#and clearly I type slower than I think so a lot of it gets left out too

[obsessivevoidkitten]

Breeding Bitch

Yandere dog-man x Gender neutral reader (CW: Violent/painful noncon, gender neutral reader, non-human genitals, knotting, breeding, musk, piss marking, biting, stalking, kidnapping, general yandere behavior) Word Count: 2.3k (This is a lot more graphic than my normal content, but I talked to the requester privately and they specifically wanted a more violent noncon scene, I know that is not for everyone, so I just wanted to be clear on what this fic has.)

 You had lived on the Space Station Gamma-3 for all of your adult life, you loved your life there. It was absolutely colossal and served as the most important intergalactic space terminal in existence. It offered every possible service a space traveler could possibly need or want. The obvious ones were fuel, food, and drinks, but it also boasted several resorts, cheaper hotels, restaurants serving food originating from many of the different species in the galaxy, and an entire market where traders could peddle various goods.  You worked as a bartender at one of the many establishments. You enjoyed meeting new people, hearing their stories, learning tidbits about different cultures, some of which you had never even heard about before, and occasionally getting dicked down by an interesting traveler with an interesting alien schlong.  That’s how you had met Fynn, a humanoid canid type alien. He looked mostly human, but instead of typical human ears he had cute triangular dog ears that flopped over at the tips slightly growing from the top of his head. He also had a furry blonde tail that matched the color of his curly mop of hair and stood well over 7 feet tall.  Fynn was staying aboard the station for a few months from outside The Milky Way. He had felt like traveling a little bit and this was his last stop before he took his small ship and headed back home.  The first couple of weeks that he was on the station you kept seeing him pop up all around you and show up at the bar that you worked at, especially during the slower hours. It started to seem like you couldn’t go anywhere without almost literally bumping into him. Finally he struck up a conversation, though he was sweating nervously. Over the course of the next few days you got to know him fairly well, and you found his awkward attempts at flirting to be quite charming.  Eventually he built up enough courage to just outright ask if you were looking to mate. He was very sweet towards you and you found his eager but shy attitude endearing, not to mention he was the definition of attractive. Those curly blonde locks, beautiful verdant eyes, tanned skin, cute canine features, and he was quite tall and muscular.  Who wouldn’t want to hookup with that?  The sex was hot and a bit sloppy, once again he was very eager and was determined to please you above all else. He was also careful not to let his dog-like dick knot up inside you as that probably would have hurt and tied you two together for a bit according to him. Even without the knot his cock bulged out your stomach so much that you could see the outline of it when he thrust forward. It left you unable to walk for a good hour or two so you just lay on top of him with your head nuzzled into his neck.  All in all it was a pretty fun one night stand. You had thought.  After all was said and done he kept coming back to your room wanting more and you had to think of excuses to shoo him away, he began popping up even more frequently than he had previously. You constantly felt as though you were being followed, even when you could find no one else around.  When he showed up at your job he constantly asked when he could see you again, always wagging his tail excitedly when he talked to you. You figured he just was not going to take the hint so you laid it out for him as clearly as possible, it was fun and you liked him, but it was just a one time thing. He seemed more than a bit confused by that.  “B-but… we mated… that means you’re my mate…” His tail and ears both drooped making for quite a sad sight. Your heart twinged a bit, he was just a bit mixed up on how humans worked, you would have to explain to him.  “For humans sometimes sex is just sex, I’m sorry, I did not mean to give you the wrong impression.”  Fynn nodded as if he understood and slowly walked away, his heart broken. He had found such a nice human, one that smelled lovely and was so small and sweet to him, surely they had to be his partner. It just made no sense to him.  Then he remembered that humans sometimes do a thing called “playing hard to get” so he just had to court you more and then really make you see he was a good strong mate to have, it was so obvious that’s what you wanted. His tail wagged with this new realization. Silly humans with their odd courting ways, but if you wanted to play hard to get he would respect your desires.  That is when things really got out of hand for you.  One night you came into your quarters after a day of hard work to discover that someone had somehow gotten in and covered every inch of your bed with cute plushies. And another time you went to work to find several bouquets of your favorite flowers waiting for you. But the last straw came when you arrived home one night to find that someone had seemingly urinated on the sides of your door.  You decided you had had enough, clearly this dog brain was not getting the memo and did not understand the casual nature of sex for some humans. You knew just the perfect way to teach him a little lesson.  When you were at the bar the next night, when there were only a few customers and you were SURE Fynn was watching you you put your plan into motion. There was a big brawny Elreldian bull man named Eldum that had been showing up regularly after tending to his market stall everyday at this time for the past few weeks and you had noticed him checking you out and both flirted a bit with one another.  You decided to flirt a bit more loudly and be a bit more handsy as well right as Fynn was watching. You laughed at all the Eldum’s jokes, put your hands on his muscular arms, and exaggerated your fascination with his horns.  When Fynn went to do his little nightly ritual of watching you from across the bar he entered to find your hands on an Elreldian male. You chanced a quick look over in his direction to see his face in a snarl and you are pretty sure you heard a low growl as he stormed out. Mission accomplished.  Fynn was hurt and confused now more than ever. What was his mate doing all over that other man? You mated with him, you were his mate, and he would not have you just throwing yourself at someone like that. Enough of playing this hard to get game he could no longer take chances. He was going to breed and mark you in every way possible until there was all of zero chance that you, or anyone else, could doubt that you belonged to him.  The dog man broke into your room yet again, he found that it was so easy to slip in, if some part of you truly did not want to be his then why did you make it so easy for him to get into your home?  Fynn waited patiently for you to get off work, silently laying under your bed as he sniffed a pair of your underwear. The scent drove him wild and only spurred him on to do what he had come here to do. He was tempted to attend to his hard member, but he wanted to save each and every drop of his potent musky seed to bury into you.  When you entered your home and then your room you found nothing amiss and you had not seen hide nor hair of Fynn since you made sure he caught you flirting so heavily with Eldum. You were convinced that your plan had gone off without a hitch.  But there was a hitch, and it waited until you were sound asleep snoring before creeping out from under your bed and hovering over you to appreciate your sleeping form before grabbing you roughly, stuffing your mouth with a gag before you could scream, and ripping your clothes off you. It had all happened so fast, you tried to cry out for someone but your voice was muffled by Fynn’s musk drenched underwear. You tried struggling, but you found that you could not move at all with the dog man’s strong arms pinning you.  When you saw his angry, red, fully erect cock you knew what was about to happen. Tears filled your eyes as you looked up pleadingly, it was obvious even through the gag that you were trying to beg to be let go.  “Now, why would I let my little bitch go just so some other man can come sniffing around what’s mine?? I am gonna breed you, give you all my seed, make every atom reek of me!” Even in the low light you could see the crazed look in his formerly sweet eyes.  True to his word he straddled your chest and the first thing he did was rub his huge nuts all over your face until you were covered in his smell, and the second thing he did was begin pissing all over your head and hair, soaking you in his smelly urine. You tried to move your head out of the way but it was pointless.  Fynn sniffed the air.  “Mm, perfect, now everyone will know you’re my fucking property. Just have to mark your insides~”  Your renewed muffled sobs and struggles did nothing to dissuade him. He easily flipped you over and started fingering your hole a bit, but that was the only preparation he offered before lining up his warm moist canine prick with your hole and jamming in all at once.  Even the gag could not fully muffle the shriek you let out as his massive cock invaded you so abruptly. Unfortunately for you the room was completely soundproof anyway.  Once more his cock was bulging out your stomach, this time with excruciating pain, but he did not start thrusting into you yet, he decided that your warm insides were a really nice place to finish up emptying his bladder. Your stomach began swelling not just with the outline of his huge cock but with the piss he was emptying into you to mark your deepest most intimate place as his property and his alone.  You were sobbing and shaking from the pain of it all, and then he began thrusting. He held your hips painfully tight, leaving bruises where his fingers had been as he began going back and forth into your poor abused hole.  The sex was not pleasurable for you and it did not become pleasurable for you, but after a while your insides did mercifully adjust to his size and the pain somewhat diminished. He gave no concern to your comfort at all, in stark contrast to how he had been when he fucked you before. After all, he was not making love this time, he was claiming property.  Fynn plowed into you relentlessly as you continued crying silently, you could feel his large knot brushing against your insides as he railed you. He bit your neck and growled fiercely to keep you submissive and still as he ramped up the pace, he did not need to though, you had gone limp, resigned to be his cumdump after all your struggles had proven so pathetically useless. Finally he came in you with considerable force, swelling your belly painfully with even more fluid.  He draped his body over yours, being careful not to put his wait on you, and licked your neck and cheek happily as his tail began to wag. His demeanor instantly shifted back to his previous sweetness.  “There we go, now you’re my sweet breeding bitch and you can’t deny it! No more playing hard to get okay? You’re my mate and I got you fair and square!” He went back to licking you happily and nuzzling into your neck as he waited for his knot to go down.  When it finally did he slowly slid his prick out of you making you wince in pain. The mixture of cum and piss poured out all over the place. You were crying, in pain, and smelled awful. You just wanted it to end.  “I am sorry I was so rough with you, but I had to prove to you that you were mine and keep other guys away from my territory!” He picked you up and took you to the tub where he gently placed you in some water and cleaned off your lower half, but he did not touch your face, he still wanted his scent mark on you.  Fynn kept the gag in, though it would not have mattered at this point anyway, even if the walls were not soundproof you did not have the strength left to scream anyway, you were utterly broken and defeated. You flinched as he carefully cleaned your hole, but it was raw and bleeding a bit from the rough treatment it had been made to endure.  Once you were clean from the neck down Fynn took you and dressed you and put his clothes back on as well, except for the salty underwear that still gagged your mouth. It was the dead of night and he knew absolutely no one would be up and moving around between here and his ship so he picked you up and hauled you back to it.  Fynn sat you down next to him and wrapped his arm around you, holding you close to his side. He couldn’t wait to show everyone back home his beloved little breeding bitch.

[atlasofthestaars]

[MK X READER] New Era - Chapter .006

first part | previous part | next part

NOTE: Not sure if the beginning needs any warnings and what to label it? But it is a little more dreary than the rest of the story has been previously, so take note of that.

Originally was going to be a bit of a faster paced chapter, but I started writing in like, the complete opposite way, and I kinda liked where it went so I just rolled with it. So it’s a little bit slower of a chapter this time, but I hope the fluff makes up for it since it has moments with the champion squad.

Hopefully, according to my plans, we should only have a few more chapters left in the pre-outworld arc? I think about chapter 11 is where we will hop back to it with the mini tournament for Earthrealm’s champion, but that estimate may change depending on the ideas I have. I just want to make sure we have plenty of time with all the Earthrealm men before we head back into more of the plot.

Looks like Shang Tsung is part of the official love interest line up! This actually quite heavily affects the story, so hopefully you all will be pleased by how it turns out when that part rolls around! Reiko did not make the cut, sorry to all those who wanted him! He will get screentime, but the reader will have a different type of dynamic with him due to this. 

Also double whammy poll! While we have a lot of lovely men to fall for, someone asked about Kitana and Mileena! So here’s your time to let me know your thoughts on them! (Especially Mileena, because it WILL change whether I portray Mileena x Tanya in this fic or if Mileena is not with her so she can be romanceable).

I LIED I JUST REALIZED I CAN ONLY DO ONE POLL AT A TIME. KITANA WILL BE NEXT CHAPTER, THEN HAVIK WILL BE AFTER THAT.

FROM THE EYES OF ONE WHO HAS STRUGGLES RELAXING

Turns out, you struggle with forcing yourself to relax.

It was odd, you had been content before with a life of a simple routine. All you had to do before was train yourself and be at Liu Kang’s side as your duties, you could do whatever else you wished for the rest of the day. Most times that meant going on long walks and trying to decipher your memories. 

It was a routine you settled on after many had decided you needed no further routine training, and after a certain incident. Of course, you pushed yourself to train with others occasionally nowadays, but you were a student no longer.

It was a routine most were happy you had, for before that simple routine, you had found yourself often run ragged. You often went from place to place, too ambitious to train, too ambitious to strive for more. In between those training sessions, you found yourself often running around doing too many tasks that others had given you upon your request. You sometimes skipped meals, and sometimes cut hours of sleep to try and cram everything into your schedule.

It wasn’t like no one noticed the way you were slowly ruining yourself, they did, you just ignored their concerns. You waved it off, saying you were fine. You found yourself saying that line to Liu Kang the most, who always seemed to want to stop you.

It got so bad even Bi-Han had to sit you down and scold you for how exhausted you had become.

“Fool, don’t you know you’re inconveniencing everyone else when you destroy yourself like this!?” He had told you, pinning you with a harsh glare. He had slammed his hands on the desk, ice spreading from his hands onto the desk from his frustration. 

You had, of course, defended yourself in every which way back then. Who cares if you were tired? You had to get things done so others could relax. Why did he insinuate that you were a burden when clearly everyone else was benefitting from this? Those points and many more were tossed between you two, and that had caused a large argument between you two for a long time.

That grudge between you two carried for a while. You had been too stubborn to admit Bi-Han was right. How could you? That’d be admitting defeat.

And you loathed defeat.

Furthermore, that meant that you had to stop doing stuff for people. Certainly you could not stop your training, that would lead to you weakening. You had to get stronger! People were counting on you, and you had a feeling that you just had to get stronger, even without thinking of others. The tiny voice in your head was screaming that you had to.

And if you didn’t cut down on training, you had to stop doing tasks. And how could you tell someone that you couldn’t do something for them? The idea of the look of disappointment followed by a pitiful “it’s alright” scared you. You already promised so many people many things, you couldn’t just go around and tell them that you couldn’t all of a sudden.

You’d be a disappointment.

So you deluded yourself that you were doing the right thing, letting yourself get carried away. It was a harsh, dark part of your life. It was a part of your life you were not proud of. You pushed many people away. Kuai Liang, Tomas, Madam Bo, Master Kai…so many people that kept on telling you to end this foolish pursuit.

You didn’t listen.

You carried on with your destructive lifestyle, aiming to try and do anything and everything all at once. If you could do it all, everyone else would be happy, and that’s all you wanted. You lied often, saying that you were okay, and tried to cover it up with a weary smile

It wasn’t until you had collapsed during training and gone unconscious for nearly a day that Liu Kang stepped in.

“I have been a fool.” Liu Kang had murmured when you had awoken that day, You felt faint, nauseous, and so many things all at once. He had reached a hand to touch your forehead, eyebrows furrowed with worry. “I should have realized earlier that you had been running yourself into the ground, I should have trusted my own instincts and never let you go this far.” 

“I’m fine.” You had insisted, trying to sit up. The god had to force you down, which was easy in your weakened state. He had instructed you to take a break until you were better. “How long?” You had asked, your voice hoarse as you asked desperately, feeling the grip of fear at the idea of becoming useless for the people that meant so much for you.

“As long as it takes.” Liu Kang replied, with a tone of finality. Back then, those words were like a death sentence. Nowadays, you realized it had been a blessing in disguise. You try not to think of how long those days felt, constantly being shadowed by one of the Lin Kuei brothers or even Madam Bo. It was painful to think of, some days. But then again, it wasn’t all bad.

After all, that’s the main reason you had gotten closer with all of them. 

Kuai Liang had been helpful, giving you advice and being there at your aid any time you needed. He had been a good person to confide in, for he never shamed you for the worries you carried. He was a gentle flame, providing the warmth you did not know you needed in your life.

Tomas had been a welcoming presence, giving you laughs and joy in a situation where you struggled. He was much more playful than his brothers, and the dreary days were always made a bit bright with him around. He had been encouraging too in his own ways, telling you that being vulnerable was okay. You were okay.

The other two were a bit more harsh. Madam Bo had given you harsh lectures, but in a loving way. You could tell you had terrified her with your decline in health. Those days she had given you so much food you felt often full. You were happy though, her cooking really was the best. Eventually you had learned some cooking from her to pass the time.

You still had to learn how to perfect her recipes.

Bi-Han’s shadowing at first was easily the worst. Days that felt like were filled with tension, some days you felt like you could not breathe. Then, some other days it felt like you would rather be asleep with the rants he had given you, telling you on how you should have listened to him. Eventually, the frost around the situation melted, and the days went from tense and dreadful with him, to more comforting.

Eventually he became a person you learned the world through, as begrudging as it was, he answered your many questions. And when your questions ceased, the two of you could turn to occasional conversation, ones where you both were a little more open with each other, a bit more honest. Even the silences began to feel comforting.

Occasionally, Liu Kang would take over shadowing you. It wasn’t as common as the other four, but it happened often enough. At first, you were filled with guilt whenever you were around him. You had failed the fire god, but he had told you that you did no such thing.

“I have failed you, instead.”

It mystified you, but you chose not to question it. You weren’t certain what you’d do with the answers to the questions you had about that statement. You ended up developing most of your healthy habits with Liu Kang, falling into a simple routine. You ended up developing the habit of watching the sunrise with him during these times.

Days had blended into weeks, and weeks into months, and you slowly were allowed your responsibilities again. You had been allowed to train much earlier than your responsibilities so your body would not weaken, but the responsibilities felt much more significant.

Slowly, you were given room to breathe and develop your own routine. One that was…less rigorous, one that everyone agreed that was healthy and safe for you.

You guessed your inability to relax was still a remnant of the insatiable workaholic from back then. Your mind was filled once again with responsibilities, plans, and schedules. Training the champions, the tournament…so many big things to worry about.

You worried that you didn’t have time to do everything if you relaxed, and you knew how important these tasks that were ahead of you were.

It was almost instinct to dive into everything, try to take the burden of everyone and force it upon yourself.

You were really trying though, to relax. You couldn’t bear to see the concerned looks on their faces again.

“You know, you’re doing an awful job at taking a break.” Johnny pointed out as he pulled up next to you, snapping you out of your reverie. You watched with curiosity as he pulled out his phone. You had vague memories of technology from what you presumed to be your past life, but you haven’t really used it in this life.

“I’m just watching, is that so wrong?” You inquired, trying and failing to fend off the defensive side that tried to come out. You sent him a raised eyebrow, looking at him. He sent you the sassiest look, peering at you. 

“No.” He said, shrugging as he returned his attention back to his phone. “But I can see that calculating look in your eye, teach.” Johnny said, tapping the side of his head with his two fingers. “You’re not just idly watching, you’re thinking. That’s the same look my directors get when they’re reviewing a scene, and trust me, that’s anything but relaxing.”

You huffed, crossing your arms. As much as others thought otherwise, Johnny Cage was smart and observant.

“Plus, when people usually say they’re taking a break they’re usually off doing their, like, hobbies or something.” Johnny continued, pausing for a moment before looking back at you. “You do have hobbies right?”

“I refuse to elaborate.” You said after a few moments of contemplation. You really couldn’t think of anything that was a hobby of yours. Sure, you liked to cook, but that wasn’t a hobby you found yourself doing all too often outside of meal times. 

The only other thing you could think of that you did often was try and make sense of your memories. And that was something you could do for hours on end. But it was all too confusing, and it gave you a major headache. Aside from the fact that you didn’t exactly want to think of those memories right now, you had a feeling that also didn’t count as relaxing.

So your next best bet at doing something to relax was watching the students of the Wu Shi academy train.

Were you really that boring?

