Tumgik
#and the idea is because they stick by Scar no matter was everyone treats them like red lives and wants them dead
stitchthesewords · 2 years
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Dearest 🍂anon, I heard from a little birdie [scrolling through my dash a few minutes ago] that it was your birthday! Unfortunately, on this day I am fighting my demons [executive dysfunction] so I do not currently have the brain power to write you a little ficlet. oTL however! I went digging through my wips folder and found a snippet of a cowboy idea I had that I never posted! Happy birthday dear 🍂anon! I hope you like it!
The boom echoed in the distance and the little shock-wave it sent out rattled the ground they stood on. Grian wasn’t even looking at the man holding them at gunpoint. “I haven’t done anything,” he said, tips of his wings brushing the ground. Smoke spilled from the doors to the saloon, a fire evidently catching on the dry wood. “Scar lit the dynamite, and I had to get it out of my hands, officer – it could have killed me!”
Grian cackled though he tried to keep up the innocent façade anyway, turning back to the nameless sheriff. The man hadn’t moved, or backed down, and he was honestly a little surprised. They were normally running by now. There was a woodsy scent in the air. Beside him, Scar shook out his match and Grian winced and rubbed his fingertips on his shawl as he felt the heat. The gun tracked his movements, but Grian wasn’t worried.
“Surely you know killing someone who’s still green is just blatant murder, Sheriff! They’ll try you like they do me!” Scar said. His voice had the hint of a drawl, completely fake. “I would hate for you to waste 2 lives.” The sheriff made to shoot.
Mumbo drew faster from where he was on the roof. Grian watched with interest as one of Mumbo’s patented grenades made contact with the ground and sent the sheriff’s body flying. He whistled and leaned on Scar’s shoulder.
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melonteee · 7 months
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Gotta be real, One Piece has a really big flaw in that there's no real threat to losing... characters never die, even after making a big hoopla about 'if that hits you you'll die!' or what have you. The only deaths to stick were Whitebeard and Ace, but they're the exception that proves the rule at this point. There's no threat or tension to characters losing a battle. This is particularly bad in the Skypia arc, where every time a character was struck down by Eneru, it was treated like death... only for everyone to be 100% okay, zero lasting damage. Or Luffy vs Bellamy in Dressrossa - 'the next hit will kill you' - nope he's totally fine afterwards. While I totally appreciate Oda avoiding needless, gratuitous death, he's swerved way to hard in the other direction and now losses have zero tension. No one ever dies or suffers grievous injuries that can change the story. Something like Zoro losing his eye would actually help this, a loss that leaves actual lasting damage... but nope, it happens totally off screen and is never mentioned or impacts the story. When every loss is treated like a death, but isn't, how are we supposed to 1) know when characters are *actually* killed and not just (handwave) hiding and 2) care about possible loss? It feels like being asked which hand Oda holds an apple in, but he can just change the hand if we guess right and tell us we were wrong. And if every battle wound can just be rested off, why should we care about bad wounds? After big battles, they immediately party when it would be far more impactful to show characters weak and recovering but peaceful in their success or something - again, Skypia is a big offender in this and Wano is bad about it as well.
Sorry, I hope this makes sense. I've just been watching One Piece and I can't bring myself to care during battles. There's no risk! It's one thing to avoid unnecessary character death, it's another to have loss have zero lasting consequences. Even the few that do happen, like Luffy's shortened lifespan or, again, Zoro's eye, just don't really effect the story. We were never going to hang around to see Luffy grow old regardless...
I have no idea what you're talking about because if Luffy loses the world is fucked. Were you not on the edge of your seat for his fight with Crocodile? Or his fight with Enel, trying to ring that golden bell? I guess if you focus on the characters themselves and their injuries, yeah it wouldn't matter, but these fights aren't ever just about who gets the biggest wounds. The tension in each fight and battle relies on everything else happening around them, they rely on what the characters are saying to each other and the events that have taken place for these fights to be happening. I also couldn't care less about how many wounds one gets, I couldn't care if Luffy loses and arm or Zoro loses a leg - the emotional and world impact of these fights is what we're looking at.
Law lost an arm against Doffy, did he sew it back on? Yes, but we're not meant to give a shit about that. What we're meant to care about is how much Doflamingo had scarred him, both mentally AND physically, and how he was finally free with Luffy defeating him. Bellamy didn't die because Luffy didn't want to kill Bellamy - that was VERY purposeful - because Luffy's main target was Doflamingo, and Doffy even laughed at how Luffy 'wasted time' not wanting to kill a 'friend.'
One Piece's fights are not something I look at on a physical level, and I don't think that's what they're meant to be. These fights are the cultivations of every single story point we have seen reaching a climax. These fights rely on the mental state of these characters MUCH more than the physical, with a good example being how Zoro was so fucked up after Kuma beat him, that he rushed in head first in Sabaody due to not wanting to be weak.
Luffy's fight with Doflamingo not only had the entirety of the Dressrosa country on the line, but Law had literally been mentally beaten to hell and back due to Doffy's abusing of him. The conversation Law and Doffy had the whole time was fucking terrifying with how Doffy was manipulating him.
Ace's death wasn't even meant to be a 'threat' of the moment, but the most important part was the follow up of how Luffy was mentally distraught from it. I guess if you see it on a simple fighting level, yeah I can see where you're coming from, but death is not the end all be all of consequences and stakes - especially in One Piece's world. I feel SO MUCH tension with every fight in One Piece due to seeing what all these people have been through, due to knowing what will happen if Luffy DOESN'T win, and whether Luffy comes out of it fully healed or not honestly doesn't matter to me. There are huge wounds in all these fights, they're just not physical ones, and Wano especially is a great example of just how everyone was grieving until Kaido's downfall.
This is why I always say, you need to focus on the dialogue more than ANYTHING during fights, because there is TONS of tension there. At least, tension I felt, and risks I could see, but maybe it's just me idk. I don't tend to care about battle shonen to begin with, so obviously One Piece is doing something right in its battles to make me care lmao
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vacantgodling · 3 months
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character questions for the btaf crew!!! 1, 4, 5, 6, 10
thank youuuuu 💛💛💛 rapid answers gogogogo
1. What motivates your character?
biscella: love
eduard: love (derogatory)
sjaak: love (for better or worse)
azelie: love, defiance
silvano: sadism probably.
luis: the idea of purity (he’s a cult leader p much so take of that what you will)
maritxell: luis’s will
rosita: luis’s will and “love” (derogatory and questionable)
gust: to eradicate vampires from the world by any means necessary (also kinda cult-y)
dalal: gust’s goals by any means necessary
florissa: to stay alive and hopefully escape
4. Does your character care about their reputation and/or how others perceive them?
answered this for some of them (eduard, biscella, sjaak and azelie) but for the rest:
silvano: 2/10
luis: -100000000000000/10
maritxell: 10/10 regarding luis, 0/10 for anyone else
rosita: 6/10
gust: -100000000000000/10
dalal: 9/10 regarding gust, 3/10 for everyone else
florissa: 5/10
5. Is your character more of a family or friends person?
the casavantes (luis, maritxell, rosita, eduard, azelie, and silvano) are are more family people bc they’re p much a vampire cult as ya do. the wolves (gust and dalal) are the same.
biscella cares about both equally.
sjaak cares more about his friends because he has no family.
florissa cares about HER family back home that she’s been taken away from. she has some care for the werewolves around her but not enough to abandon them if she got the chance.
6. What, if anything, sticks out about their appearance?
pain and suffering that you asked this LMAO i still don’t know what these characters look like too hard cuz my brain is kind of focused on making sure they’re somewhat historically accurate as well. However, i’ll give you the current defining characteristics of what they look like or their Vibe for now (which is subject to change)
biscella: dark curly hair, a long narrow nose (think india), tan skinned
eduard: pale asf, red eyes, black hair
sjaak: dark skin, afro-centric features, curly hair.
azelie: black hair, olive skin, pale green eyes
luis: pale asf, red eyes, dirty blonde hair
maritxell: pale asf, red eyes, long dirty blonde hair. scars around her mouth.
rosita: pale asf, red eyes, wavy blonde hair. scars around her mouth
silvano: luis 2.0 but younger looking
gust: he’s always wearing a hood or shroud that hides his face as well as a braided turban
dalal: has her hair covered in a scarf of some kind
florissa: long dark hair, several beauty marks across her face and neck
10. If your character is an antagonist or something of the like, do they self-justify their actions? If so, how?
did this for eduard, sjaak, and azelie, so let’s do the other VILLAINS—
luis: of course he self justifies; he doesn’t believe in god but if he did he himself would be god. what he says goes, and it doesn’t matter if he contradicts himself he’ll kill you if you point it out. he rules the casavantes estate with an iron fist and he has killed for it.
maritxell: all of her actions are deemed acceptable under luis’s command and if they are that’s how she justifies them. it doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong if luis says, it goes.
rosita: she doesn’t like… self justify in the traditional way. she Knows she’s jealous and angry and that is her justification to herself, but she knows damn well if eduard wasn’t in the crypt she wouldn’t dream of acting this way towards biscella
silvano: he operates on sadistic radical equality. there is no division of the sexes in his mind and to him everyone should be treated as the same: a sack of flesh used to further the cause. it sounds good on paper until you think about what that entails 💀
gust: vampires need to be eradicated for the good of humankind is what he preaches and sure to some extent he may be correct. However, the steps and methods and lengths he uses to get there are questionable and bordering on morally reprehensible; but for the sake of humanity—
dalal: she doesn’t self justify so much as she acknowledges that in order for humanity to be safe she has to get her hands dirty. she, like azelie, is aware that she will have to do bad things to further her goals, but she doesn’t excuse what she’s done. she just hopes that what she does will lead to a good outcome and impact.
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rachaelnpc · 1 year
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Words.
They hold power.
As it snows, having no internet. No worries, I have 4G or is it 5G? Listening to Zane & Heath Unfiltered, feeling inspired. I have so many ideas for Podcast topics. I feel stressed. Who am I to feel that way? Thinking of those in Ohio affected by the toxic train crash. Thinking of those who lost loved ones in the mass shootings over the weekend. Wondering what I can do to help foster change for a better tomorrow.
Getting closer and closer to letting go of dreams that now seem too far fetched, don't matter in the big picture yet trying to find happy and enjoyment in life.
Ugh, another YouTube ad. I miss having Ad free YouTube on the family plan. Family, sigh. That is a topic. Bah bah Black Sheep - 🎶 Hi, It's me, I'm the Identified Patient, It's me. 🎶 Okay, fun. That is on therapy. I understand it, learned from it, let it go, move forward. If I don't let it go, it then becomes me as the problem. It will turn into resentment and other negative stuck emotions. All I can do is control how I respond. Try not to live in fear.
I ran away, again. I feel safer physically but unsafe emotionally. Each day I gain more trust in those around me and more confidence in myself.
I used to love horror movies. Now, I have a hard time. I was wondering why. There are parts of some movies that send me into an emotional flashback. I'm like - okay drama Llama. When I talk to someone about the event and their jaw drops. I'm like - Uh that is a mild event.
When I try to talk about a heavy event I can bearly get it out without physically shaking, sobbing and sitting in the smallest ball I can - tucking my feet underneath me and sitting on my hands slightly rocking. WTF am I doing? I look like a crazy person. Why am I still talking? Why am I staring at the floor? Everyone is uncomfortable. This was the first time I talked about the time he tried to kill our ferret.
It has been sad realizing how I have hidden the truths from myself. I had a routine for when his emotions started to get out of hand. Let the dogs out, know where your phone is, know where your keys are, my important cards in a small purse, already having an overnight bag packed with dog items, have a go-to hotel picked out that allows three dogs.
That is crazy, I would tell myself. You are overreacting, playing the victim. It isn't THAT bad. *Thanks mom* 😒
I can blame her all I want. At the end of the day that was on me for staying, trying to work it out. I felt like I didn't deserve more. I was drowning in self-pity. Look at how I was treated. Most would wear down to nothing, too. No, most would have walked away a long time ago. Most also haven't experienced the loss of a mother along with the many other unfortunate experiences that shaped my self hatred. There were also experiences that lifted me up, gave me hope to believe in myself.
Thank goodness I am stubborn. I never gave up on myself even though that was all I wanted to do in certain moments. There was always something that would inspire me to keep going. Some spec of hope or happiness that kept me going. I held onto those specs through all of the darkness.
I want to be that piece of hope or happiness for others. I want people to keep going, to heal, to make it out the otherside. Don't let the darkness win. Which is also why I stayed. Hurt people hurt people. He was hurting. I thought I could love it all away.
I knew they were a shark. The shark told me they would never hurt me. I believed them. The shark said they didn't believe me, asking me to prove it by sticking my hand in their mouth. I did. I stuck my hand in a shark's mouth. I have no reason not to trust them. Who am I to judge? People assume the worst when it comes to sharks. Sharks deserve to be loved, too. I was close enough to see all of their scars. People don't understand sharks because they never get close enough to really see them, what they have been through. They don't take the time to get to know them. It hurt me to think about. They told me they didn't want to be a shark. I was sure I wouldn't get hurt. The shark would get upset at times. I would flinch. The shark shared how that hurt them to see me fear them like that. They asked me to put my whole arm in their mouth this time. 'Prove to me that you trust me.' I looked into their eyes. I could see the wild rage inside them. I trusted them. They aren't like their shark family. I slowly reached my arm all the way back into their mouth as tears streamed down my face. I thought, If I don't believe in them that would crush them, how would they react? The shark laughed. 'You're so cute. The way you are trying to push past your fear. You have the power to hurt me the deepest. Here you are, trying so hard to love me. You don't know my secrets. I only act this way and have secrets because you don't love me enough.' He bit down on my shoulder. 'This is so satisfying.' He said as the water around us became clouded in blood. I felt a sharp pain in my chest, then everything went numb. I swam as fast as I could to shore. Once I got to the beach I curled up in a ball and wept. People came out of the tree line to patch me up, get me water, a warm meal, words of support. Looking back, it was obvious I'd lose my arm. There were many warning signs. It wasn't that they were a shark. It was how they veiwed themselves. It was just a matter of time. Most think I deserved to lose my arm for being so stupid. I learned a lot from losing my arm. I am grateful I wasn't swallowed whole. I like to think the shark feels bad about it. Their actions support that they don't. They carry on, swimming like it didn't happen. Anyone that asks about me are told the story of how I didn't love him enough. My story is how I tried my best, gave everything and it was never enough. The truth is mixed in there somewhere. I sometimes miss the ocean. I wonder how the shark is. I hope they will not test another person's trust the way they did with me. Hopefully he has changed. I have no reason to believe he has changed, unfortunately.
They hold power.
Words.
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tuxedo, m | myg
pairing(s): yoongi x reader, mentions of previous jungkook x reader
summary: Your cat turns into a man. No, not, your cat was always a man and turned back into a man. Your actual cat turns into an actual man and neither you or your cat (man? cat-man?) have any idea why he's human now. Also, he's naked, so that’s a problem. Also, he’s kind of attractive. Yikes.
warnings: rated M (18+) for language, mentions of the coronavirus pandemic; possibly full-on crack; Yoongi still thinks he’s a cat; mentions of smut (fem reader, m-receiving oral (choking on a dick, but not in a sexy way), doggy, spanking, wall-fucking, unintentional??? voyeurism); non-idol!AU - cat!Yoongi x human!reader; ft slightly cocky Jeon Jungkook and you being mad horny for him, what’s new; breaking of the fourth wall; are YOU a furry? you decide
an anon asked for cat hybrid Yoongi, although instead this is some voodoo witch doctor shit, whoops yes, I do reference BT21, Bob Ross, the lady-pointing-to-the-cat-accusingly meme, list goes on... and there is a cameo of 2021 Seasons Greetings Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin XD
--
Your lungs were being crushed.
You were bundled in your duvet, wrapped like a mint-colored burrito, on your back, head nestled comfortably in your memory foam pillow. Warm, cozy, snuggly. All things considered, a comfortable position. So comfortable that you were blessedly asleep for many hours until your lungs started getting crushed.
You cracked one eye open.
A giant tuxedo fluffball was causing this slow and painful death.
“Get off.”
You glared with slitted eyes, voice cracking from sleep. The fluffball did not move. Velvety, pointed black ears flicked back and forth. The little pink nostrils flared a bit, breathing evenly and contentedly. At least one of you was. You grunted in irritation. The minty-green eyes opened, black slits for pupils.
“I’m going to die.”
Your cat meowed in your face.
“Shut the fuck up. Get off.”
He yawned.
You narrowed your eyes and lips into lines. Stared at your insufferable, not-so-subtle tuxedo cat that was killing his owner. How long had he and his seven-kilogram ass been sitting on your tits? Too long because your sternum was already aching. You rolled over and he gave you a disgruntled meow as he tumbled off. You pulled your arms out and gave him a soft scratch behind his ears before reaching around to his white belly and patting his chest. He started purring, rolling to his side, white sock-like paws sticking up.
“Ugh, my chest hurts, Shooks. You’re a dick.”
Your cat gave zero fucks.
You were still petting him. Sigh.
“I’m getting up,” you announced to no one except your cat.
You tugged yourself out of your comfy, mint-colored duvet and winced, rubbing your breastbone. Did you buy this bedding set because it reminded you of your cat’s eye color? Yes. Were you a crazy cat lady? Maybe. In your defense, you hadn’t meant to become a crazy cat lady. You were innocently walking on the street when the tuxedo-patterned cat started following you. A large cat with big minty eyes surrounded by black fur like black bangs. White snout and jaw, pink nose, and a raspy meow. The tuxedo pattern was pretty similar to an actual suit, with a white chest and black fur over its back and limbs. White, sock-like paws, on the bigger side. Cute pink toe beans too. At the time, he was skinny and dirty, no collar around his neck, but you could tell he was long-limbed. He had a cut on his right eye, caked with blood.
“You alright, little guy?”
The cat seemed to scoff at you disapprovingly, as if to say, do I seem like a little guy to you?
“I guess you’re not a little guy. You have an owner?”
The cat’s response was headbutting your calf.
You took him back to your apartment and then it was doomed.
Why was his name Shooks? Well, actually, your cat’s name was Shooky, and it was because you tried many names to get him to respond to you – including, but not limited to, “you little shit” – and he responded to none of them except Shooky. For some reason, Shooky made him turn his black-and-white face around and look at you.
Shooky it was.
The first encounter was cute, but after you had fed him and given him a few pats, you gave him a good, hard taste of reality. Shooky was very upset about getting a bath for the first time. There had been a lot of angry meowing, although thankfully he hadn’t swiped at you very much. As soon as you got mostly undressed and sat in the bath with him, he seemed to relent. Maybe it was because you closed the glass door and he couldn’t leave.
“Do you see how dirty you are? You need a bath.”
He gave you a disapproving meow.
“Look, I even bought pet shampoo and you’ll get treats after. Come on, you.”
He was very displeased.
In any case, Shooky was now your primary companion, a large, long-limbed, fluffy tuxedo cat, following you around as you brushed your teeth and made breakfast, his new black collar jingling with a tiny silver bell. Every morning, you handed him his dry food first – he chomped down immediately – and made yourself some breakfast as he ate. Somehow your life now revolved around him, spending time looking up the best cat food (without paying an arm and a leg, you weren’t a sugar momma), making sure he was brushed (his hair got everywhere), telling everyone you needed to get home because you couldn’t miss his dinnertime (if you were a second late opening the door, Shooky would start meowing very exaggeratedly, like he was dying, what a drama queen). Was he annoying? Yes. Was he the best cuddle buddy? Also, yes. Kind of like a boyfriend, but better, because Shooky didn’t talk back.
You arranged your small dishes on the table. Tofu. Eggs. Pickled squash. Just enough for one. You sat down, holding your bowl of steamed rice.
A tuxedo furball jumped onto the table, licking his chops.
“Look here, this isn’t for you. Shoo.”
He settled onto the tabletop and stared at you as you ate.
Sigh.
-
Live with a cat was pretty similar to life without one.
Except for that weird habit Shooky had of sitting on your bathroom rug when you got out of the shower, scaring the shit out of you the first time. You lived alone, so you didn’t really bother closing doors, but you considered changing that. But it was just a cat. Also, he walked in here of his own volition. Not your fault if his eyes were scarred.
Shooky was a normal cat, but also a weird cat.
He slept a lot. Normal. He bit his paws sometimes. Weird. You figured maybe it was his nails, so you learned to trim them and he seemed better about it, but sometimes when he was stressed, you would notice fur missing from his little white socks. A lot of things could stress a cat. The internet taught you that. You brought him toys and played with him, but mostly he seemed to want you to sit down so he could plant himself in your lap. This make life rather difficult, so you decided it was time to invest in Netflix so you could at least use your time wisely.
This was for your cat, remember.
Yes, binging shows on Netflix was for your cat.
The weirdest thing was…
Shooky was always stressed when you invited a man into your home.
Maybe he didn’t like men. Something in his past, maybe? Could be. Come to think of it, did you even like men? That was a question for another day, but in any case, your cat always gave you this accusing stare when you brought a guy over, no matter how nice the guy was, even if the guy petted him very gently. Shooky never attacked them. He just glared at you like you had betrayed him somehow. How could that be?
What a needy drama queen.
You figured, eh, it didn’t really matter. He wasn’t trying to sabotage your chances of finding true love and all that stuff. 
Who are we kidding?
You’d settle for a simple good dicking.
Well, there was that one time.
That time you were in the middle of giving a guy a blowjob. It was going great. You were naked, he was naked, he had a tattooed arm – hot as fuck – and he was very vocally enjoying your tongue technology. Hey, you didn’t have many talents, but you had that going for you. Even if a guy was mildly apprehensive about banging you, once you got your mouth on his dick, it was game over. You mentally patted yourself on the back for doing such a good job.
Positive reinforcement, right?
Annnnnnnd then…
Your cat jumped onto your back and made you choke on his dick.
“Urk!”
“Oh, fu–”
All seven kilos right between your shoulder blades. Oof.
“Are you okay?” He was half-worried, half-laughing, and Shooky was climbing up your back, pressing onto your neck, one paw on the nape, trying to murder you by dick suffocation. It took both of you to lift you off the dick – sad – and Shooky left a few scratches on your neck, as if to communicate his distaste of your infidelity. The guy was really nice about it. Actually, he found it hilarious. You scowled at Shooky and he gave you that deadpan stare that all cats seemed to have. The rest of the night was hot and heavy like you wanted and you even eventually got to complete said blowjob, which brightened your spirits.
It was a little disorienting that your cat was watching you from his cat tree the entire time.
Creep.
Honestly, you would have kept dating that guy if he didn’t move to a different city. Sigh.
Eventually, you stopped bringing men over.
One, because Shooky. Two, because worldwide pandemic.
Sigh.
-
The night that changed everything was ordinary.
Too ordinary.
You were passed out on the couch, halfway into season six of American Horror Story, somewhat peeved because you wanted to watch the other seasons, but geez, season five had such a poor story and hard focus on gore that it slightly turned you off. That it was a lot, even for you. Season six was better, but slow. The first four seasons had really hooked you and the idea of them all being connected? Nutty. You wanted to watch all of it.
Idea of season five? Awesome.
Lady Gaga? Yeah, why not, you’d be seduced.
Execution? Eh… could be better.
Shooky hadn’t watched any of it. He just slept in your lap.
Subtitles really helped you out here. You didn’t understand how the English-speaking audience could hear the whispering parts, but maybe that was because your English was garbage. You could read better than listen.
At the moment, you weren’t reading shit.
You were half-tucked in a fuzzy black blanket with a tuxedo cat pattern. Did you see the tuxedo cat pattern and buy it immediately? Yes. Were you a crazy cat lady? Maybe. In any case, your head was cocked at an awkward angle on the couch cushion and your mouth was open, snoring away. Attractive. You were wearing mint-colored, striped pajamas, one arm hanging off the couch and the other on Shooky’s furry butt, because you had been petting him.
Netflix was doing that annoying thing where it was asking you if you were still watching or not.
You couldn’t respond.
Shooky was awake.
Your cat was staring at your laptop on your coffee table. It was open. An HDMI cable connected it to your television. Not a clean setup, but an effective one. Again, you lived alone. Who was going to judge you? Your tuxedo cat?
Pfft.
Your cat was awake.
He got off your lap and hopped to the coffee table, peering at your laptop. Then he did what any sensible cat would do.
He walked all over your keyboard.
Circling around and around, smashing all the buttons with his cute pink toe beans, looking for a comfortable spot before settling down and planting his fluffy body on top of it. Windows closed, tabs appeared, the volume got muted, your display settings got fucked, the usual.
The unusual part was that your cat was looking at the screen.
Your internet browser was open.
A video was playing on a mysterious website.
A handsome young man with a boxy smile was wearing a sienna floral dress shirt and sunglasses, oddly paired with flared violet pants. He was standing next to another young man with an angelic face who, for some reason, was wearing a pastel floral handkerchief around on his head and a white-and-navy tracksuit with black, red, and green stripes. They were standing in some weird set with a black tablecloth covered round table and a lavender crystal ball, crystal-like beaded curtains glinting in strangely colorful lighting.
There was no volume.
Your cat tilted his head at the screen, curious.
The man with the boxy smile was speaking excitedly, gesturing to the angelic-looking man who seemed to be in awe. A retro, old school graphic popped up, flowers surrounding a blocky orange and green serif font, mildly tacky but somehow endearing in its own way.
COULD WISHES REALLY BE GRANTED?
Your cat tilted his head the other way.
Your cat didn’t know Korean.
… Right?
Well, you did mostly speak to him in Korean. Maybe he was secretly fluent. He definitely knew, don’t fucking do that, because you would witness him doing the very thing you told him not to do right after you said it. Bastard. But you couldn’t bear witness to this now. You were knocked out on the couch.
Zzz.
Boxy-smile guy placed his fingers elegantly on his forehead, mock dismay on his features, acting as if he couldn’t believe the viewer’s skepticism. Angel-looking guy placed his hands in prayer position, the text now reading, I won’t believe you unless you prove it! Boxy-smile guy flourished to the camera, showing off his brilliant pearly-white smile, mouthing words unheard. Text appeared once more.
Make a wish, any wish!
Your cat closed his eyes and appeared to be asleep.
The video turned black and disappeared into purple sparkles.
Your internet browser unexpectedly closed.
-
You woke up with a painful stitch in your neck and Shooky nowhere to be found.
“Fuck…”
You tried to get up, but underestimated the cramp in your back and fell onto the hardwood floor.
“Fuck!”
You blamed the pandemic for fucking up your sleep schedule. Also, getting old. Fuck getting old and being an adult. Time didn’t stop just because you didn’t go to work. Well, not true. You did go to work; your work was just different now. You were YouTube video editor, which meant you were mostly edited video game montages now instead of travel vlogs. The work was slower now. People were getting discouraged, taking breaks, because, you know.
Pandemic.
Sigh.
