#here's the answer for counting challenge: it's 38-39

[vvitchynerd]

moon deity design for my universe 3 without cape / with cape versions

there isn't much that can be said about this character: they're a genderless deity that doesn't really have concept of gender, neither do they have concept of sexuality or romance. They're the deity Moon Clan praises and they're also their ancestor, but to say that deity themselves represents Moon Clan and their behaviors towards others - would be far from truth. They represent magic, mystery and stand for clear mind(as in mental clarity and not falling prey to illusions, not knowledge tho). By their looks people also tend to associate them with femininity.

Now that you've read through little lore drop - I have a challenge for you. Count all moons, full and crescent, that I've put into this design. Not counting palette. (Feel free not to do that, I just thought that'll be fun)

[grumpygreenwitch]

The Witches and Wizards Job 20-21-22

The bad news is that I missed yesterday's update. I apologize! I have no excuse except that wrestling Tumblr's queue into compliance tries my patience unto violence.

The good news is that the story is finished! So now, instead of once a week, you'll get updates once a day until everything's posted.

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Remember: Tumblr has no algorithm. Reblogs give me life.

1-2 + 3-4 + 5-6 + 7-8 + 9-10-11 + 12-13-14 + 15-16 + 17-18-19 + 20-21-22 + 23-24-25 + 26-27-28 + 29-30 + 31-32-33 + 34-35-36 + 37-38 + 39-40-41-42

TWENTY

Hitter and wizard headed back to the loft, Mouse on a leash that Eliot doubted very much would give the young dog a pause if he decided to challenge it. He took the time to examine Harry out of the corner of his eye.

The wizard was, in many ways, an open book. His emotions burned close to the surface, in his eyes, the tight line of his mouth, the way he walked and carried himself. The hitter had never met someone who was both so aware and unaware of his surroundings; Harry was always expecting an attack, he just didn't seem to know he was doing so. His anger at the situation with the selkies still burned in his eyes, distracting him, blinding him. He couldn't compartmentalize, like Leverage did. He'd seen something unfair, and he was mad about it, and he would do his damnedest to fix it.

He was, in sum, a good person.

"Harry,"

"Hm."

"When she said they smelled you -"

"They didn't. A friend did." The wizard seemed to think on those words for a moment before he nodded tinily to himself. "And it's literal. It's the smell of my magic. It's a new smell to the area, and without the lake to ground me it's probably very obvious. I told Sophie, I figured she'd passed it on: they'll know I'm here. Everything on this side of the river can -"

Mouse growled a quiet warning and both their heads came up. At the same time, a young man pacing in front of the loft entrance looked up. He had the kind of perfect looks, flawlessly tousled hair and incredibly expensive clothing that you only see on a billboard, advertising fancy watches or men's cologne. He had sunglasses on, and for a moment Eliot thought something looked wrong with the face behind them, but he was more focused on the man making any sort of sudden move.

Harry's face was made of stone. Eliot didn't need to see anything else to recognize bad magic.

"Oh, good," the man breathed when he saw us. He had a faint French accent. "You are wizard Harry Dresden, are you not?"

"Nope." Harry kept on walking.

The man frowned, trotting and planting himself directly in the wizard's path. "But -"

"I am. The answer's no."

That instantly started to ring alarm bells in Eliot's mind. With the women, Harry had been polite, uncertain but kind. This man was getting nothing but blanked.

"Please." The man pleaded, managing to get in Harry's way once again. "Please, I need your help."

"I'm on a job already." Harry pointed at Eliot. "For him."

The man glanced at Eliot. Before the hitter could so much as say a word, or even think it, the stranger's eyes flicked away; he'd been dismissed without a thought, without a care. That was a very personal pet peeve, though for the moment Eliot was willing to count it an advantage. When you didn't think someone was a threat you never watched them very closely.

"I won't take much of your time, I will pay for it -"

"I'm on retainer," the wizard snapped, forced to stop once again. "That means I do the work he wants, nothing else, nothing more."

That brought the stranger up short. He looked, really looked, at Eliot. In return, the hitter made himself look at the man, truly look at him, even though some primeval part of his brain kept telling him not to do so. This time, he saw the blink of far too many eyes behind the sunglasses, and when the man spoke again, he saw the odd way parts of his mouth didn't move.

The stranger spoke in a tone that managed to be both embarrassed and coy. "I am not sure I am comfortable speaking freely in front of… food."

Harry beamed at him. The wizard might have no poker face to speak of, but when he did sarcasm it came out like a masterpiece. "Then you don't really need my help, do you?"

"But -"

Moused growled.

The stranger bared perfect teeth, hissed low and stepped back. Two men and one dog moved past him.

"It's my wife -"

"Then I absolutely don't want to help you."

"No, wizard, my real wife!" When that still didn't stop them, he cried out. "She might be cheating on me!"

Several people stared, slowing down minutely before they moved on. Next to Eliot, Harry stopped.

Sighed.

Dropped his head.

What power those words may hold over the wizard, Eliot didn't know. But he did know that Harry couldn't, wouldn't walk away any more, and he didn't want him to believe he had no options. A lot of what powered the wizard's actions was so… lonely. In him Eliot was seeing echoes and ghosts of the man he'd once been, before he'd fallen from all grace. He knew being alone had been a very contributing factor to that fall. And he'd be damned if it happened to anyone else on his watch. "Harry?" he asked very quietly.

The wizard flicked him a quick, surprised glance. That, Eliot knew, was another odd quality of the man; he wasn't keeping secrets or holding back information or going off on his own out of a sense of greed or mistrust; it wasn't a con for him, he wasn't running a job. He was just so used to being alone that it didn't occur to him to act otherwise.

With one word, Eliot had reminded him he wasn't alone. And with one startled look, Harry had got the message. The hitter saw muscles work restlessly along the wizard's jaw before he turned to face the stranger. "And if she is?"

The stranger shrugged. "I want to live, wizard."

Harry's mouth went to a thin line. That, apparently, was the right answer. Unfortunately, it was as obvious to the hitter as it was to the stranger, who took a half step forward. "I will leave," he hurried to add. "I will go as far away as you wish me to go if you bring me proof."

The wizard's breath puffed out of him in a tiny, angry sound, and he pointed sharply. "Go sit in the pub, I'll deal with you when I can." He whipped around to walk into the building, whirled once more, hurried down the steps and added, very tightly, "And don't eat anyone!"

That was the opposite of reassuring, wasn't it? And still Eliot couldn't help but be amused. He kept his questions to himself until they were going up the stairs. "So what was that all about? I take it the crack about food was for me?"

"Yeah."

"What is he?"

"Uh, spider, sort of."

"He's… what, he's a spider, he's made of spiders, he's got spider magic, what? Information, Harry. And while you're at it, why don't you want to help him? You were much nicer to the selkie ladies."

"They get a raw enough deal," the wizard muttered.

Harry opened the door to the loft. "Hardison, wizard in the house!"

"Couch's free!" the hacker called out from before the bank of screens.

"I've got a job for you too."

"Uh, excuse me?" Hardison turned to stare after the hitter in insulted disbelief as the wizard and his dog dutifully took their spots as far away from the computers as possible. "I've spent all morning trying to create a profile out of fairy tales. Fairy tales, Eliot! I've been translating so much Russian I think I've learned the language by, by infection. I -"

"Is this a new fridge?" Eliot asked, in the process of grabbing a beer.

Hardison gave him the most pointed of looks. "No, it is not."

Eliot said nothing, he merely nodded minutely. "Harry, you want anything?" The coffeemaker chirped something that didn't sound nice and the hitter gave it a wary squint. "That isn't coffee?"

"Beer's nice."

Eliot provided, and then moved over to Hardison's work area. "This shouldn't take you long. Just need a look into this guy's affairs."

"Eliot! Does it look like I have time -!" Hardison was already taking the printed piece of paper. "Who even is this dude?"

"Scumbag."

"Yes, thank you, that answers absolutely nothing."

"Fourteen years ago he stole a selkie's skin. A seal-woman, a shapeshifter." Harry pitched his voice to carry; he'd had plenty of practice with Eliot earlier. "The magic in the skin bound her to him," he pointed the bottle at the piece of paper.

"Bound her, bound her how, because I'm not liking what you're telling me, Harry."

"Married. Has a kid. Guess whose skin's gone missing now." Eliot grinned, thin and feral. "Like I said, scumbag."

Hardison sighed in resigned exasperation and moved over to his keyboard. "Is this going to fry my systems, Dresden?"

"It shouldn't."

"So what sort of criminal is he, then?"

"Uh… none?" the wizard ventured.

Hardison stopped typing and turned. "Harry, what's wrong with the man, is what I'm asking."

"Literally, nothing." It was Eliot who replied. "This isn't one of our cases, Hardison, it's his."

The hacker visibly stuttered to a halt. He looked at the printed page, at the wizard with his horse-sized dog half-asleep on his lap. He looked at Eliot and at the screens. "Alright." He went back to typing. "Meet William Wellington Wattsford, what a name. Lawyer."

"Figures," Harry muttered.

"Harry, how far can he stash the skins, is there a range on the magic?" Eliot stared at the man on the screen, as perfectly nondescript a creature as one could be found, slightly balding, a little on the lanky side, fit by virtue of his gym membership.

"Yes, actually. They should be within the city limits. The further away, the more likely the link between selkie and skin will snap."

"What happens then?" Hardison asked warily.

"She goes insane and kills him. And dies. Or she just dies, and the curse on the skin ricochets and kills him horribly. I mean, it'd be a great solution," the wizard agreed thoughtfully, "except for her dying."

"Jesus, Harry, is there anything about magic that doesn't kill, explode, set things on fire or create general mayhem?" Eliot demanded.

Harry shrugged and pointed at himself. "Ta-da?" Mouse's tail wagged once, as if he'd said something funny.

"Well, there's his house." The hacker pulled up a map, typed again and little flags appeared all over it. "And there's anywhere else his name pops up. Man, it feels weird looking up someone so… normal. Job, kid's school, gym, therapy - yeah, that surely helped not make you into a skin-kidnapping psycho, didn't it," he muttered. "Log cabin."

"Bank." Harry pointed out.

Hitter and hacker looked at him, then the screens. "It can't be that easy," Hardison protested.

"Why not?" the wizard countered. "Who's gonna believe a tale about a selkie-wife?"

Hardison had to accept the rationale of that after a moment. "Is this really what your work is like?"

"Yeah. Only I can't do that," the wizard waved at the computers, "so there's a lot of legwork involved, a lot of people-watching. She's a stay-at-home mom, so it can't be in any of the places where they spend time as a family. It can't be near the kid, she's on mom's side. He'd get weird looks at work trying to stash a full-sized seal pelt, let alone two. It's at a bank. Safe deposit box."

"Harry, I feel like I ought to ask, what happens if she gets her skin back?" Eliot's tone said he had hopes and dreams about the answer.

"She'll leave him."

"Th- that's it?" So much for the hitter's hopes and dreams.

"That's all she wants. She wants to go home, to her family, to her people. She -" Harry tried to explain. "You're thinking of her in human terms. She's not human. She just looks like it because it's good camouflage. Even if you're starving and seal's all there is to eat, you're not gonna shoot a person if you can help it, are you?" He shrugged. "The lawyer, he's not even an afterthought."

"Somehow, I think that would hurt his ego even more." Hardison looked deeply pleased. "Is there a reason we, us, can't give her the skins back?"

"No." Harry looked deeply amused, and suddenly very interested. "If it was me, once I figured out where they were stashed I'd just tell her. The friend who sniffed me out? If he's what I think he is, he'd get them back for her in no time flat. Me, I'm just not the sort that goes around breaking into banks, like you people."

"No, no, excuse me, I do not break into banks." Hardison picked up his phone. "I have a Parker for that."

"What about the dude down in the pub?" Eliot asked.

"What dude down in the pub?"

"Oh, you know. The one Harry specifically warned not to eat anyone."

"Excus- I'm s- What did you - There is a man down in the pub and you specifically had to warn him not to eat anyone?" Hardison had forgotten to dial.

"Spider." Harry mumbled.

"What?"

"Oh, yeah, he's not a man, he's a spider." Eliot beamed.

"WHAT?!"

"Kin. He's spider-kin."

"That's freaky. You do realize that, right? That is freaky."

"Just - just put the pub cameras up, Hardison," Eliot huffed. "You still haven't told me why you didn't want to help him." He directed that at the wizard.

"I try not to help bad guys," Harry admitted tightly. "Spiders are predatory. And assholes."

"He changed your mind, though. When he told you about his wife, his real wife."

Harry rubbed at his face wearily. "She'd eat him."

Eliot drew in a deep breath. "I'm guessing you mean literally."

"Yeah. Spiders keep groupies, tons of them, so they can pick and choose their food -"

"Please do not speak of people as 'food'. I am people," Hardison requested indignantly.

"Not to him. To him you're a burger. Many keep wives or husbands, they make for good cover."

"But that's not cheating, because you can't cheat on a burger," Eliot followed the train of information and ran ahead of it.

"Exactly. The only actual cheating is between their own kind. And he has to do everything he can to keep his wife happy. If he doesn't, like with some spiders -"

"He goes on the menu," Hardison finished. "That's why he's so desperate that he came looking for you - is this what you do back home?"

"No, not for him. Back home he'd know better than to show his face at my doorstep. But yes, otherwise. Cheating spouses is a big part of what I do. I'm actually cheaper than a PI. Faster, too."

"How?" Eliot asked, and both hacker and hitter turned to look at the wizard, openly curious.

"Uh, spell to see if they're actually cheating. Nine out of ten times they are. Tracking spell to follow them until I can get pictures."

"You can use a camera?"

"An old one, but yeah. And those cheap disposables, if I'm quick getting them developed."

Eliot and Hardison looked at one another, and Hardison grinned. "Alright. And having seen me work," he pointed a thumb at the screens behind him, "how would you go about it?"

Harry frowned, his focus suddenly and completely on the screens. "I'd get a picture of his wife."

"Reasonable," Hardison crossed his arms and waited. "Why?"

"Because if she's cheating, it'll be with someone who looks like part of her circle of groupies. And he will have his own circle as well." Harry lifted a hand and gestured. "Circle to circle to circle, I'd follow the faces, the ones that repeat." He grinned ruefully. "I just can't do picture searches on a computer.'

"I get the feeling the only thing holding you and your magic back is, um. Your magic, man," Eliot said, then pointed. "There, upper corner, that's him."

Hardison brought the camera in closer. And stared. "Him?"

"Yup."

"That's your man?"

"Yes."

"Uh, spider?"

"Yes, Hardison, that's him." Eliot's voice was turning into a growl.

"The one playing with a smartphone?"

All three men crossed a startled look. On the screen, the stranger looked up when a drink was brought to him, then returned his attention to his phone, tapping rapidly.

All three of them launched themselves down the stairs, leaving Mouse to hold the fort. As they hurried to the pub, Eliot asked one last question. "You'd let the guy get eaten, wouldn't you?"

Harry grimaced. "I wouldn't throw him a rope if he were drowning, but -"

"But he asked for help."

"No, he agreed to leave. That's one less heavy-duty predator in Boston, among people who can't see him coming. I'll take that win all the way to the bank."

Eliot grinned, then fell back as both Harry and Hardison moved forward. Something crackled in one of the hacker's pockets and, grimacing, he handed his phone over to Eliot, whispering something to the hitter before he hurried to catch up to the wizard. Eliot made a call as the other two walked away.

Harry slid into of the booth's benches, opposite the spider, who looked up in surprise before relief flooded his expression. "Good afternoon. Harry Dresden, wizard. This is my employer, Mister Hardison. Nothing happens if he doesn't allow it."

Hardison had too good a poker face to betray the surprise he felt in hearing the hard, stony tone Harry was suddenly using. He was also, like the rest of the team, quite good at picking up cues on the fly, particularly when they were so blatant. "Mister Dresden is doing some very important, time-sensitive work," he told the predator across the table, putting just enough Sophie in his voice to make the spider sit up and take notice of the, ah, talking burger. "He has pleaded with us to hear your case. Please, convince us." It was both invitation and challenge.

The spider fumbled his phone to one side. "Ah, yes, you see -"

"I understood magic made the use of modern technology impossible," Hardison pointed out casually.

"What? … Oh, the phone. No, no, it's not technology, it is magic." When Hardison gave him a mildly disbelieving look, the spider surrendered the phone readily. "No, you see, we don't use the human connection. We use ours. We use our magic to weave our devices directly into the electronic web the humans have wrapped around the world."

Hardison was flicking through screens, listening with half an ear until the meaning of the words actually sank in. "You w… You wove your way into the systems. Because it's a web. They're all webs."

The man spread his hands. "It's a family talent. It makes for a very profitable business."

"That's how you found him, isn't it," Hardison nodded in Harry's direction.

"Yes. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you, wizard Dresden, you warp the very lines of Boston's web. For us, you are far too obvious when, ah. Well, when existing nearby."

Harry shrugged awkwardly.

"How profitable?" the hacker asked. "If I wanted you to wire my phone the same way, how much would it be?"

The spider smiled, very much a business smile, hollow and professional. He gestured for his phone, and when it was handed back to him he dug out a stylus from one side and wrote something before passing it over to Hardison.

Who nearly choked on the six-digit figure. "For one phone?"

"As I said, very profitable. Of course, if you were willing to loan me the services of the wizard for just this one small bit of business -"

"I'll do it," Harry said before Hardison could protest. "But I'll need a picture of your wife."

"Yes, of course!"

"And access to her social media," Hardison added.

"I, uh, I only have some of her passwords."

"Whatever you have." Hardison found a business card and handed it over. "Send all the information here. We'll use your contact information to communicate any findings."

"With the understanding," Harry stepped in, his voice dead cold, "that I expect you to do exactly as you said you would if you get your proof."

The spider spread his hands. "Mas oui! My word, wizard. I will leave. I like being alive. You need only name the destination."

Harry chewed on his lip. "What's the biggest Red Court site you know of across the pond?"

"Uh, Brussels?"

"There, then." A flinty little smile on the wizard's face suddenly put Hardison in mind of Nate at his most lethal. "And once there I suggest you rarefy your palate."

The spider nodded, threw two twenties on the table, and slipped away hurriedly. Wizard and hacker watched him go. "You know it's gonna take like, ten minutes for me to find out if she's cheating, right?"

"Yup."

"You know Eliot's right, right?"

Harry started laughing.

"I mean it, man." Hardison gave him a very level look, then remembered he wasn't supposed to, and looked away. "You're sharp, Dresden. You're good at what you do. It's a weird, hinky, explode-y kind of skill, but you're just as good at it as we're at ours. The only problem is that it is explode-y." He stared at the spider's business card. "Why couldn't we do this here in Boston? Why couldn't we help you do it, back in Chicago?"

"Because they won't come to us." Eliot slipped into the booth with them, pushing aside the glass and the twenties so they'd be easier for the waitress to pick up. "Because we're humans. Tactical nuke."

Harry nodded wryly. "I'm a wizard." He gestured lightly. "I'm half in, half out. But humans? Humans don't like things to get weird. Humans get twitchy when things get weird."

Hardison understood just as swiftly as Eliot had. "They don't trust we won't call the cops. Or worse."

