#bonus not sure what to call that but its important too

[u3pxx]

KIM KITSURAGI - “Is that. My kineema.”

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - Something in him is about to break, *big time*.

EMPATHY - And it’s not going to be pretty, do something!

- DRAMA [Formidable] - Everything is fine!

- “Sure is.”

DRAMA [Formidable: Failure] - Surely he’s aware that he’s not the *only* person in the world who owns a Kineema?

YOU - “Is it really *yours*? I mean, plenty of people have their own Kineemas, right? Like working men, government offices, uh, firefighters I guess, maybe even animal control people? Exactly! A million different people who could’ve driven it into the uh…”

DRAMA - Pause, my liege! Ixnay on the Ineemakay!

YOU - “It could even be our *mysterious* joyrider!”

KIM KITSURAGI - Your frenzied babbling falls deaf to the lieutenant's ears. Instead, he approaches the broken vehicle, sunken in the ice. He moves with a caution and gentleness you haven’t seen him display before.

INLAND EMPIRE - It must be cold and lonely down there, in the icy water. Maybe he could sense its sorrow, calling to him…

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy: Success] - His hands, which are always stiffly placed behind his back, are trembling.

ENDURANCE - This is the shuffle of a tired, tired man.

HALF LIGHT - He’s going to do something drastic because of you. Oh god, terrible! You’re a terrible liar! You can’t look at this, you just can’t!

VOLITION [Formidable: Success] - It's not *you* who drove his kineema into the sea. You have plenty of faults, but this one is decidedly not yours.

KIM KITSURAGI - He kneels down with his head bowed, casting his face in shadow. He plants a hand on the ice to stabilize himself, squinting to get a better view of the motor carriage. “Detective, it says ‘57’ on it.”

YOU - Sweat drips down your brow, and you feel a terrible headache coming. “Maybe our joyrider has an affinity for that number?”

LOGIC - He's not stupid, he knows that it's not that.

KIM KITSURAGI - “57.”

YOU - “What about 57?”, you brace yourself.

KIM KITSURAGI - “Precinct 57.”

YOU - You wince. “Kim, look-”

KIM KITSURAGI - “When I woke up in the Whirling-in-Rags with no memory of what happened during the days before, I've taken note that something of mine has gone missing.” He grits his teeth. "A very. Important. Something."

He runs his hands over his face, messing his already unkempt hair in the process. Regret creeps up on his features. “God. Fuck. They’re going to fire me over this, they’re not going to hear me out.”

EMPATHY - Desperation settles in the lieutenant's tone. Sadly, you find yourself in agreement, even if you don’t want it to be the truth.

YOU - “People are more valuable than machines, Kim.”

KIM KITSURAGI - “Not people like me.” He rasps.

YOU - “…”

KIM KITSURAGI - Before you can say anything more, you fail to notice the lieutenant carefully walking onto the edge of the ice. He looks over the frigid water, a dizzying blue that mirrors and distorts his exhausted face back to him.

YOU - “Kim?”

KIM KITSURAGI - Seconds pass as he looks to be contemplating something. Out of nowhere, he casually takes another step where the ice ends and the sea begins. It happens all too quick for the lieutenant to even voice a call for help— if he even wanted to — his body plunging into the cold water before your eyes.

YOU - “KIM!!!!”

uhhh bonus stuff? sorry i have swap au brainworms pfttt

(im not sure what skills kim has at the moment so rn he only has narration as his inner monologue ok whoops, i would like to keep harry as the guy who thinks in dialogue trees so im still figuring it out pfttt)

also, this was done bc i wanted to expand on these old scribbles of mine, just like an idea, i just think that he'd be having an even worse time wheezes

[sunny44]

Heyy! Can I request a lando imagine with a volleyball player s/o??

-🐧 anon

Thank you for the request, I’m not sure I did what you wanted but I did my best.

Even though I didn’t like it 😅

The last game

Pairing: Lando Norris x girlfriend!reader

Warnings: none.

Summary: Lando goes to your final game.

The court was pulsating with the energy of the fans. The stands were filled with people wearing Y/n’s team colors, wishing for her team’s victory. In the midst of the crowd, I managed to find a discreet spot, away from curious eyes.

I didn’t want to be noticed, not today.

Today was her day, and I didn’t want to steal the spotlight from her and the other girl’s.

I sat in the front rows with her family, watching Y/n intently as she warmed up in the middle of the court. My heart was racing, blending with the crowd’s pulse.

I knew how important this game was for her and how much she had trained and dedicated herself to get there.

As the minutes passed, I allowed myself to get lost in my thoughts, reminiscing about the moments we shared together, the highs and lows, the victories and defeats.

Because even though they were different sports, they were still so similar.

Everything is based on the same thing, winning or losing.

But this game was different, this game represented everything she had worked so hard to achieve.

When the referee’s whistle echoed through the court, I found myself immersed in the heat of the competition. The players ran across the court, each point contested with fervor, and I could feel the tension in the air.

As the game progressed, I realized how determined Y/n was.

Her movements were precise, her concentration unwavering. She was in her element, playing with passion and determination.

As the scoreboard neared the end, the tension in the gym reached its peak. Every point contested was crucial, every move would decide the fate of the game.

And then, finally, the decisive moment arrived.

With the final serve, Y/n boldly launched the ball into the air. Silence fell over the court, everyone holding their breath. And then, with a deafening roar, the ball found the ground on the opposite side of the court.

Practically the entire place erupted in celebration, and her family and I stood up, cheering and celebrating.

It was then that her father called me to go down to the court where she was, and after hugging her family, she ran to me because I was further away.

“You’re amazing, my love.” I hugged her and kissed her.

“Thank you, Lan. But I’m all sweaty.”

“I don’t mind, you kiss me and hug me all sweaty and covered in champagne.” She smiles and holds my face, kissing me again.

“I’m so happy we won, but it’s still kind of unbelievable.” She smiles excitedly. “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“I’ll always be here for you, Y/n. You were amazing throughout the game.”

“Thank you.” She kisses me again. “My dad wanted to go out to celebrate, but besides the fact that it’s freezing outside, I’m too tired. What do you think about going home to eat burgers in bed?”

“I think it’s a great idea.” I hold her face and leave a kiss on her forehead.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower and change before we leave.”

I waited near the exit with a beanie, and over it, the hood of my sweatshirt so that no one would see me, and thankfully it worked. I felt her holding my hand and we headed towards my car.

“Are you serious about driving a McLaren? Weren’t you trying to be discreet?” She laughs.

“Well, it was either the McLaren or the Lamborghini.” She laughed, rolled her eyes, and then we went home.

Bonus scene!

Landonorris instagram stories

“Today was my baby’s last game of the season and guess what? She won!!!!”

[joels-shitty-puns]

The Key To Your Heart - Track 9

Pairing: Pedro Pascal x Musician!Reader

Series Summary: After writing your feelings for Pedro into a song, it gains a lot more popularity than expected. Ultimately it brings both criticism and support, with new possibilities around the corner.

Series Warnings: 18+ only (MDNI). Panic/Anxiety attack. Alluding to sexual scenarios. Kissing. Fat shaming, name calling. Mentions of food, weight loss, weight gain, dieting, weighing, potential eating disorder, food guilt. Potential for puns/dad jokes (name of my blog, and the fic) should give that away. This is my first fic which should be its own warning, lol. Also some cursing. Mentions of masturbation (f) maybe more smut later idk. Sadness, reader is pretty depressed. Poor body image. Rude people. Bullying-ish and just lack of support? Anxiety. Age gap! Reader is in her mid 20's, Pedro is current age (48).

Other stuff: Reader is plus sized. AFAB. Inexperienced. Also has a dog, but you can pretend it is another creature probably. Further, in case it isn't clear, italics almost always are the reader's inner thoughts!

Word Count: 2.7K

Series List: Here!

Miss Chapter 8? Here!

Hi everyone!! I really don't feel great about this chapter, I'm sorry if it sucks. I kinda just want to get it out there though because I don't see my brain thinking up anything better. A lot of writer's block surrounding this scene. Anywho, hopefully next chapter will be better, but I still hope you like it. Although we allude to a little bit of sexual situations now that they are together, I likely will avoid explicit smut being that Pedro is a real human and I am a guilty, guilty human for writing any smut at all. I don't want to offend Pedro (not that he'd ever see it anyway, I am delusional), but I also know people find real person fiction uncomfy as a whole. That being said, I think this story may be coming to a close pretty soon. I plan to have maybe one more full storyline chapter, and at least one little side bonus chapter :) Please let me know what you think in the comments, or DM me if you wanna chat! I love hearing all your thoughts. Thank you for reading and hanging in here with me.

Before the screen even had a chance to load, you canceled the request. Nervously looking at Pedro, he held your hand under the table. “What is it?” he asked gently.

“I just realized,” you replied. “What if they ask about us? About those pictures? What should I say?”

Pedro answered with a gentle stroke of his thumb on your cheek. “Whatever you feel comfortable with. I'm sure I'll be fine with whatever you say, baby. I know your privacy is important to you, and I trust you. I'm all in with you.”

“Okay.” You took a deep breath and once again began the stream.

“Live in 3…”

“2…”

“1…”

The fans began to file in, and before you knew it, you had thousands of viewers. Opting to start with your screen covered, you wanted to give an intro first before the big reveal. 

It wasn't long before the comments flowed across the screen. 

You took a deep breath, squeezing Pedro’s hand, and jumping in. “Hi everyone! It's me… a lot has been happening lately and I decided it might be time to show a little more of myself.”

-“First!”

-“Did she mean to start a live video ??"

-"Hiii! I'm a big fan"

-“Is she there??”

-“Do you guys see anything?”

“So… Here's me.” You turned on your camera, waving at the screen, your stomach twisting in deeper knots.

-“No fucking way.”

-“!?!!!!!”

-“SCREAMING”

“Hi… Some of you might know me, some might be surprised. But this is me. This is the girl behind the music.”

The comments flooded in, entirely too fast for you to read.

“I want to thank all of you for being fans and listening to my songs. It really means a lot and I hope you liked the album. Your support blows me away, especially with what little information about myself I've given.”

More comments.

“Well, I uh… guess I should read some of these comments and answer some questions. I'm sure there’s a lot you all are wondering about,” you stated nervously, starting to read.

-“Why did you hide your identity?”

“Why did I hide my identity… I hid my identity mostly based on poor self image. I never expected my music to gain popularity, never expected celebrities to know it. Never expected any of it, and it certainly brought its share of criticism. I was scared to be in the spotlight and I didn't feel like I looked good enough to be someone famous. You know? I'm not skinny, I have flaws, and that doesn't always sit well with the Internet. I guess I was mainly scared of how I would be perceived. I'm just a normal girl who had her whole life flipped upside down when I wrote my feelings down,” you laughed anxiously.

Choosing to ignore the storm brewing in the comments below, you addressed the earlier comment. “Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad I can make you feel more accepted by seeing more plus-sized people in the entertainment business. Everyone should feel seen and have a place at the table, no matter what you look like, or who you are.”

-“I think it's nice to have more celebrities that look kinda like me.”

-“You're so humble!!”

-“You should've stayed hidden lmao”

-“Shut up, asshole. Why are you here if you're going to be rude?”

-“I'm sure you're a real supermodel behind that keyboard bravery.. smh”

You weren't expecting someone to actually feel like you were representing them and making them feel seen. You didn't think you had enough of an impact for that. You certainly weren't treated that way when you weren't famous. Nobody really even noticed you before.

You could feel Pedro’s eyes on your face, his thumb swirling circles and hearts over the space of skin on the top of your hand, below your thumb. The place where his bullseye resides on his own. Does he trace that tattoo when he's nervous, the same way he is with me? Perhaps his tracing of your hand is calming himself as much as it is for you.

Desperately, you wanted to look over at him and be comforted by his deep brown eyes, but doing so would cause people to wonder who you made eye contact with and smiled at. So instead, you gave a gentle squeeze and a smile towards the screen, hoping he would understand. 

-“Hi, I'm a big fan of yours. Can I ask… is what you said on your album true? You've never been kissed before? I haven't either and I was starting to feel like I'm just a freak.”

“Oh, honey, you aren't a freak. Everyone has things happen at different times in their life. But yes, everything I wrote in my album at the time I wrote it was true. And don't worry, I have felt the same way. Seeing others be kissed, falling in love… having the things I wasn't, it really hurts. But it'll be okay.. nothing is wrong with you. You're deserving of love.”

You hoped they wouldn't pick up on your usage of past-tense wording. Pedro, still holding your hand, rubbed his other hand over your arm gently.

-“Wait… at the time you wrote it? What about now?”

The comments were going wild.

Welp…

Your hands shook, and you used your opposite hand to place on top of Pedro’s that gripped yours. He squeezed gently, feeling the nervous tremors pass through your body, continuing to rub gentle strokes over your arm with his opposite hand.

“Uhm…” your cheeks heated and your stomach sank.

