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zoromuse · 2 years

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want you (need you) | headcannons

taking an aphrodisiac with them and seeing who gives in first

characters. eustass kid, monkey d. luffy, roronoa zoro, vinsmoke sanji

general cw. f!reader, aphrodisiacs, just overall desperate men

a/n. based on this ask, thank you for requesting, i had such fun writing this <3

part two

EUSTASS KID

cw. mention of thigh riding, bulge

It definitely takes some convincing for him, but once he sees the competitive aspect of it, he’s kind of driven to the idea.

At first he found it kind of amusing, since he could see it started affecting you first; even though you said you were fine when he asked you, he didn’t miss the way you clenched your thighs for some friction from time to time.

Then it started affecting him, his body growing hot all over, from his cocks to his heat that were bright red from all the nerves, but he’d rather die than give in first.

In the end, you’d have to give up and ask him for what you want, he’s too stubborn to lose and you can’t take it anymore.

You were the first to pounce on him, straddling his lap and quickly grinding on his thigh to get any sort of relief you could find. Your thighs tremble on either side of his waist, and you’re panting wildly because it feels like you’ve been holding your breath ever since you felt the delicious drag of his cock in your walls for the first time of the night, but you’ve never felt better.

You bask in the afterglow of your orgasm for the next few minutes before you realize he’s growing hard inside of you again. You’re terrified to look anywhere, down to the place you connect with him for fear of seeing the bulge he’s surely leaving in your tummy, and absolutely terrified to look up to his face for fear of being met with the unchanging animalistic look of his face.

"Did you think I would be satisfied with just one time? I was just waiting for you to give in, now I'm gonna have my way with you…"

MONKEY D. LUFFY

cw. whiny luffy

He is always willing to try anything you want, so I don't think it would take a lot of convincing.

He understood the competitive aspect of it, but as soon as he started feeling the effects of the aphrodisiac he got extra touchy with you.

When you remind him you were supposed to see who could last the longest away from each other, it's almost like he doesn't hear you.

"Fuck that, I need you right now"

“W-wait!” you exclaim, his hands pushing at the dip of your fack to get you to arch further into him. This isn’t his favorite position, he much prefers so see you bounce on his lap and make a mess of yourself, or just simple missionary where he can see all the pretty faces he causes in you with every drag of his cock, but he’ll take this for now.

“No please, I don’t wanna stop…” he all but whines. His cock keeps abusing that same spot he knows drives you crazy, that’s why you’re having such a hard time voicing your concerns.

“You can’t be so… l-loud, someone might hear!” Your warnings fall to deaf ears, his pace is unrelenting and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, despite this being the third time tonight. The substance only gave him a boost on his already big stamina, and you’re starting to regret suggesting this to him.

“I love you so much,” he said. “I don’t care if anyone hears, I just want to-... mmm f-fuck-!”

RORONOA ZORO

cw. lots of dirty talk, a little bit of mean dom zoro if u squint, mating press, bulge

Much like Kid, he likes the competitiveness of it all, so it’s easy to convince him about this idea.

I think he would take a more teasing approach on it though.

As soon as he sees you’re feeling the same heat he is, he starts whispering dirty things in your ear to get you to give in first.

“You’re so warm, bet you feel so hot down there too, don’t you?” “How long are you going to keep pretending you don’t want me to bend you over and fuck you right now?"

“Fuck, thank god…” he groans, his hands holding your legs pressed to your chest as you claw at the sheets next to you. “Didn’t know how much longer I could take”

The irony of it all is that you didn’t know how much longer you could take this. His grasp on your legs and the way his cock hits all the right spots you were aching to have filled, it’s so overwhelming, and yet it’s everything you had been craving tonight.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, his thrusts growing deeper and harder, if possible. “Too dumb to talk now?”

You nod, knowing if you tried speaking a mixture of slurred and unintelligible words would be the only thing falling past your lips. He doesn’t mind though, he likes watching you go dumb on his cock, still mindful enough to look down at the way his cock keeps bulging at your tummy.

VINSMOKE SANJI

cw. dacryphilia if u squint

He’s willing to try anything for you, so it literally only takes suggesting it for him to agree.

He tries to act like it’s fine, part of him wants to impress you, and part of him wants to see you beg for him.

Then again, he’s not very patient when it comes to you, so he’ll start with sloppy kisses to your neck, acting like he’s trying to make you give in first.

Eventually it turns into him cursing under his breath, and before he realizes the words are coming out, he’s begging for you to give him something, anything.

“Fuck-!” He groans, throwing his head back. You’re riding him, your tits are bouncing to the rhythm of your hips and your hands are grasping at his chest for balance. He keeps bucking his hips into you, and it’s throwing you off, but he’s reaching the deepest spots of your walls and you’re not sure how much longer you’ll last.

Still, it’s not enough for him.

He turns you both over, your back landing on the bed with a cry because he took you by surprise, and his hands now on either side of your body, holding himself up as your legs wrap around his waist and he fucks into you just the way he knows you like it.

Sanji hates to see you cry, but somehow he finds the sight of your tears prickling at the corners of your closed eyes so appealing, it almost drives him to the edge. Almost. He wouldn’t even think about leaving his baby unsatisfied.

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thoughtsforsoob · 5 months

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Hi!

Can you do a txt most to least likely to be a passenger princess? 🤣

a/n: omg yess! Thanks for this request anon. I myself am always a passenger princess (lmao i can't drive hahaha. I’m scared of going faster than 25 mph at my grown age of 19). Anyways, shout out to all the people who have to drive around said passenger princess. Yall are so real for that. Please enjoy this!

Song: angel or devil - txt (i love the dance for this song omggg)

Most

Huening kai

I think this is only because I still see him as this little guy back from debut but he does not look like someone who knows how to drive. He gets so embarrassed when you call him your passenger princess but he appreciates you driving him around. He always makes sure to pay back the favor by treating you to whatever you want :D

Beomgyu

He knows how to drive but this little menace plays damsel in distress when it’s time to go somewhere. “But baby…I can't drive! My hand hurts.” “boy…i know damn well that your hands only hurt from spending hours on that damn game.” he pouts his way into the passenger seat and takes full advantage. Has his one blanket in your car to cover up for longer rides and he takes BOTH cup holders.

Soobin

He likes to drive sometimes but he would prefer you to drive. He has his license and all but he doesn;t feel very confident in his driving skills. His nature is very gentle and that goes out into the road. He will wait at a 4 way stop for hours and let everyone pass. Therefore, you have to drive most times. He frowns when you start cussing out the person who cut you off. The plus side to him being a passenger princess is him controlling the playlist. He's got great taste.

Yeonjun

He would much rather drive you around because he feels cool. “Yeah baby, i'll go pick you up. Be ready soon okay?” he will insist on driving you around but there have been a few occasions where you’ve driven him around. You picked him up from work on a few occasions and he enjoys riding with you. He doubles as a little secretary too because if you ask him to text someone back on your phone or pick a song, he will gladly do it!

Taehyun

Bro will do anything for you to let him drive. He always says that your driving is scary to him, even if it really isn't. He got in the car with you once and after that, insisted you need to let him drive. He doesn't know what to do with himself when he’s in the passenger seat so he starts to tell you how to drive. So, you not wanting to hear him, let him drive. He's great at treating a passenger princess though. He keeps your little pillow and blanket in the back seat and he lets you control aux and everything. He loves when you feed him while he's driving.

Least

#txt imagines #txt fic #txt post #txt fluff #txt headcanons #txt reactions #txt #tomorrow x together #huening kai x reader #taehyun x reader #beomgyu x reader #soobin x reader #yeonjun x reader

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thewritersofdeceased · 2 months

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Hiiii! Sorry Ik you've done something like this b4, but I really loved it😭

I was wondering if you could do something with dating Darry and the rest of the gang kind of see's you as a motherly figure 😭🙏

Ill leave it up to your imagination for this, and if you can do it, could you keep this anonymous please 🙏😭❤

Hey hey, thank you for the request! I think I got an idea for this actually, so this works perfectly! Last time I did Darry x Motherly!reader I think was for a Christmas fic, so I've gotten something for summer this time! And ofc it'll stay anonymous dw dear! : ] She/Her pronouns for this one!

Being a parental figure was surely a pain in the ass. From Tulsa, Oklahoma all the way to a lake called, or notably known as "Lake Murray", Y/N drove with the more louder of the group of Greasers. Sitting besides her was Two-Bit, who she could handle to an extent. She allowed him to take control of the radio, knowing damn well it would just be the same few songs on repeat. Behind Two-Bit was Dallas, the most annoying pain in the ass Y/N dealt with. Then there was Steve, who wasn't exactly annoying, but could be whenever he was with Soda, who had been with his brothers and Johnny in Darry's truck. So Y/N was stuck with these three as she drove. Not like she had a problem with it. Maybe just Dally's smoking problem and Two-Bit's silly antics as he whistled to girls they drove by. Which is exactly what happened as they four continued to make their way towards the lake.

"Hey there beautiful!" Two-Bit called out, half his body out the window as he called out to a girl just walking with her friends. It resulted in him being pulled in by the jacket by Y/N, who had a rather annoyed expression. "Kieth Matthews! Knock it off or go sit in the back with Dallas and Steve!" She snapped at the older teenager, only earning "oooooh's" and "you're in troubleee" from the two behind her. Which resulted in her giving a death glare from the mirror. "Okay, okay! I won't do it anymore, mom!" Two-Bit yelled out, laughing his ass off right after. Y/N scoffed as she focused on driving. She was only two years older than the teenager, being twenty whilst Darry was twenty-two. As the boys in the backseat conversated with Two-Bit and one another, Y/N kept her calm as she drove.

All the calmness in her body had slowly drifted away as they arrived at the lake, parking besides her boyfriend's car. There was no sight of the four that had driven in her boyfriends car, so she tested her head on the steering wheel for a couple seconds. "Go on, you three. I'll be there soon. Bring your bags and go change in the bathrooms." She mumbled out, earning cheers from the three boys who got out the car with their stuff and quickly ran off to go change. At least Steve and Two-Bit had, Dally trailed behind smoking a cigarette. It wasn't until around five minutes after did Y/N get out of the car and make her way towards where the other boys was. She hadn't even noticed her boyfriend making his way over, having told his second "kid brother" to make sure Ponyboy didn't drown and for nobody to pick on Johnny.

