#but that pigtail + bikini nonsense...

[faithlike-potatoes]

Hehe it's Pokemon Conquest design ranking part two

(spoilers for Warlord final evos? Is that a thing?)

[artstar1997]

Here’s my Jak and Daxter OC, Jakleen.

Name: Marella “Jakleen”

Age: 15 (in the Precursor Legacy), 17 (in Jak II), 18 (in Jak III), 19 (in Jak X)

Gender: Female

Nickname(s): Jakkie, Princess, Nightingale, Desert Rose, Miss Starshine in Light, Little Miss Starshine

Birth Date: ???

Race: Human

Occupation: Leader of the Demolition Team

Affiliation(s): House of Mar, Underground, Brutter’s lurker tribe (honorary), Wastelanders, Sky Pirates (honorary) The Character’s Appearance Appearance: She has a curvy, athletic build, dark tan skin (compared to Jak’s tan skin), and signature long, green-blond hair. She wears a golden yellow top or shirt, beige pants or shorts, a steel ring in the center of her chest held up by leather straps, a large right shoulder plate, and a pair of goggles.

In The Precursor Legacy, at 15 years old, Jakleen has a more youthful look, with her hair in Afro puffs and she wears a backless turtleneck top and beige capri pants. In Jak II, her hair grew longer and she wears a midriff-length tank top with pants, shoes, and fingerless gloves. In Jak 3, she wears a customized crop top with precursor armor, fitted pants, and a matching sarong with her hair in twist braids. In Jak X, she wears her hair in pigtails, a midriff-length corset with a leather jacket, skinny jeans, and knee-high boots. In The Lost Frontier, Jakline wears a yellow long-sleeved jacket with a matching bikini top, and several arm accessories, and her hair is tied in a half-bun.

When she was young, her hair is fixed in an afro, and she wore a yellow and beige dress. She notably wore the amulet as a necklace, which allowed others to identify her as Damas' daughter.

Height: 5’6” (TPL), 5,7” (Jak 2), 5’8” (Jak 3-Jak X)

Weight: ??? About the Character

Personality: Jakleen is confident, hardworking, generous, open-minded optimistic, caring, ambitious, and a strong leader, but she balances it with her love for beauty, music, arts, and fashion. She is the born leader of the team because of her integrity, self-awareness, courage, respect, empathy, and gratitude, despite Jak being five minutes older than her. She is also organized, with a knack for forming strategies, studying and applying different tactics, how to act in control, and take calculated decisions without getting carried away. Her traits and skills in being the leader of the team made her good friends with other characters with strong leadership skills like Captain Phoenix, Torn, and Ashelin. She is also talented and she would try different talents to see which one fits her but all in all, she just wanted to try new things. Don’t let her good girl side fool you, Jakleen is also protective, fierce, courageous, and hotheaded, especially with her loved ones, her friends, and family.

Fear(s): Being attacked by or becoming a dark eco monster like Dark Jak, failure, and being rejected

Likes: Music, art, fashion, singing, teasing Jak, hanging out with Keira, Ashelin, or Tess, boys, shopping, organizing, keeping things in order, arranging her weapons based on the eco colors

Dislikes: Anyone who hurt, tease or harm her friends and loved ones, Daxter’s constant bragging, Erol or Razer’s advances on her, her suitors, drab colors, the lack of style, art or color

Habit(s): Styling her hair, humming songs, customizing her outfits, and throwing insults at enemies.

Flaw(s): She can be vain and egoistical, often centering herself as the main attraction. She is also arrogant, dramatic, sharp tonged, often puts others down due to being bossy and stubborn and is prone to losing her temper. Certain annoyances like Daxter’s ongoing storytelling nonsense would lead to her knocking him off Jak’s shoulder or any high platform like a bar table or Jak’s short temper would made her snap him out of him by slapping. Many enemies end up being insulted by her when she fights them.

Talent(s): Singing, dancing, fashion designing, painting, hairdressing, cooking, baking, and organizing

Hobbies: Singing, dancing, fashion designing, painting, hairstyling, doing makeovers, shopping (much to Damas and Jak's annoyance), spa days, makeup, and pranking anyone (including her brother, Jak).

The Character’s Relationship With Others

Reputation: Jakleen is an empath who loves helping everyone. She finds joy in assisting others around her, and becomes popular because of her optimism.

Love Interest(s):

Captain Phoenix - Jakleen is smitten with Captain Phoenix when she first saw him because of his well-mannered and level-headed personality. He had a clear attraction to Keira, at first and showed frustration when she favored Jak over him, but he later moves on to Jakleen, who returns her attraction to him and they became an item, something that Jak tried to prevent from happening until they decided to put their differences aside for her sake. She was able to save Phoenix when the Phantom Blade was about to collide and they are able to continue their relationship.

Friend(s):

Daxter - Jakleen had been friends with Daxter for years but not as close as Jak. Despite her occasional scolding or slaps, she cares for him and would keep him safe from danger with her psychic powers whenever they go on adventures.

Keira Hagai - Jakleen had been friends with Keira for years, ever since they live in Sandover Village. She was also there for her when she started having occasional nightmares and migraines due to the pain she felt in Jak when he was subjected to the dark eco experiments. Keira was horrified when she found out that Erol was just using her to get closer to Jakleen, but this made their friendship closer than ever.

Ashelin Praxis - She was unsure about her at first because of her relation to Baron Praxis, being his daughter. After getting to know her more, Jakleen slowly warms up to her and becomes friends with her.

Torn - She was intimidated by him at first but later warms up to him when she helped him organize strategies and tactics.

Tess - She became very close friends with her when she and Keira first arrived in Haven City. She also comforts Jakleen when she is in pain from the occasional nightmares and migraines due to the pain she felt in Jak when he was subjected to the dark eco experiments.

Vin - Jakleen would use her telepathy to communicate with Vin but she would occasionally visit him when needed. He was forever grateful to her for saving him from the crashing metal head.

Enemy(ies):

Gol and Maia Acheron - She only heard of them until she encountered them in the Red Sage’s hut. She became furious when she heard their plan and wanted to even the score.

Baron Praxis - Jakleen hates him for his tyranny and because he experimented on her brother. Despite the hostility, she is willing to forgive him when he was dying.

Erol - She has a love/hate relationship with Erol due to the fact that he tries to flirt with her. When he was turned into Cyber Errol, she is glad that their relationship is over.

Krew - Jakleen doesn’t trust him, not even once because she could see what his intentions are through her psychic powers.

Count Veger - She hates him for banishing her brother and slinked off with him to the wasteland, where she met the wastelanders. She called him a monster for his misdeeds when he revealed himself to her and her family. When he was turned into an ottsel, she snickered at his new appearance and thought of selling him to Kleiver.

Razer and the dream team - Jakleen finds them abhorrent because of their infatuation towards her.

G.T. Blitz - She has been keeping her eye on G.T. Blit, Kras City Racing Commissioner and host of the G.T. Blitz Show, who is constantly accompanied by floating cameras. She often uses her psychic powers to know more about him until she knew that he is Mizo.

Duke Skyheed - Jakleen never trusts him at all because she used her telepathy to read his mind and find out earlier than Jak about what he is doing.

Klout- She never trust him at all and she wants to warn Captain Phoenix about his upcoming betrayal.

Relationship(s):

Jak - Jak is her twin older brother, because of the seal of mar amulet on her neck and the psychic link she shares with him. Despite being younger than him, Jakleen would boss him around and try to keep him in line but he is also protective of her. He would let her join the racing circuit but he would try to keep her away from Captain Phoenix, whom she had a relationship with. Jakleen would style or braid his hair, and she often has a playful attitude towards him.

Damas - He is Jak and her father. She was scared of him when she first arrived in Spargus but she is able to hold her own, even if she defended Jak, Daxter, and Sig in the arena. She is able to save him in the catacombs and reveals the truth to him by showing her amulet. Jakleen loves him and tries her best to make him proud.

