#'just use the middle buttons' NO it will screw with the results also where's the fun in that

[francy-sketches]

The asoiaf character sorter is way harder for me than it should be istg. like it’ll ask me to pick between two characters I've never thought about in relation to one another and I'm like well I dont fucking know also this is the hardest decision I've ever made

[velvetcloxds]

IT’S POETIC| D.H.

Pairing: Derek x Reader

Warnings: none that I can think off, reader gets bit so there's blood

Summary: Reader is fighting with Scott and Stiles after Scott bit her by accident and in the panic of the situation the reader goes to Derek's loft for help.

"Call Derek!" I shout looking down at my stomach. Feeling the warm liquid drench the shirt in my grip. I look up to see Stiles and Scott staring at me bewildered. "Call him!" I repeat with the same urgency.

"We don't need him. We can handle this on our own." Scott replies carefully.

"Really, Scott? Can you really?" I step forward and Scott steps back as soon as I do. "You bloody bit me!" I yell angrily lifting my shirt to reveal the remnants of the bite-marks.

"Not on purpose!" He shouts back, lifting his hands up in defense as Stiles just looks out of the window, amusement in his eyes as he conceals a guilty smile.

"That seems to be a recurring issue for you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well we didn't call him last time either." Scott replies with a shrug as he looks to Stiles who simply shakes his head.

"Yeah and that went marvelously well," Stiles chimes in, catching my eye as he walks towards me. He bends down to look at the wound and looks away immediately. "Maybe she's right." He mumbles while covering his mouth to force down a gag.

"I can't call him in for a favour in the middle of the night, what if we wait until tomorrow and I can take you to see Deaton?" He questions, although the stern look in my eyes leaves no need for reply. "Y/n..." He groans pulling a hand through his hair.

"What? Am I being difficult Scott? Am I being a bit dramatic over the fact that you accidentally made a decision that could change my entire life?" I demand bitterly and I see Scott hover as he searches for an answer. I sigh grabbing my jacket and pulling it over my shoulders to hide the blood before turning to face the boys. "Screw it, I'll go to him myself." I push passed them and ignore their objecting opinions as I rush out of the house and into my car.

The ride to the loft seemed to take forever as my mind spun in a continues circle, trying desperately to come to terms with what just happened. Not that it would come easy at all. I only found out about all of this a few months ago and now I'm being thrown into this world head first with no clue how to land on my feet. There was no part of me that ever for one second liked the idea of being a werewolf, partly because the second you get the bite you step onto a permanent battlefield. And realistically speaking I wasn't ready for any of it. I'm not willingly going to put myself in endless danger in order to protect everyone and the sharp pain settling in my stomach won't change that.

I pull the jacket tighter around my body forcing the sides together with one hand while the other furiously bangs against the metal door. "Derek!" I shout stopping the knocking briefly before continuing when there's no reply. "Derek!" I repeat with less volume and more desperation as I see blood staining my jacket as well. I pull away from the door and throw the jacket to the ground to push pressure onto the wound. My hands digging against the ripped flesh without any results, but I force down even harder, needing to catch my breath as the pain deepens.

"Y/n?" A voice asks and I look up to see the door wide open with a confused Derek looking at me.

"It won't stop bleeding," I comment quickly, looking down at my hands. "It won't stop-" I feel my hands start shaking and it only makes me try harder to keep them still. "It won't stop bleeding." I repeat and I hear his feet shuffle towards me before his own hands come into view, covering mine to take them off of my stomach.

"Breathe," He whispers as my hands drop to my sides. I do as I'm told, focusing on inhaling slowly to let the sudden urge of panic fade. "What happened?" He asks when I finally look up at him.

"Scott." I reply dryly, shakily lifting the shirt to reveal the settling marks of teeth. He nods quickly before turning to walk into the loft and I follow him eagerly. My hands slip over the red button to rearm the alarm before I sit down on his bed.

"Take off your shirt," He demands and I hover momentarily before he kneels down in front of me with a new shirt and a bunch of towels in his arms. "It'll heal eventually, but we need to clean you up." I nod slowly before briskly bringing the shirt over my head.

His actions are delicate as he silently clears the blood from the wound, lightly pushing onto the surface of my skin to soak up most of the dampness. He does this for a while until the bleeding finally stops, leaving nothing but a fresh wound in view. His fingers move over the spot slowly, stopping only when our eyes meet.

"It's healing," I state lifting my hand to his, feeling the muscles tighten when our fingers brush against each other. I scoff softly. "I can feel it." He simply nods before leaning forward to help me pull one of his shirts on and a sense of familiarity fills my mind as the scent surrounds me.

I allow the strange comfort to embrace me for a brief moment before I feel the bed tilt beside me. He sits down quietly, leaving a small amount of space between us as our shoulders timidly rest against each other.

"You're going to be okay." He says suddenly, surprising me.

"Depends on your version of okay." I retort and I bite down at my lip to hide the bitterness begging to escape pass them.

"You're not dying," He turns to me and an unexpected urgency sparkles in his eyes as he looks at me. "You could be dying and you're not. You're going to be okay." I turn my body against his, folding my legs under me as I move onto the bed more.

"But I'll be like you. I don't want to be like you." I say softly and he turns his body as well.

"Well I won't be like that for much longer." He whispers and I watch him close his eyes, opening them to reveal pools of gold sparkling in the darkness a clear contrast to the drowning sapphire they used to be. A small gasp leaves my lips at the sight and my mind screams with thousands of questions. But instead of asking any of them I reach up to his face allowing my fingers to faintly hover above his eyelashes.

"What does this mean?" I question in a hushed tone keeping my hand still only for him to nimbly take hold of my wrist restraining me while also sinking both out arms to his lap.

"Alone it could mean nothing. But paired with the loss of my sense of smell, the human like healing and the inability to shift completely..."

"You're losing your powers," I complete and he nods. Guilt rushes into my heart as soon as the realization sets in. Here I was making a big scene because I've been forced to become a werewolf all while Derek is losing something that's been part of him for his entire life. "Derek..."

"You didn't know."

"What will happen if you lose it. Will you be a human?"

"Or I'll be dead," He states bluntly and I inhale sharply at the lack of emotion to which he looks at me. His hand slips from my wrist to my palm and I soon feel his fingers tangling with mine. "Why did you come here, Y/n? Scott's been through this before, he knows what to do."

"I don't know," I answer honestly my eyes remaining focused on our entwined hands. "Maybe a part me just knew I could trust you," I trail my gaze to meet his. "Maybe part of me knew you shouldn't be alone."

"You barely know me. "

"But I'm here and you're here," I bring my other hand up to his chest feeling the slow movement of his breathing. "And neither of us needs to be alone. It's almost poetic." I comment willing my heart to settle as he leans forward in a subtly movement.

"Like death..." He adds and a smile plays with his lips when he looks over at me. His fingers abandon mine and in a rapid gesture I'm pulled onto his lap with my body pressed against his.

"Like kissing." I add feeling the hand on my back securing me in a soft yet strong hold. My breathing quickens as a respond to his touch but also slows as soon as I feel his lips connecting with mine. A rush of electricity spins into my body creating a trail of cold shivers along my spine. I grasp onto his shoulders when his lips leave mine and he watches with a smirk as a shade of rose tints my cheeks.

"Like your lips," He comments using his other hand to turn my head back towards him looking up at me due to my position. "I'm glad you came here." His fingers trace over my lips gently before he slowly guides me back onto the bed adding a good amount of distance between us with emits a groan from me due to the sudden coldness filling my body.

A steady smirk remains on his lips while he grabs a pillow and a blanket from the bed before getting up and walking over to the couch where he settles himself with ease.

"No more poetry?" I question pulling my legs against my chest.

"Maybe tomorrow," He states quickly glancing down at my stomach before locking eyes with me. "Definitely tomorrow."

I nod to myself, understanding what he means and suddenly the fear from earlier streams back into my mind reminding me why I'm here in the first place. But at the same time a new unfamiliar ease fills my heart. I crawl to the top of the bed pulling the blanket over my legs as my head sinks into the pillow, the same sweet scent surrounding me.

"Derek?" I question and he hums in reply. "I think you're going to be okay too." He laughs softly making me smile slightly before I close my eyes.

Hi there, more of my work can be found on Wattpad under @mjoubertt. Mxx.

Masterlist

[my-soul-sings]

kiss the girl: ch 2

Fandom: Tears of Themis Characters: Artem x Reader

Summary: Armed with a trusty book, Artem Wing attempts to win the woman of his dreams.

ch 1 | ch 2

*** 

“Surprise her with flowers.”

Artem has skipped to the second half of the book where the practical suggestions are, because he doesn’t have the patience to carefully read the lengthy explanations of the “psychology of love”. The practical tips are simple enough, but the explanations following each of them are unnecessarily long and repetitive.

Ignoring those, he highlights the ones that stand out—those that sound more doable for him, at least.

The first one he notices is a classic: flowers. Of course. He’s done it before actually—he’d given her a bouquet of garden cosmos because she told him that she liked them. She didn’t really show much of a reaction back then, but he recalls the warm smile it had put on her face for the rest of that day. He doesn’t mind seeing it again. 

But, would it be boring to do the exact same thing? Maybe he can change it up slightly… If he recalls correctly, the book said something about how to send a bouquet of flowers in a way that will “keep her on her toes”. 

It doesn’t take long for him to scan the book and find the relevant page. However, as he goes over the detailed suggestion, his brows gradually turn downwards into a frown. 

“Will this really work...” he mumbles to himself, pressing a finger to his temple. Frankly, it sounds unnecessarily cliched and cumbersome… not to mention embarrassing. No doubt, if Celestine catches wind of this, she won’t let him live it down.

But, he supposes, if he’s going to take relationship advice from a book, then he might as well go through with it fully. 

Having made up his mind, Artem picks up his phone and begins typing up a draft message. 

***

You’ve barely stepped into the office when you hear Kiki calling your name in an unusually high-pitched voice. Your first thought is that she’s managed to get tickets for the upcoming concert for her favourite idol group.

But then you arrive at your desk and realise a marked change from how you had left it the night before: your usually clean and neat desk now has a large bouquet of garden cosmos placed right in the middle of it.

Artem’s is the first name that comes to mind, but you dismiss the thought quickly. With his shy and reserved personality, it’d be strange to expect him to send you flowers out of the blue. 

Your sharp eyes don’t miss the little pink rectangular card sticking out from the side of the bouquet. Kiki spots it at the same time as you do, and her eyes widen with a playful gleam, not even trying to be subtle with the way she’s leaning over to you, to take a peek at the message.

With a cheeky smile, you lean away from her too, deliberately hiding the card from her view, which only makes Kiki kick up a fuss about wanting to see too. Thankfully, Celestine isn’t in the office yet. You don’t think you can deal with two overly-enthused friends this early in the morning.  

Ignoring Kiki’s protests, you open the folded card to read it. As it turns out, there’s not much to hide from her. The message is a simple and curt one:

I hope this makes you smile. Have a good day.

“There’s no signature,” you remark, handing the card to Kiki who practically lunges for it. Her disappointment at the short message is obvious. “Why would someone give you flowers without signing off on it?”

“Maybe they forgot?” you venture, although you carefully search the bouquet in case you missed something else.

“Don’t tell me… Did you send this to yourself?”

You’re unable to hold in your laughter at the absurd idea, and the both of you simultaneously burst into giggles. Just then, your finger feels the edge of another piece of paper hidden between the wrapping paper. You pull it out, and it’s just a small, square card with the letter ‘M’ written on it in fancy, embellished lettering.

“Maybe it’s the first letter of his name?” Kiki suggests. “Who do you think it’s from?”

The letter ‘M’... You don’t know that many people whose name starts with that letter, and a familiar face is already coming to mind—he’s the only one who would pull a stunt like this, especially after you told him specifically a few days ago that you did not want him to send flowers to you, and especially not to your workplace. You don’t want to be teased by your colleagues and worse, Artem might get the wrong idea if he sees it.

“I think I might know who the culprit is…”

With a clenched fist, you pull out your phone and search up the contact before hitting the ‘call’ button. Kiki is left behind, cleanly forgotten, as you storm out of the office to give the culprit a piece of your mind.

***

When Artem enters the office that morning, the first thing he notices is Celestine and Kiki whispering to each other at the pantry while stealing glances at a certain attorney’s way. He follows their gazes to her desk where she’s seated and doing work as always, although today there seems to be a frown etched onto her face, and the bouquet of flowers are nowhere to be seen.

He panics for a moment, wondering if something had gone wrong with the delivery, but then he notices the wrapping peeking out from underneath the table when he walks past her desk and heads towards the pantry, where her two friends are obviously talking about her behind her back—literally.

“What’s going on?” he asks in a low whisper after exchanging morning greetings with them. “Did something happen?”

Celestine discreetly points in the direction of their sulking friend with a grimace. “She’s been like this ever since she got the flowers this morning.”

Artem’s brows knit together, and his mouth opens and closes a few times before he finally manages to piece together his thoughts into a coherent sentence. “I thought... she’d be happy to receive flowers.”

“I thought so too,” Kiki nods, “but when I asked if she knew who the sender was, she suddenly got angry. Said she knew who the culprit was and stormed off. Then she came back and she’s been doing work like this ever since.” She finishes her explanation with a drawn-out sigh, and her eyes return to the back figure of the junior lawyer who’s furiously typing away at her computer.

Artem follows her gaze, and nervously swallows a lump that had formed in his throat without him realising. As always, Celestine is annoyingly quick to catch on to what he’s thinking, and she startles him slightly with an elbow nudge to his arm. “Shouldn’t you put your things down in your office? Or are you here for coffee again?”

He’s not even in the mood to humour her right now. With an absent hum, he nods and quietly trudges towards his office.

Once he’s inside and the door is shut, his bag falls to the ground by his desk and his jacket is flung unceremoniously onto the back of his chair before he sinks into it, fingers entangling in his hair.

He’s screwed. Did he send her the wrong flowers? But she said she liked garden cosmos and he had sent her the same flowers before, so that can’t be it.

Then, was it the message? But he took pains to make sure that it was short, simple and pleasant. Or was it because it was too short? Had she been expecting more?

No, no, but Kiki said she got angry after she figured out who the sender was… which meant that she was angry at him. Had he overstepped the boundaries by sending flowers to the office?

That’s probably it. He messed up horribly. Of course she would be upset that her boss sent her flowers to the office—that was inappropriate. Entirely inappropriate. Why didn’t he think this through properly? Stupid, stupid stupid…

He’s so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t even register the sound of knocking on his door. It’s only when he hears his name being called that he looks up, only to meet the gaze of his colleague whom he can’t bear to face right now.

Hastily, he fixes his hair from the crazed pulling and tugging just seconds ago, and sits upright in his chair while eyeing her cautiously. He’d better pick his words wisely here. “Yes?” The word comes out strained, as if he’s choking.

“I’ve completed the draft statement of claim for the Macrosoft employee issue—the one about the breach of restraint of trade clause and the conspiracy claim,” she says, placing a set of papers on his table. “I’ve also completed the legal opinion you requested for the resulting trust analysis on the Williams’ matrimonial property issue, and I will send you the draft affidavit for Mrs Jones’ case by the end of today.”

“Ah. Thank you…” Artem waits for her to say something else, all while scrutinising her face. She doesn’t seem as angry as before—although she does look a little confused when she meets his gaze.

“Did I miss anything?” she asks, already visibly starting to panic.

“N-No, it’s not that...” Should he just apologise right now and avoid letting the issue fester? He’s not sure if he should be happy or unnerved by how perfectly normal she’s acting. Is she not angry anymore? Or is she just doing an exceptional job of holding her anger in? All those reminders he used to give her about maintaining composure in front of clients and in court must have paid off.

“Okay. Then, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go—”

“Wait, just— just a second.” She peers at him curiously as he stands to his feet and walks over to her, all the while refusing to make eye contact with her.

“T-The morning... flowers… you...” For goodness’ sake, he makes a living off speaking before the court, and yet here he is, reduced to the equivalent of a blabbering toddler in front of his colleague.

“Ah... you saw those?” she looks away, and he sees the frustration from earlier returning to her face.

“You… don’t like them?”

“It’s not that,” she replies, twisting her lips. “It’s just a stupid prank to play on someone.”

“A… stupid… prank?” Each word is like a stab to his chest. Did he do something to give her the impression that he was making fun of her, or playing a joke? Most people think he’s too serious to crack jokes in the first place...

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve settled it with the culprit.”

For the first time in the conversation so far, Artem doesn’t sink further into his internal pool of self-pity. Instead, he’s now genuinely puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I just called him to tell him to not send me flowers to the office anymore. I’ve told him before, but he really doesn’t listen to people.”

“Who?”

“Marius. You know how he is.”

“You think… Marius… gave you the flowers?”

“Yeah. He kept denying it over the phone, but I know better than to believe him. Who else would send me flowers for no reason?”

She’s staring at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to laugh at her rhetorical question or respond to it in some way.

Artem doesn’t answer. He doesn’t know how, because his mind has drawn a complete blank at this point, save for the one question ringing in his mind:

Where the heck did she get the idea that the flowers were from Marius?

In his stupor, Artem doesn’t realise that the silence in his office has been stretching on for far too long for it to be comfortable. And he doesn’t notice the realisation that clicks in her eyes after a while, until he hears a quiet, “ Oh .”

She sheepishly meets his eyes. “By any chance, was that letter on the card meant to be a ‘W’? As in, ‘Wing’?”

Should he admit it? If he does, will her anger shift to him? Should he just let Marius be the scapegoat and live the rest of his days in quiet atonement and regret?

Artem doesn’t get the chance to admit it, because she easily reads the answer off his very perplexed and obviously guilty expression. Obviously, he’s far better suited to defending criminals than acting like one.

“Are you mad?” he asks her, when she too, falls silent.

“Huh? No, no, of course not. Why would I be?”

“You were angry when you thought Marius sent you flowers.”

“That’s because it’s Marius. But I’m glad the flowers were from you .” Her lips spread into a warm smile, and in that instant, all of Artem’s worries dissolve into thin air. “I love the bouquet, it’s beautiful. Thank you.”

A smile of relief makes its way onto his face, and he nods. “I’m glad you like it.”

So there is some truth to the book that Celestine gave him after all.

In that case… maybe next time, he can send her roses. He hopes he’ll have the occasion to, anyway. For now, he’ll take it one step at a time.

[legends-live-in-memories]

Do You Believe in Magic?

AYO second day in a row can you believe it? I come with more content.

Fics Masterlist

Wallynette Oneshot 3.1K words (no warnings apply) Summary: “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?”

without further ado:

“That’s ridiculous!” He was pacing back and forth, arms waving in the air to compliment his theatrics. “Magic shouldn’t be able to do that, it defies all logic!”

“That’s the point! Magic exists outside of logical reasoning!” The shorter girl was equally as furious, standing in place and growing redder by the minute.

“Nothing exists outside of logical reasoning! Everything can easily be explained with science.” The redhead had paused his pacing to stare down the noirette before him. He was uncaring of his volume, ignorant to how his voice echoed in the large cave. “Your Lucky Charm is nothing more than transdimensional materialisation. An already pre-existing object is broken down into subatomic particles and rearranged at your location.”

