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#i just correct it relatively fast in my mind most of the time
caffeinatedopossum · 1 year
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I feel like an idiot because I can do math moderately well but I can't remember what order things are supposed to go in, specifically with division and subtraction. Like I just don't know which number is being subtracted from which and I tend to just pick one that feels right but then it's wrong and I get so confused T-T
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final-script · 1 year
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Decisions | Jack Grealish
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Pairing: Jack Grealish x Reader
Sumary: When they decide to take the step from being private to being private but not secret.
Warnings: English is not my first language !!!.There are probably many mistakes (I will correct them later),
a/n : Honestly, I don't know if it makes any sense what I just did, but I hope you enjoy them.
Gif: packjoker
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They both scrutinized every moment they shared alone.
Jack knew what the press is like, so since he met you and both decided to start a relationship, they decided to keep him private for at least a while.
Being able to enjoy your boy, without having people who are continually criticizing what they were doing, is beautiful.
It was beautiful, but at the same time stressful, having to go out and do everything secretly, stopped being something fun, after the first few months.
Were you willing to put up with it? Yes, because you enjoyed every moment with Jack.
But… As in most cases, there was a very big but, you liked privacy and everything that came with it, but… At the same time you wanted to be able to show off a little about your relationship.
(…)
One night while having dinner at Jack's house, it seemed that the two wanted to talk about it.
For a few weeks, Jack had begun to imagine, how you would look in the area for relatives at games, wearing his number, with his family.
J- there is something I want to talk to you about. You could notice your boyfriend somewhat nervous, you did not know if as much as you were, but you could notice it.
Y/N- it seems that we think the same, I must also mention something, but since you mentioned it, tell me. You cheered him up.
J- for a few weeks, I've been thinking about it and I would like us to make it public, I would like to see you in the games using my number, that you are with my family cheering me, if you think I am filling too much fast, please tell me.
Y/N- I don't know how, worse you've read my mind, I know we enjoy our privacy, but I think it's getting stressful and I know you want to protect me from the press, but believe me that little will matter what they say, as long as we are together.
Taking his hand at the table.
Y/N- we can also remain private, only now everyone will know.
J- for a moment I thought you would say no.
Y/N- oh, believe me, as much as I value our privacy, I'm not going to miss the opportunity to show off my boy.
J- nor I to my girl. You knew he was very capable.
That night he went to bed with the agreement that little by little they would start posting about each other on their instagram and maybe after going publicly to one of their parties they would make an official post.
(...)
Several instagram posts later, they could see how you were welcomed by people, some Jack fans thanked you for the photos you posted of him, which seemed funny to you and there were also some hate comments that they clearly chose to ignore.
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ANOTHERS
Mommy and Daddy - John Stones x Reader
The Best Kept Secret - Arthur Leclerc x Reader
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molotovmetro · 1 year
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Hello there!
Hope you're doing good, enjoying your life!
I just had a beautiful (and tiring) day with my boyfriend, we went to ski and then an idea pops in my head.
COD boys + Los Vaqueros + König (yes i need my babygirl) with Male Reader who teachs them how to ski in Montreal! (or wherever you want, i'm just a proud canadian)
You can make it as a headcanon or short story. And hope you can enjoy doing it, if you're not confy with it, fine by me.
Have a wonderful day/night and don't forget to drink water. Ciao!
That sounds like such a good time!
I didn't specify a place in any of these except König's, but where I live Austria and Switzerland are the most common ski vacation destinations so most of what I know about skiing is based on that so I hope it's not too different
I hope you don't mind I left out Rudy for now, I really need to replay the game to get a better grip on his character. That being said this is my first time writing for COD so I'm still working on my characterization a little.
Thank you for requesting :)
Warnings: none! Except for possible inaccuracies because I've never been skiing
M!reader
Being taught to ski by the 141 + Los Vaqueros + König
Ghost
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Ghost is in his element. A ski piste is one of the only places in day to day life where a balaclava doesn't stand out.
It's nice to not draw the attention for once.
Would like to try snowboarding as well.
He probably picked up skiing once for a job, so he knows what he's doing relatively well.
Ghost is a man of few words, so he's probably not going to give you long winded explanations. He'll explain the basics, do a little demonstration, and then let you try it and correct where needed.
Its a little impersonal at times, but it's effective. If you look closely though, you might notice the soft look in his eyes.
Soap
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Soap is mostly looking forward to the Après-ski.
A day of having fun with you in the snow and then ending it with a party or just a cozy couple of drinks together, it's perfect to him.
Soap finds a lot of pleasure in the little things. Some fun activities, sneaking some spiked hot drinks, and some good food, and he's the happiest man on earth.
He barely knows what he's doing himself, but he makes up for it in enthusiasm. You'll figure it out together as you go!
It's a small miracle neither of you got hurt.
Price
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Price really deserves the vacation.
Like Soap, he's looking forward to tiring himself out during the day and then relaxing with good food, a couple of drinks, and a cigar in the evening.
Also picked up the skill for a job, but mastered it.
This man is used to training soldiers, so he's a good teacher. His rookies definitely don't get the soft treatment you do, though. He's all praise and encouraging smiles.
He's surprisingly relaxed out here. As busy as he is with work, he cherishes any quality time he gets with you.
Gaz
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This man has no idea what he's doing.
Gaz has no intention of breaking a leg however, so he'll go the extra mile to hire a professional teacher.
He's a fast learner though, and he will tease you about it. All in good nature of course.
"Aw, c'mon, love. It's not that hard."
It is. It is that hard.
He'll use his advantage to help you a bit, and the instructor is probably rolling his eyes a little at his horrible flirting.
You get your revenge later when you get to laugh at him as he takes a tumble.
Alejandro
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Alejandro doesn't have the most experience either, but he knows what he's doing relatively well.
He takes the opportunity to float with you, making suggestive comments between compliments and getting a little handsy while correcting your stance.
Expect a lot of showing off. He's trying to impress you.
König
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Ski King.
Austria is known for its ski tourism. You're in König's domain now.
He's a great teacher, but can be a little impatient. Not that he would get irritated with you, but he's just so excited and can't wait to start!
He'd teach you the very basics, everything you need to know to have fun and don't die, and then he'd figure you'll get a grip on it as you go.
Even despite his impatience, he'd still be considerate. Especially at first, he'll start off only going short distances before stopping to check in on you, only feeling comfortable going further after making sure you're good.
He's as chaotic out there as he is on the field. It's incredibly amusing and kind of endearing to see him enjoy himself like that.
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asordinaryppl · 1 month
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A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 13: Budding Spring - Episode 15: Ketchuped Thoroughly
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Employee A: I apologize for the inconvenience.
Employee A: We are doing relatively well in English-speaking countries and Asia, but this region is difficult and not a lot of people within the company can help…
Employee A: I’m considering out-sourcing, but I have yet to receive approval. Please at least correct the parts that don’t make sense through machine translation.
Chikage: I can do this much quickly, it’s alright.
Chikage: …
[Keyboard keys clicking]
Chikage: (Is this the last one?)
Chikage: — —
Chikage: (... Same last name? I’m starting to develop a bad habit of reacting on reflex.)
-
Tsumugi: It’s been a while since the voting period started, but the notifications for debut performances don’t seem to be letting up.
Kazunari: There are still a lot of announcements about new theater companies being formed and member recruitments~
Kumon: Oh yeah. A kid in my class also said they wanted to try acting.
Tsumugi: As more people are exposed to theater, more of them want to try it out.
Tenma: And because of the SNS voting, more and more companies are focused on online distribution.
Omi: While working on a photoshoot the other day, I met someone who works in the video industry, and they said they suddenly got a lot busier.
Yuki: There’s also comments from overseas on online reviews.
Tasuku: As they said in the press conference, the New Fleur Award is revitalizing the world of theater.
Azuma: That’s amazing, considering it’s only just begun.
Sakyo: Yukio-san’s the kind of person to be smack-dab in the eye of the storm when it comes to theater. 
Guy: He has gotten busier as the award gains more attention. He has been doing a lot of interviews together with Kamikizaka.
Sakyo: Well, I’m sure Reni-san’s handling that part just fine.
Yuki: The reviews on En.com are also increasingly rapidly, but there’s a lot of bad ones.
Yuki: Even plays by famous troupes and screenwriters have comments like, “They spoke too fast, and I didn’t understand a thing, the costumes were cute tho”.
Yuki: There’s also, “I didn’t understand why, but they suddenly broke into contemporary dance. It was interesting overall, however.”.
Azami: Honest but harsh, huh.
Sakyo: They probably don’t understand the artistic beauty of theater and are just sharing their first impressions of it.
Tsuzuru: They’re interesting to read, but it’s scary to think how that might be us next time.
Sakuya: I wonder what they’ll say about us…
Izumi: Don’t think about it so much and get discouraged. We’ll be fine if we do things as we usually do.
Itaru: Tru. If we worry about it too much and worry our fans, we’ll be putting the cart before the horse.
Yuki: It’d be a good idea to keep review checking in moderation.
-
Yuzo: Good morning.
Tsuzuru: Good morning.
Sakuya: Good morning! Thank you for today!
Izumi: Sorry for calling you here when you’re also busy with your own troupe.
Yuzo: I don’t mind.
Itaru: Have you thought of any strat for the New Fleur Award, Yuzo-san?
Yuzo: We’re just gonna do what we usually do. The pre-voting stung, though.
Izumi: MANKAI Company came up 70th.
Yuzo: We got 103rd.
Sakuya: Lower than us!?
Tsuzuru: Even though you sell out all your tickets and have a loyal following…
Yuzo: Most of our fans are pretty old.
Yuzo: There’s probably people who didn’t know about the pre-voting, or they just didn’t know how to participate.
Yuzo: It seems like it’ll be an uphill battle, but all we can do is be ourselves.
Yuzo: Well, this round ain’t over. We’ll go at our own pace, with no rush.
Yuzo: Still, Yukio-san threw a curveball at us like he always does. I’m always amazed at what he can come up with.
Izumi: Haha… You can say that again.
Yuzo: Alright. If you’ve finished getting ready, let’s start.
Sakuya: Yes! Thank you very much!
-
Yuzo: …
Izumi: What do you think…?
Izumi: (It’s been a while since I last felt this nervous…)
Yuzo: Hah… As rough as ever.
Yuzo: Since it’s a sequel to your debut performance, your interpretation of your characters is good. What you’re lacking on is spirit.
Yuzo: And Tsuzuru, you’ve still got your doubts about the script, so you can’t concentrate on acting it out, yeah?
Tsuzuru: … Yes.
Yuzo: The rest of you guys are too caught up in wanting to put on a good show in order to produce good results for the ranking.
Yuzo: Having to put on a good performance is common sense. I’m sure you guys understand that by now.
Yuzo: So, you need to think about what you want to convey and achieve through this performance on top of that.
Yuzo: Do you want a better place in the rankings, or do you want to show how much you’ve grown…
Sakuya: — —
Yuzo: It’s not a bad thing to want the audience’s reception to be positive, obviously. But if that’s all you’re aiming for, then this is all just a way to earn points.
Yuzo: All your thoughts will be things like, “if we do this we’ll get more popular and get more points” and “if we do that we’ll get extra points”. But what we’re doing here is theater, not a competition.
Yuzo: What is you guys’, what is the Spring Troupe’s acting all about? Who are you doing it for? For what purpose?
Yuzo: You’re doing a sequel for your debut play. What did that debut mean to you guys?
Yuzo: If you’re going to go through with this, wouldn’t it be a good idea to discuss and re-evaluate your origins?
Yuzo: …Heh, but do so with some self-discipline, yeah?
Izumi: (I wonder if Yuzo-san also has various concerns regarding the New Fleur Award?)
Izumi: (No, I’m sure troupes other than Yuzo-san’s do too… It’s not just us.)
Izumi: (What role should our theater company have in this world of theater that is rapidly changing in front of our eyes…)
Izumi: (We may have to re-evaluate the direction we’re headed in.)
-
Citron: It’s been a while since he ketchuped us so thoroughly~
Masumi: Criticized us so thoroughly?
Itaru: But he’s upped his kindness levels recently.
Chikage: Doesn’t that mean he approves of us?
Masumi: But the parts that are no good have become much harder to fix.
Sakuya: That’s true… We can’t come up with an easy answer this time. Our acting… Our origin…
Tsuzuru: It’s surprisingly difficult to just be ourselves.
Chikage: Probably because we’re the ones who understand ourselves the least.
Izumi: We chose to make a sequel of our debut performance with the intention to go back to our roots and remember our beginning…
Izumi: So, what do you think was the best thing about the original RomiJuli?
Sakuya: Honestly, I think I was pretty bad at acting. All I had going for me was how badly I wanted to act.
Tsuzuru: Though those feelings of yours haven’t changed.
Sakuya: Yes! If anything, I love and treasure acting even more now.
Masumi: So, we have to find what our current selves are “lacking”.
Itaru: I do feel like my current self is more absorbed in acting than I was back then.
Chikage: Our bonds have deepened, and we’ve all leveled up.
Citron: I can not think of anything we’re lacking~....
Masumi: But I understand what Yuzo’s saying.
Tsuzuru: Right… He’s also right about me still doubting the script.
Chikage: A difference from our debut performance, huh… For better or worse, it’s no longer our “first time” acting.
Itaru: You mean, like our freshness has disappeared? I guess a writer’s debut work always has a certain kind of oomph to it.
Sakuya: A “beginning” only comes once, so it’s not something we can replicate…
Tsuzuru: So in a sense, we’ll never be able to surpass our debut performance…?
Itaru: Sad but true.
Masumi: Something that can’t be surpassed despite our growth…
Itaru: A “first time” and the image of innocently rushing forward both have a certain kind of impact.
Sakuya: Hmmm…
Izumi: …
Izumi: (Everyone’s mood dampened.)
Izumi: Let’s put this on hold, think about it individually, and then have another meeting.
Tsuzuru: ‘Kay.
Itaru: … Good idea.
[Phone vibrating]
Sakuya: Oh–
Izumi: The meeting’s over, so it’s okay if you go out.
Sakuya: I’m sorry, please excuse me.
[Sakuya walks out]
Sakuya: — —Hello, This is Sakuma speaking.
Sakuya: Ummm, I’m sorry. About that…
Iv: long af maint shiki: i’ve got a test tomorrow, so i might not be on much Iv: we start on thurs Kar: gl Iv: aren’t you also starting soon Kar: been at it since the day before ytd Iv: oh you already did shiki: you’re so chill about it momo has entered the chat Kar: sup shiki: you’re late today Iv: have your tests started too? momo: i ran away from home Kar: sudden mood shift lmao
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sharonhatestorun-blog · 7 months
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"Is that a banana in your pocket?"
A Marathon After Action Report
Sorry for such a delayed posting - I wanted to wait for some pictures to arrive and was also trying to process the experience into the correct words. I don't know that I can but, in brief, it was fantastic!
A beautiful weather day, a relatively painless experience to the start village and the company of inspiring friends kicked off the day. I started off according to the pace plan but inadvertently sped up once I hit 4th avenue and the cheering crowds. This too-fast pace could have spelled disaster, but luckily at mile 4 I ran into a running buddy who pulled me back to the correct pace for the next 7 miles.
Now, bear in mind that due to my injury in September, I had never run more than 3 hours at a time. So, once I got to the Queensboro bridge the future was a complete unknown. I was told that people often break down there because there is so much more to run, or "hit the wall" at mile 20 in the Bronx, or ratchet down to a shuffle in the 90s on 5th avenue on the dreaded "ninja hill".
Guess what? No breakdowns happened, no walls were run into, and the ninja hill was merely a blip. Just a steady run, then walk, then run, then walk, repeat until I am handed a medal and a poncho.
What made the difference? My training, thanks to my coaches: Amy, Jim, Njomza, Alberto, and Aditi. My health, thanks to Sam at Finish Line PT. My preparation, thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge about running marathons with me. Lastly, all the folks who lined the course and cheered for complete strangers and, most importantly, YOU. If you were on the street with a sign, texting me words of support, emailing me from afar, commenting on a FB post or wishing me luck on a Zoom call, YOU carried me along the streets of NY.
Congratulations, WE just finished our first Marathon!
(and yes, with an uneaten banana in our pocket).
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violetjedisylveon · 1 year
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Amnesia Chapter 1 - Lost
Summary: On the way back home from a supply run, Freyu finds an injured and sick human girl on the road far from help. With no one else around and no other choice, she decides to take the girl, Omega, home and care for her until she's well enough to tell her where her family is, despite the nagging suspicion she has that Omega has been abandoned or orphaned.
Word count: 6.5k
Warning: Blood, mentions of blood, injury, child injury, sickness, infection, infected wounds, trauma, nightmares, swearing.
A/N: I'm rewriting most of the chapters of this au because going back and reading them again, I just don't feel good about them, I feel like now that I know where the story is going I can write them better. I have other fics from about a year ago that I still feel really good about, the first ~13 chapters of this au is not those. It will follow along the lines of what those 13 chapters were story wise, but it will be better and less, I dunno, clunky and awkward.
I'm doing rewrites and continuing the story at the same time, and I switched to using Google docs instead of my notes app, quick memo handled like, 4-5k+ words on a single note, but ot would get laggy and hard to write on, I guess notes apps aren't for fic writing, who knew?
Also, I've decided to give Omega a mutation(or two, they go together) of her own.
Amnesia link here.
________________________________________________________________________________
Freyu covered her eyes from the downpour of rain as the winds grew stronger. It was late and she was heading home from a supply run to town, and she lived a ways out.
Maybe I should've rented a speeder… nah, it would've gotten all gunked up with mud. She'd have to simply walk home. She would be fine, cold didn't bother her much as a Pantoran.
A small shiver went up her spine, though not from the cold, it felt like someone was watching her. She made a quick glance behind her at the settlement she was leaving behind. The lights were on in most homes, but other than that, the streets were empty, as usual for a rain season storm. She passed the odd feeling off as just a reaction to the rain, nothing more.
Things had been odd the last few months, the clone wars had ended, but she'd felt something dark and powerful before the news was even given. And there was news of humans going to worlds and telling them that they would be joining the New Galactic Empire. She had a feeling that they'd be coming for the Massanii sector soon.
Lightning flashed out in the distance, she stopped and waited for the thunder that would follow. She still got the uncomfortable feeling of being followed. She checked and, again, no one was there.
Despite the looming presence of the Empire moving in on her homeworld, Freyu was faithful that something would be worked out that allowed her sector to retain its autonomy. The Massanii sector had never been a part of the Republic and it was powerful enough to protect itself from the crime and spice lords of the Outer Rim. The major exports were foodstuffs, medicine and local artisan crafts, the population wasn't overly large but it was enough to discourage the unsavory types from hiding out on their worlds and the government was extremely well functioning.
