#i might set it up so the special jobs are ready for her so becoming guild master will be done with less waiting of the radiant quests

[sternenhimmel-mond]

Totally forgot that a dialogue option for Enthir involved him calling himself an Altmer. Babe you're a Bosmer.

"So they were like your kind?" (Very racist of our LDB)

"Like the Altmer? Yes, I would say their culture quite possibly rivaled out own." Said the Bosmer.

Clearly Bethesda had other plans for him originally.

[jo-harrington]

Interview Prep (Eddie Munson x Store Manager!Reader)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: Reader is worried about making a change to some routines.

Previous Part: Standard Operating Procedures 1.03

Warnings/Themes: AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins. Reader works at the Claire's at StarCourt. Eddie works at TapeWorld. Mutual Pining and Slow Burn, Meeting the Family, Anxiety, Fluff

Note: Special thanks to @chestylarouxx @fracturedarkness and @courtingchaos for reading my snippets, listening to my rambling, and easing my nerves with this one. It's been in my drafts since February! And it's always kind of eluded me, but it's very special so I appreciate the time you took to help me out. So so much.

You can find my masterlist here for more featuring our resident Store Manager and all of my other writing.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Enjoy!

---

“…and I swear the sound is so much better than my Fender. Like a thousand times better. I’m gonna need a new amp, I think. She is way too good for that hunk of junk that Rick got from his buddy way back when.”

“Uh huh.”

“God, I wish you could come to a show to hear it. Maybe...maybe I can ask Tom at the Hideout if our set could be a little later one night so you could come out after the store closed?"

"Sure."

“And then we could get pickle and bologna milkshakes at Benny's afterwards."

"Sounds great."

"Am I boring you?” Eddie finally stopped as he hit the button on the bailer and put his hands on his hips. "You're not even listening."

“What?” You freed yourself from your thoughts and got a good look at him. "I...what? No."

It was break time, which meant cardboard got crushed and garbage tossed before you ventured into the food court for something to eat. And on a day like today when your schedules aligned, that also meant your break was spent with your closest friend--only friend--in Hawkins.

And on any other day, you would have happily listened to his story.

Hell, you actually had listened to him...for most of it at least--he boasted about his new guitar, how he named her Sweetheart, and her first actual performance outside of Gareth's garage that had occurred the night prior--before you got too caught up in your own head.

It had been a normal Wednesday when you got to the store for your opening shift. The registers were counted, gate pushed up, and you were about to confidently post the new schedule.

Then the mail was delivered.

And with it, a larger envelope from home office that contained a very hefty packet inside.

Normally a package like that would make you happy; it was a sign that one of your favorite weeks of the year was approaching: planogram week. It was, quite honestly, not only your favorite week but your favorite part of the job altogether. More than your team, more than your discount...certainly more than helping customers.

Summer was coming to an end, which meant all of the trendy accessories would make way for backpacks, water bottles, notebooks, and lunch boxes. Things that stayed hidden away for 75% of the year, but were suddenly at the forefront of every parent and pre-teen's mind as they got ready to look their best on the first day of school.

Today, however, you suddenly felt a sense of dread as you opened the package because a planogram meant that you would have to schedule an overnight shift on the one night of the week that the mall closed early.

Sunday Night.

Date Night with Eddie.

Eddie's favorite night. And yours.

Your favorite part of your job encroached on what was becoming an essential part of your life.

So you spiraled until your break because it was easier to worry and overthink than it was to just...communicate the fact that you might have to miss a Sunday and face the possibility that Eddie could be mad at you.

Unfortunately he seemed a little steamed right now because he thought you hadn't been listening to him.

His little grumpy face was cute though.

Why was this harder than having to call your team to ask if they were ok with an unexpected overnight shift? God damn it, you needed to get a grip.

“You weren’t listening to anything I said,” he repeated.

“Yes I was,” you insisted.

“What did I say then?”

“You nailed the solo.”

“And…”

“And you actually got a round of applause.”

“And?”

“And you need a new amp.”

“And?”

“Uhm… a-and…”

Shit…maybe you had delved a little bit too far.

Growing up with a big, loud family--including an overbearing mother and two annoying brothers--meant you had the innate ability to split your brain in half and listen to them while also worrying about your own shit.

However, thanks to the intensity of your worrying, that ability failed you.

You wracked your brain for a good 30 seconds until Eddie’s scowl turned into a wicked smile, and then you knew he was just being a jerk.

“You’re the worst,” you grumbled at him.

“Excuse me,” he placed a hand on his chest in fake affront and stumbled back a few steps to collapse against the side of the trash compactor. “I'm the worst? You agreed to Pickle and Bologna milkshakes and ignored your best friend. Not very metal, sweetheart."

"I just have a lot on my mind." You shook your head and sighed. "Sorry."

"Well it's a good thing that I am a great listener. Unlike someone."

Eddie pushed himself off the compactor, put his hand on your shoulder, and guided you back inside to the food court. You got your meals of choice and tucked yourselves into a table in the corner by the JCPenney entrance.

"Alright," he started with his mouth full of fries. "Tell dear old Eddie what's bothering you."

You swallowed a mouthful of food and took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Well...there's this big thing coming up at work...planogram...uh...floor set," you began. "And it's really important and after it's done...we'll get visitors from corporate and my boss will probably make a few visits to see how it's going. I just want to do really well."

"Well, you've been doing a good job so far right?" Eddie shrugged. "Why wouldn't they think so now?"

"I don't know, I don't wanna mess it up," you admitted. "I'm a new store manager. And a lot of the team never worked retail before. I literally cried my first floor set as a sales associate. It's tough."

"You're just giving yourself the yips. I do it all the time when we add a new song to the set list."

"Don't just say that to make me feel better."

"Last week I forgot how to do a G-chord," he crossed his heart. "Scouts honor."

"You were a Boy Scout?" you asked skeptically.

"Stop distracting me." He popped another French fry in his mouth in an exaggerated fashion. "What else?"

"Well...we have to schedule floor sets on a Sunday."

"Ok."

"After the store closes."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

Eddie sipped his drink thoughtfully and stared at you with his abyss-like eyes; they didn't betray a single thought going through his head and it made you nervous.

And nervous meant that you didn't shut up.

"I mean I don't want to have to cancel our night out," you started with the word vomit. "It's just the way things are always done and you'll see one day if you still work at Tape World for long enough, that's one of those things that...I don't know, if you try to do things differently it always comes back to bite you in the ass.

"And I'm young and whenever we have a conference call to talk about sales...my DM doesn't let me forget that I'm a baby compared to everyone else and it's so frustrating because I feel like I can't even suggest anything new because it immediately is dismissed as naive. It's like they keep waiting for me to fail. So I wish...I wish I could make a change so we could keep our plans. Like if it was anything else I could make it work but I...this thing I just can't, you know?

"But...but...b-because I would have to work on Sunday overnight I would probably be off another day so if you're ok with it we can do something else? Maybe on...I don't think I could get Tuesday off because of everyone's availability...maybe Friday if your friends are cool with me crashing your club night. Or...you open on Saturdays. We could do Saturday night instead?"

The punctuation to the drawn out sentence was your labored breath and Eddie noisily sucking the dregs of his soda through the straw. Shithead that he was didn't even have the decency to do anything but continue watching you with his big dumb cute eyes.

"Weeellllll..." he started in a sing-song tone and then paused and sucked at the straw some more.

Could he just tell you to fuck off already so this wouldn't be as painful as it was?

"That really sucks you need to work overnight," he finished his thought with a grin and shoved his cup to the side. "Being in the mall after hours...sounds kinda creepy. Do you think there are ghosts?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" you deadpanned. "You let me go on and on like that for nothing?"

"It was funny."

"I hate you."

"You cherish me."

"It was painful." You groaned. "Like I think I'm sweating. My heart hurts Edward."

"Don't act like you've never let me do that before," he scoffed and rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. You threw a fry at him. "Don't start what you can't finish sweetheart. One fry can turn into a food fight and I would hate to find out the hard way why I'm Hawkins High's food fighting champion."

"Ok so...Saturday night?" you asked. "This Saturday...are you doing anything?"

"Uh..." Eddie hesitated and sat up a little straighter. "I mean...no hot dates or anything. What did you have in mind?"

"Maybe just what we normally do?" you suggested. "Drive around, eat a bunch of junk food. Or if you want to come over to my place and I--"

"So, I have a confession to make," he interrupted you. "I actually do have plans on Saturday. More like...standing plans than anything. My uncle Wayne is off on Saturdays and we've always watched reruns on TV and ordered pizza. Family night or whatever. My mom used to do the same thing so...Wayne thought it would be...I dunno, good for stability or something.

"It's silly but I don't want to just ditch him without asking," Eddie explained and your heart melted.

Of course you didn't want to take time away from his family; you knew how important his uncle was to him.

"Oh...well that's ok...we can rain check for another day then or--"

"Why don't you just come over?" Eddie asked. "He won't mind. I am opening this Saturday so I'll be done by 5; you can get there in time for Wheel of Fortune. That way he can't yell at me when I try to solve the puzzles with lewd words." He mimics, what you assume is, Wayne's voice.

Eddie looked so eager that you immediately agreed.

Your heart stopped in your chest though.

Come over? And meet his uncle?

Sure...you'd already met Benny a few weeks ago...and yeah you'd thought of it like meeting someone from Eddie's family but...this was his actual family. What if you insulted his uncle or...or made yourself look stupid.

You needed to put your best foot forward. Make a good impression.

"How about..." your mouth started moving before your brain could catch up. "...instead of ordering pizza, I cook for you guys instead? I'll be off Saturday since I'm doing the overnight on Sunday. I can just bring everything over."

Eddie's eyes lit up and as he teased you about the impressive cooking skills that you had supposedly boasted about previously, all you could think was...

How did this situation get even more stressful?

---

The rest of the week leading up to Saturday had been overwhelming to say the least.

To you, food was life. Cooking for someone was everything that you could do to show them that you cared. How many hours had you spent with your grandma making cookies for neighbors at Christmas, or freezer meals when a distant relative had a baby, or a tray of something after a friend of the family had passed.

Food was love and friendship, and as much as what you had done for Eddie with the guitar had been a show of friendship...this meant so much more.

So you needed to hit a home run...or a bullseye...or whatever sports terminology signified that you won.

Which meant you'd spent some down time flipping through your grandma's old recipes that she had gifted you once upon a time--a thin, pocket-sized spiral notebook with a purple cover that was filled with her illegible handwriting and personal shorthand--and thinking of ideas that would be both impressive and hearty. You'd already changed your mind twice, and had made just as many trips to Bradleys for extra ingredients.

You'd also pestered Eddie several times through the course of the week to get his input without giving anything away.

"Does your uncle like cheese?"

"Of course he does."

"Some people don't."

"Would we get pizza every Saturday if we didn't like cheese?"

"There's some pizza that doesn't have cheese."

"Why the questions? Are you nervous sweetheart?"

And that was when he started to tease you. Every chance he got. Lunches, breaks, passing you on the way to the employee lot as you started a shift and he ended one.

He asked if you wanted their phone number so you could call Wayne and make kissy noises at each other for hours, if you wanted him to bring love letters home to save on stamps, and if you were planning to dress really nice for your date with his uncle.

"I'll be sure to grab extra chapstick for him so his lips are ready for you tomorrow," he laughed and leaned closer to make the biggest, noisiest smacking kiss noise in your ear as you waited for your break time cookies.

"You're an idiot," you rolled your eyes after he uttered the last one. "I don't want him to hate me because...what if he doesn't want me to hang around you anymore. I'd kind of lose my mind."

"Oh, uh," Eddie backed away a little bit and rubbed the back of his neck, then shoved his hands in his back pockets. "Wayne wouldn't do that. He's...a little bit of a grump, but he's harmless."

"Guess we know where you got it from," you muttered.

"I didn't know you were...actually worried," Eddie continued. "I'm sorry. But it'll be ok. Even if you...wore a potato sack and brought canned beans that we had to heat on the stove for dinner. He'll think you're great. Because you are."

You were both a little silent after that, Eddie staring at his feet bashfully as you felt your heart race and your head spin.

You finalized your plans that night when you got home and immediately started on your dessert, sure that it was all gonna be a hit with both Munsons.

It was gonna be great. Because Eddie thought you were great.

And Saturday, the doubt didn't creep on you at all. Not while you cooked, not as you packed your casserole dish and Tupperware into a large cooler bag, and not even as you drove across town, following Eddie's directions to Forest Hills without getting lost once.

It wasn't until you stepped out of your car and stared at the front door that you felt your stomach drop a little.

Those four cement steps might as well have been a thousand.

But...your sneakers only needed to crunch on the gravel before the door was thrown open and a slightly-breathless Eddie smiled at you...and then all the worry disappeared.

"Hey," he greeted. "D-did you need any help?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," you shrugged.

He jogged down the steps in socked-feet and crossed to the passenger's side door of your car, talking a mile a minute as he reached in to grab your things.

"I, uh, got home an hour ago," he rambled. "The A/C at the store conked out...and then Paulie had me make a trash run before I left. Had a big shipment today. So if I'm still a little sweaty...that's why."

"You're fine," you laughed.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry. I've been cooking so I'm probably a little sweaty too. Lasagna and July...sort of don't go together that well."

He raced up the steps and held the door open for you.

"Lasagna? Oh the old man is gonna love you," Eddie chuckled.

You entered the Munson abode and were immediately hit by the strongest sense of home that you'd felt since...well, since you'd still been at home. Not necessarily that it was a place where you belonged, but...it was a place of belonging.

Mugs and hats and other memorabilia lined the walls, reminiscent of the tchotchkes that your mother stacked to high heaven on every available surface. The couch was a little faded but looked comfortable and soft as though you could sink into the cushions and disappear into a soft nether-realm.

Your grandpa had a couch like that. His spot sunk to the shape of his body. It was still your favorite place to sit when he wasn't already there. It was like a hug.

That was when your eyes found the armchair, molded around the shape of the man seated in it. He was older, a little weathered and greying, hairline receding, and even though he isn't smiling right now, the lines around his mouth were indication enough that he smiled quite a bit.

Just like his nephew.

"Uh, Wayne this is my friend from the mall," Eddie introduced you as he juggled your cooler bag and your large Tupperware to the kitchen counter. "The one I told you about. Works at the jewelry store."

"Nice to meet you," you smiled and held a hand out to him to shake. He took your hand in a firm grasp and as you shook his the way your grandfather taught you--to command respect and trust--his eyes narrowed.

"I had to hear about you through Rick, who heard about you through Benny," Wayne started. "And I haven't the slightest idea why my nephew thought he needed to keep you a secret; not the first girlfriend he's brought around--"

Eddie groaned something unintelligible from the kitchen and you fought the urge to break eye contact with Wayne so you could look at him.

"--but I just watched him run around for the past hour tidying up. And he's never done that before. So if you can help him keep the habit, you're alright in my book." Wayne smiled widely and let your hand go.

"Thank you," you chuckled nervously, suddenly realizing how silly it had been that you were even worried in the first place.

Eddie had been right.

You could never admit that to him.

"Even did the dishes," Wayne looked past you at Eddie. "He never does the dishes."

"W-we're having dinner," Eddie whined. "Gotta have clean plates."

The two of them bantered back and forth comfortably and you joined Eddie in the kitchen to get everything plated. There was a salad, buttery mashed potatoes, and of course your still-warm and gooey lasagna.

Eddie explained that it was Wayne's favorite that he rarely got to have homemade--

"Stoffers will do in a pinch," Wayne explained.

--and that you were already more loved than he was simply for making it, to which Wayne agreed. And he even pointed out the well-loved Garfield mug that he had gotten Wayne for Father's Day one year for that fact alone.

Eddie tried to protest when you took the dessert bowl from him to stow it away in the fridge until it was the appropriate time.

"I didn't even get to have cookies with you today," he reasoned. "Or a soda. See? I suffer when you're not working. How am I--a growing boy--supposed to reach my fullest potential without proper sustenance?"

You snorted and brought the plates out to the living area while Eddie trailed behind you.

"He's just grumpy because you're making him eat vegetables," Wayne chuckled as he took his plate. "A feat I have yet to achieve in 8 years. So if you weren't already in my good books, you are now."

Dinner passed relatively uneventfully at first. You and Eddie sat on the couch--which was just as comfy as you thought it would be--as Wayne occupied the armchair. They inhaled their first helping and showered you with compliments. Eddie begrudgingly admitted that your cooking was as good as you had bragged, and even said the dressing on your salad "wasn't Ranch but was still pretty tasty."

As Eddie had told you days ago, Wheel of Fortune started promptly at 7:30 and he and Wayne tried to solve as many puzzles as possible around mouthfuls of food. They teased each other when their guesses were particularly ridiculous, and celebrated when they got one right.

You solved a long puzzle correctly--your only contribution to their little competition--before there were very many tiles revealed on the board and Eddie patted your thigh in praise when you got it right with a soft "that's my girl" that nearly had you drop your plate.

When Wheel ended, Wayne stood up to grab seconds for himself and Eddie and a couple of beers for you all. Before he sat back down he grabbed a tape from a basket beside the television and popped it into the VCR.

"I hope you don't mind," he said sheepishly. "I like the background noise and Love Boat doesn't start til 9."

As the static on the screen cleared, you were treated to a good look of a Map to Illustrate the Ponderosa in Nevada.

"Mind? I love Bonanza," you laughed, and Eddie groaned beside you.

"No I already have to endure Wayne and Rick and their western reruns, and now you too?"

Conversation then turned to you. Turned to the usual stuff that you talked about when you met someone new. And you really...didn't like talking about yourself. The middle child and the only girl with two strong-willed brothers and parents that liked to pick and pick and pick at every imperfection; it was ingrained in you.

Thankfully, Eddie seemed to really like to talk to you, at you, about you.

"I work at Claire's. We do like...ear piercing and cute accessories for kids."

"She works there? She's the store manager. And the youngest one in the company. Right? Is that...no...in the district. Anyway..."

And where you faltered, he picked up the reins.

"I mean it's just community college. Everyone graduates. I'm not smart or anything."

"Are you shitting me right now? Sweetheart I can't even graduate high school."

Eagerly.

"And there was this one time, I shit you not Wayne," Eddie's hands mimed as he tried to tell his story. "She literally balanced on one foot on the top rung of a ladder. Had to have been...20 feet high...to get this kitten that was stuck on top of the bailer. How it got there? I couldn't tell you."

"It was not the top rung."

"It was."

"It wasn't 20 feet!"

"Let me tell the story."

"I'm supposed to be telling the story," you laughed at him.

"Ok, you're right, but you weren't telling it good enough," Eddie argued. "You have to emphasize."

"He means fib," Wayne clarified.

"I mean...bend the truth for entertainment purposes only," Eddie explained rapidly.

Eventually dinner was done and it was time for dessert, which Eddie eagerly followed you into the kitchen for.

"How am I doing?" you asked nervously as you rummaged in the fridge.

"You're doing great. How many times do I have to tell you he would like you?" he huffed good-naturedly.

"I don't know, I just needed reassurance."

"Are you kidding me?" he scoffed. "You're doing great. I'm sure he'll be asking me when the next time you'll be over is so he can maybe get some more lasagna. He doesn't just let anyone watch A Rose for Lotta with him. You're special."

"Am I?"

"You're special to me."

You looked up at Eddie a little shocked and he smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

You couldn't get your hopes up. You just...couldn't.

"What's taking so long in there?" Wayne asked as he ejected the tape from the VCR so he could flip to ABC. You both looked over and found him watching you with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye.

"I dunno," Eddie replied petulantly. "Someone's withholding my reward."

You rolled your eyes and grabbed another set of plates from the drying rack by the sink. You opened your container to reveal the fluffy green mounds of pudding and whipped cream and marshmallows studded with bright maraschino cherries.

"Sweetheart, you didn't," Eddie grabbed you by the shoulders and leaned over to look into the Tupperware.

"I did," you beamed.

The perfect end to a great night.

Because you might not have known that lasagna was Wayne's favorite.