“You…don’t have hobbies?” Johnny asked, pulling a face that made you frown. “No wonder you’re struggling to relax.” He said, scratching the back of his neck. You had an urge to defend yourself, but you averted your eyes instead, knowing that trying to defend yourself was fruitless. You really didn’t have anything to defend yourself with in the first place.

“Living a life like mine leaves little time for hobbies.” You said, which was partially a lie. You had time, and lots of it before you were entrusted with training the four of them. So you certainly could have picked up some hobbies. 

But you never knew what to do. There weren’t many people in the Fire Temple who had hobbies you could indulge in, and it wasn’t like you were too close with them either. And, oddly enough, you were a bit embarrassed to ask the Lin Kuei brothers for any ideas on hobbies.

Plus, it was annoying trekking through the snow just to ask for something small like that.

“Okay, so hobbies are out of the question, got it.” Johnny said, before humming and looking up, contemplating over things. “Don’t you have anything else to do, like reading, or watching movies?” He suggested.

“I’ve read all the books they have in the Fire Temple, they’re pretty boring and not worth a reread.” You said, sighing as you remembered the lack of interesting literature. You’ve thought about asking Liu Kang for the chance to get better reading material, but you didn’t want to sound…rude. “And I’ve never watched a movie.”

That wasn’t totally true, you’ve probably watched a movie in your past life, but you’ve never done that in this life.

“You’ve never…what?” Johnny Cage said, seeming to be caught off guard by the confession. You’ve never seen such a look on his face before, one that was both shocked and almost…offended? You supposed it only made sense that he out of everyone reacted this way. Acting was his lifeblood. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not.” You said, raising your hands up trying to show no offense. You couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at the look Johnny was sending you. He was so,,,expressive. It was really entertaining. Is that why people liked watching him so much?

“We’ve got to right that wrong immediately.” Johnny said, a determined look on his face. He shoved his phone into his pocket. “We’re going to have a movie marathon. You get to relax and see a bunch of great movies, win-win.” The actor declared.

“A bunch of great movies, huh?” Kenshi said, approaching the two of you as he sheathed his sword. He looked between the two of you, sending a pointed look towards Johnny Cage. “I’m guessing you’re going to try and show our instructor a bunch of your movies, Cage?”

“You know it, tattoo.” Johnny confirmed with a self confident smirk. You nodded towards Kenshi, who acknowledged it back with a nod of his own. “Don’t look so prissy, you and the farmer boys are invited too if you want.” You glanced towards Kenshi, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity. 

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Kenshi conceded, much to your surprise. “I get to help pick the movies, though. We’re not watching a marathon of the Ninja Priest movies, they’re all the same.” You watched as Johnny groaned, clearly disagreeing with the swordsman.

“Whatever, you just have bad taste.” The actor huffed, rolling his eyes. He took out a paper and pen from gods knew where, and tossed it towards Kenshi who sent him a puzzled look. “Go design whatever list you want, just know I’ll be blaming you if teach over here,” He gestured towards you, “thinks movies suck.” He stretched before pointing his thumb away from the courtyard. “Now I gotta bounce, gotta make arrangements to make this whole shebang work.” He turned towards you. “You go figure out how to relax, or whatever, meet here tomorrow night.”

And without much more explanation, the actor jogged off, leaving both you and Kenshi behind.

“What did I just get myself into?”

“I’m surprised you’ve never seen a movie.” Raiden commented after he and Kung Lao met you at the entrance of the Wu Shi academy. He and Kung Lao walked beside you as you traversed down the hall, dressed in more casual clothes as opposed to the uniforms they usually wore. With amusement, you noticed how they were not wearing the hats for once. The clothes they wore reminded you of the clothes they donned during the exams.

“In the Fire Temple, we don’t have much, if any, technology.” You explained, not elaborating much further. After all, it’d be hard to explain the whole ‘you might have watched one in a past life, but you barely remembered anything about it’ ordeal. “Johnny seemed very offended that I’ve never watched one, it was a sight to behold.”

“It makes sense, that is what he is known for.” Kung Lao pointed out, shrugging. 

“Have either of you seen Johnny Cage’s works?” You inquired, looking between the Fengjian men. You were a bit surprised that they knew about movies, knowing that they both hailed from a simple village. Then again, you supposed you were being hasty in assuming their area was as technology deprived as the Fire Temple was.

“A few.” Kung Lao answered, thinking a bit before grinning. “Their techniques were totally wrong, but they sure do know how to make something entertaining.” He admitted before cockily laughing and pressing a hand to his chest. “Of course, I think if I were there to help them, they would be much better.”

“I saw a few as well.” Raiden piped up, smiling towards you. “They were flashy, and like Kung Lao said, very inaccurate, but I actually enjoyed watching them.” He put on a thoughtful look. “I think you’ll like them too, as long as you look past the technicalities.”

“I hope so too.” You said, humming. “Otherwise this would be a rather bad introduction to movies.” You joked, knowing that you could probably look past the most egregious techniques. All you wanted was a chance to relax, and you hoped to the gods that this was going to work.

“Fret not, teach, I made sure to look through Ken-bro’s list.” Johnny said as he turned the corner, a grand grin on his face. “He chose a few decent ones, but I made sure to add the best of my works in there too.” In his arms he held a large of what you believed to be popcorn. You inhaled, and you felt a bit nostalgic for a reason you weren’t quite sure.

“I tried to keep the list decent, so don’t blame me if Cage ruined it.” Kenshi quipped as he also rounded the corner, holding another big bowl of popcorn. You looked between them, noting how this was the first time you’ve seen both Johnny and Kenshi were something more casual. It wasn’t too bad of a look.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” You said, grinning as you crossed your arms. The actor led all of you to a room you knew had not been previously used much. “You’ve all brought up my expectations, are films really that good?”

“Oh trust me, films can get good, especially action films I’ve been in.” Johnny cackled, and you stifled a laugh as you noticed how the group had all collectively rolled their eyes. He opened the door for you all. You marveled at the projector that had been set up, along with a basic couch that seemed big enough for you all to lounge on, more or less. “Hollywood magic will astound you, trust me.”

“I’m already astounded by all of this.” You admit, walking over to the projector. Seeing technology sent a wave of nostalgia through you, and you smiled. Something about this all brought a hazy vision of you and Johnny sitting in a room doing something similar to this, but there had been four other younger people with you instead.

How odd.

“Where did you get all of this?” Raiden asked, looking at the set up of the room. “I don’t think the monks normally have any of this stuff,” He observed as he made his way to the couch. “Well, maybe the couch makes sense.” He said, before sitting on it carefully.

“It’s a secret, my friend.” The actor replied, and you all sent him a look. He groaned and sighed. “You’re all no fun. I asked the big boss, Lord Liu Kang.” He said, shrugging as he also took his place on the couch, on the other end of the couch. “I explained how our instructor was struggling to relax and how I pitched a movie night to you. He seemed pleased by the idea, and was willing to give me all of this stuff.” 

You were surprised. Liu Kang was the one who helped Johnny out? The idea of it made you feel warm.

“Lord Liu Kang did all of this?” Kung Lao echoed your thoughts, nodding slowly as he looked around. He put on a face that told you he seemed to approve, and plopped down right next to Raiden. You found yourself not knowing where to sit, before Kenshi stepped beside you and tilted his head to indicate the spot where you should go.

Right between where he would go and Johnny Cage.

You supposed that wasn’t too bad. 

Taking the advice, you walked over to the spot he suggested and sat yourself carefully, making sure to leave room for Kenshi, while making sure you didn’t intrude on Johnny’s. 

“Popcorn?” Johnny offered, holding the bowl out to you. As he did so, you noticed as he turned on the movie, it starting the movie which seemed to be labeled “Ninja Mime”. Shrugging, you took a small handful, popping the food into your mouth.

This was going to be interesting, wasn’t it?

“Wow, that was…amazing.” 

“See! I told you, Hollywood magic.” Johnny Cage said, a satisfied smirk on his lips as he looked over to you. You rolled your eyes but nodded, conceding to the fact that you had honestly enjoyed seeing the film. It was goofy, wacky, and just the thing you needed.

“If you think that’s good, you should watch other types of movies.” Kung Lao piped up, before shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He had stolen the bowl from Kenshi shortly after the movie started, taking most of the buttery goodness for himself. You watched with silent amusement as Raiden sneakily stole a handful. “Comedies, romances, there’s more than just Johnny’s actions.”

“Why would anyone need to watch anything but my movies?” Johnny bragged, earning silence and stares from the group, mostly from Kenshi. He rolled his eyes. “Whatever, but other types of movies are for another night.” He said, waving off the silent complaints.

“We’ll have another night?” You inquired, peering at the actor with a curious look. He grinned and shrugged.

“As long as you let us, teach.” The American said, before gesturing to the projector. “First, we gotta go through the list we made first.” You watched as Johnny got up to set up the next movie. Kenshi leaned over, looking at you with a small smile.

“The next movie is going to be better, trust me.” The swordsman told you, a slight tone of playfulness in his voice. “I made sure to also introduce you to some of Cage’s better works.” You raised an eyebrow, surprised at the fact that the man was even a fan of Johnny’s works in the first place.

“I’ll be sure to hold my expectations high then.” You replied back. sending the man a small smile as you took yet another handful of popcorn. It was almost addicting to eat alongside the movie. “How many movies are we watching?” You asked, suddenly aware of the time that had passed as you spied the clock that hung on the wall.

An hour and a half passed? That movie felt like mere minutes!

“I believe we’re watching two more, including the next one.” Raiden informed you, leaning forward to look at you. “Johnny wanted to do a bigger marathon, but Kenshi and I advocated that we only do three since you haven’t watched many and we weren’t sure if you would like them all.”

“Next time, let Raiden and I pick some movies, too.” Kung Lao also mentioned, looking back to the actor who had just finished swapping the movies. 

“As long as your choices don’t suck.” Johnny said before plopping down next to you. He spread out, his thigh touching yours, but you didn’t quite mind. “Alright, buckle up, time to start the next one.” 

That night was the first time in a long time you remembered drifting off to sleep on accident. 

You felt something shift, and you were pulled out of the arms of sleep. Yawning, you covered your mouth as you looked around. The projector was running the last bits of a movie you had no recollection of. You blinked as you also registered how you were leaning on someone. 

Looking up, you were surprised to see Kenshi sleeping peacefully, allowing you to have rest on him. Or had he fallen asleep first? Your memory was hazy. Either way, you felt oddly embarrassed that you had fallen asleep during the event the men had created for you, but also grateful they had let you rest. You leaned forward, and you saw Kung Lao and Raiden who had also fallen asleep.

Oddly enough, Johnny was nowhere to be seen. 

Carefully moving so you did not disturb the sleeping men, you stood up, trying to catch your bearings. You looked up, noting the clock you had seen earlier. 

It was an hour before sunrise.

You stretched, letting out another yawn before you looked around once more. The popcorn bowls were gone, and the room seemed generally clean. You walked towards the door of the room, before it swung open to reveal Johnny Cage.

In his arms were blankets and some pillows. You blinked in surprise, and so did he before he let out a small chuckle.

“Finally woke up?” He asked, a slight teasing tone in his voice. “You know, you fell asleep during the best one.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.” You apologized, crossing your arms as you tried to cover up your embarrassment. It was odd, this type of thing never happened. It was weird to have slept so easily, and on accident. “I usually don’t fall asleep that easily, it’s odd.” 

“Nah, I’m just kidding. You actually stayed up to watch all of the movies we had planned, then you knocked out.” The actor informed you as he walked over to set down the blankets on the couch. “We just decided to make a bet of who could stay up the longest, and I won.” The man bragged smugly, “I was just getting some blankets and pillows for you, actually.” He explained, gesturing to the items he brought. “But judging how you’re awake now, you don’t need them.”

“I thank you for the pillows and blankets, but you’re right, I don’t need them now.” You said, chuckling. “I’ll be going back to the Fire Temple.” You informed him. You gestured to the others. “What about them?”

“Eh, I’ll just wake them up and send them back to their rooms.” Johnny said, shrugging. “So, what’d you think of movies? Still amazing, right?” He asked, confidence dripping from his tone. And while you were tempted to lie to knock down his ego, you knew better than that.

“They were all lovely.” You admitted, and paused for a few moments, staring at the projection as the credits scrolled by. “Thank you, Johnny. I really needed this.” You told him, a tone of sincerity in your voice. You were really grateful. “It was fun.”

“Anytime, wildstyle.” The actor brushed off your thanks with a wide grin. You raised an eyebrow at the new nickname, thinking it was probably linked to your shapeshifting powers. He had such an interesting imagination. “Just remember this when I talk to you next time about acting, yeah?” 

“I will.” You promised. You looked back at the sleeping men for another moment, taking note to thank them for also helping to make this wonderful night happen next time you saw them. “Goodnight, Johnny.” You said as you exited the room, and you heard with simple satisfaction as Johnny bid you goodnight too. 

Obnoxious as the actor could be sometimes, he had an honest heart.  You understood a bit more why Johnny was chosen to be a champion. You’d have to repay his kindness.

The air was crisp and cool, and as you made your way to the Fire Temple, you could not help but think back to the movies you had seen. What entertaining bits of work! You chuckled to yourself as you mentally commended Johnny on his acting too.

You’d never let him know that you actually thought he was an excellent actor, though.

As you crossed the bridge to the Fire Temple, you blinked in surprise as you saw Liu Kang idly waiting by, seeming to have expected you. You walked towards him, a bit uncertain whether he needed you urgently or not.

“How was your movie night?” The fire god asked, after greeting you with your name. You smiled. Ah, he was just curious about how it went. You went on to ramble about the movies you had seen, talking for a while about them and your newfound fascination with them. Liu Kang listened diligently, a warm smile on his face as he nodded and acknowledged your words. “I’m glad to hear it went well.”

Liu Kang was a good listener.

“Yeah, I think I really needed it.” You admitted, looking up to the sky which was losing its dark color, the beginnings of the sunrise appearing. You two stayed there in silence, basking in the comfortable atmosphere. “Thank you, by the way. I heard from Johnny that you helped get everything for him.” 

“It’s no issue.” The protector of Earthrealm told you warmly, looking at you with fondness. “I would do anything for you.”

The way Liu Kang said those words, there felt like there was a hint of something else within his words that made you feel warm, much like the fire he wielded.

“Thank you.” You said, not knowing how to follow up his heartfelt words. You looked up to the sky for a few more moments, before sighing. You felt oddly tired. “I’m going to go and sleep in today, I think.” You told the god, who simply nodded in return. He seemed to approve of your decision, if the smile on his face indicated anything. “Goodnight, Liu Kang.”

“Goodnight. Sleep well.”

part seven

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 - Chill Season Trailer Analysis

So, we’re about half a month away from the end of Splatoon 3′s first season, and with that we get our first look at what’s to come in the future!

Before we begin digging into this trailer though, let’s start by taking a look at Nintendo’s official press statement about this update, as it gives us a more exact idea of what to expect. To wit, this update will include:

Two new stages, the brand-new Brinewater Springs, and the much-anticipated return of Splatoon 1′s Flounder Heights.

Three brand new weapons and ten alternate kits for existing weapons

A new catalog full of new rewards.

New gear and items for the shops

X Battles

Our first-ever Big Run

Balance changes (not mentioned in the press release, but confirmed in the patch notes from the last balance patch)

Keep in mind that everything I am about to say is speculation, and everything shown in the trailer could still be changed before the Season launches.

So let’s start by taking a look at the two new stages, beginning with Brinewater Springs. While the aesthetic here is really cool, the stage seems to be pretty straightforward, consisting of two large downward slopes that meet at opposite ends of the middle section.

(You can see the enemy team’s spawn in the upper left of this shot)

This makes it a bit similar in layout to Hammerhead Bridge, albeit it with a bit more cover in mid. This is a stage I could see being disliked in the long run, but you gotta admit, the vibes are immaculate.

I didn’t play Splatoon 1, so I can’t comment too well on how accurate this iteration of Flounder Heights is compared to the first game, but from what I’ve heard of other people’s analysis, it seems the only noteworthy change is that the stage’s titular heights were reduced by quite a bit. It’ll still be the game’s most vertically focused stage by a large margin either way, however.

That is about everything I have to say on the stages, so let’s move onto the new weapons, starting with the new Shooter.

It is hard to tell exactly how different this weapon is from the regular Splattershot, but it seems to shoot slower in exchange for more range, making it comparable to the Splattershot Pro (to the point where a lot of people thought it was that weapon’s alternate kit at first).

While it could be because of gear, it is worth mentioning that this weapon’s Sub Weapon cost is very low, less than 50%, which likely means that is has either Burst Bomb, Point Sensor or Angle Shooter. It is also possible that the gear they’re wearing reduce Sub costs, but I personally doubt that the gear shown in the trailers had any abilities at all, as they are only being worn for showcase, and not actual gameplay. This will be the assumption in all cases in which I mention Sub costs for the rest of the post.

What we don’t need to speculate on, however, is this weapon’s Special, as we see it using Killer Wail 5.1 later in the trailer.

While we’re here, we might as well mention this octoling’s gear. They are wearing the SV925 Circle Shades from Splatoon 2, the Squink Wingtips from Splatoon 1, and a brand new, sepia-toned variant of the Apex Sweater. Beiges can be stylish too!

After that, we have a new Roller-type weapon! Aesthetically, it’s based on a typical fast food beverage cup, complete with a lid and straw.

One of this weapon’s gimmicks seems to be that it leaves a massive, Dynamo-sized ink trail as it rolls, while retaining the Splat Roller’s movement speed.

We don’t see this player use their Sub or Special at any point in the trailer, but their Sub cost seems to be above 50%, which means it likely has a bomb of some kind. Fizzy Bomb would be appropriate, I think.

In terms of gear, this player is wearing nothing but brand new gear. A Forge-branded rugby helmet, an Orca Bolero with inverted colors, and pair of white-and-black shoes that I am fairly certain is a recolor of the Ink-Black Clam 600′s.

The last new weapon is a Charger, and while it’s clearly a pen, I’ve also heard it speculated that the contraption it’s set in is supposed to be a drawing compass.

This weapon’s draw (ba-dum tish!) is the ability to charge up and store up to five shots at once, which can be fired up in succession. They don’t one-shot like most Chargers, making it comparable to a Bamboozler with slower firing speed.

We never see it use its Sub weapon, but this cost makes me think it is a bomb or a Sprinkler. We do, however, see it throw out a Tacticooler later on.

This player wears the ever-so-popular Skull Bandana from the first game, and the second game’s Ink-Wash Shirt, and a new pair of blue boots.

With the new weapons discussed, let’s do a bit of a faster rundown of the new alternate kits, and the first thing I wanna point is what seems to have been a mistake on Nintendo’s part? Notice that the player in the above screen is using the regular Splattershot Pro, but whenever they reappear later on in the trailer, they’re using what is clearly meant to be the iconic Forge Splattershot Pro instead.

That’s just a little tangent, tho. Let’s talk details.

 We never see the Tentatek Splattershot use its Special, but it throws a Splatbomb very early on in the trailer in a hard-to-miss shot. They are wearing Splatoon 2′s Jellyvader Cap, a new, black-and-neon green variant of the Berry Ski Jacket, and the Splatoon 1′s Gold Hi-Horses

The Forge Splattershot Pro has Suction Bomb and Booyah Bomb, as is shown right before the Big Run segment. They wear nothing but new gear, a pair of simple glasses with black rims, A white variant of the Ink-Black Paddle jack, and a pair of brown, fuzzy boots,

Moments before, the all-black Luna Blaster (which I am pretty confident is a new design for the Kensa Luna Blaster) is shown shaking a Fizzy Bomb right before that. It is never shown using its Special. They wear a white version of the Ocho Octophones, a new black-sleeved shirt with a white design below the neck, and a new pair of white shoes with red triangles on the sides.