"Hello, love." Darry's voice caught her attention as she looked up to him. "Well hello to you too, superman." Y/N teased, giving a small smile to Darry as he leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss. A loving and gentle one. Darry wasn't a huge PDA person, preferring to keep all lovey dovey things away from the public eye. Public love was just… icky to the oldest Curtis brother. Unlike Soda and Steve, that was. He preferred gentle mornings, waking up side by side, making y/n breakfast, things of the such. As he looked down to his love, a soft question escaped her, her eyes staring up into Darrel’s.. “Did the boys put any sunscreen on?” Of course she was to worry about the boys. A slight chuckle escaped the older boy, which had already given Y/N an answer to her question. Grabbing Darry’s hand and beginning to drag him towards the beach by the lake once more, she called out with a stern tone of voice. “Greasers! Get your asses over here now!” Darry himself didn’t tense up, but he took note of how Dallas and Two-Bit had. “Oh, and you have full permission to lecture Two-Bit. Wouldn’t stop hollerin’ at girls from the window.” She explained, watching as the six greasers had gotten out of the water, making their way over to stand in front of Y/N and Darry by their stuff under a tree.

As Y/N stood with her arms crossed, she watched each of the boys with careful eyes. Ponyboy was more towards the back with Johnny, who had been fidgeting with his hands, whether it was cracking them or just messing with his nails. Y/N noticed it. She understood why. She used to do it before she had met Darry, preferring to keep her distance and stick to the side of the oldest greaser at the time. Two-Bit was standing with his thumbs tucked into his swim-trunks pocket, having changed in the bathroom as his jacket now laid out on his towel. It’d be all sandy, which wasn’t going to be fun when it came to Y/N’s car. Steve and Sodapop were leaning against one another, shoulder to shoulder, and Dallas? Of course he was smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. Each boy kept their eyes on Y/N, besides Johnny, who couldn’t keep eye contact and was currently staring at the sand below them all. With a calmer tone of voice, Y/N spoke up. “Did you boys put sunscreen on?” She asked, resulting in groans escaping all the boys.

“We’re not little kids, we don’t need the sunscreen,mom!” There was the commont that made everyone confused. Two-Bit had a teasing smile on his face, before Y/N looked to Darry. Who merely held his hands up in response. “Go on, have at it.” And with that, Two-Bit knew what to do. “RUN!” He shouted with a playful tone, turning to run towards the water again, with Y/N hot on his heels. “Get back here, Kieth!”

#Darry Curtis x reader #Ponyboy curtis #sodapop curtis #Johnny cade #steve randle #two bit matthews #the outsiders x reader #the outsiders imagine

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tinycheesecakedetective · 4 months

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Potential Swap AU? + Ramblings pt. 1(OLD)

So with Mystic Flour cookie just coming into my life yesterday, I have finally found reprieve from the art and writing block that has beat my ass since the end of finals. Now with this newfound freedom I have found the inspiration to continue here. And fittingly enough, I have another ancient swap idea. Call it cliche, I know.

However, instead of just trading traits, like making Dark Cacao the Beast of Apathy and vice versa, I'd like to take their existing vices and virtues and use that as a springboard. This also means I have to get creative with some of the beasts' personalities, so if anything ends up being inaccurate, I wash my hands clean of it. This is all speculation, after all. I also want to split this into parts so I don't end up overwhelmed with too many paragraphs. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's begin the swappening!

White Lily Cookie: Beast of Discord and Silent Salt Cookie: Ancient Hero of Harmony

Yes I'm going out of order, what of it? They were easy. Too much freedom leads to chaos and anarchy the same way too much order leads to oppression and, well, silence. White Lily has always been free spirited, and was the odd one out of the ancients from the jump. Heck, before the first Beast Yeast update she didn't even have a kingdom(still don't think she should have one.) She's reserved, curious to a fault, and has crippling self worth issues. So what happens if she becomes corrupted? You get Dark Enchantress Cookie.

...No, I'm serious. This is why these two were easy; one of them is kind of canon already.

Dark Enchantress Cookie is essentially the other example of what happens when Solidarity goes too far. White Lily went to find out the secrets of creation for the sake of cookie kind, and when she found out the truth she was reborn and swore to unite all of Earthbread by any means necessary. It didn't matter if she would cause destruction and chaos in her wake, she was going to make it happen. You could argue that DE could also represent Silence, but her preferred method of taking control is destabilization and recruitment, whereas I'm assuming(heavy on the assuming here) Silent Salt's way of control was more complete annihilation and forced subjugation. So if you wanted to make WL a beast, just take her and DE and put them in a blender.

The way I see it, Lily would have no kingdom; rather she'd be a forest guardian, with other cookies acting as rulers instead of her. Leaving her plenty of time to visit other areas as the Virtue of Solidarity, and when becoming a Beast she'd curse the lands she once protected. The forest would become a wasteland of madness, nigh uninhabitable and overrun with all sorts of terrible creatures. Stepping into the area would immediately separate you from whatever group you came with, and staying there too long would drive you to insanity.

Silent Salt, in contrast, would resemble the Cacao Kingdom the most, just having Arthurian Knights as inspiration rather than the Korean influence Dark Cacao had. Fitting considering how many people thought they and DC were connected. I can't say much on their personality, but I would assume that they would be firm and the most organized out of the sin squad. The tactician, if you will. Speaking of chocolate, though.

Dark Cacao Cookie: Beast of Obstinance and Mystic Flour Cookie: Ancient Hero of Prudence

Well, well, well. If it isn't these two again. I'm still buzzing off of the trailer, so let's not hesitate any longer. Obstinate means to stubbornly stick to an opinion, purpose, or direction in spite of reason or persuasion. It's an unmovable object, incapable of change because it believes its way is the only way. We've already seen the negative effects of Dark Cacao's resolution through characters like Dark Choco and Affogato, who have been driven away by him or went to extremes for their goals, as well as the positives with Caramel Arrow and her determination. The first time we saw him he was essentially like this, which rippled outwards and affected everyone. I am not surprised he's the first one to succumb to his respective beast, albeit temporarily.

In this AU, I don't feel that his kingdom would change that much. I feel like his kingdom would just become a full on military fortress, with no one coming in and no one getting out. His army would need to be completely loyal or face punishment, and the outside villages would be in total servitude as slaves. If you can even enter, the atmosphere would be downright oppressive, making it hard for anyone to stand, much less move forward. There are numerous levels to his fortress, each testing your fortitude in various ways, Spire of Order style.

For Mystic Flour, I will be using she/her and they/them interchangeably because they have not yet been confirmed as female(but it is heavily suspected.) According to the wiki, Mystic Flour is heavily inspired by Buddhism, more specifically a deity named Guanyin, who was an all seeing, benevolent being that could alleviate the Earth's sorrows with infinite mercy. Knowing this, I have a few ideas of how they might act in game. Perhaps before they became the cookie personification of the plague, she also had future vision of some kind and was able to see events and disasters before they happened, and knowing this she tried to intervene when they could. Maybe whenever she tried to intervene it didn't help, and that's how she stayed. Like DC, they were definitely the first to turn and resorted to killing everyone to help guide them to eternal peace.

In order for her to be Prudence, I would imagine instead of them simply not caring or killing everyone, she would take a different approach and instead intervene as necessary. Their "kingdom" would be similar to a temple, acting more as a monastery then an actual kingdom. If there was a kingdom it would be somewhat separate, with people making pilgrimages to her area rather than them ruling directly. From there cookies could make requests or advice, and depending on the situation she would intervene as necessary, being careful as to not overstep. Because of her cautiousness I imagine that they would be somewhat resented by some of the commonfolk for not stepping in more and being passive, but those closest to them would revere her for their wisdom and sense of control.

And that's all for now! I've been staring at this post for too long and these two are the ones I was able to present at the moment. If you have any suggestions or just want to say something funny, the ask box is open for anyone. I will be trying to take questions and figure out how the asks work.

#cookie run kingdom #crk au #dark cacao cookie #mystic flour cookie #white lily cookie #silent salt cookie #exchangedfatesau

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knightotoc · 9 months

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Just finished IWTV book, so now I can say the differences between the book, movie, and show. The movie is quite accurate to the book, while the show is more original. I love them all quite a lot, but I think the show is my favorite since it's the most romantic. Long post with spoilers below the cut.

book:

The depth of Louis' interiority, especially his thoughts about religion, can only be found in the book. I am also ex-Catholic so this is high-key my shit. Especially knowing Anne Rice went back and forth later in life. I can relate. Louis wants to talk about his feelings with other vampires, but Lestat and Claudia aren't interested, which is the main reason Louis is attracted to Armand. Where is the Brideshead Revisited crossover?? Louis get in a bisexual love triangle with the Flytes for me🙏

I learned in the Matt Baume video on Anne Rice that she wrote IWTV while grieving her daughter, who died of leukemia just before her sixth birthday. This feeling of grief, reflected so clearly in Claudia, is the most moving and unique aspect of the book, far more than anything between the adult characters.

One reason this feeling is watered-down in both adaptations is that in the book, Claudia is only 5/6, the age of Anne's real daughter. In the movie she is 10 and in the show 14. Of course it would be impossible to find a 6 year old actress who could act with the maturity of an 80-year-old woman. But the character is even more pitiful and bizarre as a little child than as one nearing puberty.

In the book, Lestat is shown to have survived the murder attempt pretty early on, and he keeps jump-scaring Louis and Claudia on their adventures. I prefer the movie's version where they hold off on this reveal. Though of course I always love to see him, lol

In the book, I got the impression that Lestat and Louis are both bi, but Lestat prefers men and Louis prefers women. Still, their motivations aren't driven by sexuality in a straightforward way. For example, Lestat's ideal prey is a young man, because he loves to destroy their potential. Louis feels something like love for a few women characters, because he feels empathy for their misfortunes.

The adaptations soften/change Louis' status as a slave-owner; in the movie, he frees his slaves, and in the book he just flees. As much as Louis is a soft-hearted quasi-feminist, defined by his guilt and regret, he is still racist and close-minded in most ways. This seems realistic to me.