Anyway, not the point. You were grateful that your work was mostly internet and computer-based. Not everyone was so lucky. You were also grateful that you didn’t work in an industry that was too negatively affected by the pandemic. It had started off as a hobby, but then the creators you were helping unexpectedly blew up, needing your help more and more. You fell into it by accident, but that’s how life was. Happy little accidents. You couldn’t complain. As long as you had some income to feed your cat and you, that was enough.
Speaking of cat.
“Shooky?”
No meow.
Huh.
He normally would meow or trot over to you when called. He was weirdly affectionate like that.
You were still on the floor, on hands and knees, crick in your neck and back aching. Ah yes, age was just a number until your back pain flared up due to repeated nights of unintentionally falling asleep on the couch. Lovely. You stretched out your back with a groan and yawned, cracking your neck.
“FUCK!”
That hurt. Ugh, you really needed to stop sleeping on the sofa. You untangled yourself from your blanket and headed to the bathroom, rubbing your neck. You still didn’t see your fluffy, seven-kilogram, kind-of-an-ass tuxedo cat, but whatever. He had to be in the apartment. He couldn’t exactly leave. He was a cat. What was he going to do, grow legs and opposable thumbs?
Pfft.
You shoved your toothpaste-covered toothbrush in your mouth and began brushing your teeth. You hummed, trying to remember if you had any deadlines. Eh, they were on your Google calendar. You would check it after washing up. You spat and brushed for a few more minutes, thinking about nothing. This was nice. Sometimes it was nice to think about nothing. No major problems to address, simply a chill and routine morning.
Seemed sufficient.
You reached over to the spit cup and put some lukewarm water in it before taking your toothbrush out and sipping some water to gargle the minty suds out.
You heard a deep, raspy voice call your name.
“Hmm?”
You looked in the mirror.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Your mouth was full of dirty toothpaste water, cheeks puffed out.
The voice called your name again, quietly.
Nervously.
Your eyes widened, staring into the mirror in shock.
A pale man was standing behind you, wearing your mint-colored duvet over his shoulders. Messy black hair to his rounded cheeks, dark brown cat-like eyes, small pink pout. His nose was a little red, as if he was cold. There was a black choker on his neck, with a silver bell. He was taller than you, and he looked very confused.
Also.
Pointed, velvety black ears on top of his head, white tufts of fur sticking out, flicking back and forth.
You spat all over your mirror in shock.
“Urk–!”
The man jerked back as you threw your head into the sink, hastily taking another cupful of water to rinse out your mouth because, WHAT THE FUCK WAS GOING ON? Why was there a man in your apartment? With fucking cat ears? That moved? What kind of kinky shit was that? Were you dreaming? What the fuck?! You grabbed the hand towel from its hook and furiously wiped the dirty water off your mirror, completely convinced you were having sensory and auditory hallucinations. Did you drink last night? Accidentally buy groceries laced with LSD? Snorted three kilos of cocaine off a hooker? Who the fuck knows, but there was no fucking way that you let some fucking man in your home, because, one, pandemic and, two, Shooky–
You froze.
The pale man with black hair was still there, standing in the doorway of your bathroom, looking slightly disgusted, but also scared.
He said your name again. A question, almost like a raspy meow.
It was…
Familiar?
You violently wiped your bathroom mirror some more, nearly cracking the glass.
The man was still there, wearing your mint-colored duvet.
Slowly, slowly, you turned around to face this man, your neck cracking loudly, sending searing pain up the back of your head and reminding you that, nope, this is not a dream, and if it was, it was a very shitty dream because at least in a dream you shouldn’t actually feel pain. You looked up at this man, at his fluffy black bangs shading his dark attentive eyes and pale face, chewing on his lip, clutching your duvet around his body like a giant mint cloak.
The cat ears on his head twitched.
“Uh…”
You blinked at him, watching the ears.
“Do… I know you?”
He gave you an eerily recognizable deadpan stare. “I think you do.”
No way.
What?
No.
This wasn’t possible.
You’re drunk, high, or in purgatory.
(You did have sex before marriage.)
“S… Shooky?” you croaked.
The man took a deep breath and shook his head.
“Actually, my name is Min Yoongi.”
You blinked at him. “What? You have a name?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
Relief washed over you. “What do you mean, you guess? That means you’re a human being! With a birth certificate! Thank God, I thought you were my fucking cat for some reason, haha, that’s so fucking ridiculous–!” For some reason, the idea of a random stranger being in your home was much more comfortable to you than you damn cat becoming a human being, because for a hot second, you thought… but no, no, that’s stupid. “Speaking of ridiculous, these ears are crazy dude, they look almost real–”
You reached up and yanked on one of the velvety ears.
“Ow, what the fuck!”
Oh.
Oh my God.
OhmyfuckingGodthey’reattachedtohishead.
“What the FUCK?” you bellowed and a large pale hand shot out of the duvet to clamp one of his cat ears down, shrinking away from you.
“Stop yelling, please, I have sensitive hearing,” Yoongi winced, ticking his head, as if he was trying to flatten the other ear too, but couldn’t. His other hand was holding tightly to the mint duvet.
You saw a glimpse of a pale chest.
Your eyes widened into the size of saucepans.
His hand darted back into the duvet and clamped it shut from your bulging eyes, frowning. He quickly bundled himself up and straightened, thinning his mouth into a line. A few seconds passed. You gawked at him, jaw slack. The pale man sighed heavily.
“My name is Min Yoongi. My parents gave me that name. I don’t think I have a human birth certificate because I’m not a human. I am a cat. You used to call me Shooky, but Min Yoongi is my name, so I would appreciate it if you called me by my given name.”
Your jaw went even more slack.
“Cats… have names?” you squeaked.
Yoongi made a face at you. “Of course, we do. We are not savages.”
“B… But…” You frowned, shoulders falling. “You seemed to like the name Shooky…”
Yoongi shrugged his duvet-covered shoulders. “It sounded better than all the other names you suggested.”
You puffed your cheeks, placing your hands on your hips. “What was wrong with Tata? Or Chimmy? Or Cooky?”
Yoongi gave you a disapproving glare. “Well, perhaps in a parallel universe the name Shooky is somehow important to me. In any case, it was the best suggestion.”
You narrowed your eyes, frowning. “You little shit.”
“I especially disliked that one. Seemed a bit discriminating to our size difference…” He paused, looking down at you. “At the time anyway.”
Your hands fell, looking up at your cat. Er. Min Yoongi. “So, uh… Yoongi…?”
He tilted his head, peering curiously at you under his black bangs. “Hm?”
You pointed at him, gesturing up and down. “Why are you, uh… a man?”
He looked down at the duvet covering his body. You stared at your bedding wrapped around him. Why was he wearing it anyway? In fact, all you could see was a black choker with a silver bell. The mental lightning bolt suddenly hit you. Oh. Your neck began to heat. Your ears began to heat. Your whole face began to heat. Oh. Oh? Oh! Shooky – er, Yoongi? – whatever, your cat didn’t wear clothes. He only wore a collar… which meant…
It felt like your whole body was on fire with abrupt realization.
Yoongi looked up at your mint-pajama-wrapped, now tomato self still pointing at him.
“I don’t know why I’m a man.”
One of his eyebrows raised. Then Yoongi smirked.
An open-mouthed, amused smirk.
“And yes, I’m naked. Your clothes don’t fit me. I tried.”
-
Your cat, er, man? Cat-man? What even... never mind, Min Yoongi was sitting on your bed, still wrapped in your mint duvet like a key lime cake roll, waiting as you rummaged around in your dresser, searching for literally any piece of clothing that might possibly fit him. The problem was, you worked from home, so you didn't exactly own a plethora of different clothing options. Your daily wardrobe consisted of slinky black leggings...
"They're stretchy?" you suggested timidly. 
Yoongi had blinked at you. "I don't think so."
"It could work?"
He pursed his lips together. "I think you're forgetting something."
You gave him a blank look. "Huh?"
Yoongi gave you his deadpan stare. "I believe you are well acquainted with human male genitalia."
Oh.
Right. 
He had a dick.
You turned red and robotically shoved your leggings back into their place. A sudden thought flitted across your brain and you spun back to face him, blurting it out before filtering yourself. 
"Hahaha, good thing I never got you fixed, eh?"
Yoongi blinked very, very slowly. It was hard to tell if he was annoyed, amused, or wanted to murder you. In conclusion, typical cat behavior. 
"I'm not fond of the idea of castration, so I suppose so."
Awkward.
Your vet had suggested it, but since he had been an indoor cat and you weren't intending on getting another, you figured you wouldn't put him under the unnecessary surgery and it would help you avoid the cost. A little irresponsible? Maybe. But you were very careful not to leave the front door open and, so far, he hasn't had the chance to get some poor lady cat knocked up.
Unfortunately…
He knew you considered permanently removing his nuts. Yikes.
Sorry, Shooks. Er, Yoongi. 
In any case!
The other half of your daily wardrobe was sweatshirts, but Yoongi's shoulders were too broad for them and he was too tall. Why was he so big anyway? Well, he wasn’t exactly big, just long-limbed. You guessed he was actually on the leaner side, judging from the way the duvet wrapped around him and the brief flash of long fingers, slim forearm, and toned chest. He had been a larger cat.
Seven kilos turned into... him?
You suddenly started and yanked open your underwear drawer, shuffling through it to get to the back and pull out a neatly folded dark gray blob.
"I have this–"
"No."
The response was so forceful and dismissive that you froze, the dark gray fabric unfurling in your loose grip. It was a large men's sweatshirt, soft, charcoal, slightly acid-wash, covered with white paint stains. Eggshell white, to be exact. The exact paint color of this very bedroom, because you had worn it to repaint over that original disgusting beige color.
"Why not?" you inquired, holding it up by the shoulders. "It'll fit you, for sure. It used to be..."
Yoongi kept his completely neutral expression trained on you as you reached your revelation, his dark eyes observing every detail of your body's reaction to the memory. Your grip on the sweatshirt tightened. You felt your cheeks and ears heat, pulse roaring in your ears.
Oh.
Er, right, so…
That one time that Shooky – no, Yoongi? – jumped on your back and made you choke on a dick? Yeah, that guy. Tattoo guy. Yeah, well, before that incident, tattoo guy was the friend of a friend who offered to help you paint your apartment because he had experience working construction – “helped my dad fix-up a house to resell for a couple months,” he had said with his disgustingly cute, cheeky grin, making you nod like an idiot and your pussy throb with his endearing adorableness – and you had moved all the furniture out so you two could get it done quickly.
You had to put your cat in the bathroom.
You didn’t want him to breathe in the fumes or get paint on his luscious fur. It was for his own good.
Tattoo guy had appeared in said charcoal sweatshirt, black ripped jeans, and the most attractive thighs in the whole damn universe, just out and about, giant holes exposing tan skin and taut muscle. Your eyes widened, frozen at your front door.
Oh yeah, he had paint rollers too. You hadn’t given a shit about those in that moment.
He had noticed you staring and laughed sheepishly. “Sorry, I just wore the ugliest pants I own. It might get messy, you know?”
No, tattoo guy. No one thought your pants were ugly.
You sure as hell didn’t.
“Oh, yeah, that’s why I wore this gross t-shirt,” you said absentmindedly, referring to your four-sizes-too-large, free t-shirt that had been chucked at your head while walking past your university common area. It was a hideous chanteuse with magenta writing, a color combination that absolutely deserved to go to hell, and could not even be saved by the quirky, stylish, thrift-savvy TIkTokers of today. It was the ugliest thing you owned, so you wore it to repaint your bedroom.
Now you regretted it.
Tattoo guy looked you up and down. He smirked under his long black hair.
“Your body still looks great though.”
“… Urk?”
Didn’t really matter that you couldn’t conjure a sexy response, because, clearly, tattoo guy had made his decision leagues before arriving here. Painting a bedroom? Oh, yeah, you did that, and with way too much sexual tension. A man should not be that flirty while holding two paint rollers and speed painting your walls. What were you supposed to do? You barely knew the guy. All you managed to do was make awkward small talk to get to know him better. Then he took off his sweatshirt.
“Wait, that’s illegal.”
He had smirked at you, spinning the paint roller in his hand, white t-shirt molded to his body. “Hm?”
You were being mildly disrespected, but also you were gawking at his tattooed right arm and his blindingly beautiful forearms. Cough, no. You didn’t have a thing for attractive forearms. Wasn’t like staring at this muscular pair was making you weak at the knees or anything. Okay, maybe. But you weren’t going to say it out loud. Tattoo guy ticked his chin below you, to the floor. Your job was to paint the little nooks at the corners, ceiling, and baseboards. You spent a whole lot of your job sneaking glances at him and getting caught.
Shit.
“You missed a spot.”
You whipped your head to the floor, craning your head to look for it. A paint roller appeared beside you, pointing to a small sliver for nasty beige. He had a clear, silvery voice.
“Right here.”
You frowned at it and raised your paintbrush in warning to the offensive beige, ready to strike.
“… Noona.”
You started and fell over.
You sputtered, legs tangled, oversized shirt flipping up, trying not to drop the paintbrush and drawing a fat streak across the unpainted wall. You shook your head roughly, clutching the handle of the brush, cool draft floating up your shirt.
Tattoo guy appeared above you, grinning, his front teeth slightly too large and giving him the appearance of a rambunctious bunny.
“You alright?”
You felt your neck and ears heat. No, you were not alright. Yes, you were older, but that didn’t… that wasn’t the time… You didn’t expect it, that’s all. You tried very hard not to look at his thighs. Or his face. Or his chest. Just didn’t look at him. Also, you were pretty sure you were flashing him and pretty fucking sure you didn’t give a shit.
You coughed awkwardly. “Yup, I’m good.”
Back to copious sexual tension complemented by paint fumes.
Once the first coat was down, you two stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the plastic drop cloth, him banishing a paint roller and you a paintbrush. Challenge complete and it didn’t take you very long. Nice.
“We have to let it dry and then we can paint another coat,” he was explaining.
“It looks fine like this.”
Tattoo guy clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “Once it dries, it will look uneven. Trust me.”
You frowned. “Okay. How long should we wait?”
“Couple hours, at least.”
A couple hours? You frowned more. “What are we supposed to do until then?”
He didn’t reply. You turned your head to face him and tattoo guy was staring at you with a smile.
Uh oh.
He was spinning the paint roller with one hand. You felt your ears and neck heat. He switched from his left hand to his right, seamlessly. Incredibly sexy. Were the paint fumes getting to you? You gulped, awkwardly gesturing to the paintbrush.
“Let me just… put this down…”
You turned around and balanced your paintbrush in the paint tray, only to gasp as your felt something foamy roll down your back, covering you with the strong stench of paint. It stopped above the curve of your ass, unable to roll smoothly any longer.
“Hmm, can’t get past your juicy ass, noona,” he teased.
You spun around, cheeks flushed, sputtering.
No, no. You didn’t forget tattoo guy’s name. You remembered it, even now. Remembered saying it in multiple different ways, even.
“Jeon J-Jungkook!”
In surprise, streaks of paint in your hair, him smirking, dropping the paint roller on the other plastic tray and somehow not tipping it over, thank goodness, him walking up to you, taking the bottom of your paint-covered chanteuse university t-shirt, leaning down to whisper hotly against your lips.
“Ah, sorry, it seemed like you didn’t like that shirt very much,” he breathed, sending your brain into overdrive with the heat against your skin, his knuckles brushing your thighs. “You can wear my sweatshirt instead, if you like.”
Your eyes widened, staring at him in shock.
“J… Jungkook…”
In breathlessness, heart pounding in your chest, gaze locked with mischievous dark chocolate orbs, his teeth catching his lower lip, tiny mole underneath revealed.
“Yeah?”
Why was his voice so deep? The tiny tip of his pink tongue darted out, licking his lips enticingly.
“… Noona?”
This man was illegal.
Your hands darted down and gripped his, catching your lower lip in your teeth as well, matching his lip bite, seeing the eagerness growing in his eyes.
Someone should call the police. Or an ambulance.
You grinned, cocking an eyebrow. “I don’t want to wear anything around you.”
But not for you.
There was a very loud meow from your bathroom, but before Jungkook could ask, you yanked your shirt up and over your head. He gasped and instantly it was lips on lips, messy kisses and stumbling to the living room were your bed, dresser, nightstands, bookcase, knickknacks, everything scattered everywhere, but Jungkook and you were too busy yanking off clothes and getting frisky to give a shit.
Yikes.
You stared at Yoongi now, red from head to toe, clutching the dark gray sweatshirt. He rolled his eyes and looked away from you.
“I… washed it?” you offered weakly.
Yoongi’s dark brows raised from under his black bangs. “Mmm, you forget that I have quite keen hearing. I’m not deaf like you, human.”
The color drained from your face.
Well.
Maybe, just maybe, Jungkook got you to wear his dark gray sweatshirt, forcing you – respectfully, he called you noona, after all – to get on your hands and knees for him, then make you wait in said embarrassing position with his sweatshirt bunched around your neck – because, er, gravity – while he casually made you watch him roll the condom on, highly amused by your impatient glare, only to move away and slowly shove his dick inside your soaking wet pussy and spank your ass until you backed up into him enough times to make yourself cum on his stiff length without him moving his hips.
Respectfully, of course.
“Fuck, noona, that was so fucking hot…”
“Jungkook,” you gasped breathlessly, ass stinging in glorious pain. “F-Fuck me, please.”
He made you scream.
He fucked your hard, making the bed creak, pounding you so roughly into the mattress that your fingers curled into the mint sheets, and when you gasped that you were close, he fucking stopped, the damn sadist, causing you to slam your fists into the bed and buck back into his crotch, Jungkook chuckling at your desperation. In your haze of begging for Jungkook’s cock, you heard a judgmental meow from your bathroom, but before you could address it, Jungkook seemed to have accepted your pleading and began to thrust into you once more, making you lose your train of thought and all thoughts in general, except your dire need to orgasm.
Jungkook had made you moan for hours.
Right now, however, Yoongi’s sharp look was making you mute. You were so mortified that you swore your soul stood up and walked out of your body, too ashamed to be in Yoongi’s presence any longer.
“Mmm,” the dark-haired man mused absentmindedly, pointed ears flicking.
From spitting onto the mirror to mentioning his possible castration to remembering that you had locked Yoongi in the bathroom for hours to have mind-blowing sex with Jeon Jungkook under the guise of repainting your bedroom walls…
Too bad life doesn’t have an undo button.
You suddenly remembered Jungkook pushing you up against the bathroom door, your leg hooked around his waist, his cock plunging in and out of you, lips on your neck, and your wrists pinned to the door, rattling it as he fucked you, whispering against your skin.
“You sound so fucking sexy, make more sounds for me, I’ll fuck you as much as you want, fuck you until you can’t think, can’t move, just to hear you say my name over and over…”
“Jungkook… f-fuck, you f-feel so fucking good, o-oh, Jungkook…!”
He pulled his lips away from your neck and smirked in your face.
“Yeah… noona?”
Respectfully.
“Fuck!”
Your back arced against the bathroom door as you came, pussy throbbing and spasming, the top of your head touching the wood, gasping Jungkook’s name in ecstasy, slamming your wrists against the door, Jungkook moaning as he came inside you, cock jerking inside the condom and swelling it with his orgasm, lips crashing down on yours and you whining pathetically into his mouth as he sucked on your tongue roughly.
A quiet, disapproving meow below you.
A master yikes.
You deliberately shoved the dark gray blob back into your underwear drawer.
Yoongi pursed his lips.
“Why is it in your underwear drawer, anyway?”
You slowly closed it, the wood snapping as the drawer touched the dresser.
Silence.
A crow cawed in the distance.
“You know what, let me make a trip to the convenience store…” was your hollow reply as you mechanically walked out of your bedroom, followed by a mint duvet.
“Do you know what size I would be?” came the husky, amused chuckle behind you as you pawed around your apartment for your wallet, two masks, hand sanitizer.
“I’ll just… buy a variety…”
“Or you could measure.”
You heard a rustle and you whipped your head around, only to see Yoongi’s cocked eyebrow and a slight bit of his exposed shoulders, collarbones on display, silver bell jingling. He yanked it back up, frowning at you.
“Are you a pervert?”
“N… no!”
You jerked away and hastily hooked the masks on your ears, fumbling with your sneakers before declaring, “I will be right back!” And then you threw yourself out the door.
Yoongi sighed, finally releasing his hold on the duvet.
“Ugh, so stuffy…”
His long black tail whipped about.
The door suddenly jerked back open and you plucked your keys from the side dish.
Only to see Yoongi fully naked, sleek black tail whisking around, blinking at you.
He was naked.
Really naked.
Very, one hundred percent, naked.
The mint duvet was pooled around his legs on the ground and Min Yoongi, who was formerly your cat Shooky, was a fair-skinned, long-limbed, lean-bodied, very attractive tall man, with velvety black cat ears and tail and – urk! – completely intact human male genitalia. Your neck, ears, cheeks, chest, ancestors from generations long ago, all turned red in embarrassment. Once again, you soul completely left your body in pure mortification.
“D… Don’t leave!” you blurted, snapping the door closed.
Yoongi just stood there, sighing as he heard the door lock and a body bolt down the apartment building stairs.
“You didn’t even change out of your pajamas…” he muttered, picking up the duvet.
-
"I can't wear these."
It was a few hours later. Thankfully, when you arrived home with your purchases, your cat... man was asleep, wrapped like a mint cake roll in your duvet. You tried not to think about his naked body on your bed, therefore ending up thinking about his naked body on your bed. 
"You need to wear pants! For..."
Dark eyebrows raised. 
"Decency!"
After getting home, you had spent the next thirty minutes hand-washing a black t-shirt, black boxer briefs, and loose black pants that were definitely too short but it was the only size available that could fit that waist, so you had to make do. You put the other shirts and underwear in the washing machine, but you needed to wash at least one outfit and hang it to dry. You tried to use the hottest water your hands could handle to sterilize the clothing, wincing at the blistering heat. 
You didn't know if Yoongi could get coronavirus but you weren't going to risk it. 
Eventually you placed everything on the drying rack and positioned your space heater on them to dry them off. 
Then you passed out on the couch. You deserved it, after working so hard.
Only to be woken up by Yoongi poking your shoulder roughly and telling you he couldn't wear the underwear and pants. 
He was still holding the duvet around his body and your neck was still regretting every second of sleeping on the couch. Ow. Too much physical labor. Quarantine had turned you into a formless potato. You sat up halfway, wincing. Ugh, pain. You jabbed your finger at Yoongi, who gave you a displeased narrowing of his eyes. 
"Put the pants on, you animal!"
Yoongi swept around the sofa, mint duvet and all, determined glint in his dark orbs, lips pursed in annoyance. You started, cracking your neck by accident, yelping in pain as you fell back against the couch.
Yoongi planted himself on top of you nimbly.
You froze.
Partly because you were shocked, but mostly because your neck seized a bit.
His legs were on either side of you, body still wrapped up, perfectly balanced despite the sudden leap, surveying you with a disapproving and discerning eye. The silver bell on his neck jingled with his movement. You could feel his calves against your knees.
His bare calves.
"Are you dumb?"
"What?" you croaked in response.
Yoongi rolled his eyes. "You always forget things."
You blinked at him, confused, neck heating. "What are you talking about?" you snapped impatiently.
"This."
Thump.
You felt something long and furry hit your leg. Your body almost jerked up in surprise, but Yoongi hissed at you, making you lurch back, somewhat stunned at how cat-like it sounded. It was definitely a warning. You were still in your pajamas, slightly thinner material than your usual clothes. It had been cold outside, but your everlasting embarrassment had kept you toasty warm.
Like it was now, because you realized your clothed outer thigh was touching his inner thigh.
His naked inner thigh.
You let out a noise between shock and confusion.
"Urk?"
The long, furry thing brushed against your legs as Yoongi watched you reach your slow realization.
"O-oh... Right. You have a tail..."
He grunted, thinning his eyes into slits. "Yes, because I am a cat."
Highly debatable at the moment, but you were too busy remembering your cat also had a human dick and nuts. Well, not also. Only had? Well. Maybe if you had a seco–
No. No, never mind that. Yeah.
Never.
Mind.
You gulped, trying to suppress the rising heat in your ears and failing. "I can sew?"
Yoongi tilted his head, nose wrinkling a bit. Then he got off you, circling around the couch. You sat up, neck still hurting, but the warmth of your embarrassment somehow helping. Yes, great, trading temporary physical pain for lifetime mental embarrassment, only for such moments to be remembered at the most inopportune times to throw you off guard.
Awesome.
You visibly cringed before standing up, seeing Yoongi's hand snake out and nab the boxer briefs, making them disappear into the duvet. You saw the fabric rustle and then the briefs reappeared, chucked at your face.
Your head snapped back at the force, arms flailing.
"Mmphf!"
"Should be about four or five centimeters. Make it quick. It's hot under here."
You yanked the underwear off your face, scowling. "I'm not your maid!"
Yoongi raised an eyebrow, black ears flicking. He was smirking at you. You narrowed your eyes. What was this guy so high and mighty for? If anything, he should be grateful that you even car–
"You're been cleaning up my literal shit for a few years now, so you are practically are my maid."
... Wait a second, he's right.
You growled and hauled yourself up.
-
An hour later, your cat was dressed.
Cat?
Man?
Whatever.
Min Yoongi was finally wearing clothes and not your duvet and your fingers stung like a bitch.
You ended up snipping a hole and using bias tape to seal off the raw edges. You didn’t own a sewing machine, so this was the next best thing you could think of without destroying your fingers by trying to imitate zig-zag stiches, although you ended up destroying your fingers anyway because you had to sew small, delicate stitches to attach the bias tape. The area was too high traffic to not reinforce.
Sigh.
“Please tell me you know how to use the bathroom by yourself from now on.”
Yoongi had raised an eyebrow.
“Of course. I’ve watched you enough times to know how to expel human excrement.”
Right. Because he was your cat. Don’t think about it too much. You were trying to take everything one thing at a time so you didn’t overwhelm yourself. Those were future-you problems. Why does he talk like that anyway? You didn’t even know how he knew Korean. Was it because you watched too much television? Yikes.
You rubbed your forehead, dismissing the discussion. “Good talk.”
You realized you would have to cut openings for his tail for all the underwear on the drying rack but, again, that was a future-you problem. Instead, you let him change in your bedroom and went to retrieve the laptop on your coffee table. Plugged it in and turned it on.
All your settings were wack.
“The fuck?” you muttered, resetting your display, volume, brightness, sigh, nearly everything. This only happened when a certain someone stepped on the keys when you weren’t looking. You raised your voice, still looking at the screen. “Did you fuck with my computer last night?”
“No. Oh, well, I did sleep on it,” Yoongi was saying as he stepped out of your bedroom. You growled in your chest, annoyed, but setting everything back into its place before opening your Google calendar. Nothing due immediately, thank god. “Er, maybe you shouldn’t…”
You looked up.
Oh.
Oh?
Oh!
Yoongi mussed his black hair, scratching at his velvety black ear. You noticed he didn’t have a set of human ears. Well, duh. That’d be weird. He was still wearing the black choker with the little silver bell on it. The t-shirt was nicely loose on his frame, the black standing out against his fair skin. The sweatpants were a little short on the ankle, the slim fit showing off his leanness. The sleek black tail swished back and forth.