“Are you really trying to tell me how my own Lucky Charm works?” She had sounded absolutely livid at the assumption. And Dick had to agree with her. Wally was in no position to tell her how her own powers worked. Before he could interject the screaming match between his two best friends, she was going off again. “And are you really trying to tell me that somewhere in the world existed a red and black-spotted doughnut just waiting to be used? That when Antibug was around a ladybug patterned flamethrower was just lying somewhere?”

“Oh please, there are plenty of flamethrowers all over the world and they probably only appeared ladybug themed due to shifts in light refraction.” He had stopped waving his arms around and crossed them in front of his chest. He was standing in her space now, leering over her trying to be imposing. “Simple fact is magic. Isn’t. Real.”

“You can run faster than the speed of sound! If you really think it was your precious science that saved you after willingly striking yourself with lightning in hopes of tapping into a cross-dimensional ‘speed-force,’ then you’re dumber than I thought.” She had gotten even closer now, pressing a finger into his chest and pushing him back.

“Are they still at this?” Kaldur had walked up beside Dick with two soda cans, silently offering him one. His voice sounded tired, visibly annoyed at the constant bickering.

“An hour and counting,” he sighs. The sounds of their bickering slowly faded into background noise. “For today at least. But they’ve been butting heads ever since she’s joined the team. Kinda exhausting.”

Marinette, a.k.a Ladybug, had joined the team after Wonder Woman deemed Paris officially safe from any more magical mayhem. While the rest of Paris’s heroes chose to retire and preserve the rest of their teen years, Marinette did not have that option. Magical Guardian and all. The JLE welcomed her with open arms and Wonder Woman decided to introduce her to the Team. She got along great with M'gann, the two could almost always be found baking or exchanging recipes in the cave’s kitchen and they, plus Artemis, went on frequent shopping trips. Conner saw her as a little sister, which was unexpected but it probably had to do with the fact she was a whole foot shorter and he had natural instincts to protect those who looked meek. She was anything but meek but first impressions were a damning thing sometimes. Marinette was Kaldur’s biggest supporter, always ready to back him up when it came to tough Team related decisions, something born from her own experience as a leader. The two understood each other the best. She also related to Dick on the importance of secret identities and while the Team still only knows him as Robin, she was the only one who never pestered him on it, respecting the lengths he would go to for the sake of anonymity.

Wally was the only one the newest member clashed with. Magic skeptic, meet magic connoisseur. Unstoppable force, meet immovable object. They almost never agreed on anything. Every time the two were left alone for more than two minutes it evolved into a screaming match. Wally was insistent on pushing all of Marinette’s buttons and she was always eager to defend herself and magic as a whole. Her rather short fuse didn’t make matters any better. It hadn’t affected missions, arguments reserved for the safety of the cave, but it was only a matter of time before that became an actual issue. He voiced as much to Kaldur who agreed with only a contemplative nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s moments like these where Kaldur hated when Robin was right. At least he was on another mission with Batman so he didn’t have to bear witness to this fiasco.

The Team was currently in Louisiana investigating the disappearance of Dr. Kent Nelson, better known as Dr. Fate, the Sorcerer Supreme. And Wally was being argumentative with Marinette while simultaneously trying to impress M'gann. It had put Artemis on edge and she kept taking jabs at him whenever an opportunity arose. And even when one didn’t.

They had just barely escaped the pit above lava, standing above the cool platform.

“Don’t worry, Megalicious,” Wally had moved to support M'gann, throwing an arm above her shoulders, drawing her into his side. “I’ve got you.”

“Enough!” Artemis had cut in between the two of them, pushing Wally away from the Martian, her frustration palpable even from where Kaldur was standing. “Your little ‘Impress Megan at all costs’ game nearly got us all barbecued.”

“When did this become my fault?”

“When you lied to that whatever it was and called yourself a true believer.”

“Wally, you don’t believe?” M'gann sounded hurt at that. Wally looked across the room, before coming to a silent conclusion.

“Fine, fine! I lied about believing in magic. But magic is the real lie, a major load.”

“I can’t believe you’re still on that.” Marinette, who had remained silent before, finally entered the conversation, ready to defend her craft. “We just fell over five hundred feet below ground into an almost fiery death and you still don’t believe it? Was the magically appearing Tower not enough? Or the fact that our feet are not being scorched right now?”

Wanting to put an end to this conversation, Kaldur said his piece.

“Wally, I have studied for a year at the Conservatory of Sorcery in Atlantis.” He had crouched down, rubbing the surface of the floor. “The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water bearers.”

“Dude, have you ever heard of bioelectricity? Hey in primitive cultures fire was once considered magical too. Today it’s all just a bunch of tricks.”

“What I do is not a trick. Do you really think destroying the Eiffel Tower, and putting it back in place is just some trick? Or how about when an old akuma was able to control the weather and created a volcano in the middle of Paris? Were those all tricks too? Were the casualties just results of things that don’t exist?” Marinette was becoming increasingly agitated as her rant went on. M'gann moved to comfort her, embracing her slightly.

“Don’t put words in my mouth! I never said the lives lost weren’t real! It was tragic, yeah, but that was due to real scientific explanations.”

“Science can’t bring people back from the dead.” Her voice was more subdued and sombre and her shoulders were curling into her body. The atmosphere was increasingly getting more depressing so Kaldur grabbed onto the latch, hoping that making progress into the mission would revive the Team’s energy.

He ignored Wally’s protests about heat backdrafts and came face first to a rush of frigid air.    

“Do you ever get tired of being wrong?” Artemis was rather smug as she threw a smirk over her shoulder. Kaldur just wished the rest of the mission wouldn’t be like this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Artemis was going to tear her hair out. Or probably Wally’s. Yeah, she was going to tear Wally’s hair out. It had been a week since the Dr. Fate mission and he still hasn't apologized to Marinette. His refusal to believe in magic was not only screwing up the team dynamics but it was forcing Marinette’s hand, pushing her to dig up trauma, to try and prove to him that magic is real. Artemis didn’t understand why it was so important to her that Wally believed in magic but it was and that was enough for Artemis to stand by her friend.

The two haven’t even spoken to each other since the mission and it was painfully obvious that Marinette was avoiding him. Valid, but still aggravating when it put everyone on the team on edge. Artemis wasn’t one to play peacemaker, leaving that to Kaldur and Marinette, but since this ongoing conflict involved the Parasian, and Kaldur had his hands full with a mission in Atlantis, someone had to step up and that person was her. Wonderful.  

She had tracked Wally in the medical facility, tinkering with some of the equipment and taking inventory of their supplies, a job Red Tornado routinely asks him to do. She skipped any greeting and just started plucking items out of his hands. Ignoring his protests, she kept going until his hands were empty then grabbed his wrist, pulling him into the training room and shoving him into the center ring.

“Shut up and stay,” was all she said, crossing her arms and freezing him with a glare. She wasn’t in the mood for any of his gimmicks tonight. The sound of the zetatubes announcing the Ladybug designation alerted her to Marinette’s return from Paris. Time for the next part of her plan.

“Don’t move,” she said as she turned to retrieve the other person for her plan. A firm ‘I mean it’ was tossed over her shoulder as she left.

Collecting Marinette was easier said than done. Artemis was headstrong on a good day, she will admit, but now as a woman on a mission she was down right intimidating and she knew it. Marinette took one look at her expression and bolted for the zetatube she just stepped out of. Artemis was having none of that and was able to grab the much shorter girl before she could get any further. While Artemis was mentally applauding herself she was also begrudgingly impressed with how difficult it was to hold the girl. Dragging her to the training deck was becoming more trouble than it was probably worth.

Artemis could pinpoint the exact moment Marinette’s eyes landed on the speedster because her efforts doubled and she almost escaped Artemis’s grasp. She dropped her gracelessly on the floor and moved to block the exit before either could do anything.

“Neither of you are leaving until you work out your issues,” she was huffing from exhaustion, both mental and physical. “Whether that means punching the shit out of each other or talking it out like normal people: I don’t care. But no one leaves this room until you two stop screwing with the team dynamics.”

She left no room for arguments and turned to stand outside the exit, giving them some semblance of privacy. If they didn’t work out their issues here, Artemis’s plan B involved Connor tossing them into the far end of the coastline. Hopefully, Wally and Marinette were reasonable enough it wouldn’t have to come to that.

Oh, who was she kidding?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wally stared at Artemis’s retreating figure and then at a very interesting spot on the cave wall. He felt like an asshole all week and, after his experience with the helmet of Fate, he knew he would have to be the one to mend the ever growing gap between him and Marinette. Still, he couldn’t face her yet. Every time he looked at her, or saw her hastily leave any room he was in, his mind flashed to those haunting words she had said.

Science can’t bring people back from the dead.

He knew that. He knew there were harsh limitations on what science can and can’t do. Magic shouldn’t have been any different. And he thought he understood what she had to deal with during her time in Paris but he was wrong. He was so painfully wrong that it took his body being overtaken by a mystic ‘Lord of Order’ for him to really comprehend that. He just… He just couldn’t wrap his head around someone so young being entrusted with so much power. Magic was inexplicable. It defied reason and was unpredictable so he never understood how someone as self-assured as Marinette could put her faith in something that unreliable. So he lashed out at her. Then he did it again. And again so much so that he can’t remember ever having a civil conversation with her.

He messed up and he knew it but the shame he felt in the past week was too much for him to handle and he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“Look,” his head snapped to the sound of her voice. She wasn’t looking at him, holding herself for comfort. “I’m sorry for ignoring you, I didn’t realise it was affecting the rest of the team.”

No. no no nonono.

She shouldn’t be apologizing. She had nothing to apologize for and Wally is the ass in this situation not her so why is she apologizing? He needs to fix this. Fast.

“You don’t need to apologize,” such a terrible start, Wallace. Congratulations. “I was the one who pushed your buttons and called magic a big trick.”

She had lifted her head slightly but her gaze still wasn’t focused on him, rather she was looking beyond him just above his shoulder. He took a step closer and when she hadn’t made a break for the exit, he took that as a good sign.

“Listen, Marinette,” her eyes dart to and away from him in an instant. He didn’t let that stop him though. “All those times, times when I called magic fake or belittled its legitimacy, I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I was just trying to wrap my head around its absurdity.”

“It doesn’t matter what you were trying to do,” she finally locked her gaze on him and the pain swimming in her eyes was going to burn him alive. “You still hurt me. You took everything I did, everything I’ve learned and lost and loved and called it a hoax, you called it unreal, and you doubted everything I’ve ever accomplished. I have memories I may never recover from because of magic, scars that will never heal from something you didn’t want to believe in.”

There were unshed tears in her eyes and Wally wanted to brush them away. He didn’t, but fighting the urge was herculean of him. He didn’t get the chance to respond, though, but he wouldn’t dare interrupt her.

“Did you ever realise how those arguments affected me? I used to look up to you, Kid Flash, before joining the team.” He never knew that. Why didn’t he know that? “You were always so cheerful and the media framed you as someone who believed in the impossible. That was something I needed back in Paris. Because there was nothing more impossible to me than ever getting a chance to defeat Hawkmoth.”

She was openly crying now, her cheeks blotchy and eyes red. Wally didn’t know what to say so he took a chance and opened his arms to her. A silent invitation, a quiet apology. Whatever this little spitfire needed from him. He would willingly give it.

She took the offer and crashed her face into his chest, hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. He wrapped his arms snuggly around her, almost crushing her to his chest.

“I needed someone who believed in the impossible to believe in me.” Her sobs were heartbreaking. Wally could only caress her on the back in a futile attempt to comfort her. “That someone was you but then you had no problem looking me in the eye and saying you don’t believe in magic. How could you?”

“I am so sorry, Marinette.” He could never apologize enough. He was willing to dedicate his life making it up to her. He was silently praying to gods he also didn’t believe in that she would let him try. Before she could say anything, and he felt the hitch in her shoulders as she was taking steadying breaths to do so, he continued.

“I never knew what I—Kid Flash— meant to you. I only argued against magic so much because I didn’t want to believe that something that unpredictable was the only thing keeping someone like you safe. I heard all the stories; Wonder Woman loved to gush and brag about her mother’s successor, but I could never believe that someone could do such incredible things by magic alone. It was mind boggling.”

Wally felt more than heard the faint gasp at his confession. He pulled her off his chest, holding her a short distance by her shoulders, so that he could look into her eyes.

“I’m really sorry; I don’t think I can ever tell you how sorry I am.” She needed to know how genuine he was. He may clown around a lot but he was absolutely serious in this moment. He hoped she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

“I—,” she cut herself off, and Wally could see her growing frustrated with her own loss of words. She opened her mouth to speak again but she was interrupted.

“OH just kiss already!” Artemis’s rough voice echoed in the room and Wally’s gaze flashed to where her back was facing them by the entrance. She looked uncomfortable standing there but clearly she had an agenda she was seeing through. He didn’t pay her any more attention as he focused back on the increasingly red girl still within his grasps. The hurt that was previously in her eyes was quickly replaced with embarrassment and she couldn’t look Wally in the eyes.

He felt a sudden rush of confidence at her demeanor and hoped he wasn’t about to make the second biggest mistake of his life. He bent his head slightly, casting a smirk at the small girl.

“Well, if that’s what the people want,” he pulled her closer to him then, her mousy ‘eep’ sounding adorable in response. He cupped her chin between two fingers, tilting her head up. “May I?”

She didn’t speak but her answering nod and slow closing of her eyes encouraged him to close the distance between them.

Wally’s been struck by lightning before but it doesn’t compare to the feeling of her lips on his. Her lips tasted like slowly drying tears and her favourite vanilla lip balm. The kiss wasn’t perfect, her lips were slightly chapped, as were his, and their noses bumped into each other, but it was the best kiss of his life.

They broke away from the kiss but neither moved far from each other. They stayed like that for who knows how long. Staring intently at each other, committing the other’s face to memory. And as Wally stared at her tear streaked face and into her slightly red and puffy eyes, he came to a single conclusion.

He definitely believed in magic.

[ignitedbynatsu]

Flour Bomb

A/N: Do I post at the most ungodly hours for my readers in the US? Probably. Do I screw myself by doing so? Yeah, I guess... BUt don’t care 🤷I have this weird obsession when I’m done writing something that I have to get it out as soon as possible 👀 That being said, here is the Natsu x children shenanigans @pro-crastinator14 requested! Hope you like it ❤️

Warnings: swearing

Genre: crack, fluff

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

"Please don't leave us with those three" Gray pleaded as you bid your goodbye to the guild.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," you told the ice mage as you gave Mira-Jane a hug.

"Then take them with you" he huffed. He was absolutely not looking forward to spending the day with those three troublemakers, especially with you gone.

"I can't, it's some private stuff with the family about our father's will" you explained before giving him a reassuring smile "You'll be fine, I'll be back by tonight.

"Nalu! Kenji! Promise me you'll behave and don't make it too hard on your dad" you crouched down to their level, so you could look them in the eyes and show then you were serious.

"We promise mommy!" Your eldest promised as she placed her hand over her heart, her younger brother soon mimicking her.

"Natsu, the same goes for you" you eyed your husband as you stood straight again. He was in an intense staring contest with Gray but turned to you as soon as he heard his name fall from your lips.

"When do I ever not behave?" He smiled sheepishly. Happy piped up "how about never?"

Natsu shot him a glare before giving you a loving smile "We'll be fine. Now go, you don't want to be late, do you?"

You pressed your lips against his, lingering a little longer than you'd normally do, only breaking apart when you felt your children hug your legs. "Bye, mommy!"

And with that you were gone, leaving the soon-to-be chaos-filled guild behind you for the day.

"Alright so, you'll go to uncle Gray and tell him something's in your water bottle and when he bends down, you squeeze the bottle, spraying him with water" this is how nearly the whole day had passed. Natsu and his children prank everyone in the guild. From putting fake spiders around the bar to scare Mira-Jane to colouring Levy's glasses, resulting in her having dark circles around her eyes. No one was safe.

"Natsu, that's enough!" A covered in strawberry cake Erza growled as she towered over the fire dragon slayer. They had hidden a small balloon in her cake so when she went to grab a bite with her fork, the small dessert went flying everywhere.

Everyone in the guild had a matching expression, showing how fed up everyone was with the pranks. "Fine, fine we'll stop, right kids?"

"Yep! Here you go daddy" Kenji handed him a mug with what Natsu presumed was beer, so he took a swing. It didn't take long before he spits the beverage out, tasting soap instead of the bitterness of the golden liquid.

The two children ran away laughing "Oh no, what have I started"

Everyone was on high alert for the two little monsters that were your children "this is your fault" Gajeel growled as everyone was looking for them.

"We were just having a little fun, how was I supposed to know they wouldn't know when to stop?" Natsu tried to defend himself.

"They're your kids, are you really that surprised they don't have an off button?" Lisanna deadpanned.

Natsu grumbled, knowing she was right and that he shouldn't have let it go this far "has anyone found them?"

Everyone gathered in the middle with no success, unbeknownst to them, walking right into the two children's biggest prank yet "flour bomb!"

How the two managed to get that much flower up there without anyone noticing was an absolute mystery, but as the words fell from the two young mages mouths, an avalanche of white powder flew down, covering the whole guild and their mages in the process.

"Nalu! Kenji!" Natsu yelled at his children, but the two had already run from the scene, the only thing that could be heard was their laughter.

"Shit! We have to clean this up before (Y/N) comes back" the fire mage cursed as realization dawned upon him.

"We?" Gray laughed "Oh, good luck buddy"

Gray patted his shoulder as he and the others piled out of the guild "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To get cleaned up and go to another bar!" Cana called over her shoulder "have fun with your monsters"

A couple more profanities left Natsu's lips as he peered to the guild, hoping to catch even a glimpse of his children.

"There are footsteps here" Happy announced who had flown up to where they had last seen the two.

"Happy you're a genius!" Once Natsu had climbed up the two followed the trail that led them to a small crawl space underneath the roof.

The dragon slayer poked his head in and there indeed where the two troublemakers "Nalu. Kenji. That's enough. Get your asses down"

The two shared a glance, they had never seen their father this serious before. They obeyed his order and quietly made it back downstairs.

"We're sorry, daddy, we didn't mean to make everyone mad" both their head hung low in shame as they prepared themselves to get yelled at.

Natsu sighed, knowing that he was partly to blame in all of this "it's not all your fault, I should've put my foot down sooner."

"So you're not upset with us?" Nalu lifted her head as she looked at her father with glossy eyes.

"I wouldn't say that, but I think cleaning this mess is punishment enough, so I won't yell at you" Natsu patted his daughter's head.

So the four got to work, trying their best to get rid of all the flour, but it was literally everywhere. Halfway through, the two children had fallen asleep, leaving Natsu and Happy to get rid of the rest.

"What happened here" you gasped as you took notice of the mess in front of you. Both your children were covered in flour and knocked out on a table, while Natsu and Happy, who were also covered in flour, were sweeping the floor.

"(Y/N)! You're back early!" Natsu's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he heard your voice. Your eyes narrowed at him as you awaited an explanation.

