#edit like 2 weeks later: i'm pretty sure no one will try to pick this bone w me but. i did go rewatch that fen and eliot scene in 5.11

[arvensimp]

Choose Your Own Adventure, Part 3

The penultimate edition! lol sorry for the delay here. my self imposed 1000 word minimum and maximum is kicking my butt. also figuring out choices for what to do next was a little tricky. As a thank you for the 1000 followers, I thought it might be fun to do a Choose Your Own Adventure fic. I’ve got a starting prompt linked below, and each part will be followed by a poll where you, the audience, will pick what happens next. Each poll will only last 24 hours, so definitely act fast if you want your voice heard!

[part 1] - [part 2]

What drop, if any, do you get from the raid?

Sweet Herba Mystica

Arven falls to his knees as the crown on the massive Blissey's head teeters then shatters to the floor in a sparkling display. He gives a shuddering sigh, and you're left to watch between him and the fainting pokemon, trying to make sure he's okay. Based on the quivering smile on his features as Mabosstiff and Scovillain give loud cries of victory, you think everything is alright.

You replant your feet and pull a pokeball from one of your pockets. No point in wasting a perfectly good pokemon, especially one that would be handy in rescues. 

A moment later, and the ball gives a definitive click shut, indicating that Blissey is good and properly caught.

"...You did it…" Arven's voice sounds shaky and soft behind you. "You really…really did it!"

"We-" You're about to correct him when you notice that he's actually only speaking to Mabosstiff and Scovillain, holding both pokemon tight in his burly arms. Mabosstiff licks his face, leaving trails of shining slobber, and Scovillain's two heads are wrapped around Arven's neck, giving him a hug of its own. 

A smile tugs at your lips as you watch the scene, but Ampharos and Azumarill eventually pull your attention away. You give them each a few berries then start to gather all the remnants of Blissey's presence in the cave while Arven gathers himself.

You scramble on your knees through the berries and pokemon candies. You even find a lucky egg! Still, no plants…

That is, until your eye catches on something pink.

You scoot over to it, and lo and behold! There are several sprigs of a soft taffy-colored herb growing from the earth.

"Aha!" You can't help but cry out.

"Find something?" Arven replies from where he's still sitting with his pokemon.  He sounds surprised, if not a bit stuffed up, as if jolted from the moment he was sharing with his partners, but he's already up and bounding over to you.

"I think so! Come have a look!"

"That… That's it! Sweet herba mystica, right there!" He laughs joyously, jostling your shoulders.

Arven drops his backpack and takes out a spade. "Lemme just…"

"Oh! Uh, hold on."

He pauses, looking at you expectantly.

"These are pretty rare plants, like you said." You start, cautious. You don't want to sound like a know-it-all or like you're trying to dampen the victory.

"Rather than dig up the whole root system, just take some clippings. You can get a plant to propagate from that. It'll give the herbs here a better chance of continuing to grow and reproduce, without affecting the ecosystem."

Arven stays silent a moment.

"And you're sure I can get a whole plant to grow from just a stem and some leaves?"

"Pretty sure. Plus there's like… six or seven different sprouts here you can grab. If you take care of them, I'm sure at least one of them will give you roots?"

As you speak, you take out a pocket knife and snip off a sprig for him.

"When you get home, you'll clip it again, just exposing a fresh stem, then put it in water. Give it new water every day to keep it healthy, and within a week or so you should have roots that you can place in soil!"

Arven nods along.

"And…this is better than taking the whole plant?"

"It's more ecologically responsible, for sure, especially for what is effectively an endangered species like this, y'know? Go ahead and also take a separate soil sample, too, just so you've got some earth that you know the herbs can grow in once they've got roots going."

He huffs a sigh, crossing his arms. "When you're right, you're right. I'll see how I do trying to grow a few plants before I uproot a whole ecosystem…"

You smile.

"Exactly. Again, too. There's over half a dozen of them here.  Plenty of chances, hopefully."

"Oh." Arven's eye widens. "Uh… Are we not splitting them?"

You nearly laugh. "What? Pfft, no. I have no real interest in growing this kinda thing for myself. They're all yours. You and your team earned them together. My partners and I just played support after all." You finish with a wink that comes off without thinking.

"...Oh… Well… Thanks. Really." If you didn't know better you'd think that Arven might be blushing in the dim lighting of the crystalline cave, but you chalk it up to the fact that he's leaned down closer to the plants to start making cuttings for himself, and the light must be bouncing in odd ways, painting his cheeks in a dusty, glowing pink.

Rather than stare, you go ahead and make yourself useful by gathering soil samples. Between the two of you, it all makes for quick, if not quiet, work. When he's done, Arven stands.

"And…that's that." He brushes dirt from his pants before offering a hand to help you stand. You take it; his grip is about as strong as you'd expect, looking at his physique. Arven makes for a sturdy perch as you heft yourself back to your feet, but his palm is soft, the mark of someone who puts clear work and care into his hands. Your own hand lingers a bit even after you've stood. It's not that you're marveling. No. It's just…the feel of him, his warmth…

Arven pulls away with a forced laugh. The glowing pink of the cave must still be reflecting across his cheeks because the color hasn't faded.

"Haha, so… Um. Thanks. Again." He says, and the pair of you turn to leave.

"Of course!" You respond. "I hope these work out for the cafe."

"Same… I mean… If it doesn't work, I know who to turn to when I need a…battle buddy?" He clears his throat. "Y'know, to do raids and stuff."

"Anytime." You agree. "But, really, your team did the bulk of the work. You should be proud."

Arven pats the pocket of his jeans where his pokeballs sit. "I am."

-

You got the [SWEET] ending! Where do you see Arven next?

[Poll here]

[bryan360]

Here’s my note before I’ll get started….

(DON’T YOU EVER COPY FROM MINE OR MY FRIEND’S WORK, CHARACTERS, AND STUFF IF ONE OF YOU ARE IMPOSTERS WHO HAD HABITS OF PLAGIARISM! I WILL BLOCK YOU FROM MY BLOG IF I SEE YOUR POST WITH MINE OR MY FRIEND’S ORIGINAL WORK BEING EDITED ALL OVER! I’LL EVEN SHARE IT ONTO MY BLOG SO IF EVERYONE WILL SEE THAT YOU TRYING TO COPY MINE OR MY FRIEND’S THINGS FOR NO GOOD REASON WHATSOEVER! That will be all….I mean it.)

Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go USB 3.0 Drive (64 GB) (Unboxing) - Part 1 (Nov. 12th, 2022)

🇵🇷Me: Hola, everyone and friends! I’ve been waiting after saving this to have my latest review, but hoping it’ll work on my tablet devices when going through progress. I think It’ll be worth using it until I can get a new one with bigger gigabytes next time. Anyways, here’s what used to be my birthday gift giving by my mom: Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go USB 3.0. Drive ⬇️

🐰🖌Maxwell: A USB Drive for your tablet, huh? That’s pretty neat idea of getting.

🇵🇷Me: Yeah, Maxwell. Thought I’ll be having this if I can store my photos and artworks to save. After all, it’s my birthday gift I’ve picked to show ya from last month. Link Here

🐰🖌Maxwell: Sounds good. We know about using USB drive to store things whether videos or musics like some of my friends do. Wonder how can work well with working on your tablet still? Just saying.

🇵🇷Me: Glad that you asked, buddy. However, I’ll be saving for another part coming later. At least when going through the unboxing part first. I’ve started back in November. 12th during break time. For now until I can go back to other stuff this week. Also other items I'll be saving for future reviews.

(1st and 4th Images)

🇵🇷Me: Before I can do unboxing though, I took pics of the box itself showing the USB Drive item that made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices. Since now I had two iPad devices, I’m going for the 5th generation version that I mostly use. Because if you remember what happened to my iPad Mini 2 device is something I’ve upgraded. Though that doesn’t mean I won’t be tossing my old device away anytime soon. I’m still keeping it. Anyways, it can hold about 64 GB or gigabytes of storage to store any artworks I have. Though don’t which ones I can head start with, but hoping I’ll won’t losing it when transferring in progress. It’s a good thing when checking on the back there’s a list of iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices that will have support for my USB Drive; more or less.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Yeah. I can see the list of them if you look closely. It saids there that it can support iPad Mini and iPad 5th generation versions. Nice! 😉👍

(5th and 6th Images)

🇵🇷Me: That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. Or else it would a bit too difficult if it haven’t. Now after checking on the back is done, I can open up the box to see what’s inside. Although it only includes the USB Drive itself and the manual book, but at least not too much.

(7th, 8th, and 9th Images)

🇵🇷Me: And finally have a closer look of the USB Drive; with both Type-A and Lighting connectors. Also it includes both protective caps and a small hanger. So that’s nice some companies had those before. Hope that my P-pal @murumokirby360 is already appreciated. I’ll make sure to not lose both of them when sealing and unsealing.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Hope not, but good for having them sealed in protection. 👍

My thoughts:

🇵🇷Me: So far, I haven't touch to set up my USB Drive just yet, but I'm promised I'll get to that this month without rushing in. At least the unboxing part work out fine for starters. It had some of them I wanted, but nothing can hurt as I'll be reading through manual.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Mhm. We're getting there to set up his USB Drive to connect with his iPad device. So stay tuned for another part review to handle well.

🇵🇷Me: 👍🏼

My Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go USB 3.0 Drive (64 GB) - photos/pics made by myself; BryanVelasquez87 (Bryan360)

Tagged: @murumokirby360 @carmenramcat @alexander1301

[mondaysjournal]

7/9/2023 - Carbon Copies

Today, I went to Londonderry, New Hampshire. But I won't talk about that just yet, because there wasn't as much to talk about, and I'll just talk about my week first.

I think it was mostly uneventful, given that I can't really remember much of it. We had the day off on tuesday, so I went to some shawarma place downtown with khalil and ahmed for lunch. I didn't go and see the fireworks later because I wasn't too interested in them. Maybe next year we can go somewhere to see them together. No one was going to show up for magic club so I didn't go. On Thursday, I had some good wins, the first of which was with Shelob. I lost the second game with Sefris, but it was very close and could've flipped had I reanimated something else or done anything near the end in a different way, so that was fine. And then I had a pretty good nicol bolas game where I got to ultimate the dragon god for the win. I settled on a commander to make for your birthday. I won't tell you who it is, but it's someone that we never talked about more than once in passing, and it's in a color combo that I already have a deck in. It will probably be a lot more fun and powerful than that deck. I hope you like it...and don't mind a few of the cards being in japanese. I'll try and get the english copies whenever possible, though. On Saturday, I was planning on going to Londonderry, but instead I had to go to Metheun instead. The day before, a friend of mine from another universe needed help bringing back some kittens he adopted from the Nevin's Hill MSPCA to his place in Somerville. Their names are cloud burst and hurricane.

They screamed a lot on the ride back but they calmed down eventually. That took enough time that I decided to just make my trip today instead. Before I came back home I went to the nearest target for some stuff like oil and ziploc bags. Fortunately they were out of magic product, so I didn't buy any.

And then today, I went to Londonderry. I didn't take too many pictures as there wasn't much to take pictures of compared to Amesbury. It reminds me a lot like the suburbs of Albany, spread out with very little that was accessible by walking. Although, Albany has a dense urban core, something that I don't think there is in Londonderry. Maybe I had to go somewhere else to find that, though I wasn't interested in looking for it or going out of my way. I went to the flea market, which is open only on weekends from 8-3, and walked around for a bit. There were lots of people selling things like cheap jewelry, clothes, old dvds and cds, tools, cleaning supplies(?), paintings, coins...not much that caught my eye. I was considering buying maybe a necklace or a ring for you, but there wasn't really anything incredibly special, and I thought it better off for us to come back together one day and you could just pick stuff out that you'd want. There was this one guy who had magic cards (alongside baseball and pokemon cards), so I rooted through a box that was mostly dollar rares (as in, rares that aren't worth a dollar but you sell them for that much anyway) and ended up getting two copies of pestilence and a prosperous innkeeper. For whatever reason, he only charged me $2 for three cards. Technically I still overpaid since 4th edition pestilences are only about $.25 each. Before I left, I took a picture of the little pond that separated the two sides of the market:

And that's when I went to Awesome CCG. I don't think toy soldier games in Amesbury had a singles binder, but this place did, so I grabbed a few pieces for the deck I'm building you, sleeves, a few packs, and two cans of craft soda they had in their fridge. The packs did not have much in them. I guess Dawn of a New Age is a good enough pull, though I'm not sure what deck I could put it in. They had a LTR bundle for sale, but it was $140, and the one ring is not worth that much to me so I didn't get it. This is what the place looked like from the outside:

After that I bought a sandwich from a place in the same complex as the LGS, though I wanted to eat it outside, so I left. I looked for parks in the area, and the first place that came up was continental park. Unfortunately, the part with tables was behind a locked gate, so I just sat down on a large rock nearby to eat. This is where I was parked:

There was a little trail nearby that I decided to check out, though I didn't go very far since it was 80 degrees out, which is especially warm when you're wearing a lab coat. But these are some pictures of what it looked like going in.

I was probably only walking around for like, ten minutes. There was a little stream that led into some wetlands, but it was difficult to get a good shot of it.

The trail past this point didn't go very far into the woods, but I guess I did get to see a few things, like these mushrooms.

The big mushroom is me and the little one is you.

There was also a hole:

Someone probably lives in there, but I didn't want to disturb them so I didn't investigate. After that, I decided to leave. I don't think I would come back here alone, as there wasn't as much to see like in Amesbury. There are probably closer flea markets, too, but if you really are interested in this one, we can go. You already know that I would go anywhere with you. Next weekend, I'll be going...to Pawtucket, probably. I think it will be a nice change of pace from the verdant yet lifeless towns of the north. Hopefully I can find a nice present for you there. I love you so much.

[maliro-t]

this is maybe a weird ip combination, but i was talking to a friend yesterday about grief in tms5 compared  to w*nd*v*sion bc the most recent ep got me thinking (this is a pretty long post about the former, sorry).

So Vision says “What is grief, if not love persevering?”, which is such a great line, and really resonated with a lot of people, including myself, and it’s really maybe the crux of this series that has been imo a really great exploration of grief. The whole ep was so impactful for me, and I had a moment after where I just went. Huh. In an entire season, tm never said that once. I think there are moments where they come close- Alice and Hamish’s conversation about his wife maybe, or that one fleeting genuine moment between Eliot and Fen in 5.11, or we could rope in the mountain of ghosts if you really stretch, but I think all of those still miss that mark.

So like, they frame the whole season around grief, but they don’t really say anything about it, or tell a valuable story about it. It feels honestly like they spend most of their time treating it like an obstacle that needs to be overcome and like, what are they trying to say with that? That it sucks? Because I would say that in general, people know that! Or was it that people who DON’T get over it have some sort of pity-worthy-but-ultimately-condemnable character defect? Like I’m sure they were aiming more to show how different people process things in different ways, and that wallowing forever can destroy you, which is...true, and maybe half executed well, but it also doesn’t feel valuable (especially when their queer characters are disproportionately targeted by it), and seems like it tries to put an acceptable timeline on Getting Over It Completely which just kinda Sucks. It probably wouldn’t harp on it this much if they hadn’t been so up their own asses at sdcc trying to explain how important and worthwhile this kind of story was. 

It’s also part of why where Eliot ends up at the end of the season feels so heinous, because he really is in pretty much the same place he started; he’s the only character who really ISN’T given the opportunity to ‘overcome’ grief. Again I don’t even feel like that’s a valuable story, but he just feel so singled out and it fucking Sucks that even within their shitty framework he ends up kind of damned. I think the stuff with Charlton was supposed to counteract it a little- I maintain that he says some good things that sort of recognize why tdk stuff was maybe not great, and as much as I Hate this I do actually think those little mosaic parallels were Intentional as part of that. The way Eliot actually reacts though is so not indicative of growth or any actual healing- it feels more regressive, like s1 Eliot just kind of taking what’s being offered to him to cope, and it’s Weird and Sad, besides the whole thing just being laughable.

And like, for the record, I’ve said this a few times, but I am someone who is really glad they watched s5, and really didn’t agree with a lot of the issues people on here took with it. But that also doesn’t mean that it was actually good on the whole, and one of it’s main failures was...kind of the exact thing they apparently felt so strongly about they had to make a whole season for which just. ugh.

My main reaction after 5.03 aired (which I love, and am grateful for) was just. AGONY. I could not fathom why this story about so much pain (and specifically queer pain) was the one that they wanted to tell, and unfortunately by the end there just isn’t really enough pay off for it to be worth it. 

Anyways idk if any of this makes sense lol, I’m kind of rambling at this point and I don’t know if anyone who follows me even Watched season 5 besides like One (1) person lmao. I have more to say Always, even like a year after the fact.

[dragonslayer-5fanfiction]

Telling Them You're Bi 3

Okay, I am so excited for this!! This is my first request from @springday19! So it's like a day late and I'm sorry, but here's the next part of the series! It hasn't been heavily edited, so here we go.

Telling Them You're Bi 1

Telling Them You're Bi 2

Part 4

Tsukishima: You live in the house next to the Tsukishima’s. Being the same age as Kei, your parents pushed you two to be friends. However with Kei’s prickly nature it took a while before you would even consider you two friends. By the time you decided that you were in fact friends, you had developed feelings for him. However you decided it was best to keep your feelings to yourself. You thought you were doing a pretty good job until Yamaguchi said something about it to you. You almost keeled over in shock, when he said something, but that only gave you an outlet to gush.

After gushing to Yams one day, he finally had enough. He convinced you to confess to Kei. You were hesitant at first, but after talking it through with Yams, you decided to go for it. You caught him on his way to practise, and practically yelled it at him before bolting home. You told your family that if he came over, under no circumstances, that he was to be let in. You gave no explanation and ran to your room. Despite your instructions, they let him in anyway. He came up to your room and told you that he feels the same way. When he left that night he was your boyfriend.

Only a few weeks later, you texted him and invited him over on a Saturday when the rest of your family’s going to be out. As soon as your family left, you began your preparation for Kei. You went around the house pulling all the available chairs into your room. You set them up in three simple rows, and begin on the next part of your plan. You grabbed all of your stuffed animals, your sibling’s stuffed animals, and the pillows off the couch. Together you filled all the seats in your room.

You were anxiously waiting for Kei to arrive. So to busy yourself you flitted about your room picking off imaginary lint, and ‘straightening’ the already perfect chairs. You nearly jumped out of your skin when you heard three consecutive knocks sound from the front door.

“Co-coming!” You slid into the entryway, and jerked the door open. “Hi!” You watched his eyebrow raise in question at your abruptness. You moved to the side and motioned him in. He pressed a quick kiss to your temple before bending to take his shoes off.

“Is everything okay?”

“Wha-at? Why do you ask?” You cringed as your voice rose an octave. His face remained neutral, but you could tell he wasn’t impressed. “Yeah, yeah, everything’s okay. I’ve got everything ready for our study session in my room.” You brought your shaking hand up to point upstairs. “Um, let’s, let’s go.”

He followed silently behind you. You turned around when he didn’t enter your room, and found him standing at your doorway. He was taking the entire setup in, and trying to piece everything together.

