#my upper body taking a lot longer to recover very annoying

[sevens-evan]

first time ever squatting with clips and it actually does feel a lot better. crazy how that works

[chamomileteainabuttercup]

Dincobb Week Day 2 - Hurt/Comfort (SFW)

Welcome to my Dincobb Week fanfic posts! I've written stories and scenes of varying lengths and tones. For clarity I should say that most of these exist as miniature AUs of their own and have no continuity with each other or with anything else I've written about these characters, so in different pieces they may be described having different physical features, personal possessions, preferences, et cetera. (There are three exceptions which I'll note as such when they come out.) Thanks to @djarining, who helped me a lot with brainstorming and discussing my ideas!

For today I have two pieces, an SFW and an NSFW - the NSFW is scheduled to post an hour after this one. The SFW is the first of the three linked stories - the other two are SFW and NSFW for a finale (but the SFWs can stand alone if you prefer not to read the NSFW one).

Hurt/Comfort - Sunburn and Grief

“Oh, partner,” Cobb says with rueful sympathy. “Look at the state of you.”

Din doesn’t know how his face looks, but from the hot, tight feeling of the skin he guesses it’s much like what he can see of his arms, shoulders, chest — burned crimson. Even his eyelids feel burned, and puffy to boot. He’s feeling pretty angry with himself. Just because he’d been enjoying the newfound warmth of the sun on his face was no reason to decide to take his shirt off and feel it all over the top of his body. It was a dumb impulse and the fact it had felt blissfully good, so much so that after he lay down to bask on the patch of sand behind Cobb’s house that he jokingly calls the garden, he fell fast asleep, did not excuse it. This is his natural punishment, he guesses, for getting into a “nothing matters any more so I’ll do whatever I feel like” state of mind, exacerbated by day-drinking. He’s not sure if the splitting headache is because of the sunburn or more of a hangover symptom. Either way, he knows he deserves it — and he doesn’t deserve how gentle Cobb is being with him, guiding him into the cool shade of the house with a hand carefully on his unburned back.

“You don’t have to look after me,” Din says. “I deserve this.”

“You’re under my roof, so yes I do,” says Cobb. “We take hospitality seriously out here. Sit down.” He guides him into a chair by his kitchen table and looks him over again. “You’re already blistering, you poor dummy. Well, first things first, you’re dehydrated.” He brings him a tall glass of water. “Slow sips, now. You gulp it down and you’re liable to throw up. I once found that out the hard way.”

Din doesn’t want to be fussed over but he still has enough of a wish to survive that he takes the glass gratefully. He takes a first sip to wet his mouth and throat, then another that he tries to hold in his mouth for as long as he can before swallowing. Cobb’s left the room; he thinks he can hear him in the bathroom, opening and shutting the cabinets. It’s so hard to think clearly; his head aches and he’s still not really sober. He can’t think what he should be doing. Is this sunstroke? What are you supposed to do for sunstroke again? He doesn’t think he’s ever been sunburned before, maybe it always feels this awful and he just wouldn’t know. Not really a Mandalorian problem. And he’s not really a Mandalorian now, so it’s become his problem. He drinks the rest of the water, probably too fast, but if he throws up he probably deserves that too.

Cobb comes back with a handful of washcloths and a big jar of something pale yellow and waxy-looking. “Let’s get you cooled down,” he says, and goes about efficiently filling a big bowl with water, throwing in some ice from the freezer, soaking the cloths and laying them spread out on Din’s chest and arms. They feel shockingly cold at first and he flinches, but almost immediately they seem to grow warm from the heat of his skin. Cobb’s humming softly as he does it, a constant soothing sound. “Head back,” he says, and lays a wet cloth over Din’s face, then leaves again and comes back with something that he sets on the table beside him. There’s a click and a whirr and a fan is blowing across his body, helping to chill the wet cloths again. Cobb keeps re-dipping and replacing them. Quiet minutes pass. The coolness is so merciful. Din opens his mouth a bit and sucks some water from the cloth over his face. His lips really hurt, but it’s still comforting somehow. He remembers how Grogu was hellbent on sucking soapy water out of the washcloth whenever he gave him a bath, and the memory stabs him under the ribs. Why does he have to remember stuff like that? Stuff that was annoying and a little gross and worried him at the time, but that he’d now give an arm or a leg to have back in his life?

“Okay,” says Cobb, peeling the wet cloth back from his face, “I want you to drink some more water. I put some rehydration salts in this glass, so it may taste a little funny, but you need the electrolytes or whatever.” Din accepts the glass and drinks, obediently; he’s starting to feel very slightly better physically. “And I bet you have the mother of a headache, so take these too.” He gives him a couple of white capsules to swallow.

“Thanks,” Din says, his voice even more subdued than normal. Cobb is watching him with his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand. He looks concerned, which makes Din feel guilty, but also irritable because Cobb doesn’t have to concern himself. Yes, Din asked if he could stay here, but he could always have said no, he can always ask him to leave if he becomes a burden. He should leave, it was so selfish to come here just because he was miserable and didn’t want to be around anyone else. He doesn’t know where else to go, though. He can probably go and find Boba. He would give him a job. He should probably have stuck with him anyway, but he felt like he’d imposed on him a lot already. Or followed Bo-Katan and tried to sort out all the Darksaber political nonsense. Not come here just because he wanted to see Cobb. Because he missed him and wished he could have spent longer with him in the first place. And all he’s done since he got here is act like a depressed asshole. And for reasons unknown Cobb is putting up with it. Yes, he’s a good, kind person, and maybe he feels like he still owes Din for his help over and above giving him the armour, but he still shouldn’t put up with it. Maybe he won’t for much longer. Whatever good opinion Din bought back then must be eroding fast. And that thought stabs at him, too.

“Okay,” says Cobb, taking the washcloths off Din’s left arm, closer to him, resting on the wooden arm of the chair. “This is good for sunburn, windburn, you name it. The all-purpose old-fashioned Tatooine skin balm.” He takes the lid off the jar, scoops out a generous amount on his fingertips, and begins smoothing it onto the burned skin on the back of Din’s left hand. It looks waxy, but it’s so soft that it melts into his skin almost immediately. “Mind you, you’re bound to peel, as crispy as you are, but this’ll soothe the pain and help your skin recover.”

Din’s cracked lips tremble, and if he wasn’t dehydrated he’s pretty sure there would be tears in his eyes. Cobb’s hands are so gentle. Being touched on the sunburn hurts, too, but it’s the gentleness that makes him want to cry. Cobb quietly, patiently, continues up Din’s arm to the shoulder, then moves his chair to do the same on the other side. He’s humming all the while, an old Tatooine folk song, Din thinks. Or for all he knows, last summer’s big pop hit, it’s not like he keeps up with these things.

“Sure do have a lot of scars,” Cobb remarks as he reaches the top of Din’s arm. “Looks like some of these wounds were cauterised.”

“I can’t exactly give myself stitches,” mumbles Din.

“Life’s been like that, huh?” Cobb says sympathetically. “Been there. Things are better now.” His voice softens further. “Things do get better, if you give it time and don’t lose heart. Turn your chair towards me, I gotta get your front.”

When he removes one of the washcloths from Din’s chest, Din takes it from him and drapes it over his face again. Being covered is such a relief, even if he has no right to it now. It’s particularly a relief because Cobb’s hand stroking his belly and chest with soothing balm is… embarrassing. His face would be red even if it wasn’t burned. He’s not used to this kind of physical intimacy with… anyone really. The fact that it’s still somewhat painful to be touched and his head still aches is keeping him from enjoying it in any unseemly way, but he wishes he’d laid down to bask on his front. He could just have a burnt back then. Much less… confronting to have your back touched. Cobb’s hand is stroking his neck now; he’s even burned under his chin, which feels ridiculous.

“Okay,” says Cobb, “I need to see your face again.” He takes the washcloth and Din lifts his head again, but keeps his eyes closed. Cobb begins by smoothing a dab of balm over each puffy upper lid. Now he thinks about it, he must look pretty hideous, not just red but swollen. It’s not the sort of thing he’s used to thinking about, or caring about, but it does bother him a little to have Cobb see him look like this. Gentle but firm fingertips spread balm over his forehead, down his nose, across his cheeks, down to his chin. He must have absorbed enough water by now from the two glasses he drank; tears are sneaking from the corners of his eyes and stinging his skin painfully. He feels Cobb’s thumb brushing balm across his chapped lips, the last place on his face, and thinks that will be the end of it, but then he feels hands cupping the sides of his head, thumbs stroking his temples. “Look at me, Din,” Cobb says quietly.

Reluctantly, he opens his eyes. He isn’t prepared for what he sees in Cobb’s eyes, the tenderness and affection but also the trouble and fear.

“Don’t hurt yourself like this again,” Cobb says. “Please.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Din says, although his voice comes out weird, choked and husky.

“Wasn’t it?”

“Trust me,” he says with a little grim smile, “if I wanted to hurt myself I know a lot more efficient ways to do it.”

“But —”

“If I wanted to hurt myself I could just go out back and eat my blaster. Quick and easy. Roll down the dune and let the wind cover me up.”

“Please don’t talk like that,” Cobb says urgently. “Don’t be so flip like you don’t matter.”

“I — I don’t matter,” Din says. “I don’t matter any more. I — I’m nothing any more,” and then the dam breaks and he’s crying. It hurts, it hurts to stretch the burned skin of his face, it hurts where the tears cut through the balm, but it hurts worst inside his chest, around his heart.

“Oh, no,” says Cobb, and pulls him forward, pulls Din’s head to his shoulder, hugs him close, and Din feels his hands stroke his back, his unburned back where thank heavens, he can feel some real comfort from the touch. He still can’t stop crying. It’s a raw, ugly sound that tears his throat, a stupid, inarticulate a-hur-hur-hur. “No, darlin’, no,” Cobb’s telling him, “you’re so wrong, you matter so much to me, you are everything to me. You don’t know how happy I was to see you. To see your face! Or how broken up to see you so miserable. I wish I knew what to do for you, what to say.”

Din still can’t stop crying, but if he’s ever able to do so, he’ll want to tell Cobb that he’s doing and saying it now.

[danielsharmanswife]

-A warm bath and a sandwich-

Ewan McGregor characters x reader

2nd month: Mark Renton x Fem! Reader. (Part 1)

Author's note: Hey, cuties!❤ How have you been? I hope you and your family are safe and sound. I just wanted to say that I'm quite happy about this chapter and I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

As always, I want to remind you that English is not my first language, so I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistake.

Word count: 1,821

Warning: mention of drugs, swearing

Tag list: @rosionis @rebleforkicks @bluerose512 @space-no0dle @elizabeth-skywalker

Masterlist Letters Masterlist

You didn't feel any dizziness, or a white light, you didn't even feel yourself levitating. For a moment, you thought you were still with Catcher, but when you opened your eyes, you confirmed that you were no longer there with him. 

You were in a totally white room that was so bright it burned your eyes. It seemed unreal, a science fiction room, the kind without doors or windows. The only thing in the room was a high white table made of the same material as the walls and the floor. On that table were two objects: an envelope and the Barbara Novak book.

You were very puzzled but you approached the table and took the envelope, opening it and taking out the note that was inside.

 It said:

Good morning, (y / n)! I see that you have passed the month easely ! But don't think that things will continue to be so simple... This month is going to be very interesting!  We have to congratulate you. We've been watching you and you seem to know how to handle yourself! We knew you were the one! It's time for me to give you a hint about what to expect this month. But first I'm going to tell you what you will have to get for us. This object is ... a disco sign! Good luck and don't be discouraged..

Choose life!

You read the note several times to remember every detail of it and when you looked up, you heard a click.

Instantly, you were in a bedroom with the same layout as your room from the previous month but the furniture was more modern, from the late 80s. The old wooden floor creaked with every step you took and the walls, which were quite neglected and full of cracks, echoed violently due to the music coming from upstairs. It was very annoying, so you decided to go investigate where it came from. 

You left the apartment, but not before taking the keys that were on the door and went up the stairs that led to the upper floor. The music was coming from the red door at the end of the landing. You approached the door and rang the bell, no one opened the door, you rang again, but nobody showed up. Since no one seemed to hear the bell, you started knocking on the door, louder and louder. 

You were very surprised that no one came to complain about the noise or peeked out from the knocks you were giving against the door. Either no one lived on the other floors or they didn't care about the noise at all. You looked at your wristwatch, it was two a.m. Yes, definitely no one lived there. 

Curiosity got the better of you and you tried to think of a way to open that door. You decided to kick it. In movies it always worked, right? It couldn't be that difficult. 

It was a big mistake.

You took four steps away and ran to it, when your foot hit the door, it opened wide, making you fall into the apartment. Turns out the door wasn't locked in any way. 

On the floor, you turned over to be on your back and saw that the inside door was completely bricked up with wooden boards that were nailed to the door but didn’t reach the wall. Whoever was in there, if they didn't want to be disturbed, they weren't doing anything right. 

You got up off the ground and dusted off your clothes. Good thing you were alone.

When you recovered from such humiliation, you continued your way through the house looking for the origin of the music. You crossed a corridor, letting yourself be guided by the rumbling of the walls that was getting louder, letting you know that you were getting closer. You ended up in front of a big gray, neglected door and opened it without a second thought.

When you opened the door, a strong smell of cigarettes and something stronger filled your nose, causing you to take a step back. The floor was littered with syringes, vomit puddles, and other gadgets that you couldn't describe. 

In the middle of the room, there was a young guy, with shaved hair and a yellow shirt that was slightly small, revealing his torso. The boy was unconscious, face down, he hadn’t noticed your presence yet.

You went to open the only window in the room, to ventilate and turned off the radio. 

Mission accomplished.

As soon as the young man stopped listening to the dreadful music, he began to move, lazily and turned around, letting you see that it was Mark Renton himself.

"Put the music back on." he simply said. 

"It bothered me." you replied.

Mark, not recognizing the voice that had spoken to him, turned to you, puzzled. 

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is (y / n) and ... I live downstairs. Your music bothered me and as the door was open, I had no choice but to enter."

The boy got up, he seemed dizzy. He cursed himself for not having closed the door properly. Trudging out of his thoughts, Renton fixed his gaze on you. 

"That's illegal. You know that, love?" 

"Yeah and you’re the one who’s high as fuck in a house that I bet that isn’t even yours with the music blaring at 2 a.m."

Mark fell silent and spoke after a few seconds.

"I'm Mark, by the way, but my friends call me Renton."

"Nice to meet you, I guess." you said. 

"Same here." 

You stayed a while observing the mess on the ground. 

"Are you alone?"

"You mean if I'm single? Because in that case, yes, I am." 

"No." You giggled. "I'm asking if there's anyone else in this house. I'm saying that because this place stinks and it's cold. I think you should go down to my apartment and take a hot bath. I'll make you something to eat so you wipe off the effects of whatever you have in your body."

Mark, who was still somewhat disoriented, accepted, although it was a strange proposal since you didn’t know each other at all.

"I'm not going to do anything to you" you said, trying to reassure him. "I just want to help you." 

You took the key that was in your pants pocket, showing it to him.

As you walked down the stairs, Mark asked you:

"This building isn’t safe. How is it that a girl like you lives in a place like this? Only families with a single salary live here and young people like me who come to ... you know .." 

"I’ll only be here for a while. I usually travel a lot due to my job... I couldn't afford a better flat either." 

You came downstairs and opened the door to your apartment, inviting him inside.

"This house is very nice, it doesn't look like a rental one. Seeing how bad this building is.." he said. 

