#Stop underselling yourself

[syls-chaos]

This is your reminder that you are worth more than disrespect.

[starcurtain]

2.1 Penacony Spoilers!

I know the scene after Ratio's "betrayal" can be read a lot of ways but I am shocked I haven't seen more people interpret it as Ratio being so worried about Aventurine that he couldn't stay away even though he was supposed to.

We know:

1) Ratio absolutely knew Aventurine's plan from start to finish, both his gamble to create "death" in the dream and with the three cornerstones. (Wish people would stop underselling Ratio in their analyses; "Three chips are enough" is a direct enough clue that, genius as he is, Ratio would never miss.)

2) In his own words, Ratio was acting according to Aventurine's instructions while in Dewlight Pavilion and with Sunday and felt that he did a good job not giving them away.

I think most people are on the same page up to there, but then I've seen a lot of people interpreting this scene after Aventurine leaves Sunday's mansion as Aventurine being genuinely angry at Ratio (possibly after having gaslit himself into thinking Ratio was actually betraying him).

But this doesn't make much sense to me because:

1) Ratio actually has nothing to gain by selling Aventurine out to Sunday. They're on the same side in this mission. Information about a Stelleron on Penacony wouldn't be news anyone with a brain like Ratio's and why would he need someone else's research on Stellerons when he already has ties to the Genius Society through Screwllum and Herta, as well as the Astral Express where the Trailblazer is actively housing a Stelleron?

2) One of Aventurine's most notable lines of dialogue is how it's perfectly fine and expected for "friends" to use each other and backstab. This is his default understanding of partners--why would he suddenly be mad about something he expected from the start?

3) If the betrayal wasn't already planned and was just a possibility based on Aventurine's understanding of Ratio, why would he ever have revealed there were "three chips" (aka three cornerstones) in play? If even the betrayal over Topaz's stone wasn't planned, just assumed, why would Aventurine reveal the existence of the third stone? He would gain nothing from doing so.

Instead, I think it makes a lot more sense to interpret Aventurine's frustration with Ratio in this later scene as annoyance over Ratio taking an "unnecessary" risk:

1) As far as Sunday knows, Ratio had just very seriously betrayed Aventurine, completely selling him out and essentially sending him to his execution.

2) In the scene afterward, Aventurine is out in public in the middle of Penacony where The Family's eyes are always watching, yet Ratio walks right up to him to check on him. Why would someone who just sold you out come up to you immediately afterward to check on your health?!

3) It's only natural that Aventurine would pump the brakes and go "Wow, didn't think you'd show yourself after you just betrayed me, remember?" Because that's the act they are supposed to be keeping up! They're still being monitored; it's not safe to break character!

But Ratio is a genius, right, so why would he break character here? From the standpoint of the ploy itself, revealing to the Family that he and Aventurine were still on the same side would only jeopardize the plan, not help it.

The logical explanation, then, is that Ratio went to Aventurine here because he felt like he had to.

He had to check in and make sure the situation was still under Aventurine's control.

(In fact, the entire exchange through the middle of this scene is Aventurine and Ratio confirming the rest of their plot in a veiled manner: Ratio brings up the plan and mentions what's concealed in the gift money bag, Aventurine confirms the cornerstone is good to go; Ratio asks what his next step will be; Aventurine says he's going to do the insane thing of handing out cash while looking pathetic [aka fishing for Sparkle]. Ratio essentially asks if he's crazy enough to take the final gamble with his own life, which Aventurine confirms, and then Ratio sets them up for the finale by gifting him the doctor's note.)

Ratio was willing to risk ruining their entire plan--something Aventurine does seem to be frustrated about at first--just to ensure Aventurine still felt all right about the situation.

He needed to deliver his note demanding Aventurine stay alive.

He needed to tell Aventurine to come to him if the situation got too painful to bear.

In short, Ratio was worried enough that he could not stay away even though, for the sake of their plot, it would have made significantly more sense for him not to appear. The gain of breaking character was worth more to him than the risk of being caught.

You honestly don't even have to take this in a shipping context. The real point here is that Ratio is an incredibly good person who wasn't okay with Aventurine's self-sacrificial plan and who felt morally compelled to check on a person in pain. He's a healer through and through, and ignoring Aventurine in this condition--ignoring someone who was taking so much risk on themselves--simply wasn't possible for him, no matter the danger it posed to the plan.

But for those who do ship Ratio and Aventurine... I hope more people will come to see this scene as another example of Ratio's genuine concern for his mission partner! He did not have to appear here at all; it would have made much more sense for him to leave Aventurine to his own devices to uphold the illusion of their "betrayal." He showed up in this scene--very likely against Aventurine's expectations--because he was concerned for Aventurine's situation and wanted to ensure Aventurine knew he could fall back on Ratio's support at any time if the plan went awry.

tl;dr: I wish people would stop interpreting this scene as the aftermath of a betrayal. Aventurine wasn't ticked off with Ratio in this scene because he felt like he'd genuinely been backstabbed; he was ticked off because Ratio was literally breaking their pre-established "betrayer" character just to be fussy over Aventurine's safety and well-being. (Okay, and to double check on the plan, but let's be real, the first part was definitely more important. 👌)

[jay7543]

You ask ghost if you can stack donuts on it, pt1

18+!!!!

A little silly one, I’m just making these whenever I get ideas so don’t expect it to always be this frequent lol.

Thank you all for the support, I’m happy to know there are a plethora of people on the internet as odd as me ( I mean that affectionately of course). I’m very happy to share these little stories I come up with.

In this, your ghost’s boyfriend and have seen the idea of stacking donuts on a man’s dick floating around online, you wanted to try it on him. This is part 1, I’ll probably make part 2 tomorrow.

Love you all, enjoy

(M4m)

You show up at ghosts door after texting him to ask if you can stack donuts on his huge cock, like really big, so you were curious. He responded with a boring lol but nothing else, so you decided to show up with a dozen donuts and some whipped cream. You knock on his door, he opens it in his mask, a tank top, and a pair of loose boxers, which are doing nothing to hide his cock. He is very surprised to see the items you’re holding.

Ghost-“no”

Reader-“come oooon, you didn’t say no, so I wanted too, your cock is so big babe, I wanna see how many will fit, I’ll eat them off, and maybe suck it a bit if you behave”

You say with a slight smirk and bite to your lip. Ghost squints his eyes a bit, clearly considering your offer, especially because he loves your blowjobs.

Ghost-“what’s the whipped cream for then love”

Reader-“I don’t know, to make it taste a bit better I guess. The donuts I mean, not your cock, your cock always tastes amazing. The donuts are pretty dry sometimes.”

He sighs slightly and slumps his shoulders in defeat.

Ghost-“fine, but on two conditions, you will give me that blowjob, and I’ll get to stack some on you”

Your eyes flutter a bit, surprised by his suggestion to do it to you, your cock is way smaller than his, why would he wanna do it, but whatever, it’s a damn good deal.

Reader-“sounds great”

You give him a quick kiss on his mask and walk in and head straight to his room with a smile, he follows behind slowly. You sit the donuts and cream in the bed and wait for him to sit.

Reader-“come on, get those pesky boxers off, you know, I think you should stop wearing them, so I have quick access”

You quickly yank his boxers down his legs, letting his king size cock spring out and land on his thigh with an audible slap. Ghost chuckle deeply as he shifts his position to lay down so you can get full access. You move the box of donuts and whipped cream next to his waist and take his cock in your hand.

Reader-“well, this won’t do, this guy has to be rock hard”

You take his cock into your mouth, making sure to lick his glans and stroke his full lengths to get him as hard as possible.

Ghost(after a deep moan)-“you’re such a slut sometimes love”

You pull away, still stroking his length and gasp in mock offense.

Reader-“how could you say such a thing. I need to punish you”

You say with a mischievous smirk as you reach down and lightly flick his balls making him grunt and jump a bit.

Ghost-“sorry love, won’t happen again”

You smile and give his swollen tip a deep kiss. You pull back and smile at him.

Reader-“it’s ok, I’m your slut anyway. Well, I think this guy is nice and hard and ready to have some donuts around him”

You chuckle and open the box of donuts.

Reader-“how many do you think will fit? I think 4.”

Ghost-“3, I know I’m big, but those donuts are big too”

Reader-“I think you’re underselling yourself, from where I am maybe we could get this whole box on this sledgehammer here, it’s a miracle it fits in my ass.”

You say as you take the first donut out of the box and slide it down his shaft, it takes up more of his cock than you thought but there is still a lot of cock left. You put another one on.

Reader-“That’s two, and you still have a lot of cock left, I think I’m gonna win”

Ghost-“feels tight, not as tight as your hole though love”

He says as one on the donuts rips a bit from his throbbing length. You smile and kiss his shaft before stack another one on.

Reader-“oh you flatterer, that’ll get you everywhere with me babe”

You stack another one on and are astonished at how well they fit around him.

Reader-“that’s 4, just your tip is sticking out of the top now”

You chuckle as you grab the whipped cream and put it on his tip. Ghost shakes his head and chuckles.

Ghost-“satisfied now love?”

Reader-“nope”

You take his whipped cream covered tip into your mouth and lick and suck vigorously, getting some deep hearty moans from ghost.

Ghost-“fuck love, your tongue is so bloody good”

He says as he fully lays his head back and lets you lick and suck his tip. You unlatch you lips from his tip and move down to take a bite out of one of the donuts.

Reader-“these are good, especially with the bit of your precum I have in my mouth”

You chuckle as you chew and swallow parts of the first donut. You lift the rest off so you have access to his full cock.

Reader-“I’ll save those for later, I wanna suck you so bad”

You immediately put his cock back into your mouth and start bobbing up and down, causing all of those slurps and gagging noises he loves oh so much. Ghost moves his hand down to the back of your head, guiding you deeper and deeper onto him cock.

Ghost-“fuck love, keep going, so good, I haven’t cum since the last time you were here, my balls are bloody bursting.”

You chuckle with your lips wrapped firmly around his throbbing shaft as you suck even more vigorously than before, causing your spit to overflow out of your mouth and down to his balls. Sloppy, just how he likes it. Ghost starts thrusting up into your mouth a bit as you feel his cock get even harder.

Ghost-“fuck, I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum love.fuuuuuck”

You feel his scalding seed hit the back of your throat, and as you do you take his full length in your mouth, letting him pour it directly into your throat. After a few loud swallows, and animalistic grunts from ghost, you slowly pull your mouth back up his shaft and off his cock, licking you lips and wiping the spit of your chin.

Reader-“you always taste so good”

You lean back and sit flat onto the bed

Ghost-“don’t forget our deal love, now I do it to you, and it looks like you ready”

He says as he sits up and stares at your crotch, your erection visible through your loose-fitting shorts.

[justsescape]

"Where are the pumps, anon?! It's been over five minutes and the milk is going to burst out any second!"

Asuka’s presence in the living room inspired – nay, forced – a bit of creative remodeling. The coffee table, the television, the game consoles, the decorative plants; just about everything was shunted into your bedroom until it resembled a packed storage unit. Ironically, her overdeveloped breasts could fill one up as well. Maybe two.

“Hmph, what a moron… always losing the most important things…”

While your hurried search through various kitchen cabinets continued, Asuka let her arms spread out across the back of the couch like she was lounging in the summer sun. Her boobs, evidently, were just as carefree. To say they resembled beanbag chairs was to describe their texture and heft, but it was to vastly undersell their sheer size. There was a reason you had to move everything out of that room: you could practically hide a car underneath just a single one of her massive, massive tits. In fact, if she were to stand up and lose her footing, she could fall into her own cleavage and get swallowed up entirely like she stumbled into quicksand.

“And don’t complain about not being able to find my nipples again,” Asuka scowled, pointing a finger in your direction. She was only visible from the shoulders up; the rest of her was obscured by her gigantic bust like she was underneath a down comforter. “Just pick up the ends of my chest with a shovel and they’re right there, rubbing up against the damn carpet. Which you should do something about, by the way. It’s so uncomfortable against my skin! Why haven’t you done something about it already?!”

Your eyebrow twitched. Need you remind her of why she was here in the first place? Sightings of her being lifted by crane, or with her garage-wide bust stuck in the sliding double-doors at the local grocery outlet – such incidents racked up bills like you were intending to compete with the national debt. Not to mention the attention it drew. “She’s so big she can’t walk without her wheelbarrows,” one would bystander would say to another. “Do you think she sleeps on them like they’re a mattress?” Any attempt at a public appearance was met with this kind of commentary. And she has had more than enough of the “hyper hourglass” comparisons since she started attending college. It was more like her body was a cyclone: dangerous for most, a force of nature that walloped against buckling support beams and swung like wrecking balls, but always attracting a few foolhardy stormchasers.

Perhaps she’d be nicer if she was reminded of the privilege of being housed in privacy. Finally returning with the pump's accessories, however, did not inspire this sort of kindness.

"It's about damn time," Asuka said, her venomous tongue whipping up often enough to start a cyclone of its own. "Don’t you care about the floor in your own apartment? One day you’re going to be too slow and I’m going to leak all over it!”

Circumnavigating her chest – which required you to slide against the wall like a stealthy video game character – you eventually found yourself at the opposite end of the room. Staring down at Asuka was like being on the opposite end of a long dining table in a fancy castle. Except, instead of such a table, only her quaking boobs spanned the gulf between the two of you.

"St-stop looking at me and get to work, dummkopf!" Asuka crossed her arms over herself as if such a maneuver could still hide her chest. "I can feel it starting down there! Hurry up and find my nipples!"

You dragged towels across the carpet like you were a beaver dragging piles of wood in front of a lake. A shovel wasn't needed; you just handled her breasts by hand, letting her gelatinous flesh bulge and squeeze between your fingers and droop over your forearms. Asuka's skin was peppered with reddened rashes and surfacing veins alike. Occasionally, you would graze against one of the more tender areas and hear her try to mute her own instinctive squeals.

But with how big she had become, the search didn't last long. Nipples had long since won the size competition against manhole covers. Her areolae spread across her pristine skin until they each spanned the width of your outstretched arms. And speaking of stretching, that’s exactly what you had to do to fasten the plastic cups on to her unruly tits. Her breasts didn’t jiggle so much as they rippled like cresting waves.

"Mmmmnnf... nngnnngggh..." Asuka's hands were clamped over her mouth. Eyes shut, shoulders tensed; surely beneath her titanic boobs, her legs were squirming wildly about. When you were burying your arms deep into her underbust in search of her nipples, you could feel how the movement of her legs moved her entire chest around like it was a slinky.

The pump was an electronic device that had forever found its place in the corner beside you. Besides the couch, it was the only furnishing that wasn't allowed to leave this room. The hoses that connected it with the two plastic cups on her boobs were as thick as those that came off the side of a fire engine.

All it took was a flick of a switch.

WHIIIIIIIIRRRRRRR...

