#but on that note i wanted to still contribute somehow so hopefully this reaches a larger audience & does some good

[smittyw]

hello all! following the lead from other artists, i wanted to set up a way for people to donate in support of gaza as a means of 'buying' art from me

any donation amount is ok, but since i want to do as much as i can efficiently, smaller donations will be the baseline of an uncolored sketch & going higher means i can add more detail like in the examples above 👍

links provided for accepted donations:

(priority) any donations to gofundmes via operation olive branch

e-sims for gaza

care for gaza

PCRF

gaza medical staff support

palestine legal

terms of service for my regular commissions apply here, so go read those if you need more info. send me proof of your donation in DM's, email (infinitemacaroni@gmail.com) or discord (smitty.w) and tell me what you want drawn!

details subject to change if donation needs change! i can & will accept donations to other fundraisers or reputable orgs focused on palestine, just run it by me first.

(edited 5.2.24 to add more relevant info)

[tommyspeakycap]

Can we get baby little Shelby find a bunny and ask Tommy and John to take it home. And get scolded by Polly when they at home? 💕💕

more pre war Tommy fluff ;) 

Bunny

“Tommy!”

The dark haired man’s heart flies into his throat, his mind immediately kicking into gear as he drops the coin he was about to flip. He was deciding whether or not to buy a horse with a new inflow of cash they had recently gotten. That horse is lost the second he hears the shriek that came from somewhere behind him. The heavy boots on his feet make easy work of crushing through powdery snow, but give a very little to prevent him from tripping and slipping; although the fear coursing through him and his extreme haste may well have contributed to his somewhat uncoordinated limbs.

In the maybe a minute that it takes form Tommy to get from where he was to where he had traced his little sister to, a million and one thoughts race through his mind. He fears every worst case scenario his mind can conjure up and immediately blames himself for bringing you out to the country to play in some fresh snow with John and Finn. The air was much clearer out here and so too was Tommy’s mind. He could think, be free of the city smoke and the harsh environment that appears to be tacked to his work in the family business. There was so much pressure on the raven haired bookmaker to uphold his own personal morals while also living a notoriously immoral life. He tried to keep his hands clean, prevent himself from muddying the line between pointless violence and the necessary survival and protection of his family.

So going with his 5 year old little sister out to the county was something not uncommon for him. And the snow had only given him more reason to. He regretted that now.

“What-” Tommy wheezed out, unable to speak for lack of his breath after attempting to run through the deep, deep snow. “What’s happened,” he coughs, “Are you alri-“

“Tommy!” The little girl whispers harshly, waving her hands at him disapprovingly, “Shhhhh, you’ll scare it away!” Tommy snaps his mouth shut, instead opting to take the five year olds outstretched hand and crouch down as she instructs him. On her other side is John; crouched down with one arm around Finn to keep him still. “What are we looking at?” Tommy asks quietly, his neck craned to try and spot whatever his other siblings had noticed. 

“It’s a bunny, Tom. Look.” (y/n) points with her little hand and Tommy follows the general direction in which her hand is showing him. In doing so, he squints and finds his gaze falling upon a small white rabbit sitting picking a blade of grass that it had pulled through the snow. “They want to take it home.” John states, grinning at Tommy something like a Cheshire Cat because he knows for a fact that man isn't able to say no to the puppy dogs eyes of (y/n) and Finn Shelby when they truly wanted something.

“Hm, I don't think so.” He mumbles, trying to keep his eyes off of the disappointed face of his younger siblings. “You know Aunt Polly’ll go mad.” The second he does turn his head to see his youngest siblings gazing up at him in the desperate way he knows always works, he regrets it. “Please Tommy, pleeeease?” (y/n) begs, clasping her cold little hands together and pulling her most convincing puppy eyes Tommy might've ever seen. “Yeah Tommy, please? Pretty pretty please?” Finn joins in, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement and anticipation at the idea of having the little bunny as a pet. 

“Yeah Tom,” John sniggers, stubbing out his cigarette on the snowy ground. The elder brother puts on a pout to mimic (y/n) and Finn, not serving to make things any easier for Tommy as the youngest two weren't able to pick up on John’s teasing nature and sarcastic reiteration of their words. They took it as encouragement while Tommy knew John would be going home to Martha and his own kids, thus wouldn't have to be on the reviewing end of Polly’s temper. Tommy rolls his eyes and inhales deeply, thinking briefly about how angry Polly would be compared to how much it would make you and Finn giggle to have a pet even if only for a while before Tommy would free it back into the wild and tell some lie about a magic bunny farm. The kids chanting brought his mind back. “Please, please, please!” 

“Alright,” Tommy cuts them off, “Alright. But we’re not chasing it around all afternoon.”

--

How on earth Tommy ended up holding his little sister as he stood in the doorway of the Shelby family home kicking the snow off his boots while said little sister had his big trench coat wrapped around her and her smaller jacket used as a blanket for their new bunny rabbit friend, he will never know. He genuinely felt like if he had been outside for one more minute he would have actually frozen stiff, however it was always his top priority that his littlest sibling was as safe as she could be; so it was suffice to say the idea of her getting frostbite and slash or hypothermia after she insisted on wrapping the little rabbit in her own coat was less than appealing to Tommy, so she could keep his warm winter jacket as long as she desired.

“Right Finn, straight into the living room and not a peep to Pol alright?” Finn nods vigorously in a show of his determination to follow his brothers order as he places the wrapped up bunny into the young boys arms. Finn tries to run as unsuspiciously as he can past Polly in the kitchen to go through to the living room where only Ada sat, reading a book by the fire underneath a blanket. 

“Tommy?” The little girls voice draws an “Mhm?” from him as he battles to get her stiff winter boots off of her tiny cold feet. “What're we going to name him?” She enquires, her voice as inquisitive as any other curious 5 year old is. Tommy hums in thought, tapping (y/n)’s other foot in the way that he does that tells her to put her foot down and lift the other one for Tommy to pull that boot off too. There was a distinct routine between the two that had been established in the last five years of her life with Tommy acting as her primary caregiver.

“I don't know, love. Whatever you want to call him. Just remember to stay quiet about it yeah?” He looks up to see his little sister nodding firmly, placing her finger over her lips just as Tommy had done so many times when secrecy or silence was needed. 

“Alrighty then.” Tommy says, lifting both the pairs of boots easily in one hand and putting them by the other shoes. He moves his hands to under the small girls armpits and hoists her gently back up onto his hip as to avoid her stepping small puddles of water that had collected from the snow on her boots and his by the door. “Shall we go see what your brothers gotten up to with that-” 

“Jesus fucking Christ Tommy.” 

Both siblings turn their heads quickly to face Polly when they hear her speaking with her stern scolding tone turned on. Polly immediately notes how Tommy looks slightly secretive, like he was ready to start either lying or making some form excuse for something for which her niece looked rather guilty. Deer in the headlights kind of expression. “Look, Pol...” Tommy begins, but is interrupted by his aunt firmly shaking her head and marching towards him. 

“I’ve told you a million times Thomas. She’s five. That means you do still need to put her bloody hat on when you take her out in the cold but you don’t need to fucking carry her everywhere.” She huffs, pressing both her palms against (y/n)’s cold rosy cheeks, “Shes bloody freezing.” Her scolding tone never fails to make Tommy feels as though he’s still a young boy who’s been caught misbehaving by his aunt. However now he’s an adult with responsibility for his little sister and somehow, he ends up on the receiving end of that tone far more than the littlest member of the family ever will. Polly peels Tommy’s coat away off the little girl in his arms so she could hang it up to hopefully dry some before he next needs it and (y/n) doesn't mind not wearing her brothers jacket anymore, however the words that Polly speaks about putting her back down only serves to make her cling a little tighter subconsciously. 

“She's only little, Pol.” Tommy defends, “And we had long day, haven’t we sweetheart?” Polly wants to scoff when (y/n) nods her head and offers up that angel smile that wins the hearts of her entire family, but the woman can’t help but smile back and shake her head. “Well,” she huffs slightly, her hand reaching back up to the little girl to to brush the snow off (y/n)’s hair, “I think the very least your brother could do if he was going to have you out in the freezing cold all day would be to put a bloody hat on you.” 

The little girl giggles, flicking her eyes to Tommy to inspect his reaction to their aunts words. 

“Remembered.” He notes flippantly with a grin and Polly knows fully well that it was not remembered because putting a hat on top of that little girls soft locks of hair was something he had never once remembered to do without a reminder since she was merely a little bald baby. 

“Course.” She responds teasingly, “Dinner’s out soon.”

Tommy nods his head before Polly walks away in the direction of the kitchen again, where Tommy had no doubt Arthur is now lingering to pick off the scraps of dinner before its put out on the table for everyone else. 

“That was a close one, Tom.” The little girl on his hip whispers quietly, her wide eyes causing Tommy to chuckle heartily as he takes them both through to the living room to see what Finn and now likely Ada were doing with this rabbit. “Yes,” Tommy agrees, walking into the living room “It very much was. Hello Ada.” Ada immediately rolls her eyes at the sound of Tommy’s voice. 

“Pol’s going to kill you, you know.” She states, standing and crossing her arms firmly over her chest as Tommy sets his youngest sister down on the floor to run over to where Finn sat with the bunny close to the heat the fire was giving off. “Probably.” Tommy nods.

Ada turns away to wrap her blanket around her only sister, the one she had wished and prayed for since she had been merely a little girl herself. Tommy vividly remembers the many occasions when Ada was not only his youngest sibling, but also his only sister and recalls how unhappy she had been about those facts. Finn being born eased only one of those issues, but Ada rested a while for the time that Finn was a baby before again pestering their mother about wanting a little sister again. 

She had been ecstatic when (y/n) was born, and she had been besotted with that sweet little girl ever since. 

“You always forget to put her hat on, Thomas.” Ada chastises, the reprimand drawing a chuckle from her brother who takes a seat down on the couch and crosses one leg on top of the other. “So I’ve heard.” Tommy mumbles under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear and stretch out her leg to kick his when she too sat back down on the couch.

“Twat.” She hisses. 

It was Tommy’s turn to role his eyes at his sisters flippant comment, paying no mind to her words thrown in a light tease that he knew she only ever half meant.

“That’s not very nice, Ada.” 

(y/n) doesn't do so much as turn around when she chides those words in dismay to Ada’s insult aimed at her Tom. There was no hiding how the little girl adored Tommy. “Exactly Ada,” Tommy grins widely, giving Ada the biggest shit eating look he can muster as he tried not to laugh, “And that’s why you're my favourite, aren't you my love?” The 5 year old simply nods her head in response to her brothers words before turning straight back to play with her new pet. 

“Well, she might be your favourite but you certainly won’t be Polly’s once she sees you’ve brought that home. She’ll go mad.” Ada nods her head in the direction of the fluffy white animal in their living room. Tommy shrugs his shoulders indifferently, “They're happy though, aren't they? and quiet. Worth it really.” 

Ada knew very well that Tommy was right, although it was likely that she wouldn't even think to much on that in his vicinity, just incase he even got the sensation that she was thinking he was in the right. They’ve got a big family and a lot of hard work had to go into making business run smoothly to provide for everyone. The younger kids can sometimes go amiss to the elder siblings on particularly busy days. Sometimes playing and talking to them gets overlooked or their clothes go on back to front because everyone forgot they sometimes still needed help with things like that. 

So giving them the simple pleasure of almost a normal childhood - not one living with the Shelby name and subsequently the future of the Peaky Blinders tacked to them - by letting them a pet that they can look after and love on for a few days at least was something Tommy was willing to grin and bare the wrath of Polly Gray for. 

He was a sucker for that little girl, so when she’s happy there are few things in the world Thomas Shelby wouldn't endure to keep it that way. 

[tamhrayis]

I remember someone asking me if I know @kasumi_kasa on Twitter (my answer is yes) and I saw the latest tweets about Omukuji. From Kasumi’s explanation they are fortune telling cards, so I would like to give my interpretations on EMA’s cards as they have “Excellent luck” (Daikichi).

Eren

From Kasumi’s translation, the advice (?) for Eren was “If you keep your heart honest and strong and believe in everything, the future will eventually open up for you”.

I think this advice is very relevant to Eren’s current state as he is in the debate between his selfishness (do whatever it takes to achieve his personal “freedom” and simply move forward) and selflessness (fight for the freedom of his people and friends). Eren needs to understand what exactly his heart wants and be honest with himself (did he do everything for himself or his people, or it’s both?).

I am not quite sure what “everything” means, because...well...it’s everything, but it might be believing in goodness and badness of both sides (World and Paradis/Eldians).

Wish: When the time comes, it will come true.

The sentence itself is quite ambiguous, because it can be interpreted differently, but I think it might mean two things:

1. Eren’s wish to exterminate all the titans will come true (especially if Ymir helps him).

2. Eren’s goal to become the “villian” to eventually end the cycle of hatred and all the past mistakes (again, breaking the curse and exterminating the curse will contribute into it).

3. His actual intention might be revealed (POV and the reason like in ch.131).

Expected visitor: It’s coming.

Expected visitor is present in all EMA’s predictions (?). So both 3 will see someone or something (depending on what “it” means). It might be Mikasa, but we still yet need to know how exactly she should come as these predictions were made after ch.138.

Missing thing: It’s near you.

This one is very interesting. What is the thing that Eren thinks he misses (in terms of what he doesn’t have)? Freedom. Eren has been chasing freedom since he was a child, but did he find it? No and I don’t think he will find the “freedom” he is searching for, because Eren himself doesn’t know what exactly his “freedom” is.

As a child, his “freedom” was seeing the outside world from Armin’s books. As a teenager, his objective slightly changed to getting revenge on titans and then, eventually, seeing the ocean and world.

But was he when they finally reached the ocean? No. Eren was upset, because the presence of an even bigger enemy meant that his freedom is nowhere near unless he destroys others. But does destroying the world mean that Eren will finally be free? No. Why? Because Eren himself doesn’t know what he is chasing. Freedom for him is something that he has never experienced and blindly has searched for until he became a slave to his idea of “freedom”.

Eren thinks that freedom will give him happiness and he will be happy only when he achieves it. But the problem is that the more he “obeys” his idea, the more unhappy he becomes. Now, he almost lost everyone who sincerely believed and fought for him.

This sentence says that Eren’s happiness (a.k.a his “freedom”) was always near him. And that’s his friends and Mikasa. Eren needs to free himself from his own “master”, which Eren created and that’s his superficial idea of freedom.

This idea is worthless, because it doesn’t bring anyone actual freedom and happiness. It broke Mikasa’s heart, hurt Armin and killed so many innocent people. It totally doesn’t worth it.

But another missing thing could be Mikasa and as it’s coming, it could also imply that Mikasa will come to him again (like...she kinda did in ch.138...?)

Game and match: Restrain your ego.

Eren’s ego is what used to cause him to fight with bullies, fueled his desire to get stronger and be free from Mikasa’s protection, and now pushes him to move forward, because Eren doesn’t want to lose (bringing iconic “If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don’t fight, you can’t win”). Yes, he does want to be stopped (and was by someone), but even like that, he still continued to fight (he even turned into a colossal to fight Armin).

But since, in Armin and Mikasa’s cards, it’s written “win”, Eren has nothing to do, but to respectfully give us and tame his ego.

Study: Study with peace of mind.

This one is a bit unclear to me (and when I translated it, it showed “learning” as another possible translation), but if it’s related to learning something, maybe Eren will need to learn to give more importance on the present and learn to live in the moment rather than living in his thoughts, past, future, guilt.

If we look at ch.90 and ch.123, when his friends were having good time at the beach and Marley, Eren was wandering in his thoughts thinking about how cruel and uneven the world is, and how he wants to get revenge on it.

Even in ch.138, when he and Mikasa were living alone, far away from everyone, Eren was still consumed in guilt and responsibilities.