"Even if a building is 'bad', as you say, it doesn’t mean that you can’t live well." you led him to the living room. "Stay here. I'm going to go get some towels so you can take a hot bath. It'll do you good, you'll see. In the meantime, I'll fix something to eat. What would you want?"

"A sandwich would be nice.."

You nodded and headed to the bathroom. That meeting had been super strange and you didn't quite understand how you had ended up in that situation. Right now you were preparing a hot bath for Mark Renton, who was right now lying on your couch trying not to puke up. You would never have imagined that this would be your first meeting. 

After preparing the bath, you returned to the living room and saw that the boy had sat up. 

"Are you okay?" You asked him.

"It's just the side effects, I'll be fine in a few hours."

You just nodded. You didn't think this was the time to ask anything more.

"The bathtub is ready. I have left the towels right next to it. You can stay as long as you want. If you need anything, I'll be in the kitchen." 

Without saying anything else, you left the room.

While you were making two sandwiches with the few ingredients you had, Renton went into the bathroom and began to undress. He looked at the reflection of his naked body in the mirror, analyzing all the scars on his arms. Those drugs weren't doing him any good but he couldn't do anything about it. 

With a long sigh, he staggered over to the tub and crept in carefully. The water was warm, not too hot, not too cold, at a perfect temperature. Mark relaxed and allowed his eyes to close. It felt good there, because of your strange kindness. You had suddenly appeared, offering him help, just what he needed. Maybe that was going to be his new beginning, his way of being able to swim to the surface. It had been too weird to just walk away with her, but no one had treated him like this for too long and he couldn't resist.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. How long had it been?

"Mark? Is everything okay?" He heard your voice on the other side of the door "I just wanted to tell you that the sandwiches are ready. You can go out whenever you want. And I have brought you a somewhat baggy T-shirt and pants that you can use as pajamas. I’m going to leave them here at the door." 

"Thank you." He replied.

You smiled to yourself, put the clothes on the door, and went back to the kitchen. A short time later, you saw him walk in and told him to sit at the table. Renton, seeing the sandwich and the tea you made for him, practically lunged for it, like he hadn't eaten in years. You laughed a bit and sat across from him. 

After several seconds in silence, you decided to speak. 

"Mark .. Can I ask you a question?" The young man nodded as he admired the food in his hands "Why are you doing this to yourself?" He stopped looking at his plate to look at you. 

"You’re asking about the injections?" You nodded slightly "It's the life I've chosen. I couldn't fill the void that keeps me from sleeping at night and drugs are the only thing that keeps me aliv ... you know?" He went silent for a few seconds "But I want to change! I want to be totally clean and have a normal life." 

"If that's what you want .." you started to say "I can help you." 

The gaze of the boy in front of you lit up.

 "Would you do that?" 

"Of course!"

[jasonrae117]

Bad Idea, Good Intentions 

Part 2

"Now that those boys stopped swooping in on this seat, may I have it?" The smoky voice to his side caught his attention. He turned to a young woman about his age just a step behind the bar stool. He felt his mouth dry as it hung open slightly as he fully took in this definitely welcome stranger.

She had creamy ivory skin and eyes that seemed too dark to simply classify as blue. They were unique and enchanting along with her cascading black hair that seemed to absorb the light that shone on it and reflect only what it wanted. Her full lips were curled into a half smile and painted a dark mauve. His eyes quickly trailed down her body clad in a sleeveless black knit crop top and a long matching wrap skirt, exposing the creamy flesh of her toned upper

stomach. His eyes flicked back to hers and in them they held a glint of amusement.

Tim quickly replied, "All yours m'lady." He shot her a bright smile. His night just got better. Beautiful woman wanting to sit next to him, he'll take that any day. 

"Mm what a gentleman. Hopefully better than your friends." She took the seat and crossed her leg over the other allowing the slit of her skirt to reveal all the way up to her upper thigh. He couldn't help but linger on the smooth looking milky skin of her shapely legs. Holy hell if this woman wasn't a total bombshell he didn't know what was.

The woman ordered herself a whiskey double neat and cooly ran her fingers through her hair, resting her chin on her palm waiting. Tim wanted to kill his friends for being such asses and he prayed his chances weren't shot. "I'm sorry for whatever you heard. They're idiots when they've had a few….actually truth be told they're idiots regardless but complete trainwrecks when they drink."

The mysterious woman turned her head in her palm and chuckled lightly. Good, he still had a shot. "And what about you? Mr…" she sat up a bit and twisted her body to face him. 

"Drake. Uh… well Tim. My name is Tim Drake. Of course you don't need formalities, just Tim will do." God he sounded like an idiot.

"Well, just Tim. What happens to you when you drink?" A tiny smirk played along her pretty mouth.

Tim looked into his almost empty glass and thanked God that he still had his wits about him. "I'd like to say that I can hold my liquor well. But I can't say I've been out drinking too often to really know. I talk a lot, I know that. Not just when I drink, but all the time….well not like annoyingly so. I just think a lot. I mean I have so many things processing in my brain at any given moment… wow ok, I guess I get nervous too? I'm sorry, I swear I'm not normally like this." He rubbed the back of his neck and cursed himself for looking like a damn fool in front of her. 

He waited for her reply, hoping he didn't just scare her away with his rambling. Shit was he drunk? Or is it this woman's presence that has him all wound up? The bartender came back with her drink and placed it on the tidy white beverage napkin. The man held onto it a touch longer than Tim thought necessary and when the woman reached out for it, the bartender leaned in closer muttering that it was on the house with a wink before he went to tend to another patron. Tim didn't know why he was annoyed, the woman wasn't with him, he barely knew her, but he felt like there was some bro code or whatever that didn't permit poaching attractive women from him. 

The woman in question didn't even blush or react to the bartender's flirting and she looked back at Tim, taking a small sip. He watched as her full lips parted to allow the amber liquid to flow into her mouth. This woman was too beautiful, why is she talking to him?

"What are you normally like then, Tim? What kinds of things is that brain of yours processing right now?" She raised her eyebrow, finger dancing along the rim of the glass. 

Tim did not want to reveal what he was actually thinking, it was many thoughts about the woman in front of him and how damn good looking she was. "You know, what my idiot friends are up to, the band that was playing earlier, you." Tim wasn't very good at flirting, that was his older brother's specialty, but based on the growing smile on her face, he thought that maybe he was doing just fine. 

"What did you think of the band?" Her almost indigo eyes were focused on his. There was a seriousness to her question but he didn't think too much of it.

"They were great. To be honest, I was a little skeptical, not of their talent but the club's choice to host them." She tilted her head and her brows furrowed a bit. He took that to mean that she wanted him to explain further. "Their songs are not what I would say is typical club music so I was a bit surprised. Although I can't say I really like 'typical club music'. But I'm glad they were able to play here and I got to hear them."

"I see, very insightful. Did you like Nevermore's music?" She seemed to be really interested in his opinion of the band, strange.

"I do. I mean for a guy that doesn't listen to music all too often, the band definitely hooked me. I feel like I've heard the first song before though."

"The band started as a cover band and more recently started using original songs. They don't seem to be as popular. Copycat is one of them." Her cheeks warmed with a slight blush. 

Meanwhile Tim's face reddened at the thought of the sensual song again. He cleared his throat and took another sip of his drink. "That's cool. I..um..really liked that song. Raven's voice is amazing, never really heard anything like it."  He hoped the lights around the bar masked his blush from her.

"Her voice huh?" She laughed lowly. "That doesn't tend to be the audience's focus of that song." 

"I think that was part of the point."

"I think that Raven and the band added the sexy dancing after the song wasn't received well the first ten times they performed it, so they had to try a different tactic to get people to actually listen." Her eyes narrowed at her glass and she took a heavier sip from it.

"Oh, wow. I didn't know that. It's a shame really. I actually really liked the lyrics, they were clever."

"You actually listened?" Why was she surprised?

Tim coughed a little and adjusted in his seat for a moment. "I did. I was captivated by her voice first and then lyrics...and I'm not gonna lie, the dancing kinda enhanced it all." He looked back at her to see her expression soften.

"Interesting." There was a silence that fell over them for a moment. It wasn't uncomfortable or unwelcome, it just felt like she was enjoying his company.

"Tell me Tim, what do you think of me?" She shifted her legs so she could brush her ankle against his shin. Tim flushed at the contact and subconsciously looked down getting distracted by the smooth leg there. He recovered quickly and looked back to her face, an amused expression resting there.

"I think you're interesting, easy to talk to...and very beautiful." He wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say or was he too forward but he meant it. Her laughter made his heart beat faster but eased his embarrassment. So far he was doing okay.

"Thank you, Tim." An unknown expression flashed across her face just long enough for him to notice it but just as quickly as it came, it was replaced with amusement as if they were playing a secret game that only she knew about. "Do you want to meet the band? ....Perhaps meet Raven?" Her indigo eyes fell to her empty glass on the bar and she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Do you know them?"

"Pretty well I suppose."

"That's awesome. My friend knows Wally...er uh.. Kid Flash."

The woman chuckled again. "Yes, Wally has a lot of friends. So did you want me to introduce you? You seemed fond of Raven." Why was she still avoiding his gaze? Why was she offering to introduce him?

"Uh... I mean that would be cool, but I was enjoying myself hanging out with you. Unless you want to leave and meet up with them, then that's totally understandable." Tim thought that maybe it was an excuse to put some space between them and a distraction to slip away. Damn it, just when he thought...

The woman looked back at him brightly. "You're very sweet Tim. I'm enjoying my time with you as well. You're not like other guys."

"Thank you. So...are you staying?"

"Yes Tim, I'm staying." They shared a smile and a blush rose to both of their cheeks.

"Great! I'll buy you a drink and you can finally tell me about yourself." He flagged the bartender town and he ordered another drink for her and a glass of water for himself. He wanted to be sober as to not make a fool of himself.

"Thank you." She took a delicate sip. "What would you like to know?"

"For starters, I'd love to know what your name is."

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally introducing herself. "Rachel, Rachel Roth."

[tosskah]

Pom Poms and Votes Chapter 4

It’s time for Azula to turn the tables on Ty Lee!

Chapter one, two, and three.

Ao3 link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/15499431/chapters/50926165#workskin

“Well, are you gonna kiss me, or are you just gonna stare?” Ty Lee challenges.

Azula chooses the former option without a second thought, and leans in to close the distance between them. Her fingers thread easily into the other girl’s silky hair and the soft heat of her mouth feels more wonderful than she could have imagined. The cheerleader’s body melts against her, hands roaming. One kiss folds into another, and another, growing hungrier. Azula slips an arm around Ty Lee’s waist and holds her near, urging her to continue. Their kisses break at last, and Azula’s lips trail her throat instead. She has never heard anything like the breathy, needy gasps those kisses entice, and takes it as encouragement. Her teeth scrape experimentally against the pale skin offered to her, and she is rewarded with a moan that sounds like her name.

“Azula…”

The girl wakes with a start, her dream punctured by the shrill insistence of her alarm. Her heart is hammering, and she is as breathless as she was in her imagination just a moment before.

That felt so real , she thinks, knuckling her tired eyes savagely, as if that could dispel those images from her mind. Her other hand fumbles and silences the alarm. She must have stayed up too late last night. Her body feels like someone has replaced her bones with cement. She allows herself one more minute under the warmth of the blankets before hauling herself up to prepare for the day.

________________________________________________________________________

The morning air has an autumn bite, and she quickly pushes through the trickle of students on their way into the school. Sleep still weighs heavily on her as she spins the combination on her lock. The rest of the students seem to feel equally sluggish, and chatter around her is minimal and muted. That is, until Ty Lee sidles up.

“Good mooorning Miss President!” she sing songs. Azula freezes in the act of hanging up her jacket. Her first thought is of her dream, and she feels her face reddening.

“Morning,” she manages, unable to meet the cheerleader’s eye. Did we really go on a date last night, or did I dream that too?

“Sooo last night was pretty fun, huh?” Ty Lee giggles. Azula finally makes eye contact and regrets it. It’s almost like she knows what she dreamt!!

“Uh-- yes, actually. It was fun.” The word feels unfamiliar in her mouth. She takes out the books she needs in one hand and closes her locker with the other before turning to walk toward her first class. The other girl falls into step beside her.

“And what are your big plans for your first official day as president, huh? Any decrees for your subjects?” Despite the early hour, Ty Lee is absolutely chipper. Azula wants it to annoy her, to grate on her tired nerves, but it doesn’t. In fact, it’s infectious. She feels her own spirits lifting at the silly question. A flash of inspiration accompanies it, and she feels her pulse quickening at the thought.

“Our first student council meeting isn’t until the end of the week, so I’ll have to hold off on sweeping policy changes until then. I… do have one decree for today, though,” she pauses, taking a moment to gather her courage, “And it’s not for all my subjects. Just one of them, actually.” At this, she stops walking and fixes Ty Lee with a direct look. “I think we should go out again. Let’s go see a movie tonight.”

“Really?!” Ty Lee squeals, face brighter than the morning sun. A few curious students turn to look. “Okay!!” The girl enthusiastically wraps her in a tight hug, and Azula stiffens instinctively. It’s too much like her dream, the sensation of Ty Lee’s body pressed so perfectly against hers. She feels her face heating up. The other girl pretends not to notice her awkwardness and withdraws at last, still beaming. Whatever she is about to say next is interrupted by the morning bell. “Oh!! Gosh, I’m gonna be late-- text me the plans, okay?? I can’t wait!!” As she departs, she squeezes Azula’s hand and tosses one last smile over her shoulder before joining the swell of students.

The teenager is dazed. She must be doing that on purpose , she reasons, trudging along to class, Touching me all the time to keep me off balance. She has had the upper hand for too long. Tricking me into a date when I thought it was a political meeting, now this? Ty Lee is much more dangerous than I could have believed. I can’t afford to continue underestimating her.

The class passes by with an uninterrupted drone of the teacher’s voice. Azula doesn’t hear a word.She is too preoccupied with reliving the morning’s interactions over and over again, gauging how she left herself vulnerable to the clever cheerleaders machinations. I must anticipate that she will try to get in close. I need to stop her before she can put her hands on me. Or hug me. She suppresses a shudder. Remembering the hug is too much like remembering her dream, and her thoughts keep drifting to those phantom sensations……The bell startles her back to reality.

“Azula, are you feeling well? You look flushed,” the teacher remarks as students make their way to the door. Azula doesn’t answer, and hurries out faster.

The movie tonight is her chance to turn the tables. Ty Lee will have very little time to prepare. Clearly she had been plotting to ask her out to coffee for some time, but she won’t have the element of surprise anymore. Just thinking about it makes Azula crack a smug smile. As she moves through the hall, she pulls her phone out to check her messages. There are four from Ty Lee. Seeing her name on the screen makes the girl’s heart and stomach contract in painful unison.

Can’t believe I’m nervous over a stupid text message , she chides herself, opening the text.

Hey ur honor~~👀😉

💁🙇I was sooooo excited that i forgot to mention i have cheer tonite until 5😅⏰

👀🎥Can we still see the movie????🎬👀

🍔Also i get suuuuper hungry after practice~!!! 🍕😋

Azula scoffs at the cheerleader’s blatant attempt to control the situation. She thinks she can dictate the time? Fine, let her think she has won that battle…. But the victory tonight will be mine!

The last comment of hers is strange, though. Why should Azula know when Ty Lee is or isn’t hungry?? She puts the thought aside for the moment and works on her response:

No problem. If we meet at the theater at 6, would that give you enough time to eat? We can catch the 6:15 movie.

Satisfied, she sends it and tucks her phone away.