The new Mini Splatling (which based on its color and design is most likely the Zink Mini Splatling) is shown setting up a Big Bubbler and throwing a Toxic Mist, harkening back to the weapon’s Splatoon 1 incarnation. All their gear is returning from the second game, that being the Annaki Beret, Dark Bomber Jacket, and the Annaki Tigers.

The Dapple Dualies never use their Special, but are seen throwing Torpedos at several points in the trailer. They don’t seem to be wearing any headgear at all, which likely means they’ve got the Fake Contacts on, as well as simple white shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black shoes. I looked around meticulously, but I am fairly certain they do not match up to any pre-existing gear.

And with that, I’ve basically said everything I have to say about this trailer. While Big Run is very exciting, there’s not a lot to glean from that segment, other than “man I hope Big Run happens soon.”

I think my favourite part of this trailer, if I had to pick one, is that Nintendo is doing exactly what I was hoping they’d do with alternate kits, and gave the ones with much simpler design changes much more substantive difference so that they are easier to tell apart at a glance.

The Splattershot itself demonstrates this best, as its had very few changes compared to others, but still differentiates itself very well. The waving yellow line present in the original design has been covered up with the ink color to make room for the bold white Tentatek logo. It’s an elegant change, but it works wonderfully. And this is DESPITE being arguably the worst example shown in the trailer. Just look at that stark black Kensa Luna Blaster, or that downright gorgeous Zink Mini Splatling with its white and dark blue design. I am living for this artistic decision, and I cannot wait to see where it leads weapon designs in the future.

[whetstonefires]

💖🎶🛒

For the fanfic ask meme :3

💖 What made you start writing?

I...okay so there's a dumb literal answer to this I'm going to give first. My sixth grade English class was a two-semester-long creative writing seminar, where we were honestly taught almost nothing; the teacher just. Made us write things. Whatever things. For months.

She was incredibly patient with our baby shit, looking back, although when two of her students started writing execrable sixth grade poetry she set us on each other so we could get feedback without her, and managed not to make it obvious she was trying to escape the horror of sing-song childish scansion and the way kids that age take themselves horribly seriously and you have to not laugh.

Her name was Keely and I owe her, because up to that point I had refused to write my ideas down because if I slowed down enough to get a sentence written out I'd have forgotten all the bits that came after and the story was now dead and stupid and it was the worst, so writing was clearly not for me.

(I couldn't really type at this point, and didn't have reliable computer access anyway, and I'm left-handed, which makes writing longhand slightly slower and more difficult no matter what you do. Also you just don't write fast when you're ten.)

But Keely made me, for months, and it turned out this was a skillset I'd just had to work to acquire, and then I could do it and it wasn't a miserable soul-killing process after all. That's the first time I remember learning that lesson in life, and it's such a useful one. (Technically I went through a similar process with reading several years earlier, but that was partly because some very bad pedagogy put me off it at first, so it was less enlightening.)

Less prosaically, I got stuck on writing because I was a voracious reader and I kept thinking up stories, and writing them down was rewarding.

I find it's a great craft because you can get in all kinds of practice without actually doing it; you can string and edit sentences in your head when you have nothing to do or while doing something boring, and critique fiction you're exposed to, and try to understand literally anything you experience, and it's all applicable. As someone who gets frustrated with 1) materials consumed 2) skill plateaus and 3) having a Thing around after having made it, writing in the era of the word processor and cheap data storage is ideal, because it's both easier to keep my skills growing and harder to notice when they aren't than with most creative outlets, because I can store all the millions of words I've written in an object the size of my thumbnail, and because it's not supposed to do anything useful in the first place. If it does that's a happy bonus but if it doesn't I don't have to feel bad.

Fic is nice because it's got an audience to share the Things with, which makes it even better. And because you get to start at around the complexity level of a third or even fourth draft, skipping a lot of grunt work that I think is honestly overvalued--not that it's not valuable or important skill to have, especially if you want to be a novelist, but also there's a reason people on the whole mostly tell familiar stories over again, but better. The first go will suck in basically any medium. Insisting on starting there every time can lead to subtler skills getting underdeveloped.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

Occasionally? Most of the time it would just be a distraction I'd have to work through, setting myself up for sensory overload and maybe a migraine.

But when I do it often is a single song on a loop, because the point is that I'm keeping myself suspended in a particular vibe as I pursue a specific scene or character relationship or something. Hasn't happened recently, but I should maybe pull that trick out and see if it helps with any of my stuck pieces.

I seem to recall writing something once to about 19 iterations of Dessa's 'The Lamb?' Oh and several passages of Angels Still Have Faces were written to the Sonata Arctica song I took the title from; it helped me get Angeal to the right state of repressed extreme melodrama.

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Um. Food? Definitely food, between my strong opinions about subsistence informing social priorities and my personal sense that meals are both a major part of the daily pattern of life and very grounding in a place and body, I come back to it endlessly. 'Two people in a room (or other defined space granting privacy) trying so so hard to communicate' is, you know, pretty common motif but I go embarrassingly hard on it.

I'm a sucker for certain flavors of angst, and for when someone is very hopeless and then someone else gives them support. I think maybe people breaking down and asking for help and then actually getting it? And just how gross and messy it feels to be miserable and how much of it happens in the body.

What else? I feel like a third party would be better able to call me out on my patterns. A lot of them after all are the patterns of my thoughts, to a sufficient extent that I experience the universe in those terms by default and that's why it keeps being there.

When I describe hugs I tend to be very precise about where everyone's arms are because I feel like that's important. I try to be specific about features of nature like the species of a bird or tree or whatever, unless the pov character wouldn't notice such a thing, and even then I often know for the sake of precision. Lots of hand gestures, and putting of one's hands on pieces of scenery and so forth, that's my theater background coming through mostly. A tendency to emphasize the kinetic relationship between objects perhaps a bit more than usual.

If I'm describing a character that has an existing visual form, I drill in on the most distinctive details I can find; this is probably by way of mild face-blindness meaning I care a great deal about whether someone has a crooked eyebrow or distinctive dimpling or something, because I'm not going to learn their face fast enough to get away with not being able to id them and call them by name until then. It usually takes months.

Diana Wynne Jones advised making sure your mental image when you describe something, especially a place, is as precise as possible, so you won't decline into abstraction, and I've found following this advice to reliably net good results. If you only know about the things you actually mention, things get flat real fast.

(The trick then is not getting bogged down in deciding which things to mention.)

I dunno, what would you guys say are my signature moves?

[hertwood]

dts e4-5

e4: -i think the gunther climbing a mountain motif was a gamble but i think it works so well. is it a bit corny? yeah but i still like it -i feel like nikita fucking ruined it for drivers like logan like if you get an f1 seat and the people who finished ahead of you in f2 didn't, people assume it must be a nikita situation. like a) logan was a rookie b) he was only one point off liam anyway c) he was a williams academy driver d) bringing in american sponsors is not the same as ur dad funding the team! anyway the stain that man has left on the sport smh -whiplash between nikita sections 😡 to mick sections 🥰 -'why am i so much slower on the straight than my teammate?' its because you suck. hope that helps 😊 -obsessed w/ the way mick is so absolutely unbothered by all this lmao -i hate that the mazepins make me want to LIKE gunther. they make me root for him. i hate them for that -so there was a cameraman strapped in climbing this mountain too yeah. hope he got paid extra -i strongly suspect that the mazepin family slid netflix some money to put all this focus on nikita, and in such a positive light as well. and they try SO hard to make him look good but even netflix cant do the impossible (hide that an asshole is an asshole) -sochi is unfortunately. a beautiful racetrack -re: netflix clearly being paid--the way the frame this as nikita using his russian roots to make a good strategy call+get a good result is SO facetious. like omg he beat a mechanical dnf'd mick AND nicholas latifi????? the bar is on the floor babes thats the bare minimum -ACTUALLY NVM i'm sorry he was actually STILL last place of all the cars that finished what a JOKE -imagine if we used this episode to focus on lando. imagine that narrative. instead we have the worst guy you've ever met front and center

ep 5: -i sorta wish i was taking notes of all these cinematic shots bc there are some Good damn drone shots in this show -PFFFFFFFFF I FORGOT ABT ZAK BROWN HOCKEY SCENE most random segment on this damn show -dando before they became friends is painful to watch :/ -i will say i cannot imagine what daniel's win must've been like watching the season live. guy is struggling like all hell and then out of no where has a huge win. crazy. anyway i'm still at the sprint part just thinkin thoughts -that mark webber post where he was like 'that was the first time seb & i made love on track' thats the exact vibes i feel abt 4433 monza crash. i'm not elaborating -no i am elaborating renaissance painting type of crash. they'll never be another one like her -i LOVE charlotte btw i love any of her lil appearances i hope she's living her best life -i'm not saying a lot abt the daniel win i'm really just absorbing it i dont really have a lot of words :)

[runnersnz]

“I ‘spose I’ve always run, but mostly for fitness for other sports. Sport has been a constant throughout my life. I started out as a swimmer at the ripe old age of nine, and swam competitively till I was 16 when I left school. I also played rugby in the winters and did a couple of years road cycling too while at school. My first running ‘race’ was the Wellington City Biathlon when I was about 12. That involved a run around Oriental Parade then up the back of Mt Vic and back down to the beach next to Freyberg Pool where we had to do a 500m (or something) swim in the sea. I remember doing pretty well.

I was in the Army for three years where I ran, but only when I was told to! I wanted to be a PTI (Personal Training Instructor) so staying fit was pretty important, and running was convenient. After the Army I worked as a gym instructor and got into multisport – more running. At 23 I moved to London for my OE, which was a little longer than anticipated... seven years actually. I continued to run there, even doing a couple of ‘adventure races’ and a KIMM (a two day mountain rogaine) but all in the name of staying fit, not because I was a runner.

I returned to New Zealand in 1998 chomping at the bit to get into some proper sport again. I jumped straight back into multisport and triathlon, doing Ironman and Coast to Coast and that led to some standalone running races. I even joined Christchurch Avon running club for a couple of years, but the short harrier type races weren’t my bag. I longed for longer distances. I started trail running then, doing lots of the Nelson Striders events. I loved the Loop the Lake so much I did it seven years in a row.

My Kepler @keplerchallengeofficial journey started way back in 1991 when I drove a mate down to Te Anau from Christchurch for him to run the Kepler. I returned in 1999 (again to drive) when my brother Ross was racing the Kepler. I ran the Luxmore Grunt that year. It took another 22 years for me to return again and finally run the Kepler myself.

In January this year all I wanted to do was beat Ross’s Kepler time of 7.18, but a combination of a very late entry, and a touch of arrogance, saw me blow my foo-foo and only manage 7.20. That fired me up, so when I got an entry into the 2022 event I was pretty focused to finally nab the family record. However this years race wasn’t looking like I’d get the record again when I was 10 minutes slower to Iris Burn, but that clearly didn’t tell the whole story. I managed to knock about 22 minutes off my January time and sneak in under 7 hours – job done. Ross was the first one to text congratulating me on taking the record!

Funny really as I had never considered myself a ‘runner’ until a few years ago. I think I will probably keep running now, I like it.”

Scott @multisportscott (Te Anau/Christchurch) - Portraits of Runners + their stories @RunnersNZ

[sopxhiea]

Invitation

Alfie Solomons X Reader

Drabble

She leans against the doorframe, hair resting on her shoulders as she plays with her dress. Fuck, she’s proper lovely. Her smile follows the lines of her delicate features and he swears he sucks in a breath while waiting for the lad to get his papers in hand.

“You can come in for a bite, you know?”

Oh, he’d like to.

Her voice is soft, playful almost and Alfie images her writhing underneath him like he’s done a dozen times before but reminds himself that there are rules, invisible ones that are formed by the moral compass of the person.

He doesn’t have one.

She plays with the ends of her hair as he looks down at her small form, she gets lovelier by the day, he swears. A soft smile finds his lips and he shakes his head, making a curious noise leave her lips at the act. His eyes meet hers once more and he considers, fucking thinks about going in his employee’s house to have dinner with his housemate.

“‘m good, lass.” he speaks, choking out the words when she starts walking towards him.

Her movements are slow, clearly calculated as she strides towards him. He sucks in a breath and his eyes don’t leave hers. She has her smile on the entire time. She knows the affect she has on the baker all too well, as he’s not the most subtle of admirers but she decides she’ll give him a chance, she wants to after all.

“Have you had dinner, Mr. Solomons?” she whispers and he loses it for a second, mouth agape for a solid second before he gathers himself to look at the devilish eyes of the lass before her.

She says his name in a way that makes him swear there are gods, good ones too. They have given him the gift of her, or more so the gift of getting to ogle her every morning he has the chance to come by. His employee lives with her, a bloke named Ishmael and he makes the lad swear that he’ll take care of the girl.

Although he’d much rather do it himself.

“Nah, I haven’t.” he mutters, no energy left to curse in his system with her so close by.

He sees her face closer this way, even more gorgeous than he’d thought before. He takes his time, too. Eyes her eyelashes under the evening light as she stares up at him, marvels at his bulky form while he eye-fucks the girl. She doesn’t mind it, enjoys it if anything.

“Come on, then.” she says and he can’t find in himself to say no, he can’t even shake his head but to follow the lass.

He shakes his head while walking inside the house, following her like her tail and she smiles at the act. Alfie doesn’t seem like the rough type to her, although she’s sure he’d love to act like it. She doesn’t know enough about him to make conclusions but the more things she hears, the more curious she is about the nature of the gangster.

She sits him down then, on the large table in the dining room with no one but her and him. He figures Ishmael is inside the apartment somewhere still looking for the papers Alfie had asked for and he prays to his gods that the lad can’t find them. The lass pours Alfie a cup of water before filling his plate with warm food.

Fuck, it had been a long time since he’d had warm food at the table.

At any table, he reminds himself and catches the eyes of the lass he’s so fond of. She fills her plate as well, leaves Ishmael’s place empty and sits in front of Alfie before eating. Alfie watches her for a while, a slurty look in her eyes as she takes small bites from her filled spoon. 

He then digs in, swearing under his breath as he realizes that this was just what he needed. “Fuck.”

She smiles at the word, also because just a small plate of warm food was enough to untie the knots he’s keen on carrying. She watches him devour the food before him, the papers he came around for long forgotten as he casts her a peculiar glance every other minute. She eats slower, watches him under a curious gaze and settles that she likes him.

“Another one?” she asks, sweet this time once he’s done but he shakes his head. He’s full and hungry for something else now that his belly was full.

“Nah, pet. Good fuckin’ food it ‘s, though, yeah.” he says, appreciating home cooked foods more than ever now that she’s made some for him.

Ishmael finds the papers in the meantime, realizes his boss is having a meal with the girl he lives with and settles that it’ll be best to just wait in the car. He knows that the boss is fond of the lass, although he doesn’t know her well and he’s interested to say the least so he steers clear, away from the dining room.

“Well....that’s kind.” she speaks after his last words and he realizes he wants something else.

“It’s the fuckin’ truth, innit.” he speaks under heavy eyes. Not because he’s sleepy but because he wants her. 

“Tell me something else that’s true.” she says, elbows on the table once she’s finished. He smirks at her, laughs almost at the request. 

“Where’s the lad?” he asks, knowing he’s playing with fire now and tries to steer clear from fucking a lass a decade younger than him.

But she doesn’t seem to mind. It seems like it’s quite the opposite, actually. She wants it, he can see but she’s not the one to beg for it. He just thinks she’s not properly worked up yet, once she has her panting it’s over. But he knows the blurry lines formed by what’s proper and what’s not.

The way she’s looking at him is definitely not.

“I told him to stay away.” she says, as a matter of fact about the time she’d warned him off about keeping clear if they were ever to be in the same room.

“And he fuckin’ listened?” he asks, chuckling while muttering out the sentence. His own lad who doesn’t always listen to him is whipped by a young thing like her.

He doesn’t blame him. He’d do anything she says without questions, too.

“What do you think?” she whispers, voice breathy and she smiles when he gulps.

He’s in the wolf’s cave as a lone bear.

She can’t tear him up, not yet but she has the capacity. He knows she does from the way she walked towards him outside. She plays with her knife, putting the sharp part against her tongue and he inhales sharply. She’s done this before, he can see but he wonders who was the other player, the unlucky bastard.

“Why haven’t you come inside the house before?” she asks, curious eyes lingering on his lips before landing on his eyes.

“Didn’t have a good enough fuckin’ reason, did I?” he speaks but it’s a lie, they both know it.

“Is me waiting for you not good enough?” she counters the words with another questions and he loses his breath for a second before sucking in a sharp breath of air.

And he knows she’d been waiting but not how.

She’d been waiting with a smile on her face, hands exploring her inner thighs with the visions of him. She was impatient, that was easy to see and he’d die to see her chest heaving the way it had a couple days ago with the thought of his head between her legs. He sees the want, the need in her eyes, mirrored fiercely in his.

“I know you have places to be..” she starts speaking and he knows he’s fucked, she doesn’t need to finish the sentence. “...I’d be willing to keep you company, if you’d like that is.” she speaks and he knows it to be true.

“How old are ya’, lass?” he asks and she retreats for a second. He sees her hesitate, not because she cares about the age difference but because she doesn’t.

She doesn’t give a single damn about how he’s much older than she is or that he’s got blood in her hands. This is mostly due to the many lads she’d been around who were seemingly appropriate, some would even say a catch, for her but they were boring chaps who just wanted a kiss from a pretty girl.

She needs a man, and reckons he’s exactly that.

“I think you already know the answer.” she bites back this time, almost aggressive and he revels at that, marvels at her angry orbs for a second before he realizes he’s been staring at her like his last meal.

“Ya’ know how old I fuckin’ am, hm?” he asks and she chuckles, smiles at his act. She’s lovely, he catches himself thinking as he watches her and she nods.

She fucking nods.

And then she speaks, but with more poise and anger this time. She’s managing her rage well, he can see because he has the exact same one swimming in his very own orbs. He watches her entire demeanor change and she talks without breaking eye-contact, making him shift in his pants.

“I know age doesn’t matter to you....nor me being Ishmael’s housemate. You either want this..” she gestures to herself before putting her elbows on the surface, eyes stern. “...or you don’t. There’s plenty of fish in the sea and I have no problem with hunting some down.” she finishes and he needs an entire moment to gather himself.

He watches her chest heave, a million visions fills his head before he has to shake them out. His pants are tight now, too tight as he groans while adjusting the fabric. She sees the frustration, months of him wanting to make her his and now she’s presenting him with the opportunity but it’s not like what he’s imagined. 

Oh, it’s much better.

“What if I, yeah, do fuckin’ want it? What happens then, hm?” he asks, hand tugging at his beard as he watches her delve from confusion to confidence all in a second. She smiles at him, and he swears he’s about to fuck her on the dining table but she speaks before he can do that.

“Do you always ask questions that you know the answers to? Or is it only with me?” she says and he raises his eyebrows at that.