But you knew that Watergate salad was Eddie's.

---

It was late by the time Eddie walked you out to your car, way past your usual bedtime, and later than you should have been up especially considering that you would be doing the overnight tomorrow.

The dessert had been consumed in its entirety; once you and Wayne had your fill, Eddie ate the remainder out of the bowl looking, quite literally, like a kid in a candy store. And as Captain Stubing and Doc Bricker bickered aboard the Pacific Princess, you began dozing on Eddie's shoulder.

He shook you awake and you said your goodbyes to Wayne.

"You're welcome anytime," he insisted as you headed to the door. "Lasagna or no. Don't let Ed trick you into spoiling us. He's still young but my waistband can't handle it."

And now you were standing with Eddie, the driver's side door between you as you sort of refused to get in and drive away. It was a real Midwest Goodbye.

"I'll see you at work..." you fumbled over your words as you tried to think of the next time you'd actually get to see him. You had the overnight tomorrow, and you'd be off Monday. Eddie would be off Tuesday which meant... "Oh god, well...Wednesday? That seems so far away."

"It doesn't have to be Wednesday," Eddie shrugged. "What if I brought you breakfast on Monday? After your floor set is over?"

"God that's gonna be so early for you," you dismissed his idea.

"So? You just made us the best dinner and there's leftovers for a few days, which you didn't want. Let me get you breakfast."

"I don't want to put you out."

The two of you bickered back and forth for a minute before you put your foot down and told him to sleep in because he had to close on Monday night.

"Thanks though," you said. "This was nice. Family dinner at home. It was really nice. Makes me a little homesick but...I guess Hawkins is my home for now."

"Hey, of course, any time," Eddie replied. He looked pensive for a second and then turned so he didn't have to look at you. Like he was hesitant about what you would say or think. "We don't...I mean I guess what I mean is...I really enjoy hanging out on Sundays and I know this is sort of a one-off thing. But...you know we don't only have to hang out on Sundays. We can do...I mean...have dinner again sometimes or meet you after work even if I'm off...or see a movie again...get something from Family Video or..."

"You wanna hang out with me more?" you cut into his rambling.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Friends hang out all the time but..." You shrugged. "Don't...skip out on...I mean I guess I don't know what it is you do with the guys outside of band practice and DnD. Don't skip out on them just for me."

"No, hey now, wait," Eddie held his hand out to stop you. "Those turds already see me all the time and are gonna see me more once school's back in session. And...I'll probably work less so...I'll take any time with you now that I can get."

"Alright." You beamed.

"Alright." He mirrored you. "More non-Sunday hangouts."

You agreed and he held out his pinky. You immediately hooked yours into it.

“See you Wednesday sweetheart,” Eddie said his farewell. “Don’t dream of me too much.”

---

"Alright guys, it's almost 7am, time to clean up," you announced to your overnight crew with a clap of your hands.

It had been a fun but trying night, but ultimately successful.

Saturday had been perfect but your whole Sunday routine had already been thrown off and you spent a majority of your day sleeping and cleaning and wondering what Eddie was getting up to at work.

As you predicted, everyone was more than a little confused by the planogram booklet but you were a patient teacher. Everyone thought they had an eye for store layout until they were faced with twenty shipment boxes of pencil cases and locker decor. You had to talk a few of them down from near-panics several times throughout the night.

Over the course of the floorset, side ponytails became even more askew than normal, a few pairs of shoes got kicked into a pile by the gate, and everyone turned into tired, sweaty messes.

To keep morale up, you had insisted on everyone bringing a favorite tape that alternated in the shop radio and you had stocked up at Bradley's with an assortment of sugary snacks and drinks for the break room. Thankfully, the treats had prevented anyone from bursting into tears or threatening to quit, as you had witnessed countless times during your time working in retail.

You really channeled Eddie's sweet tooth when making your choices and it had paid off.

But after 12 hours of unpacking, stacking, dusting, shifting, and sliding, you were all ready to go home.

You ushered everyone out of the store and locked the gate behind you, and as the group walked toward the employee exit, excitement had returned. Pride for a seemingly-impossible task completed.

"The store looks so good! Mindy is gonna shit herself when she comes in to open."

"Oh my god, do you think we're gonna have a store visit? Can you let me know what they think of the hair wall?"

"We're gonna make so many sales! Who can say no to that unicorn backpack?"

You entertained their conversation but when you set foot outside and saw a familiar van parked next to your car, you lost all ability to speak.

He had said he was gonna surprise you with breakfast...but you told him not to. Of course he didn't listen; it had you rolling your eyes in annoyed amusement.

God you knew everyone was a gossip, this was gonna get to Mindy and then she was gonna give you an earful. She already let you have it when she heard about your invitation to dinner.

You quickly thanked your team and ushered them to their cars before you meandered towards yours. You ignored the questioning looks that they shot you as you hesitated to get into your car but you waved goodbye as they drove away.

When the last car left the lot, you immediately stormed over to the passenger's side door of the van and threw it open to find a McDonald's bag on the seat, two coffees in the cupholders, and a tired-eyed Eddie in the driver's seat. His fingers tapped on the steering wheel in time with Kiss's Beth.

"I'm always somewhere else," he turned his upper body towards you dramatically and began serenading you. "And you're always there alone."

"Unbelievable," you scoffed at him.

"Just a few more hours and I'll be right home to you. I think I hear them calling. Oh Beth what can I do?" He slapped his hands against the steering wheel dramatically. "Beth what can I do?"

You climbed into the passengers seat, closed the door behind you, and opened the McDonalds bag to the delightful smell of hot, fresh, crispy hash browns and egg McMuffins.

"If it's not obvious," Eddie announced as he reached across the van to shove his hand into the bag for a hash brown of his own. "I'm Beth in this scenario because you left me alone for hours and hours and hours last night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah I got into all sorts of trouble."

“I told you not to bring breakfast.”

“I wanted to surprise you.”

"You didn't need to come if you were tired."

"I wanted to and I pretty much do whatever I want anyways," he insisted, and then thankfully focused on his food as you felt your face heat up.

"Well, if you'd like to know, me and the boys were not actually playing all night," you remarked and dug the sandwiches out of the brown bag. You handed one to Eddie, whose mouth was already full of salty, potatoey goodness after he'd shoved the hash brown in one piece. His cheeks were all round and full like a chipmunks and you held back a giggle.

God he was too cute. And he brought you breakfast after a long overnight shift. And he had called you his girl and told you you were special. How were you supposed to stop yourself from having a crush on him if this was...just how he was?

The two of you got to talking about your night, about his Sunday shift, about what you did before work, about what he did after it. And it was nice.

And as you sat there watching him slurp the hot coffee and watch the sparse traffic around the mall dive, you finally found the right words and the strength not to make an absolute fool of yourself.

"This was really nice of you, Eddie. You're wonderful."

He put his hand on his chest and looked a little sheepish.

"I'm wonderful?"

"You're wonderful to me."

---

Next Part: Corrective Action

The tag list is currently suspended.

[senseless-writing]

Unprecedented Distractions

Pairing: Austin Butler x reader

Summary: Austin thought having Y/n with him would make the press interviews more bearable. It hadn’t occurred to him that having her there might lead to some new challenges. 

Warnings: Jealousy, a little bit of insecurity

A/N: So this didn’t turn out to be anything like the original request...I got a bit carried away. Sorry about that! If this isn’t what you wanted, feel free to let me know, and I can maybe try again, or you can bring it to another writer! I won’t take it personally at all :)

If you would like to be added to any of my tag lists (I’ve got a general tag list, along with specific ones for each fandom I’ve written for thus far), plz leave a comment or ask and let me know which one!

Masterlist

----------

Inviting Y/n to a day full of press was one of the most impulsive things Austin has ever done.

Honestly, even he was shocked when the words came tumbling from his lips. They were making dinner together the night before and talking about what their following day looked like. Y/n was so excited for her first day off in who knows how long, though she was bummed to be spending it alone. Austin couldn’t help but wish she wouldn’t have to.

Before he knew it, he was asking her to join him. After a pause, she agreed with a hesitant smile.

And a part of Austin felt bad. Felt bad that his girlfriend would spend her one day off standing on the sidelines, watching him be fawned over by stylists and asked questions about his “genius”. God, it was always so awkward to talk about himself in that way. But the embarrassment almost doubled when doing it in front of the person he loved.

Though he had to admit, waking up that morning and getting ready for work together was somewhat of a dream. And Austin had never felt better about an outfit his stylist picked out for him, not when he saw Y/n’s reaction to it.

While driving to his first interview, she’d pulled him down to her level and whispered something about taking it off him when they got home, and Austin was overwhelmed by the feeling that he’d made the right decision. Even if it meant his white button down had suddenly become unbearably tight over his flushed skin.

That led them to where they were now. With him speaking to someone about the movie he loved, pretending there wasn’t a camera recording them, and trying more than anything to act like his attention wasn’t pulled to the woman standing behind it.

“Did you have any special ways of getting into character on set? Rituals, or something like that?”

“I think a part of me was always in character during that time, especially when it came to his voice,” Austin began, his head turning slightly as he thought over the rest of his answer. Without meaning to, his eyes raced towards Y/n. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for. Reassurance, maybe. Or perhaps someone to laugh with, as she was the only someone who personally knew the experiences he was now describing. It’s possible that he just wanted to look at her. Either way, the reason didn’t matter.

Because she wasn’t looking at him.

She was happy, though. Smiling, laughing even. But not at him. At some guy. Austin had to remind himself that he still had an interview to get through, and his pause in between answers was becoming uncomfortable.

He coughed, pretended there was a bubble in his throat, and continued. “It was more method than I’ve ever gone before. But other than that, you know…”

The situation drew his attention against his will. He didn’t want to look; he wanted to focus on the question at hand. But all he could think about was the quiet conversation going on across the room.

The little space they were in was small, but full of people. All there for a reason, all doing a job. They were sure to stay quiet, though, if talking at all.

Apparently, this guy's only job is keeping my girlfriend company.

Austin couldn't even tell what they were saying. That was the worst part. What could he possibly be saying that made her look at him like that?

“...it was just listening to his music and reminding myself of the research I’d done to really get into that mindset. No different from any other character, really…”

Y/n was blushing now, with that smile that he knew to be the one where she’d received a compliment she thought she didn’t deserve. What the hell was going on?

“...but at a much more intense level. The hair and makeup chair was a great place for me to do that, so I could sort of mentally and physically prepare at the same time.”

If the interviewer noticed his distracted and distressed state, she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she gave Austin a small smile and said “All that research must have taken a lot of time. Did it feel like you had to put your life on hold to accomplish such a role?”

That caught him off guard. It wasn’t an overly original question, but suddenly Austin understood why seeing Y/n laughing with another man made him so upset. Not because he was a jealous person, but because he was perceptive.

He knew what made a good boyfriend, and he knew what made a bad one. Y/n’s support never wavered throughout the chaos that his job brought them, but he wasn’t naive. It couldn’t have been easy for her to carry their relationship on her back whenever he was too busy to help with the load.

So maybe he was jealous after all. But it was his own doing, and that’s what made him angrier than anything else.

He hadn’t realized he was staring until the room was blanketed in an awkward quiet. Y/n’s eyes met his, somewhat confused, and he couldn’t find the strength to look away. Not even with a camera recording him.

“Austin?” the sound-man called out behind the camera. “We’re actually having some problems with the audio right now that might take a couple minutes to reset. If it doesn’t mess with your schedule too much, would you mind if we take a break?”

Austin wasn’t sure if that was the truth, or if this guy was just throwing him a bone. It didn’t matter too much to him, though, he agreed all the same. As the woman in charge of his schedule scurried off to figure out how much this would throw their day, he was already motioning for Y/n to come over.

He watched her say goodbye and tried to control his glare. Y/n bounded over to him without a care in the world. Right before she crossed the threshold to his chair, however, he motioned for her to stop.

“You’re not rolling, right?” He addressed the interviewer. Louise something, though he couldn’t presently be certain. She was already up and out of her chair, probably to talk to their producer. “I don’t want her on camera.”

Louise gave him a gentle smile. Everyone on set knew of Austin's not-so-secret girlfriend. “Don’t worry, we won’t roll again until everyone’s ready.”

Y/n didn’t wait for another invitation. In five seconds flat, she was settled comfortably on her boyfriend's lap. The folding chair creaked under their weight, and Austin held her tight to him with one hand across her lap and another around her waist.

“What happened?” she questioned with a hand gripping his arm. She pulled his grasp to be tighter around her, and Austin would’ve laughed if he wasn’t still stuck in his head. “It was going fine one minute, and then not the next.”

Austin tucked his nose in her neck and sighed. “Something with the sound, I guess. They’re fixing it now.”

“No, I meant with you. You looked confused or something.”

“You noticed?”

She laughed, moved her hand to run it through his curls, and paused. His stylist would surely have a thing or two to say about her ruined work. Instead, she settled on fiddling with the hair at the base of his neck.

“Austin, you’re the movie star. Everyone in this room is here to look at you. I think you’re the only one who doesn’t have to worry about not having all the attention.”

“I didn’t have yours.”

Austin felt stupid after he said it. Like a petulant child. But it was too late to take it back.

“What?” she laughed again, though this time it was more of a confused chuckle than anything else. Her eyes cast back to the man from before, and she could feel Austin’s fingers dig into her hip as she did. She looked back at her boyfriend in shock. “Are you jealous?”

“No,” he scoffed, refusing to meet her confused expression. His grip on her begged to differ.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you. Do you know how many girls are thirsting over you on the internet right now? Or the ones waiting outside this building, hoping to catch a glimpse of you on your way out?”

“They aren’t-”

“They aren’t anything more than fans to you, I know, but that isn’t the point. How is it that I can handle all of that, but you can’t handle me talking to another man for five minutes?”

“You weren’t talking,” he said very matter of factly. “You were laughing.”

“Yeah, well, I’m laughing now too. At you!”

“It’s not funny,” Austin bit his lip to stop from whining.

“It is! It’s funny that you think this guy, who’s here to help you promote your new role as Elvis Presley in the Elvis Presley biopic, would try and steal your girlfriend out from under you. Can you admit how funny that sounds?”

He looked at her, then. Brushed the hair from her eyes, which were glittering with amusement. She still didn’t get it. “Baby, who I am or what I do doesn’t matter if I’m never around to be here with you.”

“So this is about work again?”

Austin was always apologizing when things didn’t go as planned. “I’m sorry baby, Baz called, but I’ll make it up to you,” “This is the last time, I promise.” And it never was, but Y/n didn’t mind. There was a difference between carelessly canceling a date and rescheduling it due to responsibility. She knew that. But apparently, Austin didn’t.

“I just,” Austin struggled to explain. “I just wish things would go back to how they used to be, when everything was calm. It was easier then, even if it wasn’t exactly normal. It was our normal.”

“Aus, your career is taking off. Everyone is finally recognizing how talented you are, it’s your dream come true. That’s not something to wish away. I want you to enjoy it and not feel guilty. I was here before, and I’ll be here afterwards. You never have to worry about that.”

It suddenly felt stupid to have ever doubted her in the first place. Not that Austin ever questioned her loyalty, but rather his ability to give her a reason to be loyal. Although her speech hadn’t completely eased the part of his mind that always wandered back to her, it was a relief to hear the words.

He’d have to try to believe them more often.

“Do you wanna know what we were talking about?” she asked him when he didn’t respond.

Austin’s eyebrow raised. “Would that ease my mind?”

“I think so.”

So he nodded, and a mischievous glint took over her expression.

“Well, if you must know, Brian over there seems to think I’d make one hell of a model.”

Her boyfriend immediately scowled. “That doesn’t make me feel any better, Y/n. Not in the slightest.”

“No, not in a flirtatious way! He’s a photographer.”

“Oh,” he paused for a moment. “Is that something you’d be interested in?”

Y/n rested her head against his own. “I don’t know, maybe. You take pictures of me all the time, this wouldn’t be much different from that.”

That part was true. Austin loved his new camera. Developing film took time, and he enjoyed that, but it made him more aware of what he took pictures of. His most favorite subject was her.

But he was still tentative. “People would see them, baby…you’d be in the public eye.”

“Yeah, that’s the turn off. I don’t think that’s something I want. It was a nice conversation, though.”

She was fiddling with the rings on his hand that rested on her stomach. He rubbed up and down in soothing circles. “I’d support you no matter what, though, you know that right? If you wanted to model, we’d make it work. Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”

“I haven’t really decided yet,” she smiled down at him. “But I know.”

“Austin?” the producer called out, breaking them from the bubble they’d created. He had a sheepish smile on his face. “We’re ready to get back to shooting whenever you are.”

“That’s my cue,” she laughed, shimming off his lap despite his protesting groan. “Break a leg.”

Before she could get more than a step away, a demanding grip on her arm yanked her back. At once, Austin spun her around and pulled her down to a bruising kiss. Tongue and all, his lips were hot against her own. She was too consumed by the passion of it all to think about why he was doing it in the first place. 

PDA wasn’t something they were into, especially when Austin’s new movie made it difficult to be in a public relationship at all. A small kiss, gentle hugs and hand-holds, sure. But not this.

They only broke away when Y/n was absolutely certain she had no oxygen left. With a gasp, she blushed and narrowed her eyes at him. “Seriously? You just had to put on a show?”

Austin didn’t say anything, but his smirk spoke volumes. With nothing but a wink, he sent her on her way, feeling surer of himself than he had just moments before. Sure, there were guys out there who could give Y/n the quality time she deserved. But there was nobody on this Earth who could have her flustered like that from nothing but a single kiss.

That was all for him.

[blueparadis]

| GOLD RUSH | REI SUWA |

[ synopsis ] — Rei Suwa some how accepted advent of Miri in his life, had made peace with the presence of his partner, Kazuki long before Miri walked into their life. He was not willing to do it anymore, not under any circumstances but hearts does not align with our minds, does it now?

[ content & themes ] — undertones of fluff cuz i love miri, f!reader ( s!her pronouns ), canon typical violence, death, murder, profanity, mention of smoking, alcohol, sexual tension, mutual pinning,rei is so fvcking oblivious that I wanna bang my head on a pillow. characters include :: Kazuki Kurusu, Kyutaro Kugi, Miri Unasaka, Anna Hanyu. word count :: 1.5k

One. Two. Three. . . and four. Four turns it took for Rei to adjust the lens of his sniper. His eyebrows which were already congested seemed to become more devoted to the cause. Kazuki might not have packed the most comfortable sniper Rei likes to use. That fucking dim wit. A low grunt escapes past his lips as he aligns the nozzle upon the railing of the rooftop. 

The weather is sunny yet sultry, not particularly of what Suwa prefers to have while executing his job, that is to scratch off another name from the list Kyutaro has given him. On any other day, Kazuki would have accompanied him but not today. Today is special. . . special because Miri claims that she is turning six years old. 

It was so random that both the assassins thought that it was one of the other tactics to have a chocolate cake that she was denied the other day. Lately, Kazuki has been strict and he is nothing less than an angry bird as imagined by Miri. But Miri can be stubborn sometimes and hence Kazuki stayed behind to cook chocolate cupcakes for her. She does not crave gigantic three layered cakes, just small cupcakes that would perfectly fit in her small dainty hands. How odd ! How childish!

“Are you ready?” Kazuki conjectured from the other side. Rei can not recall anything happy of sort about his birthdays or birthdays in general. In all honesty, he never really understood the undying joy on birthdays. What exactly is there to celebrate? We're all gonna die at some day or it could be at the next moment. We're just getting closer to it each day, each month, each year. What's the point of celebration? 

“Hm.” That was . . . inert for someone who never liked babysitting. Kazuki even proposed that he can go and do the job in his way while Rei could sit at home, look after Miri and play video games. Was he mad about getting hired for this job? Who can tell? Well, definitely not Rei since he rarely speaks his mind.

“Alright. I’m going to call.” Kazuki clears his throat before dialing the number of their target. One. two and a half ring — “hello”

“Hello. Good Morning.We are calling from the pollution center. I would like to inform you that the car registered under your name has been . . . 