It wasn't a back-water by Rim standards. It was a nice and relatively peaceful place to live, though it had its share of dangers.
Freyu was shaken out of her thoughts by an instinctive nudge forwards pulling at her mind.
Is there something up ahead? She wondered, glancing around for anything out of the ordinary amongst the orange grasses.
She didn't see anything and decided to shrug the feeling off. While her instincts were usually right, they weren't always correct.
She continued walking until she heard soft, raspy breathing that rattled with each breath taken. She stopped and glanced around, there was still nothing on the road around her and town was far behind her now, anyone from there wouldn't have been able to catch up so fast. Massii Grass rustled to her side, she spotted a trail of flattened grass a few feet away from the road, whatever was there hadn't made it to the road before collapsing.
If it was an animal, she could easily rehabilitate it, but if it was an animal it would likely attack her. She got her hold out blaster from her bag and set it to stun, if she needed it, and walked into the tall grasses.
While she had expected an animal of some kind, she hadn't expected to see a human child collapsed on the ground and curled into itself. She holstered the blaster and tentatively approached the kid, a girl if she had to guess.
She was in just terrible shape, her clothes, which didn't look like they belonged to her in the first place, were torn up and worn out, caked with mud and other stains. Freyu could see the girl's shrunken sides through all the holes in her clothes, she could see her ribs very clearly. She must not have eaten in weeks.
The girl was absolutely covered with cuts, scrapes and bruises, some looked a few weeks old and didn't seem to have healed right. There was necrotic tissue around a particularly nasty wound on her upper arm, it looked like a grazing blaster shot, it was almost certainly infected.
There was a fresh mess of scratches on her shoulder blades, they were still bleeding a bit. Freyu was confident she knew where those were from, the kid must've run into one of Massanii's grassland predators. She was surprised the kid was still alive, though maybe the predator had decided against eating or finishing her because of the infections she had, she must've smelled like diseased food.
Speaking of disease, the girl also looked sick, Freyu crouched down and gently felt the girl's forehead. Shit, she was burning up with a fever. Freyu spotted matted clumps of blood in the girl's dirty blond hair, her careful hands felt around the skull for any signs of inflammation or fractures. She felt an old wound on the back of her head that her hair was stuck to with dried blood, it was definitely inflamed, maybe infected too, and it looked like it still hurt.
Freyu didn't hear anyone else, the world was quiet outside of the howl of the wind and the falling of rain.
It was honestly a surprise she was even still alive.
A cough returned her attention to the girl laying in front of her. She was a little surprised to see wide brown eyes staring at her. Well, one and a half eyes, the right eye was swollen and purple. Freyu felt the girl's fear, it was an intensity of fear she remembered feeling herself not that long ago.
Pity pulled at her when the girl pathetically tried to move away from her. She painfully remembered being this terrified at a similar age. She held her hands up in a show that she wasn't a threat
"No no, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you. It's okay." She said softly, finding the right words and tone for this situation for once.
The girl didn't look like she trusted her, but she stopped moving around. Freyu could still feel the anxiety and panic swirling inside of the girl.
Should I try to…? it might be good to establish a connection… I might be able to monitor her better if I do… but then we're connected and no one- Stop. This isn't the time for that. She needs help. Freyu made up her mind and reached out to the girl through the Force.
She made contact and sent a wave of reassurance to the girl. To her surprise it worked, she felt some of the girl's anxiety leave. Connections always were my thing. She thought.
The girl allowed her to get closer, and now that her head was up, Freyu could see a nasty bruise on the side of her face. She wanted to ask, to know how this kid ended up in such awful condition, but she needed to get this kid some help. Maker, her condition was awful, she didn't doubt that the girl would have died had she not heard her.
"Hello there, ad'ika, I'm Freyu O'asisk, I'm going to help you, okay?" She told the girl.
She nodded slowly, Freyu could feel the last of her energy leaving her quickly.
"Can you tell me your name?" Freyu asked.
"'m Omega…"
"Alright, Omega, I'm going to take you to my house and I can fix you up there. I just need you to stay awake for me, it'll only be for a little then you can sleep all you want. Got that?" She asked.
Though Omega nodded, Freyu wasn't sure she had really heard. But that wasn't important. She took her coat off and wrapped it around Omega's small form to keep her from getting wetter, she gently lifted Omega up and cradled her in her arms, she suppressed a flinch when Omega's hands brushed against her sides.
Ignore it, Freyu. She scolded herself.
She spotted two muddy toys in the ground after she picked the girl up. With a quick check to ensure no one would see, she Force lifted both toys, a Tooka doll and repainted clone trooper dall, into her bag so she could wash them later.
Omega shivered and pressed her wet, feverishly hot, yet shivering body against Freyu's naturally warm dryer one. Freyu patted the girl's back and gave her a little squeeze as she booked it back home.
"You're gonna be okay, Omega." She promised.
XXX
Freyu felt like her brain finally decided to catch up with her when she was in the middle of treating the scratches on Omega's back.
What the fuck did you just do, Freyu? She groaned at herself.
She took a step back from the modified table she'd put Omega on to tend to her, it was the best she had at the moment. She pinched her nose and grumbled, she just had to think about that now, she couldn't think about it when she was done?
Sure, she had taken a random child she found into her home on a whim, a severely injured child, but she'd done worse. And all she was doing was fixing up the kid so she didn't die and could go back home.
If she has a home.
Freyu glanced at the now unconscious girl. It certainly seemed like she'd been abandoned at some point to end up this way. If she was abandoned then there'd be nowhere for her to go and no one looking for her.
Or someone else could be looking for her.
She quickly brushed that particular concern off.
She breathed in deep and focused as best she could. She still had work to do.
She flushed the wounds, applied antiseptic and, where needed either stitched cuts or reopened half healed ones to flush and then stitched up again. Some of the smaller wounds she healed herself, she also took the edge off the girl's sickness.
Next was that blaster wound.
She changed gloves and grabbed a scalpel. She didn't have the time for the slower methods of removing necrotic tissue, and she could stimulate the new skin growth herself. She started cutting the dead tissue away with as much precision as she had.
She finished, changed gloves again for sterility, and healed the new wounds removal had caused. She had removed virtually the entire scab and scar tissue. It would be easier, and safer, to give the area a new start, and she'd give it a kick start herself so it wouldn't hurt as much when Omega woke up.
She got up and went to one of the med cabinets to search for a disease tester, it would tell her what kind of sickness Omega had and she'd be able to treat it better. This med cabinet was just a closet her family had stored the less frequently used medical equipment in. There were other drawers and cabinets in this room that had all sorts of medical junk, and of course there were bacta and quick healing supplies hidden all over the house.
Freyu made a small sound of victory when she found the tester. Now all I need is a blood sample and- she stopped mid thought. The extended, fresh needle glinted in the bright light of the room.
"What are you doing, Freyu? You can't just take a blood sample without permission!" She chastised herself.
"But I need one to figure out what's wrong with her. Fuck!" She kicked the wall in frustration.
She looked between the test in her hand and Omega, the kid was shivering from her fever. She sighed and took Omega's limp arm, she felt along it for a vein she could draw from. Omega was very anemic on top of everything else. Freyu was able to get enough blood to run the test despite that setback.
As it ran, she finished wrapping the injuries and started thinking of a better place to monitor Omega. The couch in the upstairs living room could fold out into a bed, and she could easily set up the proper equipment. That would have to do.
Soon, Omega was sleeping in the makeshift bed with an IV and monitoring systems hooked up. Freyu had changed Omega's torn clothes into some old clothes of hers and tossed the ruined ones out, so the kid was probably the cleanest she'd been in a while.
After disease treatment, Freyu figured she'd done as much as she could for Omega at the moment. She left the girl sleeping to take care of what she had been doing before she found Omega.
She unpacked her bag, set everything in the proper place and grabbed something to snack on while she waited for the quick meal she'd lazily put in the oven to be done.
She was fucking starving. And tired. I must have been doing that for hours! What time is it? She stretched and rubbed her sore back. She glanced at the clock, fuck, it was morning. The sun would be rising in a few hours. She wouldn't get much rest, so why bother trying?
And her head was buzzing with questions, sleep would be nearly impossible and frustrating anyway.
It was silent, as always, when she ate. The silence had once been forgien and unsettling to her, though she was now more accustomed to the quiet and the small sounds of her house running, it was still unwelcome. She adjusted her hearing implant to shut out the ringing she'd get if she just took it out. She ate her food slowly, she didn't feel hungry despite knowing she was.
Her mind was preoccupied with questions on how Omega ended up here, in this sector of the galaxy, and in such terrible condition. Omega being a refugee was a possibility, but the sector's refugee and displacement management would have treated some of her injuries if she was with them for any length of time. Her best guess was that Omega was either a runaway or she'd been abandoned. She highly doubted Omega had any family, or if they even cared enough to go looking for her.
"What am I going to do with her?" She sighed and rested her head on the table.
The last time she'd been in charge of someone else… it hadn't gone well at all. Freyu didn't know if she could even try taking care of, being responsible for (getting attached too) someone again. She wasn't sure if she could handle something happening again.
She definitely did not want Omega to see what happened when she got… upset.
She could do some digging and try to find some place for Omega to go that would be safe, or get Omega back home once she was conscious enough to tell her where that was.
A frightened shout from upstairs had Freyu bolting out of her seat and running up there. Blaster in hand, she scanned the room, her eyes unhindered by the darkness. There didn't appear to be any threats yet, she couldn't feel any other presence, and the security system would have alerted her long before anyone could get inside.
Another shout came from behind her where she'd set Omega's bed up. She'd assumed it was Omega who'd shouted, but the girl wasn't awake.
The monitors showed her heart was racing and her temperature was raised again.
Oh. Nightmares.
Fuck.
Freyu flinched, she knew the stress and pain of nightmares all too well. Seeing Omega, who was just a kid, like she'd been, suffering in such an inescapable way, it hurt her. It twisted her stomach and squeezed her heart.
She went to Omega's bed and sat on the empty side next to her. Omega was thrashing as much as she could with all the wires attached to her. Freyu leaned over her, one hand on Omega's forehead, the other holding Omega's free arm down.
"I'm sorry Omega, I know how much it hurts. But I can fix that for you." Freyu whispered softly.
You don't have to go through what I did.
She gently pushed into Omega's mind and quieted all the chaotic, disorganized noise that was causing the nightmare. She caught glimpses of the chaos.
A marshy field. The coppery scent of blood. A Duro shooting someone. Alone in a strange but familiar place. People in armor fighting. The harsh smell of blaster exhaust. Alone and hurt. The armored people getting hurt, dying. On the run, and all alone. None of it made much sense, was clear on details, or came in the right order.
Freyu focused and shoved it all back so it would leave Omega alone for a time. She calmed herself and tried transferring that to Omega as well.
She pulled back and stroked her finger down the bridge of Omega's nose until her vitals returned to normal. It worked.
Freyu felt a soft smile on her face as Omega settled into a peaceful slumber. The poor kid would probably be out for a few days as her body recovered. She got up to leave and do something with the rest of the dark hours before getting to work, but she found Omega's hand had grabbed hers, and she wasn't letting go.
I suppose I'm keeping her. Freyu chuckled to herself and resumed her previous spot next to Omega.
"Don't worry Meg'ika (mando'a: little Omega), you'll be safe with me." She promised, hoping she could keep it.
XXX
Omega woke up very slowly, her brain taking a long time to register that she was awake.
The first thing she noticed was how dry and warm she was. The last time she'd been warm… well she couldn't exactly remember the last time. Something warm and sticky covered her right eye, it wasn't hurting as much as it had been the last time she was awake.
Pale light was coming in through a half open curtain.
She was in a large room, with a staircase going down by the far wall, and a short staircase going up on the wall to her side. There were two doors next to the smaller stairs, one on either side. The smaller stairs lead to a hallway from what she could see.
The realisation she had no idea where she was or who she was with hit her like a ton of bricks. Panic spiked and the beeping she'd only now noticed went faster.
She was on some sort of bed, there was a fuzzy blanket over her. She felt the press of patches and bandages all over her body. Something was wrapped around her head.
For a reason she didn't understand, this filled her with more panic. She didn't like the feeling of all the things attached to her.
She looked around for her things, she remembered having something with her. She found an IV drip set up into her, it stung when she moved and her whole body started aching and hurting.
A door opened somewhere in the house and steps came up the stairs. Omega flinched and curled into a small ball.
"Meg'ika! You're finally awake, I was starting to get worried." That voice was barely familiar to her, Omega peeked out.
A young Pantoran woman stood at the top of the stairs. She had a kind, worried expression, she looked friendly. Despite that, Omega flinched when she was approached.
"Here, I washed them while you were out." A Tooka doll and repainted clone trooper doll were held out to her.
She recognized them as Lula and Poppy. She seized both and held them close, they were warm and soft and carried a sweet scent.
"Are you feeling better?" The Pantoran asked her.
She was checking some… uh, thing. Omega felt like she should know what it was but she couldn't remember, her dull headache got worse. The Pantoran had moved into the light and Omega got a good look at her.
She had chilly blue skin, which contrasted with her warm golden eyes. Her pastel purple hair was messily tied into a single braid that reached her waist. The hair around her face was loose and tucked behind her ear on the left, and pinned back on the right and- Is that a scar?
On the right side of her face was a mess of magenta red scars, there were scars from above her eyebrow to her jawline, one scar crossed onto her cheek and was very close to her eye. The scars covered the area where an ear would be, but there wasn't one, not even the opening of an ear canal. It looked like her head, no, her skull, dented in there as if a chunk had been cut out.
There was a bit of her ear left though mainly where the top of it would be and it was just barely noticeable. Something akin to a hearing aid stood out amongst the scars. A few scars continued past what she could easily see and were concealed by hair.
On that same side of her face were golden tattoos, on her cheek they were petal shaped, two groups of three and one of two, and there was a pointed curved line that went from above her eyebrow, over her eyelid and down to her jaw, it had two abrupt turns.
"Your fever's gone down in the last couple of days. I'd say you're doing better Ad'ika." The Pantoran told her.
Omega nodded, she didn't feel as awful as the last time she'd been awake. A shape pain hit her stomach, she grimaced as her stomach churned and attacked her.
"You must be hungry, c'mon, I've got something cooking now." The Pantoran stopped her IV drip and detached her from everything, then held her hand out.
Omega hesitated, but something about the Pantoran made Omega inclined to trust her. She took the offered hand, and received help in getting up. Her legs were wobbly and weak.
"My name is Freyu, in case you forgot." Freyu gave her a warm smile as she led her down the stairs.
The name did register with Omega, and she started to recall her meeting with the Pantoran.
She was sat down at an expertly crafted wooden table, it looked old and well used, but still strong. It looked like it could fold out to fit more people, there was just one other chair though. A small cup was slid over to her with a spoon in it.
Omega pocked it cautiously, it was thick and gelatinous.
"Uh, what is this?" She asked Freyu.
The Pantoran was preoccupied with something cooking on the stove, it smelled good. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder, Omega was still extremely emaciated, but she was doing better after four days of treatment.
"That's some medicine, it'll kick start your digestive system and get it ready for food. You're not going to like it though, it's very bitter." Freyu told her.
Omega took a curious spoonful, and gagged at the foul taste, the bitterness assaulted her tongue. She swallowed with difficulty and washed the spoonful down with the water that had been provided to her, or, she'd thought it was water but it had a slimy syrupy texture and tasted bitter too.
"Right, that's also medicine, here's some water." Freyu set a mug down.
"Don't drink from anything that's in a clear glass, it's not water or it's not meant for you. Mugs are for water. I should've said that sooner. I forgot." Freyu told her.
Omega nodded and readily accepted the water. It took her a while, but she got all the bitter medicine down. She felt its effects as her stomach settled and digested the medicine.
She watched in wonder as Freyu shook a pan and flipped whatever was on it, catching it and spraying a handful of spices onto some of it. A sweet scent came from the oven, and there was a pot of something simmering on the stove.
Omega zeroed in on a bottle sitting in an open cupboard, there were other bottles with it, she recognized a few as pain relief, and one was for headaches. Freyu grabbed the bottle she'd first laid eyes on and took two pills out. She popped them in her mouth and downed it with a sip of water. She noticed Omega staring and showed the bottle to her. The label showed it was prescribed by the 'Massanii Sector Health Care System' whatever that was.
"It's medicine." She explained before putting it back on the shelf and closing it.
Omega had questions, but she got the sense Freyu didn't want to talk about it.
A small plate was set in front of her with some kind of thinly sliced, crunchy meat and a sweet smelling pastry.
Freyu had a plate of her own, it was bigger, the meat and pastry were the same but the meat was seasoned, and she had some purple plants on her plate. Freyu picked up one of the plants and pulled off a leaf, then she ate it.
"You can't have this, it's poisonous to humans." She explained when she noticed Omega's staring.
Omega looked back to the food sitting in front of her, it smelled really good. And she was hungry. She took a bite and it was the best thing she'd ever put in her mouth.
"How long has it been since you last ate?" Freyu asked when she'd finished her food.
Omega wiped her mouth, she couldn't really remember the last time she ate, anything really. It was all a blur up until a few weeks ago.
"I don't know, I can't remember." Omega shrugged.
"Well, lucky for you, that's over." Freyu smiled at her.
It made her feel nice, and warm. Her starving stomach rumbled happily as it finally had something to digest. The sound of rain falling was a soothing pitter patter, everything was calm.
"Uh, miss Freyu, where am I?" Omega asked.
"Massanii, it's in the Outer Rim, and you don't need to call me "miss", I'm only like, seven years older than you." Freyu told her.
"Oh, okay. I'm not sure where Massanii is? Isn't the Outer Rim big?" Omega wondered.
"It's near the edge of the Outer Rim, about as far out as Pantora, little further in terms of distance from the core, but it gets a lot more trade and travel than Pantora, it's not part of the Republic, or it wasn't, I dunno what's with that Empire business. So Outer Rim but not obscure and powerless." Freyu shrugged.
Omega's head felt weird. She'd heard about Pantora before, she'd been there she was sure, but for whatever reason, she just couldn't recall it.
A sharp pain struck her head.
Strange sounds and people exploded into her mind, she didn't recognize any of it and it was so loud and it hurt! She grabbed her head and shook it to dispel the frightening images.
"Omega? Omega, what's wrong?" Freyu asked.
"I-I don't know!... i-I'm seeing and hearing things… Things I don't remember or know about… why, why's it happening? It hurts!" Omega cried as her headache became worse.