“I've changed a lot since this album was first written. Experienced new things. But I'm still the same person.”

Shit.

-“Who did you kiss?! Is it the guy in your song?”

-“Will you tell us who the song is about?”

-“Wait a second… you're that girl aren't you!?!!!! The one in the pictures with Pedro Pascal!!!!”

-“OMG IT IS”

-“!!!!!!!”

-“IS HE THE GUY!?!”

-“ARE YOU DATING!?!”

The nervous tremors continued, now threatening to cause your teeth to chatter. A full panic attack was brewing. Pedro squeezed your hand again, touching your knee and trying to do his best to ground you without speaking up on your live video. Skipper could feel the waves of anxiousness pooling off of you as well and crawled forward to settle his body across your feet. You took a few calming breaths, but when you went to speak, your voice still betrayed you.

“I..” your voice cracked, shakiness evident as you could feel tears starting to edge their way towards your vision.

I can't do this. I can't do this. I need to shut it off.

You shut your eyes, taking deep breaths, trying to ease your nausea and stress. 

Keeping your eyes closed, you spoke. “Yes.”

You took another deep breath. “Yes it was me, yes the song was about him. Yes.”

You opened your eyes to read the comments, tears pooling down your cheeks as you couldn't hold back your emotion anymore.

This is so embarrassing. The first time I show my face I'm crying and having an anxiety attack in front of the whole world.

You swallowed, choking back the full sobs that your body wanted to let loose. Wiping your face with the back of your hand, you began to read the comments, expecting laughter, criticism, and bullying. Instead, you were met with kindness.

Coming back to your senses, you gave a shaky smile. “Thank you guys. I'm sorry for my emotions.” You sniffled. Pedro was still rubbing your hands and arms, comforting you, having never stopped. His eyes still bore into the side of your head, and you knew he was struggling to not speak up or grab you fully. 

-“Oh my God, are you okay?”

-“I didn't mean to make you cry I'm so sorry”

-“You and Pedro make a cute couple”

-“Oh no, please don't cry”

-“Idk if you guys are dating but you seem cute”

-“I'm so glad you guys are spending time together when he's the guy in your song”

-“It'll be okay, please don't be upset”

-“You're amazing, we love you”

“Yes, Pedro and I have been spending a lot of time talking after he publicly commented on my song a few months ago. The party was the first time we met in person and we're still figuring things out,” you let go of your worries and broke eye contact with the camera, looking to your side to meet Pedro’s gaze. “But… we're happy.” You smiled at him. He smiled back gently, squeezing your hand, worry and sadness plaguing his face over your well-being. Breaking eye contact, you looked back at the screen.

You giggled before answering “well, I think that's all we have time for today. Thank you all for joining me!” You silently clicked off the stream, closing the browser, turning off the computer, and turning to Pedro. He grabbed your other hand in his, now holding both. “Are you okay?” He asked, concern etched in his face.

-“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

-“IS HE THERE WITH YOU!?!”

-“whaaaaat”

-“SCREAMING”

-“Shut. Up. This is insane.”

-“YOU GUYS ARE SO CUTE I CAN'T TAKE IT”

“I think so,” you nodded.

“Seeing you panic and not being able to do anything without potentially making it worse… It killed me. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to pull you into my arms and end that video myself. I hated seeing you so upset.” He stared down at your intertwined hands, rubbing his thumb over them again. 

“I appreciate you being here for me,” you let go of his hand to stroke his cheek. “I couldn't have done that without you.” You met his eyes, leaning forward to rest against his forehead. He let out a shaky breath. “I love you. I'm so proud of you.”

“I love you too,” you replied with a smile. “Let's move to the couch, huh?” You asked, pulling him up from the chair. He stood, just as your phone rang, a call from Rose. You quickly answered.

“I saw the live stream. You did wonderful! Don't worry about any of the negative comments you saw or any stories that come out of this. I'll handle it all.”

“Thanks, Rose.”

“Anytime. Take care.” She hung up.

You updated Pedro as the two of you walked towards the couch. “Do you want breakfast?” He asked.

“Maybe in a minute. Can I just hold onto you for a few minutes?”

“I would love nothing more.”

He sat on the couch, you sitting next to him, before he gave you a look. “What?” you laughed. He patted his leg.

“Let me hold you.”

“I'm too heavy for that Pedro, don't be ridiculous,” you shook your head.

“You're the one being ridiculous.” He reached over, pulling you into his lap. “I'm too heavy! You're going to hurt yourself,” you whined.

“You're not too heavy. You're the perfect size, baby. Come here,” he pulled you forward, your body sliding down his thighs as he wrapped his arms around you. You straddled his lap, knees on either side of his hips while he rubbed your back gently. You placed your arms around him, nuzzling into his neck and closing your eyes. You both sighed, and he grabbed a blanket next to him to pull over your bodies. “I could stay like this for hours, wrapped in your arms” you sighed comfortably. 

“Why don't you?” He turned his head to kiss your lips. You lifted your face up, taking your head off his shoulder to kiss him deeper. The kisses were lazy and comfortable, holding each other and enjoying the warmth of being in each other's arms.

Finally the two of you broke the kiss, settling back on his shoulder, him tilting his head to lean against yours. His hands sprawled over your back, pulling you forward a bit to adjust in his lap. You let out a soft whimper at the contact, fully aware of the location your bodies connected at the moment. “Feel how much you mean to me?” He asked, his breath ghosting your ear as he pulled your hips forward again. You whined. “Yes..” you answered breathlessly. The temptation to keep doing that was overwhelming. But he once again wrapped his arms around you, rubbing your back as the two of you comfortably dozed off, finally relaxed after so much stress of the morning.

Hours later, you stirred, feeling Pedro still underneath you. At the feel of you moving, he stretched a bit before settling with his arms around you again. “Morning, baby” he hummed. “Guess we fell asleep,” you smiled.

“Some of the best sleep I've had in a while, here with you.”

“Same here.” You blinked your eyes open, kissing him on the lips with a peck. “What time is it?”

He turned his head to look at the clock on your TV. “5 o’clock” he laughed. “Guess we both needed some rest.” 

“Mmmm, I guess so,” you hummed, settling into him more.

“Good thing I brought nonperishables. Are you hungry?”

You pondered. “Yeah, I am,” you looked into his deep brown eyes. “Breakfast for dinner?” You smiled at him.

“Sounds perfect.” He pecked your lips before you slid off his lap, the two of you standing to stretch. It wasn't long that you two stood apart before you leapt forward again to give him a hug. He laughed, hugging you back. “I'll never get tired of being in your arms,” you smiled into his chest, breathing in his scent.

“I'll never get tired of holding you in mine,” he pulled his face back to look at you.

“Now let's eat! I'm starved,” you scampered towards the kitchen, him giving a gentle pat to your butt before hugging you from behind as you grabbed the breakfast foods. You giggled, setting food on plates as he kissed your neck, still wrapped around you from behind. “I'm starving too,” he replied back to your earlier statement with a growl, biting your ear.

“Pedro!” You giggled, smacking his arm gently. He chuckled, pulling away and grabbing his plate as you both headed to the table.

The two of you ate, filling the space with light conversation, both of you occasionally sneaking Skipper some bites under the table. He could get used to having two humans spoiling him.

The chatter came to a natural pause, eating in silence and smiling at each other across the table. Pedro stopped eating, wiping his hands and continuing to stare at you. You laughed, asking him what was up. Suddenly, he looked nervous.

“I, uh…” he rubbed his neck. “I was going to wait until after we had at least a first date to say this, but…” he trailed off, and your mind spiraled. Is he breaking up with me? Is he not interested anymore? What's wrong?

“I was wondering if… you'd be my girlfriend? Exclusively?” His cheeks flushed.

You stammered, dropping your fork on the plate. “You… you want… me to be your girlfriend?” You smiled.

He nodded. “If… you'll have me.”

“You want to be my boyfriend?” He nodded again, looking down at the table.

“Yes. Yes, are you kidding? Please! I'd love nothing more.” You grinned, jumping out of your chair to move to him.

He stood, pulling you into a hug. “Really?” He smiled at you.

“Really,” you nodded. “Now kiss me,” you held his face.

“Gladly,” he pulled you closer, kissing you deeply, his tongue asking for entrance to your mouth. You squealed, surprised, but letting him in. You'd never experienced this sensation before. But it was… incredible.

He licked your lips, the two of you exploring the inside of each other's mouths, tongues dancing together. The kiss was heated and deeper than ever before, both of you finally pulling away for air, him coming back in to peck your lips a few times, sucking your lip between his own. You sighed shakily. “Wow.”

“I love kissing you,” he smiled against your lips.

“I love kissing you. You're a good kisser,” you smiled back.

“So are you,” he smirked. “My beautiful girlfriend.” He gave a kiss. “How about that date tomorrow?” He pulled away to look at you, letting his hand rub across your lower back, just above your butt.

“I'd love to,” you stroked his face. “My handsome boyfriend.” You wrapped your arms around him again, blissfully.

“Tomorrow,” you two sighed in unison.

@pedrotonin @starcrossed02 @lightupsketchersperson @cartoon-garbage04 @tyferbebe @maryfanson @gwendibley84 @faithfullyyours2000 @brilliantopposite187 @hc-geralt-23 @jenniferpendragon @winchestergypsy90 @red-red-rogue @theendwhereibegin @lottieellz101 @oliversaurus @kyga01 @milly-louise @titabel @taz-97 @stefanibear003 @marantha @fandomoniumflurry @ilovemybrown-eyedbabygirl @leiadjarin @hmneighbors

Thank you for reading!!! Let me know what you think ❤️

Taglist: (Want in? Let me know!)

[wongyuuu]

Hiii. So i got into a car accident today while driving, nothing too bad happened to my car and the car that hit mine. Im also not badly jnjured but mentally, just got so traumatized from the impact. I can still hear the loud boom upon impact and like now im home about to sleep and while ive had many thoughts, one of them was just hoping there was someone who would care for me. Someone who’d come to my rescue as it happened and process the trauma with me. I could really see this with Seungcheol. Could you possibly write a drabble about this if its not too much ask?

Thank you

like we talked before, i hope you're doing well and that the worse is gone. i hope you enjoy! sorry it took me so long

pairing: seungcheol x fem!reader genre: angst  word count: 1.1k warning: car accident, reader gets hurt (minor)

a/n: this was not proofread

requests are open

You dropped the keys on the table, your bag and coat right on top of it. You glanced at your hands, just to have the confirmation that they were still shaking, though a visual confirmation wasn't really necessary, as you could feel it. The sight of it was just an added bonus. 

No more than 5 hours before you were in a car accident. While on your way to work, you stopped at a red sign — as one usually does — when someone hit you from behind, causing your car to hit the one in front of you. 

You were stuck in the car for at least 45 minutes until they managed to get you out. Your leg was stuck, it wasn't broken or hurt, but you were confident that if you tried to move it then you'd injure it. 

During those 45 minutes, all you wanted was to call Seungcheol and have his voice calm you down even just for a second. But your phone was inside your purse, in the backseat, so there was no way of reaching it. So you stayed stuck, silently crying.

The paramedics did their best to calm you down, talking with you the entire time, assuring you that everything was going to be okay. 

"Can I call my boyfriend?" you asked once they pulled you out.

The medic smiled at you and handed you your purse. You knew that Seungcheol was at a meeting, like his earlier text informed you, outside of town, so there was a possibility of him not answering the phone. But you had to try it. You: needed to hear his voice even if it was just the voicemail. 

He picked up the phone on the fourth ring.

"Baby, what happened? Is everything okay?" He said as soon as he picked up the call.

Seungcheol knew that you wouldn't call him over nothing, just to chat, while he was in a meeting, a very important one at that. That was an agreement the two of you made early on in your relationship: phone calls were mostly for emergencies during work hours. 

"I was in an accident," you said, trying to control your voice so as not to scare him "Someone hit me from behind so I hit the car in front of me"

There was a moment of silence, then the sound of a door closing.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

You couldn't hold back your tears anymore, not to the sound of his voice growing worried by the second. And you didn't want to do that, didn't want him to be worried about things he couldn't do anything about. He was hours away from home, working. You knew what the sound of your crying would do to him, and yet you couldn't bring yourself to stop. 

"I'm okay, just scared. The sound of the car hitting me was so loud, then someone screamed and an alarm went off somewhere around me. I just…" you pressed a hand to your temple, suddenly aware of the thin layer of blood running down your cheek "Oh, shit"

"yn?" Seungcheol's voice was desperate on the other side of the line "What is it? What happened"

"Miss? We have to go now" he heard someone say

"They're taking me to the hospital," you said, starting to cry again "Just to make sure everything is fine, I think"

"Everything is fine, you're okay," he said, his tone suddenly changing, a little more bright "I'll be home soon, okay? I'll figure something out, but I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you"

Seungcheol felt yet another squeeze in his heart. He should have been home, closer to you. Should have been able to get back sooner than a few hours. The world seemed to be moving slower than usual, the traffic not moving at all. He just wanted to get home, to you. He needed to see, with his own eyes, that you were, in fact, fine. 