If Eren doesn’t restrain his ego and free himself from his “master”, he will never learn how to live a peaceful and happy life he secretly desires about.

Mikasa

So moving to Mikasa. The advice for her was “Do what is right and help those who are lost and you will be better”.

This one is pretty straightforward. Mikasa opposed the person she loves and chose to fight Eren to save humanity from destruction. In general, Mikasa’s character is about saving people and she values human life the most as she almost lost hers back in time. Even though, Isayama said that staying with Eren for Mikasa is a good thing and if she didn’t have strong morals (she would follow Eren), she can’t give up on saving other people’s lives.

Wish: You will get what you want. Don’t let your guard down.

The first part is clear as Mikasa will reunite with Eren and hopefully have a life with him, but the second part is quite interesting. So I think it might suggest that even though Mikasa loves Eren and wants to be by his side, she shouldn’t let her desires overpower her morals. Again, coming back to ch.138, Mikasa chose to run away with Eren and let her selfish wish to be with him take over her. She chose to stay away from fighting and let others’ lives to be in danger.

Mikasa needs to continue sticking to what she believes in and do the right thing to get what she wants.

Expected visitor: It’s coming.

Same as I said in Eren’s part.

Missing thing: It’ll be late, but it will come.

This sounds intriguing, because what exactly can come late? I think it might be related to her wish and desire to live a peaceful life as it might come slowly...? (If we take into the account that Paradis will probably still have some issues to deal with and peace won’t come instantly).

On another note, Eren’s arrival can be late too (in some ways..?), so it’s also plausible to say that the missing thing for them is each other.

Game and match: Win.

So since Mikasa is a part of alliance, they will “win” (even now they kinda did by stopping colossals) and Eldians (probably) will be viewed as saviors (though on island they are traitors as the majority of population was pro-rumbling).

Love: There’s happiness in this person.

Mikasa represents love, freedom and pride and as the statement suggests, there’s happiness in her. What Eren actually needs is happiness, so EM things again.

But even like this, I won’t say that Eren will instantly will become lucky and forget about his trauma. It will be a long learning process (as his card said), but Mikasa will greatly and positively influence his adjustment to a normal and peaceful life (especially since they will very likely live in mountains and as Grisha said in “Lost Girls” he thought that fresh air will positively help Eren’s anger issues).

So the presence of Mikasa, fresh air and calm atmosphere will help Eren learn to live in the moment and cherish what he has without going for something that doesn’t properly exist.

Armin

The advice for Armin is “Make a decision before and you will move forward, work diligently and you will be happy”.

It’s heavily related to Armin’s new role in life, 15th commander of Survey Corps and the position suggests, Armin from now is responsible for the lives and decisions of his subordinates. Of course, for now because of his inner struggles and doubt, Armin isn’t happy about his career advancement, but if he surrounds himself with good and diligent people, and gain some confidence, he will overcome his current problems.

Wish: Two wishes won’t come at once.

What are Armin’s wishes? His first wish was to travel the outside world and explore the unknown with Eren, but as he himself said in ch.131, that wasn’t quite what they dreamed about.

However, Armin still wants to believe that there’s still a world that they don’t know about past the walls (might be a reference to the miracle that Uri was talking about).

So going back to peaceful times and exploring the world definitely won’t come at once (he still has duties and issues to deal with), but slowly and surely will.

Expected visitor: It’s coming

Same as Mikasa and Eren.

Missing thing: It’s in a high place.

This one has 2 potential meanings:

1. Armin misses Erwin and Hange as they were his previous commanders and he would want some guidance from them. Even now, Armin (as a newly assigned commander), he thinks how these two would handle this situation (especially Erwin).

2. The other thing that Armin (possibly) misses are the good old days that both three of them wanted to go back. After all, every character somehow wants to have a peaceful life with no war and hate. So saying that this thing is in a high place might mean that it won’t be easy to achieve and they will still need to deal with negotiations etc. But it will come eventually.

Game and match: Win

Same as Mikasa.

Study: you will overcome difficulties

I am really glad about this one, because it means that Armin will overcome his insecurities and doubts, and will gain his confidence! Again, I am heavily manifesting a talk between him and Levi, so seeing him overcoming his flaws and becoming a great commander is more than anything I could ask for Armin *cries*.

The links to the translations:

Eren, Mikasa, Armin.

[perfectpaperbluebirds]

@sicktember Prompt # 9: I’m Not Sick

Title: First Date Fever

Fandom: Jurassic World

Claire arrives at Owen's bungalow for their first date, and finds him sick. He convinces her to stay and spend time with him anyway.

(Author’s note: Not a very popular fandom I know, but it’s one I’m very familiar with, and I have a soft spot for these characters. Set before the events of the first Jurassic World movie--my version of Claire and Owen's first date. You don’t need to know anything about the movie for this fic.)

Claire Dearing was not the type of girl to meet men at their homes before a date. That was far too personal and risky. First dates were always in safe, public locations. However, she had decided to make an exception for Owen, since his bungalow was actually on the grounds of the park, and she knew many of his neighbors, the locals who ran the park behind the scenes. Owen had insisted she meet him here when she had called him earlier in the day to confirm the date, and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise. Since this seemed to be a safer place to meet than the average guy's house, and since military-man Owen was cuter and more desirable than the average guy, she had agreed.

She parked her Mercedes to the side of his bungalow, smoothing her new sun dress and checking her hair one last time as she stepped out. She knew this dress highlighted her best features perfectly, and she was excited to wear it on an actual date rather than a work outing. However, her excitement faded slightly upon seeing the state of the shabby, almost derelict yard. She hoped he intended to make her trip out here worth it. She picked her way carefully to the door of the house, sidestepping odds and ends and being mindful of the mud, making a face as she did so. She knocked sharply, arranging her face once more in a smile, trying to recover her eagerness.

Owen took his time answering the door. When he finally appeared, yawning, Claire's face fell again. He was disheveled and haggard, dressed in a ratty tee shirt, with bags under his eyes and a flush across his cheeks. His hair wasn't even combed.

"Hey, you're here! You look beautiful," Owen croaked. "Just give me a minute and I'll be ready to go," he said with a sleepy sniffle.

"Are you… hungover or something? You really don't look good. You haven't even showered."

"Not hungover, not at all. Haven't had anything to drink all week," he said, clearing his throat roughly. "I guess I accidentally fell asleep after work, so I'm still kinda out of it. I'm really sorry...  I just need a few minutes. You can come in if you want."

"I'm fine out here… thanks. I'll just… wait."

"I'll be quick." He ducked out of sight again, closing the door. 

Claire sighed, flopping onto the porch swing to wait. She really hoped this date was going to get better fast.

Owen reappeared in record time, looking much better in a button-down shirt and chinos, though still very rundown and tired. "All set?" he croaked, shutting the door behind him. Before Claire could reply, he hunched over to sneeze twice into his elbow, directing the spray away from her.

"Sorry, dust," he muttered, swiping his nose with his shirt cuff.

Claire backed away from him, wrinkling her nose. "Are you ok, Owen? You sound like you're coming down with something. Or already came down with something."

"Nah, I'm not sick. Like I said, just dust. C'mon, let's get going."

He held out a hand to help her down the porch steps like a gentleman, and she almost took his hand to let him, attempting to forget the strange start to the date. That is, until he sneezed again unexpectedly, directly onto her outstretched hand. She drew it back in disgust, immediately applying hand sanitizer from her bag as he apologized, then blew his nose, which turned into a cough.

"Owen Grady, you are sick! Don't lie to me. Why the heck are you trying to take me out when you're contagious? Are you trying to get me sick too?"

Owen shuffled to the porch swing and sank down onto it, looking defeated. "So maybe I did come down with something. It came on strong yesterday, but I didn't want to believe it. Feel like crap now. But… I  didn't want to cancel our date. I've been looking forward to it for weeks. Had it all planned out and everything." He coughed wetly into his shirt sleeve.

 Claire leaned against the porch railing with a sigh. "Well I was looking forward to it too. But we can't very well go out while you're sneezing and running a fever."

"I'm not running a fever."

She scoffed. "Whatever you say. Have you even checked?"

He reached up and touched his palm to his own forehead. "Feels fine to me."

"Well of course it feels fine to you. You can't check your own fever that way," she sighed, exasperated. "Do you even own a thermometer?"

"Nope."

"Ugh," she huffed again. Against her better judgement, she moved to his side and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead for a moment before quickly stepping away again. "You're definitely too warm."

"We can still go out. I'm fine." 

"No you're not." 

He almost certainly didn't hear her statement, since he sneezed several times right in the middle of it. 

"Case in point," she said as he wiped his nose, looking miserable. "We can't go out tonight." Try as she might, she couldn't keep a note of regret from her voice. "We'll try again another night. I should go… but I hope you feel better. Make sure you get rest and fluids and all that."

"Or you could stay for a while," he croaked hopefully. "I was really looking forward to spending time with you. I know I'm gross, but we can still hang out."

Claire smiled in spite of herself, leaning against the railing once more. "And why would I want to do that?"

"I mean, I shouldn't be left alone if I'm so sick. I can't be trusted to take care of myself. Pretty sure I took Nyquil instead of Dayquil earlier which is why I passed out. I need supervision."

Claire chuckled as she made her way back to his side. He was adorably pitiful and she couldn't help but humor him, especially since he was indeed looking very sleepy. "I suppose since you have a fever, I should keep you company for a while. Just to be safe."

He grinned happily as she sat down beside him on the porch swing. The swing was small enough that their arms brushed together as they rocked. Owen played the part of host well, getting them both snacks and drinks (and medicine for himself, at Claire's insistence), then keeping the conversation flowing, asking about her work and life and sharing about his, congested and hoarse though he was. Claire was happy to contribute, and they chatted comfortably for a while, but he clearly wasn't feeling well and wasn't up for much conversation, pretend as he would otherwise. Eventually the conversation faded, until the pair was rocking in silence, enjoying the tropical evening. 

Claire had taken over rocking the swing, letting Owen relax. In fact, he was so relaxed he began to doze off beside her. Claire simply kept rocking, even as he slowly shifted to the side, until he fell asleep against her, his head pillowed against her shoulder.

She found she didn't mind him lying there. In fact, his limp weight and hot, feverish cheek against her were somehow comforting as the evening cooled and quieted. She would make him move to bed soon, but she wanted to rock for a while longer. She had never had a first date quite like this, but she found she didn't mind that either.

[n-blanca-archived]

↳ CLASS 1-A HC’S TO MAKE YOU SMILE (hopefully) 

A/N: i’ve been on class-1a brainrot (yes, all of them. collectively) for SO LONG and honestly? I love it here. romance is all good and dandy but FRIENDSHIP? good shit. 

on that note, these pairings are all platonic! just little things i like about their dynamics or things i think they’d do when they hang out :) feel free to see them as romantic though, not like i can stop you :P

p.s sorry for dipping??? for like months???

genre: fluff

warnings: minor situational angst

→ Denki & Izuku

❑ These two boys are the other’s hype-man, totally. Kaminari absolutely does not mind sitting through Izuku’s ravings about the fluctuating hero rankings, or even just the times where Izuku mutters on and on. 

❑ Kaminari’s been ignored enough times to know that it doesn’t feel good at all to want to talk to someone and for them to sheepishly tell you they’d long since stopped listening. Izuku does the same for Denki, no question. Sometimes Denki starts talking, and he doesn’t really...stop. 

❑ But Izuku finds it’s nice to hang out with the boy, and he doesn’t mind not contributing to the conversation when Denki looks so elated to see someone listening for once. 

❑ While I will forever be the number one advocate for Bakugou tutoring Denki and finding different studying strategies that work for Denki instead of giving up on him, I think Izuku’s just as likely to do that for kami! 

❑ It’s a frustrating first session, but once Izuku’s brian suggests that Kami might just need another method of studying, he takes that idea and runs with it. 

❑ The next week, kami goes to Izuku’s room a little afraid of the freckled boy rejecting him- but to his surprise, Izuku presents him with all types of new study methods, including colored index cards and a home-made sentence reader that covered the entire page except for one line at a time.

❑ (yes, he did tear up for a second.) 

❑ They end up going through that week's chapter in half the time it usually took Denki to get a subject, and they got to play video games afterward! 

→ Ochako & Katsuki

❑ While I don't think the boys in 1-A look down on the girls in the sense of "but they're girls so they are weaker :(" all that much- Katsuki was the first and only one really to make that clear. He didn't see her as something or someone to pity. She was an opponent and a damn capable one at that.

❑ So, yes. Maybe Ochako and Katsuki aren't exactly best friends who'd die for each other. But they’ve proven to each other that if there's someone who'll bring their all to a fight no matter the circumstance, it's each other.

❑ Ochako’s weariness when it came to Katsuki was short lived. It was kind of hard to be so...afraid of someone who treated you better than others seemed to coddle her when she told them she was a hero-in-training. 

❑ It starts small, too. At first it was just teaming up occasionally during class for spars. Then it was going to the gym after school with Katsuki and Eijirou. 

❑ Tiny little hang-outs like that then turn into joining the blonde on his morning runs every once in a while, and eventually Ochako found herself seeking out Bakugou every weekend, and the blonde seemed to be on the same mind-track, too. Every Sunday, when Ochako pulled open the front door, she spotted Katsuki, stretching out in the front lawn, waiting for her. 

❑ (and if they occasionally have breakfast together after their bi-weekly sunday training sessions, then that's their business.)

→ Shouto & Eijirou

❑ them hanging out wasn't really ever. Expected. Like, at all.

❑ but kirishima's shown that he has a knack for weird, almost hostile awkward boys with low friend counts

❑ so shouto fits right in

❑ really it starts when Kirishima finds Shouto in the common room, staring into space. Usually he'd leave him be, but it was weird to see the boy without his group of friends joining him

❑ in an effort to get to know shouto better, kiri offers to play a few rounds of super smash bros,,, and shouto just. blinks. at him. And kiri blinked back for a second before he realizes shouto didn't know what super smash bros was

❑ and of course, to kiri, that's absolute blasphemy

❑ so kiri abandons his trip to the kitchen in favor of sitting next to shouto on the couch, and teaching him how to play as many video games as they could fit in one night

❑ (the first time kiri sees shouto laugh, he can't help the way his face splits into a grin. Todoroki, while not mean, was someone who came off as cold most of the time, so to see him so relaxed made Eijirou feel warm.)

❑ somehow it becomes a regular thing-- shouto would come downstairs, and eventually Kirishima would show up. Sometimes they were both alone, sometimes they were surrounded by their friend groups. But every time without fail, Kirishima would take his place next to shouto, hand him the blue controller that he favored, and turned on the TV to select the first game they'd be playing

❑ (watching Shouto start to gain some of Kirishima's vernacular was also an interesting - read:hilarious - experience)

→ Mina & Yuga

❑break dancing buddies

❑ like. I'm not kidding these two have moves.

❑ well. Mina does, at least. Aoyama gets it pretty quickly but it took him a second to familiarize himself with how your body moves when your break dancing.

❑ aoyama's danced ballet most of his life, so dancing wasn't new to him

❑ but this particular type of dancing was new to him- so of course he reached out to mina after the UA festival

❑ mina, ever the angel, agreed!!!!! Dancing buddies!!!

❑ Mina's also loved dance for a good amount of time

❑ it started in middle school, and just carried into highschool. The idea of being to express yourself with your /body/ was exciting, plus you looked really cool while doing it too!