The rest of the day passes by too quickly. Her classes continue to run together in monotonous fog. When she checks her phone again at another break, she finds a reply from Ty Lee indicating that the plan suits her, although there is a noted decrease in the amount of emojis. She makes a mental note of her decisive triumph. Despite this, she feels the return of the almost familiar heart-pounding that keeps occuring when Ty Lee is involved. It must be because she has finally found an opponent worthy enough to keep her on her toes.

_______________________________________________________________________

When the final bell rings at dismissal, Azula bolts to the parking lot. Part of her is worried she will run into the other girl, even though she knows Ty Lee will likely go straight to the gym to practice. It is unsettling, though, that she always seems to know where to find her. I must learn her schedule so she can’t keep surprising me , the teenager notes to herself as she pulls away from the parking lot. Her mind quickly turns to the night ahead of her, already calculating her plan of attack.

Not to be outdone, Azula digs in her closet to find her most form-fitting clothes. Now that she knows she is going on a date, rather than a meeting, she chooses a clinging black long sleeve shirt. The neckline dips enticingly low, and her blood colored jeans cling to her like a second skin. Her hair takes longer to put in order. Since she normally wears her hair up at school, she opts for a half down style, held up with a delicate gold clasp. At last, she deems she is ready, grabs her coat, and leaves. As she climbs into the car, she realizes it is later than she had thought, and weaves anxiously through traffic to make it to the theater on time.

On time, of course, means 15 minutes early. Azula scans the lobby of the theater, but doesn’t recognize anyone. She breathes a sigh of relief. So far her plan is on track. As the time inches closer to 6, her nervousness builds - but with it is a growing sense of excitement for the next stage of whatever game Ty Lee is playing. As 6:00 comes and goes, however, she feels her stomach churn. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of the cheerleader standing her up, and yet it would be the perfect move to claim the advantage.

I can’t believe she has outplayed me again , Azula fumes, scanning the lobby one last time before making her way to the doors. As she opens it, however, she runs full force into a breathless Ty Lee.

“Azula!!” she squeaks, recovering her balance. “I am! Soooo sorry!!! Practice ran long and one of the girls had to give me a ride and on the way here, her car overheated or something because a bunch of black smoke was coming out and we had to pull over and no one would stop to help us!! And then her dad came and said he couldn’t fix it and they had to call a tow truck, but I begged and begged and begged him and he gave me a ride here!! So now I’m here! We can still see the movie, right??”

While her story is impressive, Azula is not swayed by it. Sure, Ty Lee is selling it. Her hair is loosely falling out of the quick ponytail she must have thrown it into after practice. She is wearing the same outfit from this morning because she hasn’t had time to change: blue jeans with large white polka dots, and a bubblegum colored long sleeved crop top, with a pink jacket draped over her shoulders. The girl is out of breath, as if she has run from wherever this other cheerleader’s dad has dropped her off, with her backpack hanging off one shoulder to complete the look of Girl In a Hurry. If nothing else, Azula admires her commitment. She realizes that in all her time scrutinizing her date, she has not answered.

“Yeah, we can still see it,” she replies cooly, not granting the other girl the pleasure of seeing her unsettled.

“Great,” Ty Lee breathes, anxiety loosening as the pair moves away from the doors.

“I got tickets already, since I was here on time,” Azula adds pointedly. The cheer captain winces slightly, but tries to hide it with a smile.

“Wow, that was really thoughtful of you! Like I said, I am really really sorry I was late-!”

“It’s fine,” Azula replies, shrugging, and pulling the tickets out. The frail, uniformed employee rips the stubs for them and allows them through. The silence that stretches between them as they approach concessions is prickly with awkwardness, and Azula basks in it. Finally, she is not the one on her back foot! As she stops walking, her companion does, too. Another victory.

“Do you want to get popcorn or anything, since you just ate?” she asks, gesturing lazily to the counter in front of them.

“Um— well, I actually didn’t have time to eat before we got here- because of the car, so….” Ty Lee replies uneasily. She fidgets with the pink hem of her jacket and adds, “But if you want to just get seats, it’s okay! It’s my fault for being late-”

“No, it’s fine. Pick whatever you want— I’m buying. We’ll just miss the first preview,” Azula answers smoothly. Her smugness is starting to radiate from her now. It doesn’t matter what the cheerleader chooses to order, because all the time she spends eating will be a reminder that pretending to be late was a misstep. That Azula wasn’t rattled by it. And that is worth the few dollars spent on concessions. To her credit, Ty Lee responds as if she has no notion of the magnitude of her crushing defeat.

“Oh!! Really— are you sure? I— that is so nice of you!! You’re the best!” she stammers, glowing with excitement as she surveys the posted menu.

You’re right about that , Azula smirks, stepping up to the counter. She looks to her companion, giving her permission to order whatever she wants.

“Okay, ummmm, could I get, please, a soft pretzel aaand a medium popcorn? And a drink?... Is that okay?” This last question is posed to Azula, apprehensively. Her reply is a true grin, reveling in her achievement.

“Sounds great,” she assures, fighting to keep her smile from overtaking her. Easy now , she counsels herself, Don’t get too confident and give her an opening . Her expression folds into something more demure. Once again, Ty Lee refuses to react to her setback, and instead erupts into an enormous grin.

“Thank you!!” she squeals, bouncing with excitement. Azula offers the cashier her card for payment, and the food is quickly supplied. “You look amazing, by the way,” the cheer captain continues, scooping her treats off the counter and blatantly letting her eyes roam. When Azula is too startled to respond, she adds, “Sorry I couldn’t dress up, but it’s a good thing you look good enough for both of us!”

Compliments on her appearance are rare. How is she supposed to respond? Her face feels hot. Damn , guess she saw an opening after all .

“Thanks,” Azula replies at last, though she sounds uncertain. Ty Lee giggles at that, like something is funny, and leaves her feeling more unsure than ever.

As they enter their theater, the lights have dimmed. They pick two seats on the end of an aisle and get settled. Ty Lee glances at her nervously and seems about to say something, but stops herself. She instead gets to work on her snacks. She must not have been joking about how hungry she gets after practice.

The screen in front of them is flooded with light and the sound kicks in, almost too loudly. Azula relaxes in her seat, picking at the popcorn. So now they just…. Watch the movie, right? Together? Seems easy enough , she assures herself.

Unfortunately, the movie can’t really hold her attention. It keeps drifting over to the girl beside her. It is much more fascinating to watch her watch the film. Ty Lee reacts as though the events are really happening before her, complete with gasps, shouts, and peals of laughter. How strange! If Ty Lee notices her observer, she pretends not to. The snacks do not last long between them, leaving the cheerleader’s hands free to shield her face when the tension is too great, or clap them together in delight when something goes right. Watching them in motion sparks an idea.

It’s true that Ty Lee often puts her off balance with her casual, unanticipated touches. This is Azula’s chance to turn the tables on her! She waits for a lull in the movie, when the other girl’s hand is on the arm rest between them, and carefully slips her own palm into Ty Lee’s. Ty Lee instantly looks over at her, but she is beaming, not alarmed. She is unflappable ! Azula curses, though she doesn’t withdraw her grasp. No need to concede defeat, after all.

Holding hands is….nice. It is pleasant, although she knows her own palm is starting to sweat just a little. When she feels sure Ty Lee can sense the moisture too, she gently tugs her hand out of reach and discreetly wipes it on her pant leg. Now she is torn. Does she attempt to go back for another round? The first try did not seem to shake her. Maybe it isn’t effective.

As Azula deliberates, she notices the music is swelling. The movie must be ending, coming together in some contrived closure that she can’t be bothered to pretend to care about. No sense holding hands, then, since they’ll be leaving soon. She can work out a stronger plan of attack for another time.

The lights come up, and Ty Lee is bursting with opinions on the movie. Considering Azula didn’t really watch it, she cannot contribute, and simply listens as they gather their things and head for the exit. As soon as they return to the lobby, Azula realizes something.

“Do you need a ride home?” she asks, pulling her keys out of her jacket.

“Oh! Well- I can just call my sister to come get me, I don’t want to be any trouble-”

Azula waves the pitiful struggle aside dismissively. “I can take you.” Her tone makes it clear that the matter is closed.

“Thank you!! You really are the best!!” Ty Lee gushes.  

Considering this was likely her plan from the start, she hides it well , Azula thinks to herself, impressed. They exit the theater into brisk evening air, and both shiver. Ty Lee steps closer and slips her hand into Azula’s. It takes all her will not to look startled. It feels just as nice as it did in the movie theater. Her free hand curls into a frustrated fist. How is it that Ty Lee can unbalance her so easily? It’s not right.  

When they reach her car and their hands part, the night air feels colder, somehow. Both girls are quick to scramble into the car and adjust the heat so it can wash over them. The warm air is met with twin sighs of relief.

“So you liked the movie, then?” she asks, trying to create a distraction as she once again places her hand on the passenger seat to reverse out of the parking spot. The action puts her so close to her date. The one that she was dreaming about kissing.

“Yes!! It was so good! And the snacks were sooo yummy, thank you again for buying them!! And the tickets! Do you want me to pay you back??” Ty Lee starts to unzip her backpack.

“No need,” Azula replies, returning to her seat, well within the boundaries of her own personal space. “My treat.”

“You’re sure?” Ty Lee presses. When Azula nods, the other girl zips her backpack. “That’s very sweet of you!”

The drive to Ty Lee’s house passes quickly, mostly full of chatter about the movie. It feels like they arrive too soon.

“This was fun,” Azula declares, “Thanks for going with me.”

“I had fun, too,” Ty Lee answers, unbuckling her seatbelt. Instead of gracefully exiting the car like last time, she leans in a little closer. Azula feels her breath catch in her throat. It feels like a signal of some kind, like she wants her to lean in too, so she does.

“Can I kiss you?” Azula hears herself ask, though her voice sounds far away. Ty Lee’s gaze drops to her lips before returning to her eyes with a smile.

“Mhmm,” she nods ever so slightly.

Azula’s heart has never hammered so hard. The idea of kissing her in real life is dizzying. And yet… she wants to. She wants to know if it will be like her dream. She leans in closer, tipping her head ever so slightly. Ty Lee tips her head, too, and her eyes flutter closed. That wasn’t in her dream, but it’s a detail that thrills her. Her own eyes close an instant later, and there is an endless, waiting moment before their lips finally brush against each other.

The sensation is almost startling enough to make her pull back, but she holds firm. The kiss is soft, and, if she’s honest, wonderful. In truth, she hasn’t kissed anyone before, not really. There was the time she was dared to kiss a boy on the playground back in the early years of school, but that was nothing like this. This kiss is like floating. Weightlessness. Like everything else has faded away, other than the two of them, in this moment.

It’s unclear which of them pulls away first, but suddenly Azula finds her eyes open. She can’t seem to remember how to form words. And what would she say? What could be said, after something like that?

“Goodnight,” Ty Lee says, her voice breathless in a way Azula hasn’t heard before.

“Goodnight,” she replies, just as short of breath. Ty Lee flashes a smile and slips smoothly out the passenger door.

[katalicz]

19 bliban if it tickles your fancy

of course my friend, here you go!!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17440433/chapters/49387754

“I could kill you right now!” 

Blitz has been awake for long enough to realise that he is, once more, in a hospital, when the door to his room swings open and Bandit appears, still in his gear and with a furious look on his face.

“You’re an idiot!” he bites out, striding forwards and throwing himself into the chair by Blitz’s bedside before Blitz can open his mouth to say hello. He can’t even protest that he isn't an idiot, because he isn't exactly sure what he’s done this time to end up here. The painkillers are making his entire body feel horribly fuzzy and his mind is still mostly blank from the anaesthetic, which is enough to tell him that he’s had more than a little fall, at least.

“Hi,” he says – or croaks, rather, since his throat feels as though he’s gargled a handful of gravel, and Bandit scowls before carefully guiding a cup of water he’s procured from seemingly nowhere to Blitz’s lips to allow him to drink.

“What time is it?” Blitz asks when he’s finished, watching as Bandit tosses the cup over his shoulder to land neatly in the bin. It’s very impressive, he thinks, but doesn’t say it for the fear of annoying Bandit more.

“It’s almost seven,” Bandit replies, crossing his arms. Blitz doesn’t have the strength to reach out and take one of his hands, which is a little concerning, but overall, that’s not too bad considering that the raid had started at eleven.

The thought must show on his face, because Bandit closes his eyes in frustration and says, “Seven am. You’ve been here for 15 hours, you idiot.”

Ah. That explains the fury, then, as well as the dark bags sitting like bruises beneath Bandit’s eyes. Knowing him, which Blitz is pleased to say he does, he’ll have been awake all this time, prowling through the hospital ward and making anyone he encounters shy away in terror.

“I feel fine,” he says mildly, and tries to wiggle his toes. They respond after a few attempts, thankfully, and he looks back up to see Bandit watching him with a worryingly unreadable look on his face. “It can’t have been that bad.”

“You don’t remember what happened,” Bandit says flatly, a statement instead of a question. Blitz winces when he has try harder than usual to shake his head no. “And stop moving before Doc sees you and ties you to the damn bench.”

“He wouldn’t do that,” Blitz muses, still trying and failing to read the look in Bandit’s eyes. He hopes it’s just the drugs making him slow; he’d spent a ridiculous amount of time learning to read Bandit’s many, many faces, and really doesn’t want to consider that he’s forgotten any of them. He’d probably earn an award for being a terrible boyfriend, if he had. “He likes me, I’m a good patient.”

Bandit blinks at him once, and Blitz’s heart lurches in his chest as the look fades from unreadable to completely blank in the way it only does when Bandit is shutting himself away from the world and away from any kind of emotion and away from Blitz.

“Dom?” he says, as gently as he can, and forces his arm out to grasp weakly at Bandit’s clenched hands.

It’s the wrong thing to do; Bandit lurches to his feet with a snarl, sending his chair clattering to the floor. His body is wrought with a tension that makes Blitz’s shoulders ache to look at, and he wants to reach out, to sit up and draw him close, but he can’t.

“Bandit—” he starts weakly, not knowing what else to do. For a painful beat nothing happens, then Bandit is turning on his heal and storming away with a cold fury that makes Blitz’s chest hurt to watch.

“You almost died!” Bandit snaps, eyes glinting dangerously when he turns, and Blitz’s breath catches in his throat as the meaning of the words sink in. “You took a bullet an inch away from your goddamn spine, you absolute fucking idiot—”

“I didn’t, though,” Blitz hears himself say, even as his blood seems to freeze in his veins with terror, as his pulse thunders in his ears.  “It’s okay, I’m fine.”

Bandit pauses in his tracks to stare at him, and Blitz’s skin prickles under the intensity of his gaze. “I could kill you right now!” Bandit snarls, resuming his pacing of the room, his hands clenched into tight fists that will leave him with a headache if he carries on much longer.

“Please don’t, we spent a lot of time fixing him,” Doc interrupts, appearing in the doorway and smiling wanly at Blitz.

Bandit throws a thunderous glare at him but doesn’t reply, and Doc watches him for a moment before cautiously making his way to Blitz’s bedside.

“How do you feel?” he asks gently, and Blitz closes his eyes for a moment to pull himself together. When he opens them, Doc is watching calmly, the eye of the storm that’s still quite literally raging around them.

“Sore,” he replies, wincing as his voice cracks and gratefully accepting the cup of water Doc offers him.

“As you’ve probably heard, you were quite lucky,” Doc says as Blitz drinks, and Blitz has the feeling that he’d be in for a lecture if Doc weren’t looking so worn out. “It wasn’t quite so bad as Bandit was making out, since he ran off when one of the nurses told him to prepare for the worst, which due to the position of the bullet, we initially believed were paralysis or stroke.”

