#i try to stick to simple ones id assume would only take a couple of appointments bc theyre just the lines

[lesbianstarlightglimmer]

me: isnt afraid of needles but does pass out easily from pain (caused by needles)

Me: i am going to make a list of tattoos i want and whered theyd be!

[sergeantsporks]

Adoption Papers

Rating: Gen, General Audiences

Part 2 of Camila is Hunter’s Mom Now

Camila officially adopts Hunter and Vee

Might be a little hard to explain where they came from, though.

Direct Sequel to “Another Shot at Life”

Ao3

“What’s a social security?”

“What do you mean an ID?”

“Why do we have to do a bunch of paperwork to live here? Luz just lived in Eda’s house for months!”

Camila pinched the bridge of her nose. “Things work differently here than in the Boiling Isles. And if the two of you don’t want me to get arrested for kidnapping, we have to fill out paperwork, and I have to officially adopt you.”

Vee sniffed the papers. “But I’ve already been living here!”

“Yeah, pretending to be me,” Luz reminded her, “Gonna be a liiiiiitle hard to explain why there’s two of us.”

Hunter squinted at the documents. “I used to do paperwork for the coven. But I have no idea what any of this says.” It was all a lot of technical stuff—with a lot of words he didn’t know the meaning of.

Camila sighed. “I’ve filled out most of it, but… we’re going to need to explain where the two of you came from. And ‘wandered in from another dimension’ isn’t something I think we can tell people.”

Luz bounced up. “Ooo! I’ve got it!” She waved a hand. “Vee is my twin sister, separated at birth!”

“Luz, sweetie, the hospital records will say otherwise.”

“Okay, okay, how abooooout… we say that Vee was a home birth, maybe a year younger than me, but Dad took her away with him when he left, and we assumed he’d do all of the registry, but apparently he didn’t? What are they going to do, track him down and ask him? They haven’t managed that yet. We can say that Vee ran away and came home to us.”

“That might work. What about Hunter?”

Luz grinned at him. “We found him living feral in the woods, he was raised by a pack of wolves.”

Hunter stuck his tongue out at her.

“Yeaaah… I don’t think that one’s gonna fly.”

“How about we tell them the truth?” Vee asked, “We say he ran away from a bad situation, and we’ve been taking care of him.”

“What if they start investigating? They’ll ask him questions, definitely, and if they try to figure out who his family is-!”

Luz jumped up and down. “Oooooo, tell them your horrible family chased you, and tried to push you off of a cliff, but they slipped and fell off and died!”

Hunter felt sick. “Pass.”

“Let’s stick to something simple. You and your… uncle… traveled, didn’t have a home, and you slipped away one day. You were camping out in the old abandoned house to hide, Vee found you there and brought you home, and you’ve been living with us ever since.”

“What if they try to figure out who his family is?” Vee asked, “I mean, uncle sounds a lot like he might have just kidnapped him.”

Hunter shrugged. “I’ll tell them my whole family was already dead. Freak boating accident, bodies never found. They were recluses, no one noticed they were missing. I’ll say uhhhhhhhh, I don’t remember their names, because I was a kid, and my uncle never told me our last name.”

Luz squinted at him. “What is your last name?”

“No idea.”

Camila sighed. “This is getting complicated. What if they start trying to figure out where your family lived?”

“Mexico,” Luz said immediately, “But Hunter was born over the border.”

“Does he look Mexican to you?”

“Okay, fine, Canada, whatever!”

“Let’s just… keep it simple, okay, Luz? Hunter, what do you think? This is your story, you have to be able to tell it.”

His story. Okay, who did he want to be? “I think… I think Vee’s idea is good,” he said slowly, “Ran away—I’ll just say he was my uncle. And we were homeless, so there’s nowhere they could track him down to. Even if they DO start looking for my birth family, it’s not like they can actually pull anything up, because I’m not from here. Okay. So, I ran away, made my way to Gravesfield, camped out in the abandoned house for a bit, then Vee found me, uhhhhh…”

“A week ago,” Vee offered.

“Okay, yeah, a week ago.”

“And if they ask for details about your uncle?”

“I’ll just talk about Belos. It’s not like they can find him.”

Camila nodded. “Okay! The closest adoption agency is out of town, but I already scheduled an appointment for tomorrow. First hurdle, guys!”

“First?” Hunter echoed.

“Oh, yeah, we have to get the two of you enrolled in school—”

“School?!”

Luz laughed. “Ohhhhhhh, you’re gonna hate it, Mr. Prodigy.”

“I don’t need school!”

“Yeah? Do you know how to do algebra? How about chemistry? Physics?”

“No?” Hunter looked to Luz. “Those are fake, right?”

She shook her head. “Unfortunately, they’re all very real.”

“I don’t need those.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Camila interrupted, “For now, let’s just… focus on the adoption, okay?”

She looked… nervous. Which made Hunter nervous.

“What… what happens if they don’t believe me?”

Camila rubbed the back of her head. “I… I don’t know, mijo. If they dig deeper, I… but it will be fine.”

Still, Hunter didn’t sleep that night, his mind running through every possible way that this could go wrong. The next morning, when they loaded up in the car, he could see dark circles under Camila’s eyes, too. It did not make him feel better.

Hunter tossed his palisman gently out the window before they set off, the bird fluttering around his head. “You can’t come with us. Stay here and protect the house, okay?”

The bird chirped in affirmation, flapping back to sit on the roof.

Vee fell back asleep, leaning against him, and he resisted the urge to shake her awake and demand to know how she could possibly not be worried about this.

Hunter hadn’t ever gone outside of Gravesfield, and it was hitting him just now how… huge… the human realm was. He watched countryside flash by outside the car window, and even still, they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

And then buildings loomed in front of him, huge and imposing. Hunter pressed his face against the window. “Is this the capital of the human realm?”

“Ha. No. We’re not even in the capital of Connecticut.”

“Seriously?!”

Hunter watched the streets go by. This world was enormous, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it.

They had the key on this side, and since he was here, Belos was down one coven head—hypothetically, his uncle couldn’t complete his day of unity plans. But if he did, or if he managed to get back through, somehow…

Hunter was almost confident that this world was big enough for him to hide in.

They pulled up to an office building, and Camila took a deep breath. “Okay. Here goes nothing. Come on, kids.”

They all followed behind her into the building, and Camila approached the desk. “Hiiii. I’m Camila Noceda, I have an appointment about a couple of adoptions?”

The desk attendant glanced behind her at the three of them. “Down the hall, first door on the right. Right on time.”

Camila gave the attendant a nod. Hunter and Vee both crowded close to her as they filed into the office. “Hello?”

The woman at the desk looked like she hadn’t slept in a week, a thermos on a table covered in papers. “Hey. Paperwork.”

Camila tentatively handed her the packet, and she disappeared into a back room, coming back out after about ten minutes.

“So, neither of these kids is in the system?”

Camila shook her head. “Neither.”

The woman squinted at Vee. “Certainly looks like your other daughter. Why didn’t you report her father taking her?”

“We… we were separating. We thought he’d already filed everything.”

A grunt. “Alright. You. Other one. Hunter. C’mere.”

Hunter looked to Camila, and she gave him a little nod. He followed the woman into the other room, where she read over his form again. “Tell me about your uncle.”

“What? Why?”

“We need to see if we can find him.”

Hunter’s blood chilled. “I’m not going back!”

“Hey, it’s okay. We need to find him because we just don’t know enough about you—not even your last name. So we need your uncle for more information.”

“You won’t find him.”

“Uh-huh. Let us try, at least. Physical description?”

Hunter sighed. “Tall. Blond but greying, long hair, blue eyes. Old.” Face creeping with slime, occasionally turns into a puddle of goop, can’t miss him.

“His name?”

“Belos.”

“There’s one you don’t hear every day. Last name?”

“Dunno.”

“Right. Of course not. Where was the last place you saw him?”

“I don’t know.”

The woman sighed. “You’ve got to work with me, here.”

“Why?”

“Because this whole adoption will go a lot more smoothly. Where was the last place you saw him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay. Fine. How long ago did you see him?”

Hunter struggled to remember. Kind of hard to tell when he didn’t know how much time he’d lost falling down into a cursed prison of darkness.

But according to Luz, that had only been for a couple of hours, even if it had felt like forever.

“Two weeks,” he said softly.

Two weeks since he’d been rescued. Two weeks since the worst time of his life.

“And you… ran away?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you explain why?”

Hunter shuddered. “Because I was miserable.”

“Specifically?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We can’t take you away from your uncle if he wasn’t a bad parent, Hunter. If we don’t have any indication he did anything wrong, then he can reclaim you any time he likes, and we are obligated to try to find him and return you to him. I understand that it may be painful to talk about it, but we cannot proceed without information about your past life.”

“Fine,” Hunter snapped, “He hurt me, and he locked me up, and he made me run errands for him and would punish me if I failed, happy?”

A slight pause. “What kind of errands?”

Hunting down palisman so he could drain them of their magic. “Uh… picking up medicine for him.”

“Medicine? What kind?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I just picked it up. I didn’t ask questions, it wasn’t encouraged.”

“But you ran away, ended up in Gravesfield, where Camila found you a week ago?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Wait outside, send Camila in.”

Hunter shuffled out. “She wants you.”

Camila nodded, disappearing into the other room, closing the door behind her. Vee nudged him. “Are you okay?”

“She was asking about Belos.”

“I’m sorry,” Luz said softly.

Hunter paced back and forth. “What do you think they’re talking about?” He crept closer to the door, pressing his ear to the door.

“Hunter,” Vee hissed, “Get away from there, it’s rude!”

“I want to know what they’re saying,” he hissed back, “Shhhh!”

He pressed his ear to the door again. The voices were faint, but he could make out what they were saying.

“Obviously, if Vee is your biological daughter, there isn’t any reason for us to keep her from you. I don’t think there will be any difficulty with the transition. But Hunter… Ms. Noceda, you may be rushing into more than you can handle.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t know him well. We don’t know where he came from, or what he’s done.”

“What he’s done?”

“He’s a liar, ma’am, you wrote that he was homeless, but he claimed his uncle would lock him up. Those two aren’t exactly compatible. He very obviously isn’t telling us everything—and I suspect he may have been part of a drug delivery system without knowledge. If I can believe him that he didn’t know what his uncle’s ‘medicine’ was.”

“Okay, well, let’s just say that I am really, really, really determined to adopt him anyway.”

“I’m really advising you not to. Let us get him into the system, foster him out, see how he does before you go all in on adopting him. He might not even be separated from his uncle—they might be planning to rob or hurt you and your family.”

“Hunter,” Camila thundered, “is not going to hurt us. And I don’t think it’s a good idea to foster him out.”

Hunter pulled back from the door, feeling sick. “Luz, what’s fostering?”

Her face paled. “It’s… it’s when they sort of send you out to different families to take care of you.”

“I don’t want to go to a different family!”

“You won’t,” Luz soothed, “Mom won’t let them take you away. And you can just run away if they do.”

Hunter started to pace, his chest getting tight. “I can’t start running away here, too! That’ll just make all of the adoption stuff harder, right?”

Vee grabbed his hand. “Hunter. Look at me.”

He did, the fingers of his free hand tapping restlessly on the side of his leg.

Vee gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s going to be okay,” she said firmly, “We aren’t going to leave you behind. Promise.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay.”

“Good. Now sit down, and just think about other stuff. Like school.”

“I don’t want to go to school.”

“I’ll teach you algebra,” Vee promised, “They had a whole course on it at summer camp—it’s not so bad. And I’ll introduce you to my friends, too. You’ll be a couple grades older than us, but that’s okay.”

Luz bounced up. “Speaking of school, Hunter, is there any chance I can borrow Red? I know we’re worried about using the portal, but Eda and Amity and King and Gus and Willow will all be so worried about me!”

“Use your little…” Hunter clicked his fingers in the air. “Your little yellow thing.”

“My—you think that will work between dimensions?”

He shrugged. “Worth a shot. Might as well try before we open the portal and risk Belos getting in.” Hunter tapped his fingers against the chair. “If there’s natural titan’s blood veins in the Boiling Isles, then there’s a place here where it connects, right?”

“Right. That’s how Phillip—he wrote the diary I was using to figure out my portal—got into the demon realm in the first place.”

“So we might not need the key portal if we can find a place on this side where the worlds intersect.” Hunter’s stomach roiled. “Except that if we can do that, that means Belos has another way to get blood.”

“If I can just get in contact with Eda, she might be able to figure out my portal and then we don’t have to—”

The door to the other room burst open. Camila grinned, her hands behind her back. “Okay, Vee, Hunter, close your eyes, and hold out your hands!”

Vee did what she said, and Hunter followed suit, a little more hesitantly. Something paper settled in his hand. “Okay, open your eyes now.”

Hunter blinked at the paper in his hand.

Hunter Noceda.

Vee bounced up and down. “We did it!”

“They’re still finalizing everything—social security, birth certificates, all of that will take a bit more time. But you two are legally part of the family and under my care, now!”

Hunter Noceda.

The words felt… odd, in his head. But a good kind of odd.

Luz slung her arms around Vee and Hunter’s necks. “Whoo! Two new siblings! I didn’t use to have… well, any! I mean, I had you, but legally!” She shook Hunter slightly. “See? Nothing to worry about, I told you Mom could handle it!”

“Hunter Noceda.” He had a last name, now. A family name. “Vee Noceda.” It felt more natural to say her name—but then, she’d already seemed to be part of the family.

Luz cackled with glee. “Aha! You know what that means? Now the two of you have to wear ugly sweaters for family Christmas card pictures!”

“Ugly sweaters?” Vee questioned

“Christ-mas?” Hunter echoed.

“Ehehehe. Welcome to the Noceda family. You two have a lot of family tradition to catch up on.”

[lucas-koh]

Stitches - Bryce Lahela x MC XII

Parts 1-11 linked in bio!

Somewhat canon compliant.

Rating: M, mentions of medical misdemeanour, implied sex, language

Song: Do I Wanna Know (Live At The BBC) - Hozier

Word Count: 3367

Taglist: @lahellacute @lahamseiroshoe @anotherbeingsworld @fuseboxmusebox @choicesficwriterscreations @bubblelaureno @bratzlahela @eleanorbloom @bryceslahela @thegreentwin @kelseaaa || please let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from this list

Chapter Twelve: An Inconvenient Truth

So. Denial hadn’t been working. At this point Suki had to admit to herself her crush on Bryce. She had no clue what to do. She should end it, right? It wouldn’t be fair on him. He hadn’t signed up for this and they’d made it pretty clear they didn’t want this to happen.

Suki hadn’t had feelings for anyone in such a long time that it had never seemed possible to her. She’d never dreamed she’d end up feeling some type of way for Bryce Lahela. The moment she felt that déjà vu she should’ve run for the hills. Maybe in hindsight the whole thing was a mistake, but it was too late now.

She was laying there in his bed, on his chest, wearing his pyjamas. She definitely wasn’t doing herself any favours right at that moment.

She wanted to stay there forever, enveloped in his smell and his warm skin and the light breeze of his breaths on her forehead; the soft cotton of his pyjamas, the dizzying sensation of his arm on her waist.

But god, Bryce really hadn’t bargained for this. She had to get out of there before she drove herself crazy or overstayed her welcome. Or worse, drove him away. Because although it might not have been what was best for her after the revelation, all Suki wanted was to keep Bryce in her life.

“Thank you so much. Again. But I oughta get out of your hair.” She started to lift herself off him, dreaming up reluctance as his arm fell away from her.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want. You said you had today off too, right? You must be feeling pretty rough,” he chuckled.

“Thank you for offering but really. I should go home.” Should more than you know. Should for my own sanity. Should because it’s the right thing to do when it was me who fucked up.

Bryce left her to it as she changed out of his pyjamas – slowly, she was hungover as hell – and back into the clothes that were strewn across Bryce’s kitchen.

“I’ll wash your underwear for you,” he offered, as they had been caught in the crossfire of her vomit. She could tell it was a serious offer despite the smug smirk painted on his face.

Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it! “No, you won’t. I have a washing machine at home.”

She collected them from him in a plastic bag, how embarrassing.

Imagine making such a state of yourself? I’m twenty-fucking-eight years old and I drank too much because I was afraid to admit I might have some stupid schoolgirl crush on my fuck buddy? Have you ever seen anything more tragic? And now he’s fucking handing me my sick-soaked underwear in a plastic fucking bag. Like a fucking child. A child who threw up at school and had to go home early and get picked up by their mom. And now I can’t stop fucking cursing myself for putting myself in this position. If there was ever any moment at all that he maybe saw me as more than a fuck, that moment was lost now.

So Suki left, her head spinning and not just because of an asshole of a hangover.

Maybe it was just a temporary baseless infatuation. Maybe Suki shouldn’t have been jumping to such drastic measures…

So that - Suki’s denial and clinging on to the hope that she could find a way to continue this – was how Suki and Bryce ended up continuing to sleep together throughout the month of February. But the longer it went on, the more sure Suki was that this addicting feeling when she thought of him was sticking around. And it wasn’t fair on him.

She kept thinking about it, considering her options, making the excuse that she didn’t want to jump into the wrong decision. So yeah, she kept sleeping with him. And no, there was no way in hell Suki was admitting to Bryce that she was into him.

She’d been afraid to contact him after everything that had happened, the amount of embarrassment she’d caused for herself, but he was the one to reach out first. It surprised Suki that he even wanted anything to do with her after all that.

“How’s your hand?” He’d asked the first time since the incident, picking up her wrist and investigating the healing.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt much any more.” The wound was scarring to scab and itch.

“It’s looking good.”

“I guess I have your skills to thank.”

“How many times have I told you?” He grinned, “I’m a talented guy.”

They’d become comfortable with one another, really comfortable, and the friend part of friend with benefits could no longer be ignored.

Suki’s problem? Bryce was impossible to get a read on. She had absolutely no idea to tell if her newfound feelings were reciprocated, because he was a huge flirt to everyone. And Suki wasn’t one to take risks. So she didn’t say anything, assumed Bryce felt the same as he ever had for her.

She was right, of course, but not in the way she expected.

A few nights into the month Bryce texted:

Scalpel Jockey: *sigh* i should call her😉

Bryce’s text was accompanied by a selfie taken in front of his toilet, wide grin and thumb up. So embarrassing. He’d been right about the blackmail thing, then. He wasn’t going to let the mess I was go.

Santa Fe: you’re not even using the meme right

Scalpel Jockey: well my toilet misses your mouth so be sure to come visit it tomorrow

Santa Fe: you think you’re going to get laid after reminding me of the most embarrassing night of my life?

Over-exaggeration. But it honestly sort of felt that way.

Scalpel Jockey: of course I will😏

Santa Fe: nope

Scalpel Jockey:👀😌🤨

The next day,

Santa Fe: fine. see u soon.

—-

“Owwww somethings digging into my back!” Bryce yelped as he’d rolled away from Suki. He did some odd contortions to reach underneath himself and grab whatever was causing the grievance. “Suki, why the hell is your id badge in my bed?”

“Uh, maybe because you chucked it into the abyss a minute ago.”

He gave her a look with pursed lips. He rolled to his side facing away from Suki.

“Aww, you look so cute in this. All innocent and shit.”

“Give it back.”

“I mean it! Look at that little face,” he cooed, brushing the image with his thumb.

“It’s really not my best picture at all,” she groaned. What was it about ID card images which made them always turn out terrible? And then one is left with said image for potentially years to come.

“Suki, this says your birthday is January 18th? You didn’t say anything?” He turned to face her.

“January was so busy, I wasn’t that fussed.”

“You should’ve said. I would’ve celebrated with you.”

“Birthday sex?” She laughed.

“No, like proper birthday stuff. Whatever you like doing on them. And then maybe some birthday sex,” he added with a smirk.

“Eh. It was fine, I just got takeout.”

Bryce tutted.

“When’s your birthday, then?”

Suddenly he looked bashful and uneasy. “Um. November 27th.”

“Oh my god. You’re an idiot.”

“Nah. I’m a Sagittarius,” he winked.

“I can’t believe you were trying to make me feel guilty for not mentioning my birthday when you didn’t either.”

“We actually spent it together. That day I looked after Tommy. I had a great time.”

“Oh.” He had to stop saying things like that. It was terrible for her heart. “I can’t believe you let me set a random kid on you for your birthday.”

“I said I had a great time didn’t I?”