I did think it was interesting and cool that the enslaved people can tell Louis and Lestat aren't human, while the other plantation owners and even Lestat's dad have no idea. But we don't get their perspective, just Louis' racist assumptions.

Yeah in the book Lestat has a dad! It is rather confusing since Lestat explains nothing, but it creates some great melodrama. I guess I have to read the next one and hope for a backstory reveal.

Fun spooky detour into Eastern Europe! I hope the show goes there in season 2.

Louis and Armand's discussions are really cool. I especially loved Louis' monologues after Claudia's death. There wasn't room for these discussions in the movie, but I feel like it'll be a main focus in season 2 of the show.

movie:

Like I said, the movie is impressively accurate, and a beautiful work of art on its own. The best innovation is holding off on the Lestat reveal until almost the very end. This makes it look like their murder attempt really did a number on him, and it took decades and decades of rat-eating to even drag himself out of the swamp. I like that.

The movie also has a more exciting and ridiculous ending, in which Lestat attacks the reporter in his car and drives away to Guns N' Roses. The book ends with the reporter hurrying off to find Lestat himself. It's funnier and more awesome if Lestat is the one driving the plot and the car. Pleased to meet you :D

"How avant-garde." Best line in the movie, and it's not from the book!

Since the movie cut out most of the minor characters, there isn't as much evidence for Louis' bisexuality. Louis seems more like, gay but closeted. And Lestat seems more like, gay but misogynist, so he'll prey on women just for sport lol.

I'm a Fight Club guy so I love that this is, like, a reverse companion movie (this time, Brad Pitt is the pushover in a dangerous gay duo)

show:

This is the only version that is clearly gay. But this dynamic is the same: Louis wants to talk about things, and Lestat does not. In this case, the focus of these discussions is not vampirism or religion but their relationship. Louis points out that he is gay and Lestat is bi. Perhaps it's just because I saw this version first, but this is my favorite version of their sexualities. The show simply spends more time with this dynamic, and how it affects everything, including their interracial relationship and openness in society.

In the book, Lestat is a talented but soulless musician. He can play anything, but without heart. In the show, music is Lestat's one genuine connection to humanity (even if this connection just leads him to kill musicians who don't impress him). I believe later books go more into Lestat as a musician, so I'll have more thoughts on this later.

Since the reporter is cynical, old, and dying, this creates a much more compelling conversation within the framing device. He holds Louis to task with a forcefulness that rivals Lestat. It is a clever way of modernizing the story, since Daniel references their last interview in the 70s (when the book was published), and you are meant to wonder which version is more truthful.

Since Claudia is 14, she can pass as an adult, and she is able to go on her own rather disastrous adventure. It is exciting, terrifying, and sad, and a welcome addition for this character, though it is much different than the book's helpless, heartless Claudia.

The Catholicism in the show is flashier, but not as interesting as the book. For example, in the book, Louis is haunted not just by Paul's death, but Louis' failure to meet Paul's faith-driven monetary demands. In the show, Paul's ideas seem like more of an annoyance. Maybe there will be more religious doubt in season 2, but I don't really expect it.

In the book, it seems like Louis and Claudia throw Lestat in the swamp since it's faster and more thorough than fire. In the show, the oven they use is a major plot point, and Louis can't bear to put Lestat's body in it because he still loves him. Instead they throw Lestat in the trash, which is one of my favorite tropes (see: Maul in The Clone Wars, Soldier 1998). This is just one of the many ways the show complicates and deepens Louis and Lestat's bond.

I feel like the show is more believable and has more deepness in general, since it's a smart retrospective on an old franchise and a response to decades of vampire fun in pop culture. For example, in the show Louis has volunteer humans to feast upon, and it's very "safe, sane, and consensual," versus the universally predatory relationships in the book and movie. Because we all know now that if vampires were real, and they were hot and rich, they could get all the blood they want without hurting anyone. An ethical vampire like Louis isn't impossible anymore. Compared to other billionaires, he's a pretty decent guy.

So, I'd say the book has the most profound perspective on grief, the movie has better structure, and the show has the most complex romance.

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #iwtv 1976 #iwtv 1994 #iwtv 2022

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box-this-lap · 11 months

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F1 Driver's Championship winners who switched teams right after they won it

This post was inspired by a question asked by @vro0m the other day. Although they were asking about drivers who left WCC winning teams, i thought drivers champions who ditched their teams would be interesting as well.

Juan Manuel Fangio, 1956->57; Ferrari->Maserati. (was known to drive for a different team after each of his championship wins up yo this point, but its important to note those times had to do with his teams leaving the sport. The only time it was his decision was 1956->57)

Alberto Ascari, 1953->1954; Ferrari->Lancia (Not paid enough, perhaps on the grounds that he was risking his life)

Denny Hulme, 1967->68; Brabham->McLaren (can't find a source on this one but he was extremely close to Bruce McLaren and had driven for him in other race series. To give an idea of why i think their closeness could have been a factor, he was considered a man of fewer words and emotions than Kimi Raikonen, but openly weeped at Bruces death in 1970 during a testing accident)

Jackie Stewart, 1969->70; Matra->Tyrell (this could be semantic. Matra International was a "privateer" team from 1968->69 which was actually a collab between Tyrell the man and the french company Matra. The name of Stewart's team changes from 69-70 because Tyrell the man prefered maintaining a working relationship with Ford whereas Matra was moving on to Chrysler. Wikipedia articles partially seem to think the Tyrell team is basically a continuation of the Matra International team the year prior since Tyrell the man was technically the team owner of each. Matra however enters a works team in 1970 that also ran one race in 1969 so its confusing. )

Jochen Rindt, Honorable mention; he died in the Italian GP practice in 1970. He had such a big lead he still won the championship in spite of his passing.

Nikki Lauda, 1977->78; Ferrari->Brabham (Nikki's huge accident that almost killed him in the 1976 season changed his outlook on racing in exceptionally poor weather conditions. As a result, he refused to race in the 1976 Japanese GP, and lost the championship to James Hunt in the process. Ferarri was pissed about this and it deteriorated his relationship with Ferrari severely for the 1977 season. After being treated so poorly (even in the driver lineup from his point of view) he decided to leave despite winning the championship. Its important to note however that he's believed to have won by consistency despite the car's outright slower pace, so he might have also had technical concerns)

Nelson Piquet, 1987->88; Williams->Lotus (in 86 and 87 Piquet was racing alongside Nigel Mansel in a WCC winning Williams. According to Piquet he had an agreement with team owner Frank Williams that he would be the number one driver for 86, an agreement he felt was neglected after Frank got in a car accident and left the team in the management of Mansel's race engineer. Specifically, he was upset that Mansel was not ordered to let him pass for the race win on two occasions that year, and had he been let through he would have been champion rather than Alain Prost. The relationship never recovered from that, but for some reason Piquet waited to leave. It is worth noting that he signed for Lotus before winning the 87 championship. Additionally Mansel finished first in more races than him that year but lost because of Piquet's podium consistency)

Alain Prost, 1989->1990; McLaren->Ferrari (ho boy. Long story partially short, Prost believed Honda (engine supplier) favored Senna, and therefore so did McLaren for the 1988-89 seasons, to the point of even giving Senna a better engine in the 1989 season. Supposedly for the 1988 season a Honda employee confirmed the suspicion while speaking to Prost in person, but promised he'd do his best to change that for 89. Prost did not believe this had occured, as he felt his car was underperforming Senna's in 89. His biggest piece of evidence was that while running a better straight-line-speed setup than Senna in Mexico, he still was not being able to pass Senna by engine power on the straight. For Honda's part, they had a major press event where they tried to explain technically why Senna's driving style suited the engine better, but the employee giving the interview kept referring to prost by his surname but not Senna, which is a sign of a stronger personal relationship in Japanese culture and was taken as a sign of bias)

Nigel Mansell, 1992->93; Williams->N/A (retired)

Michael Schumacher, 1995->96; Benneton->Ferrari (Schumacher's official statement is that he abandoned his contract with Benneton a year early due to "the teams damaging actions in 1994" to use wikipedias wording. The teams actions include: software shenanigans where the car was found to have the supposedly unused ability to correct bad manual starts, which would give the driver the ability to have perfect starts regardless of their affectiveness with the clutch; ignoring a black flag for a safety car overtake; and having a skidblock that was so worn down it suggested Benneton was ignoring aero regulations)

Damon Hill, 1996->97; Williams->Arrows (this one doesny count because it was outside of Hill's control, but it's really funny. Williams sacked him in favor of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, whom i have never heard of and apparently would only ever win 3 F1 races in his career. Hill chose Arrows not because they were the best team with an offer, but because they wanted to pay him the most. His career sucked after that)

Fernando Alonso, 2006->2007; Renault->McLaren (wikipedia straight up just doesnt explain this. A reddit thread gives a lot of uncited opinions as to why, but a significantly large number of their users cite that McLaren was seen as a consistently top team in this era while Renault was seen as volitale. With Alonso signing for 2007 as early as late 2005, heres some possible factors: Renault's bizzare lack of commitment to staying in the sport; McLaren winning more races in late 2005 than Renault; Renault's success was partially attributed to weird tire rules).

Jenson Button 2009->10; Brawn->McLaren (Brawn was bought out to become mercedes, but was left to its Brawn leadership to still run the team. Jenson won the championship because of dominance at the beginning that was cut short by not developing the car enough. He still won overall, but Jenson asked for a larger focus on in-season developement for the next year as a condition for staying. Ultimately, he was spoked off when he discovered mercedes didnt have enough sponsors for their plan yet)

Nico Rosberg, 2016->17; Mercedes->N/A (retired)

#f1 #f1 history #nico rosberg #fernando alonso #michael shumacher #damon hill #alain prost #nelson piquet #niki lauda #jochen rindt #jackie stewart #denny hulme #alberto ascari #juan manuel fangio #motorsport #motorsport history #tw death

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owmylasagna-blog · 8 months

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You know, despite Nazz being the most bland and forgettable of the kids, I also think she's (ironically) the most versatile at the same time. She might be both a tomboy and a girly girl, she fits in two trios (sometimes she's hanging out with Kevin and Rolf, sometimes she's hanging out with Sarah and Jimmy- something that hardly applies to the other characters), she has a fair share of interests (sports, studying law, fashion, music, math according to her report card) and actually a good jokes and gags (she eats A LOT, she's poor in music, and according to ''Mission-Ed Possible'' she's also bad in cooking). There so much directions they could took with her... and she's the only nice girl on the show.