There’s a distressed sound at that which Blitz eventually realises came from him, and a brief pause in pacing when Bandit appears to trip over his own feet. Blitz inhales deeply, holds it for a count of five to try and stop himself from panicking, and exhales.

“What was it actually, then?” he asks quietly, and Doc smiles wanly.

“The bullet was almost stopped by your armour and ended up lodged four centimetres to the left of your upper thoracic spine. The shockwave from the impact would have done the most damage, and whilst we were worried about the risk of paralysis for a while, the MRIs and ultrasound show no damage to the spinal cord or surrounding structures due to low-velocity and low-calibre.” Doc folds his hands together and shrugs.  “We did surgery to remove the bullet, flushed the area to prevent infection, sealed a small tear to your dura, and stitched you up. Easy as that.”

Nothing about it seems easy to Blitz but he nods weakly anyway and closes his eyes again, unwilling to look at Doc’s tired face, at Bandit’s wrath. “That’s good,” he says weakly, and hears Bandit snort from somewhere to his left. “I’m glad it wasn’t a rifle shot.” He’s only half joking, and winces with regret when Bandit curses at him and resumes his stomping with increased vigour.

“So am I,” Doc says quietly, “because then we would be faced with the worst.”

There’s sombre silence for a second, broken only by Bandit’s frantic footsteps, before Doc sighs. “Will you please sit down?” he asks quietly, and the pacing stops, leaving the room uncomfortably quiet. “I’ll sedate you if not; you’re only making yourself worse.”

“Fuck you,” Bandit growls, from much closer now, and a hot hand closes around Blitz’s own. If he clings onto it with enough force to feel the bones shift slightly, Bandit doesn’t seem to notice, and Doc doesn’t seem to care.

He forces his eyes open to find Bandit sat down again, elbow on his knee and face hidden by his free hand. Doc is still watching worriedly, and shrugs a shoulder when Blitz meets his eyes.

“We’ll need to keep you here overnight before returning to base,” he says apologetically, dragging a hand through his hair. “Just to make sure there are no complications from the surgery. Then we’ll do some tests to ensure the nervous system is functioning properly, which shouldn’t take too long.”

Blitz nods, even as fear flutters through his stomach. Bandit’s grip tightens on his hand to the point where it’s almost painful. “How long will it take to recover?” he asks, not really wanting to hear the answer.

Doc sighs. “Not too long, we hope. There will be some muscle weakness due to the surgery but that should pass within a week, and you should be back to normal within a month, with any luck.”

Blitz squeezes Bandit’s hand again and relaxes for the first time since waking up. “That’s not too bad then,” he says, and Doc smiles again.

“Not too bad at all,” he confirms. “Though if you do it again, you’ll be benched from the team until you learn not to run directly into the line of fire like an idiot.”

“I’ll kill you myself if you do it again,” Bandit says hoarsely, peering up through his fingers and scowling fiercely. The effect is ruined by the redness rimming his eyes and the slight tremble to his shoulders, and Blitz’s heart aches for him.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, smiling tiredly at the small “fuck you,” he earns for his trouble, and startling when Doc stands up to stretch.

“Anyway,” Doc says, stepping back and checking the line of machines along the wall. “I’ll give you another dose of painkillers but won’t bother putting you under again so we can finish the tests. And if you can persuade him to at least get changed, we’d all be very grateful.” He shoots a mildly amused look at Bandit, who flips him off half-heartedly, and Blitz wrinkles his nose in sympathy with the medical staff. His gear is still filthy with the usual dust and grime from being in the field, and he probably stinks of sweat and gunpowder too.

“I’ll do my best,” he promises, grimacing as Doc fiddles with the machine hooked to the IV line and sends an uncomfortably cool flood of fluid into his veins. The pain that had slowly been building up between his shoulders lessens immediately, though, and he can’t help the small sigh of relief that escapes him.

Doc rolls his eyes and heads for the door. “You should have said it was hurting,” he scolds, “I would have given them to you first.”

“No you wouldn’t,” Blitz replies mildly, but Doc’s already gone, and suddenly the room feels far smaller.

“Don’t you dare do that again,” Bandit says quietly, voice gravelly and breathing loud. “I’m serious. I thought you were dead, when you went down.”

A painful lump forms in Blitz’s throat. “I’m sorry,” he whispers again, closing his eyes. He’s hit with a wave of exhaustion, the painkillers and emotions and adrenaline getting the better of him, and when he opens his eyes again, he’s unsurprised to find his vision blurred and cheeks damp.

Bandit watches him quietly, thumb pressing firmly into the back of his hand. The empty storm in his eyes is gone, replaced with a tired sort of fear that Blitz is all too familiar with, from missions gone wrong and too many close calls, from nightmares and memories and silly accidents on base that shouldn’t be as frightening as walking into a gunfight but somehow are.

When he’s pulled himself together, he squeezes Bandit’s hand again and smiles weakly at him. “You look like shit, by the way,” he says teasingly. “It’s a good job I can’t smell you or I’d probably be in a coma.”

Bandit rolls his eyes and leans forward to rest his elbow on the bed. “I’ll go and shower when they come and do your tests,” he promises. “The nurses here are a bit nervous.”

“They’re probably not usually, you’re just a bit terrifying,” Blitz yawns. “You knocked over a chair, nearly stomped through the floor, and threatened to kill me. Twice. It’s enough to make anyone nervous.”

Bandit rolls his eyes, presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and doesn’t look sorry in the slightest.

[eternaljouska]

Redamancy, Chapter 9 - Lee Jihoon

Pairing: Husband!JihoonxReader

Genre: Angst, the tiniest amount of Fluff

Chapter: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | NINE | end | epilogue |

Word Count: 2.8 K

Recommended Song: Seventeen - Home (Chinese Version)

A/N: I was struggling to write this chapter (I have three versions of this :’)), so I hope you can really enjoy it. Thank youuu~

--

The late morning sun is filtering through the tightly-drawn curtain, laying its warm caress along your puffy face. Jihoon is sure that he looks as puffy as you are, for he has spent the night crying in silence as he knows you’ve done so many times before.

After telling Seungkwan to ask for Soonyoung’s help to take his car back from the hill, Jihoon muttered a quick thanks, in which Seungkwan had replied with a nod and a small smile of encouragement, wishing that the night and deep slumber would take good care of the intricate matters of the hearts. The two men went their separate ways with the same melancholic spirit. But alas, as he finally saw the face of the pale moon sleeping inside his arms, Jihoon couldn’t help the tears welling up in his eyes again, shunning his somnolence away.

He tucked the icy moon under his chin and rested his lips atop of it, whispering apologies for the eclipse that has left it cold for so long. He had pretended to be the sun, but his insolent head had let him forget and lost to his earthly pursuits. He had pretended to be the sun when all the whiles, he was no more than a mass of clouds that’s propelled forward by the wind. He was a mass of clouds waiting for his time to rain. But you. You’re celestial and terrestrial all at once. You’re the sun, the moon, the wind, and the ground. You could be anything and everything, and yet last night, just like so many nights before that, you chose to kneel down in front of him as if you’re nothing. And it made him realized how that was his way of treating you all along, as if you’re nothing.

The flutters of your eyes throw Jihoon back down to the earth, and a lump of doubt’s starting to swell on his head from the impact. When your mind was traveling with the night and your eyes were closed, Jihoon had let himself indulge in the proximity that they’d allowed, taking advantage of it as much as he could. But now that the sun’s reigning back over the day, and the night’s slowly loosening its grip around you, he’s afraid that you’d taken that liberty away from him and that he’d also have to let you go.

Carefully, Jihoon’s hands are retreating back from your figure, trying to finish the task before you become fully awake. But of course, nothing goes according to his plan anymore. “What are you doing?” you croak out as you open your eyes in a squint.

Jihoon stops what he was doing, stuck in an awkward and uncomfortable position. Half of his upper body is hovering over you, the lower part of his right hand’s still pinned under your weight while the palm of his left hand stays flat on the empty space beside you, working as leverage. “Uh? I…” he trails off, not really knowing what to tell you.

“Are you leaving?” You shift your body to let his arm free.

It’s taken Jihoon by surprise that you actually know what he’s doing instead of accusing him of something else. He quickly recovers and sits down near the edge of the bed before turning to face you, his eyes focusing more on the lines between your eyebrows rather than your eyes. “Do you want me to?” he asks timidly.

“What about what you want?”

“I want to stay. If you’ll let me.”

“Then stay.”

An instant smile grows on Jihoon’s lips upon hearing your words, but only a few seconds after that hesitation fills him up once more. He looks at your unmoving body, and he wonders whether your version of staying includes his arms snaked around your waist, your face buried in his chest, and his lips nestled on your head. But apparently, those are not what you’re referring to when you allowed him to stay.

You rise into a sitting position beside him and lean on the head of the bed, bringing your knees inside your arms and close to your chest. Time slows down as you try to ignore the silence that falls between you by counting the seconds to your breath. From your peripheral view, you can see Jihoon looking down to his fingers that are busy tapping on his lap. There’s something heavy hanging on the air in the room: the residue of last night’s eruption.

You had fallen asleep in his protective arms, and a few minutes ago when you woke up, you can remember still just how nice that felt, even though he’d been ready to remove himself from you the second you’re awake. And you hadn’t had enough time to gather yourself before you went out on a classic war between your heart and your head, slowly but surely exposing your need for him to stay. You had hoped he’d just leave so that you didn’t have to make any decision and ended up choosing the wrong thing. But he asked you what you want instead, and it distracted you from setting up metal thorns around your heart to ward him away, as you did your body with your arms just now.

You’d asked him to stay. But the war inside you had only started. And there are still these ashes raining down on the both of you in need of clearing up.

“We need to talk,” you pick up after some time, straightening your back as you raise your head to face him. Maybe this rain of ashes is corrupting your heart and your head. Maybe once it dies down, the war will soon follow.

“Oh? Right. Okay.” Frankly, Jihoon is more than a little bit startled that you’d initiate the conversation, moreover with a confrontation first thing in the morning. But he knows that both of you need to talk about what happened last night. There’s no way for the tension between you two to disappear without being addressed. He wants it to leave, wants to kick it away if it means to be able to hold you again, but it doesn’t mean that he’s happy about finally having the talk.

All throughout his waking hours last night, he’s been thinking of what he could possibly say to you to make things right again, but there’s only guilt. He looked back to the days in the hospital. While waiting for you to finally open your eyes, he had wandered through the timeline and pinpointed the exact year everything went downhill. It was four years ago. He searched, and he searched, but he couldn’t find out the logic behind his actions. Why he had drifted far away from home. Why he hadn’t been able to find his way back to his family. He’d made you unhappy for the last half of your marriage, and Jihoon had to bitterly admit that he’s surprised as to why you’d stayed.

Sitting beside your limp body on the hospital bed, he’d had no idea what would’ve happened once you wake up. The only thought in his head was that you’d open your eyes again so that he could own his mistakes and apologize to you, regardless of what you’d say in reply. But when he’d found out about your amnesia, his guilt grew feverish. You had been very accepting of him, but it’s only because you couldn’t remember the hurt he’d inflicted. And he’d come up as forbearing because he didn’t want to act as if he hadn’t done you a lot of harm. As if there’s only happiness in your life with him. He didn’t want you to think of him as more of a liar once you remember again. Because as much as he’d said he didn’t care about your reaction to his apologies, he didn’t want you to go.

“Tell me. Tell me why all of these happened.”

“I…” Jihoon exhales. “I’ve been treating you poorly for the last four years. At first, it’s Jimin. I’m not trying to blame him or anything, but… He cried more than Jaemin did that even staying in the home studio couldn’t help me producing, so I always used the one in the company. But then, whenever I was home, I’d have trouble sleeping, and that made me stay even longer in the studio. You’d nag at me sometimes, and I’d be annoyed. I went home less, and one day you visited me in the studio. Before you said anything, I’d grabbed your hand and took you to the garage. We drove home in silence. But once we stepped our feet inside the house, we’re blown up in a fight. I remember no screaming, it was a hushed argument since the boys were asleep. I told you you’re an egoist and demanding, and you cried and marched upstairs. After I shouted a few things to your back, you stopped yourself from entering your Haven. But I didn’t see if you had turned around or not. Because I just went out and slammed the doors.”

“Four… years? Four years?” you mumble, eyes already wet from fresh tears. You look up to Jihoon, trying to understand everything he’d told you. “Four years, Jihoon? For…”—you take a long breath as to steady your voice—“If- if you know all this, why have you been treating me the same way as before? Why, Jihoon?”

“I can’t pretend as if nothing happened between us and just play happy family with you. I can’t, Y/n. I can’t take advantage of your amnesia and lead you to believe that I’m this perfect husband for you. The- the accident?” he huffs out a laugh before he continues, “You could just say that I was the one who hit your car—or the cab, for that matter, since your car was in Pledis’ basement. I used it. My car was in a repair shop, so I used yours. But I refused to pick up the kids because apparently, I thought that it’s not my job. You yielded once more and offered to take a cab. And the accident happened.

“I had- I had nothing to do while I waited for you to wake up besides reflecting on what’s happening. The guilt… It’s massive. I prayed that you’d open your eyes again. I prayed that as long as I could say how sorry and regretful I am and see you alive and healthy, it’d be okay if you wouldn’t take me back. It wouldn’t, though. Be okay… It wouldn’t. Y/n… There’s a reason that you forget everything from when we started being together. I couldn’t look at you and not think that it’s because of me.”

“That… that might just be true, huh?” you say after a long pause of only staring at his eyes. “I always knew I’m stupid, I don’t know that it’s to that degree. For four years I’d stayed. It must be the kids, right? They’re still too young.” Your voice is devoid of emotions as you ramble on. It’s hard to gauge the situation when you don’t remember anything.

Another moment of silence passes between you as Jihoon waits for you to continue your words, the tapping of his fingers coming to life again. Your face is completely neutral right now, the water brimming in your eyes has long since vaporized. “Y/n—“

“Jihoon,” you interrupt, your heart and your head starting to pound to the same beat. “I don’t know what to say about what happened before the accident. I don’t know everything that happened. I don’t know how I see those things you told me. I don’t know anything for sure. I had a flashback of me in the Haven, throwing some pots to the wall. I remember being so angry and sad and devastated. And the scene changed from there to the living room. I saw you went out of the room and slammed the door on me. Is… is that the fight that you’re talking about?”

“I- I don’t know about the pots.”

You nod your head a few times, falling back into deep consideration. “I can’t base my decision on your perspective of things. I need to remember first, Jihoon. But… I do know what happened after I woke up. It’s- It’s been shitty. I… From what you told me, what I’d been through was a lot worse than what’s happening right now. I… I guess I’m willing to be foolish once again and stay for a bit more with you. For my memory. For the kids. And I need to remember if there are more reasons for my staying back then. Also, if I’d lived through those past four years, I’d be able to pass this one easily, right? Since you say you’d change and all.”

You have started your sentences with a more apprehensive tone, but the more you talk, the stronger the influence of unknown nervousness on your speech and it tugs on the corner of Jihoon’s lips to notice that. But before it grows into a full-blown smile, you cut him, “It doesn’t mean that I forgive you. I’m just- I guess… I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt and therefore another chance to win my forgiveness. You need to work hard, Jihoon. I don’t think I can have a break down like last night again. It was…”

“I’m sorry. I’ll work hard. I- Thank you so much, Y/n. Thank you. You’re so amazing. I never knew that I’m the biggest fool between the two of us.”

“Wha- What are you implying?” you fake a gasp. “I thought you were apologizing?”