❑ so when she gets asked by Aoyama to teach him how to breakdance she's nervous, but completely giddy to be able to be someone else's intro to a hobby that was a big part of her life

❑ it's not an uncommon sight to see mina and Aoyama, in their workout clothes, working through moves Step by step with Mina's phone blasting some random song that was beat heavy

❑ (Aoyama would be an interesting extra add on to the bakusquad. Am I wrong? No 🚗)

→ Hanta & Tsuyu

❑ Sero never really interacted with tsuyu, not to say he didn't like her! she just wasn't in his social circle

❑ so to say he felt awkward when he found her in the corner of the library during free period- curled up and sniveling away - was an understatement

❑ still, he put down the fourth issue of a manga he was /really/ looking forward to catching up on, and sat next to her until she calmed down enough to tell him what's wrong

❑ turns out, winter always sucked and made her tired, which made her sad. Added on to the already existing amphibian instincts in her that hated loud noises or too many people, it could get really overwhelming for her

❑ Sero offered to let her into his room whever she wanted to hang out in the quiet, if she felt embarrassed to do so with her closer friends

❑ she seemed surprised, but quickly agreed.

❑ Sero wouldn't tell her, but he often felt the same in a sense. The only two people in his friend group who could be relatively quiet in more personal settings were Bakugou, ironically, and Kirishima. So he often found himself leaving group hang-outs just a little early, to destress in his quiet room.

❑ tsuyu hadn't expected him to stay with her, and especially not offer his room to her whenever she needed to get away. Still, she agreed, knowing she'd probably never take him up on his offer

❑ she was proven wrong three days later, when Ochako squealed about...something.

❑ tsuyu couldn't say for sure what the floaty girl was yelling about. Normally she was attentive, really! But her head was throbbing and she was on the verge of falling asleep then and there when Ochako burst into a loud yell of excitement, startling the frog-like girl

❑ so tsuyu gathered her stuff as quickly as her sluggish body allowed, rushed out a quick goodbye to her baffled friends and made her way to the dorms

❑ the elevator was a struggle, with the humming of the machinery almost lulling her to sleep. She made it out successfully, though due to her drowsiness and increasingly blurring vision, she realized just a little too late that she had wandered down the wrong hallway

❑ sero's name plate made her stutter in her tracks, but after a moment of deliberation that left her swaying on her feet, she knocked as strongly as she could on the thin door, hoping the lanky boy was in his room

❑ thankfully, he was, and he only offered her a small smile before ushering her into the room and guiding her to his bed. Tsuyu thinks she croaked out a tiny "thanks", but she couldn't really be sure

❑ she slept better in those 39 minutes than she had in weeks

❑ after that, tsuyu somehow got into the habit of wandering down the opposite hallway once she left the elevator, and most of the time Sero would open his door when she knocked, only giving her a smile before letting her wander to his bed or, more commonly, the pile of blankets and bean bags he had in a corner of his room.

❑ (she wouldn't admit it, and neither would he, but the times where they walked back to his dorm together once their free period began were their favorites. and the days where tsuyu wasn't so sleepy and they talked for the hour they had weren't so bad, either)

okokok i’m cutting it here since that last section was super long! who knew i had so much to say about hanta and tsuyu ,,,, 

anyway! this was super fun, so i’ll definitely be doing stuff like this more in the future. if you have two characters you’d particularly like to see, don’t be afraid to jump into my ask box! 

[itsmoonpeaches]

The Ocean Meets the Sky

Chapter 2: Together

Please note: Every prompt for this Kataang Week connects into an over-arching story.

Prompt: Blending Cultures

Story summary: After his battle with Fire Lord Ozai, something lingers within Aang's spirit. Katara is the one that pulls the seams back together. No matter what, Aang and Katara find each other.

Chapter summary: The day was beautiful, the sun high and bright and hopeful. Almost a signal to signify the start of new, brilliant things.

The day started out softly, quietly, on the outskirts of sunrise. It was the calmest Katara had ever felt in her whole life. Light streamed through the slit between the heavy curtains, a line of gentle yellow hues. It cast a sweet shade of peacefulness upon her as she got ready for the day.

-

Or, Katara, Aang, and their friends share a feast.

Written for @kataang-week

Read on ao3 or ffn.

---

The day was beautiful, the sun high and bright and hopeful. Almost a signal to signify the start of new, brilliant things.

The day started out softly, quietly, on the outskirts of sunrise. It was the calmest Katara had ever felt in her whole life. Light streamed through the slit between the heavy curtains, a line of gentle yellow hues. It cast a sweet shade of peacefulness upon her as she got ready for the day.

The dawn before Zuko’s coronation was a marker for the beginning of her real life. The kind of life where war did not exist.

She had made it out alive. She survived. She was always a survivor, but this time it was different.

As a child she never thought that the world would ever reach this point, that she would reach this point. It seemed impossible to a fault. Katara was a master waterbender, she had a group of friends from different nations, she was a world traveler. They were all things that helped define who she was now. They were things that she had only ever dreamed of before.

A kind of giddiness filled her when she thought of all the possibilities. That joy and lightness only increased when she finally pushed open the door for her chambers and stepped into the gilded corridor outside.

The Fire Nation palace was not a place she would have called magnificent, especially before, but it had a sort of regal grace to it that she now noticed. It was a helpful bonus that she and her friends resided in the palace for the past few days in preparation for the event that would define their generation.

The wind from the tall, unlatched widows that lined the halls swept past her. A sense of freedom came over her, like she was floating above the world and seeing pinpricks of miniature people below her. If this was what being an airbender was like, she suddenly understood why Aang was the free spirit he was.

She heard his laugh as she neared the entrance to the kitchen, and her heart swelled for him.

When she opened the door, she was met with the sight of his back to her. He was clothed in muted red Fire Nation garments while he waited for the new robes that he would wear for the coronation ceremony later in the afternoon to be ready for him. He stood there, chopping skinned lychees into smaller pieces on a chopping board, humming a song she did not recognize to himself.

A frazzled-looking middle-aged woman with an apron and a disheveled topknot fretted around him like a bee buzzing over a flower. “Oh, please, Avatar Aang…please let me do the cooking!” she begged, clasping her hands together and practically about to fall prostrate on her knees.

Aang chuckled, shaking his head. “It’s baking, Aika,” he admonished good-naturedly. “Besides, today’s a special day!”

To her credit, Aika did try to coax him into letting her do the work herself, but Katara interrupted them with a cough as she stepped through the entryway.

Aang straightened at the sound of the door sliding closed. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Good morning, Katara!” he said with an enthusiastic tone. “Here for the feast?”

She laughed, walking toward the stove. “You’re here early,” she observed. She started searching through the cabinets for a pot. “I have to say I’m a little concerned over what Sokka has planned,” she mentioned, tossing the comment at him with a levity that she had not felt in years.

“He mentioned something about replicating arctic hen yesterday.”

Katara grimaced. “I don’t know if I trust him with that,” she said. “I’m making seaweed noodles. Hopefully that will cover up whatever mistakes Sokka wants to create.”

For the next few minutes, they worked in tandem, side-by-side. The way they danced around each other in the kitchen, from moving at just the right moment when someone was grabbing for a bowl, to blatantly ignoring the cook who desperately wanted to assist, it felt like they were exactly where they were meant to be. Like they were always together, always comfortable, always understood.

Katara liked it…being by Aang’s side.

It was easier to think of things like that now that the war was over. She glimpsed Aang from the corner of her eye as he made his way around a mixing bowl, stirring ingredients to make dough. The way the soft light framed his face made him look just like the boy she knew he was, the person she knew he would become. She felt the blush that rose in her cheeks and swiftly turned to focus on the dried seaweed that she mixed into her dish.

As time trickled by, more and more of their friends arrived. Toph and Sokka were more bleary-eyed than Suki and Zuko who were more awake than Katara thought should have been allowed.

Aika was groveling at Zuko’s feet as soon as he entered. He held a pot of steaming tea that he looked rather proud of himself for having.

“Oh, Prince Zuko, please forgive this lowly servant for—”

Zuko himself simply raised an eyebrow at her before cutting her off. “You could set us a table, Aika. That would be helpful,” he suggested.

Aika snatched the teapot from him with a bow. When she left with such haste that there was a stunned silence in her wake, Zuko added, “What? She likes feeling useful and she wasn’t going to leave any time soon.”

After a moment, movement resumed. Katara and the others continued their work, some finishing quickly. Aang was already sitting at the island in the center of the kitchen when half an hour passed, his hands and arms covered in flour. There was some that dusted the side of his nose. He was watching the clay oven and would occasionally stand to regulate the flame underneath with his firebending.

Toph stood there nodding or shaking her head with each taste she was offered from Suki. Zuko had taken it upon himself to cook on one of the many stoves that was closest to Sokka. Katara appreciated his foresight because Sokka had begun to raid the pantry for spices that he clearly did not need.

Then, a handful of hours later when it was midmorning, everyone was ready with their food. Just in time, Aika was at the door ready to lead them. Katara took her pot of noodle soup, careful with the handles, and followed behind.

In a sitting room not far from the kitchen was a rather extravagantly set table with polished chopsticks and porcelain plates with high backed chairs that had intricate carvings of dragons. The teapot was in the center, standing atop a short pedestal with a lit candle beneath it to keep it warm. Matching cups were set around it.

They all set out the dishes, laughing and smiling when they sat down to eat.

Katara and Sokka had made traditional dishes from the Southern Water Tribe: seaweed noodles and an unfortunate botched version of arctic hen that Katara was sure was burned at the edges. (And probably burned in the center too.)

“This is jook,” presented Suki, sweeping her arm out to gesture at her pot of food. “It’s boiled rice porridge. You can add any of the garnishes Toph and I prepared. There’s ginger, salted eggs, and bamboo shoots.”

Katara saw Zuko give the porridge an odd look.

Toph shrugged. “I didn’t really help, but I can tell you it tastes good.”

Zuko nodded to his dishes. “I’m not the best at cooking, but I made something easy…Komodo sausages. There were already prepared. I just fried them.” He smirked and pointed at a dish next to it. “I’m pretty proud of making this though…it’s taro leaves with coconut milk and chilies. My mom used to make it.”

Content with the introductions, all of them started to eat. Katara was suddenly so aware of the fact that they could openly sit here in what used to be enemy territory to share their cultures with each other. She was able to try food that she never would have if she was still living in the Southern Water Tribe.

The jook was a perfect blend of starchy textures and the snap of ginger. Zuko’s contributions added a spicy kick that she was not used to, but she appreciated the smooth blend of hot and cool that the taro leaves offered.

When the meal ended, her gaze set upon Aang who had stood up. He glowed with excitement, and the thought of him sharing his culture with them made her eyes water. Air Nomad cuisine was special, not only because there was one Air Nomad left, but because it was part of Aang.

“I’ve always wanted to share this with you guys,” said Aang with a grin. He gestured to the spread laid out on the table. Katara giggled when she noticed that he pointedly ignored the horrified expressions that cycled along the cook’s face who had tried to help him with the reveal. “An authentic Air Nomad fruit pie! Oh boy, Monk Gyatso and I used to airbend these onto the Council of Elders. He said that it was to test my reflexes, but I always thought it was hilarious when Dote said that it was really to test their reflexes.”

His hand made a whirl of air above the round pie, and a bouncy top of swirled yellow cream appeared at the center. He cut into it with a knife, offering pieces to everyone.

Katara let the taste of sweet lychee settle on her tongue. “This is delicious, Aang!” she exclaimed.

He smiled at her. “I’m glad,” he replied. The answer was bittersweet somehow. He took a bite, and he looked lost in thought, rubbing the back of his head in a constant, subconscious motion.

Katara was worried for him. She placed a hand on his, hoping another kind expression from her would urge him to bring up his mood.

“I just wish Gyatso was here,” Aang informed her in his quiet way.

“I know,” she said, just as quietly. “But in a way…he is here. He taught you how to make this.”

For a while that was all Aang needed to hear.

It was a simple thing from then to go to the coronation. Their stomachs were full; a warmth was there because of it. The bustling crowds were not a hindrance when all of them had spent the time they needed with each other before the world needed them again.

Katara had put on her best clothes, and she stood in the courtyard near Sokka and their father. She watched as Zuko was introduced as Fire Lord, as he officially announced the end of the war, as Aang walked up to the forefront in his new Air Nomad robes, a golden beacon of faith and peace.

He gazed out into the crowds below, and she could not take her eyes off him.

“The war is over!” people yelled over and over. It was thrilling and it felt like an illusion that could not possibly be true. But Katara basked in it anyway.

There were celebrations commencing right in front of the palace as soon as the Fire Sages had adjourned the coronation. People shouted their praises, dancing to tunes only they could hear. She searched for her friends, wading through the people from all over the world, blending cultures in a fashion they had ever gotten to before.

She saw a flash of yellow, and she reached through the armor and the fabrics that separated her from it. She caught Aang’s sleeve.

She met Aang, who looked both happy and exhausted. A tiredness around his eyes that no one else seemed to have. He rubbed the back of his head. Too many people were talking at him, over him, trying to get his attention. She grasped his shoulder and leaned in. “Let’s get out of here,” she whispered in his ear.

He looked at her and she saw an understanding there and gratefulness.

He took her hand. His eyebrows scrunched together. He raised his free hand to his temple.

Then, without warning, he looked scared. Terrified even. He turned his head as if searching for something, but unable to find it.

He gripped her hand tighter, and his eyes flashed into a daunting purple light.

[eternal-reverie]

*drumroll*

notes of a kh au of both evil plans successfully getting a sora puppet!!

some context, this is a canon divergence idea inspired by this thing I drew a while ago.

ok im absolutely thriving with this fic idea but first, there was a painful hurdle in thinking about how to rework the Chain of Memories plot for Naminé to go along with Marluxia’s plan completely, and that naturally would change a lot of things. Especially regarding Riku’s story plus Axel’s role and a bunch of other characters. It’s actually so intimidating with all these characters and their conspiracies clashing with each other, scooping all that up to transform that into a (hopefully) coherent sequence of events;; in comparison, Days was pretty simple to deal with the change. 

Anyway what I have so far is this:

Roughly decided that Marluxia, Namine, Sora, and Xion are the main characters. Riku and Roxas are in comatose states but still influence the story. Xemnas is the main antagonist naturally. Aqua and Ven become key players towards the end. Saix, Axel, Zexion, and Xigbar are also important. Larxene will be a surprise element. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and DiZ are there for the most part too.

The original event that pushed Naminé to tell Sora the whole truth was Axel letting her go meet Sora. So for this plot divergence to work, someone has to intervene here. I mulled it over and decided Larxene should be the one to to do it, resulting in her attacking Axel. They argue in the midst of the fray on who’s the real “traitor.” Sora arrives and defeats them both. Larxene learns of Saix’s plot before she fades. Axel then tells Sora to trust his instincts and to fight off Marluxia’s schemes, before cryptically telling him to not forget their appointment on the clocktower for ice cream. Axel then “fades” away.

Namine becomes more convinced with going through the deception (though not completely) due to interacting with the Angelic looking Specter. She encounters this figure and is given some revelation into some of Marluxia’s motives. i’ll have to think a lot about Namine and how her desire to end her loneliness comes into conflict with her integrity, in addition to how she is manipulated. She consistently guides so many characters through the series with her insight, so that’s a trait i want her to grow into. I think she’ll be the one pulling the strings in the end..

One of the biggest changes is Riku’s reverse/rebirth story. Originally, Riku doesn’t fall into Zexion’s trap due to Namine’s influence and advice dealing with darkness. However, in this AU, Naminé is going ahead with tricking Sora, being absent for Riku. So Riku would lose to Zexion, who’s desperate to use him as a counter to Marluxia’s command of Sora. Though it won’t work out for Zexion in the end because Ansem would finally be able to possess Riku fully...

Which has got me thinking there would be a clash between Ansem and Marluxia in the castle. I think it would be interesting for two of these characters who have a guardian behind them to fight!? Somehow Marluxia wins, adding to his arrogance when it comes to Xemnas.