It didn't matter to him that you told him you were okay, multiple times, that while at the hospital you kept updating him and reassuring him. Seungcheol knew that sometimes you'd downplay how you felt to not burden others. 

He could tell just from your voice that you were still shaken up, as your words came out almost whispered. 

Seungcheol pushed open the door to the apartment you shared. His eyes scanned the living room, then the kitchen. Only to find you standing over the stove, mindlessly stirring something in a pan.

"yn? baby?”

You had been so lost in your mind, in the memories of the accident, that you didn’t hear him coming in, or the sound of the door. But his voice was enough to bring you back. 

“Cheollie,” you said.

The moment you saw him, you broke down. The entire day, after that first call with him, you had managed to keep it together. Crying once had been enough, as it usually was. But not this time around. You had never been in an accident before, not even close, and the moment kept being replayed in your mind as if you were stuck in this infinite loop of that moment. You remember the sound more than anything else, so loud that made you think that the accident had been far worse than it actually was. 

Seuncgehol held your face, his thumbs pushing away your tears, as he searched your face for any injuries. Only to find the small band-aid over your right eyebrow. It was the light blue one you always kept in the bathroom. 

“Are you hurt anywhere else?”

His voice was so soft, his touch so gentle.

“Can you just hug me? That’s all I really need right now”

Seungcheol wasted no time in pulling you to him, one of his hands on your waist and the other one at the back of your neck. He planted small kisses on your temple, over the band-aid, on your cheek, on your hair. He wasn’t sure what he could do for you. The worst seemed to have passed, but he knew that you’d still be thinking about it for days.

“Thank you for picking up my call,” you said against his chest “and for coming home. I didn’t want to be by myself today. Sorry I interrupted your meeting though, I know it was important”

He pulled back a little. He had the sweetest smile on his face, his dimples showing as he caressed your head before pressing his lips against yours.

“This is the only place in the world I wanna be at”

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[observeowl]

Unwanted Marriage | Chapter 4 - Going above and beyond

Series Masterlist

"Thanks to you guys, the bonus for this month, was give to us, Team 2 instead of Team 1. This time round, people from Team 1 won't have anything to mock us about." Millicent said as she brought us to the meeting room where Mr Stark called for a meeting.

You just hoped that this won't be a reason for you to be picked on. Once you entered, you could see Sharon's scowl on her face accompanied by her two companions. "Mr Stark, Team 2's news were too exaggerated isn't it?" One of them said. "Yes, even though the magazine press gained quite a number of attention, but we also gained a number of negative responses." Another added.

"But we can't just be beaten for no reason!" Wanda said. "Ok, ok, calm down. This incident has its pros and cons, let bygones be bygones." Mr Stark got everyone's attention at the head of the table. "Now we have 2 very important and difficult interviews coming up. They are very influential businessmen, we must take it on. The two groups will be responsible for one interview each. Team 1 will interview Carol Danvers. Wanda, I heard you are a fan of Natasha Romanoff so Team 2 shall be in charge of interviewing her."

Natasha... what were the chances that you were actually assigned to interview her.

"Natasha Romanoff? Isn't she the boss of Romanoff Corporation?" // "I have heard that Carol Danvers doesn't accept most of the interviews..."

"Then, what should we do, Sharon...?"

With the dismissal of the meeting, you and Wanda start planning how you were going approach Natasha to get a meeting. You weren't too sure about their history in terms of getting interviews and asked Wanda about it. "Carol has never accepted any interviews. Natasha was alright in the past, but ever since she got into an accident, she never accepted any interviews again. We tried to contact him previously, and did not even went past his assistant."

You nodded at her explanation and wondered what happened in that accident. "So, Natasha is your idol?"

"Natasha Romanoff used to be everyone's dream in the city, man or woman. It's a pity she got into an accident." Her eyes sparkled as she talked about her idol.

"I know it's not an easy task, but we must do our best for the sake of Team 2's reputation and pride." Millicent encouraged as she gave you all a brief guide on where to begin. "Just the thought of meeting my idol, makes me so nervous! Even though we might be able to meet!" Wanda was shaking wth excitement and it's not often that she feels so happy for an assignment. "I heard that she have gotten married, but has kept it a secret from the public. I wonder who would be so lucky to be her partner!" She gossiped with you and you replied with an awkward smile. not knowing that you were the one.

Once you reached home, you spotted Clint coming out of his room and you whispered to his name to get his attention. "Clint! Psps, over here." You waved for him to come closer. "Did you just 'psps' at me?"

"Doesn't matter. Does Natasha not accept any interview at all?" You asked. "Y/N, you can ask her in person." You averted your eye and replied. "I got no intention at all, just asking."

"What are the two of you doing?" You didn't even realised you were standing right in front of her room and got a shock when she opened the door. "Y/N was asking me about interviewing you." You couldn't believe you were betrayed straightaway.

"Well, alright, I'll get this straight." You resigned to your fate. "Ms Romanoff... Our magazine would like to invite you to do an interview, I do no know if you would like to... come..." You tried your best to put on a professional smile, but all Natasha could see was you trying your best not to break into a sweat. After not receiving a reply, you thought all was going down and there was no way she would agree to it.

"What interview?"

"Are you interested?" You squatted down next to her at her armrest and continued. "The magazine became famous because of Sherry, so I would like to take this opportunity to get an interview with a few influential people. It's okay if you're not wiling to." You reinforced that she didn't have to do anything she wasn't comfortable in doing. "On what terms?" She asked. "Eh? You've got everything you want, what else do you want? And our company-"

"I want you."

"What, what are you talking about?"

"I say, I want you to treat me to dinner. What are you thinking?" You gave an awkward half laugh and sigh. "I promise you! I will arrange for the interview."

"Really? Natasha Romanoff, you're the best. Let me go and see what Brooke is cooking, I will bring up for you." That was the first time Natasha has seen you smile so brightly and freely, like the best painting she has ever seen.

You were thinking if you should tell Wanda about this when Brooke told you that someone called you using the home landline. You wondered who would have the number as you brought the phone to your ears.

S: Y/N, you went too far! Are you the one behind what happened to Sherry? Do you know you just wrecked the future of a good singer? How could you do this?

You: This happened because Sherry wanted to help Maggie get back at me. If she didn't refuse to let me go, it won't end up like this.

S: She knows that she's wrong, you can retreat the news. Let's just forget about this.

You: Now this have already gone too far. Neither you nor I could settle it down. Also, you don't have to seek up to me so frequently. Marcus and Y/L/N's industry is all yours, I have no interest in it, so what you do keep bothering me?

S: Y/N! What nonsense are you talking about? I just couldn't bear it so I wanted to help them!

You: You are clear about your thought. This is what they deserve to have.

S: Y/N Y/L/N, don't you feel guilty?

You: I'm sorry, not even a bit.

You rebutted and hung up the phone. "Brooke, if this person calls in the future, please hang up. Don't need to get me to answer." You said as you returned her the phone.

Back with Stephanie, she was making a mess in the living room. "Miss, please calm down, you already smashed many of Mr Y/L/N's antique!"

"Go away! All of you, get out!" She threw a pillow and it end up hitting on Marcus's chest. "Steph, why are you so upset?"

"Marcus! Y/N is pissing me off. You got to help me!"

"Enough, Steph! I've already told you Maggie is just using you, she never treated you as a friend."

"Marcus, what are you talking about?"

"Steph, I am exhausted from the corporation with the Y/L/N's. Can you please not bother me anymore?" In her mind, Y/N was still a threat to her.

"Dad, look what Y/N did. Because of our family, I gave Natasha to her, but she didn't help the company and didn't even come back home to see you." She complained and whined like a child would. "Dad, this is too much!" He shook his head, saying he will think of something for it.

In the end, he made a call to you feigning illness, using your sympathy to get you to visit him.

The next day, you visited your father with Natasha and he seems to be very happy that she was here. "Y/N, why didn't you tell me that Natasha is coming along?"

"I heard from Y/N that you're not feeling well, Y/N has been very worried so I decided to come with her. But you don't look like you're sick." She has no problem saying what she thinks even if it hurts the other's feeling.

"Natasha, my dad had high fever the whole day yesterday, he has just gotten better today." Stephanie came to assist her father. "He heard Y/N is back, so he came down to fetch her, but actually he is still weak."

"Y/N, come with me, I have something for you." You followed him to his room where he took something out from his drawer. "It is my fault to let you marry to Romanoff. I did not requie you to do anything else before. But don't forget the reason why you married into Romanoff family, I have done this for Y/L/N, the Y/L/N's family! If your mother was still here, she would also have agreed. Just because of you, Stephanie gave up the marriage and accepted Marcus so that you could marry Natasha Romanoff, don't make her sad okay?" You fault hard to not roll you eyes in front of him. "Your mother left this to you. She said this would be your dowry when you get married." He handed you a jade ring you have never seen before. "That time we were so poor, so you rmum only have this favourite ring."

Despite what had happened between the rest of your family, you had fond memories of your mother before she passed. "I understand... dad."

You met Marcus along the hallway and he was trying to act like a victim and a saviour to you at the same time. But you were no longer the lovesick puppy who foolishly loved him and does everything he says. He tried to hold you back and hopes to make things anew but you weren't going to let him.

"What's wrong?" Natasha came along when she heard the commotion. "Natasha?" Despite being on a wheelchair, she must have a great upper body strength as she managed to pull you onto her lap. "Tell me, is anyone bothering you again?" You shook your head before standing up.

"If Mr Y/L/N is good, pardon us to leave first."

"Dad, Natasha is not used to eating out, we will be heading home first."

"Oh, alright then."

"There is something I forgot to say, that idol was banned by me. For saying what shouldn't have been said, and doing what shouldn't have been done. You understand what I mean right, Stephanie?" Despite not saying anything for a long time, Natasha recognised every presence in the room. "That video you recorded last time, don't let me see it again."

===

You went to work once the weekend was over and Wanda greeted you with a bad news. "I heard that Sharon has some relationships with Romanoff Corporation, and they changed our interview, so we are interviewing Carol instead!"

"Actually interviewing Carol is not bad, compared to Natasha Romanoff's eccentric character, it's better to interview Carol." Millicent said. Your preparation for the interview with Natasha turned out to be in vained and Wanda missed out on her chance to meet her idol. "You two go get ready for the interview, I'll contact the person. Remember, don't mind what others say, we just need to do our job properly."

Back at the table, Wanda was still complaining how she should have fought more in order to get the interview, but you had already changed your goal and planned to contact Carol's assistant first.

"Hello? Is this the assistant of Carol Danvers? We are from Stark News and we would like to invite her for an interview."

"Sorry, Miss Danvers is not available recently." She said and hung up the phone immediately, leaving you to hear the beeping sound of the phone.

Wanda was getting unmovivated as Team 1 has already made an appointment with Natasha Romanoff for interview. You were also getting frustrated not getting any progress with your assignment. But Wanda tapped your shoulder when he noticed a handsome man waiting by the door.

"What are you doing here, Marcus?" You said when you brought him to a secluded place away from prying eyes. 

"I passed by and decided to come up and say hi." You chuckled. In the three years you were with him, never once did he thought of visiting you when you worked close to where he did. He was still harping on the case about Sherry and talking bad about Roamanoff. Thing were getting risky when he trapped you between his arms,

"Enough, let go of me. I am already married, brother-in-law, please behave!" You pushed him away. Stephanie came in at the wrong time and accused Marcus of being hanky panky with her. She even pulled you in saying that you were happy now that Sherry is blocked.

"Stephanie! That is all over, why do you still mention it? Y/N is your sister, I just happend to pass by here to visit her, what is wrong?"

"Bullshit! Admit to yourself! You just can't move on from your old relationship with her." In the heat of the moment, she slapped Marcus and pulled her hand back immediately. "Marcus, I, I didn't mean it, Marcus..."

"Let's go home." Marcus said softly. You shook your head at the incident and how your life has become.

You heard a clap as you come out of the emergency exit. "Unexpectedly, I saw a good play."

"What?" You asked irritatingly after receiving one trouble after the other. "Nothing, nothing. I just cant believe it's just another side of you. Already married and still want to snatch your sister boyfriend, no wonder Sherry is not your match either." She sneerred. "Think whatever you like."

"Don't you feel embarrassed?"

"If I have time to think about this, I would use it to get Carol's interview. Sharon, you can stay here if you like. I will pack up and get off work first." You brushed her off and walked away.

As you passed the gantry, your phone pinged with a message and you realised it was Natasha waiting outside the building. You rushed out thinking why did she come to such a crowded place. And true to her words, her car was waiting by the road side and got it after making sure no one was around to see you enter.

"Why are you here?" You asked after entering. "Passed by."

"Isn't it not convenient to show up?"

"I changed by car, idiot." The car drove for a few minutes until she spoke up again. "Oh right, my father is coming. Just be at ease."