He does know what this entails.

Sleepless nights in his office, him fucking her against the desk and her getting bruises for it. He knows she’ll spend the weekends if he asks but he also sees the other side of the coin, the one with no fucking and a whole lot of blood. He sees the danger and a flick in his heart tells him to keep the angel before him out of it but he’s selfish.

“Do ya’ know the answer then?” Alfie asks and this is a warning of sorts, telling her that once she’s in, there’s no way out.

She nods, not bothered or threatened but simply knowing. He watches her smile, a wide grin on her pretty lips as she speaks.

“I’m not scared of a little blood, if that’s what you’re asking.” she speaks and he knows she’s not a woman to be toyed with. Sure, she’s young. Much younger than anyone he’s ever been with but he sees the fire in her eyes, the same he’s had since he became a young man. He knows she’s been through less than he, he can see it in her delicate hands compared to his calloused ones but he finds that he doesn’t care.

“‘m a dangerous fuckin’ man, luv.” he says and the pet name makes her smile in a way that makes him lose his breath. It’s so easy for her, he thinks and she knows, she drags the smile because of it.

“A dangerous man wouldn’t warn me off.” she says with a wicked smile.

And he’s sold.

He can’t argue with that logic, he thinks and it brings a low chuckle to his lips. She’s right, in some sick and twisted way and it makes him smile. He wants to take her home, kiss her real good and then explore every inch of her soft skin she’s graciously exposing to him. He wants to mark her and for people to see it. It’s primitive, but primitive can be good.

“When do ya’ have to be fuckin’ home?” he asks, like she’s a school girl or if her parents will check the bedroom in case of a missing daughter at night case.

So she chuckles at the words, shakes her head and offers the gangster the kindest smile she can muster. He wants her to ruin him, to make him beg on his knees and he’s willing to do so, every step of the way if he needs to but she’s taking a step back each time he tries to catch her in his strong arms. It’s frustrating but he’s close, too close to pass up the opportunity.

“Whenever we’re done.” she says, almost in a whisper this time and it makes Alfie get up almost abruptly.

He feels like a young man inside, how he felt before the war as he walks out of the dining room but not before stopping in front of the lass to mutter some words.

“Go on, then.” he says, against her face and she can feel the goosebumps on her skin. It makes her excited, that she finally has the chance to have a go at the scary man and Alfie watches her get her coat and offer her hand.

He takes it.

Her hand is much smaller, softer too and not roughened by the world’s many troubles. He plans to keep them that way, to make sure there’s not a scratch on her in his time of being around promises himself that it will be the case as long as she keeps him around.

Just before she’s about to hop into the car, holding onto his hand, she plants a kiss on the side of his mouth.

And he’s gone.

Because it’s soft, far too good for a criminal like him but he can’t bring himself to say that she should be wary of him. He wants her, like a little kid wants candy and he cannot keep denying himself, he knows this. He also knows she may come out of a bit more mature so sees it as a gain and gain situation.

Then he barks at the driver to take them to his place and feels her hand clasp his. A low fuck leaves his lips and he knows he’s in for trouble.

---

Tagging: @clairecrive  @parkbearum @sourirez  @vetseras​ @mollybegger-blog @babylooneytoonz @peakascum

A/n: This happened and i hope you liked it? Let me knowww and also if you’d like to be tagged.

[pinkteapotwriting]

Their Perfect Y/N

Wolfstar x Fem!reader

Warning : Smut, pretty chill though. Daddy kink. That kinda stuff.

 Word count : 2532

---

Your first order meeting. You were so young, you just got out of Hogwarts considered an adult in the muggle world. Only 18, and you had a war to fight, friends to defend, lives to protect. It’s funny how determined you were to obliterate every death eater, but your heart was caught in your throat at the prospect of entering headquarters. You tried to ignore it, this was the first step to saving the people you cared about. You watched the houses split apart and sucked in a big breath before knocking. 

Walking through the doorway was easy enough, being immediately overwhelmed by a high pitched, brutal shriek.

“MUD BLOOD, BLOOD TRAITORS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS. DISGUSTING, FILTHY-”

“SHUT UP YOU FUCKING HAG!”

You were frozen in a state of terror, already you were messing up and you haven’t even said anything yet. 

“Y/N, right?”

Your wide eyes moved towards the figure with sleek ebony curls. The intense grey eyes were intimidating, but once you looked closer you saw the twinkle of humor in them. You shook his tattooed clad hands and tried not to let your knees buckle under his firm grasp. 

“Yes, and I’d ask you yours, but the daily prophet has done a great job of introducing me already.”

His smile was genuine, but you could read into that touch of sadness. But he was quick to shake it off.

“Don’t mind my mother, I promise she’s just as unpleasant as you get to know her.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know that-”

“Oh don’t worry about it love. No one told you. It’s amazing that you could come, Remus says you were one of his best students. Really exceptional at defense against the dark arts.”

Heat flushed to your face at the praise and the mention of your favorite professor.

“Professor Lupin is here too?”

Your question was quickly answered when those familiar arms you would stare at entranced in class were draped over Sirius’s shoulders.

“Nice to see you Y/N, but you’re not my student anymore so please, just call me Remus.”

“Feels illegal but sounds good Remus.”

You all found your way to the dining room table and tried your best not to be intimidated by the row of wizards you admired and respected so much. Before you got the chance to breathe though Molly had you trapped in a tight bear hug.

“Oh Y/N, so good to see you dear. Of course I’m not happy about the circumstance, but all the same, glad to know you’re here and safe.”

There was no oxygen left in your lungs to respond, so you just smiled and accepted her warm embrace.

“Molly, if you want her safe and healthy you might want to give her the chance to breathe.”

Grateful for Remus’s interjection you gave Molly a quick peck on the cheek, while she released you bashfully. 

“Thank you Molly.”

 The meeting itself was fine, it was the dinner afterwards that had you terrified, because right across from you was Sirius and Remus. Two of the most attractive men you’ve ever seen and their unrelenting questions and invested eye contact had the embarrassment coming up all at the same time. That didn’t deter them though. If anything it sprung even more questions and conversation starters. You didn’t even notice everyone else had left, leaving just you three at the table. You were cupping some tea between both hands, while Remus was leaning against Sirius’s shoulder. Sirius was replicating the affection by wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

It was peaceful, never had you felt so comfortable in the presence of other people before. So safe. 

“Y/N, I’m glad you came, like I said Remus speaks very highly of you and we need all the help we can get. So if you want to invite your boyfriend or something to join, you should.”

“Oh, I don’t have a boyfriend actually, but speaking of which I had no idea you guys were together. You’re a really beautiful couple.”

Remus only smiled a little, but Sirius’s grin was proud.

“Thanks Y/N, you’re really quite beautiful too. We’re actually not gay though though, we’re both bisexual. We’ve even been known to have thirds in relationships. Nothing permanent though, haven’t found that right person.”

“Does that mean that you’re still open to-?

“Oh absolutely, there’s this girl we actually have our eyes set on right now.”

Your face fell.

“Oh, well if you two like her then she must be lovely.”

Remus and Sirius shared a look, clearly amused by your cluelessness and we all know what teases they can be. Remus spoke up this time.

“OH yeah, she’s a darling. She just joined the order.” 

“She has Y/H/C and Y/E/C. Exactly our type wouldn’t you say Remus?”

“An absolute beauty, exactly our type that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, she looks particularly cute when she holds a cup of tea, with an adorable confused expression.”

“I don’t understand, well I think I do but-”

Remus was sitting up straight now, zoning in on your troubled expression.

“Y/N, we want you. If you’re uncomfortable we can drop it and give you space from here on out and we’re so sorry for making you-”

“Wait. You guys like me? Like that?”

Sirius snorted at your surprise.

“How could we not? You’re completely captivating. Do you feel the same love?”

“I do, it’s just that I’m not experienced, like, at all. And you guys are so it’s intimidating.”

“We would never want to do anything to make you uncomfortable or unsafe. How about we talk more about this more tomorrow.”

Remus’s words were sincere, and well thought out. Yours were less eloquent, much more desperate sounding than you would have liked.

“No please, I need you now.”

Sirius was a man who smiled a lot. Always quick to let out a genuine, hearty laugh. But this was different. It was a taunting smile, a dangerous smile. And you were completely captivated. 

“Yeah? What’s got you so needy love? No one’s done anything yet.”

The table between you felt like it was keeping you miles apart. So you pouted, but Remus tutted. 

“Answer his question Pup, good girls speak up when told to.”

“I-I don’t know, I can’t help it. I’ve never felt like this before and I just need you.”

---

Clothes were discarded slower than you deemed necessary. Their clothes at least, not yours. You were only left in your underwear. They really just wanted to take their time with you, not worried about them, but you. You just looked so pretty sprawled out on their bed, it was impossible not to stop and admire your trembling figure. Remus slid behind you, allowing you to rest against his now bare chest. While Sirius knelt in between your legs, hovering over you, thumb running over your bottom lip. 

“So pretty baby. Can I take these off now?”

He was referring to your panties and you were all too eager to be rid of them. Except Sirius was still fully clothed, which wasn’t exactly ideal.

“Sure, but could you take this off?” You tugged at the bottom of his shirt suggestively, but Remus was tugging your arms back.

“That’s not how we ask for what we want love, try again.”

You bore into Sirius’s grey eyes. The twinkle of humour was gone, there was love and respect there, but mostly they were filled with hunger. His blatant lust had you nervous, not ever experiencing such intensity before. It had you subconsciously closing your legs. So Sirius was pouting.

“Darling you don’t have to be shy, we like hearing what you have to say.”

You sighed and spread your legs again while Remus robbed your arms soothingly.

“S-siri, can you take off your shirt please. I wanna see you.”

“Good girl for asking so nice.”

He departed from the bed to remove all but his boxers, and it just reaffirmed that you’d be spending hours tracing his tattoos later. Emphasise on the later, cause at the moment you’d rather spend time with him doing something else. He seemed to be feeling much the same, but had to pause to chuckle at your dazed reaction.

“See something you like?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

Remus pressed a kiss to the back of your head. 

“Alright love, you ready? Do you want this?”

“Yes, please. Do you want this?”

“Of course love.”

Once Sirius was nestled between your thighs again he gave one reassuring peck before making his journey downward. He started sucking right below your ear, and you were already whimpering. He could get drunk on that noise. All the sounds you released so willingly as he nipped your collar bone, kissed your hip, and sank his teeth into your inner thigh. Right next to where you needed him most. He didn’t give you much time to complain though, cause soon enough that last barrier of clothing was being discarded and your fingers found their way through his black tresses. The vibrations of his moan against your clit had you bucking into his face. He kept his palms planted firmly on your thighs.

“That feel good Puppy? No one’s ever made you feel like this huh? Gotta stay still though, can’t make you feel good of you can’t stay still.”

“F-feels so good.”

“I know baby, Moony how bout you help her practice for another time.”

Remus seemed to understand what he meant and you were confused until-

“Open up pretty girl.”

Until Remus’s fingers were brushing past your lips. You started sucking on them as if it was second nature. 

Sirius went back to suckling against your clit, but this time one of his fingers was teasing your entrance. Which once had you whining against Remus’s fingers, so he pulled them out to let you speak. 

“What is it baby.”

“P-Please Siri.”

“By that way, how does she taste?”

He answered by inserting his pointer finger briefly before bringing it to Remus’s lips. Remus released it with a dramatic pop. 

“Now I think I’m jealous, Hurry up Pads so I can get a turn.”

You never thought you had this type of response in you, but Sirius’s fingers thrusting in and out of you was sending shocks through your body. Every touch burned in the best way possible and it was only a short matter of time until the coil snapped. 

“Are you gonna be a good girl and cum for us Y/N?”

“Y-yeah. Please, feels so good.”

“Bet it does, let go for us darling, I know you can.”

He placed delicate kisses across your shoulders as you released all over Sirius’s face and fingers. Despite not being the one who came Sirius parted ruefully with a heaving chest. Remus beckoned him closer and as soon as he was within reach Remus was cleaning off his glistening face with his tongue. A sight you found all too arousing.

“Did so good Y/N, you too Pads. My turn now.”

“Please I need to be inside of her so bad.”

Remus pondered for a moment.

“Could you be gentle with her as she needed. You’d have to be.”

“She was clenching around my fingers… don’t know how I’d respond with her wrapped around my cock. You’re right Moony.”

And there you were, wishing they’d skip the whole talking like you weren’t even there, and just fuck you already. Luckily your desire looked as if it was going to be satiated shortly as Remus and Sirius switched places. When Remus removed his clothes you stared at his member with complete and utter desire. He mistook it for nervousness though.

“It’s alright love, if you want to stop we can. We can go at your pace and I promise if you’re in any pain at all that we can-”

Your voice sounded pained, raspy and desperate as if you were being deprived of oxygen.

“Remmy, I need you. Please I need it so bad.”

He sighed in relief and stroked his length as he settled over top of you.

“I got you. Such a good girl using her manners. Tell me if it hurts at all okay.”

Chest against chest was not close enough, even that could not satisfy the desire, the need, to be close to Remus. It seemed he was replicating your feelings as he drank up every moan that flew past your lips. If Sirius wasn’t rubbing your arms and soothing your hairline you never would have been grounded enough to tell that this was reality. 

“Fuck, you weren’t kidding Pads. She’s so tight I can barely move. You feel so good love.”

Your high pitched moans were gradually becoming more staccato as Remus thrust into you.

“I-it’s not my fault you’re so big.”

“S’ not a bad thing at all Pup. You like my cock, you like being stretched out like this?”

“Yes yes yes. So much, please please Da-”

Embarrassment creeped up from the back of your mind, all the way to your cheeks, but Sirius noticed.

“What were you gonna call him baby. C’mon now, don’t be shy.”

Remus halted his movements to stare at your face intently.

“I- I don’t wanna, M’embarrassed”

Remus gave one more thrust to emphasise his point.

“Say it.”

You knew by the stern look on his face it was better to obey, or else you wouldn’t get what you wanted.

“Daddy, please let me cum. You feel so good. You’re so big daddy I-fuck”

You were cut off by your own moaning as Remus proceeded to thrust at a rapid pace.

“Cum then.”

It was like you were being blindsided. If you were standing you would have been knocked off your feet. Sirius held your hand the whole way, and your grip only tightened as Remus chased his own high. 

“Where do you want me to cum baby?”

“Please cum inside me Daddy.”

“Yeah, you want Daddy to breed you? So pretty and innocent, didn’t know you were so dirty baby. I’m gonna stuff you full sweet girl- FUCK.”

He bit into your shoulder as he painted your insides with his release, and you found yourself whimpering as he pulled out. Remus was always a good caretaker though.

“It’s alright sweetheart. You did so good. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“No wait-”

“What is it pup?”

“Siri needs to feel good too.”

“If you’re sure then go ahead love.” Remus scootched out of the way so Sirius could situate you where he wanted. And that was face pressed into the mattress apparently. He sheathed himself fully inside of you, pressed his chest against your back so he could reach your ear and whisper.

“My turn, we’ll see who you’re calling Daddy at the end of this.”

---

Bonus

The prospect of war was terrifying. You were so focused on protecting everyone around you. So it was a great comfort knowing, as you slept in between Sirius and Remus, that you had two people who would go to all ends to keep you safe.

Because besides each other they now had something even more undeniably precious. 

You.

Their perfect Y/N. 

---

@sunny-bunnny @quindolyn @accioweaslcy @bluemoonyblurbs @weasleyposts

[sinner-as-saint]

Don’t Want You Like a Bestfriend

Ransom Drysdale x Reader

Requested.

Run-through: You’re catching feelings for your best friend/friends-with-benefits, Ransom. But he doesn’t seem to like you like that at first. However, that quickly changes once he sees you attend a party as someone else’s date. And suddenly all he wants to do it get you out of the gorgeous and scandalous dress you’re wearing. Driven by his jealousy, Ransom gets territorial and things get interesting…

Themes: smut, jealous!ransom

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ransom hissed in your ear once he’s close enough.

You giggled, knowing damn well what exactly is pissing him off.

Ransom Drysdale was one of your best friends. And you and him were also involved in a ‘casual-healthy-sex-call-it-friends-with-benefits’ situation. It was going just fine in the beginning, but then you began catching feelings for the spoilt brat. He did too, but he wouldn’t admit it. And not knowing how to deal with the situation, you decided to just make him jealous and push his buttons until he realized that he liked you back as well. And that plan was going swimmingly for the past week or two now.

But tonight, you kicked it up a notch.

“What?” you asked softly, acting oblivious and you could see him clenching his jaw. He shamelessly eyed you from head to toe and he was immediately conflicted. You looked great. But he was convinced you’d look better if you were his date.

Why did he feel this way? “I mean what the hell are you wearing?” he asked again, as per usual, masking his jealously with anger and irritation. “You’re practically naked.” He spat.

Truth be told, the backless, skin tight, low cut red dress with a risqué slit you wore made him feel all sorts of ways. Not only because you were showing a lot more skin than most women present at the party, but also because you were causing every man to turn heads and check you out. And he didn’t lie about the naked part, you were aware that you were showing a lot of your body. A lot.

But you had done so purposely, got the dress mainly to get his attention. But also to get him to get him to take this dress off you as soon as he could. And judging by how bothered he looked, you knew you wouldn’t have to wait for too long.

You smirked. “I thought you liked me naked.” You teased, and Ransom seemed visibly troubled. He was horny and angry and jealous at the same time. He’s been feeling some type of ways about you lately, and he didn’t know why.

But tonight, seeing you in that god damn dress almost brought him to his knees the minute you walked in. But what bothered him the most was that you were here with another man. And he hated that.

“Yeah, but not when you’re strutting around almost naked in a room full of people.” His jealousy could clearly be seen now. “Besides why are you here with him? You knew I was coming too, why didn’t you come with me?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Oh! You giggled. “Why do you care?” you smirked and tried to walk away but he grabbed your arm. He didn’t care if he was making a scene. You should’ve come with him, as his date, right?

“Because I’m your best friend, not him.” he quickly studied your face, seeing that your lipstick wasn’t smudged or anything calmed him down a little. But just to be the little shit he is, he couldn’t help but ask, “Did you fool around with him before coming? Huh? Is that what’s going on?” he asked in a mocking tone.

He knew you’d say no. He knew he had ruined every other man for you, and no one would ever satisfy you like he did. And you knew that as well. But just to mess with him and his cockiness and arrogance, you smirked and replied, “I mean we did have some fun in the limo.” You shrugged, like it was the most natural thing to say.

Ransom’s grip tightened around your arm. “Yeah?” he stepped closer, nuzzling your cheek before he whispered in that deliciously seductive, low and raspy voice of his, “Do you need to be reminded who you belong to? Did you forget who owns your pretty little cunt?”

You tried not show that his voice and words made you tremble in his possessive grip. You pulled your face away from his a little and looked up into his deep blue eyes. There, you saw it. The hunger, and pent up frustration and the feelings he was trying so hard to keep secretive. You smirked again.

“Let go, Ransom. My date must be looking for me.” His eyes widened at your words and his grip loosened in surprise. You took the opportunity to pull your arm free and walk away, purposely swaying your hips more than usual.

Did you just… Ransom stood there in surprise and watched how you walked over to what’s his face and linked your arms with his and pressed your body against his side. Bastard seemed to enjoy it. Why wouldn’t he? You looked like a goddess.