The hoses sprang to life in an instant, thickening up as milk flowed through them like they were connected to a fire hydrant. Milk pummeled the insides of the plastic cups like water dousing a windshield in a car wash. The sounds were crushing, deafening – but none of them grabbed your attention quite as much as Asuka's own uncontrollable whimpering.

"Nnnnghh... mmNNNnnfgh... haaah... haaah...~"

To visit a historic landmark; to look up at a rare eclipse; to watch how Asuka's ferocious attitude turned on a dime as the milk started to flow. Her delicate fingers dropped from her mouth and gripped the leather upholstery of your couch like she was bracing for some sort of impact. Sweat dripped from the tips of her eyelashes. Even her legs kicked involuntarily underneath the weight of her boobs like she was being tested for reflexes. There was no question about it. Her boobs ruled her entire body.

"...o-okay... y-you did it... hhNNnnngh... just in time..." She may have been on the other side of the room across a horizon of cleavage, but Asuka's smile was unmistakable. It was so warm that it could bring the sun up during the dead of night. "...I guess as... MMMNF... a reward... y-you can p-put that cowbell collar around my neck..."

[the-fandom-is-now-my-life]

Let's go enjoy the sun and 55!

Hopefully I'm doing this correctly eksoqheb-

Let's go enjoy the sun!

Haru might have convinced you to help out for their fundraiser so let's see who are the three people who come to spend the evening in Jabberwock

Wc: ~1,8k

“Is everything ready?” Haru asks from the door of Jabberwock while he carries out a very homemade stand under his arm before setting it down. It's the equivalent to a child's lemonade stand but rather it read ‘jabberwock fundraiser’ in big black letters

“Are you honestly doing this?”

“We are really in need of money, ren!” He pouts before saying something to Towa who was humming in agreement.

“Why are you even here? You aren't even part of Jabberwock” Ren looks up from his raid to side eye you.

“Haru looked pretty depressed while he vented so I decided to help”

“Are you stupid or spineless?” a sigh leaves his lips and he doesn't wait for an answer before focusing again on his phone.

“Stop bothering them, Ren! At least I heard what you said so now you only have to wait on visitors and charge them”

“And you forced me to not take shifts to do what I do for my job?” 

Ignoring him Haru pulls a marker and writes down the prices.

500 yen for 30 minute foraging group tour with Towa

800 yen for 30 minute capybus ride with Haru

But when you reach your price for essentially frolicking around the hills and sunbathing your breath scapes your lungs

“So expensive”

“Don't undersell yourself!” Haru chimes and towa hums “I'm sure you will get us more earnings than you think!”

“That is like 2500 diamonds in Shock of clans” Ren comments, and it makes you remember when he spent 30 minutes thinking if buying diamonds was smart. Next he throws a sly smirk  “seems like someone else can take care of the cashier for me”

“Then you can go feed the salamanders! Such good thinking Ren!” Haru chimes.

“Forget it, I just remembered they weren't good at math"

“Hello, senpai” Sho smiles as he hands the money to Ren, who was still bitching about now having to pay proper attention to his job and not the game.

“oh? I didn't expect you to come by, Sho!” quickly you walk around the stand and hug him. Seeing he paid, you link both of your arms and start leading where Haru told you was your ‘station’.  

“and leave you with whatever pervert might come? After you helped around the truck some weirdos came asking when you would be there again” 

“Mhm, so you decided to be the weirdo?” You two walk down a path between some overgrown red cap mushrooms that were as tall as trees, this would be such a good place to record an Alice in wonderland movie.

“Here I come trying to save you from perverts and this is how I get treated?” Sho feigns being hurt, his hand slapping his chest “so what were you supposed to do?”

You throw yourself on the red blanket laying down on the floor before smiling knowing he would crack up “ I'm hosting a flower themed tea party” and your hand signals to the glass teapot with lotus designs and the matching lotus shaped teacups that hotarubi lent “and if you want I can make you a flower crown” without missing a beat he laughs “to be fair, I thought I would lead a tour or play cashier” 

“And they ended up having you serve tea?” You nod “and you didn't complain?” you nod again “well, are you going to pour me or what?” He sits down next to you, soon drinking the jasmine tea.

For the hour that he booked you two mostly chatted about how he was doing, how he was getting closer to Subaru, and how his food truck was going. It was so nice to be able to chat with Sho without Leo interrupting or him dividing his attention between cooking and receiving clients but every few minutes his phone would start buzzing making him frown until he checks who is sending the texts.

“Oi, smile” Sho raises the telephone and takes a photo of you making him a flower crown with some dandelions and wild flowers.

“keeping a photo for the memory? I would have fixed my hair if you were gonna to photograph me” 

“Leo is texting me nonstop, maybe this will stop him a bit” he puts down the phone and grabs one of the cookies that were on the plate, they are the typical chocolate chip cookies from the kiosk but that are a worthy accompaniment.

Not even a few minutes later Leo uploads a post on wickchat and Sho gets a notification, from his scowl you can guess he isn't happy. In his screen there is a story with a snarky comment mocking his friend and soon the comments flooded with people sympathizing with him.

damn, my friend bailed out of a hang out to go out with his crush who doesn't even like him

“That asshole” the comment and the cluck of his tongue slip without thinking, soon getting your attention from the almost finished craft.

“Is it that bad?” Curious, you take your own phone from your cardigan but before even being able to type Leo's user in the search bar Sho throws himself at you, arm quickly swatting away the phone. Effectively ensuring you didn't see the post but making him lose balance and fall over just in time for Ritsu and Ren walking in.

“Hey, YN, can you watch the stand for a sec? He wants to go on a tour and I can't find To-” his eyes widen when he sees the scene “what the…”

“If you  desire to file for sexual harassment I would be honored to be your lawyer in the proceedings”

“Wait a minute this isn't what it looks like!” 

“He just lost balance, there is no need to jump to conclusions”

“No need to feel ashamed, there are two visual witnesses to attest, I'm sure Darkwick will respond”

Soon enough, either because of embarrassment, Ren looking at him with thinly veiled disgust or Ritsu pushing you to file a restraining order, Sho leaves soon after entering jabberwock.

“Tsk, why would you bring me here?” Jin scratches the back of his head, icy blue eyes almost closed due to the sunlight he isn't used to.

“Hermits can be prone to vitamin D deficiency, and I saw this as the perfect opportunity for you to take some sun”

“Go to hell and die, asshole” Jin barks at him between clenched teeth but Thoma doesn't bother with him and goes to the stand.

“Morning, Thoma!” You wave as he gets closer

“inspector? I wasn't expecting to see you here”

“Yeah, Ren left me here while he led a first year to Towa’s tour” your hand points to the wooden slate with the three options and prices.

“Oh? I didn't hear that there were different tours” Thoma grabs his chin, looking over the proposals curiously. Behind him Jin is kicking dirt and cursing under his breath, if he could teleport with his sword why is he here still?

“Yep! Towa just left with the foraging party so he shouldn't return for a good few minutes, but Haru should be back soon”

“Hmm… I do see your name here, do you host a tour of your own?”

“It isn't quite like that” you laugh a bit “we decided that I shouldn't be alone with the anomalies just in case anything goes wrong. I just have a sort of tea party” 

“That does seem more like Jin's thing out of these options” Thoma mumbles lightly

“Oh, right now I'm taking care of the stand so I can't really entertain people” out of nowhere Ren’s hand lands on your shoulder, prompting you to give him his seat, last time you refused to he pulled his floatie around your torso so you couldn't move. He had a smile from ear to ear, sadistic brat.

“did you decide what you want to do?” Ren uses his customer service voice, barely different from his normal voice, just somehow more lifeless. If that was possible.

“we both will go with YN” Thoma pulls his wallet and pays. Ren hums while counting the money.

 Jin scoffs seated on the checkered blanket, a smirk on his lips “so you are going to be waiting on me again, servant”

You roll your eyes at his comment, even if this time you were technically serving him “yeah, yeah, it was indeed on the description” a soft smirk forms between your lips seeing a way to tease him. you turn around to face the teapot you ask “jasmine or black tea?” your hands fiddle with the lid, acting as if you were going to open it and put leaves in.

“Fine then, I want black tea”

“Wrong, it's jasmine” as you turn around to serve it and see his annoyed face and Thoma's amused one “this teapot never runs out of warm tea but it's always Jasmine” silently he complains but still drinks the tea, getting slightly more annoyed from the fact it tastes good, soft flowery flavor that leaves a nice sweetness on the tongue.

“Isn't that quite the useful anomaly?” Thoma muses, watching how slowly the liquid inside swirls from side to side and starts going up, filling itself again.

“I thought the same, Subaru was so nice for lending it to us for a day! He said to take it as Hotarubi’s support” you can remember clearly how he offered it before assuring that he didn't mean that he expected Jabberwock to help his dorm if anything happened! And that it wasn't like he was expecting anything like that and- luckily Haku popped in before his dorm leader had a panic attack.

“Isn't that nice of them? I'm sure we could use a source of warm drinks in Frostheim” 

“Haku told me that the wait list for it can get pretty long, around two months at a time” idly your hand brushes the grass, plucking a white flower growing close to the blanket and you bend the stem to make a small ring. Seeing Jin's pale hand resting on his lap you might as well give it to him but before you lean to the right and grab Jin's hand he moves it.

“Don't even think about it” like a cat with a too cuddly owner, he swipes his hand behind his back.

“Fine, Thoma give me your hand then” you lean forward but before you can grab Thoma's hand Jin snatches it “oh~? I thought you didn't want it”

He stuffs the ring in his pocket “Tsk what you give to your king can't be taken back even if you want to so stop whining”

When the time finished they both walked back to frostheim when Thoma hums softly a song.

“Do you want to die? bastard” when he flips him off the little white flower is in the next finger to the middle finger 

“Did I do something to anger you? It's just some notes” and he keeps humming the wedding march.

[imahinatjon]

Can you write something about a reader who only focuses on what they did wrong. Like for example, they had a mission that they succeeded flawlessly in, and they know that. But they only focus on the small mistakes and how to perfect them. And after some time, Fyodor, who has started to fall in love with them, grows irritated at their unhealthy habit and decides to teach them a lesson, by overstimulating them. No worries if you don't want to write something like this

It has been WAYYY too long. I am so sorry for not getting to this sooner. But hey! Its done now. Been a busy month and my hands are killing me lol.

Anyway, here it is. Overstimulation with fyodor. Maybe out of character.

How much more?

Fyodor x Reader 18+ 💋

This was... oh THIS was irritating. Fyodor didn't send you out often, in his opinion you were too good for the lowly, mediocre jobs, so he'd wait for a better and more Important mission to send you on- he trusted you'd get the job done.

Not that he'd ever told you that.

So of course, you assume your kept behind so often because your not good enough to go on missions - without even realising that the ones you DO get assigned are the more important ones.

But how were you to know that they were important to him? You'd never seen a 'normal' job.

No normal person would ever be caught complaining to Fyodor in such a way. The only person who spoke to him so familiarly was you.

And it was ovbious he had some sort of feeling towards you, to everyone but yourself. Your colleagues weren't sure if they should worry for you or be glad you'd be somewhat protected.

Aha! But, none of that is the point, not really. The focus of this is what your doing right now - complaining again to Fyodor. Telling him all about your last mission. An astounding success it was! But... well, that one guard? He managed to spot you and alert a few other guys of your infiltration, all because you were a little too loud. I mean, you did take them down, but you have a rather nasty scratch on your arm. Only a scratch, but it hurt, and hindered the rest of your mission. Maybe if not for that first mistake. It would have gone a little more smoothly.

Fyodor really didn't care. You did the job, and you made sure it was a success, all the little details were inconsequential.

But he listened to you. Patting your head as your frowned deeply when you sat beside him.

He wanted to fix the problem. Somehow. Your constant complaining DID get annoying at times. Besides, you were seriously underselling yourself on a regular basis.

Then he had an idea.

In hindsight, a stupid idea which didn't make much sense, and wouldn't do anything to fix things in the long run, but it'd be a temporary fix.

...

That and he just really wanted to eat you out.

This little thought of his, an impulse he'd never have acted on if he wasn't already a little ticked is what landed you on your back, sprawled over a sofa, fyodor gently massaging your genitalia, ghosting gently over all your most sensitive parts with his cold hands.

Occasionally he'd hit that one spot, making you flinch with a cold shiver up your spine and your hips twitch.

You sighed quietly, he was slow, and it was relaxing, blissful, and then you felt something warm fan over you.

Opening your eyes you spied his mouth closing in on you, ready to take in your essence.

"W-wait!" You yelped

Fyodor stopped and looked up, expectantly, he wanted an explanation

"Its not... I'm... what if it doesn't... it won't taste... Good?" You weren't sure hoe exactly it should he said. You were sure whatever he wanted to do would feel heavenly, and you desperately wanted him to continue, but doubts persisted.

He sighed.

"Any more complaining and I'm not letting you come"

'What?' You thought to yourself. He was harsh, and you were sure he would stick to his word should you complain again, but, his hand squeezed yor thight gently. A subtle message 'its okay'

And he was soon back between your legs, tongue working wonders, one hand over your stomach, arm keeping you still, the other toying where his mouth was absent.

He moved around a lot, switching his attention to various parts of your body, bringing you closer and closer to an edge you would soon reach.

You felt your muscles tighten, his hair run between your fingers, and you were sure you must have called his name at some point as your mouth was open and throat a little dry.

You needed some water.

But something was stopping you after your climax. A sensation that slightly ached, made you wince and look down. Fyodor was still going. He has to know you've already come right? Surely...?

Of course he knew.

But you hadn't much time to entertain his intentions as your next orgasm was ready to crash down upon you like a tidle wave, more intense than the previous.

He shifted, leaning up over you.

"Think you can come again..."

You wanted to shake your head no...

But... the I

Thoughts of what he could do to you... this was a change you didn't get everyday.

All you could do was weakly nod. Even if all your insides all felt tight, even if it ached slightly, even if you grew tired... you wanted to take everything he would give to you.

Just like another mission. How much could you take?

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

Good?

[scoobydoodean]

Everybody leaves you, Dean. You noticed? Mommy. Daddy. Even Sam. You ever ask yourself why? Maybe it’s not them. Maybe, it’s you.

(5.16 "Dark Side of the Moon")

Just. A quick post on this, because I think that some fans, right along with Dean during this interaction, have been tricked into believing that this is true. They have been tricked by this dialogue into believing that Dean is a clingy, overly needy person who pushes every single person he loves away by needing too much or just by being too much in general.

This is not true.

Mary didn't leave because her four year old was a burden, and if she had, that wouldn't have been Dean's fault at four years old. Mary died because she made a demon deal before she even had kids.