Freyu acted fast and was at the girl's side quickly, she gently turned Omega to her 
"Whoa, it's okay Omega, it's okay." She tried to comfort the distraught child.
It didn't work too well, she must've been out of practice.
"Freyu make it stop! Please make it stop! It hurts! It hurts!" Omega cried into Freyu.
Freyu patted her back sympathetically as the girl wrapped her arms around her. Externally, Freyu was calm and quietly understanding. Internally, she was fucking pissed over such a young child suffering in such a horrible way.
"Sh, sh, sh, it's okay, I'll make it okay, I'll make it stop." She whispered softly into Omega's ear.
Freyu placed a hand on either side of Omega's head and pressed their foreheads together. She calmed herself internally to not cause any more distress, and started humming. She pushed into Omega's mind and silenced the chaos and unending confusion and screaming, pushing it to the dark, blocked off corner of Omega's mind. That sort of blockage, she recognized it, it was keeping anything that could cause extreme stress back.
So she's got some form of amnesia. Freyu concluded.
She didn't know which kind, what caused it, or how permanent it was. An examination could be conducted once she was asleep. But she had bigger problems right now.
Omega was still very upset, she sniffled and rubbed at her nose. Freyu let Omega take as much time as she needed to calm down, she could wait.
"Are you better now?" She asked once the sniffles had stopped.
Omega only nodded, unable to speak just yet. Freyu rubbed her back then scooped her up, letting her rest her chin on her shoulder.
Fuck she's light. She had to get this kid more food.
"I'm gonna bring you upstairs so you can get a nice shower, I'll check how you're healing and then you can go back to sleep, you still look very tired, how's that sound?" Freyu said as she climbed the stairs.
"Will you stay by so it doesn't come back?" Omega asked timidly.
"Of course I will Meg'ika. I'll be there whenever you need me." Freyu told her.
She set the shower up for Omega, and left to get her a change of clothes and the necessary wrappings and bandages for Omega's wounds.
Freyu found an old pair of fuzzy orange and yellow pajamas in one of the storage bins downstairs. They were about Omega's size, a little bigger, so they had probably been hers at one point.
Something caught her eyes as she was leaving, the name on the box.
'Jicelli'
In bright and happy yellow coloring, Jicelli loved yellow, it was her favorite color. Jicelli begged that she get all the yellow hand me downs for when she was big enough for them. Freyu let out a small laugh at the memories of catching her sister trying to steal their older brother's stuff.
She never got big enough for these.
The pleasant memory was spoiled by the bitter thought. She frowned and pushed it aside, there wasn't time to think like that.
She went back up and waited for Omega to be done. She ended up going in and helping the girl with her hair.
Freyu parted the hair covering Omega's wound to check on it, it was healing well, and looked a lot better now that the area around it had been cleaned. She brushed out the tangles and knots in Omega's curly blond hair, Omega fidgeted slightly every now and then.
When that was done, Freyu checked her wounds, the smaller scrapes and scratches had mostly healed by now, the cuts on her back still looked painful, she made a note to get Omega a pain relief before bed. The wound on her arm was still raw looking, it was doing well.
A little too well. Yes she'd given the healing a kick start, but it shouldn't be at this faze so fast, especially with the condition Omega had, and to a lesser extent was still in. Her body hadn't, and now hardly had what it needed to start serious healing efforts, she shouldn't have been this far along yet. It wasn't a natural human thing… that was another thing to worry about.
Freyu put the thoughts aside, once again, and continued tending to Omega. She rewrapped all the wounds that needed it.
"You've healed up well considering you're still sick, some wounds need more time so go easy on your arm and try not to hit your head." Freyu instructed as she wrapped Omega's arm.
Omega tugged at the edge of the slightly too long sleeves, the house she was in looked like it had been lived in by more than one person, but Freyu was the only one here. She wondered what happened to the others who lived here.
"Does anyone else live here?" She asked before thinking.
"No, just me." The response was a bit delayed, Omega didn't put much thought into that.
"Did anyone used to live here with you?"
There wasn't an answer to that question, Omega glanced over her shoulder, Freyu looked upset now. Angry.
"Did… something bad happen?" She asked cautiously.
Freyu glanced down at her, her hard expression softened and she smiled softly.
"Obviously something happened," Freyu flicked the hair around her scar, "But it doesn't matter anymore." She said.
She led Omega over to her bed, the windows were closed but she could hear the rain on the roof.
"I'm gonna need to hook you back up so I can monitor you, are you okay with that?" Freyu asked.
An instinctual hint of hesitation arose from the back of Omega's mind. She could feel wires tapped to her skin, she felt uncomfortable. Freyu rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Do you have a problem with it? It won't be too many, I just need to monitor your vitals while you're asleep." Freyu comforted.
"o-Okay…" Omega nodded and sat so she could get hooked up.
You don't want her tossing you out, don't be too much of a burden. Omega told herself sternly.
Freyu briefly glanced away from her current task, the harsh thoughts passing into her head had been a bit surprising, more so the content than it happening. She would need to take care of that problem on a later date, Omega was yawning and looked very tired.
She finished and tucked Omega into the makeshift bed.
"Have a nice rest." Freyu patted Omega's head gently.
She turned the lights out and went downstairs to the greenhouse.
XXX
Freyu rolled a smooth stone over the desired section of the plant. She stopped when the leaf was squishy, tied it off and cut what she'd worked on.
Sweet smelling sticky goo leaked out, she squeezed it all out into a bowl, split the drained leaf open and scraped until just the leaf skin was left. The scraped bits went into a different bowl.
She turned to the large pot over the burner. She stirred the simmering mixture, under the gray foaming surface, the liquid was a light pink, as it should be. It had a bittersweet and citrusy scent.
She took the liquid she'd extracted and heated it on the other burner until it had a syrupy look then she poured it into the mixture. She stirred for a few minutes until it became more viscous, then she left it.
She plucked one blossom from the vines that wrapped around the entrance to the greenhouse, and took a handful of dried petals from the dry storage. The dried petals were placed in a mortar, the blossom was plucked and the fresh petals were set aside to be dried and used later. She crushed the dried petals into a powder, then forced the pollen and nectar in the blossom stem out before squeezing the sap out, the stem would also be dried.
She mixed until it became a smooth, thick paste, she chuckled, who knew such a little flower could have so much liquid inside of it? She checked the pot, and it was at the perfect time to add in the paste.
The rich maroon colored paste mixed in with the now teal liquid, she waited until the chemical reaction between the ingredients caused little explosions of green, then she stirred until it became a calming light green.
She took it off the burner to cool, and got the jars and charts ready. She couldn't remember how much each person needed or when their refills were, and how much would go to the local pharmacy for the life of her. So she had an extensive list that was copied onto paper and backed up with several holo text replacements.
Now that work was done, what she could do with her biggest pot being occupied, her mind was free to wander over the ramifications of her discoveries.
She sighed. Her examination while Omega had been asleep had come with troubling news.
Omega did have amnesia, dissociative amnesia, though she wasn't sure if it was general or localized yet. Omega hardly remembered anything up until a few weeks ago, so that pointed to general, but everything around a certain point was just fuzzy, that certain point in her memory was blocked off, possibly due to a highly traumatic experience, and that pointed to localized.
Either way it was amnesia caused by trauma.
Dissociative amnesia wasn't permanent, recovery from it was possible but, Freyu wasn't sure if that was such a good thing. It was trauma causing this, and Freyu knew that damage first hand. Something extremely bad had happened, so maybe she'd be better off if she didn't remember it?
That left her with the question of what she would do with Omega.
She couldn't just turn Omega over, the kid needed more than the currently overstretched refugee system could give her. She could only assume that Omega was abandoned or orphaned, so that left her with no one in the galaxy who cared about her.
And there was Omega's oddly quick healing, the fact that she seemed to be fighting her infection off without much medical aid, and obviously, the fact that with her blood loss, infection and sickness, she should've been dead, for a while at least. There was definitely something going on with her. That plus the very real possibility of someone chasing Omega led Freyu to a troubling conclusion.
There was a chance that Omega could have escaped from experimentation. She'd heard about some attempts to make naturally born enhanced humans during the war, from both sides.
There were factions in the Republic that didn't like having to rely on the specially modified, enhanced clones to fight, or aliens for tasks less suited to a human, so it made sense that they'd tried to change a human to be better.
The C.I.S. council would have been interested in that too, the C.I.S. civilian government not so much.
Even if she tried, Freyu knew she wouldn't be able to stop her mind from racing with theories and questions and jumping to some absurd conclusions. She figured, from her limited knowledge on the new Empire, and that it had previously been the Republic, if whoever had a hand in a sort of project like that was still alive and had a position within the Empire, they would be interested in getting their "runaway experiment" back. Likewise if the project was one of the C.I.S.'s, then the Empire would be interested in the results and advancements.
So, Omega was either an escapee of some kind of human experimentation, abandoned or orphaned. It could be all three, but for now, until she knew more, Freyu was going to place her bet on the orphaned or abandoned options. Shitty as they were, they were better than the first. But what to do with her?
Freyu bit her lip in thought, she could just let Omega stay? There weren't any other good options for her, and it wasn't like she wouldn't enjoy having someone around, bringing life back into the big empty house, she absolutely would. But she was afraid of the possibility that something bad would happen once she got attached to Omega. Afraid the kid would get hurt beyond her abilities to heal, and she just couldn't… she couldn't go through that, not again.
Well then, I just won't let her get hurt like that. I can keep her safe as long as she needs.
________________________________________________________________________________
Yes, Freyu met Omega for less than a day(she was unconscious for most of this so that time doesn't count) and was ready to just let this kid live in her house.
Now let me info dump about my favorite blue girl!
Freyu makes medicine and remedies from plants and other natural ingredients and compounds like toxins, most of them are from Massanii cause the plants there have a high healing effect and can be mixed into more powerful heals. She knows how to get compounds to interact to create a desired result, she can also make some toxic stuff so she's a bit of a toxicologist/chemist in addition to being a healer. She also works with animals, she's really good with them so she's also the first choice to go to if something is wrong with an animal.
For the pills Freyu takes, they are basically space adderall because she's got a Pantoran equivalent to ADHD.
And Freyu has moderately severe hearing loss in her right ear, normal voice level conversations are very hard for her to hear, because of the damage to her general ear are and the resulting stitch up surgery since nothing could reverse the damage and having a canal would be a risk, her ear canal was covered, so sound is muffled too.
She's got a hearing aid/implant, it's kinda both because there's a cybernetic part that actually goes into her skull and connects with her ear drum in the least destructive way, and can't be removed(the implant part) then there's the actual hearing part which fits into the implant part cause there's nowhere else for it to go. It works so she can take out her hearing aid but still blockout any excess noise in that ear, cause she's got tinnitus in that ear too. The hearing aid was made by one of her brothers and she knows how to make another if one breaks.
So her right ear is all sorts of messed up. On the bright side, she can use the hearing aid to pick up on things she normally wouldn't be able to.
And don't worry, I've done my research on dissociative amnesia.
I like this a lot better than the original chapter one, it's much, much better. Don't go looking for the og, it's bad, I'm not gonna link it. I'm hiding that. I'm not sorry.
I hope you all have a good day, whatever that is for you! VJS out!
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Since it's the end of 2023, let's review my New Year's Resolutions for this year:
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So this time last year I made a catrgorized list of goals for 2023. First was language-related:
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Apparently I was still big into Swedish last year; however I have done pretty much none of it this year and frankly I'm not sure I even still care about learning it 😅 I also barely did any Greek, I guess I was really focused on French. Though as you might see by the movie titles, I wasn't overly fast with fullfilling the goals for French or Greek either.
Next was uni-related goals:
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You might get the impression that I'm a bad student from this; you would be correct. Frankly, I have no idea how I passed my exams on first try 😅
Since I'm incredibly bad with personal relationships and tend to isolate myself a lot, I also made a list of social goals:
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I can't really tell whether I passed the personal one or not.
The second one got a lot easier over time and was meant to help with my self-isolation. I'm not sure it did.
The third one was relatively easy. The fourth one as well, especially after I realized how awful "Mr. X" had actually been
Failed the fifth one several times over.
I actually tried the sixth one for like 2 weeks before I realized I had no idea how to effictively do that, so I kinda just... stopped trying.
Not entirely sure where I was going with the 7th, but extremely sure I failed it.
The 8th one was supposed to be in the spirit of helping the homeless or supporting charity events or something like that. I did a bit more than last year, but not as much as I had in mind.
I think I made maybe 1 irl friend and lately I'm not doing things with him all that often anymore for several reasons, so...
I'm pretty sure I only managed the least important ones, but whatever.
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Completely failed my hobbies, but I'm not really surprised. Again, with half of these I'm not even sure I still want it anymore.
(In case anyone's curious about the last point: I intended to fill a whole drawing pad, which I didn't but I did keep drawing (with longer and longer in betweens))
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I did the first one because otherwise I would probably go insane
I feel like I never get around to cooking anymore. Oh well.
I did sort out a lot of stuff, but still nowhere near as much as I wanted to get rid of.
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Didn't even put down a number because I knew I wouldn't be able to do that. But turns out I can't even do the vague one; I actually gained a few over the last months...
The * is because technically I meant getting in a headspace where I could get over my insecure attachment patterns and thus theoretically be capable of having a boyfriend. I think I might have made a little progress with that, but as I noticed over the last few weeks, probably not enough
I spectacularly failed the financial goal
The mental health goal was probably the most important one on the whole list and I failed it so spectacularly that I'm pretty sure I'm worse off than I was a year ago lol
Total:
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ramblingsofaking · 2 years
Text
The Joy of science
 Today we review an episode on a podcast named bridging the gaps; a portal for curious minds. Which is anchored by Dr Waseem Akhtar and guest in the person of Professor Jim Al-Khalili.
I chose this topic because science has been viewed by many in a rudimentary manner for so long and it also answers many questions about rationality, information and disinformation and absolute truths.
Professor Jim Al-Khalili OBE FRS is a theoretical physicist at the University of Surrey where he holds a Distinguished Chair in physics as well as a university chair in the public engagement in science. He received his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics from Surrey in 1989 and then spent two years as an SERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University College London before returning to Surrey in 1991. He was appointed lecturer in 1992 and, in 1994, was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship for five years during which time he established himself as a world leading authority. Professor Jim is also a prominent author and broadcaster. He has written 14 books on popular science and the history of science, between them translated into twenty-six languages. He is a regular presenter of TV science documentaries, such as the Bafta nominated Chemistry: a volatile history, and he hosts the long-running weekly BBC Radio 4 programme, The Life Scientific.
Professor Jim starts by saying that science should be viewed as a process of acquiring knowledge and not just the knowledge itself. Science can be carried out via different ways, such as trying to understand how a virus spreads, observation of nesting birds from the edge of a cliff, climbing into a volcano to study it. Science is so broad that it can be hard to define it, only what all those different aspects has to do with science.
The question relativity of truth and absolute truth was asked, and he explained that in the area of physics, there are absolute truths. He gave an example with a ball dropped from 5 meters will hit the earth in exactly 1 second, with such examples you can’t have opinions about the outcome because its an absolute truth. When it comes to truths about the human nature it can get quite messy because it gets mixed up with our beliefs, ideology, culture and moral truths. He continued with saying if the impression of science in teaching is given as cold hard facts, that are all perfectly packaged and understood, it will not spur up curiosity in the minds of the next generation to push them into research. Its best to push the idea that science is about being curious about things we don’t understand.
The question of rationality was asked and he tackled it by responding that we all cannot be rational else the world will be a cold boring place. What is wonderful about our species is that we can be irrational but science stops us from purely being bias and wanting our own theories to be correct. He explained the impact of information and disinformation as being huge because today we have so many sources of information hitting us very fast and with the most logical thinker will have a hard time discerning what is information, disinformation and deliberate disinformation.
Professor Kim said his joy of science comes from doing research work and the fundamental questions about our universe.
For further listening or investigations my sources are https://soundcloud.com/bridging-the-gaps/the-joy-of-science-with-professor-jim-al-khalili
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/jim-al-khalili
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ontheblock · 2 years
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reader is a spy getting info on orochimaru and is working for the leaf. orochimaru knows obviously (cannot hide anything from this in my mind LMAO) and he plays along until he seduces reader and just ends up telling them he knew from the very beginning, maybe she’ll just end up as one of his experiments now. PLEASE OK THIS SOUNDS DUMB NOW but anyways i 💗 ur writing, thank u so much <33
this took such a long time and i‘m still so unhappy with it but i don‘t have the time to rewrite it all and nghhh- i definitely missed the seduction but it‘s still somehow correct? idk man
little spy
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warning: noncon, drugging, mind break, all the bad stuff
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Tricking Kabuto was difficult. But difficult never meant impossible. Tsunade was reluctant with sending someone out to contact the man that so closely operated with her old team mate. The eldest rioted at her decision to send you. In their words, a female ninja was trained to seduce and assassinate. Close combat and dangerous missions were best suited for men. Naturally, Tsunade gave you the mission that same night. Promising regular reports, you departed before daybreak with nothing to your person but village neutral clothing and a little bit of money. Your plan was fool proof.
At first, the search was fruitless and Tsunade restless. You picked up leads and dubious information as you went. The best clue provided by a drunkard that recognized the description, dubbing Kabuto as a “weird little bastard“ but harmless. Reporting it to Tsunade, she brushed it off as an old man saying anything while intoxicated but you refused to leave any end untied. Your entire reputation was on the line with this mission. You would either return with the information you needed or not at all - because if you did, you would lose to the sleazy men talking Tsunade out of hiring you for the job.
It took days of searching but you met him at the most unconventional place you could think of. Kabuto lingered around a hospital in the outskirts of the Land of Sound. When you first saw him, your heart dropped into your stomach. You were nervous but kept recalling your training of keeping a straight face and a neutral energy. It wasn‘t nearly as difficult to approach the man. Sharing niceties and a fabricated origin story was enough to get him to consider your words. Using the last trump card you had - the name of an important informant - seemed to at least convince him to take you seriously.
So for the next weeks, Kabuto arranged meetings with you alone, exchanging trivial information to build something akin to trust between moles. Neither of you even brought up Orochimaru. You were so close that you even cut contact with your village so nothing could even be traced back to you. You took every precaution in the book, used every dirty trick you learned from friend and foe.
And your patience would bear fruit. Sweet and ripe, because one day, you arrived at the scheduled rendezvous to find Kabuto in the company of another person. The skin shone bright and sickly under the rising moon. Almost artificially stretched across bone and muscle tissue, you could make out his veins even in the dim light. His arms were crossed over his chest, his stance was wide and sure but his face was covered in the shadow of a conical straw hat, tipped low to cover his eyes. They stood at a distance but even being far away, the sannin seemed taller than life. You swallowed and mellowed out your chakra flow.
