#hello everyone welcome to my coloring experiment

[waterlogged-detective]

Stop by the Doe Clinic to get yours TODAY!!

[coff33notforme]

HECK YEAH ANOTHA WELCOME HOME WRITER!! Also! The fact you also like tf2 makes you literally the best. Anyways I was wondering if you could write a Wally x GNreader (scenario,hcs, really whatever you feel like writing, I’m not picky!!) but where the reader has BPD, so they’re really awkward, gets embarrassed, anger issues…etc!!

thanks so much neighbor!! I hope you have a good day bud! Make sure to drink water and keep yourself healthy! Toodles!!

A/n: AAA, Thank you so much for the compliment and for the request! I had a lot of fun writing this! This is my first time writing for Wally and since there is not a lot of characterization for him yet I kinda just loosely based this off what I thought he might be like, so yeah. But I hope you enjoy none the less! ^^

Disclaimer: there might be some inaccurate depictions of BPD since I do not have this disorder, I did some research before I wrote this, but it still might not be true to the experience of everyone with BPD

Pairing: Wally darling and gn Reader (This can be read as Romantic or Platonic!)

At first Wally had noticed small things about you, things that you made you stick out from the rest of his colorful friends

Wally had observed you from afar, interacting with the other neighbors, but you seemed to be acting different then everyone else in the group

You were stiff, your speech awkward and your movements seemed to be stifled in a way that made you seem very robotic 

And for the majority of the time you were in the group you seemed to be quiet, but by the way you stood it seemed like you always had something to say but you bite your tongue, letting the words die on your lips

Until you and your neighbors had parted ways, Wally watched as you walked away your shoulders seemed tense and a frustrated scowl rested on your face, this confused Wally, you seemed to be fine a couple minutes ago?

What had happened to upset you in such a short amount of time

Wally was intrigued by you, it's in his nature to be curious after all

Intrigued by this sudden ripple of change in your behavior Wally set out to ask you exactly what had bothered you

Wally walked the steps to your small home, giving a quiet knock to your wooden door,not wanting to disturb you incase you were still upset

Silence stretched out through your seemingly empty house, before the door creaked open, your face peeking out from behind the door

“Hello?” 

“Hello neighbor, do you mind if I come in?” Wally's cheerful voice rang out through your weary home, your tired eyes shifted behind you to your messy house, before you glanced back to the to the eager puppet in front of you

“Uh, I don’t know my house is kind of a mess right now.” Wally simply let out a light chuckle

“Mess doesn’t bother me at all.” You hesitated, sighing as you reluctantly opened the door as the colorful man stepped inside, glancing around your dreary home

“You have a lovely home friend.” 

You gave an exhausted smile

“Thank you Wally, that's sweet. And I don’t mean to be rude, what brings you over here?” you ask, rubbing your arms anxiously 

Wally took note of your sudden change in emotion

“Well, I don’t mean to stick my nose where it doesn't belong, but I couldn't help but notice you seem so…for the lack of a better word ‘strange’, whenever you speak to others.” 

You winced at the mention of your behavior

Wally took notice of this and immediately corrected himself

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound insensitive, what I meant is that I was simply concerned for your sudden change in your behavior, and was wondering if there was anything that upset you?” he offered a quiet explanation 

You shook your head, your eyes shifting to the floor

“It’s not important, don’t worry about it.” 

Unimpressed by this answer, Wally pushed a bit further

“If there's anything wrong, I want you to feel like you can talk to me, I’m not just a neighbor, I’m a friend.” 

He paused for a moment 

“Of course, there's no pressure, you can talk whenever you're ready to, dear.”

You smiled, this time it felt genuine, like his words had stirred the emptiness inside of you 

“Thanks Wally, I will.” 

From then on you and Wally's relationship grew much stronger than before

Wally was always there to help you when you felt lonely, or angry, or whatever you were dealing with he would be there to help you calm down, or for you to just rant to

Anything that you needed Wally was happy to provide

First Welcome home request lets go gamers

[skyacya]

Hello! I got into transformers recently and I've been scrolling through Tumblr for awhile to find TF related content. I happen to come across your blog and dare I say your illustrations are stunning!🧡 The color choices and the line work is absolutely amazing.

You can say I'm a little motivated to draw some robots now—but as someone who only drew humans in the past and someone who just joined the fandom. I've come to the realization that drawing robots is much harder than it looks🤲..

If it's not too much to ask, would you mind sharing some tips or experiences on how you started drawing them? Thank you🦐

Man, you have no idea how much seeing this made my day (〃´∀｀)! But sure!

The general idea I use is to break down characters into their most basic shapes, fx Transformers Prime and Animated has super strong shape language especially compared to G1 where everyone are squares

Before drawing a new character, I like to practice my muscle memory by isolating these basic shapes on top of a reference image. To get that proper giant alien robot feel it's especially helpful to practice big, squareish shapes (though depends on the character, some have more fluid shapes similar to humans).

With the overall shapes you can draw your desired pose much easier because you don't need to think about details yet.

When you have the pose down, you can continue on with the details. These are also just shapes broken down into smaller shapes. You just continue to break everything into shapes until you have achieved the level of detail that you want. Everything is shapes

When adding details, it's a good idea to have a bunch of references ready. I usually just go through an episode/chapter with the character I want and take a shit ton of screenshots

⊹⊹⊹⊹Some general tips I have are:⊹⊹⊹⊹

Find inspiration from different artists you like and see how they break down the characters (and try doing the shape practicing to get used to the feeling of drawing bigger shapes)

This is a strange addon tip but hear me out, a lot of R18 tf artists are insanely talented, like to an unlawful degree. Welcome to the rust sea of sin, I would add recommendations but I am a coward

Varying lineweight is especially useful to separate bigger shapes from details, otherwise it can quickly look busy and messy (look at Alex Milnes art before coloring, there it is very visible)

Alex Milne also uses full black in certain less visible/high contrast areas to create focus on the more important details. It helps to create a more balanced drawing. Also helps to hide areas you aren't confident about such as joints lol

Don't be afraid to exaggerate the lines, robots have a tendency to look stiff

Do not fear the shapes, the shapes mean no harm.

And lastly, thank you for your kind ask! There are many ways to begin drawing robots and I hope this may help in your journey down the rabbithole of giant sexy gay alien robots (ʃƪ˶˘ ﻬ ˘˶)♥♥

[sherashalala]

Muriel had been doing what they always do best: Organizing. As a Scrivener of the 37th class, Muriel has a lot of experience with organizing, especially since everyone up there always loves it when things are neat and orderly and has no signs of anyone going through it. 

Everything looks the same, and everything, even the labels, are by memory. Nothing is different between shelves. 

This, however, is such a wonder. Colorful, and so diverse, like the Humans are, and how the Angels in Heaven had tried to be. After everyone figured that She loved the humans so much more than she did her Angels, it became all the craze, to take their Form and cherish it just as She had– and the Demons were a mockery of Her design.

However, these books were not by Her design. At least, not directly. These are by the hands of so many different humans.

Muriel radiates Love into every piece of parchment they touch, and makes sure that an equal amount of care and a good dose of miracles are doused on every page to keep it fresh and crisp for when Aziraphale comes back– and for when Crowley decides to visit.

Neither of which has happened for the past six months, which makes this place… rather lonely.

Still, Muriel is an Angel, and she has lots of Love to give.

Their daily routine of rearranging all the books in the bookshop from A to Z and sometimes spicing it up with Z to A is cut off by a sudden sound behind them. They jump, and admittedly they yelp, when the sound echoes at the door and even rings the bell a little.

Muriel approaches the door, and opens it, only to see a Demon at the other side. “Hello! Might I come in? Just a regular check up to make sure the coast is clear of the demon Crowley!” He says in a chipper tone, waving his hands at Muriel.

They blink. “Oh, uhm, I’m not supposed to be welcoming people willy nilly into the bookshop, sorry!” Muriel says with a polite grimace.

“Ah! No that’s perfectly alright,” They wave their hand placatingly at Muriel. “Just need your word that you haven’t seen the guy in a good while now. Also your name, for documentation purposes.”

Muriel smiles. “Ah! Yes. I’m Muriel.” Then they blink. “My word?”

“Well of course! You’re an Angel, Angels don’t lie.”

Muriel blinks, “Oh, oh yes thank you. You’re quite right about that!” Muriel clears their throat. “Well, Demon–” they blink, “Sorry what was your name again?”

“Eric. Eric the Disposable Demon.” He tells them.

They frown. “That’s not very nice.”

“Well it’s true! Pretty disposable.” They pat their chest, “And Proud!”

“Ah, right. Sorry, Pride is not one of my strong suits!”

Eric nods. “Of course, you’re an Angel after all.” Eric laughs. “Now, uhm, word please?”

“Ah! Yes, of course.” Muriel clears their throat. “Disposable Demon Eric,” Muriel says in a booming voice. “This Embassy of Heaven is Clear of any Threat– there has been no signs of the Demon Crowley in months now!” They announce.

The demon nods. “Great! Terrible meeting you.” He waves, and steps back.

“Wonderful meeting you Eric!” Muriel says, and shuts the door.

[jujumin-translates]

★ Main Story | Act 13 - Budding Spring | Chapter 8 - First Theater Experience

*Door creaks open*

Towa: …

Towa: (It’s almost time for it to start, but I wonder if it’s fine for me to come in…)

Izumi: Ah, Towa-kun, welcome. You can go ahead and take a seat over there while you wait.

Towa: Hello…

Boy: Hey, I’m thirsty.

Father: Here’s some water.

Izumi: There’s vending machines in the lobby, so if you want to get anything, now’s the time.

Young Man: Umm, where’s the bathroom…?

Sakuya: It’s that way. I’ll show you!

Towa: (There’s all kinds of people here, from elementary school kids to elderly people…)

Towa: (I wonder if those high school-looking girls and college-age-looking ladies are Spring Troupe fans like me.)

Towa: (It’s kinda a relief that no one here seems like they’re an actor. Everyone looks pretty beginner-ish.)

Izumi: Well, it’s about time. Let’s get things started.

Sakuya: Everyone, please come and gather here~!

Sakuya: Hello! I’m Sakuya Sakuma, the leader of MANKAI Company’s Spring Troupe!

Sakuya: Thank you for participating in today’s beginner’s workshop!

Sakuya: This is our first time doing something like this, so I’m sure there’s some things we’ll kinda have to ease into, but we’ll do our best and we hope you all have fun!

Citron: We will start with a very eggciting backstage tour led by me and Sakuya!

Citron: We are also bringing in some special guests for today, so we hope you look forward to seeing them~!

Sakuya: We’ll start by showing you the part of the stage that can be seen from the best seats in the house! Be sure to watch your step as you make your way up.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Here’s where we always perform for the audience.

Boy: Whoa…!

Towa: Amazing… so this is what it’s like to be on stage.

Sakuya: When you’re actually standing up here, it’s kinda surprising how small the stage is from one end to the other. But since it’s up higher than the audience seats, you can see all the way to the back from up here.

Woman A: So you really can see it from up here.

Citron: We can see all of the audience members!

Sakuya: Akashi-saaan, please go ahead!

Akashi: Okay…

*Stage lights turn on*

Sakuya: This is the stage lighting. It can change the color of the entirety of the stage, and can be used to cast a spotlight on a single person…

*Spotlight turns on*

Towa: !!

Woman B: So hot…!

Citron: It is always hot and shakes us sweat!

Tsuzuru: You mean makes us sweat.

Itaru: You sure letting Citron and Sakuya run this thing is a good idea?

Citron: Just leave it to us!

Sakuya: When a scene is exciting, the light can flicker like this, and when a scene has a slower tone, the lights can become subdued like this…

*Lights flicker and then slow down*

Citron: We can do many performances this way!

Sakuya: Let’s move on to the lighting booth next.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Citron: It is time to introduce one of our special guests!

Sakuya: This is Akashi-san, he does all of our lighting for us.

Akashi: N-Nice to m… you…

Towa: Huh?

Citron: He is a bit shy, but he has instanding lighting skills!

Tsuzuru: You mean outstanding?

Akashi: A-A single light can completely change the atmosphere of a scene… the mood of the stage can completely differ depending on who’s in charge of the lighting…

Sakuya: The mood on stage that Akashi-san creates is always so gentle and warm.

Akashi: T-Thank you…

Towa: (I hadn’t ever really thought about the lighting that much before. Next time I see a play, I’ll pay more attention to it to see how it changes…)

Citron: Next up is the sound booth!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Rento: Yo.

Sakuya: This is Rento-san, he’s in charge of the sound for us!

Rento: Nice to meetcha.

Rento: My job is to do stuff like prepare the music ‘n sound effects used on stage ‘n then make ‘em fit in line with the flow of the play.

Rento: I’m basically a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to sound-related stuff.

Rento: ‘Course, the music’s gotta fit for the scene, ‘n the sound effects can’t be too dull or they’ll take away from the play.

Rento: Not only does that stuff really liven up a scene, but it also pushes the play forward so it doesn’t fall into a lull or anythin’ like that.

Boy: Huh… the music really does get me more excited, now that I think about it.

Towa: (So this is the guy that does the sound effects that go along with the sword fights…)

Sakuya: Even a tiny timing error can disrupt the rhythm of a play, so it’s a pretty tough job.

Citron: Rento’s sounds are always very nice and perfect!

Rento: Thanks much.

Sakuya: Now let’s head to the backstage dressing room~.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Yuki: Hey there.

Azami: Nice to meet you.

Towa: Huh, Azami-kun and Yuki-kun…!?

Sakuya: These guys are Yuki-kun, the one in charge of our costumes, and Azami-kun, the one in charge of our makeup!

Woman A: I didn’t think we’d get to meet anyone from a troupe other than Spring Troupe…!

Woman B: Same here!

Yuki: I’ve been in charge of costumes for every performance since the Newborn Spring Troupe’s first play, RomiJuli.

Yuki: I create the designs based on the plots of Tsuzuru’s scripts, and then from there, I draw up the patterns, which you can kind of think of like being the blueprints for costumes…

Yuki: Then I buy the fabric and get to sewing.

Yuki: I make designs that not only fit the image of the role but ones that’ll also look good on stage and are easy to move in.

Woman A: Do you make everything all by yourself?

Yuki: Generally speaking. It’s easier for me to get a solid idea that way. But sometimes I have Taichi or the others help me with some of the smaller details.

Towa: Amazing…!

Azami: And I’m in charge of plannin’ out the makeup to match the roles and costumes and also doin’ everyone’s makeup before each performance.

Sakuya: We used to do our makeup ourselves before Azami-kun was put in charge of it, so it’s a little funny to see how our makeup skills compare to his.

Citron: The impact it has on our faces is totally different~!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Sakuya: Well then, that concludes our backstage tour. Now it’s time for everyone to try their hand at acting!

Itaru: The theme this time is “Enjoying your first theater experience”.

Tsuzuru: You don’t have to worry about any special techniques or skills, we just want you to experience what it’s like to perform.

Izumi: We’ll now pass out the scripts~.

Tsuzuru: The script is actually an excerpt from the Spring Troupe play “Romeo and Julius”.

Tsuzuru: We thought it’d be one that’s easy to act out since Romeo and Juliet is a pretty famous work.

Itaru: And because at the time of Spring Troupe’s first performance, all of us were just beginners.

Towa: (“Romeo and Julius”… Masumi-kun’s Julius is so cool.)

Towa: (I can’t believe he was just a beginner when he first performed as him.)

Tsuzuru: Alright then, we’re gonna split you guys into six teams now and decide on the casting. We already planned out how we’re gonna split you into teams, so we’ll tell you which team you're on now.

Towa: (I wonder what role I’m gonna get!)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Masumi: I’m in charge of your guys’ team.

Towa: (I must be some kinda oshi magnet or something…! No, could he possibly be doing this out of all the care and consideration and kindness in his heart…!?)

Masumi: Quit staring so loudly.

Towa: !!

Masumi: For the casting… do any of you have any preferences?

Towa: --.

Towa: (My luck’s been good so far, so I’ve gotta go for it…!)

Towa: I wanna play Julius!

Masumi: Anyone else want Julius?

Masumi: …Okay, you’ll be Julius. Anyone else have a preference?

Young Man: Ah, well, I’d like--.

Masumi: What role do you want?

Young Man: Umm… someone with fewer lines would probably be better… but…

Masumi: You’re going to be switching roles around anyway, so just pick who you want.

Young Man: T-Then, Romeo.

Masumi: If no one else has any preferences, I’ll just decide for the rest of you.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Young Man: “Umm, let’s go on a journey together, Julius. We can leave behind this cramped town and travel the world.”

Towa: “Romeo, you’ve got brawn, and I’ve got the brains. If it’s the two of us together-- then we can surely do anything.”

Towa: “Right, together we can go anyw--.”

Young Man: Ah, sorry…

Towa: No, no, it’s my fault, I completely screwed that up!

Towa: (This is the worst. That wasn’t anything like Masumi-kun’s Julius at all. What I did wasn’t even close to Julius.)

Towa: (Embarrassing myself in front of Masumi-kun, I would’ve been better off just being publicly executed instead.)

Towa: Sorry, maybe it’d be better for me to switch with someone…

Young Man: Then I should also…

Masumi: That’s just how everyone is at first. It was the same for me and Sakuya too.