"I called Parker. She's on it." He gave them both a quick look. "She's not having a good day."

Hardison immediately roused, frowning in concern.

TWENTY ONE

Parker was not having a good day.

Jessamine Lochlin, apparently, had not known about a secret art auction that might or not include the priceless Sokolov portrait. She had not appreciated Parker knowing about it and refusing to provide her, or the authorities, with the information needed to find said auction and recover the portrait. Things had been said. Tempers had flared.

Why was friendship so complicated? It wasn't like that with Hardison, or Eliot, or even Sophie. It was a little strange with Nate, but he did try. Was it just because Jess was not a criminal?

She got herself a coffee and stalked angrily down to the T. She liked the T. She liked trains. There were so many people, so many stories. She could take a dozen phones, a double handful of wallets, and put them back with no one the wiser, skimming over the lives and the stories of the people who carried them, finding out their little sins and their hidden graces. Like the sour old man who didn't like people but kept pictures of all the foster dogs he'd adopted out. Or the scowling, scary lady that kept a laminated little card in her wallet to remind her not to be afraid of the outside world. Or the nice man with all those fake gold chains and tattoos who kept a journal full of baking recipes in one pocket and two butterfly knives in the others.

People weren't always what they seemed, but when Parker turned out not to be what she seemed, then they got angry and shouty and and and -

Her phone rang with Hardison's number. "What."

"Hey." Eliot's greeting got immediately derailed by concern. "You OK?"

"Jess is mad at me," she admitted at once to one of the few people she trusted implicitly. "Why do you have Hardison's phone?"

"He's with Harry. What happened?" The sounds of the pub dulled, replaced by the faint echoing quality that said Eliot had stepped out and was going up the stairs.

"She didn't know about the auction. And she's mad I won't tell her about it."

"Ah." A pause. "You want something fun to do?"

"There's nothing fun to do," she grumbled at him.

"How about getting into a safe deposit box and walking out with the contents?"

Oh. Ok, that was fun. She stopped walking. "Where?"

"Two banks. Two boxes. I'm texting you the info. Hardison said you have an alias in one, and you can probably wing Sophie's alias for the other."

She took the phone away from her ear and looked at the information coming up on the screen. She was less than a block from one of the banks. She began to walk again. "What am I looking for?"

"Um."

She frowned minutely. Eliot only got um-y with info when it was weird info, but his definition of weird was… Well, weird. "What?"

"Fur coats."

Parker's mind began to fly through some swift calculations. "Full size? Half size? Scarf size?"

"F… Full size. Maybe a little bigger. And there'll be two of them."

"So just the coats? We don't want money or documents or anything?"

"You know, I'm not sure. This is Dresden's case, not ours. So use your judgment. The guy's human, but he's a scumbag."

Oh, there was magic involved. Suddenly Parker's day was looking infinitely better, even if the sour tang of her parting with Jess still hurt. "Alright. I'll need you to come get me at the Shawmut Bank location in two hours."

"Alright."

Parker pocketed the phone and stopped, looking up the street at the Fleet Bank dead center of the block. It was a sham, she knew. There were a dozen names for what was, essentially, one bank in Boston metro, in most of New England. But Bank of America kept some of the names to preserve an illusion of choice. Fleet was the one with her alias, and she couldn't remember what she'd stuffed in the safety deposit box. It was either a spare costume and a lockpick kit, or a lockpick kit and a rig. Or maybe a rig and a copy of Eliot's chili recipe. Or a lockpick kit and a change of clothes?

She was pretty sure about the lockpick kit.

She tousled her hair, took off her jacket. She got a pair of sunglasses from a woman arguing about the price of newspapers with the newspaper seller. She bumped into a man with a grin, a blush and an apology, and took his keys and his belt, moving his wallet from one pocket to another as a decoy. She plucked a phone from another man's pocket and a silk scarf from a woman's purse. She 'found' the phone of a man that was loading shopping into his trunk and handed it over, to many thanks, while she acquired one of the empty reusable shopping bags off to one side of the trunk. She untucked her shirt and settled the belt loosely around her waist, changing the character of the clothing with nothing but a hat, a belt and her posture. The scarf went around her neck while she typed into the phone.

She walked into Fleet with a smile to the guard and a quiet little, "Hi, Frank" in Boston's unmistakable purr, a privileged daughter of that august, eclectic city. He flushed minutely and returned the greeting with uncertain courtesy, trying not to show that he didn't know who she was.

The manager was equally disarmed, all the more when he was shown the confirmation text for an appointment to check the young lady's safe deposit box. He was nothing if not apologetic after checking her information against their accounts, though he kept his eyes from bugging out at the amount of money involved, if only just. He got even more flustered when his own phone began to buzz insistently, hanging up just as he got to it. Twice. Then three times.

A few minutes later, a supervisor was escorting Parker to the side vault where the safe deposit boxes were kept. The manager, upstairs, was not getting anywhere trying to return those pesky calls. The stolen phone was in one pocket of the supervisor's smart blue business suit. The battery was in the other.

Parker picked the lock to her own box. Damned if she knew where the key to it might be, or if she even had one. But it was a dinky little lock, and she had no trouble using the few seconds between the supervisor finding and using her own key for it to do the deed, the stolen keys hanging from her hand and jangling reassuringly, like a good little decoy, the lockpicks tucked between her fingers, invisible. The supervisor left. Parker looked around and nodded to herself. It had been quick, dirty, there were a dozen holes in it, but it had got her what she wanted. Out of curiousity she peeked into the box and frowned minutely, pulling out a box of Girl Scout cookies and a rig. She'd been so sure of the lockpicking kit!

… She opened the box of cookies. Inside it there was a single sleeve of cookies, and a spare lockpicking kit.

"Ah-ha!"

She got the other safe deposit box out and frowned. The entire box, the largest the bank could offer, was full of a white, gravelly substance. There was a little black book on top. She picked up one pebble and rolled it between her fingers. Sniffed it. The smell was startlingly familiar, and she licked it.

Salt.

She pocketed the book. Little black books were usually very, very valuable in one fashion or another. Then she stared at a box full of salt, which did nothing but sit there quietly.

No one kept a box of just salt in the bank.

Parker rolled up her sleeve and began to worm her hand into the salt. She had to be careful; salt spilling everywhere wasn't going to be easy to explain, and she didn't want to burn the alias unless she had to. Her fingers brushed something lavishly soft a few inches under the surface, and she huffed. This wasn't going to be easy.

Seven minutes later she was out and on her phone. "Eliot."

"No, it's me," Hardison replied. "You alright?"

"Yes, just annoyed. Two banks, two fur coats."

"Well, that's smarter than I expected of the man, honestly. But are you alright?"

She blew out a long, exasperated breath. "Friends are hard," she muttered.

"They are," Hardison had to admit. "It's one fight, Parker. People argue. People disagree. Doesn't mean she doesn't wanna be your friend, just that she's mad at you right now. That might change tomorrow."

"What if it doesn't?"

"Well… Sometimes friendships are like that. They just don't work. You move on, you find another friend."

"I don't want another friend," she growled. "I gotta go, I found my car."

The car key in the stolen keyring belonged to a very plain, dark brown sedan. She drove to the Shawmut Bank; here, at least, she could streamline the process: she actually did have an appointment to open Sophie's safe deposit box, and Hardison had apparently had the time to create an electronic ID for her. She was escorted in with little fuss, though the lock to the box was a little trickier to pick. She was left alone once again.

She found another box full of salt, a few folders on top of it, and sighed in exasperation. "Magic's beginning to look like just a lot of trouble," she muttered, once again working as carefully as she could to get the fur coat out. On a whim, she replaced the box in its nook and laid the coats out side by side on the empty table.

They were beautiful. Parker's understanding of what was appealing was limited to what she liked, but it would have been impossible not to see the glory of the furs before her. One, the larger, was a dark dappled silver, nearly black on one half, the dappling fading until it was the palest gray on the other side. The smaller one was true silver, its pile much thicker, with black spattered at random here and there. There were no clasps, no buttons, no hems, no seams of any kind. Just two flawless pieces of fur softer than anything Parker had ever touched. They looked more vivid, more alive than any piece of fur or leather clothing she'd ever seen or worn or touched or stolen in her lifetime.

She couldn't get over a deep sense of wrongness to see them there, on that table, surrounded by the cold, hard lines of the safe deposit boxes, pinned under the harsh halogen lights.

Parker pocketed the folders, rolled up the furs and shoved them back into the shopping bag. Eliot was waiting for her just outside, and she threw the keys of her stolen car into said stolen car through an open window, hopping into the hitter's truck. "Go," she instructed, waiting until they were on Storrow Drive to ask, "What did I just steal?"

"Pair of selkie coats."

"Cool. What's a selkie coat?"

Eliot grinned and began to explain.

By the time they got back to the loft, the thief was seething. "HARRY!" she shouted as she charged in. Nate and Sophie, who'd just walked in, winced.

"Parker, what's wrong?" Sophie asked placatingly.

"Nothing," the thief declared tartly as she put her shopping bag down. "As long as Harry can put a curse on someone. A really bad one. Like, full of warts and, and clowns and -"

"Oh-kay." Nate put aside their dry-cleaning and moved over. "From the beginning, please?"

"He's not here, he's back at the safehouse," Hardison came out of the back with a shallow box fresh from the 3D-printer.

"Fine," Parker whirled around and stalked off.

Nate looked at the rest of his team. They gave him back the most guileless looks. He believed none of them, and that included Sophie's, who'd been with him all afternoon. But those same innocent looks also told him this was a fight that he was not likely to win. "Part of the case?"

Eliot shrugged. Hardison looked mildly confused.

"Right. I'm gonna go get a shower, get ready for dinner."

They all watched him pick up one of the dry-cleaner bags and disappear up the stairwell. Sophie turned and cocked a single brow at both men.

"Some people found Harry," Eliot admitted quietly.

"Found him, found him how?" She was immediately alarmed.

"One said she smelled him," the hitter explained.

"And the other found him through the web," the hacker added.

"Through the internet?" The grifter was puzzled.

"No, the web. It's -" Hardison suddenly realized why the wizard always looked so pained when he had to explain something. "Look, it's complicated, but it checks out. We dealt with them."

"Dealt with them?"

"They weren't looking to make trouble," Eliot said mildly. "They needed his help."

"So you freelanced with the wizard." She gave them both a very stern look.

Hardison shrugged. "One was a cheating wife. That took like fifteen minutes once Dresden told us what to look for."

"The other was this one." Eliot picked up the shopping back and showed the contents to Sophie.

She gasped just to see the beauty of the rolled-up fur on top, reaching out to run admiring fingertips over the dappled pattern, the unmistakably fine fur. They watched her go from admiration, to confusion, to understanding and horror and cold, cold fury in just a couple of seconds. "Eliot, tell me this isn't what I think it is," she breathed.

"It is." Calmly, he added, "And her daughter's."

Sophie stiffened. "A daughter," she murmured. "Is he even the sort that's going to be sorry when they vanish?" she demanded tightly.

"Sorry, probably not," Hardison admitted. "Embarrassed and socially destroyed? Oh, yeah."

"Parker also snagged these." Eliot offered the hacker the folders, and the grifter the little black book. "We kinda strong-armed Harry into taking the job, seems only right to follow through to the end."

"Good," was all Sophie said after leafing through the book and handing it back, picking up her own bag of dry-cleaning and stalking rigidly off. "Shatter him."

TWENTY TWO

While everyone else in the team gleefully engaged in further levels of what Hardison called 'hardware mode' and Nate called 'wanton destruction of property', the mastermind took Sophie to meet Vanya Fedorov.

"You rarely doubt your assessment of a client," Sophie said as he helped her off the car Fedorov had sent for them.

His face went through a dozen different emotions. To be fair, a good part of it was that the grifter had been taking his breath away and shutting down his brain since she'd come out dressed in an absolutely gorgeous violet silk dress that draped in waves over her like blessings from on high. Nate hadn't been able to string more than two automatic thoughts together every time he looked at her. She was wearing cascade earrings and a matching necklace, and her hair was up in an artfully disarrayed bun. The graceful line of her neck would have toppled empires.

Then she laced her hand through his arm, and Nate remembered he was the lucky one.

He settled on honesty as they walked up to the frosted glass doors of a gracious Greek restaurant. What he'd told Dresden back in Chicago still stood. "I'm biased," he admitted to her. "I saw it, I felt it. I'm still biased. I keep catching myself looking for explanations. Looking for, for…" His free hand groped for words. "Comfortable lies."

"It's kind of a critical change in thinking, Nate. I thought I believed, until I had to."

"Yes, but I don't have time to indulge myself. If we're right, and things are coming to a head at this private auction, we need to deal with what we have. With what is. And I don't know if my bias judged Fedorov fairly."

"You want to know if he was lying to you."

"Among other things." When she cocked her head at him he flailed a little. "Just, you know. Just try to get a good read on the man." She was grinning at him and he scoffed at himself.

"Alright, alright, I'll do my best," she reassured him, brushing lightly at the lapels of his black jacket, where a 'I<3Boston' pin was mostly hidden out of sigh, a gift from Dresden, who was 'getting sick and tired of having everyone's heads scrambled'; her own pin was a cute little Duck Tours boat, pinned under one of the folds of her gown. "But I trust your judgment, even if you don't."

The restaurant was half-empty, it being the middle of the week. A flowering wisteria, a magnificent work of stained glass, sprawled over the ceiling, lights burning in the blossoms as accents. Music, a fine strumming guitar, filled the air with warmth. Somewhere, a woman was laughing in the throaty undertone usually reserved for lovers. Closer at hand three older men were arguing over a bottle of ouzo and the remains of their dinner, their body language one of deep camaraderie for all their angry gesturing. Farther to the back, Sophie could hear what sounded like a family, their voices full of contented enthusiasm.

All this information came to her as it always did, to be soaked up and filed away for future use, the human element that did most of her work. It meant the one jarring element caught her attention instantly, even as she surrendered her delicate white jacket to Nate.

Vanya Fedorov was already there, waiting for them. He'd taken a table that put his back to a wall and gave him a line of sight to most of the restaurant, the entrance, the bar and the kitchen door. He had a glass and a shot in front of him, both half-full. He was wearing a dress shirt in deep burgundy under a dress jacket as black as his hair. Sophie's impression was the same as she'd had back at the museum: of a wolf, tongue lolling, content to lounge while waiting for a chance to rip someone's throat out.

Ah, she did so love Russians.

She frowned minutely: Fedorov was not alone. More, his mood was definitely suffering for it.

She examined the second man. He was standing next to the table, speaking quietly. He was older, built just as powerfully as the Russian enforcer, dressed neatly. Unlike Fedorov, he made no effort to hide the presence of his gun, though his gray suit was so exquisitely tailored that it was barely noticeable. The tattoos over his knuckles had been rendered all but illegible by old scars. His gray hair was cut and sternly combed back, and he had brown eyes as hard as the lines of his face.

"Ready?" Nate asked.

"Wait," she murmured, and felt him go perfectly still behind her.

The older man was trying to hold onto his rising temper, and failing. Vanya was being far more successful, though he was no less irritated. He was also adding a lot less to the conversation; it made it easy to identify the clipped 'Nyet' that was all he offered to the older man's latest tirade.

"Do you actually want dinner?" Nate asked mildly.

Sophie knew he was right; the mood at the Russian's table was growing dangerous quickly. "Alright." She let Nate take point, using him as cover to keep watching. The older man offered an envelope to Fedorov; Vanya took it and promptly threw it carelessly across his table. "I'm still not interested," she heard him say in Russian.

"Vanya, you need these people!" The older man's voice was a snap.

"I'm sorry, are we interrupting?" Nate asked pleasantly. Both Russians turned their temper on him.

Both of them drew themselves up sharply straight as Sophie took a half-step forward and laced her arm with Nate's. Fedorov automatically rose from his seat. "You are not," he assured them both, his tone forcibly pleasant. "My uncle was just leaving."

"Ah, Mikhail Sagorov." Sophie offered her hand. "No finer mind for business and secure transport along the East Coast," she added in Russian, her voice a purr.

The older man flushed, instantly thrown off-guard. He took Sophie's hand and barely squeezed, though she could feel the strength dormant in that grip. "One does not expect beautiful women to find such things interesting," he admitted.

"There is much no one ever expects I will find interesting." She let her hand linger.

Mikhail Sagorov gave her a measuring look. Gave his nephew a puzzled look. Glared impotently at Nate. No one offered answers to the wealth of questions Sophie had thrown at him with a few measured words and an enormity of the unspoken. "I will leave you to your dinner," he said in English. "We will speak later, Vanya."

Vanya started laughing almost before his uncle was out of the door. "You are terrifying," he told Sophie.

"Me? Never," she beamed at the compliment as Nate helped her into her seat.

"My associate, Sophie Deveraux, mister Fedorov."

"Ah." His handshake was firm and friendly, his expression full of amusement. "So not an art curator?"

"I can be, if you need one," she flirted shamelessly before her expression grew serious. "Is everything alright, have there been more… situations?"

"No, no, it's not that. It's been quiet since the museum, thankfully." He looked relieved. "No one died then. As far as I'm concerned, that's a win."

The waiter came to tender their menus. Fedorov ordered them vodka. Nate, with a profoundly resigned sigh, spoke in the silence that followed. "You were right."

"I will never be believed if I tell anyone you offered me those words," Vanya replied mildly after a brief pause. "But you are going to have to be more specific, Ford."

Sophie could see Nate struggling to accept that he had to say the words out loud, that he had to send them out into the world. "About your grandmother," she said very gently.

Fedorov, about to reach for his glass of water, froze. He picked up instead the shot of vodka and downed it smoothly. When he put it down the blue of his eyes was hard and uncompromising. "I see."

"She's not the problem," Nate added.

"She is - Grandmother is not the problem?" Vanya stared at him in disbelief.

"No. She's one of the targets."

Before, the Russian had simply been shocked into stillness. But his sudden motionless at those words filled the space around the table with deadly menace. "Who?" he asked, and the one word was a dark, lethal promise.

"I guess that depends on how deeply you believe," Nate replied casually, picking up the abandoned envelope, examining it idly. "What's this for?" He handed it over to Sophie.

She found a different sigil embossed in the heavy vellum under her fingers, but she didn't take her eyes off Fedorov, even though she couldn't readily identify it.

"Who?" the Russian repeated.

"Well- "

"Who, Ford?" That black menace was looking for a target, and if it couldn't find the right one it was liable to settle for the nearest one.

"Khan Koshan," Sophie said very quietly.

They both saw understanding come to the Russian enforcer almost immediately. His mouth opened, but he snapped it shut with the same motion. "It would be him," he muttered tightly after a long moment. When the waiter returned he was instructed to leave the bottle, and Vanya poured himself another shot that he merely played distractedly with before he leaned back with a nod. "I will wire your payment."

"We're not off the job," Sophie told him.

"This is not for you. I'm not even sure who -"

"Fedorov, you don't understand," Nate worked on organizing his thoughts. He picked up his shot of vodka and took a moment to organize his words as well. "He already knows we're involved. We can't be off the case." He downed the vodka with a grimace.