Father? You remember seeing him during the wedding and his stern face scared you.

Once you returned home, you asked Brooke where he was. "He is in the study room alone."

"Let's go and accompany him." Natasha said to you and you were shocked beyond words. How were you going to approach him? You wheeled Natasha to the study room where you saw him playing chess with himself.

"Alexei, are you playing chess by yourself again?"

"You're back?" He turned his back and stood up making your heartbeat quicken once again as he was approaching you. "Y/N... Let's go eat dinner!" He said excitedly, making your jaw drop at his new expression. He was like a golden retriever, pulling you away from Natasha. "Since that brat wants to play chess, let him play by himself." You looked between Natasha and her father as you forced away.

You were sitting at dinning table, waiting to be served when he said something again. "Y/N, come here, I've got something to tell you." You went closer to him and Alexei made sure Natasha was not around to listen. "That fool, is she sleeping in a different room from you? What are you sacred of? Tell me the truth, is that brat bullying you? I will help you!"

"No, no. It's me who is afraid to wake him up, that's why I suggested to sleep in another room." You rushed to explain yourself. "Y/N, you're a good kid."

"Alexei, I am not as good as you think."

===

"Natasha! Your bed is so soft, and I have decided that I will sleep here! Tonight, you should stay with Y/N." Natasha having anticipated this, wasn't afraid of it. "No need, Brooke prepared a room for you, I'll just sleep there tonight."

When she entered the room, Brooke was putting on the finishing touches. "Miss, the room is ready, but the bathroom..."

"It's okay."

As it was the guest bedroom, it wasn't fixed with the kind of appliance that were friendly to wheelchair users. The showerhead was high up and poses a challenge to Natasha, having to stand up to reach it. Despite undergoing physical therapy to get back where she once was, she was not ready to take such a huge step in a slippery bathroom. When she slipped, everyone in the household in the second floor, could hear it.

"Nata-" Alexei wanted to help but was held back by you. "Alexei, let's go out first. You should get some rest. I will go see her afterwards. I believe she doesn't want anyone to see her now. If we remind her like this, it will make him feel worse."

You waited outside the bathroom until she come out. You saw that she was fine with no physical injury. "I'm fine." She said when she saw you sitting on the edge of the bed. "I know. I believe you."

===

"Why is Natasha Romanoff so hard to deal with?" One of the Team 1 members complained. "She promised to do the interview but he postponed it again! What is she up to?" "What should we do? Are we unable to interview her again?"

"Y/N, it seems like something cropped up for princess charming, why else would she postpone?" Wanda asked after eavesdropping. "If you have time to think about this, why don't you start thinking about how we should settle the interview for Carol!" As you teased Wanda for caring for a idol, you can't help but this if it was because of what happened yesterday that caused her to postpone the interview. Nonetheless, you tried calling Carol's assistant once again with Wanda listening in close next to your ears. "Hello, we are Stark News, may I ask if Carol Danvers is free to-"

"Sorry, Miss Danver has been on a holiday recently and is not available."

"How is it? How is it? Did Miss Danvers agree to do the interview?" Wanda asked as she sees you pulling your phone away. Seeing you shake your head, she collapsed onto her chair. "We are at our dead end now?"

"Go prepare the manuscript for tomorrow's publication, I'll try to contact Danver's assistant when I reach home tonight again."

"Then I'll leave that to you. I'll go back and prepare the interview script."

After a long day at work, you finally reach home in the evening. "Y/N! You're finally home!" Alexei came barreling to you before you were able to close the door. "A-Alexei! What's wrong?"

"You don't know how that brat bullied me when you're not home. I'm so bored at home and she just ignored me."

"Did I?"

"Y/N, let's ignore that little rascal." You sneaked in a little chuckle at the dynamic of this family. "Okay okay, let's eat first, shall we? I just smelled Brooke's cooking and I'm dead hungry."

"Humph." Alexei pulled a face acting like a child who didn't get what he wanted. At dinner, Natasha was constantly putting more food on your plate, making sure you ate enough until you told her to stop and you wouldn't be able to finish everything.

You stood by the balcony after dinner, feeling very satisfied. Thinking back to what Mr Stark said at the meeting, you decided to take another chance at calling Carol Danver's assistant again. If you were unable to get a meeting with her, you'd have to find another influential person to interview. Looking into the starry night, you prayed upon the stars that you would receive a favourable reply, but you only got a negative response.

Stepping back into the room, you shivered slightly now that it was starting to get into autumn, and it caught the eye of Alexei. He gave you a glass of water before berating his daughter again. "You drink this slowly, her own wife is getting a cold and she doesn't do anything about it." You chuckled a little before accepting the water. You didn't think he had such a character when you first met him and honestly, it is a respite towards the cold character that Natasha has been giving you.

"Oi, your wife has caught a cold, you should go show some concern." Alexei walked into Natasha's home office and announced. "Is she? She seemed fine just now."

"Girls are delicate, go check on her now!" He urged her to make a move, and she had no choice but to look into your room. You were fine when she wheeled past your room earlier as you were taking a call, but now, you were spread across the bed. "What's wrong? Where are you not feeling well?" She got closer to check. You were unable to reply coherently, but you noticed her right next to you. "Uh- so... dizzy, so hot..." You held her hand when she tried to measure your temperature.

"I'm so sad..." You suddenly sat up and hugged Natasha. "My dad doesn't want me, Marcus doesn't want me. Don't tell me you don't want me either." You cried onto her shoulder. "I won't." You pulled away and looked at her seriously. "You swear! Quick! I'm about to die from being so sad. If I die, I won't be able to hear you say it."

"Y/N... I swear-." She stopped halfway when she noticed you were drunk. "Natasha Romanoff, why do you look so beautiful and so hot." Influenced by the drink that Alexei gave you, you surged forward and kissed her on the lips. "Y/N..., you're drunk."

===

When you woke up in the morning, you shifted around before fully waking up and opening your eyes. In your haze, you managed to recognise the red hair in front of you and sat up in shock. "You're awake." The sudden movement must have woken Natasha. "You-you, I-." You pushed Natasha away before getting out of bed. "I just remember I have to get to the office, I have to go first."

You were brushing your teeth in the bathroom when you realised it must have been Alexei's doing last night when he gave you that glass of 'water'. You immediately rushed down to ask Brooke where he was, only to learn that he had already left, claiming to have to take care of his plants at home.

With Natasha, she called Alexei to check if it was indeed his doing. "Yup. She seemed to have caught a little cold. Coincidentally, I was brewing some medicinal wine! It was a gift from an old friend."

"You should drink less of that in the future, thank goodness nothing big happened. I'm hanging up." Next, she called Clint who was out of the office collecting some stuff for her before starting work. "Contact Carol, I want to invite Carol and her wife to lunch."

"Carol Danvers? Carol and Romanoff Corp. haven't had any business dealing, Nat. Is this-"

"This afternoon." Natasha interrupted. "Yes, Nat."

You arrived at your table in the office, and there was a feeling of contemplation and hesitation towards the next step. "Y/N, how are things on Carol's side?" Millicent came to check on you once she arrived at work. You shook your head negatively as all your efforts were for nought. "So we can only give up now? We can't let Group 1 make a fool of us. From now on, prepare for another interview! You're going to prepare another interview script for the Movie Queen Monica Rambeau.

You were working closely with Wanda for the next script when you heard your phone ring and were about to decline the call until you saw it was from Natasha. "Leave your afternoon free to accompany me to meet someone." You didn't even get to tell her you were busy and were unable to stay long on the phone. "Can it wait till I get off from work?"

"This afternoon, at 3pm, I am having a meeting with Carol Danvers."

That made you shoot up from your chair, scaring Wanda. "Carol Danvers? I want to go! I will request an afternoon leave!" You covered the receiver on your phone and turned to Millicent. "Millicent, can I get an afternoon leave? I am going to meet Carol."

"You can go now. Prepare everything you need! You must interview Carol this afternoon!"

"Do you need me to go with you?" Wanda asked. "I can go alone, if there are too many people, I'm afraid she will not be happy." You were trying to be cautious after the incident with Sherry.

To make sure the interview goes well, many people stepped forward to help you, including those you have never interacted with before.

===

"Miss Romanoff, the two have arrived, they are just waiting for you." The waiter showed the two of you to the room before opening the door for you. "What is the occasion that made you think about treating us today?" From the way she speaks to Nat, you can tell that they have been friends for a long time. Additionally, you can't help but notice another female next to her. You never heard of her getting married.

"There must be an occasion to treat you?" She smiled at the response before standing and approaching Natasha. "So, this is your newly wedded wife?"

"Yes, this is her." You glanced at Natasha for a second, surprised to see that she actually admitted to it. "Hi, I am Carol Danvers. Just call me Carol." She extended her hand and you accepted the handshake. "Hello, I am Y/N Y/L/N." "Oh right, this is my wife, Valkyrie."

"Nice to meet you." You waved to her with a smile distant back. "So, how does it feel to marry this iceberg?" She inched closer and whispered next to your ears. "It... it feels alright." You replied while looking at Natasha. "I didn't believe that you could stand him."

"Huh?" You were about to ask her what she meant when Natasha cleared her throat, reminding you that you have something to ask of Carol. "Ah! Yes, Carol-"

"Oh yes! I came this time to give you an interview. Right, Nat..." Carol was very bold in teasing Natasha, making you wonder how long they have been friends.

The interview was very easygoing. Carol was a terrific interviewee, often giving juicy content. It felt like you were speaking to a longtime friend of yours, filled with laughter and jokes.

"Alright, thank you so much for accepting the interview. I need to call my team leader, you can chat around for a while first."

"Why did you suddenly get married? Didn't you say you weren't ready?" Carol asked when you stepped out of the room. She loves to hear such stories from her friends. "When the time comes, it will eventually happen."

The lunch ended on a nice note and you even exchanged numbers with her and her wife. You have a feeling that you're going to be great friends with them. On the way back, you asked Natasha who was working on the go how she knew you wanted to interview Carol. "I accidentally overheard your conversation on the phone on the balcony." She replied. You had a fluttering feeling in your body. You didn't expect her to help you like this. "I will also be going to your company for an interview." And you instantly pout again, this way Group 1 will still have an advantage by being able to interview her.

===

"Y/N!! You're the best! How did you do it? Wasn't Carol Danvers on vacation?" Wanda rushed over to hug you once you entered the building. "Well... about this, maybe her assistant put lots of good words for us, that's why Carol agreed to accept the interview." You felt bad lying to Wanda, but you had no choice. "Luckily we didn't give up, or else her assistant wouldn't have been touched by our resilience and helped us!"

"So what if you're done with Carol Danvers's interview?" Both of your heads turn to face Sharon who was looking smugly at the two of you. "Carol Danver is only a little famous, but Natasha Romanoff is different. Her reputation is much higher than Danver's."

"Sharon, your group and our group completed our task. Shouldn't we be happy?" Thank god for Wanda's tough side, you would never have spoken up like this. "Isn't it because you have someone at your back? I don't believe that without anyone's help, you would be able to see Carol Danvers."

"Nonsense. Why is Sharon so hot-tempered? She can't bear to see us living well?"

It wasn't long before rumours spread that Natasha Romanoff was in the building and many flocked to the entrance to be able to see a glimpse of her. Her presence was still able to turn many heads as she was wheeled in by Clint.

"Hello Miss Romanoff, welcome to our company." Sharon, as the team leader, went to greet her and introduced herself. "Miss Romanoff like some peace."

Finally noticing the crowd here, she immediately rushed the rest to leave and continue with their work. "Miss Romanoff, this way." She directed them to the meeting room and had to pass by the crowd you were in as Wanda dragged you there. You quickly turned away hoping she didn't see you but when she asked about your presence, you immediately clung onto Wanda and dragged her back to your table.

"Miss Y/L/N previously contacted Miss Romanoff saying she wants to do an interview." Clint clarified when Sharon didn't understand why she wanted to see you. "What? How could it be? It is Manager Dwayne from Romanoff Corporation who helped me arrange for this interview."

"Huh, I don't even know my schedule. When did it come to a little team leader to be able to make such a decision?" Sharon was at a loss for words, the first time being faced with her cold demeanour. "Since Miss Y/L/N is not here, let's leave. Clint."

"I'll call her right away." Sharon had no choice but to back down when she realised Natasha was going to leave.

"Millicent! I want to borrow Y/N Y/L/N from you. This time for Natasha Roamnoff's interview, I will give the newbie a chance."

"Are you really that kind?"

"Are you going to lend her or not?"

So that's how you and Wanda got the chance to interview Natasha Romanoff and speak to her. You started off by handing Natasha a rough script of what you were going to ask to make sure that the questions were okay and did not cross any boundaries. "I can't believe it, it really is my idol! When I saw her in magazines I thought she was beautiful enough. I didn't expect the real person to be even more beautiful!" Wanda was unable to contain her excitement being in the same room as her.