I guess since most of the writers were men, they preferred or were more comfortable writing for male characters most of time (or they just assumed most of the target public/audience were boys, like usually happened in that time).

Yeah I actually like Nazz as a character and of all the kids on the show she is absolutely the most pleasant one to be around! Unfortunately given the high octane slapstick, exaggerated personalities, and overall humor of the show she sort of gets lost. Nazz functions to fit some role in service of the plot rather than plots being driven by some key aspect of her personality or interests. Which as a side character makes some sense but I feel like each of the side characters get their moments to shine! When we get a Nazz focused episode it’s really more about how all the boys feel about her. Nazz’s desires, motives, history, and perspective aren’t super fleshed out which is my main critique.

For a show about the awkwardness of puberty she is astoundingly well adjusted. I always assumed she was slightly older than the Eds so maybe 13-14? She’s inexplicably very mature. I kind of wish we got a sense of why that was the case! Like, we know Edd is the responsible one in his respective trio because he has to an extremely independent kid at home (and has mad anxiety). I don’t know what drives Nazz to be thoughtful, kind, and relatively more mature. Does anyone else? In the series bible she is described as “most mature of the kids, or so she thinks” and man do I want to know more what that means! Like maybe she should have been shown being more self conscious about wanting to seem older/ more mature than her age. It doesn’t get explored really!

And then there is just the reality of being a middle schooler! Scott Underwood posted a drawing of Nazz where she has leg hair and I’m kind of mad nothing like that got incorporated in the show!! That sort of character design choice gets relegated to the Kanker sisters (obsessed with that photo of Lee shaving her legs in the fucking kitchen sink, what an icon).

It’s why I find the interface of the Kankers and Nazz so interesting - I risk sounding like a broken record but I’ve been saying the same shit for like 10 years now. And while the Kankers aren’t necessarily the most well rounded either they ARE much more interesting to me because the crew wasn’t afraid to make them unlikable or gross or tackle their pubescent growing pains or their messed up love/hate relationship to men.

Idk this is just my take! I could be missing some things, so I’m curious how other folks feel about Nazz!

#i started ranting sorry #yap yap dribble dribble #Nazz

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quillkiller · 2 months

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I would like to hear more of your thoughts on regulus and the Bella swan effect, it sounds soo interesting

okay so the bella swan effect, to me, is sort of almost the same as the y/n effect!! like in twilight bella really is just this socially awkward new in town-girl. she doesn’t do her makeup, prefers reading over going out, wears boring clothes, has no rizz— the whole y/n package. and yet every guy in the twilight universe falls in love with her..

so the bella swan-effect + regulus means that he’s, to me, socially awkward and couldn’t charm a brick wall even on a good day. but he has the black name. he has a reputation just from being born a black. on top of that he’s the sibling of reckless, cool & motorcycle driving sirius black. people have a million ideas of who regulus is before they even get to know him. he has his brothers pretty face and the same black family scowl. people want to get to know sirius and sirius has always wanted to be surrounded by people and friends. he’s the sociable one. the charming one, the hot one. people don’t compare sirius to regulus, but they’ll always compare regulus to sirius. a fate he’ll never be able to escape. not even sirius can’t help comparing his little brother to himself.

so people already think they know who regulus black is. they romanticise his pretty face and resting sad face and grey eyes. they don’t put him on a pedestal necessarily like they do lily, but they respect him before they even get to know him. they have a million expectations of him that they assume will be met. they expect him to be kind like his brother, fierce like his brother, driven like his brother, a romantic like his brother <- but people also find him more digestible. he’s softer than sirius so they think he’s easier. and this is why people fall in love with regulus before ever talking to him. people fall in love with sirius after they get to know him, but they love regulus before. people see regulus sitting in the library reading pretentious books and thinks this means he wants to be swept off his feet, regulus is quiet and this makes people say he’s just misunderstood. regulus is pretty and this makes people think they should tell him that.

^ also a difference between sirius and regulus. sirius is the one telling you you’re pretty, but regulus is the type of person who would be told he’s pretty. he’s the more submissive one (according to other people). he needs someone. he needs me. i could fix him <- big in the regulus + bella swan-effect. i could make him happy. i’m what he needs. im the only one who gets him. etc etc etc

when in reality no one is trying to get to know him or understand him. he’s not like sirius and he doesn’t want to be. he thought he did when they both still lived at home but actually trying to be him when sirius left very nearly genuinely killed him. so he doesn’t want to be sirius. which is a concept sirius struggles to understand. and he doesn’t want to be called pretty by people (<- that he doesn’t know). he doesn’t want to be percieved at all. which is why, like ive said before, he lives in big shirt big pants combo. he spent his entire life breaking his back to fit into the box he was born into and when he leaves the idea of fitting into anything makes him feel sick. he’s not the pretty faced sad kid who’ll let you save him. he doesn’t want to be saved. doesn’t want to be understood. confusing people is reassuring to him. he’d rather exist as a black void if he could.

and people learn this, one after the other. they try to talk to the mysterious youngest black looking like a fallen angel in the library thinking they’ll sweep him off his feet only to realise that maybe sometimes the weird kid is just the weird kid. maybe there isn’t this romanticised depth to him. maybe he isn’t the y/n that people made him out to be in their minds. maybe he’s just socially awkward and absolutely insufferable to have a conversation with. maybe the weird quiet kid doesn’t need to be fixed. maybe he likes himself. maybe it says more about you that you looked at him like a blank canvas and shaped him into what you wanted him to be.. maybe he’s done with that. maybe he doesn’t respect you like you thought you respected him… (<— woahh meta..)

maybe bella swan never becomes a vampire in a sexy blue dress <3

#i hope this made sense lmao……..#rab #asks

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sidesteppostinghours · 7 months

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:33 18 and 6 for cynthia and 23 and 42 for caine? also E for both of them?

evening!! hii sammy :D (and gm to you)!

18. What embarrasses them?

oh my beloved little girl gets embarrassed/flustered super easily, its a trait many (ortega and themmy) have exploited before. broadly, something that would embarrass her is just being put in the center of attention. shes got extremely low arrogance, she prefers sticking to the sidelines whenever possible. its also a role shes more used to playing– back in her sidestep days, she was a sidekick, and even earlier than that, back in the farm, she specialized more on tailing and tracking people. she wasnt trained to act in front of a group of people that wasnt serving them, and alongside her whole,,, thing with the past, shed revisit it often and itd be a nightmare for her lol.

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

ooh this is interesting. hmmm. id say she defaults to laws being immovable, but given the right incentive she could find out some creative ways to push them. i guess the best way to explain it is like. you know dnd alignments? yeah shed be lawful good, but resting on the trigger finger of true neutral. it wasnt like that before she met the rangers, id categorize her as lawful neutral because of what the farm taught her, but the rangers gave her a sense of purpose and morality that shifted that neutrality into good. she still gets apprehensive when she thinks about going against what shes been told, especially since she grew up with this getting drilled into her.

23. How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?

you know, caines not the type to get jealous over what people have, its not useful to think about what couldve been when they could be spending their time thinking about how to use the resources hes got effectively and overall hes very content with the draw life has given him, so-

*remembers mortums lab exists*

i take back everything i just said, caine would strangle god with his bare hands for the chance to play with her lab

for him though, envy ends up being more of a mix of wistfulness and awe. hes not very antagonistic when he gets like this, youll just get a lot of questions from them and possibly see the very rare caine puppy dog eyes as they stare forlornly at the item they want (which. lets be real here. is more than likely something tech related. you will never see caine as happy as when he got the chance to play with ortegas mods).

42. How badly do they want to reach their end goal?

a reasonable amount! dont. dont look at the driven achievement. no you dont have to check their drive stat, hey stop looking at the stats-

hes willing to do what it takes to achieve his goals, no matter how badly it hurts, because he genuinely believes its that important. theyll sacrifice a lot for what they believe is the greater good. its less that he wants to reach his end goal, and more that they need to. its something that goes beyond what they feel (and thats part of the reason they attribute their motivation to fate rather than justice!).

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

Caine- theyre already very difficult to get close to usually, and hes rather aloof and hard to talk to. theyre polite, just,,, distant. i already struggle with holding conversations so itd peter out very quick. unless we somehow got on the subject of tech. in which case fuck yeah i know how to work my way through an infodump and itd probably be a fun conversation. most likely though, wed be in the same room and minding our own business lol.

Cynthia- oh i would hate talking to her. SHED BE NICE AND POLITE AND SWEET BUT GOD SHED BE SO DIFFICULT TO TALK TO. we both tend to react to the energy the other person gives off but our default state is quiet and polite, with the anxiety of a nervous lapdog. everytime id think of talking to her id probably have an anxiety spike because theres so few things to talk about, both of us require specific dialogue options to unlock character information and i could not deal with that stress 😭😭😭

questions from here!

#im excited to play revelations w cynthia because i think thats where she really starts to pick up #her true neutral roots get to take center stage since she got her tether to morality severed #i just realized #i completely forgot to consider the fact i am a literal child help #caine would probably avoid me because adults are hard to deal with and they dont wanna know how things work inside a kids brain #cynthia would be more indulgent but ultimately shes equally unable to handle children lmfao #sammy it was really. really hard to answer this coherently while simultaneously crying over corey laitman #you need to know what youve inflicted on me #theres a song called the well right in front of me and i havent clicked it yet but im about to and im scared #caine lynzal #cynthia garcia #sidestep #fhr #pulp answers #ask game #edit: ITS LIKE. A DAY??? TWO DAYS LATER? AND I JUST REALIZED THAT I FORGOT TO FINISH CAINES ASK. HELP 😭

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just-finished-watching · 7 months

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Boyz n the Hood

Finished Watching: 2/13/2024

Genre: Crime, Drama, Coming-of-Age

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟/5 (3/5)

Expectations: Honestly, I had no clue what I was expecting from this film. I knew it was going to be another coming-of-age story, and The Breakfast Club felt like it was enough for me (y'all I'm taking a coming-of-age film class, I'm not gonna make it T_T). I wasn't expecting it to be super impactful on me, mostly because I've had a completely different life and growing-up experience than I expected these kids to have, so it felt like it was once again going to not be relatable for me.