 Throughout the party, Ransom kept his eyes on you. And how you pretended like he didn’t exist as you laughed and mingled with everyone else.

Oh babygirl… he thought about all those nights he made you his. Ransom looked around and chuckled. No one in this room knew about you and him. About how he often fucked you for hours on end, nailing you into the mattress and how wonderfully you had let him own your body and how deliciously you moaned and squirmed under him.

Fuck. Ransom looked down and saw a bulge forming in his pants. Then he looked back up at you, and you were still pretending he didn’t exist. Guess it’s time to teach you a lesson, babygirl…

 When the lights dimmed, and when most couples moved to the dance floor, you felt a large hand grab yours and tug you along rather harshly.

“Ransom! Let go!” you hissed, as you walked a little quicker to keep up with his pace. He was taking you towards the back.

“Shh babygirl, keep quiet.” He replied and kept walking, tugging you along until he reached a deserted corridor which led to some sort of balcony. And once there, he pushed you against the wall and his mouth was on yours before your brain could even register what was going on.

His mouth moved against yours fast and passionately. His kisses were much like him; hot and messy, leaving you breathless each time. He pushed his tongue past your lips and stroked the inside of your mouth. He moaned into your mouth as you pressed your body to his and slid your hands into his hair. His hands gripped your waist tightly, as though you’d disappear if he lets go.

“Think you can just walk around pretending I don’t exist, huh?” his kiss was messy and heated. Burning hot with desire and hunger, your bodies moved together flawlessly, touching one another just where you wanted to be touched. “You’re mine.” he growled against your lips, shoving his tongue into your open mouth again.

One minute you two were making out, and the next; your legs were wrapped around his waist, your dress bunched up at your waist while he held you up. His cock briefly brushed against your wet folds in the process and you whimpered through the kiss. Ransom needed to be in you already, all he wanted was to hear you scream his name as you cum around him. So he wasted no time in aligning his throbbing tip to your dripping wet entrance.

“Gotta remember baby, you belong to me.” He whispered and spread your legs further apart and pushed into you slowly. You tried to be as quiet as you could when he started moving against you gently, then sped up as he went. You held on to his shoulders for dear life, pushing your face into his neck to keep quiet.

His nails digging into your skin as he held you by your hips, and yours scratching at the back of his neck as he filled you up like always; making you whine and moan as he went. He was different today, rougher, and more possessive because he needed to let you know that you didn’t need anyone else. 

“Did he touch you like this?” he asked as he sped up into you. “Did he fuck you like this as well, huh?” 

“No...please...” you begged him for more. 

You felt all of him, the bumpy and the velvety skin of his length. He was perfect as he stroked your walls with his pulsating cock. You were a moaning mess in no time. He pounded into you as fast as he could, your back slamming into the wall with each thrust; it hurt just a little. Your body moved along with his like a rag doll. And you never complained once. You could hear the wet sounds that he caused and the sounds of your skin clapping against each other.

“You’re mine, you get that? All mine,” he whispered against your lips, tugging on your bottom lip and making you shudder against him and the wall. He pounded into you; stretching you out. He growled in your ear. He stayed still for a moment, allowing himself to feel your walls clenching around his cock. “Tell me you’re mine.”

“Fuck…” you whined, trying to make your words make sense. “I’m yours Ransom, all yours…”

He sped up, and fucked you relentlessly; earning more and more moans out of you each time his cock stroked your walls. You soon felt the familiar pressure forming; pressing inside you as the familiar warmth spread all over your body. You moaned wantonly.

He nibbled at the skin beneath your ear and you lost all control you had left; your mind a foggy mess. Your clit rubbed against his pelvic bone each time he buried himself completely in you, and he soon quickened his pace; earning even more moans and mewls from you.

He pounded into you as fast as he could. He moaned right into your ear and the sound sent shivers down your back like it always did. He growled again, biting down on your skin.

Your legs started to shake around him as he quickened his pace; pounding into you relentlessly. The pleasure built nicely as he took you higher and higher.

“Cum for me, cum all over my cock…” he breathed into your ear. You couldn’t hold back anymore. So, you came undone around his cock; screaming. Walls clenching around him. Ransom’s thrusts became irregular and slower as he came right after you did, cock throbbing against your pulsating walls; moaning when he felt your walls pulsating violently around him, both of you gasping for air.

He moaned right into your ear and the sound sent shivers down your back like it always did no matter where he took you. Your legs started to shake around him as he quickened his pace; pounding into you relentlessly. The pleasure built nicely as he took you higher… and higher… and higher. Until you couldn’t hold back anymore. So, you came undone around his cock; screaming his name in the process.  

He caught his breath then pulled away to look at you. He gripped your jaw and kissed you deeply, reminding you again that you were his girl.  

You were gasping for air as well, but smirked still. “And is this how best friends act?” you sassed. Ransom pushed his semi erected cock back into you again, making you whine and clench around him again. The feeling of being full and stretched out was overwhelming.

“I don’t wanna be best friends. I wanna be more. And I want the world to know that you’re mine.” he whispered, nuzzling your cheek. “I like you, okay? I like you a lot. And I’m falling for you like crazy.”

You sighed and tightened your arms around him. “Took you long enough, huh?” you sassed still, voice trembling because his cock was snug inside you, throbbing against your walls.

“Shut up.” He chuckled and pulled away to look at you. “Now go dump that dumbass and let’s get out of here.”

[sovonight]

(Cela trains with a blade in the cargo hold; Atton enters.)

Atton, annoyed: Hey, some of us are trying to sleep--over... here. (Realizes who it is) Jedi?

Cela looks over, sweaty and sheepish, in the middle of striking a stack of crates.

Cela: I'm sorry to have woken you. I thought these walls were thicker. Atton: They're not. Cela: Yes, well...

Flushed from her cheeks to the tips of her ears, she ends her words there, sheathing her blade and starting to put the scratched-up storage crates back in their places. Instead of leaving her to it, Atton just leans in the doorway.

Atton: Training against our rations isn't going to help you much. Cela: I know. But this is all I can do, without-- Atton: Have another sword laying around?

She looks up at him in surprise.

Atton: What? I know how to use a sword. Cela: No... I... Weren't you going to sleep? Atton: Don't worry about it. (Spots her weapons layout on the back wall, picks up a blade.) I might not have been trained by Jedi, but I can hold my own.

Cela's surprise becomes a small smile, and she faces him.

They spar. She's much slower than she used to be, and her rhythm is off, but her muscles provide the memory and her movement grows more confident as she advances, driving him back. In the end she has him with his back against the wall, her blade pressuring his to his neck, and she can almost see a glimpse of the past through the glint in the metal, bright as a burning lightsaber.

Cela: Do you surrender?

There's something steely in her eyes--a trace of the general she used to be. Lost in the moment, it takes him a second to come back.

Atton: Yeah. You got me.

Cela steps away, offering him a hand, and only now does he realize that his knees had let him slip down the wall the few inches that separate him from her in height. Feeling off-center, he ignores her hand and pushes off from the wall himself, then quickly brushes his free hand through his hair as an excuse for not taking it.

It's fine; her hand returns to her own side, and Cela looks at her sword, feeling the difference in weight and balance between it and the lightsaber of her past, as clearly as she feels the difference in her skill between now and before.

Cela: I have a long way to go. I haven't just lost a decade... I'm no better than a young Padawan. Atton: Thanks a lot. I was doing my best back there.

There's no bitterness in his words, though, and Cela's expression brightens up with another one of those small, sweet smiles.

Cela: Thank you for helping me, Atton. I feel that something essential has been restored to me. Atton, touched despite himself: Well... hey. That's what I'm here for, right?

They put their weapons away, and Cela wraps everything back up, back into [the inventory]. Even though he could have left as she did so, Atton waits for her in the doorway, and she's a little surprised and pleased that he has, even though neither of them know what to do with it.

Cela: Well, you can sleep undisturbed, now. Atton: Yeah. Sure can.

(They both linger awkwardly in the doorway, unsure what else to say.)

Cela: Atton, I...

She drops her gaze, thinking back to the academy.

Cela: I'm sorry that I pried, earlier. I realized afterwards that the answer doesn't truly matter. The past is the past, and no matter what it held, I know who you are right now.

Atton's mild, relaxed mood sours. Cela, gaze still far from his, remains oblivious to the bitter tint to his temperament.

Atton: And who's that? Cela: Someone kind.

(Blank surprise replaces the bitterness.)

Cela: You've done more than you needed for me. Perhaps I've spent too long in the Outer Rim, for my first instinct to be to mistrust that. Atton: ...No. I get it. You meet all types... you have to be careful. Cela: Yes, but... I'm glad that--of anyone, it...

She raises her eyes to his, and finding him distracted by a torrent of thoughts the look in his eyes somewhat distant from the moment, she falters, leaving the rest of her words unspoken.

Cela: It's nothing. I won't keep you any longer.

She leaves before she can make the mistake of saying anything more.

[anabsolutetrainwreck]

i can hate you sometimes || h. styles

warnings: pre-covid, mentions of sex, swearing, kissing

word count: 2.2k

summary: you and harry have mutual friends, but that doesn’t mean you two are friends. but when harry gets caught in the rain and you’re the closest person he can turn to, it makes for a much more awkward night...

Though you could respect Harry’s artistic abilities when it came to creating music, you could barely tolerate him as a person. Likewise, he wasn’t at all too fond of you. You shared friends in common, which often unfortunately resulted in many a night out with him and your mutual friends.

Yes, Harry was a respectful man. That was perhaps the one thing you could say didn’t irritate you about him. Everything else, the subtle cockiness he played off as jokes; the incessant need to be centre of attention; the bloated ego, which left him thinking he was above everyone else, all of that stuff, you couldn’t stand. But he wasn’t going to stop you from enjoying time with your friends, so you continued to go out drinking with them or go out for big meals with them or on lavish holidays with them. Unfortunately, he had the same mindset. You were both very stubborn.

Going out with your friends when Harry was there seemed like a difficult task at first. But if you sat at the opposite end of the table or stayed fairly distant in a club, the night tended to run smoothly. The one time you’d been left alone was around a year ago when you and Harry had gone out for dinner with Sarah and Mitch. Sarah had gone to the toilet and Mitch had gone to pay the bill. It had been two or three minutes maybe, but it felt like long, excruciating hours. Days, even. You’d distracted yourself by finishing off your wine and trying hard to look anywhere but in Harry’s direction. He’d busied himself with his phone and trying hard to look anywhere but your direction. But, either way, it had been perhaps the most awkward experience of your life.

And now, on a quiet Sunday evening, you found yourself preparing some pasta. Your dog, albeit too big for his own good, was curled up in front of the fireplace. You had your laptop set up on your coffee table, your classical music playlist floating through your house.

It had begun raining heavily about five minutes ago. The droplets were pelting down on your large windows. You had some candles set up and a glass of wine waiting for you on the coffee table in your living room. It was the perfect romantic evening for one.

A knock on your front door took your attention from the boiling water before you. You quickly jogged through to your hallway, opening the door. And, much to your surprise and perhaps disappointment, you were met with the face of Harry Styles. “Can I help you?” you asked, staring at him expectantly.

He sighed, almost embarrassed to ask, but said, “Can I stop at yours until the rain passes?”

You looked him up and down. Stop at yours? Why did that send your stomach into a state of flutters? “Just get an uber,” you said firmly.

He winced, “My phone’s dead. Can you at least let me charge it so I can get an uber?”

You weren’t a fan of Harry (biggest understatement of the year), but that didn’t mean you were an utter asshole. Of course you would let him stop at yours for a little while. Anyone would, right? You sighed, making sure he knew this was a reluctant decision of yours, “Sure.”

He thanked you as he shuffled into your house. He removed his coat and hung it up on your coat rack. Quietly, he followed you into your living room. “Here,” you said curtly, passing him one of your spare chargers.

The entire exchange was even more awkward than last year’s meal with Sarah and Mitch. Benny, your dog, was quite clearly enthralled about the arrival of Harry. He jumped up at the brunette man, his tongue hanging loose. As you tended to your exuberant pasta meal, you could hear Harry petting Benny.

On the few occasions Harry had met Benny, he loved the dog. But, Benny was a dog after all and it was hard to hate a dog. Especially one as lovable and as cuddly as Benny. Harry’s footsteps became louder as he entered the kitchen, Benny, tail wagging, not far behind. It was only when you looked up did you notice Harry carrying your laptop with him. Your first instinct was to tell him to put it the fuck down; it was your laptop - you paid good money for it. But something seemed to stop you from snapping at the man, who was soaked from the rain, in front of you. Usually, you struggled with biting your tongue around Harry. He was just infuriating. “Can I please put something else on?” he asked, gesturing to the screen, which had Spotify open.

You shrugged. You weren’t that bothered if he wasn’t in the mood to listen to your collection of great classical records. It was his loss. Besides, your pasta was nearly finished and then  you’d dish it up and settle down in front of the tv. “Sure.”

There was a moment of silence after he’d paused to whatever piece was playing. “What’s this?” his voice came suddenly.

You knew exactly what he’d found. And you practically kicked yourself for forgetting you had it. It was your playlist, simply titled ‘sex’. A sex playlist. A playlist for sex. “I didn’t take you as the type to have a designated sex playlist,” he said, smirking.

“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” you grumbled, your cheeks heating up.

“Clearly. Some interesting choices on here, Y/N. Not as many of mine as I thought there’d be,” he said.

There was none. None of Harry’s songs on your sex playlist and, if he was being honest, it kind of irritated him slightly. The thought of you having sex to his voice was an enriching one. But what most definitely pissed him off, was the sight of a couple Liam Payne songs and a few of Zayn’s. “I didn’t think Sign of the Times was right for the occasion,” you shrugged. “Do you want some pasta?”

“If there’s some going,” he said quickly. “I do have other songs you know. Besides, Sign of the Times is a great sex song. Starts off slow, builds to a climax...”

You turned to look at him. Only then did you realise you were actually having this conversation with him. Still, you pressed on. “All songs build to a climax one way or another. It’s called a crescendo.”

“Yeah, I know what it’s fucking called,” he sighed. “I’m the musician here.”

“And yet you can’t appreciate classical music. Anyway, if you’re so convinced you have good sex songs, name a few,” you challenged.

He spoke as he followed you through to the living room. You set his bowl of pasta (you always had a habit of making your portions way too large) down on the coffee table beside the candles and wine. “Okay, Kiwi.”

You hummed in thought, “What if I want something a little slower? Like, Kiwi could totally ruin the mood.”

He shifted in his seat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his phone light up, signalling it had at least a little bit of power. But now he was eating your fresh pasta and discussing sex songs with you, and frankly, he didn’t want to leave. “Woman? You can’t tell me you’ve never had sex with Woman playing,” he said.

“Well, I can. So I will: I’ve never had sex with Woman playing,” you replied; you liked this game.

“Okay, come on. She is the perfect sex song,” he said smugly.

Now this one tripped you up. Because you’d had sex to She before. It had come on when the guy you were sleeping with asked if he could shuffle his playlist. She had come on second, maybe. And those six minutes had been the best of your life. You told yourself it was just the guy you were seeing at the time, and he certainly didn’t mind the compliment. But, in hindsight, you realised it was probably the fact that Harry was singing about living in daydreams in the background. In that moment, the sex hadn’t even been at the forefront of your mind. It was his fucking velvet voice. “I wouldn’t know.”

He smirked, “You’ve had sex to She, haven’t you?”

“No.”

“You have! I knew it.”

“Piss off, Harry.”

You hoped your nonchalant replies would be enough to deter his attention from the subject at hand. But alas, he didn’t seem to pick up on it. That, or he was deliberately ignoring your tone. You were beginning to regret letting Harry into your house. And you weren’t afraid to tell him so. “I wish I’d just left you in the rain.”

He scoffed, “That’s not very nice, Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes at him, making sure he saw. God, you could really hate him sometimes. “Harry, we’re literally discussing my sex life. It’s none of your business. And a bit personal, don’t you think? You don’t even know my surname.”

You got to your feet and made your way through to the kitchen, placing your empty bowl in the sink. You could hear him behind you, you just wanted to turn around and tell him to give you a moment to yourself. He was like a puppy. Before you had the chance to do so, you felt him lean over, placing his bowl beside yours. He was so close. 

Turning around slowly, you were met with him. He was there, right there. You looked up at him. He wasn’t moving. You were torn between pushing past him, making sure he knew you were angry and staying for a while, basking in the sexual tension that was buzzing around in the air. “I do know your surname,” was all he said.

He was so close, his eyes exploring your face as if he’d never seen it before. Trapped between Harry and the kitchen counter, you’d fantasised about this moment for ages. Harry’s face a mere few centimetres away from your own. You could feel his breath on your face. It was warm, welcoming. “Do you?” you choked out. 

He nodded slightly. The revelation of Harry knowing your surname was almost surprising to you. You didn’t think he paid that much attention to anything that had something to do with you. Up until this point, standing in your kitchen, neither of you daring to make the first move, you’d thought he only knew your first name because he was obliged to. 

You both yearned the simple delight of the other’s touch. All the pent up sexual tension from the last years, longing looks disguised as glares of disgust and the little snarky remarks used as an excuse to talk to each other, all of that began unravelling at the seams. He looked at you and you looked at him, both of you daring the other to make the first point of euphoric contact. “Harry,” you forced out quietly, hoping he’d take that as a sign that he could touch you, kiss you, anything.

“What do you want?” he hummed gently. “What can I give you?”

“Just kiss me.”

You were also embarrassed that, after years of suppressing your enrapturing feelings, you were asking him to kiss you. And still, he didn’t touch you. It was like he was playing some sick game with you. And then the dreadful thought that he might just be doing all of this to give him a means to mock you in the future. If that was the case, he’d have the perfect upper hand over you. “Do you still wish you’d left me in the rain?” he asked, almost taunting you as he left you practically begging for his touch. 

You shook your head, “No, no. God, no. Harry, please.”

“Anything you want, darling.”

“Kiss me.”

“Only if you’re sure you want me to.”

“I do, Harry. Please.”

And when he was sure he had your definite consent, he didn’t waste another moment. He placed his large hand on your cheek, the tips of his fingers buried in your hair. His lips on yours was perhaps the most perfect form of ecstasy. As you wrapped your arms around his neck, tilting your head up to meet his, you were sure you’d travelled to some distant infatuating dreamland you only ever hear about. 

Reluctantly, you pulled away, panting slightly, “Don’t go.”

“What?”

“Don’t get an uber. Stay with me tonight.”

A smile crept its way up into Harry’s features. He tried to hide how elated he was that you’d proposed he spend the night with you. A grin tugged at the corners of his lips, which were parted slightly. All he wanted to do was indulge his need for your perfect taste all night. From the moment the sky went from the most divine lavender colour to the most starry black, to the moment it turned back to the most marvellous oranges and reds in the waking of the sun. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that to me.”

part two.