He was… handsome.
Yoongi looked apprehensive, twisting his lips to one side. “Hmm.”
You blinked at him. “What?”
He shrugged. “Well, when I woke up as a human, I was cold, except for…” His hand ghosted towards his crotch. He pulled it away, waving it aside. “Mmm, never mind.”
You gave him a confused look and went back to your keyboard, typing away. Yoongi winced but you were too busy replying to an email to think too much about it.
-
We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to inform you of the following.
Min Yoongi had woken up on the coffee table, fucking freezing because humans didn’t have fur, and because his nuts and dick were getting roasted by your overheating laptop keyboard.
Upon waking up, he had a mild mental breakdown as you continued snoring loudly and unceremoniously, before scurrying away to the warmest place he knew – your bed, where he claimed the duvet and tried to figure out what the fuck was going on.
Is this real life?
He had poked at various parts of his new body, trying to figure out if this was a dream or a horrific nightmare.
As we all know.
Life is a horrific nightmare, so indeed, this was real life.
-
You jumped as Yoongi slumped down on the sofa next to you, sticking his head and ears into your view, blocking the computer screen.
“I’m hungry.”
You gawked at him.
“What a-are you d-doing?” you sputtered.
“I’m hungry,” he repeated. He had a bit of a raspy, almost growly voice at times, reminding you of a cat’s meow. His meow, in fact.
You scooted away, neck heating. Yoongi followed, prodding you.
“Why are you like this?” you grumbled irritably, smacking his hand. Yoongi persisted, as if you did nothing at all.
“This is how I get your attention, because you humans will ignore me if I don’t.”
“You’re a human too!”
“No, I am a cat.”
“Hello?” You grabbed his hand and jabbed at his palm, pointing to his thumb. “Cats don’t have thumbs!”
Yoongi yanked his hand out, shockingly similar to how Shooky used to pull his paw out when you were massaging his little white socks and he was over it. You noticed his cuticles looked a bit dry and torn up. Lately, Shooky’s paws had been a little chewed up too. You frowned at it, tilting your head.
Yoongi stood up and his tail whacked you in the face.
“Ow!”
“Feed me.”
You scowled, rubbing your cheek. Yoongi stared down at you, face expressionless.
Okay, your cat might be a man now, but he was still a borderline asshole, so not much had changed.
“Fine.”
-
You both stared at the bowl of dry cat food.
Yoongi raised an eyebrow.
“What am I supposed to do with all this cat food then? I just brought it last week!”
“That’s your problem.”
You threw up your hands and cooked you both some lunch.
-
This was too much.
You know what you did when it was too much?
You took a nap.
You had dishes to clean, underwear to make tail-holes for, a cat that was now a man, an existential crisis to address, but you know what? You took a fucking nap instead. You left Yoongi with your computer and Netflix and told him to do whatever as long as none of it involved him leaving the house.
Yoongi had snorted. “What do I need to go out there for?”
“Awesome. I’m taking a nap.”
And you passed out.
Only to wake up groggily because your lungs were being crushed.
Actually no, it kind of felt like your whole torso was being crushed.
“Urk…!”
You fought with your sleepiness, somehow worse off than you had been before the nap, scrunching up your face ad blinking blearily. Head on memory foam pillow, check. Back on soft mattress, check. Black hair with sleek cat ears and pale face pressed on your chest? Check.
What, wait?
“Gah!”
You lurched and the head grunted, shoulders solidly pinning you down. He was under the mint-colored duvet. Yoongi, your cat that was now a man, was under the duvet.
UNDER THE DUVET.
“Stop yelling. Is that all you humans do? Yell?”
“Why are you – what are you doing here?” you hissed shrilly, trying to wiggle out from under him, but it was impossible. Yoongi was far too big now for you to throw him off.
“Sleeping, obviously,” he grumbled. “Or I was, until you started shouting.”
“Yes, but this is my bed,” you emphasized, realizing you could move your hands so you grabbed him by the waist, fingers grasping the black jersey fabric. You pressed inwards, hands molding to his sides.
Yoongi raised his head, squinting down at you.
You froze.
An oddly familiar gaze of accusation and uncaring. His eyes were dark brown, not the recognizable mint, but the effect was the same. Pink lips upturned, slightly annoyed.
And.
You suddenly remembered he was a man.
A man who was pressed down against you, long legs around your legs, broad chest to your chest, and shockingly attractive for someone who used to be a cat.
“I sleep in your bed all the time. What’s the difference?” Yoongi muttered.
What’s the difference?
The difference???
You’re a man!
A HOT MAN!!!
You struggled to find words, completely entranced by how close Yoongi’s face was to yours, watching his ears adjust slightly to pick up all the small sounds around him. You opened your mouth and it only made a tiny squeak. The pressure on your chest was becoming unbearable. You were so shocked that you completely forgot that you were still dying. You cleared your throat as Yoongi looked increasingly displeased.
“You… You used to be over the duvet…”
Yoongi yawned, nodding a little. “Yes, but it’s colder now. No more fur. I don’t know how you humans survive. Must be why you buy these warm things.”
Your hands were still on his waist. You pulled them away quickly and Yoongi frowned.
“Y-Yeah, but… you weigh a lot more now…” you croaked. “Can’t… breathe…”
Yoongi sighed heavily, as if this was a great disappointment. He slid off you.
“Hmm, I suppose that’s true.”
He nestled close to you and you still stunned, pin-straight body.
“Guess it’ll have to be like this instead from now on.”
Like this?
From now on?
Oh. Oh no.
Yoongi’s velvety, pointed ear flicked against your cheek, a low hum resounding in his chest.
-
part ii
--
masterpost
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I know you haven't really done many prompts for Empire SMP, but having seen Jimmy's perspective today, I really want to see him just talk about everything that's against him and I think it would be really fun to see him just breakdown with Pixl.
Lore-wise, Jimmy really has gone through the ringer.
he really has T_T someone pls save him
...
Pixlriffs is working on setting up some more candles around the vigil when he hears a noise from behind him. Immediately alert, he spins round, already pulling out his sword, but he freezes when he spots a figure half-limping towards him.
As he rushes towards the figure, he realises with a jerk that it’s his closest ally. “J-Jimmy?!”
The ruler of the Cod Empire is dishevelled and clearly exhausted, and instead of his normal cod mask, he’s wearing the brown llama mask that Pixl remembers giving him a few weeks ago.
Pixl reaches out to steady his friend, holding him by the arms. “Jimmy, what on earth-?!”
“Gosh, your empire is… is really out there,” Jimmy murmurs, his words slightly slurred. “In the middle of a desert. I’m so hot…”
With that, he collapses against Pixl.
“Jimmy!” he gasps, propping his unconscious friend up.
He manages to lift Jimmy onto his back and hurriedly carries him over to his home. He lays Jimmy down on his bed and hesitantly removes his friend’s mask.
He’s shocked to see a fairly fresh cut on Jimmy’s face from his left temple to the corner of his left eye. It’s not still bleeding but it looks untreated. Maybe from the last day or so.
Forcing himself to ignore that for now, Pixl fetches some water and an ice pack, the latter of which he applies to Jimmy’s forehead. Immediately, Jimmy lets out a quiet sigh and stirs slightly, though he doesn’t wake.
After about ten minutes of gently tipping sips of water down Jimmy’s throat, Jimmy’s eyelids flutter.
“Hey,” says Pixl quietly, giving his friend a soft smile. “Can you hear me?”
Blinking groggily, Jimmy frowns. “What happened? Where am I?”
“In my empire,” says Pixl. “Do you not remember?”
Jimmy lifts a hand to his forehead. “My head’s a little fuzzy.”
“I’m not surprised; you were pretty dehydrated. Do you have any idea how long you were wandering around in the desert?”
“No, not really.”
“Well if you walked all the way here from your kingdom, it’s a wonder you didn’t parch to death,” Pixl responds. “Why didn’t you use your elytra?”
“I wanted to walk as long as possible and then when I eventually tried to take off, I realised I didn’t have any rockets,” says Jimmy sheepishly.
Pixl chuckles. That’s so Jimmy. “Right, I see. Why would you want to walk all the way here, anyway? We didn’t have a meeting or anything, did we?”
“No, I…” Jimmy hesitates. “I just needed a break. And I wanted to see you. And I needed to be several thousand blocks away from everyone else.”
“Really?” Pixl frowns. “Are you okay?”
Jimmy hesitates again, before deciding to tell the truth. “Um… no. I’m not okay. A lot of stuff happened yesterday and I’d really like to curl up and cry right now.”
Pixl gives his friend a sympathetic look. “Tell me about what happened.”
“W-Well…” Jimmy sits up in the bed, taking a deep breath. “fWhip covered my nether portal in cobblestone so I told him to come over and clear it up but he used tnt to blow it up and then when I told him to fix the hole in the ground, he blew a bigger hole under the first one and then Scott and Gem showed up and I was hoping they might be on my side but apparently Scott actually helped fWhip make the cobblestone thingy so then I got really mad and hit fWhip with my sword but then he killed me and stole my Codfather mask and I begged him to give it back but he just flew off with it a-and I don’t know how to get it back now cuz Scott said I keep starting things I can’t finish and that even with my allies, I couldn’t hope to beat fWhip but I need that mask back Pixl I can’t-.”
Sensing Jimmy’s rising panic, Pixl quickly grabs Jimmy’s shoulders to stop his friend. “Hey hey hey, shh. It’s okay, Jimmy. Shh.”
Jimmy lets his breathing settle, clearing his throat as his voice cracks. “Wh-What’s wrong with me, Pixl…?” he whispers. “Why am I such an easy target? Is this all because I stole stuff from Sausage so early on? Do I deserve all this?”
“No, Jimmy,” replies Pixl immediately. “fWhip is being a bully, and bullies always have their buddies backing them up so they feel stronger. First it was Sausage, now it’s Scott.”
“I just… I just don’t understand. I thought Gem and Katherine were my allies but Gem is now fully on fWhip’s side and Katherine pretends she’s on everyone’s side but she always seems to back up the person who isn’t me. Who do I have on my side?”
“You’ve got me, you’ve got Joel, you’ve got Lizzie.”
“I do trust Joel and Lizzie, and you of course, but… I-I’m just kinda expecting everyone to leave me if another alliance offers something better. And I wouldn’t even blame them.”
Pixl pauses, casting a brief look at the walls surrounding him. “...well, I’ll never leave you.”
“I-I don’t think you can realistically promise that,” Jimmy responds dejectedly.
This reinforces Pixl’s resolve. “I’m doing it anyway. You need an ally you can always count on, and I will be that ally. No matter what, Jimmy, I’ll stick by you. I know my empire is a long way from yours but if you ever need backup again, send me a message and I’ll drop whatever I’m doing and fly straight over.”
“Really…?” Jimmy stares at him with hopeful eyes. “Wh-Why would you do that for me? Aren’t there better, stronger empires out there you can ally with?”
“Frankly, yeah, there are. But I don’t care. It’s not all about power.”
Jimmy scoffs.
“It’s not,” Pixl repeats. “Power gets you through a war, sure, but wars aren’t the only things empires have to deal with. You’re a kind and fair ruler to your subjects, Jimmy. Villagers, animals, everything. You always go the extra mile to ensure their comfort and safety, and in this world, that’s a rarity. Power really isn’t the only thing that matters. It’s one of the biggest, but that doesn’t mean you should be counted out just on lack of power. That’s why you find yourself a powerful ally, right? And I like to flatter myself that I’ve built up a pretty powerful empire here. Maybe not fWhip-level powerful, but strong enough to defend us both if a certain tnt-crazed empire comes calling.”
Jimmy gazes at him. “Would you really put your empire on the line for my fights?”
“Of course.” Pixl gives him a kind smile. “That’s what allies do.”
“...Pixl, I…” Jimmy can hardly muster any words to express his emotions. “I-I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. All we need to do is take care of each other and we’ll be okay.”
“Pix…” Jimmy is almost completely lost for words. He’s never had someone show this level of dedication towards him before, especially considering they haven’t known each other very long. “A-Anything you need, Pix, anything at all, just ask.”
Pixl’s smile falls as his eyes flicker up to the scar on Jimmy’s face. “Actually… I do have a question. How did you get that scar on your face?”
“Huh?” Jimmy’s hand automatically moves to touch the jagged line on his forehead. “Oh. This. A, um… a piece of debris from fWhip’s second tnt explosion got me. Nearly got my eye, actually.”
“It looks bad. Untreated.”
“Yeah, I… I’m not so good at first aid and I did ask Scott and Gem if one of them could help me clean it but they refused.”
Pixl’s eyes widen. “They what?!”
Jimmy nods sadly. “They made some excuses and left. Scott said it didn’t look that bad and I could deal with it myself. I looked at it in the river and I also didn’t think it looked that bad.”
“Gosh.” Pixl shakes his head disapprovingly, a deep frown on his face. “That’s… That’s so terrible.”
“I-I’m sorry,” whispers Jimmy.
“What? No, not you. I can’t believe Scott and Gem would leave you when you were clearly hurt. Do you have a first aid kit back in your base? And your food situation: do you have enough food? What’s your diet like?”
A little taken aback by the sudden questions, Jimmy hesitates. “I’ve, uh… been eating fish, mostly. Cod Empire, you know.”
“Any potatoes? Carrots?”
Jimmy shakes his head.
Pixl scrutinises him. “Right, okay. Jimmy, you’re gonna stay with me here for a while.”
“A-A while?”
“A few days. You’ve been through a lot lately; you need someone to take care of you. I’ll get that wound treated for you, show you around my empire, and make sure you get some nutrients in your diet. Do you have a potato farm?” Before Jimmy can reply, Pixl continues, “Nevermind, I’ll get you enough potatoes to either get started or improve it, whichever. You need to keep drinking water, though; you’ll get dehydrated really fast in the desert.”
He pauses as he registers the smile on Jimmy’s face. “What?” he chuckles.
“Nothing.” Jimmy averts his gaze, though his smile remains. “Just… thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have you on my side.”
Pixl smiles back and squeezes Jimmy’s shoulder.
“I’ll always be on your side, Jimmy. Always.”
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Text
What if...? Part 10a
Yes, it is 10a, because I said it would be 10 parts and not 11, so you will be getting the epilogue as 10b. HAH! ...Don’t look at me. T-T 
-
What if Dulsissia hadn’t died, what if she had grabbed Corin and fled? What if she met Davarax? What if…
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9
Part 10a
For the first five hours after leaving the Covert, Davarax is out of it. Everyone draws a sigh of relief when his eyes open and he’s back with them again.
“Where are we going?” Din asks, frowning at the coordinates.
Davarax manages a faint smile, still sedated by pain. “Someone who can help us.” He then makes a face and presses his hand gently to the pressure bandage on his neck. “We just have to find her.”
Dulsissia realizes she doesn’t care where they go as long as that means they can get some medical supplies and patch him up properly. “Take it easy.” She uses her fingers to comb the dark locks of his hair back from his sweaty forehead. “We’ll find this person. Leave it to us.”
It takes them two days, but at least by then Davarax is able to stand up and walk a little, so when they land on some strange planet and find themselves surrounded by unfamiliar Mandalorians, he is the first to walk off the Razor Crest, hands in the air, and greets the leader. “Lady Kryze.”
He had warned them that these were Mandalorians who lived by a different Creed. Dulsissia and the children had all been surprised to hear there were Tribes out there with other rules than theirs, but mostly they are unsettled by Davarax telling them to keep Paz and Raga’s last names a secret...
A Mandalorian steps forward, removes their helmet and reveals red hair and suspicious eyes. “Davarax? Is that you?”
Exhaling a faint laugh, Davarax lowers his arms and sways a little, which makes Dulsissia and Paz dart over to grab an arm each to support him. “It’s me.”
The one called Kryze clicks her tongue and tilts her head. “I thought you guys weren’t allowed to remove your helmets?”
“We’re not.” Davarax confirms, still with a weak smile.
Another unfamiliar Mandalorian steps forward and crosses their arms. “You’re cuter than I thought.” It doesn’t sound like she means as a compliment.
Davarax nods with amusement. “Thanks.”
“Why are you here? What do you want?” Kryze cuts in.
“Safety.” Davarax replies. “I need a place to stay for a while.”
The woman doesn’t blink. “And what do I get?”
“Me.” Davarax states. “One standard year, I’ll work for you.”
Something about the woman’s eyes makes Dulsissia tense up. This Kryze person looks a little too pleased at that. A gentle, quizzical squeeze of Davarax’ arm gets no response. He just keeps locking eyes with the other Mandalorian.
Kryze is the one to break the staring contest and looks over at Dulsissia. “And this one? She’s not a Mandalorian.”
“Ner riduur.” Davarax replies.
The Mandalorian who had commented on his looks snorts a loud, surprised laugh. “You? You got married? You?”
“I fell in love.”
Dulsissia feels her face burn. Him once again confessing his feelings for her so openly makes her knees weak, but she also feels a little bad that he has to lie for her; they aren’t married yet. She fully intends to marry this man, but she prefers him to be conscious under the ceremony and Davarax has been out cold for most of the two days on the ship.
“And these are your children?” Kryze shifts her attention to Paz, then the others waiting, huddled together, on the Razor Crest’s ramp.
“Yes.” Davarax confirms without hesitation.
Kryze nods, thoughtfully, then sets her sharp stare on Davarax again. “One year.”
He nods.
“And you will follow my orders.” This is clearly not debatable. “For one year, your loyalty is mine.”
Davarax nods again.
Dulsissia feels the urge to object, fears what he is promising himself into, but what does she know? Other than to trust Davarax. So she holds her tongue and hopes she won’t regret it.
Kryze holds out an arm, pointing them towards a building. “Then, welcome home.”
-
It doesn’t take long before Dulsissia realizes that the people in this Tribe are very different from Davarax’ people. While the Covert had treated her with polite distance, the Mandalorians here eye her with open disdain and suspicion. She’s not one of them and they don’t like it.
Paz, Raga and Din all end up in vicious fights on their very first day. Corin latches himself to his mother’s arm and Barthor basically refuses to leave the room assigned to them. If not for the fact that they need medical help for Davarax and that he’s given his word to stay a year, Dulsissia would have demanded they’d leave by the third day. But, stuck in this place, temporarily, she grits her teeth and tries to make things easier for both the children and Davarax.
With a doctor and some bacta, the injury on Davarax’ neck soon turns into a scar, a reminder of how close she’d come to lose him, and he barely has time to recover before Kryze sends him out on his first mission.
After Davarax comes back, without new wounds despite the blood on his armor, Dulsissia feels such a relief that she clings to him throughout the entire night. Brushing light fingertips over his scar, she keeps her voice down so not to wake the children sleeping at the other side of the room. “Two people asked me today what I did to make you marry me. Three, yesterday. I think one of them accused me of being a Jedi and doing some mind-control-trick on you.”
Davarax shakes with mute laughter. “My little Jedi witch.”
She pokes him in the side with two fingers, making him jolt and hug her closer. Dulsissia settles again and rests her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. “How come you never married?”
“You’re the first that made me want to get married.” Davarax replies with a calm ease, as if his words doesn’t make all kind of happiness radiate through her entire body. He’s looking up at the ceiling, half-asleep. “You’re the first who not only accepted my kids, but loved them, from the very start, and that made me think… we could be one. Made me want it.”
“I do love them. And I love you.” Dulsissia finds his hand and braids their fingers together. Be one. That sounds so right. “How do Mandalorian weddings work? Who does the ceremony? The Tribe leader?”
Davarax turns his head to look at her, suddenly a little eager. “We can do them now. The vows.”
“What?” Dulsissia lifts her head to look at him as well. “Here? In the middle of the night, with no witnesses?”
“A marriage is the ultimate union in Mandalorian culture. It’s about embarking on a future together as one, of sharing everything and raising warriors together. It doesn’t matter where you take the vows, what we care about is that they are kept.”
Dulsissia considers this for a moment, has an involuntary flashback to her huge, glamorous event that had locked her to Macero, and decides she likes the idea of making it all about them instead of a ceremony designed to impress everyone else. But, there is one thing Dulsissia will insist on; “I want the kids to be a part of it. This union includes them, after all.”
Davarax smiles at her, this beautiful smile that takes her breath away for a second, then he lies back down and stares up at the ceiling again. “And this is why I want to marry you.”
Smiling as well, Dulsissia curls up close to him and feels like a giddy teenager again.
That happy feeling is nowhere to be found the next day when she stalks into their room with frustrated tears in her eyes and pressing a hand to her aching ribs. Dulsissia waves a dismissive hand to Din, Barthor and Corin, who instantly jump to their feet to run over to her. “I’m fine.”
Luckily neither Paz or Raga are there to witness this, but Davarax is and he wont be waved away. He gently but firmly persuades her to let him examine her and asks what happened.
“It’s her again.” Dulsissia snaps, cringing with pain as his hand presses gently against her ribs. “The one with the big mouth. I was partnered with her during training today and she acted like she had some kind of personal problem with me.”
Din and Corin exchange frowning looks in the background. Barthor crosses his arms.
“No broken ribs.” Davarax concludes, sounding a little relieved, then looks at her face and frowns a little himself when he sees the bruising on her jaw. He lifts his hand and lets the back of his index finger barely brush over the bruise. “You want me to deal with her?”
“No.” Dulsissia snaps, increasingly angrier. “I don’t need you to handle my problems. I’m going to get even better at this hand-to-hand combat thing and then I’m going to punch that all-helmet-no-brain Mando in her face!”
Davarax takes a gentle hold of her chin and grins. “That’s my girl.”
-
Strangely enough a foul smell emerges in one particular living quarter and as no one can determine the cause, the woman living there is forced to move. But the smell sticks to her for two weeks.
-
“They say an Imperial officer is looking for a Mandalorian and a blonde woman.” Bo-Katan states, her t-visor showing Davarax and Dulsissia’s reflections as she stands in the doorway to their room. “I take it that is why you said you needed a safe place to hide?”
Dulsissia feels her stomach clench with unease. Macero… He’d found them? No. If he had, this place would be swarming with Imperial troops. Everything would be on fire. Like Nevarro.
“Is that a problem for you?” Davarax drawls, almost challenges her.
Bo-Katan removes her helmet and looks at him with a confident smirk. “Not at all. Let him come.”
Dulsissia shakes her head. “Don’t underestimate this man, Lady Kryze. He’s-”
“I know all about Macero Valentis.” Bo-Katan cuts her off. “And I’m not afraid of him.”
“Maybe you should be.” Dulsissia warns her. “Did you hear what he did to Nevarro?”
That makes the smile on Bo-Katan’s face widen. “Nevarro did not have our blasters, canons, ships and bombs.”
Dulsissia blinks. Oh. Okay, she’s starting to understand why Davarax insisted on taking shelter with these mean people. Maybe the only way to defeat Macero is to fight fire with fire?
-
Bo-Katan sends Davarax out on mission after mission. Dulsissia sees the exhaustion return to his face. It drives Dulsissia to train harder, push herself harder, and hopes to to become less of a burden and eventually a true partner that can help him carry the weight of their family.
Entering the room one day, his hands shaking after whatever horrors he’s been through, Davarax proudly declares a shipment of durasteel has been acquired and Lady Kryze has agreed to let him bring his share to their armorer.
Dulsissia watches with a faint smile when she sees Paz and Raga beam with pride as they are fitted with armor. She’s highly amused when Barthor keeps making demands for adjustments to his, and extremely pleased with the delighted looks on Corin and Din’s faces when they get theirs. By the rules of Davarax’ Covert, Corin and Din both should be wearing their helmets now, like Barthor still does, something especially Din had considered a milestone for his adulthood. However, the armor seems to be an acceptable replacement for the moment.
Especially as they know there will be battle soon...
-
On board his ship, Macero grits his teeth, fury boiling in his veins, and he turns away from where the holo-message from his field-officer had been played for him. How could they be losing? He had sent more than enough troopers to deal with these cretins, so how could they be losing?
Mandalorians are a dangerous breed, he’s come to learn that after chasing them across the Galaxy in the hunt for his wife, but his troopers are highly trained soldiers with the best equipment possible. There is no way they can be losing to these dirt-dwellers!
Macero knew there was a chance this was a trap when news of a blonde woman observed with Mandalorians on this planet reached him, after not hearing a single whisper about his wife’s location for so long, but so what? He had the soldiers and firepower to deal with whatever these people tried to throw at him. Macero is not afraid of some arrogant Mandos.
The three officers in the communication room eye him nervously and Macero suddenly can’t stand their cowardly faces. “I will be in my office. Let me know if there are any more messages.”
Marching to his office, Macero hears the sound of battle on the ground and makes a silent vow that any trooper who retreats back to the ship is to be shot for cowardice. There is no way they are losing. He doesn’t care how bloody the cost will be; the Mandos will pay even more. He will wipe them from this planet.
Macero takes two steps into his office then comes to a halt. His chair is pointing the wrong way. Its back is towards the door. And he didn’t leave it like that.
The door closes behind him.
Looking back, Macero takes a startled step forward when he sees a tall, blue armor and blue helmet wearing Mandalorian standing there.
The sound of the chair turning makes Macero turn back as well and he’s surprised to see another blue armor and blue helmet wearing Mandalorian is sitting his his chair. A smaller one. “What is this?” Macero snaps angrily. “What do you want?”
“Your head on my wall, would be the honest answer.” The one in the chair replies. “But I don’t ever want to see your face again, so… I guess I’ll settle for your life.”
Macero frowns. It can’t be. It’s not possible.
The Mandalorian gets up from the chair. “I told them you were too clever to fall for a trap this obvious. They told me you were too arrogant to resist.” The blue helmet is removed and Dulsissia looks at him with a faint, mocking smile. “Knowing you and your ego, I agreed to try.”
She no longer looks like the frail girl he once knew, not the pretty decoration he wanted but a half-wild creature. Macero’s mouth tightens with disgust. “Where is my son?”
“He’s not here.” Her eyes are as cold as Antonia’s. The old hag would have been proud to witness this. She never liked Macero. “You will never see Corin again.”
“He’s my son.” Macero grits out. “And you are my wife. You two belong to me.”
Dulsissia’s soft laugh is pure mockery. “We don’t belong to you. And you are nothing to us.”
Enraged by her daring to talk to him like that, Macero casts a quick glance back at the Mandalorian blocking the door. “Because of this one? You think you can just take my son away and replace me with the first lumbering oaf tempted by you flashing your ankle?” Macero looks back at Dulsissia. “You better not be carrying his bastard child.”
“After Corin was born, I got the chip. I never was and I never am going to give you any more children to torment.”
“You think I care about you want? You think I will let a spoiled Motti girl ruin my plans?” Macero has never been this furious before. His blood is so hot it almost hurts in his veins. “Your little adventure is over, Dulcy. We’ve wasted enough time on your childish antics. You are coming home. Now.”