“What-” He cut himself off as he looked at you.

“Sit, sit. Please, make yourself at home.” You wiped your sweating hands on your pants as he sat down in the only open chair. “WAit! Not that one!” You yelled as he went to put his backpack on the seat next to him. “That belongs to Mr. Squiggles.”

“Mr. Squiggles?”

“My imaginary friend.” You explained looking down.

“Imagin-”

“Shush!” You swatted at him and cleared your throat. “Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.” Letting out a sigh, you paused your speech. Kei turned to look behind him, only to find stuffed animals and couch pillows staring up at him. “Eyes up here sir.” You snapped your fingers.

“Sorry.” He muttered, turning around and fully focusing on you.

“So we have an important matter to discuss,” You pressed your shaking hands into fists. “I am Bi, and I understand that this might change our relationship.”

“Tch.” He stands up, clicking his tongue. “Why would that change our relationship?”

“Because you can’t trust me. It’s gross and unnatural. I’ve found that it’s really off putting for quite a few people.” You explained looking down at your feet.

“It’s off putting to small minded individuals. I am not a small minded individual. I still love you. I trust you whole-heartedly.”

“Really?” You asked hopefully.

“Really.” That confirmation is all that’s needed for the floodworks to break out and tears begin cascading down your face. “You are more tolerable than most, and I love you so much. Something like this, doesn’t change anything between us. I chose you and you chose me. Got it?” He asked, tilting your head to look at him. He shook his head and wiped the tears from your face.

“Got it. Now gimme a kiss.” You mumbled leaning up towards him. He watched you strain before giving in and meeting you in a kiss. You pulled away smiling like a fool, and he grunted before leaning in and peppering your face in kisses.

“I love you. Thank you for being in my life.” He paused looking away hoping that you wouldn’t see his blush, “now let’s study.”

Kenma: Upon your request Kenma began to play The Witcher 3. You have played through quite a bit of it yourself, but haven’t quite finished it. Despite this, you love to sit in and watch him play. At first you decide to give him some space while he plays, and lay on his bed. You mess around on your phone for a while, before getting bored. Instead you roll off the bed and crawl over to where Kenma is sitting. You wrap yourself around him like a baby koala. He hums in acknowledgement and gives your hand a quick squeeze. You turn and press a kiss below his ear before resting your head on his shoulder to watch him play. You watch him traipse through the countryside fighting wolves and bandits alike.

“Shit.” He huffs under his breath as a bandit gets the jump on him.

“Where’re ya headed?”

“To the Red Baron.”

“Mm, I hate him. He’s scum of the earth.” You hummed watching as he bolts into the fire in the barn. “Mm, look at how hot Geralt is.” You hum before closing your eyes. The sounds of the game are putting you to sleep. Your body slumps against Kenma a little more than usual, as the entrance of dreamland tempts you. You feel his body tense beneath you and crack an eye open. “Ciri,” you quietly cheer, “I love Ciri. This part you really get a feel for her abilities, not to mention she’s super hot!” Your eyes fall close again. “No offense, but I would leave you for both Ciri, and Geralt.”

“Fair.” He mutters to nobody as your breathing evens out, and you fall asleep. He plays through a couple more quests, as your words bounce around his head.

‘Leave me for both of them? Both of them hot? Does…does that mean what I think it means? I shouldn’t assume. I should ask them, though I am curious.’ He took a deep breath, trying to calm his thoughts. ‘Does this mean that they will leave me?’ He shakes his head and pauses the game. He gently nudges you. You groan and tighten your hold on him, but your breathing remains even. He sighs and nudges you again. You finally wake up with a groan.

“Ugh, Kenma..” You whine. “What is it?”

“I have a question, it’s about earlier.” He mumbles, keeping his eyes downcast.

“What about earlier?” You ask slowly coming to your senses.

“You called both Ciri and Geralt hot, and you said that you would leave me for both of them.”

“I said that?” You turn to look at the side of his face. “Does it bother you?”

“No, I was just wondering…” He cuts himself off from continuing.

“Wondering what love?” You ask, crawling in front of him. He kept his eyes downcast so you cupped his face, trying to get him to look at you.

“If, if it means that you’re gay?” His cheeks redden under your hands, and you smile to yourself.

“If I’m gay?” You echoed and he nodded shyly. “Well, yeah, kinda. I guess.”

“Kinda? How is it kinda?” He looks up at you genuinely curious.

“Well, I’m actually Bisexual.” You explain.

“Bisexual?”

“Bisexual. So I like both males and females.”

“Oh, okay.” He turns back to the TV and picks the controller up.

“Okay?! That’s all you have to say?” You ask arching your eyebrow.

“Um, thank you for telling me. I love you, no matter what.” He actually looked up and made direct eye contact with you.

“I love you too.”

“Do you maybe want to play something with me?” He asks, holding out the extra controller for you.

“I’d love to.” You say grabbing the controller from him.

“I really do love you, ya know?” You turn to him, turn toward him with a small smile and fiery blush gracing your features.

Suna: You haven’t had a lot of time with Suna lately due the team training for Nationals. It’s simply been brief greetings in the hallway, quick kisses before practise, and goodnight texts long after you’ve gone to sleep. These brief moments aren’t enough, and you’re really beginning to miss your boyfriend dearly. Thankfully he’s invited you over to spend the weekend with him. You agreed much to his delight and his sister’s chagrin.

“You’re here!” She yelled once she bullied her way past Suna.

“Hey, wait your turn!” He growls shoving her out of the way. You watch her cross her arms and huff. She turns to you with wobbly lips and glossy eyes, before turning back to her brother.

“Th-that hurt ‘Taro!” She whines.

“Rin!” You quietly scold exasperated. You pull his sister into a hug, “Aw, sweetie, you’re okay.” Her lip stops wobbling as she hugs you even tighter.

“Hey.” Rin ripped her from your arms. You gaped at him. “She stuck her tongue out at me. The little brat’s trying to take you away from me!” He pouted at you.

“Am not!” His sister butts in and declares.

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am NOt!” She’s getting more hysterical, the more Rin insists.

“Yes, you are! Don’t lie. They’re mine.” Rin says pulling you closer to him.

“Well, it’s not fair. You steal them away!” She wears an identical pout and stomps her foot.

“In case you forgot, they were mine first.” You pull away from Rin and step between them before the fight escalates anymore.

“Sweetie, you two don’t need to fight. I’m going to be here all weekend, so we’ll have plenty of time to hang out. Okay?” You ask, cupping her face.

“But I want to spend time with you now.”

“Tomorrow. I’m going to spend time with your brother now, so he’s not cranky later. We don’t like when he’s cranky do we?” You pinch her cheek and she laughs. You smile standing up and tugging Rin away from her. When your back is turned he twists and sticks his tongue out at her. He hustles you into his room and flops onto the bed trapping you beneath him.

“Missed this.” He mumbles into your neck. You giggle and card your fingers through his hair.

“Missed this too.” He nuzzles further into your neck and you laugh as his breath tickles you. “Rin, are you just gonna lay there all night?”

“Yesh.” It’s muffled by your skin. You shake your head and manage to wiggle your phone out of your pocket. You check on Rin, before opening your phone. Your thumb hovers over your phone screen before deciding to check your Instagram notifications. You’re scrolling through when Rin suddenly sits up, knocking the phone from your hand.

“Wanna watch a movie later?” He asks as he picks your phone up and hands it to you. “Who’s this?” He asks seeing the person on your screen.

“Sure. Oh, that’s just an old friend. They’re hot aren’t they?” You say turning your phone so he has a better view. “It’s a good thing I’m not straight.”

“What?!” He asks, sitting up fully. He has an excited look in his eye as he waits for your answer.

“Oh, um well yeah. I guess I have something to tell you.” You pause, biting your lip and looking at him. “I’m Bisexual.” He smiles down at you and you scrunch your fingers tightly in the back of his shirt.

“Oh Baby!” He cups your cheeks tilting your head to look at him. He has such a loving look on his face that it makes you blush.

“Yes?”

“I am so proud of you. So,” kiss, “so,” kiss, “proud,” kiss kiss, “of you baby!” Your eyes fill with tears as love pours from every touch, caress, and look he gives you. “I am so lucky to call you mine. This doesn’t change anything between us, so put that thought out of your pretty little head.” He smiles a little wider watching you look away in embarrassment. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I thank the gods daily.” He caresses your face, before pushing a stray hair away.

“R..Rin…” Your voice shakes as you cup the hand holding your face. “You have no idea what this means to me.” You say as tears stream down your face. “Your Unconditional love means the world to me.” He wipes your tears as they continue to cascade down your face.

“Baby, it’s so easy to love someone who has nothing but love to give.” he explains pressing kisses to your eyes, nose then, lips. “Does this mean that we can simp over people together?” He asks with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Rin!” you explain swatting his chest, with a laugh. “I love you so much.”

“I love you just as much, if not more. I am so thankful to have you in my life.” He whispers, pressing one more kiss to your lips. “Now, let’s watch a movie.” He says plopping back down on you.

[wasabito]

➽ corruption collab masterlist — hosted by @ultimate-astridwriting and @bummie ♥️

➽ note: definitely gonna come back and edit this a bit more because threesomes are hard as fuck, no pun intended lmao happy v-day everyone!

➽ word count: 3.2k

➽ cw/tags: polyamory + body worship + threesome + praise kink + public sex + choking + handjobs/fingering + vaginal sex + squirting + established relationship

➽ pairing: akaashi x fem!reader x bokuto

💿 1. nasty — ariana grande || 2. come on — jhene aiko

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, it becomes rather apparent that love and romance are in the air. Storefronts are decorated in bubblegum pinks and reds. Flower shops promote their special bouquet arrangements at discounted prices. Even your favorite hole in the wall coffee shop has fallen prey to the spirit of cupid as they announce their new strawberry shortcake dessert and heart-shaped scones.

In lieu of staying home for the third night this week, your boyfriends escort you to dinner at an upscale restaurant in the city. They treat you to a five-course meal and a bottle of wine even pricier than the dinner itself. One would think, after three years of dating, you would no longer be caught unawares by their spontaneity. And yet, here they are, once again pulling the rug from underneath your four-inch heels.

Your gaze flickers from Akaashi's tranquil smile to Bokuto's wide grin.

Adjusting the napkin in your lap, you open your mouth to speak, then pause as the right words fail it come. Brain short-circuiting instead, you let out a confused, "Huh?!"

"We're taking you to Italy!" Bokuto repeats, about ready to hop out of his seat with excitement. He looks to Akaashi, "Three nights in Venice, right 'Kaashi?"

"Yes, we decided on Venice after you told us you'd always wanted to visit. Remember Koutarou's birthday last year?"

"But that was like months ago! Did you two honestly hold onto that drunk little confession this entire time?"

"Of course."

"Yup!!"

It's in moments like these when you are reminded of their history together, first as teammates playing volleyball, and eventually close friends. Not much longer after that, you'd met and fallen for Akaashi, then Bokuto, and thus began the relationship of today. While you find it a little ridiculous, it seems neither of them has any qualms about this trip.

After all, you are their lovely girlfriend. Why wouldn't they want to make your wishes come true?

Bokuto claps his hands, eyes sparkling. "Everything's already planned out, babe, so don't worry your pretty little head, okay?"

You can't argue with that. Reaching over, you take Bokuto's hand in your right and Akaashi's in your left. "Alright, since you two went to all this trouble for me, I guess I'll just sit back and enjoy it."

♥️

Venice is just as beautiful as you imagined.

It looks as if it's floating upon blue-green waters with lots of sunshine, beautiful architecture, and a vibrancy that makes it feel like the city has a life of its own. You are grateful you didn't come by yourself. There is no way you would've enjoyed it without Akaashi and Bokuto at your side.

"We're about a ten-minute walk from Piazza San Marco," Akaashi says as he taps his glasses. His sharp gaze is locked on the map in his hands, likely committing most landmarks and details to memory. "Would you like to check it out?"

"Yeah! Let's do it."

"Off we go, go, go!"

Thus, a majority of your first day in Venice is spent sightseeing.

The three of you take a gondola ride through Canale Grande, then have a peek into the Gallerie Dell'Accademia at Akaashi's insistence, though naturally, you wouldn't have come all the way to Italy and not visited at least one art museum. Afterward, the three of you go to the Le Mercerie shopping district and buy gifts for your friends before finally taking a pit stop for the most delicious gelato in the city.

The sunsets sooner than expected, casting the entire block in deep red hues. Bokuto's mood is greatly influenced by it, and the jetlag certainly doesn't help. He props himself against you, nuzzling you in a way that says he's itching for a kiss.

"Tired, Kou?"

Bokuto hums. "A little... More hungry than anything."

He leans in and pecks your lips with a sated smile. "Maybe I should eat you. I mean, how is it my girl's so damn cute? Not fair, I can't resist."

You snort at Bo's silliness but can't help shivering a little at the tiny implication of his words. He always did like to lay his head on your thighs, leaving a trail of kisses and love bites where he could.

So, the thought of him eating you out made you squeeze your thighs together.

Akaashi approaches with your frozen treats held between his long fingers; having overheard Bokuto earlier, he tucks his wallet back into his pocket.

"We'll get some dinner after we drop off these shopping bags. How does that sound?"

You eagerly take your gelato from him with a smile.

"Sounds like a plan."

Akaashi nods, standing at your other side, close enough to brush elbows though not as close as Bokuto, who was nearly hovering.

The three of you are in one of the narrow, maze-like streetways, basking in the warm, early evening glow. The sweet taste of fruit and cream on your tongue fills you with so much contentment, especially while being with your favorite people. You aren't sure if anything could top the way you currently felt, and the trip has just barely started.

Upon arriving at your temporary place of residence, a quaint little villa on the waterfront just along the shore of Punta Sabbioni Beach, Bokuto immediately kicks off his sandals, dumps the bags, and promptly falls asleep on the couch.

"It's so weird seeing Kou like this." You remark. "On any normal day, he's brimming with almost too much energy, but now he's all tired."

"Well, he did stay up an entire twelve hours on the plane. It was only a matter of time before fatigue caught up to him." Akaashi picks up Bokuto's shoes with practiced ease and places them by the others.

There is a fond smile running along the edges of his mouth as he tucks a throw around the man's larger frame. You help him adjust a spare pillow under Bo's head and then set off to explore the rest of the area.

It seemed like everything about Venice was taken straight out of a romance film, with its cobblestone paths, gothic cathedral architecture, crisp ocean waters, and authentic Italian cuisine. It is no wonder the city's known to draw hapless souls together in romance. Even you fell subject to it, and by each passing moment, you crave to be with your boyfriends.

You are standing at the balcony overlooking the beach, satisfied with your inspection of the villa when Akaashi comes to stand behind you. He holds onto the railings, caging you in his arms, and rests his chin on your shoulder.

"He was right, you know." He murmurs. "You do look good enough to eat."

Blunt as ever. Apparently, something's never change.

Though one might say that Akaashi is as he's always been after high school and college, there is no denying his boost in confidence. After all, he had landed not one but two rather attractive partners.

He kisses your cheek, then your jaw, before latching onto your neck.

The sun's scenic view on the horizon, reflecting upon the beach sands of gold and shimmering orange waves, makes for an excellent backdrop.

You turn to face Akaashi and pull him into a heated kiss. His lips convey a sense of devotion to you, and with each press of them against yours, you can feel just how bad he's yearning for more.

"Kei," you whisper. "Let's go inside."

In a moment, Akaashi whisks you off your feet quite similar to how Bokuto would, though you both don't even make it to the bedroom.

Your other partner had sat up on the sofa, hair flat on one side, scrubbing his eyelids.

"Guys, I'm freaking starving!" Bokuto groans. "Let's get some food or something."

He doesn't even notice how you and Akaashi are breathing heavy or how your clothes are sporting wrinkles that were not previously there. Regardless, Akaashi has food delivered while you went ahead to shower the day's journey away. There are still two days left. You'd get your chance with them at some point.

♥️

Sadly, the entirety of day two is spent indoors. Heavy sheets of rain continue to fall, muddying the shoreline. The three of you huddle on the sofa wrapped in blankets with subtitled movies playing in the background.

Even though you would've much rather been out exploring in the city, just sharing in your boyfriend's warmth would suffice for now. Akaashi hands you a steaming cup of something rich in both color and smell.

"What's this?"

"Just espresso." He takes the empty seat beside you.

You savor the taste while leaning against his shoulder. "Mm, nice."

Bokuto keeps his head on your lap, loving how you thread your fingers into his hair.

It is a tranquil kind of peace that soon lulls you to sleep.

Later, when you finally wake up, it's dark, and you're alone. A blanket had been tucked around your shoulders to shield you from the sudden chill. At some point, the television had been shut off along with every light in the room. You might've been a little scared if not for the voices coming from the second floor. Slowly, you creep up the winding staircase, dragging along the blanket around your shoulders.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Bokuto chuckles. "You're finally up!"

His hair is down, wet from his shower, and he holds a thin towel together around his waist. In his hand is a cellphone, and he doesn't hesitate to shove the screen into your face. "Say hi, Tetsu!"

"Hi Y/N, how's it going?"

You blink slowly, still trying to wake yourself up.

"Kuroo, hey… I'm well. How are you?"

"Great, just about to head out for a late lunch. I hear it's almost ten pm over there."

"Yeah, it's an eight-hour time difference."

You and Kuroo continue to chat while Bokuto towels off his hair and puts on clothes. Afterward, you let Bokuto resume his conversation and join Akaashi on the bed. The man had gone full editor-mode with his glasses propped up in his hair as he read through some work documents.

When you approach, he greets you with a kiss on the cheek. "You look well-rested."

"Is that your way of telling me I have drool on my cheek, Keiji?"

He cracks a tiny smile, eyes taking in your features, then he pokes your cheek with his index finger. "Perhaps."

You scrub the corners of your mouth with your sleeve and drape yourself over Akaashi, work be damned. This was supposed to be a special weekend for relaxing.

"I really wanted to go to the beach today." You pout.

Akaashi interlocks his fingers with yours. "Maybe we still can. It stopped raining a few hours ago."

"Really?!"

You hop off the bed and head for the window. He's right, the rain had long stopped, and the beach lay bare, lit by only the moonlight.

Maybe a short walk to the beach would do you some good.

♥️

The grains of sand feel cold against your feet without the sun to beat down on them, but you don't complain. The air is humid enough on its own that you forgo wearing actual clothes and instead wear a swimsuit along with Bokuto's old Fukurōdani windbreaker.

You walk along the shore, toes digging into the sand, letting the ocean waves lap at your feet to wash them clean again.

At first, it's so eerily quiet without a soul around except you, but even that doesn't last long. You hear Bokuto's voice bellow into the night as he jogs towards you in nothing but swim trunks. Behind him, Akaashi trails slowly after with a blanket in hand.

"We thought you might want some company." He says and spreads the cover on the sand several feet away from the water, content with just watching.

Bokuto grabs your hand and you go running to the water with him, but a second later, you both come sprinting back.

"It's freezing!"

"S-So co-co-cold!"