And just like that, the tension between you dissolves with the metaphorical rain of ashes. The war within you has dwindled down and then died altogether. Your weary brain’s acceded to the peace accord you made at last. And your foolish heart’s marched towards Jihoon, breaking out of the unfinished fence barely beating but still alive as ever in spite of the stab wounds.

Jihoon’s gaze softens as he catches sight of your slight smile. This doesn’t feel real. You don’t feel real. And without any preamble, he shuffles forward and wraps his arms around you. “I miss you,” he murmurs directly to your ears.

“Jihoon…” Your body stiffens at his unceremonious action, and Jihoon’s body immediately mirrors yours, thinking that he’s crossed the invisible boundary that you probably set. But it’s only a matter of seconds until you’re able to collect yourself again, welcoming him and slipping your hands through his middle to rest on his back. “I miss you, too,” you reply, the soft timbre of your voice permeates his shirt and skin and reaches for his heart, setting it ablaze. And every nano part of him flutters alive and transcends into a state of euphoria.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Jihoon,” you mutter after some time.

“Hm?”

“What should we do about the kids?” you raise your head in order to find his gaze. “I- I think about them a lot, and I miss them, somehow? It’s weird, but also not weird. Their visit to the hospital, their call, I… We’ve… we’ve neglected them for too long, Jihoon.”

“Let’s take them home, yeah?” Jihoon says before he lands a gentle kiss on the crown of your head. The thought of his kids has been haunting him, too. He thought that they wouldn’t welcome him anymore. But thinking about the day his kids first visited the hospital makes him realized that he’s the fool who keeps on drifting away from them. That day, they had run into his embrace. Jihoon had brushed this off once it’s clear to him that he’s the Big Bad Wolf in your life. He thought his kids accepted him because of their ignorance of what’s happening. But although that’s probably true, now that his role as the Big Bad Wolf is revoked with the new chance you’re giving him, he feels like he can also make a new start with his kids.

You give him a small nod, feeling a little bit unsettled because of your loss of memory. “Do you think they’d understand?”

“Understand? Are you going to tell them about the amnesia?”

“I don’t know, Jihoon. I think that would be better. I… I think they’d notice if I forget about a lot of things. I just thought that if they know in advance, they wouldn’t have to face a lot of little disappointments throughout my recovery. If- if I tell them in the beginning, maybe there would only be that early disappointment and nothing more because they’ll eventually understand. I don’t know. Jihoon, I don’t know what to do.”

“Shh, it’s okay. Let’s not rush that, okay? They’re smart kids, but they are still kids. We’ll get them first and see what to do after, hm?”

--

Taglist: @thatfangurltho @chwenchew @la-hermosaluna

[geekygoddesss]

Taking breaks

Some people would usually say that school takes to much of my time, but I say, they don’t do enough.

My days kept going busier and busier, as time passed, I would keep getting more work added into a pile of things I might never finish but still had to do my best to get something done before going back to the real world, it was a lot for me at the moment but even when I was at the very verge of passing out, I would do my best to get things done and rest at least a little bit, before the real deal came and hit me like a damn train.

Exams come on at the perfect time. Which is total sarcasm. Classes kept going on and growing more important each time, which was totally perfect too since I was not there and that meant, I had to work twice as hard than my other classmates. There is only one reason why and maybe it is worth it and a totally reasonable thing, but I was started to feel guilty for it and like I needed to do something to make something up for this time of rest. My rhinoplasty was set at the worst time ever.

I was never happy with the way my nose looked, so I decided to change it and I was happy for it once I had the chance to get a spot for it and get this done once and for all, but the timing was set in the worst spot, sadly. Exams coming, classes still going and while that was right around the corner I was in LA in my boyfriend’s house and just recovering from a very hard surgery. This is messed up.  

So Here I was, with a bandaged nose and locked in a room filled with papers, trying to get as much as I could do before things got harder and harder for me. I would read and reread the same things for hours, picking up the most important things and writing them down, trying to keep up with all the things I have missed while I was gone and memorizing everything, so I could at least be ready for anything by the time I went back to school.

I tried to my best to keep it slow and don’t overwhelm myself too much, since I was still feeling sore and wanting to rest for a little longer, but just thinking on how much harder this will be if I let it pass, scared me, so I just sucked it up and did my best but still gave myself some time every now and then to recover a little and not get too stressed.

I drop the pencil by my side, after my timer points already 30 minutes of writing, so I move to my other station and start reading a little, filling myself up with everything I am doing my best to memorize and remembering everything.

I heard the door open behind me, I ignore it and keep reading, I hear the steps going around the room and standing right by my side and I plan to ignore it until a hand appears at my side and before I can even process it at all, that same hand is grabbing the ends of my worksheet and pulling away from my sight before I can even say a thing

“You work too much” my boyfriend says, putting the sheet away and sitting at the edge of my desk, looking down at me.

“I’m almost done, I swear” I try to say in a clear voice as I spin my chair around and look up at him.

“That’s what you said an hour ago, I don’t believe you anymore” He said pointing at me with a bossy voice to then take a look at my notes and really taking a look at them “what’s this?” He asks, raising an eyebrow at me as he tries to read a little bit.

“Just a small summary for what I have to study” I said, getting up from my place and walking up to him, trying to take my notes back but he raises his arm high and away from me so I can’t reach it. I groan  “seriously, cal, I’m almost done” I said in a small whine as I got in the tip of my toes and tried to grab them but couldn’t “give it back” I try to say but he totally ignores me.

“Babe” he says, putting my notes high up as he waves them around “have you seen the magnitude of this? You’re not going to finish summarizing this in an hour more and you’ve been here for almost all day” he argues, frowning as he speaks.

“Yeah but i swear now is serious, I’m almost done”

“Are you really?” He says in a tired tone, letting his arms doing and crossing his arm over his chest “You just had surgery, are you really going to take these weeks of rest for studying this much?”

“I don’t get a choice” I argue back, sitting back in my chair and letting a big sigh out of my lips “I have to do it sometime”

“Well, you have enough time to sit down for this, but it’s been four days since your surgery, your face is swollen, you can barely open your eyes and you should be resting” he says, letting the sheets of paper in the desk in front of me. He kept looking at me with that look, a worried look, I knew he has been all protective over me since the surgery, but really, I am fine.

“Rude” I try to frown back but can’t, my face can barely even move properly “I’ll be done in ten minutes, I swear” I say, turning my chair around and going back to work.

he seems to give up on me and trying to convince me to go and rest, this has been around the third time he has come here and tried to get me to bed but I have worked my way around it and bought myself some time to keep working on some of the things I had to study and get something in advance, Seems like I just did it again.

I grab my pencil and go back to the page I was in and start reading again, ignoring the fact that Calum was still here standing beside me and watching me as I try to focus once again but hard a bit of a hard time going back to it fully.

“Don’t lean your face much or you’ll bleed” he says in a small mumble, putting one finger on my forehead and pulling my head back so I was sitting more straight.

I sit straight and raise the paper closer to my face as I try to keep reading, but he is still here watching me and every move I make, almost as if he was trying to make sure I didn’t pass out from all sudden, ever since I came out of that hospital it seemed like he was taking care of me and making sure to evict that, but it was not that bad, I am sure I was just fine just like I was doing.

“Fuck it” he says, now really giving up and getting up from his spot. I wait for him to walk away and I was already turning my head to the side and readying myself to tell him to shut the door, but before I can even think of that, I am being pulled back from the desk with the chair and being separated from my work.

“Hey” I say, trying to hold on the edge of the desk and pull the chair back in, but he grabs me from under my legs and lifts me up almost bridal style so I could not get away from this.

“We’re going to bed” he says, carrying me out of the room and totally ignoring my complaints.

“I’m not sleepy” I argue, kicking my legs in the air, trying to make myself seem annoying, maybe that way he’ll pull me down.

“You’re very sleepy” he says, walking through the long hallway and entering the big room at the end of it “I know your tired face when I see it, you don’t trick me” he argues as he carefully leaves me in the bed and points at me with his finger “you’ll finish tomorrow” he says to then walk away from me.

I can’t say a thing. He is walking out of the room immediately after he leaves me on the bed. I consider it for a moment, go back in there again this will and try to work again, but that would mean a lot of things, I would be disobeying him and he would really get mad at me, more than he was already, so I cancel that thought immediately and lay down, giving up myself and just taking a bit of a rest. I look at the window, it was the first time I have taken a look outside in hours, it was already dark and the street lights were on, people in our neighborhood were no longer outside, now I see why Calum wanted me to take a break so badly, it’s been hours, I was working too much I lost the notion of time just like that. He was right after all.

He takes a long time to come back up, a really long time, in the meantime, I try to hang out in here all by myself, covering myself with the bed covers up to my chin and fixing my set of pillows against my back, keeping me nice and straight all of the time just like the doctor told me to, I look for the controller on the table beside me and do my best to find something in Netflix and have it just in time for when Calum came back so we could have some quality time together.

I don’t make it though, because when Calum crosses the door, I still have not decided on a movie to watch but I guess that does not matter at all, because the second he crosses those door, he grabs the controller from my hands and turns the tv down, handing me a bowl of soft steaming soup and sitting by my side.

“Drink this” he commands, passing me the spoon that was resting in the back of his hand and fixing the covers down, so I wouldn’t spill anything on it.

“What is it?” I say, drinking a little bit without questioning too much. It was warm in my mouth, I could feel my upper lip tingling a little bit at the feeling since it was still a little numb from the surgery, but there was a little bit of a taste in the back of my tongue, it was delicious, it felt like just want I needed after a long day.

“Just chicken broath” he says, laying on the bed beside me “I made it for you, how is it?” he asks with a small smile on his face.

“I can’t taste it” I chuckle as I drink a bit more “I’m sure is delicious” I say winking at him a little bit.

“Nice, bottoms up then” he says, laying a little closer to my side and checking on his phone, clearly waiting until I am done.

I don’t even need to ask why he had to turn down the tv, It is late already and he clearly wants me to sleep now since I have not taken a nap in all day and I was starting to grow more tired each time and I had started to feel it more and more as I finished my soup, with time, the warmth of the meal kept going into me and relaxing my body a lot, my eyelids got heavier and heavier and until the very last drink I could barely keep the bowl steady in my hand.

He pulls the bowl away once I am finished and goes to grab a hoodie for me from the closer but stops in track when he sees me over his shoulder, pointing a finger at the cast of my nose and scratching with my nail on the small place of skin that was exposed to the world, it hurt but it felt good, it was either that or mess up my bandages to scratch my nose, it was very annoying to have this on.

“Hey Hey Hey, dont” he says, walking up to me and pulling my hand away from my face softly.

“It’s itching” I pout, looking up at him.

“Yeah but you can hurt yourself babe, you have to be careful” he says, caressing my cheek just a little before turning to grab the hoodie real quick and leaving it on my lap  “are you feeling better? Does your nose hurts?” he asks, just to make sure.

I shrug “Just a little, at times”

Truth, It still felt weird, but it wasn’t really hurting me. Not like the first day or the day after that, I felt pretty good compared to those days.

“Did you take your medicines?” He asks, sitting at the edge of the bed and looking at me with his eyebrows raised high.

“Yes” I nodded with confidence.

“On time?” he asks then.

I blush and take a second to know what to say but my tongue gets tied and only a small sound comes out of my mouth in form of a “... yes?”

He sighs and shakes his head at me, deciding that I’ve had enough pep talks for today and that the fact I took time to take my pills over doing all that pile of work was just enough to keep him satisfied, at least I was taking my medication for the day.

I lean on the bed and pat the empty spot next to me for him to lay too. I think it was time for both of us to sleep, we’ve had enough for the day.

“I think you don’t need those anymore” he says, getting up from the bed and taking two of the big pillows under me and just leaving one, making me lay entirely and in a better position.  “Better?” he asks, leaving the pillows aside.

“Yeah” I nod smiling a little up to him as he moves to the other side of the bed and joins “this is annoying, I can’t wait to finally breathe through my nose” I sigh, thinking out loud as he pulls me in a big hug.

“You’ll do It, better than ever” he chuckles, kissing my forehead and pulling me in a big hug “beauty is pain, right?”

“And what a pain” I say rolling my eyes “I almost want my old nose back”

“Seriously?” he asks, taking me a bit serious.

I chuckle “No” I say shaking my head a little “Sleep with me tonight” I say almost in a begging tone.

This past nights I’ve had to sleep alone for a couple of reasons, reason number one I have been snoring loudly since my nostrils where still blocked and through the first stage of healing they will remain closed until I am better, and two, he was still on studio duty for all of this days and it was pretty much crucial that he is well rested for the night before going to work in order to get decent stuff out. With me in this state it was a bit difficult, so for the past nights, it has been just me and the loneliness of this room.

“Sure Baby” he says, pulling me a bit closer in his cuddle “I’m sorry if I’m being pushy” he says, kissing my forehead once and he looks down to my eyes in a bit of an apologetic voice  “I love you and I love you are so smart, but seeing you just had surgery and are pushing yourself this hard just- kills me” he explains himself, clearly feeling guilty for the way he was acting.

“It’s alright” I shrug, waving it all away  “I’m not mad, I think your kind of right actually” I say softly  “I just don’t want to fail”

he chuckles and leans a little bit over me to turn the lights of the room off, on the way there kissing my cheek and caressing my other cheek with the back of his hand.

“You got a mind of gold, you won’t” He assures me as he gets comfortable on the bed.

“I love you” I say in a small mumble, making a kissy face at him.

he looks at me like he can’t resist it and mumbling a clear “Love you too baby” he leans in to carefully place his lips on mine without risking to touch my nose.

“Are you sure you can sleep with me?” I mumble over his lips, reaching to caress his scruffy cheek with the tips of my fingers.

“Yeah, I don’t have studio tomorrow” He nods, being too sure of himself.

“I know but I don’t want you to- you know” I say shrugging a bit, feeling my cheeks quickly heating up.

“I’ve heard you snore enough times” he chuckles, kissing my cheek once again and waving this off  “I’m okay with it, you are snoring because of those things, it’s not a permanent thing”

“It’s embarassing” I excuse, covering my face with the covers

“I’m basically your nurse, you can’t be embarrassed by me” he says laughing as he takes the covers off and kisses my forehead  “you can sleep babe, it’s alright” he assures me, pressing me just a little against him, so my head was now leaning on his shoulder.

I close my eyes and try to relax my body as much as I can. Somehow it feels a little weird the fact that Calum is now with me sleeping after days of having to sleep apart from me and also going around me at random times of the night to check on me and see if I was doing alright, It is these kinds of things that make me appreciate how much I should be grateful for him on these times when I could not be alone. He is doing this for me and I would do the same for him if he needed me too. I should show him, I should really show him how grateful I am, but that would come later, right now I can only take baby steps.

“Cal” I say, in a small mumble.

“Yes babe?” he mumbles, looking down at me just a bit.

“Thanks for taking care of me” I say, hugging him close, letting him feel the warmth of my body against his.

he chuckles and leans in to kiss my forehead softly “Anytime baby” he says softly and caresses my back.

This was just what I needed to say before I started sinking into a deep sleep, but I had already reminded myself to make a mental note and as soon as I was back to normal, he would really know, how grateful I really am.

[doodlelolly0910]

Close Encounters of the Spiritual Kind

Summary: Emma Nolan spent a lot of time alone, and that was fine by her. Because one is never truly alone. She should know. She can talk to dead people. What she didn’t expect was one of these spiritual encounters to hang around, taking her down a rabbit hole of missing women, revenge, and, least expected, love. Can she save the day and Killian Jones? Is there even another choice?

Read it from the beginning on AO3 and FFN!