"Ah." Vanya stared thoughtfully at his drink. "It was not my intention to put you in the line of fire, you and your people."

"I know." Nate shrugged minutely. "I took the job to prove you wrong."

The Russian snorted laughter at that. "Well."

"What can you tell us about him?" Sophie asked delicately.

"About the Raven?" Vanya sighed. "The old stories are full of him. He's a meddler, a manipulator. He will come to you when you need help, and make promises. He will offer what you want, disguising it as what you need. He does not betray, understand that. He merely uses your own desires against you. Tricks of words and gifts."

"He's a grifter." Sophie smiled wryly.

"Not a very good one, but yes."

"What about his heart?" Nate asked.

"The stories or the jewel?" Fedorov asked, confused.

"See, he knows about the jewel."

Nate rubbed his forehead. "You know what, let's get the easy one out of the way. The jewel."

Fedorov shot Sophie an amused looked. "The Emerald Heart of Koschei the Deathless. It's supposed to be an African emerald the size of a man's fist, set in platinum and diamonds. A myth, a fairy tale, if it weren't because the story doesn't fade, because the descriptions always match. Everyone knows about the Heart, but no one has ever seen it."

"I told you," she declared smugly.

Nate chose to move onto a fight he had a moderate hope of winning. "And the other half?"

"We've been told," Sophie offered, "that he took out his heart to give to a woman, as proof of his love. That her rejection poisoned it, and him." She sipped at her water. "Our source thinks that last bit is bull."

"Your source is well-informed," the Russian grinned, "and smart. You have the bare measure of a truth. He did cut out his heart. He did mean to give it to a woman - to his mentor, the one who taught him everything. As proof of her love for him, he wanted her to take on the burden of keeping it safe."

"Ah," Nate breathed.

"Well, of course she would refuse," Sophie declared, toying with the envelope.

"She did not refuse," Fedorov corrected her. "But there was a trap in the heart, a means for him to steal her power, if she had agreed. So she simply did not take it. That limbo is what cursed the heart. She wouldn't take it with the trap, he wouldn't surrender it without her agreement. It bound them together."

"He's just greedy, isn't he?" Sophie declared.

"My milk-mother used to say he is lost to what he sees but cannot hold. A hungry man at a banquet that does not realize he cannot possibly eat all the food there, wants to hoard it all for himself because hunger tells him so. So it is with him and magic."

"Your what?" Nate blinked at the archaism.

"I think the closest English word is nursemaid. The one who took over when my mother died." He grinned thinly. "The one I did not grow up with, of course."

"Mm. In those vast, wild Vladivostok forests," Nate added mildly.

"Just so."

Sophie held up the envelope. Fedorov scowled and took it. "My uncle wants me to go to some sort of art auction. A private affair. He wants me to meet the people there, people who will help with our business, he says."

"You should go," Nate said mildly.

Vanya blew out an irritated breath. "Ford -"

"You should take Ekaterina with you."

The Russian ran out of words mid-sentence.

"It is an art auction," Ekaterina's pleasant Russian burr pointed out. "It is sensible to bring a curator if you mean to bid, no?"

He stared at her in shock, unable to see Sophie past Ekaterina. "How -?!" He threw his hands up, rejecting that line of questioning, laced them before him on the table, and stared levelly at both of them. "Why?"

"Bunch of reasons, really," Nate admitted readily. "I suspect it might be the site of the next 'incident'. I think your Raven's going to be there."

"Will Grandmother be there?"

"I'm not sure yet, but odds say yes."

"And you're sure she's the target?"

"As sure as I can be of anything at this point," the mastermind admitted wryly.

Fedorov seemed to think deeply on all of this. Nate refilled his vodka shot. Sophie picked up her water.

It nearly ended up all over her lap when someone bumped her chair. "Excuse me!" she exclaimed, turning around. It was their waiter. He was walking by, sedately, slowly. His shoulders were twitching minutely. The air smelled of the sea. A flute was trilling quietly.

Sophie frowned.

Where was the guitar?

Where were the three arguing men?

Why did the sea smell wrong?

"Nate," she said. Just the one word. Her tone was all the warning he needed to immediately abandon whatever conversation he'd been having with Fedorov and look around.

"Where is everyone." It wasn't even a question from Vanya; his hand was already under his coat.

"They left." Nate reached out a hand and put it on the enforcer's arms. "Maybe we should do the same."

Sophie was already on her feet. Automatically, responding to all she'd seen on the last few days, she grabbed the salt shaker from the table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the mastermind put a hand over the lapel of his coat and twitch, fighting the urge to jerk it away, but just barely.

The waiter met the manager before the front door. They each opened one half of it, moving with the jerky, uncertain motions of puppets at a show. A delicate breeze swept in.

"Thank you, thank you, so kind, so sweet," the trill of the flute sang in Russian, a woman's voice of such utter beauty that it hardly seemed real. "Such kind children, such sweet children, you should sleep, yes. Sleep, sleep, sleep." The heads of both men lolled down, boneless, and they fell obediently asleep on their feet

Sophie smelled burning silk. Without looking, she knew the cheap tin pin had just burned a hole in her dress.

Something as large as a horse slipped carefully past the open door. The wisteria blossoms began to sizzle and burn out.

Sophie backed away a step.

"Kitchen," Nate whispered.

The thing at the door immediately whipped around, long neck twisting like a snake. A woman's face, flat and unearthly, cocked at them.

Fedorov caught Nate's shoulder. The gesture was so quick that it drew the attention of both mastermind and grifter. The Russian put two fingers to his mouth.

The thing at the door trilled, the flute's song rising in an inquisitive note. "Are there little ones here?" The creature hummed to itself, its voice a singsong. "In here, but there's out there. In here, but there's games to play. In here, but there's fun to have. Out, out, little children, out to play." It stepped forward and the last of the lights burned out.

Sophie stepped carefully out of her shoes. Silence, Fedorov had gestured. Did that mean the thing was blind? That it needed sound to find them? She picked up a piece of silverware from the table and flung it across the restaurant. The sound of it clattering was frighteningly loud in the quiet.

The thing was suddenly immense, five times its original size, hissing like a teakettle. "Silver. Knife." The flute turned into an angry, plucking violin. "No. Not the little ones."

Nate and Sophie crossed a look, then glanced at Fedorov. The three of them were backing away to one end of the bar. The Russian enforcer bumped a chair and they all froze.

The thing jumped onto a table. In the dim light from the streetlights outside, struggling through the frosted windows, Sophie saw immense talons, like an owl's, sprawled on the pristine tablecloth. Glass went tumbling down to shatter on the floor. The thing's neck swung this way and that in a way that was inhuman, but still maddeningly familiar. A vast train of some sort followed it.

Then it unfolded its wings in response to the breaking glass, and Sophie had to bite back a little sound of disbelief. It was a bird. A bird with a woman's face and a woman's voice attached to a serpentine neck, a raptor's body, with a peacock's tail, with talons that could all too readily go through one of them and poke out the other side, with a voice that could charm people into doing whatever it wanted them to do.

A bird, that ruthless part of her mind that never slept pointed out, that had shepherded everyone out, that was still trying to shepherd everyone out.

Why?

She peeked quickly at Fedorov. He looked tense and keenly focused. She and Nate had an excuse; why was Fedorov unaffected?

She lifted a hand, catching both men's attentions. The grifter pointed at the creature, and then at Vanya. His expression ran through surprise, fury, resignation, and then stone-cold defiance.

The creature laughed, and the flute came back, lilting and merry. "Silly silly silly bird, broke the cup, broke the bed," it sang, almost to itself. "Now where where where is the little one, the little prince. Where does he play, where does he hide? Come out to play, little prince, come out to sing, come out to dance, come out, come out, it's time for bed, it's time to go."

It crouched down and leapt at the table where the three of them had been sitting, talons leading. It cut it to pieces effortlessly, slid past, crashed into a chair. Everything went flying in an almighty cacophony of broken wood and torn fabric, breaking glass and tinkling silverware. It flapped immense wings to catch itself and whipped around. "Caught you!" she sang triumphantly.

The three of them were already around the bar and hurrying along in the dark as much as they could, freezing when the sounds of mayhem died on the other side of the counter. Nate peeked over it briefly.

The bird-creature was crouched over the table, neck arched. She was sniffing at the mess she'd made. A low, disconcerted little sound came out of her and her head came up, cocked this way and that. In the gloom her eyes shone dull and white, like a snake's when it's ready to shed. "Not here? Yes here. Not here but yes here, where here?"

Without warning she leapt to the bar counter. Nate dropped down hastily. Fedorov dropped to a crouch.

Sophie opened the salt shaker and poured the contents out in a shaky circle around her bare feet. She then picked up two glasses, found the bottle she needed on the shelf and straightened up. "Sorry," she said calmly in Russian. "You just missed him."

The bird-woman launched herself directly at Sophie, and crashed to a skidding halt on the counter before the grifter, wings half-mantled, head bobbing. "Are you dangerous? Are you mean?" the violin shrilled. "I will gut you, I will flay you, I will eat your -"

"Stop," Sophie said, sounding bored. She put down the two glasses and grabbed the bottle, pouring two generous portions of vodka. "We're both here for the same reason."

"We are not!" the creature drew up straight, then sniffed. Hesitated. "Are we?"

"We're both here to protect Fedorov." Sophie picked up her glass, paused. "Unless you're not. In which case we do have a problem. You are here to keep him safe?"

"I am," the bird agreed at once. "Not safe out here. Too many eyes and ears and tongues." The long neck twisted around. "How to know you're not one of them? Dancing dancing dancing on the strings. Perhaps I should gut you and find out from your entrails after all."

"Fat lot of good my entrails would do you right now." Sophie slid the bottle aside. "Look, we both have the same job, we both bungled it. He had an argument with his uncle -" She kicked at Nate, who was too aghast to start moving when he should've, and finally the two idiots underfoot started creeping away. "- and you know how men get when they're upset. So. I'm thinking I should go to all the places I know of that he likes or something. Start all over again."

The bird drew herself up stiffly, insulted. "All entrails are useful if you know how to read them," she declared haughtily.

"I'm sure the entrails have a lot to say. I wasn't talking about them," Sophie shot back sharply.

The bird huffed, then ducked her head. "I should not have come," she admitted mournfully, her voice a haunting, low woodwind. "Not right now. Two days, maybe three, it would have been fine. Oh, I should not have come."

"But you did," Sophie held up the glass and tapped her nail lightly against it. "Taste of home?"

"Oh, I shouldn't."

"Who's going to tell?"

The creature licked her lips. An immense taloned foot came up and caught the glass, and she sipped at the vodka. "Oh, like home, like home," she hummed.

"Right?" Sophie tapped her glass against the bird's, and they both drank. "Well, I might go check his home, maybe his office -"

"I went to his worky-work nest. He was not there."

"Eh, men are strange like that. They like to put their nose to the grindstone when something upsets them, he might go back if his mood's black enough."

"Too true, too true," the bird agreed. Nate and Fedorov were already disappearing past the kitchen doors. "Who are you? What are you? All I smell is silk and flowers." She paused, finished her drink. "And vodka."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Sophie said, letting just a touch of smugness seep into her tone. "Well, I'm off if you don't have anything useful to add. Can't let him get too far ahead of me."

"Pah. Groundbound thing."

Sophie recoiled and shot right back. "Blind old hen."

"I will get my eyes back," the bird countered with angry dignity. "You'll not grow wings if you don't have them already!"

"I haven't needed them yet."

The creature shrilled at Sophie, an angry teakettle whistle, and hopped down from the counter. "No groundbound thing will beat me to my charge!" She flapped her way to the door and charged out into the night, airborne and away in a second, taking with her the sound of flutes and the scent of the Balkan Sea.

Sophie slithered down to the floor behind the counter, shaking like a leaf. She was still there when Nate came back looking for her, clinging to the glass of vodka as if it were a life-raft, but she threw it away and clung desperately to the mastermind instead with a strangled little sound.

"What were you thinking?!" he demanded.

She gave him a shaky little grin. "I'm a grifter," was all she said.

[pancerin]

Joining a little game by @th3p0rtalmaker and picking 10 random questions along with some of my choice:

3. Describe the creative process of writing a chapter/fic.

Basically, I daydream/outline the fic at the day, living my usual life, and when I lay in my bed at night, phone in my hand, I begin writing my fic, combining my plans and random ideas which come to me in the process of writing.

14. How do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

Emotional scenes come to me almost randomly, to give some depth to the character. And yes, sometimes I do feel some emotions experienced by the characters, especially if it's amplified by a tragic song beginning to play in my head. Also, no, I don't draw from personal experience.

21. Would you ever collaborate with another writer for a story?

Yes, it's just the issue of the story itself - I want it to be interesting enough for me to be invested in it.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

My favorite part is THINKING about the writing - the plot, the moments, the emotions, the dialogues, they sound so good in my head) My least favorite part is finding right words for the writing, like: this one doesn't seem good enough, that one is just wrong aaaargh

31. Do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

I start with the plot, side characters come to me in the process of writing.

38. Would you ever write commissions?

If the premise of the commission would strike me, that's possible. But so far, no.

39. Share a snippet from a WIP.

From my only fic, The Mechanic:

Somewhere midway in Pennsylvania, a quiet forest lies, not disturbed by any human. And as the wind quietly flowed through the trees, fluttering leaves which in return made a barely audible noise, someone was coming to this forest. Someone really fast and with no intentions of staying here to look at the inherent beauty of this place. As this person flashed right above the trees, leaving a cyan whoosh behind him, a lone leaf would catch fire, which was quickly extinguished by the wind, following this man. It was Matthew Shields, otherwise known as The Mechanic, going to god knows where in his nanite suit. "Alrighty, what is the situation in Akron?" - Matt asked, and right after that, the live feed of local news turned on on his HUD, showing images of a strange man placing his hand on different sources of electricity like generators and street lamps. Soon after that, they would be broken or otherwise unable to work. And if any policeman tried to arrest him, they would get shocked. Some of them were already killed this way. "So, some guy sucks out the electricity from the city… Got it."

Soon enough Matthew was in Akron, Ohio, looking out for any signs of this man nearby. But as soon as he landed, local news reported that police lost track of him. "Well, either my fame is now national, or he's just scared of any opposition to his little party." - Matt responded with a little pride in his voice. "Mister, this is not the time to crack jokes." - A woman sternly responded to him. "Oh, sorry, ma'am. May I know your name?" "Sylvia Rodriguez, chief police officer." "Nice to meet you, Sylvia. Name's Matthew." "And don't you happen to be The Mechanic?" "Yeah, that's me." - Matt answered, realizing that yeah, his feats are now recognized at least 2 states away from New York. But after all, some of his things could get on NBC or CNN - his battle with a giant robot in Japan, for example. "You seem not very keen on this whole secret identity thing, am I right?" - the chief asked while keeping her cold voice.

47. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

From one to two: one if the beta doesn't have any questions to me to fix some grammar mistakes, two if he does have questions, at which point I try to fix them.

51. What’s your total AO3 word count?

From my one fic, it's almost 20k by now.

67. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

I choose independent ideas (which are still inspired by other movies and TV series, but still), as I haven't accepted any challenges (probably because I'm only starting) and didn't see any prompts that grew on me.

68. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

Well... I don't really do things for inspiration, it usually hit me suddenly when I do the most random things. Also, while writing I just listen to a lot of anime songs to get me into the right mood.

73. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

I think that my fic has that "2000's action superhero cartoon" energy in it combined with more serious fare, sprinkled with combination of various genres in different chapters.

[vannahfanfics]

Brothers in Arms

Word Count: 2260

Comedy, Humor, Friendship, Shenanigans

Summary: Ever since the Sports Festival, Eijirou and Tetsutetsu have met every weekend for an arm-wrestling competition to determine once and for all who is the best. Well, it's been going on for months now with them in a perpetual tie. Will tonight be the night that a champion finally emerges...?

Hello, everyone! Here is my story for the KiriTetsu Bang! Please be sure to check out my partner Lima’s amazing art, and enjoy the shenanigans! Also... Did I change the title because a commenter on Ao3 made me realize this was much better? Yes. Yes I did. 

The common room of the dormitory was all hustle and bustle. Couches scraped across the floor as they were pushed away from the coffee table. Socked feet slipped and slid across the wood in a scramble to plop two soft cushions on either side of the table. Magazines and empty cups skittered to the floor as an arm swept over the table’s surface to clear it. While his classmates tethered this way and that, eagerly chattering to one another, Eijirou was the picture of calmness in all the chaos. He sat motionless in a fold-out chair, his eyes closed and his breaths steady. 

This time. This time for sure.

Katsuki walked up behind him and began playfully massaging his shoulders, like a coach about to send his boxing protegé into the fray. 

“Everything’s almost ready. How ya feelin’, Shitty Hair?” Katsuki really did have the uncanny ability to sound encouraging while calling him that vulgar nickname. Eijirou cracked an eye open so he could smirk over his shoulder at him. 

“I’m feelin’ like today is the day, Baku-Bro.” 

“Yeah!” Mina howled from her spot on the rearranged couches. She had a huge bucket of popcorn in her hands, and several half-chewed kernels fell from her mouth as she squealed. “You’re gonna kick his ass! No more ties!” 

No more ties, Eijirou repeated in his head. Katsuki let out a pleased cackle and patted Eijirou’s shoulders, then clamped down to shake him back and forth a little. Katsuki always looked forward to this hot-blooded competition between men, even going so far as to stay up past his rigid bedtime. 

The reason for all this hullabaloo on a quaint Friday night? Eijirou’s arm-wrestling competition with one Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. 

Ever since the Sports Festival, the two of them had been meeting up in Class 1-A’s dormitory. Tetsutetsu had been unable to take his loss sitting down, and he’d shown up one night practically begging for a rematch. Eijirou was not one to refuse such a gutsy challenge, of course. But it hadn’t turned out as expected—he’d lost, leading them to a tie. And all efforts to establish a two-point lead had been fruitless. So far, the results were 38 to 39 in favor of Eijirou. Of course, neither of them wanted to back down, nor admit that they were on equal ground—hence the development of this raucous affair. 

A hush fell over the room as the front door opened. All eyes fell upon the newcomer. Tetsutetsu sauntered into the dorm room as if he belonged there, holding out his arms while he grinned cheekily. Always one for theatrics, Eijirou thought with a roll of his eyes. In contrast, Pony waved cheerily with a pleasant, “Good evening!” while Neito sniffed in disdain, probably at being in the presence of so many members of their class at once. Tetsutetsu approached Eijirou, who rose from his chair, and puffed out his chest so much the buttons on his uniform shirt strained. 

“Are we compensating?” Katsuki sneered over Eijirou’s shoulder, to which Tetsutetsu sniffed. He ignored Katsuki, instead fixing his gaze upon his rival. 

“I know the answer, but I always gotta ask—you wanna surrender?” 

“Funny, you stole the words right outta my mouth,” Eijirou jeered back. “Who’s the one losing right now?” 

Tetsutetsu’s cheeks flooded pink. Neito began to rant and point and sputter expletives. Pony leered at him and threateningly held up an iron pipe—no doubt donated by Yosetsu Awase—and he immediately ceased his tantrum to just grumble under his breath. Pony lowered the pipe and then gave Eijirou a thumbs-up. 