John didn't leave because Dean was a burden. John's absences from Dean (AND SAM's) life happened because of John's issues—because he coped with trauma through vengeance and lost sight of his family until the end, when his last act was to sacrifice himself to save Dean's life.

Recognizing that Mary and John leaving Dean had nothing to do with Dean being a burden in real life, the idea that Dean is always being left behind and that him always being the common denominator implicates him breaks down.

Dean and Sam's relationship is a particularly complicated one—made so by multiple deaths, parentification in childhood, childhood neglect, and terrifying apocalyptic destinies. To make Sam running away at 12 or going to school about Dean being the problem is to vastly undersell the conflict Sam had with John. In fact, even with Sam clashes with Dean directly in the early seasons, he is usually using Dean as a stand in for a fight he can't have with their father—and we see the actual blow up occur between father and son in 1.20. Strife between Sam and Dean about living in each other's pockets also isn't one-sided when that kind of strife rears its head. In fact, Dean was the one relieved to be away from Sam a little earlier in the season, from 5.02 to the end of 5.04. Dean called his family chains in 5.03 and was very directly referring to Sam.

There's good and bad among Sam and Dean's feelings about each other, but we know from 5.22 "Swan Song" that the idea sold in 5.16 "Dark Side of the Moon"—that Sam doesn't have happy memories with Dean—is a flat out lie. Happy memories with Dean are literally what breaks Lucifer's control over Sam's body, flipping a switch in Sam's head as memory after memory of being on the road with Dean rushes fondly through Sam's mind.

Zachariah leads Sam and Dean through heaven like rats in a maze. He knew where they were the entire time they were in heaven. Sam and Dean were lead to believe they could hide, but Zachariah always knew where they were. He popped up in certain areas to drive them from one place to another, in a loop through memories selling the story Zachariah wanted to sell.

He pushed them away from the happy memories Sam has with Dean (as seen in "Swan Song") and toward memories where Sam was away from their family (two of which specifically represented escape from John) to sell the narrative that Sam doesn't care about Dean. Zachariah tries to sell this narrative because 5.04 "The End" culminated in Dean feeling he and Sam were both stronger together than apart. Zachariah is deliberately trying to break Dean's belief in that family bond to drive him away from his family and toward despair. He wants Dean to stop believing that he could ever be enough to keep Sam from saying "Yes". Zachariah wants Dean to see himself as disposable because Zachariah wants Dean to make himself a disposable vessel. Zachariah wants Dean to feel completely unloved and alone.

[too-fond-to-be-fearful]

It’s tempting, when learning any skill, to claim that you’re not very good at it. But there also comes a point when such a declaration stops being a realistic assessment of your beginner capabilities and starts to undermine the effort you’ve invested and the ability you’ve developed.

Particularly when learning languages, I find that the temptation to undersell your ability can be hard to ignore. When your barometer for success is people who have been learning the language since the day of their birth, it’s easy to feel inadequate, especially when the end of the road never seems to come into view.

The way we talk about language, it is a skill you either have or lack - you can speak it or you cannot, you are fluent or you are not. But language learning is a lifelong process, and even native speakers learn new things about their own language all the time. There is always something more to learn, so it’s unrealistic to expect yourself to know everything.

Perhaps you will never be perfect. But you care enough to try, and keep trying, and that is something to be proud of in itself.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

One Small Change

Sequel to One is the Loneliest Number, One on One, One Little Thing, Only One I See, One Thing Leads To Another, One Message Waiting, One Day Closer to You, I’m the Only One, Plus One, Ticket for One, The Wrong One, Number One

Warnings: none, Professor Steve (that’s a warning in itself)

Saturday. You find it hard to focus on the mountain of work before you as the night before nips at the back of your mind. You haven’t even sorted through the mess of text messages waiting in your phone, the battery icon blinking neglected as you search for an ounce of motivation to start a new day.

Why did last night have to end? You and Jake didn’t play any more MarioKart. You hadn’t managed to catch your breath until well after midnight and you only just dragged yourself out of his dorm before two in the morning. Two!

You feel wild. Like you’re finally living your college life. Not just burying your nose in endless textbooks and dreading your next lecture. But that doesn’t mean that part of it is over. Nope, it’s sitting there staring you in the face, the pile of borrowed library books stacked on your desk and the half-finished notes littered around your laptop.

You grab your mug and peer into the depths, stained with the dregs of your first cup of coffee. You’re half-tempted to go down and indulge in a sugar latte from the Starbucks attached to the next dorm building but you haven’t earned much more than another generic pod from the shared keurig in your kitchen.

You resign yourself to the bland medium roast and emerge into the common space to set the machine to grinding. Your dorm mates are elusive, likely sleeping off their own Friday nights, as the nozzle chokes out a steady brown drip. You add a touch of oat milk and go back to your room, yawning before you take a sip.

Your phone buzzes. You can’t ignore it forever. You’re supposed to meet up with Inez later but you don’t know if you can face everything else. You still can’t believe Jake, but you're not mad at it. He only said what you’re too afraid to. 

And he’s right, you’re just happy he said it all out loud. Professor Rogers was getting a bit too close for comfort. Even if he’s totally oblivious to it, you shouldn’t undersell your feelings. Easier thought than done.

You take your phone and plug it into the charge as the 5% warning chirps. You pause and scroll through your notifications, pulling up Inez’ chat first.

‘Meet me at mine @ 1. Bring snacks.’

You give a short confirmation and flip back to Jake’s chat. A dweeby gif of a cartoon cat waving and wishing you a good morning. He’s such a nerd but it’s so cute.

‘Mornin’ you answer bluntly, not sure how much you should say.

‘How ya feelin, champ? Is the crown heavy?’ He quickly responds and you chuckle.

‘W.e. If I spent all my time playing as an imaginary plumber, I might be just as delusional’

‘O we had some real fun last night ;)’

‘And now back to the real not fun’ you swoop up the camera and take a photo of your desk, sending it off with the message.

‘Boo. Should I bring help? Coffee?’

‘Pls. I can’t have u distractin me’

‘Bc I’m so fuckin’ sexy or because I got the best cuddles’

‘Ew stop’

‘Not wat us said last nite’

‘Got 2 study. U should 2.’ You make yourself key in, ‘txt later’.

You hit back and view the list of unread, Professor Rogers at the very top. You really don’t want to delve into that horror show but you have a meeting with him on Monday and you can’t really walk in with this hanging over you. You push your thumb down and the chat pops up.

Several messages precede Jensen’s brash response. ‘How’s it going?’ ‘Having a fun Friday?’... his usual niceties. But only one comes after.

‘Didn’t mean to overstep. Have a good night’

Should you answer? Reassure him with some lie? Or at least let him down easy? Let him down easy? About what? He’s your professor, not your friend. You close the chat and leave him on read. Let him take a hint.

You take your coffee back to your desk and sit down, chin in your hand as you scroll. An email pops up in the corner of your screen, a red exclamation on the margin denoting an urgent message. The sender both surprises you and doesn’t. Dr. Steve Rogers. It could be for the class.

You click and the wind spans the screen, the subject; ‘Lesson 1 Revisions’

You sigh. You thought that was all figured out. You went over everything, you made the changes, he said it was all good. You were already halfway through planning for your next lesson in Week Three.

‘Due to some recent Council regulation amendments to the curriculum, the introductory lesson for Winter term’s ‘Classic to Contemporary Literature’ must be revised to meet the new standards set by the Dean’s Office. See attached the most recent council legislative review and let me know if you have any questions.

My recommendation would be to postpone the completed lesson for Week 3 and design a new lesson to meet the requisites for Week 1. I am open to discussion. Understanding that these are last-minute and unexpected changes, I am open to meeting Sunday for office hours if necessary.

Please let me know if I can assist further and if you would like to meet.

Dr. Rogers’

You sigh and turn your head down, tempted to slam the laptop closed. You don’t have time for this. You have finals, you have papers, and now all the work you’ve done is essentially wasted. It seems almost too convenient that this has to happen now, of all times.

And Dr. Rogers… that sign-off? You lift your head and scroll back to the last email he sent to the class about the exam. At the very bottom you hover your cursor over ‘Professor R.’ Why is he suddenly getting so formal about this? Dr. Rogers, you scoff and roll your eyes. 

Well, you can’t blame him for the council amendments. That’s just an unfortunate inconvenience, still his timing is a bit strange. He could wait until you meet on Monday when you’re not piled high with studying. 

You rub your forehead and go back to his email. You sit up and type your response.

‘Thank you for letting me known, Dr. Rogers. We can discuss this on Monday at our previously arranged time.’

You hit send and exit out of the window. You have the holiday break to figure out second semester. Right now, you need to finish this stupid paper about Interwar Bavaria for Professor Laufeyson.

[soraviie]

you compare yourself to him.txt

━ type: bts x f! reader ━ navigation ━ part II here

━ about: angst! discusses themes of abandonment and inadequacy

━ pictures taken from Pinterest

━ previously posted on soraviii

NAMJOON: "There's honestly no way to undersell your influence," the woman gushes on and it's like you don't exist. Joon is giving her the trademarked, polite smile, one of neutrality. It means nothing. But also at this moment, you mean nothing.

"You went to the White House and the UN, and now you're visiting my little gallery! Gosh, it's such an honour."

"Ah, it's...it was unprecedented. I'm just doing what I love, it's the people I should be thankful for. They helped me to get to these heights."

"Don't be so modest!" she pats his arm, perhaps lingering a tad too long but where once there would be a kindling flame of jealousy, there's nothing now. Her words have poured a bucket of ice-cold water soaked with a certain realization, washing away all happiness of the day.

You can't compare.

You won't ever compare.

"I have a private screening of the latest works. Usually, I wouldn't reveal such a thing, but you're Kim Namjoon!"

He takes a step back, sporting quite the awkward stance. Because this is Namjoon. He's polite. Tries to not show judgement upon anyone else. Like you, for example.

"I was actually preoccupied -" he waves at where you've been standing mute and unmoving whilst whatever this was unfolded.

"Oh, your secretary!" all too confident the owner of the gallery calls out and you can only muster to stand there. No strength left to argue.

"She's not my se-" Namjoon fruitlessly sputters but the lady waves his indignance away.

"Are you familiar with the work of contemporary artists?"

"No," you truthfully reply. They were but colours to you.

"Oh, not very educated in this field, are you?" she coos in a farce of sympathy and blankly you shrug.

"No."

"Well, then, let's go. This level of art needs viewers of...worldly inhibitions."

Her long red nails sink into Namjoon's beige shirt, one you gave him on his birthday, like a reborn harpy of old tales. He looks back at you, eyebrows furrowed in million confused questions but you quietly wish him to have fun. His educated, smart fun, remaining to stand there in the middle of a fancy art gallery. And you can't stop thinking about that shirt and laughing dryly to yourself. A multimillion pop singer, donating his money to art galleries, collecting masterpieces, visiting presidents and here you were gifting him shirts because that's all you could afford.

"What are your thoughts on this piece?" a stranger approaches you all of a sudden probably thinking that just because you were here you belonged here, that you earned your spot here when in truth you were just someone Namjoon dragged along.

And with a carving, empty feeling you don't see any reason at all why would he do such a thing.

"It's beige," you breathe thinly, glimpsing at the painting on the wall and he leaves upon hearing the simplistic answer. Figures.

YOONGI: "Already thirty and still unmarried? Is there no one in your life?"

He looks almost apologetic into the camera. A glimpse lasting a second, travelling through infinite miles as if he knew you were watching.

"No," he lies. "No there is no one."

He lies for your safety because it's what he has to do. It's what you agreed to but right now you couldn't name a worse feeling to have than to be called nonexistent. A ghost. A void, not a living human being occupying space and deserving it.

"No way," your cousin laughs loudly across the table. "No way this guy is dating you!"

"It's true," you object poking at the plate of dinner you have no intention of eating anymore. Her words have created a gaping hole in your stomach, that honestly had been churning away for longer than you had noticed.

"What's he doing with you then? A charity?"

"Keep your mouth shut!" her mother hisses sharply but bolstered by the many wine glasses, she drones on.

"What? I'm just stating what we're all thinking. This is what? Just a reprieve, a cleanser! He'll have his fun with you and then will marry a supermodel or a singer. Cause it's what they all do. No rich person marries a commoner."

Yoongi is not like that. You knew he was not like that. He liked to eat tangerines by your side and fix the broken shelves, night upon night he'd cried how he just wanted to make music but be that as it may his life was set.

And a quiet librarian was in no sort of way part of cameras and red carpets.

And he'll have to say it time and time again that you did not exist.

And you feel like you don't.

The night is empty and cold with the house gone deathly quiet. The water runs underneath your hands as you scrape the dishes - to have something to do, to not be consumed by the gaping wound of being hidden away. Like a scab almost.

A phone rings.

"How was the dinner?" he immediately asks, sounding a bit rushed. "Sorry, I couldn't make it this time."

Or the time before that and the one before that, and a hundred others in the past, making you seem like a lonely ghost wailing false moans that you were loved by a star. He was an innocent idol onto whom you had delusionally pushed your need of companionship, pictures could be downloaded, and lies could be spun.

And as far as most people knew - you did not exist.

"It was fine," you answer monotonous. There's a wobble in your lip so you have to really frown to not let it spill.

"I didn't mean it. None of what I said. It's just something I have -"

"- to do," you finish for him and your voice wavers. "Yeah, I get it. Listen I have to go, alright."

"Wait, no-!" you drop the phone and lean over the sink, swallowing down rushing tears. Breathing in a determined breath, you wash the remaining dishes in complete silence and no one calls or talks to you for the rest of the night.

JIN: "Yeah, right," the front desk lady sneers. "Get out of here, freak."

"I'm literally handing you my ID. You saw me before!"

If only any proverbs were ever listened to. A wise saying once claimed to not judge a book by a cover. What a wonderful world would it be if it was actually listened to.

Dripping rainwater and mud, you scoffed, frustrated and just wanting to lie down. It had been an exhausting day. The kind where you regret ever waking up.

"Do you not have a register or something? This guy literally is vouching for me."

You point at the gardener of Jin's apartment building and he nods, eyes full of compassion. He was a good guy.

"It's true she was here and the day before that."

"So, you're a hooker. I'm not letting you up. Just look at yourself."

Look at yourself. Those words were like an axe to your head. A dull blade swinging time and time again as you bent your knee at the podium.

Wherever you went they reverberated like ripples in a lake.

"Just look at yourself," one woman sneered while you went to the bathroom at a party with Jin.

"Really look at yourself. You must think you have some sort of inner beauty? People like you make me sick! You're all delusional," and she had stormed off, face warped in such contempt as though you'd done something wrong. But you just stood here.

"Don't listen to her," you told your reflection but the eyes looking back were tired. "You did nothing wrong."

You can only insist that you did nothing wrong but no one listens. Certainly not the cops shoving you in the van on the charges of stalking.