“I hope you don‘t mind the company.“ Kabuto pushed his glasses higher on his nose bridge, eyeing you with intent to see hesitation. “That‘s fine. I‘ve heard about your company.“ Orochimaru chuckled but the sound was hollow and carried away with the wind. “Only good things, I hope.“ The hair on your neck stood at attention when he reached up to pick the hat off his head. “Good is relative.“ His eyebrows shot up his clinically smooth face. He seemed surprised by your answer - in a good way, you prayed. The expression smoothed out just as fast as it came and he nodded towards Kabuto. “Go on.“
You two talked about stolen knowledge, the very reason why Kabuto was here. Your medical understanding sure expanded with all the research you had to do to make this act believable. Orochimaru didn‘t speak. He just lingered so when the three hours were up and he silently departed with Kabuto, you were shaking with emotions. The next meeting was assumed to go over similarly. Except it didn‘t.
“I hope it doesn‘t bother you that Kabuto didn‘t make it.“
You were suspicious when a message ordered you to a public place like this - a tea house during the day. Orochimaru sat at a table with a cup already in hand. “Not at all.“ You sat across from the man, ordering a fresh brew for yourself to blend in. “Kabuto has talked highly of you. I thought it‘s about time I see this promising medic for myself.“ You forced a smile. “I‘m honored.“ He asked you many questions, the quick topic changes and fast paced questions gave you whiplash but at the end of the meeting he hasn‘t killed you so you took that as the sign that he was finally colored convinced. Convinced enough to offer you a place under his wing by the end of the night. “You don‘t have to decide now. I give you exactly five days to make a decision. If it‘s a no, we will never cross paths again.“ You thanked him, bowed to him even. Little did he know that you decided before even meeting him. You would take him down for good.
Five days couldn‘t have gone slower. With no real decision to dwell on, you were forced to drag the time along with you like a ball and chain. You studied up on medical info. Never in your life have you studied this intensely. Not even as a young child in school. It was draining and you were sure that being a real medic was hell on earth. You couldn‘t wait to leave all this behind you.
When day five came, a cloaked figure lead you towards what looked like a cave. A jutsu you couldn‘t catch with your eyes revealed a gate in the ground and the body disappeared in a gaseous cloud. A shadow clone. You swallowed as the gate opened with a stoney groan. You couldn‘t turn back now. Not after everything you did for this mission. So you went down the steps that lead you into an underground hallway. At the end of it, Orochimaru. “Did the journey here treat you well?“ His tone was off. You blamed it on the echo. “Yes.“ A hum and his hand found your shoulder. “Let‘s talk business, shall we?“
Orochimaru lead you through the lair, every hallway a carbon copy of the last. “In here“, he stopped in front of a door and slowly twisted the door knob, “are the scrolls I told you about.“ You swallowed but kept up with the man as he entered the lowly illuminated room. Said scrolls laid innocently on the shelves decorating the walls but what caught your attention were the floor to ceiling sized glass tanks with glowing pale liquid bubbling inside. Most tanks were empty except for three, containing a floating body on a fake umbilical cord connecting to the floor. The bodies were the size of a three year old child, none had any form of pigmentation or body hair. A cold sweat ran down your back. “Did they not tell you this little detail? The human experiments?“ You flinched hard, stumbling forward and away from his breath on your neck. “What-?“ You turned towards Orochimaru who just kept creeping closer until your back was against the glass tank. “You heard about me, haven‘t you? You seemed shocked.“ You blinked at him, clearing your throat and wiping your sweaty palms on your pants. “Oh. No. I- I just haven‘t seen something like this up close before.“ His eyes traveled from your face to the floating child behind you. “Feel free to observe. They were transferred from a womb to the tank. Fascinating, isn‘t it?“ You reluctantly turned your back to him to study the tank further. There were no labels and you could see the heartbeat through the almost translucent skin. “Yes… Fascinating.“ You tried to calm your nerves but Orochimaru was so close behind you.
“Say…“ You tried to be nonchalant but whenever he initiated conversation you were strung up like a spring. “How is Tsunade doing?“ The moment that name left his lips was the moment your world stopped spinning. Your mouth opened but you didn‘t produce any words. A hand snaked into your hair and slammed your face against the thick, warm glass. Your lung deflated with a pained gasp but Orochimaru pinned your body with his own and you could only brace yourself with your palms flat against the tank. “How-? When-?“ He laughed, lowering his head to your level. “The whole time. It‘s almost insulting that you think you tricked me for even a second.“ Tears gathered on your lash line and he tutted at you. “Tsunade must be getting old… Sending a little girl after me.“ With one hand firmly in your hair, the other made quick work of your clothes, ripping the sturdy material of your pants apart at the crotch. “No! Stop! Stop it!“ You bucked against the body behind you in an attempt to throw him off but it was like trying to contain the ocean in a bucket. “Let me go… I promise- I wh-won‘t say anything to- just-“ A harsh slap on your ass made you yelp. “You freak! You- You disgusting freak! Tsunade won‘t let you get away with this!“ You shrieked as a too dry finger pressed inside your pussy. “The leaf hasn‘t changed a bit I see. Their special forces are still all talk.“
You refused to cry for him, chewing the inside of your cheek bloody instead. Orochimaru pumped his too long finger inside you a couple of times, the friction felt like he was trying to dig your insides out. It hurt but you wouldn‘t cave under this. He seemed to agree because he quickly pulled back out again. “I wish I could collect samples from you first but it will do.“ Something blunt nudged against your hole and you clenched instinctively. “Stop, stop, no, no, no, you can‘t!“ You tried to shift your hips but didn‘t come far. The panic was blinding but the stretch of his cock thrusting into your unprepared pussy made your vision splotchy.
Your mouth hung open against the glass, clouding the smooth surface with your breath as Orochimaru pounded into you from behind. The hand in your hair ripped your head to the side far enough for Orochimaru to slot his lips against your and your protest got muffled by a thick tongue pushing into your mouth, licking across yours and slithering into your throat until you were gagging and clenching around the cock hitting your cervix in fear of asphyxiation.
The burning pain of flesh dragging against flesh deep inside you slowly shifted to a tingling flame. You gasped with effort. Every struggle became a chore as your chakra drained out your system and you became lightheaded. Shoving your face away, Orochimaru latched his lips onto your neck instead. “My- What did you do to me?“ Your speech slurred together like you were tipsy and the glass suddenly felt cold against your skin. A particularly aimed thrust made you moan and grind back against his pelvis. Horrified, you pressed your lips together. “Aphrodisiac. Have they taught you about that method of torture?“ You tried to place his words but it all just boiled down to the horribly slick feeling dripping down your thighs, the squelching of wet meat. “You‘re reacting so well. One might think you were a slut all along.“
But you weren‘t. You were just lured into his domain out of amateur eagerness to take down something too great for you. Being drugged changed nothing about the fact that you regretted not considering to contact Tsunade one last time.
Your knees buckled underneath you and if Orochimaru were to let go, you would surely crumbled on the floor at his feet. “But don‘t you worry. I will turn you into one anyway.“ With just enough pressure on your clit, you were coming and gushing around him, totally unaware that he filled you up with his seed.
——————
Orochimaru sent Kabuto out to Konoha to scope out the atmosphere. A spy disappearing for a month on a dangerous mission must be harsh on the hokage responsible for that big step.
While his underling was gone, Orochimaru took it upon himself to visit your cell. The metal door scraped against the rough ground but you didn‘t even register the sound. You were curled up on a mattress in the corner of the cell, naked and dazed. “K-037.“ You reacted to his hand combing your hair through his fingers, slowly turning to face him. The inside of your arms were bruised, every tiny spot a different stage of healing. “Lord?“ He grabbed the arm closest to him and pulled the prepped syringe from his robe. “Yes.“ A soft breath escaped you. By your expression alone, you seemed to only be able to focus on the man looming above you. The needle found a healthy vein in the crook of your arm and you didn‘t flinch. A dose amphetamines and synthetic hormones enlarged your pupils until it swallowed what used to be lively iris. Your breathing picked up and you melted into the mattress. Shrugging off his robe, he felt an excitement in his chest. Soon he would be able to fill up another tank.
As long as Orochimaru kept your system full of aphrodisiac, you didn‘t even need a name or a village. It was beautiful to reduce a human to their most animalistic state.
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likeastarstar · 3 years
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The House Call
Summary: As a full time grad student and part time drug dealer, you have a lot on your plate and Namjoon being a shitty school project partner is NOT helping, ok?!
masterlist.
Okay, so you were a drug dealer.
Nothing major! It was just weed, which would be legalized quickly, given the way the rest of the world was going. It was just to get you through grad school, you only sold to friends. You kept your circle tight, not many people even knew you dealt. You were very selective, which is why when Seokjin asked to share your number with his friend, you were unsure. But he was your most reliable customer, so his friends must be too.
What made it even worse was that he apparently was too busy to meet up at your usual drop spot- insisting to pay extra if you did a house call instead. You agreed, obviously, but still. It was annoying.
You had things to do, there was a huge project due the next morning and your partner hadn't done his part of it. He looked smart enough when you were paired up- he had glasses and everything. How were you supposed to know he was lazy as shit.
A buzzing in your pocket interrupted your internal rant- who the hell was calling you this late at night?
"Hello?" You snapped, letting your bad mood seep through your tone.
"Uh, hi- I had a question about the project."
Namjoon- your project partner. Of course. You groaned, walking up the steps to the apartment complex to where you were meant to drop off the weed. All of your conversations with this new customer had been through Jin, a fact that you regretted deeply.
"Get it over with, you know you really should've done this sooner," You sighed, checking the apartment numbers twice before knocking on the door.
"I normally would've but I've been really stressed, ok?" He apologized, a shuffling sound coming through the line.
You rolled your eyes as the door in front of you opened, revealing-
"Namjoon," You gasped, taken aback. He was Jin's friend? What are the odds. You hung up quickly, raising your eyebrows dramatically, "What are you doing buying weed instead of working on our project?"
He looked shocked himself, towering over you with his phone still pressed to his ear. He was dressed more casually than you were used to seeing, his hair disheveled in a way that oddly looked better than when he tried to tame it.
"I told you I was stressed," He mumbled, "Come in. I didn't know you were a dealer."
"I didn't know you smoked," You bit back, rolling your eyes.
You pursed your lips but stepped into his place, looking around curiously. It was nice, decorated in a way you wouldn't have expected from a 20 something year old boy. His place was relatively clean, other than the multiple empty cup noodles placed in random areas and the insane amount of paper laying around, "is this all schoolwork?"
"I'm taking a lot of classes," He shrugged, "How much is it?"
"Uh- thirty," You answered, picking up the nearest piece of paper. It was for micronutrients in the human body. the human, a class you had taken two semesters ago on a whim. "No wonder you're stressed out."
He handed you the money wordlessly, trading you for the paper in your hand. You looked at him for the first time since you walked in, only now noticing the dark circles under his eye and the way he had seemingly bitten his lower lip raw. You groaned, feeling all of the annoyance you had minutes ago turn into sympathy.
You shoved the money in your pocket and handed him his weed, pulling your backpack off your back, "Get high, take a break."
"I can't take a break right now, I'm so fucking behind on all of my classes-"
"Chill, I'll help you. Light up, we'll work on the project together and then I'll help you on micro. I got an A in it, I'll tutor you."
So that's what you did, working through the mountain of shit he had piled up in his living room side by side. You never really noticed how funny he was before, both unintentionally and intentionally. He offered your own weed to you and you accepted, feeling nice and relaxed by the time you had gotten around to tutoring Namjoon on other subjects.
"Do you understand it a little more now?" You asked, looking up at him. He was sat beside you on the couch, thighs touching yours with an arm stretched behind your head on the couch. He nodded and frowned, correcting his work and leaning towards you to show you. "Y-yeah, that's right."
He smelt really good- like sandalwood and honey. You couldn't help but stare at the way he was sucking his cheeks in in concentration. Why the hell was this guy a environmental science major? He could be a model.
"You're a really fast learner," You noted, your voice soft and hazy, the way it always was when you were high.
"You're a good teacher," He mumbled, smiling sleepily at you.
He looked so cute you couldn't help it, leaning forwards to kiss him. Namjoon was caught off guard, freezing for a moment but his lips were soft and his skin was warm, drawing you in before you snapped back to reality, pulling away sharply.
"I shouldn't have done that," You gasped, leaning away from him awkwardly. You had to get out of here- eyes already searching for your belongings. Embarrassment crept up on your skin, heating your cheeks. Maybe you could blame it on being reallt fucking blazed, which you were.
"No," He said suddenly, catching your arm with a hand around your wrist, "I should've done it."
What?
"Why do you think I wanted to be your partner for this project?" He smiled, eyes lighting up in a cute way you hadn't noticed before.
"Um, because I'm the smartest person in class?" You guessed, playing with his large hand idly. His fingers felt good between yours, tingling shocks sparking in the places where his skin touched yours.
He laughed softly, nodding sheepishly, "That too- but more than a good grade, what I wanted was you. Part of the reason I'm so behind in class is because all I do during lecture is stare at you- you're not very good at controlling your facial expressions, did you know that?"
You pulled your mouth into a tight line, smiling awkwardly. It was true, you had been known to show every thought passing through your mind on your face. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"You're really scary," He shrugged plainly, as if it were just an obvious fact. "You yell at me a lot which makes me nervous and horny at the same time and I've been trying to figure out whether that means I'm a freak or not."
"It's a good thing I enjoy yelling at you," You noted, more to yourself than him.
"You can yell at me whenever you want, baby," He said jokingly, grinning down at you. Holy shit, he had really nice teeth.
You barely had time to process his words before his lips were on yours, leading the kiss this time. His hand cradled the side of your face, thumb stroking your still flushed cheeks delicately as his other arm wrapped around your waist. You placed your hands on his shoulders, squeezing the muscle under your palms and pulling him closer to you. Namjoon guided you onto his lap, holding you closer him. God- he was warm and strong and so, so soft.
His hands stayed in their polite place at your waist, kneading into the flesh of your sides with a purpose. Namjoon was a good kisser- an easy balance of dominant and soft. He knew where to push and pull, reading your body like it was second nature to him. First kisses could be awkward, but this one was perfect.
His tongue licked a tentative swipe along the edges of your mouth and you reached up to sink your hands in his hair, pushing his head to the side slightly as you parted your lips and allowed him to deepen the kiss. His tongue was soft against yours and he tasted like smoke and something sweet, your favorite strain of weed invading your senses.
"We should do this more often- maybe not the tutoring thing, but this- the kissing thing," He said, parting from you for a moment.
You nodded eagerly, pulling him back towards you, "Yeah, definitely- the kissing thing. Maybe if I give you enough time to stare at me outside of class, you'll do better too. I really can't date anyone below a 3.5 GPA you know."
"Okay, calm down," He pouted, narrowing his eyebrows at you, "I have a 3.8."
"I have a 3.84," You bragged, "Don't worry, I'll tutor you."
He stifled a laugh and began kissing you again. You smiled and reminded yourself to thank Kim Seokjin for asking you to make a house call.
(A/N: giiirrrl what the hell? I don't have a 3.84 in my program...maybe I should've gone into a creative writing grad program instead....LMAO)
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moonbaby26 · 3 years
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Title: A Party and a Spy
Pairing: Loki x Goddess!Reader
Summary: Story set nearer the Viking Age. You were a Greek sea goddess who crossed paths with the god of mischief. Continuation of previous chapter. Loki is forced to return to Asgard to unwillingly participate in the festivities honoring Odin and Thor’s victories in Alfheim. He ends up drunk and in a piss poor mood that he then wants you to help relieve. Your secret meetings also finally attract an unwanted visitor. Super brief cameos here by Sif, the warriors three, and Thor, as well as Heimdall again.
Warnings: Semi smut possibly, but no real sex this chapter. Sorry to tease, will be some next chapter. Here is just mentions of arousal, grinding through clothing. Mention of masturbation. Also some animal abuse, but a magical animal who will be fine I guess. The princes are just jerks like that.
Chapters: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Taglist: @rosaline-black , @lawfeys , @loveableasshole , @insanitybyanothername , @just-wordsandthoughts , @cringingmemeries
My Masterlist
——————————
You still felt warm, your head just poking out from under the blanket as you stretched a little. Your hand ran out across the mattress after a moment though, contacting nothing to your surprise as you then opened your eyes.
As you quickly sat up, the look on your face must have said far too much as you heard a chuckle from nearby.
“No, goddess, I haven’t left just yet. My, you are expressive though.”
As you turned your head towards the voice, you saw Loki now sitting in one of the two chairs at the small table opposite your side of the bed.
He was still dressed only in a pair of pants you also quickly noted, yourself still so unused to seeing this much of him as your eyes lingered on the lean muscle and pale skin.
“What?” He asked, not missing that stare either, though the sly look in his eyes told you he knew damned well what you were now distracted with. He just wanted you to say it.
“Asgardians really do wear too many clothes, if you are any proper example anyway.” You replied simply though. Why hide so much all the time?
He raised an eyebrow, but was smirking as he taunted a little further. “Oh I can assure you, there is no one in Asgard like me. And you’d prefer this not be reserved just for you then?”
You tried not to look caught off guard. Even if he were only teasing, the implication that he’d still be keeping this type of intimacy for you alone was something that made your stomach flutter slightly.
“Come here.” He said next though, snapping you back to attention, though you still hesitated. Was that a command or a request?
He only rolled his eyes after a moment though. “Oh, don’t waste time trying to be proud now. I do have to leave shortly, it will already be late morning in Asgard by now.” He extended a hand to you. “So come, sit with me.”
You eventually acquiesced, standing from the bed then, though intending just to walk to the other chair. Yet the very moment you were close enough, he only grabbed you by the arm, pulling you down to sit on his lap instead.
He was surprisingly fast and strong when he wished to be, his arms already around your waist as well before you could think to try and stand again.
“There. That wasn’t so hard was it?” He spoke lowly against your ear as you shifted.
But to your surprise he didn’t touch you any further, even though one arm did stay around your waist to keep you steady as his other hand just went back to the table.
“I have a job for you.” He added, then moving his hand oddly as a piece of parchment paper and a writing quill appeared abruptly from thin air. “At least I think it may work. I’m sure the majority of these animals are illiterate. I’m hoping at least the clan chief has some shaman or someone of the sort that understands these runes. It’s the only written language I’ve ever seen in this land.”