Hera - She is her and Jak’s mother. She first encountered her when she arrived in Spargus, where she is disguised as a servant. When the twins revealed themselves to their parents, they were happily reunited.

Sig - She sees him as her uncle figure due to their encounter in Haven City.

Jinx - Jakleen doesn't like him due to the fact that he tends to flirt with her.

Samos Hagai - Jakleen respects him and listens to his advices a lot.

Pecker - Jakleen trusts him because he has been trafficking information and advising important people. She had been snickering about how he is at odds with Daxter, as both have tendencies towards sarcasm and a short temper.

Seem - She respects her for her knowledge of the precursors. Despite the mistrust at first. She eventually grows to respect them and displays several signs of gratitude and impression.

Kleiver - Jakleen is on neutral terms with Kleiver because of his rivalry with Jak. Despite this, she would threaten Count Veger by saying his name.

Rayn - She is neutral at first, due to the shocking fact that she heard about the poisoned wine that she knocked off the table while she slept during the meeting.

Tym - Jakleen was wary of him for his laugh, but she slowly becomes friends with him for his knowledge and for being compassionate and level-headed.

The Precursors - Jakleen was able to hear their voices through her telepathy until she was surprised to see their true forms when she, Jak, Daxter, and Count Veger arrived at the precursor core. The Character’s Abilities

Fighting Style: Hand-to-hand combat, weapons proficiency, martial arts skills Eco Channeler: Yes

Other Power(s): Psychic powers, healing powers, telepathy, telekinesis, light eco psychic shields, dark eco psychic blasts, teleportation

Weapon(s): Eco weapons, morph gun, gunstaff, precursor sword

Extra(s): None

(On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being terrible and 10 being the best)

Eco Channeling: 10/10

Hand-To-Hand Combat: 10/10

Weapon Handling: 8/10

Defense: 7/10

Offense: 10/10

People Skills: 9/10 The Character’s Familial/Biographical Information

Birthplace: Haven City

Family:

Jak (twin brother)

Damas (Father)

Hera (Mother)

Familial Background:

Marella is the last to be born among the twins. With their eco powers, Jak was the heir to Mar's legacy, and believed to be the Chosen One, one of the privileges that Jakleen shared with him. When her parents were banished, Marella's teleportation powers went haywire and transported her to the place where her brother was held. She was able to escape with him when her untapped powers transported them to the streets.

Character Background:

She and Jak were found by a young Samos, who found him wandering the streets and recognized them for the amulet. The Underground kept Jak hoping both that he could be placed on the throne to depose Praxis, and in the hopes, he could open the Tomb of Mar and find the Precursor Stone. Meanwhile, as Damas ruled Spargus his banishment from Haven, Damas hoped to one day find the two again, keeping an amulet identical to Jak's, and preserving Mar's armor for when they met again. She was kept safe by her older self throughout the ordeal. After the old twins defeated Kor, the young Samos took her and Jak back in time to Sandover Village, where they would be trained to have the skills he used to defeat Kor that day, completing the cycle.

Growing up in Sandover Village, the twins became best friends with Daxter and was watched over by Samos and the Explorer, called himself Jak's uncle. Jakleen was adopted by a beautiful singer who taught her music and other talents and skills that she would later use when she grew older. She also became close with Keira, who would go on to become her brother's love interest. Over time, Jakleen saved young Jak from the wumpbee nests on his ninth birthday.

Jakleen first appeared when Jak and Daxter returned to a disappointed Samos, who directed them to seek help from Gol Acheron, the dark eco sage Keira offered to help, providing her zoomer to travel north to see him provided they could find power cells to power the heat shield needed to cross the Fire Canyon. Venturing up north, they witnessed Lurkers' increased attacks on the villages, with Rock Village under siege, and both the blue and the red sages were kidnapped.

At the Red Sage's hut, Gol and his older sister Maia arrived to taunt Jak, Daxter, Jakleen, Samos, and Keira, revealing their plan to open the dark eco silos and reshape the world to their liking. Daxter was dismayed that the one they had sought for help was now the foe they had to defeat, but the group persevered; no longer trying to cure Daxter, but to save the world. At the silo near the citadel, four surrounding pipelines opened up and an accident light eco appeared, which Daxter believed could have changed him back, but reluctantly gave Jak permission to use it to stop the precursor robot and save the world, causing Jak to nod enthusiastically in agreement. When the four sages and the group celebrated, Jak leaned in to kiss Keira, only for Daxter to interrupt them, which caused Jakleen to snicker in response. Using their 100 power cells, the two found the Rift Gate and Rift Rider, hidden behind a Precursor door.

Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, Samos, and Keira activated the Rift Gate, opening a portal for the Metal Head leader to appear. In desperation, Jak then activated the Rift Rider, following its preset coordinates to Haven City, many years in the future. There, Jak was captured by an already waiting Erol, and sent to be experimented on for Baron Praxis' Dark Warrior Program while Keira and Jakleen escaped with Samos and Daxter. Jak remained there for two years, which caused Jakleen to have migraines and nightmares, thus gaining psychic attacks of her own. Upon escaping, Jak and Daxter reunited with Jakline, who found Kor and his younger self (unbeknownst to him) outside, and after protecting Kor from the Krimzon Guard, the three were directed to work for the Underground and ask for Torn.

Torn refused to let Jak speak to the Underground's leader, and sent Jak, Jakleen, and Daxter on increasingly dangerous missions out of his dislike for them. While Daxter protested this, Jak revelled in the opportunity to hurt the Baron, more-so than to help the Underground but Jakleen elbows him to keep him in line. Torn's missions led them to work for Krew in order to gain favors with Krew and leverage his connections, something Jak was willing to do in his quest against Praxis, and was rewarded with the Morph Gun and upgrades. Torn and Krew's missions also led the team to meet Vin, Ashelin Praxis, Onin, and her interpreter Pecker, Sig, and Tess with a reunion with Keira at the Mar Memorial Stadium. Jak competed for her NYFE racing team and she provided the JET-board, although the two were at odds due to Jak's friendship with Krew and Erol’s attraction to Jakleen. Meanwhile, an oracle taught Jak to control his dark powers.

Shortly after, the trio discovered Dead Town, and realized Haven City was in fact his own world's future. Furthermore, the Underground's leader finally agreed to meet with Jak, Jakleen and Daxter, only for them to find the leader was Samos, but a younger Samos, who did not recognize them. Between Samos and Onin's missions, Jak now directed efforts to find the Tomb of Mar so his younger self could obtain the Precursor Stone; when they did so, his younger self was forbidden from completing the tomb's tests of manhood forcing him and Daxter to take them instead, only for Baron Praxis to capture most Underground members and take the Precursor Stone for himself. Jakline was able to run into her younger self, who managed to escape with her untapped powers, so that she can give them the location of the Underground members.

At Torn's direction, Jak and Jakleen freed the Underground members from the fortress; in there, Kor and the child Jak were missing, but the older Samos of his time was found locked up beside his younger version. Learning from Samos that the Baron's plans to use the Precursor Stone with the piercer bomb against the Metal Heads would destroy the world, Jak raced in the NYFE championship to enter Haven Palace, in the meanwhile helping Keira rebuild the Rift Rider, as the two reconciled. Jak's win helped him reach the palace where he clashed with Ashelin; revealing his stake had gone above mere revenge. Jakleen, on his behalf, pleaded with her for help to save the world, which she obliged when Vin confirmed Samos' vision. Jak defeated Krew at the weapons factory and stopped the piercer bomb, after which the city was invaded by Metal Heads, entering when Kor sabotaged Haven City's Shield Wall and Sig opened a door in the Underport at the behest of Krew, double-crossing the Baron.