“But I don't remember sending my car for a pollution check.”

“Perhaps it was your daughter. . . Naomi Kento.”

And those dull black eyes are now watching the target like an eagle hunting for its prey. The lens zooms in. The target, Mr. Kento Fujiwara is now loitering from one end of his room to the other. Rei could have easily taken a shot through his neck but his bodyguard is quite persistent, maybe a little too good for her job. Rei moves his eyes from the lens while two sets of his fingers reach up to his ears, “ Kazuki. What’re ya doin? He is moving too much. Talk less.” God, the sun is burning his skin and thinning his patience. He is not particularly aware of the reason behind his edgy mood and now is definitely not the time to think about it.

“Oh! It wasn’t your daughter. I see. I apologize. There must be some sort of mistake in your system. We will send one of our staff to . . .

And Mr.Kento Fujiwara is still standing in front of his gigantic glass window but his bodyguard is keeping Rei from getting a clean shot. Does she know? Or was she planted by Kyutaro to test his skills? The other day he commented how rei had become a little rusty and needed to get back on his track. Wouldn’t be surprised if he were to do this. Rei moves away from the sniper lens once again and exhales deeply, long enough to make a decision : death or deaths.

The girl turned around on her heel and was approaching the gigantic window. Suwa thought she might have been asked to draw in the curtains which meant he had to wait another two hours for getting a good clean shot. Needless to say, he was not going to settle for it. Still he chose death. He watches the bodyguard to keep her hostler on the table nearby and adjusts her body suit. God, he can’t wait to put a bullet through that man’s heart. Kyutaro was right about him. He is a shark as well as a parasite. BANG!

Rei watches the target fall to the floor like a tree chopped from its root. Tsk! His eyebrows grow flat for a few seconds when he hears Kazuki saying, “Mr. Fujiwara? Mr.Fujiwara? . . .Are you there?” He isn’t. Kazuki disconnects the call. The number he used belonged to one of the staff from the pollution center, as provided by their friendly bartender : Kyutaro Kugi. 

“Odd.”, Suwa comets watching all the guards in black suits flood the room that has a corpse lying on the ground.

“What is?” more than him, Kazuki is on edge. Suwa is glad that Kakuki did not tag along in this job. It would have taken more time to take out the target.

“Well, not our problem.”, Suwa amends. He is already lighting his cigarette, having his sniper rifle on his back. He is fast. He has always been fast. 

—

‘Breaking news : Kento Fujiwara, one of the leading business tycoons, was murdered yesterday morning. It seems that he died because of the injury in the head. . .

The news continues to broadcast further details, clarifying what is going to happen to his estates as well as his family members but none of that registers into Suwa’s brain. He is stuck at the ‘injury in the head’ part , which means, ‘shot at the head’  Sure, he is having a tough time but he is not too weak to miss his shot that was aimed at the belly, not the head. He can not be that reckless. Plus, it has been a long time since he shot someone right in the head. It can’t be. Something just doesn't fit.

“Rei. . .” Kazuki draws in the curtains of the room basking the room with the rays of azure noon. 

“What?” Rei utters with the same bored expression that he always has on his face, but this time he bothers to tilt his head with a furrow in between his brows. Its unlike him. He is annoyed. He does his job with the least possible muscle movements, at all times, and most of his energy investment goes to games and Miri.

“I’m going to pick up Miri. I got a call from daycare. So, you have to pay a visit to the bar.” Kazuki shuts the door behind him before leaving. What a drag!

The bar has never been crowded, and has not been lonely either. The reason he hates coming here is of course Kugi’s horde of questions. More than that, he thinks he should not be collecting money for killing people, in certain cases but not all. He does not regret killing Kento Fujiwara even though it was not his bullet that caused the death. He takes a deep breath before entering the bar and his reason of irritation is not there, Kugi is not there.

“Welcome. . . ehh—

“Rei Suwa.”, his voice pitches in. With casual steps, hands inside the pocket of his hoodie he walks in and sits in front of the new face, the new bartender, a girl . . . no! a lady. “I’m here for Kyu- . . . Kyu-chan.” He averts making eye-contact instead focuses his mind to light a cigarette.

“I’m sorry. . . but you can’t smoke— 

So, She is not a newcomer or perhaps really needed this job or perhaps a normal person. I don’t think he is okay with a woman working in his bar . . . without actually knowing what he does.

The smoke swirls in the form of a circle as Rei lets out a drag. His eyes are on hers, watching, thinking how come he has never heard of a girl related to this obsidian world. He takes in another drags and quickly scans her. 

“I can.” Suwa boldly remarks with his eyes settled on her relaxed posture with his harmless bored expression that he thinks is quite infuriating, enough to get a reaction out of her.

She is still not annoyed . . . not even repeating herself. Kyu must have a tough time putting up with her. . . mood. She turns her head towards the door that leads to the wine cellar. One. . .two . . .she blinks and Kyutaro emerges from the room with two flagons.

“Had a feeling I'd be seeing you.”, he remarks, keeping the box of wine bottles on the counter. “Why did you let him smoke, y/n ?” Kyutaro shifts his eyes on the lady who stands still with a face that seems apologetic in so many ways. 

Bingo. y/n. y/n is her name. breaking the rule was worth it.

“Moreover. . .” , his eye brows ran closer. “Why’re you smoking?” 

“Sorry. My bad. Had a rough day.”, Suwa quips, putting off the fire on the ashtray that y/n slided while ago. Smart and swift.

Kyutaro adjusts his spectacles. He proceeds to the inner side of the counter. “Here.” he hands over two envelopes to Suwa, a smile of gratitude visible on his face. Suwa bows and leaves the bar within a minute.

It’s not a surprise that he has a girl by his side. After all, he has always been popular among girls, that lucky fucker.

—

[ notes ] — might ( emphasis on might ) have a part ii ( if it does, i'll continue on ao3) but feel free to send me thoughts about them. I love the characters so much that I could write four page essays on them. This fic was a bit rushed but I had the idea after watching the first episode so I got time to prepare it in my head ( yeah thanks to my insomnia ). If you want to read more of my writings click here. And, if you like reading it, please like & reblog, leave a comment. thank you :›

⌗ — @planetxiao @semisgroupie @cherrykamado

[fuck-customers]

hey gang! me again (from /post/741038774641983488, bitching about the two coworkers and the filthy deli slicer), and i guess we couldn’t go three days/two shifts without more bullshit from J1! as i write this it’s currently the morning after the shift described below. thankfully, i have the day off today, due to a prior appointment, so i might be able to wind down again before going in again tomorrow afternoon.

so before Chef C left on the hell shift prior, he asked me to be there at noon, when the first folks are showing up for their prep. good thing, too, because shortly after i arrive, before i even clock in, the head line cook (M) that showed up the same time i did informs me that he’s just gotten a text from C saying that both the sous chef S and the pantry cook J1 have called out for the day, leaving me as (currently) the only person available with any experience on pantry.

before i switched mostly to dish, this was fine, because i could rest assured that the old pantry lead (name irrelevant; no longer works there) would have as much as possible done and prepped for the next shift, even with the one day off we had between. the only time she wouldn’t is if the store was going to be closed for 3-4+ days straight and we needed to be concerned about spoilage. thus i would be left with minimal prep actually needed to be done and could just focus on the essentials.

considering this prior prep cook is the one who trained me and J1, it’d be safe to assume that she’d follow the same practices, right? well, clearly, that’s giving her too much credit, because again, i never got trained to any degree on how to make the vast majority of what gets “cooked” for pantry, and apparently she’s incapable of planning ahead even if for no other reason than to simply make her own job easier.

to make matters worse, we had just gotten a shipment, so the walk-in was packed full without any room to get around; i’d have put it away myself, but i don’t know where the vast majority of the shit goes, and i don’t want to fuck up the already tenuous inventory log situation that C constantly grouses about. i’m resultantly unable to get counts for anything we already have, so for the time being i focus on what i am able to easily access to get done, which is mostly plating desserts.

after a couple hours, a temp (E) comes in to help. there is a language barrier and she has never worked pantry before, only line, so i have to train her (through translation apps and my own rudimentary kitchen spanish) while also trying to figure out what the hell i’m doing myself. chef doesn’t get around to teaching me how to make two of the items we need until about half an hour before service starts, meaning i once again did not get a break and had to rush through making them myself, while i also try to get E set up with making sure everything she could put together was ready for service.

as you can probably imagine, this doesn’t go particularly well! E does great with the actual prep stuff, with dressing the cold cured meat dish and this that and the other, but as soon as we get to service it becomes an absolute shitshow. apparently nobody taught E on line that you need to send dishes out in the order the tickets come in, so we’re 15 tickets deep with more printing, and she’s ignoring things i specifically showed her how to make while we were slow to, instead, pull from the end of the queue to make salads that i keep having to drop what i’m doing to coach her on how to make correctly when they have a special request applied.

ultimately this results in me getting scolded by the GM/service lead to send tickets out in order, to which i just respond that “i’m trying,” and M comes to my defense when i can’t hear it to point out that i really wasn’t set up for success today, and folks kind of back off. thankfully we only end up with one extra dish (to my knowledge? something was said about extra carrot cakes but they were never brought back) and it’s just like. a half salad that E didn’t prep right so we couldn’t send it out.

insult to injury is that there were actually others present who had worked pantry before. one of the expo cooks (D) actually comes back to help J1 all the time, but because of S being absent he had to focus on expo—and he ended up leaving before dinner service without raising a finger or even pausing to ask to make sure i was going to be okay with just me and the temp. D’s got a problem habit of leaving without doing everything that needs done, anyway, which ended up resulting in J2 getting forced into overtime to pick up his and J1’s slack on that front, which is why he wasn’t there for this shift. probably ultimately for the better but i really would have appreciated the extra pair of hands.

due to the string of buffoonery that resulted in us missing no less than 3 kitchen staff and damn near everyone who knew how to do anything of substance on pantry, i wasn’t really given an opportunity to call for help. thankfully M had my back and nobody seems to have any hard feelings now that it was made clear to them that i wasn’t given room to do anything but struggle, and the GM and service staff took it pretty well when i apologized for how much of a shitshow pantry became, but i really should not have been left drowning like that in the first place.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[sissy-xo-ix]

Well, I ended up writing two parts! So here ya go, parts 2 and 3!

Part 2: da rulez

Everything last night was a blur. Allan wasn’t even sure it was real until he opened his eyes and confirmed he was still in the exact position he remembered. He was thickly diapered in a blue and white sailor suit onesie. He had a pacifier in his mouth with a gag wrapped around the rest of his head. He had booties with small spikes in them preventing him from walking, and large padded mitts on his hands that prevented him from grabbing a single thing. He was entirely reliant on Brit, now “Mommy.”

After he had agreed to her request she had smiled and squealed in joy, and immediately rewarded him for being such a “good little boy.” She had started rubbing his diaper slow, just enough to get him into it. As she quickened, his hips began to thrust up and down. It took a few minutes but he got his release, and it felt wonderful.

“Behave,” Mommy said, “and I will have plenty more of this for you. I even have some, uh, items, that you may like.” She flashed a grin.

After his release, she pulled out a bottle and filled it with water. She removed his pacifier gag and handed him the bottle.

“I want you to drink this as I cover a few more of the rules. No talking, from you anyways. I want you to be a good boy and listen quietly. You can ask a few questions when you’re done with your bottle. Okay sweetie?”

Allan nodded his head okay. After the fun he just had at the hands of this beautiful woman, he’d do anything. She had been smart, he really was putty in her hands.

“Okay my sweet baby. Let’s set a few ground rules.

Number one: you are not allowed to take your diaper off for any reason. Only Mommy can do that. Eventually some of Mommy’s friends might be able to, but we will ease into that. Which brings me to number two!

You will be seen like this by other people. You will not complain, throw a fit, and you will not be able to hide. Don’t worry, like I said before we will ease you into it. I know things can be scary but that’s part of being Mommy’s adorable little baby!.”

At the news of being seen by other’s, Allan paused his sucking. He had to admit, this was hot, and he loved the attention from her. But he didn’t want others to see him like this.

Brit noticed the pause and gently reminded him, “keep drinking sweetie. If you don’t finish your bottle by the time I’m done, there may be a small punishment.” At that, Allan remembered her comment earlier that she had some ‘unique’ punishments thought up. He didn’t really want to learn what those were right now, so he started to drink again.

“There’s a good boy! Hm. I may not have to punish you too much if you listen this well. Shall we continue?

Rule number three. If it wasn’t obvious, you have to use your diapers now. The potty is off-limits. Since you’ll be quitting your job and moving in with me after this trip, you won’t have to worry about your coworkers. I will let you still use the potty for #2’s only, and I may let you use the potty for tinkles on certain special occasions, but those will be rare and ONLY when I say, okay? Good.

Next. You will call me Mommy when we are not in public. I am your girlfriend, but I am also Mommy.

Lastly, Mommy makes all the decisions, all the time. Mommy will ALWAYS do what’s best for you, and I will always try to include you, but if I make a decision without you it’s just because I know what’s best for my little baby. This includes feeding, how you dress, where you go, what you do, everything.” As she did that she started to coo and threw in some baby talk. Allan blushed as Brit, ‘Mommy’, giggled.

“Now baby, it’s late and I think we both need our rest. You do still need to finish your job before you become my full time baby! Lets turn in for the night and cuddle. We can talk more tomorrow.”

Part 3: let the anticipation begin.

The day after they met, Brit left to go get her home ready. She left Allan with a few diapers and expected him to put one on each evening before bed, and send her a picture as proof. Once he finished with his trip, he was to travel home and get ready to move. Since he was going to be her baby, he could sell most of his things. Brit wanted all that money to go into a special “good baby” account that they’d use together to celebrate him being a good baby. He still had to wait two more weeks for her to come get him. She was flying all the way out to him, and they would road trip back across the country to her, and his, home. As he posted stuff on Craigslist, it slowly left his home until the only things he had left were his clothes, his car, and a few collectibles and keepsakes that Mommg had let him keep. Tomorrow would be the day. Mommy would be here in the afternoon, and they’d head out that night, getting hotels along the way. He hadn’t had a ‘release’ since she had given him one, and him not wanting to upset her had not given himself one, as badly as he wanted to. The more and more he thought about his future with this gorgeous Mommy, the more pent up he got. He wondered if she’d even find out if he had. Maybe he could give himself a release, just tonight. She’d never know.

So that’s what he did, only it leaked and stained his underwear. So he threw them out. With that, he went to bed, and dreamt of being Mommy’s little baby, the dream that would become a reality…

[jinxquickfoot]

@badthingshappenbingo prompt: And I Must Scream

Find the fic on Ao3

It’s been three months since Dreykov’s death.

Three months of chasing ghosts. Three months of releasing Widows. No matter how many Natasha sees rescued, it never grows easier.

Because they don’t see it as rescue. They see it as capture. As failure. Widows do not fail.

More than one Widow has been found dead before they reach her, preferring to die for the Red Room rather than fall into enemy hands.

Three months since Dreykov’s death.

Three months since his daughter’s.

And now, it’s over. There are no more ghosts to chase. Natasha doesn’t know what to make of the fact that Yelena’s file hadn’t been in those they’d recovered. She hopes that means her mladshaya sestra got out, made her own life. That she hadn’t tried to find her. Yelena had been young, after all. Too young. She might not even remember her.

She and Clint hadn’t talked the entire flight back to DC. She had sensed he had wanted to, but knew she didn’t, so he’d kept his mouth shut. She’s still not used to that—having a need met, not to meet an agenda, and not to manipulate her. Just because someone wants to make her feel safe.

Natasha still doesn’t entirely know why Clint didn’t take the shot. It unsettles her. There aren’t many people she can’t read. And she feels as though she should be able to read Clint Barton. On the surface, he’s an open book. Good soldier, gets the job done, quick with just the right kind of sly comment to make the people around him laugh. She also knows that all of that is armor. What she doesn’t know is what he’s shielding.

Clint doesn’t break the silence until they land at the Triskelion. “After we drop off our stuff, I have something to show you.”

Natasha eases herself out of the co-pilot’s seat, gathering her bag. She’s still not allowed to man any of SHIELD’s vehicles, not until she can prove she’s not a flight risk. It’s not a decision she can blame Fury for making—she’s thought about running more than once. What is left of the Red Room is gone. She’s gotten what she’s needed out of SHIELD. She could flee into the night and never look back, become someone completely different, live in a world where not a soul knows what horrors she’s inflicted on the world.

She follows Clint into the Triskelion.

They don’t talk through their post-mission routine either. They stow their equipment, splitting off to their separate locker rooms to shower. Not that it should matter—they’ve been sharing quarters for months now, sometimes the same place for days at a time, and they’ve seen everything. Natasha kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for that first move to be made. And when Clint didn’t make it, she did, only to be promptly told that maybe they could explore that down the line, but not while she was trying to prove that he was some jackass trying to get in her pants.

Her confusion around Clint Barton grew.

She takes longer in the shower than she needs to. It’s a luxury she’s never had before—being able to stand under the hot water for as long as she liked, just because she wanted to.

It keeps Clint waiting, but he doesn’t call her out on it. “Ready to go?”

Clint leads her down to the garage, Natasha hesitating when he indicates for her to get into the readied car. “Where are we going?”

“It’s not a mission,” is all Clint tells her.

The drive is short. Natasha gazes out the window, the passing trees and buildings and people. This is home now. She’s burned her old one to ashes.

They stop at an apartment building, Clint pulling into the car park. “This way.”

She follows him up three flights of stairs, through the unremarkable, totally mundane building, to an unremarkable, totally mundane door. Clint withdraws a set of keys, but he doesn’t unlock the apartment. He holds them out to her.

“What is this, Barton?”

“A gift.”

Carefully, Natasha takes the keys and eases her way inside the apartment.

It’s nothing special. A one-bedroom with minimal furniture in need of a fresh coat of paint, a drooping plant someone has abandoned in the corner. Natasha takes it in, suspicions rising. “I have a room at the Triskelion.”

“You had a glorified cell. You helped us take down Dreykov, Natasha. You completed your part of the deal. So Fury decided you deserved somewhere that locked from the inside.”

Natasha doesn’t put her bag down, even after Clint closes the door behind them. “Fury decided, did he? He wasn’t convinced?”

Clint shrugs that off. “You’ve run missions with us for months. You’ve followed every order. You’ve had every chance to kill me and run, but you haven’t.”

“And what if I run now?”

“Well, you’ll make me look very, very stupid.” He sets his bag down on the couch, looking at her. Seeing her. It’s not a sensation she’s grown used to. “But I believe you’re not going to run, Nat.”

“Belief is for children.” But she eases her bag down, making her way over to examine the bedroom. It’s small, but the bed looks new. Someone’s made it up for her, the smell of fresh sheets lingering in the air.

“Maybe,” Clint allows. “I figured you’d want something more concrete. So.”

She turns around to see him holding out a file. She takes it, flicking through the paperwork.

“You just have to sign,” Clint continues. “And it’s your name on the deed. You can stay here, sell it and get something you like better, whatever you want.”

Natasha snaps the file shut. “So I’ll feel grateful to you. So I’ll stay.”

Clint watches her for a moment. “Because you’re a person and you deserve somewhere to live where you’re not a prisoner.”

Natasha swallows back something sour, threatening to spill over. “Fury’s going to have me watched for the rest of my life. This is just for show.”

“You don’t think he’s got tabs on me too? I didn’t exactly have the smoothest introduction to SHIELD either. But if anyone can escape the eye of Nick Fury, it’s you. And he knows that. He’s willing to loosen the reigns anyway.”

Natasha gingerly sits on the edge of the bed. It’s soft and clean and, if she wants it, hers.

That sour feeling grows. She doesn’t even realize her hands are shaking until Clint sits on the bed next to her, encircling her wrists in calloused hands. “Natasha. Talk to me.”

She knows she shouldn’t. To talk without a goal is to show weakness. But that feeling in her gut won’t abate. It’s not new. She’s just always been able to push it down, ignore it, focus on the mission. She is made of marble. She doesn’t crack.