But even as he started to write on the paper, your mind was still only fixating on what you’d just seen as you asked abruptly. “How did you do that?”
He seemed focused on whatever symbols he was now putting on the page, but he still answered. “How do I do what? They’re just runes.”
“No, how did you conjure the pen and paper?” Controlling the elements, moving objects by will, or casting illusions was one thing. But forming a very unnatural, man made object from essentially nothing was different than the typical kind of magic you were used to.
Loki paused a moment then, like trying to digest what you’d just said before he glanced back up to look you in the eyes.
“The woman can move the seas themselves and is astonished by a piece of paper?” He mocked incredulously.
Your eyebrows lowered. “Listen, I know good and well I’m no sorceress. That’s why I’m asking. How do you create something like that from nothing?”
He shook his head. “Gods, they really just give magic to anyone these days.”
A joke clearly, as everything you had you had been born with, though learning to control it had taken time. And to be honest, was still an ongoing learning process. But you still wanted an answer as you looked at him pointedly.
He sighed under your gaze. “I really don’t have the time for this. But I know you won’t let it go.” He had continued writing though even as he kept talking. “I didn’t make them, goddess. I brought them with me. You are at least correct in that nearly all instances of magic, nothing can be made without taking of something else. I’m sure when you make those little whirlpools of yours for instance, you’re drawing the latent energy from the water. The currents, the temperature differences, what have you. To truly make something from nothing...well, that would be chaos magic. Which, may or may not even exist depending which of the ancient mages’ tomes you most believe in.”
You could tell he did take pride in his studies and the principles behind them clearly. If he wasn’t already concerned about returning to Asgard, you could probably get a whole lecture on this subject right now. But you couldn’t help but point out again, as you just responded. “Yet you still haven’t really answered my question. If you brought them with you, where were they before?” You glanced down at his pants as if to reaffirm your doubt that anything other than himself had been hidden there as they were relatively tight.
Yet he still smirked at your continued insistence. “On the scale of the things I’m capable of, my dear, that’s just a parlor trick. And if you really care so much, I can teach you at some other time.”
At that, he paused writing again though, placing the quill down momentarily as he then moved his hand again for a long dagger to abruptly be held in his palm. “You see? There are far better uses to this trick.” He flipped the knife just as quickly though, letting the blade’s point stab into the table as the dagger then stood on end.
And as it did so he made sure to look to see your reaction, also asking you, “Do you really just depend on your servants to follow you around at all hours with any weapons you may need?”
Yet you just looked from the dagger, then back to him. Surprised surely, but not actually frightened. “And do you have so many enemies as to always need that at the ready?”
“One never really knows do they?” He answered smoothly, just grasping the dagger’s handle again before it disappeared once more.
It didn’t seem like a threat really. But you felt he still wanted you to know a bit more of what he was capable of. You quieted afterward as he went back to writing for a few more moments.
When he was done, you could tell he glanced over the letter briefly, as if proofreading before he rolled the paper tightly and folded it.
He spoke rather business like then, an odd thing honestly as you still sat so intimately on his lap. “If it wasn’t already obvious, I’d like you to carry this to the village leader while I return to Asgard. I don’t have the time to deal with the mortals right now, and besides, they’re your pets.”
“Excuse me? Have you forgotten whose idea this whole ‘protector’ role was to begin with?”
“Oh, I was willing to let the lot of them be wiped out if you’d chosen not to save them. I’d only need to spare whichever the nicest home was from burning as the marauders moved through, and we still would have ended up with a place to meet regardless.”
The sad thing was, you were actually sure he really meant that too. But he just continued.
“Yet you pitied them, and now here we are. And as the beasts held up their end of the bargain, I agree it’s fair at least to give them some recognition for their work. A pat on the head and a ‘good dog’ essentially, that’s what this letter says. So you see, I’m not wholly ungrateful.”
“A thank you letter?” You asked dryly. Relatively sure it likely didn’t read completely as such.
“Well, essentially. But with a reminder on the rules as well.”
“Rules?”
“Our privacy must be respected. I’ll put a green flame at the end of the trail nearer the village when we’re present. During the night, this place is also solely ours. If during the day there’s no flame, then they can come up and clean and maintenance this tiny wood hutch like good help should.”
“Your staff at your palace must just adore you.” You mused sarcastically. “The mortals are not our slaves, Loki.”
“It’s really an odd thing how you fancy them.” He retorted, though with an air of someone just humoring another person they already thought irreparably deluded. “But I suppose you have nothing else fulfilling to pass the time when I’m in Asgard. Some people like to paint, others like to craft things...you, you have your pets.”
Arrogant god you thought. As if suddenly you had no other purpose outside of him? Surely he saw that insulted look in your eyes as well, because you could see the entertained mirth in his own before he pulled you closer to kiss you suddenly.
And this one was rough again, briefly reminding you of that night in the cave as you felt his hands move down to your hips. His tongue was already in your mouth before you could even consider pulling away.
From last night when he’d only held you, to now seeming so hungry again, the sides of him could change so quickly you were learning.
His hands didn’t move beneath your dress though, even though you thought his fingers may be grabbing you hard enough to bruise as he twisted you to be fully facing him. Straddling him actually with each of your legs now on either side of him as he rested against the back of the chair.
He kept kissing you, and it wasn’t long before you felt that distinct hardness against you even through his pants. As always though, you wore nothing beneath your dress, a matter of practicality really for as often as you were in the water. Who would want any undergarments constantly rubbing and chaffing where you were most sensitive? You liked sheer and loose material in the dresses you wore, so that it moved easily as you swam and dried quickly when you were on land.
But he knew all this by now of course, as he just ground his hips then, that rough seam of his pants then moving between your legs as he drug it back and forth.
He was intentionally trying to work you up. You sensed the trap, but still found your own hands moving across his bare chest soon enough.
Your newfound lack of willpower was really astounding. Finally though, you pulled your head back to break the kiss and warn him. “If you’re just doing this with no intention to actually follow through...”
“If you wanted it so badly, you could have taken it last night.” He retorted though. “I’ve already stayed too long.”
“Why can’t I want both?” You answered, meaning it as well. It wasn’t just sex, nor was it just being in his company. Neither by itself was enough anymore. Each had its own place.
He looked frustrated himself though as you felt him thrust against you reflexively, that bulge in his pants wasted even as it scraped against where you were now becoming wet. “I’m telling you, Odin is back at the palace now. I have to be calculated in the times I come and go. There is some damned ceremony today, likely starting any moment by now for their victories in Alfheim. If I’m not there, they’re going to come looking for me.”
As much as you knew he liked to bend the truth. It wouldn’t make sense for him to deny himself this right now unless it was actually for good reason.
“Well you’re the one who pulled me into your lap and kissed me.” You relented, though your own body now fully flustered and urging you to return to him even as you stood up and stepped away.
“Well you shouldn’t have slept so late.” He grumbled back. Pulling at his pants in some discomfort as he stood as well.
But you watched as his armor manifested then, horned helmet and all as his magic washed across him. What you guessed would now be his attire for the ceremony he’d spoken of. You assumed that clothing and armor had been in whatever void the pen, paper, and dagger had been.
At least with his illusions he could also conceal his arousal if it hadn’t faded on its own by the time he reached the palace though, you thought with some amusement.
Yet, even as he walked for the door, he taunted to you as if sensing your enjoyment of his current predicament. “You’re welcome to get back in the bed you know. Think of me while you self soothe, goddess.”
So crude. But you just fired back before he could close the door. “And is that what you do at night in Asgard? Think of yourself as well to finish things off?” You were trying to mock his evident self importance of course.
Yet he didn’t even miss a beat at the intended insult. “Why be myself when I can just be you? Then I never have to forget how you feel.”
And just to prove that he could, you stared in disbelief as a perfect likeness of yourself then smiled back at you lewdly, thin dress and all before shutting the door unceremoniously.
Gods. That was just unnatural. And you had to sit down at that, arousal now paused at least as your body’s resulting confusion was almost palpable.
———————————
Asgard, not long after
Loki was back to his normal appearance, hurriedly stepping into the small grouping of warriors he’d recognized at once in the rest of the crowd at the palace ceremonial hall.
Sif’s head turned in immediate surprise and annoyance as those golden horns entered her peripheral vision. The irritation was evident even as she tried to keep her voice low with so many others still around them. “And just where have you been!? Thor was looking for you everywhere!”
“I was in the library, did he think to look in the library!?” Loki spat back immediately, knowing that even if his brother had checked there, Thor knew the layout of it so poorly, he could always have claimed to have been in another section.
“Yet why are you breathing so hard, chap? Were you actually running?” Fandral asked as well, also looking Loki over.
“And why pray tell would I have been running?” Loki shot a glare to him next. Could they not mind their own damned business for once?
“Because you were late?” Volstagg offered in that simplistic, yet matter of fact way that was always beyond annoying even on the best day.
“Well I’m here now.” Loki huffed, though not missing the way Hogun was also staring at him critically. “And do you have something to add?” Loki grumbled at him.
But only Sif answered. “Well if you hadn’t been lost in the library,” Her tone made clear how little she believed that excuse, “You’d know that Thor chose you to give the congratulatory speech before-”
“The what?” Loki stared at her, that odd mix of horror and disgust then abruptly clear on his face.
——————————
“So what more can I say of Asgard’s favorite son?” Loki’s public speaking voice boomed richly through the great hall, the throng of happy faces sickening as he smiled right back at them. What fresh Hel was this really?
“Alfheim counts her graces I am sure to have such noble saviors defend her-” By the gods he didn’t even know what Odin and Thor had done there the entire time. He assumed there’d been skull bashing and the normal heroics. But if they’d been working out peace treaties instead the last few weeks, who knew. He’d been looking for hidden portals to Midgard still on the days they’d held the main debriefings.
“And with peace secured in the realms once more, please join me in giving thanks to the noble Allfather and the mighty Thor!” Loki wasn’t normally one for alcohol. Not in comparison to most Asgardians anyway. He thought it dulled the mind too much. But by all the mages in all the realms...he so badly needed it now, as he took a large swig of the strongest Asgard had, before throwing the glass down to shatter it as was custom. “And let the feasts commence!”
The crowd erupted in cheers. And on any other day, that would have been something he obviously would have wanted. But Loki knew that not one voice was for him as he suddenly felt a large hand and arm go around his shoulders, shaking him roughly before his brother’s voice joined the yells, yet right in his ear.
“HUZZAH!” Thor cried, one arm still around Loki as his other lifted Mjolnir triumphantly.
—————————
And it was so many hours later before Loki had finally escaped. Time and time again as he’d tried to excuse himself from the endless barrage of drinks and food, it was as if his brother had somehow sensed it.
Then there would be Thor again, telling him any one of those same stories over and over as he’d somehow corralled Loki back into the feast room. If he’d had to hear one more time how with one hand forced behind his back, and Mjolnir still in mid air, that Thor had kicked one of the enemies’ bombs right back into their own garrison, taking out an entire enemy troop as more of their stored artillery then exploded...Loki may have finally vomited.
As it was now, he wasn’t exactly walking a straight line either though. Just carrying his own helmet in one hand, his head already throbbing as he made his way slowly through the corridors. His other arm reaching out occasionally, grazing the walls for balance.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d drank so much. Well, more like been forced to drink so much, just to try and maintain his sanity in what was essentially just another gathering of his brother’s sycophants.
Honestly did Thor even see it? Did he really think all those hanger-ons were truly his friends? Perhaps there was some argument for Sif and the warriors three. As thick headed as they all were, they were about cut from the same cloth. And that was not a compliment.
But all the others? It’d be almost pitiable really if it weren’t so damned annoying. Yet maybe it was the alcohol there as well, making Loki linger on so many of these feelings again.
By the time he reached the entrance to his quarters, he was frowning as he pushed the heavy doors open. He still made sure that they shut fully behind him though as he waved his hand to lock them doubly with a spell.
It was not without precedent that in some true late night madness, either Thor, or Thor, Fandral, and Volstagg may still force entry to try and get him to accompany them on some additional drunken adventure while they were still riding so high on their accomplishments.
“Idiots,” Loki grumbled to no one though. Still stuck in that sour mood as he moved across the dark room, losing clothes as he did so before finally ending up in his elaborate bed. The silken sheets were then the only thing against his skin as he laid there in silence, though the room still feeling like it was moving slightly in his lingering vertigo.
But he just wanted to sleep. That and to will this headache and the thoughts that worsened it away.
But instead he only laid there. His drunken thoughts churning louder and louder as the minutes passed, alone in this extravagant, luxurious, and also very empty bed.
Scattered across the palace now, he could only imagine all the couplings likely occurring. Not necessarily in the full sense of the word. But he knew how these types of festivities normally ended.
Thor was likely in an archway somewhere with Sif, pawing at each other with all the finesse of a pair of schoolchildren. Fandral and Hogun would still be at a table, Fandral now showing off his sword to a couple maidens simultaneously with only thinly veiled euphemisms of how it compared to the hidden equivalent. And Volstagg would have his actual wife and children there, somehow still not bored of them yet as they all laughed together.
And that’s what it really was, laughable.
Loki rolled onto his side, glaring towards the balcony and the stars dotting the black sky beyond it. No, he didn’t need any of that farce of companionship. Not just for the sake of it anyway like all the others. He took what he wanted, when he wanted surely. Pleasure was one thing after all, but it didn’t control him.
You didn’t control him actually. Because no one controlled the god of mischief.
But the longer he lay there in silence, the more he could then imagine your fingers soon running through his hair, or the warmth of your lap to lay his aching head in. He’d had bad days before, many times retreating to this very room alone. But he didn’t have to be alone tonight. He didn’t have to be alone at all anymore did he?
“Goddamnit.” He finally hissed. It was foolhardy, dangerous even after just returning from Midgard already once today. But he wasn’t going to sleep tonight otherwise. Not until he had what he really wanted.
——————————
Loki certainly wasn’t going to be walking all the way to the bifrost gate. Not at this hour, and not in this condition. So he’d taken a form that at least no one would have second guessed if they’d just happened to look up as he’d passed quickly overhead.
One of Father’s ravens, or the rats with wings as he preferred to call them. And as he’d landed near Heimdall, then regaining his normal form, the older god just looked down at him, unimpressed.
“She’s returned to the ocean. She already sleeps.” Heimdall spoke unprompted.
Yet Loki’s eyebrows rose mockingly, even if his words took a little more effort right now. “Oh? Making a habit of watching her…even without me then? That’s a bit perverse.”
But the gatekeeper’s expression hardly changed at the insult, still so difficult to goad. “I saw you coming, and your questions to her whereabouts are becoming predictable.”
It was true. Loki had already come here several nights, yes. Mostly to check whether the mortals had finished that structure or not. And it’d finally been a pleasant reward just the other night when Heimdall had confirmed it already done and you there waiting.
“I don’t care where she is.” Loki retorted though. “I’m going to Midgard. Open the gate.”
“You are inebriated.” Heimdall warned.
“And you have a severely itritating penchant for stating the obvious…open the gate.” He commanded more forcefully.
“Anywhere in Midgard particular?” Heimdall answered.
Loki paused though, hearing that slightest change in the guardian’s normal stoic tone with those last words. “Are you…attempting to make a joke?”
“I did not wish to assume or state the obvious again as you said. And you also say you do not care where she is. So do you not care where you should land tonight then?”
He was! He was mocking him. Loki growled, pointing his finger for emphasis. “Now listen here…it has been a god awful, long day. Quit trying to dissuade me. Send me to the village, gatekeeper!”
“Any village?”
Gods. “My village, her village, whatever you want to call it. But do it or I’ll use the damned sword myself!”
With one last cheerless look down at Loki, Heimdall turned the sword then, opening the gate even as he warned a final time. “Do not fall from the bifrost, Prince. The universe is vast and does not suffer the careless well. Do remember as well that all things done have consequences in the end.”
But Loki had no time to search for deeper meaning in the words, just ruffling more as he walked towards the light. “Is that a threat?”
“Only a truth and a caution.” Heimdall again answered, just before the other disappeared back across the bridge.
———————————
And as the light left him again, Loki was once more in that dark forest. Yet, the ground far lighter colored than normal as to a little of his surprise, his boots now found fresh snow. Winter had finally arrived to this part of Midgard apparently.
He cursed, realizing it would have been far smarter to have told Heimdall to deposit him directly onto the beach this time as he’d now had to navigate back down the hillside and to the trail that led between the cliff face.
It had started snowing again as well as he walked, the large flakes sticking in his black hair by the time he reached the ocean’s edge. He should have told you just to stay at the cabin this morning. But he didn’t expect to be standing here again so soon either.
Loki didn’t care about the water at this point though, the waves rushing up around his feet and over the top of his boots as he trudged forward to call out. “Hear me, sea beasts! Hear me and bring your mistress to me!”
And it didn’t take long of course before he saw two feminine looking torsos rise just where the waves were breaking in the distance. Not quite human, but expressive enough that he could see the skepticism in their body language.
“She’s asleep!” One called back over the waves.
“Then go and wake her!” He only hissed back as if scolding an insubordinate child. Why did everyone feel the need to test him tonight?
But the two nymphs just looked at one another. The other then speaking. “What is so important? Are you claiming injury again?”
He scoffed at the jab, voice easily sliding into its darker range then, even in his continued drunken state. He did not have time for this. “Do not forget your place, water sprite.”
And as he made a move as if to step further into the water, he was pleased to see them both shrink back at that. When they disappeared not long after, he knew all he now had to do was wait.
—————————
You didn’t fully know what to expect. Why was he back so soon? Not that you should complain, but he’d made such a point about having to return to Asgard this morning, and he’d never come back so quickly before. Even though it was now dead of night.
The nymphs also said he’d been acting strangely, even a bit ruder than normal. They insisted you bring your spear, and so you had as you broke the surface only to find him sitting at the water’s edge. Though not even far enough onto the beach to stay dry as the water now ran around him and then pulled back with each successive wave. His pants and cloak were clearly soaked, snow also dotting all over him to your surprise.
“Loki?” You asked, concerned but cautious. Normally the rare sight of snow would have distracted you in its own right had you not been so focused on him. The north was still unique to you for all its differences.
“The cold doesn’t bother me either.” He said abruptly, seeing that worry in your eyes. But he didn’t stand out of the water. “You really should reprimand your servants…”
“It’s not quite that kind of a relationship.” You replied, though not defensively as you still tried to realize what was wrong with him. “Are you alright?”
“No.” He said simply.
If it was just another trick, it was a good one. But you felt you had no real choice but to behave as if he was sincere. You only laid your spear down in the water as you then moved to sit down beside him.