And god Suki’s stomach was having a party, an anxiety-ridden, nerves-on-fire, doubt-clad, smitten-as-shit party.

—-

In no time at all It was Valentine’s Day. Not that Suki was paying any attention… or that she wanted to spend it with a certain god-like surgeon. She didn’t even need to mention it, the plan was just act like this was any other hookup. February 14th was just a day – the way we ascribe time only exists because of us; and therefore it’s just a normal hookup. Using existentialism to cure crush nerves? Surprisingly works.

Santa Fe: 👃

Scalpel Jockey: sorry sukes i’m sick🤒

Well. That was not what she was expecting.

But wait. What if he was faking? What if he knew it was Valentine’s Day and was worried Suki was trying to make a gesture and had to let her down easy?

Worse, what if he was spending Valentine’s with someone else? After all, they had agreed not to be exclusive. Shit. What if Bryce liked someone else?? She didn’t even think about it before and now she felt a bit sick. He was an insanely attractive guy – chances were even without time to meet people there would be plenty at the hospital falling at his feet. There was no way he hadn’t been asked out for Valentine’s.

Those worries were quelled by another text, a picture of Bryce’s legs in his bed and the TV at the end playing something. There was a small bag full of used tissues.

Bless him, he really is sick.

Suki knew what she had to do.

Clanging about in the kitchen she muscled up some veg-packed soup, a vegetable lasagne, and a vegetable stir-fry. She also blended a fruit smoothie. Then she packed everything into Tupperware and fit a couple of portions of each into an insulated container.

Suki marched over to Bryce’s with the insulated container full of her cooked meals and determination. God, I’m a simp.

When she arrived she knocked hard so that he could hear. It was a couple of minutes before Suki heard footsteps, then they stopped (presumably for Bryce to look through the fish-eye) before Bryce creaked the door open.

“Suki. Didn’t you get my text, I’m sick I can’t-“ his voice was weak and croaky, slightly nasal – and he definitely sounded ill.

“I know. I’m not here for that. I bought you these,” she held up the insulated bag.

“What is it?”

“Food. Meals. Because you’re sick and you can’t cook. It’s just simple immune-boosting stuff,” she held out the bag for him to take.

He sniffed loudly and opened the door wider. “Come in.”

She was going to protest, but for some reason she didn’t. The plan was just to drop the food off, not to come in. But when faced with the opportunity Suki’s legs carried her subconsciously. When Bryce opened the door up for her she could see him closer. Dark bags under his eyes, greasy hair, chapped lips. He was wearing sweatpants (similar to the pair Suki had tucked away in her drawer at home from Christmas), and a cotton t shirt. He looked rough. Somehow, he was still the most beautiful man she’d ever met. And seeing him like this wasn’t off-putting at all, it just made her want to look after him. Be there for him. Why am I willing to do so much for him? Liking people is a bit like giving away your soul, isn’t it?

“You get back into bed and I’ll heat one of these up for you. They should still be mostly warm, anyway.”

“Sukes, I’ll be fine,” he said nasally. The nickname sent Suki’s organs into overdrive. Because here he was at his lowest, referring to Suki with an affectionate moniker and sounding like a melancholic song.

“I kind of owe you, remember?”

Bryce hummed a nod, too tired for much else, and slunk back into his bedroom.

Suki busied herself checking all the Tupperware’s – they were cool enough to go in the freezer by then so she put all bar one away. She heated that one for a few moments and transferred it into a bowl with cutlery, planted that on a tray, and brought it through to Bryce.

He was in bed as Suki had instructed, old reruns of Criminal Minds playing on his TV. He smiled weakly when he saw her enter with the tray of soup.

“Thank you,” he said as she placed the tray on his lap.

“No problem.”

He took a spoon of soup and gulped it down gently. Then he turned to Suki, who was now perched lightly on the edge of his bed facing him.

“I’m not good with… seeming weak,” he said, looking at Suki intensely.

“You don’t need to worry about that. It’s only me. I vomited in your toilet.”

“Exactly,” he muttered, and when Suki was about ask what he meant he carried on, “this soup is amazing.”

They sat in silence with only the sounds of the TV as Bryce worked his way through the bowl of soup. Suki was too nervous to ask what he’d meant.

“Thank you,” he said as he finished the bowl. She took the tray from him and took it back through to the kitchen, washing everything up for him. She returned to Bryce’s room, noting beads of sweat on his forehead. Going into Bryce’s en-suite, Suki found a washcloth and soaked it with some cold water before giving it a squeeze.

When she returned to Bryce’s side she gently dabbed the washcloth over his hot forehead. He looked up at her, vulnerable, exhausted – very un-Bryce. She was ever so gentle as she dabbed the cool cloth over his skin. Then Bryce reached up and held onto her wrist weakly with his hand.

“Why are you doing all this?”

“Like I said, I owe you. I was hard work that night at yours.”

He seemed to accept this answer, and gulped a little as he let go of her wrist. She pulled the cloth from his forehead for a moment.

“I’m still nervous,” he croaked.

“About?”

“You seeing me like this. It’s not exactly sexy.”

Suki’s nosiness was getting the better of her, and she knew now would be a good time to strike since there’d been an opening.

“The whole… weakness thing – that’s why you were weird about the surgery?”

“Yeah. Yeah it is,” he sighed, looking at Suki as though weighing up his options. He seemed to come to a decision and continued: “I already went through struggles with self doubt. My parents fucked up my whole belief in myself - it’s why I overcompensate now. It’s why I took the surgery thing so hard, I felt myself doubting my abilities. Well it was more like – less that I was actually doubting myself, because I know I’m good, and more that I was worried I would start doubting myself.”

“Yeah, that totally makes sense.” Suki was surprised he was opening up to her like this. She noticed how he mentioned his parents, but she’d let him get there when he was was ready.

“I’m sorry for not telling you at the time.”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t owed the story. So what really happened? You got kicked off because of karaoke?”

“Uh, the other surgical interns kind of have it out for me.”

“What?”

“Well… everyone liked me at first. You know, I’m a likeable guy,” he flashed a grin, a ghost of his normal megawatt smile, “but I think once they saw how competent and determined I was that changed fast.”

“Jealousy,” she scoffed, “So that’s why you don’t hang out with them any more?” Suki remembered how he’d avoided them at Halloween.

“Yeah. And there was a group of them spreading shit from the start about me, dangerous rumours that could get me fired. Saying I drink on the job, I have *ahem* sexual relationships with my patients, that I’m a terrible surgeon and only made it here because of my parents money which is...”

“Your parents are well off?”

Bryce’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, uh, people found out about who my parents are too.”

“Who are they?”

“Another time,” he bit his lip as though unsure, concern as he looked into Suki’s face.

“Okay- drinking at work, sex with patients? Where the hell did those come from?”

“Well I keep a few condoms in my locker, for you, that can’t have looked great after the accusations. I don’t know shit about the drinking. I guess it just sounded bad and anyone who has had out it for me just wants me to look incompetent.”

“Those fucking dicks.”

Bryce shrugged. “It shows I’m a major threat,” he gave her a smug grin but his heart wasn’t quite in it. “So all that stuff got relayed back to Dr Emery and the karaoke the night before was apparently the last straw. She didn’t want to take the risk in case it was true and gave my surgery to Ben.”

“Ben, huh?” She asked, a sudden iciness in her tone. Like, Ben ‘you like her?’ Ben? Digging into Bryce’s private life Ben?

“Yeah, he’s another intern - you probably don’t know him.”

Maybe not. But I’m about to.

“I know some Ben’s… what’s his last name?”

“White.”

“Oh no, I don’t know him,” Suki smiled sweetly, dabbing Bryce’s head with the flannel again. She’d gotten the information she needed.

Bryce chuckled weakly. “I told you.”

“Sorry.”

“Yeah so, obviously Dr Emery investigated it all after that and realised that none of it was true. But by then I’d lost it anyway. The damage was done, you know? Sorry, I know I sound a bit ‘woe is me’.”

“Not at all. You can talk to me, seriously. Friends – remember? I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” And angrier than I’m letting on.

“I suppose I owe you an apology too. For shutting you down and running away when you tried to ask me about it. I’m just- it’s- I like being That Guy, you know? The one who’s got his shit together. The one who’s the expert surgeon. Who doesn’t let things phase him. Laughs everything off. The one who’s amazing in bed,” he looked at her with a look that was, if Suki didn’t know any better, nervous. God, it’s so weird seeing him like this. But my heart is completely breaking for him.

“If I’m-“ he continued, then seemed to change his mind, “what you need from me wasn’t that, so I didn’t want to mess things up.”

“By being human? You could never,” she smiled as she bought the flannel back to his face, but it was more an excuse to stroke her finger over his cheek comfortingly. Bryce’s eyes seemed to shut involuntarily and he moved into her touch, just letting it be for a while. He was still hot, but had a bit more colour to his face, so Suki felt she had helped at least a little.

Fuck. I like you so much.

This definitely wasn’t helping her whole predicament, because each word he’d said to her, each touch, each look on his face – and she was a puddle on the floor. Overwhelmed with the ache she felt in her chest at the whole situation. That something as ridiculous as jealousy – between people who’s job it was to help others for gods sake – had put Bryce in such a spin. And it seemed to her that losing the surgery was bad for him, but the way that affected his confidence and how he felt he had to be around her – that seemed to have affected him more.

He was too proud.

And she cared for him too much to be okay with seeing him like this.

Suki must’ve been cradling Bryce’s face longer than she’d realised, because he eventually started snoring quietly. His eyebrows now flattened on his face and looking more at peace than he had since she’d arrived. She was careful when removing her hand and placing a pillow up under his head. She placed a gentle kiss to his forehead, brushing against the cool damp area she’d been dabbing. Then she snuck into his bathroom to fill up a glass of water and collect some aspirin, leaving them on his bedside table for him before escaping his apartment.

Suki was on a mission, fuelled by affection and anger.

[loveau]

enemies-to-lovers!hendery

request: Could I request an angsty enemies to lovers AU with Hendery or Ten? Thank you so much for posting your writing

others: lucas | yuta | renjun | jisung

it all started probably at some university party where a mutual friend or a friend of a friend introduced everyone in a group

since there were so many people, there wasn’t a lot of interaction to go on

but what you did know was that the dude named hendery???

yeah the most obnoxious person you’d ever met

and he thought you were the most judgmental person he’d ever met

to be fair his rowdiness comes with the friends he has nearby you’re bound to be the same way with yours

but it just seemed like he was so over the top and loud and it was annoying how you couldn’t have a conversation with your friends when he was literally screaming across the room

at the same time, however, hendery isn’t appreciative of your dramatic groans and eye rolls whenever he does anything and he feels so restricted from basically getting to have fun

and putting the both of the together in the same room is a chemical reaction that leads to an explosion

it basically started at that party and y’all were having fun and the mingling of groups was happening where everyone was getting to know each other

y’all didn’t really interact during the party besides hanging around the general area

but that didn’t stop you from giving each other the slight stink eye, which may have started on your part when he accidentally spilled some drink on your friend’s pants

and he thought nothing of it so he assumed you were just a stick in the mud and thought it was dumb you were there to cramp on his fun

obviously you hadn’t added each other on social media, so when hendery was doing something especially dumb you smirked and had been recording it

in all fairness it had started with you recording one of your friend’s rants about how nobody treats them right and how they deserve the perfect lover but there’s just trash people and their trash lists of who’s the best kisser or whatever

but all of a sudden your camera had switched to hendery’s group of friends where he was standing on top of a table and slipped off due to all of the snacks and drinks spilled on it

he ended up getting caught by his friends before he got hurt, but he clonked heads with one of them and was wincing while the others laughed or were more focused on whether or not he was okay

you were chuckling to yourself and captioned it ‘bet he doesn’t have any braincells if this is what keeps happening... makes sense alrdy tho 💀💀’

and you thought nothing of it until the next morning you’d woken up to a couple of messages and whatnot

you’d been debating whether or not you wanted to go to the bathroom and check later on during lunch after you spent some time to yourself but you chose to continue laying in bed and read through everything

a couple of the typical ‘what was the homework’, ‘lunch?’, and ‘did you know that this happened...’ type of things

but what caught your eye was the ‘hey, did you know that you have a bounty on your head rn?’

you were so confused because you had no clue what that was supposed to mean and typed back a simple ???

and one of your friends ten responded back pretty quickly and he was just like yeah, hendery apparently hates your guts rn so i suggest don’t run into him

you’re just like????? hUH????? who?????

he sends you a picture of himself and a whole group of others and he’s just like furthest dude on the left

you squint at your phone because wow ten you could have chosen a better picture or maybe screenshotted something huh

however once you recognize him, you’re like UH???? KnUcKLeheAD?

ten’s just like yeahh, apparently he found out about your story and has been asking everyone who you are

someone must have told him because ten sent you a screenshot of the story hendery posted that captioned your story with smth like

‘this person rlly don’t have anything better to do besides play therapist for their friends at a p a r t y :///’

you’re gaping at the message and it’s so bad you sit up from bed so fast with your phone in the tightest grip

like what??? and followed by that there’s another screenshot of another story that basically was some poll or something about whether or not you were fun or some lame-o

you were fuming at that and saw the username in the stories ten sent you and basically looked him up and found out who hendery was

your phone was practically thrown to the other side of the bed as you got ready for the day 

part of you was so confused as to who sent him the story but you were also really confused as to why he’d just project you onto his as if you’d see it (which you did soooo)

and you found yourself complaining to your friends about it like who would do that??? it was a joke anyways and plus why does he care when you barely know each other???

they’re all on your side of it too since most of them had met hendery that same night or only knew a couple of the other guys and him by extension

your food was feeling your wrath as you chewed on it and your friends tried to find a different subject to talk about

“hey, did you transfer classes like you wanted? 

you finally smile at that and give a satisfied hum to them

“yep, i finally got out of that blasted quantum mechanics class or whatever”

“why were you in that anyways?????”

you shrug and it’s just confusing to you because you were trying to get an elective course in but they decided to put you in a big science class where people with big brains and bigger egos liked to flex their knowledge and lord it over you when you didn’t understand

“doesn’t matter!! i’m in advanced hip hop dancing now! no more 8am lectures about one dimensional applications anymore”

“but you still have to wake up at 8am to walk across campus to the theatre rooms?”

“it doesn’t matter if you like what you do”

which was the best part since you took hip hop last semester and had some background in dancing before, so the instructor suggest you move to intermediate

but the worst part was the voice you heard behind you

“oh no way in-”

you whipped around and saw the shocked and irritated look on the one and only hendery

“you!” you pointed your fork accusingly at him and he has the audacity to look offended and point both hands at himself

“me???”

“yeah you! who are you to put me on blast to social media even though i’m a total stranger to you?”

“exCUSE ME?????!! the same goes to YOU!”

“tHE sAmE GoES tO YOu. it was a joke, especially by someone you barely know!!!! i didn’t want to have to see your face first thing in the morning to find out you got butthurt because you bonked your head as a kid and wanted to reenact that??”

hendery almost revolts backwards and holds a finger up

“first of all? do you think i’m happy about getting to see you first thing in the morning either??? and do you think i’d be happy seeing you at 8am every other day?”

you quickly put two and two together and you’re clenching your teeth

“you don’t mean-”

“yeah, see you in advanced hip hop, lame-o”

you (and practically the entire lunch room alkfnskfn) are left in shock as hendery takes his leave without even ordering food

you sit there in shock and think all of a sudden you might not like hip hop anymore

and you’re complaining about it to ten as he sits across from you at dinner, a couple hours after your lunch and having enough time to sit on it

“i should have taken modern dancing with you........ or maybe even ballet 3 with sicheng?”

ten only laughs and you scowl as he attempts to keep his snickers quiet

“you wouldn’t have lasted more than two days. you’d be itching to get your feet moving faster than they can get their toes pointed”

you roll your eyes because he’s right. one of the best parts of dancing hip hop was that you felt you could lose control of yourself in a more reckless way than the other styles of dancing could

“i hate it when you’re right?”

ten smiles at you and pats your shoulder from across the table

you’re just internally screaming that you have to wake up at 8am to see hendery’s dumb face again

“why is it because i’m right so often?”

“no, because i tend to owe you money because i lost the bet”

he snickers and then offers his student id to you

you take it questioningly and he pats the hand that has the id in it

“take it out at the dance studio. they’ve closed it from regular students after 9 since someone decided it’d be funny to steal one of the mirrors”

you roll your eyes but smile gratefully at him

“gotta love TAs with their magical access for ‘tutoring hours’”

“hey they’re actually convenient for when it doesn’t fit someone’s schedule!”

you’re already walking towards the door by the time he says that and you look back cheekily

“tell me that again when you haven’t used it for a private picnic date with someone you met on tinder!”

by the time you reach the dance studio you’re absolutely giddy and so glad you wore comfortable clothing to dinner so you didn’t have to go back to change

your giddiness changed when you already saw somebody in the studio

and as fate would have it, of course hendery had to be there, jamming out to some 80s hip hop song

before you could turn around and leave, he spun around during once of the dances and opened his mouth in shock

“there is no way-”

“save it! i’m just as shocked as you are”

he huffs and turns off the music and stands with his arms folded 

“well?”

“well what?”

he makes a face and over exaggerates your irritated one with a “wELl WhAt?!?!??!!!?!?”

you set your jaw and mimic his stance but the awaiting look in his eyes told you everything

“i’m not here to apologize if that’s what you’re thinking” you put a hand and put your other on your hip before he could say anything

at least he had enough respect to listen to your cue even though he exasperatedly threw his hands in the air and huffed loudly

“and even if i wanted to, i wasn’t so immature to go around asking everyone about who made me cry because they laughed when i decided to climb a table and almost fall because it was slippery”

“i didn’t cry” he’s got this childish tone to his voice and you know better than to instigate but the fiery look in his eyes only lights up one of your own

“i can give you a reason”

you don’t even realize you’ve stepped in the middle of the dance floor until he huffs out a laugh and meets you in the middle where you have your hands on your hips defiantly and a cocky smirk on your face

he hates it and you feel so powerful seeing him seethe

it only adds to your satisfaction that he ends the stare down by walking away rigidly

however it quickly melds into confusion when he turns the music on again, this time to a more recent song on the radio and one of the songs you were thinking of dancing to actually

he starts walking again, but in circles around you

he adds a spin here and there and a little kick of the leg

“what are you, constipated?”

he takes your comment in stride and backs away again to give you the floor

“you obviously came here to dance, and if you’re all talk about it then why don’t you up me one?”

“gladly”

there’s a bite in your tone but there’s even more snap in your hips

you don’t miss the way hendery’s eyes trail up and down as you flow into another move

you smirk once he trails back up to your eyes and instead of looking caught he only smirks right back

it peeves you a little how confident he looked now and he slowly clapped once you finished up another spin

“not bad for a freestyle”

you hate how much his ego has been stoked and you hate how you absolutely know how much he absolutely seemed to live for your annoyance with him

you two circled each other for a while, none of you really knowing who started moving first and why you both continued

but it was you who stepped forward first, and he responded in kind and it would have been so off putting that you both were so close

when he chuckled at your determined gaze you could practically feel his breath against your face

you felt the anger bubbling in your core once the warmth hit your cheeks

but a closer look at his eyes showed you that he was definitely affected by your snappiness with him and the irritation was practically pooling in his irises 

“you know, for someone who’s in advanced hip hop you sure don’t seem good at motor functions. you could barely stand at that party”

“you know, having fun tends to have that effect. but you wouldn’t know. nobody does anything with you besides stand against a wall and try to talk over the music. there’s a reason why the lyrics are the only words you’re supposed to be hearing”

normally you’d bite your tongue and walk away or tell him he’s being the immature one once again, but those words were dumb and it mad you livid

“funny, for someone who claims to move so well yet you haven’t really shown me anything”

in a flurry of motion, hendery has grabbed your arm and spun you around so that you fall hard into his chest

you can hear a huff of effort from him as he twirls you out again and then back into him but with his hand at your waist

his cocky grin makes you almost growl at him, but you were too shocked to say anything

“cat got your tongue?”

he releases you and then dusts himself off

“you know when you want to act up.......”

he gets in your face and the cockiness as dissolved into the pure annoyance that you are already familiar with from feeling it yourself

“make sure you’re not just all talk.” he turns and grabs all his stuff, but he waves over his shoulder before he leaves “see you in class”

and oooooOOOOOH do you see him in class the next morning

the instructor has greeted you since you transferred in the class two weeks in 

they were glad you decided to come in even though the class was already working on some dances and it would take a couple classes to see where you were at since it’d been a while and also with a different instructor

so..................