He sighed as he placed the broom against a table and glanced at Nalu and Kenji "A prank that got a little out of hand, but" he rushed to say as you pinched the bridge of your nose in annoyance "before you yell at us, we all knew we were in the wrong and learned from our mistakes. We even decided to clean up as punishment for our behaviour"

Your eyes cast upon your children, still not saying a word so Natsu decided to continue with his apology "we're really sorry, I'm really sorry. I know you put trust in us, and we broke it"

"I'm never leaving you three alone again" you sighed "but it's fine, you saw that you were in the wrong and took responsibility. Let's finish cleaning up and get them home, shall we?"

By the time you were done, the moon was high in the night sky. "You sure you're not mad at me?"

Natsu's voice was hushed as he carried a sleeping Nalu in his arms while you carried Kenji. "No, you'll always be a troublemaker, but you're my troublemaker and I wouldn't have it any other way"

[fromthedeskofelizabeththird]

Habanero

You're a good girl, well behaved.

Absolutely not the type to rail random guys in nightclubs.

Until you are.

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Polyamorous Erasermic x Reader

Rating: Some references to explicitness towards the end

Trigger Warnings: None in this chapter.

AO3: Here | Want to support me? I have a Kofi

Chapter: 16/16 (all chapters)

You were proud of your home.

You had painted the walls yourself, built cupboards and shelves and painted those too. You’d crocheted your own throw blanket and stuffed every single cushion you owned.

You had made room in one corner for a moses basket and built a wine rack for when you had adult guests over.

It was warm and cosy and you often found yourself dozing off on the couch.

Today, in fact, was such an occasion. You opened your eyes to soft light, snuggled up in the same position as when you returned from work. You had taken off your coat and shoes and set aside your purse, meaning to take a couple of minutes before getting up to make dinner.

Clearly, that had not gone according to plan. You sat up with a wince and rubbed the spots of your back that had grown stiff. How long had you been asleep?

You moved to get up from the chair but that was easier said than done. You were, after all, extremely pregnant and even if your center of gravity wasn’t completely displaced, navigating your swollen belly was getting increasingly difficult.

This was your last week at work before you left for maternity leave and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t glad. Your nesting instincts had hit you hard within the past month or so and you’d reshuffled the furniture more times than you could count.

Nezu had been more than accommodating when he brought staff members into the dorms on site. Your dormitories were more like apartment complexes than the shared halls the students lived in. Your apartment was built to very specific requirements, namely that it was sound proofed and made from two apartments merged into one larger one, with doors connecting them together. There was enough room for Hizashi to do his radio show, for a home office, a bedroom for Eri and, more recently, a nursery.

Eri had a room to the left of yours, specifically chosen for easy access when she had nightmares and needed reassurance. You chose the room on the right of yours for the baby. Eri had offered to share her room, though you got the feeling she didn’t understand much about babies in general, let alone night time feeds and diaper changes.

You could hear three sets of voices coming from the nursery and you waddled towards it, clasping one hand over your belly and the other on your hip for balance.

Hizashi, Shouta and Eri were in the middle of building a crib, Hizashi leaning over the half finished frame, Shouta holding out tools and Eri sitting cross legged in the nursing chair, squinting at an upside down set of instructions.

“Are you sure that’s the right screw?”

“Positive.”

“It’s just that...I need five of them. How many do you have there?”

“One.”

Hizashi was a lot better at DIY projects than Shouta, thanks in part to how much of his time he spent building sound rigs and fixing his equipment. You could have lingered in the doorway forever, just watching them, though your back and ankles were already beginning to protest.

“Having fun?”

Eri gasped in happiness at the sight of you standing there, launching herself out of the nursing chair and reaching for your hand.

“We’re building the baby’s bed,” she said, hopping on the spot as you lowered yourself into the chair. “They’re following my instructions!”

“So I see,” you said. “Looks like you’re being very helpful!”

“We couldn’t do it without ya, Eri,” said Hizashi, before turning back to Shouta. “How many do you have now?”

“ One .”

“That can’t be right.”

Hizashi sat up and shuffled across to Shouta, counting out the screws and other materials.

“One,” he said, turning the screw over in his hand. “Why would they only give us one ?"

“Probably so we’d have to go back and spend more money,” said Shouta.

You sat back in your chair and rubbed your hand over your belly, glancing round at the near complete nursery. Everyone had contributed something; all four of you (and several others) had made your mark on this room.

Hizashi had assembled just about everything, from the changing station to the bookcase to the nursing chair you were currently sitting in. The very same day you told him you were pregnant, he came home with an armful of toys, almost all of which were sound related and certainly far too advanced for a newborn, though he refused to hear it. He’d also bought a music player and specialised headphones so that he could play music or voice recordings through your belly. It had become his favourite thing to do ever since your bump got noticeable, mostly because it almost never failed to make the baby kick.

Eri (under supervision, of course) had painted rainbows, clouds and kitties on the walls, as well as a picture of her and the baby enjoying a basket of apples. She didn’t know much about babies, much less what this one would look like, so her painting looked a little like a potato. She’d been something of a bad influence on Shouta, too, who couldn’t refuse her at the best of times, much less when she was pointing out cute onesies.

Shouta supplied almost all of the stuffed animals in the room, as well as the mobile you planned to hang above the cot. You hadn’t realised just how many baby toys, clothes and equipment were cat themed until Shouta bought almost all of them.

Nemuri’s gift lurked in the corner; an enormous teddy bear with glass eyes and a tartan scarf. It was almost as tall as you were and possibly the most hideous thing you had ever seen, but she and Hizashi had both smiled so widely when she brought it over that you had had little choice but to put it next to the bookshelf.

Your colleagues at UA (with the exception of Shouta and Hizashi for obvious reasons) had gifted you a storybook, with buttons at the side. They had recorded themselves speaking the lines and sometimes, when you wanted a giggle, you pulled it off the shelf and pressed the buttons yourself.

You had overseen everything without picking up quite as many individual items, though in your defense you were contributing the baby.

“That reminds me,” you said aloud without meaning to, “just a second…”

You had done something a little special, something you had been working on for weeks and couldn’t wait to hand over.

You climbed up out of the chair and waddled into the bedroom, coming back with a box you’d gone so far as to wrap with a ribbon.

“What is it, doll?”

“I got the test results back a few weeks ago,” you said with a grin, holding the box out towards them. “I was wondering how to tell you...so I made this.”

Due to your somewhat unique circumstances, you had gone through much of your pregnancy without knowing the identity of the father. You knew it was either Shouta or Hizashi, but couldn’t put that on the birth certificate.

You’d sent samples of your blood and Hizashi and Shouta’s saliva to be tested, though as far as they knew, that was where the story ended.

Both of them eyed the box in your arms, knowing that whatever was inside it would change the course of your futures. One of them was about to become a father, biologically speaking.

Eri didn’t fully understand the situation, but she did understand the concept of presents.

“Can I see?” she cried out.

“Sure, sweetie, why don’t you open it?”

You handed the box to Eri and sat back down in your nursing chair, watching in anticipation as she unfastened the ribbon and lifted the lid.

Maybe it was the hormones, but you’d been thinking about Ego a lot lately. You remembered glasses shattering against the floor, remembered your heart shattering into just as many pieces.

“It’s a onesie,” Eri cried out, dragging the black fabric out of the box.

“Sure is, honeybun,” said Hizashi. “What else is in there?”

It had been years since that night at the bar that changed everything and up until then you hadn’t been the biggest believer in destiny.

“Look,” said Eri, dragging out a small, grey strip of fabric, “it’s a scarf! Oooh, and there’s goggles!”

“That’s right! It’s a hero costume.”

You remembered how long you had shivered inside of a toilet stall, scrubbing away a stranger’s cum. You’d panicked, the reality of what you had done sinking in. You had never been so happy as when you got your next period; you didn’t even complain about the breakout and hellish cramps that came along with it.

You planted a hand on your belly, unable to stroke your son’s hair and so settling for his general vicinity.

Needless to say, you were a believer now.

[hageny]

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman 

AN: Credit goes to @thinkingfixatingobsessing​ for the idea for point number one in this post. Also, this post is my lengthiest yet, but I promise it’s worth the read, lol.

1. Come Over?

This moment between Roman and Gerri is a small one, but presents an interesting thread that starts in this episode--Vaulter--and gets threaded into their phone sex scene in Safe Room. During his time working through the documents and foundations of Vaulter, Roman is stuck in the middle of the proxy battle and feeling the heat of the moment, which comes to a head in this scene. We see him wrestling with himself about what to do, throwing his phone a pathetic glance, hesitating, and then finally deciding to call Gerri for help. He divulges to her that he essentially has no clue what to do and throws out a weak ‘pivot to video’ idea that Gerri instantly reminds him was tried by the Vaulter team already and presumably fell flat. Finally, Roman breaks and asks her meekly, “Can you just come over? I want you in the room.” This is interesting because it is one of the first scenes where the show establishes the fact that Roman seeks out Gerri for comfort. This, of course, comes on the heels of their trip to Japan, so we can deduce that Roman has realized that Gerri could’ve screwed him but didn’t, and sees how he was exposed to her nurturing side when he needed it most. What’s interesting is how the dialogue in this scene mimics what comes later. He first asks her for her help, and when she balks at his request, he immediately says, “Yeah, could--yeah--fuck you!” and hangs up on her. The move from gentle and comforting to caustic is an interesting one, but it’s fascinating because for once it isn’t built into the scene to showcase that Roman needs degradation to achieve sexual pleasure. Here, he flies off the handle at Gerri, but when we think about this scene the reason why is obvious and not tied to sex: Roman gets angry because in his one weak moment the response he receives is not the sympathetic one he wants, and so he pivots back to caustic to shield himself later on. He knows that should Gerri brings this up later he can tell her he was fucking with her and didn’t mean it, but in truth, he did mean it--he did want her and need her, and Gerri didn’t understand this, and was too busy with things on her end to meet him where he needed her. Part of Roman’s hang ups, sexually, are tied to the degradation he experienced as a child, but there is also a link between his need for degradation and his realization that he never got the comfort he needed, so seeking insult was easier. He is a walking example of the quote, "All attention is good attention.” Because Roman never received the comfort he desired, he shields himself from rejection by pretending to be hardier than what he is and striving to be insulted, because to him, at this stage, it’s all the same. He could get a hug, but getting walloped and getting off are faster so he settles for that instead. This thread is later carried into the ‘shirt-button’ scene in Hunting, where Gerri walks up to Roman’s room to look in on him. Now, she has the understanding of him that is necessary to respond appropriately, and instead of berating him for being a mess she comforts him, and he responds not by pushing her away but accepting her gentility, however brief. Roman doesn’t so much need humiliation to get off--he only needs it because it’s all he thinks he deserves, and it’s served him well enough so far. It’s the key to his inability to have sex with his other girlfriends: it’s not that he can’t, it’s that sex requires intimacy and sensitivity, and Roman isn’t close enough to himself emotionally to comfortably tap into these feelings and deliver. 

2. Rejected.

As I’m re-watching the series in preparation for Season 3, there is a thread which is established early on between Kendall and Gerri that begins in Lifeboats and is expounded upon later in the show. We see Kendall at the helm of Waystar during Logan’s absence as he makes his infamous ‘Lifeboats’ speech, gathering his team together and asking for their help in moving Waystar into the future, inviting them to pool their ideas and deliver them to him, essentially attempting to depart from his father’s style of management by ostensibly establishing an ‘open door policy’ with his team. This move, however, is ironic, as immediately after this scene we have the scene between himself and Gerri, pictured above. Really, in hindsight, Kendall is as manipulative as Logan, but he is weaker in the sense that he is not as combative openly, and therefore comes across as a softer, better version of his father, which isn’t always true to his nature. We see Gerri follow Kendall after the meeting and tell him, “I want to talk options to you, okay? I’ve got some thoughts I’ve been working on for a long time--”. Kendall immediately interrupts her and replies, “I don’t want the sloppy seconds, Gerri. I’m taking five to think big.” When she presses the issue again, promising that she has some good ideas, he flat out rejects her without even listening to her, and it is here where we see shades of his father in himself. It’s also what makes Gerri’s manipulation of Kendall easier later on. We can deduce that this is not the first time that Gerri has been pushed to the sidelines by one of the Roy family members, and at a time when help is sorely needed--and on the heels of Kendall openly asking for it--he outright rejects Gerri’s and essentially makes it clear to her that her help is second-rate help--only useful to him when it can get him out of a tight squeeze, but not so useful that he believes her worth listening to when the stakes are higher. This ties into her relationship with Roman as well. While Roman is always showcased as being the one who needs her, if we pay attention we can clearly see that Gerri’s need for him is equal to his. Gerri has been a part of Waystar for decades--at one point in Pre-Nuptial commenting to Kendall that she and Frank are reminiscing about their first visit to Caroline’s estate in 1986--making her one of the most senior members of staff. But what she has--it is implied--never had is someone who genuinely valued her ideas and her input. This is also what she gets from Roman. She tells him to do something, he does it. She throws an idea out, he listens. He becomes her voice, often using the phrases, “Gerri thinks” or “Gerri says” during Season 2. Through Roman, we hear Gerri, and through Gerri we see Roman’s potential. They carry each other. Roman is always depicted by his family as being stupid, and yet who was smart enough to seek out advice from the one person with the most experience at Waystar aside from Logan? Not his siblings. Because they believe they know better, their ego will be their downfall. 

3. In Logan’s Shadow.

In Sad Sack Wasp Trap, we see shades of Gerri’s eventual betrayal of Kendall begin to take shape. Having tasted his first drops of power, real power, Kendall’s ego immediately starts to swell in little ways. We hear him telling Jess that he wants to do a run on the late-night TV circuit, having gotten the idea while traveling in L.A. Gerri reacts to this with disbelief, and Kendall retorts, “What does that mean? I was fuckin’ king of the Lampoon.” Kendall’s use of the word ‘king’ is used to purposefully emphasize the way he has begun to see himself--finally in the position he desired for so long, finally out of his father’s sphere of influence. His high is interrupted by Jess’ telling him that his father has dropped into the office and wants to see him. When Kendall asks Gerri if she knew about this, she denies this, but when he says, “Shouldn’t he have told you?” all she does is shrug coolly in his direction. This begs the question: did Gerri really not know? On the surface, it seems obvious she didn’t, but we have to consider that this moment comes right after Kendall’s complete disregard for her in the previous episode. Gerri’s motivation to help Kendall would be at a fairly low point, and what could be more amusing to her than to watch him fall flat on his face so quickly again, especially considering Logan’s outrage at Kendall’s decision to bring Stewy in to help their debt issue. Maybe she genuinely didn’t know, but given what she does later on, it would seem pertinent to wonder. 

4. Take the piss.

Later in Sad Sack Wasp Trap, Kendall finds out that his father has pissed on his carpet and brings Roman, Gerri, and Frank in to assess and discuss the situation. He starts by lecturing them about what could happen if people knew Logan had done this, pointing out that this bit of knowledge could spear the company’s already flagging public persona, and trying to use that as a way to keep his father from attending the RECNY ball. He tries to drop the responsibility for fixing the situation into Gerri’s hands, telling her she needs to talk to Logan and tell him that if he intends to come back he has to do so via the proper avenues, and that he can’t just show up on a whim. Gerri listens for a while, and eventually delivers a barb that is subtle but effective. She asks Kendall, “What did you do, Kendall, when you realized he’d done this?”, referring to Logan’s pissing incident. Kendall immediately falters, stuttering that he didn’t want to embarrass his father in front of Stewy and basically admitting he did nothing. The camera sweeps over her and Roman’s faces, and they give Kendall the same look, suggesting they are disappointed but not surprised at his ineffectiveness. This moment also mirrors what Roman does later in Vaulter, undercutting his brother in front of his father to get the result he wants. The point of Gerri’s remark is to showcase her opinion of him. To Gerri, Kendall is nothing but a papa’s boy with a golden spoon in his mouth, someone who wants the power but is unwilling to work for it. And who can really blame Kendall? Considering the way his father treats him, he has learned from Logan that working is one thing, but using a by-way to get to the top faster is better, and he attempts to see this come to fruition by taking control of a company he is ill-equipped to lead. Gerri’s disgust for Kendall is fairly obvious, but to Kendall’s great misfortune, he is a swimmer in a shark tank, completely out of his league in her waters. She is faster than him, more subtle, more cunning, and lacking in conscience enough that when she disposes of him later she feels no remorse. Kendall has bad traits but he is overall not a bad character, and we see his better parts shine when he is not chasing power. But to Gerri, his better characteristics are a moot point. She undercuts him later once again, and we see how she delights in what she’s doing, how his weakness and trusting nature to her are disgusting, and if anything make it easier for her to do what she does. While Roman makes her prove herself equal, playing with her, seeing if she can give back what he puts out, Kendall takes for granted her abilities, wanting only a menial servant, and sees himself eaten alive. 

5. I Will Guide Thy Hand.

During the RECNY ball, we find out--via Connor--the Kendall has plans to make a retirement announcement in Logan’s presence, allegedly so he can usurp the throne for himself. Though Kendall later denies this, we do know that he does not want his father to speak at the ball. Allegedly, this is out of ‘good will’, his concern for his father and the company mainly influencing his decision, but truthfully Kendall is also motivated by a desire to take hold of a position his father always had at the ball--as a speaker--and be on the receiving end of the adoration Logan is so used to. He wants to be seen by the public the way his father is: competent, powerful, totally in control; he also knows that there is a chance that Logan will declare himself CEO again, knocking Kendall from his throne--which eventually comes to fruition. Gerri knows this, is smart enough to intuit why Kendall is afraid, and is calm when Kendall once again comes to her for assistance, wanting her to handle his father. Unlike earlier, she doesn’t throw any barbs his way. She calmly promises to talk to Logan about his supposed speech and to try to dissuade him--while not so convincingly claiming she knew nothing about the speech at all to begin with. Instead of doing what she promised, she walks over to Logan and simply tells him, “Good luck tonight. Gonna knock it out of the park.” She gives him the motivation he needs to move forward with his plans, especially at a point where his health is so precarious. Gerri knows this, knows Logan well enough to understand that a little reassurance will ensure that Logan will do as planned and follow through with his decision. We see her later in the episode watching the whole thing play out during Logan’s speech, a self-satisfied smirk on her face, already knowing the end from the beginning. What we’re witnessing is the blooming of the flower on the end of the thread that started when Kendall disrespected her in Lifeboats. All he had to do to save himself was listen to Gerri, and yet he chose not to, believing he knew better than her how to reposition Waystar and lead the company into the future. He, who has been to rehab, fallen prey to his addictions and vices, and only played in the big leagues when he wanted to while Gerri--and the other members of Waystar--had to be there regardless of the circumstances in their personal lives. Again we can’t solely blame Kendall--he is the person his father has allowed him to be. We can also see that what Kendall lacks is the thing that makes Gerri so capable of remaining in power--detachment. Gerri is emotionally detached enough to do her job well and not worry about what amoral things she does to maintain her position of power. This is another trait she shares with Roman, who, after hearing how beleaguered the employees of Vaulter are, still guts the company and costs them their jobs without a second thought to the damage he is doing. With regard to her relationship with Kendall, for Gerri destroying him is not only easy but pleasurable. She knows that Kendall stupidly trusts her, and will remain none the wiser to her duplicitousness, and so she operates in the background, doing what she can to ensure he will lose what is so precious to him because of her--all while believing she did what she could to help him. This theme reminded me of the movie The Witch, hence the title of this particular post. Thomasin ends up in the hands of the Devil at the end, and--believing he will give her what she wants--she gives her soul to him. Like Kendall, she doesn’t realize that the person who is giving her what she wants is really taking everything, and she, like Kendall, is left with nothing in the end. Am I comparing Gerri to the Devil? Only superficially. She is certainly not totally like Satan, but from what we see here, she has the ability to operate like him: swiftly and maliciously. 