A/N: So I have been reliably informed that I am cruel and evil for this chapter sooooooo sorry? Lol. Some very big shifts happen here, but I won't say much more because I don't want to give too much away for this chapter or the chapters this affects in the future. You'll have to read and see ;) An especially large thank you this week to @kmomof4 who was very patient and efficient with this chapter, which made it possible for this to be posted on time (I had a really rough week lol) and of course thank you to @courtorderedcake because she's amazing, this art is amazing, and I'm just in awe of her period. *insert Wayne and Garth WE'RE NOT WORTHY bowing here* lol. Y'all are fabulous for all the reviews and favorites and reblogs and even just for reading this. I appreciate each and every one of you. Alrighty, on with the show, I hope you guys like it!

Chapter 13

Despite her better judgement, and the severity of the situation, Emma found herself managing Will Scarlett’s presence quite tolerantly. He reminded her of an annoying little brother, eating her sunflower seeds and spitting them all over himself, fiddling with her radio, trying to go through her console and glove box, making her thankful she’d locked the latter. It held her badge and gun in case of emergency.

“Take another left over here.” He pointed to an upcoming side street, happily bobbing his head to the music and chomping on another handful of seeds. Emma wrinkled her nose as he noisily slobbered shells into an empty convenience store cup.

“Can you not do that? It’s distracting. And disgusting,” she said, turning down the street he’d pointed out. She was glad she'd called Jefferson before they left and let him know she was waiting on Gold because this journey was taking much longer than she thought it would.

“Aw. Have I offended the princess’s delicate sensibilities?” he asked, grinning and still chewing on the seeds in his mouth. “Turn right up here.”

“Where are you even taking me?” Emma asked, complying with his instruction once more.

“Don’t trust me, love? I thought I had an honest face,” he grinned, a black bit of seed lodged in between his second and third upper teeth.  Emma rolled her eyes, and tightened her grip along the steering wheel. Much as she tolerated Will Scarlett, he was still a criminal leading her to a dangerous man in an unknown location. That, and he was infuriating.

“Can’t you just give a single straight answer?” she grumbled and suddenly, she recognized their surroundings. The smell of the sea permeated the vehicle, which was a welcomed break from the floral torture she’d been under for the last day solid, and she took a deep breath. “The docks, huh? I still have my knife if you’re trying to dump a body.” Will snorted.

“Hook would have more than me balls for somethin’ like that. And it’s broad daylight, if ya haven’t noticed,” he pointed out, motioning around them as the car came to a stop. “Not exactly prime conditions for corpse dumpin’.” With a final grin and a waggle of his ridiculous eyebrows, he opened the door and slipped from the vehicle like a cat. Emma was slower to respond, taking in her surroundings and a deep breath as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She exhaled slowly, trying to get her bearings, when her breath cut off short at the sight waiting for her.

Will was making his way towards a small pier where a figure stood staring out over the water. She knew even from behind that it was Killian Jones. His slightly overlong hair moved with the seaspray, his good hand tucked into the pocket of his leather jacket. His weight was supported on one leg, giving him a slight lean, his hook swinging freely at his side. It was exactly like the very first vision Milah had shown her of him. This must be something he did often, and she wondered briefly why he would summon her to a place that obviously meant a lot to him. Will approached him, saying something that she couldn’t hear, and Hook turned to acknowledge the man before setting his sights on her. He said something back, slipping his hand from his pocket and clapping Will on the shoulder but keeping his gaze firmly locked on hers. Shaking her hands out over her lap, she reached for the door handle and got out.

She leaned against the open door as he walked over to her, expression near unreadable, but somehow lighter than anything she’d seen on his face before. As he got closer, his eyes seemed to hold a note of apology and relief, which surprised her. He did throw her out, after all, dismissing her admissions and fears immediately. She couldn’t say without a second thought, because, well, here she was.

“Have you met with Gold yet?” he asked, coming to a stop just on the other side of the barrier the door provided. She raised an eyebrow at that.

“Good to see you again, too. And, yeah, I did,” she said, motioning to the bruise forming on her cheek and the split in her lip where the man in question had struck her. The anger that she was used to seeing in Hook’s eyes flashed there once again and he clenched his jaw making her blink at him in bewilderment. “I’m still in one piece, though, so I mean, it could be worse,” she mumbled, unsure of why she felt the need to reassure him of her well being.

“Aye. It could. Maybe you are a fool after all, Swan,” he said tersely, as if he were scolding a child. This ignited the rage in her belly all over again.

“Okay,” she said, slapping her hands on the top of her door. “Nice to see you again. I’m leaving.” She made to get back in the driver’s seat.

“No, no, wait, love, wait,” he rushed forward, hand and prosthetic held up to stop her. She paused, her lips pursed into a tight line.

Just listen, Milah murmured softly and Emma squeezed her eyes shut at the sound, shaking her head lightly. She blinked them open and scanned the area again, finding Will still patiently waiting on the dock he'd approached Hook on, clearly giving them space. She turned her attention back to Hook, his eyes searching her features as if trying to read her.

“I know you're upset with me,” he began and Emma snorted.

“Understatement,” she scoffed and a surge of jasmine around her made her bite her tongue against further barbs. The last thing she needed was for Milah and Hook to be battling for her attention.

“I know, and I called you here because perhaps I was a little hasty in enforcing your departure.” He nearly winced at the words, looking down and fiddling with his prosthetic with his good hand, and Emma found herself mildly amused by his discomfort. Apology did not seem to be his strong suit.

“So you regret missing an opportunity to recover your mother's ring,” she replied, irritation overriding her amusement. “Anything else?”

His eyes snapped up to hers with a force that almost had her stumbling backwards, a curious intensity to them that almost made the blue brighter and darker at the same time.

“I never told you that was my mother's ring,” he said, his tone low and even. Emma almost swallowed her tongue, fully expecting him to lash out again.

“I- I- uh- you didn't? I'm sure you did because, I mean, how else would I know that?” she tittered nervously, scooting closer to the interior of the car in order to make a quick escape if needed.

Silence descended between them and his eyes settled into a saddened expression, his brow furrowing slightly.

“No, love, I didn't. I haven't spoken of my mother in quite a long time. And the last people I spoke about her with are long gone.” He shifted towards her carefully, his movements slow and obvious, as if she was a wild cornered animal. She felt like one, so it was appropriate.

“Why am I here, Hook?” she said in a cracked voice, much higher than she would have liked it to be. He was standing practically up against the door now, his expression more sincere than anything she'd seen from him yet. There was a glimmer of vulnerability in the depths of his pupils that she was sure he didn't let free often and her heart clenched in her chest at the thought of him letting that side open to her. In this moment, she knew she was dealing with Killian Jones, not Hook.

“I want to help you,” he said with a steady certainty. “Gold is… well, you're in over your head. I'd like to help get you out of this predicament.”

“I can take care of myself,” she ground out. “I'm not a damsel in distress.”

“Of that I have no doubt, Swan,” he said, the mirth returning to his voice. He smirked and rocked back on his heels with a single ridiculously arched eyebrow. “But it would be bad form to leave a lady in distress when I have the power to ease her troubles.” He chuckled a little. “That's something Liam would have said. He was a navy man. Believed in all things done in ‘good form’.” He made air quotes with his hand and hook, eyes glazing in memory, and Emma couldn't help but soften as he spoke of his brother. His gaze came up to meet hers again, raw and honest. “But you already knew that, didn't you?”

Emma's breath caught in her throat as she gauged his expression. Strangely, she found no judgment or malice there this time. Just something that looked an awful lot like hope. She didn't trust her voice, she she offered him a simple wide eyed nod. He smiled, a soft little thing that made him look years younger and infinitely more handsome. Emma blinked a few times against that thought and drew her brows together in confusion. She had a job to do, she reminded herself. No time to be distracted by handsome criminals.

But distracted she was when his good hand came unexpectedly to rest on top of hers, turning it to grasp her fingers, his skin warm and callused on hers. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch and she stared at him, trying to get a read on what was going on.

“I don't know who you are, Emma Swan, or what's happening here, but I think I want to,” he said earnestly and Emma's heartbeat went from moderately fast to breakneck speed, her grip involuntarily tightening on his hand. He smirked at the movement, his tongue coming out to trace over his lips before lifting her fingers to them and placing a kiss on the back of her hand and releasing it easily. Emma didn't know what to do, what to say.

A shrill ringing sound coming from the console inside her car broke the tension and she darted her eyes to the interior.

“I better…” she trailed off, pointing awkwardly into the vehicle before slipping into it and retrieving the phone.

The words UNKNOWN NUMBER flashed across her screen. Emma felt a chill run through her and she fought not to shiver, knowing she was still under Hook's scrutiny.

“Swan,” she answered, a little proud of how businesslike and even her tone was.

“Neverland Shipping Warehouse,” Gold's voice said through the line, clipped and straight to the point. Emma was surprised to hear him on the line, rather than Zelena or another of his goons. “I've sent the address to your phone. There is a crate inside that I need you to get into. It is labelled with a large red X. You have four hours. Do not disappoint me again,” he said coldly and hung up before she could say another word.

DANGEROUS, Milah's voice shrieked out in her head, and Emma frowned deeply, ignoring her and looking down to the phone to confirm she received the information. Once she had, she looked up to see Killian Jones watching her with quiet concern, his hand on her still open door.

“Gold's people, I presume?” he said, his eyes darkening again.

“Ah, the man himself, actually,” she said and Killian looked so surprised it bordered on alarm. “I have to go. Duty calls.” She gave him an apologetic look, then glanced towards the docks to see Will Scarlett heading back in their direction.

She reached for her door, fully intending on making her escape (and making Scarlett Hook's problem), but she was halted by Hook's hand pulling the door gently, but firmly back to him. A puzzled look crossed her face and she jerked her head up to meet Hook's gaze.

“This isn't right, love. I don't think it's wise that you go,” he said, caution painted in every word.

STAY, DANGER, Milah repeated.

Emma scoffed and rolled her eyes at the both of them, pulling the door back to her and out of his grip, shutting it with only a little more force than strictly necessary. She rolled her window down to about halfway and smiled up at him, his face still a mask of stony concern.

“Swan, you're playing with fire here,” he cautioned again.

“Wouldn't be the first time I've gotten burned.” She shrugged and started her little yellow bug, the engine puttering to life. “I'll be in touch.”

As she pulled away with one last reassuring smile, she saw Hook motion sharply for Will Scarlett to get in the black SUV that was parked by a small building. He would get over it. She had to focus on Gold. Then she could worry about him.

The drive was short, thankfully for her nerves. She shot Jefferson a quick text to update him on her location and the plan, and he confirmed it with the usual caution to be safe that made her roll her eyes again. She had more people seemingly concerned for her well being now than she'd had in her whole life.

When she pulled up to the abandoned looking metal building that matched the address Gold had sent her, she was pretty damn sure that Hook and Gold must certainly have the monopoly on the real estate market for places that looked like they'd be a good spot to hide a body.  The building looked like it hadn't been used in at least a decade. It was the last one standing on the block that was surrounded by dilapidated, crumbling structures, buildings that were shadows of their former selves and that should have been set for demolition years ago. A general unease set into the pit of her belly.

Dangerous, Milah murmured in her head again, the sound a feeble plea. Emma supposed she was getting as tired of saying it as she was hearing it. She ground her teeth together. She knew it was dangerous. She had no other choice.

She took a deep breath and pulled her door open, her senses on high alert and the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. The jasmine scent surrounded her still as she moved towards the warehouse, strangely giving Emma comfort that she wasn't alone, even though Milah was adamantly unsupportive of this endeavor.  She scanned the area, making sure no one was watching as she made her way to the door and tried the handle.

Much to her surprise, it wasn't even locked. The door was heavy though and it took several pulls before the rusty old thing swung open on a loud groan that had Emma's heart dropping to her stomach. She quickly looked around as she darted inside, making sure the noise hadn't given her away. She still saw no one in the vicinity and she wondered briefly what was so important and difficult to obtain at this location. She shrugged it off. If this was the way to get back into Gold's good graces, so be it.

The room she found herself in was large and mostly empty, a few empty crates and pieces of abandoned, unstable furniture littering the area. The door shut heavily behind her, making her wince once more. It was quiet. Almost too quiet. But none of that mattered when she spied her prize.

A wooden box sat in the center of the room, not overly large in size, but conspicuous all the same as it looked like it had been recently placed there. The large, spray painted red X on the outside of the box told her she was in the right place.

Emma, leave now, danger, Milah said firmly, her accented voice full of worry, making Emma pause in her tracks. The spirit had never called her by name before and a chill went down her spine.

“I can't, Milah, I have to see this through,” she said, her tone acknowledging the regret she felt in the pit of her stomach.

As she approached the box, one of the corners appeared to be wedged up, giving Emma her in. This was turning out to be far smoother than she thought it would be, which put her even more on alert, especially with the steady warnings her ghostly companion had been offering (not to mention how the last time something was going her way went). She screwed her courage to the sticking place and put her gloved hands on the lid, prying it open. The box was filled with styrofoam peanuts, a paper that looked like a packing slip at first glance sitting on top. She picked it up and unfolded it to read and her blood immediately froze in her veins.

One is not useless if they can be used as an example, dearie.

It was then she noticed the red wire hanging limply from the back end of the lid, most likely separated from whatever it was connected to when she lifted the wooden top. Frantically she shoved the packing peanuts out of the way until she laid her eyes on the something she definitely hadn't been prepared to see.

Several gray blocks of a clay like substance sat surrounding a clock face, a motherboard and wires connecting them all together wedged underneath. She looked at the digital numbers in the center and her adrenaline spiked immediately.

00:12

00:11

00:10

00:09

EMMA RUN, Milah screamed out in her head and she didn't have to be told twice. The paper fluttered to the floor and she scrambled to turn around, her feet carrying her as fast as they could back to the door she came through. The heavy metal door was even harder to open from the inside. She struggled, pulling and yanking on the handle so hard she was almost afraid she was going to pull it off. In one last effort, Emma planted her foot against the door frame and tugged as hard as she could, the groan from the hinges giving way like music to her ears. She stumbled backwards with the force of opening it but quickly righted herself and ran through the door to freedom.

A deafening boom rang out behind her the instant her feet hit the packed dirt outside the door, heat and debris assaulting her back, and then she was falling. She could hear nothing except a high pitched ringing in her ears as her world turned on its axis. Her body rolled midair with the force of the explosion, the sky coming into view above her, flames licking at her peripheries, and her head hit the ground with a crack she couldn't hear in the same spot she had been struck before. She felt immediately ill, her vision blackening at the edges.

Through her haze, she registered two sets of legs running in her direction, but she couldn't see who they belonged to through her rapidly darkening sight.

She must have been going crazy after all,  because the last thing she thought she saw before losing consciousness completely was the profile of her mother's face, the song that had comforted her for years echoing over the ringing in her head.

[bunchamunchafaunus]

The Rise of a Ventian Queen [2]: The Next Step

“So, Peri.”

Hearing her name got the worried woman’s attention drawn from her bedridden friend to the man behind her. A raised brow curious what he wanted, such only getting stronger seeing him pat at the floor beside him.

“Come tell me some stories of Team Empress while we wait for her to recover.”

Such a simple request actually got the Komodo laughing. She wasn’t sure why she had expected anything else, but for some reason it caught her off guard. It only took another glance back to the slumbering Qilin to realize they were going to have to wait for a fair while before she’d wake. They definitely had time to relax, especially given she was sure the NeverCondor would take to the skies to get away from the canyon once it could.

