

    modern

    Thandi wakes slowly. She’s warm and comfortable, a relief after last night’s cry. She presses her face to her pillow—

    Not pillow. Soft, yet firm, warm, a heartbeat— oh. She’s curled up in Charlie’s arms, head on his chest and body between his legs. It seems they fell asleep on the couch, her from tears and him from the probable desire not to disturb her.

    He smells nice. The peppermint has faded and has been overtaken by that smell that seems to hide behind everything else. A faint scent, masculine, exciting in some odd way she can’t name.

    And his hair. It’s fallen into his face again, just the right length to get into his eyes. Thandi wonders for a moment if he keeps it this long on purpose, just to give him an excuse to do that head tilt that always begs her to reach up and tuck it behind his ear. It’s nearly automatic now, and she’s already doing it. Soft.

    A low rumble in his chest, a small hum of enjoyment. He remains asleep, but he felt that. Thandi settles in again, enjoying the closeness of him. Being wrapped up protectively.

    It’s amusing, the impulse he seems to have to try to protect her. She’s the strong one, after all, and he’s a coward at heart. But she finds herself in this position time and again, playing at vulnerability. Thandi lets out a breath and presses her face to his chest again.

    She feels his embrace tighten just a bit. He hugs her to him, mumbling her name. She smiles and closes her eyes, letting his breathing lull her back to sleep.

  • A Knight Returned

    A Knight Returned

    tbo offshoot

    A shy smile. Soft lips. A warm embrace.

    He’s been having these dreams for years, ever since he was young. Sometimes he laughs to himself as he remembers them, knowing he’s been using such a fairy tale romance as a measuring stick to compare his suitors to.

    Who can ever hope to match his knight? She’s brave. Strong. Kind. And so, so… good. Everything about her. Sometimes he sits idly, lost in the memory of her eyes. Deep, dark pools that seem to sparkle with an inner light. The sharp contrast of white clothes against her dark skin… the wonderful softness of her hair… the way she always seems to have all the right words to make him smile.

    It’s as if his dream woman has grown with him. And, of course, it being a dream… some nights are simply them in each other’s arms, sweating as they cry each other’s name, kissing, tasting, loving so hard that it’s hard to imagine ever having anyone else.

    And that dream is what he rouses from before he’s thrown into a carriage and expected to play nice with some other man who is nowhere near the otherworldly beauty of his knight. Sir Thandi! Even now, as he walks with a fresh suitor, he thinks of her.

    And then there’s trouble. A creature, something filthy, monstrous, threatening—somewhere in him finds his magic as Sylvanus whispers in his ear a promise to help him fight. He doesn’t want to fight, he only wants it all to stop! Vines rise and wrap it up, and he wishes desperately that his knight is real. Wishes don’t save lives, though, and then he hears her voice.

    “Incendo.”

    He turns. Those eyes. Those clothes. Her familiar face looks at him quizzically and he approaches her, not believing his eyes. He almost doesn’t hear her speaking to him as he whispers no. It can’t be her. It couldn’t.

    She’s come to get him.

    He opens his mouth and next thing he knows, everything fades away in a flash of white.