You collapse on top of him, fingers splayed across his bare chest. However, when you try to sit up, Bokuto has other plans. He keeps you pressed to his chest with both arms around your waist.

"Let me keep you warm, baby!"

You know he meant it in the most innocent way, but you can't help but think other thoughts. Your nerves fray at the image that blooms in your head and spreads like wildfire.

And as Akaashi strokes your back, you know he's probably read your mind.

It's the way your eyes seem to glitter with want that gives it away. Akaashi has always been rather observant, and so your silent cues are something he's always been privy to.

His nimble fingers curve around the nape of your neck, and he tilts his head to capture your lips in a kiss. This one is unlike the one from yesterday. There is no rush, no desire to quicken his haste; instead, he savors the taste of you like it's something to be thoroughly enjoyed.

Underneath you, Bokuto stirs, growing aroused at the sight of his two lovers' kiss. He can't decide whether he wants to join in or sit back and watch. But his large hand comes down to stroke your ass, resulting in a moan you breathe directly into Akaashi's mouth.

"You're not usually so forthcoming, Keiji," you whisper against his lips. "Eager, are we?"

Akaashi pulls away just enough to pepper your face in feathery kisses. "Can you blame me? When I have such a lovely girlfriend here."

As if confirming his words, he slips a hand under your jacket and cups your breast. The pads of his thumb brush along the seams of your bathing suit, caressing your nipple.

"Kou, let's show Y/N just how much we love her, yes?"

Bokuto didn't need to be told twice. He had been in entranced by you and Akaashi, completely taken by the way your lips danced upon one another. But now, he wanted more than anything to touch you, kiss you, hold you.

Bokuto cradles you in his lap, propping your legs open with his knees so Akaashi can kneel in front of you. It didn't take much for him to relieve you of your clothing, namely your swimming bottoms. But the second the air hits your bare cunt, you feel tense.

You aren't sure what it was, but the atmosphere is different. Both Akaashi and Bokuto are so focused on you, it feels like you're under a spotlight.

"You're so pretty, so beautiful," Bokuto says while squeezing your thighs. His warm breath tickles your ear as he presses his nose into your neck. Next, his lips follow suit. "Wanna fuck you, so bad baby. You'd like that, right?"

His words earn him a chuckle from Akaashi, who merely licks two of his fingers, wetting them and sliding into you. Your mouth parts, shaky breaths barely expelled from your lungs. You're hyper-aware of the fact that you're literally being fingered on a beach in the middle of the night, and you can't bring yourself to care. It feels good to be pampered by the two men you love.

For every moan, Akaashi gives you double for your efforts, thrusting his fingers just right, curving them in such a way that has your back arching off Bokuto, who has also taken to fondling your nipples. With every roll of his hips, you feel his cock against your ass, and it pushes you further into Akaashi's fingers.

Your impending orgasm sweeps by so close and yet so far away. All you can do is rock yourself faster.

"Please," you whimper. "W-Wanna come."

Akaashi crooks his fingers, pressing into the perfect spot that sends you hurtling over the edge. Your cunt spasms around his fingers, clenching in intervals you have no control over until his hand is coated with your wet, slick juices that keep coming the more you squirt all over him.

"She's so wet 'Kaashi. Look at our pretty girl."

Akaashi places a chaste kiss on your forehead with a smile.

"She's doing well, so far. Let's see if she can keep going."

Bokuto shimmies his shorts off enough to free his hard cock. He had been uncharacteristically patient until now, but that was soon to change as he lines himself up with your cunt, teasing you with just the tip.

Your whining is unintelligible, but both men understand you more or less.

"Give the pretty girl what she wants," Akaashi says. He strokes his own hard-on at the sight of Bokuto's pushing past your wet folds. "I know she can take more than that."

Bokuto has always been girthy, and it takes you more than a few seconds to adjust to his size, but when you finally do, it feels like heaven.

The position you're in gives Bokuto all the power to thrust into you like a ragdoll. But it's only when you make eye contact with Akaashi that you realize that it's, in fact, the other way around for him in particular. From where he sits, stroking his cock with flushed cheeks and choked moans, you see just how much control you have over him.

"Kiss me." You moan.

Akaashi doesn't let you repeat yourself. He kisses you long and hard even as you grip his throat with one hand and his hair with the other. He kisses you until his lips are red and bruised.

"Good boy. Both of y-you."

Bokuto groans loudly. "Say it again. Keep saying it!"

"Y-You're both so good. I-" your hips stutter against Akaashi's fingers that are rubbing circles into your clit. "Good, so good-"

That's all it takes to take Bokuto over the edge, blowing his load. "Perfect, so fucking perfect."

You can feel another orgasm swelling up inside your belly. You try to tell them but can't, too overcome by the feeling of your body tingling with desire. It's too much, overwhelmingly so; your vision blurs with unshed tears as Bokuto continues to pound into sopping pussy. Pleasure floods every fiber of your being until you're limp and every nerve in your body is set alight.

Bokuto slips out of you easily, a string of his semen following.

You can only look on in a drowsy haze as Bokuto leans over and kisses you and then Akaashi, working him over with a tight fist.

♥️

The following morning, you’re the first to wake, but only because there’s a limb jammed into your back and a heavy weight on your chest. It takes you a moment to realize, but it’s Bokuto’s elbow poking you and Akaashi’s head resting on you.

All three of you are a tangle of limbs in bed, but you aren’t sure how you’d gotten there.

“G’mornin’” Bokuto breathes. His lips caress the column of your neck.

“Morning.”

You shift into a more comfortable position. Though doing so presses Akaashi’s morning wood against your thigh.

“Keiji, you awake yet?”

“Mmm barely.” Akaashi looks up at you through his lashes, then smiles and nuzzles closer into your chest.

Bokuto, content with being your big spoon, reaches over to touch Akaashi, hands cupping his cheek. “It’s Valentine’s Day!”

“That’s true, should we do something special.”

Thinking about the previous night, you feel desire stirring in your gut. “Could we just... do it again?”

Both men look to each other then back at you, sporting matching smiles.

“Why not?”

[msmarvelouswinchester]

Love In Sin

Chapter 9

Summary - Special Agent Winchester is forced to go undercover with his frenemy Special Agent L/N when they try to track down a notorious drug dealer. How will Y/N and Dean complete their task? Will their relationship worsen or will new feelings emerge between them?

Pairing - AU!Detective Dean Winchester x Reader

Warning - None, Fluff-ish

Word Count - 1.5k

Square Filled - Clothes Sharing ( @spndeanbingo )

A/N 1 - Surprise, this series lives! So, it has been a loooong time. I wasn't originally planning to post this part today but my college is killing me and I am hardly getting any writing (and reading) done. This was already done and edited so I finally decided to post this today.

A/N 2 - This may seem like a filler chapter but it's not, trust me. It's a very important chapter which plays a crucial part in the next chapters. ENJOY!

Beta'd by the absolute sweetheart @deanwanddamons <3<3

Divider by @firefly-graphics

Series Masterlist

Groaning loudly, Dean dropped his head as you paced around the room, complaining for the hundredth time that night.

“Will you stop?” He grumbled. You came to a halt when you heard his words and turned to look towards him. Throwing a glare his way you continued your pacing .

“Y/N/N, stop it. This isn't going to solve our problem - it'll only annoy the tenants downstairs,” he said and got up from his chair.

“What are we supposed to do? My pacing around is definitely not helping neither is your what, fourth glass of whiskey,” you retorted.

“Third,” Dean said, “this is my third glass and I'm tryin’ to get drunk.”

“We ended up in this situation because we were slacking and this is exactly what we are doing again,” you raised your voice, regretting your decision to stay at Dean’s house with him, “if you won't even try to get out of this situation, I'll be going back to my house tomorrow.”

“You won't stay alone in that house until we catch that son of a bitch,” he said, setting his glass and walking over to you, “it's dangerous.”

You knew it was dangerous considering how the house you had rented in Kansas was destroyed when you had gone back to get your belongings - furniture was thrashed, utensils were broken and clothes were torn, but nothing was stolen. It was clear that Crowley's men were trying to send you a sign to leave their boss alone.

It was Bobby who suggested that staying alone and travelling a few kilometres everyday to discuss the proceedings of the case would be a bad idea since Crowley and Co. were waiting for the perfect opportunity to cause disruption in the case. And knowing how ruthless Crowley could be, murder and kidnapping didn't seem like a far-fetched option for him.

Dean had piped up saying it would be better to stay at his house since he had noticed your house had a weak security system. His other reason was that he had a car, unlike you.

Needless to say, you had reluctantly agreed to stay with the green eyed detective, but deep down inside, you knew that staying with Dean gave you a sense of security and you didn't want to let that go.

“We will figure a way out,” he said, standing a little too close to you.

“How?” You asked the obvious question.

“I have contacted my brother. He will be working as our lawyer to get them to drop the charges. Sammy will be here early morning tomorrow,” he said, removing a stray piece of hair from your face, “but you gotta cool down, sweetheart. Give that pretty little head of yours a little rest.”

“I-I can't. I am freaking out Dean,” you said.

“I know. You have almost bore a hole in the ground by your pacing,” you hit his arm lightly, making him chuckle, “I'm thinkin’ about the case too.”

“Is Sam-will he be able to….this is a critical one,” you mumbled, looking down at the floor.

“I have faith in my brother and he can go to hell and back to save me just like I can. Sammy will do anything to help us. Trust me,” he said, putting a finger under your chin, prompting you to look up at him. He leaned in and placed a kiss on your forehead. This simple act worked like a sedative and you calmed down a bit.

“Join me for a drink,” Dean said and strolled his way back to the couch. You followed him and took a seat beside him. Pouring a drink, he handed you the glass.

“One drink. Only.” You said.

“Alright.”

“Who do you think might be the mole?” you asked, taking a sip of your drink

“It can be anyone. Charlie, Kevin, Bobby, Rufus-”

“Ruby, you,” he nodded, “me.”

“Like I said, it could be anyone,” Dean said.

“Motive?”

“Depends.”

“Do you think we can prove our innocence?” You asked, “the cops kinda caught us red handed and-”

“It's….tough.” Dean said and jumped out of his seat, knocking over the tumbler of ice.

You tilted your head in confusion, furrowing your eyebrows.

“What?” You insisted.

“A few years back, when we were only fledglings in the bureau, Rufus Turner was working Crowley’s case. This information was in the case file that Bobby gave to us. He had arrested two men in his gang but by the time they had got to know about that dick, they had already lost him. He had escaped the feds again,” he explained, flailing his arms all around in excitement.

“Maybe we can find out who those two men were and interrogate them about Crowley,” you said, smiling a little for the first time that night, knowing you had a lead.

“Now all we need is access to those two men's files. FBI is not gonna help us so we have to take matters in our own hands. I’ll call Ash and ask him to find those,” Dean said and ran back to his room to get his phone.

“Ash? What about Charlie?” You asked, when he came back to the room, “And shouldn't you tell Sam first? He is our lawyer and he should be informed about this.”

“It's not like we are gonna interrogate a witness and Ash is a good friend of mine. He is not a fed whereas Charlie works at the bureau and right now we can't trust anyone who works there because we don't know who might be working as a two-faced devil and ratting us out to the God of the Underworld,” Dean said, dialing Ash’s number.

“Ash,” he said when the said man picked up the phone after a few rings.

“Listen, we are kind of in a tricky situation here-oh you heard….not really, we got one week….no it won't….I know you're a busy man, Ash,” Dean said, rolling his eyes, “but we need your help….yeah….the thing is we need access to the old case files related to the drug mafia Crowley….yeah I know that genius….can't you-fine….I owe you one.”

“So?” You asked, hoping for good news.

“Ash will let us know by morning,” he said.

“Can we trust him?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” you reached for the bottle of whiskey.

“What do you think you're doing?” Dean asked, raising his brow.

“Relaxin’,” you shrugged, “you should try to relax sometimes.”

“You think you're such a smartass, huh?” He said and plopped down on the couch beside you, making you giggle.

“Thanks for tonight, Winchester,” you turned towards your friend.

“For what? For helping you calm down when you were running around like a headless chicken?” He smirked.

“Shut up,” you grumbled, “you know what I mean.”

“I'm here for you. We're in this shit together and I promise to get us out of this mess,” he said as you moved closer to him.

“And I have faith in you.” He pulled you closer and kept your head on his shoulder. He hummed in response. You closed your eyes, sighing loudly, but the sweet moment of coziness was interrupted quickly.

Your eyes flew open, “You son of a bitch, Winchester! Way to ruin a moment! How dare you put ice in my sweatshirt?” Dean laughed out loud.

“First of all, that's my sweatshirt you are wearing and you were looking too peaceful with your head on my shoulder,” he laughed.

“Fuck you!” You growled, and hit his arm hard.

“Ow!” He rubbed his arms. Dean effectively dodged your second attack, “woah, easy there tiger.” By now you were laughing too. As your laughter died down, you looked at Dean and saw him smiling softly at you. You blushed furiously under his strong gaze.

“You hungry?” Dean asked, clearing his throat.

“Uh-huh. Kinda forgot about food today until now.” You said, diverting your eyes.

“I'm thinking about ordering pizza. You okay with that?” He asked.

“Sure.” You said.

Half an hour later, as you were enjoying the delicious pizza and watching some crappy tv trying to put a break on the racing thoughts, you heard Dean speak.

“About earlier,” he sighed.

“Oh yeah. You better be sorry Winchester,” you gave him an annoyed look.

“No, I'm not sorry for that. It was fun,” he laughed.

“No it wasn't,” you said, but failed to hide the smile threatening to take over your face.

“It made you smile,” he pointed out.

“Fine, you're forgiven,” you said as Dean gave you a cheeky grin.

“In all seriousness, what I said earlier, I meant it. I promise to get us out of this mess,” he said, leaning down to give you a chaste kiss on your cheek, your skin tingling with an unknown sensation.

“I know,” you said, “I think I should go to bed now. We have a long day ahead of us.” Dean nodded as you got up and made your way over to his guest room.

Let me know if you want to be tagged in the series!

Feedback is highly appreciated!

[bird-in-a-cage]

#42 from the prompt list... I mean I'm sorry but... I NEED TO SEE THAT.

Wow, am I sorry this took so long! This was a tough prompt but, thanks to @cockasinthebird for being a wonderful human being, we got through it. So I hope this was worth the wait!

Prompt list is here if anyone wants to throw a prompt at me!

#42: “I didn’t say “sex party” as in orgy.  I said “hex party” as in witches.”

So far, college had been okay. It was as hard and challenging as Steve had expected, but he was getting on almost well. He had to spend a lot of time studying in the library, reading and re-reading source materials, typing, editing, deleting and starting all over again with essays and assignments sure. But it was different from high school, on a deep level he wanted to be here, amongst the old stone buildings that either held no heat at all or far too much depending on the weather outside, surrounded by people who also shared a passion for learning. It was different to focus on what he wanted to learn instead of just having to cram a little bit of everything into his brain everyday.

Turns out, if he was just allowed to go a little slower and take his time, he wasn’t as dumb as everyone back home at thought.

He’d gotten into college by the skin of his teeth, pulling far too many all nighters and living off five hour energy to drag his grades up when it was almost too late, pulling in every favour he had to retake anything below a C with nothing but a prayer and a pleading smile, somehow managing to not go completely insane in the process. Getting a 3 point grade average at graduation had been nothing short of a miracle. He wanted to say his parents had nothing to do with his acceptance into quite a nice school, but in reality Steve knew they probably greased a palm or two. Maybe helped pay for the new set of band uniforms that were recently unveiled.

The college itself was beautiful. Steve had fallen for it on his first visit. Old stone buildings, a large green campus area, a good surrounding community, regular activities and groups to go meet up with and try different things with now he was getting out of small town Hawkins and away from being stuck in what he knew. 

There was something a bit…odd about the college though. Steve would be sat in the library, for example, finishing up a comparison piece when he would hear the telltale low battery beep from his headphones. He always forgot to bring a charger. He knew it was on his nightstand back in the dorm room, wrapped around the drawer handle so he wouldn’t forget to lift it this time, so it was pointless checking his bag for it. He would go to pack his things away, open up his slouchy backpack and there it would be, his exact one because he’d wrapped a piece of green tape around it when his roommate kept stealing it and swearing blind he hadn’t, laying curled around his water bottle..

That wasn’t the only example though. Things would just appear when he was looking for them. Books he needed from a completely different section would just happen to be on the shelf he was currently looking at. If a flavour of soda was sold out at a vending machine, he would pick another, but the one he originally wanted would tumble out, ice cold and somehow impossibly refreshing. None of them were a major inconvenience by far, but it was just odd. 

The only small downside to the college of his dreams is that he forgot to investigate anything about the fraternities and sororities. Steve didn’t really have any desire to be in any frat even if offered, they were just houses for boys to pretend not to be at least a little bicurious as they bumped into each other all sweaty playing sports, using basketball as an excuse to touch each other’s muscles. Flat out no homo-ing each other. Steve was out and proud at college, didn’t need an excuse anymore other than “you’re hot, you wanna?”. The days of bi-panic and needing a thinly veiled excuse such as helping someone he thought was cute off the ground in the middle of a match were long gone.  Steve had been to a couple of frat parties, naturally, everyone did. They were kinda fun if you hung around outside away from the thick, choking air of sexual tension that was threatening to bubble over at any minute.

Everyone knew frat houses were just potential orgy dens, right?

There was one frat house though, just off campus and to the right a little, that gave off a weird vibe. The Omega House. It didn’t look that special, had dark grey panelling on the outside, windows trimmed in white, the omega symbol on the outer wall above the door painted in silver that reflected the sunlight and looked almost like real silver. Like the college itself, it was just odd. As far as Steve could tell it didn’t have many members, only four, as far as he’d counted, would walk around in blazing orange letterman jackets with that emblem stitched into the back and a smaller one on the front right breast. He didn’t know what majors they took, probably all on sports scholarships with how stacked a couple of them looked, and one liked to hang around the library. Always in sunglasses even indoors, tight jeans to combat the slightly too big jacket. Blonde hair shaved at the sides but longer on top, not wildly long but just enough for natural loose curls to develop.

Not that Steve had been looking at how handsome he was at all.

Thinking about it, he seemed to always be around when the odd things happened. When there would suddenly be a spare chair even though all the tables were packed with other students trying to do their work, a fresh stack of post it notes in Steve’s bag when he needed to write an annotation down quickly, a newly sharpened pencil just happening to be on the floor by his feet when he’d lost his before class. The rain suddenly starting as soon as Steve got into a building when he’d forgotten an umbrella like it was waiting for him to be safe and dry.

There was just something weird about the whole thing. Not enough for him to freak out and want to go home though, no way. He could deal with weird and slightly odd far better than being stuck in a town going nowhere, where his only future was getting a job in his father’s company and a wife he didn’t love, cranking out a couple kids after a year of so and slowly but surely morphing into a mirror image of the man he lowkey despised.

Even the thought of that was horrifying. It was bad enough that genetically they might look similar one day. Hopefully many, many years in the future. When plastic surgery was cheap.