DiZ is now stumbling over what to do and the mouse would get sad at these turn of events; both heroes of the keyblade now compromised...which leads to Mickey thinking, wait there’s someone in the realm of darkness!!! this is now a secret mickey redemption story

That will lead to Aqua returning to Castle Oblivion to do pest control and finds Axel and Zexion scrambling about trying to find the Chamber of Waking. She promptly decides that Ven is no longer safe there and gets him out. She finds Riku replica and recruits him (might change this detail, forgot to say that Marluxia told Naminé to power him down prior. Aqua finding a replica could be interesting, lest Axel or Zexion gets to him first,,)

Also forgot to mention that Riku is now the one placed in the pod for him to sleep and not turn back into Ansem. (role reversal with sora woo!!)

Sora goes happily along with Naminé but despite all the memory rearranging is still wary of Marluxia in charge (thanks Axel). Something that’s interesting in CoM was how Marluxia told Naminé to destroy Sora’s heart, finding this last resort a shame and rather having preferred him unmarred. So this AU is just that, the plan with Sora’s uninjured heart (but perhaps...breaking his heart could be point reached...in regards to Ven’s heart hidden in there..)

Mar’s character is actually one of the harder things to address. So I need to think more but I want this story to touch upon his hidden memories as so many things will remind him of the old plight of losing a loved one. Mainly observing the interactions between Naminé and Sora, Aqua and Ven, and maybe Xion??? I want Saix’s search for Subject X aka Skuld to be relevant to this too. there’s!!! so!!! many!! examples!?!?!

As he remembers more, the specter haunting him becomes more smaller and human-like. The specter will talk to Namine more for the most part. This will influence Naminé to turn the tables against Marluxia; so you could say she will manipulate and influence him with her memory powers along with her insight.

Will he gain a sibling-esque affection for Sora and Naminé? Yes. Vaguely... I think Sora’s going to lose against Xion... so Marluxia’s going to have to take up the protective role much to his displeasure. Being around Sora’s and Namine’s hearts for an extended amount of time will be a factor in his memory returning and regaining a heart.

Much of his story is taking control back of his destiny vs finding what his true purpose is and what method he choses. I feel like his time as a union leader could contribute to him feeling qualified taking over the organization. Plus him having a strong feeling that Xemnas’s plan is b.s. which is of course, spot on. Does Marluxia become a good guy in the end? im not sure yet, but I want to say no for the most part. (oh the appeal of tragic villain protagonists) who’s to say he wouldn’t sacrifice or destroy anything to recover what he’s lost?

in regards to Xion, I think she’ll be the one in most pain oh boy. Roxas was asleep through the Castle Oblivion events and Xion left seashells at his bedside during that time. The discarded Sora memories, as a result of Naminé’s interference, will pour directly into her mostly.  Xemnas sees this plan working and once Roxas wakes, forces him and Xion to clash resulting in Xion successfully absorbing Roxas and becoming the perfect sora puppet. sorta 

Xion is at this point, still in confusion on who she is. Everything in her tells her she’s Sora, but the dearest memories of her own life so far is of Roxas taking her up on the clocktower for ice cream, and she holds on to that. Xion also has the discarded C.O. memories including Axel’s last remarks to Sora. I want Xion and Repliku to meet in this story.

Xemnas discovering comatose Ven will be a main thing eventually. Which led me to this image of Xion!Sora thinking Ven is Roxas ;-;

Up to this point, I still need to address how real Sora and Xion!Sora clash. It’ll probably be in the throne room, not unlike what happens at the climax in ddd. the moment I’m most excited for is Marluxia’s humiliation at these turn of events LOL that’s why i drew that joke comic for the most part! someone commented on the post with ‘GET OFF THE STAGE MARLUXIA’ and i was GONE LMAO

there’s more stuff (from my 10 pages of notes i made yesterday. it’s a small square sketchbook so it’s probably more like 5 pages) but i think this summarizes the majority of my ideas. Idk if I’ll get this off the ground promptly since the scope is so big 😵 but it’s a start!

Here’s some sketches! lol i couldn’t resist.

sorry if there some gaps or holes since this wasn’t an outline, i just jumped around with ideas. now to think about this more meanwhile i have other responsibilities to attend to @_@

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #25: Worst Case Scenario

Prompt: wish | Master Post | On AO3

Smut the other day, then fluff yesterday, then angst today. Part of a balanced fic diet!

Contains references to my version of the events of the Battle of Rhalgr’s Reach, covered in “Fatigue” from last year’s FFXIV Write plus the ask fics “Haze” and “Bowed, Bent, but Unbroken.”

--

Lucia did not bother to knock before entering the Seat of the Lord Commander. Ser Aymeric did not have any meetings scheduled for the day, anyway, more concerned with the logistical nightmare that would be transporting dragonkillers and bertha cannons from Coerthas to the Gyr Abanian border as part of the Ishgardian contribution to—hopefully—Ala Mhigo’s eventual liberation. And he would not be pleased if the news that had just arrived was delayed being in relayed to him.

…Not that he would be pleased with this news anyway.

Handeloup, Halone bless him, was already clearing the halls.

Ser Aymeric looked up from one of the reports in front of him, brow furrowed. “Lucia,” he said in surprise, “what news?”

She came to a halt in front of his desk, automatically falling into the comfort of standing at ease. The temptation to simply hand over the written report was extraordinary; she did not want to speak these words. But that would be cowardice and, more importantly, she was a better friend than that.

“Ser,” she said, grim and unable to entirely hide her worry, “we’ve received word of an Imperial ambush on the Ala Mhigan Resistance cell at Rhalgr’s Reach, which occurred roughly two bells ago.”

It was a curious sensation to have the full weight of Aymeric de Borel’s attention upon oneself. The pale blue of his eyes seemed to sharpen to ice, lending him the heavy, almost eerie air that was similar to those that blanketed the oldest statues of Halonic saints. With him, it was never judgmental; most of the time, that weight felt anticipatory, even encouraging.

Today, she couldn’t tell what that weight was, and it set her nerves on edge.

Lucia drew on years of Frumentarium training to keep her voice level as she said, “General Aldynn and a deployment from the Immortal Flames have already arrived at the Reach from Castrum Oriens to reinforce the defenses, supplemented by conjurers from the Order of the Twin Adder under the direct command of Kan-E-Senna.”

The stillness that settled on the Lord Commander at that detail made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

“The Imperial forces were apparently being led by Viceroy Zenos yae Galvus himself,” she continued, “though he and his forces quit the field despite the being assured of victory.”

“Being assured of—” Aymeric cut himself off before he could finish, incredulity lacing those few words regardless. “What are the casualties?”

“Unknown, but high,” she said. Despite her best efforts, she could stop the slight waver to her voice as she finished: “As of the report delivered ten minutes ago, however, members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn were still in surgery, including Y’shtola Rhul, Rereha Reha…and Synnove Greywolfe.”

Aymeric’s face went slack with shock, and somehow that was worse than the expressionless politician’s mask. He stared at her for long, terrible heartbeats, dread rising in his eyes. And then he was out of his chair, rounding his desk, voice frantic as he said, “If there’s anything scheduled, cancel it, cancel it now, I’m leaving you in charge—”

Lucia caught him by the arm before he could escape, and she had to dig in her heels to keep from being pulled off her feet. Aymeric swung around to stare at her, wild-eyed, halfway to feral.

“Ser, I cannot allow you to leave,” Lucia said, firming her tone despite her own fears about her friends. She spoke slowly and clearly, because right now Aymeric was neither the cool under pressure Lord Commander of the Temple Knights nor the silver-tongued Lord Speaker of the House of Lords of the Ishgardian Parliament, but a man about to lose his mind to terror. “General Aldynn is at the Reach. The Elder Seedseer is at the Reach. If you went, that puts three Eorzean Alliance leaders, two of them heads of state, in one location in enemy territory. There is zero chance the imperials don’t have spies on the location now and there is no telling that Galvus may suddenly decide to finish the job he began in sacking the Reach.

“You cannot go.”

There was a familiar, though rarely seen, emotion that bled into Aymeric’s eyes as she spoke. She hadn’t even seen it when the truth of the Dragonsong War had become known to them.

Rage.

Later, she wouldn’t remember leaving the office. She would vaguely recall the empty halls and stairwell, and Handeloup joining her to flank Aymeric on his other side. She would recall opening the doors to one of the training salles—blessedly empty—and essentially shoving the Lord Commander inside before slamming the doors shut behind him, locking them, and settling into a guard position in front of them.

First and Second Commander exchanged worried, weary looks at the sound of splintering wood echoed from the salle.

“I’ll send a runner as soon as we receive better news,” Handeloup said. “I’ll tell the kitchens to prep something simple for him. And tea. Lots of tea.”

“Pray, too, that the healers will agree to move the Warriors of Light to Castrum Oriens within the next few days,” Lucia sighed. “I’m not sure how long we can use logic against him before instinct wins out.”

A crash rang out.

Handeloup grimaced and, with a half-hearted salute, returned to his duties.

A bell later, the sounds of destruction from inside the salle had tapered away, and Lucia was considering checking on her friend when one of the squires ran up, a folded parchment in his hand. She was holding out her hand before the lass was even halfway down the hall, and the squire handed it over with a wheeze, bending over to brace herself on her knees and catch her breath as Lucia unfolded the note.

Her own breath left her in a heavy exhale, relief washing through her like a soothing wave. “Thank you,” she said to the squire. “Please tell Ser Handeloup to have a tea service sent up to the Lord Commander’s private quarters.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the squire said, pushing herself upright and saluting. Then she was off down at the hall again, though not sprinting at full tilt as she was earlier.

Lucia unlocked the salle and gingerly pushed the right door open. She peered in cautiously; the room looked worse for wear, every training dummy little more than kindling, the archery targets (and parts of the wall) bristling with arrows.

In the center of the room, Aymeric sat cross-legged, head in his hands, Naegling next to him on the floor on his left and his favorite monstrous yew longbow, the string snapped, on his right. He had taken off the heavy pauldrons and surcoat of the Lord Commander’s attire, leaving him in his gambeson, and his breathing was even. The worst, it had seemed, had passed. For now.

Lucia walked up to him slowly, deliberately treading heavily, and crouched next to him. “Update from the Flames,” she said quietly, though in the utter silence of the salle, her voice seemed to echo. “Y’shtola and Rereha are still in surgery but expected to make it, though not without serious recovery. Synnove is out, however. Healer’s prediction is she’ll make a full recovery, but she suffered both heavy blood loss and aethershock.”

Aymeric sighed, low and almost groaning. “Thank you, Lucia,” he said. His voice was hoarse, though she hadn’t heard any sound at him from all as he spent his rage and frustration. “And I apologize for…this.” The last word was said with a gesture encompassing both himself and the room.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and her friend slumped against her with another sigh. “No apologies are necessary,” she said, “though I can’t speak for the quartermaster.”

Despite himself, Aymeric managed a half-hearted laugh.

--

Four days later, Lucia accompanied Aymeric to Castrum Oriens. They both wore nondescript clothing, in the style of the many adventurers offering their services to the Alliance and spreading out into Gyr Abania to the villages and Resistance cells, and she walked at his side rather behind and to his left as was the usual for the First Commander. They were met by one of the Temple Knights keeping a lookout for them, and were quickly ushered to the infirmary where the injured Scions had been moved to from Rhalgr’s Reach.

Lucia checked in on Dancing Heron and Alakhai first. Both were conscious, and Heron even allowed to walk around, though both had rib injuries that necessitated she be exceedingly careful with her hugs for them (and the ones from Hilda). Poor Alakhai looked especially miserable with most of her left side covered in plaster casts, but she had a comfortable blanket in the form of Tyr, purring so aggressively that Alakhai and the cot vibrated.

Rereha was asleep when Lucia poked her head into her room. The lalafell’s dark brown skin had a pallid cast and her pink hair was dull and limp, but she would keep her bow arm. Galette was curled around Rereha’s head, purring softer but no less aggressively than her brother, and chirped a quiet hello at seeing her.

Finally, Lucia came to Synnove’s room. Unsurprisingly, Aymeric had gone there straightaway, and when she arrived, the man was sitting as close as possible to Synnove’s bedside, holding her hand so that he could press his lips against her knuckles as his lover slept. Ivar was curled up on Synnove’s feet, but he raised his head as Lucia came into the room and, like his sister, chirped hello.

Lucia gave his ears a scratch before going to stand beside Aymeric, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He sighed deeply and murmured, “We put so much on them and expect even more, and then to see them laid low…”

“They well knew the risks of the adventurers’ path,” she said softly, “and it speaks of their courage and conviction that they have never faltered, even when the path forward is difficult. They will get through this, with the help of each other, and us, and all the rest of their friends.”

Aymeric sighed again, nodding, and brought Synnove’s hand down to hold over his heart, lacing his fingers through hers. “Still,” he said, “I look forward to the day when they can simply…rest, and be.”

Lucia hummed in agreement.

[elskamo]

Aleduncan Week, Day 2

How on earth did I write over 1300 words for this!? It’s Day 2 of Aleduncan Week so I’ve combined the prompts for Coming Out, Confessions, and Pride. This one hints at some darker stuff in places but is otherwise pretty positive towards the end. I’ve also referenced a few popular ships and headcanons throughout too. I really hope you guys enjoy this one, it took me so long to finish:

To say Total Drama hadn’t aged well was an understatement. As the show’s ten year anniversary was coming up and Chris went into overdrive trying to create a big enough buzz to warrant another season much of the contestants past behaviour was dredged up again. Homophobic remarks, transphobic jokes, there was even a passionate argument from one news outlet around deliberately queerbaiting audiences and refusing to acknowledge contestant’s LGBT+ identities on the show. The backlash became so great there was only one thing to do…

Duncan kept his hoodie up over his head as he stomped over to the float. He couldn’t believe Chris was making them do this. He could have made a half-assed apology on social media or talked to a journalist about how ‘it was a different time back then’. But no, he had to make a huge show of sponsoring one of the biggest Pride events in the country and buying a whole damn float for the old castmates to ride during the parade. So maybe Duncan had contributed to some of the controversies on the show… okay, he’d been responsible for a lot of them, but did he really have to take part in some glorified publicity stunt to make up for it? It was ten years ago!

As the young man weaved his way through the swarm of people he finally reached his old teammates getting ready. He immediately noticed Geoff and Bridgette together stringing some lights up on the side of the vehicle but who was that other guy with them and why was he holding Geoff’s free hand? DJ wandered over to help the group, but his look was a lot gloomier than Duncan remembered; his entire outfit was coloured black, white, grey, and purple. Had he gone goth or something? Glancing around he recognised Owen and Noah talking to some guy in a leotard and another dork with glasses, neither of which Duncan could place. Owen was doing his usual touchy feely crap, but Noah was being surprisingly cool about it, he was even smiling! 

Walking away from what was possibly the creepiest thing he had ever witnessed in his adult life Duncan doubled back, hopefully he could just hide out in the public bathroom and no one would notice he hadn’t shown up. Even with all the noise around him he could still hear giggling coming from the women’s room. Rolling his eyes the former convict made a beeline for the men’s room until another round of giggles made him stop in his tracks. He knew that laugh… Staring down the door he gently pushed it open, his eyes widening in shock as he witnessed Courtney and Heather making out against the countertop.

The door slammed as Duncan let go, bolting as far away from the scene as possible, pushing and shoving anyone that got in his way. Why did he bother coming? He shouldn’t be here, he couldn’t handle this! The whole world felt blurred as he ran, it was only when he slammed into something hard that his vision began to clear. Blinking away the tears he hadn’t realised were falling he found himself face to face with one of the last people he wanted to see.