So she did just that. Stepping back till she felt her back eased to the wall by her tail keeping her from just outright falling against it, she found herself on the metal ground beside her friend’s father figure. Taking in a breath to relax herself as she let her shoulders drop at last. Tail curling round to fit it’s thinner end under her legs.

“Well to start, I think I gotta mention she was the most awkward person out of everyone in the room the night before our entrance exam. No lie, she just kept looking over everyone in some awestruck state for about an hour at least while people came in and out of the room.”

The two laughed some, Peri recalling the silly look that had been on Emma’s face back then, Umbir imagining it.

Knowing they were in for some fun chatter, they made themselves comfortable and began. Not too long after would they feel the engines of the NeverCondor roaring to life and the large metal vessel leaving the ground and beginning to soar.

                                                   - One Day Later -

P - P a p a...

S h i t! E m m a!

Ringing.

L a y  h e r  h e r e!

Silence.

Darkness.

Was she?

No, no, she was still hearing noises here and there. So very faint and muffled, but they were there. Familiar voices, laughter, beeping... snoring? She was still so warm too. She had to be alive, right? Yeah, yeah, she had to be. From everything she knew, she’d be cold if she wasn’t.

For some time it was just this empty void. The odd sound so faint and muffled here and there, but nothing all too loud or obvious. Just the constant wonder of what might have happened to her and what would come to pass. It got to the point she was actually starting to worry, trying her best to have something, anything change. Yet nothing did, no matter what she tried.

Though something eventually changed, a small, tiny little dark orange light breaking the darkness. One that would change to fit a form, a humanoid figure. Instantly she knew what it was, and felt herself calm with it’s presence quickly. But that calm would suddenly be shaken up, hearing a voice. One that was clear, one she never heard before. A woman’s voice, low, echoing, comforting. One single sentence being spoken by it.

“I am proud of you”

The source of this voice disappearing soon after, leaving her alone in the quiet darkness once more. But this would not last long before the Qilin felt herself falling. Such a sudden sensation causing fear and panic to fill her, making her body jerk and flail for a single second as she sat up and found herself awake, staring at a wall judging by what she could now see her aura flowing up. Her breathing being long, deep breaths as she took in the situation.

Aching and sluggish body, left leg felt better but right knee still stings, a slight pinch in left arm, the sudden moving form of a person with a blue aura running past her view. The left side of which showed nothing defined when they saw the other living being, just a messy uncontrolled pattern of blue spread across a whole half her vision. Blinking a few times, she could tell her aura was switching from it’s default navigational assistance to the protective layer and back each time. Eventually stopping, closing her eyes, and focusing it to it’s defensive capabilities before letting it ease back to it’s usual sight-providing action. Finally staying as such whenever she blinked afterward.

“Emma!”

The Princess’ head turned immediately upon having the ever so familiar voice register to her, seeing the umber form of her father figure standing in what seemed to be a doorway. Plus some slight peek of a friendly red aura just around the door-frame beside him though it would duck back to be hidden as she saw the man draw closer. Soon after feeling his arms wrap ‘round her upper body and his cheek against the top of her head.

She wanted to return the embrace, but her body felt slow, heavy even, much more than she was used to. It even hurt some to try and move anything beyond how her body was now after having awoken so suddenly. Though she was sure she could manage speaking at the very least, so she cleared her throat before attempting to.

“Papa?” Her voice a little rough, but she still spoke. Not getting an answer right away, she could feel his arms move and saw his form begin lowering some. Soon seeing the shape of the man’s head as he had dropped to one knee in front of her so she wouldn’t have to turn her own head up so high.

“Yes, Lil’ Filly?”

That nickname again, she wasn’t sure whether to feel comfort hearing it again or to be annoyed by it and say she wished she hadn’t woken up as a joke. Quickly deciding against the later.

“What-... What happened? After what I did?”

“Well, assuming you remember up to the point I signaled the NeverCondor to fire, they got the two shots off. The destroyed rocks and trees from the blast on the cliff and the mountain began falling down into the canyon, but I’m pretty sure you somehow managed to stretch out your Semblance’s range because it all stopped mid-air and began spreading out across the width of the canyon itself. Once the Goliaths were getting right under the debris, it began dropping. Some hit the first two, the rest began falling on the next two, but all the stuff that you had circling the three of us quickly sped up and began being loosed in the direction of the front two Goliaths. The barrage forced them to start moving backward, thus suffering the rest of the falling debris like the two behind them. Four Goliaths were pinned beneath all sorts of rocks and trees, likely dead, and the Grimm on the far side were blocked off.”

Hearing it back from Umbir, Emma was sure she had been awake for the events he recalled. Her own mind replaying the sounds she had heard at the time. The thunderous gunfire from the Airship, the trumpeting sounds of the Goliaths, stone hitting stone, she was sure of it. “What about after that?”

“After the wall of debris settled, you collapsed. You had exhausted the vast majority of your aura to the point that you couldn’t stay awake. The Dust crystal you had used fell from your hands, depleted, and the winds around us started to die down. With the remains of the Grimm horde that were on our side starting to move again, I had Peri take you and get you into the NeverCondor.  I ran back on my own, the turrets were manned, cannons recharged or reloaded, and the majority of what we still had to worry about of the horde was destroyed. Once enough was gone, we took to the skies. We’re settled above the ocean right now.

“How long was I out, Papa?”

“I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the time, but judging by the position of the sun compared to how it was when you lost consciousness, it’s almost been a full twenty-four hours.”

Twenty-four hours, it felt like she had been in that dark space for so much longer than a single day. One shaky inhale later, the name he had mentioned snapped back to her mind, making Emma move in sudden worry, despite the pain she felt by doing so and the wince it earned from her. A noise which got her father figure immediately rising to stop her from moving too much and carefully lay her back down.

“What about Peri, where is she?”

“She’s fine, Emma. Your teammate’s a wonderful young woman who cares a lot about her friends. Peri was actually by your side for the first few hours, it took telling her about how strong you were during your recovery after Samuel grabbed your neck that one time to get her to calm down, eat, and get some rest. She’s still asleep since she used up quite a bit of her own aura against that horde as well.”

To hear the Komodo was safe and resting eased the Qilin’s worry for the other. Sighing with relief as she let her head press back against the pillow.

“I’m gonna have to face them now that I’m here aren’t I? Make sure all those people aren’t scared about him finding them and ruling them like Manus did so they don’t attract Grimm like that again.”

Umbir chuckled a little. “It’s actually kind of funny that you mention it. There’s some soldiers who were loyal to Cres, now loyal to me, out side this room right now. They insisted on standing guard outside the Medical bay to make sure you’d be safe while you were out.”

This revelation was... odd... to say the least. Emma was so sure she would never be able to successfully fill any Royal role for so long in her life. Then she announced herself to dozens of Nobles as the Princess she was by blood, making word spread of her living state after having been thought dead for a good while. Now, she had people looking to her to be their Queen. People from her own place of birth. Ventian civilians and soldiers both. She didn’t feel ready to accept the role they needed her to play, but if she didn’t, she knew the events of the previous day would eventually happen again.

Maybe even to a much, much worse degree.

“Either way we look at it, I can’t really move right now can I?” She remarked with a little chuckle behind her words. A sound which Umbir repeated on his end at the inquiry.

“No, not really. Not without it hurting a lot since you’re body’s still recovering from such a heavy dip in aura. Maybe tomorrow you’ll be able to move around better again. Plus your legs could use just a bit more rest. The cut on your left was shallow, but it was long, and the scrape to your knee was a lot worse, so even with another day of your Qilin genetics healing that up it’s going to be sore when you try to walk on it again.”

“Okay ‘DAD’. I’ll stay in bed...!” A joke reply, but one that both parties laughed at.

“It’s nice to know you’ve still got that childish side to you after all this time and all the hardships you’ve faced, Emma. I’ll go get you some water.”

The Qilin simply nodded in thanks for the man’s concern and care, letting herself relax and her eyes close for a moment while she listened to his footsteps leaving the room. A shuffle of a couple other metal clad feet outside the room moving to clang together before stepping to what she assumed was a basic defensive stance for the Soldiers she had been informed of.

Over the next few hours, Umbir would come and go from the room. The two speaking over various different topics and points of her experiences ever since she had left Ventus so long ago. At one point even getting Peri up and visiting Emma to see how everything was going. The three of them conversing and interacting for a fair while longer before one-by-one people left the Medical bay for the night leaving Emma to rest on her own.

It was about noon the next day when the Qilin’s friend and teammate would enter the Medical bay with a set of new, clean clothes in a bag for her.

“Big day today for ya, Em’.” The woman remarked making her way toward the Qilin’s bedside. As she did, she watched the young woman atop the bed adjusting to an up-right seated position with a smile across her face. “Roy and I made sure to get something that looks real fancy.”

“Roy’s with you?”

“Well not right now, no, he went to talk with Umbir about something, but I did drag him along for the clothes.”

“You didn’t get something that’s all show without any comfort did you...?”

“Oh hell no, I know well enough that we tailed Faunus need clothes that are comfortable over everything else. Stuff’s real soft on the skin and still looks nice. I’m not gonna say you’re going to be comfortable mentally or emotionally while you’re up in front of your people, but at the very least you will be physically.”

Lifting the bag in her hand, Peri placed it down into Emma’s lap. “A nice white button-up top with a black knee-length skirt that has purple floral patterns, some white thigh-high socks, and a purple ribbon that can be tied into a bow under your collar or you can tie back your hair with it. I’ve got you~ Now go ahead and get dressed, I’ll be waiting outside.”

“Thank you, Peri.” Emma spoke with a soft thankful tone  while the Komodo was close enough to still hear. Watching on afterward while the woman’s red form would leave the room, leaving her alone in it again. Taking a second, she made sure to pull the curtain by the foot of her bed ‘round to hide her from view of the door to the room.Once with more privacy provided, she shifted to get off the bed on the far side to begin changing her clothes. Taking a second of pause noticing her necklace was absent from around her neck.

About five minutes would come to pass before Peri and the four soldiers standing ‘round the door as protective guard for the Royal within the Medical Bay would hear the door open. A second later seeing the Qilin step out from the room within the newly provided clothing. The bag in hand containing the clothes she had changed out of, and the purple ribbon in her hand. Tail behind her finding itself dropping low and pressing against her leg with uncertain worry about the situation.

The four Soldiers, upon seeing her come to a stop, would turn to face her directly. A single stomp being done as they would, unknown to Emma, salute to her. Peri on the other hand could see that the three men and one woman had their right hands raised and placed diagonally across their chest while their left was tucked behind the small of their backs.

Taking a second, the Royal looked around to the four unfamiliar aura forms that surrounded her. A rather nervous smile present upon her face that all present could see clearly. After a couple seconds of silence, one of them would clear their throat before speaking. The sound drawing Emma’s foggy eyes to the unknown person immediately to her left before their pale yellow form in her eyes would lower to a knee.

“Your Highness, Melo Grove, I used to serve the late Queen Cres rather closely.” A soft woman’s voice quickly introduced herself. “I’m unsure of whether Sir Dew has mentioned it directly to you yet, but Cres truly did regret forcing you out of Ventus. For the past few years especially she searched for any sort of sign that you were alive in hopes of eventually meeting you in person and apologizing for her actions. When word spread among nobles across Remnant that you were present at the Duke of Coste’s charity event, she was ecstatic to know you were alive and well.”

What the Soldier said, while not entirely new to the Qilin as she had, indeed, heard some of it from Umbir, was appreciated. If not for the fact it contained some new information, then because it came from a voice which sounded so genuine and confirmed what her father figure had told her. Still, even with how she felt, there was the whole fact that being treated the way she was by these four was entirely new territory. A short glance to Peri for some sort of assistance just earning a shrug to the red shoulders of her friend’s figure.

“I-...” Focusing her attention back to Melo, she swallowed a nervous lump that had formed in her throat. Stepping closer to the kneeling woman, she shifted the lone ribbon to the same hand holding the bag as to clear one up for freedom of use. Then bringing that same hand up to gently rest on the woman’s shoulder, which caused their head to rise and she could feel their eyes on her once more. She noticed now a soft vibration of anxiety in the pale yellow form. One she attempted to ease by giving a soft, more confident smile.

“Th-Thank you, Melo. It-uh... it comforts me knowing Queen Cres wished no ill will towards me during the last years of her life. I-... I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to fill her shoes since I honestly never really expected to be doing... well.. any of this honestly, but I hope that we may work together as well.”

It was obvious to the four that the Royal they were currently looking to wasn’t exactly used to any of this. That despite how unsure of herself she sounded, the Qilin was trying her best. They could all respect that, immediately feeling much more comfortable with her as the one they would soon follow. Melo herself now giving a wide smile as she looked up at Emma.

“I would be honored to work alongside you, Your Highne-”

“Emma, please...”

“Emma... I look forward to serving you.”

Seeing the woman’s head bow again, the Royal watched her soon rise to her feet again.

“Is there anything we may do for you... Emma...?” The tone of Melo’s voice made it obvious she was going to have to get used to using a proper name instead of a title while addressing her superior.

For a short bit, things were quiet on the Qilin’s end, looking between the four soldiers again, this time in thought. “C-Could I maybe get some more privacy with Peri? We’re in a safe place, I really don’t think I need four guards here...”

She didn’t see it, having been looking away from the one Guard who’s name she knew so far at the time. Melo’s attention moved between the other three, the group coming to an unspoken agreement before the trio of still unknown Soldiers would take their leave. Relaxing their forms and beginning down the hall of the Airship they were currently in.

Sighing once there was less attention on herself, Emma turned to the woman once more. This time bowing her own head as she voiced her appreciation. She received a bow in return. After which her attention moved to Peri as she fetched the ribbon from the hand the bag was in.

“Could you tie my hair back? Just want it all to be nice and neat behind me for when I do this.”

The Komodo, befitting her personality, chuckled  some at the request, but nodded none the less. Stepping to her friend, she took the ribbon in hand before physically encouraging a turn with a gentle push to the shoulder. Once such movement finished, she brought the ribbon between her lips to hold it while working on collecting the mass of near white hair that belonged to Emma. Every now and then working a hand down the length of it to try and funnel it all together better the farther down it went.

“Peri?”

“Yeah?”

“You possibly know where my necklace went?”

“Yeah, Umbir has it. Said he’d be giving it back later while you’re addressing everyone.”

Her answer made some sense to the Qilin, nodding a little in understanding as she fell silent for her friend to finish her work.

Once she felt she had a good enough control of her friend’s hair, Peri shifted hold to one hand as the other retrieved the purple fabric and worked it around the hair to replace her other hand. Finally being able to begin working on tying the ribbon tight to give a clean and proper finish to Emma’s appearance with a small bow holding her knee-length hair together at the bottom of the back of her neck. Looking to Melo, she earned an approving nod from the woman before looking back to it herself and nodding her own head.

“There ya go, ‘Your Highness’.”

The joking use of the title earned an elbow moving to impact with her arm. Laughter following from both the Faunus as Emma turned to face her teammate again. All this right before the shorter of the two would move to hug the taller, which was quickly reciprocated.

“Thank you, Peri, for everything you’ve done the past few days.”

“You’re welcome, Emma.”

The two letting their embrace last a couple seconds longer. Breathing in the comfort they shared knowing they were both alive and well after what they had gone through the other day. Once comfortable, both let go, Peri patting at Emma’s shoulder as one last gesture of fondness before she’d speak again.

“Now, you’ve got a crowd to address.”

A deep breath in and a sigh out would be taken by the Qilin. “That I do...” She glanced the two ways down the hall available to the three of them, brow furrowing some. “Um... Melo?”

“Yes?”

“D-Do you know what way we need to go?”