He backhands her across the face, hopes she feels it like he did the insult of her getting that damn chip behind his back, draws his blaster with his other hand at the same time and fires back at the Mandalorian.
-
Dulsissia is not prepared and the surprise of the impact knocks her off balance more than the pain. Still, she moves with it, uses the momentum to spin away to get some distance between them and get her helmet back on.
The HUD is still a bit confusing to her, but she knows the value of the protection the helmet offers. (Davarax had given up pieces of his own armor to have the beskar remade into helmets for them and she had cried over him having to sacrifice even more for their family.)
Davarax is forced to move in order to dodge the shots Macero fires at him and he draws his own weapon, but because of where Dulsissia is standing; he doesn’t fire back, unwilling to risk hitting her.
This buys Macero enough time to activate his communication link and demand back-up.
Dulsissia knows most of the men in her family are officers in the Imperial army because their names and fortune ensured it, but Macero had worked his way up and he is far from helpless.
He unfortunately proves it as he ducks under the punch Davarax throws at him, turns and delivers a hard kick at the side of Davarax’ knee, making him buckle. Macero keeps turning and fires his blaster at Dulsissia, forcing her to take cover behind his desk.
Davarax throws himself forward, plants his shoulder into Macero and manages to slam him into the wall, but that results in them being locked together while trying to pummel the other into submission and Dulsissia being the one not willing to shoot this time in case she’d hit Davarax.
And moments after that, the door to the office slides open to let a wave of storm troopers rush in.
It becomes chaos. And fear jolts through Dulsissia when she hears Macero call out the order for them to kill the Mandalorian but not harm her. Davarax is the best fighter she’s ever seen, but some times quality is forced to break under quantity. She stalks forward, picks up a blaster one of the now fallen troopers had lost, and she begins to fire with a weapon in each hand at every target her HUD identifies as hostile and absently marvels at the strength and agility of the man she loves as Davarax comes at the enemy with brute strength.
A warning flashes across her HUD and Dulsissia manages to side-step Macero’s attempt to slam the back of a blaster rifle at her helmet. She lifts the stolen blaster but he knocks it out of her hand instead and when she lifts her own blaster, another warning flashes across her HUD. This time she’s not fast enough to avoid it; Macero’s right hand locks around her throat and cuts off her air.
Automatically grabbing at his arm with her free hand, Dulsissia feels the ground disappear under her feet as he lifts her up and then her back slams down on his desk. Macero hovers over her with a furious expression on his face.
“You foolish girl.” He sneers with fury and disgust. “What did you think would happen? That I would give up? That you and your simpleton would live happily ever after? Stupid, stupid girl. Your blood is far too important to me. I will never let you go.  And I will find my son too. Believe me.”
She does.
The blaster shot is muffled due to the weapons muzzle pressing against its target, but Macero jolts and his eyes grow wide as he stares at her. His anger is replaced with shock and disbelief.
For a couple of heartbeats, as Dulsissia looks into Macero’s eyes, she remembers how his smile used to make her blush, how he would encourage her to talk and be the only one in her life who bothered to listen when she did, how incredibly gentle his hand was on her skin for their first kiss, and while that man never truly existed, she still says goodbye.
Macero slowly tilts to the side, his hand letting go of her throat, and he simply drops to the floor. His blood is on her armor, on her blaster and her hand. And yet, as Dulsissia draws a shivering breath, she feels free.
Her son is safe.
Sitting up, coughing, Dulsissia lifts her blaster and picks off two storm troopers aiming to fire at Davarax as he’s dealing with one of their comrades. “Dav. Let’s go.” She uses the internal communication system.
“It’s done?” His voice replies.
“It’s over.” Dulsissia deliberately does not look over at the fallen Macero. “Let’s go.”
“You got my back?”
“Always.”
Instantly barging towards the door, Davarax takes several hits to his armor, almost staggers due to the reduced efficiency of durasteel instead of beskar, but it’s not enough to stop him, and Dulsissia quickly makes her way over to cover their backs. He pushes forward for them to escape, she keeps them safe while he creates a path down the hallway.
Once they climb the stairs to the second floor of the ship, followed by troopers, Davarax makes a pleased sound when he sees the door Dulsissia had been talking about and sets course for it.
While it was the men of her family who got to be military officers, Dulsissia had spent plenty of time on imperial ships after Macero started to court her and she knows their lay out like the mansion on Seswenna. This door will lead outside, to a narrow path along the ship’s side originally meant to be used in case of repairs, but with the ship currently hovering inside the planet’s atmosphere; it is perfect as an escape route. And as more and more troopers join the ones already chasing them, they need one.
Davarax opens the door and a powerful gust of wind rushes in as they are high above ground. He looks back at her.
Dulsissia keeps firing her blaster at the stairway, forcing the storm troopers to duck down. “Go.”
Davarax nods, steps forward, vaults over the railing and disappears.
Grabbing a grenade from her belt, Dulsissia activates it and throws it down the stairs before going back to firing her blaster again. A trooper gets off a lucky shot that punches into her breastplate and while the durasteel is strong enough to prevent the shot from penetrating, it still hurts like dank farrik.
The explosion from the grenade causes enough chaos that Dulsissia dares to holster her blaster and make a run for it. She hears the troopers shouting, her HUD flashes a warning as a blaster shot goes by her head, but Dulsissia keeps running, climbs the railing in two steps and takes a leap of blind faith into the open air.
Gravity takes a hold. She falls and reaches out one hand. Despite her HUD frantically flashing that she’s in danger, Dulsissia feels no fear. Two seconds later, Davarax’ hand grabs her wrist and she instantly takes a hold of his, letting him pull her up so she can get her arms around his torso and he gets his other arm around her waist while his jetpack holds them steady and prevents them from plummeting to their deaths.
Behind them, seven storm troopers follow through the door and spread out along the pathway to aim their blasters and are about fire when twenty Mandalorians fly up from below the ship to aim their weapons back at the troopers.
“Your ground troops have already surrendered. I have Mandalorians infiltrating the ship as we speak. Do you want to follow your leader into the after life?” Bo-Katan asks them.
It doesn’t take long before the storm troopers cautiously lower their weapons and signal their surrender.
-
“Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay?” Bo-Katan asks as they are loading up the final items to the Razor Crest. “I appreciate a warrior like you on my team. We might even be able to hunt down some more beskar.”
“I am grateful for you letting us stay, but it is time we move on now.” Davarax replies. “I think we all yearn for a little freedom. And you have an imp ship, a bunch of new weapons and enemies to get information out of. I’m sure you won’t have time to go beskar hunting any time soon.”
“Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us.” Bo-Katan declares.
Davarax nods and holds out his hand.
With a wry smile, she takes it. “At least you’re out from underground. There’s hope for you at least.”
“Careful, Lady Kryze.” Davarax says, releasing her hand. “My Covert’s determination and dedication is unmatched. Who knows, maybe one day the next Mandalor might come from there.”
“Yeah. Sure.” Bo-Katan says with mock-seriousness. She then glances over at where Dulsissia is smothering Corin, Din and Paz in a group-hug, trying to make them forgive her for refusing them to join in the fight. “She didn’t do too bad today. There might be hope for her too.”
“She’s Mandokarla.” Davarax declares with badly hidden pride.
Bo-Katan hums, clearly not entirely sold. “She talks too much.”
Laughing a little, Davarax heads over to the ship. “Goodbye, Lady Kryze.”
-
“Mom?” Standing in the cockpit of the Razor Crest as she is brought to life, Corin glances over at Dulsissia, and he looks so grown up and handsome in his armor that she wants to squeeze his face between her hands and plant kisses all over aforementioned face. “Where are we going now?”
Settling for reaching out and gingerly arranging a lock of his dark hair doing its best to poke up high enough to pick up a radio signal, Dulsissia smiles. “We’re going to visit someone.”
Din plots in the coordinates while Davarax has settled in the left passenger seat and is tinkering on his vambrace. The teen frowns as he sees what comes up and looks back at them. “Is this correct?”
Dulsissia’s smile widens. “Absolutely.”
Corin goes pale.
-
“So he’s dead?” Antonia Motti says as she enters her office. “Good. One less problem to deal with in this family.” She pauses as she sees the armored people in the room and gives one slow blink before she reaches up to her ear. “I will talk to you later.” Antonia switches off the device in her ear and lifts a dry eyebrow. “I don’t know how you lot managed to break in here, but I can assure you that you will never leave this place alive.”
Dulsissia removes her helmet and forces herself to smile. “Hello mother.”
Antonia doesn’t visibly react, merely scans her from top to toe and back up again. “You look awful.” She walks over to her desk and sits down, forcing Dulsissia to turn around to look at her. “I hear your husband is dead. I can’t say I shall mourn his absence.” “That makes two of us.” Dulsissia replies.
“Why are you here?” Antonia asks, keeping her calculating stare on her daughter and ignoring everyone else in the room. “Have you come to your senses and returned to stay? I will let your friends leave with a nice reward for bringing you home.”
Shaking her head, Dulsissia hangs on to her smile out of spite. “No. I’m not here to stay. I just stopped by to pick up some of my things before I leave for good.”
Antonia frowns a little, but she’s clearly not surprised. “You continue to disappoint me.” She sighs and shakes her head as if her daughter is a lost cause. “Where is my grandson?”
Dulsissia gestures to one of the figures.
Stepping forward, removing his helmet, Corin watches Antonia warily. “Hello.”
Antonia scans him as well and seems a little more pleased with what she sees. “No longer a timid child, but a young man. You’ve grown a lot since I saw you last, Corin.” She scans him again. “You don’t have to go with your mother, you know. If you want to, you can stay here, with me. As a Motti you will never starve, never lack for anything, and everyone will respect you.”
Corin swallows hard. “Thank you, but I’m going with them.”
Antonia makes a thoughtful hum. “That is a shame. But there is always a place for you here, Corin. Remember that.”
He nods.
Turning her attention back to Dulsissia, Antonia purses her lips with disdain. “So now what? You are going to traipse around the Galaxy looking like a half-wild woman? Dragging your innocent son with you. With these…” She waves a hand at the others. “People?”
“Yeah.” Dulsissia replies, with every bit as much arrogance as Antonia radiates. “I want him to experience what a real family feels like.” She puts her helmet back on and walks over to the door before she looks back at her mother again. “We’ll be leaving now. I suggest no one follows us.” Dulsissia hesitates before adding; “I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“That’s a nice change as last time you just took off without a word.” Antonia snipes. “And don’t fool yourself, you will be back, Dulsissia. Without Macero, the lure of our world will bring you back.”
Realizing that her mother does not know her at all, Dulsissia huffs a soft laugh. “Goodbye.”
-
“Are are we landing?” Dulsissia was on her way up the ladder to the Razor Crest’s cockpit when Din appears and blocks her path. “It feels like we’re landing. Why are we landing?”
Din’s eyes flicker. “We, uh, the ship, it… “
“Repairs!” Raga shouts from above.
“Yeah!” Din latches on to it like the word is a life raft. “Repairs. We have to do some repairs.”
Dulsissia frowns. Repairs? There is nothing wrong with the ship. It was fully operational when they left Bo-Katan’s Covert and it hasn’t been in any combat or stressful situations since. 
She looks over at Barthor sitting on the seat next to the ladder, but he just shrugs and that puzzles her a little. Usually he is the first to pick up on odd stuff. But if he’s not worried, maybe she shouldn’t be either? “Okay…” Dulsissia draws out her reply, especially as Din is not budging, strategically placed so she won’t be able to get by him.
When she slowly withdraws, Din watches her with a smile so fake she could cry.
But Corin and Paz are still slouching in their seats in the cargo hold and also show no anxiousness or suspicion whatsoever, so Dulsissia reluctantly gets back in her seat.
Only then does Din disappear. But, she is willing to bet he’d pop up like a bill collector if she approaches the ladder again.
What is going on?
The Razor Crest shudders and shivers a little before they feel it touch ground and settle.
Dulsissia is first in line when the ramp starts to lower itself, doesn’t even wait for Davarax and the others to come down from the cockpit, too curious to see where they are.
The sight stuns her.
Walking down the ramp, Dulsissia studies the surroundings, overwhelmed by the beauty. And when she eventually steps off the ramp and her feet touch soft soil and carries her out among the endless ocean of flowers stretching out as far as her eyes can see, she can’t hold back a dazed laugh. It is so incredibly beautiful! Millions and millions of flowers covering the surface in every direction under the bright teal sky.
Her heart is racing, it’s almost difficult to breathe, and she can’t stop smiling. She has never seen anything like this. She didn’t know anything like this even existed.
A sound behind her reminds Dulsissia that she’s not alone and she turns around to how the others are reacting to this amazing view, but is hit by another heart-stopping sight when she sees Davarax standing there, the kids huddled together behind him, and he’s holding out both of his hands to offer her the most exquisite looking blaster she’s ever seen. 
The metal is shining silver, the design delicate and yet practical, and on the hilt is what has to be insanely expensive gem stones creating the shape of a beautiful plom bloom.
“Will you take the vows with me here?” Davarax asks, a little nervous and very hopeful.
Dulsissia has to cover her mouth with her hand for a second as her eyes well up with tears and an ugly bawl threatens to escape her lips. Once she feels she has herself back under control, despite some tears escaping as she tries to blink them away, Dulsissia nods. “Yes…”
“Yes?” Davarax dares to take a step closer.
Laughing and sobbing at the same time, Dulsissia nods. “Yes.” And she laughs and cries a little more when the kids break into loud cheers, numbly accepting the blaster and eagerly curls into the hug Davarax pulls her into.
She has to hold on to him, lean on him, for a moment or two, to once again regain some composure, but finally Dulsissia leans back and sniffles a little.
Davarax does his huff-laugh and gently wipes a tear away from her face. “You okay?”
She nods, taking a step away, wiping her face with her lower arm. “I’m fine.” Dulsissia awkwardly pats her hair and tries to shape it into something less wookiee-ish with one hand as she won’t let go of the blaster. “How do we…?”
Davarax takes her hand, makes her give up on her hair and focus on him. “You sure you want to do this? One. In this life and the next. Are you sure?”
Exhaling, grounding herself, Dulsissia meets his eyes with calm and soft happiness. “I am.”
Obviously relieved, Davarax nods. Then he has to take a breath before teaching her the words, one by one, what they mean both literally and spiritually, how they link to his Creed and what being married to a Mandalorian means.
Dulsissia listens, learns and decides this is all something she can accept and even embrace. It just feels right. She feels at peace as well as flushed with excitement that they are going to do this.
And them, amidst millions of flowers, with Corin, Din, Paz, Raga and Barthor as approving witnesses, Dulsissia and Davarax takes the vows.
Mhi solus tome. We are one together. Mhi solus dhar'tome. We are one when parted. Mhi me'dinui an. We share all. Mhi ba'juri verde. We will raise warriors.
For a moment, maybe it is just the bright sky playing tricks on her, Dulsissia could have sworn Davvarax’ eyes shimmer a little wet, but then he pulls her close and kisses her so sweetly she barely hears the kids cheering again.
They are on their fourth kiss when Dulsissia realizes the children are now running back and forth between them and the ship and a glance behind Davarax reveals they are setting up a celebration feast of sweets, cookies and other treats, carefully placed across a blanket on the ground.
She looks up at Davarax with a soft gasp. “You guys have planned this for ages!”
Davarax shrugs, trying to look guilty and failing because of the pleased smile on his lips. “I needed help to find the perfect place. And putting the blaster together. And getting the food. And… everything, really. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Tearing up again, Dulsissia drags him down for a fifth kiss before dragging him over to the blanket. “Ooooh, this looks so nice!” She waves a finger at Barthor. “Make sure you put some aside for you, baby. Don’t make me angry on my wedding day.”
Barthor ducks his head down and makes a pleased and embarrassed huff. “Okay.”
They all settle down on the blanket. Raga slaps Paz over the fingers as he aims to grab the first cookie, declaring Dulsissia and Davarax gets to choose first. Sulking, he agrees.
Dulsissia makes sure not to touch the cookie he wanted. Davarax does the same. Which means she has to kiss him again.
“So…” Corin says, sitting on Davarax’ other side, not by his mother for once. “So now that you two are, like, married… With you married to my mom…”
Chewing on a cookie, Davarax glances over at him. “Mmh?”
“Does that mean I call you ‘Dad’ now?” Corin asks just as Davarax swallows.
Choking, coughing, wheezing, Davarax ends up grabbing a bottle of water and takes a swig from it, aware of how not only Corin, but everyone is looking at him. His spouse included. 
Lowering the bottle, Davarax gets rid of the final couple of coughs still lingering before putting the bottle down again and Davarax focuses on Corin to speak the truth. “That’s entirely up to you, Corin. If you want to call me that, I would be honoured. If you want to keep calling me ‘Davarax’, that is perfectly okay. This is your choice, not my decision, and I promise that whatever you choose is fine with me.”
Dulsissia discretely slides her hand over and takes a hold of Davarax’ hand between them.
Corin frowns as he looks down at the blanket, considering things. “I always wanted a dad. My father was… my father. I read about dads and they were not like him. Dads in the books were more like…” He glances back at Davarax. “They were like you. I would like to have a dad like you.”
“And I would be proud to have you as my son.” Davarax replies in a gentle voice.
Embarrassed but so very happy, Corin dives in and wraps his arms around Davarax.
Placing his own arm around Corin, hugging him close, Davarax then leans down and quietly murmurs: “Corin. Ni kar'tayli gai sa'ad “
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Far too much (Kuvira x Fem!Reader)
This is part 2 to Close enough? And I’m so thankful for all the people that interacted with my first written work!! So here’s this, I had so much fun writing it! If you guys wanna see somethin more specific or have ideas, send ‘em my way! Love you!!
WC: 5200 (almost 2x my last one!) TW: none that i’m aware of, lemme know though <3
You felt as stupid as a raccoon-toad.
When the  avatar came to collect you to travel back to Zaofu, you were excited because you were going back home, even if you were being punished for your crimes. Unfortunately, Suyin had extended the invitation to the other individuals who were also from Zaofu. It seemed that she was sentimental and decided that every one needed a second chance.
So you were stuck with a bunch of people that you were not entirely fond of, especially when they heard of what happened to Kuvira. After that, you could just feel the glares they sent your way, which was annoying because that’s all they did. They just stared and would raise their stupid eyebrows. Why couldn’t they just get over it and shove it? It didn’t help that your injury still required attendance by healers and physical therapy. So even if you wanted to avoid all attention, it was a little pointless when they said you could only apply yourself for a couple of hours before resting. 
There was a constant dull throb in your side, no matter the number of healers. Sometimes it would chill out but when you were awake for too long or when you skipped a meal, it would come back and stiffen your back. It was a constant battle and there were some times that you just wished that Kuvira double tapped you. It could've saved a lot of emotional and physical turmoil. 
So, back to the situation on hand. You and several others were on a train that would stop in the heart of the Metal Clan. After that, each person would be sent to a camp that was ran by a horse faced individual who lacked the sympathy of a real person. You were told to call him General Zheng, if you ever saw him, and after that he left to go talk to the head of the guard. You and the others were hustled into a medical looking outlet, and each person was given a platinum band around each left ankle. 
“It’s to make sure you don’t leave and to make sure you obey. Can’t have you running around like hen-ducks, right?”
ugh.
..
It had been several days since you had arrived in Zaofu. By then, everyone had been stationed with their community service and you started to get used to the schedule given. General Zhen said since you had to serve the community as your punishment, you could choose your schedule, basically saying, “How long do you really wanna do this?”. You could remain under order until your sentence was done or you could rush it out and leave it early. As early as you could anyway with a 25 year sentence. You decided to go with the latter; even with your injury, you thought that you could cut it by a year or two which sounded pretty minimal but you’d take anything at this point. At 10am you would wake up and eat then head towards the outskirts of the ring. There, you would begin to bend the metal together to create cohesive pieces for other workers to make into the plates that would create the dome. Others were tasked with mining the actual ore, and they were even paid for that, but you had to create the joints for them. Sitting and concentrating for about 8 hours a day would cause you to slouch and then you’d get yelled at by the healers. Who were scarier than a guy on cactus juice. You’d visit the healers once a week and they would see if your scar had healed or if it was infected. After seeing them, you would head over to the park where they held physical therapy outside. It was really nice to see all of nature while an old lady calmly coaxes you into the tree pose. Gaining balance was the hardest because your brain was trying to compensate for the strain in your side. You also kinda wanted to punch the lady because that’s is as far as I go stop pushing me areyoutuchingmerightnowareyouserious.
Needless to say, it was nice to go back to the plain gray walls of your (holding cell) room and just breathe quietly by yourself. 
Then you got used to your routine which was a mistake because then something had to go and mess it up. And who else would it be if not for the very person who put you here?
..
Madam Jilpa was going to be the death of you. That near death experience you had? Insignificant to the pain that this woman was gracing you with. You wanted to strangle her. She was super nice about your wound, saying how it was healing well and then she manhandled you into a position to “stretch your muscles, you’re awfully sore, my dear.” You rolled your shoulders and exhaled as you left the park. Ever since you came back, people avoided you like the plague and it made the anklet a little more tighter each time. Doesn’t help that it was platinum so it just seemed that it was mocking you every time you caught a glimpse of it. Stupid thing. Stupid city. Stupid community service. Stupid- who is that?
You were strolling through the main street of the city, heading to the store when you saw her. Kuvira. The devil herself. Was I thinking about her? Is that why she’s here? Oh god, she can’t see me, what do i do? Where am I gonna hide? You panicked and slid into the nearest shop, which happened to be a tea shop. Luckily there was a line so you didn’t look too odd. Unluckily, the shop had big glass windows. So as much as you could see her, she could possibly see you? Maybe? You dipped next to the door and peeked out, wondering why Kuvira would be away from the estate. Then you saw the entire Beifong family, whelp. That answers your question. No better way to survey someone than surround them with powerful earthbenders. As your eyes glazed over their faces, you saw Bataar Jr. and Kuvira at the back of the pack. You couldn’t tell if they were talking but they looked like they were standing next to each other, and the evil voice in your head wouldn’t stop talking about how they looked. Together. 
Not wanting to add mental therapy to your list of visitation rights, you decided to exit the tea shop and go back the way you came. Back to your plain gray room. Because who needs closure when you have, uh, gray pillows and plain bagels?
After that train wreck, it didn’t stop.
Suyin (it felt wrong to call her Su) had talked to the General and they made a plan to talk to each of the prisoners. To really decide if they are evil or not. You could make that decision with the way that these people would play Pai Sho, some of them were just cruel and malicious and a better punishment would be to shove em in the boiling rock. 
Unfortunately you were on that list of visits and it was 3 days from now. They even accepted letters from family members. So that you could read how disappointed they are, one more time. But! It was written so it had sentimental value. You felt nauseous when you saw your name scrawled on the letter. Better now than later, it would seem.
Y/n,
I remember the day you were born. You were a screaming ball of anger and you wouldn’t stop crying until you were placed on my chest. Then you shushed and swooned. I knew then and there that I would love you till the day I die and every day after. And it seems that even now, I feel the same way. But, I know now that some paths are a little crowded and you lost your way. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you find the light in this dim world, but I just wanted you to know that you are my light. And that is all that matters. When you first left, I was left with irreplaceable pain because in a way, you had left me. But you were just touching the ground and spreading your fingers. You thought you knew best and I’m proud of you for sticking with it. But now that you see the end of this journey, you must stick with the repercussions. That is what it means to find the light and settle with it. You face your decisions and lay with the judgements. I’m glad that you came back to Zaofu. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to see your beautiful face again.
Love always,
Mom and Dad
A chip had left your shoulder. Thank the spirits. You could feel the wetness on your cheeks from the compassion from your parents. Perhaps they were right. 
Bracing yourself with these words of encouragement, you faced Suyin with strong shoulders and a flinch in your side (cause, honestly, the tea isn’t that good at keeping the pain down).
When you were growing up, your parents had tried everything to stop you from sneaking out of the house. They tried metal bars, they tried positive reinforcements, they tried every parental trick in the book. They couldn’t keep you from whatever entranced you from the house. The only person who ever humored you and whoever treated you with some semblance of respect was Kuvira, or ‘Vee, when you were kids. Granted, she also had a rocky relationship but what’s a pot and what’s a kettle? When your parents finally noticed where you were going when you left, they talked to Su about it. If they couldn’t keep you down, they’ll just make sure that nothing bad happens. Because of that, you would spend many hours on the Beifong estate, surrounding yourself with other earthbenders and playing games with the other kids. As you grew, you started to notice how Opal would talk about the cute boy in her class or how Wing and Wei would blush when the dance recitals were held. But, as you got older, all you could think about was how pretty ‘Vee’s eyes were. How green they were, and how much they sparkled when she talked about how she finally joined the guard. How the tank tops she wore outlined her shoulders. You never noticed that when other people were looking outside, that you had found your view right in front of you. Su noticed of course, being the romantic that she was, she got so excited whenever her children were talking about love. Su knew you well, and when Kuvira left Zaofu, she had a feeling that you would leave with her. She had tried so hard to understand you, but she was so angry. Angry at Bataar Jr, angry at Kuvira, angry about everything, that she forgot that you got the short end of the stick too.
So she was nervous too when she invited you over. 
The door had opened by then even when you hoped that it would remain shut for a little while longer. A guard had escorted you from your quarters into the matriarch’s afternoon room and she was seated near a window that looked to the sprawling estate of the Metal Clan. She looked up at you and smiled softly, and even from the doorway, you could tell that she had gotten older. Maybe not physically, but her eyes were a little wiser and a little more battle worn. 
You had settled into the opposite chair, with some grace that you managed to muster, and she had offered you tea. It smelled of lemon and blueberries and you couldn’t help but relax. You couldn’t help it, seeing Su as a mother figure made you wistful of all the memories you shared. With those came remorse and you immediately felt guilty. 
“Thank you for allowing me to come back to Zaofu, Su-Suyin, I am eternally grateful that you have allowed me back after what I did,” you said. After your stutter, it seemed your words came in a rush, unable to be held back.
“I wanted to apologize for leaving in the first place. I didn’t realise that I was blind to all the hurt that occurred when this thing started and I should’ve noticed when the first person that was wounded was you. I thought that I knew what I was doing when I left because I thought Ku-” you inhaled sharply, “I thought she would be the answer. It was wrong of me to place such big standards on her without thinking of the consequences. I know now that I followed her out of personal feeling, and not logic. I will forever be humbled by the events that happened and I just hope that you may forgive me. I am incredibly regretful of turning my back on you Su, I wish my eyes had stayed open a little longer.” 
You were a little choked up and you finally pulled your eyes away from your tea cup to look at Su, finding her eyes already on you. Tears were pooling in her eyes and she was softly smiling. 
Laughing softly, she speaks. 
“You don’t speak often but when you do, you speak,” she sighs and looks outside again.
“I must admit that the most heartbreaking thing was watching Kuvira walk out because i knew that if she left, you would too. It's been that way since you were children. Little younglings running across the estate, throwing rocks and giggling to yourselves. I knew when she left that you would go. You follow the ones you love, you want them in your lives so you do what you must. I understand the feeling well.”