[writing-in-april]

Solaris

Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

This is vaguely inspired by @imagining-in-the-margins part 9 of Here To Misbehave - go check it out it’s amazing!

Warnings- NSFW, public sex, oral sex (male receiving), fingering, swearing

A/N- There are real quotes from the movie in here but may not be in cinematic order, I got them from a quote website. Also the real Solaris movie is not 5 hours and is 166 minutes (it just feels ridiculously long).   

Masterlist

 Italics are Spencer’s translations.                                      

Spencer and I rarely had a chance to have date nights, because of our jobs we usually grabbed every spare little moment. Usually that resulted in spur of the moment 15 minute dates when we finally had some alone time away from the team. Luckily for our stressed out minds Hotch had finally put his foot down on letting the team have some vacation time. I still am not sure how he got Strauss to agree to a two week vacation.

The two of us now had two weeks to do whatever we wanted, so we agreed to a plan, Spencer would plan the first week and I would do the next. He had been tight lipped about all of his plans until we made our way to the car and he finally broke. He confessed that we were going to see an old film he loved- a Russian film to be exact from 1972 called Solaris.

Spencer always planned out the quirkiest dates, while most people would be put off by movies that I couldn’t even understand or bookstores that were filled with academic books, it made him even more special in my eyes. During the entire ride to the cinema he gave me various facts about this obnoxiously long movie we were about to see (5 hours to be exact), letting me in on all the knowledge he kept up in his gorgeous brain.

“Did you know that the film was written Andrei Tarkovsky and Fridrikh Gorenshtein to attempt to give sci-fi films more emotional depth? They viewed western works in the genre as shallow due to their focus on technological inventions.”  He rambled out at impressive speed as we pulled up to the small rundown cinema. Spencer often planned out dates here because they willingly showed foreign and obscure indie films, which he found more appealing over mainstream blockbusters. Plus the yellow tinged cinema lights and old time ticket booths gave off a vintage vibe that we both reveled in.

We made our way up to the ticket booth, my heels making Spencer slow his lanky strides significantly. I could tell he really wanted to sprint to get inside as quick as possible, he hadn’t seen this film in forever and it was one of his favorites. We finally reached the gate where a obviously bored teenage worker took our money and seemingly rolled his eyes at the movie we said we were watching. To a teenager what kind of couple would consider an old Russian film as a romantic movie. We grabbed our tickets, egregiously priced soda and a large popcorn that was probably going to be confiscated by Spencer halfway through the movie.

The theatre was completely empty, not surprising considering how obscure the film was. Spencer picked out seats right in the middle which gave us the best view of the large screen. I sat down in the plush red velvet vintage seats plopping down my soda into the cup holder and letting myself get comfortable. Spencer sat to the left of me already claiming the popcorn for himself as we snuggled up to prepare for the 5 hour movie we were about to watch.

The film started right on time, there weren’t any commercials (for once) and Spencer leaned in close to me to begin translating the film once he realized there were no subtitles. He seemed almost giddy to translate every word that I was undoubtedly missing that I was sincerely glad that the theatre hadn’t turned on subtitles. I loved seeing Spencer happy over quirky things. Though instead of being focused on the translations my mind fixated on how seductive the situation was.

I wondered if he knew what he was doing to me, his lips were a ghost around the shell of my ear as he quietly translated the Russian film. He always carted around an innocent persona wherever he went, not letting it get sullied by his work or the countless amounts of books he read.

“You're human. Each in your own way. That's why you argue."

I could feel the wetness steadily pooling in my panties as he continued to speak, being blissfully ignorant of the naughty thoughts running rampant in my head. Only he could make a sci-fi movie from the 70s about fictional planets sound sexy.

“Who was it? She died 10 years ago." 

“What you saw was the materialization of your conception of her.”

“Incidentally, consider yourself lucky. After all she's part of your past. What if it had been something you had never seen before, but something you had thought or imagined."

His endearing innocence was almost painful, I knew he was missing the cues of my flushed cheeks, wriggling thighs, and heavy breathing. It wasn’t like we weren’t intimate as a couple but even when he was dominate I was usually the one to initiate sex. He always told me that even though we had been together for a long time he got caught up in the fact that someone wanted to fuck him. That conversation usually turned into me showing him how much I fucking loved him and how he could be shy just not insecure in our relationship.

I decided that I would have to be the one tonight to coax him into doing something in public. I had confessed before that It was one of my kinks but this would be the first time I would attempt to do it with him.

I grabbed his hand that was situated on my upper thigh and slowly dragged it up the coarse fabric of my jean shorts. Once his nimble fingers caught on the button Spencer’s brain restarted and he pulled away slightly in protest. He was feebly trying to pretend that the idea of fingering his girlfriend in a theatre wasn’t the hottest thing in the world.

“W-we shh-ouldn’t be doing this y/n!!!!” He whisper shouted at me meekly. I gripped his hand harder keeping it in position as my other hand undid the button of my shorts.

“If you’re really uncomfortable I’ll stop, but I just find the idea of doing something so risqué exciting. Don’t you?” I shot right back at him with a coy smile and I knew I had him right where I wanted him. He still looked hesitant but started to move his hand under my shorts on his own. I gasped quietly as his fingers bypassed my shorts and snuck right under my panties. His full attention was on me now totally forgetting his previous job of translating the film for me. He finally breached my folds feeling just how wet he had gotten me just from translating an obscure Russian film.

“See how wet I am Spence? It’s all for you.” I purred, grinding my hips onto his hand to try and gain some delicious friction. He seemed to be in a trance his only goal to please me, his gorgeous fingers started to circle around my entrance teasing me ever so slightly.

“Spencer stop teasing if you aren’t prepared to be punished” My threat got through to him and he slowly entered his middle finger making me quietly moan out. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into a heated kiss to muffle my moans. The kiss was all tongue and teeth as he curled his finger to hit my g-spot which made me gasp into his mouth.

“More Spence-“

He thankfully listened to my plead and added another finger, my walls stretched around them giving me pain added with pleasure. To give me even more stimulation his thumb found my clit running in tight circles. I was approaching my orgasm almost embarrassingly quickly, Spencer knew my body better then I did at this point. Both of my hands pulled at his hair trying to force him as close as possible to my body. I screwed my eyes shut as I was shoved off the proverbial cliff. I could hear the faint sounds of Russian scientists from the film in the background which only added to the high, the idea of getting caught just made it so much better.

Spencer continued to stimulate my clit until I rode out my high, he then turned back to the film. He was trying to hide the fact that he was rock hard from watching me fall apart in a matter of minutes on his fingers. An evil idea snuck inside my brain, he had given me an orgasm but I wasn’t done with him yet. After I had recovered My hand moved over from my lap and gripped his thigh mimicking his earlier position. He hadn’t started translating the film again and was uncharacteristically silent. I waited for a few minutes before I enacted my plan the only thing I was doing was slowly inching my hand up his thigh.

“Start translating the film again pretty boy” I whispered while pawing at the button on his pants, I wanted to repay the favor of a mind blowing orgasm. He looked at me with slight hesitation when I dropped down to the floor but he was to far gone to stop me at this point.

“Y-yoou want to destroy that which we are presently incapable of underssstanding? Forgive me but am not advocate of knowledge at any price."

I smirked to myself as I freed him from the confines of his slacks and boxers, his translations had become a stuttering mess and I hadn’t even touched him yet. He was already painfully hard, the head was an angry red with precum dribbling down. I firmly gripped him relishing in the little gasp that already escaped his mouth.

“Spencer we are in public, your going to have to only translate if you want me to touch you at all” My voice took on a deadly sinister tone reserved for unsubs or Spencer when he was being particularly subby.

He nodded and I fully immersed myself into giving him the best blowjob of his life. I slowly dragged my tongue up his length savoring every time he choked on his words, his thighs were tensing and his hands were white knuckle gripped around the arm rests. My mouth then finally fully enveloped his length finally giving him the relief he was looking for. As I began to take him further into my mouth his quiet whispers jumped an octave, he didn’t let himself moan, he knew what kind of punishment he would get if he dared to break my rules. The head of his member hit the back of my throat and spit started to drool out of my mouth, I looked up at him menacingly, daring him moan out.

“Remember Tol-stoy? His suffffering over the impossibility of loving mankind as a whole? How much time has passed since then? Somehow I ca-nn’t figure it out. Help meeee-Fffuck! Y/N!”

He whimpered out, I smirked around his length in satisfaction- I had broken him. I evilly released his length with a pop, he whined pathetically in protest at the loss of stimulation.

“If you had just followed the rules baby boy maybe I would’ve let you cum” I teased while sliding back into the theatre chair and turned back pretending to enjoy the rest of the movie. He still hadn’t torn his beautiful caramel eyes away from me, it almost looked like he was going to cry.

“Please Y/n I’ve been so good until now! I made you cum earlier, please please!!” He was unashamedly begging now, I quirked my eyebrow in surprise, he usually didn’t beg this fast. I leaned over to whisper in his ear mirroring his position from earlier.

“I’ll let you off easy this time pretty boy- but- when we get home you better put in the work and please me. Understand?” His head bobbed up and down eagerly, he was relieved he would actually be able to cum tonight. I dropped back down to my previous position in front of him and took him back into my mouth, he immediately went back to translating the film not wanting to get edged for the second time that night. One of my hands gripped his hips while the other felt underneath his boxers and caressed his balls, I could tell he was close. He came soon after in hot spurts down my throat, I swallowed every drop while I looked up in awe at him savoring how I made him fall apart. Spencer’s breath was ragged as he came down from his salacious climax, I tucked him back into his slacks and once again sat back into the plush velvet seats.

“Holy fuck” he said uncharacteristically after he snapped out of his reverie.

“Shh, Spence I’m watching the film!” I said cheekily, he glared back at me with a glint in his eye. I could tell even though he initially protested he thoroughly loved our carnal adventure. Spencer resumed his translating and I was surprised that we were only around halfway through the movie.

Once the movie was over we passed through the cinema as quick as possible ready to continue the nights adventures at home as promised. We got into Spencer’s Volvo and he stopped to stare at me for a moment before we left the parking lot. My eyebrows furrowed as i looked at him curiously wondering why he suddenly paused.

“See, I love you. But love is a feeling we can experience but never explain. One can explain the concept. You love that which you can lose: Yourself, a woman, a homeland. Until today, love was simply unattainable to mankind, to the earth. Maybe we are here to experience people as a reason for love." I recognized the quote from the movie we had just seen, and even though we said declarations of love often this one felt a little more special.

“I love you too Spence” I said through my watering eyes. He gave me a loving smile and started the car so we could go home to continue the night.

—————

[nxrthmizu]

| stay the night | Matsukawa Issei

»»——⍟——««

song | Toothbrush - DNCE

pairing | Matsukawa Issei x Reader 

warning(s) | Implied sexual intercourse

words | 1.6k 

author’s note | Hello its late but ayeeee also not beta/proof-read so it probably sucks but umm yes I’ll come back to edit this later its late and I’m tired 

»»——⍟——««

You were like quicksand. 

The more he struggled, the faster he sunk. But who said he didn’t want to succumb to you? 

“Going somewhere?” His drowsy drawl filled the air between the two of you, your movements freezing as if someone had pressed the pause button on you. You were in the middle of collecting your discarded clothes, tugging on your crumpled T-shirt that had seen better days. 

Your words caught in your throat, like water in a river when it crashed face-into-face with a concrete dam. “I...” 

The night was dark outside, which wasn’t a surprise seeing as it read 2am on his bedside clock. Even in the darkness, you could make out the sharp lines of his toned body, a result of his years of volleyball and continuos exercise. And even in the darkness, you could see the adorable sleepy smile he was wearing. (God, why did he have to be so good-looking???) 

“You know, baby you don’t have to rush.” He said smoothly, as if he didn’t just catch you hurrying away from a one-night stand. Well, it wasn’t exactly a one-night stand, the two of you had gotten... Intimate before. “You could leave a toothbrush at my place.” 

How could he resist from admiring you? The full moon outside highlighted the etherealness of your skin, painting you as a goddess whose beauty was unrivalled in all four corners of the world. The white sheet you clung around yourself only accented his image of you as a divine being, one that he had been blessed to meet. 

“I... Don’t think that’d be a good idea.” Your nervous laugh made him frown. Why were you so nervous anyway? Weren’t you so pliant and submissive to his touch only a couple hours ago? 

“There’s someone else, isn’t there?” He interrupted, his sharp eyes catching on your numerous giveaways. Your hands were shaking, you avoided eye contact, and you stuttered. Yes, maybe he hadn’t really gotten to know you outside his bedroom, but he knew how to recognise the signs of someone concealing the whole truth from him. 

A sigh slid out from your lips. “Okay, look. My parents... Engaged me to someone, alright?” A breath of air escaped your mouth in a huff. “I don’t want to get married to him, but... My parents don’t want to die without seeing me in a wedding dress. Which is stupid, but they’re not getting any younger.” 

“What, are you sharing a bed with him, too?” He snorted, trying his best to hold back the splash of jealousy that sparked across his tone. 

You surveyed him carefully, your eyes trailing over his toned muscles. “... No, but it just... Feels wrong if I spend the night with someone else.” Reluctantly, you admitted why you’d never stay, confessing the guilt that plunged into your stomach like a heavy rock. 

“Hold on, let’s rewind this a little...” Shaking his head, he held his hand up to stop you from talking. “This... Guy that you’re marrying... Do you like him at all?” 

The lip bite was enough of an answer for him. 

“You don’t.” He concluded simply, watching you struggle for a response. 

“Well-! He’s... Nice, but a little of a pushover, and... Very reliant on his mother...” You noted with a wince. “Actually, screw that, I don’t see how its’ going to work out. His mom literally treats him like a five-year-old and he acts like he’s five-years-old.” 

A scoff rang in Issei’s bedroom, rumbling from the depths of his throat to the vibrations in your ear drum. “You deserve someone better than that.” 

“Are you volunteering?” 

“If I am, will you stay the night?” 

»»——⍟——««

Issei had never understood when Hanamaki explained that waking up next to someone you loved was the best feeling in the world. At least, he never understood until the morning sun trickled in through the slits of the curtains and he got a glimpse of your (hair colour) hair, swung over the pearl-coloured pillows. 

Oh, and you were a blanket hogger. 

Not that he minded. The nights were always too hot for him and he normally ended up kicking them off anyway. You, on the other hand, were wrapped up like a dumpling. 

He froze when you stirred, moving in your sleep until you cuddled up next to him, tucking your chin into his chest with a satisfied hum. He didn’t dare move. Everything in him stopped momentarily. What if his heart beat too loud and he woke you up? (If he could’ve stopped his heartbeat he would). 

It was in this way he gradually fell back asleep, your head tucked in his chest and his breathing eventually lining up with your steady ones. His phone rang once when his coworker texted to ask if he was okay, he responded with a quick ‘I’m sick’ and typed the shortest leave-requesting-email he had ever written in his entire life, trying to get the letters right without waking you up. 

By the time he woke up, it was past 9am, and the sun was mercilessly beating down on him at that point. A yawn coursed through his body before he realised something wrong.

You were missing. 

To your credit, you had stayed the night. Surely he couldn’t have expected you to stay in the morning, too? 

“You’re awake.” 

If he got a heart attack at that moment, Issei could die a happy man. As far as he could tell, you were dressed in only one of his t-shirts, the garment overflowing from your smaller shoulder width to your mid-thighs. He was also pretty sure his jaw dropped and he gaped at you for a decent amount of time, which would be embarrassing but really, could you blame him? 

“I could get used to seeing you like this every morning.” He commented once he had recovered from his state of partial shock. 

Your hair cascaded over your neck, and it was in that moment that Issei found out you were one of those people that could roll out of bed with your hair looking messy but in a perfect way. He would never change the position of a single strand, even if he was held at gunpoint. Why would anyone change perfection, anyway? 

“I took the liberty of using your kitchen.” You replied with a smile. “Wash up and come out to eat. I took the day off.” 

When Issei said he had never washed up that quickly in his entire life before, he truly meant it. He didn’t even run that fast when he missed his alarm and remembered there was a practice match that morning. 

“About what I said last night.” He begin speaking while washing up the dishes, the soap bubbles eavesdropping on your conversation rather blatantly. You were leaning against the wall, your eyes judgemental as you eyed the (lack of) content in his fridge. “About volunteering.” 

“Oh, it’s fine. I’ll probably just divorce him after a year or something.” 

“No, it’s not fine. If you marry him I swear I will attend the wedding and I will raise my hand when the priest says ‘Speak now or forever hold your peace’.” He threatened, waving around the plate you put the fried eggs on. “I’ll marry you.” 

“I’m sorry?” 

Issei shot you a weird look. “Why are you sorry?” 

“I’m sor- Did you say you’ll marry me?” Bewilderment painted your tone and your flummoxed expression, eyes as wide as the saucers Issei just finished washing. 

“Uh... Yeah? You don’t want to marry him, I don’t want you to marry him, so you can marry me instead.” He explained, as if it was as simple as 1 + 1. “Your parents get to see you in a wedding dress.” 

You blinked a couple times just to make sure you weren’t delusional. “How on Earth did you manage to come to that conclusion?” 

“I don’t want you to marry anyone but me!” He defended, putting down the plate before he broke something and got the two of you injured by the sharp edges that would no doubt result from a broken plate. “Consider this with me for a moment. I would never pressure you into doing anything, you’re free to go anywhere you want as long as you’re safe and I know where you are, and uh...” He fumbled around for the last reason. “And you can use the coupons for free massages that I get from my volleyball magazine subscription.” 

“Is that how you try and convince someone to marry you?” 

“Wait, I have more reasons!” 

“Such as?” 

“I... Can make really nice coffee?” He suggested hopefully. “Oh, uh, I like kids. And... I’ll definitely put a lot of effort into planning dates. Plus I’m not a pushover, and I’m not mama’s boy.” He paused for a moment before adding: “That’s not to say I’m not nice to my mom. I transfer checks to her every month, I call her every Monday night, and I visit her on every second week of the month.” 

You stared at him quietly. “... Then what do you suggest we do? I can’t just call my parents and go: ‘Hey, I was sleeping with this guy while you engaged me with this boy I didn’t even want to marry, can I marry the person I was sleeping with instead?’” 

“Or, I could call your parents.” 

“That sounds like a terrible idea.” 

“Do you have any better ideas?” 

“Seeing as I just agreed to marry you, I don’t think any ideas I have at the moment would be rational.” 

“I’m the one who just asked you to marry me, aren’t my ideas even more irrational?” 