The library was quiet when Steve entered. Of course it was, it was a Friday night. There were a number of parties and gatherings happening all over the place, but this week he’d promised himself to be good. Study now and party later. He’d been invited to a glow paint, totally-not-a-rave party happening just outside of town that he was pretty excited for. He’d been focusing hard on his studies so it was time to let off some steam. And maybe that steam had been building for quite some time cause ol’ Lefty wasn’t doing the trick anymore, mashing his face into a pillow in the dead of night, furiously jacking off under a blanket and praying his roommate didn’t wake up or come back soon. And, maybe sometimes, Steve thought about that cute blonde in the Omega House jacket and how good it would be to see those thick lips all slick and swollen wrapped around his cock. Really those thoughts were just between him and God, who he hoped wasn’t paying attention most of the time he was alone in his room.

Steve found the spot he liked, towards the back facing towards the window where he couldn’t be distracted by people walking in, and pulled his laptop and the well annotated copy of Dracula he was working from. His half finished essay sat on the screen, cursor blinking at him accusingly, demandingly even. He sighed at it and opened up to the page he was last working from when the chair next to him was pulled out. Not even one or two over, obeying the unspoken rule of the Personal Study Bubble. No, the very next chair. Steve could see orange reflected on his screen. He frowned slightly and turned to just give a passing glance, hoping for a the fuck? expression, when he saw staggeringly blue eyes staring back, nestled into tan freckled skin, natural curls just reaching down into the field of view. The regular sunglasses had been tucked up into the neck of a black tee. The back of Steve’s neck felt instantly hot as he looked away, hoping for a moment he hadn’t been seen, but that was impossible. He was right there.

“Hey, haven’t seen you around before. Must be in the same class though.” His voice was deep and Steve felt his legs turn a little bit to jello. He chanced another glance and saw the guy was holding a copy of Dracula too. Steve wasn’t sure he’d been holding it before… 

“Well, I attend almost every lecture…”

“You must do if you’re in here by yourself on a Friday,” the guy smiled. It didn’t look cruel, neither did it sound like he was making fun. This was already confusing, and Steve wasn’t the greatest with people at the best of times, let alone he around guys he thought were kind of stupidly handsome from afar, and apparently just stunning close up.

Steve just nodded and shifted in his seat slightly since this guy clearly wasn’t going to go away any time soon. He didn’t have anything on the table in front of him, didn’t even look like he had a backpack for the potential of anything. The odd feeling was definitely strong and getting stronger. “Can I… can I help you with something?”

“That depends,” the book was quickly tossed aside and the guy nudged closer with his chair, Steve could smell his cologne. It didn’t smell like anything he’d tried before. It was floral but dark and spicy, but also fruity too. Slightly burnt lemon and vanilla loaf? His hand wrapped easily around Steve’s freer one. His skin was warm, a little rough maybe from weightlifting which he clearly did, applying a comforting amount of pressure. Steve couldn’t help the skin on his arm breaking out in goose pimples. He glanced at their hands together and his throat felt impossibly tight. “I’m Billy by the way.”

“Steve...”

“Great. So, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but things can be a little, strange around here-”

Steve glanced at their hands again, felt that blue steel bore into his eyes and further back. “Oh they’re strange alright…”

“You ever wondered why?” This guy, Billy, grinned something devilish and let Steve’s hand go only to put it on his knee, squeezing firm but not unpleasant. Steve was sure he was starting to sweat under the attention of all this. Yeah he had fooled around with a couple guys drunk at parties, stumbled into a dorm room or two he didn’t recognise to have some fun and wake up with carpet burns over his back and his knees, but this felt very direct. Especially when Billy’s hand started slowly drifting higher. Steve couldn’t even say he didn’t want it, he’d been staring at this guy from a distance for months now, but to have him suddenly be right in front and touching with obvious intent. It was something else.

“Uh, n-not really. Sometimes maybe?”

Billy’s eyes turned from cool to blazingly erotic in an instant, for just a moment, then back to cool again. He nudged even closer into Steve’s bubble, who was more helpless than a fish on dry land at this moment. 

“Would you like to know why?” The way Billy’s tongue licked over the L was something filthy. If Steve had been set jello before he was now quickly melting into a sweet pool of tangy cherry. “My friends and I can show you.”

Steve felt like he was drowning. This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be happening. But still BIlly’s firm hand crept ever higher until he was practically cupping Steve through his jeans, inching closer until their lips were connected in the middle of the library. Steve’s eyes fluttered closed. He was already boiling alive in his skin from all the attention and Billy’s lips weren’t helping. They were as plush as Steve had imagined. Maybe not in the right area just yet but with the way Billy was pushing his palm directly against Steve’s slowly awakening dick they just might be soon.

He was half hard when Billy pulled away, flushed bright red like he’d been sunburnt.

“Come by the house tomorrow night, you’ll see. We promise you’ll enjoy it.” 

With that, Billy winked, slipped his sunglasses back on and left. Steve blinked at nothing for a long time, trying to piece together what the hell had just happened to him.

Did… did he just get invited to an orgy?

He packed up quickly and went back to his dorm, there was no way any studying was going to happen now. It didn’t happen throughout all of Saturday either. Just the memory of the whole short incident rolling around and around in Steve’s mind, of Billy’s words dripping from those lips and the feel of his hand pressing just right.

He’d definitely gotten invited to an orgy.

He lay on his bed for a while just thinking, tapping his forefingers together as something for them to do. Steve was kind of flattered really, he knew he was nice looking, but there were far better looking guys on campus, and from the stories he’d heard they’d probably be up for it no questions asked. It also popped into his head that the guys he’d seen wearing the orange Omega jackets were a lot more jacked than he was, and Steve had seen enough porn to know what that probably meant. A part of him knew this was utterly insane. Shit like this didn’t happen without a bored camera crew and fourteen different close up angles.

But then maybe it did happen. He was from a small town after all. He was pretty sure his neighbours three doors down were swingers from all the cars that would suddenly appear once a month for just a night. Least that was the rumor that he may or may not have pushed a couple times. And, afterall, wasn’t this what college was about? Being out there and experimenting with crazy shit you wouldn’t do in the real world. He’d taken ecstasy in his first few weeks at a warehouse party, he had no desire to do that back home.

So, maybe he was warming up to the idea of being a bottom at an orgy party being held in the weird grey frat house. Who was anyone to judge? Steve just wasn’t going to tell anyone about it, that’s all.

He felt nervous standing on the front steps of the Omega House. All the blinds were drawn inside. He didn’t know what to bring, what was customary? It didn’t feel right to bring, like, snacks, so he’d just brought himself, already flushing and trying not to get hard by just the thought of Billy getting his hands on him again, how good he must look naked and sweating, finding out what those lips could really do.

The man himself answered the door after two sharp knocks. The grin he wore was sinful, eyes wild and excited, grip firm as he pulled Steve easily inside the dark room. Steve wasn’t sure what to expect, but low mood lighting, a coffee table in the middle of three couches covered in books and blank papers, and every other surface holding up thick lit candles dripping with wax wasn’t it. It also appeared to be just the two of them.

It wasn’t entirely what he had signed up for. But Steve wasn’t exactly complaining.

“Man, am I happy you actually came,” Billy started, pulling his letterman off and hanging it over the banister like a coat hook. His black tee had the sleeves ripped off, his arms were nothing short of statue worthy. He ruffled his hair a little, the curls bobbing just so. They looked delightfully soft. “The rest of the guys are at some sorority bullshit, but they’ll be here later.”

“Uh, o-okay, cool.” Steve tried to sound confident as he went to go take a seat on one of the couches. Billy sat next to him, up close and personal again and it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He was radiating body heat which Steve wanted to eat up greedily. He noticed some of the books on the table. A copy of Frankenstein, a very old looking copy of Dracula, maybe second edition, a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and copies of both Malleus Maleficarum and A Guide to Modern Witchcraft. Those titles mixed with all the candles and the mood lighting and Billy’s staring and frankly demonic grin led Steve down the path that seemed the most obvious to him.

This was a sex cult house. And it was about to get all Rosemary’s Baby up in here.

Billy’s hand was back on his thigh again, heavy and pressing, taking Steve out of his deep barrel of thoughts. The grin was back on his tanned features. “You look nervous.” He gave Steve’s thigh a squeeze. Even though he had no idea what was going on it still made his cock jump alert in his jeans.

“Well, I’ve never exactly been to… one of these before…”

Billy’s eyebrows furrowed together a little, he still wore a smile though. It suited his face. “One of what?”

“You know...?” Steve rolled his hands as his face turned ever redder. He was sure it could almost be seen from space. He wasn’t a prude by any means, but growing up in quite a strict household meant he just struggled saying some things out loud. So he whispered it instead. “...an orgy?”

Billy stared at him for a moment before breaking into laughter that wasn’t at all humiliating. He must have sensed Steve’s rapidly growing discomfort and indignity because the laughter quickly died and turned more into gentle questioning. “Did you think that was what this was gonna be?”

“Well I don’t know what else this would be!” Steve spat out in frustration. He hated not knowing the whole story and here he felt he barely even knew the first line of the novel. Billy smiled warm like a summer day and cupped his cheek. He felt instantly calmed, being swallowed up by those cool blues like a gentle river on an August afternoon.  “I said I’d explain about all the odd things that happen around campus. They’re from us in this house. We’re kind of, different.”

“Different how?”

Billy took his hand back and snapped his fingers loud and piercing. All the candles extinguished themselves at once. Not a breeze to be felt. It wasn’t scary, or spooky, but it was pretty cool. “Different different. You’re the only person who’s seemed to notice. And, by house law, that means you get initiated. You get to know that we’re all witches.”

The word hung in the air and seemed ridiculous. But, at the same time, it didn’t. It did certainly explain how chargers and post its and pencils would suddenly just appear whenever Steve needed them. He still wasn’t completely convinced though.

“Witches?” He repeated back carefully, just in case he’d heard that wrong too. Billy nodded and clapped his hands. Every candle reignited themselves, flickering back to life one by one in a circle around the room. A bottle of whiskey and cans of coke appeared on the table where there had been just papers before. The books remained. There was a proud look on his face. Short of being drugged at the door and this all being a crazy fever dream, this was definitely real. Steve didn’t really have any reason to not believe his eyes and what was happening around him. Billy didn’t look like David Copperfield that was for sure. “So, not an orgy?”

“No. Not an orgy.” Billy chuckled and repeated back. He must have seen Steve’s face go from confused to understanding to a little disappointed all within the space of a few seconds because his hand was high on Steve’s thigh again. Maybe the guy just didn’t understand personal space? That seemed growingly likely. “I don’t think I’d wanna share you anyway.”

Steve felt the flush on his face again, but he grinned through it this time. Weird, spooky, otherworldly shit could be saved for later if there was even a chance of getting what he’d been thinking alone in his bed. “But you’d wanna maybe...?”

He let the question stay floating between them as Billy smirked lewd and pressed himself up against Steve’s body. “Bet you’d love to find out what I can do with my fingers pretty boy…”

Oh, Steve really would.

[crqstalite]

From the prompt list? I'm sending in something simple with will, hopefully, just go in any direction you want. And that's "Always." For whichever pairing you wish :)

posting this before i chicken out, because i’ve been at this for like eight hours already lol. trying my hand at a little shakarian [petrakarian, in this case], and there’s a sprinkle of happiness if you squint ;)

edit: i’ve also never written garrus before honestly. definitely tried my best but i’m sure there are mistakes in there somewhere. regardless, happy to provide.

pairing: brione petrakis/garrus vakarian. word count: 2,611

-

She's putting it off. Leaving, as it was.

Honestly, she doesn't know why. Her bags are all packed, her dress blues are pressed and folded on the cot next to her. Her datapad has been prepped to send all of her reports straight to Alliance Command. Yet she's left her comb in her duffel, hair decidedly unbrushed around her shoulders, still sitting in her fatigues and they're only an hour out from the Citadel. She could be in the crew quarters, going over any possible assignments they could give her. She could be trying to get another couple of winks in. Anything other than being here, and desperately hanging on to what felt like the last thing she had in the galaxy.

It would've been so much easier not to be here right now, but nothing in the last year had been easy. It's harder to force herself out, hell she's been sleeping in here for the last week or so.

The lights flicker just above her, the battery still stuttering in a way that frustrated Garrus to no end. Not that they had much need for it these days, but she'd offered to take a look at it. He'd been content to let her sit nearby. Talking about trivial things during the first few days after the suicide mission with some of her senses glossed over by pain meds, maybe more than a little wine in their systems. Then it waned into painful silence as they grew closer to the station, wine bottle empty and all sentiments aired. All the things she knows she can't say, all the things she wants to.

She rolls another bandage around her hand, pulling taut. It'd been her good hand too, a lucky shot taken by a Collector that had left her unable to snipe properly during the last leg of the base assault. Still bruised and trying it's hardest to bleed through. Mordin hadn't been there to do it properly, so it had been her, hearing gunshots against the barrier they'd set up, blood gushing from her hand with Garrus asking her if she was alright. Medi-gel spilling from her shaking hands, only being able to offer suppressing fire with her Carnifex before Shepard told them to retreat. Her wrist whined from the motion, and she barely catches a blue eye darting between her and the UI when she groans.

"Still bothering you?" His voice is softer than usual when she catches him in the act, hands stilling over the keyboard, "Chakwas should really take a look at that."

"She can once we're back in Alliance space," Brione haphazardly cuts off the end of it, tucking it under one of the other wraps. She tests a smile with the nearly healed scar on her lip, "Besides, you're the one who was apparently up and fighting with Shepard not even two days after you nearly died, Garrus."

Another beat of silence before he starts again, mandibles flaring as he sighs. Exasperated with her, maybe. He'd been bothering her about it for days now, usually asking how it was and if she needed anything, "We Turians are a bit hardier than our human counterparts," He gestures to the scarred side of his head, bandage recently removed. "Brione-"

"Don't." She lays the gauze down next to her, unable to meet his eyes. She doesn't want to think about the fact these are their last days together, the fact this could very well be the last time she hears him say her name. There wasn't much guaranteed after their non-human crewmembers stepped off the ship, nothing saying he had to stay with her, even over light years separating them, "I'll see Chakwas once, once everyone is gone. Shepard will have my head if I lose a hand before we get there anyway."

"You can't hide in here forever, Brione," Is all he says, giving her a concerned look but finishing his diagnostics on the console first, "No reason in putting it off."

This talk has been a week coming. He hesitates, unsure of himself while she tries to will the tears away, turning away from him. What was she, six? She could handle a suicide mission (which they'd all nearly died on), so why was saying goodbye, saying see you later, saying that she'd see him again soon so hard? She was a captain of the Alliance military, not a babbling schoolgirl with a crush.

Except, that's what it felt like, navigating a relationship with him. She'd downright giggled at something he'd told her.

Does he know just how much he means to her?

It wasn't as if extranet access would be blocked for her when she got back to Earth. By every law that Shepard had learned (and in turn exploited) surprisingly quickly, most of the human operatives aboard the SR-2 wouldn't be arrested under the same duress she would be. Brione could still send messages to Palaven, could still say hello every once and a while.

Hello wasn't the same as being able to sit in a comfortable silence with one at the console, the other completing her daily reports with her legs folded under her, hair tied up in a messy bun at the base of neck. Hello wasn't the same as finding leftovers from the dinner prepared earlier and pulling all-nighters just to spend some time together.

Brione wasn't sure when this had turned into more, when she had started to want more. When she couldn't think of a tomorrow without him. At first, she'd just entertained it as little more than a fling, if she was going to die at the end of the year, then she could cross a few things off her bucket list. And, he was a friend. They'd met a few years before the SR-1, a one off meeting during her shore leave. Then they'd been squadmates, fighting their way through waves and waves of Geth, two snipers snipping at each other for their aim. It boggled the mind that it'd been so quick after Alchera, that she started to discover little things about him when she had little else to do. The small visits about the battery that turned into hour long conversations once she'd rejoined the Normandy. One or the other venting about a minor problem or a large one they'd held onto for so long they'd made a joke of it.

He'd patiently listened when she recounted the dressing down she'd been given after Torfan and the therapy sessions she'd attended afterwards. That, she'd never told anyone about in detail. Hated reliving the day, but it slipped from her mouth so easily while she'd been sitting on the crates. Then she'd sipped on some sort of tea Shepard had picked up on the Citadel, listening to him about Sidonis, about his time on Omega in general. That by the time they were within range of the relay, she'd simply decided she didn't want to let go. That there wasn't anyone like him, that there was so much left that she still wanted. They'd spent the night on the cot he'd dragged in here sometime ago, and she'd never felt so alive.

Then they'd survived. And then there was a whole new life expanding before her, with the Reapers looming over them. But she'd lived, they'd lived, and now she wasn't sure what they were. It wasn't a fling anymore, but she didn't know where he fit into her life.

Whether he wanted to fit in her life. She's sure he could have just about anyone, and he hadn't seemed too upset, giving her the way out of asking whether she wanted something closer to home.

How did he become her home? It could've been anywhere else, on Earth, in London, on the Citadel. But instead, it was a certain Garrus Vakarian.

"This isn't -- it isn't the end, Brione, not if you don't want it to be," He holds a hand out to her, "If I know Shepard, and I'd assume I do, she'll get us back into the thick of it within a couple months. If that."

"That might be a little optimistic," She responds, toying with her hair for a moment before grasping his hand, pulling herself up off the cot to look at him properly. She gently holds a hand against the scarred side of his head, brushing the rough plates with her thumb, "I would've been rather stupid to think this would last forever, running into the sunset. I'm just glad we had what we did, Garrus."

He leans into her touch, his other arm snaking around her waist. Why did it have to be him that she'd become attached to? The first person that'd make her feel more like a living being than a cold blooded killer that remained a few seconds from death every time she stepped off the ship?

Why is he all she can think about these days?

"I," He pauses again, "I'll always just be a comm away. If that's what you want, of course."

"Always, hm?" She asks, "Don't know how timezones work from Earth to Palaven, but if you haven't noticed, I'm not much of sleeping person. You could lose a lot of it, talking to me. But you've never minded it before now, I guess."

"It'd be better than nothing." He responds, when she drops her hand and instead pulls him closer to her. Maybe it's not the most comfortable with him in armor, and her still regularly needing their dwindling supply of pain meds, but she just wants to feel something, anything. She can't go back to the way things were, alone, and cold in an alliance apartment with nothing but her next meal going for her.

"I don't want to leave you, Garrus," She admits, her voice cracking. Brione won't cry, she wills herself not to, even as the dam strains against them, "You, damn you, you're...everything."

"You're...lovely yourself, Brione. Not like I'm itching to leave either, not when everything's already going right for once," He responds, the words thrumming through what she thinks are Turian subvocals. If Turians even can whisper, she's pretty sure he is while gently running his hands through her hair, then trailing down her back, "But I'm not sure I look all that good in...what was it Shepard called it? 'Jumpsuit orange'? Not sure how friendly the Alliance would be to me either."

"Probably not very," She tries to laugh, tries to force anything out at all, but instead all she gets is a choking sound that she could compare to a varren. A rogue tear slips out anyway, and all she hopes for is that Garrus can't see it. Why is she falling apart? Why now? She has a million and three battles under her belt, and this is what shatters her? Not a shotgun, not a scion, but this.