The holding cell is very cold and you're freezing, wet hair seemingly lowering your body temperature even more.

"HOW DARE YOU?" Jin's voice rings even down the hallway. "WHAT SORT OF COUNTRY IS THIS WHERE INNOCENT PEOPLE GET ARRESTED?!"

"We apologize, sir, but the front desk worker phoned in as it was susp-"

"IS SHE THE CHIEF OF THE POLICE?! YOU JUST CARRY OUT THE ORDERS OF SOME RANDOM WOMAN?! LET MY GIRLFRIEND GO THIS INSTANT!"

The doors open and stiffly you clamber out, immediately swarmed by Jin's warm embrace.

"Don't think I'll let this go so easy," he growls at the nearby officer before guiding you away.

"I'm so sorry, honey, it won't ever happen again," he strokes your head all the way home but the cold doesn't dissipate. It's all a blur and you're just so very tired.

"What are you doing?" Jin asks gently opening the bathroom doors where you finished taking a warm shower as he had ordered. You wipe the steam off the mirror. The shoulders are hunched and there's no spark. Just another face in the proverbial crowd.

"Just looking at myself."

HOSEOK: It's nothing that anyone says. They think it, you can certainly tell by the snide glances occasionally thrown at where you're standing, but they don't dare to say it. The rest of the group is here and they wouldn't tolerate any off-hand remarks just as much as Hoseok himself.

But they don't need to say it. No one needs to do anything. You just have to look.

He's swarmed by celebrities, the A-listers, the top of the top, all celebrating the genius of his album and they blush as he pays they some attention. Because he's not just a celebrity, he's the top celebrity, he's what the people above aspired to be. And he wants this, he wants more of this.

And you don't belong here.

You don't belong here at all.

Like a piece of furniture or a fallen decoration, you stand in the corner invisible. The scarce attempts of talking all ended with an awkward side glance. The one given to friends, saying: "who invited her?" They excuse themselves with gritted teeth, sometimes just simply walking away and you stand by the side, admiring and not participating. How could you when this was not your world? But it's his and amidst all the fans and all the meetings, even Hoseok has forgotten you're here.

You don't belong here. You don't want to be here. Didn't want to see anyone ever again.

"Where are you off to?" a voice asks and you peek underneath the table, surprised to see Jin's head poke through. His phone light illuminates the hiding spot with flashing bright colours of a nameless webtoon.

"Just need some air," you answer emptily before pointing at the device. "You're having fun there?"

"Ah, I don't want to meet anyone," he whines and you offer a small, meaningless smile.

"I get that."

He glances up and you think he sees something in the way your eyes gaze grayly around, observing but not seeing. Though in the end, he says nothing and you're free to walk on the street. The music of Hoseok's album party pours out even there but at least it's dull. Another world now.

You push your hands deep into the jacket and not wanting to return to an empty apartment, end up in a 24/7 convenience store. It's cheap and common. Your spot, a planet familiar.

"Rough night?" the guy at the counter asks as you quietly slurp a cup of noodles on a rickety chair nearby.

"You probably had it rougher," you point out at the 2 am flashing on the clock hung behind him. He only shrugs.

"Not really. People leave me alone during night shifts and to be honest during day shifts as well. It's like I don't exist."

You frown at the red noodles and there's nothing but an empty pang in your chest. It's not one of hunger you realize now.

"Yeah. Me too."

JIMIN: The day is long and weary. Your legs ache and your apron is stained with dry milk. You're trying very hard to not cry in the break room and then you see him and you want to cry yourself to death. Be the princess that drowned in her own tears.

He's beautiful, the literal "It" boy of the nation. Kind, gorgeous, determined and you're crying in the break room.

The TV shoved in the corner has no sound but you don't need it. It's plenty enough seeing him laugh generously on the main story of the day, one discussing his success.

"Good day, sir, how ma-"

"Iced espresso," he interrupts and doesn't spare you even a single glance. You're just a machine here to obey. Nothing more.

"Damn, ________, you're still here?" a coworker asks, tying her apron hastily around. "I thought you applied for that new job?"

"Yeah, well, they rejected me," you explain lifelessly, face turned away.

"Is there no one else?"

"Yeah, and they rejected me as well. And all the other thirty places I applied."

She sucks in a breath through her teeth.

"Damn, that sucks. Still, don't keep your nose low, you might end up staying here forever."

Yes, that's just what you might end up doing. Someone had to be at the bottom of the barrel. Someone always had to do the dirty job you just never assumed it'd be you. That it'd be you who'd be the failure.

"She's a surgeon, you know," your mother says on the phone and you scuff your shoe against the tile ground.

"Yes, I know."

"Since this degree of yours didn't work out, you might apply to study something useful you know like a lawyer."

"Mom, I don't want to be a lawyer."

"Do you want to be a barista all your life? Because this art degree is certainly accomplishing that. And you're not marrying a rich man."

"What if I did?" you snap back spitefully.

"Well, then I'd be embarrassed to have a daughter whose such a liability."

"I have to go."

You're trying really hard to not cry but it's not quite working.

"I'm not a liability," you mutter underneath your breath but it feels like a lie in your mouth.

"Hey,______, we need you out here. It's a madhouse!" the frazzled head of your coworker pops in and all you can do is wipe your face and raise your aching legs once more.

"Good evening, ma'am! What would you like-"

"Iced espresso," she orders without looking up from her phone. You nod.

"Can you take the register?" you whisper to your colleague switching places.

"Why?" she furrows her brows.

"Just don't want to talk anymore."

Thankfully, she only nods curtly and you're free to do what is needed, alone and unbothered.

It's evening already but Jimin is still on the news and he smiles brightly as the sun. You don't even remember when was the last time you met him in real life, held his hand in yours. Last time he felt like a real person and not just someone you can look at through the screen.

"This dude really has it all," your coworker mutters underneath her breath whilst counting the register once there's no one in the sight.

"Yeah, he does."

TAEHYUNG: It's nothing but the truth to call jealousy a disease, a fatal one at that. Incurable, unstoppable rot wrecking you from within. Never before had you looked at a video of your boyfriend and felt...felt bad. If bad was even a word to describe the awful hollow that washes the world grey.

The entire Paris screams for him, hell, maybe the whole of France. They talk of Lisa, Park Bo Gum and V. The infamous V. And they talk of Lisa, the A-lister, the star, the face of the fashion, the top girl of the top.

"You just have to work hard, okay," your mother always said. "You work hard and you can do anything."

It was such a comforting lie. Because you did work hard, you worked so hard it nearly crushed you and all it did was land you in an office cubicle, creating documents day upon day. Just like millions of others before you and like millions after you. Just an expendable tool.

You can't help it, because it's a disease, it's wearing down all the kindness in your heart, all your confidence and reducing you to a husk slumbering on the bed. What did they have that you didn't?

As a sick sort of punishment, you continue watching the video. V is getting quite cosy with the other celebrities, the 1%, the people not doing the office jobs, not doing the sowing of the fancy clothes they wore, not serving the drinks like the nameless waiters people treated as mindless robots. You ponder how horrible they must feel, how tired. The video suggests you want this, this is the world everyone should aspire to but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth and the fact that V is there makes it only more appalling. Because that is the fact. He was your boyfriend, Taehyung, the guy from a line of farmers, a simple guy who respected everyone but it's hard to see that Taehyung in V. The fashion icon, the creme de la creme sipping champagne far far away from you. He seems happy. Happier than he was when you parted.

Coincidentally, it's your birthday the next day and there are only three calls - your mother, your best friend and for some reason Jimin. Jimin who remembers it's your birthday before Taehyung or should you say V.

You get yourself a cake. It costs a pretty penny but it's cute and just this once you want to have nice things. Just this once. You take a picture of it, almost upload it on Instagram but then think better of it. Who cares what you post. It's there that you scroll upon a video of V cutting up a cake and you just know it's much more expensive than yours will ever be. This cake he seems almost bored with costs more than your life and it's given to him. Even if he would get it himself he wouldn't have to worry about the cost. It didn't matter how much you work hard, you will always have to worry about the cost.

In the end, you blow out the candle right there in the bakery and the girl working the register is the only one who claps. She asks what wish did you make, you answer none but secretly you just wish he would call. That he would remember of his girlfriend at home as low as she was.

He doesn't call but at least a video floating around the internet tells you he has a grand old time spinning around the pole with Lisa.

JUNGKOOK: "I don't like dispassionate people, I guess. I can't imagine how can one live without a goal. I'd rather die than live without passion."

It wasn't like Jungkook to be cruel and he probably didn't intend to be one as well but it still is cruel. Your own boyfriend just told everyone on national television that he doesn't like you. You're everything he loathes - the dreamless drifter, people who are just here.

"Why are you frowning?" a voice asks and you turn to look at him standing in the doorway with a frown. He must have said something before this but you hadn't heard. The mop in your hands lays still as you finish sweeping. Bam is there as well, his big brown eyes flickering in between both of you.

"Nothing," you reply quietly.

"No, it's something," he insists. "Don't lie."

"Why is passion so important to you?"

The frown on his face deepens and Bam begins to whine from the surging tension.

"I don't know," he laughs, sound falling strained and awkward. Because it's not funny. "It just is. I mean what's the point of life then? Hanging around? That's useless, isn't it?"

"I'm useless?"

His eyes widen for a fraction the second he understood his own words.

"I didn't mean you," he corrects but whether or not it's real or just in your perception, you don't think they sound sincere enough. It's just something he has to say.

"You just haven't found your passion yet."

"Because it doesn't exist!" you don't mean to yell. It upsets Bam, upsets you and most importantly it upsets Jungkook but he's never understood this. Never grasped that it's not the matter of you not finding your special devotion, it's because you simply didn't have one. And you're tired of trying to explain yourself over and over again.

"I don't care for jobs! I don't care about hobbies! I just want to live!"

"Okay," he brushes off passively. Not that he believes you, not that he listens to you at all, he just doesn't want to fight.

"Why is it so hard for you to comprehend that I don't have any aspirations? Yoongi -"

Abruptly he rolls his eyes, arms tightening around his chest.

"Again with Yoongi. Would you stop bringing him up?"

"Because he makes me feel heard! I don't have goals, I don't have great dreams and aspirations! Does that make my life meaningless?"

"What do you think?"

For a while, the only sound are the whines and the scraping of Bam's nails against the floor.

"You think my life is meaningless?" you echo breathlessly. Jungkook merely scowls at the floor.

"Right, who are we commoners against the mighty Jungkook? The millionaire, the young idol, right?"

"It's what my passion led me to," he mutters obstinately and for all intents and purposes, he might as well just have punched you in the gut.

"You won't achieve anything if you're just hanging around."

Exhaling a shaky breath you gather the most strength you ever needed.

"I have a dream, Jungkook, it is to live happily. And I'm not happy with you."

There's really, absolutely no way of knowing now either whether the flash in his eyes is out of fear or anger. They remain only as assumptions but what is an indisputable fact are the words spoken out loud.

"Well, I'm not happy with you, either."

The floor dries as you stand in front of this man, a stranger suddenly, one to whom you're too exhausted to defend yourself anymore.

"No, you can't come with me," you whisper to Bam who tries to squeeze the nose in through the door gap, tail wagging behind him. He must think you're going on a walk. How lovely animals were, they didn't care how you looked, who you were, or what you lived for. They simply were, and enjoyed life at its face value.

"You have to stay."

Bam is a sweetheart through and through but above all he's well behaved. His eyes are brimming with sadness but he does as he's told and steps away.

"I'll miss you, buddy."

"Enjoying the weekend?" the man at the local bakery friendly questions and you cast him a smile.

"Yeah, you know, appreciating the day."

"Ah, preach! It's nice to just enjoy yourself, isn't it?"

As you pay, your phone lights up and a picture of Jungkook flashes in front of you. Briefly, you break and zone out in his eyes. Weeks have passed, you should change it.

"Does that make my life meaningless?"

"What do you think?"

You shake yourself out of it and lock the phone.

"It is," you agree with the baker.

© soraviii/soraviie 2022-23

[skellydun]

Do you have any tips for interviewing? I have one tomorrow and I am so nervous 😭😭😭😭

ah anon that's awesome!!! congrats!! I listed a few tips below :)

interviews are great because it's your show! it's all about you!! and who knows you better than you right?? and hey maybe you're like oh shit i don't know anything about myself ??? look at your resume! with every position you have listed that is relevant you should know about a time when you had to make a difficult decision (or go against the norm to get something done like disagreeing with a coworker), when you had a problem and how you solved it, and a time when you went above and beyond. that seems like a lot but you have done all of those things even if you don't realize it. a thing i've come to realize is that a lot of people (especially those new in the job market) undersell themselves. your internships count as experience. sorting files at an internship could be considered prioritizing and organizing information into groups or something. you have experience even if you don't think you do. but that kind of veers more into writing a resume. back to interviewing and knowing yourself - know 3 strengths and why they are your strengths along with weaknesses. can't think of that? you're a people person which you utilized when you stocked shelves at target and always had no problem asking people if they needed help and cultivated a lot of relationships with the regulars that came in to make it a memorable experience. you have no issue talking to people so that makes you perfect for this position. your weakness is that you're a perfectionist so you might take longer on one task because you want it to be perfect but you're working on it - it's a weakness but at the same time it's not. also ideally you have bullet points listed underneath each of your job/internship/club so just know those. know what you did. be able to describe your position. you know yourself so be confident about your abilities!

Did you do all that I suggested up there? Also hey know the job posting. Be able to look at that job posting where they're asking you to be able to stand for 50 years and lift 10 pounds? oh you totally did that at your previous job where u had to stand for 60 years and lift 5 pounds so you have some experience doing that. know how what you already know applies to it.

NOT ALL INTERVIEWERS ARE CUT OUT TO BE INTERVIEWERS. Sometimes the person who is interviewing you (while they may be your potential new boss) is terrible at it. They don't know how to keep the conversation natural or just bounce from question to question. If you give a great example and they're like oh that's nice! onto the next question do not beat yourself up. they're interested in you or they wouldn't have asked to interview you. the amount of awkward interviewers i've met in my life is insane. it's not your fault.

Don't worry about the constant eye contact. Or the uhs and ums. It's expected that you're nervous. A good interviewer would sit down and small talk with you or point out something on your resume like a club or school and talk about that to calm you both down. Most will say how are you? how was your ride here? that doesn't magically make you stop being nervous. Sometimes when I go on interviews I will still end great examples with 'if that makes sense' because i just rambled. You'll fall into a rhythm! Just breathe. If you're doing a virtual interview then you don't even have to make eye contact just look at. the camera. If you're in an office then I usually shuffle between looking at them, their forehead/lips/nose, at the guide they're interviewing off of, the table, or I'll look down at my hands as I gesture with them because I can't help it.