She’s also so, so tired of holding herself together. “I don’t deserve this.”

“The longer you work for SHIELD, the more freedom you’ll gain, I promise.”

But Natasha shakes her head. “I don’t deserve this.”

Clint goes very still beside her, realizing. “Natasha—”

“You don’t know.” She snaps back to herself, ripping herself out of his hold. “Whatever files you have on me, they don’t even scrape the surface of what I’ve done. You don’t know.”

“I know you didn’t have a choice,” Clint says softly. “The Red Room did those things, Nat. You were just the weapon. You don’t blame the arrow for hitting the target.”

Natasha meets his gaze, radiating the deadly calm she knows makes the most powerful men shake. Clint meets her head-on, not backing down. “The Red Room didn’t make me kill Dreykov’s daughter,” she whispers. “Antonia. That was all me, Barton. That was me. It was me.”

She’s expecting platitudes. Some speech about how killing one little girl had saved hundreds of others. About collateral damage for the greater good was always justified. About how the mission always, always came first.

He doesn’t say any of that. Instead he reaches out, and takes her hand.

The crack that splits open inside of her has been a long time coming. She’s been forcing it back for years, trying to prove that she was untouchable, unbreakable. She is perfect. She is the best. She’s never been allowed to be anything else.

She expects the first guttural scream that rips its way up her throat to send Clint running for the hills. It doesn’t. Instead he moves closer, letting her scream into his chest, over and over and over again.

Natasha doesn’t know how long they sit like that, but finally she slumps, her throat raw, her cheeks wet. A part of her knows she should be embarrassed, that this kind of weakness should never be tolerated, but she’s too exhausted to care. She feels wrung out, empty. She also feels lighter, as though she’s finally laid down a weight she’s been carrying since she can remember.

“Okay,” she hears Clint murmuring in her ear. “You’re okay.”

“Tired,” she whispers.

“That’s okay too. You want to go to bed?”

When Natasha pulls back, she sees his cheeks are wet too. Neither of them mention it. She lays back on the mattress, letting Clint take her shoes off and arrange the sheets around her like she’s a child. He goes to leave, but she reaches out, catching his wrist, asking the forbidden question. “Will you stay?”

She’s rewarded with a small smile, and for the first time, she sees him clearly. This isn’t a trick. This isn’t some elaborate con to get her to switch sides. She fell apart and he didn’t leave. He has cracks in his own marble that will never be fixed.

He climbs into bed next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She’s exhausted. She’s been exhausted for a long time. And here, falling asleep in a bed that she owns, next to a person she trusts, Natasha finally manages to rest.

[the-darkness-does-not-bargain]

Rated E for Elden Ring

So this was a funny little silly idea that somehow turned into a 6000+ word monster.  Don’t ask me how.  It is set in my Twitch AU or Gamer AU, where Ava is a Twitch streamer and Lilith is a lawyer.  They live together and are in love.  This originated from a small writing prompt about a month ago that you can read here, and I just got inspiration to expand on it.  Hope you guys enjoy!

Rated: E for Elden Ring (officially made this the title hehe)

//////

It was supposed to be a surprise.  That’s what you had planned for.  And you really did.  Plan, that is.  You thought of everything.  You picked out the day almost two weeks in advance, you changed your stream schedule accordingly so you would have most of the night free, you even covertly snuck peeks at Lilith’s work calendar to make sure the timing was right.  You did your research while she was away at the courthouse.  You hovered around the front door of your apartment building like a creep to intercept the package and hide it before she got home.  You even sacrificed your practice time with the new COD game to watch literal hours of tutorial videos to make sure you wouldn’t mess it up.  You did everything, all for her.

Lilith’s caseload had been driving her to exhaustion for the past month.  Her schedule had been packed wall-to-wall with difficult court battle after difficult court battle, and it showed no sign of easing up any time soon.  Being the most well-regarded civil attorney in the city had many advantages, but the price she paid to do it often seemed just as high.

You could tell that the stress was slowly wearing her down to the bone.  She was accustomed to working long hours, but this was excessive.  There were days where you barely saw her because she would leave for early meetings and not get back until you were getting into bed.  She was bristly by nature, but as the weeks wore on, she was becoming downright moody, grumbling and growling at the smallest inconveniences.  Three days ago, you caught her slapping the printer around when it had the audacity to jam.

It was all getting to be too much, and you wanted to try to help before it could get any worse.  But it was a tall order to fill, and for a while you weren't sure that you could do it.  You weren't a lawyer, and quite frankly you didn't know shit about laws and courts and whatever, so it's not like you could make her actual job easier.  You had briefly entertained a fantasy of breaking into the courtroom MGS-style and rearranging all of their schedules, but that was as far as you went down that avenue.  No, if you were going to pull this off, you'd have to utilize your own special set of skills.

You knew a large part of Lilith’s frustration was sexual.  It had already been a week since the last time you both had the energy and time to do anything, and for two highly physical people, one week of blue balls was tantamount to torture.  (You were feeling it too.  Your vibrator had seen more use in the past four days than it had since you started dating.)  So, you figured the best way to help her cool off was to, paradoxically, spend an entire evening having really, really hot sex.  Thus, the seed of your eventual plan was born.

Lilith wasn’t one for big gifts or grand gestures.  You suspected that any fondness she might have had for them was long ago drained out of her by her family.  This wasn’t really big or grand, but you put time into it, and you made your decisions with her in mind, so you thought she would appreciate it more.

Your grand scheme was this: Lilith was supposed to get home around 5, the earliest she's been able to manage in weeks, and you were going to be ready.  You had made the arduous trek to the nearest liquor store to find a bottle of her favorite wine and shelled out a tear-jerking amount of money to buy it.  When she got home, you would present her with a glass and coax her into relaxing on your couch while you went to do your stream.  Then, half-way through your stream, you would place an order out to the Lebanese place down the street to show up around when you finished.  Finally, when the stream was done and you were able to lure her in with delicious takeout, you would reveal your surprise.

That last part proved to be the most difficult, which you probably should have expected.  Even now, with thirty minutes to spare, you couldn’t resist peeking down your t-shirt to make sure the configurations you had painstakingly labored over were still holding up.

Who knew there were so many types of bondage ribbons?  Okay sike, you did, because this idea didn’t spring fully-formed from your brain meat on a whim.  What you didn’t know was just how many ways they could be used.  There was legit, like, a whole-ass art form about it  Your research had led you down a somewhat dizzying rabbit hole of bondage 101 and shibari tutorial sites, deep enough to have you sounding out terms like "loop chain", "gote", and "hishi karada".  You knew you wanted something you could hide under your clothes, and within that parameter alone there were almost too many options to choose from.  You settled on one that looked elaborate but that the tutorials promised would be easier than most: the diamond hishi karada.  This tie would see lines of silk criss cross along the whole of your torso and back, framing your tits, looping low around your neck, and forming a lattice that would hold securely for as long as you needed it to.

Once you decided on the tie, you picked out the ribbon.  Lilith was reticent by nature, and often kept her thoughts and feelings thoroughly closed off to others, but there were some things even she couldn’t hide from an observant eye.  One was that she was kind of obsessed with fine fabrics, the nicer the better.  When you first started dating seriously, she was quick to lavish you with gifts of expensive clothes, silks and cashmeres selected by hand and meticulously tested for quality before she brought them home.  (The very first time she did this was one of your favorite memories of her.  She showed up at your shitty studio apartment with a glare so focused and serious that you thought she was breaking up with you two weeks into your relationship.  Imagine your surprise when instead she stiffly presented you with a box from one of the most bougie boutiques in the city.  She was so serious about it that you couldn’t help but laugh at how severe her face was as she gave it to you.  You teased her about terrifying some poor shop girl before kissing the responding scowl right off her face.)

The second thing she couldn’t hide was her favorite color.  It showed up in little ways in her wardrobe, and around her space.  It was always just a touch, an accent, nothing that could ever be called overwhelming or garish, but you were quick to cotton on to it.  Lilith loved blue.  All kinds, but especially darker shades like navy and midnight.  It was evident if you knew what to look for, and therefore obvious to you since you made a hobby of watching everything your girlfriend said and did.  A blue blouse tucked neatly inside a neutral gray blazer, sleek silver jewelry crusted in tiny sapphires, an indigo phone case and small pieces of furniture, never larger than a lamp or the cushion of a chair.  Lilith was taught to restrain herself in every aspect of her life.  That was apparent almost from the moment you met her.  But she couldn’t suppress everything, and you had been working very carefully over the past year and a half to coax her into expressing more her tastes and interests.

So with that in mind, picking the ribbon was pretty easy.  You took some haphazard measurements of your body in order to select the right length, and you researched what kind of fabric would be strong enough for the activities you wanted it for.  The guides you read suggested silk (and boy, was it not cheap), so you found the brand with the right colors and the best reviews and paid to have it shipped as quickly as possible.

Now, you were here, finally triumphant after laboring intensely to tie the knots correctly and make the lattice fit comfortably on your body.  With fifteen minutes left, you busied yourself by doing a very cursory clean of the apartment before getting out a glass and opening up the wine.

This was where you made a mistake, however.  You had never been very good at patience or waiting around when you knew something was about to happen.  You were restless and fidgety by nature, and you would inevitably look for anything to occupy yourself with.  In this instance, that meant turning on some tunes with your mini speaker and dancing around the kitchen while you waited for Lilith to get home.  As a result, you didn’t actually hear her when she came in, and you only realized she was there when she put a hand on your arm out of nowhere while you were pouring the wine into her glass.

“Shit!” You yelped, spinning around without thinking, the mostly full glass still clutched in your hand.  You managed to avoid barreling right into her, but there was nothing you could do to stop the ruby-colored liquid from splashing out of its container and directly onto the front of her work suit.  “Babe, I… shit, you startled me!”

Lilith was silent, looking down at the wet mess you’ve just made of her clothes.  You saw her jaw tense, watched it tick to the side a bit as if she was grinding her teeth.  And then, she sighed sharply.  “Ava.”  She pressed her lips together in a tight line, looking like she wanted to say more, but thought better of it.  “No, it’s fine.”  She straightened up and started shrugging off her coat with stiff shoulders.

“Babe?” You asked tentatively, setting the treacherous glass on the table and taking a careful step toward her.  “I’m sorry…  I didn’t hear you come in.”

She nodded shortly.  “It’s fine, Ava.  The fabric is dark, it’ll wash out.”  The very obvious tension in her frame told you it was not, in fact, fine, but you were at a loss for what to do about it.

“Are you okay?” You asked softly, watching her mouth twist angrily at the question.  “I-I mean, how was work?”

“Shit, like always,” she growled, grabbing the buttons of her blouse to undo it with rough movements.  You stayed where you were, not touching her just yet when she was so clearly upset and trying to contain it.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she bit out, and then stopped.  She finished unbuttoning her shirt and let her hands drop loosely to her side, all while shutting her eyes tight and taking several deep breaths.  You waited, letting her regain herself the way she preferred to.  When she opened her eyes again, she looked calmer, but her attention dropped down to you; or rather, your shirt.  “There’s some on you,” she said, reaching out and ghosting her fingers over a spot on your abdomen.

You looked down and realized she was right.  While it wasn’t the theme park splash zone you’d just made of her clothes, there was still a decently-sized stain there.  “Crap,” you hissed and, without thinking, pulled up your shirt to get a better look at it, oblivious to Lilith’s eyes watching you like a hawk.  “This stuff comes out with peroxide, right?  Aren’t you supposed to mix it with the detergent—?”

“What’s that?”  You looked back up at her, only to find her eyes locked on your belly.  Oh.

“Oh, uh…”  Blushing hard, you tried to shove your shirt back in place.  “Uh, it’s nothing.”  Your efforts were thwarted, however, by her hands shooting out and catching yours before you could re-hide what you had inadvertently revealed.  Biting your lip, you let go, allowing her to lift your shirt back up again, baring the lower half of the ribbon tie to her inspection.  She just stared at it.  You could see her eyes following the many criss-crossing lines, seeing how they framed your stomach, stretched around to your back, and climbed further up your chest where the shirt still concealed them.

She was completely fixated.  You couldn’t tell what she was thinking, only that the gears of her brain were spinning like crazy.  You decided to just come clean, as clearly there would be no salvaging your initial plan of action.  “It was supposed to be a surprise,” you explained lamely.  “I was going to show you after my stream, but uh, well…” You smiled sheepishly at her, rubbing the back of your neck.  “Surprise?”

Lilith looked back up at you but didn’t say anything for a long moment.  Her fingers twitched against your waist, the pads pressing into your ribs.  Her eyes slowly dropped again, tracing a path back down to your belly that you swore you could feel like a laser on your skin.  With one hand holding you in place, she ran her middle and index fingers along the length of the deep blue silk, following the groove of it up your body and stopping just below where your shirt had ridden up.  She looked up again, wordlessly asking for permission.  When you nodded, licking your lips, she delicately lifted your t-shirt up over your breasts.

“This is for me?” She asked, voice quiet and accented with awe.  She caressed the elaborate lattice with her fingertips, so lightly that you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t watching her every move.  She touched the knot at the center of your chest and pressed it against your sternum, provoking a shiver from you that had you leaning forward into her hand.  Her eyes were on yours again, and they were full of dark fire, raging with an entirely different emotion from the one she started with.  She covered the knot with her open palm while she used her other arm to pull you in close.  “You said you have a stream tonight?”

Lilith’s voice was painfully sexy in normal circumstances, but the raw desire in her tone was enough to make your knees shake.  “Y-yeah.  It’s not long, just a couple hours.  I… I could cancel.  It’s not a big deal.”  Please tell me to cancel, please tell me to cancel, please, please, please…

The corners of her mouth quirked into a crooked smile while you watched with captive fascination.  “I have a better idea,” she said, pressing that crooked mouth right up against your ear.  What she whispered to you then, hot and hungry and smug, made you flush pink from head to toe.  “Yes, Aves?”  She asked, smirking against your cheek, already knowing what answer you would give.

“Yes,” you whimpered.  “Yes, please.”

“Good girl,” she purred, stroking the ribbons again, making you whine.   She took a small amount of pity on you and pulled you in for a kiss.  It was slow and wanton and sweet, paradoxically letting you regain your composure while making you dizzy all over again.  When you broke apart, she said, “I need to get changed, and you need to get ready for your viewers.”  She pulled your shirt back down and rearranged it so the ribbons were fully hidden once again.  It was an oddly gentlemanly move, given the situation, but that’s just how Lilith was.  She pecked you once on the forehead before retreating to the bedroom, leaving you standing alone in the kitchen with a half-spilled glass of wine, a stained shirt, and panties you would definitely be throwing out by night’s end.

🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀

“Yo-yo-yo, what’s up, nerds?  It’s ya girl Ava back again with Elden Ring!”  Jesus Christ, why the fuck did you think this was a good idea?   Stupid, horny brain.  Stupid, beautiful girlfriend.  “And guess what, peeps, we’ve got company tonight.  Chat, say hi to Lilith!  Lilith, say hi to Chat!”  Lilith was a solid presence against your back.  She was sitting in your gamer chair like she belonged there, lounging on it with you in her lap, held there securely by a single strong arm.

“Hello, chat persons,” she greeted coolly.  Immediately you saw the chat explode with excited messages, a mix of greetings and exclamations.  Your long-time fans greeted her with familiarity and spammed the feed with bat emojis, while your newer fans sent swarms of questions which were all some variation of “Whoa, is that your girlfriend????  She’s so hot!!!! 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀” or “You have a girlfriend??? Lmaoooooooo, no way, loser 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡”.  You could practically feel her smirking at these comments while the game’s menu theme started to play.  Her fingers skated evilly along the hem of your freshly chosen shirt, pausing occasionally to tug on the ribbons until they snapped lightly against your stomach.  You tried to distract yourself from this by bantering with chat, but there was nothing in the world strong enough to divert your attention from what was going on between your legs.

Because what the chat couldn’t see, what you had carefully positioned the camera to conceal, was your lower half.  More specifically, the apex of your thighs, where you were being stretched open by Lilith’s dick, practically staked on it while you soaked her boxers with your arousal.  Evil girlfriend.  Evil.  It was one of your biggest ones too, indigo blue and thick as all hell.  It didn’t see much use compared to some of your others, but when Lilith sauntered out of the bedroom holding it while looking at you like a mouse she wanted to devour, how were you supposed to say no?

The fullness was so much, too much.  You were struggling just to form complex thoughts let alone competently play a video game.  You had no idea how you were going to manage Elden Ring’s difficulty while also refraining from fucking yourself to completion in front of hundreds of people.

You did your best, practicing deep breathing exercises to keep your body relaxed while you loaded up your save and responded to messages.  Your Tarnished stood up from the Site of Grace you paused at last time, deep in the Altus Plateau, and you milled about checking your inventory for a minute while Lilith rubbed idle circles beneath your belly button.  Her muscular thighs were spread wide, keeping your legs open, and you had to make a conscious effort not to glance repeatedly at where your slickness was dribbling down between them.  At your insistence, there was a towel there to contain the mess (because you paid good money for this chair and you were not about to ruin it) but you knew that if you looked, it would only make things worse.

In the interest of self-preservation, you tasked Lilith with keeping an eye on the chat while you played.  It wasn’t much of a defense, as your girlfriend was unfortunately a very good multitasker, but it was better than letting her have total free reign to torment you as she pleased.  If only your own body would behave itself too, you might just get through this stream without incident.

You summoned Torrent and set off in the direction of Volcano Manor, intent on starting the dungeon there and taking on the Godskin Noble and possibly Rykard if you got far enough.  Along the way, you also figured you would try to take out the Ulcerated Tree Spirit on Mt. Gelmir to level up a bit.  This was where the problems started to occur, because Ulcerated Tree Spirits were a shitfucking, goddamn, bitch and a half to fight when you didn’t have a massive sex toy sitting in your cunt, and now that you did, well…  To say that your performance was lacking was a bit of an understatement.  By your third death, Lilith didn’t feel like holding her tongue anymore, and chose instead to mercilessly tease you.

“I see now why you’ve been cursing so much recently,” she gently mocked, earning a flurry of agreement and 💯💯💯💯💯 from the chat.  Then, when she snapped the ribbon against your skin and made you miss a very easy charged attack, she asked, “Why do you insist on using such a large weapon?  Wouldn’t it be safer to fight from range?”

“Well, duh, it would be safer,” you snarked back.  “But you’re not supposed to play these games safe.  You’re supposed to get the biggest weapon you can find and swing it at them until they’re dead or you’re dead.”

“I see.”  After two more failed attempts, you finally managed to kill the bastard, taking your runes immediately to the nearest Site of Grace to put them to use.  While you argued with chat about the merits of Strength/Faith vs. Dex/Int builds (Strength/Faith was superior, obviously), Lilith must have decided that things were too peaceful, because she chose that very moment to start rubbing her middle finger along the side of your clit.  You bit your cheek nearly hard enough to bleed to stop your treatise on greatshields from ending with a comically loud gasp.  She didn’t let up, stroking slow, torturous circles against you and occasionally dipping down to playfully frame the space where your pussy and her cock met.  She kept doing this, heedless of your fingers leaving nail marks on her knee, all while the towel beneath the both of you developed an increasingly large, dark stain.

Only when you were on the verge of insanity, bucking into her touch and riding Torrent into the stomp attack of a troll, did she show you mercy.  She withdrew her hand and wrapped both arms around you to still your canting hips, all while she rested her chin on your shoulder.

The chat was bumping, but even with the high traffic, you still managed to catch messages now and then saying stuff like “You guys are so cute 😍😍😍” and sometimes more nerve-wracking things like “Why does Lilith look like a dragon hoarding treasure? 🤔🐉”.  You did your best to ignore them and the warmth of your girlfriend’s body as you pushed on and finally made it to the start of the Volcano Manor dungeon.  You didn’t think you would get to Rykard or the Godskin Noble today, but you wanted to at least make significant progress in the dungeon before calling it a night, so that’s what you set out to do for the rest of the stream.