Not a Favorite

Summary: Tre is sent to live with his father, Furious Styles, in Southern LA. His father is strict but instills him with proper values and teaches him about respect, which is not an easy task in the neighborhood they live in. When he's 17, Tre is a level-headed teen who has stayed out of trouble, unlike his friend Doughboy, who has been in and out of jail multiple times. Doughboy and his brother, Ricky, don't have the same kind of support Tre has, and thus they live out the tragedy that is expected of them.

Thoughts (*SPOILERS*):

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much from this movie. Probably because I was still disappointed with my first coming-of-age film. But Boyz n the Hood was actually worth the time. There were times were it would be a bit slower, but that's expected of every movie. This film is a lot more plot-driven, rather than character-driven, like I was expecting it to be. Sure, the characters all had distinct personalities, and their personalities fueled the plot, but it wasn't the only thing driving the film.

I originally didn't expect to relate to this film at all. After all, they're supposed to be in Southern LA, in a neighborhood overrun with druggies, gangs, and violence. I grew up as a loser in the suburbs. The closest thing I've seen to a fight is similar to the fights that Doughboy and Ricky would have, between 2 guys outside my old high school. I was correct in thinking that I wouldn't relate to this film. But that doesn't take away from it, strangely.

The overall plot was pretty well done. Obviously, like most older movies I haven't heard of before, I didn't have too high expectations, yet this film was able to hold my attention. When I would drift off, it caught me again (though I would have preferred to not drift off in the first place). I think I liked Ricky's storyline the best though. Despite not having as great support as Tre had, he still was making something of himself, and in the end, no matter how hard he tried to do good, it still wasn't enough. It really portrays the tragedy of life in a more extreme way that I was hooked on.

While Ricky's plotline may have been my favorite, my favorite character had to be Doughboy. He was misguided from a young age, but damn, the kid had nobody. His mother preferred Ricky, so he turned to a new life. He was dangerous and probably put a target on everybody's back, but COULD YOU BLAME HIM?? If I saw my mom openly favoring my half-brother in a situation like his, shit, maybe I would have as well. Doughboy is the tragic character who fucks everything up, not because he wants to, but because it's all he knows how to do.

Overall, this movie was one of the better ones that I've seen this year (I've only seen one other thing, and I already posted about it (._.)). Would I have watched it if it wasn't required in my course? Probably not. But I'm glad I did.

#boyz n the hood #coming of age #black films #movie recommendation #movies #movies to watch #movie review #tre styles #furious styles #doughboy baker #ricky baker #boyz in the hood #90s films #to watch #spoilers #movie #90s movies

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twopoppies · 2 years

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this is gonna sound random but why doesn't louis drive anywhere? in his insta reels/BTS videos for example he's always being driven everywhere or seems to be getting in the backs of cars rather than doing the driving himself, when he was young he'd get trains (that famous photo with H, for example), etc. why do we never see him making his own way places driving (like H does, he drives all the time to his own shows, with stunts, etc), is he so used to H driving him everywhere/picking him up when they're around each other (we have receipts of that, he was at some sort of appointment once and H was like in the area a few streets away and either dropped or picked him up?) that he just never bothers or what? or he does privately and we just don't see it? i'm confused 😂

I don’t think it’s anything more than that he prefers to be driven. We know he can drive. 😆

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smilingformoney · 11 months

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For the Love of Books, Chapter IV. Getting to Know You

Summary: Sinclair starts spending his lunch breaks with Betty, but it has a knock-on effect he didn’t anticipate.

Read now on Ao3 or below the cut:

As soon as the clock hit noon, Sinclair jumped up from his desk, eager to take his lunch break. This was normal for him, because he was always hungry by noon, but today he had another reason to be eager - he was going to bring Betty some lunch. He stopped by one of his very favourite sandwich shops and picked them both up a pork and mustard sandwich. Then, halfway out the door, he remembered that Betty was a vegetarian, so he turned back around and bought her a cheese and onion sandwich instead.

He didn’t get to the shop until half past, and he was apologising profusely as he burst in, the little bell above the door tinkling to signal his arrival. He began to explain why he was so late, but he stopped when he looked around the shop and saw that (a) Betty wasn’t there and (b) the shop had completely changed. It had been redecorated and furnished, and it looked just about ready to open.

He was still looking around, gawping, when Betty emerged from the back.

“Sorry, I was on the loo when you came in!” she said, then noticed he was staring at the shop. “What do you think?”

“I love it!” Sinclair exclaimed with a grin, finally looking at her. She looked tired, and she was wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans, and still she managed to look really very pretty. “Did you do all this yesterday?”

“Yeah, and today, I was up way past midnight. I’ve hardly slept, but I knew you were coming at twelve, so I managed to get myself up.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh, no, looks like I still got up late. You weren’t waiting too long, I hope?”

“Actually, I was late too, so it’s okay!” Sinclair raised the bag up to show her. “I’ve got lunch!”

“Great! Let me just grab another chair and we can sit at the counter.”

Once another chair had been procured and they were comfortably sitting across the shop counter from one another, Sinclair brought out the sandwiches, licking his lips hungrily.

“Why are there three? I know you like your food, Sinclair, but —“

“Oh, no, it’s not for me! Well, it is now, I suppose. I wasn’t sure what you’d like so I bought pork and mustard because that’s my favourite, but then I remembered you were a vegetarian, so I got you cheese and onion, which is another one of my favourites. So now I have two pork sandwiches.”

“I’m sure you’ll make a valiant effort to eat them both.”

“I’ll try! Here, this one’s yours.”

The sandwich was delicious, although Betty would have liked more cheese, but it was free food so she wasn’t going to complain. Between mouthfuls, Sinclair told her all about his Sunday - skipping over the dream - and complained about the client he’d had a meeting with that morning.

“Honestly, Betty, I wish you were my client, I’d much prefer meetings with you.” His eyes lit up as an idea hit him, and Betty thought he looked rather like an excited puppy who’d just heard the word walkies. “Hey, maybe you could be my client! You need to know what books people are going to want to buy so you can get ahead of the curve. And you could host events here, too, I could tell you what people will like so when something becomes popular you’ve got a reading or a signing already happening!”

“I doubt I can afford your services, Sinclair,” Betty reminded him quietly. “You said yourself people pay a lot of money for what you do. I’m just a little secondhand bookshop.”

“I’ll work pro bono.”

“No,” Betty said firmly. “Absolutely not. You’ve already fed me multiple meals since we met three days ago, given me a driving lesson - albeit not a very productive one - and driven me to Windsor and back. I can’t be in more debt to you.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Betty? I don’t want any money from you. I won’t be shy about it - I have a lot. More money than sense, that’s what Natalie always says when I come back with another vintage car. A few meals, my time and some petrol - it’s pocket change to me. And I can afford to take on one pro bono client.”

“But I’m not giving you anything! What are you possibly getting out of this?”

“Time with you!”

“But you hardly know me!”

“Exactly, that’s why I want to get to know you! What I do know is you’re nice and pretty and interesting and I like spending time with you. Isn’t that enough?”

“You… think I’m pretty?”

Sinclair paused. He had said that, hadn’t he?

“Well, yes. Of course I do. But that’s not why I’m here, I’m not trying to date you. Not that I wouldn’t want to - dating you would be very nice - but, well, I’m married.”

“Yes, I know. Natalie made that very clear.”

“I don’t like cheating.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“You are pretty, though.”

“Thanks. You’re - erm - for what it’s worth… you’re very handsome.”

Sinclair blushed a little and smiled shyly.

“But I’m not trying to date you either,” Betty added quickly. “Like you said… you’re married. I respect that.”

“Of course.” Sinclair shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Well… I meant what I said about pro bono work. I can’t give you a whole business plan like some of my bigger clients, but I can keep an eye on literary trends and let you know if I hear anything.”

“That’d be great. And… if I get any books in that I think you’ll find interesting, I’ll keep them back for you.”

“Oh, be careful with that, because I’ll probably find them all interesting.”

“I bet you will!”

They both laughed, then there was an awkward silence.

“Do you still want to do lunch tomorrow?” Sinclair asked uncertainly.

“Of course! But I’ll feed you this time.”

Sinclair smiled and nodded in agreement, his mouth already full of his second sandwich, and he was excited already to see what lunch she would choose for them.

***

On arriving at work the next day, Sinclair found a message left from his secretary:

From Betty Bennett -

12.15 exactly please. I will be upstairs.

Sinclair was never any good at timekeeping, but he didn’t want to disappoint Betty, so he kept his eye on the clock all morning as well as asking his secretary to remind him to leave at 12.00 on the dot. He rushed out of the office and was so prompt that he actually arrived at the shop at 12.10. He waited outside, keeping a careful eye on his watch to make sure he knocked at exactly 12.15, and while he did so he watched the workmen who were erecting the shop’s name in bold letters above the door.

He glanced down at his watch. Oh, no, 12.16! Sinclair knocked on the door to the stairwell that led up to Betty’s apartment and pressed the bell for good measure. After a few moments, he heard footsteps, and Betty opened the door. She smiled when she saw him, and he smiled too. Her bushy hair was tied back and she was wearing an apron that had a splatter of something that looked like sauce on it.

“Hi!” Sinclair said. “Sorry I’m a minute late!”

“That’s okay, I’m actually cooking for 12.30. I said 12.15 because I knew you’d be late.”

“Cheeky! But fair.”

“Come on, quickly, I’ve got the chicken in the pan.”

Sinclair followed Betty up the stairs, which he couldn’t help but notice were a bit old and run down. Then again, she had only just moved in and was probably more concerned about renovating the shop and her flat than the stairs between them.

“Er - before we go in,” Betty said, stopping so suddenly at her door that Sinclair almost went straight into her. “I just want to remind you that you are very rich so you have a very fancy home, and I am very much not rich, so I don’t have a fancy home.”

“Of course, I know that. Do you think I’m going to judge you for it?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

Sinclair smiled kindly and placed his hand on Betty’s arm. “Betty, it’s okay. I know not everyone lives like I do. You could live in a shoebox and I bet it’d be the best shoebox because it’s your shoebox.”