Have questions for them. It makes you stand out. I always use the same 3. What is your favorite thing about working for this company? I'm really culture focused can you tell me about the culture of this team? (professional way to say what's the vibe of the team?) What advice do you have for someone coming into this role? Also make sure you at least googled the company. They will ask you do you know anything about us? Sometimes I say no I hadn't heard of you until I applied then I dig some digging and I can't believe you did x in 2019 or that your values are x, y, z that really falls into line with my thinking.

Also if you search JOB TITLE Interview questions - they will be a few sites that will give you some ideas of what they're going to ask you specific to that field/job so you won't be blindsided!

That's it in a nutshell. I'm sure i'm forgetting things and this obviously won't apply to every job out there but that's just a basic interview. I'm also not the Interview Expert. If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to ask :) I wish you the best of luck anon!

[physicallyimprobable]

what's the 3-dimensional number thing?

Well I'm glad you asked! For those confused, this is referring to my claim that "my favorite multiplication equation is 3 × 5 = 15 because it's the reason you can't make a three-dimensional number system" from back in this post. Now, this is gonna be a bit of a journey, so buckle up.

Part One: Numbers in Space

First of all, what do I mean by a three-dimensional number system? We say that the complex numbers are two-dimensional, and that the quaternions are four-dimensional, but what do we mean by these things? There's a few potential answers to this question, but for our purposes we'll take the following narrative:

Complex numbers can be written in the form (a+bi), where a and b are real numbers. For the variable-averse, this just means we have things like (3+6i) and (5-2i) and (-8+3i). Some amount of "units" (that is, ones), and some amount of i's.

Most people are happy to stop here and say "well, there's two numbers that you're using, so that's two dimensions, ho hum". I think that's underselling it, though, since there's something nontrivial and super cool happening here. See, each complex number has an "absolute value", which is its distance from zero. If you imagine "3+6i" to mean "three meters East and six meters North", then the distance to that point will be 6.708 meters. We say the absolute value of (3+6i), which is written like |3+6i|, is equal to 6.708. Similarly, interpreting "5-2i" to mean "five meters East and two meters South" we get that |5-2i| = 5.385.

The neat thing about this is that absolute values multiply really nicely. For example, the two numbers above multiply to give (3+6i) × (5-2i) = (27+24i) which has a length of 36.124. What's impressive is that this length is the product of our original lengths: 36.124 = 6.708 × 5.385. (Okay technically this is not true due to rounding but for the full values it is true.)

This is what we're going to say is necessary to for a number system to accurately represent a space. You need the numbers to have lengths corresponding to actual lengths in space, and you need those lengths to be "multiplicative", which just means it does the thing we just saw. (That is, when you multiply two numbers, their lengths are multiplied as well.)

There's still of course the question of what "actual lengths in space" means, but we can just use the usual Euclidean method of measurement. So, |3+6i| = √(3²+6²) and |5-2i| = √(5²+2²). This extends directly to the quaternions, which are written as (a+bi+cj+dk) for real numbers a, b, c, d. (Don't worry about what j and k mean if you don't know; it turns out not to really matter here.) The length of the quaternion 4+3i-7j+4k can be calculated like |4+3i-7j+4k| = √(4²+3²+7²+4²) = 9.486 and similarly for other points in "four-dimensional space". These are the kinds of number systems we're looking for.

[To be explicit, for those who know the words: What we are looking for is a vector algebra over the real numbers with a prescribed basis under which the Euclidean norm is multiplicative and the integer lattice forms a subring.]

Part Two: Sums of Squares

Now for something completely different. Have you ever thought about which numbers are the sum of two perfect squares? Thirteen works, for example, since 13 = 3² + 2². So does thirty-two, since 32 = 4² + 4². The squares themselves also work, since zero exists: 49 = 7² + 0². But there are some numbers, like three and six, which can't be written as a sum of two squares no matter how hard you try. (It's pretty easy to check this yourself; there aren't too many possibilities.)

Are there any patterns to which numbers are a sum of two squares and which are not? Yeah, loads. We're going to look at a particularly interesting one: Let's say a number is "S2" if it's a sum of two squares. (This thing where you just kinda invent new terminology for your situation is common in math. "S2" should be thought of as an adjective, like "orange" or "alphabetical".) Then here's the neat thing: If two numbers are S2 then their product is S2 as well.

Let's see a few small examples. We have 2 = 1² + 1², so we say that 2 is S2. Similarly 4 = 2² + 0² is S2. Then 2 × 4, that is to say, 8, should be S2 as well. Indeed, 8 = 2² + 2².

Another, slightly less trivial example. We've seen that 13 and 32 are both S2. Then their product, 416, should also be S2. Lo and behold, 416 = 20² + 4², so indeed it is S2.

How do we know this will always work? The simplest way, as long as you've already internalized the bit from Part 1 about absolute values, is to think about the norms of complex numbers. A norm is, quite simply, the square of the corresponding distance. (Okay yes it can also mean different things in other contexts, but for our purposes that's what a norm is.) The norm is written with double bars, so ‖3+6i‖ = 45 and ‖5-2i‖ = 29 and ‖4+3i-7j+4k‖ = 90.

One thing to notice is that if your starting numbers are whole numbers then the norm will also be a whole number. In fact, because of how we've defined lengths, the norm is just the sum of the squares of the real-number bits. So, any S2 number can be turned into a norm of a complex number: 13 can be written as ‖3+2i‖, 32 can be written as ‖4+4i‖, and 49 can be written as ‖7+0i‖.

The other thing to notice is that, since the absolute value is multiplicative, the norm is also multiplicative. That is to say, for example, ‖(3+6i) × (5-2i)‖ = ‖3+6i‖ × ‖5-2i‖. It's pretty simple to prove that this will work with any numbers you choose.

But lo, gaze upon what happens when we combine these two facts together! Consider the two S2 values 13 and 32 from before. Because of the first fact, we can write the product 13 × 32 in terms of norms: 13 × 32 = ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖. So far so good. Then, using the second fact, we can pull the product into the norms: ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖ = ‖(3+2i) × (4+4i)‖. Huzzah! Now, if we write out the multiplication as (3+2i) × (4+4i) = (4+20i), we can get a more natural looking norm equation: ‖3+2i‖ × ‖4+4i‖ = ‖4+20i‖ and finally, all we need to do is evaluate the norms to get our product! (3² + 2²) × (4² + 4²) = (4² + 20²)

The cool thing is that this works no matter what your starting numbers are. 218 = 13² + 7² and 292 = 16² + 6², so we can follow the chain to get 218 × 292 = ‖13+7i‖ × ‖16+6i‖ = ‖(13+7i) × (16+6i)‖ = ‖166+190i‖ = 166² + 190² and indeed you can check that both extremes are equal to 63,656. No matter which two S2 numbers you start with, if you know the squares that make them up, you can use this process to find squares that add to their product. That is to say, the product of two S2 numbers is S2.

Part Four: Why do we skip three?

Now we have all the ingredients we need for our cute little proof soup! First, let's hop to the quaternions and their norm. As you should hopefully remember, quaternions have four terms (some number of units, some number of i's, some number of j's, and some number of k's), so a quaternion norm will be a sum of four squares. For example, ‖4+3i-7j+4k‖ = 90 means 90 = 4² + 3² + 7² + 4².

Since we referred to sums of two squares as S2, let's say the sums of four squares are S4. 90 is S4 because it can be written as we did above. Similarly, 7 is S4 because 7 = 2² + 1² + 1² + 1², and 22 is S4 because 22 = 4² + 2² + 1² + 1². We are of course still allowed to use zeros; 6 = 2² + 1² + 1² + 0² is S4, as is our friend 13 = 3² + 2² + 0² + 0².

The same fact from the S2 numbers still applies here: since 7 is S4 and 6 is S4, we know that 42 (the product of 7 and 6) is S4. Indeed, after a bit of fiddling I've found that 42 = 6² + 4² + 1² + 1². I don't need to do that fiddling, however, if I happen to be able to calculate quaternions! All I need to do is follow the chain, just like before: 7 × 6 = ‖2+i+j+k‖ × ‖2+i+j‖ = ‖(2+i+j+k) × (2+i+j)‖ = ‖2+3i+5j+2k‖ = 2² + 3² + 5² + 2². This is a different solution than the one I found earlier, but that's fine! As long as there's even one solution, 42 will be S4. Using the same logic, it should be clear that the product of any two S4 numbers is an S4 number.

Now, what goes wrong with three dimensions? Well, as you might have guessed, it has to do with S3 numbers, that is, numbers which can be written as a sum of three squares. If we had any three-dimensional number system, we'd be able to use the strategy we're now familiar with to prove that any product of S3 numbers is an S3 number. This would be fine, except, well…

3 × 5 = 15.

Why is this bad? See, 3 = 1² + 1² + 1² and 5 = 2² + 1² + 0², so both 3 and 5 are S3. However, you can check without too much trouble that 15 is not S3; no matter how hard you try, you can't write 15 as a sum of three squares.

And, well, that's it. The bucket has been kicked, the nails are in the coffin. You cannot make a three-dimensional number system with the kind of nice norm that the complex numbers and quaternions have. Even if someone comes to you excitedly, claiming to have figured it out, you can just toss them through these steps: • First, ask what the basis is. Complex numbers use 1 and i; quaternions use 1, i, j, and k. Let's say they answer with p, q, and r. • Second, ask them to multiply (p+q+r) by (2p+q). • Finally, well. If their system works, the resulting number should give you three numbers whose squares add to 15. Since that can't happen, you've shown that the norm is not actually multiplicative; their system doesn't capture the geometry of three dimensions.

[astroangel23]

| Pick a Card: What does your physical body need from you right now? 📨🧘‍♀️|

Check out my YouTube channel for more pick a cards @astroangel23 🤍

Personal reading options:

2023 Prediction Reading: $15

One Question Personal Reading: $20

Two Question Personal Reading: $40

Yes or No Pendulum Question: $5.50

Yes or No Pendulum + Oracle Advice Card Pull: $10.50

All readings have no time limit, are recorded, and sent through a link on YouTube only you can view

To reach me: email: astroangel232@gmail.com

Cash app: $currien23

Venmo: Carrie-Overton

PayPal: @astroangel23

Pile 1: Hello pile 1 :) Your body needs you to take the time to treat it as your temple. Your body feels as if you've been putting it on the back burner recently. You may have been putting more of your time into the needs of others over your own needs; as there is nothing wrong with caring for the needs of others, it's important to treat your own self with the grace and kindness you put out into the world. You may find it boring to incorporate physical fitness into your routine or that you don't have time but your body is begging you to find some kind of routine of physical movement. Don't be scared to try new things outside of the normal gym setting, going outside for a daily walk or jog, using YouTube to find a yoga/pilates instructor that fits your speed (it doesn't have to be an intense amount of physical movement), or a Zumba class. The ultimate message from your body is to get that ass moving but also allow your body to rejuvenate with sleep, let your mind and body rest equally as much as you are moving 🧨💃🤸‍♀️ 🧘‍♀️🚴‍♀️☀️

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

Pile 2: Hi pile 2 :) When I started shuffling for this pile the song Throw It In The Bag came on and the Gifts hard flew out. Your body wants an upgrade when it comes the the clothes you're dressing yourself with. You're currently underselling yourself on an expressive, creative level. You could have been focused on saving your money for a while now, ignoring your sense of style. Throwing on whatever and going on with your day. But your body needs you to wear clothes that represent how much of a creative person you are; expressing yourself through your clothing is going to boost your confidence on all levels. We have the queen of pentacles on the back of the deck, so it's safe for you to go out and buy you a new outfit (that doesn't mean go out and splurge, the thrift card also wanted to pop out so there is absolutely no shame in getting creative with your spending. The clothes don't wear us, we wear the clothes) Your body wants you to step outside of your comfort zone to try out new pieces of clothing; it's never too late to reinvent ourselves 👠👒👗👛🛍️

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

Pile 3: What's up pile 3 :) Your physical body needs you to stop comparing yourself to others. You're breaking your own heart, tearing down your own confidence, holding yourself back from growth on your own path by looking at others as if they are more deleboped, better than you, more beautiful than you are. You're creating this illusion that you are not worthy and it's the furthest from the truth. It's important to look at others on a soul level, not judge them by their flesh, by their physical body. Yeah they may have a body that you deem as perfect, but are they happy are on a soul level? Are they as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside? Maybe you're new to physical fitness and you compare your knowledge to someone that has been at it for years. They also had to take that first step, they also started with zero knowledge at some point. Don't be afraid to ask for help from others on how to get started on your journey or if you aren't comfortable with asking, Google, watch YouTube videos, educate yourself. This illusion that you are stuck where you are at because you haven't been taking the steps needed towards taking care of your physical health is only holding yourself back from actually taking the moves needed. Give yourself the room for trail and error when learning what your body needs. Let go of the judgement, get out of your head and get moving instead. You got this, pile 3. You are more than capable for complete transformation in the body, mind, and spirit 🤍🧠

❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁

[saintsir4n]

1

___

1914

EDEN Dawkins was never the type that liked nature, instead, she preferred to be at home, reading or even at the Garrison to have a quick drink, especially after a long day nursing concussions, illness or even bruises and cut lips from the local bandits. She steered away from horses because her mother inspired a fear of them in her from a young age. But here she was, in Charlie Strong's yard, wearing her worst outfit, trousers, a thick shirt and riding boots that she brought for cheap and mended them.

When she met the icy pair of eyes that were beaming at the sight of her she tutted.

"I have a man Mr Shelby and he wouldn't want someone like you around me."

"And what am I like then eh?" Tommy asked, staring across his uncle's yard at her.

She shrugged, "A gangster, typa man to pull a gun on someone for looking at him wrong."

"He's got that right, I would. But he's missed something," he paused, coming closer to her, dodging the copious amounts of horse manure and loose hay he no doubt will have to sweep up.

"And what's that?" she withheld a smile when he appeared in front of her.

"I would pull the trigger if they looked at my woman wrong as well."

He caught the glimmer of happiness swimming in her brown pools as he inhaled the faint scent of cedar wood (his favourite smell) and alcohol, which she used as an anaesthetic at work earlier today. Breathing in, all she could sense was the whiskey, cigarettes and aftershave, Tommy's natural musk. She was sure that he would add the stench of a barrel to that as well.

"Oh really?" she teased, dodging his kiss by pressing a hand to his chest,  "We shouldn't, I'm taken."

He rolled his eyes, "This man can't be too good if he lets you around me."

She hummed, "Suppose you're right, he's not the tallest."

"Oi." he would've thrown her over his shoulders then and there but he knew Curly was around somewhere and hated seeing him being rough with Eden, even if it was a joke.

"Or the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Thinking of our Arthur are ya?"

She tapped her chin, "Perhaps but the prettiest one of you boys is definitely Johnny."

"Watch it," she could hear the amusement in his tone.