“hi, i’m hendery. i’m the student instructor/TA, i’ll bring you up to speed”

and GOSH did you feel so angry for waking up at 6am to have breakfast and having to walk across campus in the cold morning air just to figure out you’d have to work 1:1 with hendery for a couple of classes

and he wasn’t too happy about it either

mainly because he had some of your friends on his tail for blasting you on social media and all of a sudden it was talk of the two friend groups and even in some other circles

but while he was getting told off for being immature about it and even about being teased about his clumsiness and somewhat recklessness (which got old real fast)

you were also getting constantly teased by your “boringness” but also some people had the audacity to actually stop inviting you to some things because they thought so

little did you know hendery was sort of in the same boat because they were afraid he’d break something and when he heard that boy did he really want to

and both of your indirect interactions with each other in that method only fueled the spite you had with the direct contact with each other

the next couple of classes you purposely would hit him with an arm when you had it swung out or maybe accidentally stepping on his toes

but he was also quick to make sure to “accidentally” not teach you the full dance to a song or even give you the entirely wrong song to dance to

but the instructor assumed that it was because you were logged from all the physics shenanigans so they wanted hendery to run it through with you during class

you were practically seething over a lunch with your friends about all of this and they gave you tired glances

ten was the only one who seemed unfazed, as he was the only one in the two circles with direct connections to both of you

“i just don’t understand why this keeps happening. if he just wasn’t so immature and keeps insulting me about my way of spending time with friends then i’d stop fighting back”

“but you started it”

“we didn’t know each other, ten! it was just some light jabbing” you scoff at that because it was just so annoying at this point “besides, he was so obnoxious in the first place”

ten gives you an encouraging pat on the back

you groan and say you haven’t been able to spend a good weekend of fun in a couple of weeks thanks to wary eyes or not knowing where the parties are

“didn’t know you could have fun~”

you also smack ten but his cheeky grin lets him get away with it, like it does every time

but he soon makes up for it by giving you the location and time of another party by a friend of his and that he’d be there to hang with you

by the time you got there he was already tearing it up on the dance floor after taking one too many

he was all the more excited to see you though and had jumped into your arms happily and was laughing the whole time

“hey, you made it! you won’t believe who-”

but he was whisked away before you knew it

so you left to get something to drink on your own

somebody you vaguely knew recognized you and started chatting with you on the way

“hey, haven’t i seen you around before?”

“yeah..... i think we took physics together?”

“oh right!!!! i remember, you transferred out right?”

you knew where this was going since they obviously wanted to sound smarter in this situation

they had been your lab partner and it totally sucked to hear them complain about having someone ‘not competent enough to do anything’ as a partner

you only nod and listen to them ramble a little more, looking for someone familiar to latch onto so you could leave this conversation

until you heard

“i didn’t know you went to parties”

“uhhhh....... what made you think that?”

they shrug and they look amused to keep making jabs at you 

“well, i heard you were kind of a stick in the mud. not to mention you don’t really do much at parties, so i figured it wasn’t your scene”

“what? excuse me??”

“oh. well i thought since you were a little slow in class then you wouldn’t be doing anything besides standing around. the dorm’s more your place, yeah?”

before you can go off on the dude, the person’s shoved against the wall and they’re not going anywhere

especially when hendery’s face is in theirs

“that’s enough, buddy. you’re a little harsh, no?”

they give out a nervous laugh and look around to see if anybody is going to come to their aid, but the others have decided to keep moving and ignore what’s going on

you on the other hand are shocked to find that hendery’s here, much more that he’s defending you in a sense

“whatT? didn’t you...... you know, start all of this?”

hendery rolls his eyes but shoves a little harder

you hate to say it, but you were feeling pretty proud of this

“first of all, they did”

“hey!”

“but second of all, you’ve been skating on thin ice ever since you thought it’d be funny to start insulting someone as your first interaction”

“that’s RICH coming from you” and the person’s right, but they’re also toeing the line reeeeeal far with agitating hendery

“oh yeah? i didn’t realize how much of a stuck up twerp i sounded like before i heard those words coming out of your mouth”

you merely watch on and hendery takes a glance out of the corner of his eye to look at you

there’s a hard glare in his eyes but they soften a bit once you come into sight

you’re................... confused????

but you also recognize the anger in his eyes since the person also began jabbing at hendery, so you were prepared for his next line

“by the way... you hungry?”

“huh?”

and hendery had raised his fist up and the person recoiled hard

but it never made contact.....

they timidly looked up to see the fist 

he scoffed and straighted out his clothes as he backed away

“yeah, don’t act though if it’s just that. an act”

he walks away from the person and heads for you

“come on, let’s get you a drink”

you just stand there as he searches around for an empty cup and fills it with water quickly before walking you outside

you didn’t need to be pulled along to follow with him

you wanted answers

by the time you’re outside you just give him an expecting look with your eyebrows raised and he seems almost frustrated to admit his thoughts

“what, cat got your tongue this time?”

he chuckles as he remembers that one instance in the dance studio together but he hums, thinking of his next words

“i mean, i’m not sure how else to phrase it”

“i can wait. i don’t do much besides not have fun anyways”

at this he hangs his head

“okay, well i do feel bad about that. i didn’t realize how harsh those words all sounded until it was being played back to me”

“it took this long to figure out why i was upset by it and not just me being a ‘stick in the mud’?“

he nods and you can see instead of irritation.... there’s sincerity in his eyes now

a.......... sudden, but also welcome change

“yeah... well! no, not really.......... i kind of thought it was childish to keep this whole fighting thing going on, so......”

“why keep it on then?”

he shrugs and looks away, almost like he was embarrassed

“i......... really, really............. really liked the fiery look in your eyes whenever we’d bicker”

you laugh at that this time

“you thought it was hot?”

he almost whines out a “kinda!” but then groans and mumbles

your mischievous look makes him throw his hands up and he’s frustrated again but this time there’s a civil air between you two.... almost...... flirtatious

“yes! i thought it was attractive most of the way through... but even when you’re not mad..... you’re still pretty cute”

you find yourself blushing even though you’re practically glowing in amusement, but then you find yourself turning practically red when he defends himself with an almost equally red face

“and don’t lie!! i know you think i’m attractive too. i saw the way you were eyeing me when i was telling that person off. i was all macho man and you were swooning!”

“i was not!”

“i literally said don’t lie, didn’t i!”

and you keep throwing bickering comments back and forth, but it’s amusing and you both...... like it

after a while there’s a silence in between you before you make a light jab at hendery.... only this time it’s in a soft teasing kind of way

one that the both of you can stand and put smiles on your faces instead

“so you weren’t too chicken to actually land the hit?”

“shut up, i’ll fight if i have to”

“aww, even for me?”

and he’s silent at that but there’s a slight tint of pink you can make out from the lights outside

he purses his lips and decides now is the time to make the move to patch things between you two

“i still think there’s apologies left to be said”

“from both of us?”

“..... yeah”

and you hate to admit that you’ve also been super immature about it, but you’re pretty glad that it’s getting moved past now

but it was so awkward to just do this so suddenly

he notices the tension in between you and decides to make the first move

“okay........ let’s just start over..... hi, i’m hendery. i’ve seen you before. i’m the TA of your advanced hip hop class, right?”

“right! i think i can recall you staring at my butt a couple of times”

“shut up!!” he pushes you slightly but his grin tells you he’s not that shy to admit it and he’s goofing around now “besides...... can’t lie you’re kinda cute though”

and suddenly there’s a crash behind the two of you and you see ten bounding his way for you

“i cannOT believe it, wow! the two of you together and not ripping each other apart. BUT I knEW this would happen”

and you just look at each other like ?????????? huh?????

“that you would look so cUtE together!!!!! everything turned out juuuust right, like i thought it would since the beginning”

and all of a sudden you both made ten explain everything to the both of you

because ten had shared the initial stories to the other person, not thinking it’d go down like this

but most of it was forgiven since you were more distracted by hendery leaning against the railing and having that as an excuse to wrap his arm around you

and you were practically leaning into his side since it was ‘too cold outside’ while you were listening to ten ramble on and on about how his plan ended up being messy but he was living for it

while the both of you gave him an earful about how setting the two of you up could have been done where you didn’t hurt each other’s feelings for so long, he shut you up quickly with a

“oh please, you two bickered like an old married couple. with the way you guys act just get married already! some of those sparks weren’t just angry, there was some love in there too!”

“ten!”

“and do NOT get me started on the sexual tension-”

“TEN!”

[breakingbadfics]

Thought Experiment Part 3

Do it again, my way.  

So this one gives me a degree of creative libery because I’m adhering to a simple premise of “give rey a girlfriend and eventually get to the point where they can beat the tar out of kylo ren.” 

There is no “rogue sith” outlier in my version of this story and so my version of “The Sith Resurgence” wouldn’t even be named that. but I’ll continue to refer to it as “my version” simple for ease of use. 

The story begins With Han Solo, Chewbacca, and a girl. they’re in a piece of shit ship that they’ve been using while they hunt down the millenium falcon. 

This girl is simply refered to as “Kara” 

The story of episode 7 plays out as it had in the movie. up until Rey and Finn meet Han and Chewie, this is the reveal of Kara proper and the eventual reveal that Kara is in fact running with Han and Chewie because her father Luke Skywalker entrusted her to them. 

Yeah we’re going there. Mara Jade is canon in this version of the story, She and Luke had a baby. The eventual reveal being that Kara was increcibly young and hadn’t begun any force training when things went south with Ben Solo, and Mara Jade died protecting her child as a building collapsed in on her. 

Racked with guilt over failing Ben Solo, and Leia. Luke chooses to go into seclusion, and (while a bit fucked up) chooses to hand Kara over to his sister and brother in law knowing that they’ll lead her right and it’s really the only thing he can think of that would even start to make up for screwing up with Ben.

Kara Skywalker takes heavily off Han having spent a large chunk of her life with him, she’s exceptionally care free, an exceptional shot when given the chance but has the kind of take no shit attitude from Leia. She’s been living under the assumption her real father died in an accident she’s too young to remember, but is suddenly shocked with surprise to find that not only is he not dead but the primary goal of the Resistance is to find her dad so she leaps at the chance to join Rey and Finn 

Kara is also the first to get the crush on Rey, and Kara tends to be a more grounding empathetic kind of source for Rey who would over the sort be more angry with things. 

We also don’t mince words here, Kara’s gay, Rey has never had a relationship with anyone long enough to realy know what she likes, but she likes Kara. and they’re in a relationship somewhere between the ending of 7 and 8. Kara is the one who declares her feelings and Rey wants to try. 

The Majority of the events of Episode 7 playout as normal but keep the aspects that foreshadow the forcebond. Then on top of that  this version of the story we’re going to make Kylo Ren a threat. regularly showing off just how often he’s willing to make examples of everyone around him to the point that the scene where he force chokes a dude after he proceeds to carry him by the throat out into the front to display his death to a bunch of other first order officers to make a show of it. if you are going to have Kylo Ren be a piece of shit scum of the galaxy bad guy, you make him do the bad guy shit. 

Han Solo Dies and now it’s compounded. This is a man who’s now a father figure to two young women; Rey and Kara, and with the latter being much more closely tied to him, witnessing the death of the man who raised her being a galvanizing event that makes he have zero empathy for her cousin. 

The events of episode 7 end in roughly the same fashion with that leg of the story ending with Kara and Rey staying with the resistance until Finn is no longer in a coma. 

Episode 8 begins with Rey and Kara participating in the easrly space battle and the bombing run at the start...well I’m split between it doesn’t happen at all, or it’s happening with out a hitch. So I guess for the sake of things they remain more or less the same. 

Meanwhile Finn comes out of his coma, Rey and Kara grab him and they shoot off to find Luke Skywalker. 

Meanwhile Poe ends up getting tagged up with Rose. Rose having a lot of words to say to poe and a lot of things to guilt him for. He is in effect responsible for her sister dying and she’s basically going to stay stuck on him, during this event they both decide to go find the master code cracker on canto bight. 

We get to Ahch-to. 

Theres a lot of emotion. Anger, sadness, screaming. This is the reuniting of a father and daughter. the daughter having trhought her whole life her was dead. There ids a lot to go over 

assume a couple of chapters are devoted to explaining everything from luke to kara, and rey, and everything involving Ben Solo. 

This is also the formal introduction of the force bond. The Force Bond serves the same literary purpose and ultimately creates the same kind of back and forth that Rey and Kylo Ren are able to speak to one another, but not physically interact. While still antagonistic it does allow them to have a slightly better angle at “Seeing each others point” but it’s made very understood that Rey has zero romantic desires towards Ben Solo, that said, it’s also a little less likely that Ben Solo is going to die. 

Canto Bight goes like this Rose and Poe go looking for the master code cracker, and...get both. The Benicio Del Toro, and the weird sauve dude. the fake cracker and the real one present two sides of neutrality. during interactions Poe and Rose find out that The true master code cracker has accepted jobs from both the resistance and the first order on more than one occasion, never once informing one or the other of how he refuses to stick to one side and boldly showing pride in how he’s taking advantage of both sides, the del toro cracker is...what you saw  in the movie, the guy pushing the whole “the only smart move is to not bother trying to get involved, and when you do get out as quick as you can”  Rose and Poe hate both of them equally, and they both die before episode 8 is over. 

Episode 8 ends similiar to the movie but with some changes minor and major. it’s both Kara and Rey that help the resistance escape from the first order, both of them doing the clearing rocks with the force thing. This is effectively the moment they cement theirselves as a couple. 

and second Luke doesn’t die. There’s no overlying reason. I just don’t think Luke has to die. 

Well there’s one. sometime around chapter 30 of the sith resurgence there’s a discussion had with the protagonists where there’s mention of who knows how many force sensitives are actually in the resistance and have never known it, and this is brought up as a cool “maybe we can do something with that” which is very hastily dashed away because the only person capable of teaching the force is Aliana and Leia dislikes her, so the idea is tabled. 

So in my hypothetical Luke doesn’t die and basically goes on to start training Finn, Rey, Kara, and a handful of students pulled from both in the ranks of the resistance. it’s recognized that he himself is fallible and that he should not be seen as the be all-end all of the jedi philosophy, only someone who gets the ball rolling

Episode 9 shows that Kylo Ren assumes what he believes to be his true nature and rises to the ranks of Sith lord, submerging himself in the teachings of all kinds of sith lord holocrons. Though it’s slow, arduous, and difficult when every once in a while he’s pulled back when Rey talks to him as Ben. 

Rey and Ben’s relationship should be understood as complicated, but when I say complicated, I mean there’s a strained notion of listening to each other but taking a heaping of salt along with it. Rey does not take shit at all, she recognizes that Kylo Ren’s identity is a security blanket designed to make him look strong. through the times they see and talk to each other using the force bond she very frequently talks over him and through him, she doesn’t call him kylo ren, she doesn’t accept him as Kylo Ren.  Rey is effectively in charge when they talk. However sooner or later something cracks and Ben becomes human...kinda. Rey does not consider Ben her friend, nor does she feel put upon to try and redeem him. 

More that Rey realises Ben might not be totally in control of his actions

The events of this version of episode 9 are much more personal. more contained. it’s obvious that the first order are going to lose, but everyone is waiting to basically find out what they’ll do as their last ditch effort. 

The plan? a last ditch effort to take out corruscant, destroy the entire galactic republic by way of eliminating the entire governing body. 

How are they going to do it? The Death Star. Kinda. 

So the first order very quietly start scavenging and eventually found themselves pulling the debris and other things off the Second Death Star, They rebuild the Super Laser, it can only fire once, and there’s a 50% chance that the things will explode, cuasing unknowably large amounts of collateral damage. 

Hux has checked out mentally. Phasma is quietly planning a coup because holy shit the supreme leader is suicidal. 

And he is suicidal by the way. 

Ben Solo is possessed. By what? The ghost of Snoke. It’s a very gray area but Snoke, like any abusive parent figure wants to live vicariously through their child, and in being killed by Ben at the end of episode 8 allowed him to do so very literally. 

because lets go all the way in with how blunt this metaphor for being manipulated into hate groups can be 

The stories final battle is effectively setting over corruscant, a complete mess of an affair with the planet doing what it can to evacuate, the fully ammassed Republic and Resistance forces fighting against a first order with nothing to lose and have fully embraced their existence as a suicide cult. 

Ben Solo, and Snoke fight each other mentally, while fighting Rey and Kara. There are Knights of Ren, who are fully aware of the situation with Kylo Ren, so there’s this huge fight where our three story focuses are fighting each other, while also occasionally fighting the villains henchmen, who are also occasionally trying to beat the shit out of Ben when he wrestles control of his body. 

Kylo Ren is killed. Snokes spirit dies. Rey stabs him through the stomach, and pull it out through his side. 

Ben Solo lives. 

In the end Kara is the one who chooses to use the Force healing tactic to heal Ben Solo. citing simply that he has no reason to not live, be that turning himself over to the authorities, trying to rework himself. The simple point is he has to attone in some way, and that isn’t by dying. 

The story ends with Rey and Kara celebrating, the republic and the resistance celebrate victory. 

The end. 

I’ve been working on this for days and it feels rushed here and there and I ‘m trying to not sweat to much detail on somehting dumb like this. 

[enigma-im]

Sticks and Stones

Rating: Teen  Relationship: Fae X Female!Human Warning: Strong language, Teasing, Flirting Teasing

Word Count: 904

a couple converses during a party.

———————————————————————————————————–

“This must be the first party you have been to that isn’t selling beer,” Cosmo leans against the wall next to me. I barely regard him with a sideways glance. Continuing to people watch from the sidelines.

“Maybe that’s why it’s so droll, I knew it was missing something but I couldn’t put my finger on it,” I sip at my wine.

“Figures you wouldn’t be having fun here, there aren’t copious amounts of raunchy dancing or orgies in the back room. That is what happened at the brothel you use to work at, right,” he pokes. I see him glance at me over his shoulder. I pay him no mind as I look over at a group of royals conversing. Seeing two giving each other eyes, perhaps trying to figure out how to leave without seeming rude.

“Don’t act like your people are above orgies. You people flaunt your cocks and tits around constantly I wouldn’t be surprised to walk in on one sometime today. Hell, saw you training with Simon in the yard I could feel the tension from the balcony. Was shocked I didn’t see him bend you over and throw out some stress,” I smirk at him. He scoffs at my words, taking a sip from his flute before he counters.

“And you call me the pervert, you see a shirtless man and you wait on the sideline for his dick to make an appearance. Quite the dirty mind you have there, been spending too much time around common whores lately,” he chuckles.

“I have been speaking to a few of your past lovers, yes. Tell me, have you ever been with someone your father didn’t have to pay for,” I cock a brow up at him.

He leans down near me,“ do you count?”

“No, he been paying me under the table. Think he calls it babysitter’s pay,” I grin up at him.

“Such a shame, and here I thought you were here for me. How foolish of me to assume a dog can be anything more,” he sits back up looking bored. I nearly glare up at him but think better of it.

“Well, they say the prince is nothing more than a pretty face, can’t hold it against you to think when your prick makes most of your choices,” I down the rest of my wine, “be a doll and get me another drink?”

Without looking he gives me his drink and takes mine, “do pace yourself, you are a slobby drunk.”

“Funny for you to care since its the only time you get lucky,” I laugh as I take a sip of his wine,“ besides how am I suppose to enjoy this stuffy get together you call a party?”

“How dare you accuse me of putting this on, you can thank my sire for this devastating get together. You wound me by thinking I wouldn’t throw an amazing party,” he scoffs.

“Yea, I should have known on the lack of shirtless men that you didn’t arrange this,” I chuckle. I finish off his wine, starting to feel the warm buzz in my head.

“Like you wouldn’t enjoy that you simple woman. Shamelessly flirt with every single one after you get some alcohol in you,” he rolls his eyes.

“Jealous that I’d flirt with the help before id flirt with you,” I bump his shoulder. He looks down at me through his lashes, fighting back a smile.

“Here I was under the impression we were flirting, don’t see any rendezvous in my future then,” he cocks a brow.