“May the worst man win!” 

“P-Pony—that’s not—” Neito interrupted with a sigh, and she looked at him owlishly. “It’s may the best man win.” 

“Is that not what I said?” 

“No. Not at all.”

“Oh.” 

“Yoooooo! Can we get this thing started already?” Denki yelled from his spot on the couch. His words were a bit garbled from the phone chargers dangling out of his mouth, connected to various devices in his classmates’ hands. “My soda’s gonna go flat at this rate!” he huffed, spitting out the USB ports to take a swig of his cola before putting them back in his mouth. 

“Looks like your buds are eager to see you get stomped,” Tetsutetsu taunted while cracking his knuckles. Eijirou just snorted in laughter and started walking. 

“Again, who’s losing?”

The two of them took their respective seats on either side of the coffee table. Mina swooped in to spritz general cleaner over its wooden surface and wipe it up with a rag. Once she flitted away, Eijirou rolled his shoulder and then propped his elbow on the table. He flexed his hand, his knuckles creaking, and flashed Tetsutetsu a roguish grin. 

His opponent just sniffed in disdain and plopped his arm up onto the table. 

“One last chance,” Tetsutetsu offered, arching his eyebrow. Eijirou rolled his eyes and just scooched his arm forward to grasp Tetsutetsu’s hand and lock it into place. 

“You mean one last chance to spare yourself the agony of defeat,” Eijirou sneered back. Behind him, Denki and Hanta began to hoot excitedly, chiming “ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!” in tandem with Momo’s countdown. The wooden table creaked a little when Eijirou leaned forward. He flexed his fingers again. The zone; he was getting into the zone. His tongue slowly came out to peek out of the corner of his lips. He could do this.

“Annnnd… go!” Momo shouted, waving her hand between their heads like a flag before hopping away. Eijirou and Tetsutetsu both grunted, and their muscles bulged and their veins popped with the contraction of their arm muscles. They’d established a No Quirk rule—or rather, Mr. Aizawa had after they’d broken three tables in a row—but a few of Eijirou’s fingertips still hardened under the strain. Tetsutetsu caved to the pressure, too, a sheen of silvery iron slowly creeping out from underneath the white of his uniform shirt sleeve. Their arms began to tremble, and sweat beaded on both their foreheads. 

Neither of their arms budged a centimeter. 

The minutes ticked by. Eijirou actually thought that he could hear a clock ticking, but it turned out that it was actually Denki making “tick-tick” noises. 

“The suspense is killing me! I’m getting nervous!” he whined when Eijirou shot him a glare over his shoulder. 

“Heh, no need to be nervous,” Tetsutetsu jeered breathily. He paused to flick a sweaty piece of hair out of his eyes with his free hand, then tilted his head back to sneer at Eijirou. “This’ll be over in a few minutes.” 

“It sure will, but not with you winning!” Eijirou growled back. He gritted his teeth and hunched forward while he strained against Tetsutetsu. His opponent scowled when he managed to push his hand just a few millimeters, and Eijirou couldn’t help but preen. Then his elbow slipped a little in the sweat that had puddled on the table, and he lost the ground that he’d gained almost immediately. 

Eijirou clenched his teeth harder, trying to ignore the sweat rolling down his face. Just a few more minutes and Tetsutetsu would finally crack…

After twenty minutes of being in a deadlock, it was Eijirou who was considering giving in. His shirt was drenched in sweat, making it stick uncomfortably to his skin, and his sodden bangs kept getting into his eyes. It had gotten so bad that Tsuyu had gotten one of her hairpins and pinned his bangs up, but with each passing minute, one of the strands would slip out to dangle in his face. He kept wiggling against the cushion, his damp shorts chafing against his skin. It was borderline torture. 

His only consolation was that Tetsutetsu was faring just as bad. Pony and Neito stood on either side of him, fanning his flushed face with magazines. Eijirou didn’t have the energy to make a snarky quip about it, though, given that all his energy was being poured into not letting Tetsutetsu gain the upper hand. The only thing that had changed over the last half an hour was that they had placed a towel under their elbows to keep them from slipping. 

“You know, for a hot-blooded contest of manliness, this is beginning to grow quite dull,” Mina sighed without looking up from her phone screen. She gently smacked Kyoka’s shoulder to get her attention. “Have they moved yet?” 

“Nope. I’m gonna go grab a snack. Anyone want anything?” the dark-haired girl responded while she rose from the couch. A chorus of agreement rang out throughout the room, and she sauntered off to the kitchen. Eijirou watched her go, another bead of sweat blooming on his forehead. 

Because he was starving. 

His stomach clawed at his belly with fierce talons. Hell, it felt like it was chewing on his spine! He fidgeted uncomfortably at the painful cramps, but he couldn’t find an alleviating position, especially not with his fist locked with Tetsutetsu’s. He was about to consider just giving up so he could go raid the fridge before he starved to death, but then—

Tetsutetsu’s stomach growled. Loud. 

Their eyes locked, ruby on ruby. Eijirou arched his eyebrow, and Tetsutetsu responded with a scowl that morphed into a pathetic grimace. With his free hand, he was twisting his fingers into his shirt as if he could quell the raging beast inside. 

This was no longer about manliness. This was about survival.

Neito and Pony had wandered off (well, more accurately, Pony dragged him off crying about how hungry she was from all the fanning), and everyone else was engrossed in staving off the boredom. No one would notice, Eijirou thought. So he leaned in, cocking his head a little to tell Tetsutetsu to do the same. 

“All right, man, I’ll level with ya. I’m freaking starving,” Eijirou whispered. “If I don’t get something to eat soon, I’m gonna die.”

“Dude, same,” Tetsutetsu groaned. “For a minute there, I was considering taking a chomp of that houseplant,” he added with a nod at the fern sitting beside the television. 

“Let’s be honest, dude. We could be here all night,” Eijirou sighed and motioned with his chin at their joined hands. “Last week we sat here for a whole hour before that spider crawled up my leg and you won.” Tetsutestu smiled wistfully at the memory of Eijirou jumping up with a girlish scream and tearing his pants off in an effort to get at the eight-legged creepy-crawly. “You’re strong, I’m strong, we’ve been at this for months now.” 

Tetsutetsu raised an eyebrow at him. 

“What are you proposing?” 

“I throw the match. We’re back at a tie. Instead of continuing to do this, we just call it a truce. Then we go eat everything in sight.” 

“That’s a good plan. I like that plan,” Tetsutetsu nodded eagerly. “No losers, our stomachs won’t eat us from the inside-out. Let’s do it.” 

Eijirou nodded, nearly breathless from giddiness, and sat back. He gave a few seconds so as not to arouse anyone’s suspicion, and then he let his arm go lax. Tetsutetsu immediately overpowered him, and he slammed Eijirou’s fist against the table with a triumphant howl. Everyone immediately rushed around them, most of them lamenting the fact that they hadn’t been paying attention. Eijirou made a show of rubbing his wrist and looking pouty. He graciously nodded along as everyone patted his back and told him “Next time, champ, next time.” 

“You know what, though?” he said when the din had finally settled down. “I don’t think there’s gonna be a next time.” He smiled at Tetsutetsu, who was in the middle of getting toweled down by Pony. “I think it’s time to admit that Tetsutetsu and I are both really manly. Eh?” 

He stuck out his hand for Tetsutetsu to shake, and it really wasn’t an act. After all, only the manliest could go toe-to-toe with Eijirou for such a long time. It was time to acknowledge the truth. Tetsutetsu seemed to get that, as he was tearing up a little as he grabbed Eijirou’s hand firmly and gave it a good shake. 

“Yeah, man. I totally agree.” 

“Aw! Does that mean we don’t get to come over anymore?” Pony whined, immediately shoving the towel over Tetsutetsu’s head to rub vigorously at his sodden hair. 

“Come on, Pony, why would we want to be over here?” Neito cried. Pony silenced him by shoving him into the nearby houseplant. 

“Yeah, I’m kinda gonna miss these weekly arm-wrestling fights,” Mina said, frowning while she gripped her crossed ankles. “They really do liven up the place.” 

“Well,” Eijirou smiled, watching as Tetsutetsu lifted the edge of the towel to peer at him. “I dunno about Tetsutetsu here, but I wouldn’t mind a friendly, low-stakes arm-wrestling match every now and again.” 

Tetsutetsu’s red eyes gleamed under the gloomy shadow of the towel. He sucked in a breath, trying to keep his bottom lip from quivering, and then nodded so hard that he shook the towel over his head. Eijirou laughed and walked around the table to throw his arm around his shoulders and give him a friendly shake. 

“All right! Now, let’s get something to eat.” Everyone cheered, and Eijirou looked at them with a stony expression. “No, seriously, you guys better move or I may trample someone. I’m freaking starving.” 

Eijirou could only be his manliest on a full stomach, after all. And he had the sense that was the same for his new manly friend, too.

[taeslovehandles]

I posted 527 times in 2021

283 posts created (54%)

244 posts reblogged (46%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.9 posts.

I added 289 tags in 2021

#taeslovehandles - 82 posts

#chubby bt5 - 33 posts

#wg story - 31 posts

#weight gain - 29 posts

#ask taeslovehandles - 24 posts

#weight gain story - 22 posts

#wg - 21 posts

#wg fic - 19 posts

#fat bt5 - 15 posts

#wg art - 13 posts

Longest Tag: 123 characters

#can we have more movies with realistic characters that are not viewed differently or dumber just because they are heavier!?

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Look what you did to poor Namjoonie. All his abs are gone! But it looks like he doesn't really seem to care that much. In fact. It looks like he is challenging you all! Retweet or like this post and show this tubby man if he can really hold all the food you got for him!

*no time limit this time idk if I can post an update in a week lmao*

If you forgot how the old one looked- Check this out.

98 notes • Posted 2021-10-17 20:39:12 GMT

#4

Soo a good friend of mine is finally writing a story and I had to encourage her to keep writing it, so I drew this for her. It kind of is eprocto and I normally do not draw this but here you go. Enjoy. c:

Reaally fat jk with helpful bf Tae. <3

100 notes • Posted 2021-06-28 22:47:38 GMT

#3

[HoBT] Busy Shedule

A few years went by until Jimin and Jungkook had enough money to buy their own flat in the city. It was much easier for Jimin to get to work now in the new strip club downtown and Jungkook could focus on his gainer career a lot easier.

See the full post

114 notes • Posted 2021-07-03 10:43:42 GMT

#2

Could you maybe do any member as pretty big and another as the fit feeder? Bonus points if it’s about fitness humiliation

Okay. I have sat on this way too long, but I also really love this? And of course I had to go with Jikook my dear anon x3 <3

I'm pretty interested, what would you guys answer in Jungkook's position to Jimin's question/teasing? x3

140 notes • Posted 2021-06-20 19:08:42 GMT

#1

500 FOLLOWER - WEIGHT GAIN DRAFT!

And of coursetted and Namjoon won this one easily! So here is Namjoon sitting in his whirlpool looking smexy. Now it's your turn to feed him and help him grow soft and biiig!

With 2 hearts he gains 1 lbs

1 retweet is equal to 5 lbs

(I might change the value depending if it's not enough or too much. I am not sure how many will participate lmao xD)

His current weight is a muscly 175 lbs! Come and make this boy grow <3 You got a week time to share and like this post until I will count all of the weight he gained and draw a chubbier version of him!

I did not add any lbs gain for follows simply because I do not want people to feel forced to follow me just for this. Follow me if you like my stuff c: <3

Oh and sadly we did not hit 500 last month but how do we say? Each month is pride month. So Namjoon got a cute little rainbow tattoo <3

And of course thank you so much for everything. Honestly I just made the account to retweet and comment. I never intended this to blow up as it did and I love you all <3

221 notes • Posted 2021-07-11 19:44:56 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[suitofvibraniumarmor]

** Writing Challenge **

I know, I know, my next one isn’t quite wrapped up yet, buttttt this idea came to me when my cousin and I were taking a walk down a ridiculous part of Memory Lane and I got excited. I’m guessing this has been done before at some point -- that’s not stopping me from presenting to you: 

I love fluff. And I wanna see more of it! 

Below the cut you will find some prompts that, in the context of Twilight, are absolutely cringe-worthy. My challenge to you is to take that prompt and make it something we can love. 

Disclaimer: I’m not Twilight-shaming ANYONE. I literally sat and watched all of Eclipse and now want to watch both Breaking Dawns. It’s more about sentiment, and the occasional girly giggle for me, but ... yeah. No judgement here, friends. 

Guidelines, prompts, and tags are below the cut! (Yes, I copied and tweaked from my last writing challenge. I’m being efficient, thank you! :P )

Please read all of the information carefully!

Rules, Guidelines, Important Dates:

Sign-Ups start when this post is live and will go through to December 30, 2020. I will accept two people for each prompt, one prompt per author.

Please send your sign-ups to my ask box so they’re easier to keep track of. I will answer them privately so I’m not flooding anyone’s dash!

In your ask, please include your preferred prompt and a backup option, as well as your pairing (so I don’t take the same pairing for the same prompt). Also, please let me know if you’ll be posting from a URL other than one you’re asking from.

To be included in the challenge masterlist, please post your fic (or the first part, if it’s a series) by Decemeber 31, 2020.

Please include an author’s note tagging me and mentioning the challenge in your fic post; include #BetterThanTwilightWC in the first five tags. If the tag doesn’t work, you may DM the link to me, also. If you decide to write a series, please tag me in the masterlist.

Please give me up to 48 hours to read your fic before checking if I have seen it. If I have not liked it after 48 hours, please DO check. (You know, since we’re all aware of how unreliable tumblr is. And how unreliable my mind can be. Yikes.)

The challenge masterlist will be posted between January 1 and January 4, 2020.

There are no word count limits, but please use the Keep Reading feature if your story goes beyond 500 words. Additionally, if your fic goes beyond 5000 words, please consider splitting it into multiple parts. This is not a requirement, only something to think about.

Yes, this is a FLUFF challenge, so you MUST have fluff as your main genre. You’re more than welcome to include other genres, but you MUST have a happy and/or hopeful ending.

You’re welcome to think outside of the box! Just because I’m talking Twilight and love stories, doesn’t mean there has to be romance! Give me  amazing friendships or strong family bonds or self-love. Or romance! Whatever you’d like. 

You're welcome to change pronouns in the prompt as necessary! Heck, I tweaked a few of ‘em so they’re not Twilight-specific.

For personal reasons, I do not read and will not accept into the challenge (which means I will not reblog or add to the masterlist) stories that include: non-con/dub-con, underage sex, adult-child romantic/sexual relationships, spouse-bashing, child abuse – I could go on, but I think you get the idea. If you’re not sure about something, I’m always happy to answer questions!

Bring on the ships, OC’s, reader pairings – I’m trying to be more open-minded as of late, but I can’t promise that I will read everything. Again, for personal reasons. But I will reblog everything! 

Characters and RPFs from Marvel/MCU are both welcome. 

If you need an extension or need to drop out, please know that I am extremely flexible when it comes to that deadline/due date. In the words of Captain Barbosa, “It’s really more of a guideline.” Just shoot me an ask or a message and we’ll work something out, no worries! 

Prompts: 

1. “I have always loved you, and I will always love you.”  2. “The clouds I can handle. But I can’t fight with an eclipse.”  3. “I know what you are.”  4. “You held out your hand and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing.” 5. “You have a connection with her that I’ll never understand.” 6. “I’m glad she has you.” 7. “It will be like I never existed. I promise.” 8. “I knew who I wanted to be. I wanted to help people. Brings me happiness.” 9. “That will take a while to get used to.” “We have a while.” 10. “What if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?” 11. “I’d rather hear your theories.” 12. (sarcastically) “Super. That makes me really happy.” 13. “You’re like my own personal brand of heroin.” 14. “Maybe I shouldn’t be dating such an old man. It’s gross. I should be thoroughly repulsed.” 15. “It’s an extraordinary thing to meet someone who you can bare your soul to and they’ll accept you for what you are.” 16. “I’ve been waiting for what seems like a very long time to get beyond what I am.” 17. “I feel like I can finally begin.” 18. “He’s totally gorgeous, obviously. But apparently nobody here is good enough for him.” 19. “He did say I couldn’t step inside the door. I came in through the window.” 20. “I know things. Like how to hunt somebody to the ends of the earth. And I know how to use a gun.” 21. “Now I’m afraid.” “Good.” 22. “I’m not afraid of you. I’m only afraid of losing you.” 23.  “About three things I was absolutely positive ...” 24. “You’re so stubborn.” 25. “Do you know how worried I’ve been?” 26. “I can’t even think about someone hurting you.” 27. “The only thing that can hurt me is you, and I don’t have anything else to be afraid of.” 28. “Don’t antagonize her. She’s the strongest one in the house.” 29. “All right. That’s enough experimenting for one day.” 30. “It never made sense for you to love me.” 31. “I wish there had been someone to vote no for me.” 32. “It’s just a little baby.” 33. “How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto?” 34. “I’m not missing another fight!” 35. “No one can hide like me.” 36. “If I asked you to stay in the car, would you?” 37. “I have one condition, if you want me to do it myself.” 38. “I had an adrenaline rush. It’s very common. You can Google it.” 39. “How did you get in here?” “The window.” 40. “I love a happy ending. They are so rare.” 41. “You should put your seatbelt on.” 42. “Can you talk about something else? Distract me so I won’t turn around.” 43. “I can’t live in a world where you don’t exist.” 44. “After all the thousand times I’ve told you I love you, how could you let one word break your faith in me?” 45. “Maybe that’s why they kicked me out.” 46. “All of my best nights have happened since I met you.” 47. “You know everybody’s staring?” “Not that guy ... no, he just looked.” 48. “She wishes she was that awesome.” 49. “Does he visit often?” “Yeah, all the time.” 50. “Lie ... Lie better.” 51. “I’m Switzerland.” 52. “That should have been our first kiss.” 53. “Would you like to hear my story? It doesn’t have a happy ending -- but which of ours does?” 54. “Another party?” “It’ll be fun.” “Yeah. That’s what you said last time.” 55. “You are the only one who has ever touched my heart. I will always be yours.” 56. “The way he watches you. It’s like he’s willing to leap in front of you and take a bullet or something.” 57. “Kill me! Not him!” 58. “Stay.” “Give me one good reason.” 59. “Yeah, it’s and off day when I don’t get somebody telling me how edible I smell.” 60. “Damn it! You’ll be the death of me, I swear you will.” 61. “If I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not afraid of it.” 62. “Do I dazzle you?” 63. “I’m tired of trying to stay away from you.” 64. “Bring on the shackles, I’m your prisoner.” 65. “You are my life now.” 66. “And then we continued blissfully into this small, perfect piece of our forever.” 67. “Nobody’s ever loved someone as much as I love you.” 68. “I don’t know what happened.” “You love him.” 69. “All of sudden it’s not gravity holding you to the planet, it’s her. Nothing else matters. You would do anything, be anything for her.” 70. “You really love her?” 71. “I don’t see the whole point of the rest of the world without her.” 72. “Then I found a promising site ... I waited impatiently for it to load, quickly clicked closed each ad that flashed across the screen. Finally, the screen finished -- simple, white background with black text; academic-looking. Two quotes greeted me on the homepage:” 73. “I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” 74. “I’ll be fighting for her, too, and I’ll be fighting twice as hard as you will.” 75. “It’s always been him.” 76. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you.” 77. “They’re coming for her.” “They’re not gonna touch her.” 78. “Doesn’t he own a shirt?” 79. “You know, if it weren’t for the fact that we’re enemies and that you’re also trying to steal away the reason for my existence, I might actually like you.” 80. “You have disappeared. Like everything else.” 81. “The absence of him is everywhere I look.” 82. “I don’t have the strength to stay away from you anymore.” 83. “Your number was up the first time I met you.” 84. “We all like to drive fast.” 85. “It’s too easy to be myself with you.” 86. “I’ve never given much thought to how I’d die, but dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go.” 87. “Don’t tempt me too far. My patience isn’t that perfect.” 88. “His tone questions my sanity, but it only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfect delivered line by a skilled actor.” 89. “What’s he mad about?” 90. “No measure of time with you will ever be enough.” 91. “I promise to love you forever, every single day of forever.” 92. “We’re gonna be great friends!” 93. “If I had my way, I would spend the majority of my time kissing him.” 94. “Until your heart stops beating.” 95. “I touched the cool miracle of his ski, and I was home.” 96. “Forbidden to remember, terrified to forget; it was a hard line to walk.” 97. “This isn’t the time to make hard and fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes.” 98. “Leave it to you ... you have to start hanging out with the first weirdos you can find.” 99. “I love him much more than I should, and yet still nowhere near enough.” 100. “I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes.”