She looks at you and stands from her seat, walking around the table and kneeling at your side.
Softly, she places her hands on yours and squeezes. 
“When I saw you on the floor, my mind ran a thousand miles. But until your testimony before your trial, I never imagined. The Kuvira that you love exists, but the Kuvira you followed are not the same. I’m sorry that I didn’t get the chance to warn you. People change right before your very eyes and it’s hard to adapt. I love you as if you were my own, Y/n, and I forgive you. As a parent, I am disappointed but that’s to be expected.”
Smiling you lurched forward and squished her against yourself. It didn’t take you long to become a little touch-starved from being in prison but man, hugging Su felt like landing on cotton and honey. Squeezing your shoulders, Su pulls back.
“Y/n, I’m telling you now what I had to tell myself. The right people get second chances. Currently, Kuvira and Bataar Jr are working with Korra and her friends to stop the remaining forces of the United army. They are good people, and I believe that they can do good things. But it’s up to them. You must wait for them to come to you. This isn’t in your hands now. If they want to change, they must do it themselves. That is my advice to you: good people will come around, they just need time.”
She gave you one last hug and released you. Stepping back she smiled, her eyes finally matching. 
“I don’t want to take up all of your day, so I’ll let you go for now.”
You said your goodbyes with Su and the guard escorted you off of the estate. 
It didn’t hit you until then that you didn’t flinch everytime she said Kuvira. Taking what Su and your parents said, you lifted your shoulders and promised yourself that you would change your days. You would begin the days with a smile and you would end the days with satisfaction. 
Days had passed by then and your mood had only gotten better. Physical therapy was going better, your side had stopped constantly throbbing and was starting to scar over. Blues and yellows surrounded the tissue but you were able to go up stairs without passing out! Checking the integrity of the metal plates was what filled your afternoons but those passed by too. Soon, the petals of the metal clan were slowly starting to form and the construction was almost complete. 
One day, when you were coming back from your shift, you had heard that Kuvira had returned. Something about brainwashing and how Asami was kidnapped? It sounded crazy to you but when you thought about it, there was this one doctor who wanted to control a person's thinking. Luckily, ‘Vee thought it was too barbaric and the idea was shelved. Korra was able to put a stop to it and her friends were returned back to normal with both charges returning back to Zaofu. It seemed that that test had proved to the rest of the Beifong family that they had taken a step towards fixing their past and wanting to grasp their future. You were happy that they decided to redeem themselves. It made sleep a little easier knowing that your ‘Vira was still in there. 
Your brain wasn’t helpful though. As successful physical therapy was, it never helped the nightmares. It didn’t help the murmurs of your brain and the self deprecating remarks. It was exhausting. (How come she gets a happy ending? Wasn’t I supposed to be a part of it? I thought she loved me? I thought-) Yeah, well, you thought a lot of things. Just eat your toast and inspect that metal. Spirits sake.
Flowers were delivered to you.
Lilacs. Their fragile petals and purple centers called to you and you froze looking at them. They were placed in your quarters along with mail from your parents. You weren’t allowed to send mail yet but you could still receive them. But flowers?
Listen, as an earthbender and a metalbender, you have grown to know the planet pretty well. From the flimsy sand to the swollen stone beneath you, you feel the breath of the earth in your bones. 
But that doesn’t mean you know a single thing about flowers. You know that they are pretty and that roses can be yellow in certain parts of the continent but lilacs? Pretty, purple, dainty, flowers? Confusion couldn’t even begin to explain the words you were feeling. Don’t flowers have meanings too? You have never received flowers before, you had convinced everyone around you that you would rather punch a boulder than receive flowers. And yet here they are.
It seems as if they are staring at you. Glaring at you. Laughing at you. (Who calls themselves an earthbender but can’t tell the difference in flowers? How stupid of-)
Snapping yourself from your stupor you spin around and walk right into the door jam.
Son of a flying-
You corner Hahn later on that night. Word in the prison yard says that when he was a free man, he was a farmer who lived next to a guy who happened to be a gardner of flowers. Which flowers didn’t matter but the fact that you kind of knew someone that had knowledge of flowers seemed like a win. 
You plopped yourself on the seat in front of him and stared into his aged eyes. He had dark spotted skin from his field days and the wrinkles around his eyes suggested that he knew many things. A trustworthy source. (Your only source)
“Do you know anything about flowers Hahn?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I got two days worth of desert that has your name on it if you tell me a thing or two.” Interest peaked, he leaned forward. 
“I have a reputation kid, I ain’t just gonn’ blab about flowers to anyone. I don’t wann’ seem like a flim, ya know?”
“I ain’t gonna talk, I’ll even slide another honey cake in there.”
He thinks for a moment or two before nodding. You slide him the desert from today and he places it into his pocket. Leaning forward, you can smell sunshine and grass from him. 
“What do you know about this?”
You had gently picked a single bud from your bouquet to show him. You weren’t positive if they were lilacs but they were purple and how many flowers were actually purple? 
Humming for a moment, he responds. “. . .Syringa, if I remember correctly. Sold like hot cakes. There’s about several different kinds. This one here is just the smaller kind. If you tryna woo a lass, you call ‘em Lilacs. They got a strong scent though, so careful on the nose.”
Nodding, you ask, “does it have meaning?”
He shrugs, handing the bud back to you. “ Well, it could mean a lot of things. In the younger years, you’d give it to your lass to remind ‘em of your love. Like, a new beginning of  love, remindin’ them of a new stage.”
He then looks you in the eye and glares. “Not a word about this hog wash or I’m stealing your pillow.”
You laugh, “you have my lips sealed, H.”
You hadn’t received any more bouquets and your pillows remained intact. New love? Who in the world could that be? You kept your eyes peeled for lurkers when you were on breaks and besides the common glare, nobody else seemed to be paying attention. So where did they come from? You had formed a vase with clay in order to keep your flowers and you were a little tickled to find that they lit up the room. Hmph.
Kuvira was two seconds away from suffocating herself. When did it get so hard to be a good person?
The amount of guilt that lifted from her shoulders from the trial was impalpable and she felt almost as confident as 4 years ago. The Beifongs were friendly and she was able to join and attend multiple events and she was slowly learning how to be a mentally stable person. She had started seeing someone in the city and once every two weeks they would take her apart and put her back together. She was getting used to it. Slowly. 
But, spirits, did she miss you.
Something would happen during the day and she would turn to see you, see how your eyebrows would raise and how you would stifle your laughter behind your hands. And then she’d turn and you wouldn’t be there. It was total whiplash, and she wasn’t used to it just yet. Dr. Moko had yet to ask about the elephant-rhino in the room and Kuvira was waiting for the day where she would ask, “why did you attempt two murders, both of which were individuals you cared about?”
What a loaded question. Kuvira wondered how she got stuck with house arrest and not prison. 
On one hand, it's an easy question. She thought she was doing a good thing. Bataar Jr. happened to be in the same place as the avatar and most of the resistance when she fired the spirit weapon and at the time it seemed like a good idea. (Not a good defense, she’s glad this question wasn’t raised during her trial). On the other hand. . .
Her soul would wither when she thought about. . .the. . kiss.
She felt that she was ignited and smothered at the same time. When she felt you melt into her arms, it was intoxicating. Your smell had surrounded her and you felt good in her hands. How she wanted to stay there forever. She wished that she could have stayed there forever. But the voice in her head was blood thirsty and on a victory roll and couldn’t be stopped. It was no excuse but the pain that Kuvira felt when she saw you slowly bleed out in her arms was so much that she zoned out and went on autopilot.
In one of the sessions she has with Dr. Moko, she mentions the voice with high reluctance. Dr. Moko says that the instinctual desires in her subconscious had risen to the challenge and took over, blocking out rational and emotional thought. This discussion had encompassed several sessions and because of that, Kuvira was able to gain control and become a little more independent with her thoughts. It gave her a sense of control, knowing that the Beifong family could trust her again, knowing that Korra wasn’t wrong when she said that they were alike. She had hope and all the split ends of her misdeeds were tying themselves together. But y/n. . .
You plagued her mind like a wine-stained carpet. So naturally, she (subtly) asks Su what happened after Korra stopped the spirit vine weapon. Su fills her in on the hospital visits, the trial, the physical therapy, the letters, everything. 
That week Kuvira stomps into Dr. Moko’s office and says, “I need to talk about y/n.”
And so she does.
She sends you flowers.
Flowers?! She doesn’t have a flower bone in her body, why in the world did she pick out flowers? She even had a mind to pick out a specific type, lilacs: new love. She wanted to ask the florist for a bouquet that would convey “I’m sorry that I stabbed you, I am becoming a mentally stable person and I really wanna kiss you again and you are really pretty.” 
Kuvira figures that lilacs are good enough. 
. . .
It had been about two weeks since you received the flowers. They had started to wilt and you couldn’t help but get sad. You still had not figured out who sent them but a tiny part of you hoped that maybe she sent them. That she still thought of you while she’s learning how to be herself. It was selfish of you to think so, but you couldn’t help it. Kuvira was a major part of your life and to be without her made your heart ache. But you made do. After all, you still had 24 years of community service. . . you sigh. That doesn’t make it better. 
You’re walking towards the park to take part in your therapy session. Several other people had come and gone and it was nice to see people learning how to overcome their struggles. You were growing stronger every day. Madam said that soon, you would be able to fully do the physical side of bending again. You could spar soon! You were starting to get antsy with all the chill meditation that Madam Jilpa was having you do. The bruising was gone on your side and you could extend your arms fully without twinges or aches. 
You step onto familiar green grass and take off your shoes. Feeling the earth beneath your feet helped ground you when trying new therapy techniques that had you worried that your legs would suddenly give out on you. After placing your shoes next to your bag you look up and see your teacher and several others. There were more people today than usual which was odd. You couldn’t remember if there was a sudden climb of injuries in the last week but alas, more people meant less one-on-one time from the old lady herself. You walk over to a spot of grass and plop down, stretching your legs out in front of you. Planning on doing basic stretches you exhale-
“Need a partner?”
-and immediately inhale. You open your eyes and swirl around looking at the individual. Kuvira stands there relaxed, if not a little stiff, and is looking at you with her hands behind her back. The naive voice in your head screams in victory and you nod your head, still silent. Kuvira sits next to you and out of panic, you look around seeing everyone else doing the buddy system. Some were wearing the same clothing patterns as Kuvira meaning that they came over as a group. Meaning this wasn’t accidental. Meaning this was planned. Meaning this was the worst day of your entire life. Perhaps you should just run away and become a no name in the wilds, because then you’d be able to cope with the situation instead of just stewing in silence.
Kuvira places her knees together and leans forward, stretching her head towards her legs as she exhales. Knowing that Madam Jilpa would swat you, you slowly do the same. After you scootch further away, of course. 
It’s painfully awkward. As Madam Jilpa begins, others join in with soft whispers and mutters of conversation. But the bubble that surrounds you is so tense that it doesn’t help the panic spasms that start to creep up your spine. 
After coming back up from a lateral position, your eyes roam and they meet Kuvira’s. She’s looking at you fully, and not even Madam’s loud “Next!” breaks her attention. She’s looking at you and she stops her exercise to face you completely. Her eyes lower and she looks at your right side where your shirt had bunched up showing the scar tissue. Shocked, you pull your shirt down and shuffle a little farther away.
She speaks so softly you probably wouldn’t have heard her had you not been so attuned with her whole being. 
“I’m sorry.” 
You inhale and nod, bracing your attention forward and copying Madam’s next movement. 
You try incredibly hard to ignore her stare for the rest of the session but it’s so heavy and so thick. At some point, Madam introduces a new position and spirits does it pull a muscle that you didn’t realise you had. It starts with your back on the ground, which is easy enough, and then you lift your hips and turn to the side. Keeping your shoulders to the ground, your head turns the opposite way. You flinch when it strains the muscles in your side. Your legs begin to quiver when a hand settles over your knee and brings your legs away from the ground, making the stretch more shallow. Your eyes see Kuvira as she holds your legs.
“Don’t do it too deep, you’ll sprain something. Start here.”
Following that, she lowers your legs again but into a place that doesn’t make you flinch in pain. 
You missed her touch, you realise. You missed how softly she would hold you. Your eyes start to water when you realise how fucked up this is. She is right there in front of you, and all you can think about is how betrayed you felt. You never got the closure you needed from her and it’s being revealed as she helps you stretch. You’re silently crying while she places your legs down and helps you into a seated position. 
“I should have visited you some time ago. I wanted to apologize to you, for wounding you and for leaving you alone when all you did was trust me. I misplaced your trust and I will forever be in your debt for doing so. I am incredibly sorry y/n,” she says as she looks into your eyes.
You sniffle as she grabs your hands. Squeezing them, you respond. 
“Thank you, ‘Vee.”
And when you smile, the future seems a whole lot brighter.
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laniidae-passerine · 3 years
Text
okay went back to long post 2.0 and the Pictionary concept so now I’m going to create an insanely long list of Pictionary pair-ups and how they’d work in the cottage on game night
Here are all the people I presume would be allowed in for game night:
Reynie, Sticky, Kate, Constance, Martina, S.Q, Jackson, Jillson, Mr Benedict, Number Two, Rhonda, Milligan, Miss Perumal
Here we go! Reminder: this is crazy long so only about a sentence each unless I’m inspired
Reynie - Sticky: absolutely killing it, definitely come in second if not first because while neither of them can actually draw that well, they’re in tune with what the other person is trying to get across. even if it looks like nonsense to everybody else, they understand
Reynie - Kate: not amazing but pretty good! Half the time she doesn’t know what on earth he’s drawing or her gesturing is just confusing him even more but the other half? really accurate
Reynie - Constance: good but only because she has trained him in the art of Not Losing. Constance does not do the losing thing Reynie and she’s also not bad at drawing so they’re getting by okay
Reynie - Martina: consists mainly of ‘uhhhhhhhh’ noises at each other and then a guess that’s kinda right. Dead bird is kinda a roast chicken right?
Reynie - S.Q: amazing perfect legendary! but not when Reynie is drawing. S.Q hasn’t seen a lot of things so it’s kinda hard for him to guess, especially when it’s all quite wobbly
Reynie - Jackson: fine, weirdly. Jackson is less intense than Jillson during game night so as long as they’re not coming last he can handle it.
Reynie - Jillson: she is yelling loudly and Reynie is a human question mark. He needs to learn that when it looks like a cornflake, it’s meant to be a bird
Reynie - Mr Benedict: really good! Reynie loves reading just like him so they kill it on the literature round and also Reynie and him are just messing about
Reynie - Number Two: eh? No money is being on them winning but they’re not. Appalling
Reynie - Rhonda: fun! Rhonda knows it’s just a game and Reynie is just a kid who wants to enjoy himself.
Reynie - Milligan: slightly stilted but Milligan is freakily accurate at guessing. He gets a massive hug at the end too which makes him feel very safe (you may guess which he I’m talking about)
Reynie - Miss Perumal: oh, fantastic. She’s encouraging of him and even when they mess up they end up giggling about it
Sticky - Kate: Kate has pulled 17 new facial expressions at Sticky’s drawings and he is astounded by the way she keeps guessing bucket. Somehow still in 3rd
Sticky - Constance: oddly good. Constance can be patient with Sticky and she coaxes out that side of him that Needs To Win. All of the adults sort of skipped over mean!Sticky so their faces are priceless when Sticky tells them they can suck it because he’s the goddamn best
Sticky - Martina: average because neither of them are world’s best drawer or guesser but they can muddle by
Sticky - S.Q: great!!! Sticky has encyclopaedic knowledge and S.Q is a fantastic drawer! also terrible because S.Q doesn’t know what many basic things are and Sticky can’t draw for shit
Sticky - Jackson: cordial and calm, doing pretty alright. Two rather formal children with a pen it might feel a bit like a meeting between people trying to come up with new ideas for Pictionary rather than a game of Pictionary but they’re alright!
Sticky - Jillson: she is chasing him around the garden with a harpoon
Sticky - Mr Benedict: rather sweet, they’re failing miserably but at least they’re supporting each other all the way. To the bottom of the scoreboard though
Sticky - Number Two: competent but I feel like Number Two is not that great at Pictionary unless she’s teamed up with specific people
Sticky - Rhonda: let’s just enjoy ourselves :) maybe Sticky needs to give her a few hints though because optimism can only take them so far
Sticky - Milligan: even though Milligan is actually a really good guesser and drawer he takes the blame for every loss to make Sticky feel better because he thinks Sticky is very sweet
Sticky - Miss Perumal: weirdly this works. She knows what he’s trying to convey even if it’s just literal scribbly chaos and there’s even a chance of them doing well!
Kate - Constance: they are yelling violently at each other but if someone else dares insult one of them for being too bossy, prepare for their rage to be turned on you
Kate - Martina: banned from playing together. Pictionary should not be used as a vehicle for flirting and/or fighting about tetherball
Kate - S.Q: doing great!!! he’s amazing at drawing and she’s also pretty good too so they’re in with a high chance of winning
Kate - Jackson: weird dynamic. If she draws and he guesses, they’re doing good. Opposite way around and it’s not terrible but it is. Questionable
Kate - Jillson: two headstrong girls refusing to lose creates a team that is too busy arguing with each other to actually achieve anything. Luckily they admire the other person’s refusal to lose so they don’t stay mad at each other
Kate - Mr Benedict: her wild enthusiasm carries over to him and this is when you catch him actually getting competitive. Prepare to see the very minimal part of his nature that will remind you of his brother
Kate - Number Two: Kate has her head in her hands and Number Two at least has the decency to look a little ashamed
Kate - Rhonda: woooooooh girl power!!! c’mon let’s win this through the power of friendship (and end up in second still vibing)
Kate - Milligan: unified. He draws a line and she guesses it instantly. They’re the perfect father daughter team and he’s so proud of her that nobody can even be mad that they lost
Kate - Miss Perumal: okay! she’s very nice and Kate likes her so they get along well enough to achieve a good ranking
Constance - Martina: oh they understand each other. They’re above everyone else and they will win and they will rub it in S.Q’s face and then one of them will secretively give him a brownie slice if the jeering makes him feel bad
Constance - S.Q: oh she’s so pleased. She demands they win but because she cares about him (shut up) she will compliment all of his drawings in a veiled way. Of course she guessed it, she’s a genius and it’s also so obviously an airplane (translation: S.Q is very good at drawing and I believe in him)
Constance - Jackson: he’s afraid of her. However he will turn that fear into strength, mainly because that walking stick is way too close to Constance for his liking
Constance - Jillson: hell hath no fury like these two trying to win Pictionary. They will kill you and your mum and your dad and they are on the warpath. The only pairing so scary it makes S.Q draw appallingly
Constance - Mr Benedict: he can’t stop falling asleep when she insults him for being unable to guess accurately because he thinks she’s adorable and funny. He loves her so much and she’s secretly too happy about it to be mad
Constance - Number Two: who even knows what’s happening here? They sure don’t but whatever, Constance is willing to take the L, she wasn’t gonna win this one anyway
Constance - Rhonda: Constance has hidden respect for this woman. She will listen and pay serious attention to Rhonda while she is drawing and does her best to make it easy for her when it’s Rhonda’s turn to guess
Constance - Milligan: she’s still got insults left to give. Milligan is perhaps a little taken aback by the tiny child yelling at him but she’s a decent drawer so they’re getting along just fine (also she’s mean to anyone who is mean to him so he actually likes her)
Constance - Miss Perumal: you’d think Miss Perumal would be affronted by the rudeness but she actually just treats Constance with a lot of kindness in return. She apologises for getting things wrong, congratulates her for being a good drawer and so Constance is confused and actually. Stop working your magic on me you witch why am I so fond of you now
Martina - S.Q: hi bitchy S.Q we’ve missed you. They’re getting picky and irritated and being assholes to each other but they will win and they will totally high five when they do it. They have a victory song that Martina composed on a mandolin and it’s fifteen minutes long
Martina - Jackson: neither of them are afraid of the other. Will they use ‘I’M AN EXECUTIVE I’M BETTER THAN YOU!’ as a defence when they’re messing up? Yes. Is it completely useless? Also yes.
Martina - Jillson: you ever met two girls and seen them exchange a look and you know they just nonverbally said something bad about you but you’ve got no clue what it was? Now take that mean girl power and translate it into Pictionary. They’re gonna beat you so badly
Martina - Mr Benedict: something about the way that she’s so self assured and cocky makes him feel so happy that the cataplexy kicks in. He’s slid entirely off the sofa and when someone explains how that’s a good thing to Martina, she’s hiding a smile all night
Martina - Number Two: hand gestures and odd noises abound. Number Two can’t draw for shit but Martina refuses to give in so she will make them practice outside of game night so she can try understand what the hell Number Two is drawing
Martina - Rhonda: actually okay! not fantastic but Rhonda has such amazing vibes that Martina is learning to just relax and have fun
Martina - Milligan: he likes her. She’s occasionally mean and quite cocky, but she’s amiable to him and while she likely was at the start, she isn’t cruel or mocking towards him now. Yes he may be extremely tall and buff but the real matter at hand is if he can draw and thank god for the fact that he can
Martina - Miss Perumal: this child needs actual affection holy shit. C’mere Martina Miss Perumal will tell you that you’re funny and friendly instead of just smart. She ignores the actual game in favour of letting Martina feel cared for
S.Q - Jackson: terror from both of them but they think the other person has power. Jackson was told to leave the headmasters son alone and S.Q just thinks Jackson is scary so they’re playing a weird game of chicken where they both the chicken. Figure it out boys
S.Q - Jillson: when Jillson clocks that he’s a sweetheart she relaxes and then enters Oh We Will Win mode. S.Q is unnerved slightly but also it’s nice to be wanted with a borderline ‘I will be violent to other people if I don’t get him as my Pictionary partner’ intensity
S.Q - Mr Benedict: his nephew. Oh he loves him so much. Perfect boy, wonderful child. However this poses a slight problem because Benedict is talking too much about how amazing S.Q is and how much he loves him to actually guess what the object is. It’s okay though because they’re hugging by the end of it and that’s what matters
S.Q - Number Two: what is happening. Number Two can’t draw and S.Q has not seen most films or read most books or been beyond the island. He’s guessing bird 50% of the time
S.Q - Rhonda: oh they’re gonna win and Rhonda is on point with the positive reinforcement. Prepare to get a sweet chucked at you for every point you score S.Q
S.Q - Milligan: it’s odd because S.Q feels like he should be intimidated but he just feels safe. They’re doing very well together and it’s sweet to see the way that S.Q tentatively smiles when they do well and has the smile softly returned
S.Q - Miss Perumal: oh you want a mother? You want a mum? You want a brand new mum? What’s Pictionary do you need adoption papers? I can be your parent S.Q just sign here I love you
Jackson - Jillson: creepy twins out of the Shining x1000. Constance is not the only telepathic weirdo here. However if they hit a low streak they will start yelling at each other like little children
Jackson - Mr Benedict: uh. An adult being sincerely nice? Oh, yeah it’s fine. He’s fine. It’s cool. Does anyone have a tissue? also they’re doing decently, even if it’s hard for Jackson to see through happy tears
Jackson - Number Two: why are you both yelling at each other. None of this makes sense you’re not even being comprehensible anymore someone take the pen away from them
Jackson - Rhonda: good! Not much different to average people playing Pictionary it’s nice to watch
Jackson - Milligan: this man is TERRIYING. Jackson is afraid of him to the point where he kinda just stays weirdly quiet during rounds. Everyone is just waiting for him to realise that Milligan is an angel (when he does, they’re going to be a surprise powerhouse)
Jackson - Miss Perumal: she’s nice to him and it makes him wanna do well. Even when they do badly she’s still friendly to him and it’s good vibes all arounf
Jillson - Mr Benedict: this girl is insane. And he has a habit for thinking mean teenage girls are intensely funny so he’s not conscious almost every time she’s doing the guessing. On her end she’s just completely thrown by the Curtain clone thinking that she’s funny (…he really thinks that? Oh. That’s… fantastic, actually)
Jillson - Number Two: this works. The freaky teenager and the woman that she will one day be like are on the same wavelength so they’re actually guessing each other’s horrible drawings correctly. They’re so goddamn weird and yet winning. How the hell are they winning
Jillson - Rhonda: Why are you being nice? Stop It Now. No stop being friendly and kind and amusing. Shut up. (no don’t actually shut up you seem like the kind of person I wanna hang out with with)
Jillson - Milligan: this man is a social oddity. However she has spent more time on the Milligan Boat than necessary so she is starting to comprehend him. They’ll do fine
Jillson - Miss Perumal: okay Jillson is maybe one of the few people Miss Perumal just doesn’t get. But when she’s punched in the arm by Martina and told to be nice, they can actually get along fine and do quite well
Mr Benedict - Number Two: this is deranged. Perfection and insanity in one combination. They’re winning and Benedict has passed out but the answer was narcolepsy and technically that counts as correct. Everyone is losing their minds watching this occur
Mr Benedict - Rhonda: yeahhhhhh it’s time for two people who can’t stop giggling at each other. Everything is so funny to them and their positivity is infectious. Everyone can have been having the worst day of their lives but if game night rolls around and these two are a team? You’ll be happy by the end of it
Mr Benedict - Milligan: assured and calm. They know each other very well but their communication is a bit strange. Expect longggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg pauses and extended direct eye contact. It’s… really something however they’ll do well
Mr Benedict - Miss Perumal: the vibes are good with this one. For a man who often supports other, he’s a little thrown and very appreciative to have someone who treats him like he needs the support. She’s very kind to him.
Number Two - Rhonda: mainly Rhonda politely going ‘hmmmmmm. well. maybe…’ to make up for the fact that what Number Two is drawing is nonsense. Very ‘two sisters being unable to communicate and fighting about it’ until they inevitably reconcile
Number Two - Milligan: vibes. Doing well and nodding a lot at each other. He has very poetic ways of describing her awful drawings
Number Two - Miss Perumal: somebody try save Miss Perumal because none of this makes sense. No seriously is she dreaming did she eat cheese before bed
Rhonda - Milligan: actually they can both draw and they’re buddies. So it’s going pretty good and also they share Looks that have secret meaning so have fun figuring those out
Rhonda - Miss Perumal: if they are cheating via sign language that is none of your business. Stop reporting them for it you’re all so annoying god bless <3
Milligan - Miss Perumal: she’s a bit unnerved and then she gets to know him. Pretty good they connect over parenting and they can both draw so. Bisexual rights!
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nothing-but-dreamy · 3 years
Text
ROYAL SIN
Pairing: FFXV!NYX ULRIC x GENDER NEUTRAL!READER
Words: 2.172
Warnings: fluff
Synopsis: On a party, you try to get the attention of a certain Glaive because he is everything you are interested in.
For two hours, you were watching the Glaive that did guard duty during the lame royal ball you had to attend. It was Prince Noctis' birthday and even if he was more absent than present, everyone else had to stay there, having fun. Orders from the King. You wanted to have fun. Just a little bit different than everyone else around you.