At the construction site, Jak, alongside Jakleen, who is trying to protect her younger self, learned that Kor was the Metal Head leader, having used a human disguise to infiltrate the Underground. Kor then killed Baron Praxis, who with his dying breath called Jak the "supreme weapon" and revealed to him a second piercer bomb, and the Precursor Stone. Jak, Jakleen, and Daxter took the stone and, with the Metal Heads preoccupied with attacking the city, used the opportunity to storm the nest, and after using Mar’s Gun to blow a hole in it, revealed his intention to stay and fight for Haven rather than abandon it with Keira's Rift Rider. When confronting Kor, Kor revealed to Jak and Jakleen that the twins were their younger selves, and they defeated Kor. He and Jakleen sent the twins alongside the younger Samos to the past using Keira's Rift Rider, completing the cycle and ending the three-hundred-year war with the Metal Heads.

Jak and Daxter were banished to the wastelands by Count Veger but Jakleen slipped off to join them using her teleportation powers. When Jak came to, Damas ordered that he and Daxter prove themselves worthy to gain citizenship of Spargus, or be cast aside.

In spite of an antagonistic relationship with Kleiver, one of the high-ranking Wastelanders, Jak performed well and proved himself in his missions for Spargus and his performance in the Arena of Death. Damas also warmed to Jak and Jakleen, showing (but attempting to hide) paternal pride in him and concern for their safety, and giving them fatherly advice. The relationship soured when Jak encountered Sig at the Arena of Death, and both Jak and Sig refused to fight one another, defiling the arena. Damas threatened to exile both, but Jakline defended them. He gave them a chance for redemption due to Sig's service as a spy in Haven, which both were able to achieve by destroying a nest of metal-pedes nearby. The twins also met Seem and the Precursor Monks, who showed hostility to him at first, but through their temple in the Wasteland he was able to obtain light eco powers and gained the ability to transform into Light Jak, much to her amazement.

Partway through Jak's time in Spargus, Ashelin arrived and pleaded Jak to return to Haven, only for Jak to harshly defy her, consigning Haven to doom due to their treatment of him and Jakleen tried to convince him. Nonetheless, Jak and Jakleen eventually did return via the catacombs in the war effort, motivated by vengeance against Veger. Jak and Jakleen linked up again with Samos, Keira, Torn, Tess, and Ashelin to battle both the Metal Head and KG Death Bot fronts, fighting for the Freedom League. During the war, they learned that a now-cybernetic Errol, working with fallen Precursors known as the Dark Makers, was behind the war and commanded both forces.

The war against the Dark Makers required the two to find artifacts to use the Astro-Viewer, learn more about his new enemy. While in Spargus to find the artifacts, Sig told Jak and Jakleen that Damas had planned to ensure Spargus survived the war, believing Haven was doomed. Jak rebuked him and Spargus for "playing with peoples' lives", and continued to fight the war against Errol. The twins confronted Errol at the KG War Factory, where he declared he would stop Errol and the Dark Makers' plan destroy the world, before shutting down the factory and weakening the KG Death Bots front. After this, when the Dark Makers attacked Spargus, Jak and Jakleen fended them off, earning their citizenship of Spargus, receiving a piece of Mar's armor that Damas was saving for his own son (not knowing Jak was his son) as well as a war beacon that he could use to summon Wastelanders whenever he needed it.

She and Jak then went to the catacombs to reach the Precursor core so he could activate the Planetary Defense System and stop the Dark Makers. The path to the catacombs was riddled with Metal Heads, causing Jak to use the war beacon to summon Damas. Damas helped Jak fight through, only to be fatally wounded by a missile and Jakleen was able to heal him with her powers. Jak realized that Damas was his father, and he and Jakleen revealed the amulets they carry, but they were also met by Hera, their biological mother, who was disguised as a servant in the palace when they came. Veger taunted them for this, causing Jakleen to call him a monster but Hera held her back to prevent her from causing more harm. This caused Jak and Jakleen, with Hera and an injured Damas to chase him there down the catacombs in anger.

When he reached the Precursor core, the Precursors offered Jak and Jakleen the opportunity to transform into a Precursor themselves, only for Veger to take it himself and be transformed into an ottsel against his will. The three Precursors then sent Jak to the Dark Maker ship to prevent Errol from awakening its cargo and told Jakleen to conjure a portal to send herself, a recovering Damas, and Hera back to Spargus, before the leader privately expressed lack of confidence in them and wish for a "backup hero".

Jak successfully stopped Errol and the Dark Makers from destroying the world, turning the tide in the Precursors' universe-wide war with the Dark Makers. Jak and Daxter returned to the place where Jakleen and Ashelin were waiting. As soon as Jak arrived, Jakleen ran to him and they both hugged. The Precursors, after thanking the people of the planet, told them there were more adventures in the future, asking him to join them in fighting the Dark Makers in other worlds. Jak obliged at first, but declined last minute due to his loyalty to Jakleen and Daxter, choosing to stay in his world. The now-reunited family was happily spending time together, catching up with the times they lost.

A year later, Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, Keira, Torn, and Ashelin traveled to Kras City on the invite of Krew's daughter Rayn, to attend the reading of Krew's will. Jakleen slept throughout the toasting of his death, and knocked down the glass of wine. She woke up when they were informed they had been poisoned, and that the only way to obtain the antidote was to win the Kras City Grand Championship for Krew's racing team. The group turned on Rayn, who claimed to be unaware as she had drank from the same bottle, though Jak chose to believe her, and agreed to race for their survival. When the team learned that Krew and Kras City crime boss Mizo had bet each other's business against who won the championship—meaning they were unwittingly caught in the middle of a gang war—Jak told the team to sit tight and keep racing while pledging to think of a way out. Jakleen would drive in Keira’s place due to not being allowed to race.

Jak got off to a slow start, berated by the show's announcer G.T. Blitz poor ratings on his first race in spite of his win, but gained notoriety as he racked up good points for the season, eventually attracting the attention of veterans of the sport, something that Jakleen is worried about. When Pecker became Blitz's co-host, in addition to investigating the crime ring behind the sport, he tended to hype up Jak on-air, only for Blitz to discredit him. Jakleen became more worried about her brother as he continued to race but she continued to race with the team.

In the race against Razer, Jakleen became more angry when she heard that her brother's car was sabotaged in a race preventing him from firing weapons; but nonetheless, he won anyway. She even complained about it. When Jak won the final race, G.T. Blitz revealed he was Mizo, and stole the antidotes, leading Jak to chase and destroy his car. Mizo chided Jak's tendency to leave his foes to die, which Jak shrugged off as Mizo's car exploded.

After celebrating his win, Rayn ran off, leaving behind a note that she had betrayed them all as she had never been poisoned, but had been using them to take over Mizo's business, meaning Jak's trust in her had been misplaced. Nonetheless, the group agreed not to worry in the short term, and after the celebration, Jakleen screamed in excitement as she watches Jak (with encouragement from Daxter) kissed Keira.

In the future, an eco shortage caused Jak, Jakleen, Daxter, and Keira to travel to the Brink a Hellcat IV search of new eco. Along the way, a group of sky pirates by Captain Phoenix, attempted to raid them for their eco, causing Jak to try to transform into Dark Jak to defend them, but doing so unsuccessfully due to the eco shortage making it unstable. Captain Phoenix therefore mistook Jak for one of the aeropans, his enemies, and tried to kill him, but Daxter scared him away with the gun turret placed on their aircraft, inadvertently forcing them to crash land on the Brink.

Keira was able to repair the ship, and after another run-in with the Sky Pirates where they attack the ACS Behemoth, Jak fought them off and was welcomed to Aeropa by its leaders, Duke Skyheed, and Chancellor Ruskin. Despite Jakleen being distrustful towards the duke, Skyheed gave Jak the eco seeker to help them find more eco, though the device was broken.

Then, Captain Phoenix attacks the building and steals both the Eco Seeker and Keira but Jakleen sneaked in the Phantom Blade. Jak and Daxter were able to get to them but, on board, Jak and Phoenix argue and tip the Eco Seeker overboard accidentally, so both return to the island once more to retrieve it from a volcanic crater. Keira intervenes and makes them call a truce and shake hands. Jakleen fell head over heels for Captain Phoenix, who became interested in her, and Jak would try to prevent it, only to cause tension and a sour relationship between the twins.