Masumi: Try switching your roles.

Young Man: Huh?

Towa: W-Will that really work…?

Masumi: Read Romeo’s lines from the scene we’re on right now.

Towa: “Let's go on a journey together, Julius. We can leave behind this cramped town and travel the world.”

Young Man: “Romeo, you’ve got brawn, and I’ve got the brains. If it’s the two of us together, then we can surely do anything.”

Towa: “Right, together we can go anywhere.”

Towa: (Huh? The lines somehow came out more naturally than they did before…)

Towa: (It feels good to say the lines like that…)

Young Man: Huh…

Towa: I did it somehow…?

Young Man: Me too…

Towa: You’re amazing, Masumi-kun!

Masumi: It was just because those roles fit you more.

Towa: (My heart is still pounding… I wonder what this feeling is… I feel like I can’t stop the urge to keep acting.)

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

[ladykailitha]

Find My Shade By the Moonlight Part 1

Hello, hello! I bit off more than I could chew trying to get this done by today. But! Here is the first part. They'll be shorter than my usual because it fits the story better.

The title comes from Voodoo by Godsmack, of which was used as the credit song in the first season of the series.

Hazing clouds rain on my head

Empty thoughts fill my ears

Find my shade by the moonlight

Why my thoughts aren't so clear?

The story takes place in a universe where the show continued past the two seasons it was given and is set in 2006. It is also set where the events of the first four seasons happened to other people, but their lives mirror the lives of the people in 1986.

Summary: In the fifth season of the landmark MTV series Fear, they take five college age adults and drop them into the ghost town that is now Hawkins, IN. After the earthquake in 1986 the town was evacuated due to a leak at the now defunct Hawkins Lab.

Steve, Eddie, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan must now complete tasks or dares over the next two nights, tapping out before completing the task forfeits your chance at $5000. All five will be tested to their limits, but will any of them come out of the experience unchanged?

****

Steve heard rustling around him as he was sat down on a very dusty sofa. He coughed a bit, but it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be.

They had been told that they had to wait until the grandfather clock chimed the hour before they were allowed to remove their blindfolds.

The rustling continued, but in a restless way instead of a simple being moved around way.

The grandfather clock chimed four o’clock in the hallway and Steve pulled off his blindfold.

He was in a large front room that had faded blue carpeting and matching sofas and arm chairs. In front of him was table that had a bunch of equipment and a velvet covered board that had five colored bands. Behind the table was a weird tower that had a screen on it.

Around him were two boys and two girls. The first of the girls had choppy blonde hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled with a mischief that had Steve fighting back a smile. Her style was what his mother called Bohemian. Which he always thought was the polite way of saying eclectic. She had rings and necklaces and bangles everywhere to match her clothes.

The second of the girls also had blue eyes, but short dark curly hair instead of blonde. She wore black slacks and a plain white button down, the sleeves went to her elbow and it was buttoned all the way to her neck. Peaking out of the collar was a simple heart pendant that fell right below the second button.

Steve could feel his cheeks flush when she noticed him looking at her. He turned his attention to the boys. The first one was a quiet boy with light hair and dark brown eyes. He wore jeans and t-shirt with a simple chain around his neck.

He contrasted hard with the remaining boy. He had big brown eyes and long, dark, curly hair. The leather jacket and ripped jeans only completed the look of the many chains and necklaces he was wearing. His hands fiddled nervously with the many rings on his fingers. His Cupid bow lips were set in a firm line, framed by dimples that where there even when he wasn’t smiling.

Steve forced himself to look away.

“Welcome, everyone,” came the robotic male voice that sounded vaguely British. The screen in front of them lit up and the words appeared on the screen as they were being spoken.

“You will each be assigned a random color,” the voice continued. “That color will be randomly chosen to do dares. You will be outfitted with personal cameras that will record you when you are out doing dares. You will be given a dare and time to do it in. If you fail to do the dare in the time limit or you become too frightened and wish to tap out, you will out of the game.”

They all looked at each other nervously.

“You each have the opportunity to win $5000,” the voice said. “This isn’t a ‘the less people you have the more money you get’ situation. If all of you tap out, a new team will be brought in to finish the dares.”

They all nodded.

“You will eat or sleep only during the day,” the voice continued. “Because all dares will be done at night.”

There was some murmuring about that, but Steve stayed silent. That’s what he figured it would be like.

“Because you arrived late in the evening, you will get one day to get to know each other and get set up for the dares.”

Steve breathed out a sigh of relief on that one. That would definitely make this easier. He wasn’t the only one that thought so as there were a couple others that nodded at that too.

“I will call you’re name,” the voice said, “and assign your color. Remember this random and no exchanging colors.”

There below the TV with talking voice were five armbands of different colors.

“Nancy your color is red.”

The dark-haired girl stood up and took the red band. She walked back to her seat and sat down, all without a word.

“Jonathan, your color is green.”

Jonathan cocked his head with a half shrug. He grabbed the green band and sat down on the arm of the sofa Steve was sitting on instead of going back to the chair they had put them in.

“Robin, your color is purple.”

“Could be worse,” she muttered as she got up to grab her band. “It could be pink.”

Steve grinned. He liked her already. Even Nancy hid her smile behind her hand.

“Eddie your color is black.”

The last remaining of Steve’s companions jumped up, pumping the air. “Score!” He skipped over to it and smirked at the last color on the table.

He made his way back to his chair, his knee starting to bounce almost instantly.

“Steve your color is yellow.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Like there was any other color left.” But he dutifully grabbed the remaining band.

“Tomorrow at sunset, you will don the gear in front of you and be assigned dares,” the voice said. “Until then rest, relax get to know each other. There are five bedrooms and three bathrooms as well as fully stocked kitchen. This is the only place that will have electricity and will be considered your safe house.”

“When will we find out where we are?” Nancy asked.

“Tomorrow morning. Until then everyone, get some rest. You’ll need it.”

And then computer turned off.

Robin stretched and yawned. “Fuck, I’m tired. I could sleep for days!”

Steve shook his head. “I’m going to stay up and sleep after they tell us where we are, so my body could adjust to the schedule of sleeping during the day and being awake at night.”

The rest of the group stared at him in shock.

“And how would you know that, pretty boy?” Eddie asked with a little sneer.

Steve sighed. He was about to lose the chance getting along with at least half of them with his next words. “My parents would take me with them on business trips and that how you avoid getting jetlag.”

“So are you rich?” Robin asked.

Steve shrugged. “My parents are. Me not so much anymore.”

“They toss you out?” Jonathan asked, kicking the sofa with the heel that was draped over the arm of the sofa.

Steve bit his lip. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Eddie ran his tongue over his teeth and narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but Nancy spoke first.

“He’s right about the jetlag thing though,” she said. “I travel a lot as a journalist and a new schedule can fuck you up good.”

Robin rubbed her chin. “I think that’s kinda the point though.”

They all stared at her like she was crazy.

“Now hear me out,” she said, her hands in the air. “The more tired we are, the more likely we are to get scared at whatever it is they throw at over the next couple of nights.”

“So you’re telling me,” Eddie said slowly, “that if we follow pretty boy’s plan, we can last longer in the scares?”

Robin nodded.

“I’m down,” Jonathan said.

Everyone agreed.

“So what’s the plan with staying awake, then?” Robin asked, turning to Steve.

He grinned.

****

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[snomoscribbles]

Put Your Hands On Me- Part 1 of 2

Pairing: Adult!Ao'nung x Adult!Neteyam Rating: Explicit (in second chapter not this one) Tags: banter, sexual tension, time skip, sass A/N: Part 1 does not have nsfw themes, just suggestive, part two is all nsfw and feelings. AO3 Link

He lunged forward, his lips twitching slightly at the urge to hiss at his opponent and bare his teeth. Neteyam stepped from his reach, ducking down to avoid the Metkayina's bulky arms. A long striped leg hooked behind his ankles, but he turned into the movement to step over and avoid eating sand. ”Trying to sweep me off my feet, ‘Teyam?” ”Well I have experience.” --------------------------------------------- Or the one where Ao'nung is completely gone for Neteyam and is going to make it everyones problem. One Sparring Match at a time.

Contrary to popular belief, Ao’nung was in fact not a glutton for punishment.

It had been a couple years since the attack on the Metkayina and their soul siblings. While they hadn't heard anything of the Sky people making advances in a couple months now, relaxing wasn’t really in the cards just yet.   Though some definitely had a harder time acclimating to the peace than others. Ao’nungs pale blue gaze strayed from his work weaving a tight armband back into its original shape, dragging his eyes lazily up the form of the darker azure forest Navi currently standing in the circle of young warriors to be. Neteyam. The Metkayina let out a long breath with a lopsided smile, his ears drooping a little at the sight. Neteyam stood proud and upright. Ao’nung’s eyes tracked the motions of his hands, they flowed through the air like agile Ilu, the gathered teens.  Over the years He’d grown taller and broader, his time living with the reef Navi had definitely gained him some bulk, though not to the extent of the Metkayina. He was still slender in comparison.

His braids hung lower now, just dragging below his shoulder blades with beads and small shells woven sparsely through the dark hair. He often had the upper portion loosely tied up and away from the rest. A half topknot to keep it from his face.    The light of the morning lit his ever golden gaze, a familiar warmth and fondness softening the color to something honeyed.

He was a good teacher, patient and just stern enough to demand respect. It made the teal Navis heart throb watching. Neteyam was so fond of his students. The lilt of Neteyams voice was lost at this distance sitting just at the entrance of his own Marui with his craft a little ways from the sandy shore where the darker Navi was teaching, but watching him was plenty enough for the bubbling of affection the Metkayina could never be rid of. As always, Ao’nungs gaze lingered on the light hued scarring marking the eldest Sully’s chest. A reminder of a life almost stolen far too young. His stomach didn’t sink as drastically when he saw it anymore, but it would always leave a bitter taste in his mouth. The aching need to go touch the man and be sure he wouldn’t vanish made his fingers twitch. It was unlikely that it would be a welcome action though. Not Without certain stipulations.

You see. Ao’nung had found a loophole.

Having done this song and dance a thousand times before, Ao’nung smirked, setting his half finished project to the side. A break was overdo anyway. Right?

He pushed himself to his feet, his tail swaying already in his excitement as he padded across the still cool sand of the beach to where the group was settled.

“Ao’nung!” His stride was interrupted, lips pulling down into a small frown, a furrow between his brows as Rotxo approached. ”Rotxo. Did you need something?” Rotxo covered his smile with his hand, absolutely aware of what he had stepped in the way of. He cleared his throat, crossing his arms loosely over his chest, now like Ao’nungs own decorated with fluid winding tattoos. ”Hello to you too. Are we really doing this again?” He nodded his head in the direction of Neteyam and his pupils with a raised brow, a knowing smile on his face, “You know you're going to lose. Again.” Ao’nung couldn’t help the short laugh that left him, puffing up his chest a little in defiance. ”I’ll have you know I've been getting at least 3 out of 10 wins. Which is more than I can say for you.” Rotxo snorted, “Yeah, because I'm not crazy enough to challenge Neteyam on a regular basis. He’s always three moves ahead of me.” Ao’nung’s eyes drifted back to the azure teacher across the beach, the man blissfully unaware of their talk. Neteyam had a sparring partner now. One of the younger Metkayina warriors, one who was clearly nervous even with the eldest Sully’s encouragement guiding him. He had good reason to be squeamish. Even if Neteyam was not as large as most of the reef Navi adults, he had an imposing aura. He was always footsure and steady, his eyes piercing and determined regardless of the task in front of him. He held himself with the experience and confidence of a man who’d been through absolute hell and back. Eywa it was attractive. Ao’nung might have been annoyed at his friends ribbing if this was really about winning. Anyone who knew Ao’nung was aware of his distaste for losing anything. Ever. Even now after all these years, he and Lo’ak were constantly at each others throats with one competition after another. Though it was mostly friendly competition at this point. ”I’m not crazy…” the larger Metkayina started, pursing his lips only briefly before giving into the large grin that stretched across his features, “Any decision that leads to Neteyams hands on me is a good one. Which really just means that Ive never lost a challenge.” ” Any- what? Oh. OH! Mighty Eywa!” A startled laugh made it out of Rotxo’s lips, leaning forward to rest his hands on his knees as he fought to breathe, “That makes…so much more sense then you wanting to get …your tail handed to you all the time.” He forced his words out between small chortling laughs, shaking his head,

“I take it back, I wont stop you. Go be wooed by the strikes of your syaksyuk. Go on.” Ao’nung rolled his eyes with a slight smirk. The smaller reef Navi made shooing motions with his hands, ushering Ao’nung toward their darker toned friend. Not only would Ao’nung enjoy the attention of Neteyam, but Rotxo would never complain about getting to see his best friend get thrown around a little. Some arrogance needed to be answered for okay?

Ao’nung gave his friend a half hearted shove to the shoulder before sauntering up the beach toward his original goal. Said goal was now pinning his pupil to the ground with the young warriors hands held firmly in the arch of his back. He wasn’t even breathing hard the damn beautiful bastard. ”You charged forward and aimed to incapacitate through strength. You did well, but you can not treat every threat the same. It worked against your peers, but I do not fight the same. Do you understand?” Neteyams voice was a balm to Ao’nungs nerves, his shoulders releasing tension from his earlier contemplation at the point blank tone. ”y-yes karyu.” {teacher}

The young warrior responded, eyes on the sand he was pinned to. Neteyam nodded, letting him go with care and helping him back up. The younger huffed a little, rolling his shoulders with his lips pressed into a firm line from the embarrassment. Poor kid. Even most of the grown hunters couldn’t match Neteyam. Not that Ao’nung was going to comfort him. Losing with grace wasn’t his strong suit either. At least… most of the time. ”Someone who fights differently can be a challenge when all you know is sparring with your fellow Metkayina Navi. You need to make sure your differences are your advantage and not your….weakness.” The mans tone changed, his pause coming when yellow sunset eyes met Ao’nungs and melting all his insides with the action. He couldn’t help but let himself get swept away by the strong current of this forest dweller, but who could really blame him?   He was just on the outside of the cluster of warriors now, the younger Navi turning with Neteyams gaze to look. A couple of them averted their gazes, shuffling to make a little path for Ao’nung who had quite a bit of height on them. There were only a couple in the village taller than him at this point, even surpassing his father by just a bit. ”Ao’nung.”

Neteyam straightened his posture, giving a small nod in greeting with a knowing smirk. By Eywa his name never sounded so good. That sure and playful greeting with the confident fire flickering in the forest Navis eyes had his knees weak. ”I'm available if you needed an example, Karyu.” {teacher} He raised his arms with his offer, giving a small nod in return. There was a lightness to the air now, making him want to grin under the attention. The Omatikaya looked away with a small chuckle, shaking his head before letting out a deep breath. Ao’nung knew he wouldn’t deny him. He never did. ”Very well. It will be a good opportunity for them to see someone who can lose with dignity.” Ao’nung laughed, rolling his shoulders and stretching his arms out with a flex of his fingers. ”I managed to pin you last time, Forest Boy. I think I'm due a little more credit then that.” Neteyam rolled his eyes, taking a couple steps back so they were far enough from the group of younger hunters to be that no one would get grazed or snagged by the long reaching swipes of Ao’nung. One teen with a bloody nose was enough. ”You’ll get more credit when you can keep me down for more than a couple seconds.” Despite his calm demeanor, Ao’nung could see it. The twitch and flick of Neteyams tail in anticipation, the way his intense gaze flitted around Ao’nung to take in his stance, anticipating and ever ready. He’s spent too long letting his gaze linger over the Forest Navi to mistake the signs by now. This was months of research at work. With a subject that just so happened to be pleasing to the eyes. Ao’nung readied himself, the two refusing to break eye contact as they circled their non-existent arena. The younger Navi around them spoke the occasional hushed bet or speculation, but mostly remained quiet in hopes of not missing anything. ”When you’re in a situation where hand to hand combat is your only option, you need to keep your eyes on the target. However, its important to be aware of your surroundings as well. In a life or death fight, no one cares about playing fair.” Neteyam spoke as they neared one another, and Ao’nung couldn’t help the small pang of irritation. Neteyam the dutiful teacher was present right now. And that’s not the side of Neteyam he wanted. He lunged forward, his lips twitching slightly at the urge to hiss at his opponent and bare his teeth. Neteyam stepped from his reach, ducking down to avoid the Metkayina's bulky arms. A long striped leg hooked behind his ankles, but he turned into the movement to step over and avoid eating sand. ”Trying to sweep me off my feet, ‘Teyam?” ”Well I have experience.”

Ao’nung couldn’t help the small snicker that left him, ducking down low as he tried to grapple Neteyam. Ao’nung knew his strengths. He’d been fighting and hunting for a long time now. He had size and weight to throw around. He could manage an occasional win if he could just get his hands on him. That was the hard part, and he was reminded of this when his fingers barely dragged against the skin of his opponents hip in passing. His fingertips ached to chase the sensation. Neteyam dipped from his arms, his legs stretching ridiculously low as he maneuvered away. A flick of his thin tail popped Ao’nung on the chest as he went.    Focus Ao’nung. Not the time. Save thoughts of those long legs for later when you can do something about it. Ao’nung wasn’t slow, but Neteyam? Neteyam was so fucking fast. Especially on land. ”I told you not to get so sure of yourself, ‘Nung.” Neteyams smirk only fueled his energy, the thrum of their faux battle starting to itch beneath his skin. He turned on his heel to try and follow the Omatikayas movement, only succeeding only in throwing himself off balance and stumbling a couple steps forward before catching himself. ”If you are in a fight where your opponent is larger, out maneuvering them can be your only option. If you’re caught, you’re dead. You dodge until you cant anymore. Wear them down.”