So, for a while you tried to find a way to get the Glaive's attention but he seemed to be extremely persistent against your charme. A skill every Glaive had. You knew that. Usually, you treated all guards with the respect they deserved. They were there to protect you and the other members of the royal family. Usually, they worked unnoticed by everyone.
Usually...
But usually, Glaives weren't this extremely handsome. You had met a lot of guards in your life as a royal heir to the throne and yet, this one Glaive was different. He stood out from all the others.
Nyx Ulric was his name. A refugee, coming from Galahd. He wore the Kingsglaive uniform and yet, the typical details of his origin, like the braids in his hair and the small tattoos, were subtly displayed but also proudly represented. He stood there with his hands folded behind his back, tall and honorable, after fighting countless battles against the Imperials.
You knew he got called 'hero', fighting fearlessly against the meanest monsters while looking out for his comrades at the same time. You were sure that this title meant nothing to him. It was just a word, accompanying him like a shadow but disappeared when the light of reality broke through.
You let your eyes roam over his appearance. The shiny metal applications were sparkling in the soft ambient illumination. The warm light of candles got reflected from the polished surface. But all that was nothing compared to the emitted light that came from the man's intense, piercing blue eyes.
You watched him constantly, trying to get his attention just for a split second. You were craving the feeling of his eyes burning on your body. Just for one moment. But like a statue made of stone, he seemed to be unaware of you.
While he seemed to be motionless, composed and under control, you were the complete difference. Since your eyes had landed on him, your mind was busy with wild fantasies how his perfect, full lips would taste. How it would feel when his stubble would brush along your skin when he would kiss you hungrily. And how his greyish hair would feel when you would knot your fingers into it to yank him closer to you.
While you stood at the bar counter, holding a drink in your hand, your attention was fixated on the Glaive with all these thoughts about this man who ignored you completely.
You found an idea to go to him, it was a lame one, but you gulped the rest of your drink before you hurried over to the position of the gruff man, "Glaive!", you called out, loud enough to get his attention and only his, "Please, you have to come with me! There's an emergency!", you said frantically.
Nyx looked concerned at you. The whole evening, he had noticed how you were staring at him. At him, who was just a Glaive. A guard like all the others spread in the room. He was nothing special. Even his Captain reminded him of this fact regularly. He was aware that he was just a refugee, a homeless man, who came to Insomnia to fight against Niflheim because he was in the King's debt. And yet, Nyx got your attention. To see you now in front of him surprised him more than anything else. You addressed him with a problem and his sense of duty demanded from him to help. His sense of duty and the wish to get closer to someone unreachable. He stepped forward, "Your Highness, please, calm down. What happened?", he said serious but softly.
"I have to show you. Please, follow me!", you asked with pleading eyes before you aimed for the exit of the ball room while waving for him to follow you.
Nyx followed you. With your frame in sight, he hurried after you down the hallway to whatever emergency there might be lurking. Different options were popping up in his mind as he considered what problem there could be he had to take care of instead of one of the Kingsguard. The question why you have picked him was the loudest.
You flew down the different hallways of the Citadel, turning left and right ways until you hurried into a room, dragging Nyx after you before you closed the door.
Nyx stood there, watching you locking the door without making any sound before you turned around to close up on the Glaive.
You stopped right under his eyes, looking into these two crystal clear blue orbs, letting your eyes roam over the handsome features with all these small scars of this tall, proud soldier. Softly, you cupped his face, your thumbs were caressing his stubble, softly tracing along the line of his lips before you pulled him down to you. You met his lips longingly, kissing Nyx Ulric strongly for several moments before you loosened the connection again. You leant back just to watch him still enjoying what you have done to him with his eyes still closed.
Nyx considered his next step but he knew what he wanted. He opened his eyes, stepped forward, cupped your face and kissed you strongly with such force that you had to grab into his jacket to keep your balance. He leant back again, staring into your eyes, "We have to stop this, YN. We shouldn’t meet like this all the time.", he breathed before leaning against your forehead, hating himself for saying these things because all he wanted was to be close to you like in all the weeks before.
"You don't really wanna stop that... This ... between us, do you?", you asked with a smile. You already saw the answer in his face but still, you wanted to convince him a bit more, "You don't wanna lose this, right?", you breathed before you kissed along his jawline, letting your lips dance over his beard, kissing down his neck to reach a spot underneath his ear which always made him weak. At that moment, it was the same. You felt it underneath your hands as his heartbeat quickened subtle.
Nyx needed much of his willpower to stay focused, "N-no... I mean, yes! We have to stop... But n-no ... God damnit!", he breathed annoyed that he got defeated by you once again. He grabbed your shoulders to push you against the next wall caging you with his arms before he crashed his lips on yours again.
You snaked your arms around his neck to bring Nyx closer. Nyx Ulric: the Glaive, your lover, your boyfriend. For eight months. He was the one who made your heart skip a bit just with one glance at you. The one who made you swoon with his lips on yours. The one who made you crazy when he kissed you so deeply as if nothing else in the world would matter.
Since the evening had started, Nyx was craving to kiss you because you were undeniably beautiful in your royal attire. Every step you had made was watched by his observing glance even if you hadn't noticed it. Whenever someone talked to you more than just friendly, Nyx became jealous because you were his. And only his. No matter how complicated this situation was, he also couldn't allow someone else next to you.
"Nyx, you really wanna end this?", you asked softly, brushing your nose along his while you enjoyed the iron grip of his hands on your body as he let his hands roam over your back.
"No... You're mine.", he said determined, pulling you closer to him, digging his fingers possessively into the fabric of your attire before he leant his head into the crook of your neck to inhale your alluring scent.
You raked your fingers into his hair to calm him softly. He sounded so desperate because of the whole situation and you just wanted to soothe him again, "I also don't want to end things. But I want to be close to you. I miss you whenever you're not with me.", you breathed what caused Nyx to tighten the grip around you even more.
"God, I miss you, too.", Nyx whispered against your skin before he pressed soft kisses on your neck. He was a dutiful man, sticking to the rules that were set and yet, when he was with you, it went all over board because you were his sin. A royal sin he allowed to himself even if he knew hell would break loose if this would become public.
You knew you brought Nyx into trouble. It could be too easy for the two of you to get caught if you weren't cautious enough and still, you couldn't stay away from him. His kisses were addictive. His eyes were drawing and you just couldn't get enough of his delicious scent, "I love you, Nyx.", you whispered softly.
Nyx froze by your words, his grip became even stronger before he raised his head to look into your eyes to search for a lie, a joke, anything but there was nothing but love for him, "Y-you... You do- what?", he whispered with disbelief before cupping your face gently with his gloved hands.
"I love you, Nyx.", you said one more time with a lovely smile and more meaningfully.
Nyx couldn't respond instead, once again, he kissed you desperately to show you how he felt.
You knew what he wanted to say. He said 'I love you, too' with his lips and that was enough. You didn't have to hear the words from him because Nyx said them in his own way. And this way was far more sweet and amazing than any words he could use. Your pulse quickened by his moves with his savoring lips.
Nyx could be with you like this forever. He always lost track of time when he was with you but then, there was still this small voice in his head that reminded him that he was on guard duty. With much force, he removed himself from your lips, "We should go back. It will get noticed when I'm gone too long."
You sighed sadly, still tasting him on your lips, "You're right, I guess. Alright, we go back. But I will find a way to spend the night with you.", you said with a wink, aiming for the door.
Nyx grabbed your wrist, "We shouldn't go together.", he warned, a concerned expression on his face.
"But we left together. I'm your alibi if someone will say something. Trust me.", you said with a reassuring smile.
Nyx cupped softly your cheek, kissing you even softer one last time, "I trust you. Always."
You leant against his touch before you opened the door to slip out of the room as the hallway was empty. Side by side, you and the Glaive walked back to the throne room so Nyx could go back to his position. You were about to turn away from Nyx as someone appeared from the shadow.
"Glaive! Why have you left your position?", the booming voice of the Captain called out.
"Sir, I was-"
"Captain, I have to apologize. It was my fault that he had to leave his position. I sensed a threat for the prince and so, I ran to the first guard I could find. He just did his job, Sir.", you said calmly with a huge, charming smile.
Captain Drautos looked at you, raising his brows, looked at Nyx who stayed quiet before the Captain looked back at you, "Well, Your Highness, that's uncommon. But was he able to help you?"
You noticed the way he asked this question. It was as if he was looking right through your lie but you just smiled and nodded, "Yes, Sir. His help was very useful. And now, please excuse me, Captain. Glaive, thanks again."
Nyx nodded politely but serious, "It was my pleasure, Your Highness."
You nodded appreciatively before you left the two men alone to go back to the bar for another drink. You turned around just to see how Drautos spoke to Nyx in an intimidating way. You just hoped the Captain had bought your lie and Nyx was out of trouble.
You got your drink the moment the Captain left Nyx alone in his position. Once again, you watched the honorable Glaive who had kissed you so passionately that your world was more colorful like never before. He wasn't looking at you but he didn't have to. You knew you were always in his mind, occupying his thoughts, his sleep, his whole being because this one, special Glaive did the same with you.
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ordinaryschmuck · 3 years
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What I Thought About the Climax of "Reunion" from Amphibia
Salutations, random people on the internet who are already scrolling right past this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.
So, Season Three of Amphibia is coming pretty soon. And I am...excited, but not as much as most people.
If you've seen my reviews, you'll know that while I do like Amphibia, I wouldn't go so far as to say it grabbed me as well as a series like The Owl House. With a show like that, it took me until Episode Five before I realized The Owl House was something special that was worth remembering. For Amphibia? It took me until the Season One finale before I had a similar reaction. But, to be fair, that's because this series is really good at making an ending. "Reunion," for example, takes a lot of the small things the first season has been building up, taking plots from episodes I considered filler and tying it all together in a pretty satisfying ending. I know people are still reeling over the epicness of "True Colors," and all for a good reason, but I want to start the new season on the right foot by discussing a moment that made me consider giving the series a chance.
But it also contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen Amphibia yet, now might be a good time to check it out. It may not have grabbed me and might not even grab you, but trust me when I say that it's worth it just to get to that final scene.
Now, let's review, shall we?
Grime Explaining Flipwart and Bogjump: One thing I will always defend about this series is its humor. More often than not, it succeeds in getting a chuckle out of me with perfect timing and solid comedic delivery. And stuff like this? Where Grime takes a break from his evilness to explain how two board games work to two teenagers? Only to then give up and stick with a simple answer? Yeah, I'm sorry, but that's funny to me. A good thing, too, given how this show relies more on humor than anything else. It may have an overarching plot and its fair share of grim moments (I give you Marcy's maybe death), but Amphibia knows when to keep things light amongst the darkness, which I always appreciate.
Anne Pleading with Sasha: Here, the scene showcases Anne's own personal struggle with Sasha. We know Sasha's a bad friend, primarily because we have eyes. But Anne still needs convincing. Because while she speaks up, she still doesn't assert herself. Anne doesn't yell at Sasha or tell her she's going too far. Instead, she just begs and pleads, hoping to seek the bit of humanity of this girl that Anne sees as a friend. Only for Grime to cut things short in demanding Hop Pop.
Anne Grabbing a Sword to Defend Hop Pop: This, on the other hand, was a defining moment for Anne. She spent so much time with the Plantars, risking life and limb for their own personal health and safety in multiple episodes before this one. So in desperation and due to being backed into a corner, she yanks out one of the guards' swords and orders people to back up, including her "best friend." This moment is when Anne is right on the edge of standing up against Sasha, ready to do all she can to help a person, er, frog that treats her right.
Sasha Talking Anne Down: But she isn't fully ready to fight back yet. Sasha sees the panic and desperation and uses that to her advantage and takes control. She speaks calmly, attracting Anne with talks of going home and pointing out the ridiculousness of standing up for Hop Pop. And my blood boils with how easily she does it. It was like a light switch, turning off her intensity just so Sasha appears to be empathetic. Even though she isn't. You can tell just how cold hearted she can be with the way she says the line "End of discussion." Does the way she say that really sound like a person who has Anne's best interests at heart. I wouldn't think so.
Sprig’s Reaction to Anne Lowering the Sword: And neither does Sprig. I mean, look at Sprig's expressions when he sees Anne lower the sword:
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First, there's shock and empathy in seeing Anne crumble to Sasha's will. And unlike the fake empathy Sasha offered, you can see that it's real.
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Almost as real as the look of pure disgust he gives Sasha afterward. Personally, I can't blame him. Sprig cares deeply for Anne, as the two of them have the most real friendship out of everyone else in the main cast, one built on mutual trust, respect, and willingness to have the other's best interests at heart.
Sprig Standing Up for Anne: This only proves my point. By slingshotting mud (was that mud?) into Sasha's face and praising how incredible Anne is, Sprig proved he really is the true friend that Sasha can only wish to be. And it's just the boost Anne needed to snap out of her stupor and do, in her words, "something that [she] should have done a long time ago."
Anne Standing Up to Sasha: If standing up for Hop Pop was a defining moment for Anne, defending Sprig from Sasha was a moment Anne could never go back on. It was one thing to fight for her found family against soldiers she's never met before. It's something else to do that against Sasha, Anne's best friend, who she pleaded with earlier and was so close to falling into submission for. But not anymore. At this moment, Anne decided to think for herself and do what needed to be done. Rather than let a bully tell her what to do instead.
Grime’s Words of Warning for Sasha: Grime’s little warning is similar to how a commander gives tips to a fellow commander in leading the troops. Because that's what Sasha really seems like. Not a friend, but someone who takes charge and orders what Anne and Marcy should do rather than listen to the opinions of the group. You see it more in "Battle of the Bands," and that's why I think she follows his advice to "stamp this out." Especially with how he finishes his warning: "Fail, and nothing will ever be the same."
There are two things to take away from that.
The fact that Grime was right. Sasha failed, and nothing was the same because of it. Anne now stood up to her and won't take her orders anymore. The thing is, that would have happened if Anne failed or not. Sasha winning may have stamped Anne's spirit a bit, but it still shows a dark side to her that wouldn't have been forgotten for long.
The fact that Sasha vocally admits that she won't let things change. It proves how twisted her mindset on friendship is that Sasha would willingly partake in a sword fight with her "best friend" because she refuses to have Anne standing up for herself. She likes being in charge and refuses to lose her power no matter what needs to be done to keep it.
If Anne defending Sprig is a moment where she crosses the line for the better, Sasha listening to Grime is a moment where she crosses the line for the worst.
“Anne, you don’t have to do this”: I love how Hop Pop tries to talk Anne out of the challenge. It's his life that's on the line, but he cares just as deeply for Anne as she does for him, that letting her duel Sasha, her supposed "best friend," is a choice he doesn't want her to make.
“Yes, I do.”: But Anne isn't about that. She now knows the type of person Sasha is, and letting her get away with more control is something no one should allow. And Anne won't. Not anymore.
The Fight: The fight isn't all that special compared to other action animation, and even to a certain fight scene we see in "True Colors." But as is, it is still pretty tense. I mean, for f**k's sake, it's two thirteen-year-olds fighting each other with swords! It's a miracle that only Sasha got a small scar at the end of it. Plus, while not the show's highest standard yet, there is a lot of effort and attention put into this battle. Anne is a lot more inexperienced and frantic with her attacks, where Sasha shows she was trained well in her time with the toads and is rotten given that she cheated by blinding Anne to force a victory. In a way, it illustrates the desperation the two of them have for winning, making Sasha's actions, in particular, easier to root for Anne.
Anne Wins: So when Anne is victorious, it's all the more satisfying. Primarily thanks to the look on Sasha's face. Look at it:
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That is the definition of shock and anger, mostly shock. Sure, Sasha might be ticked that she lost, but it's Anne's words that I think really hit a specific soft spot: "You're not going to push me around anymore." That's probably the first time that Anne called Sasha out on her awful behavior. Saying that she's standing up to her huts, but pointing out how Sasha basically controlled Anne and how that's something she won't allow anymore, could be an eye-opening moment that Sasha needed.
Grime Goes Against the Deal: Ok, full disclosure, while this post is meant to shine a light on how great a scene is, there is one complaint I've got to get out of the way. You see, Grime going against his deal to let Hop Pop go free if Anne wins was way too predictable. Because why the f**k would he?!
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I mean, does this seriously look like the face of a man you can trust? This scene may excel at everything else, but this one predictable moment is just a little off to forgive.
The Tower Blowing Up: This predictable moment, however, is done flawlessly. Because there's a difference between a twist and a payoff. Where a twist is meant to shock the audience, a payoff has to, well, pay off a setup brought up earlier in the story. And Wally's boom-shrooms going off at just the right time, transitioning to the most iconic moment of the series? Yeah, that's a payoff done right.
(Also, Wally cursing his one eye is hilarious)
“Lean On Me”: By the way, NOT joking when I say what follows is the most iconic moment of the series. All of which is aided by the inclusion of "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers. I'm not a music theory major and have no idea if the song itself is actually mildly appropriate to the scene, much like how "All Star" and "I Need a Hero" work perfectly for Shrek and Shrek 2, respectively. With that said, "Lean On Me" really does add an extra Umph! power to what follows. And as Matt Braley, series creator, describes, it is the coolest thing, but it will never happen again.
(Apparently, the song was too expensive).
Anne Goes to Save Sasha: Believe it or not, I actually do love this decision. Sasha may be a bad friend...Actually, no. Sasha is definitely a bad friend, but that doesn't mean Anne wants her to die. Not after all the good times that they had with each other. Anne might refuse to let Sasha push her around, but she's not ready to cut Sasha out of her life. Not yet.
Anne Holds Onto Sasha, the Plantars Hold Onto Anne: ...I mean...just f**king that! Through this moment, we get a perfect idea of how Anne's relationships work.
To put it simply, the Plantars raise Anne up and keep her safe, where Sasha just weighs her down and risks her safety. And the saddest part is that Sasha knows this.
“Anne. Maybe you’re better off without me…”: Some say that this could be Sasha trying to get in one last manipulation, using her own sacrifice to stick to Anne for choosing talking frogs over her. While I could see that perspective as a possibility, I personally take this moment as Sasha finally realizing the damage she causes for Anne and admits her faults. Sure, Sasha might have backpedaled in later episodes. What with refusing to change and even directing her anger towards Anne instead of towards herself. But that's because she had time to process these events and unfairly aim her negative feelings at Anne for wanting something better. So it doesn't seem implausible to me that Sasha admitting that Anne's better off without her is something she believed deep down and, for just a moment, allowed herself to accept this heavy truth. I won't deny the possibility that she's still trying to manipulate Anne, but to me, with the tone and expression Sasha has with her admission, you can't fake that. And you can't fake what she does next.
Sasha Lets Go: This...shocked me right down to my core.
I knew Grime would go back on his word, and I assumed the boom-shrooms would pay off somehow. But Sasha, willingly and unhesitantly, letting go of Anne's grip and falling to an expected demise? I...I couldn't have ever predicted that. Not with what we've seen from her before. When I hear how people see this as one last manipulation tactic, I just can't see it. Yes, there are monsters on this planet who would go this far, but I don't think Sasha is one of them. Later episodes like "Battle of the Bands" (despite a rough start) show signs of a person who could be better, and the Season Three trailer hints that she might actually learn from her mistakes. So her letting go, with no way of knowing her survival, could be the first sign that Sasha would one day make that first step. She might not be able to become Anne’s friend again, thanks to burning that bridge in "True Colors," but she'll at least try to become a better person. She just needs to do one good thing in her life first.
Plus, whenever I see this image:
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I’m reminded why I could never say that I didn’t like this show.
Grime Saving Sasha: A lesser viewer would say this cheapens Sasha's sacrifice, but not to me. She had no way of knowing Grime would save her, so to her, so this is still a bid decision to go through with, even if she couldn't have gone all the way. In no way does it take away from the sacrifice, just as much as it doesn't strike a chord deep in Anne's heart.
Anne Breaks Down: Because what else would she do?
It's true, Sasha isn't a good friend, and Anne would likely be better off without her. But that's not what Anne's thinking at this moment.
She's thinking about the good fun she had with her best friend.
She was thinking about the person she could lean on.
And she was thinking about how she almost lost this person forever.
So when it all comes crashing down on Anne at once, there's nothing left to do but cry. It is such a real moment that proves one thing: There was effort put into this finale.
IN CONCLUSION
Would I say Amphibia draws me in as much as The Owl House does? No. But it still has my respect. A finale like this proves how hard the writers try to give a good experience. Even if a Schmuck like me thinks that all the pieces don't come together, they still do all they can to make a beloved series.
Season Three is on the way, and while I'm not as hyped as others, I still can't wait to see how it ends. Because if "Reunion" taught me anything, this series really nails an ending.
(And if you want me to do a scene breakdown of the finale in "True Colors," I'll tell you now: I won't...alright, maybe I'll do something for the mid-season premiere. But no promises!)
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hotchley · 3 years
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cold
Just a short thing living in my head that needed to be written before it drove me crazy and became more of a distraction because there is a pile of work that I am yet to do just staring at me. It has not been proofread and does not make sense but I’m tired and annoyed and yeah-
The keep reading is for easy scrolling I promise this isn’t that long
ALSO I KNOW THIS READS AS TEAM BASHING BUT IT’S NOT. THEY ARE ALL FLAWED PEOPLE THAT SOMETIMES LASH OUT IN MOMENTS OF ANGER. THE TEAMS’ ACTIONS ARE SLIGHTLY OOC FOR PLOT REASONS, AND A NORMAL RESPONSE TO SOME OF HOTCH’S STUNTS. I DO LIKE THEM.
Warnings: references to child murder, child abuse, death and canon-typical violence
read on ao3!
Tomorrow, Hotch will stand before Erin Strauss and the Director of the FBI and put his career on the line once more to protect his team.
He will justify their actions, take the fall, blame himself, and accept whatever consequences they decide upon without complaint. He will not beg, or let the tears roll down his cheeks. He won’t raise his voice or become defensive.
The Director will pounce if he does. And no matter what Erin- she had stopped being Ma’am or Strauss long ago- did, she would not able to stop them. They would strip him of his title and role. They would give it someone else. Someone that wasn’t willing to protect them like he was.
He would convince them that he knew exactly what was going to happen, and that the plan had all been his idea because he won’t- can’t- let them take the blame because he knows what the price will be. A suspension at best. Unemployment at worst.
And he can take it. He always has. But he’s not sure they can.
So he won’t become defensive of his own job, but he would stop them from taking the only family some of his team had ever known from them. He wasn’t part of that family anymore. He hadn’t been since Gideon walked away, leaving him drowning, with nobody to pull him from the water because they were all too busy with Spencer.
He can’t resent them though. Spencer’s life has, and always will, mean more to everyone than his does. He’s replaceable. Anyone can be a competent Unit Chief but not everyone can be a genius with an eidetic memory. 
Tomorrow, Hotch will succeed in pleading his case- he can’t not- and allow himself to breathe when the Director leaves. Erin will touch his shoulder for a moment, and he will feel the tug in his heart that always accompanies someone treating him with kindness.
He will raise his head long enough to meet her kind but disapproving eyes. And then he will shrug her hand off, and turn on his heel because he cannot break down in front of her.
He cannot break down in front of anyone. The only thing he can be useful for is his coldness that destroys unsubs, and the moment he loses that, he will be left. Broken and alone, with nothing to show for his time with the BAU but nine scars on his torso and nightmares that make themselves known through the dark circles under his eyes that nobody ever comments on.
Tomorrow, Aaron will go and play with Jack, letting the smile that takes so much effort to conjure because wherever he turns, he sees another threat or another hiding spot for a killer. He sees something that can take the only pure thing he hasn’t tainted from him.
And not just for a few months like WitSec did. Forever.
But Jack will turn to face him, the perfect reflection of Haley, and he will breathe slightly easier. Because Jack will not grow up fearing the sound of a car in the driveway, or wonder whether or not he will be allowed to eat. He will grow up knowing that his father loves him.
That he is wanted. 
Tomorrow, Hotch will act like the case had no effect on him. Like he is the stoic and cold and emotionless other-worldly being the rookies always consider him to be. He will tell his team off, not because he wants to, but because it will be him that gets in trouble when the paperwork is not delivered. And they will roll their eyes, mouth curses as they turn to their desks.
And he will pretend every gesture is not like a paper cut on his heart. He will pretend that it doesn’t have an impact on him. And then he will close the door to his office- the one he doesn’t even want anymore- and do the paperwork that is technically theirs with tears in his eyes that cannot spill.
But he won’t ever say a word, and they won’t ever say thank you. Because they don’t realise. They just see him as their Unit Chief that has a stick up his arse and a scowl on his face at all times.
But that is tomorrow.
Tonight, Aaron Hotchner will strip himself of the suit he wears like armour because he has checked the locks enough times to know that nobody will be breaking in. Jack is at a friends house, so he can be vulnerable. 
He will strip himself of his suit and climb into bed without ever looking in the mirror, even now, after all these years, because he cannot stand the sight of George Foyet’s marks on his torso. 
He will climb into his bed and he will shatter. He will sob and scream and hate the world until his lungs burn and his head hurts and there are no more tears that he can shed. He will mourn the boy he never got to be, and the people they lost on the case.
He will cradle his pillow the way he wished someone would have held him once. And the only witnesses to his humanity would be the lamp that he still cannot turn off without being reminded of blood and knives and the star on his ceiling that Jack insisted he put up there.
Today, Hotch will allow himself to be Aaron.
Tomorrow, Hotch will pretend that Aaron does not exist, and he will be labelled cold and unfeeling.
But he was never cold. Never. He wasn’t cold then and he isn’t cold now. He just never got the chance to be human.
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eddiesfaerie · 4 years
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Softer (part 2)
Summary: does Kylo succumb to your softer ways? who knows? oh wait, i do:) (3.9k words)
Warnings: NSFW, PIV sex, fingering, crying during sex, light name calling, dirty talk, Kylo talks to you through the Force, he’s also a little mean at the beginning oops, f!reader
Part 1
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Sweet thing.
Your heart fluttered at the way that word sounded falling off of his tongue and through his lips.
“Cyar’shebi.” You said again, trying to say it the way he did. A language you were unfamiliar with, the words sat foreign on your tongue, sounding wrong no matter how hard you tried to pronounce it properly. You pouted, bottom lip sticking out just slightly, but enough for Kylo to latch onto it with his teeth, earning a whimper from you and a growl from him as he dug his teeth into your plush lip, blood rushing to the affected area.
Effortlessly, Kylo broke from the water, pushing his body up the length of yours with the pure rippling strength of his arms, moving your body to lay down against the rock and settling himself above you, his dick resting against your stomach. You moaned and gasped into his mouth and he swallowed them up with pleasure.
“Tell me you’re mine.” Insecurity ebbed through his very being. He worried that if he couldn’t do this for you, have this one day where he tried to be… different, you would never forgive him for it. This, of course, was nowhere near the truth. But you were slowly beginning to piece together how you could get your Kylo to be softer, to submit to you in the smallest way possible.
“I’m yours, Kylo.” You said without hesitation, your lips not parting from his as you formed the words.