While working to repair it, Jak and Jakleen learned that the Aeropans had their own Dark Warrior Program creating dark mutants, causing him to become vengeful as he remembered what had happened to him. A castaway named Tym, whom they had met earlier, remembered that he had once worked on the program and regretted it, and told Captain Phoenix that Jak was not one of the Aeropans' dark mutant experiments but evidence that dark eco could be controlled. Jak and Phoenix then put aside their differences entirely for Jakleen and to fight against the Aeropans to stop the experiments, which made him reconcile with his sister.

In a siege on Aeropa, Jak finally met up with Skyheed, who also turned into a massive Dark Warrior while Jakleen stayed with Keira. Jak's battle with Skyheed forced him to retreat to his shielded flagship, where he attempted to drain eco from the eco core. While Jakleen used her teleportation powers to save Captain Phoenix, Jak was finally able to kill Skyheed, using a new light eco weapon made by Keira. The storms were then calmed due to the realigning and activation of the eco core, and the world was no longer in want of eco.

[cliffordchick]

Author’s Note: Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this but here goes. I originally wrote this as a writing exercise with different characters in mind but decided it would be the perfect piece to test out my fic writing skills again. Please be kind but also don’t be shy with the criticism or love. 

“I never imagined myself in a wedding dress,” you say. You study your reflection for a moment in the floor-length mirror before your eyes drift towards Calum. He’s kneeling on the floor in front of you, pushpins balancing dangerously in between his lips. You can tell he’s trying not to look up at you, his eyes trained on the hem he’s working on. You stifle a sigh and push on. “I always thought if I got married, I’d just show up at the courthouse in jeans and a t-shirt. Oh! Maybe a bikini fresh from a dip in a hotel pool!”

The pushpins scatter, flying in all different directions as Calum lets out a hearty laugh. “You’re something else, you know that?” He drops the hem of the gown and runs his now free hands through his hair.

“You’d be so bored without me,” you pipe. 

Bored doesn’t even begin to describe it; he thinks as he steals a glance at you for the first time. He thinks back to the moment he first laid eyes on you, all those years ago. You guys were seven, and you were hanging upside down on the monkey bars, pigtails grazing the wood chip-covered ground in the breeze. He was drawn to you instantly, even when you let out the most menacing, Wicked Witch of the West style laugh.

Calum’s so lost in the memory he doesn’t even have time to process what you’re doing until it’s too late. You’re on your hands and knees, helping him pick up the stray pins. His heart nearly stops when the delicate lace on the bodice catches on the crystal appliqués of the floor-length mirror.

“Would you please just stand there and look pretty,” Calum hisses, shaking his head.

His words may be harsh, but you know there’s nothing but love underneath them. There’s never been anything but love underneath his words. Even that time he told you to “fuck off” when you barged into his dorm room freshman year, moments before he lost his virginity. You shake your head, willing the memory to go back into its box in the deepest, darkest corner of her mind.

You stand, looking down at Calum with a pout forming on her face. The Y/N Pout™ as Calum has come to refer to it as. “Am I not always pretty?”

Calum lets out an exasperated sigh. This is what he gets for asking you to fill in for a bride-to-be who had to cancel her fitting for a “venue emergency.” As if the wedding venue was more important than the wedding dress that cost the same as several month’s worths of rent at his shitty studio apartment.

“You’re gorgeous, Y/N; you don’t need me to tell you that.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t like hearing it,” you say, sticking your tongue out. Truthfully, he’s the only one who has ever called you gorgeous, but you’re not about to tell him that. It’ll just make him blush. And if there’s one thing you can’t resist, it’s a blushing Calum. Instead, you make a big show of getting back onto the pedestal, picking the bottom of the gown up as if you’re an eighteenth-century Princess who has just let the love of her life walk out on her. “How does she expect to dance in this thing?”

Calum reclaims his spot, kneeling in front of you. One hand holding the delicate fabric, the other working a pushpin through it for the seamstress. “She won’t. That’s what the reception dress is for.”

“A reception dress?” you choke out. “But she spent,” you pause, looking at the receipt on the small side table. “$10,000!” You fan yourself and turn around. “Ty, I don’t think I should be wearing this dress.”

Calum grunts in response, pushpins back between his lips. If there’s anyone who should be wearing this dress, it’s you. He quickly shakes the thought away, steadying his hands as he works the pushpin through.

“What kind of monster spends $10,000 on a dress she’s not even going to wear the whole night! I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Don’t you dare,” Calum warns, working the final pushpin through the fabric, securing the hemline. He stands, wiping his hands on his pants before offering you his hand. “Come on queasy, let’s get you out of that dress before you do something stupid.”

“I don’t think anything is stupider than spending $10,000 on a wedding dress,” you say, accepting his hand. You try to ignore the static shock that jolts through your body at the contact. He’s helped you up millions of times, and this should be no different. Before you have time to dwell, you carefully make your way back to the small dressing room.

Calum cleans up as you wrestle with the gown in the dressing room. A thread of profanities falls from your lips before you emerges a moment later in a bright pair of jeans and a polka-dotted sweater. You gently hand the gown to Calum, who gingerly hangs it back up on a rack full of white dresses — none of which sparkle quite like this one.

“I feel human again!” you shout, dancing around the room. “Next time you need a fill-in bride for a fitting, do me a favor and don’t call me.”

It’s Calum’s turn to pout, brown eyes growing three times the size. “But whatever are best friends for if not for trying on ridiculously expensive wedding dresses?”

“Fine,” you say, giving in. “But I expected a proper proposal next time. None of this five am emergency text nonsense.”

Calum grabs your hand and immediately drops to his knees; a playful glint dances across his eyes. You look at him wide-eyed, lips tugging up at the corners. “Y/N Y/L/N, will you be my fake bride from now until eternity?”

You clap your free hand over your mouth. “Oh, Calum,” you say, taking on a British accent for reasons not even she knows. “It would be my honor.”

Calum laughs so hard he loses his balance, sending you both tumbling to the pearly white floor. “What was that accent?” Calum manages to get out between laughs and gasps for air.

“I don’t know!” you shout, eyes brimming with tears from laughter. “It sort of just popped out.”

“Don’t you mean it, popped out?” Calum says, delivering the last part in his own take on a terrible British accent.

You shove him away before quickly pulling him back towards you. You bury your face in the crook of his neck. “I hate you.”

“Hate you too,” he says as his smile spreads across his face revealing a dimple on his cheek.

You stay like that for a moment. A tangled web of limbs, laughing and enjoying each other’s closeness. It’s been a while since you’ve just reveled in each other’s company even though you both live in the same city. Calum’s been busy, working crazy hours to prove himself at Something Blue, the wedding gown boutique that specializes in outrageous, occasionally blue-dyed wedding gowns. And you’ve been holed up in random libraries, working on your dissertation. You do text throughout the day. You send him various gifs of a person jumping off a bridge, and Calum responds with various pictures of glorious diner food items you’d miss if you did it. And you try to FaceTime at least once a week, but it’s not the same as being in each other’s presence. When the two of you are together, it’s almost like you’re two sides of the same person. You complete each other.

Neither of you is ready to pull apart, but your stomach doesn’t get the memo, sending an echoing growl through Something Blue. You move from the crook of Calum’s neck and instead muffle your laughter in his chest. Calum does his best to keep his heartbeat under control.

“Come on. I think I owe you and your Hungry, Hungry Hippo stomach breakfast.”

“Frankie’s breakfast extravaganza?” you ask, pulling away from Calum so you can look up into his eyes. It takes all your might not to reach out and poke the dimple on his cheek.

Calum gasps dramatically, “I’m offended you have to ask!”

Just as quickly as you fell, you’re back on your feet and standing a safe distance away from each other. The loss of contact is immediately felt between both of you but neither wants to admit it, out loud or to yourselves. Calum runs a nervous hand through his hair as his cheek dimple disappears. You tug at your sweater that had ridden up before you turn towards him, smiling again.