Neteyam turned on his heel to face Ao’nung again as he spoke with stern infliction, the uptick in his breathing not going unnoticed by the Metkayina. ”Tiring me out hasn’t worked before, has it? I've got stamina. ” ”I’ve yet to see you use it in combat, Ma’kelku .”   {My Home} Ao’nung could feel the warmth in his chest at the term, his ears drooping slightly even if his stance was still firm. His own endearments came freely, loud and possessive. Neteyams always came softly, between just the two of them. Private and overwhelming in all the best ways. Ao’nung should be grateful for it. Otherwise everyone in the village would know what a besotted fool Neteyam reduced him to with just a word. Words that pierced through the heart and into his soul. Neteyam darted forward himself this time without warning , ducking under another of Ao’nungs reflexive reaches to shove a shoulder into the muscle of his stomach. Ao’nung was startled, not having the time to grasp anywhere on his opponent before his feet left the ground and the most undignified squawk left his lips as he was thrown up and over Neteyams back, hitting the sand with a muted thud.   ”Ah- ‘Teyam! You Skxwang!”  {idiot} The teal man wheezed, but a large grin was still plastered on his face even with all his breath effectively knocked from his lungs. Neteyam extended his hand to help Ao’nung to his feet with a raise of his brows. ”Shall we go again?” ”Oh, Yawne, I can go as many times as you want.”   {beloved} The sickly sweet tone had no place on his lips, pulled into a sly suggestive grin, taking the offered hand. Instead of pulling himself up however, he took the opportunity to use some of his weight and pull Neteyam down to him. He caught the trimmer man with his other arm, rolling to flip them over and setting his larger finned forearm to the scarred chest to press his opponent into the sand.   Ao’nung could feel the heavy press of Neteyams chest against his as he fought for air, looking down at those wide eyes set in that striking angular face like he had a million times before. This is what he wanted. This is what he needed. Neteyam pressed against him, feeling his breath and his heartbeat. An assurance that he wasn’t going anywhere.  Neteyams surprised gaze and startled laughter was cut short, falling into something softer as Ao’nung dragged a thumb over the raised skin on his chest gently.  He brought a hand up to cover Ao’nungs, shaking his head. ” You’ll have to work with the unexpected. Learning one persons fighting style and how to combat it will not do you any favors. You could end up like me, stuck under a fool.”

Neteyam spoke firmly, but his eyes didn’t leave the larger Navi weighing him down. He let out a huff, rolling his eyes. Ao’nung breathed in a hushed tone between them, eyes lit with mirth.

”You know well this fool will do you plenty favors Ma‘Teyam.” Ao’nung knew better than to take that stern face for disinterest. The flick and drag of a tufted tail against his leg and the warmth that spread across that handsome face was plenty enough for him to preen. Unfortunately it was very short lived as those calloused blue hands that Ao’nung had foolishly not restrained pressed to his biceps, pushing them out and away.   Ao’nung once again found himself flipping up and backwards when Neteyam used the movement to wedge his legs up and using both knees to send the Metkayina over his head.

The teal Navi gasped in surprise and delight, unable to stop the loud laughter as he hit the ground again, wheezing a little. The younger warriors around them were also startled, eyes wide as Neteyam pushed himself from the sand and wiped off the clinging grains with a sigh. A flush still rode high on his cheeks and Ao’nung was proud for the accomplishment. Flustering Neteyam was no easy task by any means. For anyone else. Ao’nung had this down to an art. Considering their mating ceremony was some years ago now, it wasn’t a surprise he knew how to get under the Omatikayas skin…Among other things. ”Alright. Stay down.”

Neteyam sighed, bending a leg to press his knee to Ao’nungs sternum and keep him in place. He didn’t bare down too roughly, but the pressure settled something in the larger Navi and he smiled, raising his hands in mock surrender not for the first time. ”I’ll stay under you for as long as you want, ‘Teyam.” He didn’t bother moving, rolling his eyes and looking over at the still watching teens with a nod.

“It will be high light soon, I’ll expect you all out here first thing tomorrow. Go start your chores. I'm sure you’ve all got things to do for your families.” There were calls and nods of farewell as they all slowly departed, eyes pointedly darting to where Neteyam had Ao’nung pinned under him and the content expression on his face. Neteyam finally set those eyes on him, and Ao’nung knew he possessed all his attention at last.

“You know I thought when we got older, you might become less insufferable, Ma’Nung. It must be so exhausting.” Neteyams braids hung like curtains from over his shoulders, the length they’d gained clicking just above Ao’nung’ face as he leaned forward over him.   A dark striped hand came down to cup under his jaw, fingertips digging just a little into the soft skin of his cheeks and making his eyes flutter. His tone was playful and light, the smile accompanying it giving Ao’nung that pleasant knotted feeling in his stomach. The Teal Metkayina willingly titled his head up under the guidance of that touch, watching those heady yellow eyes drag down his throat to the braided choker of their own design. His courting gift now worn and weathered from the heated and hurried tugs of its wearer to welcome his mates teeth against the skin beneath. ”Patience was never a virtue of mine, yawne. You knew better.” {beloved} Neteyam let his grip relax, cupping the side of Ao’nungs face with a gentle thumb dragging against his lower lip to under his eye. Ao’nung pushed a kiss to his palm with a sly smile, bringing his larger hand up to rest over the forest Navi's own. Neteyam let his leg slide to the side so he was seated comfortably in his mates lap, leaning down to set his forehead against the others and speak in a rich tone. ”Hm. We should really move elsewhere. I don’t think anyone else should get to see how you unravel.” ”Eywa,’Teyam. Yes. Please.”

[roller6262]

Harvey Joins the Sikh Student Coalition

Reposting a story I wrote on cyoc.net here in multiple parts. I’ll credit other authors who contributed as their segments appear. Also, my asks are open if you want to see more changes to Harvey, or you want to transform yourself.

Next Part >

Professor Martinez strut into his classroom on the first day of the new semester, greeted by the disinterested faces of his new students. He taught the university's intro to cultural studies course, known around campus as an easy A. He was well aware that for the past few years student chose his class not because they wanted to learn, but because they wanted to boost their GPA without trying. This year, Dr. Martinez was determined to change that.

"Good morning, everyone" Dr. Martinez addressed. "I am Dr. Martinez, and welcome to Intro to Cultural Studies" he gave a satisfactory nod once a few student left the room, realizing they where in the wrong class. "Now I know a few of you have heard that this class is an easy A, but you will all be pleased to hear that is not the case" a handful of students chuckled with him while others grimaced "In this class you will learn how culture influences an individual's experiences and everyday life. However, before you learn about a culture that is not your own, you should experience it for yourself first hand". Dr. Martinez marched up and down the aisles of desks passing out papers to each student, "You are all receiving your syllabus and first project of the semester. Each of you have been assigned to a cultural organization whose culture is not your own. To complete this project, you must join the organization and complete all of the tasks I have listed on your project form. This will include attending their meetings and participating in their events. I hope you will find this project transformative, and open your mind to accept the rest of the semester's material. You may even make friends and want to become a permanent member. However, I should warn you that this project is worth a large portion of your final grade, so do take it seriously". Dr. Martinez beamed at the betrayed faces of his student who now knew they actually had to earn their grade this semester.

"You may now look at your project form to see what cultural organization you will be joining and the full list of tasks you must complete".

Harvey took a look at his project form. He was assigned to become a member of the university's Sikh Student Coalition. Harvey didn't really know what a Sikh was, a quick search on his phone showed a bunch of Indian guys in turbans. He figured he had no choice but to learn more about them. The organization's meeting was that same day and Harvey headed to the meeting once was class was finished. 

Harvey considered himself a typical white young man. He had an average build, clean shaven face, fair skin and sandy blonde hair that he styled into a tall pompadour.

The Sikh Student Coalition's meeting was one of the few times he felt like the odd one in the crowd. The room was full of young Punjabi adults. All of the men, and some but not all of the women, were wearing turbans in various fashions and various vibrant colors. Though else than that they wore typical western clothing. One Sikh came to greet Harvey at the door. He was a large bear of a man who nearly towered over everyone in the room. An orange domalla style turban framed his round face. His kind smile was hidden beneath a twirled up mustache and a curly beard that sprawled down to his chest. He wore flannel, jeans, and boots.

"Hello, I'm Gurpreet Singh. Could you please sign in?" Gurpreet handed Harvey a clipboard with a sign in sheet. "I'm the new student coordinator, my job is to make all of our new members feel welcome. So if you need anything, please ask".

"Yeah, maybe you can help me" Harvey handed back the sign in sheet with his information "I'm here because of my cultural studies project. Someone's suppose to take my attendance or something".

Gurpreet called out to the crowd, " Hey, Mandeep, can you come here for a second?"

A man in a blue suite walked up to them. It looked like it was tailored to fit his slim build. His beard was rather short and had a natural point to it which accented his sharp facial features. He wore aviators and a black tie which matched his black keski style turban. "What's up Man, I'm Mandeep Singh. I'm the president of the organization, it's a pleasure to meet you" Mandeep reached his hand out for a handshake which Harvey accepted. "Say, don't I know you from somewhere?"

Harvey raised a questioning eyebrow before returning a knowing smile, "yeah, weren't we in the same marketing class?" Usually Harvey wouldn't remember anyone from his classes, but it would be hard to forget the only one wearing a turban, especially when he had such great style.

Gurpreet beamed, "This is great Harvey, you already have a friend here!" He turned to Mandeep, "Harvey is here from Dr. Martinez's class".

"Makes sense" Mandeep chuckled. The fact that Harvey was the only white guy in the room was not lost on him, "As president, Dr. Martinez has trusted me to verify that you complete all of the tasks in your project. As long as you follow my instruction I'll make sure you pass. I've got you marked down for attendance, Gurpreet do you have the patka?" Gurpreet pulled out a black cloth.

"Patka?" Harvey asked, "What's that for?"

"Didn't you read the project form? You're required to wear clothing that represents our culture when you're at our meetings. I asked Dr. Martinez if you could just wear one of our club shirts, but he insisted you wear a turban"

"Can't you just say I wore it?" Harvey looked at Mandeep pleadingly, who returned a sympathetic expression.

"I wish I could, but if I'm caught lying to faculty, our organization could get in trouble. I won't force you to wear it, but I don't think you'll pass if you don't".

"Fine" Harvey Sighed, "I'll wear it" Gurpreet Helped Harvey tie his hair into a bun at the top of his head and then tied the cloth around it into a patka.

A group of girls in the room giggled to themselves when they saw Harvey. He felt humiliated! When the meeting started Gurpreet sat next to Harvey, and Mandeep stood at the front of the room to facilitate the meeting. Gurpreet would occasionally clarify words and phrases for Harvey that non-sikhs typically wouldn't know, though Harvey was only half paying attention. Once Mandeep declared that the Meeting was over, Harvey left and bolted to his dorm. He couldn't wait to escape that embarrassment.

That night when Harvey went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he saw he was still wearing the turban in the mirror. "Oh god" he mumbled to himself. He forgot to take it off when he left the club meeting. So many people must have seen him wearing it when he was running back to his dorm! His face flushed red and he hoped that no one recognized him. Harvey quickly untied the cloth and his hair, but in the mirror he also saw a shadow of facial hair. Strange as he thought he had shaved just that morning. He shrugged and decided he'd just have to shave again tomorrow morning. Tired, he stored the patka in his wardrobe for next week's meeting and went to sleep.

[yosajaeofficial]

The Lemon Tree Near Lavender Plants

A.N: Hello everyone! I have come back from the dead with another fic for you guys! This one is dedicated to my wonderful friend @sweaterrat !! Today is their birthday, please go follow them for her own awesome work and wish her a happy birthday. You are amazing and thank you so much for being a great friend, I hope you enjoy! Jae Out!

Song Inspiration: - Feel My Rhythm - Red Velvet - DITTO - NewJeans - In My Dreams - Red Velvet

“Okay! Don’t peek Niyah!”

“I’m not planning to Dee~”

“I feel like that’s half of a lie…”

She giggled, and continued to keep her eyes shut; there was a soft sound of dripping water from afar, which she figured was a water fountain. Donnie’s big and cold hands hovered in front of Niyah’s eyes as they moved forward, both of their footsteps were slow, sort of as if they were tiptoeing. Curiosity ran through Niyah’s mind, this was an all-of-sudden thing that Donnie said would be, “A fantastic experience for your eyes only! I will make sure of it!” 

At the time, she only rolled their eyes and responded, “You know me like no other…”

Donnie and Niyah were pretty close, they were far from home, but the Mad Dogs welcomed her and her best friend, Kat, into their own family (which the two of them very much appreciated). Donnie kept his distance but there was something about Niyah’s energy that lured him in, wanting to know more about her. Yes, he had his tech, and that was all that had excited him for the past couple of years, and over these years, he started to get bored. He felt that there was something missing in his life. There was a time when all four of them were captured when attempting to take the dark armor, Leo had said something that at first didn't matter to him, “And we didn’t even give him grandchildren?!?” 

It was stupid, but that was because he didn't care about that at the time. Now that the years have passed, something about that was bothering him. 

It wasn’t really about “having grandchildren”, it went a bit deeper than that. 

For most of his life, he only had April as a true friend. The four brothers were never privileged enough to get the opportunity to go out and socialize, their lives were isolated and at worst, very dull; Of course, this wasn’t in their control at all, humans are just mean.

With that information, Donnie had finally figured out that he wanted to branch out. 

To have a significant other… 

For the self-claimed “emotional bad boy”, Donnie was a hopeless romantic. Something about having someone care for you in a genuine and loving way had always made him go crazy, there was no math equation or dictionary that could define the true meaning of love, meaning that he would need to have experienced it to understand why many crave for it so much. 

Donnie knew his morals, he couldn’t just grab someone from the street and ask them out, or just ask them to be his lover to experience love. So, he could only dream and hope that one day, society would change its mind about mutants. Over the years, he had started to set expectations for his future lover: how they looked, how they sounded, their hobbies, and if they liked science. These years went by faster than expected, he planned out how he would approach someone if the day finally would come. 

Yeah, when the day would come; no one told him it would be more complicated and unpredictable than he wanted it to be. It was a slow process, and that’s what Donnie would’ve never predicted.

Now here we are, with Donnie covering Niyah’s vision. He was silent for a few minutes which made Niyah call his name.

“Donnie? Are you there?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you going to tell me why you brought me here?”

Donnie hesitated but he let his hands free from Niyah’s vision, he then swallowed his pride and announced with excitement.

“Why yes I will! I had the opportunity to take the day off to show you this wonderful area in the Hidden City.” As he finished, Niyah opened her eyes, her dark orbs illuminated by the bright colors all around her. It was a garden, a saturated garden. There were lots of bushes trimmed to different shapes: cubes, spheres, and even pyramids. The most eye-catching thing in the whole area was the arc bush they were standing in front of, there were multiple flowers blooming from the arc. They were bursting with life with their bright colors making them look almost unrealistic, but Niyah had to remember that they were in the Hidden City. 

“This place looks wonderful!” Niyah smiled which made Donnie chuckle.

“I knew you would like it.”

The two of them heard birds chirping as they found a spot to lay their picnic blanket on. Niyah took the chance to look at Donnie, his eyes were fixated on a book he pulled out from his shoulder bag. She warmly smiled at him but then focused on the book he was holding.

“What did you pick today?” She asked.

“Wanna read the first sentence?”

“Why not,” Niyah shrugged.

She grabbed the book and opened it to the page that started the book, Donnie looked at her expression as she was reading. The sunlight hit her perfectly, making her beautiful locs glow from such warm light; he felt his face flush from staring but he was saved when Niyah quickly closed the book and handed it back to Donnie.

“I couldn’t understand the first sentence…” Niyah said in embarrassment, Donnie chuckled making Niyah even more embarrassed.

“Excuse me for not being as literate and smart as you,” they said in a teasing way.

“Sorry, I’m not laughing at your intelligence. I figured that you wouldn’t be able to understand.” 

Niyah’s eyes widen and Donnie stops laughing. Sweating, Donnie coughed and babbled trying to form words, he wouldn’t be able to cover his dark blush now.

“That’s not what I mean! I’m just-” he then takes a deep breath to regain himself. “This book was written by an advanced university student from the 16th century. H-his language is outdated.” 

“Oh,” Niyah quietly whispered.

Her shoulders soften and they start to relax, letting the cool breeze flow. Donnie swallowed, he had nothing else to say to her, so he opened the book and started to read it. Data collection calms him down.

Niyah held the crystal they had hung from her necklace, it was something she had to bring with her at all times. It was also a reminder that she needed to be somewhere else, they had a choice to make every day. It was an internal battle to just tell the Mad Dogs to keep working on a plan to get her and her best friend, Kat back home or to let the days go by without a second glance.