Tags for possible interest/signal boosting (if you’re so inclined): 

 @captain-s-rogers​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​​​​​​​​​ @hurricanerin​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @horsesandbandsforlife​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @im-not-an-armrest-im-short​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @captain-rogers-beard​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @shynara51​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @sea040561​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @pinknerdpanda​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @xtina2191​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @jackryanplz​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @beakami​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @heartsaved​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @fullprunerebelstatesman​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @blackwidowismyhomegirl​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @the-murder-strut-murdered-me​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @shield-agent78​​​​​​​​​​​​​  @jennmurawski13​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ @okay-maybe-i-like-marvel-too​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[libarywillowtree]

The Mantle's Newest Paper Issue: A Randomly Chosen Interview!

Part I: Let's Start at the Beginning...

1. What's your name?

“My name is Willow!”

2. Give me your full name...

“Oh! Sorry, I’m Willow Lance.”

3. Do you have a nickname? If yes, what is it and how did you come to have it?

“Besides nerd and tree, some of the students call me mom, I think it’s comforting.”

4. What species are you? (Human, werewolf, etc? Or are you an alien?)

“I’m an elf!”

5. Where/when were you born?

“I was born June 21,2001.”

6. I see. And that would make your age...?

“19.”

7. Okay, now...are you a good guy, or a bad guy?

“A good guy! At least I hope so!”

Part II: Tell Us More About Yourself...

8. How would you describe your personality?

“Hmm.. I suppose I’m much like a mother hen! Very carrying, I’m also a workaholic, at least when it comes to school!”

9. Would you say you're someone who can handle pressure?

“Oh yeah most definitely! Double majoring and running a study group makes handling pressure a necessity.”

10. Do you like to read?

“Oh most definitely! My favorite thing is ancient lore!”

11. Favorite color?

“This will come as a surprise to no one, but pink”

12. Do you get along with others?

“Oh yeah! At least I think so.”

13. Do you have any enemies?

“No, at least not that I’m aware of.”

14. How about friends?

“I do have a couple, but I won’t mention them for their privacy sake.”

15. Are you patient?

“Oh yeah, you have to be when you're decoding ancient texts on how to deal with a griffin or another myth of a patron.”

Part III: Hypothetically...

16. Suppose that you could become any creature you know of. What would you pick, and why?

“Well, being an elf is cool, but dragons, amazing.”

17. One of your enemies in question 13 just complimented you. Response?

“I mean if I had any enemies I think I would just say thank you! But I’m keeping them on close watch.”

18. One of your friends in Question 14 just insulted you. Response?

“Oh my gods I’d cry! Please don’t!”

19. If you could change anything about yourself…

“Does making yourself have wings count? Because then I want wings. Like, butterfly wings.”

20. About your home…

“Oh, I mean where I’m from, our houses are more like tree-house mansions! Lots of intertwining trees. But I know that’s not common much anymore and many elves live in big cities and suburbs!”

Part IV: Now We Get Personal

21. What're your parents like?

“Fairly good people, I never got to hang out with them much since they were busy with work, but Saturdays are our days.”

22. Do you have any siblings?

“Elves aren’t all that...fertile per say? So no, I’m an only child.”

23. What's your occupation?

“Currently I’m a full-time student at the Academy, but I also have a volunteer tutoring job, if you can count it that.”

24. I see, that's a good job to have. Do you like it?

“Oh yeah! It’s fun and the best thing ever is seeing a student finally pick up something they couldn’t catch onto is the best feeling ever.”

25. Are you seeing/dating anyone?

“Nope.”

26. Thinking about getting engaged, married, other?

“I mean yeah, but I’m practically immortal, studies are more important right now. If it comes it comes, if not, then it doesn’t.”

27. Tell us your biggest secret.

“Oh umm…. I hate sour candy? I don’t know, I'm not the juiciest person I suppose.”

28. Your worst fear? You don't have to answer this one if you don't want to.

“Yeah, no thank you.”

29. Favorite food?

“Strawberry Cheesecake Ice cream, if anyone wants to fight me on that I’m waiting.”

30. Favorite drink?

“Birthday Cake Milkshakes.”

31. Tell us one thing you're the most proud of.

“Getting accepted here!”

32. Something embarrassing? You don't have to answer this one, either.

“Umm… I used to hate the color pink with a burning passion because I thought it was too girly.”

33. If you didn't answer Questions 28 and/or 32, tell me why.

“Hah. Got you.”

34. Is that a good reason?

“mhm.”

Part V: Closing

35. Are you satisfied with your life?

“Fairly, but I have much more expectations to fulfill.”

36. Anything you feel like you have to do? It can be something long-term, like a bucket list, or something you need to do right now.

“I guess it will forever be an ongoing thing, but I want my parents to be proud of me.”

37. Any hobbies?

“Does reading count?”

38. Quick, you get one wish! What did you just wish for? It's alright, you can tell me...

“Oh! Um…! A bunch of new books for the Library!”

39. How would you describe that wish? Good? Bad? Selfish? Selfless? Other?

“I suppose it's a good wish, it helps a lot of people.”

40. Have you been honest with these questions?

“Yes, I am!”

41. Your personal quote?

“Oh um? Drink water? I don’t know, that’s a weird question.”

42. Do you like change?

“No, but I have to accept it. Change will happen in my life, lots of it.”

43. What's your most valued possession?

“Oh! Um… My Pen collection! A lot of them are dip pens, and are made of glass or wood, but I have some pretty ballpoint pens as well.”

Credit to the Creator of this Universe even if it did start as a OC challenge: @ventismommy

And the creator of the interview template, even if I made a couple changes: https://www.deviantart.com/wyvern-1/art/Character-Interview-Template-215833868

[openheartfanfics]

Rafael x F!MC: Series

Mini Series 

How Will I Live Without You - @rafasgirl23415 🛸 [complete] Casey is finally in her final weeks of pregnancy as she faces the prospect of giving birth without Raf by her side.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The Moments In Between - @curiousconch

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

When You’re Ready - @crystalwillow After they know the cure worked and they’re both awake. 2.11/12 Rewrite  

Part 1 | Part 2

Extended Series

Love In Every Heartbeat - @rafasgirl23415 📚 [completed] Go right to the start of Casey & Raf’s relationship. Casey is cautious about falling too fast too soon.

CH 1: Fancy Seeing You Here

CH 2: First Date Butterflies

CH 3: Meeting The Family

CH 4: I Was Yours Since The Moment I Saw You 

CH 5: The Next Step

CH 6: You Will Always Be Part Of Me

CH 7: I'll Look After You

CH 8: You Are My Happy Place

CH 9: What We Could Have

CH 10: The First Of Countless Christmases Together

CH 11: My Home is Where You Are

CH 12: If Tomorrow Never Comes

CH 13: Healing

CH 14: Will He Still Love Me Like This?

CH 15: Love Is In The Air

CH 16: Dreams Really Do Come True

CH 17: Here for a Moment Ⓜ️

CH 18: Why Not Me? Ⓜ

CH 19: Forever With Me Ⓜ

CH 20: Trying To Be Happy When Your Heart Is Broken Ⓜ

CH 21: You Made Me Believe In Love At First Sight

CH 22: Forever Starts Today 

CH 23: Kisses From Maldives

CH 24: Out Of Difficulties Grow Miracles

CH 25: Blessed With Our Rainbow But Will Never Forget Our Storm

CH 26: Cherishing Every Kick And Movement

CH 27: Snuggles And Giggles And Endless Love

CH 28: Love Grows By The Day

CH 29: Almost Time For Our First Hello

CH 30: Your First Breath Took Ours Away

CH 31: Our Little Sunshine

Love In Every Heartbeat - Continued - @rafasgirl23415 📚 [wip] A significant time jump where Mia is older but Casey & Raf are struggling to give her a sibling.

CH 1: Can’t Hide My First Day Excitement

CH 2: You May Have To Fight The Battle More Than Once To Win It

CH 3: A New Blessing To Cherish

CH 5: We Made A Wish And You Came True

CH 6: Our Love Story’s Most Beautiful Chapter

CH 7: Love in Full Bloom

CH 8: Any Moment Now Our World Changes

CH 9: The Littlest Feet Making The Biggest Footprints On Our Hearts

CH 11: One month old and already so loved

CH 13: Making Memories To Treasure Forever

CH 14: Embracing The Future – Part 1

CH 14: Embracing The Future – Part 2

CH 15: We Can’t Wait To Hold You In Our Arms

CH 17: Pink Onesies And Princess Dreams

CH 18: Counting Days And Feeling Kicks

CH 19: Bringing Our Dream Into The World

CH 20: Our Family Is Complete

CH 21: The Best Things In Life Are Worth Waiting For

CH 22: A Mother’s Love Is Forever

CH 23: Stand By Me

CH 25: My Favourite Thing Is Watching You Sleep

CH 26: A Mother’s Arms Are More Comforting Than Anyone Else’s  

CH 27: Balance Is Not Something You Find

CH 28: If Only I’d Known

CH 29: Keep Holdin’ On

CH 30: When You Believe

CH 31: One Day At A Time

CH 32: Hope Lingers

CH 33: How Long Will I Love You?

CH 34: Every Day Is A Step Closer To Remission

CH 35: You Can’t Appreciate The Light Without A Bit Of Darkness

CH 36: A Mother’s Love Can Make Miracles Happen

CH 37: Being A Mother Of A Sick Child

CH 38: Beyond The Edge Of Hope

CH 39: Grief Is The Price We Pay For Love

CH 40: Little Souls Find Their Way

CH 41: Together We Make A Family

CH 42: The Joy Of Christmas

CH 43: New Year Brings New Hope

CH 43: Silent Scans And Shattered Fears

CH 44: Beyond The Struggles A Mother’s Resilience

CH 45: The Weight Of Decisions 

CH 46: Awaiting The Answer

CH 47: Theatre Of Fear

CH 48: Fighting For Hope

CH 49: Against The Odds

CH 50: Hope’s Fragile Hold

CH 51: Facing Tomorrow: Strength In Vulnerability

CH 52: Fears Unveiled : Confronting The Unknown

CH 53: Facing The Storm – Pippa Takes On Her Challenges

CH 54: Beyond Edenbrooke – A Search For Hope

CH 55: A Fragile Future – Embracing Hope Whilst Facing Adversity

CH 56: The Fragile Promise – Binding Ties Between Two Cities

CH 57: New Beginnings And Healing Hearts

CH 58: Candles And Courage

CH 59: In the Shadows of Hope

CH 60: Beneath the Surface

CH 61: Navigating New Responsibilities

CH 62: Balancing Support

CH 63: Collisions Of Heartache

CH 64: The Race Against Time as October Fades

CH 65: Joyful Moments Amidst Challenges

CH 66: Balancing Everyday Living And Ongoing Health Struggles

CH 67: Holding On To Hope

CH 68: A Time For Healing

CH 69: Journey Of Hope

CH 70: Embracing Healing

CH 71: Silent Reflections

CH 72: Holiday Wonders Await

CH 73: Healing Hearts And Holiday Spirit

CH 75: A Long Awaited Reunion

CH 76: A Heart Divided

CH 77: In the Shadow of Illness - Part 1

CH 77: In the Shadow of Illness - Part 2

CH 77: In the Shadow of Illness - Part 3

CH 77: In the Shadow of Illness - Part 4

CH 78: A Legacy Of Love

CH 75: In Shadows of Healing

CH 76: Silent Battles

CH 77: Threads Of Survival

CH 78: Awakening Hope

CH 79: Enduring The Silence

CH 80: Hope In The Shadows

CH 81: An Infection’s Grip

CH 82: Juggling Priorities

CH 83: Balloons And Bliss

CH 84: In The Shadow Of Joy

CH 85: A Baby On The Way

CH 86: In Shadows Of Uncertainty

CH 87: Six Weeks Lost

CH 91: When Healing Hurts

CH 92: In the Wake of Uncertainty

CH 93: Crossroads of Uncertainty

CH 94: In the Balance

CH 95: A Fight For Life

CH 96: Crossroads Of Hope and Despair

CH 97: Echoes of Fear

CH 98: Confronting the Darkness

CH 99: The Weight of Worry

CH 100: Crossroads of Hope

CH 101: Bound by Pain

CH 102: Beyond Pain

CH 103: In the Shadow of Recovery

CH 104: A Crossroads in Healing

Moving In - @rafasgirl23415 [completed] Follow up to We Belong Together. Set a few years into the future. Feat. Sienna Trinh x M!OC

CH 1: Our Forever Home 

CH 2: A New Family Member

CH 3: Somethings Aren’t Just Meant To Be

CH 4 a: Two And A Half Heartbeats | CH 4 b: Two And A Half Heartbeats

CH 5: Flashbacks 

CH 6: Saying Goodbye 

CH 7: A Fairy Tale Proposal 

CH 8: Sienna's Miracle

CH 9: Happy Birthday Lucy And Enrique

CH 10: Getting Ready For Our Girl 

CH 11: We Are Having A Baby Girl

CH 12: Girls Night In 

CH 13: Our Little Ballerina

CH 14: Waiting For Santa 

CH 15: Waiting Game

CH 16: Our Beautiful Daughter

CH 17: Saying Hello To Someone Special

CH 18: Bringing Tori Home

CH 19: Officially A Family Of Five

CH 20: Daddy's Special Girl

CH 21: Sienna’s Dream Wedding

CH 22: I Can’t Do This Without You

CH 23: Sunshine After The Storm 

CH 24: Sienna’s First Days As A Mom

CH 25: Cousin's First Meeting - Part A

CH 25: Cousin's First Meeting - Part B

CH 26: The Bunny Sweater 

CH 27: How Can We Be Back Here? - Part 1

CH 28: How Can We Be Back Here? - Part 2

CH 29: What Could Have Been - Part 1 [TW: PTSD]

CH 29: What Could Have Been - Part 2 [TW: PTSD]

CH 30: The Back To Work Blues

CH 31: Sienna’s Weekend In Paris

CH 32: Mama’s Big Night Out

CH 34: Please Don't Make Me Do This. (TW: Termination and cancer)

CH 37: Our Little Princess

CH 38: Dancing With My Eyes Closed

CH 39: Grieving

CH 40: Eight Years of Us

CH 41: Hospital Dash

CH 42 - Meeting Someone Special

CH 43: Why Won't She Leave Us Alone? Part One

CH 43: Why Won’t She Leave Us Alone? Part Two

CH 44: Boy Oh Boy, Here They Come!

CH 45: Our Darling Baby Girl

CH 46: In Our Baby Bubble

CH 47: Hello, Baby Sister

CH 48: Florence's First Bath

CH 49: A Fight For My Family

CH 50: How dare she?

CH 51: Baby Drama - Part 1

CH 51: Baby Drama - Part 2

Our Miracle Baby - @rafasgirl23415 [completed] TW: Discussion of and scenes of miscarriage in flashback scenes of domestic violence.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21

We Belong Together - @rafasgirl23415  [complete] It's the end of intern year. Casey and Rafael are ready to start the next phase of their relationship.

CH 1: Moving In 

CH 2: Breakfast in Bed 

CH 3: The Anniversary

CH 4: The Proposal 

CH 5: Double the Joy 

CH 6: Admitted

CH 7: Cravings 

CH 8: The Dilemma

CH 9: The Wedding - Part 1 | CH 10: The Wedding - Part 2

CH 11: Baby Shopping 

CH 12: The Accident 

CH 13: I Can't Lose You

CH 14: Complications 

CH 15: Surprise Baby Shower

CH 16: Pancake Sundays 

CH 17: Special Things to Come

CH 18: Bringing Our Babies Home 

CH 19: Our First Days At Home

CH 20: A Visit From Aunt Sophia 

CH 21: A Long Difficult Night

CH 22: Home Coming 

CH 23: Introducing Lucy and Enrique To Their Parents’ Work Family 

CH 24: I'm Sorry I Let You Down. 

CH 25: A Blast From The Past

CH 26: Remembrance 

CH 27: You Are All That I Want

CH 28: Baby's First Christmas

_

SUBMIT OPEN HEART FICS & WRITERS HERE

[thetvmoviefan]

CAOS Q&A Questions (In Order)

OKAY. Including ALL to most of the questions involving the show and book, so everyone can theorize about what the heck is going to happen in Part 3. But here’s most of the questions involving the show and book, that Sarah Rees Brennan was able to answer. A lot of the questions didn’t really specify if they were talking about the book or show, but we got something to speculate about.

1) If H/S will get back together in Part 3, She said something along the lines she’s not allowed to say anything. She did say she thinks there’s something for their shippers out there. She thinks.

2) If there will be a season 4 or 5: She doesn’t know, but hopes.

3) If Nabrina is okay? She says no because “Hell”, but they are thinking about each other A LOT.

4) Nick or Harvey: She loves them both and thinks they should be friends.

5) About Part 3: She can’t spoil, but she says there’s going be a fight in Hell for many things, but she excited for Zelda’s bit.

6) How much of the show is factoring in the books? They’ve been really good about factoring things and they’ve made up some spells together we might see in Part 3.

7) If there will be LGBT scenes: She says yes

8) How is the coven doing in Book 3 and the house being a full house: She says it’s such a full house and Zelda is tired of all of them. But Hilda is enjoying cooking for all of them. She also says the mortals and witches get to hang out. She says Harvey will make a witch friend or does he?

9) Favorite Nick and Sabrina moments? Her favorite moment is when Sabrina says she’ll do anything for love and Nick asks is he can watch. And now soon Nick’s going to see what Sabrina will do for him.