“Got to get me good and drunk before ill consider touching you,” I lazily swirl my empty glass in one hand.

“Like I’d give you the pleasure of forgetting our joining,” he laughs, “I’d want you to remember every awful second before you pass out.”

“Pass out from the drink or the awful sex,” I rest my head against his shoulder. I feel looser and calm from his presence or the wine.

“Why not both, I’m optimistic tonight,” he wraps his arm around my waist. Pulling me close and pressing a kiss to my head. “ would you like to leave and partake in a minute-long lovemaking, I’m feeling well-rested today,” he whispers near my ear.

“Minute long, you are optimistic tonight. You know your record is 45 seconds,” I taunt.

“I was referring to you but alright. Either way, let’s leave this pre-game and get to the main event,” he purrs against my neck.

“Yea, alright. I can go for some necking in your room, going to have to be on your best behavior to get your 1 minute of fame,” I grab his arm and lead him out the room.

“Think you can last that long, maybe you are the optimist one,” he chuckles as he follows.

“You are the one getting lucky but I’m the optimistic one. Funny how you think,” I drag him out the room. As we get into the hallway and far enough from the ballroom I get him against a wall. Dragging him down for a sloppy kiss. He cups my elbow and sides as he holds me close.

“You are too perfect,” he mumbles between kisses.

“Honest,” I lean back with a smirk.

He smiles back,“ honest.” I can’t help but grin widely to match his. I lean back in and take his lips for mine. God, I love this man.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes i have ideas for a couple but no story. This one i imagined two people who at first glance hate each other. they pick and insult each other often, sometimes even yelling. At second glance you can see the tiny smirks when the other gets in a good jab, the loving looks when the other cant see. At third glance you can tell how madly they are in love with each other. that is Cosmo and Nora. two bickering lovebirds who drive everyone around them crazy with their flirting.

I wrote basically their entire lives out, probably post the choppy story on Archive. I love them so much.

[ofwizardsandmen]

The walk of victory

Idol AU (Rebelde AU)

Characters: Tara Lee (OC), Johnny Suh, Mark Yang (changed his last name for plot purposes)

Word count : 1,2k

In which Mark and Johnny end up tangled in a love triangle with Tara Lee, the country’s ‘Little sister’ and 1/6 of the Co-ed pop sensation IMPULSE! Mostly angst and very bad decisions.

(Part of a larger story and multiple AUs, but can be read on its own)

“There’s a temporary exhibition dedicated to expressionism,” Johnny says touching the back of his head “Maybe we can find some time this week to go watch it” he adds, wording the invitation carefully.

Or that’s what Tara thinks anyhow.  She’s standing before the full-length golden mirror that, by now, every fan of NCT has learned to recognize as a trademark of Johnny’s room. Her reflection stares at her judgmentally.

The series of events leading to the “scandalous” outcome of Tara spending the night at NCT’s dorm is still up to debate. Tara has been vainly trying to come up with one, but there’s really no explanation for what happened last night and what has been consistently happening in the last couple of weeks. She’s pretty sure that if they were to get caught, the tabloids and gossip-hungry websites that report her every move would reduce it to a petty feud between her and Mark. But even in her worst state of mind, Tara knows that whatever she and Johnny have been up to is beyond Mark and her desire to get back at him, to see him wither in pain and jealousy after betraying her trust.

For one thing, there is no pain or jealousy for Mark to feel at all. Tara has allowed her pettiness to cloud her judgment and has been acting like a foolish teenager who sneaks with Johnny whenever the opportunity arises and doesn't even bother to hide it anymore. And yet, as of today, Mark is still blissfully unaware of the affair she’s having with his bandmate and supposedly best friend. For another, there’s nothing suggesting he’ll find about it anytime soon. Considering how Johnny was completely sure Mark wouldn’t sleep at the dorm the previous night, it is probably for the best.

“He’s not been coming home lately” Tara can recall Johnny explaining with a smirk as he stripped her clothes off her body, his voice a bit too casual for her liking. Then, again, the whole situation was already far too out of control and messed up for her to start caring about trivialities like Johnny implying Mark had already moved on from her and was frequenting someone else.

“Tara?” Johnny’s voice pulls Tara back to reality. Upon blinking twice, she realizes the guy has moved to stand behind her, his proximity makes her shift uncomfortably.

“Uh…er… yes, sure.” Tara nods offhandedly. She knows Johnny won’t take no for an answer.

He never does.

That’s probably how she ended up fucking him in the backseat of his car for the first time. Or how they ended up sneaking into his group’s shared apartment last night.

__

Tara can’t pinpoint with exactitude the moment her life turned upside down, all she knows is that it all started a doomed night of December when she bumped into Mark Yang at an award show afterparty and it’s only gone downhill from there. Tara’s life currently consists of one mistake followed by an even bigger mistake; regret —occasionally overshadowed by the thrill Johnny Suh and his model-like looks make her feel—, and unexpected events.

Finding Mark standing outside Johnny’s room when she’s finally gathered enough courage to make the walk of shame is one of them.

“Tara, don’t forget your-“ Johnny’s playful voice trails off the moment he sticks his head out of the door and notices his bandmate staring at Tara as though he's seen a ghost.

In return, she watches with thinly-veiled satisfaction the way Mark’s face contorts when Johnny fails to hide her lacy bra behind his back. It’s almost comical until she detects a flash of hurt in Mark’s eyes and he clenches his jaw, allowing his hand to ball into a fist before letting an empty laugh that doesn’t quite achieve its purpose because he looks as though he’s going to burst into tears at any moment. That or attempt murdering Johnny, Tara is not too sure.

“So now you're fucking my bandmates?” Mark inquires, eyes glistening as though they contained the entire cosmos inside. Though, in reality, it is not a question, it's a statement. Or rather an accusation.  

Tara finds it completely hypocritical how Mark dares to act offended after publicly ruining her reputation with a song he composed and everybody was quick to assume it had been “inspired” by the relationship —or whatever it was they had— they had tried to hide for months. Tara has been trying to forget about it for weeks and she’s supposedly made up her mind around the fact Mark didn’t deserve her sadness, but seeing him again has her inevitably feeling like she is going to crawl out of her skin.It’s silly how she allows herself to feel so miserable about a boy who wasted no time and found her a replacement in less than a week, but despite any evidence indicating the opposite, Tara has never been good at dealing with her emotions. People have always praised her cool demeanor and strong-willed personality, her entirety and wisdom, but in fact, all she’s done over the years is shoving her feelings deep inside of her, in a place where they didn’t represent a menace to that perfectly and minutely planned life of hers.

Unfortunately, everything is gone by now, and though Tara has even planned what she’d tell Mark when and if he happened to find out about her and Johnny, no amount of planning prepared her to deal with the heaviness of the situation.

Mark, whose eyes were always gentle despite his stupidity and lack of genuine love for Tara, stands motionless, boring imaginary holes into Johnny’s head and looking as though he’d snap at them at the lesser of the provocations.

Even the confident Tara is afraid of speaking because her senses have diverted and she’s currently focused on the smell of sex lingering in the air. She wonders if Mark notices too because he scrunches up his nose and looks at her disgusted, as though he can’t tolerate her presence.  

So in the end, Johnny is the one to speak next.

“This is not about you, Mark-“ He finally says after a silence that stretches enough for Tara to make a double-take and notice how Mark still wears the black t-shirt she bought him for his birthday.

“No, of course not. This is about my backstabbing friend sleeping with the girl I used to-“

Whatever Mark had meant to say next is interrupted by Tara. She’s not too sure if she’s simply trying to protect herself from potentially finding out Mark regarded her as a simple fuck buddy —or less than that—, but she ignores those thoughts, pushing them to the back of her head on behalf of keeping her sanity.

“We’re not doing this,” She says simply, her expression impossible to read. “I am sure the three of us have better things to do.” She adds the last part thinking about the meeting she’s scheduled to have in less than an hour and the fact Johnny is already late for a studio recording session.

Mark opens his mouth to protest, but Tara is quick to turn on her heel, tiptoeing enough to reach Johnny and pull him down for a brief kiss that leaves him looking equally confused as he is satisfied.

“I’ll see you later?” She asks with a sweet smile, as though her ex-boyfriend —or whatever Mark was— wasn’t looking. Johnny has the good sense of nodding his head although he probably knows Tara will turn off her phone and won’t contact him for the next couple of days.

She is predictable like that.

Effectively, Tara is not expecting to see Johnny again any time soon.

But Mark doesn’t need to know that’, Tara thinks to herself as she walks out of NCT’s dorm with a self-sufficient smirk.

This is universally known as a “walk of shame”, but for some reason, Tara has brainwashed herself into believing she’s making her “walk of victory”.

Later the same day, that’s the title Tara gives to the song she manages to complete in record time with the help of Sungjae and that —according to the rest of IMPULSE!—, has the potential to become the next breakup anthem flying to the top of the music charts.

[fanfic-scribbles]

Lunch Buddy: Chapter Fifteen

Masterlist

<<Previous Chapter Next Chapter>>

Overall Story Facts:

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Story Summary: Steve Rogers makes a friend. A prickly, generally people-averse friend, but they’ll both take what they can get.

Quick Facts: Friendship (/Eventual Romance) – Steve Rogers & Reader (leading to Steve Rogers/Reader) – Female Reader

Story Warnings: Reader-insert that verges on OFC, written in 1st person past tense

Chapter 15: Avoidance

Chapter Summary: The thing about avoiding your problems is that you always have to face them sooner than you think.

Chapter Word Count: 2611

A/N: Slight warnings for a little bit of angsting, and it’s a little light on Steve content (though he eventually appears from afar). Anywho. I wish I could say something cool like ‘enjoy the pining!’ but I have no idea how long I can actually keep them apart considering I have been mushing two dolls together in my head and going ‘now kiss!’ since I started posting. There will be a little pining though. Like, maybe a car air freshener, at least. Enjoy!

    I avoided Steve for the rest of the long weekend. It was easier than it might have been had he not been called in for something. Though we still had texting, he was busy and I didn’t instigate. Even when we did communicate, my responses were short and didn’t leave much for follow up. He probably assumed I needed time to de-socialize, because that was the kind of guy he was, sweet and caring and all good things. Meanwhile, I knew exactly why I was trying not to talk to him, and it stressed me the hell out.

I didn’t want to think about any of it and found my perfect excuse on Monday morning, when a work project made me skip lunch and go into overtime. I immediately texted Steve telling him I’d be busy for a few days and threw myself into work. Unfortunately the project was too time-sensitive and it was done before I even clocked out Tuesday afternoon.

“Okay, this definitely isn’t about money anymore,” my boss said that evening, just when he was packing up. “Do you have a spouse you’re having a fight with?”

“I’m just…looking for stuff to do. To keep me busy.” I didn’t back down when he stared at me. “Just for this week?”

He sighed heavily and rubbed his face. “Okay. Lunches and up to one hour after if you spend it working on organizing the junk drive. Make real progress on cleaning that out and I’ll approve the overtime.”

That was two hours of mindless-but-incredibly-draining work that would put me at a worse commute time and make me crawl into bed at the end of the day, and hopefully completely wipe me out on the weekend.

Perfect.

“Thank you!” I said and started to bound out to get started on the one job everybody in my department passed around like it was a beach ball on fire.

“Seriously,” he said and I stopped. He stood there with his bag over his shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

I almost smiled, but remembered that would be out of character. “I’m fine,” I said and shrugged one shoulder. “Holidays, you know?”

It worked. For the most part. I at least had a plausible excuse to keep Steve off my back, and my boss didn’t press any further, and I made progress on the most mind-numbing task ever embarked upon by an actual human with an actual brain.

The only problem was that it wasn’t numbing enough. As much as I tried to avoid thinking about Steve at all, he was still in my phone, as was Sam, and even Clint and Natasha now too. Pepper wasn’t a very social texter, thankfully, but I kept getting pulled back to Steve in other ways. In the course of three days I: saw a tuft of blonde hair that made me do a double-take, heard his recorded laugh as I passed by someone who didn’t understand the concept of using headphones, and had to listen to a few older ladies gossip about ‘what a man’ he was in unfiltered detail. I even had a dream about some of the things they said because the universe hated me, apparently.

And then there was Steve himself, not texting that much, but always taking the time to send me a little photo every day that was obviously meant to make me laugh. He even sent me the ‘Hang in there’ kitten poster (which made me snort way too loudly in public) along with ‘I dare you to use this for your lockscreen for a month.’

I texted back, ‘What do I get for it?’ before I realized I was breaking my own goddamn rules and smashed my face into my desk.

Steve: Something good ;)

Oh god. Did he know what he was doing? If he did I wished he would have just put me out of my fucking misery already.

Steve: How’s work?

Fuck.

Me: Busy. Me: How’s work? Steve: Almost done Steve: I hope your job lets up this weekend Steve: Sam is coming back with me and we’re hoping you can come out with us

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Me: We’ll see

Work did let up. Unfortunately. I made good progress on organizing the long-forgotten junk drive and my boss repaid me and betrayed me in the same breath.

“I’ll approve the overtime,” he said. “But that’s it for now. You look exhausted and I need you to take the weekend to rest up, okay?”

It was the one and only time I had ever wished to have a bastard boss again. But I was tired, and I didn’t have any excuses. “Okay,” I said and left his office feeling miserable. I got home pretty quick for a Friday night, which just left me more time to think about things I really didn’t want to think about. And there was only one cure for that.

The club was busier than I was used to, busier than it had any right to be with the night just really beginning, but as soon as I got in I made a beeline for the bar and snaked in the first opening I could find. It was loud, and too crowded, and I really wasn’t up for this, but I didn’t know what else to do. So I started drinking.

That was a bad idea. Aside from the ‘using alcohol to try and drown your emotions’ being a baseline fucking awful idea, it also didn’t fucking work.

Couples. They were everywhere. Leaning next to each others’ ears, making out along the wall, dancing together like it was foreplay; they were so all over the place that even the fake ID crowd seemed less obnoxious by comparison.

Except for when a gaggle of party girls yelled right next to me for no real reason and reminded me they really weren't. The music thumped and I winced and turned away from watching the floor to sip my drink at the bar like the true lonely miser I was.

And wasn’t that just the thing.

Loneliness, as a thing in my life, had stopped bothering me after a while– or maybe I had just stopped noticing it– either way, it wasn’t generally a thing I dwelled on. I took for granted that I wasn’t the type anyone would settle in with; I was too…whatever. So for the longest time I had just assumed I’d be on my own and I was okay with it. I knew I could handle it, and figured I and everyone else was better off for it. People came and went, and no one ever stuck around before– not that I ever gave them a real reason to. And if I couldn’t make friendships work, I had no business getting into a relationship. It truly didn’t bother me. Most of the time.

So it figured I would fall for the first person I’d had qualify as ‘friend’ in a while. That thought was slightly concerning, but as long as I didn’t make these feelings Steve’s problem, I could sleep easy at night. For the most part. The question was how to deal with it. Did I continue as normal and bottle this up for the rest of time, hoping it would fade out? Did I continue as normal but let him know, and let him decide if he wanted to stick around?

Or did I just…let go. Did I stop putting in the time to keep this friendship going. Did I stop responding, start avoiding him, and just fade out of his life even easier than I had faded in. That seemed like a real option. I was so naturally good at it, had done it so much by accident, he wouldn’t even miss me. After a while I doubt he would remember I existed.

My mouth tasted sour and bitter and I tossed back my drink. It didn’t help.

~

An hour later I was home, sitting at my kitchen counter and hanging my face over a cup of tea that got colder by the minute. My head still pulsed in time with the beat that had driven me out of the club, but it had become less and less over time.

My phone buzzed. “Shh,” I said softly, but it ignored me and I looked over only to hurt my neck when I did a double-take. Steve had sent three texts. Shit. I sat up and opened my phone directly to my messages. If Steve had gotten injured again I was really going to hurt him.

Fortunately the first message was a simple ‘Hey’ sent soon after I had set out on my ill-advised adventure. The next was ‘Are you busy?’ and then simply my name.

I hesitated. I had the terrible thought that here was where I could start ghosting on out of his life. Fade away like the nonentity I was.

I swallowed and sent back, ‘Sry. Went out’

Steve: Oh Steve: Good :) Steve: How are you? Me: Okay Me: You? Steve: I’m okay

The conversation stalled and I realized why I had even considered ghosting– it was easy to not respond when you didn’t know what to say.

Me: Good Steve: Can I ask you Steve: Are you really okay?

His texts came too fast after mine to be responding to the silence. Fuck.

Me: Yes Me: Why?

I shouldn’t have asked, but I had a bad feeling about this. I tapped my fingers on the table while I waited for a response.

Steve: You haven’t been talking to me much lately Steve: I’m just Steve: worried Steve: Was it Thanksgiving? Steve: Was I inappropriate?

Shit, shit, shit. I hit my forehead on the table which, fucking ow, but I deserved it. I had never intended for him to feel bad for something that wasn’t his fault, nor was it ever supposed to be his problem. It wasn’t right for him to be upset because of my bullshit. So I decided to be honest.

Me: No Me: It’s not you Me: It’s very definitely me Me: I’m mis Me: miserable Me: And awful Steve: You’re not Me: Am too Me: It’s not you tho Me: I’m having a hard time Me: That’s all

Honest to a point, at least.

Steve: I’m sorry Steve: Can I help? Me: No Me: Gotta Me: Push through Steve: Okay Steve: I’m your friend though Steve: You can always come to me Steve: And hey Steve: Sam and I are going out tomorrow for dinner Steve: I’ll text you the details just in case you’re up to it Steve: But I won’t expect anything Steve: Is that okay?

Why did he have to be so fucking thoughtful all the time. Why did he have to be someone so out of my league in every single way.

Me: Fine Me: Can’t promise Steve: That’s okay <3

I was going to straight up murder whoever taught him fucking heart symbols. Preferably by taking their heart.

Steve: Have you eaten yet? Me: Don’t wanna Steve: How about dessert?

‘Only if you’re here to share it,’ I thought. The worst part was that it wasn’t even sexual– I just wanted him here. With me. All of the time. Okay, maybe not all of the time, but most of the time. And that was new. That was different. That scared the hell out of me.

Then there was a knock at my door and I froze up. Nobody had buzzed for me and while my building wasn’t exactly Fort Knox, I also didn’t expect company I didn’t explicitly invite over. I gave it a few seconds but kept my connection to Steve in hand (just in case) and went to the peephole.

Me: Someone knocked. If I don’t respond maybe send help Steve: It’s safe :)

I squinted at the message and then peered out again. I didn’t see him at all and it wasn’t like him to hide. I cautiously opened the door and looked around but there was no one– but there was something.

A bakery box sat in front of my door, with a note scrawled on receipt paper that had my name followed with very flowery bubble letters telling me to “Feel Better!” from a hand-scrawled smiling sunflower.

I stared at it, picked up the box, brought it in, set it on the counter, and stared at it some more.

Steve: Okay now you’ve put that thought into my head I’m a little worried Steve: Are you okay? Me: brb Me: crying into cake Steve: Don’t cry Steve: Or cry if you need to I guess Steve: But eat something too Steve: I’ll say good night here Steve: And text you again with dinner info Steve: Again, only if you want to. Sam and I will NOT be slighted Steve: I promise Me: Good night Steve Steve: Good night <3

“Just fucking end me,” I muttered and stared at the screen while I dug into the cake with a fork. (It was small; I felt no shame.) It was also so unbelievably good that I actually stopped and checked out the box.

Me: Wait, how did you get a cake this late??? Steve: Asking the real questions

I laughed. That surprised me, but I couldn’t help it.

Me: It’s really good Me: Thank you Steve: Anytime

I forced myself to think about this whole…situation…while I ate. Phasing out of his life was, apparently, not much of an option if he was just randomly thinking of me like this. And I knew now very firmly that even accidentally hurting him was not an option. Love was an easy word for complicated emotion, but it was the best way I knew how to classify how deeply I cared for him. And I cared, to the point where if anybody was going to get hurt, I’d rather it be me.

The more I thought about it though, the more I had real hope that maybe nobody would get hurt at all. Steve was a really good guy. So even if he accidentally found out (I knocked on wood at the thought) it wouldn’t be the end of everything. He wouldn’t let it be the end of everything; he would be flattered, reject me politely, and we could move on. I hoped.