There was a popular saying, “Live life to the fullest.” Right now, that was exactly what she was going to do.

Scooting closer to the softshell turtle, she leaned close to his shoulder which was clothed in a warm purple sweater vest. 

Niyah spoke up, “What’s the book called?”

“Hmm?”

“The cover doesn’t display the title, what’s the book’s name?”

Donnie starts to warm up again, relieved that she wasn’t angry at him. Niyah’s aura always felt relaxing, it was so warm that he wanted to make it into a blanket and sleep in it all night. He turned back to the first page of the book, reading over the title. He smiles and then turns to Niyah.

“It’s called, ‘The Connections of Flowers and Time’. It’s a really interesting book if I say so, and I don’t say that often about these kinds of books.” 

“Is it fiction?”

“It’s actually a documentary kind of book, the student did his own personal study with a bunch of different flowers and documented how these flowers would age over time. I can’t really explain the whole premise, I will be here all day.”

“Then tell me, I’m willing to learn. Especially from someone who truly knows what they’re talking about,” Niyah says. Her words made Donnie’s heart skip a beat, their tone was genuine and pure. His eyes lit up and he gave her an excited smile.

“You really want to learn?”

“Of course, you sound very passionate about this stuff, way better than my previous history teacher when we were learning about the Ten Amendments. Shoot me with information and never stop! I want to hear all of it from you Donnie!”

This was the thing that made Donnie realize that his whole body was reacting in such an out-of-character way. He was usually more composed; according to his plan, this was supposed to be the time when he would make a move or even just flat-out say his feelings out loud. It should’ve been easy, but he paused, even forgetting to breathe. He had to cough to himself and make more space for Niyah for her to get closer to him.

“Well… Today is my day off. We can start with the first two chapters for the rest of our stay.” 

Niyah giggled and scooted even closer to Donnie, one of her hands held one side of the book while Donnie held the other. There was no way that Donnie would be able to go with his plan, this wasn’t even predicted at all from his previous research, but all he knew was that he was in love. 

On Niyah’s end, she would wait another day for their plan home to continue, today was a day filled with peace and comfort. Donnie started to read the book to her as she was close to him, there was something that kind of bothered Niyah, it was a last-minute thought of hers. So, she spoke up.

“Wait… What day is it today-”

“August 23rd…” Donnie cut her off, and that’s when he finally gave her a cheeky grin.

“Happy Birthday Niyah.”

[thetistaboveall]

Lawrence’s Fantasy Hotel

Famous actors Benjamin Affleck, Ian Bohen and Jamie Lomas are honor guests at the opening of my brand now one of kind hotel experience to bring your deepest fantasies to life. They are paying me to entertain as they stay at my Fantasy resort with their choice of celebrity slave pets.

Benjamin Affleck is the first time honored guest to arrive as the limo is pulling up to the curb the door pop open and he steps on to the red carpet and even though he hates the celebrity.He can’t stand these events yet the camera set up is flashing so brightly, clicking so very loud at the sound of it all and the sexy smile of his crept on to his face spreading wildly in everyone’s face.His mind goes completely blank propelling his feet to move forward on to the cherry red carpet and a male escort guides him to the swinging double doors as they enter in to the room.

“Mr Affleck! Welcome to the event! Please do follow me.”

“I can’t help but do that”

“Our owner is awaiting us”

“I feel so weird”

“You feel perfectly fine “

“Yeah! I feel fantastic “

“Obviously! Thank you “

“Go inside the room”

“Yes! Thank you “

“What is this place?”

“Hello? Oh! He left “

“Anybody here?”

“Actually! I am the only one here”

“You are in another space and time”

“I’m sorry! Excuse me! Who are you?”

“Mwahahahahaha! Follow the path with your eyes.”

“That’s it! You see the red dot “

“YES! My eyes are fixated on it”

“Precisely! You are my project “

“I choose you to be the main guest tonight “

“I don’t understand “

“Stop trying to be some hero”

“You are not Batman”

“You are a burly chump “

“Ouch!l

“Did I hurt your feelings?”

“Maybe! It was kind of a turn off”

Something is off in the air as the dot grows it explodes covering the entirety of the wall shooting to cover over the other three walls and soon ceiling and the floor all of the color flows off.Forming a ball in the air the ball penetrates every sense in existence leaving him to his core shaking and eventually in a massive shambles. Ben is falling forward on to ten ground.The room begins to spin swooshing around and around till he faints everything goes in to spiral like situation and when he woke up he is now standing in the middle of my hotel room with a sexy smile and breaks out in a dance.

“Hello Sirs! Happy Birthday Jack. Let’s dance baby. I am about to strip!”

Ian Bohen does not know why or how he is now ending up next to Ben Affleck on stage hosting and presenting for a birthday party but yes he felt at home like he never wanted to be excited.The door soon lock surrounding us as the cool air from the vent sharply swooping all over the room hits Ian head on sending him flying on to the floor and his clothes strip open.He rises up unable to comprehend what is going on but Ben helps him up ripping off his clothes and Ian cannot do anything to stop it or help himself up as he wraps his arms over him.

“Ssshh….Command Prompt”

“Command please “

“It’s time”

“Everyone strip show”

“Pump the music”

“Dance off”

“Fuck yeah”

“Watch my ass “

“You see how it jingles “

“I feel enthralled “

“I am HOT”

“Mind if I join you babe?”

Ian can’t help himself bouncing on to the wall of the room doing a sexual sliding down the aisle moaning in pleasure in between my man Ben doing a back flip as the crowd Is roaring in excitement.Ian jumps up in to the backward forming a cannon ball landing before belting a note into the air and spinning in to the birthday boi Jack himself and sits on his lap with a wink.He does an unbelievable display of flirtatious then sits forward, placing his hand wrapping on is neck and doing a sexual lunges forces his cock to strengthen and grow forward a it presses on his pants.

“Hey babe!”

“Happy Birthday “

“Lay back”

“God! You are full and thick”

“How do you like my ass?”

“Kiss me”

“Lick my face “

“Mmmmm”

“Call me a good boi”

“Mmmmm”

“You say it so well”

“Fills my slave heart “

“FUCK!”

“YES”

“Fuck me!”

“So excited to be here bros”

“I’ve waited for my chance “

“Here we go”

“Stop flashing that in my eyes mate”

“Mate! I said “

“Mate!”

“Will you join me Jamie ?”

“Okay! Why not?”

“Great! Sleep”

“Command me”

“Showcase”

“Dance off”

“Party man”

“Yo bros!

“Want to see these pecs”

“My body is a toy”

“You mate come and feel them”

“I knew you love these guns”

“These are my guns “

“Kiss them”

“Ooohhh! Lick them “

“Take a deep breath”

“Inhale me”

“My every scent “

“My swerve”

“I smell good”

“Manly and musky “

“I bet you want “

“Bounce with Me”

“On my lips “

The end

[redrydersrequiem]

The Raven and the Vampire

Chapter 3

Walking with Angela was nice; she seemed nice, and very smart. The classroom was again in shades of white but did have pops of color from the artwork hanging all around. Setting down your stuff and waiting for the teacher, a familiar figure bounces up and sets down.

“Are you Elara, I'm Alice Cullen. It's so nice to meet you.”

“ You as well” reaching out to shake the girls hand I notice how cold she is, which must be cold if even I notice she’s cold,

“Wow you’re hands sure are cold”

“Oh yeah you know what they say, cold hands warm heart.”

“Agreed.”

“You know I can already tell we are going to be great friends. I really hope everything comes together for you.”

“Oh thanks and I hope we become friends as well.”

Just as that is said the teacher comes in to begin the lesson. Looking back and forth between the canvas in front of me and Alice I try to not stare at her the whole class but the mystery of what she is to strong, So instead I send out my senses like aunt sif always said “when you can’t use your eyes use your other senses” I can hear all the heart beats in the room the air filling their lungs. Well all except one. Looking towards Alice I can clearly see her moving and blinking as she worked on her sketch. Now that’s new, What on earth are these cullens?

“So elara how old are you” alice asks noticing i was watching her

“Im 853 as of September 13th”

“What?”

“Sorry I was joking, I’m 18”

“Oh you're the same age as some of my siblings.”

“Yeah, I saw all of you at lunch. I'm sorry for how the people at the table were talking about your family. I'm sure that’s not a good feeling.

“Oh no it's fine they’ve all talked about us since we moved here.”

“ At least what they did say it seems you have an amazing family.

“Thank you, I can tell you're really sweet, you're going to make someone very happy someday.”

“Why thank you thats” The bell rings, cutting me off.

“Have a nice next class elara. I think you’ll really enjoy it.”

Before I can even begin to interpret what she just said she’s gone. Well aren’t the clues just lining up for me. I ponder as I walk to the last class of the day, Cold skin, they reacted to my magic but didn’t know it came from me. Alice didn’t have a heartbeat but I hadn’t checked the others yet so I don’t know if i can count that yet it could just be her, and they seemed really fast. My mind whirling as I walked into the room, the first thing I noticed was him. The very air around him seemed to shimmer.

“Ah miss lane I presume Im Mr Wright welcome to ap history please take a seat over by Mr Hale. Mr Hale please raise your hand so she knows where to come.”

Jaspers pov

Doing as I was asked, trying to mask the internal crisis brewing within. God Edward wanted to kill Bella upon meeting her and I wanted to kill everyone most of the time, and now the new girl is being sent right into the lion's den, damn my luck. I didn't want to breathe or move, but as she got closer, her presence washed over me. A cooling breath of air in the never ending smell of the other students' blood. It was incredible her whole being captured me and it was in that instance I knew she's my mate.

Elaras pov

I was raised in a noble court. I've had over 800 years of speaking experience, but now while I'm sitting shoulder to shoulder with my soulmate I can’t under a single syllable. I'm not even listening to the teacher rampling on, all I can think of are the subtle things I see on him. The way that one curl brushes above his right eye. Speaking of his eyes, his eyes alone are the most beautiful color of ember. The plaid blue shirt he was wearing fit him so well oh for the love of the gods just say something to him.

“Um hi,”

“Hello.”

“Im Elara”

“Jasper hale, pleasure to meet you darlin”

Wow darlin is my new favorite word, especially when said in that beautiful accent.

“ Are you enjoying forks?”

“It’s definitely starting to grow on me.”

“I think I can understand that.” The rest of the class I exchange notes and made small talk before that dreaded bell rings and it signaling my departure from him.

“I guess I'll see you tomorrow?”

“Of course, see you tomorrow darlin.”I almost don’t want to part from him, but I know now isn’t the time for us, but it is a start.

Busting through the front door I call for Mila and Lucas. I have to share all my experiences with them. I have to call mom and dad, I have to…….

“Odins beard, Elara is that you banging around out there.” I hear coming from the kitchen cutting off my inner rant.

“Yes Mila but I have a good cause, where’s Lucas I need to speak to him too.”

“I'm right here princess, how was your first day of school? ' Lucas asks as he steps out of the study.

“I found them, I found my soulmate”

“That's terrific news my lady!”

“Isn’t it. It’s just um”

“I sense a but coming.”

“You’d be correct Mila that's why I need you and Lucas. From everything I’ve observed today his family and him are not human.

“Ok before we start getting into what was just spoken, first at least tell me you know their name.”

“Oh yes sorry Mila. His name is Jasper, Jasper Hale

“How lovely a strong name.”

“I would like to be more focused on the non human part,

“Of course do Lucas.”

“I'm sorry Mila but the princesses safety is my first concern, I promised her father and more importantly the Allfather.”

“Yes yes we shall let you complete your duty, now dear what were you saying about them not being human.”

“From what I observed they don’t have heartbeats and seem very fast. Alice, Jasper's sister, was also very cold, colder than any human should be.”

“Hmmmmm, by any chance did they seem inhumanly beautiful.?”

“Yes actually, they did stand out more than the other children.”

“What about their eyes?”

“ Well my soulmate had beautiful ember almost yellow eyes”

“Then I do believe I know what they may be my lady.”

“You do.”

“Yes midgardians have a legend of an inhuman species that survives on the blood of other sentient beings. While many believe these stories to be just that, the being is very much real. Here the local tribe calls them the cold ones”

“Local tribe?”

“Yes there is a tribe here of children of Fenrir.”

“Oh wolf shifters then, amazing I remember reading of them as a child, I'm glad they are still around.

“Yes they are. Many of them have taken on the charge of maintaining peace

and protecting the humans from the cold ones.”

“Why must they protect the humans?”

“Anciently cold ones while intelligent many would be overcome by their darker tendencies and slaughter full villages. Though from what you’ve told me your soulmate and his family seem to be the other end of that spectrum.

“What do you mean.?

“ Well with the speed, beauty,cold skin but more importantly the gold color of their eyes it would seem your soulmate and his family are in a way vegetarian vampires, meaning they don’t prey on humans but animals instead.”

“Amazing, what else do you know of their species’

“Well a good thing is they are a long lived race they do not age from the time they are turned.

“Perfect I wouldn’t have to worry about out living them, and the aging we could possibly figure out later on but that is so far away.”

“The cold ones can also have gifts my lady”

“They have aesir.”

“No my lady, not really asgardian aesir, it's a special form that we don’t have much knowledge on, all I know is that they can have abilities from telepathy to elemental manipulation and so on from my understanding it all depends on their lives before they are turned and even then not every vampire has a gift.”

“Interesting, mom and dad will be impressed.”

“Elara dear if you contact them please don’t forget to tell them we’ve finished the preparations for the house so they can send over your pet.

“Really, Mila you're the best, Aurelius will love the woods here.”

“Yes, I'm sure your giant pet wolf will love the woods.

“Oh Lucas, it'll be fine. I already decided we’d cloak him to look like that fluffy bread. What was it called again?”

“A husky dear.”

“Yes a husky, to the midgardians he will just be a regular husky.”

“I hope so cause I believe a 12ft silver wolf would upset the locals.”

“I would expect no less from a direct descendent of Fenrir,”

“ Think of it this way, Lucas, he can help you protect me.

“Whatever you say, dear princess whatever you say.”

Cullens pov

The next day at school the cullens including bella all stand by their cars like usual waiting for the new girl to come into the parking lot.

“Jasper are you sure it's her you felt the connection to”

“Yes, I’m sure. She’s the only one around that I don’t feel the urge to kill.”

Her presence alone feels like a cool blanket covering the aching heat in his throat. Not that he’d admit that to his siblings yet.

“Well everyone, how do we think we should handle this.?” Alice asks the

group surrounding her

“ Last time we got involved with a human it didn’t go well, Sorry Bella”

“No offense taken Rue.”

“I haven’t seen anything in any of our futures that suggest she’s a danger and this could be Jasper's chance to finally have the happiness he deserves. I'm not going to let you all ruin that for him.”

“Thank you Alice.”

“I think we should get to know her and if she is a danger we'll speak to Carlisle and go from there.”

“ See rue agrees besides I've already introduced myself to her and I like her. I know she'll be a wonderful addition to our family”

“Just make sure you respect her boundaries babe.”

“Rue Im offended I have great respect for boundaries” Rue shakes her head with the rest of the cullens in a knowing way

“Sure you do sweety. Come on y’all the bells about to ring wouldn’t want to miss another glorious day of highschool.

Elaras pov

Watching the cullens enter the school I feel the smile spread on my face as I lean against the purple jeep Lucas suggested I drive instead of my bike. I can see them all once again watching me from the gourd around their cars. Vampires huh how very very interesting .Most of them i.e. Emmet, Alice and Jasper have smiles on their faces while the others look somewhat grim. It’s almost like they are suspicious of me, but for what i couldn’t figure, i guess we'll see who approaches who first.

The morning was going well when I saw Alice while walking to my next class. She was standing in the hall with her girlfriend rue and their other sister Rosalie. I waited for the rushing crowd of teenagers to disperse a little before making my way over. Alice saw me and shot me a giant smile, gleefully motioning me over to them.

“Elara, good morning.”

“Morning alice.”

“Let me introduce you this is my girlfriend rue and my older sister Rosalie,”

“It’s nice to meet both of you.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Alice wouldn’t stop talking about you yesterday after art. It's almost like I already know you. Rose say hi hun don’t be stiff”

“No, it's fine she doesn’t have to say anything if she doesn’t want to.”

“Sorry I was just thinking to myself, hello my name's Rosalie, it's nice to meet you. I assume you got the whole tour yesterday from everyone.”

“Yeah it was sooo much fun. Especially all the staring and whisper you hear all day ”

“ I can definitely understand that it was the exact same when we all started school here.”

“At least you all had each other. You all seem like a very tight knit family”

“Yeah we can be.”

“elara I'm so excited you just have to sit with us today at lunch and meet everyone. I can definitely tell we all make fast friends.

“Sure Alice I would love that, only if everyone would be comfortable with it.”

“Oh no everyone would be just fine i'll make sure of it. Now I'll see you at lunch. I'll wait for you by the front door”

“Sounds like a plan I respond when he schools bell sounds in the hallway.”

“Ok elara well see you at lunch come on rue we have science class “

“Oh joy, bye elara” rue replies her whole body slumping with disdain or the upcoming class i simply laugh at her.