»»——⍟——««

when Issei asks you to stay the night and you end up agreeing to marry him instead,,, on a separate note please don’t agree to marry a guy impulsively okay, look at what happened to Anna from Frozen 

taglist. @mrs-kuroojinguji @procrastination-lady @drippinginhoneyandgold @shoyosun @aka-a-shii @shibayamasbae @churochuu @seijohlogy @dearsukuna @whootwhoot

send an ask to be either @owlywrites or @cadenceh2o to be added to Cadowly’s Songfic December taglist!

Kageyama’s fic is supposed to come out tomorrow :’) I haven’t even started writing it 

[aiorevelations]

A Number, Not a Name: Part 14!

Another chapter for tonight!! :)

Three months earlier:

The flight to Bulin was cramped. Sweaty and hot passengers all stacked on top of one another. I had no idea so many people visited Krudia now. Though I guess I wouldn’t know considering how long it’s been. Liana sat next to a window six rows back in economy class, wearing a blank expression on her face. Growing up she had always flown first class with her family but now she thought it best to have a seat near the back of the plane, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to herself.

The sound of a baby’s cries echoed through the cabin, joining that of the engine rumbling and passengers snoring as they slept. Liana let out a sigh. Children, though at times a joy to have and be around, often served as a source of annoyance. Especially when it came to crying children on a flight. Her thoughts were interrupted as a voice came from the seat beside her. “So what brings you to Krudia?” 

Liana looked over at the older woman and smiled. “Business, and yourself?”

“I’m actually returning home. I just visited my daughter and her husband. They live in Hungary. Every time I visit they keep trying to convince me to move there. They’re always saying how it’s so much nicer and a much better place to live than Krudia. I know they’re right but Krudia is where I’ve lived my whole life. My family’s ancestral home. There is so much history, you know?”

Liana nodded. “I understand.”

“Whenever I visit them I make sure not to stay too long. Otherwise, I’m afraid they’ll persuade me to move.” She chuckled to herself. “Is this your first time visiting Krudia?”

“Yes. It’s my first time.” Liana lied. She hoped she sounded convincing enough.

The older woman seemed to believe her words as she nodded her head. “Well, I hope that you’ll find your stay here pleasant and enjoyable.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Liana turned to look out the window, hoping the lady would take it as a sign to end their conversation. But the woman continued to chatter on.

“If you have the time I would highly recommend visiting the Izmirlian Square. It truly is magnificent. The marble statues and fountains. The Ionic columns.” 

Liana turned back to the woman. “Oh it sounds…wonderful” she replied in a disinterested fashion.

The woman clapped her hands once in excitement. “I didn’t even mention the square’s historical significance. You seem like a girl who likes history. I mean, who doesn’t like history. My ex-fiancé was actually a history teacher…” The woman continued to prattle on. Liana quickly looked at her watch and sighed. There were still nearly five hours left for the flight. I should have traveled in first class instead. “Though it may be somewhat difficult to have the best experience at the square, what with all the rallies and loud marches of Dalmar’s supporters.” Liana sat up in her seat as she heard Dalmar’s name.

“Dalmar? As in Davit Dalmar of Dalmar Petroleum Corporation?”

“One and the same.”

“I think I remember hearing that he announced a run for parliament and that it was met with a mixed reaction.”

“I’ve never seen a group of people more devoted to a person. And I’ve lived quite a while.”

Liana looked ahead, lost in thought. “You ever wonder what causes that much loyalty…devotion in a person, that they’d stay by someone’s side  no matter what.” She said softly, a hint of sadness in her voice. 

“Hmmm,” the woman thought for a moment. “Either love or desperation I suppose. Though in Dalmar’s case I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the latter.”

Liana glanced out the window again. “I have a feeling it doesn’t matter which one it is to Dalmar.”

…..

Present-day:

The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the forest and the security guards with a pale, bluish light. The strong scent of pine filled the air, reminding Jason of the smells of Christmas time. All around he was surrounded by an assortment of trees, pine, birch, and conifer. He continued to follow the men as quietly as possible, careful not to step on any twigs or branches lying on the ground. The lights of the mansion had long before faded away into the black of night. Jason guessed that he’d come about three or four miles as he’d been walking for almost an hour. I just hope this isn’t a wild goose chase. Just then the security guards came to a sudden stop. Jason ducked behind a pine tree, keeping his eyes fixed on the guards. The two of them walked toward what looked like some sort of structure. Jason leaned forward trying to get a better look. It appeared to be an old warehouse. He made his way closer to the building and then darted to the trees on the south side of the structure. He reached the edge of the tree line and looked around in all directions. Seeing no one in sight he headed for the south wall of the warehouse. Carefully, he made his way along the side of the building towards the entrance. As he walked he heard male voices, he assumed from the two men he’d followed, grow louder.

He peered around the corner of the building and saw the guards by the metal door. One of the two men typed in a code on the security keypad. The door slid open and the two men entered. Jason waited several minutes to make sure no one else was around. He glanced around once again, before heading to the door. Jason quickly punched in the code he’d seen the guard type in the pad. Good thing I have Mom’s photographic memory. The metal door opened and Jason stepped inside the warehouse. He nearly flinched as the door shut behind him, leaving him in the dark. He still wasn’t entirely sure of this plan but it was too late to back out now. 

He took a deep breath and walked further on. He anxiously looked around trying to locate any armaments that could be there or something that pointed to its location. Jason stayed on high alert, knowing that at any moment he could be spotted. 

Near the middle of the corridor, Jason saw a door leading off into another room. He stepped through the doorway and scanned the space inside. The room was filled with lab tables and accouterments, mainly of a chemical nature. Beakers, tubes, and burners were strewn all over the tables. Some were broken, but it appeared most of the lab equipment hadn’t been touched. In fact, much of it still was contained in boxes stacked against one of the walls. The floor was covered in broken glass and what appeared to Jason as a reddish-brown “dirt.” The lab tables and equipment were also covered in the same substance. Well someone forgot to clean in here. He then saw what appeared to be traces of blood splattered on the floor and walls of the room. One could only imagine what horrors had taken place where he was standing. He swallowed as he felt an eerily sense of uneasiness begin to wash over him. He shook it off and made his way to one of the tables and quickly browsed the items placed on it. Finding nothing he dusted his hands off and headed back to the corridor. 

Jason looked through the other rooms off the hall but found nothing except empty cardboard boxes. At the end of the corridor, he came to a stairwell. He quietly made his way down the stairs to the level below. At the last stair landing, he spotted the two guards he had followed walking down the hall in front of him. The hall was dank and dark, with two doors lining each side of the aisle. Warehouse pendant lights flickered from above, the only source of light in the hall. The only sounds were the scuffling of shoes against the concrete floor and voices coming from farther down the aisle. Jason didn’t know what was said as the conversation was in another language, he assumed Krudian. The security guards entered a side door on the left side of the corridor, the source of the discussion, and shut the door behind them. Jason waited a few seconds and then descended the rest of the metal stairs. He went inside the room to the right.

The room was small and box-like. A metal desk, layered with dust, filled the room. Under the desk was a gray shag rug that looked like it used to be white. He began cautiously pacing the perimeter of the room and walked to the desk, which he began searching through. All he found was some old tattered notes, crumbled together, in a drawer. Jason unfolded and laid them out on the desk. He couldn’t decipher much, but from the chemical formulas they contained, he guessed they probably were reports and results of the lab tests carried out. He placed them back in the desk and took his time closing the drawer. Jason started to exit the room when he felt something blow against his foot, a draft. He knelt down to the floor and saw that part of the wall did not go all the way to the ground. The gap was so obscure you’d never notice it unless you were actively looking for a hidden room or place where something could be hidden. He wasn’t entirely sure but there seemed to be another room behind the wall. Jason examined the wall and the floor carefully, trying to find anything that would open the door. 

He spotted something, a mark on the wall. At first glance, it looked as though only a scuff or screw but if you looked closely enough you’d see that it was a very tiny button of sorts. Jason pressed the button and was rewarded with a metallic click. He took a few steps inside and saw it was a tunnel. Inch by inch he maneuvered his way through the boxes that lined that shaft, checking them each as he went along for any evidence he could find useful. At the end of the long shaft, he saw a door with a frosted window over which “Private” had been printed in gold lettering. Jason stopped at the door and twisted the knob. It didn’t open. He tried again, this time straining with the effort. It still didn’t budge. “This guy sure is a security freak” he muttered under his breath. “Good thing I came prepared.” Jason reached into his right shoe and pulled out a lock picking device under his foot. He inserted the device into the keyhole of the door handle and twisted it to the side. The door swung open and Jason stepped inside the office. 

The room was covered all around with wooden panels and on the wall, directly in front of Jason, was an oak bookcase that took up its entire length. In the center was a large worn mahogany desk, its veneer long ago rubbed off. Behind it was a tattered leather chair. The only things Jason saw on the desk were a hand-blown glass lamp at one end and stationery and a pen on the other. He noticed that the top drawer had a keyhole in its center. He pulled out his lock-picking device again and placed it in the keyhole. The drawer came open and Jason peered inside. It was empty. He felt around the drawer trying to see if there was perhaps something he was missing. He found it. He discovered that the back of the drawer felt slightly different than the rest. The other part of the surface felt wooden while this section was smooth, almost like plastic. Jason decided to investigate further. He pulled out his trusty pen from his suit pocket. He clicked the bottom metal button and a blade released. 

He started cutting around the suspect area. Once he was finished he pulled that section of the drawer away and discovered that it was a computer. The top of it had been made to look exactly like the wood of the desk. Jason laid it carefully on the desk, opened it, and turned it on. The computer screen flickered to life. On the login screen, Jason saw the computer was protected by a passcode. Thankfully, he had much experience when it came to computers and codes and was able to bypass the system in a few minutes. After accessing the home screen of the laptop Jason looked at the names of the different files. His eyes landed on a file titled “Feuersturm.” Meaning “Firestorm” in German which he then clicked on. Jason could sense that he was very close to the intelligence he and Tasha desperately needed. As the file loaded he silently prayed that it was what he was looking for. Even more fervently he prayed that he wouldn’t be caught. That was the one thing they couldn’t afford. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the file finished loading. Jason quickly scanned it. Unsurprisingly, yet still, frustratingly to Jason, the file was encrypted. He sighed. Well, this is going to take a while. 

…..

“And this portrait,” Dalmar motioned to the piece on the wall, “depicts General Davit Ajemian.”

“Davit?” Tasha smiled. “You weren’t by any chance named after him were you?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I was.”  He leaned in closer to her. “My mother was a historian and said she wanted me to be imbued with the qualities and traits that he possessed.”

“Oh?” 

“Courage. Perseverance. Ambition.”

“You certainly have those qualities and then some.”

“Why thank you.” He took a sip from his glass. “There was a famous battle. The Battle of Sommone. Sommone is a small town about an hour or so away from here. It was the First World War and the Turks had invaded our country. They had nearly taken it over and all hope seemed lost. The country, the army, was prepared to surrender. Except for Ajemian. He led his troops bravely at Sommone and defeated the Turks. That marked the turning point in the war.”

“I can see why he's admired so much.”

“His philosophy on life, especially on that fateful day, is one I have taken to heart. Never surrender. No matter what setbacks, no matter what obstacles, I don’t accept defeat.”

“It seems you and I are kindred spirits. I don’t accept defeat…and I don’t take no for an answer.”

“Why do I have the feeling you’re trying to tell me something.”

“I am. You’re just trying your hardest not to listen.” Tasha sassed.

Dalmar smirked and took another sip of champagne. Try as he might not to be, he found himself fascinated by Tasha. The way she matched his fire and wit. Others would find themselves intimidated by his words, and even by his mere presence, but not her. He knew she had her eyes set on learning more from him. And he for his part was reluctant to give her that which she desired. It appeared they were at an impasse. Involved in a sort of dance, going back and forth.  Caught up in a game few knew the rules of, but that they each were determined to win. It was only a question of who would prevail. 

“Speaking of listening. I would love to hear your thoughts on the orchestra.”

“They are incredible.” Tasha glanced, beyond the men and women waltzing, towards the orchestra in the corner of the ballroom. “The musical selections for this evening have been wonderful. I especially love the piece they’re playing now, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. The way the music slows almost to a standstill and then how all the sections come join together into a crescendo. It truly is a masterpiece.”

“Mozart was indeed a musical genius.”

“He certainly was,” Tasha responded.

Dalmar placed his champagne glass on a marble table and extended his hand to Tasha. “May I have the pleasure of dancing with you?”

“Of course,” Tasha answered. Dalmar took her hand and the two of them made their way into the center of the ballroom. Tasha placed her hand on Dalmar’s shoulder while he wrapped his arm around her waist. Dalmar pulled her in closer towards him and they began to waltz across the dance floor. Tasha felt unnerved and even disgusted by being in Dalmar’s arms however as they danced she made sure to smile and laugh. As though she truly was enjoying being with him. Tasha knew that she couldn’t let her true feelings and emotions be seen while on this mission or any mission for that matter. It was part of her basic training as an agent. Repeated over and over to stress its importance. Whatever happened on the field, no matter how horrific or unsettling, you couldn’t let your emotions control you or your actions. That choice alone could be the difference between whether or not your cover would be blown. 

Tasha’s thoughts once again drifted to Jason. He had been on her mind ever since she saw him sneak off into the woods earlier that evening. She had tried not to think of him, to not be affected by his actions, so she could stay completely focused on the task at hand. But so far that had proven to be impossible. She couldn’t help but wonder about him. What he was doing. If he was alright. Be angry at him for putting their assignment and lives into jeopardy.

I just don’t understand why Jason had to go off on his own like that. Is he trying to blow our cover? I guess Donovan was right about him. Most first-time agents are too eager to prove themselves. I just had to brush Donovan off, didn’t I? If this whole thing blows up. If we’re discovered…stop it Tasha. You can’t think about the worst-case scenario. Not now. I have to focus on Dalmar. Get the info we need…that’s the only thing that matters right now.

Dalmar looked Tasha up and down, and then glanced deeply into her eyes. “I have to say you look stunning. That color looks divine on you. It brings out your emerald eyes.”

Tasha looked down to the side and gave a slight smile. “I had to look the part. I’ve never had a gala hosted in my honor before. Or at least partly in my honor.”

“For you, I’d host a hundred galas.”

Tasha furrowed her brow “Really? A hundred huh?”

“Or a thousand. Whatever you’d like.”

Is this guy really acting like a love-sick puppy? I’m seriously not getting paid enough for this. But I might as well use it to my advantage.

Dalmar held his arm up and twirled Tasha. “Yet you can’t find it in your heart to even consider my request.” 

“As I said before I’m in the habit of-”

“Not disclosing much to those around you. Though I must confess I don’t understand why. If you look at the great men of history they all had someone they could rely upon. Someone to confide in. Julius Caesar had Cleopatra. King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella. FDR, Eleanor. Nothing would satisfy me more than being that to you. Are you truly going to say that possibility doesn’t even interest you?” She paused. “Besides, I always have my way…eventually.”

Dalmar stopped dancing and thought for a moment. Tasha could almost see the wheels turning in his head. She waited anxiously for his reply. Hoping her words had been enough to convince him.

“One condition”

“And that is?”

“You promise to visit Krudia…and me…as often as you can.”

“As if you could keep me away.” Tasha flirted.

A huge boyish grin spread across Dalmar’s face. “It looks like we have a deal.”

“It appears so” she smiled.

 “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I have a limo ride I need to arrange for us.” Dalmar slowly released his hand from Tasha’s waist and walked over to where Wilhelm was standing in the corner of the ballroom.

As Dalmar walked away Tasha let out a breath she’d hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. Yeah, I’m definitely not paid enough for this.

[writingawaymylife]

Blue and Gold

Word Count: 1581

Category: Fluffy as a newborn bunny

Character(s): Thorin

Pairing(s): Thorin x reader

Warnings: Nothing. 

Overall Summary: You and Thorin get some ‘us’ time.

A/N: So I’ve been reposting all of my old stories - going through and editing them to match my skill and style a little better. I’m honestly surprised I still had this one in my docs still! But I have to admit, I’m very happy I kept it. This is from 2017, so it definitely had some inadequacies that I needed to correct, but it was still pretty well written - which surprised me to be honest. I always looked back and thought my stuff was just horrible but it’s... well not great, but it’s definitely not terrible! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! I really did like rereading and writing this again! 

“Please.” 

“No.”

“What if I took it off before your meeting tomorrow?”

“I said, no.”

The huff you made was exaggerated and long as you sat down, rather unceremoniously, onto his desk. Your arms were crossed, there was a little glare in your eyes, and your foot was gently thumping against the wooden desk. He might have been doing a good job of focusing, but there was no way he was going to be able to ignore you for long. If there was one person that could get his attention, even when he absolutely did not want to give it, it was you. You knew this. Thorin knew this. It only took patience - which it was easy to say you had far more of.

Thorin continued his work as if you weren't there for longer than you would have expected him to.  His light blue eyes pacing back and forth against the letters written onto the paper, his face staying completely stoic, except for the small furrow of his brow. A habit he had when he worked. But you could see through it, and the soft sigh that escaped his lips was more than enough to let you know his resolve was breaking. 

“I solemnly swear that I won’t be as lazy with yours as I was with mine. It will not look like a five-year-old did it, promise.” You leaned towards him and lightly nudged his shoulder with yours, a small, teasing grin on your face. 

You had gotten really excited when you realized that Erebor actually did have nail polish, and had basically raced to get some the moment you heard it existed. And along with the (F/C) nail polish you had gotten for yourself, you had also picked up some other colors that you thought Thorin might like. However, in your excitement and rusty abilities, you had gotten the nail polish on quite a bit of the skin around your nails as well. Even though you could get rid of the paint that was on your skin, you had gotten lazy with the realization that you didn’t have any outside responsibilities. To say it looked messy was… a bit of an understatement, but you didn’t really care. It would flake off in the next hour or so, or the bath tonight would get rid of it. 

To be honest, it wasn’t that you just wanted to paint his nails. What you really wanted was to spend time with him. With how busy he had been, it was hard to get any time outside of the bed, where he was often too tired to do anything but cuddle and sleep. Not that you were complaining, you understood how hard everything must have been, but that didn’t stop you from missing your long talks and quiet moments of peace. 

A few more seconds went before he let out another, more audible sigh that tapered into a light chuckle. His eyes side glanced to your fingers, which you quickly curled into fists in a futile attempt to hide the mess you had made of them.

Thorin set the quill down and sat up straighter as he looked up at you. He looked amused, an easy-going smile and a twinkle in his eyes. 

“Why are you so adamant about painting my nails, Amrâlimê?” He had leaned into his seat now, getting comfortable as one of his hands rested on one of your thighs, thumb rubbing back and forth like he usually did. 

“To spend some time together?” His smile seemed to drop just a little as he nodded. You knew pretty well that it wasn’t just you who missed the alone time. You could tell with that look he would sometimes give you in the evenings, or the way he would hold you as you fell to sleep. He missed you too. “I know you’ve been busy, and I would never get annoyed at you for focusing on stuff that really, really needs you. But I do miss you.” You were always awkward with your emotions, but you could see he understood when his hand gave you a soft squeeze. “Painting your nails gives us some ‘us’ time, but also keeps you away from these god-damned papers for at least another fifteen minutes afterward. So… please? I do have some colors you would love?” 

He was silent for a minute longer, before he let out a mildly overexaggerated sigh. He liked playing the act, but you could see he was happy to have an excuse to get away from the letters, to get some time with you. 