She'd said goodbye to so many people before. To her various adoptive parents over the years, her old COs, even Alenko more recently. None of them destroyed her like this was.

Relationships. They're impossible. They're weaknesses and vulnerabilities that your enemies are just waiting to take advantage of. Even more if your's is a cross-species liaison, one that shouldn't have become everything that it was now.

Brione doesn't want to live without him.

She can't bring herself to say it out loud, so she doesn't. He holds her a little while longer, they don't say anything but reassuring the other all would be well. Or at least they try, and it dissolves until silence when there isn't anything to say but repeat themselves ten times over. They sit for a while after that, time whittling down all the while. Her hands fit a bit oddly in his, but she can't find herself wanting to let go all the while.

Shepard's voice comes over the comm with a timer on their arrival, and she has to pick up her things, fastening the last button on her jacket and throwing her duffel bag over her shoulder. Garrus offers her one last lingering forehead touch when they reach the airlock, and she kisses him softly, knowing if she stays any longer, she won't be able to leave.

But she does. She has to be able to.

She sees him off, the glint of his blue armor the last thing she sees. She thinks she's the perfect picture of someone who was trying (and inwardly failing) to stay afloat with a forced grin and a wave as he walks off. Brione doesn't care, as much as the crew teases her about calibrations in more than one capacity. A few get a smile out of her, but she feels numb the rest of the way to Earth.

Cold. It settles in like an all too familiar blanket. The chill of not really seeing the faces of the people around her, nor acknowledging what they had to say.

She slips back into her normal routines, after the hearing. Doesn't even realize it at first, but without her usual visits to someone who wasn't dolled up in Alliance blue, there's nothing to it. She's shuttled back to the Citadel after a month, sent to work with Udina. A liaison to Alliance and from the Council, is effectively her job description. It's like clockwork, sleep, work, find something to eat if she was feeling physically up to it, work until she couldn't, then reluctantly sleep again. Fix up her sniper rifle on the weekends, take it to a range to keep herself sharp.

There's no Turian on her six though. No one there to bother her that her shot is off just a few inches so that clips the outside of the target.

She sees his face in every single one that walks by until they all blur together. She hears his voice in every C-SEC officer that speaks to Udina, to her.

It isn't until two months later that she receives a mail on her comm. Right in the middle of another one of Udina's tirades about the lack of Council support and funding, she opens it like any other email she'd received before. Calculating, tired, she reads over the sender, the subject line and is halfway through scrolling through it when the glaze over her eyes recedes and she realizes just who it is. Her breath catches in her throat, taking her leave for the afternoon.

She finally gets a call after work that day. And just as suspected, it keeps her up all night. There's so much to say, so much that she hadn't known. Her new job, his new task force. And yet, he still seems so indescribably happy to see her. That her eyes are barely being held open to focus on him, but that he's here, as much as he can be.

"Sure you don't want to take back that offer of always being on the other end of the comm? Now that we've done it, I might get a taste for it," She says, yawning as she absentmindedly rubs an eye. Udina will give her shit for being there late in the morning (in a couple hours really), but she doesn't care.

"As long as you want me to be," He nods, "Well, hopefully you don't start calling me at the oddest hours of the night or in the middle of meetings, but always, yes."

"Hm. I'll file it under consideration," She perches her head on her palm, taking in every detail the vid would let her, "Always?"

"Always. Now get some sleep, Brione," His voice softens, mandibles flaring into a smile as her vision blurs, "Good night."

Five months after that, communication to Palaven goes dark. The Reapers attack, and she watches wide-eyed as they touch down in Earth.

And her always becomes an empty promise with every refugee she watches come in during the days afterwards.

Garrus is not among them.

[leelee10898]

Fast cars & Freedom: Finally home (16/16)

Here it is... the final chapter had arrived. Thank you everyone for riding along with me on this. My first attempt at ROD, althought we may be closing out this, it doesnt mean we have seen the last of this gang. I have some one shots and possibly a mini planned in the future!

I want to give a few special shot outs @riseandshinelittleblossom for pushing me to do this. @brightpinkpeppercorn for putting up with my crazy venting self!! And also the babies first name! @choicesarehard for her amazing edits and @desiree-0816 for being the biggest cheerleader.

Pairing: Colt x Ellie, mpc crew and friends.

Rating: fluff

This song I picked because it sums up Colt in a nutshell.. also its from one of my favorite movies, and gave me slight inspiration.

Ellie sat slouched back on the couch indian style, amazed she could even get her feet to bend that way.   Any Day now she sighed, her hand rested on her swollen belly. She was huge this time around, much bigger than with Luca, her feet were swollen and she couldn't fall asleep without a back rub. "Well she's asleep, finally." She smiled at the shirtless man in front of her as he laid on the couch, his head resting in her lap. "How many books did it take?" She giggled as she ran her fingers through his dark locks. "Only two tonight.  guess the rehearsal dinner wore her out." A sudden jolt against her stomach collided against the side of his head.

He turned facing her stomach, one hand on the side "Hello in there. You can come out now, daddy can't wait to meet you." He spoke to her stomach, placing a soft kiss against her bare skin. Ellie smiled looking down at him, the sight completely melting her heart. The baby always reacted hearing Colts voice prompting a dance party usually.  They weren't sure what the sex was, both wanting to let it be a surprise. If someone had of told her almost a year ago that this would be her life, she would have laughed. Yet here she was married to Colt, raising their daughter together with another on the way, living next to the beach and ridiculously happy. Any time now  she whispered again. "We should probably get to bed, big day tomorrow." Colt stood, kissing her forehead. "Mmhmm." She practically hummed. She had been having Braxton hicks contractions the past few days, on top of the swelling and the last minute preparations for her dad's wedding, she was exhausted.

"You ok baby?" Colt looked at her concerned.  "Yeah, just these braxton hicks again. Help me up?" She held her hand out as Colt carefully helped her off the couch. They made their way up the stairs slowly, Ellie in some pain, but she hid it from Colt. Her dad was getting Married tomorrow and she was not missing it. She knew Colt would take it as a sign she was in labor, and rush her to the hospital.  The doctor and Ingrid both told her that the Braxton hicks contractions were going to be felt more intense the end time around, and she was positive that's what it was, besides she was almost 2 weeks late with Luca, her due date was a week away.

They laid in bed, colt started at her feet, then her stomach, shoulders and then her back. He had been amazing throughout the whole pregnancy,  never missed an appointment or ultrasound, always attentive, took every mood swing and craving in stride, and he massaged her swollen, achy body every night.  He was an amazing Husband and Father, Ellie thanked god and Logan every chance she got, that they talked her out of going through with the divorce. Sure he was a smart ass, and stubborn to boot, but he was always there for her, had her back and supported her no matter what and he genuinely cherished every moment he spent with them.

The past 8 months have been such an amazing time for them. Colt and Luca were like two peas in a pod. They witty banter between the two kept Ellie in stitches and on her toes. They had drove to Lake Tahoe to see Colts mother, who apologized profusely for stepping in and causing problems.  Ellie and Colt both accepted and they had an amazing relationship. She had pulled out all of Colts photos growing up to show Ellie and Luca. Ellie forming the conclusion that Luca indeed looked just like Colt as a baby. If she had of seen those pictures before the plate test, she was certain that she would have known instantly.

Darcy and Colt spoiled the hell out of her, Darcy ecstatic to have a granddaughter and equally happy to have another little one coming. She literally pissed her pants when she went to open the back door one day and was greeted by a small pony. Of course Colt bought her the damn pony, she knew he would. She had to double check that, neither He nor Toby stole said pony, old habits and all. So yes, everything and everyone was amazing and blissful.

Ellie shot out of bed with a sharp pain to the abdomen. She let out a low, dull sounding moan shit that one hurt. She waddled to the bathroom and got into a warm shower, relaxing her immediately. After her shower she waddled naked back to the bed. Colt rolled over, rubbing her stomach. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just uncomfortable. Lets try and get some more rest, big day ahead of us." She tried to assure him, hoping he bought it.

A few hours later they were up, and out of the house. Colt had bought a minivan for Ellie, although he drove it more then she did.  He had his and ellies hospital bags packed and in the van, along with the car seat installed and the diaper bag ready to go. Colt played no games when it came to being prepared for this baby, he could not even wait. They had a quick breakfast with Frank, sally, Logan and Stacie before the girls were separated and taken for hair and makeup. Ellie was Sallys maid of honor,  Stacie a bridesmaid. Ellie sat in the chair, taking deep breaths, stacie looked over at her "You ok?" Ellie gave her a quick yes, but she knew Stacie didn't buy it. Once Sally stepped into the changing room Ellie tried to walk over to the couch, but a strong pain hit her like a brick. She doubled over and Stacie was on her. "You're in labor aren't you?" Ellie gave her a pleading look. "I don't know. I don't want to ruin my dads wedding. Just let me get through the ceremony.  Please don't say anything especially to my husband." She paused looking down at Stacies slight bump "or I'll tell Logan its a boy."

"Fine! But you know he doesn't want to know yet.   Stacie snapped.

Sally walked out the girls dropped their conversation. "Sally, you look so beautiful.  Dad's going to cry." Ellie teared up. "Really Sally, you look so beautiful." Stacie confirmed. Just then they heard a knock on the door. "Knock knock. I came to collect a bride." Logan popped in, his eyes settling on his mother. It was an odd, yet great feeling to see his mom getting married. Logan grew up without any one, and in such a short time he gained an entire family and was starting his own. The photographer came in to take pictures, first of Sally alone.  Ellie hunched over again, this time Logan seeing it. "Ellie, you ok?" She looked up at him, trying her best to lie "oooh yeah. This one just kicked me, hard." He gave her an unbelieving look, before setting his gaze on stacie. "Colts kid." She offered up.

They finished taking pictures, Logan walked his mom down the aisle to a teary eyed Frank. Ellie was right, her father cried, and so did Sally, Ellie, Stacie and Riya. Colt and Logan served as Franks groomsmen. They made their way to the reception Colt and Luca sitting next to Ellie who was taking deep breaths. "Ellie, what's wrong?" He asked concerned. "Nothing. Im fine, just standing too long." She lied.  

"Maybe we should go to the -" Ellie cut him off.

"No Colt! We are not going to the hospital and ruin my dads wedding for nothing. So please lets just enjoy the day ok?"

She knew it may be a good idea to go, the contractions were stronger,  closer together then they had been. Still she wanted to be there for her dad.

The reception in full swing, Luca dancing up a storm, she was the life of the party. They followed through with the motions, wedding party dances,  dinner that Ellie barely touched. She sat at the table, shoes off and extremely uncomfortable. Colt crossed the room standing before her "Dance with me Mrs Kaneko?" He gave her a devilish smirk that made her heart soar. "Of course. But only because you look incredibly sexy right now." She took his hand and joined him on the dance floor. The swayed together as close as they could possibly get, before Ellie stopped abruptly. Colt slipped a little "Shit, be careful El. I think someone spilled something." He said looking down at the puddle by their feet. "My water. My water broke." She looked up at him, wide eyed. "Your. Oh shit." He looked around for help, he had no idea what to do in that moment.

Ellie doubled over, a wave of extremely strong contradictions hitting her hard. "Ok, just breathe El. Were gonna get to the hospital." Colt looked up, seeing Logan "Logan, I need your help." Logan, noticing the panicked look on his face rushed over. "The baby's coming. I need your car."  Colt told him, Logans car was much faster than the minivan. Ellie let out a painful moan, getting the attention of pretty much the entire room. Logan tossed him the keys, colt giving him the keys to their van. "Mom, can you keep Luca for us?" Colt looked towards his mother. "Of course. We will be up soon. Good luck you two." Darcy gave them each a quick kiss and hug.

"What's going on?" Frank came up, concerned.  "Babys coming. We gotta get to the hospital." Colt filled him in as he ushered Ellie towards the exit. "I'm coming with you guys." Frank insisted. "No daddy. Finish the wedding, please." She groaned out. "Ellie I-"

"No. You have fun. Come up after ok." She cut him off. "I love you Eliana."

"Wait for me. I'm coming with you guys." Riya insisted.  Colt nodded and off they went.

Colt speed to the hospital, they rushed inside and were whisked away to a room. Riya called the doctor ahead to inform him that Ellie's water had broken and she was on the way to the hospital. "Hi mrs Kaneko. Im kelly, I'll be your nurse. Dr Coulson will be here soon." The short blonde woman said, taking her blood pressure and hooking her up to monitors. Another contraction hit her hard "oooooh god." She screamed out as colt grabbed her hand "breathe El." He tried calming her as she firmly gripped his hand. "Ok. Your contractions are consistent,  lets see what progress you've made." She checked dilation and station. "Oh wow, your at 8 hun. And the baby is low. Let me try and get the doctor on the phone." Kelly stood, quickly exiting the room another contraction hit hard and she almost jumped off the table. "Whoa Ellie." He steadied her. "It hurts. Fuck!" She hollered. "I know baby. Your doing so good. What did you do with Luca to ease the pain?" He asked. "I had an epidural. This fucking hurts." Finally the dr walked in.

"Hello Ellie, colt. Ready to have a baby?" Dr Coulson smiled. "Beyond ready doc." Colt beamed. Ellie nodded,  sweaty and heavy breathing. "Yeah, pressure, lots of pressure. can I get something for the, ooooh pain?"

"Well. You were at 8 a little bit ago. Let's see where your at now." The dr checked her, shaking his head. "Well, this baby is ready to come out. Your at 10."

Everything happened fast, Colt stood there at Ellie's side gripping her hand as she put her feet in the stirrups. He could feel the adrenaline kicking in, like he was just about to race.  "Ok Ellie, with the next contraction i'm going to need you to push." Dr Coulson ordered.

Ellie beared down and pushed hard, Once, twice. Colt was amazed as he watched the woman he loved bring the life they created into the world. The baby's black full head of hair first, another big push and the baby was all the way out. "You did it El. Our baby is here." He sobbed as they heard their child's healthy set of lungs. "Its a boy." Dr Coulson announced.  "We have a son Colt." Ellie sniffled. They cleaned him up and placed him in Ellies chest. "He's beautiful." Colt showered her in kisses. The nurse snapped a few photos for them before he was taken to the warmer and weighed and measured. He was 8lbs 6oz 21 ½ inches, had a head full of jet black hair and looked exactly like a scrunched up version of Colt.

They nurse brought him back over, placing him in Ellies arms. Colt sat on the bed next to his wife and son, Ellie looked up at his blissful face she knew exactly what he needed. "Here you go daddy." Ellie said as she handed him off. Colt took the tiny person in his arms,he looked down at his son, a sense of pride washing over him. He had texted his mom after they were given the ok for visitors, a short while later Darcy walked in with a shy Luca. An odd sight if they ever saw one, the once outspoken, opinionated 6 year old was now  cowering behind her grandmother.

"Hey princess. You want to come meet your baby brother?" Colt beamed at his daughter. She nodded her head hurrying over as colt squatted down to her level. "He's so tiny." Her small voice almost a whisper. Darcy came over to hug Ellie before taking a glance at her new grandson. "He looks just like you did as a baby." Colt looked up and smiled. "So, we got a name for this little guy?" Darcy eyes the two. "We do." Ellie spoke, "but we're waiting to tell everyone when they get here."

They didn't have to wait long,  the room filled with all of their family and friends. Barley anyroom to stand,  they all crowded around the sweet little bundle of joy. Another momento of the love they shared,  and someone to share the over abundance of aunts and uncles they had. Colt sat next to Ellie as she held their son, Luca on the other side. Everyone snapping pictures of the happy family in front of them. "Ok everybody, Colt and I would like to formally introduce you all to our son." She smiled as she looked to Colt. "Everyone, meet Cade Teppei Kaneko."

They chose to name him after Colts dad, who they were sure was looking down on them. He wasn't there for Colt, but Colt was sure he would have been for his Children.  Ellie may have started out as someone the crew used for information, but in a short time she changed them all, for the better. Colt stood back, looking at the group of people in front of him. The motto of the crew was always look out for yourself, somehow along the way they became a family. Ellie came into his life like a hurricane and turned his world around. He once told her she was his queen, that they would run the city together but these days he was thinking bigger.  She was his queen, but not of the city, she was queen of the world, his world.

He closed his eyes, envisioning his father. "Life is good pop. And it's only going to get better."

Permatag

@kennaxval @hopefulmoonobject @crookedslimecreatorpasta @be-still-my-aching-heart @ao719 @speedyoperarascalparty @riseandshinelittleblossom @cocomaxley @bobasheebaby @ownworldresident @cordoniaqueensworld @indiacater @blackcatkita @darley1101 @hazah

ROD

@daniv2278 @brightpinkpeppercorn @lovehugsandcandy @going-down-downtown @mercyparkcrew @emichelle @annekebbphotography @desiree-0816 @walkerismychoice @yesivefallenpreytothechoicestrap @zaira-oh-zaira @sweetest-marbear

@simsvetements @zaffrenotes @professorortegasstudent

@akrenich @ifyouseekheart @client-327 @choicelogansbitch @choicesarehard @paisleylovergirl @itskismetbb @itsmarleen

@rhischoicesfanfics @distinguishedsaladoperawinner @iplaydrake @coffeebeandragon @jasidu2 @charliezchan

@umiumichan @sarwin85 @skdskdskdskdskdsk @liamzigmichael4ever

@littlemissimaginativerhi

[bryan360]

My reactions through my Nintendo E3 2021’s highlight picks

Hey guys! You know me from what been checking on E3 announcement last week. I even did my other posts to mention it of 🐰Mario + Rabbits sequel game and 🏁🏎Forza Horizon 5 as my interests picks.

June. 13th, 2021 - Link Here

June. 14th, 2021 - Link Here #2

Now it's finally time that I can talk through Nintendo E3 2021's announcement of games and content; after reveals back in June 15th that I should've bring this sooner, but due to working on my other tasks that I'm gonna save it til today. Hoping that I had time for free time to explain of what I feel for Nintendo E3 2021 Direct reveal for this month of June; especially which one that I finding most interested so I could added through my wishlist on eShop app. So today, here's my interesting picks for Nintendo E3 reveal this year; whether you agreed or disagree of how it goes when you suggest other was. I know if everyone so close to look forward the Switch Pro reveal, but it seems that it didn't happen anytime soon. Anyways, now get into my picks that I screenshot and edited through last week's Nintendo Direct I've managed.