[jiminrings]

umm maybe this is me projecting bc i am messaging you during my break but for a drabble request, yoongi in a retail setting???? 😐😐😐😐 oc could either be a co-worker or a regular customer who asks too many questions 😔😌

retail-type beat

drabble week: day three

drabble week masterlist

pairing: customer!yoongi x retail worker!reader

wordcount: 3k

glimpse: "hi! almost thought you were hiding from me for a second. anyways, is this sweater wool or cotton?"

feedback + support mean the world to me!!

the last time you checked, work doesn’t start until nine

you kNEW it doesn’t start until 9 in the morning, so clearly that’s why you’re just wearing slides instead of your sneakers

the company uniform is either black or purple (it has to be from what the store is selling though so you can get to choose) with of course!!!! a lanyard!!!!

and you know this, because you’re still wearing your slides from home because it isn’t opening time yet

“goddamn it, i forgot to bring my slippers,” jin moans the moment he walks to see you, looking down on your feet that only reminds him he’d be stuck in his cool yet painfully uncomfy sneakers

he’s probably the only co-worker that you’re truly close with, not feeling the urge to sell him just to get a free day

“i told you to get the sneakers that nurses use!!”

hands-down one of the best purchases you’ve ever made

retail’s hard and it’s not exactly the best-paying job!!! thankfully the franchise owner is a bit more generous so that’s why you get slightly-higher hourly pay

“i would if they looked a little more seasoned,” jin snorts and stubbornly crosses his arms, “i might sacrifice my pride and buy some compression socks.”

OOOOOH THOSE ARE GOOD TOO

makes you feel like ur walking on air

but lol no seokjin isn’t ready to buy those just yet

he’ll settle on some blisters and putting salonpas patches because they look cooler that way, thank u very much <3

jin yawns, talking about finding a steam iron somewhere to replace a blowdryer so he could break in his shoes

“you wipe the glass this time.”

oh right he absolutely hates wiping down the glass — even before opening!!! even when there aren’t any grubby kids that would soil it instantly with their equally as grubby hands

you don’t mind it honestly

you might honestly like it

you prefer wiping the glass a hundred times over than steaming clothes

there is nOT a single thought in your head when you spray on the solution to the glass, rag and squeegee tucked between your fingers when-

maybe you should’ve hOLY FUCKING SHIT

it’s not opening!!!! it is nOT nine o’clock in the morning!!!!

you know that the shop you’re working in is pretty fucking famous and it’s located on one of the most populated streets ever BUT THERE’S ALREADY SOMEONE

although the bucket hat seems familiar from a distance and-

oh it’s just yoongi

yoongi?

yoongi’s already here????

:O

yoongi, the guy in question, is an always customer!!

no, not a regular customer — an always customer

he comes every week and maybe even twice within that period

he’s a nice talkative customer who likes asking questions and even occasionally guides the other customers on what to buy and where to find it

he’s yoongi!!! of course that’s expected of him

he’s been going here long since you ever started working here, and jin keeps iNSISTING that he’s been here more frequently since you started like a year ago

but doesn’t he come at eleven in the morning?

“woah, yoongi’s already here? — doesn’t he come at eleven in the morning?”

?!!?!!

“i was just thinking the exact same thing.”

jin bangs the glass with his fist and you automatically wince and frown

you dO like cleaning the glass panes!! you didn’t say you liked cleaning them a second time :(

“YOONGI!”

“YES??”

you push jin’s fist away to wipe at the smudge his hand left

“IT’S NOT OPENING YET!”

“I KNOW!!”

wow they’re uh

they’re really loud

sometimes you forget how seokjin could be since it’s been awhile since you heard him yell

lol no one’s been shoplifting recently so you haven’t been hearing him

a mind-blowing idea is for jin to come outside and talk to him in a normal talking voice, so your ears would stop ringing

“HEY! WHAT IF YOU JUST ENTER EARLY IN?”

“REALLY? IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED??”

"YOONGI, EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR KNOWS YOUR NAME. NAMJOON EVEN GAVE YOU A CUSTOMARY BIRTHDAY GIFT, AND WE DON'T GIVE CUSTOMARY BIRTHDAY GIFTS TO ANY OTHER CUSTOMER!!"

namjoon, who technically should be called mr. kim because no one really thinks to call the franchise owner with their government first name, is actually pretty cool

but he's too busy these days and haven't been visiting because he's too busy tending to his newly-opened coffee shop

as if the money he earns from opening his franchise in a day alone isn’t enough :0

"IF YOU SAY SO?"

you’re the one who hikes up the roll-up door in the slightest, enough for only yoongi to enter and not encourage anyone else to nOT enter when it’s still not opening time!!!!

he only has to crouch a little but he still has to dust his thousand-dollar pants as if he crawled through mud

his cream-colored slacks with a large black hoodie that has a giant bear embroidered on the middle of it and mules

... you don't hate his outfits

pretty cute, actually

it's yoongi!!

you'd never catch him lacking!!!

you don't even have to envision him rocking the shit out a paper bag

one time, he came in the store wearing the WRINKLIEST brown linen jumpsuit that no iron could possibly fix and he still pulled it off

toon-teen-ten!

oh god that’s the sound of the intercom

and the sound of the intercom equates to jungkook

... as in jeon jungkook who’s the floor manager and his constant top one goal for every month is to endearingly annoy seokjin

he’s young and mischievous!! but if you were to ask him, only you and jungkook are the people in this floor he’d actually get drinks with outside the shop

“seokjin come to the lingerie department right now, please.”

you see the thing is :D

“now this is just funny

there’s walkie-talkies for everyone here!! jungkook likes intercoms, and seokjin like yelling!!

“WHY ME AGAIN?? I’VE ALREADY FOLDED-“

“there’s a literal rat and i need yOU to catch it!! you know that i hate rodents!!”

him and jungkook are forever gonna be on this eldest-youngest brother dynamic and while jungkook pouts and shared the extras that he gets, jin is the one who kills the bugs :D

10/10 totally fair

fine then!! he’ll catch that goddamn rat

that leaves you and yoongi. alone.

“why did you come so early this time?”

you ask out of courtesy, genuinely baffled too because you know that yoongi’s a creature of habit

yoongi’s eyes pop out, head fervently shaking no

“i’m typically not the type to do that, no.”

???

is he-

are you-

are you both talking about the same thing

yoongi’s face flushes in embarrassment, his mind just then registering what you were actually saying

“o-oh! it’s because last night, i dreamt of the sweater i saw here last week!!"

oh right

typical :D

"need me to find it for you or do you already know the aisle?"

you align the folded shirts by the corners as you pass, looking at yoongi briefly while he trails behind yoh

“not unless you pulled it out already."

he's hoping that dear god you haven't

the black sweater with the moon aND buildings on it and when you turn on the flash, the windows of said building reflect it right back???

he SHUDDERS just by thinking about it

it’s gonna go with everything!!! an instant boost of serotonin every time he sees it

"for you, yoongi?" you shake your head, a small smile on your face that he only sees every once in a while, "i'd comb through the entire stock room."

wait

that’s sweet :((

“i’ll hold you to that.”

you know what??? you're less cranky when it's only him, and a couple of hundred people less

your smiles aren't for customer-service and you don't have misplaced clothes hanging from your shoulders and your walkie-talkie isn't talking in latin

or when no one’s asking you to reach something from the top shelf

or when you’re on the way to the intercom because a kid got separated from their mother

or when someone’s approaching for a refund for a shirt who has a stain that’s 100% no doubt customer error

his feet immediately move on its own because he’s memorized the outline of this too many times

there it is!!!

the sweater he’s dreamt about is already on his hands, only a handful few left

the piece is considerably more expensive than majority of the items here, so that’s why they’re all spaced-out instead of being clustered altogether

yoongi rarely goes to the dressing room, regardless if it's a full-house or not!!

he could just look at an item and immediately tell that it’s made for him ta know

he's beyond sure that this sweater fits him perfectly, but he may want to be here a little longer

yoongi may have say inside one of the fitting rooms and spent a little time in it just to sit on the chair inside, not fitting the sweater at all

he's gotten his item SO quick and he wished he could've just walked slower or pretended to not know where it was!!!

he wants to spend a little more time here

you don't hate yoongi!!! but sometimes he could just be... yoongi

he's quite talkative and strikes it whenever, making you unguarded

he could be overbearing but like an overbearing kind of nice

yoongi’s nice!! he’s the type to ask a lot of questions sure, but he’s also the type that would point the other customers what to buy and where to find it

he’s the type to find an obvious faulty stitch on a shirt, but he’d just quietly exchange it instead of asking for the manager

he’s the type you wouldn’t want to stand behind in line because it would take a long time for him to finish, but he’s also the same one who buys giftcards with generous amounts for family and friends

yoongi’s kind of cool and that’s cemented on your mind

"what do you got for me?"

he materializes out of nowhere, spooked because you thought he already ringed up and was out of the store already

it just happens to be ten minutes before opening and you’re doing last-minute arrangements on a new spread

well, yoongi most certainly is still here and his attention’s piqued

“we have... a new collection."

you clear your theory, awkwardly gesturing because you’re more than aware that yoongi hasn’t seen this either

“yeah, i know that. but like, what's going on??" he gestures to the displays and racks, squinting his eyes, "what's the theme? what's the material?"

:O

uhm you haven't read the brief about this

you aren't even sURE if there is one!!

doesn't everyone make up something on the spot in retail

or atleast that’s what seokjin tells you

“the theme," you clear your throat, scratching your temple before gesturing towards the full rack, "is everything."

“everything?

yoongi’s eyebrow is raised, not expecting that answer at all

you look back to the new feature, and nOW that you think about it,, there's no cohesion at all

“y-yes. the shop was going for the theme of uhm, everything... all at once — yeah, that's it. everything all at once."

it’s a nice way to put it when not one bit of the new collection goes together

“hmmmm. i like it,” yoongi nods solemnly and tilts his head, “and the material?"

"the material?"

you repeat, eyesight not the best so you can’t really tell anything off the bat or uh aNYTHING really

"t-the material is shirt."

they're all shirts!!! that’s it

yoongi grimaces in disgust, the first time you’ve seen of it

“what?? you can't say that.”

he outsretches his hand to the nearest article, holding it up by the hanger

"this, right here, is satin. see how it shines like silk, but doesn't feel like silk?"

uhm yes

you have a gist of what he’s saying but yes

yoongi picks up a pink button shirt this time, flipping it inside out

"this, is silk charmeuse. look at the inside, is it smooth?"

okay where is he going with this

he urges you to put your hand on the fabric and uhhh you didn't sign up for this???

it looks smooth, sure!! end of discussion

"yea-..."

“it's not. it's rough. it is smooth, but it's dull. silk charmeuse is still silk, but the backing it has is different from the lustrous part."

okay yoongi

you’re starting to feel uncomfortable and it has to do something with the tone he’s using on you

“can't believe you didn't know that!! how about this," he plucks out a shirt with a tiny print at the middle of it, "cotton or polyester and rayon?"

"i don't-"

there’s an itch in your neck that you want to scratch, a tell-tale sign that you just wANT to remove yourself from this situation

“come on!! it's a dead giveaway!!"

:((

why is he being like this?

toon-teen-ten!

“y/n, panty section please. jin almost got bit by a mouse and he needs comforting. two minutes until opening, people!!"

jungkook speaks at the right moment, and jin’s little incident is enough of a reason for you to bolt

yoongi's still looking at you but you can't afford to embarrass yourself further

“bye. happy shopping."

huh?

yoongi’s face falls when you leave as cold as that!! typically when you were going to show him out (when it’s regular shop hours), there’d be a smile :((

there's not even a customer service smile :(((

yoongi goes to the only cashier that's open so far and it happens to be far away from you and a teary seokjin

seokjin's fine he didn't even get bit!! that much he could say

but are you okay? uhhh you kinda went cold on him by the end and he thought he started on a good note

yoongi doesn't visit for another week and you don't find yourself counting the days until you meet him again

you did not have a devil wears prada moment where anne hathaway has an epiphany for fashion knowledge

you just felt belittled at a job that isn’t exactly what you wanted anyways

needed, yes. but wanted? not exactly

you know that basic knowledge about clothes is required in a retail job like this and you have it!! you do!!!!

you’d know more if only there were actual available resources for employees to know!!! nobody besides yoongi asks anyways

you’d know if you have time to yourself and aren’t working two jobs trying to make ends meet and tHEN you could pull up a book or something!!!

you’d know if your life is as lax as yoongi’s and could have the budget to buy new things for yourself every single week

“jin, i need to ask you something.”

he hums as called, looking at you briefly until you get on with it

“do you know the difference between silk and silk charmeuse?"

he shrugs casually while you're sitting inside one of the closed-off fitting rooms to catch a break, sharing a burger because the store’s packed-packed

why did you ask him? it’s too easy

“one's made by worms, and the other's a pokémon."

that,.,., could not possibly be righti* it brings you a laugh and you honestly don’t even try to correct him

it’s 11:15 and you kNOW it’s time to resume your shift, straightening your shirt because atleast one (1) person would hound you when they see a familiar red lanyard

oh you’re hounded alright

“hi! almost thought you were hiding from me for a second.”

yoongi????

oh

you haven’t seen him for a week and you don’t know what to feel in all honesty

"anyways, is this sweater wool or cotton?"

wow

you're quite speechless as he holds up the item

really?

this thing all over again???

why are you even surprised

the only thing that yoongi gets your customer service smile, fishing your hand from inside the sweater to show him

“70% wool."

that's it???

NO GOOD MORNING????

you're mad at him, aren't you?

he knew it :((

he knew something was wrong but he just didn’t know what

he’s gonna fix this!! he will

which is why the very next day, he takes the day off from his work and comes to the store at a time he knows you’d surely be there

you're on cashier duty and you like it actually :D

you have an option to sit and the way you’re just gonna scan pricetags (and occasionally enter the code if it doesn’t work) is really appealing

“good morning!"

you’re about to grab the items from the basket laid on the counter and your eyes could only see the very familiar hand

the same one you’ve seen go through racks and racks

yoongi??

he sets his items one by one, buying himself more time

the first one is the same exact sweater he came to wait for before opening

“you already bought this."

you tell him even before you could hold it back, looking back at him briefly before you scan the tag

“i know. i just wanted to see you."

oh

oh

yoongi threw a bunch of other items (individually) so it would be a longer talk, but you scan each item quickly that he’s grabbing things from the counter

hand sanitizer!!! hair ties!!! keychains!!!! yeah he needs them

“i'm sorry that i tend to spring shit on you most of the time. you don't need to know the difference between silk and silk charmeuse."

you only chuckle then, a meek smile on your face

"it's okay, yoongi.”

“it's not."

... it’s not?

yoongi fidgets, opening and closing his mouth like he’s nervous!!! he’s never had his credit card cancelled but he could only feel that this type of jitterness is more than the former

“can i make it up to you? no lanyards, no baskets, no customer service?? i don't wanna fuck things up with you."

“don't feel obligated-"

“i know i could be a condescending ass who expects people to automatically know fabric and whatnot, but i wanna make it up to you."

alright yoongi’s a really good apology-maker

you mIGHT be even flustered a little

“you're holding the line, yoongi.”

“i cleared my schedule."

“i haven’t!!!!!” - guy in the back

“dinner at my place at 8. i-i promise to make your hard-earned break after your shift worthwhile!!!"

hmmm

maybe that wouldn’t hurt

“okay. just because you're holding the line."

“fine by me."

:))

yoongi transfers all the items he bought, all but one, to his tote bag

he hands back the paper bag to you, scribbling his address on the back of the receipt before he does

he lingers a little while at the counter, the people behind him ALREADY switching lanes to the one seokjin’s just opened beside you

it's the sweater that he has too

yoongi scratches the back of his head, this time being the meek one

“what? m-matching sweaters for our first date. s'cute."

[toricrypticice]

The Golden Scarred

CHAPTER THREE (Fixed Perspective) 

“Wait what?” Hunter nervously glances at the Owl Lady gulping. “Uh I don’t think that's-“ He looks back to where Luz was “and she's gone” He grumbles. 

He glances back at the older woman feeling nervous and a bit uneasy. He fumbles slightly, his vision blurring. He yelps when his vision focuses in time to see Eda reach towards his face. He tenses, shutting his eyes tightly waiting for the expected blow. Eda frowns as the male flinches back. Rolling her eyes as she sighs. 

“Relax kid, I'm not gonna hurt ya.  Got no magic to anyways” Eda jokes, resting her hand against his hot forehead to which; he lets out a pathetic whimper leaning into her cool hand before growling, grabbing her wrist and pulling away. He opens his eyes looking angry for showing weakness.

“Don’t. Touch. Me. “ Hunter says through clenched teeth as he glares at the female, he sits up straighter as to intimidate her. Eda just stares, 

Hunters’ grip felt ..so weak. 

She frowns, concerned as she watches him shakily let go, holding his head in pain as he gets another dizzy spell. 

Hunter frowns as his head spins, wishing more than anything to just disappear from here, of course he’d get left with this wild witch when he was in such a state. He needed to get out of here and figure out how to redeem himself. 

“Okay okay. Look I just have to clean the cuts on your face, is that alright?” Eda says calmly, her eyes glancing to his torso where he shielded what looked like a worse injury from what the dark-stained shirt could tell her. She looks back to the males eyes offering a gentle smile. Hunter was confused but kept a harsh glare on the female.  

No one ever asked him if it was alright with him before. 

The question made him feel off and wrong.

 In the emperor's coven he was used to things just happening, he didn’t get a choice. 

But what made his stomach turn was the offer for someone to help with his wounds. 

It was unheard of!

 Getting hurt was a sign of weakness the Emperors coven didn’t get the luxury to enjoy. 

Especially Hunter.

 If anyone got hurt they were expected not to show any weakness, hide away if they had to. 

But Hunter's confusion seems to leave him as he remembers who she was. 

The Owl Lady.  

The once most powerful witch on the isle. 

She uses wild magic. 

She was a crook. 

She wasn’t to be trusted. 

It was almost laughable that he almost fell for it. 

“No I don’t want your help” Hunter mutters angrily as he looks away rolling his eyes at the female. Eda couldn’t help but snort, causing the male to glance back quickly looking a bit more agitated, his face going slightly red, even the tips of his ears burning as Eda laughs at him. He lets out a slight growl clenching his teeth. 

“Alright. alright, how about this then? I’ll give you the supplies and you clean them? “ Eda smirks confidently. Hunter nods slowly, almost unsure, confused. This was some kind of trick right? 

He narrows his eyes at her trying to read her eyes for any type of clue.

 This had to be a trick. 

The Owl Lady practiced wild magic.  

Wild magic is dangerous ergo so was The Owl Lady. 

“Good!” Hunter snaps with attitude before taking the first aid kit from her hands aggressively, a bit too quickly, his head spinning at the rapid movement.  He bites his lip.

 If he ignored the dizziness then he could do this, 

yeah?

Yeah. 

He’d done this for himself plenty of times in the coven. 

This wasn’t any different. 

And as his Uncle always told him, things like this would only make him stronger.  

He lets out a breath and picks up a bottle of what he hoped was the cleanser. He holds it close to his face trying to read the contents as his vision blurs again, his head suddenly pounding worse making his stomach do a somersault. He overall did not feel good. He just wanted to lay down and forget all this.

 He shakes his head grumbling, almost dropping the bottle as he blinks to try to sort his vision. 

Eda watches the male smirking, knowing he would give in any second. 

Hunter gulps as his vision focuses, he can feel The Owl Ladys’ gaze and he couldn’t help but glance her way seeing the smug expression.

This causes his face to turn slightly red in embarrassment, the blush spreading to the tips of his ears as he growls loudly. 

‘She knew!’

‘She knew he couldn’t do it’

‘She just wanted to rub it in his face!’

Hunter felt angry as his thoughts screamed. 