Betty snorted. “It’s hardly much bigger than a shoebox, to be honest. Okay, right, I just had to say that. Come on, then.”

She opened the door and hurried back to the stove, leaving Sinclair to look around.

She was right - it was very small. Sinclair had expected that, but what he hadn’t expected was that the entire flat was one single room. To his right, a bed and wardrobe; to his left, one corner was taken up by a tiny kitchen and the other corner contained a two-seater sofa and a small coffee table. A door led to what must have been the bathroom, but Sinclair wasn’t sure how a bath could fit in there even on its own, let alone alongside a toilet.

But despite the size - perhaps because of the size - the flat felt nothing short of cozy. The windowsill - the one window of the flat being near the bed - held framed family photos, the wardrobe doors were decorated with posters of artwork and book covers, and the space was utilised as much as possible for either storage or decoration. It was almost entirely opposite to Sinclair’s home, which had rooms he’d hardly ever been in that were twice the size of Betty’s entire flat, and whole empty spaces on walls and floors that were just unnecessary. He had never questioned it - he grew up in a large house and moved to a large house - but now, looking around Betty’s flat, he realised how much of his house just didn’t feel like home.

Betty was moving back and forth between the kitchen and the coffee table, placing various plates and dishes full of food.

“Are we having a buffet?” Sinclair asked.

“Of sorts,” Betty replied as she pulled down two plates from the cupboard and carried them to the table. “We’re having fajitas. You can put whatever you want in them. We’ve got peppers, onions, cheese, jalapeños, guacamole, tofu chicken, salsa and a bottle of sour cream. You’ll just have to hold your plate on your lap, sorry, I don’t have a dining table.”

Sinclair’s eyes lit up as he took in all the amazing food that was on the table. “I love it!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I don’t know what to have first!”

“Well, I’m gonna have a bit of everything,” Betty said. “So don’t feel like you have to hold back. I made three times the amount I’d make for myself so you can have a Sinclair-sized portion.”

Sinclair was beside himself with excitement. There was so much food, and it smelt so good, and Betty had done it all herself just for him! She’d even made extra for his appetite. Mei-Li usually gave him a good portion size, but when Natalie cooked, she always gave him really tiny portions and made comments about him going on a diet.

“I can’t believe you did all this!” Sinclair said as he sat on the sofa next to Betty, foot tapping with excitement as he waited for her to make her fajita before making his own. “I was just expecting sandwiches!”

“I wanted to do something special,” Betty admitted. “I can’t buy lunch like you can, but I can make it.”

“And you make it amazing!”

“Sinclair, you haven’t even tried it yet.”

“I’m getting high just from the smell of it.” He closed his eyes and inhaled. “If I wasn’t hungry before, I definitely am now.”

Once Betty was sat back on the sofa with her plate, Sinclair piled food excitedly onto his plate.

“Careful, you won’t be able to close your wrap!” Betty laughed. “Maybe I should have got bigger tortillas. Although I’d probably need one the size of a newspaper to satisfy your appetite.”

“You know me so well,” Sinclair replied with a chuckle as he finally sat back on the sofa and began carefully wrapping up his pile of food. “I can have multiple, though, right?”

“Of course. I’ve given you four.”

“Four!” Sinclair repeated excitedly. Four, Natalie’s voice in his head repeatedly sternly. “You’re too good to me, Betty. What did I do to deserve you?”

“Put up with Natalie for twelve years.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Betty thought she might have slipped up, but to her relief Sinclair just chuckled and took a large bite out of his fajita.

“Mhm!” he exclaimed.

Betty laughed. “Is that a good mhm?”

“Mmm-hmm!” Sinclair replied, and he gave her a thumbs up to emphasise his point. Not only did he eat a lot, Betty discovered, but he ate fast. She’d always thought she was a fast eater, but Sinclair could really give her a run for her money - by the time she finished her first fajita, he’d already built and was munching on his second. She’d given him four tortillas out of the packet of six, because she knew she would only have the appetite for two, and she’d rightly guessed that Sinclair could easily put away four by himself.

Her stomach satisfied with two, Betty began cleaning up the empty bowls while Sinclair kept eating, and he watched her as she stood at her sink, washing by hand because she had no dishwasher.

He hadn’t had another dream about her - not one that he could remember, at least - but that might have been because his brain was so tired of thinking about her all day that it wanted to think about literally anything else at night. Because she was on his mind constantly, like he was craving her company every moment they were apart, and when they were together was the only time he felt content. He knew it was silly - they’d only met four days ago, after all - but already he felt like he could be himself around her and she’d never judge him.

He understood her worries. Socially they were miles apart - Natalie had reminded him of that enough times since Saturday. It was strange to him that Betty lived in a single room, but his house must have been strange to her with all its extra rooms. Money was never something that worried him, but he knew people like Betty worried about it a lot. He worked because he liked his job and because he liked spending money and he knew that although his parents had left him a lot of money, it was finite and if he wanted to keep spending it he had to keep making it. Betty worked because it was the difference between eating and not.

But none of that mattered to him. He didn’t see why they couldn’t be friends. He already liked her a lot more than a lot of friends he’d known for years. She was honest, she was funny, she was smart and she encouraged him to do what made him happy, like reading and eating.

“Do you have to get back to the office soon?” Betty asked over her shoulder. Sinclair blinked, realising he’d been lost in thought - silently, for once - and hadn’t realised where he was looking - his eyes were fixed on her bum! He quickly looked away, trying to ignore the fact she had a very nice bum.

“No, I don’t have any meetings this afternoon so I can go back whenever I want.”

“That must be nice. Associate Executive privileges, I suppose. Well, if you wanted to stay a little longer, I’ve been so busy with lunch I haven’t even opened the newspaper yet. We can do the crossword together, if you’d like.”

“Yes, I’d love that!” Sinclair sat up excitedly. He stuffed the last bite of his fajita into his mouth and gathered up the rest of the plates to bring them to her. “Do you want help with these dishes?”

“Could you dry them and put them away?”

“Of course!”

Sinclair never did the washing up as Mei-Li always did it, so he was glad he was on drying duty as he wasn’t sure he could wash dishes very well. It was easy enough to dry them, though, and he could chat to Betty while he did it. It was an obvious thing for him to help her - she’d done all the cooking, after all, and he’d done most of the eating - but what he didn’t realise was that Betty was pleasantly surprised that he’d offered to help and not assumed she’d do it all for him like he probably got at home. He may be super rich, but clearly he wasn’t adverse to getting stuck in.

“Is that all of it?” Sinclair asked as he put the final bowl away and turned to Betty to see her draining the water from the sink. She turned to him and laughed.

“Almost,” she said.

Sinclair was about to ask what she meant when she tore off a piece of kitchen roll and stepped towards him. She dabbed the tissue gently against his cheek, and when she pulled away Sinclair realised there was a splotch of salsa on it.

“No wonder you need such big portions, Sinclair, half your food goes on your face!” Betty laughed. “Hang on.”

She ran the tissue under the tap briefly then began dabbing gently at his chin. Sinclair’s breath hitched to have her so close to him - so close to his lips. After a few moments that felt like decades, Betty pulled back, apparently satisfied with how he looked.

“Thanks. Has anyone ever told you how cute your concentrating face is? You get a little line between your eyebrows when you concentrate. I noticed it on Saturday too when you were doing the crossword.”

Betty blushed and glanced away. “Er - no. No one’s ever said that.”

“Well, it’s very endearing.”

“…Thanks. Crossword, then?”

She threw the tissue in the bin and retrieved the newspaper from where she’d tucked it between the arm of the sofa and the wall. She’d glanced briefly at the headline that morning, but otherwise it was untouched. Sinclair sat next to her on the sofa and fished a pen out from his pocket to hand to her. She glanced at it and chuckled when she saw it had his name and his phone number engraved on it.

“Is this in case you lose it?”

“Yes, which is helpful, because I’m always losing pens.”

Betty smoothed out the paper on her lap and Sinclair shifted a little closer to her so they could hold it between them. They’d been sat pretty close when they were eating - it was only a two-seater, after all - but this felt a lot more intimate, as their legs pressed together beneath the paper and Sinclair put his arm across the cushion behind her. It probably felt like an innocuous move to him, but she felt surrounded by him, and he was only one small movement away from having his arm around her waist. If Natalie appeared out of thin air right now, she would definitely not approve of the way they were sitting.

“President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk!” Sinclair said, pointing at 7 down.

“Woah, woah, hang on, do you just do them in a random order?”

“Well, how do you do it?”

“In order! 1 down, then 3 down, and so on, then the across ones. Then I go back and do it again with the ones I couldn’t get until I’ve got them all.”

“That’s a terrible idea, but okay, it’s your house so we’ll do it your way.”

“We’ll do it my way because my way makes the most sense.”

“Whatever you say, Miss Bennett.”

“Damn right, Mr Bryant.”

It was lucky that Sinclair didn’t have any more meetings that day, because they were both so engrossed in the crossword, and having so much fun together, that neither of them realised the time until they’d finished and the clock on the wall told them it was past 3 o’clock.

“It is definitely past the end of your lunch break,” Betty said. “You’d better get back.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Sinclair sighed, standing up. Even as Betty walked him out of the flat and down the stairs, he kept talking. “I’d love to just give myself a half day to spend more time with you, Betty, but I do have some reports to finish before tomorrow. I’ll have to stay a little late to finish them, but that’s okay, it’s worth it to spend more time with you this afternoon! Do you have a lot more to do today?”

“No, I’m just waiting for the guys here to finish with the sign then I’m pretty much ready. As long as I’m happy with the sign, I’m going to open on Monday.”

“Monday!” Sinclair exclaimed, almost jumping out of his skin and startling a passer-by. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve got to tell everyone at work to go visit the new bookshop on Cornelia Street! What time will you open? Can I stop by?”

“Of course you can,” Betty chuckled. “I’ll be opening eight to seven Monday to Saturday so you can stop by any time then. Well, you can stop by outside of those times too, I’ll always be happy to see you.”

“Great! I can’t wait! You’ll have to put a limit on me, though, otherwise I’ll buy up all your books and Natalie would kill me if I came home with a bookshop’s worth of books.”

“Natalie needs to get her priorities straight.”

The smile on Sinclair’s face dropped a little, but he quickly perked up again, although this time the smile seemed a little smaller.