After two hours of playing (two hours of torture) consisting mostly of you fucking up and getting lovingly owned in chat for it, you wound the stream down and said goodbye to your viewers.  Lilith even offered them a stoic and detached good night, prompting a flood of “Good Night, Lilith!!!! 🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌🛌” messages in response.  And she waited patiently for you to close everything up before speaking again.

“Is your camera completely off?” She asked, while her nails teased the skin of your ribcage over your shirt.  You bit your lip hard and nodded, even going through the motions of double checking that all of your recording equipment was shut off while she watched.  “Good.”

She moved without warning, shifting forward until both her feet were planted on the floor and then pushing you both up off the chair with nothing but her legs.  You yelped in surprise as you unexpectedly fell forward, catching yourself on the desk while your pussy convulsed around her huge dick.  She caught you by the hips to steady you, rubbing soothing circles into them and humming apologetically for the sudden change of position.  

“Alright, Aves?” She asked, leaning forward to brace herself over your back.  You nodded, but then whined pathetically when she tested your honesty with a push of her hips.  “Use your words.”

“Mm, I-I’m good,” you managed to stammer.  “You just surprised me.”

She hummed again.  “One good surprise deserves another, don’t you think?”  As she spoke, her hands slipped under your shirt and tangled themselves in lines of silk.

“I can take my shirt off,” you offered, trying not to shiver too much at the feeling.

In the dark reflection of your computer screen, you saw Lilith shake her head.  “No, this is good.”

She clearly had you exactly where she wanted you, but you tried to regain a little bit of the upper hand with a joke.  “You know, the point was for you to unwrap them.”  All you get in response is a firm smack on the ass.

“You’re my present, aren’t you?”  Her tone was imperious.  “I’ll unwrap you when I like.  Right now I want you like this.”  One of her hands traced a searing path over your ribs and onto your back.  She picked a spot between your shoulder blades where the lines of ribbon crossed and dug her fingers in there, taking such a firm hold that the silk was pulled taut against your tits.  Her other hand landed on your ass again, possessively palming the pink spot where she smacked you.

“Do you think any of your fans guessed what we were doing?”  She prompted, pressing her hips flush against you so the toy was buried up to the hilt.  “Do you think they realized what a little slut their idol is?”

“Y… your slut,” you moaned, pushing your ass back on her.  In the reflection, you could see the look of delight that took over her features.

“Mmhm, my slut,” she agreed, slowly pulling herself out of your cunt until only the tip lingered inside you.  Just as slowly, she pushed back in, ending the thrust with a burst of extra force that made you whine.  She did it again, using her grip on your back like a harness to pull you down onto her cock.  “When did you come up with this idea?”  You didn’t immediately respond, too caught in the maelstrom of sensations, and her free hand smacked you again.  “Answer me, Ava.”

“Ten days ago,” you whimpered, unashamed by the way you arched into her commanding touch.

“Ten days?”  She sounded genuinely surprised, even a little confused.  “How did you know I would be free?”

“I looked at your work calendar while you were gone,” you admitted.  “You didn’t have any extra meetings scheduled tonight, and I kept checking it to be sure.”

“Sneaky girl."  She started moving at a slow, teasing pace, carefully coaxing your muscles to adjust to the girth of the strap.  “Is that why you planned your stream this early?”

You nod.  “So we could, mmf, so we could have the night together.”  You ducked your head down so she wouldn’t see your face flush.  “That’s why I got the wine.”

“I was curious about that,” she said.  “You don’t like red.”  Her free hand was back to petting your hip while she maintained her hold on you from above.

“It’s, fuck, it’s not that I don’t,” you protested.  “It’s just not my favorite.  I can barely drink as it is, so I have to be picky.”  Because polyneuropathy is a fucking bitch.

She hummed again, thoughtfully.  “And how long did it take to learn how to do this?”  She asked, indicating the ribbons by yanking on them again.

“Four hours,” you admitted, the words trailing off into a whimper as your whole body was rocked against the desk by a powerful thrust.  You probably should have moved the towel to the floor, because you were positive that you were starting to drip onto the hardwood.

“All that just for me?”  The quiet awe from before was back.

You nodded fervently.  “All for you.”  Then, because the air felt a little bit too heavy, you added, “The knots were hard as shit to learn.”

She cooed sympathetically, but you could see her smirk turn devilish.  “Then it’s good you’ll be getting plenty of practice now.”

You shivered, a flurry of images from the tutorial videos swirling around your head like cartoon stars.  “Yeah?”

“Oh, yes,” she purred.  “You went to all this effort.  It would be a shame to let your new skills go to waste.”  Her hips started pushing harder, increasing their speed by mere degrees but burying her cock inside you with new intensity.  “You’ll wear it under your clothes again,” she told you, commanding you more like.  “You’ll be tied up all pretty while you entertain those enthusiastic little cretins on your livestream.”  Her free hand traveled up your body to grab a fistful of your hair, forcing your head up until you were staring into the blank computer screen.  “They’ll watch you for hours, and never suspect a thing.  And the entire time, you’ll be thinking about me, and about this.”

You keened, shaking under her hands while she fucked you deep and hard.  “I always am,” you panted.  “Thinking about you.”

“Sweet girl,” she crooned.  “My perfect little slut.”  Her words ended on a rough grunt as she started grinding against your ass, revealing how affected she truly was by all this.  “I love fucking you this way.  Why didn’t we think of this before?”  She let your hair go so her hand could drop onto the desk on top of yours.  She twined your fingers together as she braced herself above your back.  She started moving faster, her other hand moving from your back to one of your tits, long fingers tugging harshly at your nipple.  The sounds of sex were becoming overpowering, echoing off the walls and making you extremely grateful that this apartment complex actually gave a shit about their wall insulation.  “You’re so wet, Aves.  Two hours I spent feeling you soak my lap, and somehow there’s still more?”

“Your fault,” you pointed out breathlessly.  “You wouldn’t stop teasing me.”

“You liked it.”

“My Tarnished didn’t like it.”

“What’s that term you're so fond of?  Sounds like a ‘skill issue’?”  She mocked, grinning right against your ear.  You huffed, craning your neck to the side so you could shut her up by shoving your tongue down her throat.  She allowed this, but retaliated smoothly by sliding her fingers back down to your clit.  You were unable to keep the kiss going after that, breaking off with another helpless gasp.  If she wasn’t actively turning your brain to mush, you would feel aggrieved at how effortlessly she played with your body and how easily you bent to her whims.  As it was, however, your brain was thoroughly mush-ified, and thus it had other priorities.

“Fuck, baby, please,” you begged, shutting your eyes tight while your face burned.

“Please?  Please what?”  Instead of doing the kind and reasonable thing of just giving you what you very obviously wanted, she did the opposite.  She slowed everything down to a standstill, holding herself stationary in your cunt, and when you wiggled around frantically to get more friction, she pulled you upright and wrapped both arms around you to cage you in place.

“Lilith…”  You whined petulantly, arching back against her and feeling the sweat on your skin soak into your shirt.

“Ava, be a good girl,” she chided firmly, pinching your nipple between her thumb and index finger over the damp fabric.  "What are you begging me for?"

“I’m so close, baby, please let me cum,” you pleaded, leaning your head back on her shoulder, baring your throat to her.

“You want to cum?”  You nodded wildly.  “I suppose I’ll allow that.  But you’ll do it the way I want you to.”  Without another word, she let you go, carefully pulling out of your pussy and backing away.  You were left standing alone, the cool air of the room raising goosebumps across your body in the absence of her warmth.  When you turned around, you found her sitting in your chair again, lounging in it just as she had before.

“Up,” she said, patting her lap and grinning.  “Facing me this time.”  You obeyed, stumbling forward on jelly legs and profusely thanking your past self for getting a gaming chair that 1) didn’t have wheels and 2) was wide enough for you to do this comfortably.  Lilith was kind enough to help you get into position, holding your waist steady while you carefully dropped back down on the strap.

While you were busy adjusting to the stretch again, her hands gripped the bottom of your shirt and pulled it up over your head, tossing it into the same pile with your ruined panties.  Finally, you were naked before her, fully open to her appraisal.  And what an appraisal it was.  “Beautiful,” she whispered, tracing her fingers over the knots again.  She was still wearing her black undershirt, creating a sharp contrast between your two states.  It honestly made you feel a little vulnerable, being held open and on display while she was still partially clothed.  But the hunger in her eyes was gentle now, the hard edges of frustration and stress worn away.  As if sensing that whisper of anxiety, however, she was quick to reassure you.  “I’ve got you, love.  It’s okay.  Take what you need.”

You did exactly that.  You started out slow again, wrapping your arms around her shoulders to anchor yourself.  She buried her face into your neck, lavishing it with wet, heavy kisses.  She licked and nipped her way down your collarbone before taking the same nipple she had mercilessly teased between her teeth, sucking and biting it until the noises coming out of you could test even this building’s level of soundproofing.

The intensity kept ramping up and up.  You picked up speed until you were wildly riding her, and she grabbed the silk ties again to pull you down onto her with increasing force.  You could feel the pressure in your gut building to its breaking point, and knew from the way her breathing stuttered that she was getting there too.

“Fuck, that’s good, Aves, you’re riding me so well,” she growled.  ��You can come when you’re ready.  I’ll be right behind you.”

As if flipping a switch, it seemed like her permission was all you needed.  You took the whole of the strap inside you and started to grind in her lap, all lucid thought fading away in your frantic search for completion.  “Baby, baby, it’s happening!  I’m—!”  You came with a long, tremulous cry, collapsing against her limply while she took over with her hips, using her powerful core and legs to drive up into you with near bruising force.  She grabbed your hips hard to hold them steady and buried her teeth in your shoulder, keeping you in place so expertly that no rope or ribbon ties could ever compare.

She came a minute later with a rough, deep groan that sent vibrations through your whole body.  Gathering you close, she released your shoulder and started covering the bite mark with open-mouthed kisses.  You were both breathing hard, your chests brushing together with the force of your pants.

“That was amazing,” she said, pressing her lips to every inch of your shoulder and neck that she could reach.  “My love, you did so well.”

“I did?” You asked, cringing just a bit at how small your voice sounded.

“Mmhm,” she murmured, petting your sweaty hair.  “You were so good for me.  You’re so good to me.  I didn’t…” She sighed.  “I didn’t expect this at all.  Thank you, for all of it.”

Her words made your chest feel curiously tight.  You buried your face in her hair to stifle this.  “I wanted to do something for you.  You’ve been so unhappy.”

She stilled, completely caught off-guard.  “I’m not unhappy,” she protested softly.

“I thought work—”

She shook her head.  “My work is frustrating, annoying more than anything.  The idiocy and rail-roading I’m expected to put up with every day is maddening.  But I’m accustomed to it.”

“It stresses you out, and makes you angry.”

“Because of you.”

“Me?”

“Mmhm,” she confirmed.  Her free hand began to trace circles in one of the gaps created by the ribbons.  “Because it keeps me away from you.  This past month has been so hard.”  You knew that, of course, but you waited quietly for her to continue.  “Before you, I never thought much of the hours I worked.  It was the job, and I was used to it.  I didn’t have anything at home for me to miss, apart from the occasional book.  But now I have you, and I miss you terribly, all the time.  Your clumsiness and your stupid jokes and your clutter.  Your laugh.  Your smile.  I miss the warmth when you’re not with me.  I was… very cold before you came to me, and I didn’t realize it.  Does that make sense?”

You nodded.  It did make sense.  You felt the same way.  Before her, your life was fine.  You had your cramped apartment, your job at the bar, the occasional hookup, and your little streaming channel.  It was barely anything, but you thought it was enough.  Until you met her, that is, and you realized that you could do better, could ask more from life than just subsisting on scraps.  You wouldn’t describe your life before as cold, but you would say it was small, too small to be what you really wanted.  But now it was big, in so many ways.  And most of it was because of her.

“I’m thinking about making some changes,” she continued.  “It can’t happen right away, but I’m going to try.  I’m pushing to become a partner in the firm.”

“Are you?”  You knew that would be a serious deal if she managed it.  Yes, she was one of the best and most sought after lawyers in the city, but it was another level to become a named partner in a firm.  “Obviously, you’ll get it.  They’d be idiots not to promote you.”

“I hope so,” she murmured.  “Until then, things will continue to be difficult.  I don’t want it to damage what we have.”

“It won’t.”  You pressed your lips into her raven hair.  “I know things are going to suck.  They’ve been sucking.  But I’m still here, Lil.  Everyday you come home, I’ll be here.  Promise.”

“I love you,” she whispered, pulling you back to look into your eyes.  “You know that, don’t you?”

You beamed.  “Of course I do.  I love you too.”  You kissed her then, curled up in her arms in your gaming chair.

So what if your surprise didn’t go according to plan?  This was the best outcome you could’ve asked for and more.

[marymary-diva17]

Hi, i have a request and since October is coming. Can you do a Halloween event where anakin and Ashoka Padawan having a Halloween party.

anakin x reader x ashoka + 501st

Ashoka and anakin did this annual halloween party since the time when they were both young. As they become older they soon kept this tradition going on with their friends who had become like family to them, once she had joined their family they started inviting you to join them as well. These parties made you happy as you felt close to everyone and you love spending the holidays with family and friends.

y/n " anakin and ahsoka I got the food you asked me to get from the store" you had arrived to the home where you are staying with anakin and Ashoka.

ashoka " sweet did you get everything"

y/n " well mostly everything some of te cookies that you asked for were not there, so I went with the other brand of cookies that they had"

ashoka " amazing"

y/n " thank you where is anakin"

ashoka " setting up the living room for the movies tonight"

y/n " cool" you had placed the shopping bag filled with groceries and drinks down on the table, that was now cover with halloween themed table cloth.

ashoka " place the drinks in the cooler so we can keep them cold"

y/n " sure" you had nodded your head and soon placed all the loads and waters into the cooler that was filled with ice, soon anakin came over to you two.

anakin " wow it seems like you got a good haul here y/n"

y/n " thank you even due I couldn't get everything I still managed to get all the good snacks that everyone will love"

anakin " that my girl"

y/n " so what type of movie will be watching tonight"

anakin " well we have some comedy, mixed with mystery and maybe some horror as well it will be up for a vote"

ashoka " umm that will be fun to see what movie will win the vote"

anakin " the boys will be here later on so we still have enough time to get this place ready for the movie night and party"

ashoka " yeah it will be good to have everyone here for the party"

anakin " we have been doing this for years ashoka you think, this is your first time doing this whole party situation"

ashoka " oh shush sky guy I'm just saying it always amazing and special when we do these events, and I love doing them with you all"

y/n " aww that sweet"

anakin " nice speech snips" you laugh at anakin and ashoka small fight they are doing as you started setting up the table with everything.

y/n " if you two not mind fighting right now like sibling do you care of helping me set everything up and make sure the order for the pizza, later tonight is correct"

anakin " oh yes kid sorry"

ashoka " yeah sorry"

y/n " it okay now come on lets get this place ready for a party and movie night" anakin and ashoka smiled towards you and soon started helping you get the house ready for the party. Soon night time had fallen and the house was ready for the party.

y/n " wow we need a great job didn't we"

anakin " yes we did and it all because you got us back in track kid"

ashoka " rex and the boys will be bring the pizza and appetizers over"

y/n " yes" soon the doorbell rang and you with ashoka had went to answer the door, to see rex and the boys standing there with pizza and appetizers.

echo " happy Halloween we are here for the party and movie"

y/n " cool come inside" the group soon walked into the house they are happy to be here today.

fives " don't worry obi wan and cody will be here with the other boys as well"

ashoka " sweet it still can't believe cody and obi wan have been dating for this long"

y/n " they make a perfect couple"

kix " nice decorations"

anakin " you should give that thanks to y/n here she the one who brought them and set them up"

heavy " oh did you kid"

y/n " yes I went to the store with a friend and we had stopped by the party supply store, and we got these stuff as well"

ashoka " she talking about her friend Ezra"

rex " oh when are we going to meet this boy named ezra"

y/n " soon he might come over but he also have a celebration with his family as well"

tup " here I thought we will meet this boy we have been told so much about"

y/n " you all will meet him soon when the time right"

echo " how is anakin deal with this whole situation of you have a friend that a boy"

anakin " I'm fine with it I haven't meet the boy yet but I wish to see him"

Ashoka " I meet them one day when I was out I saw them leaving the library together he a nice and funny boy prefect for our dear y/n"

rex " oh" soon the doorbell had rang again meaning that everyone else had finally shown up for the party.

anakin " finally everyone else is here we can talk more about this erza boy later" anakin soon walked away to answer the door allowing everyone to have a good laugh about what had happened.

cody " hey everyone"

everyone " hey"

cody " so what is this we hear about y/n have a boyfriend name Ezra"

y/n " we are friends that all we are not even dating"

anakin " yet"

waxier " I think it cool that kid has friends around her age"

boil " yeah it good for her and that boy can't be that bad"

anakin " yeah whatever enough talking about y/n and Ezra, lets get this party started we are supposed to have fun tonight" everyone soon smiled getting their food and drinks, while the movie voting had taken place.

y/n " this is a fun party"

ashoka " it all because you helped us make it so fun you did a good job"

y/n " thanks you Ashoka"

anakin " now you are official one of us not matter what anyone says" you smile towards anakin words, these words made you so happy as you felt like you did a good job tonight. The party was very wonderful and fun even getting to seeing to movies that night, everyone was having a fun time the night.

[amplifyme]

Caves and cramps and Cersei

"Did you do this for Cersei?" she mumbles, her question almost lost as she asks it to the ground.

He shouts a laugh. "Little chance of that, bird! Remember the bloody nose I told you about? She gave me that for grabbing her arm when she stumbled going up a stair. She was in a foul mood that day and told me a dog's got no business laying paws on a lion. No, I watched her maid do this for her."

"You are quite good at it."

"The first one's free. Might be I'll want something in return next time. Not a bloody punch to the nose either."

"I am no lion, ser," she retorts and he can hear the smile in her words. "Wolves and dogs are more alike than not, I think. Your nose is safe with me."

"Good thing, that. Wouldn't want to ruin this pretty face of mine."

She giggles and then gets quiet again. He works at her back until his hands begin to ache and he flexes them and pats her between the shoulder blades. "Up," he says as he stands. "Fetch me a tunic from my bag. Don't matter if it's clean."

He squats by the fire and takes what she's dug out. Wrapping it round his hand, he grabs the flat rock from the embers and bounces it in his palm to judge its readiness. "That'll do," he decides, pivoting and dropping off his heels, scooting back until he's slumped against the wall. "Grab the furs and come back here," he tells her. Unwrapping the cloth from his hand, he loops it round the rock, padding it to protect her from the worst of the heat it's leeched from the embers. Sansa settles between his outspread legs and he pulls her back against his chest after draping one of the furs over his shoulders and around them.

"If I had a helm we could heat some water and use a skin instead. This will have to do." Sandor picks up the bundled rock and lays it low on her belly. "Put it where it feels best, girl, the heat will do the work." He sits up, bending them both over as he snatches another fur to cover them in front. He tugs off her cap next, and combs through her hair with splayed fingers. They are soon cocooned, warm and relaxed in their small nest of stone.

"That helping?" he asks after a few minutes.

"Yes, very much so. Thank you."

He wraps his arms round her and covers her hands with his. Her head tips back against his shoulder and she peers up at him.

"How did you know to do this?"

"I've lived twice as long as you, girl. I've learned a few things. Might not be fancy, but it does the job."

"It wasn't right, what Cersei did," she says a short time later. "She should not have hit you like that."

He has grown used to the way her mind works and how she'll hold close something he's told her and think on it, then bring it up again as if they hadn't already moved on to something else. She is a constant delight to him and he squeezes her tightly for a moment.

"Lions, dogs, wolves. They're none of them so different. A pack can only have one leader. She was making bloody sure I knew it wasn't me."

"Not all wild things are like that."

"Most," he argues.

"Not birds. They don't care about things like that. They just want to be free to fly."

He turns his head and nuzzles into her hair, struck by the sadness he hears in her words.