And for once, the best-case scenario didn’t seem the least likely. I trusted Steve that much. That was something I didn’t want to look into too much, but to be fair, he also trusted…me. He would know I wasn’t infatuated with some aspect of him and we might even work past this together. If not, he would give me the chance to work past it on my own, and I wasn’t about to let him down.

The box topped off my trash so I pulled the bag together and got ready to make the trek to take it out. Coming out the door I almost ran right into my neighbor, Robert, who was apparently doing the same thing.

“Hey,” he said. I was polite like a real human being and asked after his wife and kids. We made some more small talk on the way, and he even waited to hold the chute open for me. When I lifted the bag, his eyes zeroed in on the box stuffed half in the top. “Oh, that place is nice. You celebrating something?”

“No,” I said and shoved it in. “I…wasn’t feeling so great. So a friend sent it to me.”

“That must be a pretty good friend,” he said.

“Yeah,” I said, thinking about Steve and finally feeling hopeful. “A really good friend.”

<<Previous Chapter Next Chapter>>

[bananashemmo]

Committed The Robbery (Part 4)

Pairing: Y/N/Gangmember!Ashton

Rating: NC-17

Request: Yes

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3

Summary: On a scale from 1 to shit, how fucked would Ashton be if he ended up banging the other gangmember Luke’s little sister Y/N?

Read Committed The Robbery on Wattpad

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” 

Alba glanced shortly at you with a worried face. She was collecting all the orange colors into a pile, red ones into another one. She was detailed and organized.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” You asked back and wrapped your denim jacket over your shoulders. You already had your college ID fiddled between your fingers with your keys also. 

Alba shivered and looked down at her feet. She stood frozen with a pair of bee looking thighs. You figured she was torn between putting it in a colorful pile or over to the black materials.

“Going to the art class now after 10pm?” She didn’t want to sound insulting, she was very careful with her wording, “I know we don’t have a curfew and all, but isn’t it kind of… Late?”

You glanced down at her many piles with a quivered eyebrow.

“You’re the one wanting to go to the washing halls now? After 10pm.” You mentioned the last thing with a wink. It wasn’t an uncomfortable conversation you were having, you understood what she was trying to say and where she wanted to place her point.

“I know I know… But that’s different.” She shook her head, not really knowing how to twist her out of her words without causing the double moral effect.

“I’m only washing my clothes this late at night because of my anxiety.” She sighed, “You’re more likely…”

“A target to James?” You finished her sentence for once, deciding that you would be the one to mention his name.

She nodded her head carefully, almost looking frightened. She was even more scared of James than you were. She was having such a hard time mentioning it because she didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable. Heck, she felt uncomfortable just by thinking about it.

You smiled carefully at her before your eyes adverted to the ground.

“I’ve known James for many years… He never stops. He’s gotten this mechanism that I don’t think I’ll ever consider human. He has been in my heels for so many years I don’t have the count of it. Especially after becoming teens and starting at college.”

You watched Alba take a seat on the top of her piles, looking at you with careful eyes over her thick glasses. 

“But this is my life and I can’t let him win… If I let him win and hide, he’ll use more of my life making it miserable. Knowing that I will always be too scared to walk out of my door. I can’t give him that.” 

“I understand… I’m just worried.” She folded some socks, wanting to be productive while you were talking. 

“I’ll be safe. I promise you.” You put pressure on the last bit of the sentence and opened the door to your dorm. She wasn’t fully convinced, she never would be but she accepted your words and let you leave. 

You sighed carefully and walked down the hallway. The numbers lowered on the doors as you approached the end, opening the door to the stairs. You were the only one awake, you assumed. You couldn’t hear any noises from within the walls.

It wasn’t often that someone would be outside their dorm by now. Only if they wanted to go to the gym, if they wanted to study at the library or if they needed to go shopping at the local campus supermarket.

Not that it wasn’t okay to be outside. If it was Friday or Saturday the streets were swimming with students, drunk, having fun or hanging out.

You wrapped your denim jacket closer over your shoulders. Cold weather, not something you had assumed with the Australian weather.

It was darker than usual, your only source of lights were the post lamps. Luckily enough there was many of them, they were pretty much duplicated down every path you could or would turn to.

Somehow you had wished Alba would walk with you. Not that you could use her as any defense, damn she was a stick with meat on it. Couldn’t even kill a bug if she had to and she would run before someone could confront her.

But the washing halls were the other direction and she had most probably used her bike even if it was only 400 meters. She was a chicken, not shy to show it and you swore even if it was at 25 meters away she would use the fastest transport possible.

Sometimes you took her to the washing halls just to show there was nothing to be afraid of.

She had such anxiety it mostly came from being around people. She wasn’t affected when she was sitting in class, but being a place she wasn’t confident or comfortable she would start to panic. Stumbling over her words and sometimes blacking out.

It was why you didn’t blame or insult her. You understood that she needed to wash her clothes sometimes, she couldn’t always carry you around and sometimes she felt guilty when you threw two bags of clothes over your shoulders.

You didn’t mind though. Since she was detailed, she had 10 different bags inside the huge bag, already separating her clothes. She didn’t care how many machines you used, she would pay and she would get happy.

You walked until you came to a small fountain, running water through its system and small droplets of water flown in the air. It was always running, nobody turned it off but the local gardener changed the water so it wouldn’t be dirty.

It wasn’t often people would be standing here. It was in the middle of the paths, creating 4 new ones. It wasn’t even the middle spot of campus but you always walked past it.

You could see from where you were standing that lights were on at the part of campus where the art room was placed.

Not that you expected any students would be there. It was usually the janitor of campus. He was always there when nobody else was, he hated crowded places and always showed up at school when nobody else was there.

You had walked past him a couple of times, almost scaring the life of him.

He never expected someone would show up but he had grown used to see you stand in the art room. Not that it was very often you would visit it.

You held your ID student card in front of the security system, waiting for the red lamp to turn green.

Honestly, it was such a cool system. Nobody needed to use their key and you always had your student card because you didn’t forget it when you walked out the door. It could be used everywhere, heck you could even get discounts at clothing stores.

You walked past the janitor, his back facing yours and the vacuum cleaner loud. You didn’t want to scare him off so you walked past him and had a direction towards your destination.

When you walked into the art room, a sigh fell upon the silence.

It was weird standing here considering last time. You could feel the acid burning on your lips just by the thought. Way down your throat and feeling like sandpaper rubbing against your inner organs.

You shook the feeling away and walked towards the place where paints were hung to dry.

You tried to figure out where yours was but just like you predicted it wasn’t hanging there. It must have been ripped into million pieces during the fight where you had tried to escape from James.

You sighed irritated. The fine art had taken hours. 

It was one of your first projects, fine art as the linear realization of visual objects. You had decided to go for a waterfall, a picture you had taken from one of the most beautiful places in Australia.

It had taken hours and realizing you needed to start all over again made you regret showing up in the first place.

Fishing your phone out of your pocket you dialed a number and moved it to your ear.

“Hey, Albs… Just wanted to leave a message to make sure you don’t assume I’m dead or something.” You headed towards the trashcans, at least trying to see if you could find small pieces your art.

You switched the phone in your ear to your right side, shoulder pressing against the back of it and forced it to your ear. Your hands were occupied with roaming through the many scattered paintings and your eyebrows were furrowed.

“I don’t think I even have a project anymore so showing up was pointless. You don’t have to worry though, nothing happened on the way.” 

You gave up on looking and used your hand again to hold the phone instead of having it between your shoulder and check. You weren’t even sure if she was going to check this.

“It will only take five minutes before I will be back so don’t worry okay? I’ll see you very soon.” You hung up after giving the message to Alba’s voicemail.

The washing machines were probably too loud for her to hear. You didn’t blame her when she was washing clothes she was in a whole different world.

Turning around on your heels wanting to head back to your dorm your back was instantly pushed against the table behind you. Not by someone, but by yourself in instinct.

“You know… We can’t keep meeting like this.” James smirked, standing with his back against the doorframe to the art room.

You felt your heart skip a beat and not in the great romantic way.

You reached behind you to grab the first object you could possibly find, grasping it harshly and moving it in front of you as a threat.

“Why do you have to be all this defensive, jeez.” James couldn’t help but laugh by your reaction. You were holding a simple paint brush.

Reaching over to grab a paintbrush on the table right next to the door he cracked it in one piece, looking at you with a laugh.

You couldn’t help but drop yours in reaction, knowing there was no possible way you were going to defend yourself with that piece of wood.

“You know I miss when we were in kindergarten.” He commented as if he was imagining back, “The good old times where I could make your pants wet by forcing you to sit in buckets and you wouldn’t even tell the pedagogues.”

He shook his head with a laugh, “They always thought you had peed your pants… Again.”

“I think you’re forgetting this situation always ended in Luke showing up and forcing you to eat sand with milk as breakfast.” 

His eyes widened by your words, the part of the story he always repressed.

“Oh yes. The start of my lactose intolerance journey.” He remembered back, looking at you with half dreamy eyes. 

You loosened yourself from the table, not really knowing what he wanted. He didn’t seem as threatening as he used to. But you never wanted to believe that his intentions were good. That was a trap.

“Okay but let’s be honest,” He smiled and raised his hands in the air, “I didn’t come to have cozy chats with you.” 

You felt goosebumps run up your spine and you looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. Now you were starting to glue your back to the table again, distancing yourself the best you could.

“I heard there was a party tonight.” His mention made your eyebrows lift. 

You weren’t sure what he was talking about at first. You couldn’t recall a party today, you hadn’t heard anything from around campus. Usually, everyone would be talking about it.

“Oh?” James commented in question, “No invitation from your brother?”

By that, your eyes widened more than before. That was when you realized the invitation you had rejected from Ashton, not wanting to be a part of it.

“How do you know about that?” You crossed your arms wanting to step closer but you felt blocked. 

“You know, when they have a party everyone hears from it.” 

You didn’t know that things were like that. You just assumed when the boys would be having a party they would invite their closest. Not that it was a rumor in which everyone in that industry would be talking about it.

“So I thought I’d set up a plan.” 

By that, your full attention was on him and you felt a knot in your throat. What kind of plan, you wanted to ask and he already prepared an answer before you asked.

He could see it on your facial features. You were scared, but still curious at the same time.

“You know my friend Jessica?” He asked, crossing his arms. You shook your head and bit down on your lip in thought. Almost so harsh you could taste blood.

“She owes me a favor. I once saved her out from a drugging issue and since then she has told me she will do anything if I needed it. So I came up with this amazing idea to get her to invite herself to the party, but not alone.” 

You didn’t know who she was, but being James’ friend was enough to know that she was trouble.

“I’ve told her to seduce Ashton the best she can, and when the time is near she will use her little friend in her boot I call revolver. Not sure if she’s going to kill her, but I just want to use it to you know, say, it was nice seeing you last time.” 

You didn’t know if this was fake, you didn’t know if he was just trying to make you paranoid. But then again, he didn’t know the history of you and Ashton.

Using it against you without purpose would also be stupid.

“And by the way. I didn’t get to say thanks for the talk. It’s nice actually having a chat with you without those idiots in your heels all the time. Kind of ruins the story.” 

You felt your heart race faster when he quickly loosened his back from the door frame and walked to stand in front of you.

“Just a scar to remember me.” 

A knife was forced to your stomach, not cutting deeply but you could feel the pain. Droplets of blood fell to the floor when he lifted the knife in the air, dangling it in a victory.

“See you around, Y/N. Let’s hope tonight isn’t Ashton’s last breath.” James smirked, running a hand through his quiffed hair and left the room. 

You stood for a moment, feeling the pain by the side of your stomach but you couldn’t react. It felt as if time stood still and you couldn’t breathe.

Shaking your thoughts back to reality you quickly grabbed a towel that was usually used to wash your hands after using paint. You pressed it against your stomach as the blood had already leaked through your shirt.

You could barely feel the pain but it was probably because of the adrenaline.

Rushing out to the hallways there wasn’t a single sight of James. You could still hear the vacuum cleaner causing noise from far away, but you couldn’t spot where the janitor was standing.

You had no idea how long it was going to take for you to show up at the boys’ house, it could be twenty minutes from here and that was at a fast pace.

Even if you couldn’t feel the pain, you felt dizzy. You weren’t sure if it was because of the lack of blood, or if it was because everything was seeming to collide at once.

The twenty minutes walk felt like forever. But somehow, with the adrenaline kicking, you could barely realize it when you stood in front of the boys’ house.

The bass was pumping out from the windows, you were surprised they didn’t crack. People were sitting at the front porch hanging, smoke coming from their cigarettes and they were raising their glasses together.

You didn’t recognize any of them as a part of the gang, not that you had seen all members but these weren’t a face you recognized.

Trying to find the boys was like trying to find a needle in the hay.  

You had no idea which direction to go but when you looked up the stairs you could see both Michael and Ashton stand together. And when you walked closer you could also see a black haired girl, you assumed it was Jessica.

“Y/N?” Michael asked in confusion, watching you breathe heavily.

You ignored your own name being said but Ashton reacted and looked towards your direction.

Jessica happened to look as well, her eyebrows furrowing but not because she noticed who you were. She was just annoyed to be interrupted.

“Ashton!” You almost wanted to shout even though you already had his attention.

“Her boot!”

By that, Jessica tied the pieces together and faster than Ashton reached down to grab the revolver from her black boot. She couldn’t help but giggle a bit, not without the evil tone in her voice. 

Ashton with his quick senses knocked the gun out of her hands, pressing her harsher against the wall with both her hands above her head. 

“Well Irwin,” She commented in a tight line, “I doubted this was how our night was supposed to end.” She couldn’t help but wink at the end. 

Ashton shook his head in disbelief and pushed the gun towards Michael with his foot. Michael instantly grabbed it and got rid of the cartridges. They all collided to the floor and you couldn’t help but feels shivers up your spine. 

That was too close. 

“One of James’?” Ashton asked towards your direction and you nodded your head in agreement. 

Ashton held her arms tighter above her head but that was when he noticed the blood covered cloth in your hand, still pressing it against your stomach. 

“What happened?” He asked instantly, his eyebrows furrowing by the sudden attention. 

Worry filled his face and both you and Michael looked down. You hadn’t imagined there would be this much blood, it hadn’t been clear when you were walking in the dark. 

“I see James did his job better than I did.” Jessica almost wanted to spit towards your direction, watching Ashton becoming furious just by the mention. 

“Michael, take care of her,” Ashton ordered, wanting to get Jessica as far away from him as possible. 

You never wanted to know what actually happened when they said take care of. 

“And get Calum when you’re at it.” 

Michael nodded his head in agreement, changing position with Ashton and followed Jessica down the stairs. You hadn’t noticed how much pain you were in before the cut had been mentioned and Ashton lead you to Luke’s room. 

Great deal you had a spare key. The only one Luke shared it with was you. 

The room was completely dark, the only thing that was blocking in the light was a lamppost from far outside. Ashton hurried towards the left side of the bed where Luke always slept, turning on his lamp. 

“Oh my-, He did that to you?” Ashton couldn’t help but spill profanities whispered from his mouth. 

“You need to tell me everything that happened.” He gently helped you down on the bed, removing the cloth to see the cut. 

It wasn’t large but deep. You were so sure you would get a scar from this, right next to the left side of your hip. Ashton wasn’t a doctor but he’d seen cuts like this before. 

After explaining what had happened back in the art room it didn’t help on Ashton’s mood. He seemed to sober up right in the second he saw you, but you knew he had been drinking. 

“Did uh-,” You couldn’t help but stop in the middle of your sentence. You didn’t know if you wanted to finish it. 

Ashton wiped his curls back and looked up at you with his hazel eyes. He was slowly lifting the right eyebrow, wanting you to finish but didn’t pressure you. 

“Did you do anything with her? That Jessica girl.” 

He couldn’t help but chuckle by your innocent question. Your cheeks were red and you could also feel they were burning. It wasn’t even because you were feeling hot inside the room. 

“For your information now that you’re asking, no we didn’t.” He didn’t look at you in the eyes, focusing on the cut instead. 

“You know I’m not really into girls throwing themselves at me.” He stood up from having been kneeling down and headed towards Luke’s desk. If he remembered clearly deep in the pile of condoms and old cartridges he also had cleaning wipes. 

“And she was literally not trying to anything else but that.” He went back after fishing a makeup wipe from the bag. 

You nodded your head, watching him gently kneel in front of you again, “May I?” 

When you confirmed with a nod he started to remove some of the blood. The shirt was definitely ruined, you didn’t know if you were going to get those stains off. At least the denim jacket had survived because of the cloth. You would never get bloody stains of cowboy fabric. 

You tried to block out the feeling by listening to the music playing downstairs. It was a remix of What About Us with Pink. A song you liked, but combining it with this situation wasn’t how you wanted to remember. 

You watched Ashton take another wipe out from the bag, throwing the used one in the trashcan. Note to yourself; you needed to empty it. Luke wouldn’t do it until the mountain of dirt fell to the ground. 

“Nurse is here-, Holy fuck.” Calum walked into the room with an enthusiastic voice, but it degraded to a surprised one when he saw your stomach. 

“Well, let’s take a look at it.” He stopped in front of you and took a seat on the bed, motioning for you to lay down. It would be better for his work.

To be honest you had no idea where Calum had learned to take care of cuts and wounds but it had always been like this. 

Even when he was younger he had an interest in helping others and he was great at it. They often got injured when being out, not that it surprised you, but they rarely went to the Emergency Room. Calum always fished out an idea to fix it, and he often did it with perfection. 

You weren’t sure if he had taken classes and you couldn’t imagine he had been studying biology at college. He seemed to be more interested in football and playing around at the field. He was of true star quality. 

But with such injuries like this, he was always there to help you. Always promised that he would do it the best he could, wanting to make sure that the scars never became too big. 

He could never take away they would be permanent. 

“Ever tried this before, Y/N?” He asked, looking up at you with a soft look. 

You shook your head, this was your very first time with stitches. It kind of scared you, to be honest. 

“The best way to describe it is it’s pinching. I don’t have any numbing and I don’t think Luke wants us to give you any injections.” He explained and you couldn’t help but shiver again. 

“But I see it as five stitches, as its max. No more than that.” 

You didn’t want to respond, you were already preparing for the pain. It couldn’t be worse than the acid, it couldn’t be worse than when the knife almost sliced out your spleen. Or whatever body part it was near. 

“I just need to disinfecting the cut.” Calum hummed in thought, he hadn’t brought anything along beside his small scissor, the thing he used to make the stitches and a tweezer. 

Looking down at the drink he had also brought along he used a wipe from before and pressed it into the liquid. 

You widened your eyes in surprise, looking over at Ashton wanting him to confirm what Calum was doing was correct. 

“Don't worry,” Calum grinned, “It’s pure vodka.” 

One thing was it settled your nerves but another thing was that you were a bit disgusted that he was drinking pure vodka. You didn’t even like that kind of liquid, you were barely happy with a beer in your hand. 

It was an understatement saying that it didn’t hurt. Just by the vodka you wanted to scream at the top of the lungs, that was how much it felt like burning. It could almost compare to the acid around your mouth, but this time, people were able to hear you in pain. 

“You can dig your nails into Ashton if you want,” Calum commented only for fun but it was like you both froze in your spot. 

“What?” Calum couldn’t help but laugh, “I’m only joking.” 

You looked at Ashton with blushed cheeks, watching his eyes advert to the ground. He didn’t like seeing you in pain like this and the comment had probably made him uncomfortable even though it wasn’t intended. 

Meanwhile, Calum was in the middle of fixing your cut, Luke had shown up. 

He could tell that it wasn’t time to start to yell like he usually would. He always had outbursts, especially when it came to controlling his anger and when you were in danger. 

He had been speaking to Michael, being told that someone had happened to you and something fishy was up. 

Ashton stood up from the bed when they both were standing in the doorframe, the bass blasting loudly into the room. They decided to shut it, not wanting to ruin Calum’s concentration. 

“Is he ever going to give up,” Luke asked through gritted teeth but he wasn’t expecting an answer. 

Ashton ran a hand through his hair before crossing his arms, “Would you ever give up?” 

Luke’s eyes flicked towards Ashton’s face, watching him for a second. It was indeed true, James aspired to be a true gang member. He wanted to be just like they were, achieving to make his brother proud. 

“It’s just sad that he’s a copycat.” Luke couldn’t help but shrug, grimacing when he saw you squeeze your eyes in pain. 

“If you want to commit a robbery you aren’t the one driving the van.”