"Thank you for the invitation Miss Y/L/N." Natasha said when she returned the papers to you. Wanda could feel like something was in the air, but she didn't mention anything. "It's my pleasure, then let's get started, Miss Romanoff." You allowed Wanda to lead this interview, fulfilling her dreams of talking to her idol.

W: I heard that you have been in the business world since 20 years old. After nearly 10 years, you created the Romanoff Corporation. Can you share some experiences with us?

N: Talent.

W: Oh yes, previously you got married, but your wife's identity has always been a secret. Can you share a little on what kind of person your wife is?

N: She's very good. Probably because she is my most precious treasure in the world so I don't want to share her with anyone.

W: Is that why you won't disclose her identity?

N: Yes, she has her own life, I don't want her to be affected.

"Thank you Miss Romanoff for your cooperation today," Wanda said as you turned off the camera recording this session. "We shall see you off then."

"Oh god! I never thought that I would have a chance to have such close contact with my idol and even have a conversation!" Wanda squealed once Natasha left the door. "Wanda, you were very professional." You praised. "Of course I am."

"Ah shit! I forgot to ask her for an autograph." You smiled slightly at Wanda, at least it wasn't just you who was nervous.

"Where is the interview draft script and recording?" There it is, the devil that is constantly at your shoulder disrupting your life. "Sharon, what do you want to do?"

"Even if we gave you guys the interview, do you think we will also give you the interview results as well?" You had to resist rolling your eyes in front of her. "Then why would you go through the hassle of changing people for the interview?" You pushed her buttons, knowing the exact reason why she had to. "It is simply because Sharon was kind to train and give a chance to newbies so you guys got the chance to do the interview!"

"Fine, if that's the case, I remember there are newbies in Group 1 as well right?"

"You mean Group 2 will not share Natasha Romanoff's interview results right?"

"Sharon, what are you doing?" Millicent came to your rescue. "Miss Romanoff shouldn't have gone far, you can ask her some questions if you want. Then you will get a clearer understanding of her wishes."

"If we are going to disturb Miss Romanoff for such trivial matters, isn't it going to show our magazine agency is useless? This time I will let go of it, next time, I won't be so kind!" She and her lackeys finally left Group 2 alone.

You decided to call Natasha when almost everything was finished and ready to be published in tomorrow's paper. "Natasha, I just want to say... thank you for everything today..." You heard the call end and noticed that she hung up on you again. But this time, it was replaced with a message saying she was waiting for you outside.

===

Finally, it's been a long time since you felt so relaxed and refreshed, not having to worry about anything and coming back home for a fulfilling day. You can smile without having to put up a front. "Accompany me to a place tomorrow," Natasha said as you were having dinner together. "Then I will apply for a leave later."

"Just to let you know, since you got to interview Carol and I, your company decided to give you a week off as a reward."

"Really?!"

"Yes."

"Since there is no way to treat you to a meal, I will accompany you wherever you go next week!" Despite dressing in simple clothes, Natasha felt your smile was able to make your entire aura brighter, and even the people around you melt.

"Does this count as a honeymoon?"

Series Masterlist

[arcadebluescreened]

Elliott Headcanons that I found while farming

Hello my friends! Since the last list of headcanons was very well received, I thought I would make another list for your enjoyment. Lets begin, shall we?

I like to think that he enjoys romance films. They can be cheesy, or very well written. Either way, he enjoys them. In fact, he often takes notes on the films writing to use in his own work!

-Needless to say, he does recognize symbolism and foreshadowing in films too.

He notices the little things in people or things. The small details are important in writing, so its no surprise that he has noticed a few details about someone or something.

His handwriting is very elegant. Like cursive, but with a bit more added flair. Only a tiny bit though, he wants people to be able read his letters after all.

He is a fan of calligraphy. Need I say more?

And as an added bonus, here is some of my headcanons for Elliott that include the farmer.

Elliott is quite the gentleman. He is the type to hold doors open for people, to offer them his coat when cold, etc. Even if our dear farmer is caked in mud and slime, he would still offer (though he would have to thoroughly wash it once it is returned. I would not like my clothes to have traces of mud and slime on them, and neither would he.)

If you are friends, he will start recommending books to you. He likes it when the farmer takes time to read a page or two in a book.

But what if you are sick? Well, he would do his best to make sure you are ok. If you are friends, he might send a get well soon card or visit you (but not go inside. He doesn't want to intrude.)

If you are dating and you are sick, then he will insist on visiting you and taking care of you. He will make you food and make sure you are ok before he heads home. He will repeatedly tell you to call him if it gets worse, as he worries about you.

If you are married and are sick... goodness, this man will not take a break until he is sure you are alright. He makes sure you stay put until you are better, makes you breakfast, lunch and dinner, checks your temperature almost every hour, etc... he loves his dear farmer, and will not rest until you are ok. He does not care if he catches your illness himself, he will gladly do anything to make sure you are ok.

Thats all for now, my friends. Thank you for all your support! It means very much.

[psychelis-new]

pick a pile: "Spring sprang sprung"

take a breath and choose the photo or number that calls you the most to read about your upcoming spring time and what may bring you/what may happen for you.

don’t take the reading too seriously. only take what resonates with you and leave the rest. if you're not called by any pile, let this reading slid as it may not hold messages for you. if you're called by more than one, there may be messages in each of those piles. remember that is a general reading and some things may not resonate with you. energies can change and readings are based on present ones (as you read); you're always in charge of your life.

(photos found on unsplash)

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

12 34 - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 1

Spring may bring you a few opportunities. And I think they may be of different type and in different fields. I think you'll need to prepare for them cause you may get a few actually... Tbh, it could also be that you're only in need to prepare yourself in spring and by its end or summer, you'll actually be able to see/manifest these opportunities. I suddenly had to crack my neck as if I was preparing for exercising or a run. So yeah, it could also be about competition... maybe you'll be competing for something soon, even a job place somewhere important (or the agency of your dreams, for example). Just... there's something that blocks you. I don't feel the excitement I would feel. I think you may be trying to not be too hyped "just in case it won't go as well" or.. you may even renounce to join the competition cause you feel not good enough to win. On one side I totally get you (I mean, the not-getting-too-hyped-part, despite it is not entirely right either), but on the other... the message here is clear: do not let your fears block you. Take part in this competition, try: the worst that can happen is that you may not get the place but you'll gain experience, you won't have regrets and you'll gain strenght. I do think it may go better than you can imagine. Fly high, not low (as I keep hearing).

song: she's so high | tal bachman

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 2

Your spring is all about delicacy and love. My heart chakra is fluttering. I think you will either focus on your self love more or you may meet either a friend or somoene that may become something more than a friend. You may have tendencies to self sabotage, feeling lonely and on some tougher days you may find it hard to deal with these emotions... like you cannot see a way out, or how you can actually find your people and stop this pain. Worrying is normal, especially if all your life has gone always the same way, but it won't take you anywhere different. Make a choice of stopping this overthinking, stop bringing yourself down for any reason: see that you are worthy, and start being more hopeful and more aware of who you really are. Go out, start some new hobby, go for a run, start new classes... you name it. Just focus on whatever makes you feel happier and passionate, and don't worry about what others may think. They aren't you. You like dancing? Go dancing. You like baking? Go baking. It's up to you. The moment you leave this "lacking" mentality and feeling you always end up putting yourself in, your people will show up magically. Just believe you deserve them (and be sure they deserve you).

song: love songs - bonus | kaash paige

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 3

You may find it hard to focus on all the things you'd like to. I do feel you need to choose something, and postpone the rest (if not stop it). The question is: where you wanna go? What you really want to do now? You may tend to overwork and stress yourself sometimes, just because you feel good and you cannot really stop. You may really like what you do but... on the long run, you won't be able to keep up with the pace. You need to meditate and decide what it is that you want the most, what makes you happy. Leave others outside for a moment and decide for yourself. There's a new beginning in store for you, with loads of things happening, but in order for it to start and to actually work as you'd like to, you need to make a change (in particular inside of you). Be in control, be detemined, and keep trusting even if you cannot see the whole picture yet. It's all good, it all is gonna be more clear and happen fast to you, like one thing after the other, the moment you make your choice. (sadly the message isn't too clear cause indeed things cannot be too clear for you now: you need to sort things out first inside of you. Without knowing what's next, but deciding based on your guts). I suddenly feel hyped and my heart chakra kinda moved so I think it may also relate to love or relationships for a few but not necessarily: it may just be a lot of good things happening and making you happy. Many things happening one after the otehr and it'll feel confusing, so be ready.

song: it won't stop | sevyn streeter, chris brown

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 4

Your spring will be about closing some chapter, saying goodbye to something, and maybe working on something as well (mostly related about your personal life, so shadow work of sort; but ofc it could also be planning something career/school related for some of you). It will take you lot of effort, especially closing chapters (be it with generally your past or someone specific), but it's gonna be worth it. After this, you'll feel more balanced and in control and you'll be able to focus better on your dreams and goals (and this is also where "planning" comes out again. Plan about what you want to have, where/who you want to be and how. It's up to you). I see clarity after a quite heavy/difficult moment in which you may have felt kinda stuck or confused about something (may be a specific situation too). You will also be more into your own power, more appreciative of yourself, of your efforts and the person you are inside/out. All in all, despite a slightly tougher start with the goodbyes and all, this spring will end on a very positive note. I think for some may also sign the start of something new especially in career but also in your personal life (self confidence, change of style...), or receiving a good news about something or meeting someone new as well.

song: release | ken elkinson

[ecargmura]

The Mochi Mayhem Epilogue Was Hilarious (Review)

Here it is. The finale of the DLC. The ending to an era. How should we celebrate this milestone? Excuse me? Could you repeat that again? The Chicken Dance? What?

Anyways, this epilogue is bringing in the main story and DLC together by making the Paldea trio meet up with Kieran and Carmine, the DLC characters in one last misadventure to stop the land of Kitakami from doing the chicken—er, Mochi dance by a mysterious Pokemon that looks like a Pecha Berry.

The overall epilogue was very hilarious, but it also got me having a lot of questions. I know that the event starts in Kitakami when you examine the peach plush in Peachy’s. After the little scene that happens, Arven calls because he wants to come over to the player’s house, meaning you have to travel all the way back to Paldea where Nemona and Penny tagged along and then Kieran gives the player a letter, which then makes the Paldean group go back to Kitakami, which is when the event starts happening. I don’t know why the game makes it so that we have to jump through different regions. I know it’s for plot as the Paldean trio didn’t get offers to study abroad. It made me wonder what would’ve happened if they had come along during Teal Mask.

Despite that, Kieran meshes well with the Paldean trio. It sucks that Carmine was possessed throughout the whole story, but it makes sense as she had her fair share of spotlight in the Teal Mask. This is Kieran’s time to shine! I find it hilarious how he was theorized to have been possessed, but when Pecharunt showed up with the evil mochi, Kieran is the only other person aside from the player to not eat the mochi as it hit his forehead and flew off. Ha, take that, theorizers! I wonder what would’ve happened if Nemona had been involved in the Teal Mask DLC—maybe that was why they took the Paldea trio out of the story for the DLC because the story’s issues would’ve resolved fast.

Pecharunt is a weird Pokemon. While it has a connection with the Kitakami lore, it was never really explored. It just showed up and wrecking havoc. While it did give the Loyal Three their toxic chain, it never really had an involvement in Teal Mask until this DLC. The Loyal Three are its retainers, but there were slight hints of its existence sprinkled here and there. I’m also confused on why it decided to wake up and decided to possess everyone with toxic mochi. Is it angry? Chaotic? I’m not sure. Despite that, Pecharunt is no slouch in battle.

What I liked about the DLC is the fact that Kieran joins the player as a Multi Battle partner which is a definite redemption from his behavior in the Indigo Disk DLC. It was nice being able to battle together with him. I was actually surprised that Kieran’s grandparents were trainers too. They were pretty tough. Arven and Penny were challenging too. I do like that in the midst of the double battles, the last match is against Nemona, who is challenged as a single battle. I loved the mix-match of battling styles.

Once you complete the DLC, Nemona, Arven, Penny, Kieran and Carmine can be interacted with in the League Club with the former three being special coaches. I do like that they give you such a bonus afterwards. I feel like it’s a good way to end everything as you are reunited with the three most important characters in the main story followed by the two most important characters in the DLC. What makes Paldea special is the unique varieties of characters that makes it a worthwhile experience.

Argh, it’s going to be hard to say good-bye to these characters because they’re all so good. All the Gym Leaders, Elite Four, teachers, Team Star, students and DLC characters were just so GOOD! Scarlet and Violet legit shot up to my third favorite mainline Pokemon game because of how good the game and DLCs were. What will Pokemon do now after the masterpiece that was SV? If Unova remakes are true, will it live up to SV’s hype? Will it be better than BDSP? Only time will tell. What are your thoughts on this epilogue and the DLCs as a whole?