 “Fine! I need your help!” Hunter snaps bitterly, he spat out the word ‘help’ in distaste, grumbling as he looks away from the Owl Lady with a scowl. 

Eda chuckles “Ha Don’t worry about it kid” she smiles softly before getting a clean cloth ready. She dabs it slightly on the area below and around his eye. Hunter gasps slightly before he bites his tongue to keep from whimpering, the area stinging.

“Warn me next time “ he huffs “A-and stop calling me kid” He mutters through gritted teeth trying to hold onto what little dignity to the coven he had left. 

He was the golden guard. 

He just-.. needed to earn the title back. 

He shudders softly, his fingers gripping onto the couch, trying his best not to show weakness as he sits completely still. 

Though Eda seemed to take notice of the tense witch. 

“Just relax,” She reassures. Hunter glares at her frowning . 

“I. am. relaxed. “ He pauses, taking a breath, feeling agitated. 

She was teasing him on purpose, 

Unbelievable 

“You’re just clearly bad at this!”   Hunter bites back before he can stop himself, his eye throbbing badly from the stress. 

Eda clicks her tongue, shaking her head about to say something and then stopping with a heavy sigh putting the cloth down. 

Hunter felt his heart skip a beat in terror but he didn't dare move as his eyes twitch slightly with fear. 

He was going to be punished for talking back wasn’t he?

His breath stopped short and he bows his head quickly. 

“I apologize. It won’t happen again” the reply came swift before Eda could even open her mouth, like Hunter was used to biting his tongue and apologizing. 

And titan, he was.

 Or at least when he was stupid enough to get mouthy.

But he learned very quickly not to get mouthy with Belos.. 

Eda frowns, feeling bad for the kid. Belos really did torture them in the emperors coven huh? She felt bad for when she assumed they had everything handed to them. That they were Belos’ star children and were loved unconditionally even if they fucked up. They were his coven after all. But Eda realized now how stupidly naïve she was to think such a thing. The Emperor really was merciless, and with his own nephew too? She could really tell Belos did a number on the boy. Faded scars lined his arms, not to mention his cheek and clipped ear. And now there was the damage from the days prior. Belos was a monster. 

“Look, kid, seriously relax. If we were going to hurt or turn you in we would have done it already” Eda hums, joking to lighten the mood. But when she notices Hunter is still tense she sighs out “but like we won’t, you’ve been through a lot plus we’re criminals” she assures gently. Continuing to clean the area around his eye, being careful going a bit slower this time. Hunter scoffs, rolling his eyes looking away. Her words annoyed the male, he didn’t need her pity. 

“Wooow I feel so much safer “ He mutters sarcastically but his shoulders seem to actually relax, only tensing slightly every now and again. 

But Eda was right. 

They all could have done away with him easily, especially during his episode. And it’s not like they really could turn him in anyway if they wanted to, they all had their own wanted posters. Though he had expected these wild witches to be harsh with him, much like Belos was.  But so far The Owl Lady’s touches weren’t harmful or ill intended.  

She was just …

 taking care of him. 

This left a bitter taste in his mouth. He gulps feeling guilty for the small part of him that enjoyed it. 

Eda carefully wraps the area, being gentle. Hunter couldn’t help but let a soft smile grace his features.   

This was.. 

...Different.  

To have someone else clean his wounds and not himself for a change. 

To have someone be gentle and caring with him. 

 It was kind of…

Nice. 

“Thank you for your assistance Ms. Clawthorne..” Hunter mumbles softly, maintaining his composure as he straightens his back letting his smile fall. 

“No problem but you can just call me Eda kid. “ She laughs softly. 

Hunter looks away embarrassed as he rubs the back of his neck. He wasn’t used to getting help. 

It felt so.. 

Unnatural. 

And for this witch of clearly high rank to want him to call her Eda. 

This all made his stomach turn. 

This wasn’t right.

 His mind kept screaming ‘Run get out!’

Eda was the ene—The Owl Lady!!

 The Owl Lady was the enemy. 

He growls as he has to mentally correct himself. He couldn’t use their names. That would only make him get attached- not that he could get attached to these lowlifes.

 Comfortable. He wouldn’t get comfortable. And he knew he wouldn’t fall for whatever façade The Owl Lady was pulling. 

Eda ties off the bandage. 

He was tired and glad this was all over. He could go back to his cave and -

 “ Alright onto the next one.” Eda hums but frowns as she watches the color drain from the small males face, his eyes widening as a few beats of sweat fall from his brow. 

Hunter coughs, grabbing his side, clenching his teeth at the feeling as it throbs badly. 

Dammit why did he let himself believe it was over? 

He let his guard down!

 He felt angry but more nervous about Eda looking at something a bit more serious.

 His vision swims as he looks back at the female and he shakes his head. 

“Er um how about we don’t and I leave?” Hunter laughs nervously looking down, fumbling as he scoots back slightly looking uneasy. He sits straight as he remembers his status. He couldn’t show he was scared. “I-I’ve overstayed my welcome long enough” he says strictly trying to hide his fear. 

Eda frowns, she knew that meant it was most likely really bad and with the fever the boy had...    

She really needed to look at it. 

“Kid I just need to take a small peek I promise I won’t hurt ya as I said before“ Eda reassured and yet Hunter felt more nervous..

Could- Could he actually trust her? 

No, No of course not!

But on the other hand ..

This was more serious…

Then again..

But Belos had always taught him to keep his guard up, even in friendly company..

Rascal pecks his leg, tweeting loudly. 

“Ow hey!” Hunter growls startled. He scoffs at the bird as he glares at the boy. 

He hated to admit that he did need her help and he hated that he had to show it. 

He hadn’t really looked at it since— what happened..

He gulps, deciding he had no choice (like usual),  he shakily starts to remove his shirt, wincing badly as it barely grazes the area on his torso. 

Edas’ frown worsened when Hunter revealed the darkly red-stained cloth wrapped tightly around his torso.  

Hunter coughs a bit harshly, feeling his vision swim again. He closes his eyes to steady himself. 

Eda watches, having to stop herself from moving forward to help the male knowing he needed time to adjust to them. 

But she felt so worried, she just wanted to help him.  

Hunter looked so weak. 

So tired. 

So Pale. 

So frail. 

The Golden Guard was but a small child.

And He did not look well. 

Eda hated herself for caring but.. she couldn’t really believe it. 

The Golden Guard. 

One of the Heads of The Coven 

A child.

Just a child.  

And Belos did all of this. 

To a child 

She felt angry.

So angry. 

 She couldn’t believe Belos would-! 

well yes she could but she was just shocked he’d do such a thing to family. She felt sorry for the boy. 

Hunter opens his eyes slowly before carefully starting to peel the bandage off. He gasps loudly, clenching his jaw as he pulls the stuck gauze from his flesh. A few tears started to build, blurring his vision and he quickly blinks them back. The fabric almost seemed sealed to his skin as he rips it off, blood dripping down his stomach. Hunter’s breath hitches as he finally tears it off, a small whimper leaving him as he shields the area gritting his teeth, shaking slightly. 

It hurt

It hurt so much.

“Hunter?” Eda moves her hand to his shoulder carefully before rubbing his back softly, concerned. 

Hunter shutters softly at the small touch but nods. 

“Sorry I know i just- right” Hunter didn't feel ready but he slowly removed his hands revealing the giant gash in his side which was bleeding a bit badily and now oozing a small bit. His stomach flips and He feels a slight tickle in his throat, he coughs harshly before he quickly supports the area after the first cough, a strained sound escaping him, a few tears falling as well. His side pulsing with every cough that shook his being. 

”Ah mm ah ahh” He grips the area, slightly his vision swimming. The pressure the cough created made the pain a bit unbearable, he shudders.

He just wanted to give up at this point. Just lay down. It hurt too much.  But he knew he needed to suck it up. 

“S-Sorry” he shakily removed his now blood stained hand slowly, his voice was soft and his eyelids shook weakly. He bites his lip nervously as his side pulses again but he grips the couch instead. 

Eda felt her heart break at the sight. 

“Stop apologizing already, Look before we start, because won't lie that looks real bad, if i gave you some sleeping nettles and maybe some-” 

“No.” Hunter's reply came fast and stern, Eda seemed a bit taken back by this. She pauses as she looks at the male confused. 

Was he used to high end healing?

Eda didn’t really have anything like that. 

“Look i know its no healing spell or healing potion but it can help you-”

“If you had healing potions i wouldn’t take those either” Hunter rolls his eyes as if it were obvious and she was an idiot for even thinking of offering. He glances down at the hole in his side gulping uneasily. 

Eda looks confused but then frustrated.

“Hunter, why are you being so difficult?” Eda groans in slight annoyance, I mean when she found out about her elixirs she had been so happy to find something to help her deal with the owl beast curse. 

So why was this young witch, who’s clearly in immense physical pain, take nothing to help deal with the issue?

But Hunter only seemed confused by The Owl Lady’s question. 

“Belos says that truly strong witches don't need such trifle things”. Hunter states matter-of-factly gripping the couch cushion. “I mean how will I truly get stronger with assistance?” He laughs and scoffs as he shakes his head at the woman who stares in disbelief. 

Eda stopped and stared for a moment. It was painful to watch the male suffer, she felt angry that Belos had fooled the boy so well. The fact that he fully believed such a thing. 

“Hunter, you don’t have to suffer to get better or to get stronger! that's not how this works.” Eda seemed exasperated that she even had to explain this to the young male. 

How dare Belos! 

She felt so so angry but sad as she stared at the clueless child. 

“J-just let me get my magic nettles cream at least so I can numb the area slightly before its cleaned. You're lucky to be alive with no stitches-“

“S-Stitch” Hunter gulps feeling a bit sick at just the thought and he quickly shakes his head. “I-i really don't think that would have been necessary i mean look,” he looks down at his oozing, festering wound “its- not that bad” he says quickly, his voice cracking making it not so convincing. He felt a bit sick to his stomach just looking at the wound, dizzy. He looks back at the woman smiling. 

Eda stares at him blankly. 

Hunter frowns as he realizes she is not buying it. 

“Okay yeah stitches probably were the best idea but” he mumbles defeated, putting his head down staring at his hands as they shake slightly.  He really didn’t like stitches, back when he got his nick in his ear he fainted mid-stitch and well he didn’t really remember anything else beside the panic of having a chunk of his ear missing when he woke up. Hunter lets out a shaky breath. 

“Alright relax kid and lay back “ Eda grabs her cream unscrewing the cap. Hunter gulps carefully laying on his back, gasping in pain as his side throbs. He bites his lip before gulping. 

“We’ll numb the area first then i’ll start cleaning” 

Eda hums walking him through the process

“Yeah yeah okay whatever” Hunter mumbles less bite in his words. He felt tired and he was in so much pain. 

Eda carefully spreads the cream, it glows bright yellow as Hunters body absorbs it. 

“Ah-“ He gasps gripping a nearby pillow. 

“Now before we continue you sure you don’t want some sleeping nettles or-“ Eda hums careful wetting a cloth with cleaner. 

“No I don’t need anything else I’m sure it's fine” he mumbles lying. 

Hunter's hands balled into fists at his sides, feeling scared.

 No no he was The Golden Guard. 

He scoffs at himself letting out a breath as he releases his tight grip.

 “Alright well then do it” He snaps slightly. 

Eda couldn’t help but chuckle at the boys agitation, it reminded her a lot of herself. 

 “Alright alright sheesh kid” she rolls her eyes before gently cleaning around the wound first. 

The male immediately tenses badly, his breath hitching as his eyes widen. He shakes his head shutting his eyes trying to maintain any of his composure. The Owl lady stops slightly. “Numbing cream will only go so far. Are you sure you don’t-“

“No! just clean the stupid gash!” Hunter growls, cutting her off with a snap as he glares.. 

Eda frowns but sighs softly. “A-alright “ she says a bit shakily. “But you asked for it” he carefully touches the actual area starting to clean but Hunter fully sits up covering his mouth as he cries out in pain, tears blurring his vision before he scoots away putting his legs up to block his stomach.  

Eda puts her hands up immediately, eyes wide. She had expected a reaction but-

Hunter grits his teeth as a sob escapes his person and he looks down shamefully.

Eda clicks her tongue sighing.

“Kid?” Eda tries gently. 

“I’ll take the magic assistance..” His shoulders sink in defeat as he gives in disgracefully. 

Oh what Belos’ would say..

Eda seemed a bit taken back. 

“A-Alright” 

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

[jeontaehui]

TAEHEE WITH OTHER IDOLS

twice’s chaeyoung

her bestie !!!!! chaeyoung’s like her mark but like outside the group.

they support each other whenever the other wins an award, always giving wide smiles that are too hard to hide.

their hangouts are referred to as ‘dates’ by the fans, considering how romantic their dinners are and how chaeyoung captions her instagram posts after going on said ‘date’.

chaeyoung is very clingy when she sees her. she clings onto taehee like a koala :(

in award shows, taehee would tend to walk slower than the rest of the neos just to talk to chaeyoung.

chaeyoung was once caught playfully flirting with taehee during an award show, causing the latter to laugh as the camera pans to another group.

iconic moment (seoul music awards 2019) taehee took mirror selfies as she waited for chaeyoung to finish up in the bathroom. when chaeyoung found out, she later posted these on instagram with the caption, “the one who i love 😍❤️”.

stray kid’s han

her other bestie since predebut !!!!!!!!

both are so powerful in the rap industry already, stayzens are just waiting for a collab.

they met in a convenience store. jisung wanted her to go to jyp with him, only to find out she’s been training in sm already (cue pouting from the both of them).

both are in Love with each other’s music, with jisung having some of nct’s songs in his playlist and taehee knowing the lyrics and the choreo to skz’s songs.

their reactions to each other’s performances are adorable !!!!!! and even funny at times. attending the same award shows means very cute interactions fans’ lenses would capture <3

(seoul music awards 2019) before the two groups walked by each other, taehee slowed down her pace and let herself stay behind the group to greet the main rapper of stray kids. once jisung was within arm’s reach from her, she raised her hand for a high-five, to which jisung pulled her into a bro-hug instead. he whispered something to her first and ruffled her hair, making the older girl hit his shoulder softly, laughing as he left.

jisung introduced taehee to chan and felix and she now has two new aussie buddies that remind her of home too !!!!!

iconic moment (isac 2019) stayzens went batshit crazy when skz had to pass by nct during the sports competition. seeing this as a chance to be playful with his best friend, jisung jumped over the first row of seats and proceeded to whisper something to taehee (who was seated very near to where the other members of skz were by the way), before jumping over to the third row. jisung must have said something really funny to taehee since it made the female idol to turn away laughing as she covered her mouth. later on, we see the two talk, inviting a very excited chan and a shy mark lee to the conversation. 

red velvet’s yeri, april’s naeun, and weki meki’s doyeon

yeri and taehee were already close since trainee days (she’s close with the rest of red velvet too). taehee knew yeri was friends with naeun and she was Dying to meet her so yeri introduced them to each other, and since doyeon is friends with naeun, the latter later introduced all three of them to each other.

yeri and taehee always sat beside each other whenever nct is asked to share a table with red velvet. yeri would laugh a lot since taehee’s always so energetic when she dances to the other groups’ songs. she always hung out with red velvet during isac but would end up having yeri to herself anyways ,,, they teased each other a lot too.

taehee Loves naeun, literally. she’s always flirting with her and telling her how pretty and cute she is. naeun was flustered at first but now she’s used to it lol. taehee would literally just stare at naeun with a loving smile during pre-performance interviews in inkigayo ,, naeun does the same whenever it’s time for taehee to say her lines ^ ^ and whenever they would accidentally make eye contact, they crack up and try to hide their giggles.

taehee was kinda intimidated of doyeon at first ,,, but she thought she was a chill type of person. turns out doyeon had a lot of cute charms in her and taehee always finds herself calling her cute when she does so. they are literally a power duo. whenever the two are mentioned together, fans would gush about how good they would look in a photoshoot together.

iconic moment (yeri bang ep. 11-1) “doyeon’s and taehee’s styles are similar. right?” yeri asks as she picks out beads for the bracelet she’s putting together for taehee. “taehee would want something that goes well with her outfit. she mostly wears monotone or beige colors,” naeun points out.

“ahh naeun, you know me so well,” taehee cooes, and clearly, her eyes were in the shape of hearts. seeing as the she got ignored, yeri drops her mouth open feigning offense. “why didn’t you give me a reaction like that?” she whines, “i knew you before naeun!!!”

“she’s just really interested in naeun,” doyeon hums casually, making the other girls laugh as taehee stood up from her seat. “HEY!!! that’s making me sound like a bad friend and i’m not.”

“are you really?” yeri continues to tease her, causing the said girl to whine and hug her in embarrassment.

blackpink

they’ve met and exchanged numbers in a music show early in their debuts.

she’s the closest with rosé and lisa since their age gap is quite smaller compared to jennie and jisoo.

there have been fancams of taehee watching blackpink perform and once jisoo was on the monitor, we’d see taehee mutter, “ahh she’s really pretty.”

taehee visits blackpink’s table once every award show, and jennie would be so attentive and welcoming of her — fixing her hair, being genuinely interested in what she’s saying, and laughing at her jokes. she was seen clinging onto taehee’s waist at some point, jennie adores taehee :(

taehee’s og aussie buddy is rosé !!!! they talk and eat together a lot, mostly about australia. taehee mentioned her in a radio show talking about the time they both cried in a public restaurant, “we were talking about home and then rosé unnie just started talking about her parents and suddenly i’m tearing up and then she’s tearing up and so we ended up crying while we ate pasta,” she laughed.

lisa thinks of taehee as her little brother. she’s just as energetic as her and taehee’s jokes are what lisa finds so funny. she would join in on a few of rosé and taehee’s hangouts and take lots and lots of pictures of them (and jokingly get mad if one of the girls don’t give her credit when they post on instagram).

iconic moment (200718 rosé instagram live) “you are so hot, rosé,” taehee reads from the comments, making it a sound a little sexy for the effect, the latter widening her eyes at the implication. “how ‘bout me? how ‘bout me?” lisa cuts in, “guys. how ‘bout me?”

“i’m the hottest okay? i’m the hottest,” she presses, rosé repeating what she said in breathy laughter. meanwhile, taehee was looking at lisa with the most sincere eyes she could muster just to tease her, “you are,” she emphasized, “the hottest.”

rosé laughs for the nth time that day as she clutches her stomach before questioning the youngest’s words, “ya, are you a two-timer?”

“no, i just have the prettiest girls beside me.”

ateez’s wooyoung and txt’s yeonjun

more of taehee’s ‘99 liner friends !!!!

taehee met wooyoung when she bumped into ateez in a convenience store near music bank. the leader of ateez greeted her first and a few of the members who were with him became acquainted with taehee, but wooyoung became the closest to her !!!!

(ateez boatta cover dance) “HEY JEON TAEHEE LOOK!!!!” wooyoung shouted before dancing ‘kick it’.

taehee covered ‘say my name’ and ‘answer’ in two of her dance vlives.

then wooyoung introduced yeonjun to taehee when the latter guested as an mc for inkigayo.