“Shall we,” you ask, British accent back in full force.

Calum shakes his head before offering you his arm, “Lead the way, m’lady.”

[wanderlustxprincess]

Daily Writing Prompt Challenge - Day 1

“I never imagined myself in a wedding dress,” Delilah says. She studies her reflection for a moment in the floor-length mirror before her eyes drift towards Tyler. He’s kneeling on the floor in front of her, pushpins balancing dangerously in between his lips. She can tell he’s trying not to look up at her, his eyes trained on the hem he’s working on. She stifles a sigh and pushes on. “I always thought if I got married, I’d just show up at the courthouse in jeans and a t-shirt. Oh! Maybe a bikini fresh from a dip in a hotel pool!”

The pushpins scatter, flying in all different directions as Tyler lets out a hearty laugh. “You’re something else, Del.” He drops the hem of the gown and runs his now free hands through his hair.

“You’d be so bored without me,” Delilah pipes. 

Bored doesn’t even begin to describe it; he thinks as he steals a glance at Delilah for the first time. He thinks back to the moment he first laid eyes on her, all those years ago. They were seven, and she was hanging upside down on the monkey bars, pigtails grazing the wood chip-covered ground in the breeze. He was drawn to her instantly, even when she let out the most menacing, Wicked Witch of the West style laugh. 

Tyler’s so lost in the memory he doesn’t even have time to process what Delilah is doing until it’s too late. She’s on her hands and knees, helping him pick up the stray pins. His heart nearly stops when the delicate lace on the bodice catches on the crystal appliqués of the floor-length mirror. 

“Would you please just stand there and look pretty,” Tyler hisses, shaking his head.

His words may be harsh, but Delilah knows there’s nothing but love underneath them. There’s never been anything but love underneath his words. Even that time he told her to “fuck off” when she barged into his dorm room freshman year, moments before he lost his virginity. Delilah shakes her head, willing the memory to go back into its box in the deepest, darkest corner of her mind.

Delilah stands, looking down at Tyler with a pout forming on her face. The Delilah Pout™ as Tyler has come to refer to it as. “Am I not always pretty?” 

Tyler lets out an exasperated sigh. This is what he gets for asking Delilah to fill in for a bride-to-be who had to cancel her fitting for a “venue emergency.” As if the wedding venue was more important than the wedding dress that cost the same as several month’s worths of rent at his shitty studio apartment.

“You’re gorgeous, Delilah; you don’t need me to tell you that.” 

“Doesn’t mean I don’t like hearing it,” she says, sticking her tongue out. Truthfully, he’s the only one who has ever called her gorgeous, but she’s not about to tell him that. It’ll just make him blush. And if there’s one thing Delilah can’t resist, it’s a blushing Tyler. Instead, she makes a big show of getting back onto the pedestal, picking the bottom of the gown up as if she’s an eighteenth-century Princess who has just let the love of her life walk out on her. “How does she expect to dance in this thing?” 

Tyler reclaims his spot, kneeling in front of Delilah. One hand holding the delicate fabric, the other working a pushpin through it for the seamstress. “She won’t. That’s what the reception dress is for.” 

“A reception dress?” Delilah chokes out. “But she spent,” she pauses, looking at the receipt on the small side table. “$10,000!” She fans herself as she turns around. “Ty, I don’t think I should be wearing this dress.” 

Tyler grunts in response, pushpins back between his lips. If there’s anyone who should be wearing this dress, it’s you. He quickly shakes the thought away, steadying his hands as he works the pushpin through. 

“What kind of monster spends $10,000 on a dress she’s not even going to wear the whole night! I think I’m going to be sick.” 

“Don’t you dare,” Tyler warns, working the final pushpin through the fabric, securing the hemline. He stands, wiping his hands on his pants before offering his hand to Delilah. “Come on queasy, let’s get you out of that dress before you do something stupid.” 

“I don’t think anything is stupider than spending $10,000 on a wedding dress,” she says, accepting his hand. She tries to ignore the static shock that jolts through her body at the contact. He’s helped her up millions of times, and this should be no different. Before she has time to dwell, she carefully makes her way back to the small dressing room.

Tyler cleans up as Delilah wrestles with the gown in the dressing room. A thread of profanities falls from her lips before she emerges a moment later in a bright pair of jeans and a polka-dotted sweater. She gently hands the gown to Tyler, who gingerly hangs it back up on a rack full of white dresses — none of which sparkle quite like this one. 

“I feel human again!” Delilah says, dancing around the room. “Next time you need a fill-in bride for a fitting, do me a favor and don’t call me.”

It’s Tyler’s turn to pout, brown eyes growing three times the size. “But whatever are best friends for if not for trying on ridiculously expensive wedding dresses?” 

“Fine,” Delilah says, giving in. “But I expected a proper proposal next time. None of this five am emergency text nonsense.”

Tyler grabs her hand and immediately drops to his knees; a playful glint dances across his eyes. Delilah looks at him wide-eyed, her lips tugging up at the corners. “Delilah Albright, will you be my fake bride from now until eternity?” 

Delilah claps her free hand over her mouth. “Oh, Tyler,” she says, taking on a British accent for reasons not even she knows. “It would be my honor.” 

Tyler laughs so hard he loses his balance, sending them both tumbling to the pearly white floor. “What was that accent?” Tyler manages to get out between laughs and gasps for air. 

“I don’t know!” Delilah shouts, eyes brimming with tears from laughter. “It sort of just popped out.” 

“Don’t you mean it, popped out?” Tyler says, delivering the last part in his own take on a terrible British accent. 

Delilah shoves him away before quickly pulling him back towards her. She buries her face in the crook of his neck. “I hate you.” 

“Hate you too,” he says as his smile spreads across his face revealing a dimple on his cheek. 

They stay like that for a moment. A tangled web of limbs, laughing and enjoying each other’s closeness. It’s been a while since they’ve just reveled in each other’s company even though they both live in the same city. Tyler’s been busy, working crazy hours to prove himself at Something Blue, the wedding gown boutique that specializes in outrageous, occasionally blue-dyed wedding gowns. And Delilah’s been holed in random libraries, working on her dissertation. They do text throughout the day. Delilah sends him various gifs of a person jumping off a bridge, and Tyler responds with various pictures of glorious diner food items she’d miss if she did it. And they try to FaceTime at least once a week, but it’s not the same as being in each other’s presence. When they’re together, it’s almost like they’re two sides of the same person. They complete each other. 

Neither one is ready to pull apart, but Delilah’s stomach doesn’t get the memo, sending an echoing growl through Something Borrowed. Delilah moves from the crook of Tyler’s neck and instead muffles her laughter in his chest. Tyler does his best to keep his heartbeat under control. 

“Come on. I think I owe you and your Hungry, Hungry Hippo stomach breakfast.”

“Frankie’s breakfast extravaganza?” Delilah asks, pulling away from Tyler so she can look up into his eyes. It takes all her might not to reach out and poke the dimple on his cheek. 

Tyler gasps dramatically, “I’m offended you have to ask!”

Just as quickly as they fell, they’re back on their feet and standing a safe distance away from each other. The loss of contact is immediately felt between them but neither wants to admit it, out loud or to themselves. Tyler runs a nervous hand through his hair as his cheek dimple disappears. Delilah tugs at her sweater that had ridden up before she turns towards him, smiling again. 

“Shall we,” Delilah asks, British accent back in full force. 

Tyler shakes his head before offering her his arm, “Lead the way, m’lady.” 

[fascinationuniformed]

Festival Tipi

by Mr. Scade https://www.patreon.com/fascinationuniformed http://iancooketapia.com/  Story originally inspired by the photo above.

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

Marco unzipped his tent and the light was agony. Immediately, the leftover alcohol beat at his skull like smiths to iron, as if the very understanding of daylight had injected them with energy.