[packet-of-staples]

So I found some Rawfury videos of Yuri Lowenthal, Krizia Bajos and Cissy Jones talking about their characters and talking about the game before it was released (I was looking for clips for OC voice claims) and there was something in Cissy's Vivian video that kinda stuck out to me.

So what she says about Vivian exactly is: "Arcadia to her is- its not only where she's built her career, its where she's building her legacy, and uh, for her this is something really important. She wants to leave something of value, something that's worth a lot to people-"

Now, from a non spoiler point of view this is like, oh yeah rich Ceo lady wants to leave a mark on the world. Ceos are always talking about legacy, wanting to leave something behind, be something great yadda yadda. Added bonus if you know that she's supposed to be Elijah's '''Granddaughter''', she wants to continue her family's legacy all checks out.

But, knowing who she really is, not Elijah's granddaughter but one of the Arcadia 6, makes this sentence a lot more interesting. You could see this as her wanting to remake her legacy, because she technically already had one. Emily Garland is one of the 6 Arcadian born citizens to escape the dome, that's something pretty cool to be known for. But she threw that away, she sold out and chose to support the very company that oppressed her and many others like her. So now she has to make something more of herself to justify that choice. If she can make Arcadia greater, bring it out of its current slump like Howard Ashman did for Disney, then she's no longer the escapee who sold out because she was too weak to handle the outside world, she's the amazing woman who made American Arcadia popular again!

Cissy goes on to say: "-and so she works really really hard to make this thing, um, the best it can be with the most interesting people-" (She also goes on to call Trevor 'a bit of an L 7' or a square and I think that's really funny, like yeah, yeah he wouldn't be there, he would be square)

She does work really hard to leave something that, in her eyes, is positive to her image. She's reinventing herself to make her crawling back to the company worth it. To prove to herself that it wasn't a mistake and to leave a legacy that, hopefully, most people will look fondly on instead of in contempt or betrayal. She wants to leave something of value, because I can imagine there is a part of her that doesn't hold any value in herself, not after failing to make a difference that actually mattered and becoming part of the problem.

And I dunno I feel like that adds just an extra layer to her which is pretty cool. I could also be reading way too much into this idk.

Anyway, the other two videos are very cool too. Yuri talks about how Trevor's life isn't boring like Walton thinks it is, its just 'Exciting in the wrong way'. He also talks about how he thinks lots of people will relate to Trevor (So true) and how just because your life may be simple, it doesn't mean its boring and not worth living which I think is very sweet. Thank you Yuri. Krizia talks about how she really related to Angela because she grew up on Puerto Rico and how she got to add a couple of 'spicy words' as she put it, in her dialogue for a bit of extra authenticity. She also talked about how Walton was the job Angela always wanted, but after 'peaking behind the curtain' she realised that it wasn't the dream she thought is was, it's both kinda heart breaking but also very relatable, especially I'm sure to those in the entertainment industry. It makes me really want to know what her 'peak behind the curtain' moment was and what the steps where to get her to this point in more detail (Hey hey, Out of the Blue, hey please. please make that prologue thing you said was a good idea of mine on twitter. Hey, please? Please? It has the Regi Davis stamp of approval, please?)

The videos are very cool I'll put them under the cut if you're interested. I just wanted to have a ramble cause I haven't in a while and I've just been thinking about this.

[timeslugarts]

Four Flushing

Part 4 of my Vera x Vox story.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

A/N - I really hope you guys are enjoying this, I didn't think I'd write so much for them. I also hope that my writing is at least enjoyable.

CW: Smut and Valentino lmao

After replacing his screen and dealing with an angry Val all week Vox decided that maybe the best thing to do was to take the moth Overlord out for a night of fun and debauchery, and what would be better than a gala thrown in honor of Hell's royalty. Personally, Vox abhorred these sorts of events, but the chance to schmooze and make connections was always a bonus. Valentino loved to dress up and cause drama, so this seemed like an excellent idea. He had very simple pleasures.

They made their way to the party in a sleek Voxtech limousine. Vox slipped out of the car before a shade could open his door. Valentino on the other hand sat there until the shades opened his door, there was nothing he enjoyed more than being waited on hand and foot.

Vox was already halfway through the entrance, phone in hand, before Valentino caught up to him. Draping his arms around Vox and pinching his ass. Vox could only sigh and check his texts and emails.

Several new messages, but not the one he was hoping for.

"Come onnnn papito, I want to dance!" Val shook him lightly, tongue licking the side of Vox's screen.

He had to turn the charisma up, he was literally here so he could get Val off his back, a couple hours of fake smiles and back home for a hate fuck shouldn't be too bad.

So Vox slipped his hand into Val's, "of course," he crooned, "let's dance." They made their way to the dance floor where Vox spun and twirled Val around, every now and then stopping to drink champagne and talk to the other patrons. It wasn't until something caught his eye that he stopped.

A light blue flame moving its way to the tower of drinks.

-----------

Vera looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting the shimmer on her cheeks to make sure it caught the light from her flames just right. Jericho, her roomie down stairs, had received tickets to tonight's Gala courtesy of his current royal boy toy. There were perks to being a pool boy to one of Hell's own Goetia and that included tickets to events they'd never attend otherwise. So of course Jericho was taking Vera as his plus one, the intention was to nic as many jewels and wallets as they could, drink till the night turned to dawn, and eat their fill of shrimp. The shrimp being the most important part.

Vera's mind idly wandered to her phone, he had never responded to her text and that was more than enough for her to call things over.

Maybe he'd be there, or maybe not.

"Oh baby!" Jericho's voice rang from the door of her flat. He sauntered over to her and grabbed her hips pulling her flush against him. "I could eat you up right here. Let's forget the party and fuck right now."

She turned around in his arms placing her own around his neck, and bumped her forehead into his, "but shrimp."

He sighed, "but shrimp." Grinning, he grabbed her hand and spun her around, "you look stunning though."

"I know," she shrugged, "You're not half bad yourself." She gave him a once over.

"Hey, I'm hot and you know it." He slicked his hair back admiring himself in the full length mirror, the scar across his nose and his milky eye more prominent than ever. Jericho always tried to show off his wounds when hanging around the rich folk, knowing damn well they all loved a bad boy.

Jericho and Vera walked into the party arm in arm. It was definitely a party for Hell's wealthiest, large buffet tables lined the exterior, a Champagne tower at the center of the room, and a catering service of shades taking people's plates, glasses, coats and whatever else.

Vera quickly scanned the party, making note of anything she could see herself wanting, large plates of shrimp, and the crystal champagne flutes looked nice too. She sauntered over picking up the champagne and giving it a sip and grimacing. It didn't matter if you were living or dead, alcohol was still disgusting. Crystal was nice though, she dumped the rest of the champagne in a nearby plant and stuffed the glass into her bag, along with a few of the larger shrimps she saw. She was in the middle of munching on one when a voice got her attention.

"You know if they catch you they'll kill you." Vera whirled at the staticky voice.

Vox.

She wasn't sure she'd see him here, and she was extra sure he wouldn't have approached her. Here he was though, dressed smoothly in a pinstripe double breasted suit. That darling debonair smile on his face.

"And what about if you catch me?" Vera aired up at him, eyebrow cocked.

"Catch you! Ha! I'm here to help you!" His grin grew even brighter. He turned her around, hands lightly gripping her shoulders, he pointed her at a group of overlords she didn't recognize. "You see that windbag over there," he pointed a claw at a particularly old looking lady wearing what looked like a raccoon skin dress. "She's fuckin' loaded with jewels at any given time, plus the bitch is as blind as a bat."

"Oh? Do you think she needs a new friend?" She turned back, a look of innocence on her face.

"Absolutely. Now go get 'em tiger." He slapped her ass as she began strutting toward her new target.

Vera turned back, "always such a charmer." She gave him a wink.

Vox chuckled to himself as he grabbed two flutes and made his way back to Val. It was a risky move, but he couldn't just not say anything.

"Oh look at you talking to the Spitfire Demon." Val hummed when Vox handed him his drink.

"Who?" Vox played the uninterested fool.

"Hush, I don't blame you boo, she's smoking." He leaned heavily on Vox downing his drink. "Girl used to run with a crew and I would've given my best assistant to have them in a gang bang." He emphasized this by clenching his free fist tightly. "They would've made me millions!"

"Used to? What happened to the others?" Vox did his best to keep the curiosity out of his voice, it was all business all the time.

"They all died or some shit, exorcists got 'em. A waste of good flesh if you ask me." Val walked around leaning into Vox, "you planning on asking her to bed with us tonight? A third could be fun."

"No no, tonight is all about you," he grabbed Val's hand and kissed his knuckles. He wouldn't admit it, but the idea of sharing Vera brought the taste of bile to his mouth, he didn't like the thought of Valentino running his hands over her body.

"Damn right it is, now come on chica I want to dance more!" The moth shimmied his way back on to the dance floor beckoning for Vox to join.

Vox leaned back against the counter, "give me a few, I don't have nearly as much stamina as you, I'm gonna see who I can blackmail."

Val pouted, but Vox only waved him away. "Go, have fun, make out with a hottie, I'll be back!"

When he was sure Val was thoroughly distracted, grinding up against some poor strangers, he began searching the crowd. He spotted his little flame walking down a long dark hallway heading away from the crowd.

It made him nervous, did someone find out she'd been stealing? Was she going to be with someone else? He was already well aware of the other man that Vera had arrived with, but he'd seem too interested in shoving his nose up a Goetia's ass then spending time with her. So he dropped it.

But what was she doing now? He had to know, he had to follow her. Make sure she is ok.

Sparing one last glance at Valentino, who seemed very interested in checking the tongue piercing of another Overlord with his own tongue, he swiftly made his way through the crowd towards the hall that he'd last seen Vera heading down.

He couldn't believe how stunning she'd look, long velvet gloves and a short black dress that hugged her body in all the best ways. Tulle flowing from her waist to her legs giving her just the tiniest bit of secrecy. She was gorgeous and he was sure that someone would snatch her up by the end of the night. He couldn't let that happen, but how to get around Val was the question.

She had managed to disappear when he'd finally reached the hall, it made his heart thud with anxiety, he walked further into the darkness, about to call her name when a hand shot out from an open door and snatched him inside.

"What the FU-"

"Shhhh or do you want to get caught!" A voice whispered, he noticed the blue flames burning dimly, and the piercing blue eyes staring at his own.

They were pressed together in a small storage closet, him and his little flame. Vera. His breathing grew ragged almost immediately. Her proximity to him was almost dizzying.

"You know, I thought you were done with me, but that little show earlier-" She ran her hand up his chest and started fiddling with a button, "made me think otherwise."

He let out a huff, "done with you, doll?" He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. "Never. I just had to get Valentino off my back, he'd been bitching and moaning ever since-"

She leaned in and silenced him with a kiss.

"We don't have much time Vox, our dates could be looking for us."

He got the idea and kissed her back full force. Pulling her even closer than you'd think possible. Her arms snaked their way around his shoulders pulling him in, leg reaching up to wrap around his waist. When she sighed into his mouth he took the opportunity to sneak his tongue inside. She tasted like candy and bubblegum, he laughed internally at the notion.

They started to grasp at each other, squeezing what their hands could find. When Vox bumped into a shelf of buckets and bottles that rattled about, they both stopped in their tracks, waiting, listening.

When nothing happened Vox jumped on the opportunity.

He quickly moved her skirts to the side, going to press his fingers into her delicious heat, but when he got there.

"You're not wearing any underwear?"

She grinned licking his neck, "panty lines are a bitch."

Vox groaned, he could feel his pants getting tighter by the second, "You're so fucking hot."

He pressed into her, delighted by how wet she already was. She moaned softly, and he started to pump faster spurred on by the quiet noises she was making. When his thumb found its way to her clit she let out a much louder sound. Vox grinned.

"Shh, we're going to get caught if you're not quiet." She bit his neck to stop any noises she would make as he continued his ministrations. The feel of her teeth piercing his skin was almost too much. He made a note that the next time they were together they could be as loud as they wanted.

She was close, she knew it, he knew it.

"Faster Vox." Vera panted out, her knees were trembling and he grabbed her throat to help keep her upright, but also to add a little more pressure to the buzz she was already feeling.

She was starting to see spots when it hit her. A strangled sob tore through her, muffled by the hand around her neck. Her breathing was heavy as she tried to regain her composure, leaning into Vox and panting.

Vox held on to her tightly, he pressed his screen into the top of her head breathing her in. She smelled of smoke and lavender, her skin was soft and slick with sweat. He wanted to leave with her, to take her home and have his way with her. He wanted to have breakfast the next morning and maybe show her his sharks. He was sure she'd like them. They could go out to that little restaurant Velvette was telling him about the other day for lunch…

"God I've missed you." Vox mumbled into her hair.

Vera, who had recovered and was undoing the buckle on his belt, froze. She looked up at him, expression unsure, but Vox was too absorbed in the moment to even notice. Her breath came out a little more uneven than she would've liked as she let go of the clasp on his belt. Sliding her hand up to rest on his chest, he leaned into her touch, vibrating at the soft motion, almost purring.