“Bye good luck,” the two girls walk off more like alice drags rue off. Rosalie is stood beside me still also lightly smiling at her siblings behavior

“What about you Rosalie?”

“I have math next with Emmet but I guess I'll see you at lunch.”

The blond walks off as I now make my way to my own class. It seems that I have a lunch date with the Cullen family now. This will be a more productive day than I thought.

Jaspers pov

“You did what? Alice what in the hell”

“Oh calm down Jasper, this is the perfect opportunity to formally introduce her to our family.”

“Have you met our family? Look what happened when Edward met Bella, we're still dealing with that. I'm not gonna let my mate get hurt.”

“Jasper calm down nothing will happen to elara”

“How do you know? Isn’t she’s a shield like Bella”

“Well I wouldn’t say she’s necessarily a shield. I've seen glimpses of her in your and our future but it's like she’s surrounded by bright light every time I see her. Almost like she muffled in a way”

“Muffled. That still doesn’t mean she won't be hurt by me or anyone else”

“Jasper you can’t live your life in fear or you won't live at all. I want you to be happy and I know she’s what’s going to make you happy, now pull yourself together and she's joining us for lunch.”

Oh lord, I really hope Edward is wrong about all his eternal damnation because I could really use some hope right now.

Elaras pov

Lunch is only fifteen minutes away. The bells blares in my ears, tuning out the fast beating of my heart momentarily. Ok elara you can do this. You're a 853 year old princess of Asgard. You’ve been trained in the mystic arts and fighting from the moment you could walk. A group of midgardian teenagers should not be a problem. Now put on your big girl armor and let's do this. Pep talk done, I head into the lunch room and immediately see alice bounding up to me.

“There you are girly right this way and don’t worry only Edward bites but you can just ignore him. The rest of us do most of the time.”

Slipping her arm through mine I have no choice but to follow her as the whole cafeteria watches. It’s just like a court function back home keeping my head high and taking a step at a time. Till I see the table come into view and there he is, Gorgeous curls and all. Then he turns and the smile he shows is like being hit with the bifrost full force. All of them are beautiful in itself but him, he's even more so.

“Here she is, everyone. elara you’ve already met, my better half Rue,” you wave and smile at rue which she copies

“Next to her is Bella swan. I don’t know if you have officially meet”

“Hi Bella”

“Hi elara”

“The brooding one beside her is her boyfriend and our brother Edward.”

“He just nods which is fine for me as I reciprocate the gesture.”

“Hey don’t forget about me, I want to say hi too.”

“Yeah yeah emmet hold your horses. elara this is emmet the loud one of the group

“Don’t you mean the fun one of the group?”

“No i mean loud”

“Hahaha hi emmet it's good to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, elara. I gotta say your bike the first day was sick we'll have to talk.”

“You bet”

“Like you know about motorcycles”

“Hey babe that’s not nice im a wealth of knowledge”

“If you really want to talk about cars and bike I’m the one to talk to”

“Oh really that's really cool Rosalie I would love to talk.”

“Hey see, we're all friends already.”

“Sure Emmett and last but not least is Jasper you can take the seat next to him I'm sure you’ll get along great” The blush that enveloped your checks didn’t go unnoticed by the others but thankfully none of them commented on it.

“Hey darlin, it's nice to see you again.”

“You as well jasper.”

I take the seat next to him that he pushed out, ever the gentlemen that definitely a plus check for him. The table is quiet as everyone settles in, not knowing what to say I wait for one of them to hopefully start speaking and thankfully emmet doesn’t miss his que.

“So elara how's the rain been treating you.”

“I actually like the rain, it's comforting to me.”

“Really wow the complete opposite of Bella. Hahaha” Everyone silently chuckles the brunette glaring at Emmett

“Where are you from Bella I was told you where new last year”

“Yeah I was I came from phoenix Arizona”

“What’s it like there”

“It was mostly like a desert so this was a big change.”

“Oh that's cool.”

“Yeah I was kinda iffy about it at first but now it's really grown on me.” She hugs edwards arm and they both stare at each other with clear love in their eyes”

“Get a room you two, so elara tell us about yourself” rue asks from the other side of the table

“Well I just moved from insert ( fake hometown) and I moved here to travel a little with my aunt and uncle since my parents are really busy.”

“Wow that's cool, but do you not have any siblings or pets or anything?

“No, I have two new baby brothers, Vance and Nate and then my pet dog aurelius actually came with me.“

“Oh you have a pet, what kind of animal are they?” Alice asks from her seat next to rue

“He’s a silver husky. Here I have a photo of him on my phone.”

Pulling up the photo of transformed Aurelius I show the group with a smile”

“Wow , he's really pretty, almost kind of looks like a wolf.” Bella says with aw in her tone, the slight shift from the rest of the table though from her words does not go unnoticed by you. I hope these people don’t have issues with wolfs (foreshadowing lol) But then what Lucas said about the local moon children tribe comes to mind and everything just drops into place in your mind.

“Let's change the subject elara what’s your favorite class so far

“Well rose I would have to say history so far”

“Oh that's the class you have with Jasper right?”

“Alice!” jasper scolds her silently as he sees the blush form on my cheeks

“Yes, that is the class I have with jasper. I must say your whole family is amazing. Jasper has been nothing short of a gentleman to me since he got saddled with me being his desk partner.”

“That’s how my momma raised me, true southern hospitality.”

“I'm glad it’s definitely an attractive feature, I will say.” Alice suddenly Interrupts the staring between you and jasper

“Hey elara you wouldn’t happen to have any plans this weekend would you”

“No I don’t,”

“Then you should come to port a with all of us girls, i think we would all love for you to become a friend”

“I would love that actually.”

“Hooray, ok here let me get your phone number and we'll get all the details finalized.”

It feels so mundane exchanging numbers with Alice,she even whispered she'd give you the others numbers later, only if you wanted them. The rest of the lunch is filled with general small talk. Bella really being the only one at the table eating the rest of us converse. The conversations actually feel pretty easy making time go by faster, the bell echos in the room signaling the end of the lunch period

“Oh shoot there's the bell right when the conversation was getting good to”

“It’s ok alice maybe elara would like to sit with us again.”Jasper asks

“Of course I will. Besides Alice, you and I have the next class together, we can continue talking there.”

“Perfect well then let's go.” She hops up quick kissing rue on the cheek before taking my arm in hers to start walking to our class.

“Bye Elara, I'll see you in last period.” jasper manages before emmet slings his arm around him in a half choke with a giant smile on his face

“Yeah elara he’ll see you last period” Laughs emmet as he drags jasper off

“Bye jasper.” you wave after them just in time to see him look back and give a final kilowatt smile

The rest of the week eating with the cullens was amazing. I actually had gotten pretty close to everyone including Edward after I bonded off one of his favorite philosophers quotes and the following debate about it. They were all amazing, I was over the moon with the progress, they of course wouldn’t trust me with their family's secret yet but at least they are welcoming, now I just have to get through meeting the cullens matriarch.

It’s finally Saturday morning and i'm ready to experience midgardian shopping, but not ready for meeting my mates parents. Arriving at the beautiful house I arrive at the door but before I can even attempt to knock, the door flies open to reveal a smiling alice.

“Oh elara I'm so happy you're here.”

Alice practically pulls me through the house to the kitchen where the amazing smell of cookies wafts. Behind the kitchen island a beautiful woman stands, she almost reminds me of my grandmother, the grace, strength and kindness just radiating off her in the same waves as her beautiful chestnut hair. This must be Esme Cullen, their mom.

“Esme look who’s here”

“Oh hello there dear, how great to finally meet you, the children haven’t stopped talking about you.” She crosses over to you and pulls you into a quick Hug.

“Oh thank you, it's wonderful to meet you too and I have to say it smells amazing, in here.”

“Oh thank you dear, I'm making some cookies for Carlisle's colleges up at the hospital.

“Did I hear my name?”

A sweet honeyed voice calls as the head of the family walks up to his wife embracing her from behind.

“You did, but now that you're here, introduce yourself to the children's new friend.

“Ahh you must be elara lane” Carlisle greets as he reaches his hand out to shake yours

“That would be me sir.”

“Well it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad the kids have all made another great friend here in forks.

“They are all amazing, it's sad that the other kids can’t see that.

“Well isn’t that great. I hear you girls are going up to port Arthur to shop.”

“Yes sir, Alice graciously invited me along. I’ve never been up there so i'm sure it will be exciting”

“Oh course it will elara well go to all my favorite stores and find the perfect outfits for everything.

“What about us alice?”

“Oh there you two are. I'm guessing Bella was able to get out of girls trip this time?

“Yeah she’s with Edward today.”

“Oh are they that couple”,

“Yes they are girl! But Rose can’t say much, her and Emmet are about the same.”

“Oh please rue, like you and alice aren’t.”

“I wont say we aren’t I love my little pixiepie ” Rue rushes over to alice to kiss her cheek and squeeze her

“Ok whatever, elara we're gonna go in my car if that's ok, trust me you don’t want Alice to drive.

“I heard that Rose,’

“Good you were supposed to. Come on”

As the girls all say their goodbyes and walks away I can’t help but turn back to again say goodbye to Carlisle and Esme,

“Thank you so much, it was amazing to meet you both

“You too, dear.”

“Yes don’t let those girls bully you into anything you don’t want to do we thought poor Bella would never go with the again”

“I'll keep that in mind Dr.Cullen”

“You can just call me Carlisle. I'm sure we'll be seeing eachother again.

“I hope so”

Honking from the garage signals your retreat from the loving matriarchs in front of you.

Esme and Carlisle’s pov

Watching the young girl leave i turn to my beautiful wife

“So that's Jasper's mate?”

“Yes and I can already tell shell be an amazing mate for him. I mean I’ve never seen him smile as much as he has this past week. He’s finally coming out of that scared shell of his.”

“I agree dear and all of the others seem to really like her as well. I do hope Rose stays so open with her and we don’t have another repeat of Bella.”

“I believe she will, elara has a very unique air about her, I’m sure good things will come to our family.”

Taking one last look in the directions the girls went I silently agreed with my wife as I pulled her into my side.

Elaras pov

The red bmw drives down the street top down and music blasting . The wind flowing through my hair as Rose expertly drives into town.

All I can really hear is the occasional signing from rue beside me, as alice and rose go on about Alice’s driving skills. After what felt like five minutes we all pulled into a shopping district and the day began. Shop after shop we go and I now have no doubt that these girls are inhuman. So many stores we’ve blown through, it's almost shocking. But the fun and light conversation between all of us keeps driving me. Finally we stop at the food court, they all get a smoothie while I find whatever here seems the most appetizing.

“So elara tell us what do you think about jasper?” I simply look up at Alice a smile on my face

“Alice what happened to any subtlety.”

“Oh come on Rose I know you wanted to ask. So elara tell us.”

“Are you sure you want to know given he’s your brother.”

“Uh yes. Especially since none of us have seen him smile so much in a long time.”

“Rues right you’ve truly had an amazing effect on him.”

“What can I say?”

“Just tell us what you like, it doesn't have to be about jasper.”

“But Jasper is who I like.”

“Aww” Rue smacks Alice’s shoulder at the sound.

“Stop it let her continue, go on elara”

“He’s kind and he’s funny, super smart. Being around him is like being wrapped in my favorite blanket with a cup of tea in hand.”

“Aww that's adorable. I’ve got to tell you that he thinks the same.

“Alice for gods sake stop”

“No Rose, I want my brother and our friend to be together, so this is what’s going to happen. We’re going to beautify elara all up which wont be hard your gorgeous love, show jasper what he’s missing and i promise by the end of the week you two will be together i have it all planned out”

“Oh it’ll work out just like that”

“Yup you leave everything to me, it's the least i can do for my future sister “

“Oh lord alice one step at a time i think we all need to get to know each other a lot more before that. And we still have some family things to take care of remember” rose says chastising the small brunete

“Yeah yeah yeah it's only a matter of time”

“Family stuff is there anything i can help with?”

“No elara it's fine, maybe someday but for now let's just think of prettying you up. Come on girls I hear a Sephora calling our name.”

And just like that rue whisks me away with rose and alice following a smile on all of our faces, and all I can think of is how much I'm ready for all our secrets to be revealed so we all can actually be sisters. But first we may have to get none of them being human out of the way

[paletteoffeelings]

WELCOME TO PALETTE OF FEELINGS WHERE YOU UNLEASH YOUR AUTHENTICITY

Hello beautiful people! A warm welcome to “Palette of Feelings!” This little corner of the internet isn't “just a blog”. It's an authentic space where one’s emotions can run free, and where creativity knows no bounds. My name is Sarai but you can call me Rai, and I am 17 years old.

In “Palette of Feelings” there’s absolutely NO room for judgment here, just a genuine exploration of the hectic, messy, beautiful journey we call life. This blog is a haven where Art takes center stage and the canvas becomes your confidant, where every sketch, color, and stroke illustrates a story only you can narrate. Whether you are an experienced artist or now starting to dip your toes into the vivacious waters of creativity, YOU belong here. Here we are a family, a community where your true authentic self is not just accepted, but embraced. Let go of judgment, shed the layers of societal expectations, and embrace the beauty of being unapologetically yourself. Everyone has a story to tell, and I wanna hear yours.

The roots of “Palette of Feelings” dig deep into my personal experiences, particularly a season of loss. Both of my grandparents passed away within a year due to cancer. This loss broke me. These pillars that supported my life were suddenly gone. Leaving a profound pain that words cannot capture. But, in that grief, I found art, or more like, it found me. I was able to channel every crack that was made in my foundation, into my art. Though this may be a bit heavy for my first post, I want you guys to know the real me. The me that suffered profound losses, heartache, etc. This list goes on, but I want this space to be a reminder that vulnerability isn't a weakness, it's a courageous step towards healing.

“Gone but not Forgotten” created by Sarai Lawrence

So, here’s to opening up, being vulnerable, and uncovering therapeutic healing through Art. “Palette of Feelings" is my invitation for you to join me on this beautiful, raw journey. A journey where the canvas witnesses the unspoken stories of our hearts.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog, I hope to see you here next week, at the same time and place. Smooches and Deuces!

Yours Truly,

Rai

[elisysd]

21. Sleeping’s so tough, you’re burnin up my mind

Masterlist - Previously - Next

Please note that some parts of this chapter below the cut might not be suitable for an underage audience. Thank you.

Chapter soundtrack: Chew on my heart - James Bay

Ethan expected a lot of things when arriving in the motorhome on Wednesday for a team meeting but not to be met with a young redhead, wearing the Maserati colors. She was rummaging through some boxes before letting out a happy cry and waving a belgian flag.

“Well… Hello there.” he said, a little awkward.

The girl turned to him quickly and noticed the blonde before starting to become as red as her hair.

“Oh my gosh, Ethan Verstappen! That’s such an honor to meet you!”

“Please don’t tell me you are one of those fans that manages to find a way to lose the security services because let me tell you that I’m going to call them now and you’ll be banned from the paddock.” He was so tired of those fangirls.

“No! Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. I’m Chloe Maes. Your new teammate.”

“How come? I thought Pete, our reserve driver, was going to take Harun’s place, not…”

“A girl?” she asked suspiciously.

“Oh no! I’m not that kind of asshole that thinks girls have no place in motorsport. I mean, look at Romy. She is one of the best out there and one of my closest friends. I’m all in for more females in motorsport.”

“I’m so happy to be able to race against her. She is an inspiration.”

She was so enthusiastic, Ethan couldn’t help but to find her really cute. And soon he found himself deep in conversation with her. Her happiness and love for the sport was contagious and Ethan couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed and smiled so hard.

“So that’s basically it. I was about to sign up for Maserati indy cars program when they contacted me asking if racing in F1 would interest me. Of course I said yes! I couldn’t pass on the opportunity. It’s F1!”

“Excuse me if it’s insensitive, but how old are you?”

“Just turned nineteen a few weeks ago. Why?”

“I see how the media are harsh with Romy and you are super young. Are you sure you are ready to handle it?”

“I might be young, but I’m tough. And I hope that my teammate can defend me.”

She nudges him in the shoulders before taking her phone to snap a selfie of her and him.

“So I can post something when Maserati will announce me as Harun’s replacement tomorrow.”

“I’m going to the restaurant tonight with friends, do you want to come? So you can meet them. Romy will be here.” he didn’t want her to feel rejected. He didn’t know her very well yet, but he really wanted to include her. He wanted her first experience of a F1 race to be unforgettable.

That’s how they arrived together at the restaurant, a little late as Chloe wanted to absolutely look her best to meet her idol. She was wearing an emerald green dress making her red hair pop. When they got out of the car and headed inside, they were laughing and Ethan was desperately trying to make sure the young girl was not falling as she was not really paying attention to her environment. Ethan had quickly picked up that she was clumsy but hoped that once in the car, she could actually focus. They were late and everybody was waiting for them. From the corner of his eyes he could see Julia looking at the girl with an interrogative look on her face. When finally they got to the table, Ethan introduced Chloe to everyone and she received a warm welcome.

“Oh my gosh! I love your dress!” exclaimed Romy, standing and making Chloe spin round.

“It’s a Dior dress but it’s vintage.” Chloe almost said it, ashamed.