To his credit, Alejandro hadn’t made a big deal about the situation and for that Duncan was grateful. The two were sat in one of the big chain coffee shops nearby, Alejandro insisting that the two of them had time to spare and of course he didn’t mind paying for drinks. He was sat opposite him now in the booth, calmly sipping his tea in silence while Duncan huddled up even more in his hoodie, as if the dark garment would hide him somehow. After ten minutes without any talking he finally spoke up, “You know our ex-girlfriends are sucking face right now don’t you?”

Alejandro raised his eyebrow, “Well they have been dating for almost six years.” Noting the look of shock on Duncan’s face he continued, “They ended up rooming together at college, they made amends with each other, and when Heather came out we broke up and she asked out Courtney. They make a pretty cute couple.” Duncan frowned in confusion, “So they’re both... lesbians?” “Heather’s a lesbian, as far as I know Courtney identifies as bisexual.”

Duncan leaned back, seemingly trying to process that information, “But everyone else is still straight, right?” Alejandro held back a laugh, “Some people still identify as straight. Some have come to terms with their identity or are still exploring it. A few of us were already out during the show but are more open about it now.” He gestured towards his tank top which Duncan finally took notice of, it looked like a pink, yellow, and blue flag though Duncan had no idea what the colours meant. “The show wasn’t really the most… accepting place to talk about this kind of thing. One or two of us might bring it up our dating lives or lack thereof off camera otherwise we just didn’t mention it. The producers pretty much axed all the footage they deemed ‘unsuitable’ anyway.”

There was a clear edge to Alejandro’s voice that caught Duncan off guard. The other man took a large gulp from his drink while the delinquent stared down into his still full mug. Duncan fiddled with his jacket zipper for a couple of minutes while the silence set in once again. His brow furrowed as he seemingly came to a decision, his eyes stayed focused on his drink as he spoke, “Sorry I don’t really get this kinda stuff, it’s never really come up before.” “Never?” “My family don’t talk about it. I mean, a few of them were discussing the whole gay marriage thing in America a couple years ago but…”

As Duncan trailed off Alejandro sat up in his seat, his companion still examining his untouched coffee. Choosing his words carefully he asked, “So do you still see your family often? Or have you moved in with a partner or…?” Duncan chuckled but he sounded far from amused, “No I’m still at home, went straight back to my childhood digs once my sentence was over. I haven’t really seen anyone since I got out, never got round to it I guess.” “Not still hung up on Courtney then?” “Oh god no!” 

The two of them laughed humourlessly when Duncan finally looked Alejandro in the eye, “Honestly I wasn’t really all that sad when we broke up for good. I mean, yeah I missed having her around, but I wasn’t upset that the relationship was over. I don’t think I ever got upset during any of our splits. I didn’t really care when Gwen dumped me either…” A flash of understanding passed between them and Alejandro reached under the table to squeeze Duncan’s hand, “You know, it’d be good for you to join us today. Get some fresh air, see your old friends, get some closure. You might even have fun.”

Duncan hesitated and pulled back, leaving Alejandro’s hand hanging, “I don’t know, it’s kinda overwhelming out there, I should probably-” “One hour!” Both men jumped a little at Alejandro’s outburst, it seemed he’d even surprised himself. Clearing his throat Alejandro lowered his voice, “The parade is only an hour long, you could always stay with me while we’re out there and if you still wanna go… we can chill at my place for a bit?”

Alejandro silently cursed himself until Duncan gently tugged the zipper down on his hoodie, revealing his blank T-shirt, save for the little rainbow flag in the centre. “Let’s… get this over with I guess.” Duncan laughed awkwardly as the pair got up to leave. Taking a deep breath at the door the two men smiled at each other as Alejandro led Duncan back to the float. This time when he took his hand Duncan didn’t let go.

[mldrgrl]

Ordinary People

by: mldrgrl Pairing: Hank Moody/Stella Gibson Rating: PG-13 Summary: In the Hanella universe, March 15th is Hank’s birthday.  Today is March 15th.  Also, in the Hanella universe, there is no coronavirus.

A/N: I usually don’t do these, but I just need to say, my creative drive is at an all time low.  I’ve tried to get a few Hanella stories off the ground for months, with no success.  I wanted to have this prepared for this morning, but it took me a painfully long time to put this together.  With all the panic and anxiety happening around me, us, the world, hopefully this is a small contribution to put a smile on a few people’s faces.  Stay safe everyone.

Hank likes Sunday mornings the best.  By virtue of a long-held agreement, Sunday mornings are unhurried and unplanned.  Afternoon brunch with Becca is usually on the calendar, but the mornings belong to them.  That’s why, when Stella’s cellphone rings at 9am, and she answers it, Hank rolls over with a disgruntled groan.

“Of course,” Stella says, slipping out of bed and Hank’s searching grasp.  “Yes, of course.  I’ll be right there.”

“Timeizit,” he mutters, coming up on his elbows, face scrunching as he struggles to fully open his eyes.  “Where you goin’?”

“Go back to sleep,” is all she says, and then she disappears into the bathroom.

Hank flops back down to the bed and buries his head under the pillows.  He tries to fall back to sleep, but he knows it’s futile.  Groaning again, he sits up and swings his legs over the side of the bed.  He jams one fist against his eyes, rubbing the sleep out, and searches the floor blindly for the pair of shorts he’d whipped off and slingshotted at Stella the night before when they were on their way to bed.  He knew they’d landed there somewhere.  

Stella comes out of the bathroom in a peach silk camisole and navy blue panties.  He perks up a little as she crosses towards him, but she’s only there at the side of the bed to retrieve her diamond earrings.  As she afixes them in her ears, he hooks an arm around her waist and drags her into the space between his open knees.  

“Go back to sleep,” she says again.

“Who was on the phone?”  His voice is muffled as he rubs his face against her hip and tries to nuzzle her panties aside.

“School.”

“On a Sunday?”

“I just need to run up and take some exam notes around to my TA.”

“Can’t you email them?”

“I’ll be quick.”  She wiggles her hips out of his clutches, but he pulls her back in.

“I can be quick too.”  He gets his fingers under her panties to squeeze her right asscheek and tugs the left side down at the hip.

“Later, Watson.”  She pushes him gently, but firmly away.  “I’ll make it up to you later.”

He rubs the back of his head and unhappily watches her get dressed.  It takes her less than two minutes to get into a pair of black, cropped pants, and a black and white striped sweater.  She pulls on a pair of black flats and then she’s gone and he still hasn’t found his shorts.

Two hours later, Hank has showered, fiddled with the latest chapter of his novel, and accidentally watched an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but Stella isn’t home.  He receives a text at 11:30: Work issue to resolve taking longer than anticipated.  Meet at Sarabeth’s for Becca brunch at 1. x - Sherlock.  Because he’s annoyed, he texts back a sad face and an eggplant, hoping she feels guilty for leaving their bed for work.  And he really wants her to know how unhappy his dick is about it.  She doesn’t respond.

It’s a nice, unseasonably warm and sunny day with a cool, but gentle breeze, so he decides to walk to the upper west side to meet his wife and daughter.  It takes a little more than an hour, and on the way, he feels guilty for trying to make Stella feel bad, so he stops and buys her a bouquet of blue roses.  He probably has something to apologize for to Becca as well, so he gets her a colorful arrangement of daisies.

He’s early by ten minutes to Sarabeth’s and heads inside to try to get a table for three.  He doesn’t have to though.  He spots Becca at an upper level table and she waves at him.  He points out his party to the hostess and then ascends the staircase, two at a time.  It’s obvious to him something’s fishy by the wide smile on Becca’s face.  Stella’s back is to him.

“Milady,” Hank says, handing Stella her bouquet.  He presents the other to Becca with a nod.  “Mi-other-lady.”

“What’s this for?” Stella asks.

“Being a general pain in the ass,” he answers as he sits down beside her.  She laughs lightly and he places a lingering kiss to her cheek that she leans into.  He catches the hand she lifts to stroke his face and kisses her fingers one by one and gives her hand a squeeze as he pulls away.  

Becca still has the mysterious grin plastered on her face.  Hank eyes her suspiciously.  “Have you been dabbling with nitrous oxide, Daughter?”

“Can I give it to him?” Becca asks, shifting her eyes between Hank and Stella.  She looks ready to burst with excitement, so much so it’s palpable.

“Go on.”  Stella nods.

Becca turns and reaches into her bag.  She pulls out a shoebox-sized package wrapped in silver paper and passes it over the table to Hank.

“Me?” Hank asks, accepting the package.

“Happy birthday!” Becca exclaims.

“Oh…”  He’s forgotten.  Never much of a celebrator of birthdays, he’s forgotten that today was March 15th.  He looks from Becca to Stella.  “You two conspired on something?”

Becca nods and grins.  “Open it.”

“Alright.”  

Hank tears through the silver paper and uncovers an old, wooden cigar box.  It’s got more depth to it than boxes he’d ever seen before, fitting at least four rows of cigars deep by his estimate.  And it’s weighty, so he doesn’t think it’s full of cigars.  He flips up the aged metal latch at the front of the box and inside is a book.  Not just any book, a hard copy, possibly first edition of Call it Sleep by Henry Roth.

“Oh,” he says.  

“Keep opening!” Becca orders.

“Okay, okay.”

On closer inspection, before he even opens the book, he can see something is off about it.  The pages seem strange, like they’ve been altered somehow.  He opens the cover and on the inside is a small manila sleeve, stamped with PROPERTY OF MIAMI BEACH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL.  There’s even a checkout slot still embedded inside with return dates back to the 1940s.  The copyright page indicates that it is not a first edition, but a fifth.  He starts flipping the pages and that’s when he’s able to see how unique this book really is.

“What in the hell,” he murmurs.  Pages have been replaced with handwritten notes.  There are photos embedded inside.  Polaroids, even.  Part of the book has been hollowed out and a tiny bottle of airplane-sized Jack Daniels has been nestled inside.

“We called people,” Becca said.  “Friends and stuff.  Mom helped.  Asked them to personalize something for the book for you.”

“All these notes and things are…”

“From everyone.  Aunt Heather, mom, me, Stella, Fish, Charlie, Marcy-”

“I miss that bald little creep and Cokey Smurf.”

“Fish added the bottle of whiskey.  He said to tell you there’s an adult-sized one waiting for you next time you come up to the house.”

“The Trout’s a good man.”

“We’ve been working on it for over a year.”

“Over a year?”  Hank looks up, incredulous.  

“It took awhile to get from person to person.  It was Stella’s idea.”

He tries not to look surprised, but he can’t help it.  Stella has never revealed a creative side to him.  “Really?”

“Something I read about.”  She waves a hand, dismissively.  “I didn’t invent the concept.  I just thought it might be something you’d enjoy.”

“I do.  It’s really...it’s just really...”  Hank stops.  He finds himself choking up a little.

Stella leans over, kisses his ear and whispers, “Happy birthday, love.”

“Which pages...where do I find your notes?” he asks.

“Read them later.”

“Aunt Heather painted silhouettes of the city skyline on some of the pages,” Becca says.

“I’m going to go over all of this with a fine tooth comb when I get home.  Thank you, ladies.”

“And Karen,” Stella adds.  “She was the perfect liaison.”  

“I can’t believe you guys did this.  I can’t believe anyone would do this.  For me.”

“We love you.”  Becca smiles broadly and then gets out of her seat.  She gives Hank a hug and then straightens.  “Have to run to the bathroom.  Be right back.”

When Becca leaves, Hank turns to Stella.  “You didn’t have to go up to work today, did you?”

“No, I had to pick up that box.”  She nods down to the cigar box on the table.  “We were able to acquire it last minute from a flea market auction and only had a small window of opportunity to pick it up.”

“This was really incredible.  Thank you.  I can’t wait to find what you contributed.”

“I haven’t added mine yet.”

“No?”

“It’s with me.  It’s just too...personal.”

“Something you wrote?”

She nods.

“Will you read it to me later?”

“No.”

“No?”

“You can read it yourself.”  She blushes and turns her face away from him.  

He runs his fingers through her hair and then cups her cheek and brings her gaze back to his.  “Do I get a birthday blow job tonight or is this old library book my only gift?”

She chuckles and takes up the bouquet he’d given her from her lap to smack him on the leg with it.  He kisses her once, twice, and then goes in deep on a third.  She’s breathless when he pulls away.

“I love you, Sherlock,” he says.

“Happy birthday, Watson.”

The End

[genius11rare]

Chit Chat 111620   11-16-20

Chitchat 111620 with Jack Michael Jeremys Chair and the disembodied voice of alfredo (no he left after set up immediately , never heard him) id put “keep reading” if i knew how for this sorry