“Well, thanks for lunch, Betty. It was great, and so are you.”

Betty blushed a little. “Oh - er, you’re welcome.”

Her heart skipped a beat suddenly as Sinclair moved closer to her, and she almost thought for a moment that he was going to kiss her, but instead his lips landed chastely on her cheek.

“Bye, Betty.”

“Bye, Sinclair.”

He practically skipped off, narrowly avoiding bumping into the workmen’s ladder, and Betty could feel her cheek burning where he’d kissed her.

She sighed. All the men in the city, and she had to be crushing on one that was already married.

***

Sinclair pulled up his driveway, knowing he was home a few hours late, and knowing Natalie wouldn’t be happy. Lo and behold, she was standing on the driveway, arms crossed and a frown on her face as she watched him pull up.

“Where have you been?” she demanded.

“Work ran over a bit, that’s all, Nats,” Sinclair replied. “I was late back from lunch so I had to catch up before tomorrow morning.”

Natalie rolled her eyes and sighed when she heard the word lunch. “Don’t you ever think about anything other than food?”

“Of course I do,” Sinclair said, slightly offended. The way she went on at him, one would think he was obese. He was perfectly healthy - he went running for an hour every morning, sometimes two at the weekends, and his doctor said he was healthy. He just liked to eat three full meals a day and some snacks in between, that was all, and why shouldn’t he?

“Well, Millie made dinner, and I had to eat mine all on my own. I imagine yours is cold now. I’m sure you’ll eat it all anyway.”

“Don’t worry, I will!” Sinclair said cheerily as he made his way inside, purposely ignoring her snide little comment. He had to - if he reacted to them all, he’d never stop. Besides, as it turned out, Mei-Li had made lasagne, which was easily reheated in the microwave.

“You still haven’t told me why your lunch overran,” Natalie persisted, following him into the kitchen as he set about reheating his dinner.

“Betty made fajitas! They were so delicious, and she even made extra so I could have as much as I liked. Then we sat down to do the crossword, you know I like to do the crossword, and so does she so we did it together. It took a while, it was very tough, but we got there in the end. We were having so much fun we didn’t even notice the time passing and all of a sudden it was 3 o’clock! Funny when that happens, isn’t it? So I got myself back to the office but I have these reports due for tomorrow - you know what I’m like with deadlines, always putting things off until the last minute - so I had to get them done before I came home, you see? That’s why I was late!”

He frowned as he tried to operate the microwave. “How do I work this thing?” he muttered. “Blast, I’m terrible with these things, could you help me, Natalie?”

“Here,” Natalie sighed. She came over and pressed some buttons to get his dinner revolving in the little box. She turned to him and said, “So you were late from lunch because you were hanging out with that… girl? How old is she, anyway?”

Sinclair frowned. “Do you know, I don’t know! I should have asked her, really, but it never came up. I think she’s about twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five!” Natalie tutted. “Sinclair, she’s practically a baby.”

“Nonsense. I was twenty-five when we got married.”

“Did she go to Oxford or Cambridge?”

“She didn’t go to university, she started working at eighteen.”

Natalie’s eyes widened. “Didn’t go -? Sinclair!” she gasped. “Honestly, I know you find anyone and everyone interesting, but you really do need to be careful who you’re seen associating with.”

“What do you mean? Arthur and Oliver were telling me on Monday that they thought she was lovely. It’s not like she walks around with a big sign over her head saying ‘I didn’t go to university.’ Besides, she owns her own business and she didn’t even go to university. I’d say that’s very impressive.”

Natalie sighed, shook her head as if he didn’t understand something, and walked away just as the microwave beeped. Sinclair took the food from the microwave and sat down in the conservatory to eat it.

He was befuddled. Natalie didn’t usually grill him about new friends. Well, sure, he didn’t usually spend as much time in the space of less than a week with new friends as he had with Betty, but he liked her a lot more than most other people. He hoped Natalie wasn’t jealous. Sure, Betty was pretty, but if Sinclair avoided all the pretty women in the world he’d have a hard time navigating life. And okay, if Betty were closer to his age and he was single, he might ask her out. But she was a good ten years younger than him at least, and he was married. He, unlike Natalie, respected his wedding vows.

He winced slightly at the thought. When her summer fling with Richard ended, Natalie had initially been a lot more reserved, embarrassed as she was about the whole affair. But she’d shaken that off within a couple of weeks, and she was back to her old self again.

Maybe the reason he liked spending time with Betty so much was because it reminded him of when he and Natalie started dating at Cambridge. Back then, Natalie thought his ramblings were endearing, rather than the annoyance she found them now. They went on lunch dates in the city whenever they could, and she didn’t seem to mind his appetite then.

But even so, something felt different with Betty that he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt with Natalie. He always felt like he had to impress Natalie. She was popular with the lads at uni, and Sinclair was the overexcitable nerdy boy. He really had to woo her to get her to notice him - large bouquets of flowers delivered to her dorm, extravagant dates, that sort of thing.

Betty, on the other hand, was happy just to have a sandwich from David’s. And she laughed. A lot. Natalie politely chuckled at most, but Betty actually found his jokes funny! Not to mention she was funny too. He had no doubt she’d made a very charming bookseller.

Sinclair shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was he doing? Why was he comparing courting his wife to hanging out with Betty? They were two entirely different scenarios. But that was the point - Natalie had nothing to worry about! He would never cheat on her. The pain he’d felt on realising she was cheating on him had been almost too much to bear - he’d never wish it on her in return. He just wasn’t that kind of man. She’d made a mistake - several times over - and they had to move past it, because the alternative was too sticky, too complicated. And despite her indiscretion, he still loved her - the heartbreak he felt was proof of that. If he loved her less, it might not have hurt so much.

But still… still, he felt himself wishing he could go back, back to their days at Cambridge when everything was still new and exciting. Hanging out with Betty, it just reminded him of how much had changed. How much he had changed, how much Natalie had changed. They were different people now, and they had a lot of work to do - Natalie’s affair had shown that. He was trying to be a better husband, he really was. He just wished she’d try a bit harder too.

He made a decision. He was going to take Natalie out at the weekend, just the two of them. No parties, no other friends, just a husband and wife spending quality time together. And he was going to leave Betty alone for a few days - she was probably getting tired of him anyway. Her shop was opening on Monday, and she had a lot of preparation to do. He’d see her then with a great big bouquet of flowers to congratulate her.

Yes. Monday. It couldn’t come soon enough.

#sinclair bryant #Sinclair x oc #close my eyes 1991 #alan rickman #Alan Rickman fanfic #for the love of books

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the-oc-lass · 9 months

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Nimona OC - Charlotte Swiftheart/Corova: Christmas/Holiday Special

Hi! Am I a day late? Yes! Am I posting it anyway? Yes again!

I had more ideas for this, but honestly I think I'd rather post this much now than however long it would be until a full length thing was done.

I decided to call the holiday Midwinter, but honestly, it's basically Christmas with a different name. Anyway! This does fall into the AU I wrote for my Nimona OC, so those interested, it's linked below. Enjoy!

Original Post

Each winter in the kingdom is cold, but in the past, the city’s constant bustle and buzz kept the ground too warm for the snow to stick. But ever since the wall fell, things have been different. Things have changed. Including the snow. Nimona drags the four of them outside the wall after the first snow, and it’s as if Charlotte is a child again. She’d grabbed Ambrosius by the hand and they’d gone galavanting through the magical powder. Shortly after, an all out war of a snowball fight had broken out, with Ballister and Norshe on one team, Ambrosius and Charlotte on another, and Nimona deviously targeting all four of them. They were cold, tired, and a little sore by the end of the day, but it had all been worth it. They’d gone to Charlotte and Norshe’s apartment for hot cocoa, where Nimona had taken all of the mini marshmallows and claimed them for herself. It was a good day. Now, Charlotte wakes on the day of Midwinter, which has been a kingdom-wide holiday for hundreds of years. Even though she never had much growing up, she always found Midwinter beautiful and exciting. She rolls over to wake Norshe, but finds her fiancée gone from the bed, her spot cold. However, before she can worry too much, the door to their bedroom opens, and Norshe comes in with a tray of fresh pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top.

“I knew you’d be awake,” she says, smiling as she sets the tray on Charlotte’s bedside table. Charlotte smiles up at her.

“You know me well,” she says. Norshe hums, then cups Charlotte’s face in her hands and leans down.

“Merry Midwinter, lovely,” she says, before planting a kiss on Charlotte’s lips. Charlotte smiles into the kiss, then looks dreamily at her future wife as she pulls away.

“Merry Midwinter,” she says. Norshe eventually goes to get her own plate of pancakes and then they sit in bed and talk while they eat, discussing plans.

“Bal and Brosi invited us to spend the day with them and Nimona,” Charlotte says, sticking a bite of pancake in her mouth. Norshe hums and nods, sipping her coffee.

“We can do that. Just remember that we promised to have Midwinter dinner at the sanctuary with everyone tonight.”

“Right. I think Bal said they’d come to that too. And then we’re meeting here for presents?”

“We’ve got it all figured out, baby.” Charlotte smiles, then takes a sip of her hot chocolate (her preference over coffee). It’s going to be a good day.

“I’m not the only one concerned that we’re letting Nimona drive, am I?” Norshe asks. The other three of them chuckle a bit.

“No, you’re not. I trust her, don’t get me wrong, I just…Wouldn’t put it past her to drive a little bit crazy,” Ballister says, making a small gesture as he talks.

“We’re also assuming she’s driven before and will know what she’s doing,” Ambrosius adds. Charlotte nudges her brother’s side with her elbow.

“Hey, don’t forget, she’s been alive for a thousand years. I’m almost certain she’s driven before,” she says. Ballister makes a sound.

“She also can walk or fly, Char. Maybe she’s just been doing that for the past thousand years,” he says. Charlotte thinks about it for a moment, then points at him.

“Fair point.” Before they can get into the discussion any further, a car pulls up and lands in front of them, and Nimona rolls down the driver’s window and leans out.

“Well? Are you coming?” she asks. The four exchange some glances, and Ballister is the first to move. Charlotte quickly follows him, and their respective significant others trail behind. Charlotte finds herself in the front passenger seat beside Nimona, and Ballister, Ambrosius, and Norshe squeeze into the back. As Nimona lifts the car from the ground, she speaks in an announcer voice.