“Oh, vintage Dior is my favorite thing on earth. We definitely should go shopping together!”

Everyone was happily talking to her but Julia who was exceptionally quiet since the beginning of dinner. She was sitting opposite to Ethan but kept on giving him furtive glances here and there and every time he was talking or laughing or telling a joke to Chloe that always managed to put a hand on his arm or shoulder. And Ethan didn’t seem to mind.

She knew she had no right to be jealous. Not after what she had put him through when she decided to go out with Martin. And they had agreed to keep their distances. And at this exact moment she hated it. She wanted to be the one making him laugh, having her hand on him. She wanted to be the one he kept looking at. As if Chloe was feeling Julia’s gaze on her she turned to her with her big brown eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you.” the Belgian girl apologized .

“I’m Julia. Ethan’s girlfriend.” she said, a bit too coldly.

“Oh.. He didn’t tell me he had a girlfriend. But it's really nice to meet you! Are you working in F1?”

“I’m an engineer. I work for Skoda.”

“That’s so cool! I wanted to study to become one but then I started to get really nice opportunities in racing so…” she shrugged before reporting her attention on Romy to ask her more questions about her family.

She felt so ignored and transparent the whole evening that she didn’t even wait for the dessert. As soon as the waiter took back her plate, she left and excused herself.

“I’m feeling tired. I’m going to head back to the hotel. See you all around.”

“But Ju’, you didn’t even wait for the dessert! That’s your favorite part of going to eat somewhere.” whined Romy.

“Yeah, well not today. But I'm sure I won’t be missed, don't worry.” she grabbed her back and headed out.

She heard footsteps coming in her directions and soon a warm hand taking hers and pulling her backwards making her stumble.

“Joolsie, wait a moment.”

“I’m tired, Ethan. I want to go back to my room.”

“I’m taking you back, then.” he simply said heading to his car.

“Alone. I’m sure Miss Redhead is already searching for you.” she mumbled in a bitter tone.

“Oh, so this is what it’s about. You’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Yes, you are. And it’s cute. There is nothing wrong with admitting it.”

“I’m not jealous, I would have liked to be aware that someone else was coming, so I could have prepared. It threw me off of my feet. That’s it.”

“Yes, sure. If you want to call your jealousy like that, it’s fine. I just hope you know that you have nothing to fear. Chloe is fun and nice, and okay she is cute, but she is my teammate and I’m not one to mix business and pleasure. Especially not when I’m attracted to another girl that happens to stand right in front of me.”

“Don’t say that, please. It makes it even harder to see you around another girl.”

“So now you understand how I felt when you went out with Martin.” he whispered , getting closer to her.

His hand found her hips, pulling her to him. She didn’t try to resist and put her forehead against his chest.

“We said we would try to put some distance between us…” she muttered against his neck.

“We are stupid for doing that.” he sighed, his chin resting on the top of her head.

“Yes, we are. Remind me again, why?”

“Because giving in to what we are feeling would only create more problems and we have enough of them already.”

Julia let out a frustrated sigh before pulling away and went to order a taxi ride.

“I’m going back to the hotel as well, let’s go together.”

“But Chloe…”

“I’m sure Romy will be happy to drive her back.”

The ride back was in a comfortable silence. She only glanced at the driver from time to time and enjoyed the soft tune that was playing on the radio. Soon, they were back at the hotel and in front of her door. They awkwardly stood, Ethan with his hands deep in his pockets and Julia fidgeting with her bracelet, not really knowing what to do or what to say.

“So, I guess I see you around…” started Ethan.

“I guess, yeah. I hope you’ll have a nice race. Better than Japan. And I hope everything will go well with Chloe.”

He hummed but didn’t move as Julia was opening her door. As she was about to leave him, he made a step forward, coming behind her back. He could see her shiver and goosebumps erupting on the skin of her neck. If he focused he could even smell her perfume, a mix between lilac and vanilla.

“I don’t want to leave, Joolsie.” he confessed in a low voice that made her turn around.

She was so close, so tempting, so intoxicating. He could lean in, he wanted to lean in but knew he shouldn’t. Don’t make things weird, don’t make things complicated, don’t make that mistake. The little head in his voice was right. He didn’t know what he was feeling for her and it wouldn’t be fair to her to initiate something he knew wouldn’t lead anywhere. No matter how tempting it was.

Lean in, please, make a move because I’m not strong enough to do it on my own. That was the only thought Julia had in her mind. When did it start to be so complicated? When did she start to like him? When did her body start to beg for his arms around her waist? When did her heart start to beat faster when he was around? When did she start to feel more? More than what, she didn’t know yet. But she felt more. And she wanted more. And her soul was calling his more than what it was supposed to. More, more, more. Again, again, again.

“Stay.” she said in a breath.

“Julia…”

“You don’t want to leave. Then, stay. With me. Just for tonight. Because I’m not ready to put some distance between us. Not today, at least.”

“It’s a bad idea…” he tried to argue with her but he knew it wouldn’t be a fight he was going to win.

“I know it is. But today, I don’t want to have good ideas. I’m tired of being the good girl. I want to make a mistake, just today.”

So Ethan gave in and followed her inside. He watched her going to the bathroom and coming back a few minutes later in a shirt he knew very well and he couldn’t help the smirk on his face.

“So this is where my shirt went… I wondered about it.”

The shirt was barely covering the top of her thighs and for a moment he was curious to know if she had a short under it.

“I borrowed it to take a few pictures. It could always come handy one day.” she justified.

“Sure. Navy blue looks perfect on you, by the way.”

“I’m not sure. I think red suits me even better.” she teased him.

“It’s up to debate, I assure you.”

She looked at him as he was removing his shirt and pants, totally unbothered by her presence. He felt her gaze on him, analyzing his every move until he settled under the cover. She was still standing in the middle of the room, her legs crossed as if she didn’t know what to do.

“Do you want me to put some pillows between us?” he asked.

“No! I’m serious when I say that I don't want distance between us.”

She moved forward and joined him in the bed, putting her head on the pillow as he did the same and looked at him straight in his eyes. They were close but not close enough. So she moved her pillow near him and with an hesitant hand started to play with his silver necklace. Her hand was cold against his neck and even in the darkness he could see her eyes shining. His arms found her waist and he pulled her closer until her chest was against his. He heard her breath caught in her throat as one of her legs moved between his. It was his turn now to suppress a gasp. Her feet were cold and her legs as well but never had he felt so hot in his entire life. She was still playing with his necklace, a way for her to not overthink the situation. She didn’t even flinch when Ethan sneaked his hand under her shirt and started to draw some patterns on her hip, putting her resistance to the test. She didn’t move either when his forehead rested against hers and their noses bumped. She could feel his breath on her lips and she opened them a little. He wasn’t even sure she was aware of what she was doing and the effect it had on him. They stayed in that position for a while, without moving, calmly and hesitantly, exploring each other's bodies in the silence and peace of the night until one of them eventually fell asleep.

When she woke up the next morning, she was cold. And she was alone. The room was so empty that she could swear that it could have been a dream. But if she closed her eyes once again, she could still feel his hands on her naked skin and his breath on her face and suddenly she wasn’t cold anymore. As if they had a mind on their own, her hands started to play with the Maserati shirt and navigate the places where Ethan’s hands had stayed a few hours ago. She could still smell his scent on the pillow as she pressed it against her chest, feeling her nipples harden against the fabric of the shirt. She let out a sigh, imagining it was his chest she was still against and his hands on her skin. She could still feel his legs intertwined with hers as she was trying to create some kind of friction between hers, desperate to relieve the tension that she was feeling inside. Was she turning crazy? But if she did, it was an amazing kind of crazy.

Ethan was desperately trying to forget that the night ever happened. Waking up and untangling from her had been the hardest thing to do. The shower he took once back in his room had never been this cold but it didn’t appease the fire he had felt in him since the morning. Don’t think about it, Ethan. Don’t you dare thinking about how her pelvis was right against yours, creating an oh so devilishly amazing friction. Don’t think about how you had to stop your hips to buckle against hers, you are not an animal. Don’t think about how you could feel her breasts against your chest or the little sigh that left her lips when she was sleeping. Or even how sometimes she moaned in her sleep and how you wished to be the reason why she is letting these torturing sounds out her mouth. And her lips. They seemed oh so soft and plump and perfect. Just don’t think. Don’t let your mind go there.

He spent the day with an automatic mode activated. Nothing else than racing had to be in his mind. And that’s how he intended his weekend to go. Nothing else mattered other than the race and his needs to bring back some points back home after the last races that were not the best for him. That and the need to be ahead of his new teammate. And for that he had to avoid distractions. He had to avoid Julia. Distances needed to be set if he didn’t want to be driven completely crazy.

And it worked. A nice P7, a few good battles on the track and finishing ahead of Chloe that managed a nice P12 for her first Grand Prix, was all he needed to get his head back in the game. Back in the hospitality after his interviews he was welcomed by a red tornado that jumped in his arms, almost making him fall on his back.

“I did it! I did it, Ethan! P12, can you believe it? For my first race! And it felt so good on the track, the speed, playing with the limits! I want to go back! Like, now! Does it alway feel like that?”

“Yeah, congrats. Next time, try to be in the points.” he said with a little smile, telling her that he was joking.

“Next time not only will I be in the points but I will beat your ass! And it’s home. It’s Monza. It’s going to be fantastic! I’m so excited.”

“The team planned a few events that we will need to attend. Sponsors stuff, it’s going to be boring.” he warned her.

“It won’t be, I promise. Because you will be with me, and I’m far from being boring.”

“You are a little firecracker.” he teased her, ruffling her hair.

“And you have seen nothing yet.” she added, engulfing him in a hug.

He let his head rest on top of her and started to make her swing in his arms as she let out big laughs. They started to talk about the race and about the car as they were heading out, his arm around her shoulders as she was showing him pictures of fans on social media that already liked her.

“They even created fan accounts, Ethan! To support me! Should I follow them in return? I want to be nice.”

He was about to answer when a brunette with a white shirt appeared in his field of vision. She was looking at them and suddenly he felt way too conscious of his arm, nonchalantly draped over Chloe’s shoulders, of his smile that was hurting his cheeks and of how he slowed down to match her pace. He was about to let go of her when Julia disappeared as fast as she appeared. Everything in him was screaming to run to her and to reassure her but he knew that it would be pointless. And he knew about the space they wanted to give to each other. And he also knew that nothing would stop him to pin her against a wall or whatever would be around them to kiss her which would be bad, the word space blinking in his mind, as a reminder of the promise they made to each other.  So he let her go, out of sight but not out of mind.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. You have no right to cry. You have no right to get mad. You have no rights over him. You have no rights over his feelings. You have no rights over his life. She knew he told her that she had nothing to worry about, she knew she had to trust him. She could trust him. Never had he once proved to her that he was unreliable. But still, she hated the nagging feeling that was snaking around her throat.

And Chloe was cute, she was funny, she was outgoing, she was fierce that much she had noticed on the track, they were spending a lot of time together, they had the same passion, the same desire to win. Chloe didn’ care about what other people were thinking about her, She seemed confident. More than her who was still doubting herself and everyone all the time. And the way Chloe was looking at Ethan, she hated it. It was like he was holding the sky for her. She didn’t want to dislike the girl, especially because she seemed like a great person, but she hated how close she and Ethan looked.

“Julia? Are you crying?”

She turned around and noticed Martin, his race suit low on his hips. She looked away and tried to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder and that was enough to make her break. She didn’t even resist when he pulled her against him, stroking her hair gently. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask questions, didn’t try to make her talk. He just stayed there and let her cry on his shoulder. When she finally calmed down, he gave her his water bottle so she could drink and made her sit on the concrete.

“I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I’m crying.” she said, her voice soar.

“I’ve alway told you I’d be there for you, no matter what. That’s what I’m doing. You don’t have to explain.”

“I feel so stupid.” she confessed.

“You are allowed to no always be strong, Julia. You don’t have to be. It’s okay to show vulnerability. You are human.”

“I don’t want to look weak.”

“It doesn’t make you look weak. Do you want me to get someone for you? Ethan?”

“Absolutely not.” she said a little too quickly, something Martin noticed.

“Romy, then? Or your dad?”

“Can’t you… I mean can you just take me back to my hotel? If it’s not bothering you.”

“Of course I can.”

He handed a hand towards her that she took and, together, made their way to the parking lot, finding Martin’s Ferrari and making their way to the hotel. As she was about to leave, she turned to him and quickly gave him a peck on his cheek, thanking him once again. She saw the blush on his cheeks but didn’t say anything.

In the silence of her room, she finally had time to gather her thoughts. It had been three days since they had slept in the same bed but what she was feeling when thinking of the night felt like yesterday. She was down bad for him and it was frightening to see how fast it happened. She didn’t know what to do about her feelings and it seemed that the more she tried to escape them, the stronger they were becoming. The screen of her phone suddenly lit up and revealed an incoming call from her dad. It was weird. Never did he call her after a race. He always had various meetings with the team. She picked up.

“Dad?”

“Ju’, hey. I wanted to see you but you must have left fast after the race.

“Yeah… I wasn’t feeling well.” she replied not saying anything else. “You wanted to see me?”

“I wanted to ask you something. Well two things, to be honest. I talked with our technical team in Maranello about your ideas and they had time to go over them. They have brought a few modifications to them but I wanted to tell you that we are going to bring the new package you helped design to Buenos Aires in two months. That and other things. You don’t even know how much you helped Julia. You unlocked a whole new field of possibilities and ideas and the team really needed that. Which brings me to the first thing I wanted to ask you, would you be okay to help us working on other updates?”

She couldn’t believe her ears. It was too good to be true.

“You… Do you want me to work with you? Like officially?”

“Well not officially, you are under contract with Skoda but it’s a partner team that is using our engines  so technically we are allowed to borrow their engineers. Or at least, I’m giving myself the right to borrow you. But see that as a work opportunity. I’m testing you. If you fit in well and if you show me what you’ve got, you have your place in the team for next year.”

She was about to cry. Again. Her dad was offering her the opportunity to access her dream. She took a deep breath.

“Okay. I’ll do it. You won’t regret it, I promise you.” she said with a determined voice.

“I’m sure I won’t. The second thing I wanted to talk to you about was about your mom. She is coming to Monza next week and you know how special this race is for us. For our family and for your mom and I. And I wanted to organize something, it’s been a while since I’ve been thinking about it and it’s the perfect time to do it. I’m going to ask you mom to marry me again.”

Author's note: It's Lya and Charles time to come back and you don't even know how excited I am bout this part of the story. I miss them so much. What do you think will happen next? Let me know your theories, I love to read them.

Don't hesitate to leave a comment or an ask, as well as reblogging and leaving a like. It helps a lot for the story to find its audience. I also have a taglist for this story, so if you want to be added so you never miss a chapter, let me know.

Taglist:

@herondalism @aundercover @musingsbyshreya @karmabyfernando @reengard @mycenterfold @smoooothoperator

[ga-yuu]

The Man Who Steals Me ~ Love That Is Immoral Story Event Sueharu Route

WARNING! The following story has scenes of domestic violence and adultery.

----Chapter 1----

Master: "Ah, Kichiji-dono! Sorry to keep your waiting."

The owner of the mansion, who 'bought' me out of debt, bows his head amiably.

Kichiji: "Thank you. I'm glad to see you're in good health."

The man called Kichiji responded to the greeting in a familiar manner.

(I wonder what kind of person this man is for my husband to bow his head down politely)

As I watched the two of them without being rude---

The man's eyes caught me.

Sueharu: "Who is this young lady?"

Master: "She's my new concubine that I bought. ...Hey, say hello."

('I bought' ....I feel like I'm nothing but an object)

Realizing my position once again, I bit my lips.

Yoshino: "My name is Yoshino."

I hid my rising shame, I bow my head deeply.

Kichiji: "Yes. Nice to meet you too, Yoshino."

Kichiji: "I'm Kaneuri Kichiji. I'm a merchant."

Apparently, Kichiji-san is my husband's business partner.

(My husband's main business is moneylending, but recently he's been trying to get into other businesses...)

(Maybe for that reason, he is trying to get close to a merchant like Kichiji-san)

Kichiji: "Sorry for visiting you so suddenly."

Master: "Oh no no, Kichiji-san is always welcomed."

(Even so)

My husband, who is arrogant towards everyone is strangely humble towards Kichiji-san.

(Maybe he is a well-known successful merchant I don't know about)

With this in mind, I found myself following Kichiji-san with my eyes.

Kichiji: "...!"

(..Ah)

The clear pink color eye met my gaze and I look away.

Kichiji: "Come to think of it, I have some kimonos and lip rouges. I think it would suit you."

Yoshino: "Eh?"

Master: "That's very kind of you!"

I was puzzled and the Master rubbed my knee.

Master: "I'm sure Kichiji-san has an eye for beautiful items, shall we buy something."

Yoshino: "N-No. I.."

(My husband usually doesn't like to give me anything extra)

(I feel guilty for asking something expensive, so I think it would be better if I refuse)

Kichiji: ".........."

Kichiji-san looked at me with somewhat unreadable expression as I laughed bitterly.

Kichiji: "I won't force you, but if you're interested, let me know."

Kichiji: "I'm planning to stay here for a while anyways."