He looked over at you as you did, and you could see how tired he looked even in the darkness. So close to him then, that was finally when you smelled the scent of alcohol, impressively strong even over the salt smell of the ocean.
He was drunk.
“Loki…” You said again, unsure at all what would have driven him to this kind of excess. “Do you want me to help you to the cabin?”
He leaned closer though, as if to either kiss you or lay his head against yours. He did nuzzle your face slightly though as he whispered in your ear. “I want him to get closer first.” Before you could react though, he’d then grabbed your chin to keep you from looking away from him. “He can’t hear us over the noise of the sea…but don’t look away.”
And he did kiss you then, that heady taste of the alcohol almost as distracting as the nonsensical words. His hand was moving up your thigh as well as his other moved around to your back. It all seemed like only the beginnings of foreplay before just as suddenly, he then pushed you down beneath him. His hand that had been on your thigh pulled back simultaneously to throw a dagger violently out into the darkness.
You heard a distinct sound of a hit, a creature screech, and then chaotic flapping in the sand and snow somewhere near the cliff’s base.
Loki was now laying on top of you, your back still pressed into the wet sand as the water rushed back up around you both. He glanced back down at you then, ignoring the confusion in your eyes as he kissed you roughly several times more before finally pulling back again. “We’ll have to get back to that tomorrow…” He all but purred, mood shifting suddenly to satisfaction as he stood once more and offered you his hand.
Utterly baffled, you still took it, letting him help you up before he let go of you to walk off towards the distressed sounds you still heard near the cliff. You only hung back long enough to grab your spear before hurrying to follow him.
You didn’t know what kind of beast to expect from all the noise, and only found yourself more surprised as a pitiable looking black bird finally came into view. It flapped even harder upon seeing Loki, but with one wing clearly mangled and blood spattering the snow and sand around it.
“Oh, you over dramatic twat.” Loki fussed, snatching the hapless creature up with little fanfare as his other hand reclaimed his now bloody dagger, disappearing it again with his magic. “And which one are you?” He asked, holding it roughly near his face as it now continually tried to bite him in defiance.
You didn’t know what he was looking for, and you were about to say something about how harshly he was holding the poor animal before Loki smirked in recognition.
“Well…Muninn, you little vermin. You saw me leave the palace didn’t you? Did you really think I was your other half? Couldn’t leave well enough alone could you?”
What? So this was one of Odin’s ravens? But, Loki had just stabbed it! Was this not treason? Treason that you were now a party to? You had so many questions as your inner panic began to grow.
But Loki only kept smiling, talking with condescension to the injured bird. “Yet, for you to be here so quickly, then you’ve found my door for me. There’s a rift between Asgard and Midgard somewhere nearby…and for that you get to keep your other wing tonight, you little spy.”
—————————
As you passed back up the trail to the cabin together, you saw Loki had indeed kept his word about signaling to the mortals when you were here. A green flame floated, ethereal in midair at the edge of the tree-line.
It had a haunting look to it, but you said nothing, still so focused on Loki’s rough handling of the injured raven. And by the time you’d entered the woods, you could no longer contain yourself.
“Please don’t hold him by the chest like that. It makes it too hard for them to breathe. You’re going to suffocate him!”
At your outburst, Loki seemed to have a genuine moment of surprise, looking over at you before his normal superior expression returned. “Just because you can become a bird….doesn’t mean you should give a damn about this one. Don’t waste your time on kindness. Despite your bleeding heart, his loyalty lies only with the Allfather. He’ll snitch you out regardless.”
“But, he has lost a lot of blood. We can’t let him die, Loki…” You still kept on, worried the alcohol had truly made him lose all sense of judgement.
Again he just gave you the oddest look before outright laughing though. He shook the bird a little, making it squawk again, before continuing. “This rat and his brother are imbued with Odin’s magic. They cannot perish so easily as long as Odin still lives.”
Yet, that was still not comforting to you in the slightest. In what possible way could torturing a favored pet of the Allfather end positively for the two of you?
But Loki didn’t miss the way you still stared with disapproval, just rolling his eyes as you finally made it to the cabin. “Do you know how long we’ve dealt with these little pests? When Thor got his first slingshot as a boy, what do you think he practiced it on? When I learned my first spells, what did I test them on? There is nothing new to this…”
“That’s awful.” You grumbled, though watching as Loki did this odd movement with his shoulders, his magic shifting over him so that he was suddenly dry again.
As he walked inside, you had to shake the snow off yourself the old fashioned way. Your dress and hair still damp from that and the ocean combined as you followed him inside, leaning your spear against the wall before closing the door. “So you could do that the whole time,” You commented as to his drying trick, though not really surprised by anything else right now.
He smirked a little, knowing what you were thinking. With a wave of his hand a couple of the candles also lit. “Oh, I didn’t do it that night in the cave. You were supposed to take pity and ask me to take off some of my wet clothes…of course they ended up off anyway didn’t they?”
You crossed your arms, just frowning as he unceremoniously opened the chest on the floor next, tossing the injured Muninn into it before slamming it back closed.
“I’ll deal with you in the morning,” Loki threatened in response to the resulting angry squawk, giving the chest a light kick before the noise inside silenced.
When he turned to look at you again, he only offered a dark smile. Though still looking tired as he started to remove his clothes.
You tried to keep your disapproving look strong even as you realized he was using no magic at all, removing his vestments piece by piece as if to taunt you into further watching.
But looking away would have just goaded him too wouldn’t it? Letting him know the sight of his body still did things to you. You couldn’t win either way as all of his clothes finally laid piled on the floor, no neatness this time as he went lay nude in the bed.
You stood there a further moment, really not knowing what to do. He didn’t deserve to be rewarded right now in your mind. But were you just supposed to walk right back out the door? You didn’t have the willpower for that either, not anymore.
He watched you lazily too, waiting. His voice was quieter now though as he did speak again. “If I’d wanted to sleep alone…I would have just stayed in Asgard.”
Your shoulders lowered a little at the softer words, but you didn’t know how much you really believed him. You finally did approach the bed however, removing your wet dress, and not missing the way his eyes moved across your body before you climbed in under the blanket beside him.
But you could also tell he was in no condition for love making, even as you felt his hand encircle one of your wrists, himself then pulling your hand up so your fingers fell into his hair.
He gave you an imploring look, making his intention clear even if unexpected. It was so strange, but you complied, starting to rub your fingers through his hair and along his scalp gently.
The way he clearly relaxed into the touch reminded you so much of a placated animal truly. And he even closed his eyes as you just continued stroking, letting the black hair work repeatedly between your fingers.
To drunkenly cross the vast breadth of space just for this minor affection, also risking exposure by his Father’s informants, was it telling you that he really was so reckless after all? Or…was this becoming a real need for him?
Were you becoming a need in his life?
You felt him line up his body with yours, flesh to flesh as he got further comfortable.
“Thank you.” You heard him say at last. Surprising you enough that you could find nothing to say in return.
You just kept on with your soft touches though, comforting the troublesome prince all the way until he finally fell asleep in your arms.
——————————
(Continued in next chapter here)
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cinnamonrusts · 3 years
Text
i’ll see you in the village -- 2
parts: 1
This village is nothing that you thought it was going to be. You interact with some locals and Chris does some homework to find where you are when he cannot contact you. (chris redfield x f!reader) (a/n: it’s a long one, bois. thank you for all the love)
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                                                            ✧.* ✧.*
As the terrifying sounds echoed through the dilapidated village grew closer to where you stood, your blood ran cold and you reached for your gun but stopped; because, you knew that if you opened fire you might blow your cover. However, whatever created these noises did not sound like a friendly neighborhood pet. Person? Dog? Creature? Whatever it was, it sounded dangerous.
“Come out!” you yell as your head whipped side to side, desperate to get a glance at what it was that was playing this game with you. “Come out!” you scream again, but are only answered with a sharp arrow which hurdled through the air and embedded itself in the wooden fence beside your head. You curse loudly, your life almost ended, and you probably wouldn’t have realized it if it did.
Before you popped off any rounds in retaliation, a strong arm pulled you back from behind. Their rough, dirty palm was pressed firmly against your mouth and they shushed you quietly. The person pulled you into a darkened home and quickly closed the front door that was opened just enough for the two of you to slink through. Your mouth opened to speak once you felt relatively safe from whatever horror lurked in the shadows of the night. “Quiet, girl,” your savior spoke. With the faint moonlight that shined through the boarded up window, you could make out the face of an elderly man and to his right was presumably his wife - who was armed with a double-barreled shotgun and the nose of it pointed at a small hole in the door.
They didn’t explain anything besides telling you that being quiet is the correct thing to do. The same blood-curdling screeches grew closer and thuds on the roof caused you to jump. “Do you have a gun?” he asks and you nod as you place your hand on your hip where it was concealed under your clothing. Sounds of snapping wood from above draw the attention of the wife and she proceeded to pump shells in the general direction of the intruders. One of her shots hit whatever it was and it scurried away. Screams of pain were the last of its noise before the thuds stopped and sounds of it tearing through the front yard verified it was gone.
✧.*
A brief amount of time passed before the two locals spoke. “You’re an outsider,” the woman said as she leaned her firearm on the wall beside the door. “Yes, that is true, but I’m nothing but a traveler from a town far East of here,” you lifted your long skirt to curtsey for the couple, “I’ve come here to spread my fortune telling for all to enjoy.” The man scoffed and shook his head before he took a drink from a dirty mug. “Mother Miranda does not cater well to outsiders,” he burped, “--Especially those with talks of necromancy and fortune telling.” Mother Miranda? Score.
“I promise I have no ill well to you, the locals, or this Mother Miranda that you speak of.” The man scoffed once more but his wife shushed him, “You’re welcome here, dear.” she placed a hand on your shoulder and grinned a gummy smile. “Thank you,” you say and the three of you exchange backstory to your lives, until you try to push for some information about Miranda. “Who is this Mother Miranda?” you ask finally and hope that the tape recorder that is hidden in your waistband had begun to record once you bumped it with your wrist. A glimmer of light sparked in her dark eyes and she walked over to the main wall across the way. She pushed herself onto her toes and reached for a dusty painting of a woman that hung crooked above her head.
“This -- this is our wonderful, Mother Miranda.” she placed it in your palms and you brushed away a thick layer of dust with your thumb. The painting was faded but you could still make out what this woman looked like, and it was identical to the photo that the BSAA showed. Another spot marked off on the mission bingo sheet. “She keeps us safe and has for longer than we have been around.” she continued to praise the blonde. “She does? What about whatever is out there!? Does she keep you safe from that?” Your insult hit a nerve because the man stood from his seat, “How dare you insult our Mother in our home! You will feel her wrath!” he continued to yell, despite hiding away from the thing just outside the door. He proceeded to kick you out of their home and closed the door behind you, then locked it so you couldn’t get back in.
You knocked several times and attempted to apologize, but the same shotgun used to save your life was now pointed at your forehead. When you could feel the sensation of the firearm aimed for you, your hands raised instinctually in the air and you backed away slowly, your eyes never moved from the barrels. Never again would you see this couple.
✧.*
Once again, you found yourself alone in the dark village. Maybe the large castle that loomed over would be a good place to investigate next? You wandered toward the center of the crossroads and your thoughts drifted from subject to subject before being interrupted by the sound of a horse’s gallop. Another villager?! Hopefully they’d be nicer than the last pair. You turned to wait for the horse to approach but were horrified at the site that soon was before you. On the animal’s back was no man or woman, but a grey skinned creature who wielded a burning stake with a charred human remain pierced through the middle. It looked like one of the drawings you found in the old fairytale book your mother read to you when you were a small.
There was no time to scream but just enough to pull your pistol off your hip and shoot into its face. Unlike any human but just like the BOWs you’ve dealt with previously, it took the bullets like a sponge. Instead of wasting any more ammo, you decided on your best bet, and that was to run - run fast. The terrain was unknown but you did your best to go in any direction that was not the same way as your assailant. 
The creature slashed the burning spike around in the air as it tried to hit you with it but you managed to duck and dive each time he did it. Soon, you saw a hope of escape, a line of trees. You continued down your path and once you reached the wooded area, you threw yourself down the only option you could see -- a steep hill and then tumbled down. The horse cried in fear and bucked upward, it wouldn’t allow the hostile creature to chase you any longer.
Your hands covered your head as you bounced off the hard, icy ground. Each hit, bump, and scrape burned through your body but you hoped that at the bottom you’d be safe. When you reached the bottom, you rolled out onto a dirt path and narrowly missed being trampled by a horse drawn carriage. The stallion that carried the wooden neighed loudly as it’s hooves dug into the ground. Your vision was blurred from your trip down the hill and you could barely make out a rather obese face of a man who peeked his head out from behind the curtain of his carriage. 
“My word, I nearly flattened you into a pancake!” he cried as he pulled the fabric back completely. Your breaths were heavy and short as you remained silent, eyes fixated on the Caucasian friendly face. The man encouraged you to enter his wagon and you hesitated to accept but did once you pushed yourself up from the ground. “Unlike those bewitching women who lurk in that castle... I don’t bite!” he giggled. The gentleman introduced himself as “The Duke” and gave you a short tale about his travels in this village. Duke explained that it wasn’t always this way and it was once full of rich life and light, but it’s all different now... “What about you, my lady? What is it that brought our paths to cross one another?” he asked before he blew out a puff of cigar smoke. You coughed several times and waved your arm in the air in an attempt to waft the smoke from the small room. “Well...” you started and then proceeded to tell the imaginary tale that you told the couple previously.
                            ��                                         ✧.* ✧.* ✧.*
“Dammit!” Chris yelled and slammed the dashboard of the vehicle he was passenger in with his fist. The truck that was to transport Ethan and his deceased wife had been taken off the road and the infant, Rose, was most likely gone or dead. He began to bark orders at his squad in frustration before he came to his senses and took a deep breath. Miranda must’ve been behind all of this... and took Rose. “There,” he pointed at a rugged map of the local area that was taped onto the truck’s wall and turned to Umber Eyes, “Miranda’s village is there, and I bet so is Rose.” 
A female interrupted from the back of the caravan, “Alpha, that information you requested came in.” she brought over a laptop and set it in Chris’s palms. The bright screen in the dark caused Chris to squint as he read through the document. Your BSAA photo was the largest thing on the page and beneath it was the detailed report of your newest mission, the one that brought you to Europe. He gritted his teeth - thoughts of the BSAA sending you on what could be a death mission crossed his mind. Chris reached into the breast pocket of his black overcoat and pulled out his phone, then held down the 1 key to speed dial your cell. It rang several times before informing that there was no voicemail set up. He huffed before he tried several more times. Each call ended the same way and Chris felt anxious.
“Lobo, ping on [Y/N]’s phone and find her location!” he ordered, his voice cracked just the slightest as his anxiety peaked. Lobo nodded, gave his superior a thumbs up and typed away on his laptop. Chris not only was concerned for Ethan and baby Rose, but now your whereabouts plagued his mind. He was confident in your capabilities but he knew how dangerous Miranda and her subordinates could be.
Chris sat in silence with his thoughts as the vehicle turned around and headed in the direction of Miranda’s village. He reached into the same pocket as earlier and pulled out a wrinkled photograph of the two of you. It was from your first mission that the two of you ever went on together. It wasn’t too long ago, maybe three or four years but it felt like a lifetime now. His calloused thumb ran over your smiling face and he hoped that you were okay...
The moment of silence ended, “Alpha, her phone pinged in the same location as Miranda’s village.” Lobo informed as he turned the screen to Chris. A brief moment of relief washed over him but if your phone was there, then where were you? And why weren’t you answering?
Little known to you or Chris -- the cellphone laid in the middle of the dirt road, left behind as you road off in the carriage with the Duke. The screen lit up brightly in the dark air and the generic tune jingled in the stillness of the night. It continued to do this several times as Chris continued to call and worked on pinpointing the pings. On the final ring, a feminine hand reached down from above and picked the phone up. The screen flashed, “CHRIS” over and over. The call was ended by the person, they took the phone firmly in their palm and crushed it with their strength.
Now, there was no way for Chris to communicate with you and someone was now on your tail...
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luimagines · 3 years
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He Accidentally Hurt You pt.2
Masterlist
Set platonically and within the group Part 1
Hyrule
Your blood was pounding as your feet carried you across the battle field.
Your hearing was rendered useless by the cause, you only thoughts were on Hyrule and getting to him before the hoard of monsters did. He had somehow gotten separated from the group in the struggle and was left to fend for himself.
You made contact.
The sword in your hand followed through your practiced movements, slicing all and any between you and your target.
You could hear him in the distance, you were close, you just had to get- just a little-
The hairs on the back of your neck stood up and the air changed. The split second static was your only warning before lightning struck.
Monsters fell all around you but you failed to pay attention to that. Your attention was instead on the blinding, scalding twist in your arm that held your trusted blade. You couldn’t even find it in you to let go of the weapon, your muscles incapable to receiving orders.
The pain traveled through your arm and across your chest until it encompassed your whole being.
Screams tore through your throat without your knowledge and when the attack subsided, your whole body went rag doll and your vision went black.
“Please. Please. Please.” A voice whispered through the darkness. It was soft. Pleading. A blessed chill seemed deep into your bones and you found it within yourself to open your eyes.
Hyrule was crouched above you, tears in his eyes with shallow cuts across his tunic and exposed skin. Not a lot of blood though, your brain supplies. You take a relieved breath.
“Hey.” You croaked out in greeting. “Glad to see you’re ok. I was worried.”
“I didn’t know you were there.” He blurts as if he didn’t hear you. Maybe he didn’t. “I thought it was only monsters nearby. I don’t think I have enough magic to heal you completely. This is all my fault.”
“Fault?” You attempted to sit up. You succeed. Mostly.
A grunt leaves your mouth at the stiffness in your joints and you force yourself to power though to reach into your inventory.
A sniffle leaves your Traveler when you push his hands away when you find your target. The red liquid glints in the dying sunlight and you hand it out to him. “Think you can open it?”
He nods and pry's it open before you can even think about getting into a better sitting position.
You don’t think twice about taking the potion when he hands it back.
“Save your magic.” You say. “I’ll be fine.”
And you know you’re right....It’ll take a little more than that to convince the rest of the group when you get back though. Hyrule plans to smother you until not a single blemish is left. The others? Well... They’ll keep an eye on you.
Twilight
“Ten rupees says you can’t make that throw.” You hear Warriors say.
“Double it and I’ll gladly prove you wrong.” Twilight responds.
The book in your lap calls for attention more than whatever those two are doing for the sake of friendly competition. You don’t look up, trying to keep your eyes on the page but you can’t help the growing curiosity in the back of your head.
“What are we using to aim with?”
“That?”
“Sure.”