A smile tugged at her lips, "Only messing, now can I get a kiss?"

He blinked at her, "Want one from the smallest, ugliest Shelby?"

"Half of that is true...alright I'll stop, you're the most dashing man I've ever seen," she gushed, running her hands over his patchy jacket and up to his neck.

Fighting off the blush breaching his cheeks, he said, "And you're not too bad you're self."

"Leaving," Her smile dropped as she tried stepping around him, but his hands caught her waist.

"Calm yourself down, you know how many times I've had to fight someone off for hearing what they've said about you and your looks? I feel like I'm punching every man in Small Heath for underselling your beauty. Pretty don't do you, Justice, so I'll kiss you until I think of a word that does."

And with that, she melted into the kiss he'd been trying to steal.

Tommy and Eden had been dating for a couple of months and it hadn't been easy. Glares were thrown her way more than usual and jaws clenched around the couple like they had something to say but never did.

During this time, the quaint betting shop the Shelbys owned was drawing much more traction, more customers came in to put down money for whatever horse they believed would win and even though the family sometimes lost out money, they were still happy with their winnings. Considering it had been two years since they'd opened the shop, four since Arthur Sr left and five years had passed since Mara Shelby took her own life; their family was doing well.

"Not yet Thomas," she said when he suggested that she should come and see the new horse he'd been training.

"Thomas? You mad at me?" he asked, racking his brain for when he last pissed her off and god knows it was a lot.

"No, I just don't think I'm ready and you said it yourself, he gets scared if you breathe 'round him."

"I said that months ago," he tugged her over to an old haystack that was hidden around the back of the barn where the wild Mustang he had taken a liking to resided, "Y'know I'll be next to you when I show him off."

"Still doesn't have a name?" he saw through her oblivion's deflection.

Taking her hand in his, he stared at her, making her gulp slightly.

Tommy always had the ability to look through her, like he was seeing her soul, his gaze was the most powerful thing she felt and yet she loved it as much as she hated it. His stare was suffocating and only when he decided to let go was when she could breathe again.

Deciding not to press the matter, because he was cautious of how anxious she became he glanced down, trailing his callous finger over the back of her hand. He did it whenever he couldn't find the right words to say. He adored her hands, so delicate to the touch, often growing envious of the patients she had to treat because they would feel these nimble and gentle things all over them.

Eden could see there was something on his mind and she didn't know what it was, for the past couple of times she'd seen him, he tended to randomly stop talking which confused her as his voice was both his defence and attack. Without meaning to, it was also his instrument that he could play and manipulate to his bidding only when he decided to tune it properly.

"What's wrong, have you gone mute?" her tone was soft, yet impatient, but that didn't stop him from playing with her hands.

He huffed out a chuckle, "No."

"Oh, Tom have you got something to say to me? Just spit it out..."

What she didn't know was how many people kept approaching him about how close she and Lorenzo Changretta were and despite knowing they were best friends, he hated it.

"Those fuckin' eyes."

"What about 'em?"

He took off his cap, "Can't say no to you when I stare into 'em."

"I–" she glanced down, furious about how easily his charm worked on her, "I didn't ask you anything other than for you to say what's on that mind of yours."

Tommy wanted some whiskey, no, needed it to calm his nerves and no he wasn't a nervous man, Polly thought that emotion skipped him. Any drink would calm him, Christ, if only his brothers brought him some, but he knew they were tucked away in the snug getting so drunk they properly couldn't walk home. He didn't know why, but he always hated being vulnerable about Eden, even after all these months, even when Freddie said, 'She's your woman, just tell her, Women are more loyal than men nowadays'. Eden was loyal, she was more than that, she was his His Eden. His little safe haven. Although religion never sat right with him, he believed she was sent to save him.

There was something that he wanted to tell her, something that she deserved to know since they were together and had been for more than any other relationship he'd been in.

But instead, he kissed her like a starved man, for which she was the forbidden fruit that was dangling right before him and he would be damned if anyone would prevent him from taking a bite.

Cupping the back of her head with one hand and using the other to guide her backwards, he poured the passion he felt into her, lapping her tongue with his and feeling up and down her sides. When she moaned his hand only drifted lower, yearning to rip the clothing from the skin he craved to touch.

But their intimacy had some bounds.

She pushed him off before he could leave her indecent.

"We can do it here, Tommy, you wouldn't risk anyone seeing me would ya? I know how jealous you get," she breathed out, still appearing flustered when he stared at her, licking his lips. Almost a minute went by before he let go of her. Her grin faded when he tugged her forward, so she felt his hardened state and whimpered, "Tom."

He dropped his gaze to her chest, "Just wanted you to know that your actions have fuckin' consequences."

"Alright fuck off."

A voice interrupted them, "Yes nephew, you better not knock her up Tom, I don't wanna have to deal with Pol."

The couple immediately snapped their heads to the side to see Charlie standing there, with combs and brushes in hand and a grimace on his face.

When Eden went to jump away from Tommy, he pulled her even closer.

"We were about to look at the fuckin' horse," he stated.

Charlie shot him a sarcastic look, "Oh is that what they call it nowadays?"

Eden averted her gaze, feeling severely embarrassed as the two men spoke Rokker, judging from Tommy's face he hasn't too happy, but Charlie continued to tease him.

Shortly after Curly appeared, the stableman was in his element whenever it involved horses, Tommy believed he was one of the best horsemen in England. Eden thought he was cute, and much easier to talk to than Charlie, perhaps it was because he didn't have much to say at all. 

"Eden... Tom, Tommy, we're almost finished setting up the new boy, he's a bit scared, just have to be nice to him," he mustered out.

Eden timidly smiled at him and Tommy noticed how nervous she was.

"We'll be there soon," he said, taking her hand.

Charlie frowned, "Don't be too long, it's Sunday, can't be missin’ out on Sunday dinners can we?"

"Alright alright."

And with that, the two men disappeared back into the barn.

Tommy reached into his pocket and withdraw his cigarette tin, all while Eden started playing with his cap, analysing the razor she and Polly spent a while stitching into his, Arthur and John's caps. The blade was peeking through too much and it was only a matter of time before she had to fix it.

She felt him place a cigarette between her lips, then lit it. They would always light each other's smokes, ever since they began courting it was a thing that had going on, small intimacies. Taking another drag she grabbed his chin, then blew the smoke into his parted chapped lips.

She was mesmerised when he exhaled.

But he honestly thought she looked even more beautiful with a smoke in hand, watching her cheeks suck in, showcasing the beauty spots that decorated her face. He counted every single one over and over again as he found solace in the tobacco. You have more smoke comin' out of you than a fuckin' train, Eden always joked, despite being the one to light them for him.

He smoked more than trains and she judged more than the police, he believed.

"What?" she asked.

They'd been sitting there for a few minutes, in silence, just listening to the sound of the trees blowing in the wind, the trimmed grass sway and the sounds of the horse's neigh. The drop in temperature had her shivering and Tommy wouldn't let that slide, so he took off his jacket and rested it on her shoulders, leaving him in a thick jumper with his shirt collars peeking through.

"You ready?" he asked, standing up and stubbing out the cigarette.

Eden scrunched up her face, "Do I have to go?"

He pulled her up, "Everyone looks more powerful sitting on a horse."

She scoffed, "Who said I was riding it?"

"Who said I weren't referrin' to myself?"

She groaned and shoved him to the side, he mimicked her groan, further aggravating her. Tommy and his impressions would be the death of her.

She gasped when they turned the corner, coming into the barn and seeing the dark brown trembling horse.

Curly and Charlie were nowhere in sight, it was only her, Tommy and the horse.

Oh fuck.

Tommy stepped closer, holding his hands up when the horse caught his movements.

Eden could hear the little cooling words Tommy spoke and she smiled, never seeing him in such a way. It was like she wasn't there, only him and the wild horse.

Gently grabbing the bridle, Tommy continued to whisper, rubbing its forehead down to his muzzle.

He cast a look to Eden holding out his hand, encouraging her to slowly walk towards them.

It was as if the horse could feel her nervousness and started stomping on the grassy floor, creating dents with his heavy hooves, driving her to a halt.

"Eden..." he whispered to the horse, "you're not scared of a pretty girl are ya, boy?" he motioned her to walk which she did, realising how big the horse was almost the same size as them which drove her nerves up the wall, "she's not gonna hurt you. You're not gonna hurt her."

Eden gulped when Tommy took her hand and carefully placed it on the horse's side, she was almost as apprehensive as the animal.

"See... there you go."

She heard Tommy's words as she kept touching the horse.

He smiled when her shoulder's dropped all the tension, though the look in her eyes told her that her fear wasn't gone, after all, it had been less than a few bloody minutes. He never had to search her eyes for meaning for too long.

Eden's eyes doubled in size when she realised that Tommy had let go of her hand and taken a few steps back.

"Gosh Tommy," she whispered, "Look."

A smile graced his lips at her excitement.

"I can see darlin'."

"Have you decided on a name yet?"

"I talked to Curly and Charlie...Curly wasn't too happy but he's lettin' you name him."

She gasped softly, not wanting to scare the animal that wasn't shaking as much any more.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling and coming back to them and rubbing down its back. "You're a natural, not even freakin' out anymore."

"Shut up, I didn't freak out."

"Oh really? The bit of piss on that haystack over there –"

She gasped and extended her leg to kick him.

He dodged her attempts, softly chuckling at the glare in her eyes.

"Y'know, he never likes to be out during the day," Tommy commented, remembering when the horse acted as if the sun burnt him whenever it touched its skin.

Eden hummed, and then something came to mind, "Shadow, he should be called Shadow."

"Shadow, and why that?"

"He hides from the sun, ain't that what shadow means?"

He didn't really know or care, he just loved how she looked, whispering to the horse she claimed to be afraid of, only took a few months, and he promised that he would change that and did, well only a little bit.

"Whatever you say, love, whatever you say."

—

The day was coming to an end and the moon would soon be in their sights, no doubt her mother would send Isaiah to look for her since it was a Sunday, she couldn't be missing Sunday dinners, Polly was the same.

The couple left Charlie's yard after Tommy told her the time.

Walking along the cobble streets she was still slightly in shock.

It was the first time she'd been anywhere near a horse, let alone touched one. Sure she saw the Shelbys throughout the years ride them through the streets, but it stunned her to see how large they were up close.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on in your head? You seem off," she asked, walking along the lane.

"Nothing was wrong."

"Sure?"

"I'm sure, just wanted to spend time with you, is that a crime?"

"It is, if I was out for another hour, mum would've killed you," she said, coming to her front door.

They only lived a few houses apart.

"You said she loves me."

"Sometimes."

She laughed when he nervously ran a hand through his raven hair, it was fuller on the sides and needed to cut it off soon.

"So... since you say you ain't mine, some random toff's girl, can I still steal another kiss?"

"A toff? You think that low of me?"

"Never."

She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, drawing a smirk from him.

His fingers trailed over them, remembering how they felt against hers. 

"Until we meet again love."

"Yeah yeah, get lost before my dad comes out with a shotgun," she said, taking off the jacket on her shoulders and giving it back to him, even though he believed it looked better on her.

"Wouldn't want his only daughter being led astray by a gypsy would he?"

"Too late for that now."

As soon as she shut the door behind her, she smiled to herself and took off her shoes, placing them by her parents.

She could hear them faintly as she walked in.

"Still saving lives?" she heard her dad say to her mum.

"Still making things?" her mum joked.

Nurse and carpenter they were and have been for 19 years. Celestine and Cecil Dawkins had been happily married for 20 years, the same couldn't be said for half the city.

"I'm home!" Eden screamed on purpose, startling her parents, her mother almost dropped the plate of mash over her father who was sitting at the table.

"And now the whole street knows that," Celestine remarked, then received a kiss on the cheek from her daughter.

Cecil chuckled, "No doubt Mrs Granberry across town can."

Eden rolled her eyes, "Mrs Granberry can get fuc–"

"Watch it," her mother warned, just as Cecil laughed with his daughter, who pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Cecil was a tall and tough man who would do just about anything for his girls, his darker skin would lead him to trouble which he never caused, the same couldn't be said for Celestine who was a lighter complexion than her daughter, the woman wasn't much taller than Eden, and looked great for forty.

Cecil turned to his daughter, "How was work sweetheart? Still savin'–"

"--Lives? No Dad, a patient succumbed to his wounds today," Eden admitted, taking a seat and not looking at her parents who were sending her pitiful looks.

"Sorry to 'ere that," her dad reached over and grabbed her hand, "why don't ya give our girl an extra piece of lamb," he asked Celestine who nodded.

"Here you go, need you to be in better spirits for tomorrow. Don't fret my girl, it happens to the best of us," Celestine remembered all the times when she couldn't save a patient, it occasionally took a toll on her.

"Thanks, mum," Eden forced a smile, then went to eat, but her mum slapped her hand as well as Cecil's.

"Ay, you may not come to church or even say your daily prays but you will wait to say grace at this table before you start stuffing those bellies of yours." 

"Sorry mum," she muttered.

Cecil winced, "Sorry, love."

"And you young lady, where were you? I expected you to help me prepare the table," Celestine pointed the sharp knife at her, making her inch back in her seat.

"Next time I won't be late I promise," Eden spoke, avoiding her mum's piercing look.

"And since you grabbed for your fork first, you're saying grace."

Eden groaned, "Mum."

"Did I stutter?

Grabbing ahold of her parent's hands she sighed, "Alright alright. Dear God..."

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

a/n:

just to reiterate, tommy is 22 and eden is 20. the shelby business had only been running for 2 years (i searched up when it started but it wasn't clear online, so I'll make it headcanon for this story). also, tommy might seem much more smilely and open and less cold and that's because he hadn't been to war just yet, none of them have, so everything in this story is much lighter, but that doesn't mean there aren't any future problems, because tommy's jealousy is a mean thing.

you'll meet more oc's throughout the next couple of chapters and even the other canon characters as well. hoped you enjoyed the first chapter guys.

also imma include as much horse terminology as i can, (tryna remember my saddle club days). also since i'm writing about the roma/ romani culture please correct me on anything (beliefs, sayings and more)

tommy and eden ship name?

[thelashjedi]

Audition

“Malfoy, excuse me.”

“Fuck, Granger why are you squishing yourself into my seat? I understand that you might be hungry, but I’m sure you can wait for your own table.”

“What? No. I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend, Malfoy. Please. He stopped me out in Diagon and now he’s on his way here.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed. “McClaggen?” 

She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I would greatly appreciate your assistance,” she asked, her voice calm and her expression placid. If Draco hadn’t seen her shaking hands, he would have thought her unafraid. Bloody Gryffindor.