10) Should Nabrina shippers be worried about their fate in part 3 & 4: She says anyone who cares about any of these people should be worried because Hell, Prince’s of Hell, Queens of Hell and so much satan.

11) Exploration on Mary Wardwell and that she deserves love? She says she deserves love and she’s come back to a situation and maybe she’s not coping well with it.

12) If Ross will sing in Part 3, she says yes.

13) Caliban is going to be in book 3

14) If Zelda is getting a love interest, she says she deserves one and she’s excited for us to see Zelda in Part 3.

15) Theo has a POV in Book 3

16) If Nick will have some mental issues because of the Lucifer thing, she says Nick’s going to have a lot of issues. But since we last saw him she says he’s really brave and strong. And she says keep fighting Nick.

17) Mambo Marie is going to be helpful and she has very good taste

18) If there will be weird sister scenes she says yes.

19) Ambrose and Sabrina moments, she says they get reunited in Part 3 but in Book 3 Sabrina and Ambrose think about each other and Ambrose is “all I miss her and love her". And Prudence is grossed out.

20) If there is anything romantic with Caliban and Sabrina in Part 3? She says Sabrina’s very focused on Nick and Caliban doesn’t know what romance is but perhaps he could learn.

21) If book 3 will have more Nabrina scenes or a kiss between then: She says yes

22) She says it was fun to come up with Ambrose’s back story and we will get Nicks in Book 3

23) A song that reminds her about Nabrina, she says Caly rae’s Real Love

24) If part 3 will involve a lot of music, she says not to much but the mortals have a band.

25) About Sabrina being a cheerleader, yes we will see it and we will meet Lizzie the cheerleader who she really likes.

26) What song reminds her about H/S she says gateway love

27) If there are any lessons at the academy in book 3, she says that the academy is very different now.

28) Sex scenes: She says  “Whose had it, whose going to have it, who maybe wants to have it and whom might get sacrificed”

29) Book 3 we’re going to find out a lot about Nick’s mom.

30) Roz and Harvey have scenes

31) If there’s a lot of Nabrina scenes in Part 3, she says yes

32) She thinks Lillith does deserve happiness but men and men in hell are getting in the way.

33) We get to see a new side of Zelda in Part 3

34) If we meet new witches in Part 3 and Book 3, she says yes and important ghost

35) What she can say about Caliban and Sabrina, she says he does one thing that makes her really like him, but aside she’s not happy cause he’s after lilith’s job

36) About Melvin, Elspeth and Agatha, we will find out about Elspeth’s crushes on two people

37) About Harbrina and Nabrina, she likes both and she wants Sabrina to have everything she wants.

38) Hilda or Zelda, she loves them both and she needs the balance. She talks about Hilda being her favorite and she didn’t like Zelda till she realized how much Zelda really loves Sabrina.

39) If Lilith gets to to bask or or do things fall off the rails, she gets a very basking moments but everything goes off the rails all season lon.

40) Prudence and Ambrose moments in Book 3

41) No Lucifer POV in Book 3, Book 3 POV is mostly Sabrina, Nick and Lilith and little with the others

42) Where is Sabrina mentally, Sabrina is really sad and misses Nick and she’s dealing a lot with her heritage but trouble makes Sabrina even more determined.

43) If H and Sabrina will always love eachother, she says Yes but in what way

44) If Sabrina becomes more power in part 3, she says yes

45) Three words to describe Nabrina, Troubled, Dedicated and Exciting

46) If there’s hope for H/S, she said there’s always hope

47) As far as she knows Sabrina is def the dark lord’s daughter

48) About Sabrina being in a poly relationship with Harvey and Nick, she says “She hasn’t mentioned wanting that”

49) We will see or read Sabrina being sad over Nick’s absence.

50) Anything about Zelda and Hilda, she says many challenges but she feels worst for Hilda.

51) Lilith returned Sabrina’s extreme powers

52) Pambrose are basically traveling the world and there’s going to be a misunderstanding on who Prudence really likes.

53) If Nick is suffering after hell and if he’s happy with Sabrina after hell, she says everyone in stories suffer.

54) About endgame in the comics, she says something about not believing in endgame and that stories are always evolving and they should. Everything always changes

55) About if Nick will push Sabrina away in part 3, she says in book 3 Nick constantly thinking about Sabrina and the moment he fell in love with her.

56) There’s going to be some exciting stuff about Theo and was fun to write him in book 3

57) About Caliban and Nick, she says Nick’s probably like “I have enough problems. WHY?”

58) She can’t confirm if there will be a book 4

59) If someone is going to die in book 3 or season 3, she says you cant count anyone as safe and there’s important ghost in book 3

60) Mambo Marie represents a whole new type of magic and opens a lot witches in Greendale’s eyes to new things.

61) Mary’s explored in book 3

62) Harvey’s going to punch someone in the face in the season

63) If Sabrina will have Dark Sword moments, she says Sabrina is going to show a whole new sinister side to herself and we’re all going to enjoy part 3.

[thebiasrekkers]

Make It Right [BTS Mafia!AU]

Plot: “It’s always darkest before the dawn…” It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Seoul, South Korea. One has to dwell in the shadows in order to reach for the light. What are you willing to sacrifice in order to feel the sunlight on your face? What will it take to drag you back into darkness? How long will the journey be to make it right?

Rating: NC-17 // NSFW

Genre: Series | Mafia!AU | Crime!AU | Angst | Romance/Fluff | Smut

Pairings: Jin x OC | Taehyung/Hoseok x OC | Yoongi/Jungkook x OC

Warnings: Graphic Violence (bloody violence), Heavy Language, Angst, Slow Burn, Smut

Previous Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Links: FAQ || BTS Masterlist || Admin E’s AO3 || Admin E’s WP || [ REQUESTS ARE OPEN ]

Word Count: 2,089

Tag List: @prisczero​, @pinkpjmin​, @btsaudge​, @flowerwrites06​, @unoriginal-username15432, @halussali​, @shrimpmsg​​,

Chapter 43: Lost

“To lose your path is the way to find that path.”

© thebiasrekkers (Admin E). All rights reserved. Reposting/modifying our work is prohibited. Translations are not allowed. Plagiarism/stealing is not tolerated by any means. Legal action will be taken in instances of theft.

Four Years Ago Seoul – Itaewon; Yongsan District South Korea

Blood.

There was blood in the water.

Jimin looked like he crawled out of a mountain of pig guts, blood smears littering his face and neck. Droplets of crimson dripped from his earlobe as an angry red trail wept from a cut under his eye. Another slash decorated the bridge of his nose and he reached up to wipe at it. His fingers and hand were completely coated in red – scarlet trails dripping down his forearm and staining his shirt.

A shaky hand moved to turn the faucet off; barely aware that the water was spilling from the sink and onto the floor. It sloshed over his sneakers, soaking his shoelaces and creeping into his socks. He barely noticed as he slowly dipped his hands into the overflowing bowl of porcelain. The water turned an even deeper shade of pink and orange, growing opaque to where Jimin could no longer see his hands inside the bowl.

Water continued to slip onto the floor as he moved his wrists methodically, cleaning his hands as best he could. His eyes lingered on the dirty faucet nozzle until they shifted to spy his rosary bracelet on the edge of the dingy porcelain mouth. The silver cross glinted under the artificial light that barely encompassed the room, reflecting the pale green tiling that covered the room from ceiling to floor.

The light in the room blinked rapidly, spazzing out in time with the flash of lightning that brightened the dark and stormy world outside of the bathroom. Every so often, he was plunged in darkness – depriving him of the image of his horrible visage reflecting back at him in the mirror.

But even in the dark, Jimin could see everything.

He could see the body hunched over by the urinals, his neck spurting out blood like a fountain. His arm was twisted back, dislocated until it was eventually snapped in an unnatural way. Blood turned the man’s once white shirt completely red as thick rivers of it pooled from his lips.

An arm peeked out from underneath one of the stalls, the fingers attached to the hand all broken. There was a knife sticking out from the back of the hand as blood blossomed across the tile floor. Near the arm and between the person by the urinals was another body lying face down with one of his arms pulled behind him. There was a white item protruding from one of the shoulders, tearing through the jacket, and upon closer inspection, one would know that it was a broken bone pierced through skin and fabric.

Removing his hands from the pale red water and scooping up his rosary, Jimin shook the moisture from his hands and pivoted on his heels as he slowly wiped his palms down the backs of his pants. Another flash of lightning brightened the room, the clap of thunder rumbling the building and causing bits of plaster to crumble from the ceiling. Jimin crouched down to remove his knife from the man’s neck, more blood spurting out until the fountain grew smaller. Jimin wiped the blade over the man’s clothes to clean it off.

Flicking the blade closed, he slid it into the inside pocket of his blazer. Stepping over the man on the floor, he fished in his pocket for his handkerchief and began to wipe at the blood that was still on his neck while looking over his handiwork. It could have been handled a little less recklessly, but Jimin was forced into a small space and dealing with a trio of idiots who believed they had even a snowball’s chance in being able to go toe-to-toe with him.

Their biggest mistake? Listening to a jealous master who wanted Hoseok dead.

A phone buzzed with life and he paused, silencing his own breath so he could hear where the noise was coming from. He entered the stall and removed the phone from the man’s pocket whose neck he’d broken, spying at the screen. Jimin gently pushed the man off the toilet, dropping the phone into the bowl without hesitation. He watched it continue to ring until the water seeped into the grooves and openings of the device, causing the screen to blink wildly before it finally faded to black.

Pulling his own phone out, he dialed a number and pressed the phone to his face; making sure that it was the cheek he’d just cleaned off. They answered in three rings.

“It’s me,” he said softly, stepping over the bodies as he made for the door, “it’s done.”

The other person spoke and this caused Jimin to smirk.

“Just bring the cleaners here, Hyung. They’ll take care of the rest.”

He opened the door, scooping up his rosary beads off the sink and slipping them into his pocket.

“This will make them think twice before trying to come after you again.”

Jimin shut the door behind him as he hung up the phone, straightening his jacket and slicking his hair back off his forehead. The old building was barely anything to look at, which made the entire situation ideal for this sort of thing. His small group that waited for him bowed to him and he tossed the knife and dirty handkerchief to one of them.

“Get rid of those,” Jimin said, his voice cold.

The young man nodded, wrapping the items and then tossing them into a nondescript plastic bag.

“The talk didn’t go well?” he asked and Jimin grinned.

“It went as I thought it would.”

The man nodded, the others following on either side of him.

“They should have just listened to you in the first place. Then they wouldn’t have gone out that way.” Jimin cast a sideways glance toward the young man. “Because you’re The Crimson Claw, right?”

“Wrong.”

The man peered up at him, his expression clearly showcasing his confusion.

“I had no intentions of talking whatsoever. Because I am The Crimson Claw.”

Present Day Seoul – Cheongdam; Gangnam District South Korea

Jimin took a deep breath, his hands balled into fists at his thighs. His thumb slowly rotated over the rosary beads, completely in sync with his heartbeat. He mentally counted back from thirty. Thirty seconds; thirty beats of his heart. The world was silent in the small enclosure as tiny slivers of light broke through the small holes around the wooden box. The burgundy curtain of velvet brushed against his knuckles, providing a small sense of relief from the suffocation that threatened to overtake him.

The latch across from him loosened as the door opened. Light flooded in from the other side of the diamond grating separating him from the man who was adjusting himself in his seat. When the door closed, they were once again plunged into darkness. Jimin released the air trapped in his lungs, the hand holding the rosary moving to form the sign of the cross in front of him before clasping his fingers together in a sign of prayer.

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My last confession was three years and six months ago.”

There was a pregnant pause, threatening to swallow Jimin up completely. He took another breath, the sweat tingeing his brows as his chestnut fringe clung to his forehead. Jimin felt the priest’s eyes watching him through the grating and he attempted to swallow the lump in his throat. A part of him felt like he was being judged, but wasn’t that expected? It should have been. If it wasn’t, then Jimin judged himself in the stead of his Savior.

“Go on, My Child,” urged the priest gently.

He tried to wet his lips as he floundered for the words. Jimin cleared his throat as he attempted to formulate his sentences, his hands trembling. He shut his eyes tightly, his mouth forming into a thin line. He knew the priest was waiting for him to continue, but inwardly he wanted nothing more than to run from that small enclosure.

It felt like the weight of his sins would crush him.

“I’m a Christian, Father, but we believe in The Almighty and his Grace. Prayer alone cannot save me, but I feel that simply writing things down in a journal could hardly be enough to absolve me of my sins.” The words were less heavy on his tongue and he pressed his back against the wall. “The Blood of Christ has granted me penance. I know this. But I am afraid, Father, of the wrongs I have done in order to secure the futures of my brothers and myself.”

When he opened his eyes again, they quickly adjusted to the darkness; he was used to this. It was the sunlight that hurt his eyes and made it difficult to see.

Old memories flooded his mind, reminding him of the past and of the blood he shed. The metallic taste and coppery odor seemed permanently stuffed in his nostrils back then. His hand was often forced during encounters when he donned the mask of the Golden Jackals’ liaison. It was his job to speak to others in various districts, warning them that despite being a new group and former Jade Fang members, they were not to be trifled with.

They would do things fairly and if that fairness was ever challenged, then it was Jimin’s job to pass the message along in other ways. He was given the name Crimson Claw because he had no issues cutting anyone down that dared to impede his brothers’ paths to success and good fortune. He was merciless when it came to anyone he cared for.

This same mercilessness existed quietly in his heart even when they all lived their simple, country lives in Hwaseong. It was the reason why Jimin was the last to arrive in Seoul after Namjoon made his offer to come back with him to the big city – to reach into the dark and dirty underworld and pull out a flawless diamond. Jimin’s life was his family’s bakery and it was always assumed he would take over. He could never admit to how easy it was for him to embrace the life that Namjoon and the others were suggesting they attempt to live.

Because he didn’t want to show how simple it was for him to smile in that chaotic world. He didn’t want to worry his brothers, or even scare them away. He was more afraid of losing them than he was of losing himself.

Jimin understood the true depth of his heart better than anyone. Because he was a sinner; he bathed in the sin and wore it like a badge of pride. He had no problem hurting anyone if it meant protecting the people who meant the most to him.

He would become the devil himself.

What worried Jimin now wasn’t the storm that was coming. What concerned him was the possibility of losing himself along the way.

“I have hurt people. I have ruined people. We all have. But I cannot confess their sins for them. I can only speak of my own.” He squeezed his fingers tightly together, the beads of the rosary scraping against each other. “I know I cannot bear their sins on my shoulders, but I desperately want to, Father. My brothers are good people; good men. They deserve all the wonderful things this life has to offer to them.”

“You are very kind-hearted, My Child,” spoke the priest, causing Jimin to look up at him, “and God sees that. He knows what lies in your heart every waking moment of your life.”

“If that’s true, Father,” Jimin whispered, “then he knows I’m beyond saving. I’m okay with that, I am.”

“You’re alright with being outside of the realm of redemption?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I’ve found my place in the shadows and I will do everything, anything I can, to keep my brothers in the light.”

Jimin peered down at his hands to look at the sterling silver cross dangling from the rosary beads.

“Forever.”

[whiskynottea]

An Interruption in the 1st Law of Thermodynamics.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 21, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24, Chapter 25, Chapter 26, Chapter 27,  Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30, Chapter 31, Chapter 32, Chapter 33, Chapter 34, Chapter 35,  Chapter 36, Chapter 37, Chapter 38, Chapter 39, Chapter 40, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, Chapter 44,  Chapter 45, Chapter 46, Chapter 47, Chapter 48, Chapter 49, Chapter 50, Chapter 51 Chapter 52, Chapter 53

AO3

Beta-d, as always, by @theministerskat! Thank you, love!

Chapter 54. Counting Days

There is a subtle feeling of trespassing, wrapping itself around your heart and squeezing lightly, when you step into someone’s empty bedroom. A feeling strong enough to make your breath come slow and heavy, your feet tread with caution, not to disturb the spirit of the absent owner. As if your own body marks you as an intruder and tries to make your presence subtle, even though your rebel hands leave invisible fingerprints on every surface, proof of a long-lost innocence.

I was sitting on Jamie’s bed, looking around, feeling the emotions rising in my chest.

I was in his room. His bed, his books, his posters on the walls.

And yet, I wasn’t home.

This couldn’t be home without him. It couldn’t be home without his clothes neatly hanging in the closet. The air felt empty of laughter, the sheets immaculate and wrinkless underneath my fingers. No one would whisper dreams and stories to me when I’d lay down at night.

“Are ye going to sit there all day, lost in your ominous thoughts?” Jenny’s stern voice came from the door, and I turned to look at her without knowing the answer to her question, or how she had deduced the nature of my thoughts.

I hadn’t seen Jamie in months, and though I always missed him, I had never felt his absence drive into me like a knife through my chest. Never, until the moment I entered his room and realized I would be sleeping in his bed without his breath on my neck, without his arms around me. It didn’t feel right.

“Claire!” Jenny’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts once more. “Stop it! I’m not letting you stay here, with that morose look on your face, staring at Jamie’s stuff.” She looked at me through narrowed eyes, both hands fixed on her hips. “The best Fraser is here, anyway,” she added with a light shrug and a wink. “No?”

“Your Da, you mean?” I teased her, and couldn’t stop my smirk as I saw both her eyebrows rise.

“I should leave you here, crying over the shirts Jamie left behind.” She wore a smug grin and tilted her head towards the stairs. “Come! I’ve made tea.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot how tea is a synonym for panacea.”

She stopped just outside the room and turned to look at me, squaring her shoulders. “What kind of Englishwoman are you?” she challenged me with mock offence.

Avoiding her sharp glance, I rose and walked to the door. One Fraser was always better than none. And even though I felt like curling up in Jamie’s room and being miserable, arguing with Jenny Fraser required more energy than I had.

--

Sleeping in Jamie’s bed without him was not as horrible as I had thought. We talked every night until I fell asleep, and I carried his voice with me in my dreams. It was enough to make me wake with a smile on my face.

Days raced by, as they always did when I stayed at Lallybroch. Between texting and calling Jamie, studying to be prepared for medical school, reading classic literature with Jenny, and choosing between her endless versions of labels for Lallider -- the Lallybroch cider she and Ian had made over the previous months -- there was hardly any time to think about how quickly the days were passing.

I had missed Jenny. Her warm smile when she listened to my stories from Zambia, her crude tone when she decided I had talked with Jamie enough and it was time for us to go for drinks, her loud laughter when she had more than two pints, and the hugs she gave me every time she suspected I might be feeling lonely.

When I was a little girl, I always tried to imagine how my life would be if I had siblings. Someone to talk to late at night, someone to conspire with when Lamb couldn’t hear us, someone to hold my hand when I was afraid. Someone who would be there, and I wouldn’t be alone.

Jenny and I might not build fortresses or climb trees together, but I had found my sister in her. And I knew she would be there for me, no matter what happened between her brother and me.

Not that I planned to let anything ruin my relationship with Jamie. Now that we could call each other every day, his only complaint was that we were all together at Lallybroch, and he alone in Ann Arbor. Alone as a figure of speech, because he was never really by himself, what with John, Hector, and the other members of the swim team going out or gathering at their dorm. He still proclaimed that we shouldn’t have fun without him though, and kept sending pouty faces every time I sent him selfies from our nights out in Inverness. At the end of the night, however, when I saw his eyes smiling at me through the screen, we would count down the days together until his return to Scotland.