"You may have the right of it, there" he says. "But there's more wolf than bird in you, Sansa, don't forget that."

"Maybe that's why she hated me."

"Who, Cersei?"

"Yes. She pretended to love me, but she didn't. If she loved me she wouldn't have let Joffrey do what he did to me - or to my father. I wanted to be like her once. How could I have been so blind?"

"People see what they want to see. The first time you set eyes on someone, you make up your mind who they are, 'specially if they fit the part. Works the other way, too. Get looked at a certain way enough times and soon you wake up one day and that's who you've become, like it or no."

"Is that what happened to you after Gregor burned your face?"

"Aye, some of it. The rest I took on myself."

"But what you look like, that's not all you are. Not anymore."

"No, and you're no empty-headed bird either."

"You used to think I was."

"Still do, sometimes." His bark of laughter becomes a grunt of pain as she jams a well-placed elbow in his ribs. That makes him laugh even more. He will give her that one. They shift and get comfortable again.

These Scars We Wear - Chapter 16

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

the changes darkness brings (Clio/Aria)

Shortly after the Keyblade War has taken place, and the Dandelions have successfully resumed life in their new world, Clio receives a special mission from the Foretellers to clear out Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness. In the process of carrying it out, she finally finds Aria again, whom she had not seen since becoming unchained - but something seems to have happened to her.. (4359 words)

Set during KHUX Quest 491; note that much of Chirithy's dialogue is taken directly from the game. Sequel to my previous piece of writing for this selfship.

Content warning for a monstrously-transformed character (or, rather, my self-insert). This is a Darkling AU.

Tag list: @starlit-selfships | @edencantstopfallininlove | @yoomtahsgf | @sunlight-ships | @dragonsmooch | @thatslikesometaldude | @artificervaldi | @keyblade-ships (to be tagged in future work, please see this form!)

(Anyone is welcome to comment on and/or reblog my work, as long as my DNI is respected! A transcript of the document is under the readmore.)

It looked like a sunny early morning in Daybreak Town, and the tall Keyblade wielder was ready bright and early to start off her mission for the day, much like she would be on most other days. A mint-green Foxstar was happily keeping pace behind her, eagerly looking around at the familiar buildings the two passed on their way to where today's mission briefing would be given.

The only thing that could be called "out of place" was the fact that, instead of just sticking to her usual comfortable clothing, Clio was instead wearing a suit of shining spiked armour over her clothes, its light blue and dark purple details complementing her eye colour perfectly. Only her head was uncovered, but the crown of clovers that normally adorned her hair was left safely back in her room. She did not normally need - or want - to wear such serious attire, but her companion Chirithy had informed her to make sure that she was prepared for today's mission, so she thought it might come in handy to don the regalia she and the rest of the Sapphires had won for being one of the top one hundred parties in the Anguis Union.

As she made her way out onto the streets and through to one of the town's many open plazas, Chirithy popped into view in front of her, bouncing ahead to perch on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the square.

"Alright then, Chirithy - what are we up to today?" she asked, following it forwards to the fountain. Despite knowing that what was coming was important, her voice kept its usual cheerful tone.

"You've been doing a fantastic job lately." it said in response. "So, I have a present for you!"

It stuck a grey paw into its signature pink purse and rustled around in there for a moment, giving Clio time to sit down next to it on the fountain's edge and watch with curiosity. Tea Leaf, her Foxstar, hopped up next to her as well, as if wondering whether he would get a present too. Finally, Chirithy found what it was looking for, and pulled out a glittering bangle that caught the rays of the rising sun spectacularly.

"Dun dada duun! The Bracelet of Light!" it exclaimed, perhaps slightly too loudly and dramatically for what felt like so early in the morning. It hopped up and pushed the bracelet over Clio's wrist, at which she grinned and leapt up again to twirl it around on her outstretched hand with a laugh.

"I'm glad you're excited, but gee, calm down." it said playfully, the light-hearted tone in its voice showing it wasn't being serious. "Why don't you put it somewhere for safekeeping?"

"Hey, a bracelet's meant for wearing!" Clio countered. She did consider dispelling the armour for a moment to put it away in her pocket underneath, but decided to keep the bracelet on her wrist instead; with how she had to hold her gauntleted hand to get it on in the first place, she was fairly confident it wouldn't fall off of its own accord.

"Thanks for this, by the way!" she told it with another smile. "It means a lot that you think I'm doing well."

"You are!" it said confidently. "But, you also need it for this upcoming mission."

"Oh yeah?"

"With that bracelet, you can protect yourself against darkness." Chirithy explained, regaining a more serious tone of voice. "You'll need it for the special mission we got from the foretellers."

"Huh? Special mission?" Clio's eyes widened slightly at this announcement. "This must be why you wanted me to come in my regalia too, I'm guessing, but- what's this mission all about, then?"

It nodded to show she had guessed correctly. "You'll be doing the same thing - you know, dealing with monsters.. Just in a different, darker place.."

As it spoke, something started to materialise in the plaza, a short distance from the fountain, and it turned to face it. The air seemed to shimmer for a moment, before a ring of dark energy suddenly appeared and transformed into an oval shape. Clio let out a "Whoa!" of surprise, and instinctively stood up from the fountain to try and get a better look at what had just appeared.

"..Wait, you mean I have to go in *there?!*" she exclaimed after a pause. Chirithy's own lack of shock, and subsequent nod in response to her question, had let her figure out that this was intentional, but she still seemed uncertain - and surprised.

"Your mission is to defeat the Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness." it continued matter-of-factly. "But be careful. That bracelet can only protect you for so long."

"Right.." Clio trailed off as she continued looking at the portal, trying to gain some idea of what would lie beyond it but only seeing flowing darkness cloud the doorway. Tea Leaf was now standing on the ground next to her, and trying to look determined, but his tail was slightly bristled due to his fur sticking up, which showed he was also uncertain.

"The fact you're wearing the Anguis Regalia will help you in there too, but there's quite a lot of targets for you to take down, so this isn't going to be easy." said Chirithy, who had really never been too good at sugarcoating things. "I'd recommend you bring your Starlight for this. Or, no, your Sleeping Lion's upgraded all the way, right? Some of your targets are magic-attribute, so having strong speed attacks will be good.."

"Thanks for your insight, Chirithy." Clio replied. Then, she walked away from the fountain, and as she did so, a winged helmet appeared on her head, matching her armour perfectly. A blue cobra, the insignia of Anguis, was emblazoned above her forehead, and her face was now protected by a sheet of purple-tinted glass. Tea Leaf let out a bark at this change, but she crouched down and ruffled his forehead gently with a smile, which was more than enough to reassure him of her presence.

The dark corridor's entrance loomed ominously before her, standing out like a sore thumb in the peaceful fountain square. Tea Leaf raced up to stand next to her, poised and ready to help as always. Chirithy's eyes narrowed as she went against its prior suggestion, choosing to summon Missing Ache again instead of her stronger Sleeping Lion, but any concerns it may have had were allayed when it spotted her determined expression through her visor.

"I'm all set!" she declared, turning to look over her shoulder with a smile.

"I knew I could count on you, kiddo." Chirithy replied. "Now go and get 'em! I'm rootin' for you!"

"I will!"

With the bracelet's light shining, her armour glinting strongly, and her Keyblade's darker colour scheme giving them both space to glow, she stepped into the corridor of darkness.

==========

The process of going through the portal was noticeably uncomfortable - it was nothing like anything that Clio had previously experienced, and the darkness felt heavy and constricting even through the armour she was wearing. Thankfully, that sense of heavy closeness opened up somewhat once she had made it into the corridor itself, but there was still a foreboding sense of discomfort that hung in the air. Red and blue threads seemed to weave their way through the floor like wires, and misty clouds of darkness obscured the details of her surroundings; everything had a sense of flowing movement to it that would almost make her feel like she was floating underwater if not for how solid the ground felt at her feet.

It only took a few moments before the first signs of trouble made themselves known to her; a Violet Waltz and a Shadow both rushed towards her quite suddenly, as if they had appeared out of nowhere from the darkness itself. Thankfully, such relatively weak Heartless were of no threat to a seasoned Keyblade wielder like Clio - she was a Sapphire for a reason, after all - and two uses of Nature's Gift were more than enough to let the rest of her Medals defeat them. Tea Leaf helped her out as well, using his tricks as a Spirit Pet to help dispel status conditions the Heartless tried to inflict on her. Even still, despite all of these advantages, she could tell that these enemies were noticeably stronger than normal as she fought them, and they also seemed to be appearing more frequently than she was used to as well.

As she tentatively made her way through the corridor, she remained aware of the bracelet on her wrist, which was giving off enough light for her to always be able to see her surroundings and not feel pressured by the darkness despite how much of it there was around her. While its presence was undoubtedly essential, especially as Chirithy had stressed its importance before starting the mission, she couldn't help but wonder whether its powerful light was somehow interfering with the Reversed Medals that she had equipped on her Keyblade. They were by no means her strongest, but she could still hold her own with the powers she had to hand - and the fact she had wielded Missing Ache since arriving in the new world with her fellow Dandelions was a sentimental gesture more than a strength-based one anyway.

It was as she found the first target that things started to take a turn.

Chirithy had told her to be on the lookout for a Darkball before moving to the next part of the corridor, and sure enough, one was now hovering idly some distance away from her. Despite its lazily-floating appearance, Clio knew that this type of Heartless was not to be underestimated, because of how they could sap an opponent's strength before raising their own. She decided not to take any chances once she had spotted it, and made a strong first strike using Ultimate Sword - the Medal's power let her summon a ring of shining swords around herself before soaring forwards to attack the Heartless three times in rapid succession. It was clearly not expecting such a powerful move, and one of Tea Leaf's tricks gave her an opportunity to strike an extra time with her attack, giving the Darkball no time to react before being soundly defeated in a burst of light and Lux.

"Alright, that's the first main target down!" she said aloud, reaching down to give Tea Leaf another well-earned head ruffle for its hard work in helping her. Her Keyblade was still in her other hand, but she felt confident in her pace, even despite how harsh the environment around her was.

It was then that she heard an unrecognisable sound, this time from behind her. And when she turned around, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

The figure looked a bit like it was crouching, touching the ground with all four limbs - its claws were a deep red, fading down into a dark blue-black that covered much of the arms and legs. However, most of the arms and legs were obscured by admittedly-tattered pieces of clothing - torn brown trousers that were ragged at the ends, a fluffy black fleece that had tears in the sleeves, the remains of a white T-shirt still draped over the body like a shroud, and what could have once been a red scarf sitting wrapped around the neck. Its messy hair was a strange mix of golden and black, and fell wildly over most of its face; two horn-like structures appeared to rise up from the top of its head, and a pair of black wings with dark red feathers jutted out from its back, looking decidedly too thin for their length.

Despite everything about what was in front of her - the powerful darkness it was emanating, the many monstrous features it possessed - it only took Clio a moment to fully recognise what could have been facing her, which happened as soon as she spotted the loops of empty red ribbon on the left side of its head.

"No.. There's- there's no way.."

Her words held denial, but she had already realised the truth. Now, she faced the awful decision of what to do next as her body shook with apprehension. In that moment, the tension paralysed her so strongly and she had gripped her Keyblade so tightly that it sputtered out and disappeared, causing her to freeze further with rising panic. The figure had seemed poised to leap when she first saw it, as if ready to attack at any moment; it held itself tensely on its claws, and a growling sound could be heard coming out of its mouth. However, at the dissipating of Clio's Keyblade, it almost seemed to settle very slightly, all of a sudden appearing like at least slightly less of a threat. Clio could see this change happen, and was filled with even more emotion at the sight of it - her relief at not being immediately attacked was quickly swallowed whole by the implications of what that meant.

When she spoke again, Clio's voice was shaking almost as much as she was.

"Aria, what *happened* to you..?"

Tears started welling up and running down her cheeks as she made the admission and said the name aloud - as she admitted that what she was looking at was painfully suspected to be the partner she had been separated from at the flight of the Dandelions, her girlfriend whom she had been forced to leave behind for the sake of escaping the war. The figure seemed to become more alert in response to her words, but gave no indication of replying, still staring up at her silently with what could possibly have been mistaken for apprehension.

It was then that Clio remembered she was wearing her regalia - a full-body suit of armour that obscured most of her features and was said to provide protection and defence against darkness. She did not normally choose to wear it for most missions - in fact, as Aria had joined the Sapphires some time after the regalia was awarded, she had actually never seen Clio wearing the whole thing herself. Taking any part of it off seemed like a death sentence, not only in such a dangerous place as a corridor of darkness, but also with such a monstrous entity present directly in front of her.. but it was the only thing Clio could think to do in her desperation and hope that she could somehow be recognised, and the idea had settled in her mind with soul-crushing finality.

"Please.. *Please* still be in there somewhere, Ari.. I- I'm trusting you..!"

With her eyes tightly shut, Clio reached up to grab her winged helmet with trembling hands. In one motion, she lifted it off of her head, only to freeze as it tumbled from her grasp, holding her breath and tensing up all over again as it landed on the floor.

And then the figure lunged forwards.

Clio had braced herself as much as she could in the state she was in, but she was still thrown down to the ground herself from the force. The impact was not as hard as she had feared, and it took her a moment to realise that this was because her head and her back had been cushioned by a pair of arms that hit the ground ahead of her. She became aware of a very slight weight on top of her as she opened her eyes - a blood-red claw was curled around the left side of her face, but no part of it dug in whatsoever, and it was even splayed as if to avoid hurting her eye by accident. Something was pressing itself into the base of her neck, but then lifted. The weight shifted, though its movement could scarcely be felt for how light it was, and Clio was met with a face - and she could finally make out the details that distance and darkness (and the purple tint of her visor) had previously clouded.

What she had briefly mistaken for horns were in fact still a pair of ears, lynx-like and lined with thick, darkness-covered fur. They poked upwards from the head of identically-coloured hair, once a dark golden blonde that had since been mostly stained with inky black, and from this lack of distance, she could finally see the figure's face clearly from beneath the messy hair. A scar ran down the left side of her face, but it hadn't healed like a normal injury would - instead, it looked like melting darkness had covered or perhaps created the wound, staining her sclera pitch-black. In fact, both eyes were now set in that same darkness, which was spreading out to form a leopard-like pattern around them. Her eyes themselves *blazed* with glowing amber, predator's pupils carving through them like slits cut by a knife - and were those tears welling up at the corners? When her mouth opened, it did so to reveal fangs that were even sharper than they had been before; they looked as though they could pierce through skin just as easily as water.

More incredibly, when her mouth opened, what came out was a warped and scratched - but still unmistakeable - voice.

"Clio.. *My* Clio.. You're here.. you're- really here.."

"*Aria-*"

"I found you.. I *found you..* I finally.. finally found you..!"

As she spoke, emotion rose up in her voice until it was shaking, and her eyes were fully filled with the same tears that Clio’s had held before. This was enough to set both of them crying into each other, hugging so tightly that it looked like they would never let go. A whirlwind of feelings - joy, exhaustion, happiness, disbelief, desperation, hope, elation, and a thousand other things - overwhelmed the pair so strongly that it was almost as if their feelings could be physically seen in the air. All that could be heard ringing out through the darkness were both of their sobs as they lay on the floor of the corridor, holding each other as much as they could out of such all-encompassing relief to have found each other again.

It was Aria’s tears that finally slowed first, but she was content to stay where she was once they had come under control, emitting a sound that almost made Clio nervous again before realising it was more of a purr than a growl this time. Finally, the Keyblade wielder caught her breath and was able to speak up herself.

“Ari, we- we should probably go. I need to get you out of here.”

“We can leave..? You can still leave?” she replied tentatively. Her voice was slightly less hoarse now considering how much she had just been crying, and would sound almost fully familiar if not for the fearful quality some of it still held. Her eyes still glowed strongly like before, and Clio could see that they kept darting about, looking at every part of her face except her own eyes directly. The familiarity of that movement was enough to make her smile, and it brought her yet another sense of relief.

"Yeah, don't worry. I know how to get out of here, and I'm not leaving without you."

She shifted to start to get off the ground, which prompted Aria to quickly move off to the side in order to let her stand. Once she was up, Clio held out her hand to help Aria stand up as well- but she flinched away upon touching the bracelet of light that still hung from Clio's wrist.

"*Ah!*"

Both of them made the same sort of sound at the same time, but Aria was holding the side of her claw as if it had caught on something sharp as Clio took a step backwards. A shock of worry shot through her system, but she was able to settle down once confident that her girlfriend had not been seriously hurt.

"Uh.. Hmm.. I don't want to keep this on if it hurts you, but I kind of need to keep it close before we get out, just in case.." Clio mumbled.

Aria stared up at her for a moment, before giving a nod. "That's.. I understand. It's- This is-"

She started shaking her hand up and down in the air, just like she sometimes used to when the right words would not come to mind for a moment.

"..This place is not safe for you." she finally settled on. "Even so- I won't let anything here hurt you."

A gentle smile appeared on Clio's face. "Thank you, Ari - that really means a lot.."

She trailed off in thought again, trying to decide what to do about the bracelet, before looking down towards the ground and catching sight of her Spirit Pet, who had dutifully been standing guard for the pair. A burst of inspiration came to mind, and she crouched low to the floor in front of him.

"Hey, Tea Leaf, could you maybe hold this for me?" she asked. As she did so, she took hold of the bracelet and managed to twist it off of her wrist. Tea Leaf let out a happy-sounding bark, and took hold of the bracelet in his mouth once Clio had shown it to him. With a few wags of his tail, he took a step back to look at Aria and Clio in succession. The bracelet still shone with the same light as before.

"You.. would really do that for my sake?" Aria asked quietly, still sitting half-upright on the floor of the corridor.

"In a heartbeat." Clio replied, once again smiling brightly. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safe."

For the first time in what felt like far too long, Aria smiled back, and she took Clio's hand with as much softness as her claws could muster. It was easy for Clio to help her stand up, and she used the momentum to embrace her love once more, before quickly letting go to let her lead the way out.

In a flash of green-tinged darkness, Clio summoned Missing Ache once again, and reached around with her other hand as soon as she sensed Aria flinch behind her at its materialising. A part of her was sad that even Keyblades with such a strong Reversed focus, and the Keyblade she had been wielding ever since having to leave Aria behind because of that focus, triggered such a strong instinctive response in her now; but any concerns that were building dissipated just as easily when she felt her girlfriend's hand - now clawed, and now stained, but still *hers* - hold on gently to her own.

Light flooded into the corridor as an entryway was made within it with the Keyblade, the way out shining blindingly with the might of the breaking day. Aria lowered her head behind Clio's shoulder to hide from its brightness, so she gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, always reminding her that she was there for her again now. The pair stepped through the portal together, keeping close to one another as Tea Leaf brought up the rear.

"Your mission is to defeat the Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness."

That was what Chirithy had said to her, what felt altogether like so recently and so long ago back at the fountain.

Instead, she had abandoned her mission entirely just after starting it, and while what was left of Aria's clothing made it unclear whether she now bore an Emblem on her chest, Clio knew in her heart that a Heartless was who was now following her back into the world that was supposed to be light-filled.

Even so, she was firm in her decision, and knew that she was doing the right thing - love and care for the people she cared about had always been more dear to her than mindlessly following rules, after all.

There could be time for tricky questions after everything had settled - after she had held her arm out over Aria's eyes upon stepping back out into Daybreak Town, after she had breathed a sigh of relief to see the plaza still empty, after she had successfully made it back to her room and closed the curtains to make the space as dark as possible for Aria to relax and remain in.

For now, all that mattered was that the two had finally fulfilled their earlier promise, and come back to each other once more.

[rmbabydoll]

Countdown to Christmas Eve: a GentleBrava Tale

Presenting a story THREE years and THREE hours in the making…that might be going through several edits. Seriously, I have been sitting on this story ever since becoming a GentleBrava fan. I finally got it ready for Christmas so I hope you like it! And if anyone wants to give suggestions how it could be better, please give a like and comment. Merry Christmas!