Draco had worked in Wizagenmot Support for the past three years in the office next to Granger’s. Long enough to see her through two separate and distinct absolutely shite relationships with tossers who did not deserve her. Especially this last one. The Weasel had been bad enough, but at least he had the good sense to accept when it was over. Fucking Cormac McClaggen did not. He was essentially stalking the poor witch — forcing her to listen to his soliloquies about how they were destined for one another. Hermione wasn’t prone to exaggeration so Draco knew she was underselling her concerns. It made his blood boil whenever he thought about how much worse the git’s attentions must be in practice. 

Despite her protests to the contrary, Hermione was clearly struggling if she was crawling next to him in a restaurant in Diagon Alley on a Saturday afternoon. Draco had long thought she should be with someone who respected her. 

Someone who knew she was too good for them. 

Someone like him.

Quick as he could, Draco scooped Hermione into his arms, pulling her until she was sitting on his lap, with one forearm draped across her thighs. “I’m here for anything you need, Granger.” His voice was a purr as he lightly stroked her knee through her trousers.

She rolled her eyes. “None of that Malfoy. This is a ruse. Although, I suppose if you wanted to turn your performance into more of an audition you could start by respecting my wishes. I do find that very attractive.”

He sat up straighter and put his arm in a less suggestive position. She was still in his lap, so there was only so much he could do on that front, but he hoped she would credit him for making the effort. “Is that so?”

“More and more so with every passing day.”

“Good, because I don’t want to be your friend, Granger. Not if I can be more. Do you have plans for dinner?”

“Yes, I believe I’m going out with you.”

Draco felt his typical smirk blossom into an actual smile.

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Hermione. Malfoy? He’s just a professional colleague, Cormac. I fucking knew you were shagging with him.”

“I wasn’t. But I am now.” She pinched Draco lightly behind his back — in what he assumed was a warning for him to not contradict her lie. As if he would. If it was an an option, he’d like as many people as possible to think he was sleeping with Granger.

“When he hurts you, don’t come crying to me!”

“It would literally never occur to me to go to you for anything, but thank you for letting me know.”

Cormac left in a disgruntled huff.

“You serious about that dinner?”

Draco knew she was perfect for him. So if he had the chance, he would spend the rest of his life trying to be perfect for her. “Deadly serious Granger. Where would you like to go?”

[midnightcreator12]

Hunter and Turtles One-Shot: The Demon That Lurks Below

It's not unusual for Chula to take an odd job if the settlements they stopped at were big enough to be more like cities.

The issue Leonardo was having was that those jobs rarely took longer than six to eight hours and Chula had been gone almost all day.

He had a very, very bad feeling.

AO3 Link

Chula had been gone for too long.

The thought had flitted through his head a few times over that last couple of hours but when the sun had passed it's peak and started to slowly sink back to the horizon line, it became a mantra.

When they landed on this planet, it had been pretty early in the morning. Chula had only stuck around long enough for a ship and supply check before telling Leo that she was going to find some work for a few extra credits while the ship refueled and cooled down. And Leo hadn’t bat an eye because Chula did that a lot, venturing onto planets to do day-labor for some extra cash in her pocket.

Leo didn’t mind staying on the ship to wait for her to come back….and since she hadn’t called him out for occasionally sneaking into the odd market when he got board she either didn’t know he liked to explore or didn't mind.

But she didn’t ever stay gone the entire day. The longest she’d ever been gone was nine hours and even that time she’d stomped into the ship grumbling about contractors underselling the job to try and get away with paying her less.

But it had been easily past the nine hour mark since she'd left and she wasn’t answering her comm. and Leo was getting worried. Sure, she didn’t always have time or signal to check in with him but Leo was pretty sure she’d find a way to reassure him by the third attempt to call her.

But he'd called her ten times and hadn’t heard a peep.

So he grabbed his hood, opened a picture of Chula on his tablet and ventured into the settlement.

The locals were a good mix of many different aliens, human-like, mammalian, reptilian and a few he couldn't even begin to figure out. Chula liked to call places like this ‘hive centers’, large towns or cities that a lot of races gravitated towards because of the variety of resources and the amount of space.

It was great for finding an odd-job that wouldn’t take longer than an afternoon, awful for a five foot turtle trying to track down his temporary guardian.

Especially since very few of the people spoke a language Leo knew.

He forced down a groan of frustration as the latest person he managed to get the attention of, a short alien that looked like a neon green teddy bear, spoke in a gibberish sounding language that Leo couldn’t even hope to understand. 

“You know, thanks, thanks anyway man,” Leo sighed as he walked away, wincing as he accidently bumped into another person.

Getting through the streets of busy cities was a lot easier when he was trailing after a six foot armored behemoth.

He moved further into the crowd, scanning around for...frankly no one in particular. He'd just been picking random people. He approached a tall, lizard looking person in a light veil and robes, “Hey, excuse me, have you seen my friend here?” He held out his tablet as he spoke, letting the alien get a good look and praying they spoke english….or spanish, he’d take spanish too.

The lizard person leaned down, frowning at the picture for a few moments, “Yes, yes, I know this warrior.”

A smile spread over Leo’s face. Finally, some progress! “That’s great! If you wouldn’t mind pointing me in the right direction? We were supposed to meet up ages ago.”

The reptilian frowned, bowing their head solemnly, “I would not recommend you follow her, young one. I warned her, as I warn all, of the danger. It would be quite unfortunate for someone as young as yourself to meet the same fate as the ones before you.”

Leo blinked, grin falling, “Wow, that’s not ominous at all. But now I want to know where she went even more so if you could just point me in the right direction, that’d be fantastic.”

They tipped their head, frown deepening, “You likey won’t return.”

“Di. Rec. tions. Please,” Okay, so he was being a little rude. Sue him, he’d been looking for a long time by himself in a ridiculously huge crowd.

The veiled alien was silent for a few moments. Then, slowly, pointed a long, thin claw down a side street, “Walk that way until you reach a shuttle station, tell the driver that you need to go to the Yedara Ridge Mines. Your friend will be there.”

“Shuttle, Yedara Ridge, got it!” Leo beamed, stowing his tablet and started trotting away. “Hey, thanks for that, see ya around sometime, yeah?”

“Be warned,” Leo froze at their suddenly harsh tone. “You will face a great trial to save your friend. I pray to Zentara that you have the fortitude to overcome it.”

“Uhhh, thanks?” Leo started moving again, ignoring the shiver that ran up his shell. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The lizard person didn't reply. Just stared at Leo as he headed down the side street, he could feel their eyes on his back until he was too far away to be seen.

The little side street was narrow and dusty but a lot less crowded, so Leo made it to the edge of the city with little fuss. He paused when the buildings were finally behind him and he was greeted by a sprawling grassland in almost every direction. Far in the distance, he could see flat-topped mountains breaking up the horizon and, a little to the right and a short jog away, a canopy next to a large, hovering, bus-like vehicle.

Leo trotted over to what he assumed was a space bus station, circling it until he managed to find an entrance and clambering in. There was only one occupant inside, a big, broad alien wearing thick clothing and a large mask covering most of his features except for a long horn that curved up from the back of his head.

He looked up when Leo stepped aboard, collapsing the tablet in his hands and pulling himself up, “Well, this is a surprise. Don’t get many people taking the shuttle this late.”

“Uh,” Leo hesitated. “Are you closed?”

The man chuckled, a deep, growly thing, “Shuttle is always open, little sprig.”

“Oh, great!” Leo stepped further in, hand going to his belt. “Erm, how much to get to the Yedara Ridge Mine?”

“How much?” The driver chuckled again, lumbering his way to the front. “You must be from Federation territory. Public transport is free around here. Especially to a place so close.”

“Oh, cool, nice, thanks, erm, man,” Leo shuffled to the first row of seats and settled in for the ride.

Free public transportation. Earth was really behind, wasn’t it?

At least the guy hadn’t lied about the mine being close. The plains gave way to rocky, craggy terrain within ten minutes. And in another five the bus was slowing at a large fence covered in ‘warning: open mineshaft’ and 'danger' signs in multiple languages.

“Picking up a friend?” the driver asked as the shuttle shuddered to a stop. “Or are they desperate enough to hire lil guys now?”

“My friend is missing and not answering her phone,” Leo explained curtly. “Thanks for the lift, by the way." He handed the driver some credits as he jumped down. Transportation might be free but Leo figured a tip wouldn't be turned away.

The driver seemed to agree, snapping the currency out of the air eagerly. “Much thanks unto you and your kin. Hey, you be careful in there, ya hear?”

“Thanks for the concern,” Leo called back as he walked through the gap in the fence.

He’d never been to an actual mineshaft but the setup was reminiscent of old westerns and horror movies. Lots of tools laying around, carts full of rocks, cave openings framed by large, sturdy logs of wood.

Leo paused at the entrance of one of the caves, pulling out his tablet and communicator.

Within a day of Chula giving Leo his tablet and comm, Chula had shown him how to use the two in conjunction to track the signal of the comm she'd built into her helmet.

In case they were seperated and couldn't call each other.

Leo had laughed back then, thinking that there wouldn’t ever be a situation where he’d have to track her down as opposed to just calling her.

Turned out, she’d had better foresight.

Leo frowned when the little ping popped up on the screen, noting that Chula…wasn’t that far away. He didn’t know a lot about how caves worked with space cell phones but he felt pretty confident that she had to be deep into the mine for the comm to not connect a call.

….which meant something was very, very wrong.

Leo swallowed and slowly inched his way into the caves. There were small, glowing orbs fixed into the walls, giving off weak lighting that casted the entire tunnel in a heavy shadow. Leo made a mental note to ask Chula for some kind of flashlight to carry on his person.

He kept a hand on the tunnel wall, using it and the dim lights in combination with his tracker to guild himself.

Water dripped somewhere in the cave, wind was whistling along the cracked walls, a chill pressed into Leo's scales, making him shiver.

“Hellooooo,” his voice echoed back eerily in the dark. “Chula? You down here? Would really appreciate a reply here.”

The only response he got was his own voice echoing back.

“Creepy,” Leo muttered. “This is worse than the whole Gumbus thing….maybe I’ll get lucky and some dorky lil alien kid will pop out from behind a corner. That’d be a pretty funny story, ‘hey, sorry I didn’t call you back, a bratty little kid was chasing us around a creepy mineshaft with a ghost robot’.”

The mine in question did not answer.

Leo let out a loud sigh through his nose and looked back at the tracker.

—---------------------------------------------

Chula blinked hard in the darkness, trying to force her eyes to adjust.

It was odd because, normally, she could see decently enough in the dark. Not great but enough to get by.

Now? Now it seemed her night vision was refusing to cooperate.

She blinked again as her hand groped around for a wall, a rock, hell, another person would be great…she had been with other people. People who’d asked her to act as protection during an investigation of an old mine tunnel. Apparently, there were rumors of a massive treasure somewhere in the mine but there were also whispers of a curse.

Thus, protection detail, simple enough in Chula’s option.

But…something had happened. Her mind was fuzzy on the details but she was sure…something had grabbed her, she was sure of that but then…how had she gotten here?

And where the hells was here?

She shook her head, refocusing. She either had to find the treasure hunting party or an exit, whichever came first.

As soon as her damned eyes did their job and let her shabbing see.

She paused to rub a hand to her face…and noticed something else was off.

Her helmet was missing.

She growled in frustration at the loss of it, wondering if it was back where she had woken up. She debated trying to find it, the light she attached to the scoop would be pretty useful right now-

Something made a scraping sound in front of her.

Her ears perked up, eyes snapping in the direction of the sound, “Hello?”

There was another scrape and this time, her brain managed to piece together that the sound was footsteps. Armored feet scraping along a stone floor.

Her hackles raised and a growl rumbled in her chest, teeth flashing as her eyes flicked around, trying to find whoever was in the tunnel with her.

There was a crackle, one that she’d only heard once in her life but the memory was burned into her mind and body.

Angry red, three pronged gauntlets lit up the space, illuminating a towering, armored figure, covered almost head to toe in sharp spiked and razor edged plating and rage filled yellow, bloodshot eye glaring from behind the helmet.

Chula's heart started hammering harder, lips pulling back further and her scared shoulder twinged.

“Oroku,” The name tasted like ash on her tongue.

The Sith took slow, dragging steps closer, causing Chula to draw back and her hands to flit towards her weapons-

Only to grab empty air.

She barely had time to formulate another move before the air around her throat suddenly shifted, almost solidifying before it closed around her neck and lifted. Her hands shot up on instinct, clawing at nothing as she tried to loosen the invisible hand squeezing her throat.

“You have failed, Mandalorian,” Oroku’s cold, raspy voice rattled out of his helmet before his hand flicked.

Chula yelped as she shot backwards, back colliding with a wall of stone that crumbled away. She coughed as dust clogged his lungs, hindering her efforts to catch her breath.

She turned over, tried to brace herself on the rubble and get back onto her feet.

Only to look and see she wasn’t on top of a pile of rocks.

White and purple plastoid helmets were piled under her, each spattered with deep crimson. Her eyes shot up and all the air left her chest when she saw more armor, more red, saw tanned faces and dead eyes all staring at her.

She scrambled back, breath now heaving as she took in the mass grave of the two-forty-fourth battalion, “No, no….when, what, no, this can’t-”

“You left them,” Oroku hissed from behind her, heavy, scraping footfalls advancing again. “You left them all and they died.”

“No!” Chula finally found the strength to get to her feet, to spin around and snap her teeth at Oroku. “Astra would’ve never let this happen!”

“She lost to me before,” Oroku hissed back, stepping to the side. “She lost again.”

Chula glanced to where the Force user was gesturing and she almost collapsed again.

Astra was there but…but her robes were torn and stained, blood coated over her blue fur and skin, a stalagmite impaled through her torso and cold, dead eyes fixed on Chula. Seena lay next to her, almost leaning on her sister. The scar on her face had been torn open, skin split and ripped away, leaving a mess of blood and bone and only one, cold eye that bore accusingly into Chula.

“This is a trick,” Chula muttered, feet moving her back, away from Oroku, away from all the dead eyes staring at her. “This is a trick, this has to be a trick. I looked for them, I looked-”

“Chula! You down here!”

Her head shot up, panic flaring as Oroku turned to a side tunnel the voice had come from.

She could hear the grin in his voice as he said, “Ah, the little Foundling.”

“No!” Chula launched forward, caution gone as her mind became crowded with a litany protect Leo, protect Leo, protect Leo-!

Oroku caught her mid air, she wheezed as the Force constricted her torso, pinning her limbs and raising her off the floor again.

“Chula! Where are you?!” Leo’s voice called again.

And the fact it was getting closer just made Chula panic more. She strained and struggled, screaming out, “Leo run! Run back to the ship right shabbin’ now-!”

Oroku’s hand tightened and Chula choked as her throat was squeezed.

She still struggled, tried to kick, claw, scream, anything.

But she was powerless to do anything but watch as Leo stepped out of the tunnel,  eyes going wide when he saw the scene before him, “Chula!”