It is a joy to feel touched by a small warmth that I have not had the chance to experience recently.

Yoshino: "Thank you."

Interrupting my reply, my husband leaned forward.

Master: "Oh! Is that so? It is unusal that Kichiji-dono is staying here."

Kichiji-san smiles at my husband, who looks surprised.

Kichiji: "For market research purpose."

Kichiji: "It's been a long time since I've seen you, so I thought this place would be good to stay where I can see you and do my investigation, right?"

Master: "I see I see...well then, you're welcome to stay at my mansion."

(....!)

Kichiji: "Really? Thank you very much then."

Master: "I am honored to be of service to you, Kichiji-dono."

Master: "....Hey, Yoshino. Show Kichiji-dono the guest room."

Yoshino: "Yes, dear."

Kichiji-san stands up and approaches me.

Kichiji: "I'm glad to have a beautiful woman show me around. Thank you."

Yoshino: "....Nn."

The whispers of his sexy voice echoed so close to me that my heart skipped a beat.

I pushed it aside and politely bowed my head.

Yoshino: "The pleasure is all mine."

Kichiji: *smiling*

I felt a chuckle from Kichiji-san above my head, and my heart fluttered.

Master: "Make sure you don't get anything wrong."

My husband, who had plastered a smile on his face, saw me and Kichiji-san off and we left the room.

(Not that it will change anything just because Kichiji-san is staying with us for a few days)

For some reason, I had a feeling that the routine of my life was about to change.

Yoshino: "This way."

Sueharu: "Yes."

Leading Kichiji-san down the corridor that is still a little unfamiliar to me.

I was secretly relieved to be away from my husband.

(I understand that I am in debt, but...)

(When you're introduced like that, it makes you realise once again that you're held captive)

As I recall this, I feel how pathetic my situation was----

Kichiji: "Are you okay? You look pale."

(Ah...)

Kichiji-san, who was standing right next to me before I knew it, pointed this out and I came to my senses.

(I shouldn't have...at least not in front of our guest)

I smiled awkwardly.

Yoshino: "It's nothing."

Kichiji: "It doesn't look like nothing to me."

Yoshino: "....I'm still new to this house, so I was trying to make sure I could get to the guest room without getting lost."

Kichiji: "Oh?"

(I-I'm not lying though...)

I turned my attention to the end of the hallway to make sure that Kichiji-san, who tilted his head teasingly at me, is out of my sight.

And to fully focus myself to guiding him to his room....

I was able to send Kichiji-san to his room safely.

Yoshino: "Please make yourself at home. I'll take my leave----"

Kichiji: "Wait."

Kichiji-san grabbed my hand when I tried to leave.

I looked up at Kichiji-san to see if there was anything more and he pulls me closer.

(Ah)

In the shadows created by moonlight----

I got caught in the eyes that are darker than they were a moment ago and I cannot look away.

Yoshino: "Kichiji-san....?"

Kichiji: "If you have any problems, you can talk to me."

Kichiji: "I've been through my fair share of rough times, so maybe I can help you."

(Eh....)

I was shaken by his words, as if he had seen through my insecurities.

Yoshino: "But why are you telling me this?"

Yoshino: "I have nothing to give in return."

Kichiji: "Heh. You're very polite, you know."

Kichiji: "There are many people who look to others for help without thinking."

Yoshino: "I can't do something...like that."

His one eye lights up in amusement.

Kichiji: "A melancholy profile is sexy and attractive, but I'd rather see a pretty smile."

Kichiji: "If you say that's not enough of a reason----"

He scooped my hand in a flowing gesture.

Kichiji-san kissed the back of my hand....

(...Nn)

Kichiji: "You can pay for it yourself."

Yoshino: "Nn...."

Heat spreads from the spot to the whole body.

(This man is a terrible womaniser!)

Yoshino: "If that's the case, no thanks!"

I pulled my hand out of his grasp and left the scene quickly.

When I glanced back as I turned the corner, Kichiji-san was smiling and waving with one hand.

(He's a strange man)

That night----

Yoshino: *shivers*

Master: "...Still not ready yet?"

The master, who was on top of me and undoing my kimono, stops.

Yoshino: "....I'm sorry."

Although I am concubine, I had not yet given my body to my husband.

(I know I'm not in a position to refuse, but when it comes down to it, my body trembles....)

Master: "I don't mind. I'm tired of women who give in too easily anyway."

But the Master seems to enjoy watching me being frightened.

Master: "You can amuse me with your reactions...when the time comes."

(...!)

When he implicitly told me that he would hold me in the near future, I managed to move her frightened body and....

Yoshino: "Please excuse me..."

I bowed to my husband and ran out of the room.

In a deserted garden, far from the rooms where people rest, I look up at the night sky.

(Running away is no use. It's my duty to be sleep with Master)

(But...)

I was holding back the tears that were threatening to spill over at the thought of what might happen to me.

Kichiji: "A capitive princess inside a bird cage."

----Chapter 2-----

Yoshino: ".....Kichiji-san."

Kichiji-san appeared from nowhere.

Yoshino: "What are you doing here?"

Kichiji: "I'm not feeling sleepy yet so I thought I'd take a walk."

Kichiji: "I guess you can't sleep either if you're here this late at night."

Kichiji: "Or did the man you call.....your husband do terrible things to you in your bedroom?"

(Why are you asking that...Ah)

The tone of his voice, as if he knew something and was concerned about me, reminded me that I had gone out into the garden with my messy hair unkempt.

Yoshino: "No no. The master and I have not done anything yet...."

Sueharu: "Done anything yet?"

Yoshino: "I know I haven't done my duty as a concubine."

When I turned my head down, Kichiji-san extended his hand towards me.

(Ah)

I stopped breathing for a second as his fingertips gently brushed a lock of hair from her cheek.

Sueharu: "I don't think a girl like you would have willingly become a concubine."

Sueharu: "You have a story to tell, don't you?"

The one-eye gaze turned towards me now, has no teasing tone.

(I wonder if he's trying to comfort me)

I was very grateful for that feeling but...

Yoshino: "My husband is taking good care of me..."

(Kichiji-san, is my husband's business partner, so I cannot behave in a way that gives a bad impression)

Because I was bought with money, I did not want to lose the minimum amount of sincerity as a member of this household.

Yoshino: "Besides, it was I who agreed to the contract to become a his concubine."

Sueharu: "...Contract?"

Kichiji-san, who had been listening quietly, lifts the corners of his mouth slightly.

Yoshino: "Kichiji-san?"

Kichiji: "No, it's nothing."

I blinked as I felt Kichiji-san's expression soften.

Kichiji: "I'm not going to sleep yet. Do you wanna talk?"

..........

(It's been a long time since I've talked to someone like this)

Perhaps that's why my time with Kichiji-san was more calming than I expected.

Kichiji: "If it's all right with you, we can talk like this. No one will come in the garden at night."

I took those parting words with hesitation....

.......

Few days later...

Kichiji: "Thank you for waiting, Yoshino."

Yoshino: "Good evening Kichiji-san."

Ever since I agreed to Kichiji-san's words.

We used to meet here every night for a brief chat.

Kichiji: "This whole situation is a bit intriguing, as if I'm having a secret meeting with you. It's kinda tempting, you know?"

(Secret meeting!?)

Yoshino: "There you go, joking again..."

Kichiji: "I'm sorry. You're reaction to everything is funny to watch."

Although he sometimes jokes, it is always a pleasure to chat with Kichiji-san.

----It is so much so that I almost forgets that I am being held captive.

(A brief respite during Kichiji-san's stay here only)

(I must not rely on Kichiji-san any more than I already do)

I knew that, but I was definitely comforted by the time I spent with Kichiji-san.

Kichiji: "By the way, your husband seems to be in a bad mood lately."

Yoshino: "...Ah, yes."

Before I came here, I had just heard the master muttering 'Kaneuri Kichiji, how long are you going to stay here?'.

(But I can't tell that directly to Kichiji-san...)

Kichiji: "It is uncivil to talk about other men when we are alone."

Seeing that I was vague about my words, Kichiji-san changed the subject casually.

Kichiji: "Actually, I have a gift for you."

Yoshino: "Hm?"

With a scheming smile, Kichiji-san held out a-----

A single flower.

Kichiji: "When we first met, you didn't react to wanting a kimono or a lip rouge, right?"

Kichiji: "I thought you didn't seem like the type who would attracted to those things."

(Come to think of it, that happened...and you remembered)

It warms my heart to think that he had thought of something that I would like based on that.

I received the flower and was about to thank him when----

Yoshino: "Than---Ah!"

The flower was so large that I sqeaked when I recognised it.

Sueharu: "What's wrong?"

Yoshino: "This flower is a medicinal flower! I've been looking for it for a long time. It's so hard to find this at this time of the year!"

Yoshino: "Did you know, it can also be as an ornament? But...Ah!"

Kichiji: "Oh, no I didn't?"

Kichiji-san's lips eventually turns into a smile.

Kichiji: "....you're funny. You got me there."

Yoshino: "Um..well.."

(I got carried away...!)

Yoshino: "Sorry. I suddenly got excited...that's weird."

When I tried to hide my face with the flower, Sueharu-san was smiling and shook his head.

Kichiji: "I didn't think it was weird."

Yoshino: "Eh?"

Kichiji: "You have now given this flower an added value other than being an ornamental."

Kichiji: "It means you have an eye for things. Isn't that something to be proud of?"

The quiet tone of Kichiji-san's voice is calming.

(...He's praising me)

Kichiji-san's eye were sparkling with interest and his expression seemed to be more relaxed than usual.

Yoshino: "Kichiji-sa..."

Kichiji: "Sueharu. That's my real name. Kitsuji Sueharu."

Kichiji: "I want you to call me by this name."

Kichiji-san gently interrupted my words and smiled-----

Either way, Sueharu-san's gaze is filled with a mysterious charm that beckons me.

Yoshino: ".....Sueharu-san."

Sueharu: "Mm."

Sueharu-san's satisfied smile was more dazzling than usual....

(I feel like I was able to touch at least a small part of Sueharu-san's heart)

That alone made my heart flutter.

........

It was the third night after I learned Sueharu-san's real name.

(Argh...)

My cheek felt hot as I touched it.

(My husband was irritated more than usual today....and he hit me for the first time)

Maybe the time has finally come when I'll be forced on bed.

I was a little afraid to meet Sueharu-san with reddened cheek from the slap...

(This may be the last time we see each other)

With this in mind, I decided to head to the meeting spot.

..........

Sueharu: "You..."

As soon as we see each other, Sueharu-san's carefree smile disappears.

Sueharu: "It hurts, doesn't it? Did you treat that properly?"

The unusual expression on his face tells me that Sueharu-san is seriously concerned about my safety.

(...He's so kind)

Yoshino: "It doesn't hurt as much as it looks."

When I smiled to reassure him, Sueharu-san sighed.

Sueharu: "....I'll ask you again. Why did you become such a man's concubine?"

Yoshino: "It's a form of debt. In the village where I lived, the crops didn't grow well."

Yoshino: "We were all doing our best, but I couldn't stand to see the children starving..."

Sueharu: "Children....?"

Sueharu-san's eyebrows furrow slightly.

Sueharu: "It's not like they're related to you, right? Why are doing you this?"

Yoshino: "Some of the children have no family. If there was anything I could do, I wanted to do it."

Sueharu: "You mean you sacrificed yourself for the sake of poor children."

The mutterings that are dropped in a few words dissolve into the night darkness in an unusually quiet way.

Sueharu: "........."

(....Why are you making that face?)

Yoshino: "Sueharu-san?"

Sueharu: "....I'm in trouble. If I listen to all that, I won't know what to do with you."

(Eh?)

Before I could fully comprehend what was said, Sueharu-san's hand was placed around my waist, and he pulls me closer.

Sueharu: "Yoshino."

(....Mm)

As soon as I was drawn closer, Sueharu-san's lips overlapped with mine.

(Sueharu-san why?)

My body tenses up in surprise, but strangely there is no sense of disgust.

(I see...what I feel for..Sueharu-san is...)

I naturally became aware of the feelings that have been born before I knew it.

But at the same time, a deep sense of guilt began to arise.

(----As long as I'm the property of the Master, these thoughts are not permitted)

Yoshino: "Sueharu---"

As soon as I tried to resist, the kiss deepened.

Yoshino: "Mm..Mmm...."

(I have to stop)

Supporting my limp and weak body, Sueharu-san whispered.

Sueharu: "...More."

Sueharu: "Until you can't think of anything else."

Yoshino: "...Ahh."

Sueharu-san's lips, spilling sweet breath, now drop to my neck.

I unintentionally clung to Sueharu-san, my fingertips were trembling faintly.

Sueharu: "Do you hate me?"

(....There is no way I dislike you)

Sueharu-san always listened to me and treated me as a thoughtful person.

(But)

Yoshino: "That's not what...this is about."

I suppressed the thoughts that were about to overflow and appealed in a hushed voice.

Yoshino: "I'm the Master's concubine and Sueharu-san is his guest."

Sueharu: "That's right."

Despite my light-hearted reply, Sueharu-san hugs me tightly and puts his face close to my ear.

Sueharu: "If your husband saw us doing this....I'm sure he would be disappointed."

(Ah...)

The shame and immorality fuelled by the words that had been spoken to me ran up my spine as a dangerous pleasure.

Yoshino: "Mm...Sueharu-san.."

As if I have been drawn towards him, I looked up at him and my lips were stolen again.

I felt the sweetest sensation of entwined tongues and I found myself seeking Sueharu-san.

(It feels hot)

Sueharu-san's fingers lifted my kimono and touched my bare skin.

Sueharu: "....That's all for today."

But Sueharu-san stopped there, and our lips also parted.

Sueharu: "I'd love to hold you right now even if you belonged to another man, but...I'm not going to."

Sueharu: "We can continue this when you really want to be held by me."

Yoshino: "Being held...?"

In moment of impatience, I asked directly.

In no time at all, Sueharu-san's hands had my kimono in place and he began gently combing my hair.

Sueharu: "Wait for me. I won't do anything bad."

(What do you mean...?)

Even though I had no idea what he was going to do,

Sueharu-san gives me a small smile and there was a kind and fearless light in his eyes----

Premium END

The morning after I and Sueharu-san shared a kiss and when I realized I had feelings for him----

My husband told me to stay in my room quietly.

(This is the first time I have been given such an order. Maybe...)

(Tonight will be the night when my husband is going to hold me)

I was scared of what lay ahead and wanted to believe Sueharu-san's words---- 'wait for me'.

My heart was pounding nonstop.

(Even though I only met Sueharu-san for a short amount of time)

(I want to trust him so much, I want to see him so much because...I need help?)

I asked myself but the answer is already there.

(No)

(Admittedly, at first I was just looking for a place to feel safe for a short while. But now...)

-----FLASHBACK-----

Sueharu: "....I'm in trouble. If I listen to all that, I won't know what to do with you."

-----FLASHBACK ENDS----

Just remembering the expression on Sueharu-san's face, that night was enough to make my heart flutter.

(That moment...I'm sure Sueharu-san showed me his true face)

That's why I want to know what he's really thinking and who he is.

(I want to talk to Sueharu-san. If I could at least get out of my room...)

Just as I was gritting my teeth once again at the thought be being captive, the sliding door to my room was violently pulled open.

Master: "Get up! We're getting out of here."

Yoshino: "Eh..."

Master: "Hurry!"

The master who shouted did not even look at me as he gathered up his money and his clothes.

Master: "We have to get out of here. Once the water cools down, I'm sure we'll be able to do something."

(It feels like a night escape)

As I was trying to get a grip of the situation, my ears picked up the Master's muttering under his breath.

Master: "Kanueri Kichiji, that son of---!"

Yoshino: "Sueharu-san?"

As soon as I reacted to that name unintentionally, I saw my husband's face turn red from anger and realized I made a mistake.

Master: "How the hell do you know that name? Did you perhaps......communicate with him?"

Yoshino: "Ahh...!"

The Master, in a fit of rage, pushed me down roughly.

Master: "Damn, if only I fucked you sooner..."

(Nn...No....)

In anger, he almost ripped my kimono off and my blood runs cold.

Yoshino: "Sueharu-san...!"

The moment I called out the name of the person I was thinking of---

Sueharu: "Okay, that's enough. That's breach of contract."

Sueharu-san appeared and pressed a small knife against the Master's neck.

Sueharu: "I've already bought this girl."

Sueharu: "If you want her, you must be prepared to make ME your enemy."

Master: "Tsk..."

The Master turns pale and hangs his head down in contemplation.

(W-What's going on...?)

Sueharu: "Come Yoshino. I came to pick you up."

I was blinded by the sight of Sueharu-san, who reverently held out his hand to me.

Sueharu: "....I said I wouldn't do anything bad, right?"

The same carefree smile on his thin, well-shaped lips that he wore last night.

(After all this person is not just an ordinary merchant)

Even as I thought so, I took Sueharu-san's hand.

After leaving the mansion, we settled down at an inn in the town.

Sueharu: "I'm done cleaning up. We can finally talk freely."

Sitting across from me, Sueharu-san slowly opens his mouth.

Sueharu: "That guy who held you captive was actively involved in business other than moneylending."

Sueharu: "But he was a womanizer and often used women to cover his debts...you didn't know that, right?"