“But are you mine?” You asked and he pulled away to stare at your face. The question confused him. After moments of silence, you pushed further.
“Do you belong to me like I belong to you?” Kylo blinked back at you, as if you were now the one speaking the unknown, forerign language. Perhaps you were.
“I belong to no one.” He stated, completely emotionless. His statement tried to prove to you that there was no room for debate. You frowned, looking away from his intense stare for a moment to try and think of another way you could put this so that he could understand, to think of another way to break him to your mold like he had done to you.  
“Kylo-” He seized your face in between his fingers, smushing your cheeks together, making your lips pout.
“I belong to no one, little girl. Not even you.” He bared his teeth at you again, his eyes flickering ember, quite literally the eye of the storm; engaged and ready to destroy anything in its path. And you just so happened to be the only thing for miles. You choked back a sob, trying to turn your head away from him so he wouldn’t see you cry, but his strength was always overwhelming.
“Look at me when I speak to you, pet.” Unwillingly, you met his gaze again, tears threatening to spill over. His hand moved from your cheeks to your throat, his thumb and index finger threatening to press further into your bloodstream if he found you to be disobedient. You hated the way your body automatically responded to him, a heat rising in your lower belly, no matter how sad or frustrated he made you.
“Yes, Supreme Leader.”
The title made his lips quiver and eyes go soft. You only called him by his official title when he would return to your shared quarters covered in dirt, mud, sand, or someone’s (sometimes his own) blood. When he needed to regain control, make him feel superior, powerful, and unstoppable. Of all the times you’ve addressed him as such, he was not expecting to hear it today. Especially when it was supposed to be different this time. Because you were different. You.
Fuck.
His exterior was cracking. You didn’t mean to sabotage him like this but you were running out of ideas on how to make him see, how to show him it could be different. And if he hated it, it never had to be this way again.
Kylo was not a cruel lover, nor was he a violent one, but he was demanding, possessive and very, very physical. You had been attracted to him for all of these reasons, seeing past his ‘shortcomings’, if they could even be considered as such. You loved them all, no matter how little you wanted to admit that to yourself or to him.
He was the one who had suggested the need for something different, as much as it surprised the both of you, today was his idea. And now you were beginning to think he wanted you to feel like you were ridiculous for even wanting it, for thinking that he was capable of softness. Words were escaping you, so you just prayed he could hear you in your own head.
Just let me show you… please let me show you, you chanted, searching his eyes for any sort of confirmation that he could, in fact, hear your pleas for him to let you lead him, just this once.
His chest was heavy, breath falling loudly from his nose as his eyes flickered between yours, searching for the answer that you wanted, so he could give it to you, give you what you wanted. That’s all he ever wanted, after all, to give you everything.
“No one… No one else has ever seen me-” He begins to say and you think Kylo Ren might cry. His lip trembles, his chin quivers and eyebrows furrow. You want to kiss them, kiss that familiar line that lives above his eyes but you also want him to feel this, for him to trust you enough to feel this with you. The hand that was wrapped around your throat leaves its place to rest against the rock next to your head. You turn your head over, breathing onto his exposed skin and pressing the smallest kiss on the flesh of his wrist.
I know. He doesn’t need to explain himself to you. You know how he feels about his appearance, and regardless of his scar, he has his reasons for dressing the way he does, walking the way he does. Hiding all types of fears, worries and insecurities from prying eyes, minds who indulge too much, think too much about him before he shows them what he’s really capable of at the other end of a saber. He hides for control, and he lost a bit of that with you when he revealed himself that very first time you visited him in his quarters. You would always hold that supreme power above everyone else, including him.
“You don’t understand.” He argued.
“I do, Kylo. I-”
“No.” He cut you off, voice booming in his chest and his hand next to your head that you had been kissing curls into a fist, tremors beginning to flow through him, the impending earthquake. You could feel the heat within him rising quickly, his urge to lash out just bubbling underneath the cooled surface, threatening to spill. As a last resort, you came back to the only effective way you knew how to calm him when all else failed miserably.  
“Yes.” You insisted again. Your hand reaches for the back of his neck, reaching up with your mouth as you pull him down half way to shut him up with a kiss, shoving your tongue insistently into his mouth to stop his cries. You both moaned into each other’s open mouths, or maybe he growled, a searing kiss, burning the both of you at the edges. His mouth was so soft, his teeth were so hard as they bit into your mouth, into your lip, causing you to whimper and cry into his mouth.
“Let me show you. It’s okay.” You said out loud for the first time today. You hand rested on his cheek, thumb dusting across the bone that protrudes beautifully, like a statue. He pressed exactly seven more kisses to your lips before he pulled away only briefly to catch his breath. Your legs wound themselves on his lower back, pulling his body flush against yours, trying to egg him on further to answer you, to give in.
“I want… I need you to show me how.” His voice, just above a whisper as he finally let go. You tuned yourself into his mind, trying to get him to feel you everywhere. It was overwhelming, how powerful he was through the Force. So powerful that he somehow allowed you to see him through it as well, allowing you to see his life and energy force, and manipulate it too. You didn’t think you were Force sensitive, but he made you feel powerful.
Focus on me, my breathing. See how my chest moves. Reach out to it. Feel my flesh, touch all of it, it’s yours.
Kylo’s eyes closed and his eyebrows drew closer together as they so often do. His hands reached out to you through the Force as well as here on the rock, causing goosebumps to erupt across your skin like lightning. His face leaned down further to tuck himself away into the crook of your neck, inhaling your scent and moving his hands across your breasts, kneading them, tweaking your nipples as well until you cried out.
You swam around in his mind, the water getting thicker and thicker the longer you were there, colours erupting in every corner, your vision was getting foggy and it was harder to pinpoint what you were looking at or swimming towards. You could see yourself from his point of view, laying underneath him, whithering and moaning as he groped you and touched you, running his hands across your body, kissing and sucking on your neck, leaving fresh new bruises on top of old ones. You could feel his restraint at first, holding himself back from tossing you around like a doll, like he was so used to. The restraint eventually began to fade as he lost himself in this indulgence, this treat; your body that he was now realizing he never got to savour properly.
He had never taken his time like this before. He knew your body well, too well, maybe even better than you did at this point but he had never taken his time to touch so much of you all at once. The earth shook beneath you, the Force bond or whatever this magical place was, was becoming indistinguishable from reality and you were getting lost in his head. You could hear him saying your name, moaning, growling against your skin, different languages fluttering in and out, confusing you further. You weren’t sure if they were his thoughts or actually spilling from between his lips.
“You’re - fuck - you’re perfect.” Kylo moaned into your ear and it brought you back from inside his mind, finally grounding you in the present with him. His lips licked the shell of your ear and your back arched up into his chest above you, his hands sliding down past your stomach to rest above your sensitive nub, your legs spreading wider to make more room for both his torso and now his hand to reach down to your furthest point.
“Kylo, please.” You begged, desperately needing his touch on the most sensitive part of you.
“What do you need.” You whined louder at his quesiton, his fingers skating around the edge of your sex and you were finding it harder and harder to form coherent sentences in your mind.
“Tell me what you need and I’ll give it to you, cyar’ika.” Amidst the sexual fog settling in your mind, you noticed the new name he called you and it made you cry out to him. Why was he so good at teasing you?
“You, Kylo. I just need you, all of you, please.” With his free hand he took hold of your chin and angled your face to look at him. When you didn’t immediately open your eyes he tapped your cheek gently with his fingers and your eyelids slowly lifted to bore into his amber ones, flickering gold, the lava erupting from within and you were dying to throw yourself in.
You own me more than you could ever know.
Perhaps he could never say it out loud but an admission was an admission either way, it was more than you could ask for. Without waiting another moment, Kylo plunged two of his thick fingers inside of you until they were knuckle deep, reaching further than your fingers ever could, stretching you wider than you could imagine. A deep moan released itself from your chest that you couldn’t imagine holding back. As he began pumping and curling his fingers, you lifted one of your arms to shield your face in your own bicep, embarrassed at how hot and desperate he made you so quickly. You bit your soft skin, trying to stifle the wanton moans leaving your body.
The familiar touch of his invisible hands quickly wound itself around both of your wrists, pinning them up above your head, once again revealing your warm face to Kylo. You stared at you like you were the answer to all of his problems, all of his feuds, all of his curiosities, like you held the sun in your hands and you were allowing him to drink from it.
“Beautiful.” He told you, his fingers reaching parts of you that you didn’t know could be reached. You clenched around his fingers as he dragged them incredibly slowly across that spot inside of you that made you see stars. You fought against your invisible restraints, body twisting and convulsing underneath his torso and the powerful hold of the Force. The sounds his fingers were pulling from the depths of you were lewd, the slick wetness dribbling down your thighs was enough to make tears form in your eyes. The quicker his pace got, the closer you got to your release and the louder you became. You were unaware of the words leaving your mouth but you were sure it was just a repeated chant of his name, over and over again into the air around the pond.
“Please, I’m gonna-”
Without a second thought, Kylo pulled his fingers from you and dipped them into his mouth, his tongue curling around his fingers to drink up what you had given him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and you clenched your thighs together at the sight. Fuck you needed this man inside of you.
“Nothing in the entire galaxy could be sweeter than your pussy.” He moaned against your mouth after he leaned down and shoved his tongue into your willing mouth, forcing you to taste the combination of his spit and your cum. You again went to wrap your legs around his waist, this time shifting your hips to try and get him to glide his cock into you. You managed to line yourself up on the very tip of him, the spongy head coming to poke at your opening and you threw your head back when he gave you mini thrusts, teasing you with the beginnings of his cock.
“Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.” Kylo looked down at you squirming underneath him, completely broken and desperate and chuckled, leaning down to press his lips directly under your ear.
“I’ll give you everything.”
With one swift thrust, Kylo sheathed his entire length inside of your warm cunt, splitting you openon his cock. Both of your eyes closing from pure, unadulterated bliss and pleasure. You threw your head back, your body arching into his as his hands came to wrap themselves around your waist, his large hands holding you in place against his body. His head fell to your shoulder as he groaned your name loudly, the invisible restraints against your wrists fizzling out as his mind focused in on the sensation of his cock inside the deepest part of you. You grabbed onto his shoulders, your nails sinking into his supple skin, preparing for the rough thrusts that never came.
Kylo dragged out of you at an agonizingly slow pace before pushing himself back into the hilt at the same speed, forcing you to feel every centimetre, every ridge and every vein of his cock, you could barely stand it.
“Kylo, Kylo please I can’t take it.” You whined, your eyes screwed shut as he gave you a few more lazy thrusts, all the while he was groaning into your neck at the feeling of your walls squeezing against him, sucking him in deeper.
“Let me do this I - fuck... I want to feel you, need to feel all of you.”
He lifted his head to look at you as he said those seemingly magic words. You bit your lip and nodded your head, one of his hands coming to hold your face to his, resting underneath your jawand wrapping his fingers at the base of your skull. Kylo pressed his forehead to yours and picked up the pace a noticeable amount, but still slower than either of you were used to.
You both moaned again in unison, your mouths swallowing each other's breaths, moans and pleas for the other to give more, more, more. You looked down between your two bodies, watching as his stomach flexed against your own, his muscles constricting against the skin as he pushed into you, again and again without relent.
Your mind was reeling at the slower pace, you couldn’t help the way your body craved the blunt force of his cock against your cervix that so often made you scream and sob into the bed sheets, wall or empty throne room. You were so used to him being unforgiving and mean, that you couldn’t figure out how to respond to this slower, more… kind side. It was something you could get used to but you didn’t want to allow yourself the luxury of becoming comfortable around him, around Kylo. It would only result in punishment, torment and disappointment.
“You’re so fucking big.” you babbled shamelessly, your words punctuated with moans as your unforgiving nails pierced into the taut skin of his muscular back. Kylo growled and nibbled at your earlobe, making you yelp and clench harder around his dick.
“You take me so well though, look at you… my beautiful girl.”
Such a little slut for me, you heard him say in his mind and you couldn’t help the giggle that escaped your lips. Even in the throes of pleasure, lost in the depths of your cunt, Kylo was still managing to contain his darker side and be sweeter to you, softening his words as well as his thrusts. Your fingers curled in his hair at the back of his head, pulling him down to kiss you but he held himself back, instead deepening his thrusts, angling himself differently within you and picking up his pace.
“Oh, FUCK!” Your eyes rolled into the back of your head as Kylo dug deeper and deeper into your pussy, finally knocking himself against your cervix with each powerful thrust. Your body went numb with the sharp pleasure and pain that was bursting within your very soul at his thrusts, your back arching, pressing your bouncing tits right up against his firm chest which bloomed red from exertion and pleasure.
“I can’t…. I can’t Kylo I-” The pleasure was blinding, you were losing sensation in your legs and you could feel tears filling your eyes. Your pussy began to flutter around his cock as you neared your orgasm.
“Yes you can.” He grunted, his voice several octaves deeper as it rumbled through his chest, drawing a low whine from you.
“It’s too much…”
“Take my cock like the good girl I know you are.” He moaned your name, maybe he was getting close to. You nodded your head, a silent yes falling from your lips as you let the tears fall, letting yourself go to the complete chaotic bliss of his cock filling you to the absolute brim.
I’m close, you thought, the energy required to actually form the words with your lips and tongue escaping you. You clawed at his back some more with pleasure weak hands, your grip slipping off of him so he grasped your hands, intertwining your fingers and pinning them above your head again, elongating your body to him.
He’s never done that before. Intertwin your fingers. You smile and more tears fall.
Me too, you hear and your thighs clamp tighter around his hips, trying to draw him in deeper. You don’t want this to end, it can’t.
Your glistening bodies move alongside each other as you both near your climax. You finally find it within you to open your eyes and look at the man moving above you and you just cry some more. Behind sparkly tears, he looks magnificent. Cheeks tinted fuschia, lips darker than his cheeks, puffy and parted as moans, growls and your name fall loose from behind them. His eyes open and close lazily, to focus in on the pleasure or look down at you. His brows drawn together in concentration, loose hairs clinging to his face from sweat and the humidity. You do this to him.
Only you do this to me.
You moan loudly, the tears unrelenting as they fall down your cheek. Even though your body is quickly growing numb, you think you can feel him kiss a few tears away.
You can feel that balloon swelling inside of you and you try to chase after it the harder he thrusts, his hips becoming erratic as you both near the end. Neither of you has to say anything more, you both know you’re right there.
After a few particularly hard thrusts, you let out a high pitched moan and finally cum around his cock, Kylo cursing in your ear as he shoots his load inside of you as well, shoving it deeper and deeper.
Mine, mine mine.
You cling to him, trying to draw him deeper even after both of you have come, never wanting to part from him, never wanting him to leave your body. You would gladly keep him seated in your cunt for as long as he wanted if he would allow it. You can feel his cock pulsing inside of you, depositing the last drops of cum right up against your cervix until he starts to soften.
Both still panting, Kylo drops his body onto yours, resting his head on your sternum, listening to your heart beat and wondering if it’ll ever go back to its normal pace. He gently draws circles over your skin, maybe he’s writing his name on you like you had done to him earlier. You laid like that for a small eternity, energy flowing between you two like the pond and waterfall that now seemed so far into the distance.
“You’re the only thing I'm scared of.” Kylo admits, finally breaking the silence. If your heart rate hadn’t returned to normal by now, it surely must have just stopped in your chest.
Utter confusion filled you. Kylo rustled on your chest, still not looking up at you but that was okay, he sensed your confusion. He grasped your breast in his hand and lazily kneaded it, comforting you as well as him, occasionally brushing his thumb across your nipple. Combing your fingers through Kylo’s damp hair, you looked up to the sky to see the Star Destroyer floating in the near atmosphere. Kylo continued,
“You’re the only person who could really hurt me.”
No words came to you in that moment, shock washing over you at his admission that you never thought would come. Never thought would break through him. 
In a moment of perceived weakness, Kylo Ren had finally admitted to you that you hold a supreme power over him. Nothing but you, your lips, your body, your voice, your pussy, your laugh, you, you, you, You. Nothing but you could break him. You were his true reigning emperor and he kneeled only to you.
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twokinkybeans · 4 years
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Daddy Ain’t So Tough [Starker]
Summary: Sometimes, the word Daddy doesn't necessarily mean you're the one in charge. Or: In which Peter and Tony explore their new little fantasies. Warnings/tags: Nff, smut, incest play/kink, daddy kink, daddy!Tony, bottom!Tony, sub!Tony, top!Peter, dom!Peter, restraints / light bondage, begging & teasing. Notes: HI DEARS! This idea has been in my head for quite a while now and I am so excited that I finally wrote it! PLEASE READ THE WARNINGS/TAGS CAREFULLY. There's some kinks in there not everyone might enjoy. If you do like it, please do continue :) :) <3 And thank y'all for your neverending support! -Kim
Read here on AO3!!
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“Daddy,” Peter giggles as he straddles Tony’s hips. He trails his fingers down the man’s gorgeous chest. It’s everything Peter could’ve ever dreamed about- even if he hadn’t done it consciously so. The arc reactor is fascinating to him, as are the scars scattered around it. Obviously, the hard lines of the man’s abs are very welcome too. God, he looks so handsome and strong.
“Peter, fuck-” Tony mutters under his breath. Peter simply smirks and he lowers his full weight onto the man’s crotch, causing Tony’s lips to part in a silent gasp. Yeah. Handsome, strong, and entirely Peter’s
It’s only very recently that they made this, eh, discovery. It’s a weird power shift. Contradictory, even. Yet, the shared pleasure shortcircuits their minds more than they’ve ever experienced before. Nothing’s ever been missing, but this? This is a whole new layer Peter aches to delve into.
“‘M gonna fuck you so good, Daddy. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be ruined by me?” “Yes, baby boy,” Tony lets out a breathy moan. “I’m so ready for you.” The older man tugs on his restraints in a desperate attempt to lay his hands on the striking, youthful body on top of him. With his 22 years old, Peter is absolutely breathtaking. Strong, ripped muscles to hold him down as no one else ever had. His legs tremble at the mere thought. “Petey- please.”
“Mmmmmh- that’s more like it.” Peter puts his hands down right next to Tony’s head and leans in to kiss the man’s warm lips. Peter moans when Tony is eager enough to immediately take a chance and suck Peter’s lower lip into his mouth. His cock twitches against Tony’s stomach and a hot surge of arousal courses right through him. Fuck. Fuck. Tony - ever-in-control-I’ll-handle-this-myself-Tony - is the neediest sub Peter ever imagined possible. “Nu-uh, Daddy, don’t get ahead of yourself now-” Peter murmurs and pulls back, smirking at Tony’s subconscious attempt to sneak in one more chaste kiss. Peter sits up straight, his hands finding their way to Tony’s hard chest again. His fingertips brush past the man’s soft nipples, earning him a loud groan. “So hot,” Peter whispers gently. He scoots down a little, now sitting on the man’s thighs, and he leans in again. “Bet you’ve been thinking about my dick in your ass all day, uh?” He sucks Tony’s right nipple into his mouth. No longer soft, nor gentle, but sucking harshly. Tony’s hips buck up wildly.  “God-fucking-” “Now, now,” Peter laughs, letting go of the nipple and hovering over the left one. Still awfully untouched. “Didn’t think you’d be this filthy when you raised me.”
There. He did it. He crossed the line again.
Peter looks up and swallows, checking quickly if Tony’s still up for- well… This. Tony’s cheeks flush a bright red and he bites down his bottom lip. He stares right back at Peter- also checking up on the younger boy. They’re still treading new grounds, new fantasies, something neither of them dares to admit out loud just yet. “Well? Did you think you’d be laying here, legs spread wide, for me? What would people think uh?” “Peter-” “Well?” “Fuck- fuck fuck fuck.” Tony babbles, his fingers trembling as he clenches them together. Tony is aware that he has to cue Peter to go on. That he wants in fact pretend to be Peter’s actual Daddy. It’s so hard to say it, though. It’s so awfully wrong and yet his dick aches with want. Peter looks down at him, eyes dark and expectant- waiting for a sign.
“If I raised you so well,” he breathes shakingly, “-then why aren’t your fucking your old man just yet?” Peter scoffs, cocking an eyebrow at him. His eyes are twinkling though, teasing and cunning and Tony whimpers quietly.  “You need it that bad, eh?” “Yes. Baby yes.” 
After that everything turns hazy for Peter. He growls low in his throat and crawls even further down, kneeling in between Tony’s legs and spreading them apart until the tip of his cock brushes against Tony’s already slick and prepped hole.  “All those times you punished me,” Peter rushes out, not knowing where the words come from but they feel so right. “Now you ain’t so tough.” “Just take me, kid.”
Peter doesn’t waste a damn second and he pushes inside without remorse, replacing the heat his fingers had been at a few minutes before. Tony’s eyes screw shut and Peter relishes in the feeling of this handsome, powerful man becoming such a proud bottom underneath his touch. He digs his fingers into Tony’s thighs, lifting his boyfriend’s legs up until they’re wrapped around his waist. God, Tony’s so warm and soft and tight and Peter bites back a pathetic whimper as he inches forward even more- the new position allowing him to slide in deeper.  “Call me that again,” Peter groans demandingly. “Wanna hear you lose it for me.” He draws back slightly, now gripping at Tony’s round ass and pushes in again with such force that Tony shifts upwards in the sheets. Peter’s still holding back, not using all his Spider powers, but some. Enough to make Tony’s eyes roll back. “Please, please kiddo, fuck your Daddy.” This time, Peter can’t help the high-pitched noise escaping his throat. He thrusts forward harsh- again and again and again. His movements accompanied by the loud and suspicious creaking of his small single bed and Tony’s choked off moans as pleasure washes over his lover’s face. Peter’s cock almost hurts with how badly he wants to release himself. Fill up the man’s ass with his cum. He wants to claim him, take charge.
Every single drag back and forth has him see stars. Peter’s breath hitches in his throat and he ignores the light burn at his knees where it creates friction with the sheets. It only makes him more feral. More possessive. More… In charge. Nothing else matters right now. All that matters is the sweet melody of Peter’s name falling from Tony’s lips over and over again. The burning pit deep in his stomach grows higher and bigger- warning Peter he’s going tip over that very edge soon. “Daddy, f- ah! Look at you, legs spread wide for your own blood. Fucking filthy, and you even like it- don’t you?” Peter chokes out. “Does it feel good knowing that you no longer own me?” “K-kid-” “Not anymore, not anymore. Tony.” 
Peter reaches down and curls his fingers around the thick, hot shaft of Tony’s cock. He squeezes, wants to drag his hand down and- “Aaah! P-Peter! Fuck don’t stop don’t stop dont-” Tony’s words turn into an incomprehensible string of syllables as white-hot come rains down onto his own chest. Peter watches in awe how the man’s face contorts with pleasure and a hint of blissful shame. His tight hole clenches around Peter’s still aching cock- and every fiber of his being wants to enjoy the same overwhelming euphoria. He quickly scans Tony’s face once, not sensing a hint of discomfort as he speeds up his thrusts. Not in the slightest. “Peter yes please fuck me through it. Show your Daddy how it’s done.”
Peter whines and drops his head forward. Curls stick to his forward where a sheen of sweat had gathered. He’s gonna burst. He can’t hold it back. Not even if he wanted to. His primal instincts have taken full charge of his body and he pounds into the slick heat beneath him until finally, his mind blanks out when filthily sweet sensations shake him to his core. He spills inside of Tony, feels how his cum mixes with the now warm lube. How Tony clenches around him to not lose a single fucking drop.  Peter lets out a shaky laugh, in complete wonderment of how good this can feel. How much better this is than his own hand ever had been. And when finally, after what seems to be infinity, his eyes flutter open; he’s met with the deep, loving brown eyes of the man he’s been able to call his lover for the past three and a half years. 
“Peter,” Tony whispers, body limp and soft and spent. Arching into Peter’s warmth. Peter cracks a smile and carefully lets go of Tony’s legs, leaning down to cover the man’s body with his own. Their legs tangle together while Peter’s cock softens inside of the man. He doesn’t care it’ll make a mess. Peter hums quietly and grabs his blanket to pull it on top of them.  “Tony,” Peter whispers back. Tony smiles, suddenly shy. A feature that will always leave Peter amazed. “Was that too much?” Peter asks. Not out of insecurity, but because he wants to gauge how his boyfriend has experienced it. Tony chuckles, turning his gaze sideways. “No.” He pauses and shakes his head. “That was… Perfect.” “Yes,” Peter agrees. His hands gently massaging their way up Tony’s arms to undo the restraints. “I really, really, liked it too.” “The whole kid thing hit home, uh?” “Fuck yes,” Peter grins. “It’s so… You. But also a good different. It makes it feel natural even when it’s play.” “Agreed.”
Tony groans when he finally lowers his arms now that he is no longer tied to the headboard. His arms wrap around Peter’s shoulders, gently caressing him. Peter smiles, his cock now slipping out of Tony fully, and he nuzzles his face against the man’s neck to nib at the skin there. “You sore?” “If I say yes, will you treat me with a back rub and hot chocolate later?” “Of course,” Peter teases along. Tony beams and nods. “Yes. Very, very sore.” “Turn around then.” “Yes, kid.”
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kri-babe · 3 years
Text
A Bad Experience ᅳ Word Count: 2143 Summary: TAKE THE TRASH OUT. Warning: Implied Sexual Assault. Murder.
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I was a pretty average kid. I wasn’t excessively popular, but I wasn’t an outcast either. I liked my silence and my own company, but I didn’t mind the company of my friends either. I had my own little pack of misfits that I ran with but we were average kids. We hung out where we could, but it wasn’t all that often between our classes or after school. My best friend in school was… sort of unorthodox, and a lot of people would have probably questioned it, and had my mom been any better, she would’ve told me to stay the fuck away from him.
And with good reason…
Mr. Rhodes was the school janitor; dressed persistently in a dark blue jumpsuit, and jingling whenever he walked because of the keys he carried on his belt. He was a fairly recluse guy, and the other kids thought he was pretty creepy. I think that was because of the fact that he had this weird tendency to turn up in random places, or… maybe it was the scars that mangled the side of his face. Hell, now that I think back on it, it could’ve even just been the vibe he put off. The smile that was just a little too friendly… the dark eyes that were just a little… too happy.
I guess I was a bad read of people…
But for whatever unfortunate reason, I liked Mr. Rhodes… I spoke to him regularly whenever I saw him, treated the guy like he was just another friend of mine. He was friendly enough, and he didn’t treat me like I was just some dumb fuckin’ kid in his way, wasting his time.
I never told him about it, but I think he put it together anyway - the problems back at home. He’d told me one day that I could hide out in the janitor’s closet if I ever needed a place away from everyone else. I hadn’t thought anything of it. Just a friendly gesture from a decent guy everyone overlooked because he had an unsavory job, and scars on his face.
I never once stopped to wonder why he was working at that school, why he was a janitor, and why the other kids avoided him… why the teachers avoided him. I never really thought beyond the idea that they were just mean. That maybe it was pack instinct that kept the flock together, safe in their numbers where the wolf couldn’t easily get to them.