First top left - ✊😈Kazuya Mishima joining Super Smash Bros Ultimate

First off, I knew that there will be at least one Super Smash Bros DLC Fighter reveal; before saving the last one for coming months this year soon. What's really unexpected to see though is a second Bandai Namco fighter after 👻PAC-MAN, but sadly its not Lloyd that if everyone hoping he would've upgraded from a Mii Costume to a true fighter yet. (Like we ever getting another sword fighter once again. 😒) No, it was actually ✊😈Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series. My reaction was caught my attention since it started when he carrying Ganondorf to the lava pit and so does other fighters that is really dark. Except for Kirby that thankfully knows how to get away, but still. If I remember his origin through reading wiki site though, at time he used to be good until his father Heihachi sees him as his weakness. Later when Heihachi kills one of the family members that Kazuya been fond of and being thrown by his father in the cliff until he eventually climbs back up when his devil gene activates. Ever since then, Kazuya is now antagonist for the recent Tekken games so far and seeing him to match fight against Smash was an unexpected sight. I remember the time after hearing Masahiro Sakurai's interview where he consider Heihachi to be playable for Smash 4, but pass over due to implement his moveset to be difficult. But here we are seeing for Kazuya instead that it really sure takes time to deliver. After his moveset through his reveal could be challenging to work it out on command. Let's just wait to figure out once Sakurai will finally bring us his next presentation next week, but for now knowing this Tekken fighter joining Smash was a unique idea that Sakurai managed to work it out.

Second top right - 🌟Mario Party Super Stars

How about that when where seeing the next Mario Party game brings us? Despite the recent 2018 Super Mario Party, this will be the twelfth installment to be heading Nintendo Switch this year's 🎃October 2021; this time having 100 remastered minigames like I've seen them before on previous Mario Party games. My reaction was good to see how it continues on, but sure miss that time I remember from my childhood for the original first Mario Party game on the N64 console. So what's get me attention is the recognized boards such as 👑🎂Peach's Birthday Cake makes a comeback! It looks the way that I remember from playing the N64 game when the layouts off frosting goodness and the song to match as well. It was really something when it comes from Nintendo and their past N64 games I have memories fond of. 🙂👍🏼

I give this Nintendo a good move when trying to bring back Mario Party again as a E3 reveal, but maybe just maybe if it will be this good from previous Mario Party games in terms of selling copies. Who knows? *Shrug*

Third middle left - Metroid Dread

However, if you really looking forward a new Nintendo game coming to October 2021 early is a most recognized franchise making a return....meanwhile Metroid Prime 4 is still in development. At least knowing this game can take us time before the fourth prime game can be finished, but man that everyone went crazy after the reveal of Metroid Dread! It the return of 2D Metroid game in action after the success of Samus Return for 3DS back in September 2017. My reaction was surprised and impressive for the looks and feels about this game's tone; especially the haunting part where the robot named "EMMI" (but don't be confused with the word Emmy as an Emmy Award like if would funny. 😅) trying to catch up with Samus and it's game over....😵 I think I could add this into my wishlist and it would be the first time I'll be owning this Metroid game for my Switch system. Fact: Metroid Dread was originally plan as a Nintendo DS title way back in mid 2000s, but sadly being cancelled due to technical limitations.

Fourth middle right - 💣WarioWare Get It Together

I was hoping if Warioware could come back for the lastest Switch system and they finally called. However, this game will take a different approach than doing minigames of yourself, but with your characters do it for you. For this latest Warioware game of picking noses, it'll be having one of the characters such as Wario, Mona, Jimmy T, 9-Volt, and others to do on all minigames with their strengths and skills they can managed. My reaction was pretty good knowing that Nintendo is making this a unique idea than doing a same microgame gameplay style from previous ones, but in a fun way. Cross my fingers if I'll be saving this as a digital download version. Like that time I actually got "Warioware Touched!" for my 2DS/3DS handheld system back in April 2016, but sadly lost it of deletion unfortunately....😧 Link Here #3

Fifth middle bottom - Game & Watch The Legend of Zelda

And finally is something that we're hoping to expect during almost halftime of their E3 direct reveal. Knowing this year is The Legend of Zelda 35th Anniversary, you probably hoping they can bring something to celebrate one of the most recognized series run. While it was shocking to know they won't be having plans to do; even for me that I finding baffling for Nintendo would do this. At least they wanted to make up for it by having to released the HD remastered version of Skyward Sword coming next month and giving us a second look for the upcoming Breath of the Wild sequel until it'll be released next year....eventually. What's my pick though is the Game & Watch version for The Legend of Zelda; the same thing of what it made for Super Mario and during its 35th Anniversary run last year. For this next one will have 3 related Zelda games: 1987 original, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and a special Game and Watch version of Vermin, but playing as Link as he trying to clobbered the octoroks instead of moles. Looks like it'll be a different take from what the Super Mario version have, but hoping it won't be the limited edition once maybe I could get one of those a try. So for my reaction was pretty alright. 🙂👍🏼

Overall:

Man that is the list for my interests picks I gotten, but after watching Nintendo E3 Direct for this year sure worth it at the end. It was very impressive direct despite of absent games not being showed like Bayonette 3 or Metroid Prime 4, but with other announcements such as Metroid Dread and Mario Party Super Stars does give us something for the win.

What did you think about this list of my interesting picks for Nintendo E3, though? Give yourself some likes and reblogs for this post I bring. Anyways, I'm just gonna check on my P-Pal's secret art trade part for me that I should've done it early. Sorry about making this post that I took hours to finished, @murumokirby360

[hoopdiddies]

I'm Not Over You // Ben Hardy x Reader (Part 7)

A/N: This is probably the longest I've written in this series. Again guys, thank you for the support, your comments and likes mean so much! My tag list is always open so feel free to ask. And on a slightly heavy note: the next chapter could be really angsty. Just a heads up right there uwu

Summary: You had always loved Ben ever since you two met in university and became the best of friends. That feeling went out like a candle flame when the two of you parted ways until he re-entered your life...but this time with someone who has already occupied his heart.

Warnings: Angst, slight drinking, slight swearing, (yeah the fluff is still present)

W/C: 5k-ish

Tags: @haendel-me-with-care

@mrsdoradominguez-barnes

@mickmoon

@lakef

@mrsmazzello

@valeriecarolinaw

@queen-turtle-boiii

Edited// I forgot to link the previous parts

Parts: 6 5 4 3 2 1

(Got the pic from Pinterest hhh-)

Storing the luggage bag you've purchased for a fair price in the spare room, you come across a small box of sundries tucked in one corner with cobwebs clinging to the sides. Your eyes light up with curiosity spiking within you, you pick it up and dust the webs off, blowing the particles away from the top. You squat on the floor and open the flaps, discovering small yet familiar items that had been lost in time– one of them being a sepia-toned polaroid of you and Ben posing dramatically with hilarious doodles drawn on your faces. You forgot about this, feeling a little guilty that you had hidden it away in a drafty box without remembering doing anything of the sort. You flip the picture over and spot a date and an unfinished sentence written in faded ink on the bottom left part. This was taken on Homecoming night.

'I'm not going-' it says, clearly discontinued next to the date. Silly to think that the picture somehow represents a puzzle piece torn away from its board.

You were bound to graduate the week after and barely a day after, not see each other for several years due to your career paths and post-college choices.

You pull on the hem of your shirt, clearing the picture of dust and any more impurities, finally fitting it into your back pocket to finally treasure it the way it was always meant to be treasured.

The door clicks as you bring it close, your eyes gluing themselves at the hardwood floor seconds to having self-pity billow over you at how quickly your tears surface in the corner of your eyes from the memory of Ben spinning Rosy around - the exact way he did with you -and kissing her like she's a pouch full of life.

You clamp down on your bottom lip, trying your hardest not to stain your cheeks with your pooling tears. "Jeez, you just-" you pace back and forth in frustration, balling your fists as you gesticulate lazily, "you just don't get it, Y/N! Ugh, you're so- fuck, just get over it..." Knowing your harsh soliloquy would be getting you nowhere, you snarl strongly at yourself and roughly wipe your tears away with the back of your hand.

"He loves Rosy. F-freaking deal with it!" The reminder takes a hiss from your quivering lips for it to sink in; you have your own place in his life– a place behind the line you'd drawn in the years prior. The friend zone couldn't be any more hollow and cold than it already is.

And a polaroid pic is the only remnant left of how inseparable you and Ben were in the early days.

At the same time you're feeling your heart tear itself apart, Ben pulls out a picture - similar to what you've found - from the inner pocket of his old varsity jacket in the middle of rummaging through his wardrobe. He leaves his room in his pajamas and tosses himself on the couch next to a sleeping Frankie, softly apologizing to the little beagle for disturbing her cat-like nap. As he cuddles Frankie close, he scrutinizes the picture and it's also from Homecoming, but in it both of you are beaming widely with your arms slung around one another– the doodles ever-so-present on your faces. Behind it, the date and the continuation of the trailed-off sentence written at the back of your share of the memory.

'-anywhere at all.'- it ends in Ben's part of the duality. He grins fondly at the long lost picture, feeling twice as guilty for not keeping it safe and...close to his heart, just as he had promised you that night.

- - - - - - - -

In the convenience of Lucy needing some company to shop with for awards season just as she had returned from her get-away with Rami, she drags you along happily, having to pass through you insisting that you stay at home and study but purposefully ending up under her mercy anyway. You couldn't say no to her, she's basically your sparkly, glam counterpart and you're in need of her life-altering sparkles as of now. Especially since you're going to be tagging along with them, mainly as Joe's date cause you know, you're his 'girlfriend' and all.

You're at the mall, in a stylish boutique full of lines of voguish clothing and shoes that could span miles if not compressed together. For once in the hours you've spent scampering around the mall with Lucy to hoard dresses, skin products and make up, you admit that this is the most aesthetically pleasing space in the entire building.

You traipse along a section with black dresses fashioned into different forms, silently praying that what you have with you will amount to at least one of the varying prices.

Lucy's on the opposite side, ogling at the most colorful section in the boutique for a piece to wear. She peers over at you to make sure you've chosen your 'fighter'. A few swishes of the dresses lined up and you do, holding it up high to evaluate the appropriateness.

It's a sleeveless, halter neck satin that's just a few inches above the knee. Utterly backless but it ends right up the small of your back. The fabric is stretchy enough to move around and breathe in as it simultaneously hugs your shape. You love it but gulp as you prepare yourself for the price. Flipping the tag over, you suddenly wish you could let out the biggest, girlish squeal the human race has ever heard with how surprisingly affordable it is.

"Finally picked out yours?" Lucy pokes her head up playfully and you nod, quite speechless but giddy. She makes a grabby hand at your dress to examine it for herself.

Well she's the fashion guru so why not? You hand her the dress and as she trails her eyes from top to bottom, her mouth falls at the simple yet elegant details. "This is perfect! I highly doubt that it's not going to catch every exposed eye present at the event."

Your flush profusely at her comment. "Thanks but I'll be bringing a coat with me."

That triggered her, but of course you're only teasing. "You better effing not." She warns you and you chuckle, taking the dress from her and evenly brushing the skirt.

"I won't, you can sleep soundly tonight."

You assure her of the possibility. As you exit the boutique with a few bags you're not used to holding, Lucy takes out her phone and gasps, her face contorting with a little disbelief. "Uh oh, this might ruin your mood." She hands you the phone and you gape at her confusingly before taking a quick look.

Ben's posted some updates on his wedding preparations, shockingly tagging you, Joe, Gwil and Lucy in one photo. He's pretty busy alright; unable to text or call you for days but miraculously tagging you out of nowhere.

You come to disregard it until you notice one minute but important detail hidden in plain sight in all of his posts– there isn't a single one with him and Rosy together alone. None of such as well on his new ones.

The only post he's had with a close girl is the one with you, which is at the very bottom of his Instagram feed. You won't admit it but it warms your heart a little. Actually, a whole lot despite wondering why there's none of him and his fiancee. You hand Lucy her phone back and tilt your head to one side, suddenly finding the eagerness to go on shopping. "Let's go."

The following week comes as a radial blur contrasted to the slightly moderate one you just woke up from; your manager phoning you up to take the earliest shift you've had in years at the expense of your allotted time to rest, the heavy workload and rush hours in the upcoming hours followed by the slowest progress of filing your travel documents and visa needed for your departure on the 26th. You've got tons of missed calls from your parents and Joe, who's requested for you to pack up early since you'll be leaving for LA with Lucy on the day of the awards but earlier.

Also noting that you still need to double check the costs for flying to LA and back, ruling out the one exclusive for your flight on the 26th.

For mere days you feel as if you could lose your sanity as your life spirals into madness with everything you're required to do– whether or not you're obliged to do it.

But they are effective distractions for that problem you are still very much preoccupied with. That's a matter noteworthy of later discussion. Amidst all the chaos happening, part of you wishes for Ben to reply to your messages or even talk to you in the slightest. You never bothered to call this week since he's tied up but the least he could do is let you know how he's doing, if he's thinking of you once in a thousand passing seconds.

You give up for a day waiting on him and drown yourself in work.

- - - - - - -

Securing your phone between your tilted head and your shoulder as you indulge in your talk with Joe through the line, you crouch and zip your luggage bag close. Your eyes fixating themselves on two, separate luggage bags for two, separate travels.

"Was that all of it?" Joe's disembodied voice asks. You spring up and take your phone between your fingers. "Pretty much. I better have a kick out of something by the time we touchdown tomorrow– it's my first visit to the US." You inform him, leaping into your bed and landing comfortably.

He chortles softly and ensures you. "I know and you can be sure to expect a good par- ow! Bad kitty!" His smooth transition to a yelp amuses you for split second.

"Are you alright? "

"No. I'm finally feline food to my kid." He refers to his pet cat that has taken a small nibble on his finger, in which Joe returns with a light ruffle to its fur. You can't help but giggle heartily at him.

"Anyway, I'm picking you and Lucy up from LAX tomorrow." He gives you that heads up and you bring your hand up to your forehead. "Where will we be staying?"

"I've booked a hotel earlier so you've got nothing to worry about the moment you land." A faint crunch can be heard from your end and you mind to ask Joe about it. "Are you- are you eating?"

To answer your question, he bites down on his food sloppily and guarantees you of what you heard. You smack your lips together as your eyes narrow in bewilderment.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Sometimes you make it easier for me to hit you with a pillow."

"Is that how you treat your boyfriend?" He taunts at you and cackles, his distorted voice bouncing off of the walls of your room. You sigh, defeated by the fact that this charade is still going on. It's silly and immature yet you and Joe somehow managed to stick to the act.

"Speaking of boyfriend though– would he be furious if I told him that I couldn't be there on his wedding day?" Since you're rested and got nothing else to distract you, you pop the question to Joe.

"Ben?"

You hum softly.

"There are two scenarios that we need to consider," on his end, Joe taps his finger on his lips as he thinks of said scenarios, "Best case scenario- he would get discouraged and slightly unmotivated, and obviously sad, but he'd still support you cause that's your dream."

You sit up and twirl the ends of your hair around your finger, swallowing. "And worst case scenario?"

Joe falls silent before exhaling harshly. "You'd crush his soul, heart, everything ranging from physical to spiritual and it would take a toll– and I mean a substantial toll on your friendship."

"Joe, don't make it sound like a prospect! "

"That is, " he adds strongly, "if he finds out that you had meant for him to be oblivious to it." And he's right. But you had a reason. You still do. Even if you do end up telling him and he supports you, you need a great deal of space to move on.

As long as he's committed to Rosy and you're in the sidelines still in love with him, it's just something toxic. You couldn't love anybody they way you do Ben and you feel like you'll never love someone like him ever again. Albeit how clueless he is sometimes and clumsy, you both had survived every storm and wave. So sticking around to witness him give his hand and heart to someone else is torture for you.

"I'm gonna be direct and say-" just as you begin talking, your phone shrills to another caller, cutting you off from Joe.

One look at the screen and your heart begins racing. Speak of the devil. You reserve an explanation for cutting off and answer Ben, clearing your throat. "You're late."

Ben's gruff chuckle welcomes you back. "I know, I'm so sorry. Busiest week I've had and the lady at Starbucks signed my cup like a snail."

"What are you doing tonight that requires coffee?"

"Call me dramatic- or do so, given that I'm an actor- but I just want to stargaze right now." You hear a light rustle coming from his end, like he's seated out on his lawn.

Silently giving him the 'oh really' look, you spread one side of the curtain to let some moon light in. "Ben, you're leaving early tomorrow."

He hums, seemingly enjoying himself. "But that's not an excuse to not enjoy the night." This boy can not get any cornier. You cast your gaze upon the moon, sighing profoundly. "How did the wedding planning go? Good?"

"Hm, yeah. Church wedding, big reception. Whole lot of booze binging planned out. And a killer bachelor party the day after the awards. " He jokes through the line and you tell him off in a playful chide. "Benjamin Jones, you better-"

"I won't. I won't." You sense his gentle smile from your end, checking the time and reluctantly coming to the decision to hit the hay since you'll be leaving early as well. As much as you want to recreate those late night conversations you once had with him, you can't.

"Hey?" You coo somehow.

"Yeah?"

"I gotta sleep. I have to meet Lucy at the airport at 5."

He gives out a throaty grunt as if he's pulling himself up. "Tragic. I'll see you in LA then, love."

Your lips curl up into the gentlest smile with the moonlight blessing it from the window. "You too. Tell yourself and the rest- especially Brian and Roger- that I'm gonna be rooting for you guys to get up on that stage."

"I will. Thanks for the motivation, Y/N. All the words coming from you just mean so much to me. To all of us." And in his voice, you can hear his utmost sincerity and fondness just highlighting his tone.

"Anytime. Now let me sleep, you bloke. "

"Haha, alright. Love you tons, love."

Shifting your eyes to the sky once more, you reply, allowing the words you're about to say to mean more.

"I love you too, Ben. Good night."

- - - - - - -

24th

You had promised Lucy you'd arrive 10 minutes earlier than her and you really didn't hold on to that promise. As soon as you arrive at the airport nearly bathing in sweat and deaf from the multiple rings Lucy has given you, you both take off to the waiting area with your heavy luggage where you spend an hour and a half waiting for your flight to board. Joe has sent two texts telling you that he's still in the middle of having coffee and it's a questionable action since he's 8 hours behind you and is expected to be asleep by now.

You reply with a simple, "See you there" before heeding to the call of your flight number from the speakers.

All the rushing and you haven't had a bite of breakfast yet. An eleven hour flight doesn't sound so bad, as long as you make sure you don't reel everytime you get up to use the bathroom and acquire jet lag the moment you land from a direct flight without any pit stops. The flight is long as you are awake but by the time you fall asleep in between hours, it shortens the duration. The pilot announcing your arrival wakes you and Lucy from the latest nap you've had on the plane. After gathering your luggage and answering a couple of phone calls on you way down the plane, the arrival area is where you spy Joe behind the red tapes, a scarf around his neck and an eager look plastered on his pale skin, just waiting for you and Lucy to step in. His eyes crinkle as he sees you both treading towards him with a handful of luggage. He greets you both with a tight hug and ushers you to his car, assisting with the transport of your things.

He's booked you in the hotel he's staying in to, of course, avoid some minor inconveniences especially since the awards start at 7 pm and you drastically need Lucy to help you prepare. Upon reaching the hotel, he leads the both of you up the second floor and into the hall for your rooms.

Apparently you and Lucy will be sharing which is the great and Joe will be staying in the room right across yours.

After giving yourselves a brief tour of the room, you settle in and unpack your essentials.

"Y/N, bring out your fighter!" Lucy declares with a giggle, pulling the dress she's chosen from her suitcase. It's a purple, off-the-shoulder, crepe satin and black velvet gown that cascades gracefully against the stable air.