“Very well. Go get them.” 

 ~

“So, how long will this take?” He asked, smiling down at you as you carefully painted one of his nails blue. You two were sitting amongst the hundreds of pillows on the bed, you hunched over in front of him, staring pointedly at his finger as you painted the color on as carefully and smoothly as possible. Your bottom lip was stuck between your teeth, gently chewing it as you finished and moved to the other nail. 

“Well, we’ll let this coat dry, and then I have to put on another coat. After that, I’m gonna take out the gold nail polish and I’ll paint your ring fingers!” Huffing, Thorin shifted in his seat, stopping instantly when you looked up at him with stern, (E/C) eyes. “Don’t move, Dear.” 

He gave a challenging glare, causing a light chuckle to bubble up from your lips as you glared back. Thorin knew that when you called anyone “dear,” it was usually a warning. And oftentimes in the past, when directed at him, it ended in a little “dominance” match between you two. You would never back down, and it often led to Balin and Dwalin having to intervene, usually rather quickly, to prevent you from saying something that would piss Thorin off even more. Especially after that time you had gotten annoyed with Thorin’s disrespect, and proceeded to “Okay, Boomer.” him the entire day, and then right in the middle of one of your matches. Thorin wasn’t one to hurt people who didn’t try to accost him first, but everyone could see he was nearly there that day. It had brought you great satisfaction. It still does. 

“You wanna go, buddy boy?” You tilted your head, a grin growing on your face as you sat up straight. “Cause I’m totally up for a tumble, and I’m not talking about the fun kind that often happens on beds.”

He let out a huff and rolled his eyes. You were not a very confrontational person, often preferring to use of words and eloquence to get the result you wanted, but that didn’t stop you from “squaring up”, as you would say, with any of the Company when you got a bit fired up. You weren’t one for talking shit, but with any of the “fam”? You wouldn’t even blink an eye. 

You were most definitely not the person who he imagined his One to be. But, as soon as he got to really know you, he realized he really wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“I want you to focus on what you’re doing.” He countered, smirking at the indignant huff and grumble you gave before you continued to paint his nails. 

You were so weird. Mildly over the top, and he knew for sure there might have been a few screws loose up there. You would say things that he absolutely didn’t understand (oftentimes on purpose), you would press his buttons just enough to get a rise - though you now did so with the intention to tease rather than push him to attempted murder. He couldn’t help but be drawn to you. Your laugh, your banter, how you wouldn’t even bat an eye as you looked someone dangerous in the eye and said something so stupid, though that did often stress him out. But you were also kind, courageous, passionate, loving. You were like a calm ocean and a wild hurricane, chaotic and uncontrollable, careful and generous in every way. 

“I love you.” He hummed, watching as you paused mid-stroke and glanced up at him. A small, soft smile gracing your features and a small blush across your cheeks. “More than I’ve loved anything really.”

It took a few seconds for a response, but a looked of adoration covered your features and your smile grew. Turning your attention back to his nails, you fought the grin from getting any bigger. Didn't matter how often he told you that, it still brought pride and happiness to your heart. 

Once you were done with that nail, you looked back up at him. “I love you,” You stated. “I love you more than anything and anyone I’ve ever loved. I love you to the moon and back.” Not once did you take your eyes away from his, and a few moments passed before the hand that was drying came up to cup your face, and he gave you the softest kiss he had given you in a long time. 

Thorin’s arm suddenly wrapped around your waist snuggly and he tugged you onto his lap. Pressing you tightly against him as he rested his forehead against yours and closed his eyes. You were still slightly astonished. It wasn’t that he wasn’t affectionate, just that he did it in a way that always left you short-circuited. Though it didn’t take long for in indignant squawk to leave you once your brain caught up with you. 

“Thorin!” You gasped, trying to pry his hands away from your body and scoot off of him.  “You’re going to smudge your nails!” 

His chest rumbled as he kept in a laugh and tightened his hold on you. He tucked his head into your neck, and a laugh spilled out as his beard brushed against you neck and caused you to let out a loud squeak. 

“Your nails are totally gonna be smudged now!” You playfully slapped his arms, squirming to get off of him in a desperate attempt to save his nails. “Let. Go! You fowl beast!” He grinned as he  lifted his head from your neck, and gave you a look of love and thinly veiled hunger before effectively shutting you up with a love-filled kiss.

“Never.”

[kateeorg]

Point-by-Point Scoob Analysis (second viewing, bc I’m bored)

Spoilers below!

Why Venice Beach, I have to wonder? And why this song? I don’t dislike it, but I’m curious about the reasoning

The gyro scene is really fun XD

Shaggy’s intro is perfect - the music, the “Casey’s Creations” and Mystery Machine aesthetics, just beautiful. You can see the little shake in his hand as he switches to the podcast - he’s so alone :(

“I lose a lot of balls” funny AND sad. And Young Sheldon being lonely is on point for him

Gyro meat  - convenient! But yeah, I can see how Shaggy’s weird lunch combos would be off-putting to others

Oh, he found him ON Halloween?? That’s so odd. (But on brand)

“Well mostly man. It’s mostly just the suit that’s falcon.”

“Like no way bruh” Really? That... sounds odd coming from Shaggy.

...Since when do young boys care about blood sugar? Also, “We’re okay with that” XD

Baby Fred, Daphne, and Velma are also perfect

...No. No no. RBG is not a Slytherin. But that, braces Velma and Hogwarts references very much modernize the series and put them firmly in modern day (without going too out there).

The kids are such badasses, it’s awesome

The replication of the original credits is *perfect* - they even got the original Space Creep sound 

Scooby handles the accounting? Also, how old are they supposed to be? If they’re expected to pay taxes and get called millennials, are they late 20s?

I’m really not convinced by the Simon Cowell bit, I’m sorry. They could have made him a bland British investor, not attached to the name. There really should have been some more time invested in this scene (but I AM glad Mystery Inc never agreed with Simon, or even considered he was right) (Also Simon - haven’t you heard of networking? Making friends to get ahead?)

Scooby bowling is such great physical comedy, and the chase is very Scooby Doo

Hyper-specific police code ftw

Falcon Fury!

You know Scooby and Shaggy are having a bad day when they’re *happy* to be in danger

The falcon entrance is admittedly funny

I really wish if Blue Falcon and Dynomutt had to have such a bug role, there’d been more about how Dynomutt feels about his original owner basically ditching him.  It seemed like that was supposed to have more significance, and then it didn’t.

The shake button XD and Dastardly is fantastic from the first

...right, because this script wasn’t also written by middle-aged men.

Also, how’d she know about the blue light?

Velma fanning out is fun

The robots make me uncomfortable, and I’m not sure why. 

Muttley <3

I appreciate that Falcon was trying to be resourceful.

“You’re now out of... everything.”

Scooby and Shaggy’s gift is to inspire - they’re the lucky charm

...And this is where I started to dislike Falcon. He’s just... he’s too dumb. The bravado is one thing, but  then Fred is a little too similar. I think Falcon is supposed to be a foil for Shaggy, but I don’t know... didn’t quite work for me.

OH! I didn’t get the connection between the Greek restaurant at the beginning and the Cerberus plot until now! Nice.

DeeDee deserves more credit, hands down. Honestly, make her Blue Falcon.

I love all the references in the arcade - Hex Girls, Hong Kong Phooey, LaffALympics

The fun house scene is really cool! And funny, so colorful

My mom really liked this bit with the Ferris Wheel and the bumper cars and the smoke cloud - more traditionally cartoony

And I started to dislike Falcon more here. -__- (Like you acknowledge Shaggy is hurting and then just decide let’s give the dog a super suit instead of focusing on the mission? 90% of what goes wrong in this move is his fault and I don’t like it)

Okay. I get that Shaggy is really insecure. And Scooby isn’t reassuring him at all. But it feels like there’s more going on here, and I wish he’d had the chance to talk about it more than he did to give us more context. (But I still maintain this is less contrived than Shaggy falling for that Mary Jane girl in the live action film, so I’ll let it pass)

I actually really like Daphne’s characterization as the people person (though I feel real bad Grey DeLisle wasn’t given a chance to voice her), and how the gang are quick to realize how much Shaggy and Scooby contribute. They were never down on them, but it’s still important. 

Messick Mountain :)

Velma as Dynomutt was great

I do really like the plot and how it ties to friendship. Also, Muttley is perfect, my parents loved him.

Poor man’s Hemsworth

I initially questioned whether Scooby would really be safer off the ship. But of course that’s not the point - this kicks off the conflict. Remember kids: NEVER give someone an ultimatum. 

I appreciate that this was the only poop joke in the movie. Unlike the original Scooby Doo movie...

And now Shaggy realizes he was an ass. But seriously - the “Shaggy’s refusal to change is tearing them apart” thing needed a little more finessing. I see where they were going, but didn’t quite make it home.

The Captain Caveman bit was a little... eh? Not sure what I’d put there instead. It does the point of showing Falcon and Scooby they’re not really traditional hero material.

Scooby looks so sad as he gets taken :(

See, this is where I feel like Falcon and Fred were too similar, though it is pretty funny

See... I don’t think this speech was earned. It’s beautiful. If I saw it in isolation it would be great. But something was missing in the buildup. I can’t see how Shaggy made it from “I screwed up” to “Friendship changing is okay.” 

This whole Athens bit is so beautiful and cinematic, I hope this gets a chance to be in theaters someday!

Flying mystery machine! 

FLUFFY!

Mystery Inc reunion <3 But poor Fred, his van up in flames

(Someone set this to “Your Wagon is On Fire” from Trail to Oregon!)

Dastardly and Muttley is actually pretty sweet, but not a Scooby-Shaggy redux. (My parents love the snicker)

THE ASCOT RETURNS! But this is usually the part where he figures out a trap.

Scooby and Shaggy growing and embracing their roles on the team <3

“I’m so weak” - my parents and I laughed hysterically at this

The Dynomutt-Falcon moment was nice :) (again, not sure it was earned). Also, cool wings are cool.

This really is a Scooby Doo Avengers

Shaggy becomes important in the worst possible way :( 

“Back when we were kids, you saved me. Now it’s my turn.” Damn with the feeeeels

Scoooby :( 

“But why would Alexander make a gate that would separate him from his best friend forever?” Martyrdom is not the only way, y’all

Aw, Dynomutt is trying

Had to throw in an unmasking

I guess they got backing after all! 

(Wait... was Dick Dastardly the Simon Cowell at the beginning??? That would make so much sense, actually!! Is this confirmed?! )

Don’t know how I feel about the new Mystery Machine, but Fred is happy :)

DeeDee deserves a raise

Falcon Force! Falcon realizes he needs friends too. But Dastardly is at large...

Okay, second watch was less off-putting. I do like it! It’s colorful and sticks to the cartoon, and there’s clearly so much love here, for Scooby and all of Hanna Barbara. Admittedly, this isn’t really a mystery - it’s a superhero origin story, which admittedly the trailers should have prepared me better for. But we’ve seen Scooby mysteries on the big and small screen, so I see why they had to change it up to justify such a blockbuster animation project. (Not unlike Recess: School’s Out going from middle school slice of life to save-the-world adventure.) And we do get mystery-solving shenanigans in the beginning.

But as a result, things do feel a tad bit dumbed down, particularly with Blue Falcon, Fred, and Shaggy’s development. I don’t love that aspect, but I can see why that compromise had to be made.

So all in all, I think it’s a solid film! It’s more Trolls than Pixar, but honestly? Not sure I’d have Scooby Doo any other way. 

[youkaiangel]

Viggo’s Little Slut - WH Fanfic

Pairing: Viggo x OC Simone

Genre: hurt/comfort, angst, implied smut, fluff ending

Words: 4250

A/N: it sounds like smut but it’s not smut (sorry?). There is implied smut in the middle of this, but I deliberately left it out for many reasons, tumblr might block this post mainly because I HC Viggo to be pretty rough in bed (he likes butt stuff), and I’m not sure anyone in this fandom but me would be interested in that. I liked the story and idea surrounding the smut though, so please enjoy my little anti-slut-shaming piece.

Warnings: contains bullying, coarse language, mild physical aggression

***

‘Alright guys, that’s it for tonight. Hiro will give you your homework on the way out.’

‘What? Why am I giving out your homework, King Kook?’

Hiro begrudgingly stood up and snatched the pile of handouts from Zeus, flipping through them as he moved over towards the door.

‘Bring them back to Hiro tomorrow night for marking,’ Zeus added with a grin.

‘What?! I’m not marking your homework again!’

‘Stop complaining, Hiro.’

I started packing up my things, slipping my books and pens into my bag. Around me, other Night Class students were talking about going to the Night Café now that class was finished, but I just wanted to get out of there. On the far side of the room I could also hear the gossip starting, the word ‘slut’ catching my attention.

For the last two weeks I had been hearing the word slut a lot more often. No one said it to my face, but I knew that everyone was talking about me. Since the unfortunate incident that resulted in Zeus and I getting stuck together with a stupid curse, and Caesar’s remedy that involved removing all basic curses on both of us, all of my secret keeper spells were broken. Every spell I had cast to keep a guy from talking about me after we’d spent a night together had lost it’s effect, and within days the word was out. Zeus was also obviously the first one to talk about it, and since he started bragging about our casual relationship, others had to brag too, and suddenly everyone knew about almost every guy I had slept with at the academy.

I shoved the last of my books into my bag, furious with myself and trying not to react to the boys on the far side of the room grinning at me like hungry wolves eyeing off a cornered rabbit. I scurried to the door, but not before hearing one of the Night Class Gossip Queens, Belladonna, snickering to her friends in the Zeus fan club, ‘where’s she going in such a rush?’

I hoped that they weren’t talking about me, but it became certain when Tziporrah added as I took the homework sheet from Hiro and left the room, ‘probably off to screw another boy.’

My fists clenched as I stopped just outside the door. It took all my strength not to turn around and curse the dumb bitches. I put my hand to my waist to take my wand, but my rage disappeared and was fast replaced with panic when I realised my wand wasn’t there. My mind raced, wondering where I could’ve left it, but it couldn’t be far. I glanced back at my desk in the classroom and sure enough, I had left it right there.

But going back inside meant I had to face those girls again. I could still hear their snarky giggling inside the room. Tziporrah’s dark voice taunting, ‘bet you anything she’s going to try to sink her claws into Zeus again.’

‘Probably off to go splay herself on his bed and wait for him,’ Sarina added to laughter from her friends.

My face burned hot while I tried to swallow down the lump forming in my throat. I was tired of hearing jokes about my sexual proclivity, and none of them even knew the reasons why I had so many sexual partners. I hated to admit it, but their stupid jokes got to me.

‘I dunno,’ Belladonna teased, ‘Have you seen the way she looks at Hiro?’

I glanced back into the room, at Hiro standing on the other side of the door, still handing out papers to the students leaving one by one. He didn’t seem to hear them, or if he did, he didn’t care. He never cared about much, including me, but he the stupid girls were right; I wouldn’t mind getting a little closer to Hiro.

‘Oooh, you’re totally right,’ Sarina taunted. ‘Better watch out Tzi, or she’s gonna get your man!’

‘Ha! Excuse me?’ Tziporrah barked. ‘Hiro would never touch that skanky ho, he is way better than that.’ She added after a short pause, ‘And he’s not my man anyway. Yet. I don’t screw with boys I’m not dating.’

‘Then you’d better be quick, unless you want her sloppy seconds,’ Sarina taunted. Their voices drew closer towards the door, so I pressed myself against the wall beside the door, hoping they wouldn’t see me as they left the room.

‘Shut up, Sarina. She’s not going to be screwing Hiro, I promise you that.’

Hiro handed the girl’s their homework sheets, watching them with confused eyes as they giggled between themselves and left the classroom.

All three of them stopped and looked at me beside the door. I watched the shock dawn on their faces, before smoothly morphing into looks of disgust. They weren’t really much taller than me, but beside this pack of lionesses on the prowl, I felt insignificantly small. The three of them stepped around me and Tziporrah spat, ‘oh my god, was she eavesdropping on us?’

‘Probably.’

‘What a slut.’

The girls swaggered off, steps in sync as they strutted down the corridor. It was probably fortunate that I didn’t have my wand in hand, or I would’ve thrown some hexes after them. Instead, I took a deep breath to compose myself and reminded myself that I shouldn’t let them hurt me.

I headed back into the classroom, only Zeus and Hiro still there. I didn’t want to hang around, Zeus was probably ready to say something stupid, so I grabbed my wand from my desk and headed back to the door.

‘Hey Simone.’ Zeus’ dark booming voice stopped me before I could escape. ‘Where are you going?’

Shit.

‘Nowhere,’ I quickly answered. It was obviously a lie though, since I had to be going somewhere, so I added, ‘I’m just gonna go back to my dorm.’

��Why? You should come out with us.’

I cringed. It was really the last thing I wanted. I knew Tziporrah and her friends would be at the Night Cafe. Plus Zeus would undoubtedly want to hook up later, and while I was sorely in need of some physical attention, I didn’t want to have to spend a night stroking Zeus ego when my own was already so fragile. I murmured as I shook my head, ‘mm, no thanks. Not tonight.’

‘Why?’

‘Uhh, because I’m sick of being slut-shamed by your fan club?’

‘Well, fuck them,’ Zeus said. His face broke out in a grin and he added, ‘or better yet, fuck me.’

There it was; he wanted to hook up. It was a hard no, but I tried to politely turn him down. ‘Um, no thanks.’

I turned to leave, before he could get out another argument to try to change my mind, but I wasn’t quick enough. ‘I don’t get you,’ Zeus snapped, obviously mad about being turned down. ‘I thought you liked fucking around?’

‘Yeah,’ I snapped back at him, turning around again, ‘but I never liked everybody talking about it, and making fun of me like I’m some kind of diseased whore. So, you know, thanks for that.’

‘Hey that wasn’t my fault!’ Zeus shouted back at me. ‘Caesar was that one who broke all your stupid secret keepers curses!’

‘Because you were an idiot,’ I spat back at him. ‘And you were the one who told every student that’d listen that we had fucked. So thanks for that, asshole.’

I rushed from the room, before he could say anything else, or before I burst into tears. I didn’t need Zeus or Hiro seeing me cry.

I hated my life right now. I hoped that it would pass eventually, but it had been two weeks now and people were still talking about it. It had been two weeks since I had slept with anyone as well, and the curse that made me need physical intimacy in the first place was making me especially emotional, and stupidly horny, on top of all the usual side effects. The worst of all was the fact that I couldn’t button up the top three buttons of my uniform, my breasts so swollen from my stupid curse getting out of hand, adding fuel for the stupid gossip-mongers’ proverbial fire.

I stuffed my wand into the pocket inside my jacket. The tip of it dug in underneath my bra painfully, so as I walked I tried to stuff it in further to the shallow pocket.

I ran into something as I turned the corner, smacking headlong into another much taller person.

Shit!

‘Hey, watch— oh.’

I looked up at the owner of the chest I just walked into, but I’d already recognised the voice. It was Viggo.

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘it’s just you.’