He scrambled inside his tent and found his sunglasses. With a contended sigh, he sat his ass on the plastic of the tent and rested his bare feet on the wet grass outside.

“How’s that headache?” Jen appeared. Before he knew what was going on, a water bottle was in his hands. He drank greedily.

He made a non-committal sound, and then flopped back onto his sleeping bag. He groaned, forgetting that he was lying on a patch of semi-dry farm field and not his feather down bed.

Jen chuckled. “Drink that whole bottle. Go for a piss. Come back, and we’ll start getting you feeling better. Trust me, it feels worse if you stay there.”

And with that, Marco heard her feet mulch on the wet ground towards the sound of sizzling bacon.

Marco’s first festival had so far been a loud, wet, rambunctious and drunk affair. Everything he had heard and more. Constant drizzling rain and mud splatters up to your chest? Check. Popular crap music as well as fascinatingly good unknown bands? He had already bought some CDs he doubted would be available on Amazon. Drunk and a little rude? Well… not just a little rude but in a near-constant state of passive-aggressive confrontational entitlement. It is alcohol, after all! That was expected. Required, even. The drugs had surprised Marco, though, but the more he walked around the festival grounds the more sense their presence – if not outright requirement – made.

Without those drugs, then some of the attractions in the festival would either be empty or burnt to the ground. Especially the tents. Oh, there were tents dedicated to forest spirits, tents designed to put you in a sensorial overload or a deprived state that really made you see things. There was an entire little tipi hut made of furry, soft things that people went in just to, kid you not, roll on the floor laughing. It was called the ROFL Tipi. Going into one of the tents sober was a trip on its own – they were just that good – but seeing the reaction from those whose perception of reality was, should we say, enhanced was a riot. Being on acid must make some of them a truly mind-bending experience.

No. Of all the things that stood out about his first festival experience, it was the bare skin that surprised Marco the most. The grand majority of those showing extra skin were women, with the occasional dude or older gentleman bare chested or wearing naught but a banana hammock. It was on the second day when it suddenly became a pattern, when Marco finally realised it. Perhaps his own heterosexuality affected his perception, but he hadn’t really seen that many guys dressed up like peacocks during mating season. A relatively fit man in naught but a speedo and wellington boots? Yeah, okay. Some heavy set obese man, glowing pale white, in a vest and assless cowboy chaps? Well, someone might be into that. Perhaps the sample size was too small. But the girls? Yes. Not all the women were dressed like rave culture had an illegitimate child with hair metal and then had it raised by Eddie Izzard. But those that were? Neon bikinis with fishnets, plastic-tassels wigs and gaudy, giant sunglasses. Leotards with cut-off breast holes, tear drop-shaped pasties covering the nipples, and that getup wasn’t half as eye-catching as their holographic wellington boots. One girl had high-waisted shorts, a black PVC harness on top, a sheer bra, and pink hair in messy pigtails. Marco noticed the earphones leading to a secret pocket inside her shorts, as she danced by herself next to a bin overflowing with beer cans.

Two days, and Marco had trouble not staring. After all, those outfits were meant not so much to be looked at but gawked at; eye-catching, proudly proclaiming “here’s my woman’s body” and making a statement. If it was political, sexual or just going with the flow of the festival, Marco didn’t know. And the longer he was there, the less he cared to even think about that. Booze, dance and the few hot girls amongst the sea of impractical outfits made it hard to have such lofty conversations with his friends and even with himself.

It was a festival, after all. Rules and normalcy were outside this muddy field. In here, anything went. Possibilities could be bent. People could even look attractive wearing high-waisted jeans!

 By the third evening, Marco’s initial anxiety had been drowned and everything felt pretty mellow and right. His gut didn’t feel like exiting in an emergency, and the meal they had made from what was left of their store of tins had been edible. And he managed to keep it in, unlike the bacon-heavy breakfast. That very morning, however, he had learned the dangers of mixing alcohol and weed. But after drinking a little cocktail from one of the health stations – little kiosks manned by some NGO dedicated to safe consumption – he felt more human than usual. He even went for a second one. Whatever that thing was, it felt like all the lies healthy supplements try to sell but, you know, real.

The day had been pretty chill after that. Some shows, some games, a lot of standing around in what had at some point been a green field but could now double as a “junta de embarre”. Come the evening, though, he and his friends were feeling a little bored.

Down the hill, a show of lights and loud synth guitars shook the ground. A mass of people holding glow sticks moved like one wave. With one mind, one body. It was beautiful to witness from far away. And sitting down. Not for the last time that night, Marco rubbed his feet. He should’ve brought hiking socks to this place. Or hiking boots. Something comfortable, at least.

Jen passed a joint to Brando, who tilted his head back as he inhaled. An old habit of his. After a moment, he passed it on. Marco took a drag, and then drew hoops with the smoke and then passed it on to… whoever had made their way into their little campsite. In any other situation, Marco would’ve worried. But the tangy, mellow flavours in his mouth made it easy to not care. It was a festival, after all. Make friends and make love. Rules were abandoned outside these muddy fields.

“D’ya see that?” Jen said suddenly, pointing up to the sky.

They had agreed to no lights at night. Some stars could be seen overhead, but mostly it was the lights reflecting on the clouds. An ethereal, otherworldly show, half-imagined, half-there.

After a while, Jen pulled the hood of her frayed hoodie down and pointedly pointed at something in the dark, past their tents. “We should do the Experience Tipis.”

“Which one, though,” Marco said, a little unsure.

“Take your pick. I would so,” Elongation. The syllable hanging in the air for too long. “Love to go into the expansion tent.”

“The what?”

“Expansion tent,” Jen repeated.

Brando coughed some smoke, rubbing his nose on his shirt sleeve. “She means the spandex tent – tipi, I mean,” He coughed some more. “It is covered in soft spandex and the floor is a big shaggy carpet. Soft. And dry.”

There was general assents at the word dry. The floor mulched under the plastic tarp they all sat on.

“And with the show down there,” Marco pointed down the hill. “It should be emptier.”

“Sounds like a plan,” The person next to Marco turned out to be a woman with a thick accent. It was a pretty accent, though.

They zipped down their tents, and then trudged through trenches of brown-grey mud and slush. Past piles of plastic cups, tin cans and the occasional guy passed out on a wet puddle that could’ve been anything.

A no-nonsense woman guarded the entrance to the Tipi Village. She eyed them, shone a light on their eyes, and sniffed around.

“Strong stuff?” She asked, as she made a note of their festival bracelets.

“Mellow. Could run a mile, but might get distracted by a tree,” Jen said. Whatever that meant satisfied the guardswoman and she let the four of them through.

The Tipi Village was arranged in a horseshoe shape, with the heavily decorated gate at one end. In the middle of the space, there was a big bonfire that turned the people there into eerie shadows. Most were unmoving, some were eating. They were all quiet.

“This one!” Jen cried, opening the flap to the tent with the sign that read Relaxation and Rebirth Tipi.

One girl sitting near the fire glared at them, shushing loudly.

Marco looked at her, in her star-shaped bikini, a row of tiny, strawberry-sized hair buns giving her hair something like a ridged spine. Discreetly, he adjusted his erection. The whole gathering was made up of these festival girls in their gaudy and trashy and, frankly, pretty hot outfits.

“Hey, you coming?” Brando said, waiting just inside the tipi. Some of the light landed on Brando’s face, illuminating the scar on his lip.

Marco was glad for the darkness. It hid just how close that phrase had come to reality.

“Yeah,” Marco said before stepping into a world made of soft pastels inside. Warm lights gave the whole place a colourful glow, not too intense, and very homey.

His friends had found a little step of soft plush green carpet, pink beanbags, and other soft items. Jen was already stepping into what looked like a cocoon hammock made from whatever soft spandex-y fabric Marco felt under his socks. Brando flopped onto a bean bag. While their new friend simply lied down on the plush carpet. She was tall and plump.

With a shrug, Marco went towards them.