"Vox I think we need to leave before anyone notices we're missing." Vera whispered, looking away from his screen. He squeezed her a little tighter, a little closer.

Finally he released her, groaning. "You're probably right, I can only imagine the amount of trouble Valentino is causing right now." He glared off into the darkness, with no view of Val, it was the best he could do.

Without another word Vera popped the door open, slowly and quietly, checking the long hallway to make sure the coast was clear. After confirming it empty, they both slipped out and headed in opposite directions.

They were in the clear, no way they could get caught now especially since Vox controlled every video camera in the pentagram. Vera's heart was still racing though, even as she made her way back to Jericho. As he grabbed her coat so they could make their leave. As she saw Vox standing there with Valentino wrapped around his arm, his eyes never once leaving her own. When she climbed into her bed and lifted the covers over her. When she thought about the way he held her in that tiny broom closet. When her phone lit up with a notification.

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck."

She needed to end this.

[goldenempyrean]

Spinning Hearts

REQUEST FROM AO3: Lena is high on cold medicine, Kara must deal with it. Bonus if Kara confesses she has feelings for Lena

〚 Notes - This was fun to write, I thought the idea was so cute, not sure if this needs a warning but she is high as fuck in this so just keep that in mind. 〛

〚 Pairing - Supercorp 〛

〚 Summary - In a medicated haze, Lena Luthor's orderly world spins out of control, leading to a candid confession of love from both her and her best friend. 〛

〚 Wordcount - 1570 〛

〘 Check Out My Masterlist! 〙

╚════════ ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇⋆✦⋆⋇ ════════╝

Lena Luthor sat at her sleek, glass-topped desk in her high-rise office, the soft glow of National City spreading out beyond the panoramic windows. Files and plans were scattered haphazardly across the surface, and the soft hum of her laptop was accompanied by the rhythmic creak of her leather chair as she spun around in it, her head lolling back with a dazed expression on her face. Each spin of her chair left her feeling more disoriented, yet she couldn't help but revel in the sensation of weightlessness it brought. 

The words on her screen seemed to blur together, and her fingers stumbled over the keyboard. Her normally pristine workspace was now adorned with crumpled tissues and scattered papers, a testament to her futile attempts to maintain order. Maybe she would’ve been more productive if it hadn’t been for the empty bottle of Dayquil sitting on its side. Her logic had been that if she wanted to work for the whole day, without having to take a break that she should just take the overall dosage for one day, ignoring the 4-hour break in-between dosages that she was meant to take and in turn was completely and utterly out of it. 

Lena's assistant, Jess, stood in the doorway, her eyebrows raised as she took in the scene before her. She had seen Lena in many states—focused, determined, even furious—but this was an entirely new level of... well, something. She cleared her throat, trying not to laugh at the sight of her usually composed and serious boss acting like a child on a merry-go-round. 

“Excuse me, M-Ms Luthor?” Jess stammered, her voice carrying a mix of concern and amusement before catching sight of the empty bottle of medicine, “Oh, Jesus how much of this did you take?” She asked, shaking her head in disapproval before picking up the bottle and numerous crumpled tissues littering her desk to throw in the trash. 

"Oh, h-hi there," Lena mumbled, her voice sounding dreamy and distant. She held onto the edge of the desk as if to steady herself, her chair still twirling slightly beneath her. "Just trying to... recalibrate the gravitational algorithms, you know. Multitasking." 

Jess suppressed another chuckle, wondering if she should just call it a day and make sure Lena got home safely. But then she remembered something important—the voice on the other end of Lena's frequent late-night phone calls. Jess reached for her phone and dialled a familiar number. 

The phone only had to ring once before Kara’s cheery voice rang down the phone, “Hi Jess, it’s not like you to call me. How are you?” She asked happily, blissfully unaware. 

“Hey Kara, I’m okay, I'm not calling for me.” Jess began, keeping her eyes trained on the Luthor slowly gliding in her chair as it rolled along the smooth floor, “It’s Lena.” 

“Lena? What’s wrong with Lena? What’s going on?” The shift in her voice was obvious at the mention of her best friend's name. 

“Well, she caught that bug going around which would’ve been fine in itself, she can handle herself – usually.” She trailed off, trying to stifle a giggle at the sight of her boss slowly tapping her pinkie fingers together, “For some god known reason, she decided to take way too much medicine, she’s really out of it right now, and I mean really.” 

"Will do," Jess replied, feeling relieved that Kara was on her way. She hung up and turned her attention back to Lena, who’d given up on spinning and had been leaning back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. 

"Lena, sweetie," Jess said gently, moving closer to the spinning spectacle, "Kara's on her way. She'll help you get through this." 

Lena's unfocused gaze shifted to Jess, and she grinned dopily. "Jess, did you know that if you rearrange the letters in 'gravitational,' you can spell 'I love gala invitation'?" She paused, her expression turning more serious. "But I don't love galas. I love... Kara." 

Jess couldn't help but smile at Lena's loopy confession. "I know you do. And she's coming to make sure you're okay." 

Of course, Kara used her super-speed to get there. She couldn’t help but be worried. Lena was the most put-together person she knew beside Alex and the idea of her like this made her head dizzy was concern. 

There was a sound of a faint swoosh, and before they knew it, Kara was opening the door the office and letting herself inside. As she took in the scene before her, Kara couldn't help the concerned smile that tugged at her lips as she approached Jess, who was standing near Lena's twirling chair. 

"Thank you so much for calling me, Jess," Kara said earnestly, her voice carrying genuine gratitude. "How is she doing?" 

Jess returned her smile, her own relief evident. "You're welcome, she's... well, you can see for yourself." 

Lena's chair had slowed down, and she was now attempting to stand, albeit a bit wobbly and her head perked up at the sound of Kara's voice, and she sneezed unexpectedly, her body jerking forward with the force of it. A series of small, adorable sneezes followed, and Lena blinked owlishly at Kara. 

“Bless you.” The blonde murmured, wandering over to the tissue box sat at the other side of the room and taking it back to offer out which the CEO accepted with a small innocent smile 

Gently, Kara reached out to place a hand on Lena's forehead, checking her temperature, "Hmm, I think someone might be running a fever." 

Lena giggled softly, leaning into Kara's touch, “Just a tad.” She mumbled in agreement before mirroring the Kyrptonian’s action and putting her own hand to the blonde’s forehead, “It’s ‘cause you’re hot.” 

Kara's cheeks flushed slightly at Lena's words. She was used to Lena's honesty by now, but the way her feelings were coming out in her current state was both endearing and surprising. "Come on, you." Kara said softly, her voice gentle and reassuring. "We’re gonna go back to my apartment, okay? I can take care of you there." She began guiding Lena towards the door, her super-strength easily supporting the slightly wobbly CEO. 

Lena leaned into Kara's touch, her steps unsteady, "Mmm, you're my hero y’know.” 

Kara smiled, her heart swelling at the affectionate words. "And you're mine.” She led her out of the office and into the hallway, where Jess gave them a knowing smile and a subtle thumbs-up to which the Luthor saw and returned the gesture in an exaggerated manner before almost tripping, leading Kara to practically carry her the rest of the way. 

It didn’t take long for the pair to arrive at Kara's apartment, the Kryptonian gently settled Lena onto the couch, ensuring she was comfortable with a soft blanket before disappearing briefly into the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and a damn cloth. She sat down beside Lena, helping her drink before placing the cool cloth over her forehead. 

"Kara, you have the softest couch in the world," Lena mumbled, her words slightly slurred as she yawned and leaned into her. 

Kara chuckled softly as she tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. "Just for you." 

Lena reached out and cupped Kara's cheek, her touch warm and tender. "You're amazing, you know that? Always taking care of me." 

Lena's tired eyes seemed to shine even in her groggy state as Kara smiled softly. "I've been meaning to tell you something, Lena." She spoke up, finally working up the courage to say what she would been wanting to for weeks, her voice a mixture of sincerity and nervousness. Now might’ve not been the best time but she just couldn’t wait any longer.  

Lena sniffled as she looked up at Kara, a curious expression on her face, "What is it?” 

Kara paused for a second, and that second seemed to last for hours before she took a deep breath, her heart beating slightly faster before she worked up the courage to admit, "I love you, Lena. I've loved you for a while now, and I can't keep ignoring it any longer.” 

 Lena blinked, her hazel eyes widening as if trying to process the weight of Kara's confession. A soft smile tugged at her the corners of her lips as she lightly ran her thumb over Kara's blushed cheek, her medicine-high beginning to fade a little as she managed to stay coherent enough to say, "Kara, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear those words from you, I’ve been waiting so long." 

She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Kara's heart seemingly skipped a beat, and she leaned into the Luthor’s touch, a mixture of relief and joy flooding over her. "You mean…?" She trailed off, letting the other fill in the blank. 

Lena nodded, her smile growing more radiant as she took the blonde’s soft hand in her own, "Yes, Kara Danvers, I love you too. More than I ever thought was possible." 

In that moment, the rest of the ongoing world seemed to fade away into the background, leaving just the two of them on the sofa. Kara leaned in closer, her lips gently meeting Lena's in a tender kiss. It was a kiss filled with all the emotions they had kept hidden for far too long – love, longing, and the promise of something beautiful. 

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[thezombieprostitute]

You're ready to leave work, eager at the thought of changing into comfy pjs and snuggling in bed with a new romance book. But just as you're about to go out the door your boss calls you into his office.

Who's ruining your plans and possibly your pussy?

You know what? After the 🤬 week I've had, I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to let off some steam and maybe get a little out of character:

Andy Barber

Details smut below the cut. Fair warning, it's about 1000 words, contains some mild BDSM elements, including spanking. This is literally the smuttiest thing I've ever written.

You step into Andy's office and immediately know your evening plans are gone. "Sir? What happened?"

"New evidence got introduced," he explains. "We're going to have to do a lot of verification and research." You don't hold back your irritated sigh and he gives you an apologetic look. "I promise we're working this together. I'm not done until you are."

"That doesn't help the frustration," you retort. "I'll go ahead and order us some food, using the business card."

He nods, "just not Chinese, please. I've been eating a bit too much of that lately."

"Sure thing," you turn around and put in the food order before sitting down to look at the new evidence and its repercussions for the case.

+++

Several hours later you're both exhausted but fairly certain you've got proper counter arguments, follow up questions and a list of things to follow up on.

As you get up to go home Andy thanks you, "I know the hours suck but I promise to make it up to you." You gently guffaw and he looks a little hurt. "I'm serious," he insists. "Employee welfare is very important to me."

"Bullshit," you retort.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Barber," your tone harsh as you walk closer to him. "If employee welfare was actually that important, you'd've let me go home and have my relaxing night off. Instead, I got even more worked up with no promise of relief any time soon."

"I can make it up to you."

You grab his tie and pull him towards you, "and how do you propose to do that?"

"Use me," he whispers.

You bend him over his desk and give his ass a hard smack, making him moan. Pulling his hair to move his face towards yours you order, "tell me your safeword, Sweetie." He tells you the word, making you smile, before you go to town spanking his ass so hard hard you're sure you've left bruises.

When you got that out of your system you push him into his office chair, removing your pants and underwear before sitting on his desk. You put your legs on the arms of his chair, showing him how wet your pussy is, his eyes darkening at the sight before him.

"What's your color, Sweetie?"

"Green, Mistress."

"You wanna help me work through some tension? Work out my frustration?"

"Yes, Mistress," he moans. "Please let me help you."

"I don't know that you can," you sneer. "I think I need to take care of myself." You start touching yourself, watching him tense, trying so hard to be good and stay in his chair. You let yourself moan and watch him lick his lips, clearly hungry for a taste.

"Please," he whispers. "Please, Mistress, let me help you."

You pause and move your slick covered fingers to grab his chin, forcing him to look you in the eyes, "and how would you do that, Sweetie?"

"M..my mouth, Mistress. Please, please let me taste you!"

"Oh," you retort, gently pushing his face away, "so it's all about what you want."

"NO!" He looks up at you, eyes wide, "I want to help you. I want to make you feel good. The fact that you taste so good is just a bonus to the pleasure of making you feel good, Mistress." He's using the whimpering tone he knows you enjoy so much.

"Arms behind your back," you order. "And so help me, Sweetie, if your hands touch any part of me I will make you regret it."

"Thank you, Mistress," he cries as he gets on his knees, holding his hands behind him and his tongue immediately diving into your folds. He remembers all of your favorite spots and moves and he makes sure to hit them all. You grab his hair as your first orgasm hits you, pushing his face further into you as moan with pleasure.

You hear him whimpering and you push his face back, "what's wrong, Sweetie?"

"I'm sorry, Mistress," he apologizes. "I didn't wanna cum without permission."

"Aww," you smile down at him. "You're a real Sweetie, aren't you? Making sure you're not done until I am." He whimpers appreciatively at the praise. "Get up and undress," you order.