No, I had to be the black sheep - the one that sticks out like a sore thumb, all the easier to snatch.
Too bad I didn’t see his fangs until he found me in the janitor’s closet one day. It’d been a shit day, mom was off her meds, had thrown away some of my stuff because it was ‘Satanic’. I didn’t want to put up with the teachers, nor the other kids, so I hunkered down in that little, cramped closet to just ride the day out. Where the fuck else was I going to go? Home? As if. If only I’d thought of some place else. If only I’d refused to trust him too.
He asked how long I’d been there, and I told him since school started. Guess that meant no one would notice one missing kid. The minute he closed the door, I felt something. A sinking brick in my gut and it only got worse when Mr. Rhodes knelt beside me, rubbed my back and told me that it’d all be okay. He could make it better. … I must’ve been twelve.
I stayed in the closet for the rest of the day. I was too scared to come out until well after school had ended….
I told her anyway. I knew she wouldn’t hear it, I knew she wouldn’t believe me. I knew she wouldn’t be on my side. But sometimes… just… sometimes. She was mom. I told her anyway. I felt the strike far before I had seen it coming.
“No son of mine will be an incubus, not in this house. God will excise this evil from you, you pustulant seductor.”
I still have scars from the whipping.
So… what now…
What do you do when your childhood fucking rapist comes into your place of work… and recognizes you…?
“Well, well,” Chimed a familiar, snake-like voice from just a few steps behind.
Alby blinked tiredly a few times, staring at the bleary image of the DVD cases in the cart and in his hands. As per the norm, the night had been slow - Blockbusters wasn’t really what it used to be, and the few customers he did get were often high as hell, and just looking for cheap movies to rent. He’d had maybe one other customer earlier that evening, before he’d set to putting back the returns.
Another blink, Alby slowly frowned as it pushed its way back to the surface - that rotten, fetid trauma he’d buried years ago. The boy straightened, blinking, and turned his head to peer over his shoulder as Rhodes stepped nearer, grinning just like the wolf he’d always been. Alby’s frown hardened as his good eye slowly cleared from the haze of the pot that clouded his head.
“If it isn’t little Alby… and you’ve grown up to be so handsome too… I’m honestly surprised to still see you around, kiddo… I was so sure your mother would be the end of you…” He reached closer, tilting Alby’s chin in his direction with a finger to better see the patch that was taped over the young man’s right eye. “Looks like she might still be,” He smirked, releasing him then, and instead, placed his hand over Alby’s back.
Broad, slender - he’d shot up like a beanstalk since they had last seen each other. Rhodes looked no different somehow, and Alby wasn’t sure how to take that. But the hand over his back summoned something from the depths of his being. A cold sweat broke out over his porcelain skin and Alby could feel a tremble push its way into his arms and fingers.
“So, how’s life been, kiddo…?” Alby frowned again, staring silently at Rhodes. Was this a joke? Was this guy just… playing fucking stupid? Like they’d always been buddy buddy? Like he fucking hadn’t raped him all those years ago? What was this? Was he trying to get cozy with him so he could do it again?
“What’s the matter, Alby~? Cat got your tongue?”
Rhodes’ hand slid lower, and whether that was to withdraw or not didn’t matter anymore when Alby suddenly exploded into motion with a left hook that connected directly with Rhodes’ jaw. He fell like a sack of bricks and Alby stood there in total silence once more - naught but the sound of his own shaky breathing to accompany him as he glared down at Rhodes’ body. He must have hit him just right… and certainly just hard enough, his knuckles protested about it.
Fuck…
What the fuck was he going to do with this fucker… call the police? But for what… a crime he’d committed twelve years ago? This was assault… and he was positive that his boss wasn’t going to be happy about his one fucking employee assaulting a customer…
The walkie-talkie on the back of Alby’s hip crackled and popped, and there it came: his boss’s chipper voice.
“Hey, Al, you there, bud~?”
He’d never seen the guy’s face, but his manager was always so weirdly happy… it was unsettling at best.
“Fuck…” Alby breathed, still shaking as he pulled the walkie-talkie off his belt and brought it to his lips, “Y-yeah, what’s up?” Just… be calm. Act normal. Everything was fine. He never even came into the store, and it was late. They were just between the shelves. No one would know.
“Hey, Al, there ya are! Listen, bud!” Popped the walkie.
“Remember what I told you about the trash? Those no-good lay-about trash guys don’t come by anymore, so there’s an incinerator in the basement of the building you can use to take out the trash! It’s pretty big, too, remember? So don’t fall in!”
Alby shook harder, blinking widely.
He was so sure he could hear something else just under his boss’s peppy voice. Something unnatural, just under the static, like worms in the dirt, whispering the earth’s secrets into his ears.
‘T̴̨̥̥̮̖̮̠̰̗͖̘̺͒̂̿̅͠Ā̴̫̖̬̜̝̟̠̥̿͌̃͐ͅK̶̟̻̤̼͇̭̻̗̖̖̮̤̺̺̅̐̐̊̀̅̔̈́͑̔̄̀̕̚͝ͅE̶͔̥̺̩̖͓̗̱͉̤̮̭̲͎̺̫̋͛̋̒̊̄̕ ̶̧̬̙͉̮̦̮̭̘͙͌̈́̈Ţ̶̨̛̛̫͖̙̫̺̘̰̘̳̮̘̞̊̏̅͊͋̍͂̄̅́̌͜͠͠͝ͅH̸̨̟͕͍̝̠̫̔̏̓͘͜͝Ě̶̡̨̨͖̫͚͇͍̰̻̪̭̰̃̈́́̈́̌̇̔̒̂̑́̉̿̓̑͘ͅ ̴̭̮͍̟̩̯̍̉͂̂̒͗̀̈́̐̒͘T̷͓̱͎͔̦̫̲̹̰̠̬̤̹͂R̸̡̹͔͓̳͎̣̗͙̥͙̱̯̂͊̌̽͗̈́̎̅̇͘͝A̴̳̳̤̣͐̑̄͘ͅS̷̩̲͖͒̏́̆̋Ḩ̶͔̥͉̪͓͉͇̠̭̓͋̀͒͘͜ ̸͇͎̘̮̀̊͐̈͋̽̑̇̔̄̋̈́͜͝͠Ơ̷̡̳̰̳͈͙̙̞͔̹̦͍͋̋̑̿̿͂̾̊̀̓͑̎̕̕͘̚U̶͔̩̘͖͖̗͚̞̲͓̬̟̥̺̅̓̂͑̏́͝͠͝T̸̺̹̤̮̆̓̽̈́̀̒̉͒̄̓̀̒͒͠,̶̪̤̯̖̩̯̘̾̒͊̇̂͂͗̑̂͋͋̈́̏͐̏͜͝ͅ ̶̡̡̣͓̠̭̫̟̫͕̔͆͋̈́̈́̌̊̓̈́̍͌̈́̔̐́̾͜͝A̵̲͓̝͚͚̖͖͙͉̹͍̗̦͙͔̭̞͑͊̃̓̿̑̓̑̾̃͊L̵̨͖̣̜̬̜̮̲̦̞̥̑̓͑̄͌̎̿͛̈́̈̂͝Ḇ̷̯͎̝̮̯͖͈̰͔̦͕̫̭̬̙̉̉̅ͅY̵̡̪̹̲͚̭͈̞͚̆̓͒̍̚͘͝͝͠.̷͚̳̘̜͙̺̝̳̌̀̔̑͒͗̐̌̈̃͌͝͠͝’
Alby swallowed, and looked back down at the body that lay sprawled across the carpeted flooring, lips working to form words he couldn’t find the ability to add noise to.
“Still there, Al!?” He jolted.
“Y-yeah, yeah, sorry, I’m here. I-I -- I’m on it, boss.” The walkie was hooked back onto his belt and Alby slowly exhaled.
Did he… know…? There was no fucking way this was coincidence. Trash day was usually at the end of the week… it was fucking Tuesday.
Could he do this…?
The basement door swung open, and Alby panted softly, grunting as he readjusted the man draped over his shoulder and slowly began down the steps into the blackness of the basement. There were lights, but the incinerator was often just bright enough that its orange glow was more than enough to light his way. That… beast of a machine. Steel and fire - the belly of a dragon, and the teeth to match.
When he first came to work here, there was no basement. There was no incinerator. There were large trash bins outside that the garbage men would occasionally come get, because the Blockbuster didn’t produce enough trash. Alby was the only employee. But after a time, he’d gotten word from his boss that the garbage men wouldn’t be stopping by anymore. They’d decided the place wasn’t worth the stop anymore, due to how infrequently they had to pick up from it.
The next day, there was a note about the basement. The incinerator. The shop never shut down. There were no construction workers. There was no equipment. No signs that the building had been added onto. It was just… there.
Every step thunked down the stairs as Alby disappeared down into that blackness, and squinted the moment he came around the corner to face the incinerator. It didn’t often make much noise… but it was growling now. Like a ravenous beast, it’s teeth clanking against its jaw in anticipation. Alby hesitated. He often wondered if this fucking thing was alive… the way it acted. But it was so easy for him to chalk it up to the fact that it was probably just funky machinery. He swallowed, and drew nearer, pulling the lever to open the jaws of this hellbeast which roared hungrily, releasing a burning belch of hot air into the basement. Alby squinted against the blast, and stared into those roaring flames.
The weight on his shoulder never felt heavier… and he wasn’t sure he could do this…
The guy… raped him but… this was murder, and no one would ever know…
But they never knew about his rape, either, did they…?
The walkie talkie crackled and popped, fuzzing loudly against the rumbling of the incinerator. There were no words that spilled through the static, and yet… he could hear that distant sound once again. As if there was just… too much interference, or the frequency wasn’t
quite right.
‘T̴̨̥̥̮̖̮̠̰̗͖̘̺͒̂̿̅͠Ā̴̫̖̬̜̝̟̠̥̿͌̃͐ͅK̶̟̻̤̼͇̭̻̗̖̖̮̤̺̺̅̐̐̊̀̅̔̈́͑̔̄̀̕̚͝ͅE̶͔̥̺̩̖͓̗̱͉̤̮̭̲͎̺̫̋͛̋̒̊̄̕ ̶̧̬̙͉̮̦̮̭̘͙͌̈́̈Ţ̶̨̛̛̫͖̙̫̺̘̰̘̳̮̘̞̊̏̅͊͋̍͂̄̅́̌͜͠͠͝ͅH̸̨̟͕͍̝̠̫̔̏̓͘͜͝Ě̶̡̨̨͖̫͚͇͍̰̻̪̭̰̃̈́́̈́̌̇̔̒̂̑́̉̿̓̑͘ͅ ̴̭̮͍̟̩̯̍̉͂̂̒͗̀̈́̐̒͘T̷͓̱͎͔̦̫̲̹̰̠̬̤̹͂R̸̡̹͔͓̳͎̣̗͙̥͙̱̯̂͊̌̽͗̈́̎̅̇͘͝A̴̳̳̤̣͐̑̄͘ͅS̷̩̲͖͒̏́̆̋Ḩ̶͔̥͉̪͓͉͇̠̭̓͋̀͒͘͜ ̸͇͎̘̮̀̊͐̈͋̽̑̇̔̄̋̈́͜͝͠Ơ̷̡̳̰̳͈͙̙̞͔̹̦͍͋̋̑̿̿͂̾̊̀̓͑̎̕̕͘̚U̶͔̩̘͖͖̗͚̞̲͓̬̟̥̺̅̓̂͑̏́͝͠͝T̸̺̹̤̮̆̓̽̈́̀̒̉͒̄̓̀̒͒͠,̶̪̤̯̖̩̯̘̾̒͊̇̂͂͗̑̂͋͋̈́̏͐̏͜͝ͅ ̶̡̡̣͓̠̭̫̟̫͕̔͆͋̈́̈́̌̊̓̈́̍͌̈́̔̐́̾͜͝A̵̲͓̝͚͚̖͖͙͉̹͍̗̦͙͔̭̞͑͊̃̓̿̑̓̑̾̃͊L̵̨͖̣̜̬̜̮̲̦̞̥̑̓͑̄͌̎̿͛̈́̈̂͝Ḇ̷̯͎̝̮̯͖͈̰͔̦͕̫̭̬̙̉̉̅ͅY̵̡̪̹̲͚̭͈̞͚̆̓͒̍̚͘͝͝͠.̷͚̳̘̜͙̺̝̳̌̀̔̑͒͗̐̌̈̃͌͝͠͝’
There it was again - that compulsion. This subtle… feeling. Like someone or something was just… gently pushing on his mind. On his thoughts. Compelling him, his wants. With a deep breath, and another soft grunt, Alby bounced the man from his shoulder, and into the blazing fires of the furnace, tossing in his legs to follow the body as embers shot out in every direction. He hadn’t even fully straightened when those steel jaws banged shut, and Alby threw a widened brown eye over the lever. Was it faulty…? Holy shit.
The blow to his jaw wasn’t enough to keep Rhodes down now… the screaming started shortly after, and Alby couldn’t take his eyes off the furnace as that blackening silhouette within thrashed and struggled frantically for an escape that would not be found.
It couldn’t have lasted for more than a few minutes… but those minutes felt like an eon, and Alby knew Rhodes suffered… too bad it was over so soon.
He stared quietly at the furnace as the roaring dulled to a soft, content rumble, fingers shaking by his thighs as he searched in vain for signs that Rhodes yet remained within that beast’s blazing belly.
The walkie talkie popped and fuzzed.
There were no clear words again… but he could have sworn that he heard the faintest sound of a voice… just… just out of range.
'̶̡͙̗͔̒̄͒͛̆̈́͐̏̐̃̈́̎͝Ṋ̷̱̙̝̋́͐̑̀̋̐̽̽̐͂̆͐͝Ơ̵͔̒̀͋̋̌̂B̸̖̞̘̬̥̺͓̜̘̟͙̥̑̍͑́̍̈́̿̉̈́̽͑̏̀͘ͅO̸̡̬͉̞̱̪͚̭̼̬͉͊̉̆͛̍̒̊D̷̥̩̮̈̃̊̈́͂͊̔͑̈́̽̇͘̚ͅẎ̵̦̺̯̣̦̲̣̐̽̀͆̽̊̏̃ ̷̨͖̖̪̥̹̣̠͕͔̤͎͍̹̽̈̕͝L̵͔̜͇͖̮̰͙̤̰̠̂́̄̓̌̑̄̐̈̚͝Ǐ̸̗̭̬͍̬͙̗̘͔̃͝͠ͅK̸̙̼͙̳̹̫͚̩͎͍̈́ͅȄ̵͙̏̉̏͛̈̎̒̐̆̿Ş̴̧͙̤̳̤̅̿̈̉́̌͂̐̿͠͝͠͠ ̵̢͙͍̮̳̐̅͐̀͐̅͗͂̈́́̈́A̸̧͉̟̯͔̠̮͚̻̭͑̿͒̈̿̅͒͛͛̽͠ ̶̡̢̹̭͉̳̙̣̺̘̍͂́̏͝K̵̻͉̳̘͍̩̦͎̱̙̩̝͍͌͒̈́̐̃͘͜I̵̺̝̣̩͕̱̱͇͔̊̅͒D̴̨͔̘͎̝̫͕͙͚̥̦̘̙̳̀̔͑͘D̵͔̤͓̗͈͍͕̱͎̭̀Ī̴̱̲́̇͂̐͠Ē̶̡̪̅́̑̃͊̎̐́͐̂̊̓ ̵̨̱͎͚̣͖̘͓̻̬̗͖͊̊̉̇̽͑̓̋͊̾̾F̶̡̡͈̭̼͇͇͎̙̂̽͛͐͒̈́̅̉̎Ḭ̷̧̛̮̤̣͓̖͈̐̏̀̅͗́͘͝D̸̛̦͊D̸̡̢͈̞͙͔̜͖̖̮̻͖̒͆̆̒̆̿͋̌̒́̅̚͘͠Ļ̵̻̼͚̝́̿͋̚E̸̝͎͍͂̇̽̃͋͊̐͌͝͠ͅR̶̡̞͉̞̩̱̝͚̗͙̦̐́̉̑̈́̆̀͌̀̾̅͘ͅ'̷̨̧͔̣̜̺̪̰̜̦̮̖̺͑̂̃̊̔͂̈̀͐̃͜
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darkpoisonouslove · 3 years
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Some Riven x Musa x Layla Headcanons
That Just Won’t Leave Me Alone
I accidentally developed the idea of this OT3 a while ago and the feels hit me today so I decided to write out some headcanons. They are not “explicitly” together by the end of it as I did it more in a way that would have been possible to portray on the show as well. But you can fill in the more overt parts for yourselves. ;)
- Layla and Riven stay up all night watching over Nabu’s grave after his funeral. They aren’t exactly sure why they do that, both of them hoping that it will all turn out to be a nightmare and he’ll come back but both of them knowing that that is a foolish hope to voice so they just stay behind after everyone else has left and spend the night there in silence.
- The two of them have several nights over the summer where they will just get together and drink themselves into a stupor. Neither of them wants to talk about it so the other is the perfect company in which to drown their sorrow. Musa is getting worried about them but once Tritannus happens, they stop their drinking routine because they need to have their heads in the game.
- That seems to have a negative effect, however, since they are both more irate and antsy after losing their grief outlet. Layla has her family to worry about now that Tritannus is threatening them all and Riven is worried about both Musa and Layla (and the other Winx but his focus is more on the two of them) because they are constantly exposed to danger. Layla doesn’t mind (unlike with Roy) because she knows what feelings Riven is putting into his protective actions. She would give anything to be able to protect her family and her planet as well as the rest of the universe from Tritannus and she can use his help as well as that of the rest of her friends.
- Musa makes them both playlists that reflect on their relationships with Nabu to help them get through it and show her support. She is dragged back into her own feelings of loss over her mother’s death and she understands how hard it is on them. It is hard on her, too, and she wants to help but talking just doesn’t feel like an option so she turns to music instead. Riven almost destroys the whole dorm room while listening to the playlist but it helps him get out his feelings. Layla cries herself to sleep for weeks on end while listening to the songs but they do have a therapeutic effect on her and make it a little easier to hold herself together when she is hit with a bout of grief over something little someone says or does that reminds her of Nabu.
- The three of them spar together whenever they have time. Winx are busy with the Sirenix Quest but Layla and Riven both get frantic if they have to spend a day without intense physical activity so they find the time to spar together even if it is in the middle of the night. Musa sticks with them, mostly to help bring them both down and ground them in a more peaceful atmosphere once they are done. They don’t hold back while sparring but neither of them has hurt the other seriously despite that and they all agree that those sessions are both productive and relaxing for them.
- The first time he meets Roy, Riven grabs him while no one is looking and threatens him to leave Layla alone until she has processed everything and grieved Nabu properly at the very least unless he wants to disappear forever. Layla told Riven about Roy being sent by her father to protect her and how it made her feel (she understands her father’s concerns but she hates being treated like she’s fragile and Roy’s apparent fascination with her doesn’t help). Roy backs off after that on the romantic front but still tries to get to know Layla - and Riven - and he actually starts finding his place in the group.
- Riven turns to Layla when he wants to write and compose a song for Musa to show his appreciation for everything she’s been doing for him and his support for her while she’s dealing with her own emotions. Her encouragement is invaluable to him and she keeps things from falling apart between him and Musa while he is busy working on his guitar skills and actually writing the song. Layla helps him a lot with the lyrics and melody of the song to the point where he asks her to play it with him. Layla is on the drums while Riven and Timmy play guitar and Layla sings with Riven (and Musa) during the chorus. It turns out that Roy also plays the drums and he and Layla find another thing they have in common on top of their love for surfing (and sports in general) and their similar fighting styles.
- The budding connection with Roy helps Layla a lot during the summer while she is dealing with the aftermath of Tritannus’ actions. Roy knows a lot about Andros and helps her come up with strategies to restore the realm back to how it was before Tritannus started his attempted reign of terror. Roy is being a lot more respectful towards her feelings on the losses she and the entire realm experienced now and the two of them make a great team. Layla feels comfortable spending time with him even outside of their formal responsibilities.
- Meanwhile, Musa is on Melody to help the planet adjust to the consequences of the cultural shock that the attack on the Singing Whales and the Pillar of Balance was. She also spends a lot of time at home just absorbing the atmosphere and trying to capture it into her music in case something happens to her childhood home. She didn’t feel it right to bring her mother back but she can’t bear the thought of losing all the memories their house is imbued with in case it gets destroyed so she attempts to weave them into her music, even using magic to ensure the success of that endeavor. Music is her safe place after the shocks of losing Nabu and trying to help Layla and Riven through their grief and trauma while also dealing with her own losses and the scars that the near ruination of her whole realm caused.
- Riven is on Zenith helping Tecna with whatever there is left on the planet to fix after the clash with Tritannus. Zenith is pretty organized and efficient so there isn’t that much to do but Riven is relieved to be with Tecna because she doesn’t insist on talking about his feelings and he has a lot of those. He is terrified of what almost happened to both Musa and Layla while he wasn’t there to help them and he resolves to train harder to be able to protect them and all the rest of his friends. He wouldn’t bear to see any one of them suffer any more, not to mention lose them. Tecna helps him strategize to improve his efficiency in battle and she is the perfect embodiment of Zenith after her wish for empathy. Her quiet but friendly presence is soothing for Riven while the whole planet seems to warm up. It is the perfect atmosphere for him to work through his feelings.
- Musa and Riven soon fall into their usual dynamic of misunderstandings and lack of communication when Musa needs his moral support but refuses to actually talk to him while Riven spends all his time training because to him it is more important to ensure that Musa will be safe and he will be able to protect her. Layla is sorting out her own emotions and even though she tries to be there for them and help them resolve things, she has her own issues and it is not her job to babysit them and their relationship. They have to figure it out for themselves while she does her best to support both of them.
- Layla has strong opinions on Nex when they meet since he reminds her a lot of the impression Riven left in her at first, only - a worse version. She decides to give him a chance anyway because getting closer to Riven actually revealed other sides to him but she only ever regards Nex as a potential friend. He isn’t quite as bad as she originally thought him to be but he also definitely isn’t someone that she would want to be in a relationship with. She is spending a lot of time with Roy and she really likes him but, ultimately, she knows that she isn’t crazy about him. Being with him is comfortable but she is deliberately not letting herself get attached to him too much and that very fact tells her that he isn’t the right one for her since if she really loved him, she would have allowed herself to do so fully like she does with all of her friends despite the constant risk of losing them that she faces every time they have to fight a threat of universal magnitude. She tells Roy it would be better not to see each other.
- Musa and Riven break-up because they both feel like they are holding on so tight to each other for the wrong reasons. They are terrified of losing the other but they aren’t doing such a great job of appreciating them exactly because of those fears. So they decide to separate - meaning absolutely no expectations and demands towards the other - and do some soul searching. Riven actually keeps in touch with Roy since they started getting along decently and he knows that Roy is now the most removed one from the group while he is also on Andros so he may have more up-to-date information on how Layla and Musa are doing than the media (he is not spying on them, just telling Riven things he’s heard on Andros). Riven wants to keep his distance from the friend group but still wants to know how they’re all doing and Roy occasionally has news on the rest as well from when they visit Andros.
- Musa and Layla both spend a lot of time on their home worlds whenever that is possible and there isn’t an ongoing crisis and try to process their emotions while navigating political matters. Musa loves spending time on Andros with Layla and helping her out with her duties as heiress to the throne and Layla (and the other Winx) accompanies Musa during all of her concerts when Musa signs a record label as a single artist since they all agree that the band is just for fun and coordinating it along with all their other responsibilities will be nearly impossible. Musa truly opens up her heart and pours it all out into her music and she becomes a rising star on top of coming to terms with who she has become during her journey. The songs (and all the dancing routines that the two of them come up with together) help Layla make her peace with her trauma - both over Nabu and that from her childhood - as well.
- Riven comes back and proves to have done a lot of work on himself and he feels ready to love Musa now - feelings which she reciprocates. The two decide to settle on Andros to be close to Layla and help her out with everything she needs. Riven actually rises to the head of Layla’s personal guard and Musa has tours all over the Magic Dimension so she’d be on the move a lot whether she’d live on Melody or on Andros. Riven worries about her when she is on tour and he can’t go with her while he’s busy protecting Layla but he’s personally trained the bodyguards he hired for Musa and he trusts her to take care of herself so he settles for only calling her several times a day when she’s away and watching her concerts live on his devices together with Layla whenever the two of them can’t be there to see the show in person.
- Layla does not feel ready to get married or even be in a relationship with anyone besides Musa and Riven but she does want kids, especially after she proudly becomes an aunt to several children with Stella and Bloom going ahead and becoming mothers soon after their weddings. She is also supposed to make sure that Andros has heirs to the throne so she decides to adopt. She talks to Daphne, who adopted children as well, and even Vanessa to learn about their experiences and ask for advice. She wants to adopt at least two children because she doesn’t want her kids to be lonely and wants them to have someone they can always count on. Along with her, Musa and Riven, of course.
- Both Musa and Riven have big reactions to the news. They are supportive of her, of course - heaven knows the high society and the officials of Andros have already busied themselves enough with being critical of her decision - but they also have their own feelings to handle. Musa has to deal with the knowledge that she will adore Layla’s children (as she does with Bloom and Stella’s) and she will worry about them. That is the reason she still hasn’t thought about about having children herself. Or rather, she has been doing her best to avoid it while spending some of the best days of her life with Bloom and Stella’s children. She is scared of leaving the children orphans if anything happens to her and/or Riven (and that is always a possibility in their line of work). She knows that the rest of Winx will take care of her children if something happens to her but she has been through the pain of losing a parent and she doesn’t want her own kids to go through the same even if she managed to move on and pick herself up after her mother’s death. It is still a thing she carries with her every day and she does not feel confident in raising children with the heightened risk for her life.
- Riven totally panics because he doesn’t know anything about children and he will have to interact with them and take care of them. Not just because of his job as the head of Layla’s security, but also because he wants to be there for her and help her raise the children since it wouldn’t be easy for her to do it as a single parent. So he does the only thing he can think of and actually goes to Sky and Brandon asking for advice and a crash course on things he needs to know to be of help to Layla.
- Riven also picks up audio books on parenting and him and Layla both listen to them while jogging together or traveling towards the venue of a royal event. Musa is about as enthusiastic about shopping for the kids as Stella is and she’s also ready to write lullabies specifically for them (in case they are at an age where they will listen to lullabies). They both do everything they can to help Layla prepare herself and learn how to do things right themselves because they want to be there for her and be a part of the process. And they are both enthusiastic about doing it.
- In fact, their enthusiasm rapidly turns into conversations about having kids themselves - which makes Layla (and the other Winx) ecstatic because she is looking forward to helping them out as well - and it isn’t that long before they decide to make that step in their relationship despite not being officially married. They also talk about adopting as well as having their own children because they want to give a home to a kid that needs it. So the three of them end up raising their kids together and the children all think of each other as siblings and stick together no matter what.
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