Viggo was probably the last person I needed to see right now, for a million different reasons. He always wanted to have sex, was constantly horny, and had very particular sexual preferences that always left me feeling like more of a slut than when we started. Not to mention, it wouldn’t have any positive outcome if Viggo, the Crown Prince, was caught with a common slut. I quickly muttered, ‘sorry,’ and dashed around him.

‘Hey, where are you going?’

It was that same question again, and I couldn’t help but wonder if where are you going was actually code for do you want to bang? ‘No where,’ I answered again. ‘Back to my dorm.’

He grabbed my hand, stopping me from running off and yanking me back to face him. ‘I haven’t seen you in like, two weeks. Why don’t you come back to my dorm?’

‘Seriously?’ I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘I’m not sure it’s a good idea for the Prince of Gedonelune to be hanging around the academy’s latest pariah.’

He just gave me a blank look. ‘What?’ He appeared to have no idea what I was talking about, but his ignorance didn’t help my mood. It just made me angrier.

‘Where the fuck have you been?’

‘Detention, where else would I be?’ He quipped back. ‘You didn’t even come visit me.’

‘I didn’t know you were in fucking detention.’

‘I’m fucking always in detention.’ His cold stare bore into me, making me feel even more insignificant and worthless. His warm hand on mind felt alien, like it was not part of the man in front of me. ’Come on,’ he said, ‘I haven’t fucked anything in two weeks, I need some pussy.’

He turned, hand still holding mine, and pulled me down the hall. It was hard to say no, but I knew I just wasn’t in the mood for Viggo and his psychological abuse. I slipped my hand out of his and said, ‘sorry Viggo. Not right now.’

‘The fuck?’ He turned around, looking at the hand I had just pulled away from him and then up to my eyes. ‘You don’t say no to me, you know who the fuck I am.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ I murmured. But I didn’t really know. His comment confused me. I had never heard him pull rank or use his title to try to get laid before, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what he was referring to, or if he meant something else. ‘I’m just not in the mood—’

‘Bullshit.’ Before I could finish my sentence he cut me off. ‘Look at your tits, they’re popping out of your shirt. You haven’t been laid in two weeks either. Com’on, I’ll fuck your brains out how you like it.’

He reached for my hand again but I pulled away, rolling my eyes at him. ‘Ugh. Saying shit like that isn’t helping.’

He gave me a very puzzled and annoyed look. ‘You don’t want me to fuck your brains out how you like it?’

‘No. You have no fucking idea do you?’ I sighed at him. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know what was going on, he had been in detention for two weeks, probably for cursing Zeus in the first place, but his ignorance was annoying me even more. I explained to him, trying to hold back my frustration, ‘the whole fucking school knows about me now. And thinks that I’m a slut because I’ve slept with a few guys.’ I huffed at him, then added to reiterate why it was such a bad idea for him to hook up with me, ‘better not let daddy hear about you fucking a whore again.’

‘I don’t give a fuck what my old man says,’ Viggo said. ‘I don’t give a fuck about what the dumb shits at this school say either, and neither should you. So what if they think you’re a slut? Fucking own that shit. Best little slut I’ve fucked in a long time.’ He gave me a smile, something of a naughty smirk that I hated to admit looked pretty hot on Viggo, and made me smile at his backhanded compliment. He grabbed my hand again and as he dragged me along behind him he added, ‘now come the fuck with me. I want to fuck your little brains out.’

I didn’t try to stop him this time. I needed an ego boost right now, and Viggo’s words, even though he called me a slut, somehow made me feel better. He was right though, I really didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, and I didn’t need to let other people judge me, especially when they didn’t know everything about me. I smiled at Viggo dragging me along behind him and murmured, ‘that’s… oddly comforting… thanks.’

He glanced back at me, the sly smile still on his lips, but when he saw me smiling at him, he ignored me again, facing forward and muttered, ‘whatever.’

His dismissiveness didn’t bother me. He pulled me along, and I obediently followed, happy that for once I wasn’t being treated like a pariah.

Viggo took me back to his dorm room. He was lucky enough (or important enough) to not have to share with anyone, but still had separate living and sleeping quarters. He took me to his bedroom and, without warning, pushed me face down onto the bed

‘Oof!’

I managed to catch myself on my forearms, my face landing just shy of the pillows at the head of the bed. I felt the bed shift underneath Viggo’s weight as he crawled on behind me, then a hard, sharp slap across my ass.

‘OW!’

I jumped and twisted, clutching my ass and turning to protect it from another smack.

‘That’s for arguing with me,’ Viggo said with a cool glare. He leant over the top of me, supported on one forearm beside my head, and took hold of my jaw, pulling my head up in his vice grip. The tip of his nose was just inches from mine. My heart thundered for a split second, wondering what he wanted to do, but a wave of relief washed over me when all he did was press his lips to mine.

Heat rushed to my cheeks. I felt as thought my whole body was melting into a puddle under his grip and his kiss. Viggo hardly ever kissed me, for whatever reason he didn’t seem to like kissing very much, so whenever he did, it made me melt. His kiss was so soft, unlike every other part of him, capturing my lips in his warm embrace. My brain went fuzzy and my whole body felt warm. His kiss was the ego boost I needed.

He drew back, barely a few inches, just enough that I could open my eyes to see him smirking at me. ‘That’s for listening to me in the end,’ he murmured.

I tried to hide the girlish smile on my face, but I just couldn’t hold it in. I had no qualms being Viggo’s little slut.

***

My body was floating on air. With Viggo, I was able to let go of every ounce of control I had in my life. Rough was an understatement, but he liked having complete control, which gave me an opportunity to let go and let him pound away my problems.

He drew away from me, slipping back off the bed, and my body started to gain it’s weight back. He was finished, I was finished, and I was about to come crashing back down to earth. Firstly, I needed to get my feet back on the ground, literally. I reached my lead like arms for my shaking ankles above my head, to untie the leather strap that was drawing my feet up to the headboard. While I picked at the knot, Viggo slipped out of the room, probably to go clean himself up. This is how it was with us; we knew how to take care of ourselves.

I managed to get the knot undone on one ankle and the strap loosened off, both my legs collapsing to the bed. My legs were tingling from being suspended over my head for so long, and the heavy blood was quickly returning. I wasn’t floating anymore, but I was happily sinking into the soft and warm bed. I could relax for a few minutes, free of any stress or worry and so at ease that I could’ve easily fallen asleep.

Viggo came back to the room, his pants back on now, but he barely set foot in the room before stopping. He folded his arms across his bare chest and leant against the doorway, scowling at me. ‘You planning on staying or something?’

I couldn’t stop the stupid smile on my face. He acted like he didn’t care or want me there, but it was just an act. We had a perfectly good arrangement that never ended with me spending the night, and he knew that wasn’t about to change. I sighed and suppressed a laugh as I shook my head. ‘No,’ I said, surprisingly out of breath still. ‘I’m just trying to get the energy to move.’

Viggo snickered, and dark smirk curling one corner of his lips. ‘The fuck you talking about?’ he mocked. ‘You didn’t do anything.’

‘Yeah?’ I asked, my breath starting to return to me. ‘I’d like to see you take a pounding like that and be able to walk around straight afterwards.’

Viggo’s arrogant grin dropped, and I could see the little wheels spinning in his mind. After a moment, he nodded and said with approval, ‘point taken.’

He stepped away from the doorway, crossing the two short steps to the bed. ‘Move over.’

Despite being Crown Prince, he still only got a standard issue single size bed at the academy, probably meant to discourage him from having girls spend the night. Unfortunately, it made things difficult for us to both relax at the same time. I shuffled to the side as far as I could without pressing against the cold wall, and Viggo flopped down on his back next to me, the cheap mattress bouncing under his weight, one leg dangling off the edge of the bed.

Why didn’t the Crown Prince at least get a better mattress? Even if he still had to have a single size bed, surely he could at least splurge on a decent mattress to get a good night’s sleep. Although, he honestly only spent about 50% of his time in his own bed, the other half spent in the detention chamber. I wondered if he had a personal room in the detention chamber as well, but I knew he didn’t. He got the same treatment everyone else got in detention.

I contemplated asking Viggo why he had been in detention this time, but it felt superfluous. It was undoubtedly because he had cursed Zeus. Zeus relished in any opportunity to put Viggo in detention, or flout his authority in any way possible. I shuddered to think what would happen between Queensblade and Gedonelune when these two boys took over as heads of their respective houses.

I glanced at Viggo beside me. He had his hands folded over his stomach and eyes peacefully closed. He looked like he could be going to sleep, in which case, it would be very difficult for me to get out, being trapped between him and the wall.

I just kept watching him though. I didn’t want to move just yet. Everyone talked about Viggo as though he would be the most ruthless king Gedonelune had ever seen, and many people had given up on him before he had even started, but I thought there was hope for him yet. Resting peacefully like that, he could’ve been mistaken for someone very innocent.

I needed to go. Swooning over a man well out of my league wasn’t going to make things any easier for me, so it was time to go. I sat upright, jokingly murmuring, ‘yeah this is awkward.’

I untied the strap from my other ankle, pulling the feathery tassel through the knot until it was loose enough to release. I bundled up the strap and placed it on Viggo’s stomach, just above his hands. ‘Thanks babe,’ I said, and shuffled off the bed.

I was still mostly dressed, but needed to readjust some things, pulling my panties back into place, twisting my skirt back to the front, pulling my socks back up and scooping my breasts back into my bra. With my wretched curse once again satisfied I was at least able to properly button my shirt up again.

Viggo grabbed my hips and pulled. At some point he had sat upright on the bed and dragged me back to sit between his legs, his arms wrapping one around my waist, the other over my arms. He leant his forehead against the back of my head, but otherwise didn’t move. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say it was his attempt at a hug.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

‘Don’t let the shit other people say get to you. I don’t need you getting all depressed and not wanting to fuck.’

I couldn’t hold back my giggle. He seemed to have the best intentions, but his motivation was always questionable. I turned my head to look over my shoulder as much as I could and teased, ‘is that meant to be comforting?’

‘Yes.’

There was a certainty in his tone that made me question if teasing his attempt at comfort was the appropriate response.

‘So what if other people think you’re a slut?’ he asked. ‘You’re a better fucking slut than any of them anyway. They’re just jealous.’

He genuinely was trying to be nice to me. It was strange, especially coming from Viggo. ‘Thanks,’ I murmured. ‘But I don’t think they’re jealous.’

‘I know for a fact that all the guys that haven’t gotten to fuck you are insanely jealous,’ he stated. ‘And now all the girls just hate you because every guy would rather bang you than even look at them. Don’t give them the satisfaction.’ He placed a small kiss on my cheek, right by my ear, then added quietly, ‘if anybody gives you shit, let me know. I’ll deal with them.’

There it was, my ruthless prince. My stupid little giggle surfaced again, warmth spreading from the spot on my cheek that he kissed, because he was being both sweet, and so stupid. ‘Okay,’ I asked, ‘what the fuck is going on with you?’

‘What?’

‘Why are you being nice?’

‘What?’ He repeated. ‘Why not? I’m the only one who get to call you a slut, aren’t I?’

‘Ng… yeah.’

‘Good,’ he said, and I could hear the smirk in his tone. ‘It stays that way.’ He placed another swift kiss on my cheek, his lips warm on my skin. Any other boy it would just be a silly kiss, but from Viggo it meant so much more. ’Now get the fuck out of here,’ he said, unwrapping his arms from around me. ‘And don’t let the guards see you on the way out.’

His change of mood was abrupt, but knowing that it was still Viggo was comforting enough to make me smile. ‘Sure.’

I stood up and finished buttoning my shirt. My shoes were the last thing I needed, and they were on the floor by the foot of the bed. I could’ve sat on the bed to put them on, but that wouldn’t be nearly as fun. I decided to reward Viggo’s little display of comfort and affection, so instead of sitting, I bowed at the waist to slowly slip each of my shoes on, giving him a full view up the back of my skirt. As a stepped into my second shoe I glanced over my shoulder, and sure enough, Viggo was watching me, naughty grin plastered on his face. He glanced at my eyes before standing up and stepping in behind me, pressing his pants against the back of my exposed thighs. His hands crept up my skirt, smoothing over my round skin before giving me one hard smack.

‘Oh!’

My knee-jerk reaction was to straighten up again. He’d had enough of a show and a play for now, and I felt a million times better than I had at the end of class. We both gave each other what we needed. I turned to face him and gave him one last brief kiss on the lips. ‘Thanks, m’lord prince,’ I whispered, before swaggering from his dorm.

There was a swing in my step as I headed back to my dorm in the day class block. Somehow, I miraculously even managed to avoid his guards. I was the Prince’s little slut, Viggo’s slut, and no one could make me ashamed of that.

[sunevial]

Moving Day

This is once again another case of ‘not exactly a commission, but someone chucking money at me to eventually write about space and magic gays’, except this time, it’s from @hewhowalksbehind. 

Continuation of this.

---

Of all the things Venny missed most about Ylxret at nine thirty in the goddamn morning, it was automated coffee makers. Blearily pouring water down the little spout and pushing entirely too many shiny buttons, she eventually got the machine to start blinking. With a grumble, she slotted a floral patterned mug under the funnel and slumped against the counter. 

Water was boiling, oatmeal was in the new saucepan, spoon was in the sink, bowls were…

She forgot to buy bowls. 

Fuck a duck. 

Groaning, she pressed her hands to her eyes and let out a long sigh. After a shopping trip that must’ve lasted an eternity, she had been running on fumes by the time she had a chance to pass out last night, but apparently even that wasn’t enough to calm her adrenaline addled brain. Her best guess was that she hadn’t fallen asleep until three, and even that was a generous estimate. To add insult to injury, her first night in her new apartment was plagued by restless dreams, fitful tossing and turning, and a blanket that was neither warm or cool enough.

At least the air mattress was comfortable. 

The air mattress was comfortable, and her new plush corgi was cuddly.

A steady drip of liquid gold splashed into the mug, the warm coffee revealing heat activated yellow and white circuitry lines weaving through the painted-on flowers. Not even bothering with milk or sugar, she downed the coffee fast enough to get away with only minor tongue burns and shoveled down instant oatmeal straight from the pot. Throwing both into the sink to wash up later, she scrambled into the shower just long enough to wash off yesterday’s sweat and rub away the smell of what felt like seven layers of deodorant. A fresh change of clothes later, a practical t-shirt and legging combo, and she felt half-way to being a functioning person again.

Which was really convenient considering that things would start arriving in approximately now.

Grabbing both wallet and keys, she quietly slipped out of her room and padded downstairs to the front lobby. Today was Internet access, a ‘do it yourself’ table and chair set, and the cushions for her couch. The couch itself was tomorrow, along with the bedframe and mattress, and the nightstand and dresser wouldn’t be for another week yet. Thankfully, unlike her very much not present bowls, she had remembered to buy a toolkit, so at the very least she would have somewhere else to sit by the end of today.

A quick peek outside confirmed that the Internet people hadn’t arrived yet, so Venny plopped down on one of the lobby couches and quickly scanned for any available wireless hotspots. It would’ve been laughably easy to tap into a password protected connection with a couple waves of her hand, but she knew better than to bum off someone. It was also probably very illegal. 

Eventually, she got ahold of a weak signal from the coffee shop next door, and her com link lit up with a happy beep. Her eyes flashed back and forth as she redirected the electrical signals within the device, ensuring that this much weaker and simpler form of wireless communication would end up being compatible. When she was fairly certain that it wouldn’t be running at a snail’s pace, she pulled and weaved the software code until the screen lit up and the holoprojector displayed a rotating band of images. Smiling triumphantly, she tapped on her email, she still had a hard time believing Toven still used email, and sifted through the various messages she had gotten over the past day or so.

Confirmation from her Internet provider, spam, start day and paperwork for work, coupon for shampoo, more spam…updated delivery day for her larger furniture?

“Due to upgrades in processing time, your order will instead be delivered today around ten AM, we hope to see you then,” she muttered under her breath, suppressing a loud groan and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. On the one hand, she’d have an actual bed by the end of the day if everything went right. On the other hand, this was one more group of people to talk with and one more group of things to do, and she was not convinced that all of the coffee in the world would make either of those things easier. Not much she could reasonably do about that, though, because her damn couch was coming whether she was awake enough to realize it or not. 

Whatever happened next didn’t seem to follow the proper passage of time. Sometimes it moved breathtakingly fast, other times painstakingly slow. All Venny could register through her brain-addled eyes was a never ending blur of paper signing, hauling packages, and telling people she had never met to put things down wherever they could find open space. By the time the last person was out of her apartment, and she could actually gauge the passage of time, it was exactly eleven twenty-four in the morning. She collapsed onto one of the new cushions, a nice olive green that she definitely didn’t remember picking out, and got to thinking.

Assets: She had Internet access that wasn’t siphoned off the coffeeshop.

Consequences: Her apartment was no longer able to accommodate carpet angels. 

Priority one: Bed needed to be set up. She’d like an actual bed.

Priority two: Get the couch out of the center of the living room.

Priority three: Actually build the table so she could eat without standing up.

Problem: She had the energy to do maybe half of the bed set up. 

Slowly getting back onto her feet, she shuffled towards the bedroom, though not before noticing her front door still propped wide open from all of the deliveries. She went to close it, getting about halfway there before the door across the hall opened, revealing Sol’s relatively incredulous face. 

“Morning,” she said, leaning against the doorframe and stifling a yawn. “Lot of noise over there for a weekend morning.”

“That makes two of us,” Venny replied, trying to put on as apologetic an expression as she could muster. “I didn’t wake either of you up, did I?”

She shook her head, lavender curls bouncing a little. “Nah, I’ve been up for a bit, and Clarissa could sleep through a hurricane if you let her.”

“Still gonna apologize,” Venny said, breathing a sigh of relief and laughing a touch. “You know, I didn’t think most furniture places delivered on weekends.”

“Learn something new everyday.” Her eyes glanced towards Venny’s now incredibly messy apartment for a moment. “You settling in okay?”

Venny chuckled, tapping the ground absentmindedly with a foot. Well, she could answer truthfully, she could answer in the socially acceptable way, or she could split it down the middle and hope for the best. “I think so, just need to get used to...all of this.”

“It’s not easy moving somewhere new, even harder when you’re all alone,” Sol said with a sympathetic smile, nodding her head and crossing her arms over her chest. “If you need help getting set up, I’m not really doing anything today.”

Venny blinked a couple of times, shaking her head even as every fiber of her being was saying ‘take up the offer’. As much as she’d love another pair of hands helping out, she’d already taken up enough of Sol’s time between the reading interruption and the grocery care package. Best not to take advantage of her kindness this many times in such a short period of time. Or maybe Sol didn’t care, that she just actually wanted to help and didn’t resent her for it, and this was just a combination of sleep deprivation and anxiety talking. Maybe it was both. It was probably both. “I think I’ve got it handled,” she replied, twirling a twist between her fingers. “Thanks for the offer though.”

All she got in return was an incredulously raised eyebrow.

“Or maybe I’m saying that because I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness again and seem really needy in a time of upheaval and stress,” Venny said with a defeated sigh.

“I wouldn’t be offering it if I didn’t wanna help.” Sol smirked just a touch. “I know my boundaries better than that.”

Venny could physically feel the tension in her muscles drain away as she slumped against her own door frame. “I promise I’m not this pathetic all of the time.”