Jack: hi im jack with my friends michael and Spearow the dragon (jeremys not here , theres a spyro … pillow i think on his chair).. So we made the mistake of doing 2 minecrafts backtoback  and it ended like 20 minutes ago then like “oh yeah we have other stuff we need to set up before”… Michael:  yeah this isnt so much a chitchat it is just a chit not really time for a chat. Jack: how about we chit about recapping extralife?  It went really well thank you everyone who watched and contributed, trying to get chat up right now…. Cuz we got Chit trying to get the Chat as well… this is the 4th year in a row we raised over 1 million$ , and were having some auctions for charity. Up for auction: 3D printed gen lock heads , pictures of the Spooky Hour (Gen Notes i thought they were done with that?) , the jon risinger bob ross segment painting , some f*face hats , some wood and glass sculptures (jeremy comes back during around this) … and gratz to jeremy for urinating and coming back *on time*  Jeremy: hey my bathroom is a few steps from here… that whole time was spent peeing Oooohhhh better. Jack: michael , jeremy got anything to say about whats happened recently. Michael: no uh…. Just recovering… Jeremy: oh that was hard to watch michael. Jack: oh i have this picture i posted on twitter of fiona milking gavin…. Spraying milk into his eyes , sounds weird when i phrase it like that see if i can post it. Fiona somehow got both eyes in one shot , none in the mouth (the goal) just eyes. If you don't know the context it looks like hes spraying milk from his head like some kind of anime demon… then the paintballs happened…. Usually with paintballs theyve been going a while and theyve calmed down , that time it was new compressors and we JUST started using them for michael and gavin (Michael: “they” as in the paintballs themselves , theyve calmed down) yeah so that time they still had a lot of OOMPF and it was like getting kicked in the head over and over. Michael: no that's good , kick me in the head all you want. I went second just so i could tell how bad it hurt , so i knew where to hit gavin to make it hurt the most… immediately flipped on it like “he doesnt deserve this” and shot the face (which hurt the least) as much to spare him… i did do a few tummy shots but still. Jack: the crotch was also a good spot cuz of the cockblocker… problem is if you missed they go left or right into your thigh Michael: the thigh and stomach hurt the most … our thighs are black Jeremy: were also doing the vinyl  Jack: oh yeah we reached our goal and putting AH the musical on a vinyl , plus a new song with Fiona ive been working with her trying to get the tone and everything (Gen notes im gonna guess its there so Still in the Air isnt…) … Jeremy wanna say what you offered up? Jeremy: yeah were doing the AH rap version 2 (Gen notes either A. a version with the rest of  “The B Team” to have verses , or B. redoing it without HIM) , been working on a beat for it … ive written one verse mine so far (Gen notes , think its option B then) but i feel like its a little TOO mean so i may dial it back down a bit … the plan is shorter verses but more people , so hopefully Myself , michael gavin , Jack , Fiona , the twins , Matt , Lindsay and MAYBE a verse where the  support room jump in one bar at a time , still in the works. Jack: yeah you guys DEMOLISHED goals, chads daughter she is so sweet… she saved up chore money and wanted to donate it all of her own , she wasn't convinced to she just wanted to donate 20$ which just broke everyone - well chad and i , caiti held it together, so we asked the audience to match her 20$...  over the course of 10 minutes that 20$ became 65000$... we broke extralife we legit broke their intake of donations. We also had 2 people there who if we needed to hand something to someone wed give it to them , theyd “baptize” it as covid precaution then give it to whoever. Michael: except cloth they were like “you touch cloth you own it” … was like i could walk away with a lot of things right here , this towel? This towels done (Jack: you just going around grabbing curtains) … (start paraphrasing)  we always want extralife to be like the best show ever cuz its for a good cause , but then this year we were like “how would we even pull it off”... i don't think 2020 extralife couldve gone better given everything (end paraphrasing) “fave extralife 2020 moment” Jack: my thing… Chad James is a freaking beast and towards the end the last segment we did was called the sweet and sour hour where caiti would do something nice and chad would get punished … it ended up getting stacked so we started doing some at once. At one point Chad is on the pummelhorse which is an elastic band that hits you in the undercarriage , chelsea was there with a leg wax remover , then we had cody from code 4 which is our compliance officer with hand sanitizer. So Blaine pummelhorses chad , chelsea leg waxes him and then cody sprays him with the antiseptic (michael: in his eyes… Gen Notes i mean hes probably kidding but idk it seems possible) … chads on the pummelhorse weeping and Blaines ALREADY spinning the wheel. Michael: its funny , theres so much stuff that happened and not just the segments i was there for , but a simple delight getting chad to eat that whole pickle … he was just saying “i cant do it ill throw up” and i just kept repeating “youu can dooooo iit...”... gave me some enjoyment since i was there basically to get slapped around , but in between i made chad eat a pickle Jack: so jeremy you have a fave moment? I know you were there for the solo stream section - oh i forgot about DJ JAAWNK how could i that was a blast Jeremy: yeah i was listening to most of the solo streamer section , i know Kdin had a thing where she gathered a bunch of people to do among us and it was fun…. For a certain donation amount they would just launch john mace into space , theyd just call a meeting and get him… Matt joined me playing spyro and i had the Gold Chonky spyro mods on , and if people donated enough wed spin a wheel that me or him would have to do.. We had to spin it like 15 times , and alot of them were “have to hold the controller upsidedown” which is a monstrosity… and twice it was me put a blindfold on and matt would have to direct me through the level. I panicked A LOT cuz you could HEAR the enemies shooting at and coming at you   but i didn't know where … it was like a live Matt and Jeremy do something - your welcome sarah! (Michael: you did do something… Spearow… Spearowmint gum)  so first were doing SPiderman Miles Morales PS4 edition cuz i don't have a PS5! Everyones talking about how they're sold out so the most ive done was when i was shopping for ovens i was like “lemme peruse the playstation aisle” didn't see one and went guess im not getting one… Jack: are they even selling them in person or is it just online… Michael: i know game stop is selling them , they're sold out but i know they were selling them.... Think most stores waiting for black friday to get them in store… i want one but im not going to a store on black friday , ill play fall guys if i want to get trampled Jack: oh yeah someone mentioned the ChungeScwa heist is coming we reached that goal Michael: fiona said i could be there, i asked can i help and she said something like “plz help , cuz otherwise it wont happen.” ive also offered doing a 50 turn mario party even though it wasn't a goal cuz we didn't even do last years so now wed owe 2 for 2021 assuming we can make that happen. Jack: cant you do a 100 turn mario party is that a thing? Michael: no 50 is the most , ive contemplated maybe we combine them into one game and scores carry over but it might be upsetting if im ahead by 9 stars after 50 turns and then it just becomes a 4 hour victory lap so its probably better to do 2 of them… we were about to do one in april we were planning on shooting it in april but then SOMETHING came up idk what it was … it just kept coming up for 7 months… Jeremy: and they don't stop coming and they don't stop coming… oh if were going to show my PS4 screen lemme show how much a  loser i am…. Jack: you got a platinum in bug snax?!?!? Jeremy: yuuuppppp!!!

[grouptalekindnesssoulstories]

Consciousness within a Conscious

@magpiemorality Happy Birthday and congrats on 500! I’m excited to participate in the Write this in your style (or dtiys for writing)

Warnings: Remus being himself, mentions of depression, arguing, puking. Let me know if I need to tag anything else!

____

“Mimi, where’d you go?” Ian called, searching for me. I knew they wanted to  check on me, but I was busy. Well, busy with something I didn’t want to talk about. I tried to skitter away to the ceiling to escape, but the other sides stuck with me had other ideas.

“Here Ian!” Remus, or the part of us that was Remus called. Dee and I tried to fight him to hide, but he was stubbornly stronger than us. 

“Remus? You’re not- What the heck happened?!” Ian asked, skittering above us. My claimed older sibling dropped onto our head. All of us answered at the same time, resulting in a eerie echoing blend of all of our voices.

“We somehow fused. We don’t know how or why. It started with Mimi and Dee. Then Remus tried to do something and he ended up stuck too” 

“Don’t touch us!” I called out, and Ian scrambled away again. 

“We have to ask for help” Dee tried to talk. Remus started to say he could handle it, and I protested that I did not want to appear from the subconscious. While we argued, Ian disappeared. I strained my set of arms to grab hold of the wall, while Dee used his to shut up Remus, who was using the last set, his, to stop Dee’s. 

“May I inquire why Ian dragged me down here?” Logan asked, his appearance slightly ruffled, Ian peering over his shoulder from their perch on his back.

“Logie!” “Logan!” “Logic” We all chorused, making the other sides cringe. There was a struggle, which Dee won.

“We fused. Somehow, Mimi and I ended up as one, then Remus was sucked in when he touched us” 

“Interesting. I have not heard of sides fusing, only splitting” Logan summoned a book and pencil, jotting notes down. 

“It’s fairly common down here. Or...where I’m from” I spoke up.

“Ah. You must be Mimi. May I ask what you represent?” 

“Mimicry. Ian adopted me when I formed. We come from the deep subconscious. Where our influence is limited. There, we fuse and unfuse all the time. I’ve never heard of known sides doing it though. They are more...solid” I cringed away, my set of our arms wrapping around the center of all of us. 

“Which is why you addressed me by ‘Logic’ instead of my chosen name Logan” 

“She said yes” Dee answered for me, realizing I had no more desire to speak.

“She? So I assume she uses she/her?” 

“She uses multiple pronouns. They’re comfortable with any, so use whichever you want” 

“So, even in the sub-subconscious they have names?”

“We do. It’s easier than trying to figure out our purposes. So, we just chose names” Ian piped up from their perch. 

“It would be easiest to bring you to my room to continue this discussion, so we may get answers” Remus and Dee nodded at Logan’s suggestion, while I shrugged. I let the other two take charge, retreating to the back of our shared conscious. I snickered at the irony. When fused, I remained where I always had. I didn’t pay much attention to most of the questions, trusting Dee and Remus to answer. After a while, I felt a nudge of ones of the others. I returned to the front reluctantly. 

“Ah. I see Mimi has returned” Logan said as I blinked. The other two had given me control for now.

“Yes. How’d you know?” 

“Your eyes. They gain another shade of brown in both. Remus has more of a red tint, while Deceit adds yellow only to the left eye and the impression of scales. You add more of a...hazel color” 

“Oh. What did you need me for?” 

“I have a few questions. So how does the rearrangement of sides work in the sub-subconscious? How long have you existed?” I held up a hand, thinking.

“I am one of the oldest sides in there. I once lived with Ian in the subconscious. As Thomas grew older though, I retreated deeper. I assumed it was to reform, but for whatever reason I didn’t. You can usually tell when one of them will fuse or dissolve entirely. They start fading if they are no longer useful. If they are to combine, they start...bleeding into one another. When one of them will unfuse, they start to gain different voices, appearances. Then one day, they’re separate. Never have sides fused immediately. I’ll admit, I’m lost. I thought at first, I was to fuse with Dee and... disappear. I thought it was more instant since I was no longer front of mind. It was about time. Then, Remus was pulled in, and I still existed! I don’t know why or how” I mused. The two unfused sides looked horrified. Dee was just as surprised, Remus was too, in his own way. His thoughts unfurled into even darker concepts. 

“And it was just when he touched you?” Dee nudged me, and I let him take over speaking.

“Yes. He believed we were me. So he tapped my shoulder, and then he was here” 

“Like a crocodile snapping up a leg!” Remus crowed. Only Ian reacted, falling out of their chair. 

“Anything odd happen while that fusing happened?” Logan pressed on, while I drew Remus into our own conversation.

“My other sets of arms came out. However, we each only control one set. The bottom pair is Mimi, the middle is me, and the top’s Remus” Dee answered.

“I must test something. Ian, would you be willing to fuse with them?” Logan turned to the perched side. 

“Uh, sure?” They answered, moving closer. After a nod from Dee, and thumbs up from both me and Remus, they reached out a hand. When they touched our hands, or rather Remus’s hand, they disappeared. We all lurched together, the head space shrinking slightly as another one of us was added. A fourth set of arms appeared from our shoulders.

“I certainly have a lot to figure out” Logan commented before shooing us out of our room.

“Where do we go now?” I asked in our head. 

“We’ll need to be easily found, when Logan figures it out” Dee contributed.

“Imagination!” Remus tried.

“Too big” Dee countered. 

“Common room?” Ian tried. I hummed nervously. 

“Which one?” I asked after a moment. 

“....good point. I suppose our’s?” 

“Deceit?” A voice interrupted our mental argument. I whined, retreating slightly in our head.

“Yessss?” Dee hissed in his nervousness, turning to Mor-Patton. He called himself Patton. 

“What happened?” The smaller side asked in horror. 

“Logan’ssss trying to figure out how, but we fusssed. Remussss, Mimi, Ian, and I that issss” He drew out his s’s as he picked up on the fear. 

“Did Ian start it? or Remus?” 

“No, I did. I don’t know how, but I did” I piped up, wincing at the raw nervousness on Patton’s face. 

“We’ll be going to our common room now. Enjoy whatever you were doing!” Remus yelled. We were stopped short by Roman, who had sneaked up behind us. 

“Re? Are you ok?” He asked, searching our face. Patton approached. 

“Yep! I certainly am brother dearest!” Remus crowed. 

“Don’t touch us!” I yelled at the same time, which caused both ‘light’ sides to jump. Patton got the message though and didn’t try to lay a comforting hand on us again. 

“It’s how we fused” Dee answered after a moment. 

“You can come to our common room. We can watch movies to pass the time” Roman offered. I summoned a rubber band to fiddle with while we thought. 

“That would be amazing, thank you” Dee answered after a minute for all of us. We followed the other two down the stairs, settling on a chair that Remus adjusted to our needs. Virgil appeared after a minute, took one look at us, and shook his head. I was busy watching my first disney movie, so I didn’t notice the small smile on his face.

~~~

Logan strode down the hallway, clutching his book in his hands. There was no time to waste! Information had been found and assessed and mused over, and now it needed to be shared. It could be vital! It could change everything. He just hoped he was still in time to help. Hadn't he said that the right piece of knowledge could make all the difference in the world?! 

"I'm coming!" He called, speeding up his stride. "I know the answer!"

~~~~

We were busy debating if we should make snacks or not when I heard Logan’s footsteps. I nudged the others, Ian jolting awake while the other two focused on what I pointed out. 

“I know why you’re fused!” Logan slid down the banister, his appearance ruffled and his eyes alight with excitement.

���Thomas wants us as one?” Ian tried, grumpy at being woken. Logan shook his head.

“I’m suppose to fade?” I mumbled, mimicking Danni's depressed attitude. 

“Butts!” Remus added hopefully. 

“To increase or decrease each of our current influence?” Dee tried at the same time. 

“Close Deceit, but no. It’s a result of Mimi’s purpose. They are mimicry, and the best way to mimic something” Logan raised his notes. 

“...is to become it” I finished for him. He nodded. I sighed again, resigned. 

“So it is a result of their meddling!” Roman summoned his sword, raising it threateningly. 

“No! Roman, put away the sword” Logan raised a hand, and Roman obeyed reluctantly. 

“He’s not wrong” I whispered.

“No, he is wrong. Has anyone fused with you?” Logan asked me. I retreated in surprise. Dee and Ian nudged me forward again. 

“One, a long time ago. They called themselves...Theo if I remember correctly” 

“Any idea what they represented?”

“No”

“Specs, why are you asking” Virgil popped his head out from his perch on the shelf. 

“It may offer a clue as to why they fused. Now, any idea if Theo was ever front of mind?” 

“No, they weren’t. They formed about a year after I returned to the sub-subconscious. They fused with me about 3 or 4 months after that”

“Another dead end. However, I believe, the former trait Theo represented is an ability that gives you the option to fuse with any side that comes in contact with you”

“This has never happened before, and lots of sides have come in contact with me. It may be because of how close my purpose and Dee’s are, which activated the trait?”

“Yes! That makes complete sense. He disguises himself, imperfectly, as us occasionally. And you would mimic us down to the smallest detail! So, that’s why you fused. Since he also represents self-preservation, it activated the hidden trait in you to keep you alive”  

“So how do we unfuse?” Ian piped up. 

“Try using your powers. It may separate you all”

“Ooooo me first!” Remus piped up, and the rest of us moved out of the way. He curled his hands weaving something, and then he popped out of our shared mindspace. He landed on the floor, and his creation danced in the air. It was a tentacled monster that Roman soon made a few friends for. The fourth pair of arms vanished too, and Ian gained control of the top pair. 

“Now you Ian” Logan looked up from his note taking. Once again, Dee and I moved away as Ian concentrated. They shivered, reaching for the shelf Virgil was on. Another pop, and they were banging their head on the ceiling as they overshot the shelf. 

“Now the hard part” Dee said, flexing the extra pair of arms before storing them. 

“Separating us” I added at confused looks. 

“Indeed. I would suggest using your powers, but we don’t know if that’ll work”

“...I’ll try. It’s Dee’s body anyways. Just...don’t mourn me if I fail” I offered a half smile as Dee’s consciousness retreated. I closed my eyes, focusing on my job. Who could I mimic? After a moment, I chose Remus. I focused all of my being on becoming Remus. His love of butts, desire to be loved, and unfiltered thought. My ears popped, and I yelped as I collided with the floor. I lifted my single pair of arms as I opened my eyes. I was myself again. I turned to the side as my body rebelled, puking. Dee was wobbling on his feet when I looked up. 

“...Hi” I mumbled, cleaning up my mess. All of the ‘light’ sides were staring at me when I finished. 

“You’re so small” Logan examined me. I shrugged.

“You don’t exactly age where I live. I’m younger than Ian, so I’m still small” I offered, Remus drawing his twin’s attention away from me and to the mock animal fight. Patton turned to fuss over Ian as I rose to my feet. 

“Mimi, what are you doing?” Virgil asked as I started walking away. 

“....leaving? I’m not exactly allowed this far. I was pushing my boundaries when I visited Dee” I continued to walk away, hiding my hands in my pockets. 

“Wha-” Logan started to say as the information I gave him finished processing in his brain and his notes. 

“See ya later Ian. Nice to meet you all, Virgil, Logan, Patton, Roman. Remus, Dee, hope I can visit sometime again. With no touching next time” I sunk out, to the emptiness of the sub-subconscious. I ran a hand along a wall that formed briefly, entering my room before anyone could follow me. My room drifted away again as the door closed behind me. 

[bittermarrow]

Heya!! First of all, I love your blog, it's one of my favorite. Could you please write something cute involving Bubba and his s/o interacting with their child? Perhaps the kid is taking their first steps and ends up in his dad's arms? Or another scenario where the kid pronounces their first word? :3

A/n: Hiya! First of all, thank you! And secondly, of course, I can! I love soft requests like these, for when I’m in my particularly fluffy moods ya’know?💘 I decided to do the ‘pronouncing first word’ one, it just kinda stuck out to me.

(I was quite honestly considering making their first word be ‘fuck’ after hearing so much trash from Drayton but refrained)

Extra notes! : (b/n) refers to “baby’s name”, or simply “boy’s name” since I decided I wanted the gender of the child to be male, but still wanted to let you guys imagine your own name for him.