“Thank you for flying Air Nimona, this is your pilot speaking. We’ll be arriving at our destination when I say so,” she says. Charlotte turns toward her and raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, Nim, where are you taking us?” she asks. Nimona gives her a sharky grin.

“You’ll see.” Right. That’s very reassuring. They talk idly amongst the five of them as they go on a relatively uneventful drive, and Charlotte can’t help but watch the landscape move by. It’s incredible. To think, all of this beauty was hidden just behind the wall, and for her entire life, she had no idea. After maybe half an hour, Nimona guides the car down, landing it just a little ways from some trees.

“Did we do something to make you mad? This looks like a murder spot,” Ambrosius says. Although Charlotte can’t think of anything that might’ve ticked Nimona off, she can’t help but agree with her brother’s observation. This definitely looks like the type of place you bring someone when you plan to kill them and dump the body. However, Nimona just blows a raspberry.

“Don’t be so dramatic. I have a surprise,” she says, before climbing out of the car. Charlotte glances at the back seat, and Ballister shrugs before opening his door. She turns and does the same, climbing out and stretching. She adjusts her scarf and earmuffs before turning to look at Nimona, who is impatiently tapping her foot. The group starts to head into the woods, but the shapeshifter quickly jumps in front of them and holds out her hands. “Wait! I need you to trust me and close your eyes.” Charlotte raises an eyebrow at her.

“All of us?” she asks. Nimona nods.

“Yeah. Just…Hold hands or something and I’ll guide you,” she says. Charlotte casts her skeptical gaze toward Ballister, who sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“We’re all going to die,” he mutters. But when he drops his hand, he holds it out toward Nimona. “I’m going to trust you.” Nimona grins brightly, then looks at the rest of them. Ambrosius glances at Charlotte, who shrugs and offers him her hand, and he sighs and takes it before taking Ballister’s free one. When Charlotte glances at her fiancée, Norshe has her arms crossed and is looking at Nimona with a skeptical face. After a few moments, though, she uncrosses her arms to take Charlotte’s hand, pointing at Nimona.

“Trip us and I’m hiding the marshmallows until next winter,” she says. It’s clearly a threat, and one that she’ll hold herself to, but Nimona doesn’t seem bothered. She gleefully takes Ballister’s free hand.

“Let’s go!” she says. The four close their eyes and fall into a line as they start moving, keeping firm grips on each other’s hands.

“How long is it going to take to get to your surprise?” Ambrosius asks. Nimona hums.

“Not too long.” They continue on mostly in silence, and it doesn’t take long before they stop again. “Wait here for a second, Boss.” Snow crunches as Nimona runs away from them, and they all stay still.

“Are we just standing here with our eyes closed now?” Charlotte asks. Ballister hums affirmatively. “Right. Cool. Totally wonderful.” She starts to drum her fingers on the back of Ambrosius’s hand, listening closely. Suddenly, she hears the sound of something powering up, and her eyebrows wrinkle together.

“Okay! Go ahead!” As Nimona calls out, Charlotte finally opens her eyes again, and she hears herself and the others gasp softly. They’re standing near a frozen pond surrounded by trees, and the trees are adorned with bright, colorful lights and decorations. She looks over, searching for Nimona, and she finally spots the shapeshifter at the edge of the pond, arms crossed as she smiles at her handiwork.

“Nimona, this is incredible,” Ballister says, breathless as he continues to grip Ambrosius’s hand. Charlotte breaks away to move toward one of the trees, reaching forward to brush her hand over the snow covered needles of one branch.

“Is this why you kept disappearing this week?” she asks without looking away. Nimona makes a noise that suggests a shrug.

“This, and a little something else,” Nimona replies. Charlotte looks over at her, and the girl turns and shifts, vanishing into the trees for a moment before she returns with some boxes in her arms. She flies them over to the group and starts handing them out, and Charlotte raises an eyebrow when she’s handed the box.

“You know we aren’t exchanging gifts until later, right?” she asks. Nimona nods.

“Yep. But you’ll need these,” she says, pointing to the box in Charlotte’s hands. The thing is pretty heavy for its size, and she gives Nimona a skeptical look before shifting the box in her arms to open it. Inside, there’s a pair of white boots, but the odd thing is…There’s a blade attached to the bottom. Not a typical blade, but it’s the closest comparison she can make.

“Nimona?” She lifts her gaze.

“I got them from this town up north. They have a bunch of frozen stuff that they use these to move around on. The guy I got them from called them ice skates,” Nimona says. Charlotte looks back down at the “ice skates” and considers. There were a few times when she was a child where the ground was cold enough during the night for ice to form, and she recalls slipping on it early in the morning before it melted. Would blades really help? She’s not so sure.

“Do I want to know how you knew what sizes to get us?” Ambrosius asks. Nimona turns toward him, a finger held up.

“Do you know how much information about you there is online? Too much. Same with Boss. There’s even an old page about Chari from before the whole Swiftheart scandal,” she says. Charlotte glances over at Norshe.

“She just came up and asked me last week. Thought it was weird,” Norshe says, shrugging a bit.

“Hey, be glad I got any for you and Nemesis at all, Killjoy,” Nimona says, looking over at Norshe. Then, she turns back to Charlotte and grins. “Well, come on! Put them on so we can try them out!” Despite her better judgement, Charlotte complies.

Picture this: a baby deer trying to walk for the first time. Now imagine that, but five times worse. That’s currently what they look like.

“I’m going to hurt for days,” Charlotte groans from where she’s just fallen on her ass again. Nimona slides past her, currently in a form that she’s informed them is a penguin.

“Maybe you wouldn’t hurt if you stopped falling,” she says. Charlotte sighs and rolls her eyes.

“Well gosh, Nimona, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll take it into consideration,” she says sarcastically, carefully climbing back to her feet. Norshe wobbles past her, arms spread in an attempt to balance. “You doing okay, baby?” Norshe shushes her and flaps one hand.

“I have to focus,” she says, before catching the edge of her tongue between her teeth and looking down. She pushes her feet out in an arc, then moves them back in, and that helps push her forward. She lets out an excited victory noise, then repeats what she just did and speeds up a little.

“Oh good Gloreth!” Charlotte turns her head in time to see Ambrosius speeding toward her, clearly out of control.

“Brosi!” she yells, turning in time to hold out her arms. It doesn’t matter, in the end. She tries to catch him, but the collision knocks them both down, and both groan and lie there for a while. She can hear Nimona cackling somewhere nearby, and she sighs and shakes her head slightly. Finally, she grunts and pushes on his shoulder. “Alright, get up. Come on, off.” He groans and rolls off her, and they both sit up.

“I need a break,” he grumbles. She hums in agreement, and they both carefully crawl to their feet and stumble toward the edge of the frozen pond. There’s a log lying near the edge, and they sweep the snow off before settling on it and letting out a shared sigh.

“I’m going to be exhausted tonight,” Charlotte says, sagging into Ambrosius’s side. He leans into her too.

“I think we all are,” he says. She smiles a bit.

“At least Nimona’s having fun.” He nudges her side slightly, and she looks over at him.

“What, you’re not having fun getting beat up by ice?” he asks. She chuckles.

“No, I am. Not from the ice part, but…Well, you know. I like this. All of us being together. I don’t really care what we’re doing as long as we’re together.” He raises an eyebrow, and she rolls her eyes a bit, still smiling. “Okay, I don’t care what we’re doing most of the time.” He hums, and she looks back at where Norshe, Ballister, and Nimona are all skating.

“Come on, Boss!” Nimona calls, sliding past him in her usual form. Ballister tries to turn, but stumbles and almost falls, causing Ambrosius and Charlotte to chuckle. Norshe also laughs, and she almost falls because of it. “Careful, Killjoy! Don’t crack your head open!” Charlotte keeps watching, but a frown slowly forms on her face.

“When we lost her, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to keep going. When I thought of the future, I didn’t see things like this. It was all so…dark.” Ambrosius turns his head toward her, then reaches over to take her hand. She keeps watching the three on the ice. “I didn’t realize how much light she brought into my life until she disappeared. And I know I had you, and Bal, and Norshe, and everyone from the KB and sanctuary, but I just…” She doesn’t have the words to complete her thought. Ambrosius gives her hand a small squeeze.

“I know,” he says softly. “It wasn’t the same. She’s part of you, Char. A little…ish, sister. When you lost her…You were losing someone you loved. She was your family.” She looks up at him.

“So are you.” He smiles wryly.

“But she was there when I wasn’t.” Charlotte frowns softly.

“Ambrosius…”

“Hey, what matters is that she’s here now, right? We all are. We’re going to spend Midwinter together, and get all bruised from the ice, and it’s going to be the perfect day because we’re here together,” he says. She looks toward the ice again, and Ballister and Norshe are trying to support each other as they skate. Nimona is lying on the ice, watching them with a bored expression. After a moment, Charlotte smiles again and elbows Ambrosius’s side.

“Sap,” she says. He smiles back at her.

“It’s a family trait,” he says, elbowing her back. They laugh for a little bit, then look back at the ice. Ambrosius gets up first, stretching a bit before he turns and offers Charlotte his hand. “You want to go get our asses kicked by frozen water?” She tilts her head, still smiling at him. She takes his hand and he hoists her up.

“First one to fall buys lunch the next time we meet up,” she says, a challenge in her eyes. He looks back at her, rising to the challenge.

“You’re on.” Almost at the same time, they shove each other, and it sends them both stumbling sideways as they make their way toward the ice, laughing all the way.

(P.S. Yes, Nimona calls Norshe "Killjoy" like how she calls Ambrosius "Nemesis." Yes, there's a reason. No, you don't get to know what it is yet)

Lovely tagged people (hope you're all doing well! I have something in the works for you):

@ammonitetheseaserpent @perfectkittystranger @madlad06 @xxlunadrawsstuffxx @floxu

#nimona #nimona oc #nimona 2023 #nimona movie #nimona film #nimona netflix #original character #oc: charlotte swiftheart/corova #ballister boldheart #ambrosius goldenloin #nimona ambrosius #nimona ballister #nimona nimona #christmas fic #christmas fluff #my fic #holiday fic

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