As Jamie’s arrival approached, I started researching destinations in Scotland, wanting to spend a few days alone with him. I had been almost sure he’d be as excited as I was when I proposed the idea of a road trip to the north, without plans or itinerary, when I got Jamie’s text rejecting my idea.

Scot: You haven’t had enough of Scotland already, Sassenach?

Sassenach: I’ve never been to the North Coast! I saw pictures and there are so many places to visit! Jenny told me you traveled there with your parents, when you were children. Do you remember anything?

Scot: It was green.

Sassenach: 🙄

Scot: Okay, yes, I remember. Wide beaches, the ocean, rivers running down emerald hills, Highland coos. That’s all.

Sassenach: Well, that sounds GREAT! It’s enough for me!

Scot: Not for me. It will be tiring. And I doubt we’ll find rooms to stay.

Sassenach: FFS

“Well, that’s a twisted face, if I’ve ever seen one,” Jenny remarked as she came to sit on the bench next to me, a sheen of sweat appearing on her forehead from the shining sun.

I huffed. “It’s your brother, you know. The beginning of all evil in my life.”

Jenny laughed, blue eyes crinkling with mirth. “What did he do, now?”

“I suggested we travel for a few days, go to the North Coast. But he doesn’t want to.”

“Oh.” Jenny averted her eyes, looking far at the hills hiding the horizon. “He must have missed Lallybroch. Not that he’ll ever admit it.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought, too,” I agreed, then took in her rosy cheeks and short breaths. “And where have you been?”

“Wi’ Ian,” she replied, simply, and I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.

“We were examining the trees at the orchard, if you need to know,” she exclaimed indignantly.

“Oh, I’m sure you did.”

Jenny pursed her lips ready to reply when my phone buzzed with a picture of Jamie sending kisses, probably feeling guilty for turning down my suggestion of a week of summer holidays alone.

“So how are things between you?” Jenny bumped into my shoulder with hers, wisely changing the subject as she turned her eyes away from my phone. “With the distance and everything?” A playful smile was on her lips, but her eyes were serious, inquisitive.

“It’s… Okay.” I took a moment before I continued, my fingers trailing on the bluebells of my necklace. I had replied to the same question hundreds of times, but I couldn’t give a superficial answer to Jenny. “It’s not okay, actually,” I chuckled nervously, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. I rubbed my hands together, interlinked the fingers to keep them from moving, then crossed my legs before I untangled them again.  “But we make do,” I asserted, nodding to myself.

Jenny studied me, then made a strange noise in her throat. “I haven’t seen ye fight. Do ye? Did you get distant?” she asked, now straddling the bench to look straight at me.

“No, no. Nothing of the sort. It’s just… I miss him, you know? I want to share things with him and he’s not here. So I end up texting him and sending pictures with the most trivial things. He does the same.”

Jenny nodded, frowning. “It’s working, though.” She smirked, her gaze falling on my phone again. “Ye may seem ridiculous, and trust me ye do, but ye have kept your lives together even though you’re not in the same place.”

“I guess so.” I gave her a timid smile. “I know that sending him a picture of my meal is stupid, but then he sends me his and I feel connected to him, somehow. It’s not like eating lunch together as we did at school, but it’s something.”

Jenny nodded, and we kept silent for a long while.

“You know,” she started, running her fingers through her sleek black hair and fixing them up into a ponytail. “After Christmas, when Jamie and I came back at Lallybroch with Ian, I went through this phase when I all I could think was, ‘That’s it. That is all I’ll ever have.’ I was with Ian, whom I knew my whole life, and we would go to uni together and I would always be with him. And it scared me, realizing that.”

I turned to look at her, this girl that never stopped surprising me. I had been in Edinburgh back then, and I would never have imagined Jenny having second thoughts about Ian.

“I mean…” she continued, rushing to explain when she saw my confusion. “I grew up in a small place and Ian had always been there. I don’t remember myself without Ian around. We were kids when we got together, that summer when he kissed me, and it had felt like the most natural thing in the world. Then, I saw you and Jamie getting separated by an ocean I wondered what my life would be if I wasn’t with Ian. If I would be the same person, if I would be different. If I would study abroad, not having Ian to keep me in Edinburgh.”

“Did you want to?” I asked. “Did you want to leave Scotland?”

Jenny sighed, and a soft smile curled her lips up. “No, not really. It didn’t take me long to realize I am the person I want to be when I am with Ian. He smooths my edges. He makes me laugh. He understands me even when I don’t understand myself. I grew up with him and I know now that I want to grow old with him. To live with him by my side. To share the journey.”

I nodded, smiling as I took in the beauty of her conviction. “Sometimes I wonder whether things would be easier if I hadn’t met Jamie when I did,” I confessed as the sun dove lower, kissing the top of the hills. “If I met him after university, after we’d done all we needed to do. Maybe everything would flow then, and we would be together without the distance between us.”

“But if so, you might have never met him.”

“I know,” I agreed, seeing how pointless that route of thought was. “And that’s why I don’t regret having to live through this. Because I have him, right? I still have him, even though he’s miles away.” Tears welled up in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, and I felt Jenny’s arms around me, pulling me closer to her. I hadn’t told a soul about these thoughts. Not even Jamie. I cried harder.

“Ye have him and he has you. You went to bloody Zambia and the two of you stayed together. You’re strong, Claire.” She ran her hands against my back, her words as soothing as her caress.

“I know. It’s not rational, this fear that I’ll lose him. We talk every day, we share everything.”

“You love each other, silly! That’s enough.”

“We do,” I admitted, brushing tears away.

“I won’t let him hurt you. And I won’t let you hurt him, okay?” Jenny kissed my cheek as if to emphasize the love in her words. “I promise. I’m the wise one, after all.”

“Right,” I laughed, and hugged her tight.

--

Three weeks at Lallybroch were more than I had initially planned, but they still weren’t enough. A sunny Sunday morning, however, I kissed Jenny, hugged Ian and Brian, and took the train back to Edinburgh. Lamb would start his sabbatical a few weeks after I left for Oxford, and we wanted to spend time together before Jamie returned from the States.

It felt like our days in Egypt, when the two of us had stayed home drinking tea and Lamb filled my imagination with stories of broken artefacts that made his eyes glint with excitement, revealing ancient civilizations and Gods who lost their power when people found new ones to grant their wishes. Those quiet afternoons when he’d tried to show me the internal need humans have to be remembered, the necessity to leave something behind, stronger than flesh and bones. But now I was the one telling the stories, and they were not tales of the past. I was sharing stories of the present, of people who were living and breathing the same moment we did, but Lamb would only meet through my eyes. I talked about their lives, their families, our differences and similarities, of the way they changed who I was and made me a better person. Of the way I might have affected them, too. Lamb was the best audience I could ever ask for, his proud smile and kind eyes filling my heart with joy.

When Lamb wasn’t at home, I found myself strolling around in the city. Edinburgh was different in summer, its streets full of cheerful tourists wandering, standing to listen the bagpipers on the streets or heading towards the castle and the palace. Some days I let my feet take me wherever they would, only to find that I subconsciously visited the places I walked to with Jamie. More than once I ended up at Calton Hill, watching the city with my hair dancing on the breeze, and I could almost feel Jamie’s long fingers tucking the errant curls behind my ear, his hand lingering on my neck as he leaned in for a kiss. And some days, when the sun hit my face long enough, I could almost feel his smile -- warm, full and gentle. As if pieces of our soul were interwoven with this place, making it ours no matter how far apart our bodies were. As if my brain refused to take in the surrounding without conjuring memories of him.

I was sitting on our bench at Calton Hill when Jamie sent a picture of his sleepy face, right after he’d woken. The text came seconds later.  

Scot: One. More. Day.

Sassenach: Less than 24 hours!

The following morning, 22 hours after I’d left Calton Hill, I was waiting with my luggage at arrivals, ready to go back to Lallybroch. It required a humongous amount of strength to stop cracking my knuckles and keep my legs from bouncing.  

His flight had arrived ten minutes ago. People came rushing by me, tourists looking for the information desk, Scots searching for their families and friends.

I thought I would count the days, the months, I had been away from him while waiting. I didn’t -- couldn’t. My mind was blank, as though primed to create new memories.

And then, as I thought my heart would give way from overworking, I spotted him. Tall, red curls falling against his forehead, blue eyes looking around -- searching for me.

My gaze met his and I started walking towards him before I realized it. It was different than our first reunion. I had felt consumed by his presence, then. We had kissed with all the desperation and elation of our passion. Now I wanted to hold him, to get lost in him, to feel his heart beating as I lay my head against his chest.

I didn’t know how long we were hugging for after I crashed against him. How long we were kissing, after his lips found mine. How long we kept still in each others arms, reluctant to let go as if someone would pull us apart. Finally, I took a step back and smiled at the grin lighting his face.

“Come on,” I said, taking his hand in mine and reaching for my luggage with the other. “We have a train to catch.” It was exactly what he’d said to me, when I arrived in Detroit.

His grin grew wider. “I don’t think so, Sassenach.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning, as I turned back to look at him.

“Well,” he blushed. I hadn’t seen Jamie blush in a long while. He ran a hand through his curls and smiled again. “The first time I texted you --”

“Can’t we talk about this on the train? We’re going to be late!” I interrupted him, and he sighed theatrically.

“No. Now listen, will you?”

I looked at him through narrowed eyes but didn’t speak again.

“As I was saying, the first time I texted you, you told me that your favorite food is mushroom risotto, and then ye promised ye would escape with me. First destination…” He squeezed my hand in his, looking at me expectantly.

“Paris,” I whispered, recalling our conversation almost two years ago, and watched him pull out two plane tickets from his backpack.

“Paris,” he confirmed, waving the tickets in the limited space between us. “A week, just the two of us.”

I gasped. If I had any air left in my lungs I was sure it would leave my body in a scream. Instead, I stood there, stupefied, looking at him.

“We’re going to Paris?” I asked, at last, stupidly.

“We are, babe. We’re leaving in two hours.”

Before he could say one more word, I took his face in my hands and kissed him. It wasn’t an easy kiss, given that my mouth would not comply since I couldn’t stop grinning.

Chapter 55

[dinosaurs-last-day]

I was thinking 1 through 70, but I realize it's a lot. How about just 1 and 70 to let you off easy 😊❤️.

Nah, you asked for 1 through 70 and I am always up for a challenge. I’m going to do that now! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED YAY!

Plus, I love how you saw the list and though “ALL OF THEM!” I really made me laugh. Thank you for that.

here we go!

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Not really. I mean, we get along and we try not to fight. But we have very different beliefs on very big topics, so I have to keep that to myself. They definatly have their faults and it definately affected my childhood and our relationship. In the future, after I move out, I will distance myself from the a lot, but I hope that I won’t have to cut them out. 

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? 

My little brother. He’s adorable.

03: Do you regret anything? 

So many things, I could write a book about my regrets. 

04: Are you insecure? 

Very, I’m insecure about almost everything. Ask literally anyone close to me and they will tell you. 

05: What is your relationship status? 

Single, single, single. And at this point in life, with all of my past relationships, I doubt I will even consider a relationship for a long while. Too much pain and fear for rejection and that type of stuff.

06: How do you want to die?

Honestly, I think it would be cool to die from alcohol poisoning or something like that. But if we are being realistic, any way that isn’t painful, like in my sleep.

 07: What did you last eat? 

a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

08: Played any sports?

In the past, I have played both baseball and softball on teams. I haven’t played any sports in the past 8-9 years and I doubt I will any time soon.

 09: Do you bite your nails?

nope, never did. 

 10: When was your last physical fight? 

My dad and I will roughhouse a lot. I tend to stay away from real physical fights. 

11: Do you like someone? 

I do like someone. Sadly, that didn’t work out and I am currently trying to figure out how to get over her.

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?

Yes. I have gone to multiple youth group all nighters where they lock you in a building and give you a bunch of stuff to do so that you don’t sleep. I’ve done it three times and have never lost it. 

 13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 

I mean, I always hate myself, does that count? Honestly, a little. For almost a year now, I’ve hated this girl who was talking shit about me because she heard a rumor and decided to hate me. I’ve mostly gotten over it, but I still really don’t like this girl.

14: Do you miss someone?

@trixxyneko. I miss her a lot. 

 15: Have any pets?

Does a little brother count? No, I do not. My family rents a house and our landlord says no pets. We almost adopted a dog that broke into our house, but we couldn’t because of the landlord.

 16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?

Tired, sore.

 17: Ever made out in the bathroom?

Made out, yes. In a bathroom, nope. 

 18: Are you scared of spiders? 

Not really. I don’t like them and think they are creepy, but I wouldn’t say that I am scared of them. 

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? 

Depends on where I was allowed to go back in time. Plus, do I have to sit back and watch for fear of ruining the timeline, or can I participate? These are all questions I would want answers to before making that decision. 

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

At a party, a year and a half ago.

 21: What are your plans for this weekend?

watch anime. Quarantined rn, so not much to do.

 22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

I want to adopt one kid. Maybe two depending on where I am and life and who I marry. 

 23: Do you have piercings? How many? 

Only regular earring piercings, but I want more.

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? 

Best subject is probably math. Even though I hate math...

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

not really. I can’t think of anyone. I’ve had to say goodbye to a lot of people because I move a lot. But if I’m super close to someone, I will stay in touch one way or another. 

 26: What are you craving right now?

chocolate

 27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? 

I wouldn’t say BROKEN, but I have broken up with a dude who followed me around like a puppy dog. He fine tho, at least, that’s what I’ve been told. 

28: Have you ever been cheated on? 

no.

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

I don’t think so, I hope not.

 30: What’s irritating you right now?

This virus and the quarantine. Usually, I stay inside on my own accord, but I hate the fact that my choice has been taken away. I understand why, and I agree, but it does cramp my style. 

 31: Does somebody love you?

I doubt it. I’m a potato and if someone loved me, I’d call them crazy and insane.

 32: What is your favorite color?

I love blues, specifically aquamarine, gray, and purple. 

 33: Do you have trust issues?

Yes. I have had a good number of bad friendships that have given me trust issues. 

 34: Who/what was your last dream about? 

I don’t really dream, and if I do, I forget it immediately, so idk...

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? 

My mirror. Honestly, I cried watching RWBY a few weeks ago, so my siblings.

36: Do you give out second chances too easily? 

Yeah, I trust people even when they don’t really earn that trust. And for me, that means believing that people will change even if they don’t. 

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?

Forgive. I very much live by the forgive but don’t forget thing. It’s not that I try to remember, I just have a really good memory.

 38: Is this year the best year of your life?

Absolutely not. I look around at what is happening in both the entire world and my personal life, and I feel despair. 

 39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? 

14 years old.

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 

NO. I have no self confidence, I can’t even walk around my house without two or three layers of clothing on and be comfortable. 

51: Favorite food? 

PICKLES and ICE CREAM. But not together, that’s gross. 

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

Yes, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to live in this chaos. I have to believe in that for my own sanity. 

 53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?

Read fanfiction.

 54: Is cheating ever okay?

No. What type of question is that? Cheating is never okay. If you enter a relationship, you are dedicating yourself to that person until you two break up, if you do that. If you want to be with someone else, you need to leave the relationship you are already in.

 55: Are you mean? 

I don’t think so. I can be mean at times, but I am not mean in the sense that I get joy from it and am mean regularly. 

56: How many people have you fist fought? 

zero. again, i don’t like fighting.

57: Do you believe in true love?

yes, I do. 

 58: Favorite weather? 

rain. 

59: Do you like the snow? 

yeah, but I don’t see it often. I could probably count the times I’ve played in snow on one hand.

60: Do you wanna get married? 

yes.

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?

Depends on my relationship with them. I have been called babe by dudes hitting on me and I hate that. But if it is someone I am close to, I don’t see why not, it’s them trying to show affection. though why they would like me is beyond me

 62: What makes you happy?

fandoms, music.

 63: Would you change your name?

maybe. I’ve thought about it, a lot. 

 64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?

YES, VERY HARD. Let’s just say that the last time I kissed someone, I wasn’t in the best mental health place and them giving me attention felt good. Looking back, they aren’t a good person and I hate myself for falling for all that. 

 65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? 

Seeing as how I am a lesbian, I’d tell them that I’m not interested, but I would love to still be their friend.

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? 

Yeah. He’s amazing. We both have crackhead energy, though he has more of it. 

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?

Same friend as the last question. We texted last night in a group chat.

 68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

My discord server and I have had a few deep conversations. I’d say them. 

 69: Do you believe in soulmates? 

I don’t really know. I guess? Yeah, I do. 

70: Is there anyone you would die for?

All of my close friends.

Welp, that’s done. Thank you so much for the laugh and the questions. I hope these answers of satisfying and if they arent, oh well. 

[rangerslayer-97]

I'm in a bad mood so I figured I'd send you a character for the character question thing. Maybe that will cheer me up. Lets see... I choose: Asajj Ventress

Asajj Ventress AKA: the Hairless Harpy. Quite a tricky one, but I revel in a challenge. Expect some honesty here.

First impression

Don’t think I got major first impressions off Asajj when she was first shown. Sure, she was a pretty darn good duellist, an expert at Jar’Kai and being a former Jedi gave her a niche.

The first time I was introduced to Asajj was actually in the 2D show Star Wars Clone Wars which is deemed Legends continuity. However, she didn’t live long and actually died at the hands of Anakin Skywalker.

Impression now

Ventress got a pretty good character growth in Filoni’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars and learning more about her past, which sets her apart from her Legends counterpart (though Legends is complicated itself cause it went through a few rewrites itself). She’s a likable character, did help Ahsoka in a roundabout way, but again, she sadly died saving Quinlan Vos from Count Dooku in the novel The Dark Disciple.

Favorite moment

Because I didn’t watch a lot of scenes with Ventress in it, it’s pretty hard to tell my favourite moment of her. I think a good moment for her is what some people call “The Kiss of Death”. I can’t recall outright which episode it was in, but it led to a few eyebrows raised. She basically Force Pulled a Clone Trooper towards her, stabbed him and left a parting kiss before he succumbed to his wounds.

Idea for a story

Hm… there was an odd reason I kind of avoided including Ventress in my stories directly other than the parting mention. Unlike the rest of the characters, I haven’t done enough reading or watched enough videos to be able to accurately convey her character and attitude in writing. If I was to work with her in canon, there’s not much I could do cause she dies in 19 BBY, a few months before Order 66 breaks out. 

If I decided to change up her story and say, involve her in Galaxy-38, according to Legends she was born between 43-39 BBY; so she would certainly be alive during Véurr’s early establishment of the Eternal Empire II. One part of Ventress, now living on Dathomir with the Nightsister clan would be one part shocked that Tano has fallen so far into the Dark Side. The other part of her would prepare her home to go to war when she realises how much of a threat Empress Véurr is. Funny how I made zero mention of Dathomir.