Words: 1100+ (scenarios can be 1k words right…? I have failed)

.   .   .

You reclined on the stiff sofa with a book, our legs tucked underneath you as your just-under-two-year-old child played on the floor beneath you. Your son had quite the fascination with biting, so it was safer to keep your shins in an elevated place when around your little one. You had spoken to Drayton about it who had mentioned that Bubba was the same when he was very young, chewing, biting, gnawing on anything he could fit in his mouth. You could barely make out the grumble of “ankle-biter” under his breath after bringing it up past memories of when Drayton had raised his younger brother.

Bubba has an oral fixation and he still frequently grinds and clicks his teeth, and chews on toys specially made for people with it. And, of course, Bubba was more than happy to hand down a couple from his collection for your son to use. After being thoroughly washed.

Hopefully, he would grow out of it.

You were also becoming a bit concerned about his speech capabilities. You knew Bubba was just never properly trained, but you suspected something else genetic was possibly contributing to his difficulty of speaking coherently. You hoped (B/n) wouldn’t have the same problem, but it wasn’t like you were going to treat or love him differently if he did.

You glanced over every once and a while to check on the little monster, who had been preoccupied playing with his toys, most of them made from bones— courtesy of Nubbins. These included a doll that his uncle had gifted him recently, it was actually a skeleton of a deceased infant in a dress that your child referred to as “Bah.” It was a bit unsettling at first, and you honestly hoped it wasn’t something Nubbins snatched from a graveyard. Even if it was kind of creepy, (b/n) really seemed to like it so you let it be.

You heard the door to the basement open and then shut, and familiar heavy footsteps scuffing across the wood floors towards the living area. You smile and flick your head to the side to see your husband clamber into the room looking exhausted but excited to see his kid for the first time since this morning. Bubba surprises you by coming to you first, kissing your forehead and then sitting on the floor with (B/n), who immediately crawls over to his father.

You smile as you watch the two most important boys in your life play together, you never really imagined yourself in a position like this. You never expected to fill the role of loving wife and mother quite so vividly until meeting the Sawyers, until meeting Bubba— whom you faithfully believed had to be the best father in the world. Perhaps the Sawyers were different in their way of life, but family meant everything, and that conditioning showed through every affectionate nuzzle and coo you watch your husband bestow upon your child. You giggle as (B/n) grabs at Bubba’s mask with his broken up baby language babbling out phrases you were assured Bubba somehow understood at times.

Neither of you expected what tumbled in an unpracticed warble of speech from your little monster’s mouth just a moment later.

“Da!” Your baby squeals as Bubba abruptly stops bouncing (B/n) on his lap a small gasp audible from where you were sitting, you choke on nothing and gape as your son repeats the phrase a few more times, looking a bit frustrated by Bubba’s lack of response. Your book slips out of your sweaty grip and thumps onto the floor unacknowledged as you both look at each other, and then to your baby.

Bubba looks awestruck, his big brown eyes looking glossily at his son before heavy tears start to drown his vision and stream down the sides of his face beneath his second skin. You watch Bubba suddenly get up and cradle your probably freaked out toddler to his chest as he almost leaps over onto the couch next to you, almost bawling his eyes out so much. His outburst was so intense that for a moment, you were afraid that he was actually upset somehow, but once he started smacking kisses all over yours and (B/n)’s faces it became clear he was just overwhelmed with happiness. Bubba was emotional after all, he was sensitive to these things, so of course, he is going to cry! His son just said his first word! And it was his title!

Bubba is alternating between squeezing you, gushing out his excitement through familiar sounds you’ve learned to roughly decipher and snuggling his child close to his chest. He managed to get a few more ‘Da’s” out of (B/n) before the toddler grew bored of it and focused mainly on the affection he was receiving from his parents.

Your love buries his face into the crook of your neck, insisting on being held much like the bouncing hyper-active ‘little-Bubba’ in his arms. You press your lips to his leathery forehead, reaching over to pull your child in-between you in order to lavish him in just as much love.

You want to feel a bit jealous, especially since (B/n) only really could’ve picked up the name from the times you referred to Bubs as “Daddy,” often when exchanging tasks and baby-duty periodically during the day. Or simply putting the stubborn little monkey to bed at night. It was a natural change to address each other as “Mommy and Daddy” during early parenthood, and it was beneficial to your child learning what to call you from books you’ve read during those long months of pregnancy.

But you can’t really find it in yourself to be mad, in fact, the next minute your sobbing with your husband too. This meant (B/n) had a chance of being able to properly speak, that and you were proud of both of your boys.

“Bubba! Did ya hear that?!” You squeal and almost smother the oblivious child in your lover’s arms with kisses, who probably didn’t even remember what was going on but was enjoying the attention. “He just said, ‘Da’, Daddy!”

Bubba nods excitedly and starts to babble to the baby in his own little language, and you are again reminded of your suspicions that they can understand one another. You just hope this doesn’t become a way-to-keep-secrets-from-Mama thing if this miraculously ends up having some sort of truth in the near future.

It was definitely time to step up your ‘Mama Game’ and make sure his second word was, “Mama”, hopefully before Drayton’s profanity started to pop up in his early speech.

.   .   .

[real-sotenbori-hours]

Things have been quiet for a while at Tachibana Real Estate. With Tetsu on the mend after a particularly rough bout of intensive dialysis, Y/N decided to take up an evening profession to ensure their comfortable survival.

Did Tetsu ask her to get a job? Absolutely not. Did he need additional income? Absolutely not. Though his health was improving, Elder Chen and his staff strongly suggested he take time off to relax and make a full recovery. He obliged.

He was also well aware of the stress relief his woman got from working nights. He figured she enjoyed it. Despite her sensitive and loving nature, she was combative in spirit. When she’d gotten wind that there was a secret ring in which women were paid well to fight, she quite literally jumped at the chance.

She was a natural. Strong and confident yet agile and quick to react. When he’d watch her stretch just before heading out, he could tell she knew what she was doing. Though he wasn’t crazy about the idea, he’d never say so. He just worried in silence and supported her, regardless. She was always there for him in every way and he’d never forget it.

She usually made it home by 2 or 3 in the morning. She’d slip in quietly, shower and sneak into bed, wrapping her arms around him. He’d get a whiff of her damp, clean hair and the aroma of her fresh skin and would immediately smile and drift back into a peaceful sleep.

But tonight was different. In repose, he stared out the floor to ceiling windows, his fears kept him wide awake. His stomach was in knots as their penthouse remained empty save for him and his mounting, screaming concerns. As he sighed heavily and rolled on his side, he heard the unmistakable sound of a key in the lock.

He leapt out of bed and walked toward the door, turning the knob and drawing it open. There she stood, a look of peril in her eyes. He immediately threw his arms around her as she leaned into his embrace, wincing. Without a word he pulled her inside, promptly closing the door. With his arm around her waist, supporting her weight he walked her to the sofa; a long, wide sectional perfect for sprawling out.

“Baobei, do you know what time it is? The sun is about to rise. Are you alright?” Tetsu tried so hard not to sound scolding, but he felt he had every right to worry about her safety and could no longer hold back.

She sighed, covering her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m okay, just a little roughed up.”

Tetsu turned on the kitchen light so as not to blind her. He grabbed ice, bandages, towels and a bowl of warm soap water.

He sat beside her, setting his stack of care items in his lap.

“What happened?” He asked softly as he looked on, fighting the urge to groan. Though the mere thought of her being hurt was unbearable to him, he couldn’t deny the relief that as he examined her, her injuries didn’t appear to be too serious; just a couple of lacerations and a few bruises. It still broke his heart to see the love of his life in any pain. He gave her thigh a quick squeeze and walked back toward the kitchen to fill a large glass with ice and water.

“I just barely won this one. My opponent was from Nagoya. I’d never heard of her so I underestimated her. She was incredibly strong and much faster than I am. I can’t believe I pinned her, she wore me out. We tumbled on the floor a lot, so I’ve got quite a few scrapes and I might’ve slightly bruised a rib. It hurts to move.” She sighs again, taking a sip of water as Tetsu handed her the glass.

“Baobei... maybe you should take a break for a while?” He asked hopefully as he laid a cold towel over her forehead.

“I’ve already decided as much, indefinitely. But what’ll we do...”

He places his index finger against her lips. “I hope you’re not concerned about money. You know that will never be an issue.” He leans in and kisses her softly, gripping her chin with his left hand and caressing her cheek. “Please. You mean more to me than absolutely anything. You do not have to earn a thing. I do not want you to feel like you owe me anything.”

She looked into his eyes and whimpered, holding back tears. Between the pain from her injuries and her boundless adoration of this man, she felt herself sliding into the emotional deep end. “Tetsu, I love you... so much. I haven’t been doing this because I don’t think you can support us. I know you can, everyone knows how successful and financially sound you are. I just feel guilty because I’m just some girl, I’ve never amounted to anything of note. I don’t have a mind for business. What do I bring to the table? I feel like I contribute nothing...”

He grabbed her face gently with both hands, kissing the tip of her nose. “My god, Y/N, you think you contribute nothing? Don’t be ridiculous. You care for me physically and emotionally. You’ve shown me nothing but love and kindness... that is everything to me.”

“But, Tetsu... you could have anyone. Why me? There are plenty of women who would treat you well, and I’m sure they’d be in much higher standing than I am...”

He sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he kept his gloved hand at her cheek. “I asked you not to be ridiculous. Plenty of women would love the lifestyle I can offer. Plenty of women have. What I saw in your eyes the first time we met was something entirely different. There’s a beautiful honesty in you. I knew I’d fall for you immediately. What I didn’t expect was for you to love me as you do, to care for me each time my health declines. I would do anything for you, as you have done for me.”

He placed a towel full of ice against her ribs and stroked her cheek again. “Let me clean these abrasions. I don’t want you running the risk of any infections.”

She nodded, looking reassured. Tetsu dipped a towel in the bowl and brought it to her broken skin, dabbing gently, wiping away the filth of the outside world. All that mattered was in this moment.

He took a clean bandage to each of her scrapes, wrapping them securely, kissing them into place.

He gazed at his woman longingly, lovingly, taking her hand. “Want to go to bed?” He smiled with a sleepy gaze.

“Actually...” she sat up, stretching her arms, reaching for him. “...I want to lie here with you and watch the sun rise... if you don’t mind.”

Tetsu’s heart melted at the request. He scooted closer to her, delicately placing her against his chest as she propped herself up and into his lap.

She tossed her head over his shoulder, kissing along his jaw, stopping at his earlobe. Sliding her hand into his hair, she took a strap around each finger, tugging him closer.

He kissed her temple as she looked up at him, warmly.

Her eyebrows rose as the blue light of dawn began to fade into view.

She sighed.

“Thank you, baobei... for everything.”

***

Cool so somehow I accidentally deleted this wonderful ask/my reply ‘cuz I’m prob a boomer or something lulll soo here’s the prompt, in a screen shot.

TYSM Krystal for requesting me, this was so fun to write! I’m actually in the middle of a Nishiki req & though I def would’ve had a good time writing him for this, I really miss my TouchyBanana so I decided to give Tetsu-chan some much deserved love.

[blurry-fics]

Don’t Want The World To See Me

Pairing: Tyler Joseph x Reader

Warnings: Angst

Word Count: 3022

Request: Iris - GooGoo dolls for Tyler song imagine

Author’s Note: As the request indicates, this fic is based on the song Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls! It’s written a little differently than what I usually do, but I think it turned out pretty good. Also, hopefully you aren’t minding all the long fics lately. I’ve been trying to keep them on the shorter side, but I inevitably get carried away ever time. Anyway, I hope you like this one! :) (picture credit)

Confetti was still falling slowly over the crowd, casting a yellow tint to the faces looking back at him. A smile was plastered on his face, but it was only for show. His mind had been elsewhere the entire night, distracting him from fully focusing on the music. It wasn’t a feeling that Tyler was used to and he had done his best to make it appear as if everything was fine, though deep down he knew it wasn’t.

When Josh wrapped a sweaty arm around him, he hardly felt it. A slight nudge reminded him to bring the microphone to his lips and repeat the words he said every night.

“We’re Twenty One Pilots and so are you.”

The room erupted in cheers as Tyler held his hands up, crossing one of his fingers behind the others. He didn’t have to turn his head to know that Josh was doing the same next to him. After one final glance around the room, Tyler turned and walked offstage.

People swarmed around him the second he arrived backstage, taking things from his hands or offering him something. He grabbed a water bottle from a nearby crew member and quickly took off the cap, downing the entire thing in one go. Another faceless hand held a towel out to him, which he took and threw around his neck. His free hand reached up and used the fabric to wipe away the sweat that had collected along his shirt collar.

Crew members threw praise at him as he made his way back to the dressing room, to which he simply smiled and quickly thanked them. In his head, he could only remember all the things that had gone wrong. If you asked him, this had been one of the worst shows of the tour so far. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. With how he was feeling tonight, how could a show have gone well?

It was a relief when he finally made it to his dressing room, providing him with his first moment alone. He needed to take a second to compose himself before he would be stuck on the bus and forced to put on a brave face for everyone. There was only one person that he was ever willing to let to fully let his guard down around, and they were currently halfway across the country at home in Ohio.

Tyler would give anything to be in their arms right about now.

His moment alone was ended promptly by a knock on his dressing room door. A crew member popped her head in shortly after he answered.

“We’re getting ready to pack up the room soon. Do you need more time?”

“No, I’ll be out of here in a second,” Tyler answered.

“Ok. Thank you.”

He slowly wandered over to the mirror on one side of the room and leaned forward, firmly resting his hands on the counter in front of him. He took a moment to study his face, wondering if the pain that he could so clearly see within it was evident to anyone else.

Tyler eventually pulled himself away from the mirror, gathered up what few personal belongings he had brought with him into the room, and began the walk to the tour bus. This was the last moment of peace he would get until he laid down for bed that night, so he was determined to make the most of it. He slowed his pace to nearly a crawl and allowed his eyes to roam over every inch of the plain, concrete walls. If he listened carefully, he could make out the distant hum of people leaving the venue after the show.

Cool wind whipped at Tyler’s cheeks the moment that he pushed the big metal door open. As much as he wanted to avoid people just a few moments longer, the single gust of wind was enough to make him want nothing more than to be wrapped in a warm blanket inside. His feet carried him quickly across the pavement to the tour bus. With shaking fingers, he entered the code and quickly ascended the stairs to the main part of the bus.

“There he is,” Brad smiled, immediately clapping a hand down on Tyler’s shoulder. “Nice job tonight, man.”

“Thanks,” Tyler returned his smile and straightened his back a little. “It was a good show tonight.”

He waited until Brad’s hand had dropped away from his shoulder before making an excuse about needing to get changed and slipping away to the back room. It felt nice to get out of his show clothes and into something more comfortable and clean. Although it didn’t entirely take away the discomfort he was feeling, it did help lift his spirits a little. Before he went to rejoin the rest of the guys, he sent a quick text to Y/N.

Tyler: Could really use some time with you tonight. If not, that’s ok too. I love you

He watched the screen for a moment, silently hoping that they would answer instantly and he would have an excuse to stay in his room for the rest of the night, but when the screen of his phone eventually faded to black, he knew that wasn’t the case. With a sigh, he stuffed his phone back into the pocket of his sweatpants and joined the rest of the guys on the couch.

Josh smiled as Tyler collapsed down onto the couch next to him. Tyler returned the smile, hoping that it was convincing enough to keep Josh off of his case. Normally Josh was his number one confidant when he started having issues on tour, but not today. Today’s issue was a lot bigger than the things they usually talked about, and he wasn’t so sure Josh would understand. Not in the way that Y/N would, at least.

“Did you see me nearly faceplant when I was getting off the platform after Morph?”