The tipi had other people. Some on their own, others in small groups. They must’ve been here for a long while, because they looked asleep or, rather, a little out of it. Every single one of them was just lying down, on the floor, or on the steps, cradling themselves on the soft fabric. One or two seemed to be sinking into their chairs, blissful expressions on their faces. What he did notice was that every single person in the tipi was looking up at some sort of projection of a psychedelic dream. Just looking at it made Marco feel a little dizzy.

“Hey,” The stranger girl said. “Come. Sit down. It is so nice.”

As Marco sat down on a soft plushy chair and—

“Holy shite, this is so soft!” He cried.

“Told you,” Jen said, mumbling like a happy cat.

“It is life, bro,” Brando sighed, already halfway swallowed by the too-soft beanbag.

And Marco couldn’t help but sigh as he let his weight be taken by the plush… object. It wasn’t like any beanbag he had ever sat on – it was like stroking a soft cat and being wrapped in silk all at once.

It was then that Marco looked up and saw the shapes. Not just the psychedelic colours straight out of a Pink Floyd-induced nightmare, but the shapes hiding between the colours, inside the patterns.

“Guys, do you… d-do you see that?”

The patterns were shifting, circling, psychedelic dreams, perfect truths, new realities unheard of. Like every trippy piece of media, ever song composed while high as a kite, like every epiphany about the size of the universe all neatly put together in an impossible pattern of impossible colours.

Marco heard someone shush him. He turned, and from the corner of his eyes saw Brandon’s happy, blank face slowly sinking into the plush chair as if he were on quicksand. With a pop, his friends’ visage disappeared and all that remained was a round, plump fuzzy chair.

“G-guys?” He tried again, his attention snapping to the patterns.

The world felt so soft. So snug and warm and comfortable and, damn, those lights even felt warm on his skin.

Marco moved his neck just in time to see the floor swallow their new friend. It was like she was a leave floating on water, dipping the surface tension but not breaking when, suddenly, the woman disappeared with a pop.

“What the fuck!” Marco tried to get up, but something snapped him back into the plush cahir.

“Shhh… Marco,” Jen moaned hard and long. “It feels so much better when you let it take over.” She moaned again like someone getting their brains fucked empty.

Marco blinked, glancing to the side. Jen’s shape was visible, writhing and twisting, inside the tight green spandex cocoon. Her hands were groping at her boobs, between her legs, as the hammock closed down as if someone was reverse-peeling a banana. With a sigh, Jen’s face disappeared under the fabric before it tightened around her features as if she were being vacuum packaged.

“W-what the—” Marco’s voice was swallowed by the soft, green furry plushness of his chair. He could move his arms and legs, but just barely. The heavy plushness weighted on him, making it hard to kick or punch. Besides, just moving felt so nice that Marco would forget to even fight and just idly start stroking the fabric, letting it swallow him.

As the plushness came over his face, darkness didn’t appear. Instead Marco saw a world of technicolour spark through his eyelids and into his mind.

  Eventually, the four of them left the tipi and sat around the fire, staring at it for a long while. Silent, enjoying the orange glow on their bare skin.

Jen sat with legs spread wide, letting the warmth of the fire lick her skin. The sheen of perspiration shinning on her bare midriff, her exposed breasts and naked legs reflected some of the light. If the sweat was from external or internal heat, that was hard to tell. The girl simply sat, eyes staring into a place far away inside the fire. Her star-shaped facepaint impervious to perspiration. Her hair, shiny green, cast a shadow over one half of her face.

Next to Jen, the plump girl coughed a little before she was shushed quiet by all the other festival girls basking before the flames. She looked abashed for a moment, before she leaned closer to the fire. Her neon-green bikini top disappeared under a rain of pink tassels from her plastic poncho enveloped her. Her enormous pink sombrero made her look like a giant, plastic Mexican statue.

A small girl kept playing with her boobs muttering something. Every squeeze sent her body shivering, letting a moan escape lips coloured a deep red. The colour, however, was carefully applied to avoid the scar that decorated her pretty face. The rest of her was wrapped in tight, shiny red spandex, a unitard of some sort, with a plunging neckline. Her arms and legs, however, were wrapped in fuzzy, furry, shaggy, pink hair.

A fourth girl, sat by her friends, looking around nervously. Something was odd about her friends, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. A sound broke her rumination. She turned, seeing a group of guys going into the same tipi she had walked into just a couple of – hours? days? – ago. As she moved, she felt something graze her legs. She looked down, seeing grass tickling her fishnet-covered legs. She giggled, and it made her bouncy tits bounce. They looked nice in their neon-green bikini top. Comfortable, like they had always been there.

“Oh, of course I’ve always had them,” Marco said. “I’ve always been a festival slut.”

Another sound. Someone shushing the boys.

She turned, seeing one of the tipi caretakers approach her. The woman was dressed in stars and tassels, in bright neon spandex and with colourful face paint. She looked hot as.

“Oh, Marcella, darling, you have to look into the fire,” She placed a hand on Marcella’s face and she felt her pussy tingle.

Softly, the caretaker tilted Marcella’s face towards the controlled, multi-coloured bonfire. “Look into the Fire. Let it warm up your heart. Your pussy. Let it fill you with feminine power. Let it burn away what was. Learn to burn bright and blinding. Learn to look like no one could ever look away.”

Marcella shuddered, feeling the warmth of the fire lick her skin. The caretaker’s skin caressing the inside of her thigh.

“Learn to be a festival slut, dear.”

 FIN ‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘

If you’d like to help me make more of this type of content, and explore new ideas or styles, consider pitching to my PATREON where not only can you see my newest work early, but can even affect the nature of this work!For more of my writing and illustrations, do visit My website. My Twitter| My DeviantArtAll work on this blog should be understood in context. Any portrayals of non-consent are, themselves, consensual between author and reader.

[scurvgirl]

Casserole vampire au plz? 😶😶😶😶

You mean sexy biting? Yes, yes good. Since @justanartsysideblog already has a classic vampire AU, here is a Modern Vampire AU! 

Melarue belongs to @justanartsysideblog of course

NSFW!

Fang Fling

__________________________

“I am getting trashed tonight!” Shokrakar laughs, twirling around in her bikini top and short-shorts. Her black, curly hair bounces from its pigtails and the light catches along the body glitter she has generously coated her body with. 

Kass rolls her eyes, but smiles at the other woman’s antics. Her own outfit is revealing, though not quite as provocative. She chose a regular crop top instead of the string bikini, and her shorts are high waisted. She decided against the body glitter because that never turns out well for her.

“You sure that’s the best idea, Shok?”

“The wig looks good, Kass, stop questioning it!” 

Kass sighs and looks back in the mirror. The wig looks weird. Her tight, coily curls hidden under a bald cap where a special made soft pink wig rests on top. She has bangs and they’re pink! It’s a long wig too, the tips reaching past her collarbone which is a trip. She’s used to hair that grows out, not down. 

The wig had been Shok’s suggestion. Something different! Something fun for the bonfire tonight! This ridiculous bonfire tonight. 

Sure, Kass could use the distraction from…everything. After breaking up with Qal and then pursuing her Master’s like she’s always dreamed, she hasn’t had the ability to just relax and have a good time. Undergrad was defined by her relationship with Qal and now that she’s done with her Master’s and has a publishing job lined up for her in the next month…well, it’s time to let loose a little. So when Shokrakar said she was heading out to an island with some friends for a festival, Kass uncharacteristically agreed to go. 

Now she’s here, dolled up in way too short shorts and a pink wig that Qal would have despised. That thought alone endears her to it just a bit more. It’s not her thing usually, but she can work with it tonight. 

By the time they get the beach, it’s dark and the bonfire is already lit, smoke billowing up into the night sky. Bass heavy music fills the night, the ground vibrating with the beats. Drunk beach goers sway and dance and sing nonsensically along with the song that Kass doesn’t recognize. 