Ashton and Luke looked at each other thinking, not really knowing how to handle the situation. They knew they couldn’t take you out of college, you wouldn’t allow that. Luke also wanted you to have your education, you needed to be the better example. The better sibling. 

“You know, we could just kill him.” Ash shrugged like it was nothing. Luke couldn’t help but scoff. 

“You know who’s at risk then.” Luke reminded and Ashton’s eyes adverted towards you. 

Calum was finally done with the stitches. He ended up using four and made sure not to tie them too harshly. He put a small bandage over it just so you wouldn’t leave throughout the night. 

“You’re staying here, right?” Luke asked, catching your attention. 

“Do I have a choice?” You questioned back, not wanting to sound cocky. 

He smiled carefully and chuckled by your words, watching you heading towards his dresser and pulled out an old band tee. 

Every time things wouldn’t turn out great you always slept in Luke’s room. It was where everything was secure and you felt it like a safety blanket. You knew when you were in his room nothing could hurt or harm you. 

“Thanks again, Cal.” Luke reminded, looking over at the kiwi boy thankful. 

“We’re family,” Cal said honestly, “You know that. We help each other.” 

They watched you as you headed out to the hallways, going for the bathroom to change. It was a bit of luck you had a few pairs of shorts in Luke’s drawer because it came in handy at times like these. 

“Should we stay on the watch to make sure she’s alright?” Michael asked out loud as he watched Calum place a few painkillers on the nightstand. 

“I don’t want to drag you out of the party.” Luke shrugged, wanting to do it himself because he didn’t mind. 

“It’s okay.” Ashton rubbed his hands together. “Not really in the mood for a party. I’ll watch her just for a bit.” 

Luke nodded his head in agreement, watching you come back from the bathroom and slipped under the sheets in his bed. 

Ashton smiled carefully at you winching, it was no surprise. It wouldn’t be until a few days that Cal could remove the stitches and it would heal properly. 

“See you downstairs, Ash.” Calum took his drink back, following with the others out of the door and you watched the lights from the hallway disappear. 

“You don’t want to party?” You asked carefully and moved the sheets up to your chest. 

Ashton shook his head and walked past the bed and towards Luke’s window. 

It was nice because every room in this house had a seat by the window. Luke had his guitar on the top of the pillows but it was easy to move. Ashton took a seat on the navy blue pillows and looked out of the window. He could see the party from the living room downstairs. 

“Are you going to stay here all night?” You leaned your head against the pillow and looked at him. 

“Of course.” He said softly, smiling when he could see your eyes fill with warmth. 

You mouthed a thank you and watched him look out of the window, his eyes occasionally glancing towards your direction until you finally felt asleep safe inside. 

[vulpinmusings]

Ski’tar and Friends part 6: Pit Crew

The adventures of Ski’tar, Vemir, and 6 continue as we begin the process of becoming official Starfinders.  Our first goal?  Help a teenage brat win a pod-race.

Chapter the First

Chapter the Previous

Before Captain Arvin sent us off to decide what to do with our vastly increased credit accounts, he told us to expect to hear from someone else in the Starfinder Society about initiations the next morning. It was only at this point that I realized I’d agreed to a fair bit more than I thought I had.  Vemir, Sixer, and I weren’t being kept on as contracted freelancers; the Society intended to actually make us full members.  Vemir and Sixer didn’t appear to put-off by this, and I decided to play along under the assumption that if I didn’t like where things were going I could just quit.

After shopping around for some better gear – I got myself a superior knife, stronger frag grenades, and a suit of Carbon Skin armor with jump jets, Sixer finally replaced some of his weapons, and Vemir bought himself a venom spur biotech augment along with some tools – Vemir invited us to join him at a bar for a post-mission drink.  He said it was one of his Traditions, but I can’t imagine why he’d slap that label on such an ordinary activity.  We found an establishment that wasn’t down in the Spike but also wasn’t too high-class.  The three of us may have come into a lot of money, but we couldn’t possibly have fit in at some quasi-noble brewery in the Eye.  Vemir got himself some tequila and Sixer went for whiskey or something equally hard, while I just got a simple beer.  When the bartender tried to coax me into getting something harder, and more expensive, I made a vague reference to the time when I let my attention lapse and blew my own arm off.  Everyone assumed I’d been drunk at the time, and I didn’t correct them since it got the bartender off my case about my drink order.

As we chatted, I learned that Sixer was originally from Akiton, like myself, but we’d unsurprisingly never crossed paths.  He’d been built as the personal assistant to some big-wig and, through a great deal of very detailed references to the dangers of Akiton, implied he’d killed his former owner.  Given our fairly public location, both Vemir and I silently agreed not to press for more details. Vemir told us he had signed up with some mercenary group while on his Tempering, lost one of his arms on a mission, then quit the mercenary life to become a bounty hunter and never bothered to go back to the Idari to officially finish the Tempering.

The bartender asked us about our day, and when I mentioned we’d been working with the Starfinders, he was surprised the Society was still functional.  Apparently, the Society had recently suffered a catastrophic loss, far beyond the mere seven people who died on Ulmarid.  The common estimates said the Society had lost 80% of its people in a single disaster that was being called the Scored Stars Disaster.  Suddenly, Arvin’s willingness to entrust the search for the Unbounded Wayfarer to a trio of random folk off the streets made a lot more sense to me, as did our being fast-tracked into joining the Society.  The three of us mulled over the information and decided to hold off digging into the Scored Stars Disaster until we’d at least made some progress through the initiation process and earned the trust of the Starfinder Society. Or at least what was left of it.

The next morning, our comms received a message from something identified only as “Guidance,” giving us directions to a particular room in the Lorespire Complex.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by a hologram of a middle-aged human woman which instructed us to provide genetic samples for identification purposes, gave us sub-dermal ID markers, and then a long run-down of what our initiation would entail.  To put it simply, we had to complete some task for each of the four sub-factions within the Starfinder Society. Our first mission would be given to us by the leader of the Acquisitives, the sub-faction dedicated to maintaining the Society’s public image and handling temporary contract jobs.  The Acquisitive leader, Ratazan, works out of an office in the middle of the Eye. So, us three products of the slums and borderline-legal society went marching through the most elite section of Absalom Station, listening for interesting gossip and only hearing about some upcoming pop music sensation and the latest drama on the Junk Racing circuit.

Ratazan’s office was about as bland and sterile as you could imagine; it seemed a minor miracle that there was any furniture in the place.  Ratazan himself was a Vesk in a state of extreme agitation.  Once we’d introduced ourselves, he wasted no time getting to the point: some young punk of a Starfinder had spoken critically of the mechanical skills of the current Junk Racing champion, Rat-rod, and the champ had insisted the Starfinder put her credits where her mouth was by taking part in the next race.  For our initiation task, Ratazan wanted us to hike all the way back down to the Spike and help the young Starfinder, Laboni, win the race and preserve the reputation of the Society.

It sounded like a lot of hullabaloo over nothing, but I’d never been able to get into a designated Junk Race course before and I’d always been curious what could be scrounged from one.  And at any rate, the task sounded perfectly suited to my skills and entailed little personal risk since none of us would be expected to actually take part in the gun-encrusted demolition derby that is a Junk Race.

Bearing badges and caps that marked us as official Pit Crew, Vemir, Sixer, and I made our way to the Junk Race circuit and past a couple of robots programmed to keep the fans out of restricted areas and to ensure that every race participant knows every rule of Junk Racing.  It was useful information, don’t get me wrong, but the delivery method could’ve been less… monotone.

Laboni was human, and little more than a teenager, which explained precisely why this whole situation had come about.  She at least had the good sense to know she’d put herself and the whole Society in a tight spot, so I didn’t begrudge having to help her too much.  Then Rat-rod himself came over to trash-talk, and the fact that he was a fellow Ysoki did nothing to quell the fire he stoked in me to take him down more than a couple pegs.  Once Rat-rod had left to see to the final preparations on his racer, I threw myself into doing everything I could to improve Laboni’s rusted heap of a vehicle.

While I was tinkering, Vemir went around to chat up some of the other racers and try to arrange for some assistance during the race.  Turns out Rat-rod is not well-liked among his fellow racers, mostly due to his attitude but also how he uses technomancy on his vehicle. Technomancy isn’t illegal in Junk Racing – little actually is besides firing into the audience – but Rat-rod’s application of it apparently makes him a nightmare to deal with on the course. Vemir’s first target, a gnome technomancer with an apparent obsession for putting unnecessary bits and bobs on her vehicle, was particularly helpful in detailing some of Rat-rod’s tricks and promised to help interfere with him if we could ensure her a second-place finish.  Vemir relayed what he’d learned to me, and I took particular note that Rat-rod’s racer was capable of absorbing energy weapons fire and converting it into performance boosts for his vehicle.  I made sure to install a kinetic gun onto Laboni’s racer and told her to use it and not the energy gun already installed.

Vemir next spoke to a Lashunta who took a lot of pride in the appearance of his racer (I’ve made it a small personal goal to see to it that he gets at least a few scratches to the paint-job) and was easily convinced to distract everyone with telepathic visions of how nice his racer is.

While I was working, Sixer tried to make himself useful by running off to search for scrap I could use.  He came back with a barrel.  I asked him pointedly what he expected me to do with a barrel, and he came up with some silly idea of rigging a way to launch it at Rat-rod’s head during the race.  I decided to just stick with the kinetic gun I’d already picked out to install.  Vemir came up with another use for the barrel: he’d use it to sneak over to yet another racer and stick a detonator on some critical part that would be debilitating but not deadly if it were to fail.  Liking that plan, I prepared one of my detonators for him.  Vemir climbed into the barrel, kicked out the bottom so he could walk inside it, and proceeded to trip and roll into the vehicle he’d planned to sabotage.  The driver was less than amused, and Vemir had to book it back over to us before anything violent happened.  I reclaimed and disarmed my detonator, and then we had to get off the track before the race started.

As we went, Laboni handed us a remote she’d rigged up to let us take control of her racer if we felt it was necessary.  From the look on her face, it was clear she fully expected us to “feel it was necessary” for the entirety of the race.  So, feeling much put-upon, we withdrew to a good vantage point and started discussing how the three of us were going to manage remotely piloting a Junk Racer with only one remote between us.

[lovemychinchilla]

Do Chinchillas Poop a Lot?

Everybody poops (including your chinchilla). But how much do chinchillas poop? Do they poop on you, and is it disgusting like that of other pets?

Do chinchillas poop a lot? They do: several hundred times per day. But their poop isn't too disgusting or inconvenient because it's small, hard and dry. It's healthy and normal for them to poop so much because they need to eat a lot of food. You can't stop your chinchilla pooping on you when you handle it, or all over its cage, so you should clean up after it by sweeping it up.

The guide below answers everything you ever wanted to know about chinchilla poop... And then a little bit more besides! It covers how much chinchillas poop, why they poop so much, what chinchilla poop looks like, and how best to clean it up. Consider the guide below your one-stop-shop for all your chinchilla poop related guidance and advice!

Do Chinchillas Poop a Lot?

[caption id="attachment_660" align="alignright" width="300"] The tiny dollops on this platform are chinchilla poop. It's small and well-formed, which is what it's supposed to look like.[/caption]

Chinchillas do poop an awful lot. But whereas this is a major issue with other pets, it's not a major issue, since a chinchilla's poop is so hard, dry and small.

If it's healthy, your chinchilla should be pooping hundreds of times per day—and no, that's not an exaggeration. In fact, chinchillas poop so much that owners refer to them as poop machines! Others say they poop with practically every step they take, or that if they're breathing... They're pooping too. The only time it stops is if it's very sick, or very dead.

It doesn't matter where your chinchilla is or what it's doing, it will be pooping as it goes about its business. That includes on you, on the floor, on the floor of its cage, on the platforms in its cage... Anywhere it goes.

Do Chinchillas Poop as Much as Guinea Pigs? Guinea pigs and other rodents have a reputation for pooping an awful lot. Well, guess what? Chinchillas poop more than guinea pigs overall.

Do Chinchillas Poop More Than Rabbits? They do, but a bunny's poop is far more inconvenient than a chinchilla's poop. It's not as hard, dry and compacted, which means it smells more and is more of a pain to clean up.

And of course, chinchillas poop more than other household pets like cats and dogs.

How Many Times Do Chinchillas Poop a Day?

There obviously isn't an exact answer to this question. That's because your chinchilla may poop slightly more or less than others, or because of slight variations in how much your pet eats. It's also because nobody has been bothered to count! But owners think it's somewhere around 200-300 times per day, and that's certainly backed up by experienced owners' anecdotal evidence.

You can see roughly how much your chinchilla is pooping by checking its cage at the end of the day.

When Do Chinchillas Poop?

[caption id="attachment_658" align="alignright" width="300"] "I'll poop when I want![/caption]

Chinchillas poop constantly. They poop early in the day, and late at night (since they're crepuscular, meaning they aren't strictly nocturnal or diurnal). They poop when they're eating, and they poop when they're not. Yours will poop when it's in its cage, and when you let it out. It will poop when you handle it and when you don't.

What we're getting at is that there isn't a time when your chinchilla isn't pooping. You can't, say, handle it between the hours of 9 and 10am because that's when it poops less—as that's not true.

Do Chinchillas Poop on You When You're Handling Them?

Your chinchilla may poop on you occasionally. But that's not as big a deal as it sounds. Chinchilla poop is tiny, hard and dry, so you'll hardly notice if you get some on you.

The reason your chinchilla might poop on you is that they poop regularly as they go about their day. They do so more freely than they pee, because they have to be careful not to get pee in their fur. Otherwise, it gets damp, and can't get dry easily. But poop is already dry, so it won't get stuck in the fur or make it dirty.

If your chinchilla poops on you, don't worry. It's not toxic, and it won't burn through your clothes or skin like acid! Just wash your hands, as you would any time you touch anything like pet poop.

What Does Chinchilla Poop Look Like?

There are two kinds of chinchilla poop: regular poop and cecotropes. They look completely different, although you may never see your chinchilla produce cecotropes. Both kinds of poop are instantly recognizable, so there should be no difficulty assessing how much your chinchilla is pooping.

Regular Poop vs. Cecotropes

[caption id="attachment_2987" align="alignright" width="300"] Image courtesy of J.F. Rabbits.[/caption]

Regular poop is just poop. It's the leftovers that your chinchilla didn't or couldn't digest from its food. Chinchilla poop looks like small brown grains of rice: tiny, hard, and without an obvious scent. It doesn't smell because it's dry.

Cecotropes, on the other hand, are a special kind of poop. They're produced by the cecum, which is a small pouch in the intestines. They are larger than regular poop because they have more water in them, and their texture makes them stick together. They look like small bunches of grapes.

This might come as a shock to you, but chinchillas eat their cecotropes as soon as they 'produce' them. The point is that the cecum is great at breaking down fiber in food. But because of the location of the cecum, the majority of the energy from this process can't be absorbed. It's the small intestine that ingests the majority of nutrients, and the cecum is placed in the large intestine, which comes after. So rather than pushing the food back up the large intestine and into the small intestine—which isn't physically possible—the chinchilla eats its poop so that it can absorb the nutrients that way instead.

Why Do Chinchillas Poop So Much?

Chinchillas poop so much because they eat so much. It's as simple as that.

The chinchilla diet is almost exclusively low-energy plant matter. Similar to other grass-eating animals like cows, wild chinchillas have to spend much of their time foraging for food and eating it. The same applies to your pet, which you no doubt will have noticed spends most of the day eating or sleeping.

Because your chinchilla eats a large mass of food to get the energy it needs, it has to get rid of a comparatively large mass of food at the 'other end'. It does this by pooping all the time.

It is possible to feed chinchillas foods that are more densely packed with energy, like nuts or seeds. But if you do, your pet won't know that it doesn't need to eat its hay; it will subsequently gain lots of weight.

Do Chinchillas Poop When Scared?

Chinchillas don't poop any more or less when they're scared.

It's not exactly clear where this myth came from. It may be from owners who notice that their chinchilla poops more when they handle their pet, and assume that it's because the chinchilla is overexcited, stressed or scared. But that's not true. Chinchillas poop frequently because their guts have to handle such a large mass of food, which means that they poop when handled... And when not handled too!

Do Chinchillas Poop More When They're Sick?

Chinchillas don't poop more when they're sick, either, although the consistency and size of the poop may change.

Chins can get diarrhea just like we can (although it's rare). When this happens, your pet may poop quite a lot for a short time. The texture of the poop will also have changed, and it will be looser and smellier. But your pet won't continue pooping more than usual for a long time.

What's more likely, though, is that your chinchilla will poop less than it usually does when it's sick.

Do Chinchillas Poop to Mark Territory?

Chinchillas don't poop for any purpose other than to make room in their insides for more food!

It sort of makes sense, the idea that a chinchilla would poop to mark its territory. That's because:

Chinchillas, especially females, are territorial animals. They can't defend their territory as well as a big predator can, but they still try!

Chinchillas poop wherever they go, as if they're saying 'I was here!' in the same way as dogs do when they pee.

Animals use other waste products (pee and sweat) to mark territory, so why wouldn't they use poop?

But there are a couple of reasons why this can't be true. The first is that wild chinchillas would be unwise to mark their territory so heavily. That's because they're prey animals, and predators will take any help they can get in locating their prey. If a chinchilla's poop were any smellier, and alerted predators to their presence, that would be a bad thing indeed.

The second reason is that chinchilla poop isn't really that smelly. When a substance is wet or damp, it allows volatile molecules to escape into the air—in other words, smells. When something is dry, fewer or none of these molecules are released, meaning it doesn't smell as much. So, if a chinchilla wanted to mark its territory with poop, it wouldn't make it so dry.

The third is that marking territory works because of pheromones. Pheromones are released in pee, but not in poop.

Why Is My Chinchilla Pooping Less Than It Used To?

Certain health conditions make chinchillas poop less.

Chief among these issues is gastrointestinal stasis. This is like a form of very bad constipation. If it keeps getting worse (as it will without correcting your chinchilla's enclosure and getting it medical care), it will eventually stop your chinchilla from eating and pooping at all.

What Is Gastrointestinal Stasis?

[caption id="attachment_668" align="alignright" width="300"] GI stasis will stop your chinchilla from pooping.[/caption]

Gastrointestinal stasis occurs when there's a blockage in your chinchilla's gut. This blockage is typically formed of something that it has gnawed on, which it shouldn't have gnawed on—something like plastic, paper or cardboard. Your chinchilla can't easily pass these materials, so if it continually chews on, say, cardboard that's kept in its cage then it will eventually form a blockage.

This is a big, big problem. It means that your chinchilla can't eat, and it can't go to the toilet. The term 'stasis' means that the gut stops doing anything, either processing food or getting rid of waste. This can cause dangerous bloating, starvation and infection in the gut. It requires immediate medical assistance.

One of the symptoms of GI stasis is that your chinchilla stops pooping. If the condition is in its early stages, then your chinchilla will have to strain harder to poop, will poop less, and its poops may be a longer and smaller shape.

Other Reasons Why Chinchillas Stop Pooping

Your chinchilla may be eating less than it normally does. This will consequently mean that it poops less, too, since there's less matter in its gut.

Chinchillas may stop eating when they have malocclusion. Malocclusion is when your chinchilla's teeth grow too long, and don't meet properly in the middle. Like all rodents, chinchillas have teeth that grow continually. This is an adaptation they developed to replace lost teeth, since a rodent's teeth are so important. The sharp sides and edges of the teeth can cut into the gums, causing painful abscesses. This makes your chinchilla not want to eat.

Anorexia, a general term for not eating as much or not eating at all, is also a symptom of many other health issues. One of its consequences is that your chinchilla goes to the toilet less. If your chinchilla has malocclusion, displays anorexia or any other symptom of ill health, you should take it to the vet as soon as possible.

How to Deal With Chinchilla Poop

Since your chinchilla is supposed to poop a lot, that's a fact you simply have to live with. There's no dietary supplement that you can, or even should give it to make it poop less. Rather, you have to deal with the effects. There's only one way to do that!

Spot Cleaning a Chinchilla's Cage

[caption id="attachment_782" align="alignright" width="225"] Spot cleaning is as simple as sweeping up whatever's on the cage floor, and replacing any dirty substrate.[/caption]

If you've ever worked in a kitchen, or if you do a lot of cooking, you'll be familiar with the idea of 'spot cleaning'. This means cleaning as you go. So, rather than letting all the pots and pans pile up as you cook, you clean them one by one as you stop using them. This makes washing up feel like less work, because you won't have one big pile to clean at the end.