Without any further prompting Andy stands up and quickly removes all of his clothes, putting them with your own. He stands still, awaiting your next order as you walk behind him, admiring the marks you left on his ass.

You give him another spank, this time gripping him tightly when your hand meets his cheek. You whisper into his ear, "lean forward. Hands on the desk." He immediately follows your orders and you pat his head. "What's your color, Sweetie?"

"Green, Mistress," his voice is overeager so you ask him to repeat the safeword just to make sure. He does so without hesitation so you continue.

You go into the bottom right drawer of his desk, the one just for the two of you, and pull out the bottle of lube. You pour some on your fingers and some more on his puckered hole. You gently start working your index finger into him and you hear him moan in pleasure.

"That's it, Sweetie," you coo. "You like how I make you feel?"

"Yes, Mistress," he groans. "Feels so good." You push another finger in and he gets louder while your fingers get faster. "Please, Mistress," he begs. "Please, I need to cum."

You enjoy his whine as you remove your fingers, "so needy," you giggle. Reaching back into the drawer you grab the strap-on and put it on, enjoying a bit of relief to no longer be clenching around nothing. You lube it up and press it against Andy's hole, "are you ready, Sweetie?"

"Yes, please, Mistress. Please use me!"

You press into him, making his hands clench. He's gripping the table so hard part of you is surprised it doesn't break. When the strap-on is fully inside of him you pause to let him adjust to the size.

You check in on him again before letting yourself fuck his ass. Your orgasm building as you continually praise him as a "good boy." Before you let yourself cum you reach around and start jerking him off. Andy is getting louder and it's pushing you closer to your own orgasm.

When the coil finally snaps you work yourself through it while telling Andy, "cum for me, Sweetie. Cum all over my hand." He practically roars as he obeys your command.

As soon as you both catch your breath you're switching into aftercare mode. Checking in on him, making sure to help him clean up, giving him the hugs, treats and cuddles he needs.

[hotwaterandmilk]

Just another one of those posts where I do a bit of a general update on a few things. This time opening with an edited scan of Maomao from Nekokurage's Kusuriya no Hitorigoto manga adaptation to get your attention. Boo!

I've been reading the Kusuriya no Hitorigoto light novels and enjoying them in the sense that I think preteen me would have liked them. I started reading the LNs earlier this year (as they're great for reading in waiting rooms and the like thanks to their short format) and I think the LNs are definitely my preferred version of the story. The anime has a nice OP theme but is fairly middling otherwise and I don't go much on the art in either mang adaptation (though Nekokurage's art has improved recently and Maomao looks less like a giant-headed baby doll in the Animate bonus cards per my scan above). Maomao is the real draw in all versions so obviously I preordered her Nendo the first moment I could — bring on May 2024!

Speaking of translated light novels you can buy right now, the first part of the Oguni no Koushaku Reijō wa Tekikoku nite Kakusei Suru light novel was just released as A Young Lady Finds Her True Calling Living with the Enemy Volume #1 by Cross Infinite World (see here). It's a solid story that doesn't overstay its welcome and Bertine's business acumen is just *chefs kiss* for those after a competent heroine.

Once the second and final part of this is out, I'd love to see Cross Infinite World pick up another short (but unrelated) PASH! Books publication, Shiitagerareta Shuusai Reijou to Ringoku no Haraguro Kenkyuusha-sama no Amayaka na Yakusou Jikkenshitsu. The web novel version was quite solid but I haven't read the printed version yet. Yeah I like science ladies, what can I say? It would be so good to keep seeing interesting titles for girls and women being picked up for English release because I tire of isekai villainess stories (which imho peaked years ago with Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou) and there are some great little tales out there that do things a bit differently & just need to be shown to the right audience.

I'm so excited for Metallic Rouge in early January! While it used to be that getting an original property from BONES was always exciting, it has been a while since they've created anything I've really cared about but I'm hoping this will break the drought. If a show has Izubuchi, Kawamoto, Yamada contributing then you know I've got to be there. Plus a couple of lady leads in a SF setting? Trailers with some great action and music? I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much but I'm keen to give it a shot. If it isn't for me at least I can say I've given it a chance, right?

I've been terrible at sharing the latest about this year's Silent Möbius anniversary, but I'm not a news blogger and frankly very few people care so eh y'know, whatever. BUT I figured I should say something about FAIRYTALE PARFUM releasing scents for the key members of AMP this month (though Mana has been totally forgotten, it seems). You can check out the range here, there will be a launch event on the 10th of December in Shinjuku too.

Asamiya drew new artwork for the bottles and while I'd love to get Kiddy's perfume that nods towards her bodily acceptance in its notes, importing that stuff is just too much of a pain so I've settled for a tiny acrylic stand of Kiddy instead. Sadly there's no option to buy a set of stands so I just went "whatever" and grabbed just my best girl. Anyway, if you'd like a tiny acrylic stand of an AMP girl with extra weird proportions then make sure you check out the FAIRYTALE PARFUM website.

[edmetalqueer]

*!*!* Argyle W/ A Autistic S/O *!*!*

Pair: Argyle x GN!Reader.

Genre: HCS.

Request: Can you write headcanons of Argyle with an autistic s/o? bonus points if they carry a support stuffed animal everywhere :)

WARNINGS: Swearing.

Argyle definitely loves your stuffed animal, he calls it Little Man, he will literally do anything to defend you if anyone bullies you for carrying it around.

He adores you, he thinks you being Autistic is like having a super power, he definitely calls you his hero.

He always asks the chef to make a mini pizza slice for your stuffed animal, he thinks its important that Little Man gets food too.

He always loves to listen to your special interests & hyper fixations, he finds it so interesting to listen to them.

He definitely built a small car throne for your stuffed animal during woodworking class.

He always makes sure that his van has stuff you need to calm yourself with if you start overstimulating.

He doesn't really understand autism all that well, since it's the 80's, but he tries to learn and help you when he can.

He always holds your hand if you need it.

He loves to cuddle & hold hands, but he always make sure to respect your boundaries too.

But since it's the 80's autism wasn't called autism, it was called Asperger.

He definitely calls you nicknames that includes Hero.

He always calls you from work to check on you, even if he has to work.

If you wanna play with his hair to calm down, he will happily let you play with it, he will lay in your lap, letting you roam your hand in his hair.

In the beginning of your relationship he probably wouldn't understand why you bit him at times, but he started learning what it meant, and he now loves it, he feels so happy if you bite him bow that he knows its a way you show love.

If you have trouble staying in school? Don't worry, he will skip school with you. You both will be in his van, listening to comforting music, cuddling.

Whenever your stimming, he tries to figure out if it's a stim from stress or excitement.

He always tries to remember mental notes about the different aspects of your Autism.

A/N - I really loved writing this! Though it was a little short, but i hope you liked it! ^^

[sonohban]

Oh this is something I'm awfully excited to ask you but I keep on forgetting!! But anyway, if you'll create an alien race based on bugs in dragon ball how would you go about it? Like what would be the most important detail do you think they should have? (I want to ask you about specifics of that race too but I don't want to pressure you on answering since I'm sure that would be long. Just an idea of what an alien bug race can be would be awesome!)

THIS IS SUCH A GREAT QUESTION..... because it makes me think so hard i can't think of anything conclusively :') first up is- would this insect race be one species? one family? one order? or just a mix of all different kinds? there's literally around a million insect species and almost 30 orders that are INCREDIBLY diverse in form. i don't want to paste every single example here but here's just the silhouettes to give you an idea!!

(deep longing sigh, a graphic from one of my favorite papers by misof et al. 2014)

but also i could just. make up a new bug entirely?? 😳 like just smash together my favorite characteristics from across the insect world... what sounds good to me atm is cool wings (i like plain membranous more than the scaly wings of butterflies/moths, you can get cool patterns with them too), the general horse shape of a mantis/snakefly and sound producing organs (insects make noises in different ways! crickets stridulate by rubbing their wings together, cicadas expand/contract their tymbals, hissing roaches compress air through their spiracles). i like the idea of insects singing to communicate, it's pretty much only to attract mates or scare predators but i think it's a generally romantic idea :'3 i also think it's cool to consider aspects of physiology, like insects have an open circulatory system (their organs are bathed in hemolymph instead of supplied by vessels), they have a more decentralized nervous system (can still get around despite lots of their body missing), they can overwinter, among other things. oh i think i'd also like them to be holometabolous (larva>pupa>adult rather than a nymph that gradually sheds into its adult form) because i want to see proud parents holding their cute little worm babies :3c

in terms of dragon ball i can say what i won't do- toriyama i'm making a callout post on tumblr dot com- there are insects other than cicadas (although i LOVE cicadas) but i am tired of these things

it is a real structure found among the true bugs (order hemiptera, includes aphids, leafhoppers, cicadas, etc.) called a cibarium which basically houses the big muscles the herbivorous members use to suck up plant juices. SUCK, you say?? yeah these things don't have chewing mouthparts so shut your weird beak mouth, cell. you're supposed to be sucking up people with that instead. their mouths have been modified into straw things called a rostrum which you can barely see under the cibarium of that cicada. if i had to make an alien race based off these kinds of bugs, their mouths would remain rostra and i'd definitely have them communicate through sound production only. that would be hella cool.

(also while we're on the cell callout train, cell's wings are based off the shell of a beetle which are technically called elytra but THERE'S ALSO SUPPOSED TO BE MEMBRANOUS NORMAL WINGS UNDERNEATH! insects typically have two pairs of wings and the shell of a beetle is just the hardened first pair.)

hehe sorry that went on for a bit. take some bonus doodles that this inspired although i wouldn't consider these examples of a sentient alien race. i really like snakeflies and think they're adorable OTL

[the-ampersand]

Since I am still chewing on the DIE Stapling post, I am going to do another about effort mechanics in ttrpgs because I am trying to write that Blasphemous inspired Trophy Gold hack (placeholder name: Penance). And one of the coolest mechanics for Trophy is its Risk Roll, which is basically an effort mechanic.

"But, Ampersand, what is an effort mechanic?" I hear you ask, dear mutual I am making up in my head. An effort mechanic allows you to reroll an action you have already attempted but failed or to get a bonus to a roll at the expense of some resource. Usually, that resource being the character's health. But it can also be something else like clues in an investigative game or even a narrative consequence (but that's usually called a Devil's Bargain).

The important part is that it gives a benefit but requires a sacrifice. And that's when the whole fanfare of psychoeconomics start. Because you need the sacrifice to be big enough to give the player pause and not use it every roll. And also you need the benefit to be significant enough to make it worth the risk and the expense. If properly adjusted, an effort mechanic can become a slow but sure spiral into the characters downfall.

Let's look at some examples!

Numenera is the first system I learn that had such a mechanic (but certainly was not the first ever). It is pretty straightforward in its implementation, too. You spend a fixed amount of the appropriate life pool and you get to reduce the difficulty of a task. Easy enough. But Numenera, being a tradgame as it is, the power creep upends any weight of the sacrifice. Once you level up enough, your pools become deep enough as to make effort something to just add to whichever skill roll you thought it needed a bit more oomph. This is not something wrong per se, but it can easily make your characters overly competent!

On the other hand, there's Dungeon Crawl Classics. DCC is a peculiar OSR game in that it is a really spiced up retroclone, wriggling DnD B/X ruleset to a point where it is almost unrecognizable. I am sure there are plenty effort mechanics peppered in the text, but I want to point out its magic system because I absolutely adore it. To be a wizard in DCC requires active dedication. That is because almost every spell has a writeup of about an A4's length, filled with the various effects a spell may have once the dice is rolled. And the effect can be wildly different from a roll of 5-10 to a roll of as high as 30 or more. There are many ways in which you can tweak your narrative positioning to get bonuses to a spell roll (components, helpers, magic foci, whatever), but when the die is cast and the result is just not good enough you still have a last chance: to sacrifice your own atribute values to get one last push that might be the difference between a proper spell and a fiasco. This is the main cause of withering of elder wizards: they have sacrificed too much in order to achieve the power they sought.

And then, there's Trophy. Both Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold have excellent effort mechanics baked directly into their ADN thanks to the masterful procedure that is the Risk Roll. These are games in which you are tempted first and consumed later by an evil forest. You have a really small ruin pool and once it is filled, you are lost to injury or its dark influence. You are also a destitute adventurer that needs to get any gold or face almost certain death. So you need to get shit done, you need to amass enough successes as to bring bread home and you need to survive the process (or try to, at least). And that's when the Risk Roll comes and lures your with the most satisfying effort mechanic I've ever seen. You can always make a reroll, adding an extra die to your pool to boot. But if those extra dice, dark dice, ever become the highest ones, you automatically mark ruin. You get your success, yes. But you become closer to losing yourself. It exactly hits the spot between actually worth it and inescapably dooming the character.

Obviously not all games need to be about losing oneself to fate or circumstance, but I feel an effort mechanic very much pushes the narrative in that direction. You are sacrificing yourself, in order to achieve your goals.

And I think that's a quite powerful narrative device.