It took Tyler a second to register that Josh was talking to him.

“I must have missed that. What happened?”

“I misstepped when I was coming down and ended up landing all funny. One of the security guards ended up catching me before I totally fell onto the concrete.”

“Better than cracking your head open in the middle of a show, right?”

“Right,” Josh laughed. That was a relief to Tyler, that maybe he hadn’t caught on. “But I know it’s going to end up all over Twitter and Instagram regardless.”

“It won’t be the end of the world. There are countless dumb videos of me on the internet.”

“Yeah, I guess it won’t be.”

Tyler reached over and put a hand on Josh’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. Josh continued to look down towards his lap, but a smile slowly spread across his lips. With his free hand, Tyler reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check it. Although he hadn’t felt it vibrate, there was always the possibility that he had missed it.

Or maybe not, as his blank lockscreen indicated.

He checked the time, quickly calculating what time it would be back home. It wasn’t terribly late, and Y/N had gotten into the habit of staying up late to hear about the end of shows, at least when the boys were still playing in the United States. The fact that they hadn’t answered his text was a bit unnerving, but he reminded himself it hadn’t been long since he sent the message in the first place.

“Want anything to drink, Tyler?” Mark asked. He was currently standing in front of the open fridge.

“Yeah, can I have a juice?”

“Sure thing.” 

Mark grabbed a bottle of juice from the fridge and tossed it Tyler’s way. He caught it in one hand and unscrewed the cap, bringing it to his lips in one swift motion. Mark tossed a couple drinks to Josh and Brad before sitting back down on the couch.

Tyler slowly tuned out of the conversation. His eyes were fixated on a small patch of carpet near the wall that was stained a bright color, most likely from someone’s drink that had spilled. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence on the bus.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get himself to stop thinking about Y/N. It had been close to a month since they had last seen one another. It was one of the longest periods they had been apart since they started dating nearly eight years ago. The original plan had been to have Y/N come on tour with the band, as was typical, but a family emergency had forced them to stay at home. Things were just finally getting cleared up, but with the tour coming to a close for the holidays, it had been decided they would stay at home.

Tyler was really wishing he hadn’t agreed to that right about now.

“Tyler? You good?”

Josh’s voice pulled Tyler out of his trance. He blinked a couple times and turned to his friend with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m good. The show really wiped me out so I’m having trouble focusing.”

“That’s alright. Sleep might not be such a bad idea.”

“I’m waiting on a text from Y/N. They mentioned wanting to FaceTime tonight.”

“Gotcha.”

A few more minutes passed. Josh, Mark, and Brad went back to their conversation, which Tyler picked up bits and pieces of but otherwise didn’t contribute to. He continued to check his phone, hoping that he had somehow missed a text from Y/N, but each time it came up blank. Each time he sighed and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

After a few more minutes of internal debate, Tyler decided to send a second text. Maybe Y/N had missed it the first time and he knew they would feel bad if they accidentally ignored him when he needed to talk to them. He had just started to type when a little bubble popped up on Y/N’s side of the screen, making his shoulders drop in relief.

Y/N: Sorry, I was in the shower! Give me a few minutes and then I can call you, sound good?

Tyler wasted no time in typing out a response.

Tyler: Sounds perfect

“I just heard from Y/N. I think I’m going to head back to my room and talk to them for awhile, so I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

There was a chorus of goodnights as he stood up, stretched for a moment, and then headed to the back room. He made sure the door was completely closed and locked before falling back onto the bed and getting comfortable. The little lamp on the bedside table cast a nice amount of light around the room, keeping the atmosphere peaceful, but not too dark. While he waited for Y/N, Tyler scrolled through photos that the two of them had taken the last time he was home. Though it made his heart a little heavier knowing they weren’t there with him, it also made him smile knowing more moments like those were coming.

He didn’t hesitate to hit answer call on his laptop as soon as the notification popped up. The call struggled to connect for a second, but Y/N’s smiling face eventually popped up on his screen. In an instant, it felt like all the stress of the day had melted away.

“Hi, love,” Tyler grinned.

“Hey, Ty.”

He sat quietly for a moment, just admiring their smile and the way their eyes were shining in the dim light of their bedroom back home. 

“How’s everything going over there?” they asked.

Tyler’s eyes dropped down to his lap, “They’ve been better. The distance is really starting to take a toll on me, I think. Everything feels off, I don’t really know how to describe it, but I know I shouldn’t be feeling this way. I’m out here playing music all around the world, but I get upset if I don’t have you with me? It’s dumb.”

“What you’re doing is hard, Ty. Most people aren’t away from home for months at a time, especially without their families. It’s ok to miss people you care about, even if you are living your dream.”

“I know. I just don’t want the world to see me like this, you know? Breaking down after shows and barely able to keep it together. I don’t think that they’d understand.”

Tyler buried his face in his hands and tried to take deep breaths. His eyes were already starting to brim with tears behind his fingers. He had been keeping it together all day, but now that he was talking it through with Y/N, all the emotion that he had so carefully kept bottled up was beginning to spill out.

“Tyler, love, it’s ok.” He could hear the distress in Y/N’s voice. “Do you have a blanket you can wrap around yourself? That might help.”

Tyler pulled his hands away from his face just long enough to take a look around. Sure enough, there was a blanket sitting near the foot of the bed. It was one that he had taken from home; he and Y/N always used it to snuggle up underneath when they had movie nights.

“I’ve got one,” he sniffled, pulling it up and around his shoulders. He pulled on the fabric until it was tight around his body.

“Is that helping?”

“A little.”

“Don’t beat yourself up for being stressed, ok? You have a lot on your plate with playing shows almost every night, doing interviews, planning for the next leg, and so much more. Plus, on top of that, you’re away from your support system - also known as me, your spouse - which makes things twice as hard. You’ve been going and going and going for almost a full month now, anybody in your situation would be starting to wear thin.”

“I know, I know. I just really don’t want to miss you tonight. I want you here, next to me, to wrap my arms around and fall asleep next to. Just one night with you would be enough to get me through these next few weeks.”

Tyler wiped away a few fallen tears with the back of his hand. His breathing had slowed back to near normal, though his eyes were still full of tears that had yet to slip down his cheeks.

“I wish I could be there, Ty, but-”

“No, I know, I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I don’t mean to make you feel bad. This is hard for both of us.”

“You didn’t make me feel bad, love. I would give anything to be next to you, too.”

“I’m ready to cancel the rest of this tour just so I can come home,” he mumbled.

Y/N sighed and pursed their lips. Deep down, they wished he could too, but there were people out there who needed to see Tyler just as much as they did.

“There’s only a few more weeks of shows and then you’re home for the holidays. You’re going to be home before you know it.”

“And we’ll get to decorate the house together,” Tyler said. His mouth curled up into a partial smile.

“Exactly. And we can see your family and sit by the fire together and stay out of the cold air.”

“It’s freezing here. I thought my fingers were going to go numb when I was putting the bus code in. Has it been bad at home?”

“Not too bad. Then again, the most I’ve been outside is to go to and from the car when I go places,” Y/N laughed. Just hearing their laugh made Tyler’s heart flutter. “But it’s definitely not numb fingers cold.”

“That’s good. It will get there eventually.”

“But you’ll be here to keep me warm.”

“Yeah, I will be.”

Tyler and Y/N continued to talk as they each slowly grew more tired. It took Tyler awhile to realize that he had stopped crying, his conversation with Y/N had completely distracted him. Y/N had always had a knack for distracting Tyler without him realizing, it was one of the many things he loved about them.

“I don’t think I can keep my eyes open much longer,” Tyler mumbled. His face was half-buried into his pillow. Y/N had just finished telling him a story, which he had somehow managed to hang onto every word of despite his tired state.

“Should I let you go?”

“Soon.”

“Ok, let me know when I should end the call.”

There was a brief pause in the conversation. Tyler opened his eyes just enough to get another glimpse of Y/N. They were sitting in the living room now, having just finished making cookies to bring to their family the next day. He couldn’t help a smile as he watched them flick through Netflix.

“Hey, can I tell you something?”

“Of course, Ty.”

“Thank you for always letting me vulnerable. You know exactly who I am and have never once criticized me for it and I love you for that.”

“I never want you to hide any part of yourself from me, love. That’s what loving someone is about, loving every single bit of them, perfect or not.”

Tyler’s smile grew even wider, if that was even possible.

“Man, I love you so much. I really am dating the coolest person in the world.”

“I don’t know about coolest, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless. I love you too, Tyler.”

“Ok, I need to try and get some rest now. I’ll talk to you in the morning?”

“I’ll text you when I wake up.”

“Ok. Goodnight. I love you.”

“I love you too. Goodnight.”

Tyler was thankful when Y/N ended the call so that all he had to do was shut his laptop and place it on the nightstand. He was barely awake long enough to flip the light off and roll into a more comfortable position.

When he slept, he dreamt of being home with Y/N.

[starlling-writes]

Bewitching Monsters - Orc (Valzok) Part 4

Series Rating: 18+ Chapter Contains: minor swearing, drinking, masturbation Pairing: f/m BeMo Masterlist   ☆  Writing Masterlist

My next interaction with Valzok was, in a word, tenuous.

I didn’t see him again until a week after Brumalis. It was almost midday when a knock summoned me to the door.

“Sweet day, Witch,” beamed Aero. “You have a letter.”

“Goodie.” I opened a small jewelry box by the entrance where I kept a few coins and tossed one at him. I instantly tore open the letter, leaning against the doorframe despite the encroaching chill. My oversized sweater was spelled to keep me warm—it was one of the few selfish enchantments I allowed myself. “It’s an invite. Some vampire thing.”

“Going to be leaving me?” he pretended to pout.

I rolled my eyes. “Not soon enough.”

He placed his hand to his heart. “You cut so deep.”

“Get out of here already.” I gently pushed him away, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me against him. Even with winter teasing the air, it was springtime in his arms. His hand glided from my wrist to my fingers, then he pressed his lips to the back of my hand. I finally ceded a soft smile.

It wasn’t until he turned and started leaving that I noticed Valzok appearing from the tree line. I waved, he nodded. Behind him he pulled a sled of firewood for me. He side-eyed Aero as they passed.

“Hey stranger,” I greeted. It had been long enough since I last saw him that his handsomeness hit me as strongly as when we first met. Especially when he smiled. I couldn’t stop myself from mirroring the expression if I tried. And oh, I tried. Because he was widowed; and orcs didn’t date again after marriage. He might flirt with me, but he still wore his and his late wife’s rings on a necklace. And no matter how many times I fantasized about bedding him, I had to remind myself I had no chance. “Did you have a nice holiday?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing special.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, I now noted. I wondered what was bothering him, but didn’t ask—it wasn’t my place. Not that I had a chance to ask. He unstrapped the tarp covering the wood and picked up an armful. I jumped out of the doorway to let him by.

Things were worse than I first thought.

I took a moment to watch him as he mechanically filled the log rack. I did not like this version of Valzok. What was this shadow that loomed over him? I grabbed a few logs from the sled and joined him inside.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“What it is that’s bothering you.”

He hesitated, sparing me a glance, then left to get more logs. I waited inside. Hopefully I didn’t just push him away with my poking—I barely even butted my head in on the matter. Still. The thought that I somehow did something wrong weighed on me.

“Who said something’s bothering me,” he finally answered as he returned.

“You did,” I accused. “With how you’re acting.”

“Watching me that closely?” A smirked tugged at his lips. A bit of his old spark flashed in his eyes.

“Yes.” It was bold of me—perhaps too bold. We were locked in a stare now and all I could think about was kissing him. We were close enough that I could have my lips on his in a heartbeat. I wondered what his lips tasted like—what he tasted like. I wondered how his tusks would feel brushing over my skin. I wondered—

“Excuse me. I’m here to see the witch,” someone called from the open front door.

I sighed and shook my head, mumbling, “Work never ceases.”

“I’ll pile the rest outside,” Valzok said.

“You don’t have to go,” I said, my voice still hushed. I really wanted this nosy customer to just turn around and leave so we could sink back into the moment.

“You have a customer.”

“I can turn them away.”

He seemed to considered it for a second before shaking his head. “Your work is important. I’m glad you’ve found plenty.”

 Mr. Interruption proved to be an even bigger pain in my ass than I first gave him credit. He was one of those customers that was super specific in what he wanted, and then when I would restate what he desired in more concise terms to confirm, he’d correct me and say it all over again. Then as I was working, he kept “reminding” me of what he wanted to make sure I did my job right.

At least the charm he requested was a quick make so I wouldn’t have to deal with him long.

After he left, I flipped my sign to Closed. I had no more energy for other people today. I opened my liquor cabinet and looked over my options. It wasn’t often that I’d start drinking this early—with the intent on getting drunk that is—but some people were just that draining. While drinking wasn’t the healthiest option, alcohol is a disinfectant; so really I was just cleansing myself of any residual negativity Mr. Interruption left behind.

Today felt like a rum day.

I mixed up a drink then went over to my record player. I loved the sound of records on old gramophones; plus, no light grid needed for it. Combine some lofi jazz-hop with a nice drink and it was the perfect mood to unwind.

I swayed along to the music as I cleaned up my home. My work area had become neglected the past few days as I had focused solely on output. That might have also contributed to my unease—the physical chaos was disrupting the energy flow.

By the time I got to the sitting area, the rum had deliciously kicked in. My dancing became more full bodied and sensual, my limbs loose and feet only slightly stumbling. I picked up a couple floor pillows to shake them out. Underneath hid a small black box. You don’t belong on the floor, I thought as I picked it up, discarding the pillows back at my feet. I was three steps up to my loft when I changed my mind. I didn’t want to put it away.

I opened the box, took out the dildo inside, and left the box on the stairs as I returned to the pile of pillows.

It was the orc dildo I ordered shortly after my date with Valzok. I even had it made with custom colors to match his skin tone—not that I’d ever admit that to anyone. I set it down on the table then stripped off my sweater and legging. Now bare, I shuddered and quickly settled into the bed of pillows for warmth. I picked up the dildo and began rubbing it against my sex, while my other hand fondled and squeezed my breast.

“Valzok,” I murmured as I began pleasuring myself. I teased the tip against my entrance, prodding maddeningly as my wetness built. I wanted to feel his mouth on my neck; to feel his tongue leave trails of goosebumps and his teeth test my flesh. A whimper escaped me as I plunged the dildo inside me. With my muscles still tight and the toy not lubed, I only managed a few inches in. I pumped it in and out until the shaft was slick from my juices and could easily slide in me until I was full.

My hand drifted from my breast down between my legs. My clit was aching for attention. I started rubbing it in long circles in time with the thrusts of the dildo. Getting swiftly closer to orgasming, my head fell back.

“Val,” I moaned his name again. If only his power was behind the thrusts. I wanted to feel his hot, hard cock slamming into me. So much better than this silicone replica. My rear rose up as I imagined him gripping my hips, holding me steady to really hit deep.

Fuck, I needed him so badly.

I was almost there. I could feel it swelling up inside me. The pleasure became my sole focus as I crept closer and closer to climaxing. Oh fuck, I cried. Fill me, Valzok. Please. Fill me—a moan shuddered out of me as my orgasm hit. My thighs clenched together as I shivered and squirmed and whimpered.

Damn I needed that.

I let the dildo slowly slide out of me on its own as I sprawled in the pillows catching my breath, muscles completely relaxed. My pelvic muscles still pulsed in the aftershock and I could feel my thundering heart beating in every inch of my body. I was a blissful mess. If only I had a big, handsome orc to snuggle against.

Then the outside world came crashing back in as someone cleared their throat—and it definitely was not Caera.

I opened my eyes and near the doorway stood the man I just fantasized about fucking.

“We should talk,” Valzok said.

— — —

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Character Arc: Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  [Here]  Part 5