The exact same applies to keeping your chinchilla's cage clean. You should clean your pet's cage every day.

But that doesn't mean big, deep cleans. It doesn't mean donning rubber gloves, spraying bleach everywhere, and scrubbing until you can't feel your fingers. All it means is a quick five-minute check each day, a little sweep, and wiping up anything that needs to be wiped up.

To do this, most owners use a dustpan and brush. All you do is lean into your chinchilla's cage, sweep up any poop or discarded hay and pellets, and dispose of them in the bin. You don't even need to wear rubber gloves. If there's anything else that needs tidying, like if your chinchilla's food bowl tipped over, then you can fix that too. But there's unlikely to be much you need to do. You could also use a dust buster (small vacuum cleaner) if your chinchilla isn't too scared of the noise, or if you don't have any cleaning kit, manually sweep them up with your hand!

Deep Cleaning a Chinchilla's Cage

You can also undertake less frequent deep cleans, if you want. Deep cleaning is where you take everything out of the cage, wash them thoroughly, wash the cage thoroughly, then put everything back together. This is essential as it stops bacteria from building up in your pet's cage. It also cleans up any poop you may have missed, e.g. that somehow got under the felt lining of the floor of the cage.

Can Chinchillas Be Trained to Poop in a Litter Tray?

Chinchillas can be trained to use a litter tray, but cannot be trained to poop in one. You can put one in your pet's cage, but all it will use it for is peeing... Not pooping.

This stems from the chinchilla's adaptations to the wild. The chinchilla has very thick fur, which helps it survive in the freezing Andes Mountain nights and winters. But this thick fur has a drawback: it stays wet for a long time if it comes into contact with water (or pee). This can cause hypothermia or bacterial and fungal growth.

As such, the chinchilla developed another adaptation. It learned to pee in just one corner of its burrow.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillacare

[holytheoristtastemaker]

 I've been playing around with dragging and dropping stuff in web browsers for a while. ViewCrafter relies on the Drag and Drop API, since it enables me to pass data easily to drop targets in different windows. I'll probably do a blog post about that at some point.

This blog post is about being able to move an element by dragging it around on a touch screen. Unfortunately, the Drag and Drop API isn't supported all that well on touch devices, and so I've had to dig a bit into the Touch API to provide an experience for the user that works on touch and on traditional desktop browsers.

If you want to see an application of this ability, take a look at my Tower of Hanoigame.

Building up a solution

To get this working, we need a simple layout:

<html> <div id="container"> <div id="left-parent"> <div id="movable-element"></div> </div> <div id="right-parent"></div> </div> </html>

Okay, this is a bit bland (and empty), so we'll put in a bit of styling to get a visible layout.

* { box-sizing: border-box; } #container { display: flex; } #container > div { border: 1px solid gray; padding: 1em; height: 10em; width: 50%; } #movable-element { border: 1px solid green; background-color: #00ff0033; height: 100%; width: 100%; }

Our objective is to enable the user to move the green element from the left parent to the right, and back again - while updating the document.

How to pick up and make a move

We want the same interaction for the user whether they're using a mouse or using a touch device. So, we're going to programme both functionalities in tandem. This is helped by the fact that there are analogous events between both APIs:

touchstart is equivalent to mousedown

touchend is equivalent to mouseup

touchmove is equivalent to mousemove

There's a couple of caveats. Touch has an additional touchcancel event which is triggered when the browsers decides something should interrupt the touch behaviour. Also, the touch events carry additional information because you can have multiple touchpoints, whereas the Mouse API only allows for a single mouse pointer.

All that consider, our first step is to allow users to 'pick up' the element. This is done by listening for mousedown and touchstart events on the movable element.

<div id="movable-element" onmousedown="pickup(event)" ontouchstart="pickup(event)"></div>

let moving = null; function pickup(event) { moving = event.target; }

Nothing much will happen yet, since we also need to track our mouse/finger movements and move the element to match.

To do this we need to change the element's position to fixed, and also listen out for changes in the mouse/finger position, using mousemove and touchmove.

<div id="movable-element" onmousedown="pickup(event)" ontouchstart="pickup(event)" onmousemove="move(event)" ontouchmove="move(event)" ></div>

let moving = null; function pickup(event) { moving = event.target; moving.style.position = 'fixed'; } function move(event) { if (moving) { // track movement } }

Now when we click on the element:

Oh dear - what just happened?

The moving element uses relative height to fill the space available in its parent. When we change its positioning to fixed, the element attempts to fill the whole page, hence the blowout. This is easily fixed, though:

function pickup(event) { moving = event.target; moving.style.height = moving.clientHeight; moving.style.width = moving.clientWidth; moving.style.position = 'fixed'; }

Let's get moving

The tricky bit here is that mousemove and touchmove pass slightly different information in the event. This is because touchmove allows for multiple touchpoints to move around the screen (a feature that would allow us to do things like pinch-zoom and rotate, if we so wished).

function move(event) { if (moving) { if (event.clientX) { // mousemove moving.style.left = event.clientX - moving.clientWidth/2; moving.style.top = event.clientY - moving.clientHeight/2; } else { // touchmove - assuming a single touchpoint moving.style.left = event.changedTouches[0].clientX - moving.clientWidth/2; moving.style.top = event.changedTouches[0].clientY - moving.clientHeight/2; } } }

We use clientX and clientY here to account for the page being scrolled. The element is being positioned relative to the window's left and top edges, so we want to know where our mouse/finger is relative to the window's top-left corner.

Now we have our element tracking our mouse/finger movements, but there a couple more problems now:

The element sticks to the mouse pointer when we let go of the button.

The element just sits wherever we left it when we lift up our finger.

Let it go!

What we need to do now is react to the user letting go of the element (mouseup and touchend):

<div id="movable-element" onmousedown="pickup(event)" ontouchstart="pickup(event)" onmousemove="move(event)" ontouchmove="move(event)" onmouseup="drop(event)" ontouchend="drop(event)" ></div>

function drop(event) { if (moving) { // reset our element moving.style.left = ''; moving.style.top = ''; moving.style.height = ''; moving.style.width = ''; moving.style.position = ''; moving = null; } }

Drop it like it's hot

The final piece of the puzzle is getting the element to actually move when we drop it where we want it to go.

So, we need to know where we've dropped it.

The problem is, because we've made our element move everywhere underneath our pointer/finger, the event's target information is just going to give us the element we're moving, and not any information about where we're trying to drop it.

To overcome this, we can set the z-index of our element so that it appears behind the elements we're moving between. Unfortunately, this hides the element and prevents the event listeners for moving and releasing the element from firing, so we have to make a few changes to where we place them.

<html onmouseup="drop(event)" ontouchend="drop(event)"> <div id="container" onmousemove="move(event)" ontouchmove="move(event)"> <div id="left-parent" onmouseup="drop(event)" ontouchend="drop(event)"> <div id="movable-element" onmousedown="pickup(event)" ontouchstart="pickup(event)"></div> </div> <div id="right-parent" onmouseup="drop(event)" ontouchend="drop(event)"></div> </div> </html>

function pickup(event) { moving = event.target; moving.style.height = moving.clientHeight; moving.style.width = moving.clientWidth; moving.style.position = 'fixed'; moving.style.zIndex = '-10'; } function drop(event) { if (moving) { // reset our element moving.style.left = ''; moving.style.top = ''; moving.style.height = ''; moving.style.width = ''; moving.style.position = ''; moving.style.zIndex = ''; moving = null; } }

Putting the move listeners on the container constrains the movement to within that part of the page (if you want to be able to move everywhere, you can put the listeners on the <html> element instead).

We put the mouseup and touchend listeners on the <html> element so that it doesn't matter where we let go of the mouse or lift up our finger, the element will return to its original location (unless a different element's event listener prevents that). Finally, we put a mouseup and touchend listener on each target area (including the original parent for when we want to move back).

Now we're ready to move our element from one part of the document to another.

function drop(event) { if (moving) { if (event.currentTarget.tagName !== 'HTML') { event.currentTarget.appendChild(moving); } // reset our element moving.style.left = ''; moving.style.top = ''; moving.style.height = ''; moving.style.width = ''; moving.style.position = ''; moving.style.zIndex = ''; moving = null; } }

event.currentTarget tells us which element the event triggered on. appendChildmoves the element from it's original parent to the new one. At least, it works on desktops. We have to do something else to get it to work on touch screens.

Touchy touch screens

For some reason, on touch devices, event.currentTarget gives us the parent of the element we're moving - not the parent we're trying to move to. I don't understand the variation in behaviour here, because touch and mouse have been pretty consistent so far.

Luckily, there is native javascript function that tells us what element is under a specific point on the page - elementFromPoint.

function drop(event) { if (moving) { if (event.currentTarget.tagName !== 'HTML') { let target = null; if (event.clientX) { target = document.elementFromPoint(event.clientX, event.clientY); } else { target = document.elementFromPoint(event.changedTouches[0].clientX, event.changedTouches[0].clientY); } target.appendChild(moving); } // reset our element moving.style.left = ''; moving.style.top = ''; moving.style.height = ''; moving.style.width = ''; moving.style.position = ''; moving.style.zIndex = ''; moving = null; } }

That's all

So, there we go, we can now move an element from one parent to another by dragging it with a finger.

About the only problem with this solution is that setting a negative z-index on the moving element means it could get obscured by other elements that are not transparent as we move it around. There is an experimental extension to elementFromPoint - elementsFromPoint - but it hasn't been fully implemented by all browsers yet. There's also the issue of identifying which of the many elements under that point we want.

[ijustwant2write]

You Abandoned Me-Part 1/10 (Steve Rogers x Reader)

(GIF credit to @stevenrogers)

Masterlist

Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5/ Part 6/ Part 7/ Part 8/ Part 9/ Part 10

(A/N: So this is my first post on here and of course it’s going to be a Marvel imagine but it will be split into more parts I don’t know how many exactly. This is following after Civil War though it won’t stick to the whole story; remember it’s just fan fiction, anything can happen.)

Summary: Civil War has just ended, Steve is about to disappear with Bucky but doesn’t realize how much of a strain this will be on his relationship with (Y/N). But his head doesn’t seem to be in the right place, making everything harder than it needs to be.

Meanings:(Y/N)= Your Name (Y/H)= Your height

Characters: (Y/N) x Steve Rogers, Platonic relationship with the rest of the team (especially close to Tony Stark)

Warnings: Arguing

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“What do you mean you’re leaving? Where will you go?” I sobbed to Steve as he packed his things in a duffle bag.

“I have to do this, he’s my best friend.” he replied not looking up at me.

After I had been pacing around the living room for hours waiting for Steve, he finally barged through the door to our shared flat. I had heard nothing from him in days; I couldn’t assume he was on a mission because he always told me beforehand. However I knew all about the incident with the team and the Sokovia records, they had been split apart because of their different views and I was stuck in the middle. This had to have something to do with it and the fact that no one was answering my calls or text just made that more obvious.

As soon as he had burst through the door I leapt onto him, only receiving half the love back. I caught a glimpse of his bruised and battered face before he rushed towards our bedroom without a word being said. I followed after the super soldier, demanding an explanation. What I wasn’t expecting was a brief description of how he was running away with his best friend from the 1940′s who was now….who used to be a HYDRA assassin to save him.

“Your best friend!? What about me, your girlfriend?” I stressed, unpacking the clothes he was stuffing into his bag.“How is it that when he turns up out of the blue he gets your full attention but when I start worrying about my boyfriend, all I get is a simple response?”

“He’s being tracked down by the government. He’s been brainwashed for years, that wasn’t him killing those people, it was HYDRA.” he glared at me angrily as he tried to grab the clothes out of my hands.

“Steve I know that he is basically family to you but you can’t just get up and leave. Let’s talk about this.” I held them away from him, desperately pleading. 

“I don’t have any time. I’ve got to get the others.” Steve walked around the bed trying to snatch his clothes back.

I backed away from him.“Steve listen to yourself! At least give me a proper explanation, please! This isn’t fair, I’ve stuck by you for so long and now you’re just disappearing off somewhere!”

His eyes softened for just a second until he snatched the clothes out of my grip.“I’ve already fought Tony, I’m not fighting with you.”

I felt my breath hitch. The way he said it suggested they had literally fought but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did. The thought of all of my friends fighting each other pained me, I had seen them throw a punch, they never held back. Who knew what the others were doing or where they were right now?

“Do you know how long you’ll be gone for?” my voice suddenly became quieter, scared about the answer.

“No.”

“What am I supposed to do? Sit around and wait for you to just randomly show up?”

“I don’t know. Find a way to entertain yourself.”

This wasn’t the man I fell in love with. Steve Rogers, Captain America, was not this rude, selfish and unloving person stood in front of me. My mind couldn’t understand it. I knew that he had been through so much this past week; the Sokovia records were dumped on the Avengers which then teared the team apart, Peggy Carter had just died and Bucky Barnes was suddenly a wanted man. I understood that this was a lot for him to take in but how could he push me out of the picture? I was trying to help him. Surely we were supposed to stick together, stand by one another so that we could get through this and come out stronger.

He was heading towards the door until I slammed it shut and stood in front of it, trying to act as a barricade. We both knew he could easily storm through in a matter of seconds. Still, I stood my ground, determined to make him stay or at least get him to talk. He sighed and wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“Steve, how long have we been dating?”

“(Y/N), I don’t have time-”

“Answer the question!” I raised my voice.

His soldier stance never faltered.“Three years.”

“Three years! We live together, I train with you, I wait out missions for you, I have been attacked multiple times because of you; yet I’m still here.” I took a deep breath before I continued.“Now I’m not asking to go with you, I’m not asking you to stay, I just want to know that you’ll be safe. You can’t just barge in here then leave without telling me what’s going on.”

“You’re wasting time.”

“Steve, just-”

Before I could finish my sentence he threw me over his shoulder, dumped me on the bed and ran out of the room. I forced myself to run after him though I couldn’t keep up. As I made it to the living room, the front door was already slamming shut. I knew there was no point going after him. A 6'2" super soldier against a (Y/H) normal woman, no explanation needed.

The realization that the love of my life had just left me hit me all of a sudden. A horrible, ugly cry left my mouth as I crumbled onto the floor. Sobs racked my body, it was suddenly becoming hard to breathe. He wouldn’t just leave me after that would he? Not after all we had been through? We had never argued, not like this. I wasn’t sure if he was ever coming back. The tears that ran down my face smudged my make up, the crying making it hard for me to breathe. It took several attempts to calm myself down, though it was a miracle that I managed to stop crying.

As I recollected myself, I had only just noticed how dark the room had gotten. I had obviously been slumped on the floor for a long time. Pulling myself to my feet, I suddenly had an idea and reached for the phone, holding it in my hands for a couple minutes. The home screen was of Steve and me, a selfie of us on the couch together. I quickly opened the apps, wanting the picture to disappear. My eyes bore into the screen as if it would dial the number itself. Eventually I selected the number, putting the phone up to my ear and praying for an answer. They were answered as the other person picked up the phone.

I suddenly felt nervous, the words rushing out.“Tony it’s me, (Y/N). Though you already knew that cause of the caller ID and…yeah, um-”

“(Y/N), calm down. What’s happened?” Panic was evident in his voice.

“I…I, uh…” I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.“Steve, he’s gone, he got up and left.” the tears suddenly flooded back.

He was silent for a minute.“Come to the tower, now. Pack a bag, you’re staying the night.”

[musicalshards]

Hi, so I have a really old saxophone (tenor sax maybe??? I have no idea) that I want to start learning but it's been sitting in its case for years now and is pretty musty. I'd like to wash it or something but I don't know how to do that without damaging it, do you have any tips or anything for me? Also what kind of reeds should I get for it? Thanks in advance! 😊

OOHOHO this is a very exciting ask to answer!! >:D Warning: this may not be all you need to do, in terms of cleaning and function especially, so further advice may be needed (or feel free to send me further info).

Cleaning: I haven’t ever had to do a major cleaning job with any of my saxophones. I know you can bathe a french horn and all its gubbins, but I wouldn’t recommend that for a saxophone without further research because I’ve never heard it been done. If it’s just rusty on the outside, it’s probably okay but looks a bit crusty. Dust? Get a soft chamois cloth (the type glasses cleaning rags are made of) or even just a nice duster-cloth and give it a good polish. If you take the cap off the top of the body (if there is one) and it comes off in a big fluffy pipe-cleaner thing, wash that in really hot water + washing up liquid (plus rubber gloves if the water is super hot). Do the same for the mouthpiece if it’s black not metal, but NOT id it is metal, or the ligature. If it is metal, thoroughly get in there with some baby wipes and dry with kitchen towel. Leave the fluffy thing (if present) to dry for a day after patting it down with a towel before putting it back in the saxophone. Don’t use any reeds that might be in the case, and if there’s a little patch stuck onto the top of the mouthpiece, take it off before washing the mouthpiece and throw it away. If it comes with a pull through cloth (a soft polishing-style cloth with a weighted string attached to it), wash that too, wait for it the same amount of time to dry, then drop the weighted string down the narrow top, stick your hand down the bell and pull the whole thing through quite a few times (then maybe wash it again just that first time). If you don’t have a pull through cloth, I’d recommend you buy one.

Function of the instrument: I, obviously, do not know how well this instrument functions and neither do you (assuming you have no woodwind experience), so the advice here may not be totally accurate. There might be rods and keys broken or bent, which I can’t help you with and you’d probably have to take it to a repair person to find out, or ask someone who does play saxophone. The pads might also be faulty and thin, and this could render the instrument basically unplayable depending on how bad it is. A quick google search says you can tell if you somehow obtain a bendy light stick (???), like a flexible LED type one, stick it down the saxophone and close all the keys (bit by bit) and if you see light coming out there’s a leak? Idk about this one. Otherwise, it’s difficult to tell. If your instrument doesn’t function well (idk how you came to obtain it so honestly it could be anything), you won’t be able to go onto the next step until you get some advice for it.  

Reeds and shit: I use Rico reeds mostly. Lots of people say they’re shit - I like them, mainly because they’re a little softer than Vandorens (essentially meaning easier to play) and I’m still improving my technique and can’t play on reeds harder than 2.5. (Harder reeds essentially get a better tone that makes v. high and v. low notes easier and sound better). Rico’s are also significantly cheaper than Vandorens (for me) and are totally great for beginners. You should probably start on a 2 strength (the regular Rico ones are orange; there are Rico Royals in blue but I’ve never personally liked those) but if you find making a sound (more on that) really difficult, try 1.5. Try buying a couple of single reeds before buying a whole pack if you can. You also HAVE to know which saxophone you’re playing to know which reeds to get, so feel free to shoot me a quick photo of it and I can tell you what type it is if you’re not sure. 

Making a sound: You might find internet tutorial videos and books more useful than me saying this, but feel free to ask me any specific questions about “I’m doing this and it isn’t working” or “how do you do x or y”. Much of what you find for the clarinet will be similar, but look specifically for advice on the specific saxophone you’re playing (if it is tenor) because this does make a difference - tenor embouchure and air support is much wider and open than alto, and it would benefit to begin learning from a tenor perspective rather than a “generic saxophone” view - because that doesn’t really exist. Also take into account that make, model, mouthpiece, ligature (sometimes), reed strength or generally having an asshole reed will make a difference in this, so don’t be disheartened if it isn’t working out! If you have any saxophone or clarinettist friends who can help you, that would be invaluable (clarinets also use very similar single reed but remember their embouchure and mouth-things are generally tighter from the saxophone).

Other stuff: The proper function of the instrument will also depend on what brand it is, which I’m also happy to help/give advice on. To a certain extent this will effect how easy it is to play, but if you’re only beginning it should be fine. In terms of beginning to play, I personally advise buying The Standard of Excellence Book 1 for (insert saxophone type here) - it does teach you music itself from a basic level which won’t be useful, but it will teach you the saxophone fingerings and stuff. There are resources all over the internet you can find to help. If repertoire and music to play is what you’re looking for, try looking at some things by Rob Buckland - he has a great series running from simple and introductory music straight up and past Grade 8. 