You roll your eyes and keep your head down.
“I’ll be twenty rupees richer and it’ll shut your mouth. Just watch.” Twilight grumbles.
There’s a tap and a growl before something comes at your head full throttle. It’s dense but not enough to keep it from exploding all into your hair and it knocks you over slightly.
You closed your book to protect it from the falling matter and reach at the spot. By your feet laying the offending object.
An apple.
They threw an apple at your head. Correction. Twilight threw an apple at your head.
The thoughts in your head spin a bit. Your whole head is throbbing but you doubt there’s any blood. You look up just in time to see Warrior and Twilight running at you as fast as they can. Twilight reaches you first and kneels next to you. “By Ordana, are you ok?”
His hands hover over you, trying to take in the damage without actually touching you.
“Who are you?” You blurt out, very quickly realizing that it was the wrong thing to say.
His face drops and Warrior wears a similar expression.
“Kidding.” A pained grin covers your face. “Take me to Hyrule please.”
“I’m so sorry.” Twilight reaches for you and you comply. Once you’re on your feet he speaks again. “Warrior messed up my shot and it hit you by accident.”
“That’s a weird way to say you lost a bet.”
You kick Warrior as payback.
Sky
“So...” You sit next to Sky during the break. “What are you planning to make this time?”
The boy next to you already had his whittling knife out and a decent sized chunk of wood in his lap. He picked it up and spun it a few times, staring into it as if he could already see the form inside it. It was just his job to take it out.
“I don’t know yet.” He admits. “Maybe it’ll come to me.”
You nod and let him work in relative silence, the faint but consistent sounds of Sky working next to you create a blissful and serene atmosphere.
The others are off doing their own thing, each keeping to themselves for the most part.
It’s nice.
“Actually, can you help me with this real quick?”
Your attention is back on Sky. He’s trying to get his knife out of the wood block, the outline of the shape he’s making already starting to form.
You don’t recognize it.
Sky picks up the knife and the whole block follows. “It got stuck.”
“How?” You raise an eyebrow and try to keep the smile off of your face.
Your response is only a shrug and the wood being thrust in your direction.
You grab it and instinctively tighten your grip on it when you feel Sky pull.
You both use your strengths to your advantage and pull in different directions. You feel the knife begin to slip out and adjust your grip. Within seconds the blade is free and you feel it cross the tip of your finger.
Instantly, the wood is dropped and you cradle your hand close to you, putting pressure on the injured digit.
“Ok, got it, thank- What happened?” Sky scoots closer to you and pulls your hands out.
A thin red line follows the length of your finger and it only seems to grow as the moments pass. It doesn’t feel deep but it certainly won’t let you flex your finger for a while.
A quite hiss leaves Sky’s lips. “Well that could’ve gone better. Sorry about that.”
“It could’ve gone worse too.” You press a little on the injury, trying to will the pain away.
It doesn’t work, but hey, you try.
“Hold on. I think I have some bandages in my pack.” Sky gets up and jogs to where most of the others are sitting. He picks up his bag and looks inside for a minute or two before jogging back to you.
A small role of bandages sits in his hand and when he reach for your hand, you don’t hesitate to give it to him.
As he’s working on your finger, you feel mild irritation bubble up in your throat. “This better not scar.”
“Why’s that?” Sky replies.
“It’ll be the lamest story.”
He laughs and finishes his work.
Time
Sometimes it surprised you how short everyone in the group was. You weren’t sure if it was a Link thing or one of the biggest coincidences of the universe because it certainly wasn’t just because they were Hylian (but that probably didn’t help).
That being said, and what you could gather from The Captain, it boggled your mind further that Time was the biggest of everyone. Warrior made it seem like he’d stay small forever, implying that Time was smaller still when he first defeated Gannon.
That didn’t seem very fair.
For him and you....well everyone, only Twilight and Warrior were the ones exempt from having to look up at the old man. But you didn’t like the idea of someone so small fighting such a beast, so Time is included in your sympathy list.
Despite his size, he seemed to move as silent as a mouse. Only Wild would be quieter than him.
After some time of traveling with them all, you realized he was just as much as a gremlin as the rest.
He was not above pranking the living daylights out of poor unsuspecting teenagers.
And the thing is, no one could catch him. Somehow he managed to get them to in the blame on each other but you knew better. You swore it had to be him. There was no way. There was no way he could count as a Link and not get into this kind of stuff.
But no one believed you.
It definitely wasn’t fair.
With the stage set, it’s safe to say now that you were calmly, peacefully and quietly minding your own business. You weren’t bothering anyone.
You were writing in your journal under a tree with some low branches. Nothing too bad but in terms of shade and angle, you found it to be the perfect resting place.
You took a deep breath in and let it out.
Yes, it was nice.
“BOO!”
You jumped as high as your reflexes you take you and spun around, but you had forgotten where you were in the moment.
With a solid thunk, your head hit the branch above you and sat back down, with a curse.
While there was laughter in the your reaction, it was cut off abruptly at the first sign of pain. “Oh jeeze, I’m sorry. How bad does it hurt?”
A whimper escaped your mouth before you could stop it and you closed your journal, choosing to furiously rub your hands against the now tender spot on the top of your head. “Ow Time. Why did you do that?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d move like that.” He moved your hands away and inspected the area for himself. “No bleeding. Doesn’t look like it’ll need a potion...”
“I blame you.” You grumbled. “This is your fault.”
“I can accept that.” He nodded and stepped back. “There’s not much we can do about it in terms of healing, but perhaps Hyrule would be willing to lend a hand.”
“No way. He’d ask how it happened and I’m not going to lie to him.” You pouted. “No one will believe me if I told them the truth.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s you!” You glared at him.
A tiny giggle escaped from the so called Old Man of the group, Mr. Stick in the Mud. Senor Buzzkill. “And why would that make a difference?”
“I cannot believe you... Actually yes I can, you were doing this on purpose the whole time.”
He laughed more fully this time and didn’t seem to let up.
With a pout, you picked up your book and marched away.
One day you’ll get back at him. You just had to figure out how and when.
Four
“So, how do we play this game again?” You picked up the ball one of your companions took out. It was almost the size of your head and had crisscrossing lines. It was white and weighed less than you originally thought.
It was a relatively slow day and no one felt in the mood to dampen it by looking for trouble.
While Twilight and Warrior set up the net that was supposed to go with it, the rest were waiting and going over the rules.
“Just hit the ball over the net. You can’t the ball twice in a row, someone else has to hit it and if it touches the ground you lose the point.”
“Seems simple enough.” Wild takes the ball from you and tosses it a few times.
It takes a while for all the appropriate moves to be demonstrated but you all play the game with ease.
You were having a good time with your friends. Everyone was actually getting along for a change. With a smile on your face, you waited for the moment that would inevitably change.
You swore you could almost pin point when it happened.
With Four right across from you, his sudden change in stance gave away the glint in his eyes.
The ball came to him and he jumped up, higher than you thought he could and spiked.
Next thing you knew, you were on the ground, stunned and slightly disoriented and your face was hurting.
Four ran to your side as the game was halted. “That... was not what I was intending.”
“You don’t say... Can I step out for a minute?” You asked, trying to get your feet. Four helped you get away from the battle field- I mean, the game area and helped you sit back down against a nearby tree.
“Sorry about that.” He smiled apologetically. “Anything I can do to help?”
You looked up at him hopefully. “Lose the game?”
“Not a chance.”
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HASO, “An Analysis of Humans.”
Guess my brain wanted to write a partial scholarly paper today, so I guess this is what we got. Added in text sources to make it seem more legit. Lol
An Aggregated Summary of Human and Alien Comparisons
By Dr. Krill, Dr. Katie Quinn, and Dr. Adric Dracondi 
It has long been known, since humans were first introduced onto the galactic stage, that humans are, arguably, the most powerful sentient alien species in the known universe.  These are not simply popular conjectures by nonscientific minds, but the scientific community itself has conducted multiple studies regarding the adaptability and prowess of the human in comparison to other species. Many of these studies have examined, intelligence, hunting prowess, strength, and adaptability as their primary focus, (Diss, A., Wallin, G., and Millard; Wix and Veen). Based on these prior studies, this paper will attempt to summarize the overall strength of a human based on their homeworld evolution, comparison to other species, and their technological interplay.
Humans have existed on their home planet of earth for roughly 200,000 years. In comparison to other alien species, they are rather young, and still within the historical memory of the Rundi, who have existed through two major technology jumps, leaving much of their older historical records lost to time (Keple, J., et, all). Humanity began its life in the Miocene Epoch climbing through trees in the African savanna using both their feet and hands as tools for climbing. During this time they developed the ability to stand upright in order to use their hands for foraging. This gave them an increased ability to forage, and allowed them to share their food between pack members creating, what we now understand to be, the human’s social bonds (Keller, A., Winzer, C, V., and Pellar, Q). Of course, this wasn’t the only reason for human’s increased social bonds. Sometime during this period, the African Savanna went through a period of natural deforestation, reducing the number of trees humans could climb. For this reason, they were forced to turn to the ground where larger predators lurked (Huntsman, J,. Et. Al). At this point in time humans did not have many advantages against large predators, and even as of now, an unarmed human against most mid sized predators is going to lose. Compared to their own planetary predators, humans are not very fast, not very strong and not particularly dangerous when viewed alone. However, one of the human’s greatest advantages was originally their pack sizes encouraging cooperation among members to both protect each other and watch for predators. Predators would be much less likely to hunt a human in a large pack, sut as they are less likely to hunt other animals if they are in large groups preferring to attack those who are alone, weak or sick (Keller, A., Winzer, C, V., and Pellar, Q). 
Why then, were humans able to survive at all as they have some serious strategic disadvantages. Humans are slow, have no trees to climb, poor smell , arguably por hearing, and dismal strength in comparison to savannah predators. Furthermore, the transition into humans walking upright caused the narrowing of the pelvic bone, which would become an issue as humans continued to evolve. The answer to this question comes with later iterations of the evolved humans. After thor descent from the trees, humans gained a few important abilities: first of all they lost all of their fur giving them the ability to sweat, their legs were lengthened and their arms were shortened giving them a superior sense of balance for throwing, and their cranial size increased giving them the ability to use and create tools for cracking bone which would aid them in foraging: the increased brain size would later give them the unique ability to speak. These two distinctions being important precursors for sentient life (Wheeler., R, Winter, F., And Nix., L). 
The human ability to sweat, coupled with their upright walk gave humans the natural ability to run while carrying tools, such as spears and weapons. Early humans evolved for running long distances. The arches of their feet act as springs which depress and spring back as they run. Tendons in the back of the ankle do the same, while powerful muscles in their lower backs and butts keep them standing upright and provide power. Humans keep their balance using muscles in their shoulders, and the swinging of their arms gives extra momentum and balance. The head is held in place by special tendons on the sides of their necks, while their eyes and brains correct for the bouncing of their gait. Furthermore, while other animals require panting and shade to cool off, human sweat rolls into the skin and then evaporates, cooling them off as they move. In this way , humans are superior at long distance running and often used pursuit predation to run their prey to death before spearing them with tools they made (Dillinger, F., and Walker, P). While many animals on their planet are capable of throwing, humanity’s long legs and short arms gives them the superior balance required to throw hard without losing their balance giving them the advantage of long distance weapons. Coupled with tool making,, humans did not have to directly interact with much of the prey they were hunting.
During this time humans grew more socialized and pack oriented  As their brains got bigger, childbirth became more dangerous, and their offspring were forced to be born earlier and more underdeveloped than ever before. Packs grew in size as did family groups. Their ability to speak was probably one of their greatest accomplishments, though ironically, the drop of their larynx into their neck, which supported the transition to speaking, also made them more prone to choking (Huntsman, J,. Et. Al). As the climate on earth gradually began to change, humans moved north using their tools and abilities to survive in colder and colder climates. Different iterations of humanity formed, the Neanderthals VS the Sapiens for a time before the Neanderthals eventually merged with the Sapiens or died out. Humans gained the ability to bond with other animals -- a trick which only the Rundi have separately managed. In turn this sparked the rapid evolution of technology which eventually led them to space travel.
Humans may appear impressive to most outside alien species, but on their planet, domination came about only because of luck, and adaptability. Their evolution to walking on two feet was the catalyst for them being smart enough to out maneuver heavier and more dangerous species.
Now as we examine sentient species today, we can examine a few commonalities between the groups. The first being the ability to speak. No sentient species has evolved without some sort of communicatory language. The starborn can speak telepathically, and most other species vocally.  The lumens and the Mikes also communicate based on light frequencies, though these are still translatable into structural sentences if one knows what they are doing. Even the Adaptids have a very base and rudimentary speech which requires the use of smell (Krill, 4020).  Another common trait is hands or other limbs used for the manipulation of objects. While some aliens also developed the ability to stand upright on two legs: Drev, Tvek, Finnari, Gnark,lak, some retain that ability only partially: Rundi, Kree, while the vast majority require at least three or more limbs to stay upright using tails to balance or adding extra legs for stability: Tesraki, Vrul, Iotins Burg etc..Regardless of walking upright all of these creatures have the ability to manipulate objects to use tools.
The question now remains. Where do humans and other aliens stack up? The answer seems clear in that humans are not powerful because of their dominance in one specific area, but because humans are generalists where others are specialists. There is a human saying that goes along well with this research. Jack of all trades, the master of none, but better than the master of one. A general knowledge of everything seems to be the precursor for being the best survivalists. Let us examine intelligence first, as we know Rundi, Tesraki, burg and Drev are comparable to humans, which are all well behind Vrul and Gibb in average intelligence, though intelligence is one of the more difficult factors as intelligence is an important prerequisite to space travel (Kisk., Gana., Fuller., and Millward).  Humans are not the fastest, that goes to the Rundi, though they are the second fastest, and can arguably outdistance a Rundi in a footrace. Human hearing isn’t as good as a Tesraki, but better than most others just as their eyesight isn’t nearly as good as a Drev, but still much more powerful than others. Drev also take the main spot as being one of the strongest with humans closely behind. Smell is a relatively rare ability among nonhuman species, though the Drev have it to some degree. The Adaptids are known for their superior smelling ability, though it is arguable if they count as sentient just yet. Starborn can survive in space, which is an ability that no other nonhuman species has, accept for humans who can survive for about 15 seconds in the vacuum of space with damage: the only known case of this being of course Admiral Vir, who is as of now, the only human to have attempted this maneuver at all.
The argument we make here is not based primarily on human abilities, which seem second to all, but based primarily about how these interacted with their technological advances. Humans are the youngest species EVER to reach space, and that includes the Drev. In fact most humans still possess instincts which are often lacking in older sentient species, replaced by thought and logic. A human is still said to be able to sense danger before it comes, and can read body language better than any other sentient species currently known, which has much to do with the juvenile nature of their species. Furthermore, human durability is one of the greatest factors. 
The average human can stand about 5gs of force without passing out while trained humans can reach up to sustained 12gs. Most alien species on the other hand had to find ways to keep their craft below 4gs at all times in order to avoid passing out. Nonhumans spent much longer developing their technology before reaching space, while humans were busy strapping rockets to tin cans. A similar situation can be noted with the Drev, who can sustain 7 to 8gs if trained. Both of their species were allowed to leave their planet before fully developing out of their more primitive natures, as was common with other nonhuman or Drev species. In general, human and Drev durability have allowed them to operate machinery which would be too dangerous for other species, giving them a time advantage in the race to the stars.
At this point one might wonder if Drev are comparable to humans, after all Drev are stronger, more durable and just as intelligent as humans. This is true of course, but humans do have some strategic advantages, long distance running ability, pack bonding, and superior technology development, which might have been negated if it weren’t for the Drev religion which calls into question the nature of technology as dishonorable. Furthermore, though they can distinguish less colors than Drev, human sense of smell and hearing is stronger, giving them a distinct battlefield advantage in at least once sense as they are able to pinpoint the direction and height of sounds where Drev have trouble.
A discussion about the abilities of humans can go on all day, though the conclusion scientists have agreed upon focuses primarily on human adaptability and generalization skills as the primary function of their abilities, and seeming power over other species. It seems good then that human pack bonding instincts easly travels across species making them relatively easy to make alliances with compared to some other, more stubborn species. 
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boldlyvoid · 3 years
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Amoreena | Chapter Five
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Chapter Five
main summary: Heaven is a real place and it's located exactly 14.6 miles away from the FBI, Quantico Headquarters. Off behind a small park, under a fantastical willow tree surrounded by wildflowers, in every colour young minds can imagine.
Don't forget, heaven also comes with angels.
Chapter Summary: (fluff only) weekly Saturday reading only they are joined by an extra 15 lost boys, not just Spencer
Warnings (adding as they happen): fluff, hurt/comfort, depressed spencer, reader has a daughter, falling in love, strangers to lovers, library smut, oral (female receiving) lots and lots of fluff
word count: 3K
from the beginning <3
He woke up Saturday morning to the sound of a bunch of voices coming from beyond the walls of his room. Only it wasn’t his room, it was the room he slept in when he stayed with Y/N and Amoreena, he hasn’t left since he arrived on Thursday and he had no plan to either.
They still hadn’t told her about their relationship, not wanting her to come crawling into bed with her mom in the morning to find Spencer there too. She wasn’t ready to explain to Amoreena what it meant for Spencer to be in her bed, how they were in love and that she might need to learn how to knock before entering.
So he slept in the spare room, completely contently because he knew she was only on the other side of the wall, instead of 30 minutes away like she would be when he slept at his own apartment.
It had been a week since he saw them reading in the park, and now they were his family. It was incredibly fast, anyone who heard the news would say so. But that’s how his life worked, he blew through everything incredibly fast, it only made sense for him to skip every step in the book and become a stepdad overnight.
He woke up then, missing Y/N and Amoreena as he thought about the last week. Finally getting dressed and peaking outside, through the crack in the blinds, to see what was going on on the farm.
There were a bunch of men in the field with the cows dropping new cattle off in a big truck as a bunch of children ran around the yard. Y/N wasn’t kidding when she said her 7 siblings had produced 15 cousins for Amoreena to play with. Children all between the ages of toddler and 7-years-old, screaming while they ran after Rufus and the cats, it was a pure dopamine rush to witness.
He found Y/N in the living room, a book in one hand and a coffee in the other, “good morning cutie, all the ruckus on the farm wake you up?” She did her best fake southern accent as she smiled at him. Beautiful as ever in the early morning sunshine.
He nodded with a yawn, sitting beside her and snuggling into her shoulder. She placed her mug in his hands so she could wrap an arm around him and pull him in closer, letting him take a sip of coffee and become a real person again.