Unpopular opinion

Honestly? I don’t have an unpopular opinion of her. I just don’t know Ventress well enough to even have one. Sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite relationship

Ventress isn’t one for making friendships, nevermind relationships. Albeit, with the little reading I have done on her, there was some kind of spark between her and Vos. That’s all I have to say.

Favorite headcanon

Truthfully, once again, I don’t know enough about the character to even make up a headcanon.

Apologies if my answers seem sort of… incomplete. I truly don’t know enough about her character in either Legends or Canon continuity. I hope my answers are sufficing enough XD

[until-theend-oftheline]

Kari’s Tom Hardy Writing Challenge

Since I am not hosting a quickie challenge this month I decided to try and do something different. This challenge is dedicated to the awesomeness that’s Tom Hardy. I picked a few of my favorite characters of his you can choose to write for - or you can do a rpf. If that sounds like something you might find fun - keep reading :D

Due Date: April 2nd (don’t worry about timezone. As long as it’s the 2nd somewhere it counts.)

Word min: 500 words

Word Max: 5k words

Style: It can be a drabble, one shot or beginning of a series. Do not put in in the middle of an ongoing series since I plan on reading them and don’t want to read 10 parts of something to understand the entry. If you create a series only part one has to be posted before the due date.

Fandom: Tom Hardy

Will you read and reblog my fic?

You betcha :D I am behind on reading for previous challenges so patience is a virtue here

When Do I Post?

Right now. Sign Ups start now and ends when there are no more prompts or when the due date rolls around

Genre: Anything you want. You have to be over 18 if you write smut and you always have to warn accordingly! Fluff, angst, AUs and crack are all welcome. I prefer none AUs - so fics that take place in the cinematic universe the character you choose is from. I don’t wanna limit you here though so if AU is what floats your boat, make it AU.

Limits on what you can write: No Mommy/daddy kinks, no non/dub con, no A/B/O, no merpeople. No underage. No incest or selfcest. No half animal anything please. No glorification on cheating(it’s okay as a plot device but use it with thought), no wife, s/o (even exes) or actor hate in rpfs! No monster or tentacle porn in Eddie Brock and/or Venom fics - if you got any questions at any time feel free to send me an ask,

Format: State in your A/N that it is for my (until-theend-oftheline) Kari’s Tom Hardy Challenge. And use the # Kari’s Tom Hardy Challenge in the first 5 tags.

Pairing and word count also have to be easy to spot in your header!

Submit: After you posted on tumblr you have to add yourself and your fic to this doc.  If you don’t do this you will not be added to the masterlist I create when the challenge is over. If you got questions - just ask :D

Doc link it case tumblr is an ass: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y_FzXxeqyJZI7bPvv4KLzJlok_jq47DZHeLyUVr_AcQ/edit?usp=sharing

How do I join?

You pick a quote (all are something either Tom or one of his characters said) and a pairing off the list. Send me the prompt number along with a backup just in case and your pairing of choice. ASKS ONLY!! REPLIES, REBLOGS AND IMS WILL BE IGNORED!

There are no limits on the pairings but I only allow 1 person per prompt so think before you sign up. If you don’t think you will be doing it then don’t take the spot from someone else. For now 1 person can sign up 2 times (one prompt per story).

All pairings must be x reader or OC or general fics:

Tom Hardy (rpf)

Reggie Kray

Alfie Solomons

James Delaney

Eddie Brock (you can use venom but no monster porn!)

Max

Forrest Bondurant

Eames

Prompts:

1 “That’s simple really. I just left him in a hole. The rest is history.” @erak-w (Alfie Solomons) 

2 “What on earth are you on about?” @thatfanficstuff (Alfie Solomons)

3 “I’m singing right now on the inside. I’m dancing as well a little bit.” @marvelgirl7 (Eddie Brock)

4 “I like dogs more than people. Apart from the select few who I see as dogs.”

5 “Yes I was. Actually yes I was. Yes. Yeah. I can’t say anything about that.”

6 “I had no idea what we were doing. But I know it was awesome.”

7 “Put that in the swag pile”

8 “It’s quite hard to be Taboo when you got your hands tied. But it shouldn’t be. Paradoxically.”

9 “I’m gonna drink from a very small cup”

10 “We know it’s a drama cause I got my arse out”

11 “He’ll wake up. Granted he won’t have any teeth but he’ll be a wiser man for it” @queen-of-the-avengers (Tom Hardy)

12 “Who fights by the sword fucking dies by it”

13 “You can leave if you need to go to the little boys room or something” @seeingthestarsmakesmedream (Eddie Brock)

14 “Intelligence is a very valuable thing innit my friend? Usually it comes far too late.”

15 “There we must go we who wander this Wasteland, in search of our better selves.”

16 Hope is a mistake. If you can’t fix what’s broken you go insane”

17 “I tell myself they can’t touch me. They are long dead” @docharleythegeekqueen  (Eddie Brock)

18 “It’s not the violence that sets men apart. It’s the distance he is willing to go”

19 “We are survivors. We control our fear. Without fear we are as good as dead”

20 “We lay down for nobody”

21 “Patience doesn’t get you what you want”

22 “I’m not being funny here but the thought of you mom answering that door is a bit shocking so...”

23 “You want me to deliver it? I ain't going for that door”

25 “Nonono let him in. He’s only little”

26 “You musn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger darling”

27 “You’re still working with that stick in the mud”

28 “Your condescension is as always much appreciated. Thank you.”

29 “Arrgh! Who said that?”

30 “Again? You’re gonna get me killed”

31 “No! We do not eat policemen”

32 “Don’t go around the back of the telly without you mom and dad watching you or touch any wires or look for a door”

33 “Making the effort to be good is really really important. But being yourself is more important.” @sillesworldofwriting (Eddie Brock)

34 “Leave me or take me. I’m a bag of twiglets. What’s up?!”

35 “She seems like the princess. In a nice way”

36 “Love all things unless it’s coming at you mate. In which case despatch it with the love.”

37 “I’m not really good with heights” @queen-of-the-avengers (Eddie Brock)

38 “I have a parasite”

39 “This is dead. Dead!” @becs-bunker (Eddie Brock)

40 “It’s a term of endearment” @until-theend-oftheline (Eddie Brock)

Challenge tags

@ifyougetkilled-walk-it-off @captain-rogers-beard @dolphinpink310 @grace-for-sale @docharleythegeekqueen @rebelslicious @thorne93 @hillywooddestiel @peterman-parker @queen-of-deans-booty @acreativelydifferentlove @emilyevanston @blacktithe7 @becs-bunker @roxyspearing @blacktithe7 @cassiefanfic @readitandweepfics @kayla-of-shield @fangirlextraordinaire @thatfanficstuff @danijimenezv @hopes-archer @marvelentertainment_madam08 @averyrogers83 @thelookingglassalice @slowlywithfreedom

[idk-i-want-mcl-content]

For the funsies

1. Barbie, Amino de Corazón de Melón de 2016 and game sites like Club Penguin.

2.

3. Barbie Princess Charm School, Coraline and Encanto.

4. All the nicknames I have for my little sister are inside jokes.

5. I wanted more mcl content.

6. The best is the amount of content about my multiple interest, the bad is that I can find things that aren't really kind to my mental health...

7. Shit like the Mandela Catalogue because they make me overthink and loose my sanity. Like in TMC case it's just a web series, right? But I'm so used to translate fiction into reality that it suddenly makes me feel insecure.

8. None.

9. I was 4 years old, my dad took me to a village named Panchimalco. The thing is, we were there because he was going to hang w his friend a little. His friend asked him to serve some alcoholic drinks because he (the friend) had an event and my dad said yes. My work was to put little umbrellas on top of the drinks. They were lining up while waiting for the 4 y/o yo put a little colorful umbrella on their glass of ron.

10. As anyone else, but I take more time to show my emotions because I over think them and how they are going to affect the other person.

11. The feeling of wanting to know more about someone on an intimate level, to create a connection w them so unique that ends up making you feel romantic attraction.

12. If you don't feel comfortable doing something and you are in the position to stop it, do it.

13. Answering this b4 going to sleep.

14. Learn how to dance properly, talk in public without feeling sick.

15. The feeling of "I belong here"

16. I don't really know.

17. Rambling and being heard, doing something that makes other people happy, being understood without words and more than everything, having time to process my feelings without anyone noticing.

18. I mean, I believe there are fucking dinosaurs at the ocean so yeah.

19. Any day? Feeling satisfied with something I have done. For today, being supportive for my sister.

20. Being able to finally rest in peace. The feeling of finally falling asleep is always so precious to me, taking into account that it comes after my mind wanders through any kind of dumb little fictional scenario I want it to go.

21. Mmm yeah? I mean, part of my life is given a sense because of it, so I guess I am.

22. They are really kind, they listen to me and they are honest and grateful. Plus, they are really funny.

23. They lied so many times when they knew they didn't needed to do it, they talked shit about really nice people and they are really proud of appearing proud about lying.

24. I'm proud of knowing that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, because there's some people who never in their life's fully understood that.

25. In my country we only have like, summer and winter lol umm... Winter ig because I can spend more time on my home.

26. I like all colors because they are all wonderful.

27. My name shortened and it's variations, sapa (by my bestie), dumbass (by myself), hermana (by my lil sister, we call each other hermana [sister in spanish] 'cause it feels weird to call us by our names), morena de agua dulce (by one of my uncles)

28. Letters people make me <3

29. I tried to calm myself down and understand why I feel sad, if it's something I can overcome at the moment then I do it, if it's something like a really long process then I accept my feelings and try to manage my emotions to not cry. But from time to time I do give myself time to cry.

30. Photos of my little dumb dog. Iove him, I really do <3

31. Depends on the mood, but leaning more towards organized.

32. I'm using tumblr app so 1

33. Playing videogames while I increase my English understanding ability counts?

34. When people lie to me. Truth always ends up being known.

35. No.

36. Walls up.

37. Though I romantically was interested in a boy but it's just aesthetic attraction after all.

38. Talk that talk by TWICE, Bubblegum Q.Q. by Qimu.

39. lilsimsie's nightmare legacy challenge consumed my life.

40. I eat my nails without really noticing until it hurts.

questions I think would be fun to be asked

what are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

show us a picture of your handwriting?

3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

what’s an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

what made you start your blog?

what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

what scares you the most and why?

any reacquiring dreams?

tell a story about your childhood

would you say you’re an emotional person?

what do you consider to be romance?

what’s some good advice you want to share?

what are you doing right now?

what’s something you’ve always wanted to do but maybe been to scared to do?

what do you think of when you hear the word “home”?

if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

name 3 things that make you happy

do you believe in ghosts and/or aliens?

favourite thing about the day?

favourite things about the night?

are you a spiritual person?

say 3 things about someone you love

say 3 things about someone you hate

what’s one thing you’re proud of yourself for?

fave season and why?

fave colour and why?

any nicknames?

do you collect anything?

what do you do when you’re sad?

what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?

are you messy or organised?

how many tabs do you have open right now?

any hobbies?

any pet peeves?

do you trust easily?

are you an open book or do you have walls up?

share a secret

fave song at the moment?

youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

any bad habits?

[palemoonpersephone]

60 Question Tag Challenge

So I’ve been tagged by @kaffeinic to answer these questions. Here we go!

1: Selfie.

Gonna have to decline this one as I’m very shy but I’ll describe myself a little to make up for it - very long dark reddish-brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin, fun size.

2: What would you name your future kids?

Can’t say for certain, I feel it would depend on what name felt right for that baby but I like many Italian and Celtic names.

3: Do you miss anyone? 

Yes, definitely. Old friends, old pen-pals/online friends who just seemed to disappear. And I miss my partner and my friends when we’re apart.

4: What are you looking forward to?

the weekend Seeing my partner again, working on my writing projects, starting third year of uni, and unashamedly the new Witcher series on Netflix!

5: Is there anyone who can always make you smile?

The lovely @kaffeinic for a start! My best friend, my partner, my doggy 🐕

6: Is it hard for you to get over someone?

All depends on the context. I’ve had crushes in the past that have been relatively easy to get over but then I’ve lost a couple of close friends and that had a pretty traumatic affect on me. Other times it’s been very easy because it’s been the right thing to do because the person I cut off was very toxic/bad for me.

7: What was your life like last year?

In some aspects very similar, my interests are all pretty much the same, my mental health was still difficult to manage and I was looking forward to my upcoming year of uni. But this time last year I wasn’t in a relationship and hadn’t began a really amazing journey of self-discovery.

8: Have you ever cried because you were so annoyed?

feel so attacked rn yes, I very much have. Crying tends to be my natural response to most high-running emotions.

9: Who did you last see in person? 

Within my household, my mum as I’m currently home for the summer. Outside of that, my partner when he last came down to visit

10: Are you good at hiding your feelings?

I can be. I’ve found it depends on how well other people can see. Over the years I’ve had to hide all sorts of things, especially from my family. For years they didn’t know I was severely ill with anxiety and depression but that might be testament to poor observation and parenting skills, or maybe I just became that good and hiding things. I’m striving now to be more open about how I feel rather than bottling things up because it’s like drinking poison. 

11: Are you listening to music right now?

Not at this minute.

12: What is something you want right now?

a hug a life without crippling mental illness  probably inspiration to work on my novel

13: How do you feel right now?

Quite tired, a bit lonely. Really craving some energy and pizzazz

14: When was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you?

Probably the Monday before last at 4-ish in the morning when my partner had to leave for work.

15: Personality description?

Shy, careful, introverted, open, understanding, affectionate, creative

16: Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t?

Pretty much the story of my life. For the last 10-12 years I’ve had to keep so many things to myself, especially regarding my family. I could never say what I thought/believed because it would all spiral into a catastrophe, wasn’t a very safe environment emotionally-speaking. There have been so, so many things I’ve wanted to say but haven’t for the risk of rocking the boat.

17:  Opinion on insecurities?

Most people I know have them, including myself but I think people can be misled to think that others don’t have them because of the outward images they display. And from my experience they’re usually there for all the wrong reasons (if there’s such a thing as a right reason to have an insecurity)

18: Do you miss how things were a year ago?

No, I’ve only gained things since then.

19: Have you ever been to New York?

Not so far but I can’t say I have any desire to

20: What is your favourite song at the moment? 

Perhaps Ring of Fire by In This Moment

21: Age and birthday?

21, born 18/09/97

22: Description of crush?

(also my partner) 6″1, dark/black hair, brown eyes, built like a brick shit-house, tan skin. He’s intelligent, considerate, honourable, principled, fierce, indomitable, funny, supportive and respectful. 

23: Fear(s)?

I’m just gonna say most things

24: Height?

5″3

25: Role model?

Not sure I have one. I aspire more to qualities like goodness, kindness and innocence

26: Idol(s)?

see above

27: Things I hate:

Small mindedness, cruel/selfish/narcissistic people, exclusion, organised religion (as more of an abstract concept), people not getting what they deserve, when people aren’t willing to listen and learn, having plans ruined, seeing people upset, people who don’t put in effort/only take and never give back

28: “I’ll love you if...”

Lots of possible answers as there lots of sorts of love. In short, if you give back. But then love shouldn’t be conditional, so I guess I should say I couldn’t love someone (in any way) who never gives back. 

29: Favourite film(s)?

Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, The Lion King, The Other Boleyn Girl, most Marvel movies

30: Favourite tv show(s)? 

Call the Midwife, Brooklyn 99, QI, The Last Kingdom, Doctor Who

31: 3 random facts.

I’ve been writing for almost 12 years now. I sleep with cuddly toys and make bed forts. I use fantasy to cope with reality.

32: Are your friends mainly girls or guys?

Right now, girls but when I was in secondary school most of my friends were boys.

33: Something you want to learn. 

In a physical/skills sense I’d like to learn how to dance. In an emotional/mental sense I want to learn how to unburden by troubles and let go of things holding me down.

34: Most embarrassing moment?

With an anxiety disorder many, many things feel hideously embarrassing. Don’t think I could pick out one exact moment.

35: Favourite subject? 

History

36: 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

Becoming a successful author. Make lots of money so I can give it to charities. Overcome/beat my mental illnesses. 

37: Favourite actor/actress? 

Probably Tom Hiddleston

38: Favourite comedian(s)? 

Stephen Fry, Dara O’Brian, Sandi Toskvig, Aisling Bea

39: Favourite sport(s)? 

Riding, archery, yoga (still physical activity so I guess it counts), swimming, running

40: Favourite memory?

Right now I think it’s when my partner told me he loved me for the first time

41: Relationship status?

If you haven’t guessed by now I’m concerned 😋

42: Favourite books?

Too many to choose from.

43: Favourite song ever? 

Probably Lithium by Evanescence

44: Age you get mistaken for?

Always younger than I am. I really haven’t changed much since I was about 16. Still get ID’d almost everywhere because I look younger than 18 apparently

45: How you found out about your idol.

Not really applicable.

46: What my last text message says.

That’s no one’s business.

47: Turn-ons?

Maturity, experience, intelligence, someone who knows themselves and is in control, someone who can give care and guidance, someone who can bring my out of my shell.

48: Turn-offs?

Idiocy, lack of self-care/hygiene, someone who isn’t willing to listen, entitlement, intolerance, confidence when it hasn’t been earned. 

49: Where I want to be right now.

The New Forest

50: Favourite picture of your idol?

Kinda need an idol first...

51: Star sign?

Virgo

52: Something I’m talented at.

anxiety? I’m quite good at riding and hopefully my writing isn’t too shabby

53: 5 things that make me happy.

Animals, people I love, random acts of kindness, smells that awaken nice memories, creative passion 

54: Something that’s worrying me at the moment.

Guess at random and you’ll probably be correct.

55: Tumblr friends?

@kaffeinic I feel we clicked really really fast and they are possibly the bravest person I’ve ever met and I hope we stay friends.

@alittleandherdaddysworld they’ve been really kind to me and we seem to have some things in common, I hope we get to know each other better!

@xxdaddyslitttleprincessxx they’ve also been really kind to me when I needed someone to turn to and I hope that we too can turn our acquaintance into a friendship!

@thorkingofasgard I think we’ve known one another for just over a year and have had many lovely talks over that time, they’re always a friend I can turn to.

@mblargh-its-me-loki a friend who I sometimes don’t hear from for long periods at a time and I often miss them and hope they’re doing okay

@c0ffeebee their artwork and dedication is second to none and I like to think we got on well when I commissioned them for some art

56: Favourite food(s)?

Love curries and stir-fry, anything involving noodles, Italian cuisine and I’ll never say no to cake

57: Favourite animal(s)?

Dogs, horses, deer, bunnies, foxes, otters, dolphins, mice (I really could go on so I’ll stop myself)

58: Description of my best friend.

5″5, dark blonde hair, brown eyes, tan skin. She’s lovely, intelligent, determined, hilarious, gorgeous and we know each other back to front

59: Why I joined tumblr?

At first it was to connect with more people and spread my fanfiction work but over time it’s become more about just sharing and interacting with what I like and trying to make more and more lovely friends

60: Ask me anything you want.

Hold nothing back

I’m going to tag my listed tumblr friends so that’s @alittleandherdaddysworld @xxdaddyslitttleprincessxx @thorkingofasgard @mblargh-its-me-loki @c0ffeebee and any of my followers are welcome to take part