Shok laughs and seems to immediately fall into the swaying bodies, dancing and drinking - wait, when did she get that drink? They just got here! Kass looks around and only sees people with drinks, but no actual place to get a drink. Is this something she missed in undergrad while sheltered and relegated to attending a minimal number of classes? How to navigate a beach bonfire party? Or at least where to find a drink? 

Even when she’s trying to let loose, things are complicated it seems. Whatever, she can dance without a drink. Picking up on the beat and swaying forward with her hips, Kass joins in the dancing. She sways and gyrates and jumps, sweating her worries away into the night. 

Oh now why didn’t she do this sooner? Like right after she dropped Qal? This would have been ten times better than the gallon of ice cream she sobbed into as she picked up her broken pieces. But then again, if she hadn’t done that, she doesn’t suppose she’d be here. Well, she’s here now, whole and happy and dancing because damn if she doesn’t have the rest of her life to look forward to! 

“Woo!” She shouts, throwing her hands into the air.

“Get it, girl!” A partygoer shouts and Kass laughs, wiggling her hips a little more. There’s some hollering and while at first it’s unnerving, she finds it sorta nice. Everyone is dancing and cheering and having a good time. 

A girl passes by in a blue wig, or maybe she dyed it, and offers Kass a drink, but she refuses it. She’d like to stay sober for this, she thinks. She wants to remember this feeling. She’d bottle it if she could, it’d be so much better than any alcoholic beverage - just…the feeling of freedom and accomplishment, the knowledge that for once she is in control of her life and things are good. 

She turns around and her eyes open just enough to see through the fire the face of someone so beautiful and out of place, she wonders if she just imagined them. They’re taller than many of the party-goers, pale with dark hair and eyes so alert that they can’t be intoxicated like almost everyone else. They seem familiar, but she can’t place exactly where or why.

Kass blinks, expecting them to be gone, but they’re still there - her pale blue eyes meeting their liquid silver ones through the flames. They are an intense kind of beautiful, the kind that you find in the hallowed pages of couture magazines, all angles and perfect skin, eyes so sharp you feel them even through the page. 

Normally, Kass would blush and avert her gaze, what chance does she stand with someone like that? While they are all angles and lithe beauty, she is soft and full, sweet looking but not a true beauty. Her nose is just a bit too big, her eyebrows not quite full enough, her figure not as firm as it could be. 

But tonight is not a normal night and Kass is wearing a pink wig and damned if she is going to let herself fall into the shadows tonight of all nights. She maintains their gaze and sways her hips, slow and sensual. She bites her lower lip, letting the plump skin fall away as she skims a hand down her body.

What is she doing? This is insanity, why would - oh heavens, they’re heading towards her. They move with the grace of a cat, not minding any of the gyrating dancers and somehow managing not to touch any of them. 

Her heart races as they close enough for her to see that they are even more gorgeous up close. They’re not quite as tall as she, but they have a presence that makes her feel small in an oddly delicious way.

“You are enthralling,” they murmur, leaning in close to her ear. It seems like they are going to take to dancing with her like some of the others, but they don’t even touch her, just lean in close  to whisper in her ear.

She blushes, but doesn’t stop herself from replying, “You’re not so bad yourself.” There seems to be this invisible barrier between them, just a thin layer where they aren’t touching and she finds she hates that. She wants to touch them, wants them to touch her. Not to be presumptuous, Kass moves her body and elongates her neck, just to be inviting. 

They break the barrier. They reach up and brush a hand across her cheek. “What is your name?”

“Kass,” she breathes, leaning into them.

“Kass,” they whispers before closing the distance and kissing her. Their lips are soft and perfect and they taste like…like…oh she doesn’t know, but they are a seriously good kisser. They move their move perfectly against hers, tongue slipping out to tease her lips. She gives in easily, leaning more fully into them. 

Her hands slide into their soft, silky hair while theirs seem to travel all over her body at once. They’re at her waist, cradling her face, gripping her behind. 

She gasps into their mouth and a moan escapes her. 

Oh it has been way too long since she’s been properly kissed like this. Has she ever been kissed like this? It doesn’t matter, she guesses, as long as it doesn’t stop. 

She doesn’t know their name and they’re her entire world right now. Crazy. Crazy amazing. 

This is so out of character for Kass that she doesn’t even know what she’s doing, but whatever it is…she doesn’t want it to ever stop. She feels unstoppable and sexy and on fire in the best of ways. 

And then they break away.

She makes a noise of protest but they give her a quick reassuring peck and take her hand. 

“Come with me,” they purr and yes, oh yes, she wants to go with him. She’ll go anywhere with them if they just promise to keep kissing her like that. 

They lead her away from the bonfire and to a large piece of driftwood. She turns around, about to ask them what’s going on when they’re kissing her again and all trains of thought leave her. She moans into their mouth and gives into the sensations filling her body. Their hands feel more purposeful now, skimming up her sides to swells of her breasts. 

Yes, touch me please, she thinks and wonderfully, they do. They cup her breasts, trail their hands down her stomach then around to her behind, grasping it and pulling her closer to them.

“You are vision,” they say, breaking their kiss only to pepper kisses along her cheek and down her neck. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you.” Their tongue darts out along her neck and an electric shiver runs through her, making her whimper. Pleasure builds into a throb within her that seems only relieved by their mouth. They kiss and lick and tease her neck in the most amazing, sensual way that leaves Kass gasping with pleasure. Some part of her recognizes how strange this is, but another part, the bigger, happier part is just enjoying the feeling of this beautiful person lavishing attention upon her like this. 

A sharp, brief sting in her neck draws her from her thoughts, but that pain is quickly replaced with the greatest euphoria she has ever experienced. 

“Oh!” she moans openly, her hand coming up to cradle their head as they likely suck the most incredible hickey into her neck. And she can’t bring herself to care. So what if she has the world’s worst hickey? It’s worth it for this. 

Pleasure so intense it has her clenching her thighs together, aching for them to touch her, to relieve this pressure. 

“Please, please, oh.” If she were aware of how desperate she sounds, she’d probably be quieter, but all she knows, all she feels is this need for them. For more. 

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, they sneak a hand between their bodies and undo the button and zipper to her shorts to slip a hand inside. They cup her and rub her until she is a keening mess, grinding into their hand, their mouth still working her neck. 

Who knew my neck was so sensitive like this? She certainly didn’t know! She’s been missing out, clearly.

They work her so well that it doesn’t take long for her pleasure to reach its peak in a glorious, explosive fashion. She bites her lip to keep from crying out in pleasure, and even then, her mewls of satisfaction escape. 

They remove their hand from her, redo her shorts and lift their head from her neck. Their eyes are hooded with pleasure and she wants to ask them where they can get a room to finish things properly. 

“Thank you, Kass,” they say and she snorts.

“I should thank you.”

They smile and she leans forward, wanting to kiss them again. 

“You stepped away from the party for fresh air,” they say and she stops, her mind growing foggy.

“I stepped away…”

“For fresh air,” they finish. They glance to her lips and sigh, “You have no memory of me or our interlude.” 

“I have no memory of you…”

**

One month later…

Kass walks into Serpent’s Publishing with a giant smile on her face and a bigger container of coffee that will help her get through the day. It’s her first day and she is not going to be foggy just because she seems to be plagued with recurring…sex dreams of a faceless figure from the night of the bonfire. Nope. She is here to kick editing butt and knock the socks off of her boss, and that is what she is going to do.

She drops her stuff off at her cubicle before walking to the break room where a welcome breakfast is being held for the new members of the team. She is perusing the bagels when she looks up and sees…well, the CEO and founder of the company, Melarue Bre’Atishmanerathe. They are even more striking in person, she realizes. They’re tall for an elf, with the most incredible silver eyes she’s ever seen. Their jet black hair is shorter than what she’s seen in pictures, and she wonders if they cut it recently. Still, there is no mistaking them for anyone other than Melarue. 

Taking a deep breath, and temporarily forgoing the bagels, Kass walks right up to them and sticks out her hand.

“Kassaran Tashorit, I’m a new editor, and I am so excited to be working for you.”