Merii Kurisumasu!

The radio blared as Christmas Eve by Tatsuro Yamashita followed. It was December 1st and soon that special time of year again in Japan and a special first for a colluding couple.

Christmas Eve was nearing and Gentle and La Brava were set on spending the perfect Christmas Eve together.

“Good morning, my love.” Gentle greeted La Brava as he entered the kitchen to find her sitting at the set table.

“Good morning to you!” La Brava exclaimed, looking up from her laptop as she poured him some tea.

“What are you looking at?” He inquired as he walked over to her screen. La Brava quickly hid her tab so Gentle only saw her screen displaying a shopping page of gadgets and computer accessories.

“Oh, I’m just looking up some new hardware for video editing.” She fibbed “I really need to update some of my tools if I want to be ready for upcoming videos.”

Gentle looked skeptical but shrugged his shoulders. He also noticed a postcard at the table, but decided not to inquire about that as well.

“By the way,” Gentle began “What would you like for Christmas?”

“Oh all I need is you.” La Brava said flippantly.

“You have me everyday” he chuckled, hugging her from behind. “I want to get you something special. Something deserving of your loveliness.”

La Brava giggled, “I’ll give you my list soon. In the meantime, you do the same.”

“Yes mam’m!“ Gentle jokingly saluted.

La Brava rolled her eyes in amusement.

As Gentle started to eat, La Brava reopened her hidden tab to reveal her gift: an elegant mustache and beard grooming kit. It was perfect for Gentle and she couldn’t wait to order it!

Gentle, in turn, already had an idea for La Brava’s gift: a brand name laptop bag. He noticed a beautiful pink leather laptop bag with a bow at the shopping center that he thought was deserving of his girl. She didn’t always carry her laptop during their escapades, but he wanted to get her something that she could be proud to wear and use. It was perfect and he couldn’t wait to buy it!

The next few days, the pair prepared for the upcoming holiday, planning out how they wanted to spend Christmas Eve together.

“We have to see Christmas Illuminations!” La Brava exclaimed.

“I think it would be so romantic to go together and enjoy the lights!”

“Sounds wonderful, my dear!” Gentle responded. “If I may also suggest, I’d like to also get a Christmas cake as well for us to enjoy together.”

“Really? That’s what your looking forward to?” La Brava asked.

“…Well, I thought it would be a nice treat to complement a warm cup of tea.” Gentle said, unabashedly.

La Brava smiled, “Sounds wonderful”.

December 9th. The two began searching for a part time job to afford their gifts. Thankfully, it being imperative to hire part timers during the busy season afforded the opportunity to get a job.

“I found a job!” Both exclaimed as they met at a local tea place.

“Where?” Both asked

“Well, I can’t tell you” she said.

“It best be a secret” he said.

Both spoke over each other.

Gentle spoke up “It would be best if we didn’t run into each other so we can keep our respective gifts a secret.”

“Agreed.” La Brava said.

There was a pause before La Brava spoke, leaning her head on her hand.

“Gonna miss you during the day.”

“Me too.” Gentle responded, mirroring her sentiments.

December 15th. Everyday, Gentle and La Brava went to her respective part time jobs, Gentle being a postcard deliverer and La Brava a Christmas Cake seller, and in the afternoon, came home to each other.

“Everything good at your job?” Gentle asked as he and La Brava relaxed on the couch.

“Mhmm, busy, but good.” she responded.

“Only a couple more days and then we get to enjoy a perfect Christmas Eve.” Gentle mused.

La Brava squealed in response drawing Gentle’s neck down for a mock hug.

December 24th. Both said their goodbyes as they headed off to work. Once they did get off, they would go to customer pickup and meet each other at 7:30pm for the Christmas Illuminations.

6:00pm “Alright, enjoy your Christmas cake!” La Brava greeted after helping a customer.

Only an hour left of her shift and she would head to change and bring Gentle’s gift. “That’s weird…” her coworker mused.

La Brava looked to her co-worker. “What’s wrong Mika-San?”

“Our network is glitching. I can’t seem to use the touchpad.” Mika commented.

“Let me have a look…” La Brava said as she check the digital register.

The touchscreen continued to glitch.

“That is weird.” La Brava commented.

“Ladies!” The manager announced, rushing in from the back. “Our network is having technical difficulties! This could affect our incoming orders!”

“But we’re only supposed to work for another hour!” Mika panicked.

“I know, but this means we’ll have to think quick if we’re gonna serve the next rush of customers for Christmas Eve.”

La Brava could not be late for her gift pick up nor her date with Gentle!

Still…

“Leave the technical troubleshooting to me!” She told her coworkers.

“You two just worry about serving whoever comes in.” La Brava rushed to the back to her locker to grab her laptop. Something told her to bring it today.

Meanwhile, Gentle was on his break, going to pick up La Brava’s gift. Walking into the store, he browsed for a quick moment to see what else the store offered.

That’s when he noticed the man at the register. He pondered why the man looked familiar and realized he was someone he and La Brava had antagonized during one of their mischievous streams.

Before the man could notice him, Gentle walked quickly out the store.

“What am I gonna do?” he thought to himself.

That’s when he had an idea. A wonderful, awful idea.

Gentle went to the nearest convenience store and purchased a few things. Then, he went to the nearest bathroom and braced himself for a dire sacrifice.

“Hello, I’m here to pick up a gift. A pink laptop bag.” Gentle told the man at the register.

The man looked at him, squinting slightly at the clean shaven man before him as if trying to recall his face.

Gentle cleared his throat, trying to staying calm asking again for the gift. The man snapped out of his thoughts and gave his gift to Gentle. Gentle checked the time headed back to work, hoping his coworkers would bug him about his appearance.

All he could think was “My beautiful mustache…”

6:30pm “How it coming, Aiba-san?” her manager asked.

“It’s still not working! Something must be causing the whole system to crash!” La Brava exclaimed.

“Please keep at it! Our customers are not too happy with the delay” her manager pleaded.

“Understood…” La Brava resigned.

Grabbing her phone, she texted Gentle she would be a little late. Wait for me, Gentle she thought.

6:30pm Hearing from La Brava was the only consolation Gentle got from enduring the endless teasing from his coworkers about his shaven face, wondering why in the world would he spend his break doing so.

“Please stop bothering me about it. What’s done is done, alright?!” Gentle asserted and annoyed.

“Alright, Alright” one coworker relented.

“These are the final postcards to deliver. Finish these and you’re done for today.”

Gentle took the postcards and left to finish his route.

To be continued…

Next chapter

[void-kissed]

the changes darkness brings (Clio/Aria)

Shortly after the Keyblade War has taken place, and the Dandelions have successfully resumed life in their new world, Clio receives a special mission from the Foretellers to clear out Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness. In the process of carrying it out, she finally finds Aria again, whom she had not seen since becoming unchained - but something seems to have happened to her.. (4359 words) Set during KHUX Quest 491; note that much of Chirithy's dialogue is taken directly from the game. Sequel to my previous piece of writing for this selfship. Content warning for a monstrously-transformed character (or, rather, my self-insert). This is a Darkling AU.

This piece officially sets the new record for "longest piece of selfship writing I've written" at over four thousand words, ahahaha. This is what happens when I'm able to write fun descriptions, so I hope that it's alright to show this off, because I'm proud of how it turned out!

(Anyone is welcome to comment on and reblog my work if desired, as long as my DNI is respected! Tag list and document transcript are under the readmore.)

Tag list: @sol-rbs | @dragonsmooch | @bugsband | @sunlight-ships | @friezaforce | @hallowed-nebulae | @stargazer-sims | @pvssinboots | @detective-with-one-arm | @deepsea-loves | @sunshimm | @artificervaldi | @thatslikesometaldude (To be tagged in my work in the future, please see this post!)

Document transcript:

It looked like a sunny early morning in Daybreak Town, and the tall Keyblade wielder was ready bright and early to start off her mission for the day, much like she would be on most other days. A mint-green Foxstar was happily keeping pace behind her, eagerly looking around at the familiar buildings the two passed on their way to where today's mission briefing would be given.

The only thing that could be called "out of place" was the fact that, instead of just sticking to her usual comfortable clothing, Clio was instead wearing a suit of shining spiked armour over her clothes, its light blue and dark purple details complementing her eye colour perfectly. Only her head was uncovered, but the crown of clovers that normally adorned her hair was left safely back in her room. She did not normally need - or want - to wear such serious attire, but her companion Chirithy had informed her to make sure that she was prepared for today's mission, so she thought it might come in handy to don the regalia she and the rest of the Sapphires had won for being one of the top one hundred parties in the Anguis Union.

As she made her way out onto the streets and through to one of the town's many open plazas, Chirithy popped into view in front of her, bouncing ahead to perch on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the square.

"Alright then, Chirithy - what are we up to today?" she asked, following it forwards to the fountain. Despite knowing that what was coming was important, her voice kept its usual cheerful tone.

"You've been doing a fantastic job lately." it said in response. "So, I have a present for you!"

It stuck a grey paw into its signature pink purse and rustled around in there for a moment, giving Clio time to sit down next to it on the fountain's edge and watch with curiosity. Tea Leaf, her Foxstar, hopped up next to her as well, as if wondering whether he would get a present too. Finally, Chirithy found what it was looking for, and pulled out a glittering bangle that caught the rays of the rising sun spectacularly.

"Dun dada duun! The Bracelet of Light!" it exclaimed, perhaps slightly too loudly and dramatically for what felt like so early in the morning. It hopped up and pushed the bracelet over Clio's wrist, at which she grinned and leapt up again to twirl it around on her outstretched hand with a laugh.

"I'm glad you're excited, but gee, calm down." it said playfully, the light-hearted tone in its voice showing it wasn't being serious. "Why don't you put it somewhere for safekeeping?"

"Hey, a bracelet's meant for wearing!" Clio countered. She did consider dispelling the armour for a moment to put it away in her pocket underneath, but decided to keep the bracelet on her wrist instead; with how she had to hold her gauntleted hand to get it on in the first place, she was fairly confident it wouldn't fall off of its own accord.

"Thanks for this, by the way!" she told it with another smile. "It means a lot that you think I'm doing well."

"You are!" it said confidently. "But, you also need it for this upcoming mission."

"Oh yeah?"

"With that bracelet, you can protect yourself against darkness." Chirithy explained, regaining a more serious tone of voice. "You'll need it for the special mission we got from the foretellers."

"Huh? Special mission?" Clio's eyes widened slightly at this announcement. "This must be why you wanted me to come in my regalia too, I'm guessing, but- what's this mission all about, then?"

It nodded to show she had guessed correctly. "You'll be doing the same thing - you know, dealing with monsters.. Just in a different, darker place.."

As it spoke, something started to materialise in the plaza, a short distance from the fountain, and it turned to face it. The air seemed to shimmer for a moment, before a ring of dark energy suddenly appeared and transformed into an oval shape. Clio let out a "Whoa!" of surprise, and instinctively stood up from the fountain to try and get a better look at what had just appeared.

"..Wait, you mean I have to go in *there?!*" she exclaimed after a pause. Chirithy's own lack of shock, and subsequent nod in response to her question, had let her figure out that this was intentional, but she still seemed uncertain - and surprised.

"Your mission is to defeat the Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness." it continued matter-of-factly. "But be careful. That bracelet can only protect you for so long."

"Right.." Clio trailed off as she continued looking at the portal, trying to gain some idea of what would lie beyond it but only seeing flowing darkness cloud the doorway. Tea Leaf was now standing on the ground next to her, and trying to look determined, but his tail was slightly bristled due to his fur sticking up, which showed he was also uncertain.

"The fact you're wearing the Anguis Regalia will help you in there too, but there's quite a lot of targets for you to take down, so this isn't going to be easy." said Chirithy, who had really never been too good at sugarcoating things. "I'd recommend you bring your Starlight for this. Or, no, your Sleeping Lion's upgraded all the way, right? Some of your targets are magic-attribute, so having strong speed attacks will be good.."

"Thanks for your insight, Chirithy." Clio replied. Then, she walked away from the fountain, and as she did so, a winged helmet appeared on her head, matching her armour perfectly. A blue cobra, the insignia of Anguis, was emblazoned above her forehead, and her face was now protected by a sheet of purple-tinted glass. Tea Leaf let out a bark at this change, but she crouched down and ruffled his forehead gently with a smile, which was more than enough to reassure him of her presence.

The dark corridor's entrance loomed ominously before her, standing out like a sore thumb in the peaceful fountain square. Tea Leaf raced up to stand next to her, poised and ready to help as always. Chirithy's eyes narrowed as she went against its prior suggestion, choosing to summon Missing Ache again instead of her stronger Sleeping Lion, but any concerns it may have had were allayed when it spotted her determined expression through her visor.

"I'm all set!" she declared, turning to look over her shoulder with a smile.

"I knew I could count on you, kiddo." Chirithy replied. "Now go and get 'em! I'm rootin' for you!"

"I will!"

With the bracelet's light shining, her armour glinting strongly, and her Keyblade's darker colour scheme giving them both space to glow, she stepped into the corridor of darkness.

==========

The process of going through the portal was noticeably uncomfortable - it was nothing like anything that Clio had previously experienced, and the darkness felt heavy and constricting even through the armour she was wearing. Thankfully, that sense of heavy closeness opened up somewhat once she had made it into the corridor itself, but there was still a foreboding sense of discomfort that hung in the air. Red and blue threads seemed to weave their way through the floor like wires, and misty clouds of darkness obscured the details of her surroundings; everything had a sense of flowing movement to it that would almost make her feel like she was floating underwater if not for how solid the ground felt at her feet.

It only took a few moments before the first signs of trouble made themselves known to her; a Violet Waltz and a Shadow both rushed towards her quite suddenly, as if they had appeared out of nowhere from the darkness itself. Thankfully, such relatively weak Heartless were of no threat to a seasoned Keyblade wielder like Clio - she was a Sapphire for a reason, after all - and two uses of Nature's Gift were more than enough to let the rest of her Medals defeat them. Tea Leaf helped her out as well, using his tricks as a Spirit Pet to help dispel status conditions the Heartless tried to inflict on her. Even still, despite all of these advantages, she could tell that these enemies were noticeably stronger than normal as she fought them, and they also seemed to be appearing more frequently than she was used to as well.

As she tentatively made her way through the corridor, she remained aware of the bracelet on her wrist, which was giving off enough light for her to always be able to see her surroundings and not feel pressured by the darkness despite how much of it there was around her. While its presence was undoubtedly essential, especially as Chirithy had stressed its importance before starting the mission, she couldn't help but wonder whether its powerful light was somehow interfering with the Reversed Medals that she had equipped on her Keyblade. They were by no means her strongest, but she could still hold her own with the powers she had to hand - and the fact she had wielded Missing Ache since arriving in the new world with her fellow Dandelions was a sentimental gesture more than a strength-based one anyway.

It was as she found the first target that things started to take a turn.

Chirithy had told her to be on the lookout for a Darkball before moving to the next part of the corridor, and sure enough, one was now hovering idly some distance away from her. Despite its lazily-floating appearance, Clio knew that this type of Heartless was not to be underestimated, because of how they could sap an opponent's strength before raising their own. She decided not to take any chances once she had spotted it, and made a strong first strike using Ultimate Sword - the Medal's power let her summon a ring of shining swords around herself before soaring forwards to attack the Heartless three times in rapid succession. It was clearly not expecting such a powerful move, and one of Tea Leaf's tricks gave her an opportunity to strike an extra time with her attack, giving the Darkball no time to react before being soundly defeated in a burst of light and Lux.

"Alright, that's the first main target down!" she said aloud, reaching down to give Tea Leaf another well-earned head ruffle for its hard work in helping her. Her Keyblade was still in her other hand, but she felt confident in her pace, even despite how harsh the environment around her was.

It was then that she heard an unrecognisable sound, this time from behind her. And when she turned around, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

The figure looked a bit like it was crouching, touching the ground with all four limbs - its claws were a deep red, fading down into a dark blue-black that covered much of the arms and legs. However, most of the arms and legs were obscured by admittedly-tattered pieces of clothing - torn brown trousers that were ragged at the ends, a fluffy black fleece that had tears in the sleeves, the remains of a white T-shirt still draped over the body like a shroud, and what could have once been a red scarf sitting wrapped around the neck. Its messy hair was a strange mix of golden and black, and fell wildly over most of its face; two horn-like structures appeared to rise up from the top of its head, and a pair of black wings with dark red feathers jutted out from its back, looking decidedly too thin for their length.

Despite everything about what was in front of her - the powerful darkness it was emanating, the many monstrous features it possessed - it only took Clio a moment to fully recognise what could have been facing her, which happened as soon as she spotted the loops of empty red ribbon on the left side of its head.

"No.. There's- there's no way.."

Her words held denial, but she had already realised the truth. Now, she faced the awful decision of what to do next as her body shook with apprehension. In that moment, the tension paralysed her so strongly and she had gripped her Keyblade so tightly that it sputtered out and disappeared, causing her to freeze further with rising panic. The figure had seemed poised to leap when she first saw it, as if ready to attack at any moment; it held itself tensely on its claws, and a growling sound could be heard coming out of its mouth. However, at the dissipating of Clio's Keyblade, it almost seemed to settle very slightly, all of a sudden appearing like at least slightly less of a threat. Clio could see this change happen, and was filled with even more emotion at the sight of it - her relief at not being immediately attacked was quickly swallowed whole by the implications of what that meant.

When she spoke again, Clio's voice was shaking almost as much as she was.

"Aria, what *happened* to you..?"

Tears started welling up and running down her cheeks as she made the admission and said the name aloud - as she admitted that what she was looking at was painfully suspected to be the partner she had been separated from at the flight of the Dandelions, her girlfriend whom she had been forced to leave behind for the sake of escaping the war. The figure seemed to become more alert in response to her words, but gave no indication of replying, still staring up at her silently with what could possibly have been mistaken for apprehension.

It was then that Clio remembered she was wearing her regalia - a full-body suit of armour that obscured most of her features and was said to provide protection and defence against darkness. She did not normally choose to wear it for most missions - in fact, as Aria had joined the Sapphires some time after the regalia was awarded, she had actually never seen Clio wearing the whole thing herself. Taking any part of it off seemed like a death sentence, not only in such a dangerous place as a corridor of darkness, but also with such a monstrous entity present directly in front of her.. but it was the only thing Clio could think to do in her desperation and hope that she could somehow be recognised, and the idea had settled in her mind with soul-crushing finality.

"Please.. *Please* still be in there somewhere, Ari.. I- I'm trusting you..!"

With her eyes tightly shut, Clio reached up to grab her winged helmet with trembling hands. In one motion, she lifted it off of her head, only to freeze as it tumbled from her grasp, holding her breath and tensing up all over again as it landed on the floor.

And then the figure lunged forwards.

Clio had braced herself as much as she could in the state she was in, but she was still thrown down to the ground herself from the force. The impact was not as hard as she had feared, and it took her a moment to realise that this was because her head and her back had been cushioned by a pair of arms that hit the ground ahead of her. She became aware of a very slight weight on top of her as she opened her eyes - a blood-red claw was curled around the left side of her face, but no part of it dug in whatsoever, and it was even splayed as if to avoid hurting her eye by accident. Something was pressing itself into the base of her neck, but then lifted. The weight shifted, though its movement could scarcely be felt for how light it was, and Clio was met with a face - and she could finally make out the details that distance and darkness (and the purple tint of her visor) had previously clouded.

What she had briefly mistaken for horns were in fact still a pair of ears, lynx-like and lined with thick, darkness-covered fur. They poked upwards from the head of identically-coloured hair, once a dark golden blonde that had since been mostly stained with inky black, and from this lack of distance, she could finally see the figure's face clearly from beneath the messy hair. A scar ran down the left side of her face, but it hadn't healed like a normal injury would - instead, it looked like melting darkness had covered or perhaps created the wound, staining her sclera pitch-black. In fact, both eyes were now set in that same darkness, which was spreading out to form a leopard-like pattern around them. Her eyes themselves *blazed* with glowing amber, predator's pupils carving through them like slits cut by a knife - and were those tears welling up at the corners? When her mouth opened, it did so to reveal fangs that were even sharper than they had been before; they looked as though they could pierce through skin just as easily as water.