He noticed she was reading a book he had never seen before, reading the pages and not know the words. It was a first for him.
“What’s that one about?”
Y/N closed it to let him look at the cover. It was a hand-bound book, wrapped in green fabric that was at least 30 years old and in well-loved condition. The gold lettering reading Amoreena, along with a pressed gold rose and the author's name. He had never heard of it before.
“My grandma was an aspiring writer and the reason I love books so much, her name was Peggy and she had a dream once about a wonderful little girl named Amoreena and the magical life she created for herself. She wrote it all down and my grandpa had it typed and bound for her, she was so proud of this book,” Y/N gushed, smiling as she held it to her chest softly, thinking of all the memories Spencer didn’t know yet.
“Really?” Spencer couldn’t help but smile at her.
She nodded softly, “she loved Elton John, so much so that when my sister Ashley came out she threw her a party. Almost all those kids out there are Ashley's, by the way, she went down the adoption and foster root after I did IVF.”
She pointed out the front window at all the people gathered on her land, “Ben and Dylan dropped their kids off too while they help dad and Evan with the farm. Those are my brothers in case you didn’t know their names yet, there’s also Carver and Francis but they don’t live as close.”
Her little life was just so perfect, “did they want to come with us to read this afternoon? We need some lost boys.”
“They’d love that, are you sure you can handle 16 kids between the two of us?” she smiled, pure love spreading through her body as she held him.
“They’re not so different from psychopaths right?” He teased, watching her settle against him even more as they enjoyed their Saturday together.
“What else can you tell me about your grandma?” He snuggled into her more as he asked, wanting to know as much about her happiness as possible.
“She was always listening to music, she loved Elton's song Amoreena the most. It was the song she played for the majority of my childhood. It only made sense for me to name my little miracle Amoreena too, cause I wouldn’t have her unless nanny suggested I have a baby.”
“I would have loved to meet her.”
Y/N’s smile changed then, “she would have loved you and your big mind.”
“My mom wants to meet you and Amoreena,” he announces softly, he hasn’t really told her anything about his family yet.
“What’s she like?”
“She has schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s and she lives in a care home in DC right now, I try and see her when I can but she has her own schedule so I have to fit around when she’s having a good day,” it was hard to explain it to most people, but not to her. He didn’t feel any shame or fear in introducing them. Y/N was the most loving human, and Amoreena was just the same.
“When is she free next?” A simple question that made him feel incredibly giddy.
“Tuesday from 3-5,” he snuggled in closer to her as she wraps her arm around him.
“We’ll pick Amoreena up from school after work and take her over,” Y/N agreed, their lives intertwining like they were always meant to.
Like she was the ivy on his old cottage, she took him in and made him her own, wrapping herself all around him and never letting him go again.
He basically finishes her coffee while she holds him on the couch. The sound of the kids outside making them laugh every once in a while, dogs barking and cows mooing, the farm was alive and roaring while they enjoyed each other's company.
“Did you bring your costume for the reading today?”
He sat right up then, looking at her like she lost her mind, “of course I did, I wouldn’t have Penelope spend a week tracking down a Captain Hook costume just to forget it.”
Y/N’s jaw dropped, “you didn’t?!”
He simply nodded with a cheeky grin, “come on Tinker Bell, everyone knows she had a thing for Hook.”
“Who didn’t? He was the first and last bad boy I was interested in, I typically go more for Milo’s and Ariel’s; full of adventure and always learning something new,” Y/N teased him.
“Mhm, I always had a thing for Aladdin and Belle in search of far off lands and happy endings,” he mused, making her smile just as much as he was, “but for real it was between Hook and Wendy for my costume,” he made her laugh again, wanting to hear it for the rest of time.
“You still can, I have a blue nightgown you can borrow,” it was so easy for them to flirt, it fit into their conversation so simply it felt like they had been together forever.
He couldn’t help leaning in to kiss her, resting her back against the couch softly as she held onto him. He loved kissing her, she tasted like coffee and happiness every single time. She made the cutest sounds when they would make out like she was surprised by it or she wasn’t used to it at all.
She made him feel like he was young again like he was 21 and in love for the first time. All his trauma disappeared and that Spencer who used to stare back at him in the mirror was gone now. That guy packed his bags and left the farm to never be seen again.
Good fucking riddance is all he had to say.
He was happy, he enjoyed being happy and he was going to stay happy. It was the only goal he had going forward, and as long as he was in her embrace, surround by the laugher of her child and family, he knew it would be possible.
Amoreena came running inside then, finding the two of them making out on the couch before they could part from each other.
“Ewww!” She cried, jumping on top of the two of them and knocking the wind out of Spencer.
“Get off,” Y/N tried to speak as she was crushed by the two of them. “Mom down!”
Spencer picks Amoreena up then, taking her away from the couch and spinning her around like she’s an airplane. She cheers and cheers and doesn’t want him to put her down because it’s so fun. The next thing he knows he’s being dragged outside to twirl all the kids around like they’re Peter Pan, flying through the air on their way to Neverland.
He’s surrounded by giggles and tickles fights, he’s tackled down against the dirt as a herd of tiny children dog pilled him. Laughing until he cried, feeling more joy than humanly possible and then Y/N’s telling them all to get ready to he’d to the park.
Coming down the stairs in a pirate costume to a bunch of screaming kids was an experience and a half. Spencer couldn’t believe how happy it made them all to imagine Captain Hook had broken into the house and Amoreena, or Peter Pan as she corrected him, chased him outside with all the lost boys.
He took a moment to learn all their names, all 15 of them, however, unlike the cats, they had relatively normal people names.
Kate, Cade, Jet, Lauren, Cassie, Sara, Evan, Benny, Olivia, Jessie, Owen, Maddie, Gwen, August, and Parker, were the cutest little family of cousins. some looked like Amoreena, some looked like their own mothers, a handful of them were adopted out of the country, they were the most perfect cast of lost boys.
He's never had any cousins, no pets, no siblings. His life never felt lonely until he realized what he missed out on.
“Dad,” Amoreena whispered as she tugged on his shirt lightly, “look!”
She pointed towards the house where Y/N was standing. When she said she was going as Tinker Bell he really didn’t think she meant looking exactly like Julia Roberts at the end of Hook.
She looked magical in her beautiful white dress, curly hair with the most perfectly placed flowers and flawless wings wrapped around her shoulders. She was a vision standing on the porch, waiting for him to pick his jaw up off the floor and compliment her.
“Tink,” the words are more like air, soft and barely there.
“Is Captain Hook being nice? Or should we take him to the pond and let the Alligators deal with him?” Y/N teased, marching down the stairs and poking Spencer's chest.
“Ouch,” he teased her, holding his hand over his heart to make her feel bad.
But she didn’t, “some Pirate you are,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at him before taking Amoreena’s hand and running off down the trail towards the main house, everyone following her lead.
Nanny packed enough snacks for all 16 kids, and a little extra just in case. Spencer slipped the lunch box over his shoulder and they made their way towards the adventure. Y/N pulling a wagon just in case the littlest ones didn’t want to walk anymore. It was spectacular.
Y/N stopped then, pretending to stand like an army man turning around abruptly to look at the troop. “Lost boys, are we ready?”
“Yes, Tinker Bell!” They cheered back.
“On my lead, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4,” she marched, bringing her knees up high as they all followed her down the path. “We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader,” she began to sing.
Spencer was in awe, his heart felt like it was going to explode as he watched everyone follow her. Singing along as they marched their tiny little butts down to the park.
“We’re following the leader wherever she may go!” Amoreena yelled the lyrics back, leading the pack as Peter Pan should.
“Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day Tee dum, tee dee, it's part of the game we play Tee dum, tee dee, the words are easy to say Just a teedle ee dum, a teedle ee do tee day
Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee dum We're one for all, and all of us out for fun We march in line and follow the other one With a teedle ee do, a teedle ee do tee dum”
It was like magic, they all knew the words and they sang the whole way down the path. Every verse and then repeating it. Not a single kid strayed from the path, no one complained about sore feet or hot backs, they loved their Aunty Y/N and so did Spencer.
“We’re off on an adventure, adventure, adventure,” Y/N changed the words, making him smile as she brought happiness into the world. “We’re off on an adventure to read out in the sun! Tee dum, tee dee, a teedle ee do tee day…”
Every single time he thought she had given him the best day of his life, she manages to outdo herself.
They barely listened to the story, it was a disaster of epic proportions but they tried. 15 kids is a lot to handle as an ex FBI agent and a librarian, they had lunch and instead ran around the field playing lost boys instead. It was still an amazing afternoon.
He was going to be covered in bruises the next morning. He had been kicked, poked, trampled, jumped on, the whole 9 yards. They were the most energetic bunch in the whole world, and then they came home to ice cream.
“Y/N,” Spencer finally pulled her aside when all the kids were preoccupied with their cold snack after a hot day.
“Yes, cutie?” It was a nickname that was sticking, much like pretty boy, and he didn’t mind it at all.
“We’re going to need more than 2 songs tonight to get her to go to bed,” he teased, stepping into that step-dad role with ease.
She couldn’t stop smiling at him, wrapping him up in her arms gently so he didn’t crush her fairy wings. “We’ll take her swimming, that’ll tire her out instead. Are you lookin’ for some alone time?”
“I love her dearly, but I can’t kiss you as much when she’s around,” he whispered before pecking her quickly and hearing the group of lost boys pretend to be sick.
“Just because he’s my dad doesn’t mean you have to be gross like your mom and dad, mom,” Amoreena’s smart mouth making them both shake their heads and laugh.
“What would you do if I did this?” Y/N teased before dipping Spencer back like a princess and kissing him, he stuck his foot out in shock as she held him there.
“Ewww!!” All the kids yelled as she returned him to his feet.
“Or this?” Y/N pulled him into another kiss, her leg popping like Princess Mia’s in the princess diaries.
Amoreena and her cousins were all screaming then, laughing at how gross their aunt and her new boyfriend were being. Used to it clearly, their grandparents were just as in love and watching from the porch as they held each other on the swing.
“I love you,” Spencer announced, loud enough for all to hear without a care in the world.
“You better,” she smiled. “I love you too, cutie,” she added before kissing him one last time.
His life felt perfectly complete.
Y/N’s brothers were incredibly kind just like her. He learned that Ashley was the oldest with 5 kids and her wife Susie, then Ben who was 46 and his wife Shannon, they had 3 kids. Dylan and Laurie had 4 and Even, her twin brother had 3.
Turns out her mom had 2 sets of twins back to back, 7 children and only 5 pregnancies. It felt crazy for him to think about having that many people in his life for his whole life, he wouldn’t have known what to do with anyone more than just his mother growing up.
Spencer helped Bob with the barbecue, they made burgers and hotdogs for all 16 of the children while they continued to run through the fields. They had enough energy to last them 5 straight days of chaos. It was amazing.
Y/N and Spencer managed to wander off while all the kids ate, sitting under a tree with their dinner so they could finally have some time alone together.
She was beautiful, sitting in the afternoon amber glow as she tried to keep her hair from blowing in her face. Tucking the strands behind her ears so she could eat her dinner in peace before spencer handed her the hair tie on his wrist. Then she got ketchup on her cheek, seemingly on purpose as she smiled at him and laughing as Spencer wiped it off with his thumb. He was so in love he felt stupid, smiling at her like he’s never seen another person before, absolutely enamoured.
“Derek and his wife wanted to come over tomorrow and have his son meet Amoreena if that’s okay?”
Her face lit up, “his son is the one named after you right? Not your godson?”
He nodded with yet another smile, his lips were going to fall off at this point. “Yeah, he’s the sweetest little guy, Hank’s never been to a farm before.”
“You tell them our gates are always own to new minds and pure hearts,” she smiled. “That’s what nanny used to say.”
He leans in and kisses her then, resting his forehead against hers as she held his cheek in her free hand, smiling ever so softly as she stared into his eyes, they didn’t need words, he knew she loved him too. A week of pure bliss had passed within the blink of an eye, and they still had forever to go.
Taglist: @shemarmooresfedora @spookyspence @spencers-dria @manuosorioh @reidsfish @mochionly (send me an ask if you want to be added to the tag list, I don't always see every reply! i love you guys thank you so much for reading)
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slytherweasley · 3 years
Text
Neighbours (Harry Potter x reader)
Warnings: none
Summary: Y/n goes to her Neighbours house for dinner and finds out Harry lives there too. The two of them quickly become friends over the summer holidays.
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“Y/n, remember your manners, the Dursley’s are kind enough to invite us” “They’re only inviting us because they think we are rich” “It doesn’t matter, just be nice please.” You walk across the road to the Dursley’s, they live opposite your family.
Your mum knocks on the door and Mrs Dursley answers the door “Oh goodness, you look lovely Y/n” she says “Thank you Mrs Dursley you look quite stunning yourself” you lie. Being nice to people you didn’t like was a struggle for you.
“This is Dudley, he’s about your age” he smiled and shook my hand, you look over to the kitchen and see another boy, as far as you were concerned Dudley was the only son they had. “Potter get over here” Dudley yelled at him and your heart skipped a beat when you saw Harry, it seemed he was just as shocked. “This is our nephew Harry” Mr Dursley didn’t sound too pleased about it. You smile and shake his hand, he smiles back at you.
You didn’t get a chance to talk to him because he wasn’t allowed to sit at the table with the rest of us. After dinner and dessert you sit beside him while everyone else talks and Dudley is focused on the Television. “What are you doing here?” You ask “I live here” “These people are your relatives?” “Yeah, I don’t classify them as that though” “I’m so sorry.”
“So you live across the road?” “Yeah, I wish I knew sooner, I could’ve had someone to talk to” “I wouldn’t be allowed to see you anyway” “I’d find a way” “How’s your summer been so far?” “Alright, not much to do” “Same here.” “Do you want to hang out this summer? I could really use some company” “If it’s possible I’d love to hang out” you smile “Great.”
“Come any time you want, our door is open” Mr Dursley says, you give Harry one last smile before walking home.
The next day you sit at your window and see Harry sitting by his too. You watch him look out the window until he sees you, you wave and he waves back. The both of us look as bored as ever. I go downstairs “Where are you going?” My dad asks “To the Dursley’s” “I thought you didn’t like them” “I don’t, I’m going to see Harry” “Alright.”
You knock on their door and Mr Dursley answers “Y/n, what can I do for you?” “Do you mind if I come over to hang out with Harry?” He looks surprised “Come in I’ll go see if he wants to” you stand in their doorway while he walks into Harry’s room.
“Y/n is here, you better make sure there is no magic nothing, if she likes you this means it’s good for us so don’t screw this up, got it?” “Yes Uncle Vernon.” “Go ahead he’s upstairs in his room” you walk into his room “I don’t know how you did it but I’m glad you did” he says “Seems like we will have someone to hang out with this summer.”
This started to happen everyday for weeks, you and Harry became best friends and you both developed stronger feelings for each other so Harry asked you out and you started dating. The Dursley’s were for once proud of Harry for dating you for their own benefit but Harry could get away with a little bit more than he used to.
You don’t have to knock on the door anymore you just walk in. You go upstairs to Harry’s room, he sits up when he hears someone come in and then he sees it’s you. “Hi Darling” he says with a smile and gets up to hug you “Hi Baby” you peck his lips. “I didn’t think you’d be coming today” he says “I’m sorry I had to run some errands with my mum because she was mad I spent everyday with you” he chuckles.
You and Harry snog on his bed, his arms firmly wrapped around you and your fingers tangled in his hair. A knock on the door interrupts your make out session, you quickly get off his lap and sit at the other end of the bed “Come in” Harry says fixing his hair.
“I’ve got a snack for you, freshly baked cookies” “Thank you so much, Mrs Dursley” “Please, call me Petunia” she corrects you every time but you’re not going to call her that. “How are your parents?” “My dad is pretty busy with work and mum is doing some housework” “Give them our best wishes” “I will thank you.”
She gives Harry a stern look before walking out closing the door behind her. “Way to ruin the mood” he complains and you smile “You didn’t get a cookie” “Of course not” you put the cookie to his lips and he bites it “Thanks Darling.” You stay for dinner which leads to you pretending to leave after dinner and then sneaking back in with Harry’s invisibility cloak.
You make sure no one is around and sneak in through the front door and up the stairs into Harry’s room. “Come here” Harry opens his arms up for you, you embrace him, he gets you a hoodie to wear to bed. You cuddle up with him in his bed “Harry?” “Yes Darling?” “There’s only a week of summer left” “I know, it sucks.” You take a deep breath in “I really like you” “Me too, why’re you saying this?” “Will you stay with me when we get back to Hogwarts?” He looks at you with quite a concerned look on his face. “Of course I will, this is not a summer thing, I have real feelings for you” “Good” he kisses your lips “This was the best summer ever.”
The next day you spent the whole day with him and snuck back in after dinner. You two worked on homework together until Harry got bored of it and started peppering your face with kisses. You sit between Harry’s legs as he kisses your jaw. Harry is obsessed with touching you at all times, he can’t handle not kissing you for long periods of time. “Harry, I need help with Potions” he continues to kiss you “Harry I’m serious, just because you don’t care about detention doesn’t mean I don’t” “I’m sorry darling but you have a nice soft kissable face” “I’ll give you attention when you help me with Potions” he groans “Alright fine, I’ll help.”
Harry helps you with Potions and as you agreed you snogged, Harry could pull you in with one kiss. You just melted around him. By the end of it you were too tired to even think about homework. “Let’s just cuddle” you suggest and he grins. “I hate how you can do that” “You’re obsessed with me” he teases. “Says you, you get grumpy when I don’t kiss you” he chuckles “Fine we are both obsessed.”
You packed your bag for Hogwarts and planned to meet Harry on the Hogwarts express. You look through each carriage until you finally see him sitting with Hermione and Ron. He gets up and gives you a hug followed by a kiss “You look beautiful” he whispers in your ear and kisses your forehead.
You blush when you see Hermione and Ron stare at you “You know Y/n, right?” “Uh yes, hi Y/n” Hermione says “Y/n and I have been seeing each other over summer, turns out we are neighbours” “So this is why you couldn’t come to my house?” Ron asks “Yes” “Makes sense now.”
Ron and Hermione were very welcoming of you. News travelled fast but you both expected that since Harry is one of the most well known wizards. “Hey look, you two made front page of the Daily Prophet” Hermione says and you both roll your eyes. Rita Skeeter found you both in Hogsmeade and tried to get you both to talk about your relationship. They took lots of photos that weren’t very flattering but we still somehow made front page.
“You’re famous” Harry says “Looks like we are both celebrities now” you both laugh. You were used to the stares whenever you would be with Harry. You’re just glad the both of you are still together.
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