Wfoof I hope this isn’t too long, but I hope this is useful! Again, I’m intrigued by this mysterious sax lying around so feel free to message me and I can help you identify model, make and such things and offer any other advice! 

[hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff]

Our Favorite 7 Of 73

For ID@Xbox Summer Game Fest, Microsoft released 73 demos for upcoming indie games on Xbox One. The demos are all free but they'll only be available to download and play until Monday, July 27.

It would be quite the ask for any one of us to play through all 73 demos in order to tell you which are the best ones, but as a team we've managed to check out a hefty sum of the games made available. The demos detailed in the following gallery are all of the ones that stuck out to us the most--some left us nostalgic, others offered something brand-new we'd never seen before, and still more just scratched an itch that we've been looking to satisfy for a long time. Regardless of our reasons, these are the demos that made us the most excited to play their respective full games when they release.

We haven't listed the demos in any particular order. This is just a list of demos that we think are cool or at the very least hint towards an exciting game. Maybe they'll all meet expectations, maybe they won't. We'll just have to wait and see.

Xbox Series X And Xbox One News

Halo Infinite Is A Platform For The Next Ten Years Of Halo

Halo Infinite Gameplay Debuts At Xbox Series X Stream

Xbox Series X Event: Every Game Announced

New Fable Announced During Xbox Event

Xbox Series X: Release Date, Specs, Price, And Everything We Know

Kaze And The Wild Masks | PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

You'd be forgiven for not knowing if you didn't happen to grow up in the early 1990s, but following the breakout success of Sonic the Hedgehog there was a veritable flood of me-too 16-bit mascot platformers that never quite caught on. From Ristar to Acro the Acrobat to (deep sigh) Awesome Possum, it was the battle royale of its era. Everyone wanted to make one.

Playing Kaze and the Wild Masks brought me right back to those heady days, sitting on the carpet and playing the latest copycat rental from Blockbuster. That's not a slight against Kaze, because these platformers weren't actually bad, just oversaturated. Almost 30 years removed, it's as comfortable as your favorite sweater. The art style is beautifully vibrant and colorful, the platforming is familiar and accessible, and it's just a great nostalgia trip. I love a lot of recent games that have taken a fresh look at modernizing classic platformer tropes, but Kaze is the much more explicit throwback I didn't know I wanted. -- Steve Watts

ScourgeBringer | Xbox One, PC

ScourgeBringer is already out on Steam Early Access but the Xbox Summer Game Fest demo is the first time we have the chance to play it on console--it was also my first time actually trying the game after oohing and aahing at trailers for the past few months. I love it a lot.

I've always been a fan of video games where you're encouraged to fight quickly, especially if you're further rewarded for being skillful enough to fight without touching the ground--games like Titanfall 2 and Hollow Knight. ScourgeBringer goes a long way towards scratching that itch for me. Though you can platform between enemies, ScourgeBringer rewards players for playing aggressively and doing midair dashes between foes. You remain airborne while slashing or shooting so you can reasonably clear out entire rooms without touching the floor if you're good enough.

I also like ScourgeBringer's hard but fair gameplay loop. Enemies can kill you quickly if you can't pull off deflections and dodges, but there was never a moment where I died and thought, "Dammit, how the hell was I supposed to counter that?" The game is harsh in its punishments--it's a roguelike where you pick up temporary power-ups with each run and slowly unlock permanent abilities over time--but it's fair. It also helps that the game reloads relatively quickly, so you can just jump into another run upon death. -- Jordan Ramée

Haven | PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

More than most of the demos I dabbled with, Haven defies easy categorization. At first blush it's a visual novel telling a futuristic love story between a couple of stranded spacefarers. Even in the course of a relatively short demo, though, it opens up considerably and blends together a few disparate genres and mechanics, which all illustrate a sense of duality and interdependence.

Cooking a meal is performed by coordinating ingredients from the left and right sides of the user interface. Similarly, the RPG-like battle system appears simple at first, but it quickly becomes clear that coordinating your attacks to perform them together is the only effective way to fight. When you do defeat a monster, you pacify it rather than killing it, a sign that this pair are ultimately peaceful scientific observers.

Inside the ship you're a first-person observer, a choice that seems self-consciously voyeuristic in a story about a romantic couple. Outside of it, though, Haven's best feature shines. Movement through the world has you float through the tall grass with balletic grace, with the ability to swerve, u-turn, and drift with ease. It's all based on just a few simple commands but it's so well-executed and intuitive that floating around the world is just a joy. -- Steve Watts

SkateBird | Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

After playing a lot of the hardcore skateboarding simulator Session, in which both thumbsticks control each individual foot on the board, Glass Bottom Games' charming SkateBird is a sigh of relief. Not just because it's far simpler to control than Session, or even the Skate and Tony Hawk franchises, but also because it's incredibly cute and cozy. The small demo available on Xbox One as part of the Summer Game Demo Event, while lacking in variety, had me hooked on its aesthetic. And though I wish there was more to do in its limited sandbox, SkateBird makes skateboarding approachable.

The vertical slice strips everything away--story missions, alternate locations, bird customization, etc--and left me with two activities and a fully skateable "park" on a desk. The cute little skatepark consists of kickers made of office supplies, ramps and quarter pipes with bendy straws as coping, and various other obstacles using Thrasher magazines. The controls are simple and the trick list is much more contained than other skateboarding sims, but watching a tiny bird push around on a tiny board before busting a hardflip into a front crooked nosegrind never gets old--no matter how limiting or restricting the demo is and how many times I performed the same eight or so tricks.

While there's a lot left to be desired in the demo, what's currently available had me itching for more. It'll be interesting to see everything SkateBird has to offer when it launches in 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. -- Jeremy Winslow

The Vale: Shadow Of The Crown | Xbox One, PC

Frankly, I've never played a game like The Vale: Shadow of the Crown before. Or, I guess I have--it's technically your run-of-the-mill fantasy RPG with towns to visit, side quests to fulfill, weapon and armor to buy, magic to learn, choices to make, and plenty of battles to be had. But the game flips a lot of that on its head by putting you in control of someone who's blind.

In The Vale, you have to navigate the world, fight enemies, and interact with NPCs all while looking at a nearly completely black screen. There are a few flashing lights on the screen, but they don't help you. It feels like they're just there to give your eyes something to look at. So you're forced to interact with the world via sound and touch--the former via headphones and the latter via controller rumble.

This makes tasks that are almost trivial in most RPGs, like sneaking past a group of enemies or navigating a busy market square, into daunting endeavors. But it's also a rather interesting and novel way to play a video game. The Vale might not be much to look at, but the demo is pretty fun to play and I'm intrigued to see how the gameplay will evolve throughout the full release, which I assume would crank up the difficulty after the tutorial. -- Jordan Ramée

Freshly Frosted | Xbox One, PC

Freshly Frosted brings together two of my favorite things, donuts and conveyor belts. The donut-factory based puzzle game is focused on making zen-inducing factory-lines that automatically make a variety of donuts. I love puzzle games that focus more on relaxing the brain than frustrating it, and Freshly Frosted is incredibly relaxing. It's very easy to adjust the factory lines whenever I make a mistake or miss a topping for my endless line of donuts.

I also appreciated how Freshly Frosted takes a very simple concept of a donut factory and continuously adds more and more steps or ideas to create a puzzle game that feels fresh throughout the demo. Having to feed three different types of donuts through all of the different toppings is a cute and fun experience that is definitely worth playing if you like puzzles and relaxation, or just need an excuse to order some donuts. -- James Carr

9 Monkeys Of Shaolin | Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Despite being just two and a half levels long--with the half being a tutorial introducing the controls and story--I found myself growing a little bored during the 9 Monkeys of Shaolin demo. Developed by Sobaka Studio, the Russian team behind the underrated isometric twin-stick brawler Redeemer, 9 Monkeys of Shaolin has this staunch air of familiarity to it: The story--in which Japanese pirates invade and pillage a remote Chinese country--echoes a similar set-up to Ghost of Tsushima and the control scheme is eerily reminiscent of (yet surprisingly simpler than) Redeemer's. Even the enemy types and environmental backgrounds are familiar and generic.

And yet, after finishing the short demo and re-watching the 2018 announcement trailer, I was still intrigued by the RPG elements and excited for what's to come.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a side-scrolling beat-em-up that put me in control of the fisherman Wei Cheng. The combat is simple yet fluid, with the controller's face buttons performing one of four actions: kicks, slashing strikes, thrusts, and dodges. Every action can be canceled into another--for example, the three different attack types can be combined together or immediately interrupted by a parry move--which allows me to remain aggressive and reactive when surrounded by multiple enemies. Though the arsenal was limited, the short demo seemingly belies the depth 9 Monkeys of Shaolin has buried within it. There's also online and offline co-operative play, which should make the combat even more chaotic during later levels, especially when you acquire new moves and better gear and magical spells.

With being a small, vertical slice of the final game, the 9 Monkeys of Shaolin demo is by no means indicative of how the game will look and play when it drops on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. But the demo does make the case that, if anything, 9 Monkeys of Shaolin will be an enjoyable action romp when played with a friend. -- Jeremy Winslow

from GameSpot - All Content https://ift.tt/30FMC9D

[templified]

How to Create a Multi Vendor Marketplace for WordPress Using Dokan | Templified

New Post has been published on https://templified.com/how-to-create-a-multi-vendor-marketplace-for-wordpress-using-dokan/

How to Create a Multi Vendor Marketplace for WordPress Using Dokan

We’ve all seen a multi-vendor marketplace, right?  Sites like Etsy or Envato are great examples of what a multi-vendor or multi-seller site is all about.  What they do is allow a single website to let many people sell their products in one place.  It’s like a mini-mall on the internet, but way cooler.  The power of a community is a great marketing tool, so it really can be profitable for both the website and the individual sellers to use a multi vendor environment to sell products, services and subscriptions.  In the past, there have been a lot of very expensive ways to get a multi vendor website set up, and they’ve been popular over the years, each one offering a slightly different take on what makes a great multi-vendor website.  There’s CS Cart Multi-Vendor, which is very nice and has a lot of features, but it prices out at over $1400 for a license.

Yikes!

That’s simply too much for some small businesses and if you’re just getting started with creating a multi vendor marketplace, it can stop you even before you get started.  Magento Marketplace is another good piece of software and it’s more reasonably priced that CS-Cart, but the Multi Vendor extension is still $350, plus all the basic Magento license fees, which can certainly add up and add up pretty quickly.  That’s a lot of money and if you already know WordPress and would prefer to stick to a CMS you know, then there are only a few options.  So, if you want to stick with WP, there’s IXXO, which offers a multi-vendor extension for WordPress but again, it’s $1500 for a license.  Then along came Dokan, a WordPress multi-vendor theme solution that’s very reasonably priced.

Dokan costs $199 for one site.  Of course, if you need to use Dokan on multiple sites, that’s possible too. For $299, you can install on up to five domains an for $499, it’s unlimited.

So how does all of this work, anyway?

Well, just like a normal multi vendor website, the process is the same.

A seller registers on your website.

The seller creates products.

They start selling.

You and the seller both make money.

It’s pretty simple.  It’s like Ebay or Amazon, your sellers can create their own store and begin selling products immediately.  Your marketplace will grow as your number of sellers increases too, since they’ll be doing their own promotion of their own personal store and you can really see an increase in traffic with all the fresh content they’ll be adding.

Dokan is based on WooCommerce, so it’s stable and has been adopted by a wide variety of businesses, from affiliate sales, app and software companies to online magazines.  WooCommerce allows you to add on a multitude of extensions that will really come in handy for a multi-vendor business.  If you’re selling digital downloads like WordPress themes, music, eBooks or other products, an affiliate program may be a great way to boost business and earn more money for your sellers and for yourself.  WooCommerce has a powerful affiliate program available to help make that happen.  What if your sellers need multiple payment gateways?  WooCommerce has a wide range of payment types that can be easily implemented with a couple of extensions or add-ons.

WooCommerce is extensively documented and if you have experience with WordPress, then you’ve probably had some experience with WooCommerce as well, so you may already know how solid and stable it is and how simple it is to get started.  Other features available include:

Dynamic pricing, discounts for bulk orders.

United States Postal Service shipping rates for both domestic and world-wide shipping.  (FedEx and UPS too!)

Subscription sales for products with recurring payments.

Amazon payments

Product add-ons

Shipment tracking

And a whole bunch more great stuff.  There’s a lot of flexibility in how much you can offer with WooCommerce, but even the vanilla version is powerful.

Okay, back to Dokan.

So what is Dokan anyway, a theme?  Well, it’s actually a plugin, which is even better.  With Dokan, you can turn any existing WooCommerce theme into a full featured multi vendor website.  That means if you have a nice theme that you’ve already gotten familiar with, you can get started even quicker than you might have imagined.  Say you want to build a community to help with marketing and keeping your sellers informed of important information, training or something else…use a BuddyPress ready theme to grow a community of buyers and sellers who all share a common interest.  The point is, Dokan doesn’t limit you to one style or one set of features, there’s a massive variety of themes out there.  If one of those themes is perfect for your site, assuming it also supports WooCommerce, then it can utilize the power of Dokan to help create an online multi vendor marketplace.

You do have the ability to use the Dokan theme that is included with the license and it’s a full featured WooCommerce theme, but I’m not going to get into that too much, because I think most people will enjoy the flexibility of being able to choose a theme that is exactly what they have in mind.  For some, it may be the Dokan theme, but there are so many options to choose from, why limit yourself?

As I said, each seller creates their own store that they manage themselves.  The seller has a dashboard that’s straightforward and easy to understand, allowing each vendor to manage inventory, pricing, discounts and promotions of their products.  They’ll be able to track traffic stats, sales and they have a simple way to see the status of every order, from the time the buyer makes their purchase to the time it’s delivered.  Reviews can be tracked too, a great way for sellers to see what they’re doing right, or wrong.  Sellers can create coupons for sales and much more, so you won’t have to decide what to promote and what goes on sale, each seller can make their own discount choices and even special event sales for the holidays!  This really is a feature filled admin panel for sellers.

How else can a seller customize the look of their individual storefront?  Well, each seller has access to a special SEO panel, allowing them to set their own personalized SEO title, meta description, keywords, Facebook description and title, for when people share their content.  Same goes for Twitter.  Each product and page gets the same treatment, making it really easy for a seller to create a package of SEO goodness that will help drive business.  And when a seller is able to drive traffic with such ease, everybody makes money.

So how do you make money?

Every time a seller sells a product, you take a small commission.  That’s a huge benefit for sellers who may be just starting out, as they won’t have to pay a large fee per month to run their own store.  For example, Shopify takes up to 3.5% per sale (plus 30 cents) and they charge $79 a month for the privilege of having a store in the first place.  That’s pretty expensive and for a business just starting out and trying to grow sales, it can be a burden.  With Dokan though, your site will charge a small percentage fee per transaction, one that you choose for yourself, and every sale will deduct that amount from the seller’s income and give it to you.  It’s pretty slick and everybody will be happy in the end.  (I should note, with the Subscriptions addon, you can choose to charge people a flat fee per month to use your platform to sell their products.  The choice is yours.)

Okay, back to the store.

Each seller gets their own storefront, each one can be branded to their own tastes, within the parameters set up by the theme you choose of course.  Each seller creates their own store settings, which makes it a powerful way for the sellers to differentiate themselves from the competition.  Shipping management, social networking, pending orders…it’s all there, customized for each seller. Sellers will love the way this theme allows them to have a professional, online presence without having to spend a lot of money up front on a theme of their own, plus hosting, plus site security and more.  Those services are what you provide them and it should be well worth it for almost any seller.

What else can I do with Dokan?

There are a ton of awesome features available, in addition to the WooCommerce, WordPress and BuddyPress extensions that may be available.

Dokan Extension Bundle – Nice awesome Dikan extension tools in one fun bundle.  This is the best value for the money, giving you a bunch of the features below for a massive discount.  If you want more than a couple of these extensions, it’s probably the best bargain.

Dokan PayPal Adaptive Payment – If you’d prefer to pay your sellers on the fly, this is the addon for you.  When the customer pays, both you and the seller are paid immediately.  If there’s a refund requested, it’s up to the seller to handle it.  That keeps you from having to deal with paying sellers manually or having to deal with refunds.  Pretty cool.

Dokan Seller Verification – This helps you verify the legitimacy of your prospective sellers, making sure they’ve got a social networking profile and checks their phone number.  You can also require a photo-ID to verify sellers, which helps keep spam sellers to a minimum.

Dokan Store Support – Allow your sellers to create a support system at their own storefront, that really helps deliver a great customer experience.  It allows all the features of your front end with this add-on.

Dokan Subscriptions – This is another great way to reduce spam, you can opt to simply charge your sellers a subscription fee per month (or a flat commission) to sell their products on your website.  If you want to offer the best service possible with no spam, this is a wonderful option.

Dokan Stripe Connect – Want to pay your sellers in real-time, as sales are made?  Want to avoid handling the hassle of refund requests?  Stripe connect makes it so you can do both.  This low-fee payment gateway is legendary for their speed and reliability.

Dokan Ajax Live Search – This is sort of like having your very own private label Google search feature on your site, allowing buyers to use your theme’s built in seach bar to quickly narrow down the products they’d like to buy via tags and categories.

Seller Vacation – If your seller needs a break from raking in all that money, they can set their status to ‘On Vacation’ letting buyers know that they’re not available until the seller returns, which takes the products offline temporarily.  Pretty handy.

Dokan Product Enquiry – If you’d like to allow your customers to as about a product’s availability or feature set, the product enquiry tool is amazing, letting buyers connect to the seller right on the product page.  Just install it and forget it, the extension does all the heavy lifting here.

Dokan Simple Auctions – If you’d like you sellers to be able to create eBay style auctions, Dokan can freely integrate the WooCommerce Simple Auctions plugin to allow that, right in the seller dashboard.

And that’s not all, there are plenty more options Dokan offers buyers and sellers.

Check Out The Dokan Demo Here

Oh, hey, before I forget, you can check out the documentation and support forums to get an idea of how comprehensive they are.

Documentation Support

I’m not always that into product reviews, because the seller can really cherry pick the good ones, but I think this one sums it up.

  Dokan is actually our 3rd plugin we invested in. We never had such good customer technical support in the past for any other plugins we bought. They usually answer questions very quickly. The solutions they offer are very precise.

Good Job Dokan Team

Alek S. JazzOle Marketplace

Okay, so let’s wrap this thing up, shall we?

In conclusion, if you want to create a multi-vendor eCommerce site, Dokan is well worth looking at.  For a fraction of the price of some of the other dedicated WordPress solutions, Dokan can offer similar, if not greater, options and extensions. There’s a reason this thing is incredibly popular, the flexibility of the extensions is a huge part of it.

I love that WooCommerce is at the center of this theme,WooCommerce has such a large market share and it’s development is consistent and strong, new features are constantly being added and the code is sharp with every update.  Sell electronic goods or set up a shop that acts like a brick and mortar mall with many products from a variety of sellers.  There are no limits to what you can do with this theme.  The integration with WooCommerce also means that your store or marketplace can sell digital or physical products without any problem. This makes Dokan a good choice for anyone who doesn’t want to be constrained by what type of products their store can handle.

Setup is very simple, since it’s a plugin for an existing theme, the templates are all there for you to use.  You can create a design that looks precisely like you want it to, fitting in with your company’s branding.  That means no matter what sort of products you and your sellers are showcasing, the website will act as a perfect frame, making them look their very best.  And since Dokan is so intuitive to use, it’s even simple for a beginner to use.  Overcoming that fear of starting out is huge, Dokan does it with style.

The reports and seller feedback section is incredibly robust, giving your sellers a very detailed view of how their hard work is paying off as they build their business.  The private dashboard is incredibly detailed and all of the relevant statistics are easily at hand for your sellers to pore over to find new, better ways to make sales and grow their business.

All in all, Dokan is a great little plugin, whether you use the Dokan theme or if you use it on your own theme, I think this one is destined to become a really great solution for a lot of people who want a powerful, full featured way to create a multi-vendor marketplace.

If you’re interested in learning more about Dokan, check it out here.

Dokan

So, there you go, all you need to know about Dokan.  Hey, let us know if you’re thinking about using Dokan for your multi-vendor project or what direction you decide to go, we’d love to hear more about it.  Also, if you find a great theme that works perfectly with Dokan, let us know, we’ll make sure it’s in our collection of the best multi vendor WordPress themes.