The pressure holding her suddenly dropped, Oroku moved, almost too fast to track.

Chula screamed as the plasma prongs of the saber gauntlet seared into Leo’s chest, stealing his breath away before he could utter a sound. His dark eyes widened, further and further, full of fear and pain as they fixed onto Chula and started to dull.

“N-no, no please!” Chula staggered, forced her body to stand even if a part if her knew that it was too late.

Leo collapsed, blood spreading on the ground under him, blank eyes staring right at hers, begging for her to save him.

Chula’s scream shook through the cave.

—------------------------------------------------------------

“Chula!” Leo called again as he dropped from a ledge. “If this is an elaborate prank, it’s not funny anymore….it stopped being funny when the weird bat-fox thing jumped at my face!”

No one answered him but the high whistling of the wind in the tunnels.

Leo shivered at the eerie sound but pressed on, consulting his tracker again. According to the little dots, he was getting close. Chula definitely should have been able to hear him yelling and the fact she hadn’t answered…was worrying.

Something shifted in the dark, making Leo pause. He spun in a small circle, surveying what he could of the cave, trying to pinpoint if there was another freaky bat that was about to swoop at his head.

When nothing appeared from the darkness to bite his face he pressed on, trying to shake the creepy feeling crawling up his shell.

“Okay, you owe me big time for this when I find you, you know that Chula? If I find you and it turns out you forgot to charge your phone I am gonna be very, very upset.”

The wind whispered through the cave again.

…wait, he shouldn't be hearing wind, he was too far into the caves for that.

No sooner had the thought occurred to him, something moved in the corner of his eye. Leo rolled, body moving quicker than his mind as something large slammed into the ground where he’d been standing seconds before.

Leo quickly swapped the tracker for his katanas, dropping into a defencive stance and he turned to see what had tried to hit him.

And promptly recoiled with a shriek.

Because the thing that had tried to hit him was a big, slimy, red tentacle. It writhed on the floor, coiling around itself before rising up and pointing towards Leo.

“What the actual fuck?!” Leo screeched as he skittered back from the slimy thing.

There was a hiss behind him and he jumped again, feeling the breeze as another tentacle barely missed his shell. He danced away, biting his cheek to keep from screaming again as more tentacles slithered out of the walls.

He struck out at the closest one, smacking it away. He shuddered, feeling the vibration of the hit all the way up his arm like he’d just slashed at a brick wall. And all his hit did to the tentacle was send it reeling back a little.

“Again, what the fuck?!” Leo screeched as he started running.

A low rumbling sound seemed to come from the entire tunnel, shaking the walls and dislodging rock as the slimy appendages gave chase, more and more appearing from every crack in the walls.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Wow, I did not use to swear this much! Fuck! This is fucking freaky!” Leo skidded around a corner, smacking away another tentacle as the tunnel widened and opened up.

Leo found himself in a massive chamber bathed in harsh red light. The walls were covered by slick looking bumps that went from floor to ceiling, some dull and sliced open, skeletal limbs hanging from the opening and a few sealed but giving off a slight glow. And the centerpiece of the room was a bright, glowing red rock.

But the biggest thing was that there wasn’t another exit.

Leo let out another litany of curses as he spun, bringing up his katanas as the tentacles slithered into the chamber, waving and hissing as they surrounded him.

“You are powerful.”

Leo jumped at the voice, a raspy thing that echoed from every direction, “Who said that?”

“But your power is limited,” the voice hissed again. “I can help you little mortal. I can make you stronger.”

Leo shivered, bringing his blades forward and slowly moving back. He could feel…something pressing against his mind. Like when he Mind Melded with his brothers but…slimier, for forceful. Like one of those damned tentacles was squirming into his brain.

He shook his head, mentally pushed the foreign feeling away, “Where. The hell. Is Chula?”

“Forget her. She is meaningless, weak.”

“She is not!” Leo shouted back, swinging a blade out at the advancing tendrils. “She’s the strongest damn person I know and I am not leaving this damn cave without her!”

The thing, creature- maybe the cave itself?- whatever had been whispering in Leo’s mind, hissed. The pressure in his skull grew stronger, “I can give you worlds, galaxies, riches beyond comprehension, all the power you could possibly desire. All you have to do is serve me.”

All the power-

Leo blinked hard, taking another step back.

But if he was stronger…he could do…anything…

Nothing could touch him, nothing could hurt him…he’d be unstoppable. He would…he would be strong, would prevail-

He took another step back. His heel hit something cold and hard.

His head snapped down. His vision had blurred at some point but it cleared slightly as he searched for what he’d kicked.

A gleaming black visor framed in gold stared back up at him.

“Serve me.”

Leo’s head snapped up, teeth baring at the tentacles swarming around him, “Go to shabbing hell! And tell me where she is!”

—----------------------------------------

Chula screeched as one of the plasma blades sunk into her shoulder, cutting through the plate of beskar like it was nothing but flimsi, digging in over the old scaring.

She kicked out, claws making an awful screeching sound as they dragged down Oroku’s armor. The man didn’t even twitch, only pressed his weapon further through her shoulder.

“You deserve this,” He hissed. “You can’t protect the people you claim to care for. Everyone around you suffers and dies while you live on.”

“Get outta my head,” Chula growled, pushing as hard as she could against Oroku’s arm. “It’s not my fault, you did this. I-I wasn’t here-”

“That’s right,” He hissed. “You weren’t here. You abandoned them when they needed you. Astra needed you and you left her.”

The blade was ripped away and Chula collapsed to the ground. She bit down on another scream, even as pain burned down her entire side.

She branced her functional arm under her, trying to push herself up.

A sob tore from her throat when she looked up, seeing the hazy, dead eyes of her Buir staring at her, blaster burn smoking at his side, flesh torn apart and sluggishly bleeding over the ground.

“I was a child,” She sobbed. “I couldn’t- couldn’t have done anythin’.”

“You could have been stronger,” Oroku rasped from over her. “He betrayed Vizsla for you. Because you were too weak to fight. To cowardly to fight for Mandalore.”

“Ne’johaa,” Chula groaned, bloody claws digging into the ground as she tried to move away. “Ne’johaa, ne’johaa, ne’jo-”

“Chula! Are you in here?”

Her head shot up, eyes darting around, “Wha- Leo?”

“I really need you right now dude!” Leo’s voice shouted. “Like, now now! This thing is reeeally pissed off that I turned it down!”

Chula’s gaze fell on…on Leo’s corpse. His eyes were still hazy, the spark in the gone and his blood still painting the floor red.

But his mouth moved, his voice still bright and alive, ��Its like an episode of Creep Show in here with all the red lighting and freaky tentacles!”

Red…tentacles?

Wait a second-

Hot pain seared into Chula's back, making her cry out again as Oroku plunged his gauntlet blades into her back.

Except…he shouldn’t be able to do that…

He shouldn't have been able to stab her shoulder either…she’d added the plates in the gap between her pauldron and neck because of…

She remembered…something grabbing her, a voice whispering promises of grandeur in her ears…

The sound of steel whistling through the air shattered the scene around her.

She gasped, eyes flying open, coming face to face with her own reflection.

She blinked, mind still scrambling as she tried to piece together what was going on.

Her helmet was gone, she could feel something wet on her face and in her hair. The reflection…the reflection was on a blade, a long, flat blade with a blue hilt.

“Chuuulaaaaaaa!”

Leo…

Leo!

“Leo!”

Chula launched forward, ripping the blade from the wall and looking around wildly.

She was in a tiny space, a slime coated…pod of some sort? She was in a pod and harsh, red light was bleeding in from a small tear in one wall-

A wall Leo was on the other side of.

She clawed at it, ripping away the fleshy barrier and stumbling into a larger room bathed in red light.

And she saw Leo, alive and bounding around the cave, his remaining katana striking out at the thick tentacles trying to snatch him out of the air.

Alive, breathing, bright and alive and moving and-

“Leo! Catch!” She threw the blade towards its wielder.

Leo pushed himself off a red tendrial and into the air, flipped cleanly over two more before catching his weapon and landing by Chula. He smiled, big and blinding and shabbing alive, “Dude, you need a bath!”

“Focus up!” Chula’s hand went to her side, closing around the grip of her blaster.

Adrenaline surged through her veins at the familiar shriek of bolts zipping through the air. The tentacles recoiled from the heat, the creature growling in anger as its attempts to recapture its prey were derailed by her blaster and Leo’s blades.

“Soooo, just a heads up! I have no idea what’s happening!” Leo yelled over the creature's roar

“It’s a damned Necro,” Chula yelled back, releasing a burst of fire from her vembrace. “It feeds off nightmares. Literally scares its victims to death.”

“...it’s literally nightmare fuel!” Leo cackled, ducking and weaving under an attacking limb before swatting it away. “How exactly do we hurt this thing again?”

“We piss it off enough to actually come out,” Chula rolled out of the way, tentacles slamming down where she had been. 

She grabbed her staff as she rose, extending it and slashing at a glowing pod within her range, “Cut open the glowing pods! We mess with its food, it’ll come out to play.”

“Got it!” Leo zipped away, heading for the closest active pod. 

—----------------------------------------------

Leo sliced open another pod, number three by his count.

The Necro roared in rage, shaking the entire cave, causing rocks to tumble down the walls.

“You think we made it mad enough yet?” Leo hollered, nimbly dancing around an onslaught of tentacles trying to grab him.

Chula was across the cave, plunging her arm into another pod and ripping it open, “Hope so, we’re running out of pods.”

The creature roared again, all the tendrils lashing wildly through the air, becoming more erratic with each thin wall the pair tore apart.

Leo kicked at flailing limb, spring boarding off it and leaping over the mass taking up most of the room before rolling into a crouch next to Chula.

The cave shook again but…this tremor felt different. The tentacles around them were still waving about erratically but they were starting to retract back into the walls. And the further they got, the harder the cave shook.

Chula shuffled closer to Leo, hunching down to his level, reaching into her belt, “The second this thing shows its face, I’m going to give you a lot of charges and a boost up. You gotta get as many of them to hit the ceiling as you can.”

“Uhhh, won’t that bring the cave down on top of us?"

Chula put a hand on Leo’s shoulder, guiding him back from the center of the cave as the rumbling grew harsher, “Either this thing eats us, we get crushed or the plan works perfectly. Frankly, if this goes sideways, I’d prefer to be crushed.”

Leo thought for a moment, imagined being sealed in one of those slimy pods and forced to have nightmares until his body gave out…

“Yeah, crushing is the better option.”

Chula’s snort of amusement was lost as another roar flooded the cave, loud enough to make Leo’s ears ring.

The ground shuddered, parts crumbling apart as something moved below it.

Leo’s jaw dropped when the 'Necro' emerged from below the floor. It looked like Cthulhu and a scorpion had a weird, slime cover nightmare of a baby. One that was almost too large for the cave it was climbing into, hissing and roaring in rage.

Leo seethed his blades, holding out his hands to Chula. She responded quickly, slapping over a dozen blinking little disks into his hands before lacing her fingers together. Leo didn’t have to think as he stepped into the hold, he braced for the launch, kicking off Chula’s palms at the peak of the throw.

The Necro roared, slimy limbs zipping through the air. Leo smirked, twisting midair to dodge and using the tentacles to push himself even closer to his target.

He threw the charges at the last possible moment, letting the little explosives hit and stick into the cave roof before twisting again, whipping his katana’s out and batting away the tendrils that tried to snatch him out of the air. 

He landed in Chula’s arms and she curled around him, rolling away and pessing against the closest wall seconds before a tremendous explosion rocked the cave.

The Necro screamed as the cave ceiling collapsed on top of it. The cave roof crumbled, massive chunks falling away until a sliver of golden light burned through the dust cloud. The sliver became a beam, then a shining spotlight of a low hanging sun, right on top of the monster.

It screamed again, writhing on the stone floor as its skin started to smoke, slime and red skin burning away into white bone and then into dust. Leo watched in a weirdly detached fascination as the creature burned away before his eyes, like a vampire in a cheap B-Film.

And then everything was quiet.

Chula huffed above him and he felt her jaw tuck over his head, her arms squeezing him tighter as she breathed out a soft, “Thank the Force.”

“We didn’t get smashed!” Leo threw up a fist in celebration. “And we killed an eldritch abomination!”

Chula let out a breathy laugh, then a second one. Leo grunted in surprise when she suddenly went slack, practically falling the rest of the way to the ground and dragging him with her.

“Dude, did you get hurt? Did the Necro thing eat part of your soul or something?”

“Somethin’,” Chula huffed out, clutching Leo like he would disappear if she let go.

Leo couldn’t see her face, she had him very smooshed against her chest, but her voice sounded choked…and not in a ‘dust in your mouth’ kinda way.

…right, eats nightmares.

And based on the arms hugging him so tight that they would hurt if he didn't have a shell, Chula had some pretty nasty nightmares to feed off of.

How long had that thing had her? How long had it forced her to see the darkest parts of her subconscious?

What had she seen? Did he even want to know?

He squeezed back, even pulling his legs up to wrap around her torso, “It’s over. It was all just a really, really sucky dream.”

Chula let out a very wet laugh, “You’re the kid. I’m supposed to comfort you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not the one who got snacked on by Cuthulu’s creepy cousin.”

“I don’t know what that means verd’ika.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Leo pressed his beak frimley into her shoulder. “....why the hell does that city still send shuttles here?”

“Driver was probably the one feeding the Necro,” Chula explained. “Necro’s can’t survive in sunlight but they need a steady supply of food and a place to nest. So they find someone to act as their caretaker, have them hunt for them and in exchange they give the caretaker wealth and power.”

“How’s it doing that from a cave?”

“They can speak through the caretakers and use their thrawl to manipulate others and the caretaker can loot the corpses of the victims. But it’s a bad deal in the end ‘cause once the caretaker gets too old, the Necro will eat them and lure in a new caretaker.”

“Sick,” Leo hissed. “But, like, in a bad way.”

“Yeah,” Chula agreed quietly. “I’m gonna stab that bastard.”

“Ooooh, let me get in on that.”

Chula snorted and brought a hand up to cradle Leo’s head, “Well done, findin’ me and fightin’ that thing off.”

“How many times have you saved me? I’d say this is just returning the favor a little.”

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

Mando'a Translations: Ne’johaa - Shut up shab, shabbing - fuck, fucking Verd'ika - Little Warrior

…..so, since Chula and extended company are pretty much TMNT OCs that just happen to be from a Star Wars universe at this point…..and Donnie said there were probably versions of the Hamatos in her reality…..yeah, The Shredder is the dark side user who killed half of Astra's battalion when she was starting out and stabbed Chula at one point. Also, yes, it's the same alien from the 2003 episode 'The Darkness Within'. The flashback just said that that one landed on Earth not that it was the only one of it's kind so I get to do a nightmare episode with some lore drops!