Yoshino: "Oh. So was I one of those women?"

When I asked, Sueharu-san stared off into the distance with an expression of dismay.

Sueharu: "I knew he was going to do something someday."

Sueharu: "Of all people, he was trying to start a new business using my name and contacts."

(Ehh!)

Even I, who am not a merchant can see that it is a bad idea.

(From Sueharu-san's point of view, it's a trust issue and could even make him a business rival)

Yoshino: "You've done me a favor."

Sueharu: "Right? I didn't think it was possible, so I was working to confirm the facts but the result was..."

Sueharu: "....So I destroyed him without a trace."

Sueharu-san's eyes were shining coldly. They were unmistakably those of a merchant's eyes.

Sueharu: "He tried to deceive me by pretending he didn't know anything, by welcoming me..."

Sueharu: "That's why I couldn't get through him at first."

(Was the Master's recent nervousness due to his warnings that Sueharu-san might be taking notice of something?)

As I was secretly convinced, Sueharu-san's fingers touched my cheek.

Sueharu: "The swelling on your cheek seems to have gone a little."

Yoshino: "Y-Yes."

He gently caressed the area and the warmth of Sueharu-san's fingers were lovely.

Sueharu: "At first I spoke to you to see if I could get any information out of you."

Sueharu: "But I quickly realized that you didn't know anything, but..."

Sueharu: "By that time, I already made an arrangement to talk to you more."

Removing his hand from my cheek, Sueharu-san murmured with a sweet resignation.

Sueharu: "When I heard the reason for the debt, I felt like a failure."

Sueharu: "...I have to admit that I'm attracted to you."

(Sueharu-san...)

I was about to open my mouth to say that I had to do something in return for the feelings expressed to me.

Sueharu-san's eyes, which had been looking at me lovingly, suddenly took on a somber color.

Sueharu: "That man's trust is now at the bottom of the earth."

Sueharu: "No matter where you go from here, you won't have to listen to him."

Sueharu: "So did Sueharu-san took over his role?"

Sueharu: "....."

A quiet smile appeared on Sueharu-san's lips as he silently nodded.

Sueharu: "Are you scared of me?"

(That's...)

Yoshino: "To be honest, Sueharu helped me, even if only a little."

Yoshino: "You were very nice to talk to, and you even gave me some nice flower."

I remember the beautiful flower, which can be used as medicine, and the look on Sueharu-san's face when I watched through the petals of that flowers.

(I was happy that you chose that gift with me in mind)

When I smiled at the warm memories, Sueharu-san looked as if he had been caught red-handed.

Sueharu: "....."

Sueharu: "You're funny."

He looks at me and...

(Nn..Mm)

A gentle kiss almost melts me.

His hand goes to the back of my head, and undoes my hair in a natural motion. He then gently pushed me down to the floor.

Sueharu: "Hey, Yoshino. Let's start our business meeting?"

Yoshino: "Business...meeting...?"

Even though I was confused by the quickening of my heartbeat, Sueharu-san's voice reached my ears clearly.

Sueharu: "I bought you from that man. But to make your heart mine, I have to talk to you myself."

Yoshino: "I----"

(Ah...)

Sueharu-san's finger traces my lips and takes my away the words.

Sueharu: "We'll continue this when you really to be held by me'....did you forget what I told you?"

(I didn't forget....)

I want to respond, but Sueharu-san's fingers won't let me.

The unvoiced exhale is tinged with a feverish inarticulate anticipation....

I was eagerly awaiting the dangerous night that was about begin....

[swampstew]

KIᒪᒪEᖇᑕOOK - ᑕᕼᗩᑭTEᖇ ５

Welcome to Raven's Reading Nook - a small corner of this blog dedicated to cozy story times. Join us in the family room as we sit around and browse our phones, and eat some Girl Scout cookies as we begin tonight's story. Rated Mature for language. Minors DNI.

It's unbearably hot and I needed a cooldown. Nothing soothes my soul quite like bullying the characters of One Piece. This chapter was inspired by my friends who yearn for KillerCook, this video of Brandon Farris (skip to 1:37 mark for the gag), and this illustration by Denise Fanta Stay hydrated and wear your suncreen, y'all »»»———　☠　———«««

*Phone app notification goes ping*

TikTok – KillerCook has uploaded a new video. Check it out!

Title: When Watermelons Attack Description: A summer science experiment gone hilariously wrong. 6 minute video. The thumbnail is a still frame of a partially clothed Killer and Kid, with a nervous Wire and Heat in the background.

*Press Play*

Four massive and buff men stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the camera, creating an almost cramped atmosphere despite the fact that they were located in a massive kitchen space. They all waved hello at the camera before KillerCook took a step closer to the camera.

The daylight spilled through the massive bay windows creating a high definition viewing experience. Global weather had been unbearably hot for everyone and the crew was not spared from the dangerous heat wave. Even in the cool-climate controlled house, all four men were sweating as the lead stepped into his role.

“Hello everyone, KillerCook here joined by my buddies whom you all should know and love by now. If you don’t, go back to my very first upload and don’t come back to this video until you’ve watched them all!” Killer held out a stern finger to the camera. “Or don’t, I’m not your father. I don’t care what you do so long as you like, comment, and follow my channel.”

Killer’s hair was weighed down by the humidity in the air, lacking its usual volume; his helmet looked like it was also perspiring under the unforgiving sunlight. Sweat glistened on his neck and arms, and his muscle tank top clung to his sculpted body as he presented some items in front of the camera.

“Normally I have a delicious recipe I create on camera but to be honest, heats killing us!”

Heat, flagged down by a small, pinned tag of his TikTok handle FlamingHot420, stood behind and off to the left of Killer, letting out a surprised look and hurt pout.

“I’m not doing anything!” he pulled back his long, baby blue locks into a ponytail so as not to touch or stick to the back of his neck or tattooed arms. His black, sleeveless gym tank hugged his trapezius muscles, which flexed noticeably along with his sinewy arms as he adjusted his hairstyle.

“Tsk, not you idiot!” Kid growled.

The Boss of the crew, the redhaired heartthrob tagged by his handle PunkNeverDied69, looked crankier than usual in the hellish weather pattern. He wore a loose, light colored t-shirt over gym shorts, his flesh hand tucked into pocket to flair out the billowy material to circulate more air flow around his body. Forgoing his metal prosthetic did not diminish his stature or build in any manner. He still looked like a wall of meat, packaged into a tight container of a body straining against his frame. Every curve and groove of his toned muscles seemed exaggerated with the sweat the dripped between each dip.

Killer dropped his covered face a few degrees before regaining his composure, “ANYWAYS – cooking or baking during these record breaking heat waves seems like a terrible idea. Especially for Wire, he’ll be the first to succumb to heat exhaustion since as we all know, heat rises.” As he spoke, Killer used his hand to demonstrate heated air rising, right in front of Wire’s stature to emphasize the tall joke he was making.

Wire slapped the hand away, “Even on a cool day your jokes suck ass.” Tagged by his handle Scream_maim_fire, he did not help disprove Killer’s point when he wrapped his signature cloak headdress around his body.

“You’re just saying that because you continuously put an endothermic material over your head that’s frying your brain stupid!” Killer retorted.

The heat wave was putting everyone in a pissy mood. Kid snapped rubber bands at them with his thumb and forefinger.

“ENOUGH! Let’s get this over with so you can make our melon slushies!”

“Right,” Killer cleared his throat. “Let’s rewind. Today, we’re going to do a science experiment! How much pressure can a watermelon take before it breaks. We have melons and an obscene amount of rubber bands. When we’re through with the experiment, I’ll make us refreshing and hydrating watermelon slushies.”

“Like hell a bunch of stupid bits of rubber can do shit. I say we get the claw hammer,” Kid’s grin turned sinister.

“No.”

A massive, oblong shaped watermelon was placed on the tarp protected countertop with a dull thud. Killer leaned his helmet close to the melon and began knocking on it to test its ripeness. He swapped the melon out three times before being satisfied with his victim.

Killer began the arduous process of expanding the rubber material and sliding it snugly down to the watermelon’s midsection. The bag he was pulling them from claimed it held 500 rubber bands.

At the 100 rubber band mark, Kid, Heat, and Wire began wrapping their necks, and Killer’s, with damp hand towels lined with ice cubes. Killer let out an audible sigh of relief as he cooled down, revitalized to keep going. The trio decided to spend their time observing while sucking on frozen fruit popsicles.

“By the time we get through all these melons, I’ll have enough for smoothies, fruit leather, slushies, juice, flavored water, and popsicles!” Killer huffed out.

“That’s 236 rubber bands, Killer,” Heat tallied the notepad he was writing in when the masked man gasped excitedly as a seam in the fruit tore, creating a tiny fissure that fizzled with tiny, red bubbles. At 269 rubber bands, the melon began to let out a soft hissing sound.

“It’s like I’m strangling it to death,” Killer said almost too enthusiastically.

“Heh cool,” Kid grinned ear to ear.

At the 398th rubber band, the fruit began to change in shape. The midsection was beginning to slim down, and the melon itself had started out with a bowling ball shape, it now looked more like a fall time gourd. The healthy green coloring it originally had was noticeably paler.

“Ok it looks like we’re getting close to the fun part. We’re going to take a moment to prep our area for the mess.”

The crew stood up, Wire and Heat put the chairs away and opted to stand back instead. Handing the TikTok star a clear-plastic tarp, the blonde placed it around’s the countertop’s base and spread it out. Then, he took off his top.

“Get out of the splash zone if you mind getting wet,” Killer directed to his crew.

“I like getting down and dirty, you know me,” Kid smirked, eagerly ripping his top off. The sun reflected off his golden nipple piercings and created a minor solar glare in the camera. Killer nudged him to move to make it stop. Kid complied while cautiously lowering his welders goggles over his face to keep his eyes free from foreign liquids.

Killer continued sliding rubber bands over the pressurized fruit. Then one snapped. Both he and Kid flinched slightly.

“No!” Killer pointed a stern finger at it. “We’re back down to 421.”

Everyone was noticeably sweatier than before. Whether that was due to the vicious sun rays beating down on their windows or anxiety from the impending explosion of sweet berry juice, viewers would never know.

“Kill, I think 433 is the limit,” Wire’s normally droopy and unbothered eyes were filled with stress, turning away slightly from the swollen fruit that was most definitely trembling. If someone were to snap a screenshot of his face, they would likely the image with text that would say something like: Moments before disaster strikes.

What happened in the next minute could only be described as mayhem.

As Killer grabbed the 434th rubber band, Wire and Heat began nervously backing up from their leaders. The sound of a rubber band snapping made them all flinch and back up slightly, however the fruit only marginally moved before it stilled once more. They all relaxed and resumed their original stances.

“Hey Killer! Hope I’m not too early for our plans tonight. I picked up—”

Killer was in the middle of spreading the replacement 433rd rubber band on the melon when a new person’s voice flowed in the kitchen. Killer turned his head to see who it was and missed the way the melon began vibrating on the spot. Heat, Wire, and Kid all took another step back but it was too late.

The watermelon exploded and ricocheted in two directions.

The top half of the fruit flew straight up in the air and out of frame of the camera only to come back into view and smash Sanji over the head as the French cook stepped into the kitchen to see what the house occupants were up to.

“—QUE DIABLE!” the short haired blonde exclaimed as he was knocked to the ground in a daze along with the grocery bags he brought.

At the same damn time, the lower half of the watermelon shot backwards into Kid’s chest. He tried to dodge the projectile but was too slow, taking the full impact on his collarbones as he was thrown backwards into Wire’s side, both of them tumbled to the ground.

Red slush spurted all over the kitchen, drowning Killer and Kid in juice, and marginally squirting Heat. Wire’s skin was spared thanks to his trusty cloak.

Heat was screaming, “HANG IN THERE LITTLE FRENCH DUDE! WE’LL PAY YOUR HOSPITAL BILL!”

The video froze and then did a quick rewind to the watermelon exploding again, in slow motion. It stopped at the frame that had both Kid and Sanji being hit by the melon halves. The image came out of focus slightly as large text floated over the frame reading the word: FATALITY.

After a four-second silence, a new scene took place. Kid, Wire, and Heat were happily sucking watermelon slushies through straws, the filter on the video had a dramatic sepia overlay as a Sarah McLachlan song played softly. More text floated down the video: In loving memory of the little French chef. Right underneath the ‘in memoriam’ were the ingredients and a small summary of the slushie recipe that disappeared after 10 seconds.

As “In the Arms of an Angel” played, Sanji could be seen kicking the shit out of Killer in the background.

“Sometimes we can still hear him,” Wire said mournfully as the redhead and bluette nodded in agreement.

“I’M STILL HERE YOU JACKASSES!” Sanji barked at them.

End of video.

BONUS: End of credit clip

The four housemates had washed the melon pulp off them and changed into clean clothes. Now joined by Sanji, aka Little French Chef, who stood next to the quartet wearing a spare set of goggles and borrowed clothes. Watching in anticipation as Killer slid rubber band #169 over a small, round pumpkin.

The gourd seemed to tremble slightly as a new voice could be heard in the background, “Hey Cook! Luffy wants to know when—”

The pumpkin snapped clean in half, sending fiber, pulp, and seeds everywhere. While the quintet managed to avoid the expulsion, the green-haired newcomer was not so prepared as he stepped into the kitchen and into the camera’s focus.

“—WHAT THE HELL!” Zoro screamed, dropping to his knees clutching his left eye.

“How the fuck do you people keep getting into my house?!?” Kid snapped in annoyance, pushing Sanji’s wheezing frame away from him as the blonde fell to the floor once more, in hysterics this time.

Zoro grunted out, “Door was unlocked and I know you bastards keep the good booze stocked up. The least you can do is send me home with a few bottles after you took out my EYE!”

The video ended with a sepia filter still-frame of Zoro mid-scream and mid-fall, the same Sarah McLachlan song played from before. Text slowly floated on to the screen to read: In loving memory of Idiot Swordsman’s left eye.

Read on Wattpad | Read on AO3

[this-is-z-art-blog]

Hello, I’d like to join Eight Ecto Nights, however I’ve never celebrated Hanukah and I suppose I wanted to ask someone who actually has. I’ll do my own reserch of course, but you seemed like a good place to start.

Is there any particular traditions or little things your family does that you might not see on a wikipedia? Is the mood usually as jolly as Christmas or is it more sedated?

beyond that, is there anything you’d particularly like to see in this event?

I hope that makes sence 😆 thank you for answering my questions

Howdy! First of all, welcome aboard eight ecto nights :D

Second, absolutely feel free to ask me questions. I love talking about this stuff, and I know doing independent research can be overwhelming when you don't know what questions you're trying to ask. If you're looking for research help, chabad.org has a lot of the traditional details and laws (here's their hanukkah page), and myjewishlearning.com has a more modern/egalitarian bend (here's their hanukkah intro)- that said, I'm totally open to asks or dms, hit me up!

Now to actually answer your questions. Disclaimer, a lot of this is just my own experience, not universal or the only 'right' way to do it.

In my family we light the menorahs from oldest to youngest. We all have a favorite menorah we tend to light year after year, but we also collect them, and often have a small party on one of the later nights where we invite friends and family to come light with us, so it's handy to have extras on hand. We use the regular boxes of hanukkah candles you can get at any grocery store for most nights, but on the very last my dad gets these beautiful taller candles with gradients of color to use.

When the kids in our family were younger, we'd often sit on the floor in front of the candles after lighting to play dreidel (a kind of spun top with Hebrew letters standing for the phrase nes gadol haya sham, 'a great miracle happened there', around the sides; which side lands facing up determines the outcome of your turn), and my mom still gives out bags of gelt (chocolate coins, typically in bright foil, that you win and lose in a game of dreidel) most nights.

Some other odds and ends we do include covering the hanukkhia-lighting table in aluminum foil (fire safety) and giving out different jobs (like setting up the candles for everyone before we start).

I wouldn't describe it as "jolly", but I'm probably not the right person to ask to compare something to Christmas. It's a fun holiday for sure, and one of my favorites; you have the lights, the festive foods, the gifts and surprises, the time together. It's not just about that though; it's about survival, and standing up to oppression and religious persecution, so there are more serious elements to telling and thinking about the story. That said, it's a pretty minor holiday.

In terms of things I'd love to see, first and foremost I just want to see what people make! The point of open-ended prompts is interpretation, after all. Whether you draw the characters singing hanukkah songs, write about them making their own menorahs, sculpt a ghost-themed dreidel, or something entirely different, I'm excited to see it!

Also, I hope people have a good grasp of what a menorah looks like. A hanukkah menorah, or hanukkiah, has nine total candle or oil holders (either is good, but candles are more common than oil lights). The eight main ones are placed from right to left, and lit from left to right (ie, newest first) by the ninth, the shamash or helper light. The shape of the menorah can get creative, as long as the eight holiday lights are in a straight, level line and the shamash is set apart (usually taller).

As a last thought, it would be nice to see an effort at IDs for image-based posts for the event; it's not hanukkah specific, but I've been seeing them more and more in the phandom, and it's lovely to see folks learning and trying to make the community increasingly accessible!

Let me know if you have more questions, on or off anon, via ask or dm, I am here to help!