(191115 vlive) “oh i really like this song (run away by txt), i listen to this before going to bed sometimes. i’m actually friends with one of the members, yeonjun. ateez’s wooyoung introduced us while i mc’d as a special guest for inkigayo and we exchanged numbers. i really like their songs, especially the vibe.”

taehee is known to be very open with her friendships with other idols, so fans were quite okay with seeing her hang out with the two, her manager trailing a few feet behind them.

iconic moment (191115 vlive) taehee’s laugh trails off once she saw a notification pop-up on her phone. unlocking her phone, she snorts once she checked the message. she proceeds to show the meme to the camera while covering the top part of her phone, “ateez’s wooyoung sent this to our gc with txt’s yeonjun.”

“aha!! d’you guys know? when i send stuff to the gc, sometimes they leave me on read or reply ‘....’ just to tease me,” she rolls her eyes playfully, “but i’m glad we’re comfortable enough to tease each other.”

itzy’s yuna

taehee wanted to make friends to go out of her shell more, and she thought asking her manager to get yuna’s number was the first step.

taehee’s like Really fond of yuna ,,, and she’s glad they got along well real quick so she took her out to eat.

earlier in the year, when superm was touring, yuna sang a snippet of taehee’s solo song and tried to dance all the points of the choreo she could remember.

the fans have yet to see more interactions (or crumbs) from these two — noticing how their age gap is just a year longer than taehee’s and jisung’s, midzyzens would LOVE to see taehee baby yuna :(

iconic moment (200922 yuna instagram live) “nct’s taehee video called me awhile ago. we’re good friends,” yuna shyly giggles in front of the camera. “it’s been a long time since we last talked to each other so she called me, and then told me how much she loved our new album. she told me she really likes ‘not shy’, but she loves ‘be in love’ the most,” she explains further, adding how the nct member loved it because of her ‘killing me, killing me’ verse. 

“taehee unnie is very good to me,” she cutely smiles. “she’s very genuine with her words and she’s really supportive. i hope for us to eat again and become closer in the future.” 

[succulentsunrise]

Hm how about prompt 26 with Grey x Gauche please Sun 🥺💕? Thank you so much~!

26 from this prompt list! Thank you 🥰 hope you like it!! It references some events that happened in the manga, so if you haven't read up to chapter 266, beware of spoilers!

(also yes, if the title sounds familiar, it is a reference to that 😉)

Pairing: Grey x Gauche Note: SFW, fluff with small bits of hurt. ———————————————————

Truth Untold

Act 1 -

I feel like I can do anything with him, Grey thought as Gauche was carrying her on his back. To anyone else it would have looked like Gauche was carrying his double. Grey was still maintaining her disguise as him. Her heart was still racing from the battle’s success. She was in a kind of a high - even her twisted ankle didn’t feel that bad at that very moment. She and Gauche had defeated a member of the Eye of the Midnight Sun together! If her squadmate had been the type to get excited, Grey would have probably high-fived him in no time. Gauche wasn’t like that, however. He was serious and stern.

Gauche was dependable.

Soon after that, the two of them walked into a trap. It was almost laughable, if they weren’t in lethal danger! They had simply walked towards Charmy, who had been sleeping...and now they were captured. Grey panicked easily - she knew this too well. The vines that had wrapped around both of them were not even that tight, but she didn’t know what to do to slip out of them. They were sucking their magic away. She struggled uselessly against them, the previous high giving way to pure fear.

Then, that calm voice whispered to Grey.

When her mind retreated to jumble and fear, Gauche’s voice brought to her what she needed: direction. Her body obeyed before her mind even figured out what Gauche’s plan was. She trusted his plan fully. She trusted him. It wasn’t for naught - her magic and his cunning freed them from the trap. Grey landed to the ground with a small pained noise, as her twisted ankle complained about the rough landing.

Gauche’s calm voice addressed her. Grey turned to look at him, but he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was to the side, one hand scratching the back of his neck. She hadn’t seen him do that very often. He didn’t compliment people often - perhaps that’s why. She had only seen that kind of sincerity in his eyes when he spoke of his little sister. Even if he only complimented her magic, Gauche was encouraging her. It made Grey feel rather fuzzy inside, enough to make her cheeks turn a little warm. She hadn’t expected that from Gauche of all people. She was about to smile, but something else caught her attention - smoke was coming out of her. Her disguise, her magic, was coming undone! In an instant that same old panic overwhelmed her - she wasn’t ready for Gauche to see her! What if he recognized her! She hadn’t prepared for that: it wasn’t a scenario she had practised and played out in her head yet! As the handsome features she had worn turned into her own round face, Grey hid behind her hands. She could feel her cheeks redden with embarrassment, and the knowledge made it worse. A nervous noise left her before she could stop it, only increasing her embarrassment. If only she could control this reaction!

Gauche’s and Charmy’s voices reached Grey’s ears, but she could barely concentrate on them. She peeked from between her fingers, noticing that Gauche wasn’t even looking. That eased her beating heart a little - but not much. Charmy’s clear voice came closer, trying to calm her down. It was sweet, but all Grey wanted to do was to disappear. To be someone else. If she only had mana.

At least Gauche wasn’t looking. That was a relief! - and yet - somehow - disappointing?

No, it was definitely a relief.

Act 2 -

I wonder what he thinks of me, Grey thought. The three of them were gathered around a table: Grey, Gauche and Gordon. The others were on missions or visiting the town. They had originally just eaten together, but thanks to Gordon, they were now pondering whether to play something together. Gauche had tried to withdraw as always, but they had managed to convince him to stay for one game. Grey was glad he had decided to stay. She liked to think part of it was because of her, but that was what had made her wonder in the first place - Gauche saw her as weird, right? Well, it was no good thinking about it right now. If she got embarrassed, she’d just enforce that view! How Grey wished that she could control that in any way, but that was not how it worked. She got so easily anxious...

Gordon brought cards and they began playing. It was easy enough of a game to get into. It distracted Grey from her thoughts. The objective was to get all the cards to oneself by keeping a lookout for a specific type of a card, and when it would appear, by slapping the accumulating card pile. Whoever managed to slap the pile first would get them all. Gauche was very good at it - he had excellent reflexes and a competitive playstyle. Gordon was much slower, taking his time to enjoy the game. Grey felt a little too anxious to make such quick movements. She wasn’t always sure it was the right card, and as she hesitated, Gauche managed to slap it. It went so poorly for her, that she lost all her cards. She only had one round to save herself and that was only if she managed to get a slap out. While being out of the game would be in some way a relief, Grey had to admit she was having fun. She liked watching how confidently Gauche played and how his eyes followed the way the two of them placed the cards into the pile on their turns. She didn’t want the game to be over yet. So Grey steeled herself, readying herself to best Gauche: she would get the next slap! She watched like a hawk for the next card. A round passed, another one - her hand was twitching from anticipation. She had noticed Gauche’s gaze on her. He had noticed her concentration, but there was something else as well. No, Grey shook her head, she had to keep her attention on the cards! As she thought that, Gordon placed a card on the pile. The card. Quick as lightning, Grey extended her hand, noticing that Gauche was doing the same. Their hands struck the card almost at the same time, slapping on top of each other. She could feel his strong hand on hers, more gentle than she expected - and perhaps because of that, Grey anxiously jumped up from her chair and withdrew her hand. Realizing what she had done brought red warmth to her cheeks. She quickly hid her face with her hands, not wanting the others to see that she had gotten embarrassed. She was ashamed of it. She barely managed to get words out, mumbling something about getting scared.

Grey heard Gauche let out a ‘tsk’ noise, and the chair moved. She peeked from behind her fingers to see Gauche standing up. His face was turned away from her, but she could feel the negative aura around him. He was clearly done with the game. She had done this, hadn’t she? The guilt tied her stomach in knots. She watched as Gauche began walking upstairs, looking at his own hand briefly. The one she had touched. Grey sat down to the floor and hugged her knees. Her feelings for Gauche were clear: she wanted to be close to him and she wanted him to like her. Yet, everytime, she managed to ruin it somehow. Maybe there was nothing there. Maybe even with all her knowledge gathered from observing people, maybe she was wrong this time. Maybe Gauche just tried to support her, and she was making it more than it was.

The thought gnawed at Grey’s heart.

Act 3 -

I want him to see me, Grey thought as she sat by the white bed. She felt very tired and hopeless. Gauche had gotten seriously injured in the last fight. She had healed him - according to the court healer, Owen, completely. She didn’t know what to think about that. She didn’t want to think about it. So many terrible things had happened. Even their Captain was gone - no, taken - and a lot of the members were dealing with in their own ways. Grey sighed, her gaze on Gauche. He was bound to wake up any moment now. She hoped it was true. She wanted at least someone to stay by her side. She felt a small twinge of anxiousness at the prospect of Gauche remembering what she had said to him when she had healed the wound - look at me, she had said - and moved her gaze away from him. It was true, though. He had been by her side and supported her. It was easier to do things when someone confirmed what her anxiety doubted. Gauche was the calm harbour in the sea of emotions. Even if he couldn’t erase the embarrassment or anxiety itself, he helped alleviate it. He helped deal with it.

The rustle of sheets caught Grey’s attention. Gauche had woken up. He was sitting upright, looking around him. He seemed ready to go. Grey looked at him quietly, her heart catching onto her throat. He swung his legs to the side and rose up. As he turned to leave, Grey took a light hold of his hand, nervousness beating in her chest. She watched as his gaze turned to her, surprised perhaps, angry - the storm was raging inside him this time.

“Stay,” Grey asked, looking up to him from her chair.

Gauche looked at the delicate hold of his hand. Silence fell as he simply stood there.

Two heartbeats drummed as one.

Slowly, Gauche sat down back at the bed, never breaking the gentle hold of his hand. They looked at each other. Grey could see they were both uncertain. They were both waiting, expecting - wondering. Determination built up inside of her. Yes, she wanted him to see her. Grey stood up, her gaze strangely steady. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. It thrummed wildly.

Gauche's hold was a little stronger, as if gently pulling Grey towards him. She took a step and gently leaned forward, one hand raising to his jaw. The surprise on his face made her stomach twist and hands sweat, but then his gaze dropped lower - to her lips. Grey closed her eyes and kissed him. It was a clumsy, light meeting of lips, bringing great warmth to her face. She flushed completely red. She would have likely withdrawn, if Gauche's hand wouldn't have moved behind her neck and pulled her closer - the next kiss being as clumsy as the first one, but even better. Grey didn't want to move away from him anymore.

They had found happiness in each other's arms.

[obwjam]

would you be able to do a Mandalorian/Pedro Pascal x borrower??

I guess the plot would be where grogu finds the borrower, the borrower is like terrified to death and then mando finds them, and like he has to do something that’ll make them trust him or something?

btw i’ve been reading your stories and prompts like for two hours straight and i just wanna say that i would stay up all night reading your works instead of doing anything else i love them so much 🥺❤️

also, it’s totally okay if you don’t want to, or have a reason not to, i have no idea if you’re still doing requests and stuff or anything. thank you so much though!

ugh oh my gosh thank you thank you!!!! i love to be a sponsor of procrastination. keep up the good work. i truly love the idea of grogu just unknowingly terrorizing a tiny and i’m way overdue to write some mando g/t so let’s go!!!

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Din Djarin found you running for your life, nearly tripping over yourself and screaming so loud that he was sure the entire planet could hear. He was confused at first -- he had never seen a borrower before, and it took him a moment to register what exactly was going on. 

What were you running from exactly? Well, you didn’t know what it was, but it had giant ears, tiny arms, outstretched hands and could waddle as fast as you could run. You recognized the look in its eyes, too. One word: food.

“GROGU! NO!” 

At the sound of another voice, you whipped your head up and subsequently tripped over a rock. You slammed into the ground, gathering yourself for a moment before flipping yourself over and gasping at the sight.

At this point, you kind of wish that fall had killed you. The only thing worse than a bloodthirsty creature trying to eat you was the human who owned it. And, god, you couldn’t even tell where this human started and where he ended. He was covered head-to-toe in shiny metal armor, complete with a dark helmet and some gnarly looking weapons. He looked like a giant-and-a-half. You were done for.

Din cocked his head, tapping the side of his helmet to do a quick scan of you. The scan didn’t tell him much, but it showed him you were four inches tall and scared out of your wits. He frowned at how badly you were shaking.

He held Grogu out in front of him and tilted his head down. “No. No. You can’t be doing that. You hear me? Don’t do that again. No.”

Grogu stared back blankly with a smile and a patoo. Din rolled his eyes and plopped him into his pod before turning his full attention to you. He was surprised that you hadn’t tried to run away, but truth be told, you were frozen in fear. When a human was involved, there was nowhere to run.

Slowly, Din crouched down, trying to a closer look without looming too much. It was impossible to do that, but he was trying. A pang of guilt shot through his stomach as he peered down at you, cowering and starting to cry. Oh boy. 

“Hey, hey...” he started, holding his hands up to show he wasn’t going to do anything. At the movement of his hands, you flinched and moved your arms up to cover your face. 

Din hummed. “No, no. See?” He waved his hands a little. “No weapons. Nothing.”

You gave this curious giant the side-eye. He was clearly a warrior, or a bounty hunter of some kind. Why was he trying to be peaceful?

“What are you doing out here, little guy?” he tried, the helmet masking the true sound of his voice. “There’s a lot of imps around here. It’s not safe.”

You raised an eyebrow, confused as to what imps were, but all of your words were stuck in your chest. You couldn’t tell where this giant was looking or what he was thinking. Not to mention he was absolutely huge. Those boots could crush you in an instant.

“Hmm.” Din spent most of his days talking to a baby who couldn’t speak basic, so this should not have been as big of a challenge as it was. But you were clearly terrified out of your mind with the way your gaze was locked forward and how badly you were trembling. You looked like you were about to vomit. 

“Uh, do you... do you have a name?”

You opened your mouth, but no words came out. Din was about to try another question when the sound of blaster fire filled the air. You both looked toward the source of the sound, and Din quickly whipped his head back to you.

“You need to get out of here. There are some really angry guys coming this way.”

As soon as the giant shifted his position, you assumed the worst. “No!” you cried. “No, pl-please. I... I don’t... please... this--this is my home...”

Din’s eyes went wide as you lost it right in front of him. He could certainly understand your apprehension, but he clearly wasn’t going to hurt you. The Imperials would.

“I know you’re scared, kiddo, but when those Imperials find you, they won’t be as kind to you as I am.” You could barely comprehend what he was trying to tell you. You were far too petrified. Din looked at you, back over his shoulder, and back to you. Those imperials would be here any minute. There was no way you weren’t going to get squashed. He only had one thing left he could do.

“AH!” you shrieked as soon as the gloved hand entered your vision, but it was useless to try to run. Giant digits wrapped around your body, and you clung onto the folds of his glove for dear life as he lifted you into the air at a speed that was far too fast for your liking. Stars popped in and out of your vision as you kicked and punched and yelled in protest. 

Din grimaced, barely able to feel the impact of your struggles. You were clearly overpowered, but more clearly terrified. 

“This is for your own good,” he mumbled, hoping you would hear him as he plopped you down into a brown satchel that was draped over his shoulder. 

Inside the bag, you were clawing for a way out. Screams of LET ME GO! went unheard as the giant started to move. Din was trying his hardest not to jostle you too much, but that was a tall task considering he was fleeing from a legion of stormtroopers who were after the kid.

There were a lot of grunts, screams and blaster bolts, but soon, all was quiet again. You had since shut your eyes and gripped tightly to the walls of the bag to stay stable and ignore the chaos, but it didn’t take long after the violence died down that you realized the giant was still walking somewhere.

“Hey. HEY!” you yelled. Din was ignoring you. There were surely more troopers hot on his tail, so he had to get to the Razor Crest and fast. He pushed Grogu up onto the ship and opened the roof to his pod before hurriedly climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. The deafening sound of the ship powering up made your stomach drop, but it all turned to a soft hum once Din made the jump to hyperspace. 

Light flooded your vision, and you grimaced as that damned hand came reaching for you again. Again, protesting it would be foolish, so you just closed your eyes to fend off the headache that was sure to come when he lifted you too fast. 

Din made sure to go slower this time, and when he held you out in his open palm, he finally got a sense of how small you really were. His fingers were slightly taller than you, and with your knees pulled to your chest, you were more the size of that stupid metal ball Grogu liked to play with. Maybe that’s why he went after you.

“I’m... sorry about that,” Din started, trying to sound earnest. “You were in danger. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

You finally opened your eyes. The view in front of you took your breath away. The sky was swirling blue all around you, but you quickly realized that wasn’t the sky at all. It was space. Hyperspace.

Din huffed a laugh. “First time in space?”

You nodded robotically, forgetting for a moment you were sitting in the palm of a giant. “First time... anywhere.”

Din smirked. He supposed that made sense, but it didn’t make it any less shocking -- or adorable -- to him.

“I’m sorry about Grogu,” he said, as if you were supposed to know who he was talking about. You cocked your head at him. “Grogu. The little green guy that... tried to eat you.”

“Oh.” You shuddered at the memory. “It--it’s okay, I guess.”

A pause.

“I can bring you back to your planet, if you’d like. It wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

You considered this, but something was holding you back. “What... who were those guys? What did they want?”

Din sighed. “Imperials. They were looking for me, but they were also occupying any and all territory they could. I hate to say it, kid, but even if I brought you back, I don’t think your home would be much of a home anymore.”

“It was never that much of a home anyway,” you grumbled. You were surprised that you could tell Din was waiting for you to continue. “I mean, it’s just. That green guy was not the first thing to try and eat me.”

“Oh.” Din didn’t know what to say. 

“It’s fine. That’s just... how it is.” A beat of silence. “Are you... are you going to sell me?”

“Sell you?” Din was confused. “Why would I sell you?”

“I--I thought -- that’s what humans do, isn’t it? Especially ones like you.”

Din frowned. That was not something he had thought of. “No. I’m not going to sell you.”

“...so what are you gonna do with me?”

“I...” Din faltered. What was he going to do? He was so focused on getting you to safety that he didn’t calculate the long-term implications. Through his helmet, he stared at you, your eyes shaking and pleading with him for mercy. You looked so small compared to the space around you. So vulnerable. Din felt this pull toward you; that protective instinct that caused him to change his life for Grogu. At least the kid could defend himself. You couldn’t.

“You can stay here, with me,” Din offered. “Until we can find you a place to live. How’s that sound?”

“Really?” This giant didn’t seem like the hospitable type, but he just shrugged. 

“You’ll be safe here,” he assured. “I promise.”

“What about... Groku?”

“Grogu,” he smiled. “I’ll make sure he keeps his distance.”

You could barely believe this was happening. You were nearly eaten, discovered by a human, kidnapped and killed; now, he was not only offering you shelter, but something you’ve never had in your entire life: protection. Even if it was a trap, what did it matter? What would be his motivation for lying? If he was offering you a place to be safe... how could you possibly turn it down? He didn’t have to try and save you from the Imperials, but he did. Maybe he was being sincere.

You tried to hide your smile, but failed. “Y-yeah. I guess I’ll stay here. I’ll... try not to get in your way.”

“...don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Din said. He gently moved his hand to the console in front of him and placed it down, allowing you to jump off. Din marveled at how some of the controls practically towered over you. “Is this okay?”

Once you got your bearings, you slowly turned around and fully took in the beauty of what was in front of you. It took up your entire vision like the most amazing spectacle in the galaxy. You couldn’t believe you hadn’t experienced this before.

“Yeah,” you said, turning back to Din, who failed to suppress a smile of his own. “This is perfect.”