Your eyes widen in awe at how it looks against the light. "No need for a match, Luce. You win," you raise your hands up in surrender, "that's- that's catching more eyes. From Rami of course."

"Oh shut it. You'll look smooth in black." She clicks her tongue and smoothens it at the edge of the bed. You whip out yours and hold it up high, wavering a little at how you'll look like in it tonight. How fortunate you were to find 3-inch, black pumps closeted when you were 'panic packing' the night before. You take it out from your suitcase and set it aside before striding towards the blinds, pulling it up and beholding the breathtaking view of Hollywood before you.

Your first visit to the US and you're already headed to the Oscars. This isn't the real life. This is just fantasy.

- - - - - - - -

"We're having a dinner party afterwards, I don't see any reason for two sandwiches before the ceremony." Staring blankly at how Joe's handling waiting for you and Lucy to emerge from your room, Rami purses his lips quizzically– he's come by to pick up his girl as well. The two men look dashingly handsome in their black tuxes and slick hairstyles– their individual charm strong as they highly anticipate for your appearances.

Joe swallows the chunk in his mouth before speaking. "I'm stressed."

"About what?"

He bites down on his last sandwich, dusting his hands off crumbs as he reasons out. "It's the Oscars. Biggest ceremony of the year."

With a shake of his head, Rami opens his mouth to protest but pauses as the creak of the door behind them butts in their conversation. Lucy - exquisite in her cascading satin gown and look dotted in light to moderate make up - emerges with her purse in hand and eyes heady on Rami.

Joe wishes he could loosen some hinges in Rami's jaw since the latter has got his mouth agape at her girlfriend's evening look. To him, she is his ultimate award and he wouldn't have it in any other way.

"Hey, babe." Lucy smiles delicately and kisses Rami's cheek, to which he responds with a breathless, "Luce, you look..." His starstruck silence finishing his compliment for her. Joe hums, agreeing with crossed arms. "I wish I was as pretty as you, Boynton."

"You boys look handsome, too." Lucy giggles softly and Joe begins to wonder. "Where's Y/N?"

"She'll be out in three...two..." As Lucy deliberately pauses her countdown, you come out of the room, head down as you feel a bit hesitant to continue but you regain your confidence and look up timidly– your appearance putting Joe in the same position Rami was just in with Lucy. The dress really agrees to your form, contouring every curve of your body in a semi-sensual way, guaranteeing that you'll be snagging some looks tonight. Your (H/C) hair frames your face intricately with your light make-up emphasizing the color of your eyes and lips. The light brush of air against the skin of your exposed back makes you clutch your purse tighter, deeming it uncomfortable.

Lucy smiles proudly at her work and that is you. "Well, how does she look Joe?"

Joe lets out a hitched exhale, hazel eyes wide as a sinkhole and a slacked jaw struggling to budge. "Like my girlfriend."

"You wish." You can't help but retort playfully and he brings his finger up to his lips, hushing you. Rami compliments you as well and you thank him as the four of you make your way to the elevator– your arm on Joe's and Lucy's on Rami's.

You've taken a limo for the sake of convenience, since Joe and Rami wanted to propose a pre-toast - with the champagne present in the vehicle - to their successes and hard work in the past year. You have faith they'd bring home an Oscar; considering how spectacular their work was portraying the members of Queen. You're also thrilled that you're about to meet Brian and Roger.

The limo parks just across Dolby Theatre and the four of you climb out, making your way arms-in-arms into the place crowded with paparazzi and attendees. You see yourself as a small fish swimming in a sea full of majestic dolphins. This is the big leagues right here and you're not even one bit of a celebrity– at least you feel like you aren't one. After a couple of shoulder brushes with either familiar and unfamiliar faces and escaping the blinding flashes of the cameras, the four of you reunite with Gwilym who has Roger and Brian present by his side. You are introduced to the two Queen members by Joe and you couldn't be any more happier to meet them in person. A couple of moments of interacting with the rest of the crew and cast, Ben joins the 'party' looking sharp and admittedly drop-dead gorgeous in his white tuxedo blazer and slicked back hair with Rosy by his side.

Before he could even reply to the greetings of his friends, he lays his eyes on you and for a while– his pupils dilate and his expression flits faster than he can command it to. He can't believe what or who he is seeing before him amidst all the glam. Letting go of Rosy's hand for a minute, he steps close to you, indescribably captivated. "Y/N...h-hey."

You keep your composure, musing back. "Hey. You look left out, outfit-wise, and a like a million bucks."

It takes him nearly five seconds to reply with the way hes has his eyes transfixed on you. It's like he's seeing you for the first time. Your evening look setting him back to Homecoming night and something inside him just tweaks. You avoid his mindless gaze and break the silence, trying your hardest not to flush. "Ben, please talk. It's just really-"

"You look...beautiful." He breathes out like he had just gotten up from under water.

[another-blog-bites-the-dust]

The Week.

Summary: You and John spend the week together in Tokyo, Japan. A week that would change your lives for good.

Warnings: Bit of drinking and swearing but that's about it, lots of fluff!

A/N: I know it's been far too long!! Sorry about that! Just been so busy between life and writing that I haven't had the chance to take the time to upload and edit my work! Plus the eye infection didn't help 😭😅Nevertheless, here is the next part- lookout for a little song reference 😉 Enjoy! 💖

Gif source [X]

Day 2.

—————

A restless night was washed off in a quick shower. The sleep was still softly clutching onto your body however, but you had a busy day ahead and you couldn't let that get to you. You tossed your old towels into the empty bath for the housekeeper to take away and changed into something comfortable before making your way downstairs for breakfast. It was seven thirty in the morning.

You stepped into the lift and pressed the floor where the restaurant was. When the lift stopped in the floor below yours, a flurry of excited and eager butterflies emerged in your stomach. You were disappointed when the doors opened and John wasn't there- but he still might be sleeping. Instead a young family entered and pressed the button to the lobby. When you got out of the lift, you slowly walked to the restaurant and were led to a table. There was a spread of food along a wall and a menu on the table. You ordered a few things from it and the biggest cup of coffee they had. You got up and grabbed a bowl of funky sounding fruit to start with and grabbed one of the newspapers they had and put it on the table beside you, reading it while you ate your fruit.

Your coffee arrived...and so did someone else. "Morning!" They chirped and you looked up, a smile suddenly appearing on your face.

"Good morning, John," you folded up the paper "How'd you sleep?" You asked.

"I didn't." He still managed to lowly chuckle despite being exhausted.

You smirked "Neither did I." He was still standing- there was a spare chair across from you. "Do you want to join me for breakfast?"

"You sure?" He asked, already pulling out the chair.

"Course," you smiled and he sat down, and placed his order with the server. "I like having company." You smiled into your coffee cup "I always travel alone- it's a nice change having breakfast with someone."

"I hope I'm not keeping you from your work." The worry was adamant in John's voice but you waved away his concerns and told him that he wasn't. "I'm assuming you're a fellow Londoner from your accent?" He put that out there and then silently thanked the waiter for his tea that he had ordered.

"You assume correct. I live just west of Kensington." John choked on his tea and you raised a brow. "What?"

"I live just west of Kensington!" He grinned. "Melrose Gardens!"

You went wide-eyed "No way! I stay on Dewhurst Road! You are like five minutes away from me!" You giggled and John rested his chin on his hand with a toothy grin. Your laughter died down and you looked at him with a soft, amazed smile. "Isn't it funny that you can travel halfway around the world and then find someone who lives down the road from you?"

"Very funny," he mused.

"It's fascinating how small our little big world is." You said just as your breakfasts arrived.

"So what are your plans for today?" He asked. "Do you focus on a particular point of interest or sights to write about?" John was genuinely interested in what you did and when he arrived back in the U.K., he was sure to get his hands on a paper to read your work.

"I try and focus on a bit on every aspect. I tend to spend a week wherever I go to try and do a bit of everything a place has to offer." You began to explain, the pair of you still eating away at your breakfasts. "So today for example, today I'm going to the shops and I'm going to explore a little- jot down anything I find interesting or if I spot any quirky hotspots . I'll take a lot of photos too. But during the week I'll go on a excursion, see what modes of public transport are available, check out the nightlife, try the traditional restaurants...that sort of thing."

"You've certainly got a jam-packed week. Sounds fun too!" He took a bite of toast. "I'll probably be stuck in here all week- especially since my bandmates will be far too busy lazing about." He added with an eye roll.

You chortled before you were hit with an idea. "If you're not busy...you could always tag along with me if you want? I don't mind." You nonchalantly shrugged and sipped away on your coffee.

"R-really?! Sure! I'd love to!" John knew he sounded a little too enthusiastic.

"Great! Well I'll get myself organised and I can meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes?" You suggested and both stood up at the same time.

"Perfect!" You both made your way to the lift, John got off at his floor. "See you soon!" You sent him a small wave and continued going up another floor. You grabbed your bag that had all your necessities in it and your camera along with a guidebook. Before you went anywhere you always read up about where you were going and took a guidebook on the journey with you. The maps inside were especially handy.

Twenty minutes later you met with John who was eagerly waiting for you and an adventure around Tokyo. "Ready to go?" You asked and he nodded and the pair of you stepped outside. The sun was out and there was a scattering of fluffy white clouds in the sky. You ended up down a busy little side street. You spotted a shop who's window display consisted of bright yellow, plastic streamers and questionable looking mannequins in even more questionable positions. "We should head in," you pointed to the door.

"In there?" John pointed too "It looks mad!"

You took his hand and you both felt a jolt of electricity bolt up your arms. "That's exactly why we're going in." John was happy to be dragged by you into the weird wonderland of whimsical mishmash paraphernalia. It held everything from telephones to a literal kitchen sink, as well as odd pairs of shoes, cut out bras and glittery rubber ducks.

"This looks like the inside of Freddie's head," John murmured with a smirk while he took in the emporium of sheer madness.

You smiled and made a mental note to ask about his bandmates later. Walking up ahead, you laughed and picked up a cowboy hat "John," you called him and he looked over, stifling a laugh. "What do you think?" You dramatically accentuated your poses.

"You actually really suit that! You should get it!" You took it off and admired it before taking his advice. John found himself in a little gap filled with rails of clothes and picked up a very jazzy, sequinned, feathery bra. "Think this is too much?" He joked and you giggled.

"Matches your sparkling eyes..." you said without even thinking. Your mouth just blabbed the truth. John had a shy smile on his face while yours went bright red. "Um..." you nervously picked up something and held it in front of him "I think you'd look good in this shirt. Brings out your eyes." You mentally slapped yourself bringing up his beautiful eyes yet again within a matter of seconds.

"You got a thing for my eyes?" He teased but John was a giddy, nervous wreck now he knew that you liked his eyes. He'd use that to his advantage.

"I think we should pay and explore more of the city," you managed to speak out and after grabbing a few more things which included a pair of sunglasses and funky light up earrings, you paid and headed to more shops.

You and John found yourselves in a clothes shop that was deeply embracing the trends of the 70's along with a few traditional outfits. You snapped a few photos of the store and of the cheerful cashier who happily stuck his thumbs up when you snapped a picture. You thanked him and continued taking more photos, including one of John candidly looking through the rails. After picking up an armful of clothes each, you tried them on- some for a laugh and others because they were genuinely nice pieces. You emerged out of the changing booth, pulling back the orange velvet curtain and looked in the mirror in front of you. Then John emerged and you burst out laughing at what you were both wearing. "We look like Sonny and Cher!" You giggled and John stood next to you and scrutinised the immensely tacky outfits.

"I don't have a moustache!" He chuckled.

You reached across and pulled a strand of his long hair in front of his face, above his lip. "Now you do!" You laughed even louder.

John grabbed a piece and placed it over your lip. "So do you." He took it away and lightly gasped "It's still there!" Your jaw dropped but your mouth was curving upwards at his playful remark.

You lightly jabbed his side "Very funny." The cashier, who was laughing at the pair of you, pointed at your camera and then the two of you as if to ask 'Would you like your photo taken?' You nodded with a small smile and handed him the camera. He took two and handed it back. "Arigatō!" You bowed and he did the same. John looked at you with an amazed smile.

"You know Japanese?" He asked.

You shook your head and changed, still talking to him- the room was so small and the wall and curtains were thin enough for him to still hear you. "Only a little. 'Thanks' is pretty easy- I couldn't have a full blown conversation in the language." You changed into a traditional dress and stepped out, John was still admiring his choice of outfit that made him look like Sonny. "What do you think?" You asked and he looked at you via the mirror. His heart skipped a beat and his breath caught.

"You look beautiful in that..." he was dumbfounded by your beauty in such a traditional look.

You sheepishly smiled. "Arigatō..." you winked and then changed back into your own clothes, picking out a few bits that you liked and a jumper that your mum would love as well as the traditional dress. You both paid and headed to the next shop, snapping yet more photos, then another, and then another, then stopped off for some street food- a platter of sushi and gyoza's before heading to yet another shop and picking up a kimono each. "That was a very successful day shopping!" You entered the hotel with your arms full of bags.

"I think the term 'shop till you drop' is the definition of what we've done today!" John tiredly laughed. "God, I need a shower now! That was so fun!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," you managed to press the lift button. "Thanks for coming along with me. I had a great time and got lots of great photos!"

"Thanks for the invite." John sent you a warm smile. "Now it's my turn to return an invite- meet you at the bar later? Around seven?" He asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes and nervous, twiddling fingers.

"Yeah!" You quickly agreed- perhaps a little too fast but that didn't bother John.

He got off at the floor below yours and headed to his room with a smile. He had never had so much fun in such few hours- especially shopping! It was like you had opened his eyes to a new and exciting world. Then it dawned on him that perhaps the company made a difference and was the influence of why he had such fun. Sure, he had been to the shops with past girlfriends but it was a chore to him. But shopping with you and your 'eyes wide open to everything and anything' view changed his initial perspective on going shopping with someone.

You put all your bags down in the corner of your room for now, you'd pack everything away at some point. You took out the camera and photos from the bag it was in and smiled at one- of many photos- of John. He was standing facing a sign that was in Japanese, the light from it bounced perfectly off his face and he looked ethereal- he was glowing. The shadows created perfectly highlighted his exquisite features. You were in awe.

Seven o'clock rolled around fast. John was at the bar first waiting for you with a untouched glass of Suntory beside him. He looked up at the right moment and saw you walk in wearing a lovely black dress with little flowers on it. "Thought I'd make an effort for rock royalty..." you spun on the spot.

John decided to joke with you. "That's an effort?" He widely grinned and you feigned offence with a smirk. "I'm only kidding! You know I'm joking!"

"You're ballsy, John Deacon!" You pointed as you sat next to him, then you saw the drink. "And you got my usual." You leaned forward and clinked your glass with his. "Am I that predictable after being in my company for just over a day?" You both looked over hearing an eruption of laughter. The group of Japanese businessmen who were there in the same spot as last night. "People drinking for days gone by, huh?" You smirked and motioned over to them. "They were here last night too. But then again, time don't mean a thing- especially when you're jet lagged." John hummed and nodded in agreement. "I wish I could sleep."

"Me too," John sighed and took a drink. "Maybe one night I'm here I'll be able to." You casually rested a hand on your cheek, keeping your attention on John. "That night feels like years away...." he laughed "But then again, time don't mean a thing." He repeated your words and the corner of your lip tugged upwards for a split second.

The group of men laughed again and you and John smiled "Sounds like they are having fun."

"I had fun today," John said before taking a sip of his drink "Most fun since I've been here really- our management were really pushing us last week in Kyoto. Wasn't very enjoyable, a lot of pressure." He sighed and played with the napkin under his glass.

Your eyebrows softened and you reached across and instinctively placed your hand on his forearm and he stopped toying with the napkin. The contact sent John's heart fluttering. "You know, maybe you should take a break from listening to what they tell you to do and start listening to yourself. You might actually live a little and feel better if you did." You suggested before taking a drink. "You're your own person John. No one can ever take that away from you." You smiled at him. John placed his hand on the top of yours, his thumb brushed over the back of your hand.

"I might just do that, Y/N."

You were looking at each other in silence for a few minutes and then the bartender- the same one from last night- disturbed you both. You had both learned his name, Harry, he asked if you'd like another round of drinks. "Last round for me," you looked to John "I hope you don't mind, I want to attempt to get some sleep tonight!"

John nodded with a grin "I'm on the same boat as you! I'll make an attempt to get some shut eye but I doubt I'll get much."

"The jet lag is still kicking the shit out of me so I'll be up most of the night too no doubt." You tiredly smiled "It really sucks." You thanked Harry with a silent smile and raised your glass at John who did the same. You both took your time on your last drink before parting ways for the night. "Thanks for a great day, John. I had an amazing time."

"Hope we can do it again...I'd really like it if we did." He bit on his lip and you shyly smiled while nodding your head. You were hoping he'd say that. "Hope you get some sleep."

"I hope you get some sleep too, John." You got off first. "Night. Sweet dreams." You waved and caught one final glimpse of him. Or so you thought.

John pressed his hand against the door to hold it open and popped his head out "And Y/N!" He called.

You turned around "Yes?"

He smiled, admiring the sight he knew was fortunate enough to be looking at. "You really didn't need to make the effort. You already look absolutely beautiful."

You bashfully smiled "Thank you." John forced himself back into the lift. The doors shut and he endured another floor in the lift listening to yet more piano music. You quickly changed into your pyjamas, turned off the room lights and tossed yourself onto the bed- not bothering to find what remote closed the curtains. You fell asleep with the glowing Tokyo lights in the background while thinking of John.

——————————

•All parts•

Tags- (Tag list is open! Just let me know if you want to be tagged or not or if I’ve forgotten to tag you!)

@rrrogah-tayluhh @rogerofmylife @phantom-fangirl-stuff @pyrotechnic789 @deacytits @mercurys-bike @happy-at-home @mhftrs @danny-fucking-mercury @queenismylifenow @whitequeen-blackqueen @stateofloveandvedder @blondyfel @mespetitestortues @trickster-may @xtrashmammalstefx @trescharmant-mydear @makapaka11 @killerqueenbucky @hodgepodge-of-rog @fredthelegend @killerqueen-gunpowdergelatine @bowiequeen @princessleiaqueen @okdeaky @mizzallfandomz @fangirlofeverythingme @ellee677 @the-killer-queenie @bucket-of-kittens @jamiethewallflower @rogernroll @queen-irl-af @freddie-malek @deakysgirl @little-miss-queenie @sheridans-dynamos @multifangirl17 @deacon-pecan @drowsy-deaky @goodoldfashionedloverboii @rogerinameddow @beanie-on-a-string @valeriecarolinaw @nothingreallymatterstomee @catch-a-deak @finnbalortrash21 @kyleetheeditor @itsanarrum @deakysgurl

[muggle-writes]

11 questions

tagged by @writergurll

1. What is your favourite writing quote?

I.... don't collect quotes. I could Google one right now but that's not the same because I won't feel any long-term connection to it. but my favorite writing advice derived from a quote is the equivalent of "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" because you can't edit words that aren't there. write and keep writing, it can be good later, now you just want there to be enough words to work with

2. What is the name of your childhood favourite book?

Hmm Ender's Game was a favorite. as were the Harry Potter books.