“You said it yourself, a lot of upheaval and stress, and from what it sounds like, absolutely no sleep either,” she replied with a shrug, popping back into her own apartment long enough to grab her keys and phone. “Alright, where are we starting?”

 “Bedroom, cause I need a bed.”

The two of them quickly made their way to the chaotic bedroom, surveying the bed frame in its various parts and the mattress propped up against the window. Cracking open the new tool box, Sol set to work screwing everything into place while Venny sorted through a veritable hoard of metal rods and support beams. While she had no reason to doubt that Sol could wield a hammer and screwdriver, watching her work was, in a word, beautiful. Sol took to the various tools with a clear familiarity, handling them with delicacy and certainty as she aligned the wooden frame. Venny knew nothing about art, but she knew an artist’s touch.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Venny said, holding a level against the wood to see if any holes needed a quick re-drill or if something had been screwed in the wrong place.

“I’d hope so, I make things for a living,” Sol replied, wiping a little sweat off her brow.

“What kind of things?”

Sol returned with a playful smile. “You get three guesses.”

She allowed thirty seconds to come up with her answers, no small feat with how slow her brain was chugging along. “Artisanal woodworking.”

“Nope.”

“Artisanal metalworking.”

“Nope.”

“Designing prototypes for this exact style of bed frame,” Venny said with a shit eating grin that was probably more of a result of her being half way to slap happy. 

Sol rolled her eyes, closing one as she carefully twisted the last screw into place. “Okay, I’ll admit, second one was closer.”

“So what is it?”

“You’re not gonna believe me,” Sol said flatly, tapping the frame twice for good measure.

Venny pouted, planting her elbows on the footboard and resting her chin on her fists. “Come on, it can’t be that out there.”

“I promise I’m not joking.”

“You could say you build rocket ships and I’m so tired I’d believe you.”

Sol paused for almost ten full seconds. “Funny you mention that…”

“Get out, you make spaceships?” Venny’s head poked over the frame with eyes wide and excitement clear as day on her lips. “You’re with the Wisteria Space Program?”

“Technically I’m in the rocketry department, not the spaceship program, but same idea,” Sol said with a shrug, jumping to her feet and whistling. Similar to yesterday, the wind kicked up, swirling around the room almost as if it was having fun. The mattress slowly but surely floated off the ground, providing just enough lift for the two of them to set it on the frame without straining muscles or having to worry about wingspans. 

“Still, that’s so cool,” Venny continued, grabbing the sheets off of her air mattress and throwing them onto the bed. “I don’t even think I know anyone back home who does that. What do you even do there?”

Sol laughed, grabbing the sheet and stretching it over a corner. “I’d tell you, but that’s classified.”

“Is that a joke or is that actually classified?”

“‘I might actually get arrested for treason’ classified,” Sol said in a completely serious deadpan.

“Anything you can tell me?” Venny asked, head tilted as her hands quickly smoothed out her blue and white comforter over the bed.

Sol thought for a full minute, arranging pillows and plushies absentmindedly as she paced around the small room. The wind followed her, catching her shirt and blowing it in every direction imaginable, almost as if it was thinking alongside her. “Physics. Lots of physics.”

“Dang.”

A knock sounded at the door, and for the second day in a row, Venny opened it to find Clarissa standing there with a large smile on her face. She had no gifts in hand this time around, but she was scrolling through her phone. “Sol texted me she was here helping out, you done stealing my roommate? I need her for something of vital importance.”

“I offered,” Sol called as she emerged from the bedroom.

“She still stole you!” Clarissa shouted back, though with a laugh and smile on her face. 

Venny returned with a grin of her own. “We should be done pretty soon. Though if it’s really that important, I can take care of the rest.”

“It’s not important, she’s just trying to get me to set up a dating app,” Sol said with a sigh and an accusatory finger. “Because my roommate is a nosy bitch who insists on setting me up with every girl she happens to meet.”

“It’s not every girl.” Clarissa huffed indignantly.

Sol’s face told a much different story with how frustrated those eyebrows looked. “You’ve specifically set me up with three of your exes, a girl from your class, and the florist down the street.”

“All I’m saying is that she’s got a great personality and an even better ass.”

“Then why don’t you ask her out?!” Sol exclaimed, throwing up her hands.

“Because I’m already seeing two people!”

It might have just been Venny’s ears, but she swore she heard laughing from somewhere else in the apartment. 

“Alright, alright, you can have your roommate back,” Venny said, holding back a belly laugh as best as she could. Never in her life had she’d been so grateful to hear two women loudly arguing about female love interests. Her family had been concerned with her moving to Toven, knowing that not every place was as accepting of non-heterosexual identities as Ylxret. New Haven had a better track record than most, though, and conditions were certainly getting better as time went on. If nothing else, seeing her two neighbors argue about sapphic love affairs in the hallway was a good indicator that she had nothing to worry about here. “Hope the app set up goes well.” 

“I’m not setting up the app,” Sol declared with a flat tone, going over to the boxed up table and cutting away tape like a woman scorned. “I’ll get a date on my own damn time.”

“I mean, if you’re looking for someone else to add to the list, I’m into women,” Venny joked, smiling at Clarissa. She watched the pink haired woman’s eyes light up, and hastily threw up her hands. “Not that I’m looking for a relationship, I’ve just moved and I think that might’ve been me not having normal social barriers up due to lack of sleep.”

Sol audibly groaned in the background. “Damn it, you’ve given her ideas.”

“Well that’s even better! You’re new in town and need to see the sights, and I know a great little place Sol could take you for lunch,” Clarissa said, pulling out her phone and rapidly texting. “I’m sending you the directions now.”

Venny blinked a couple of times, finally just realizing the full ramifications of what she had just done. At least she knew now never to open her mouth when she was this sleep deprived, or at least, not do so when possible romantic relationships were involved. Feeling the heat rapidly rising to her face, she shot a glance to Sol, desperately trying to find a way out of this increasingly awkward situation. 

With a sigh, Sol pulled out her phone and rubbed her temples. “I’m really sorry about this.”

“Don’t be, it’s my fault,” Venny said, smiling sheepishly. “I’m really not in the place to be thinking about that anyways.”

“Then think of it like a friendly social,” Clarissa said with a large, not at all innocent smile, eyes darting first to Venny. “You need to meet people-” Her eyes flashed towards her roommate. “-and you need to get out more. Win-win situation!”

Sol’s eyes narrowed in challenge. “Clarissa-”

“Venny, what do you think?” she asked, smiling wide and oh so sweet. So this was a game for them both, a sort of give and take war between them, and this is the moment where she was supposed to choose a side. Her next move decided the winner of this match between these two equally stubborn individuals. 

She was already on the edge of the diving board, might as well take the jump.

“What’s the food like?” Venny asked, putting on her best innocent smile. 

Sol sighed in defeat, grumbling and pulling out her phone. “Stir fry and dumplings. Let me know when you’re free.”

Clarissa grinned with a smile that could split the sea. “It’s a date!”

[viviansternwood]

How do you make a gif?

What a fantastic question. 

This will be a full-blown tutorial, and I’m going to do my best to keep this as beginner-friendly as possible, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask via inbox or DMs or whichever way suits you.

You will need Photoshop to be able to follow this tutorial. I will be using this particular gif as an example:

The rest of the tutorial is under the cut.

Step 1. Download

First we download the video we’re going to gif. It always has to be in HD quality, preferably 1080, but sometimes 720 can work too, but no less. Gifs will not look good if the video you’re giffing is in bad quality.

The idea is to use torrent as little as possible because of the consequences, so, depending on what I want to gif, my method of download will vary. If it’s a relatively recent and well-known movie/tv show, then I usually check out this website for movies, and this one for tv shows.

If it’s something more obscure than that - say an old movie - you’ll have to use torrent, unfortunately.

For youtube videos, I use this app.

Step 2. Screencaps

Now that you’ve downloaded your video, you’ll need to make screencaps. The app I use is MPlayer OSX Extended - it works only for Mac. For both Mac and Windows, you can use MPEG Streamclip, but I prefer the former because it can be used for any format, whereas MPEG Streamclip only works with mp4.

I actually don’t have MPEG Streamclip anymore, so this tutorial will only show how I personally make screencaps, so with MPlayer.

The steps are simple:

Open the video

Find the scene you want to capture

Pause the video

Hold ‘command + shift + S’ until the scene ends

Make sure you choose a folder in which you want your screencaps to save (before you start capturing). To do this, while your video is open, go:

Mplayer OSX Extended > Preferences

This window will open:

At the bottom, where it says “Save screenshots to”, you can choose your location.

Step 3. Importing Screencaps

Once the screencaps are done, we open Photoshop and go: File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack

Next it’ll open a browsing window, and you find the folder in which you saved your screencaps. At this stage I like to make sure I only upload the shots that will be on my gif, leaving out the extra ones I may have captured (like the beginning of the next scene, for example).

Use Shift to choose a lot of shots at the same time:

Then click OK.

While they’re uploading to photoshop, make sure you don’t click anywhere until the process is finished because otherwise it might not upload all the shots.

Step 4. Editing

Once your screenshots are in, the first thing you need to do is decide on the size of the gif. There are specific sizes which tumblr supports so that your gifs don’t appear blurred. I’m going to make a list of all possible combinations that I know. This will go from largest possible size a gif can be to the smallest and will show how it will look in gifsets (all the gifsets will be mine, sometimes from sideblogs).

Any number of gifs, one in a row:

540x540 (example)

540x450 (example)

540x320 (example)

540x240 (example)

An even number of gifs, two gifs in a row, side by side:

268x404 (example)

268x350 (example)

268x300 (example)

268x268 (example)

268x220 (example)

268x192 (example)

268x150 (example)

9 gifs:

177x177 for side gifs and 178x177 for the middle gif in each row (example)

In this case, I will be making a standard 540x240 gif.

First we resize the image. Because these are caps from a movie and not a TV show (resolutions are different for TV), the cap is wide but short, that means that I change the size of the image by height. To do this:

Image > Image Size

This window opens:

Where it says “height”, we type in 240 and click OK.

Then we zoom in to a 100%.

Next, we make sure the timeline is open. To do this: 

Window > Timeline

Once that’s done, down at the timeline, we click “Create Frame Animation”:

At the right of the timeline, right under the layers, we click on this little thing:

And choose “Make Frames from Layers”

The frames will now be in reversed order because that’s how the layers always upload, so we click on that little four lines thing in the upper right corner of the timeline again and choose “Reverse Frames”:

And now is the time to have a look at your frames and see if you need to delete any. Make sure that if you delete a frame, you delete a corresponding layer as well. The gif will have to be under 3mb for tumblr to display it correctly, so make sure there aren’t too many frames. But this isn’t a huge issue because once you’ve saved the ready gif, you can always reopen it and delete some frames.

In this case I have 36 frames, and I’m going to take it down to 34 just to be safe. This is what the gif looks like at this stage:

Once that’s done, the next step is to set the delay. Every giffer does this according to their personal preferences, but I personally do this. If your gif doesn’t involve any talking - so you won’t be adding text, then set the delay to 0.07. If it involves adding text later, don’t touch the delay at all at the moment, it’ll have to be done later. 

Because this gif doesn’t involve adding any text, I’m setting the delay to 0.07. Again, hold Shift to choose all the frames.

The slowed down gif looks like this:

Now it’s time to crop! Choose the cropping tool and type 540x240 where it says “ratio”:

Choose the crop positioning to your liking and press enter.

The gif at the moment:

Now we do last preparations before colouring. For this, click at the little four lines again:

And choose “Convert to Video Timeline”.

Then choose all the layers and go Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

Then go Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen:

Which will open the window for smart sharpening, and here are my settings:

This is another one of those things that is down to each giffer, but what I usually do is, if it’s a really small gif, like 268x150 for example, I set radius to 0.2. If it’s a huge close up to a person’s face or a really big gif, like 540x540, I set the radius to 0.4. For all other gifs I always keep it on 0.3.

Then click OK.

Next, go Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Here are my settings for this:

Then, move the noise layer under the sharpening layer (I don’t know if this changes anything, but I always do it this way lol):

The gif ends up looking like this:

Now the editing is done, and it’s time to colour! 

Step 5. Colouring

This is by far the hardest thing a giffer has to do, so if you don’t immediately get the hang of it, don’t be upset. You’ll learn eventually. I’m still learning, personally.

Again, all of this is very much down to each giffer, but here’s the way I do it.

Press the little “fill layer” button and choose Curves:

So the way I use curves is to even out the entire shot’s colouring. So if the scene is too red or too green or too blue or too yellow, it gets rid of the excess of that colouring and brings it down to normal. Can help so much in some cases.

What you do is choose the middle pipette in the window, which is to sample image to set grey point.

There’s also the option to set white point (bottom pipette) or black point (top pipette), but I don’t use those because it screws with your lighting too much.

To choose a point, I usually use the person’s eyebrows or hair. Sounds ridiculous, but it does work. In this case clicking on Dunkleman’s eyebrow makes the image too green:

So what I do instead is click on his hair, where it’s reddish brown, somewhere here.

This makes the image noticeably less red compared to the original:

But also, it made the image less vibrant, so we’re fixing that next. Fill layer > Vibrance:

And then I set Vibrance to 100, always. If the image is still not vibrant enough for my liking, I set saturation (in the same window) to 10 or 25 in some cases. And for this gif, I will set saturation to 10. 

Here’s how the image ends up looking (just make sure it doesn’t make their faces ridiculously red or something, but if there’s some excess of colour, don’t worry):

Now go Fill layer > Exposure.

Here are my settings for this gif:

With exposure, it’s just a matter of keeping that balance between lightening it as much as possible but without their faces or bodies looking as bright as a christmas tree, and then adding offset and gamma correction to return normalcy to the picture.

Here’s what the image looks like now:

It’s obvious right now that their faces are a little too red and too yellow, so we’re going to fix that. Go Fill Layer > Selective Colour:

The task here is to make their faces appear as if they’re stood in normal daylight with no other filters. So as close to normal skin colour as possible. Be careful when giffing people of colour so that you don’t whitewash them. 

In this case, I’m adding cyan in reds:

And taking down yellow in yellows:

And here’s what the image ends up looking like:

I’m quite satisfied with this result, so I’m going to leave it how it is, but sometimes I will tweak things more and use colour balance and other things.

Step 6. Add Text

Make sure you group your colouring layers at this point and then add your text as the top layer. 

Step 7. Save the gif

To save a gif moving, you go File > Export > Save for Web:

This window opens up, and make sure that in the bottom right corner, where it says “looping options”, it’s set to “forever”:

As the last step, I add dither because it evens out the edited colours in the background. I tend to use “pattern”:

Then we press “save” and our gif is done!

Step 9. Reopen

If you added text to the gif and followed my advice, you wouldn’t have touched the delay back at the beginning. This is because converting to video timeline kicks the delay either into 0.03 (too fast) or into 0.07 (too slow for speaking gifs). So you have to reopen the gif now and set the delay to 0.06 (that’s the speed I like for my gifs where someone’s talking on them).

This is also a good time to delete some frames if your gif is 3mb or over. Remember it won’t move if it’s not under 3mb!

Hope all of this makes sense, and let me know if you have any questions!

[katy-l-wood]

Can I ask you to talk a little bit about your process for backgrounds - specifically the piece you’ve been posting lately? I’m someone who is a lot looser with drawing naturally and far better with backgrounds drawn in traditional media as a result, so I’m trying to get some insight into how people create detailed backgrounds like that digitally.

Sure! Here’s a few things that help me out with backgrounds in general, as well as some detail specific tips:

1. Understanding perspective. I know we all hated drawing those cubes in school art classes, but it really does help. And practice some WEIRD stuff too, just to get a feel for it. One of my college assignments was drawing a spiral staircase in fisheye perspective. My teacher had a very evil glint in his eye when he assigned that...

Anyways.

Also make sure your perspective is a little off kilter. Don’t put your horizon line exactly in the middle, don’t make your vanishing points equidistant, etc. Adds more visual interest to have things a bit off-set.

2. Use/Make Reference. I have a bunch of Pinterest boards of different reference material. Everyone is welcome to check them out if you like! I also have one specifically for scenery. Now, with this said, it is important to understand how to USE reference. It’s not just “I am going to draw this picture” it is “I like the perspective in this one, the lighting in this one, the _______ in this one, the _______ in this one, etc.” and then learning how to effectively combine all those things into a finished piece. Reference also helps you add those little details you’d normally forget about, which lends realism to your work.

For example, without getting up to check, how many of the shelves on your bookshelf are starting to bow under the weight of your books? How many empty shelf-peg holes are there between each shelf? How much variation in height/width is there between your books? Are any of them pushed back/pulled forward compared to the others? What sort of knick-knacks do you have sitting with your books and where? Are all the pieces of the shelf assembled properly or did you accidentally not screw something in properly and leave a little gap somewhere? And these questions can be applied to anything you draw. How many eyes does that aspen tree have? What type of stitching do the curtains have? What’s the right type of lane marking for that type of street? Learning to ask those types of questions will help up the detail in your work because it will help you pick up on things you’d normally miss.

Now, as for making reference, this is something I do a lot as well, especially for complex backgrounds. I use Google Sketchup to build a base model, then draw from that. In the case of the Apothecary illustration it was the shelves/cabinets/walls. It helps with good perspective because I don’t have to try to find super distant vanishing points, I can just rotate the model around until I find something I like and save it in that position as a reference. Like, I just checked on the Apothecary and the left vanishing point is about 30 inches off the page. And that’s just a pain, digitally OR traditionally. But if I make my own reference I don’t have to worry about those vanishing points quite as much. Also, Google Sketchup is super easy to use and comes with built in tutorials, and there is a free version.

3. Start Big, Work Small. This is the biggest thing for me when it comes to complex/detailed backgrounds. Start with the big stuff, THEN get detailed. With the Apothecary that meant drawing the empty shelves first, then tackling the rest one shelf at a time. Basically the process went: Shelves-->empty jars/beakers/whatever-->contents of jars/beakers/whatever. With a forest it might be: Land Forms/Contours-->Distant Trees-->Closer Trees-->Smaller shrubbery and ground cover-->Little details like scars on trees, pebbles/etc. With a room it might be: Walls-->Basic forms of furniture-->Details of furniture like a messy desk, an unmade bed, etc.

It’s basically the same as drawing a person. You start with loose forms to get the position of the whole body right before you start putting clothes/hair/features on the figure.

4. Lazy Nezumi. Lazy Nezumi is a LIFE SAVER for digital art. My process is 10x faster with it than without. LN started as a brush smoothing engine since, for some weird reason, Photoshop never offered a good one? (It tried to add one an update or two ago, but it is still pretty weak.) But LN has since evolved to have a ton of other great tools including a variety of perspective rulers. I mostly use the connected lines setting for perspective work, as well as the perspective ellipse when I need to draw circles in perspective.

5. You’re not a loser. You’re learning! New mediums are hard, especially if it is as big a switch as traditional to digital. If you’re feeling frustrated, take some time to just play. Don’t aim for anything finished, just click all the buttons and try all the brushes and screw around. It takes a lot of the pressure off if your end goal isn’t a finished piece, and that’ll help you loosen up and just see how things work and what you like/don’t like.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, that’s all I got. If anyone ever has any other art questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!