More incredibly, when her mouth opened, what came out was a warped and scratched - but still unmistakeable - voice.

"Clio.. *My* Clio.. You're here.. you're- really here.."

"*Aria-*"

"I found you.. I *found you..* I finally.. finally found you..!"

As she spoke, emotion rose up in her voice until it was shaking, and her eyes were fully filled with the same tears that Clio’s had held before. This was enough to set both of them crying into each other, hugging so tightly that it looked like they would never let go. A whirlwind of feelings - joy, exhaustion, happiness, disbelief, desperation, hope, elation, and a thousand other things - overwhelmed the pair so strongly that it was almost as if their feelings could be physically seen in the air. All that could be heard ringing out through the darkness were both of their sobs as they lay on the floor of the corridor, holding each other as much as they could out of such all-encompassing relief to have found each other again.

It was Aria’s tears that finally slowed first, but she was content to stay where she was once they had come under control, emitting a sound that almost made Clio nervous again before realising it was more of a purr than a growl this time. Finally, the Keyblade wielder caught her breath and was able to speak up herself.

“Ari, we- we should probably go. I need to get you out of here.”

“We can leave..? You can still leave?” she replied tentatively. Her voice was slightly less hoarse now considering how much she had just been crying, and would sound almost fully familiar if not for the fearful quality some of it still held. Her eyes still glowed strongly like before, and Clio could see that they kept darting about, looking at every part of her face except her own eyes directly. The familiarity of that movement was enough to make her smile, and it brought her yet another sense of relief.

"Yeah, don't worry. I know how to get out of here, and I'm not leaving without you."

She shifted to start to get off the ground, which prompted Aria to quickly move off to the side in order to let her stand. Once she was up, Clio held out her hand to help Aria stand up as well- but she flinched away upon touching the bracelet of light that still hung from Clio's wrist.

"*Ah!*"

Both of them made the same sort of sound at the same time, but Aria was holding the side of her claw as if it had caught on something sharp as Clio took a step backwards. A shock of worry shot through her system, but she was able to settle down once confident that her girlfriend had not been seriously hurt.

"Uh.. Hmm.. I don't want to keep this on if it hurts you, but I kind of need to keep it close before we get out, just in case.." Clio mumbled.

Aria stared up at her for a moment, before giving a nod. "That's.. I understand. It's- This is-"

She started shaking her hand up and down in the air, just like she sometimes used to when the right words would not come to mind for a moment.

"..This place is not safe for you." she finally settled on. "Even so- I won't let anything here hurt you."

A gentle smile appeared on Clio's face. "Thank you, Ari - that really means a lot.."

She trailed off in thought again, trying to decide what to do about the bracelet, before looking down towards the ground and catching sight of her Spirit Pet, who had dutifully been standing guard for the pair. A burst of inspiration came to mind, and she crouched low to the floor in front of him.

"Hey, Tea Leaf, could you maybe hold this for me?" she asked. As she did so, she took hold of the bracelet and managed to twist it off of her wrist. Tea Leaf let out a happy-sounding bark, and took hold of the bracelet in his mouth once Clio had shown it to him. With a few wags of his tail, he took a step back to look at Aria and Clio in succession. The bracelet still shone with the same light as before.

"You.. would really do that for my sake?" Aria asked quietly, still sitting half-upright on the floor of the corridor.

"In a heartbeat." Clio replied, once again smiling brightly. "Come on, let's get you somewhere safe."

For the first time in what felt like far too long, Aria smiled back, and she took Clio's hand with as much softness as her claws could muster. It was easy for Clio to help her stand up, and she used the momentum to embrace her love once more, before quickly letting go to let her lead the way out.

In a flash of green-tinged darkness, Clio summoned Missing Ache once again, and reached around with her other hand as soon as she sensed Aria flinch behind her at its materialising. A part of her was sad that even Keyblades with such a strong Reversed focus, and the Keyblade she had been wielding ever since having to leave Aria behind because of that focus, triggered such a strong instinctive response in her now; but any concerns that were building dissipated just as easily when she felt her girlfriend's hand - now clawed, and now stained, but still *hers* - hold on gently to her own.

Light flooded into the corridor as an entryway was made within it with the Keyblade, the way out shining blindingly with the might of the breaking day. Aria lowered her head behind Clio's shoulder to hide from its brightness, so she gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, always reminding her that she was there for her again now. The pair stepped through the portal together, keeping close to one another as Tea Leaf brought up the rear.

"Your mission is to defeat the Heartless in the Corridor of Darkness."

That was what Chirithy had said to her, what felt altogether like so recently and so long ago back at the fountain.

Instead, she had abandoned her mission entirely just after starting it, and while what was left of Aria's clothing made it unclear whether she now bore an Emblem on her chest, Clio knew in her heart that a Heartless was who was now following her back into the world that was supposed to be light-filled.

Even so, she was firm in her decision, and knew that she was doing the right thing - love and care for the people she cared about had always been more dear to her than mindlessly following rules, after all.

There could be time for tricky questions after everything had settled - after she had held her arm out over Aria's eyes upon stepping back out into Daybreak Town, after she had breathed a sigh of relief to see the plaza still empty, after she had successfully made it back to her room and closed the curtains to make the space as dark as possible for Aria to relax and remain in.

For now, all that mattered was that the two had finally fulfilled their earlier promise, and come back to each other once more.

[crayonurchin]

The fact that as a nearly 27 year old woman, I can tell the anxious and depressed teenagers I work with that not only does it get better, but THEY get better, is wonderful. It doesn't fix their issues, it just gives them a view of a future where things have improved.

As a nearly 27 year old woman who's going through her first 'real' heartbreak and breakup, still lives at home, is terrified to try dating or exploration of sexualities and being more open, does not have a full time job or the ability to move out without moving so far away I'd have to quiet my part time entertainment job, has no clue if she'll ever fall in love again or get married or adopt kids and is still struggling with PTSD from stuff that happened in school, work, life and my own untreated for years mental state... Yeah I want the 37 year old me to reach out and show that it'll all get better and I will get better.

But 37 year old me isn't here yet, nor is 27 year old me. 26 year old me, at least, is trying to make better changes.

Yes, I have lost someone I thought I'd marry. It's sad. I miss her. I miss us. I am so happy she's moved on to bigger and better things and I am so sad it didn't go the way I so badly wanted. But one day, I think I'll be with someone who I love and who loves me back, in that intimate way I loved her. We'll geek over special interests, crave each others company without NEEDING it, help each other to keep being our best selves and live our own lives whist living a life together. She will hold me close and I'll feel at home. And I'll look on this experience as a sad but, as something that at least showed me that I can feel love. And that love I did feel was amazing.

Yes I am not in a career and I'm afraid of GETTING that career and not liking it. But I'm also lucky that I like my current weekend entertain work a lot, and it's shown me WAY more skills that I didn't know I even had! I wrote a god damn book. I'm still looking for a publisher but holy shit I wrote an entire book. And I want to write more! I might have freelance coming up and in April I'll be recording my audio drama, which will help me apply to voice based things. YES, it's not a career yet, but I'm so much more qualified than I used to be!

Yes I still live at home. Because fucking hell I have had a ROUGH 20s. I was so mentally unstable for so long and had no idea. I was genuinely ready to kill myself several times. And that's hard to admit. I'm autistic and have ADHD! I need legit help with things others don't! I look high functioning because of my socialising abilities but I can't keep my space clean. I can't do paperwork. I can't remember to talk to people without alarm set reminders. My OCD still rules so much of my life, my PTSD age regressed me. I'm only just learning to experience anger and jealousy without beating myself up.

Yes. It's hard to believe anyone likes me. I feel so unlikable and boring and annoying. And I know that's almost certainly not true. I have friends. I have new friends. I have a... sort of crush, maybe. I have family that love me. I have people asking to hang out.

I worry all the time I'm a selfish and evil and cruel and fake person. I want to become a better person and work on my flaws, but also the level of bad I feel is probably because of my OCD.

17 year old me thought she was a murderer. Spoiler. I wasn't. I was mentally unwell and suffering with OCD that gave me intrusive thoughts.

I know some of my changes are good. I've started feeling that autistic euphoria from a special interest again. Today I drove home from a gig, and the sky kept producing the most 'shaped' clouds. My heart went glowy. I have missed feeling glowy.

One day 37 year old me will be very happy 26 going on 27 year old me tried her best.

[the-firebird69]

An interview with Barbra Streisand was in November her memoir is called my name is Barbara we hope" interviews like this inspire you to become a member of this station whcu

She worked on sending the clowns in that's where people in it actually worked this world famous now and our son can't believe how much involved it that Hera and he has and how effective it's been and people like Barbra Streisand very powerful motivators now she's got the whole thing and she's been through a living hell and is Sia also the senior and people know her story and these people are a nightmare but they're going to go down for their sins against oh humanity

Concern would like to request Ben Arnold and mac daddy to ask Barbra Streisand to perform at the Barnum & Bailey circus and it is not the 10th they have a performing arts center there are special days and days to remember that are special holidays and days of special actions but our son and daughter said any day is the day then Barbara came up with the idea and any day is when it happened she might go on tour and she has new songs and might call it that because a day in the future might be a nice one and it could be any day coming up and everybody says something bad will happen any day that's also too and she agrees and it's a great idea

Thor Freya

Olympus

Some of these clowns are kind of evil and they know it it's a good job done

Thor Freya

Yeah Hera's messing with us thank heavens something will be around..

We're going to do this and we're going to call her and set up a schedule we want to be the first. Would like the title of the tour and we like to invite her and have a special dinner and have a present for her and gifts he's going to try and get one to her something new that he's had made and we knew how to do that too people can bring it he says and try and guess which one it is someone who started the motorcycle company and it's a clown motorcycle he says that might be one that's on the list he says the possibility is the ones that he and she will prove approve and pick and only two or three of them and they're going to go ahead and try and guess

Mac daddy

We're going to celebrate life and this is fun and I like your gift idea and people going to dig it there are people with me who helped me and it's a group yeah they need gifts too so they can try and guess which one but really Mac Daddy and then Arnold said they can handle it because they have stuff it's going to they're making as well and hopefully nothing grows gross and some of it's gross but not that gross their statuettes from burning man and I'll accept it and his asked going to try and get to me. And it's going to go well I can't believe it I'm in love again and I see what it is it's those big houses no but that's one thing it's definitely not the beach there's so many damn fleas LOL

Becka

We have a lot of stuff to go over maybe we can make a piece maybe not maybe we'll have a brawl but he says we hope that we have a ball and like a dance and maybe we can pick a cane Queen a king and queen that would be nice and he says I have a ringer I'm going to send up there and he might win by threats LOL he's a real clown at certain type and we're going to get ready

Mac daddy

We approve this to print Olympus and gosh kid have a heart would you but I get what you're saying we're there too it's a heartbreaking thing I can't believe it worked it's kind of for a stuff and her idea and he used it and his clan had the idea too so it kind of knew about it but it didn't she was having it played and she's in trouble

Thor Freya say

We're going to get to this and we're going to have it work and we're going to help out and make it start and yeah that's how the two get up there and they're asked to perform and we have a whole bunch of people offering and he says it's kind of a tribute to her and your ex are there too and they did stuff but this is her night and we agreed we can help make it happen

Savage Oppress

[nella09archive]

Marriage. 32

Chapter 32: our little boy

If you asked me if I knew what sleep was, I would look at you like you’re talking nonsense. Even Goku would look at you like you were crazy. We love our son, but sleep is a weird concept. Goku might not know much what to do, at least he’s trying. No books could have prepared me for any of this. Gohan has strong lungs, and if you don’t get to him in time, your ears will pay the price. He also drink so much, all thanks to his father. But I’m so grateful Goku found out pulling Gohan’s tails calms him down. I don’t like that we have to come to that, but that’s last case situations, so it’s not that bad.

But all that doesn’t compare to all the good moments. Gohan loves play time with daddy, and he also enjoys when I read to him. Whenever it’s naptime, Gohan falls asleep faster when Goku does sit-ups with him. And at night, we all snuggle together. Hearing Gohan is always the best. Plus, seeing Goku bound with our son is always a wonderful sight.

Since Gohan’s birth Goku didn’t go out to train. He stood home and worked out, and kept an eye on Gohan while I worked around the house. When Gohan started crawling at 1-month Goku became so excited. Saying how he was a quick learner, and he couldn’t wait take Gohan to play outside with him. That made me so happy, but worried. Worried that Goku term of play could easily become training, and that would become fighting. I warn Goku that he has to wait till Gohan is much other if he wants to train Gohan, and at that it can’t take away from his studies. Even though Goku gave me his word, I could tell he felt somewhat hurt.

…

“Well look like someone was hungry. Time to clean you up.” I watch how Chichi takes Gohan out of his highchair, and walks over to the sink. I could hear the giggles those two are making, and it makes me happy. These past 4 months had been interesting. Going from fussy crying to giggles; from ears ringing to can’t get enough of his smiles.

Chichi comments that he’s doing a lot of things babies do later in their lives. Like being able to crawl at a month, then walking at two, and being able to say words at three. With every new thing my little man learns I can’t stop becoming anymore proud of him. Usually after breakfast, Chichi would sit with him to do schooling. Saying how he should also be challenged mentally, and I couldn’t agree more with her. My Gohan is so smart and talented. He can be whatever he sets his mind to be.

Today lesson was math. “So, Gohan, what’s does this equal?” Chichi holds up one of those math cards.

“4.”

“And this?”

“5.”

“Good job. Now let’s try a harder one. OK, what does this equal?”

Gohan starts counting on his fingers. “Um.” It holds out both hands. “10. Is that right, mommy?”

Chichi smiles at him. “Yes, Gohan. You’re so smart.” He giggles at that. “Ok, Gohan. Let’s finish the rest of these cards and you can play.” You could read the excitement in his face. He just loves play time, especially after finishing all his school work.

Once he’s finishes, he runs over to where I am. He then jumps up and down and calling for my attention. I quickly finish my last set, and go into a sitting position. He then gets on my laps, and hugs me. I hug him back. “Ok, what does my little man want to play today?” He excitedly shouts out tag. “You sure about that?” I start to tickle him. He giggles.

“Come on daddy.” He tries speaking between giggles. “You were tickle monster yesterday. Me wanna play tag. Tag daddy!” He then runs out of my hands. And I start counting to 10 before I get up, and go after him. “Member, mommy is safe spot!” He giggles as he tries to get away from me. Soon even Chichi even join us. I then catch them in a big hug, and he can’t stop giggling. Me and Chichi kiss his little cheeks. “Me love mommy and daddy!”

“We love you too, Gohan!”

…

It’s Gohan’s first birthday, and Chichi had let me take Gohan on a walk through the woods, while got Gohan special dinner ready. On our walk he would see animals and get scared. I hold him close, and go up the trees, away from the animals. He laughs whenever I do that. He would even say how awesome I am. Then I think, maybe he’ll like to ride nimbus all by himself. “You sure I’m big enough daddy?”

“Of course, Gohan. Nimbus is also yours, and mommy’s.” That makes him so happy. “Now you ready?” He nods and I call nimbus. I place him on. “Now follow daddy, ok.” He nods, and we’re off at a slow pace. I then could feel someone was watching. I didn’t like this. “Ok, let’s play a game.”

“What game, daddy?”

“It’s like hide and seek. You fly with somewhere and hide, and I go fine you.” I try to stay cheery while I speak with him.

“Oh, ok daddy. Remember you have to count to 20.” I nod, and watch him go off.

“Show yourself Piccolo.”

He raises from the trees just below from me. “Took you long enough to realize. Your senses not as sharp as before.”

“If you truly want a rematch, how about another day.” He just smirks, and then leaves. I didn’t move till I was sure he was nowhere near Gohan or Chichi. He’s lucky to behave himself. Ok, time to find Gohan. Mister! Crap! Chichi knows now. Damn right I do! BRING GOHAN HOME NOW! Yes sweetie. I quickly find Gohan, and we have a little race home. When we get home, Chichi gives Gohan the biggest smile and hugs him. But when she sees me, there’s pure anger in her eyes.

…

Why isn’t mommy talking to daddy? Did daddy do something wrong again? It might be a mommy daddy thing. Mommy won’t even let daddy hug her. Daddy must be in big trouble. What did daddy do? I want to ask, but I don’t think they’ll tell me. This cake is yummy. Mommy food is the best! And grandpa got me another book, and more toys. Is this what a birthday is? Mommy letting me all the cake I want, and I get lots of presents like Christmas. This birthday stuff is fun.

…

I can’t believe this! Piccolo finally show up, and so close to home! And while Goku had Gohan, too. Once I set Gohan to bed, me and Goku have a lot to talk about. I start working on the dishes, and I can feel he is by the doorway. “Goku.” I can tell he moved, and is about to hug me. “Don’t.”

“But Chichi.” I turn around and look at my dear husband.

“Don’t but Chichi, nothing. That monster could have hurt my baby! That monster could have hurt you, again!” I could feel the tears falling, as I bang on his chest. “Goku! He could have hurt Gohan!” I start sobbing into his chest. I could feel him rubbing my back, as he holds me tight.

“You know very well I would let anything happen to Gohan. You know I will protect Gohan with my life, the same way I would protect you.” I look up at him, and he wipes away my tears. “Now, finish cleaning and come to bed.” I nod, and turn around to finish.

…

Mommy crying. No mommy. No crying. Oh no, daddy is looking this way. Me better go back to bed. But what monster is mommy talking about? Oh no, daddy walking this way! Better run back to bed! Too late, daddy got me. “Hi daddy. I was just wanted a glass a water.” I try to put on my best good boy smile.

“Nice try. But that’s not going to work this time little man.” Oh man. I start to cross my arms, and pout. “Did you hear mommy crying?” I nod. So, daddy knows why me got up. “Don’t worry, daddy will make mommy happy. Now go to bed.” He puts me into bed, and tucks me in.

“Wait daddy.” He looks back. “Can I get a story?” He smiles and he sits on my bed and tells me a story.

…

“Mommy, what’s this word?” I look down at the word Gohan is pointing at. He was looking one of my medical books again.

“That’s orthopedics.” He looks ups to me. “Pronoun it with me.”

“Or-tho-pae-dics.”

“Mommy, what’s that?”

“A doctor that works with making people bones better.” I try my best to keep it simple.

“That sounds cool!” His face brightens up. “It’s also a funny word. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could be a or-tho-pae-dics! I could help people!” Oh, I’m so proud of my little Gohan. I wish Goku wasn’t training, so he can hear his little boy excitement. But sadly, Goku won’t be back till tomorrow. “Mommy?”

“Yes Gohan.”

“What does daddy do? Me see him work out a lot, but what does he do?”

“He’s a martial artist.” He said oh, and asked what that was. I then walked away and got one of my training books, that I used as a kid. I hand it to Gohan and his face lit up. “Mommy was a martial artist at one point.”

“What happened?”

“I married daddy.” He was so amazed. He then ask if he could continue his reading outside. “Ok, but stay where I can see you.”

“Ok, mommy.”

…

Mommy was a martial artist! No wonder why mommy is so strong, and can kept up with daddy, when they spar. I wish I could join them, but mommy says I’m too young. I wonder if daddy would teach me. I don’t like when daddy goes training for days at a time. It always mean I have more school work. Oo, this looks cool. I wanna try.

Maybe I should copy what daddy does when he’s home. Maybe one day I’ll be as strong as mommy and daddy. That’ll be so much fun! I should ask daddy to teach me. Me wanna be a bone doctor, but it would also be so cool to spar with daddy and mommy. Oh, mommy calling for lunch time. Only thing fun about daddy away, is I get all mommy’s yummy food to myself.

…

I can’t wait to get home! I wonder what new stuff Gohan learned. He’s growing up so fast, and if I’m right, his 2nd birthday is coming up. Maybe we could go for a picnic, I saw a nice spot on my way home.