3. When did you start writing?

the first time I wrote a story and cared about it, not just because it was required for class, was probably 7th grade? but I've been crafting stories to lull myself to sleep with for years, at least as young as 3rd grade. and now a solid half of my writing process is zoning in to that same narrated imaginationland that I tell my bedtime stories from, and crafting the story in a similar way (the thing with actually writing it down later is, now it does matter whether the story is self-consistent.)

4. Do you listen to music when you write?

usually, yeah. I have found what works best for me is putting on soundtracks from video games I haven't played. video game music is designed to be played on repeat, to complement but not distract from a task. and if it's music from video games I haven't played, then I don't get distracted remembering what I loved about the game. (the times I don't listen to music it's usually because everything is too distracting. music is too distracting, silence is too distracting, the surface I'm sitting upon is too distracting... on those days I get a cold drink and write in silence and hope and pretend I'm a functional writer. alternately I was so ready to write I put in my headphones and got in the zone and wrote 4 pages before I realized I was still listening to silence)

5. Who is your favourite character to write?

oooh, good question.

I like to write observant characters, because whether or not they're correct in their observations, it forces me to think about how truths can be misconstrued or hidden, or whether they're obvious to all or just to those who look. It also gives me an excuse to over-describe everything, when the character is observant enough to notice and mentally comment on all the details I want to add.

but also I like writing any characters when I have a strong sense of their voice, enough to be confident that I'm writing them in character

6. How do you come up with names for your characters?

I write a lot of fanfiction which makes names mostly a moot question, but when I am actually generating character names, I've got a few methods:

for a fantasy universe with names that resemble American names but aren't actually recognizable, I kinda just babble gibberish that also sounds vaguely like names until something sounds right. Then I repeat it a few times to make sure it still sounds right, and modify if needed. (...often I realize weeks or months later that a name sounds like something else and I'm surprised with myself for not noticing the similarity and then I second guess the character's name. once I wound up with a character whose name turned out to be the brand on the water fountains at my school.)

if I'm writing vaguely modern English or white-American names, I'll go through names I know and try them out, filtering by how pretentious the name sounds against family background.

and when I have to come up with names with other backgrounds I'll use baby naming websites or lists of "25 most common names in [country]

7. What’s your favourite book?

heck that's a really good question. I like lots of books. usually whatever I'm reading at the time is my "favorite" unless it's awful.

idk if I have a permanent favorite book, but the Harry Potter, Belgariad, Xanth, Pern, and Ender series all really shaped my sense of storytelling

8. What is your favourite part of writing?

either when I have a great idea and I get it down on paper/into a document before that initial burst of inspiration fades, or seeing people's reactions to my work, or occasionally just rereading something I wrote months or years prior and just enjoying it as much then as I did at first.

9. Who is a writer you look up to?

As much as I don't like his politics, I have been really drawn into nearly everything I've read of Orson Scott Card's (if I was old enough to Get It. tbh most of the Ender sequels went over my head bc I read them too young). and that's something I aspire to, to be so skillful, and to weave such a compelling story, that even people who want to dislike me are willing to kinda ignore that and forget it and pick up something I wrote just because my name's on it so they trust it to be good

10. Which genre is favourite to read?

when I was younger I liked both fantasy and sci fi pretty equally, but even though they can overlap, the tone is so different between the genres that I tend to prefer fantasy

11. How did you come up with your current wip?

lol which one? all my current wips are fanfiction (the last original piece I had half a plot for, I outlined and then abandoned during high school). usually I'll watch an episode or a movie and come away imagining "what if..." and if I get enough of a divergence from the original and I still feel strongly that I think it's worth writing, I'll start writing it up. I've started pieces because they were happening in my imaginationland and I wanted to force the scenes to be completed. occasionally I let a character (OC or fandom) work through a crisis I'm trying to pretend isn't happening in my own life. Several of my crossovers are inspired by "those characters should interact, it would be funny/drama-prone/intriguing/etc" (eg Julie Kwan & Hermione Granger: more-than-competent, sarcastic, academic friends. sounds excellent. OACET agent & Jodie Starling: time for (supposedly ex-)FBI shenanigans and Conan can be the one out of the loop for once. just things like that that sound like something interesting will happen) sometimes it's based on fandom commentary I've read (what if the Dursleys died instead and Lily and James raised Dudley) or just straight up "write the thing you want to read" (my long wip right now is because I got hooked on a trope and few of the fics were complete and none of them contained twists I thought would fit so I'm writing my own).

inspiration comes from lots of places and then it all kinda gets filtered through "what do I spend more than a single afternoon polishing in imaginationland?" and what survives is usually what I write.

anyway I'm not organized enough to have a taglist. I imagine I'm supposed to tag 11 people? but maybe @knightbusofdoom or @elizabethsyson to answer questions? no pressure.

and anyone else that wants can either do it and tag me or dm me and I'll edit you in so you're properly tagged

[jjinomu]

how did you get into editing pmd models? you're super good at them, and i'm considering taking it up. i was wondering, how/where did you pick it up?

oh boi oh geez where do i even begin omg (long post so i chucked the rest under the cut)

first thank you for your compliment hehe i really appreciate that!! but hmmm well- i started editing pmd/pmx models like aaaaaages ago i dont even remember much but generally for most beginners, lots of people tend to recolour (i mean i did it too when i first started hehe shout out to my zatsune model edit of animasa miku phew gud ol’ days) which is totally okay especially if you’re just figuring out how like colours/textures work and the whole material panel/subsets/i’m saying-weird-terminology-that-you-probably-don’t-get-yet pretty much all the tools and what they do that’s totally okay hehe once you poke around it for a while, you’ll get use to which tool does what and that’s all gud (i recommend getting the english translated version of PMDeditor (or PMX- i use PMX) because that’ll save you a lot of time (i use the japanese version because i’m weird and dumb and i’m still trying to figure stuff out myself to this day)

after that phase of recolouring (normally i wouldn’t recommend staying in this for long like, i recoloured 1 model and moved on straight away HAHA) at this point one of the most common and main styles of editing for starters is taking editable (or ‘legal’) parts from other models that allow editing (make sure stuff is editable before you do anything or you could get in trouble), and then piecing it together to form your own cool new model edit yeyeye, there should be plenty of tutorials how to do this and how to avoid glitches with joints/physics/bones and stuff so if you want, just hmu privately and i can quest for some for you, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to find!! 

usually lots of people generally stay in that area of editing which is totally chill as well, with practice and constant improvement you could like reach some good levels of work from just part-editing itself, ive seen it happen many many times!!

otherwise the other option you could go down is what i generally do nowadays for editing- and that’s i guess, ‘modelling parts’ (which is what most people call it) or ‘meta-editing’- it involves pretty much, chucking a base into an external 3D program to build clothes/your own parts and then re-rig it entierly again in PMXeditor (i’m a lil tired asf but i have a tutorial tab on my tumblr page where i go more in depth on this and where to start if this is what you wanna do) thoUGH keep in mind, it’s probably best you get use to using PMX and all the terminolgy and such before anything or else it’ll be like what whAT WHat

personally i think that this ‘meta-editing’ method is almost the more easier and safer route, though when you’re starting out it’s like ‘MmMM shit’ but trust me it’s…. imo it’s easier than part-editing (because i used to do that too) mostly because 1. you just make your shit rather than find it (sometimes some parts aren’t even ever made) and 2. you avoid breaking rules completely because heck ur doing it 100% urself wat are rules (aside from obviously your base model’s rules haha)

i forgot what else i wanted to say um

oh yeah well- this is like the basic of the basic explanations, i need you to be more specific if you want me to teach you stuff but the least i can do now is give you a brief overview?? but das it ehe

otherwise some tips i’d like to mention as well which have nothing to do with the actual practice, are as follows:

#1 tip: that i donnn’t think i’ve ever preached on this blog before but i might as well start bc it’s important!!! try ur best to remain humble/modest watever- honestly i think….. if you start thinking you’re some God level editor or watever that’s when…… improvement kinda halts……. so even though it might be kinda ehhh, be a little harsh on yourself- you’re your own critic and it’s better to recognise your faults before someone else points them out for you (because that can hurt heaps, but i mean if u hate urself first nobody else can amirITE AMIRITE i’m kidding don’t hate urself)

i, for one am always very horrible to myself with my edits- like i dislike a looot of them which is actually kinda terrible LMAOO so i don’t recommend like hating everything you do because that ruins the fun- and sometimes it might even push you to stop entirely (i’ve known friends that have quit because they couldn’t get it right etc.) as long as you realise that whatever you do currently isn’t going to be as great as what you do later in life, then you’re like guranteed to improve no doubt about it- in a way, you’re not putting any limitations on yourself so you can grow from that! just continue to persevere, some people don’t improve until a looot later and some people improve like within weeks- so don’t let that get to you either!!! i’ve been doing this shit for like ages and i still am not as good as like actual modellers because i’ve just…. been too comfortable and improved only as an editor askdajsk

#2 tip: do not compare yourself to others especially when you’re first starting out- i’ve had…… quite a number of people compare themselves to me which is….. to say the least……. quite uncomfortable for the person you’re comparing yourself to??? because you gotta keep in mind how long people have been doing stuff (like this is my 6th year and literally everyday i’ve opened up PMX or metasequoia and i’ve toyed around for at least an hour) and idk just try not to compare yourself- because i know it’s kinda difficult not to but trust me, try to walk your own path you can create your own shit without necassarily comparing- unless you’re comparing to improve yourself whiiich leads me to my #3 tip

#3 tip: do not be afraid to mimic styles or toy with styles, i mean do not claim a certain style as your own that’s a HUGE nono, but it doesn’t hurt to like attempt to mimic someone who you look up to, and their style in order to help you improve and find your own style!! i personally mimic artists (rather than MMDers/editors) when i do my edits and then i started to develop my own kinda style??? like i still do a lot of imitation ‘edits’ which are those anime edits you see every now and again (like my yoi models or my binan models) and that’s fine!!! i think the most improvement i’ve ever had in terms of face-editing and stuff have come from me trying to imitate art of others (instead of just blindly going for my own style from the getgo) and this goes for drawing too!!! hell i still ‘mimic’ styles whenever i do any edits that have already an art design for?? i like accuracy first and then i play my style into it later and that’s totally cool too!! as long as you correctly credit and don’t claim as your own, you can’t really go much wrong (unless the person is like hey? can u pls stop? then ya don’t HAHA) i once had an incident back when i was a baby editor where i,,,,,,, kind of recreated someone else’s style of model edit line into like a different model style (in this case it was LAT so that’s how long ago it was) and then redistributed without their prior permission and ya that was bad don’t do that HAHA

and ya that should be it, i wrote this like 60 years ago and it’s been sitting in my drafts and i totally forgot about it until today so i hope that helps ya out!!

[circular-time]

Hi! I'm trying to go through Classic Who and was wondering what some good serials to start off with would be, in your opinion? From a variety of Doctors, if that's okay.

Great question. It’s hard for me to boil 27 years into a quick watchlist, but I’ll do my best to give you a good sampler with good stories, watershed events, and most classic companions. I’ll boldface my top rec for each Doctor.

My suggestion is to try 2 top-recommended stories for each of the classic Doctors, and then watch more of whichever Doctor/companions catch your fancy.

Rec list below the cut: 

First Doctor

I always wrestle with where to start newbies.

Unearthly Child is such a good launch, especially the first half hour. It establishes that the Doctor has a lot to learn from humans! But if you find the later episodes of that story a bit draggy, it's okay to skip ahead to when the show hits its stride.Here:

The Aztecs (Barbara, Ian, Susan): First TARDIS team, classic historical, first to grapple with ethics of altering history. Excellent story.

The Romans (Barbara, Ian, Vicki): Lighthearted historical with a lot of moments to make you grin.

The Time Meddler (Steven, Vicki): Another fun one, first to introduce another Time Lord (although at the time, the showrunners hadn’t decided that the Doctor wasn’t human; the “Time Lord” concept was introduced in the second Doctor’s final episode.).

Second Doctor

I know this era the least, because almost all its episodes were lost when I was a kid, and I still need to catch up on recons and recovered stories. A pity, because Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Peter Capaldi all look back to Patrick Troughton as their Doctor.

I’m still playing catch-up, but I warmly suggest:

Power of the Daleks (Ben, Polly) I’m not quite sure about this rec. It’s the first regeneration story ever, totally lost apart from the soundtrack, recently reconstructed using 1960s-comics-style animation. The visuals may not be your cup of tea, but it’s a good story. I guess this is another, “Try it, see if it works for you, and if not, move on.”

Enemy of the World (Jamie, Victoria) WATCH THIS. NO SERIOUSLY. It’s alarmingly topical, and Pat Troughton is amazeballs. Remember it’s 50 years old now.

The Mind Robber (Jamie, Zoe) a goofier, more lighthearted entry than most of my suggestions, but if you have a sense of humour, it’s a lot of fun. It reminds me that (a) Who was primarily a kids’s show smart enough for the whole family to enjoy and (b) early television was like watching a stage play;  you had to suspend disbelief, tolerate flat sets and basic props, and fill in the rest with your imagination. Our minds were the CGI of early TV.

Third Doctor

Three was my first Doctor, so from here on it gets difficult for me to be choosy.

Spearhead from Space (Liz, Brig) for sure; it’s the intro of the UNIT era and a good regeneration story. Keep in mind what a radical departure this was; not only was it in colour, but it was the first time the Doctor and companions had left at the end of one season and been replaced with an entirely new cast in the next. The Doctor was now Earthbound, working with UNIT. The Time Lords had just been established in the previous (10 episode long!) serial.

Inferno (Liz, Brig) is widely regarded and a heck of a story, with some unforgettable moments, but it’s another that’s about one episode longer than it needs to be according to modern tastes.

Terror of the Autons (Jo, Brig, Benton) introduces Jo AND the Master. Good story. Watch it. :)

The Three Doctors was the tenth anniversary special, and I love it, goofy monsters, ham acting, campy villain and all. William Hartnell passed away not long after.

Fourth Doctor

This is especially hard to pick and choose because Tom’s era spanned seven years, and he had so many good companions and watershed stories. You don’t have to hit all of these; I just have trouble choosing.

Genesis of the Daleks (Harry, Sarah Jane) for sure, introduction of Davros. Unusually dark but important story, a real watershed.

The Brain of Morbius (Sarah Jane) is a solid Four-era adventure introducing the Sisterhood of Karn and another problematic Time Lord. It’s not a pivotal story so much as “this is absolutely classic classic Who, and good entertainment.” 

Hand of Fear is Sarah Jane’s final story. It’s a good sendoff, even if the writers had forgotten she was a tough bird; she shrieks more than I’d like. The final scene is embedded in the hearts of all Whovians of my generation. Our Sarah Jane.

The Deadly Assassin (just about the only solo Doctor serial): I waffle on whether to recommend this because it’s slow in spots, but it probably did the most to establish Gallifrey canon of any story, since it’s the first story that takes place on Gallifrey. 

The Face of Evil introduces Leela. And you can skip it. No really, it’s simply a good adventure, and I hate for you to miss Leela altogether.

The Pirate Planet (Romana I, K9) is hilariously over the top, a farce penned by the inimitable Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhiker’s Guide. Bonus: drinking game with the phrase “MIISTER FIBULIIIII!” Except that might land you in a hospital, so never mind.

The City of Death (Romana II) contains a lot of running through the streets of Paris and Tom Baker and Lalla Ward flirting shamelessly. Nevertheless, it’s a good story with an unusually good secondary cast. A fan favorite. Watch for the John Cleese cameo!

Drat, that’s too many Tom Bakers already, so I guess I shouldn’t say Keeper of Traken. But I’m gonna, because I’m biased. (It’s Nyssa’s intro, a Shakespearean tragedy with an interesting villain. More importantly, Anthony Ainley, the next Master, plays her father.)

Fifth Doctor

Castrovalva is the best regeneration story. Yes, I’m biased, but that sequence with Peter Davison wandering around the TARDIS imitating the Doctors he grew up watching is a great intro.

Earthshock (Adric, Tegan, Nyssa) I haven’t given you any Cybermen stories yet, have I? Watch this one. I refuse to spoil why; I’ve already spoiled the first cliffhanger (it had been seven years since the previous Cybermen story, and nobody was expecting them).

The Five Doctors (Tegan, Turlough, and everybody else) is the 20th anniversary special that brought back as many Doctors, companions and monsters as it possibly could. Pure fanservice, but fun for all that. Plus more Gallifrey worldbuilding.

Caves of Androzani (Peri) is often voted the best classic Who story ever. Not sure about that, but the directing in this one is so much better than most of the era it hurts. Even if modern audiences are no longer used to characters addressing the camera; it was a convention back then.

Sixth Doctor

Poor Colin; I love his audios but I haven’t gone back and watched his TV serials since the 80s. The two I remember as especially good are:

The Two Doctors (Jamie, Peri) - Colin Baker collides with Patrick Troughton. Not to mention Jackie Pearce, who played the arch-villain of Blake’s 7.

Vengeance on Varos (Peri) - keep in mind that so-called Reality TV was almost two decades away

Seventh Doctor

I loved the quirky first season of the Seventh Doctor era, but most people don’t. Delta and the Bannermen (Mel) was apparently penned under the influence of recreational substances, and I love it, but again, most people don’t. Happiness Patrol is another “I love it, but most people don’t” story.

These are safer, quality bets:

Battlefield. (Ace) WATCH IT. NO SERIOUSLY. Last Brig appearance on classic Who. A+ would recommend, if nothing else for the fact that Who clued in to having a diverse (and good) cast. Watch for Ace’s gal pal of the week. ;) 

Remembrance of the Daleks (Ace) was originally meant as the 25th anniversary special. The Doctor returns to Coal Hill School for the first time since Unearthly Child. There’s Daleks and the famous Unlimited Rice Pudding speech. Ace kicks Dalek ass.

Survival. Last classic Who ever. A Master story. Ace’s gal of the week is none other than Lisa Bowerman (Big Finish director, also plays Bernice Summerfield) disguised as a furry. Despite the naff costuming, it’s a good story, and the scriptwriter was slipping in as much lesbian subtext as she could get away with in the 80s (according to an interview).

Eighth Doctor

By all means, watch the TV movie, despite its flaws. When it came out, my friends compained, “Stop trying to appeal to Americans by making Doctor Who more American! We’re Anglophiles!” And I lamented, “This is the opposite of Doctor Who: The FX are superb [well, they were then] but the dialogue is mediocre!”  Nevertheless, we all loved Paul McGann as the Doctor and were angry on his behalf that he hadn’t been given a better script to reboot the franchise.

My opinion of the 1997 movie has risen considerably over the years, but it’s still a bit rocky.

And of course you have to see Night of the Doctor, but it’s only seven minutes. Perfect Paul.

Edited to add: Nobody is grading you on your hobby. Or if they are, F ’em. You are allowed to pick and choose! There is so much Who now that it’s pretty much impossible to see, read and listen to all of it. Different eras of the show have different styles and appeal to different tastes. So watch what gives you joy. Just remember there are overlooked gems in every period.