“That I do, just follow me.” Without missing a beat, the pale yellow figure Emma had turned her eyes to stepped side-ways. An outstretched hand gesturing the opposite direction than the other three had gone earlier. Quickly following up the gesture by turning herself in full and beginning down the hall.

The two Huntresses followed behind the woman for a minute or so, passing through the hallways and by some crew members here and there. Multiple different rooms they may have been able to turn into as well, yet Melo kept going. Eventually turning into a much wider hallway than the ones that they had walked through so far. One with a multitude of people seated along the walls, some standing, others walking between each other. The moment they did, Emma froze.

Looking down the hallway, the Qilin’s sight was filled with such a vast array of colors filling it. The initial viewing of so many people was too much for her with half being as messy as it was. It hurt her head to see all of them. She turned her head to clear her view and hopefully ease the strain it put on her. Peri’s red soon stepping into view as she felt her hand at her shoulder.

“Your eye bugging you?” Her question only received a nod from the shorter woman as her left eye closed and a hand rose over it.

“Her eye?” Melo stepping around to the Royal’s side with her question. “What happened?”

“A while ago Emma had an incident where she saw some odd aura that she said looked like a person. She called out to them, they didn’t respond, she tried to get closer but it just kept moving at the same distance away from her. She said it seemed to just slide around, never taking a step or turning or anything. Eventually it stopped, she got right next to it, then the next thing she knew she woke up back in her room at the Inn our team owns. Umbir said that he had been watching over her for a while, and when he saw what was happening he followed her, but when he caught up an Ursa had hit Emma into a tree, and she was unconscious on the ground. He killed the Ursa, brought her back and ever since she woke up, her left eye hasn’t been working the way it should.”

While Peri retold the events to Melo, Emma found herself shivering some remembering it all. Her mind calling back to the months where she felt unlike herself afterwards. It got her right eye closing as well as the discomfort of the memories from that time began setting in.

“Wh-What do you mean it’s not working the way it should? Can she not see with it?”

“She was born blind, Melo. Sometime during her childhood her aura adapted to allow her eyes to register visual sources of aura and give some semblance of sight. She sees everyone as generic humanoid forms of solid color based on what their aura’s color is, which ever since the old Great War tends to match with their name. Mine’s Peri, my aura is a dark red, I’m a red figure to her. You’re Melo, I’m assuming mellow yellow, so she sees you as a pale yellow form. Ever since what happened, she’s explained sight in her left eye as a repeating pattern mess of color whenever looking at someone. After being told what a Kaleidoscope is, she said that’s pretty much what it’s like.”

Hearing this, the somewhat absent gaze she had seen the young white haired woman had given to her and the other Guards earlier began to make more sense. “Ah...” This was new information that she knew she’d need at a later point. It was going to be a bit of a learning curve for how to handle things with Emma. “Maybe it’d be a good idea to get her some type of cover for her left eye then. Eye patch or something...”

Turning to look over the people filling the hallway, she could see some of them looking to the trio with curious eyes. A few even worried, one or two doubtful gazes from some older individuals. Gently grabbing onto Emma’s shoulders, she guided her back around the corner, gesturing for Peri to follow. “Just keep her here, I’ll be right back.”

The Komodo nodded before watching as Melo went into a light jog down the hallway to return where they had just come from. Carefully she helped Emma to lean against the wall after the form of the Guard disappeared ‘round the corner down the thinner hall. Afterward stepping close to the corner again and peeking around it to look over the civilians filling the area.

“E-Excuse me, miss?”

A young voice would register in the Komodo’s ears, guiding her attention down to see a boy standing next to her. A pair of small antlers growing atop his upturned head among dark brown hair and his bright blue eyes looking up at her. His arms were tucked ‘round behind his back. She stepped from the wall before lowering herself to her knees to be at a more equal level to him.

“Hey little man, what’s up?”

He seemed to be a little nervous with how he lowered his head a tad further than it already had to simply keep looking at her.

“Is that... Is she our new Queen?”

His question got Peri’s head turning to look to Emma. She could see the her gaze turned to focus to the boy beyond Peri’s form, hand now away from her left eye but the eye itself still closed. She turned her red eyes forward to the child again just after.

“Well. technically she’s not just yet, but she’s going to be soon. She’s just feeling a little under the weather right now, bit of a headache. You know what that’s like, right?” A soft smile came to her face seeing the boy nod in understanding.

“I- uh... M-My mommy helped me make a necklace... I wanted to make it for our new Queen after she told me about how she was ex-exhi-”

“Exiled?”

“Yeah, that word!” His hands finally came out from behind his back. In the one was a collection of a dozen small, smooth black stones that had been drilled through to fit them onto a braided silver and gold cord. None were exactly the same size as another, nor shape, but it seemed they were all sanded down to be smooth and rounded. Smaller stones being farther out and larger being closer to the center. “I collected these, whenever I found a black rock I picked it up. There isn’t a lot of them, but they always look so nice...”

Peri felt a familiar hand at her shoulder, looking up and back it was Emma. Shifting aside atop her knees, she gave enough space for her friend to get down beside her. Even offering a hand to support her as she took to her knees, a slight wince escaping putting as much weight as she did on her right. Still a little sore she guessed.

Now at eye level with the bright blue form of the boy, Emma could see an ever so subtle vibration to his form. She put on a gentle smile in hopes of calming his nerves

“What’s your name?”

“C-Cele.”

“Cele, very nice name. I would love to wear the necklace you’ve made for me, is there a clasp on it or is it a full loop?”

“My mommy tied the ends of the cords we used when we were done braiding it.”

“A loop, then, would you mind putting it on for me?” As she asked this of the young boy, she shifted closer to him and bowed her head forward. Closing her eyes she simply waited. It took a few seconds, but she soon felt his little hands brush against her hair some. A second more passing before the weight of the stones on the cord was fully present on the back of her neck. After a second more, she lifted her head, a hand moving to pull her tied hair out from beneath the braided cord then to fix it beneath her collar. With it fit proper into her outfit, she turned her attention to Cele again. The anxious vibrations from earlier now gone.

“Thank you, Cele. I’m glad to know there are such kind children like yourself from Ventus even after everything it’s people have been through.”

He was quiet a moment after before she could feel his arms suddenly around her neck. It was unexpected, but Emma returned the hug with a hand gently pressing to his upper back. The hug ending almost as quickly as it started, the boy ran back down the hallway to return to his mother who stood a ways down the hall. Taking her hand, he looked up to her and they began talking about something. Peri noticing a smile across the woman’s face as she crouched down to her son.

“Damn you handled that nicely.” Peri spoke up as she rose to her feet again.

“You did most of that though being the one to talk to him first.”

“The kid probably thought I was a body guard or something, so it was actually a pretty smart idea for him to come to me first. Gotta give the lil’ dude props for that.”

“Plus for working on this with his mother.” Em’s hand moving to let her fingers move over the stones now settled across her chest.

“So? How’re you feeling after doing your first Queenly act?”

“Queenly act?”

“Yeah! You just interacted with one of your Kingdom’s next generation, accepted a gift from them, praised them, and helped them feel better before sending them back to their guardian! You can’t see it, but that kid’s really happy and he’s even bouncing a little while telling his mother all about you and how it was to meet you.”

What her friend was saying... actually made a lot of sense to her. No matter what way she thought about it, what she just did was something a leader or hero would tend to do in stories. Stories both fake and very real. The fact she actually did something like that without realizing it, there was some confidence that filled her.

“I’m feeling like I can actually do this...”

“Hell yeah you can!”

Another pat of Peri’s hand to her arm like before occurred and the two of them laughed a little.

“Emma!”

The oh so familiar voice got the Qilin turning her head to look down the hallway behind her. Both the earthy aura of her father figure, the source of the call to her, and that of the pale yellow belonging to Melo were making their way to her and Peri. Poking at the Komodo’s leg got her attention, a hand lowering to help Emma return to her feet with her uncomfortable knee. Managing to get back up just as the two reached them.

“Hey, Umbir, where’d Roy go off to?” Peri called out to the man as he kept drawing closer to the two of them.

“Your brother’s talking with Captain Maho. I told him to show Roy where to go once they’re done so he can be present for whatever Emma’s got in mind.” He took a moment of pause to his speaking as he glanced over Emma’s new clothing. “Speaking of, It’s nice to see you on your feet again, Em’.” Her father figure spoke up, a gentle smile across his features.

“It’s nice to be on my feet.”

“Sir Dew bumped into me while I was on my way out of the Medical Bay.” Melo spoke up explaining his added presence. “I grabbed a cotton pad and some medical tape that we can use to cover your eye, Emma.”

“Emma?” Umbir’s tone a little confused turning to look to his underling. Such earning a shrug from the woman.

“She requested that I call her by her name and not using a title.”

Em’ could feel the man’s eyes fix on her, clearly looking for some confirmation. Nodding her head, the man did the same understanding the situation.

“Okay” Melo spoke up getting the Royal’s attention as she extended a hand with a small square between her fingers “hold this over your eye.”

The process took about a half minute. Emma taking the cotton pad and carefully holding it over her left eye, Melo unwrapped strips from the tape, tore them off, and secured it in place. One down the side of the square on the outer side of the Qilin’s face, one smaller piece across the corner by the top of her nose, and one last strip along the bottom above her cheek.

“There we go.” The woman turned her attention to Umbir again. “Could you return this to the Med-bay? I’ve been around the civilians more often than you have, I think it’ll be good for me to be with Emma while she’s around them.” Her hand holding the medical tape aside for him.

“Sure. If you three get to the catwalk before I catch up, I’ll meet you there.” Taking the roll from his underling, he turned and began back to the medical room of the Airship.

“What’s he talking about with a catwalk?” A confused Emma speaking up in question.

“There’s a catwalk in the room we’re heading to. High up, gets people in a noticeable spot, can let a voice carry through the room well. Best place to speak to your people and say whatever you need to.”

Emma nodded in understanding after it was explained to her what was meant.

Just before the Knight went to begin guiding the two again, she noticed something that got her to step closer and gently lift the necklace with a finger. “Did a little boy with antlers and blue eyes give this to you?”

Her question got a nodding confirmation from Emma.

“That’s actually really nice, Cele did good.”

“I know, right? Lil’ guy’s got a good eye and creative mind!”

“That he does. Gotta give him a high five while we pass by.” A smooth transition from the trained woman as she gestured for the two to follow her again. Stepping ‘round both to round the corner once more and begin down the crowded hallway. Looking ahead she could see little Cele being picked from the floor by his mother. Their eyes meeting and the trio sharing a smile as the distance between them was beginning to close.

Emma on the other hand, as she followed behind Melo, kept her had turning to look over the people around them. Seeing so many people, thankfully now only through her right eye, she was able to look over them more properly. Seeing so many whom appeared to be adults, others small and childish, a couple clearly elderly. So many auras of varying colors, but so many of them in different moods.

Some dimmed, others shivering, a few vibrating, a couple having shrunk even. Sadness, despair, anxiety, fear, so much negative emotions. Even if some of them seemed to be easing as they saw her. But a few brightened and glowing aura’s stood out to Emma’s sight. Most which she didn’t know, a lot being children whom she heard quietly asking various things about her to their guardians. Though one was a bright blue that she had met just a minute earlier.

As the three came up to Cele and his mother, Melo stretched out a hand and the boy quickly reacted. Reaching his own hand out, the two connected for a ‘high’ five. Afterward his attention quickly shifted to Emma, the Qilin could feel his gaze on her, and even if she couldn’t see it they shared a smile. Once it came Peri’s turn to pass by, he gave the kid a thumbs up and a wink. Waving with her tail as they passed and continued on.

It only took another minute of walking, passing by multiple more groups of people till they would fine themselves stepping into a much, much larger room. Within was the bulk of the Ventian civilians, dozens of them if not a hundred or so at bare minimum filling this room alone. There was still some space to move around and for some breathing room, but so many more people than what was within the halls leading here.

“Up this way.” Melo spoke up, stepping off to the side where, after a second, Emma’s aura would reveal a stair case as it began flowing through the room.

Turning her attention up the stairs, she quickly noticed a familiar aura, ever changing between seven colors and never staying as one of them for more than a few seconds at a time. Roy. His form bent forward, she supposed he was resting against the railing of what she guessed was the catwalk. Off to his side, however, stood two auras more. One she remembered from when she and Peri arrived in the canyon the other day, and one of a beige color. The red aura of the man from the canyon with his arm ‘round the smaller beige being.

“Hey there, Princess.” Roy spoke up as the trio got up onto the catwalk proper.

“Roy.” Emma greeted in return, making her way to hug him, feeling his arms return the embrace quickly.

“Hey, leave some room for me!” The sister of the Gaia duo stepping over to the two opening a space to welcome her into their hugging. As the three shared this moment, a breath of relaxation was taken by each. After which they broke apart, though Peri kept her arm round Roy’s shoulders as they set into a comfortable stance together.

The Qilin, however, would feel a tap at her shoulder. Looking to the source, it was Melo gesturing to step past her friends. Following her, the two stepped over closer to the two auras whom were unknown to the younger of the two. Seeing both of them move to turn to face her. Only now noticing that the beige shorter being had a pair of animalistic ears atop their head. Really, really tall ears.

“Emma, these are the NeverCondor’s Captains. Captain Maho Agna and his wife Captain Begi Vix.” The Guard introduced the two to the people to Emma. Gesturing first to the taller red form, then the shorter beige.

Before she could do much, she would see the man’s hand reach forward urging for a handshake, one which she took with a bow to her head. After which she saw that of the shorter of the pair bow her own head before hearing her speak up.

“It’s a pleasure to meat you, your Highness. Umbir’s been working pretty closely with us and he’s told us a lot about you. Actually kind of been looking forward to meeting the ‘Aura-Sighted Huntress’ for a bit now.”

“Please, just call me Emma. No need for titles between us. I’ve never really felt like I’d be able to fulfill the role, so this is all going to be new for me.”

“Well, if it’s going to be any bit similar to being a Captain, you can come to us if you need some advice at any time.” A masculine voice, she assumed Maho’s as she turned her attention to his aura form.

“Thank you, Captain. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”

“Here.” Maho again, his arm moving, seemingly to retrieve something. “Whenever you’re ready, there’s a switch on the side of this headset that you can use to turn it on. Once you do, a microphone will fold out and you can speak into that. It will broadcast your voice through the entirety of the ship. Since the Ventian refugees we have on board are spread about the central area of the ship, this will let all of them hear you from where they are.”

The object held out to her, according to what Emma would see with her aura flowing over it, appeared to be a wireless thin headset. One side ending with a thinner stop she assumed would fit over or behind her left ear. The other with a wider and thicker section with a somewhat similar shaping as the other, just with an extra bit that she assumed would go inside her ear. Reaching to take it, she brought it to hold in both her hands across her front.

“Thank you, again Captain. For taking care of... my people... in their time of need. For bringing them to a safer place. I’m not absolutely sure about it, but I think I have an idea of a location where they can be housed for some time until we’re able to get some more proper housing set up. Just might take some time to get it ready for them.” A fairly obvious bit of nerves present as she said that second sentence.

“If you need any help with that, just let us know, alright? We’ve got some people who’re great with repairs and building, and there are actually quite a few of your people who’ve offered to help us with keeping the NeverCondor in good shape while they’ve been on board.”

“I’m glad they’ve been able to help with your travels since you’ve taken them in.

“Y’know” Begi again “for someone who’s unsure how well they’re going to do as a Queen, you’re already handling yourself pretty well just talking with us.”

“R-Really?” A somewhat disbelieving tone to Emma’s voice.

“Hey, that’s the kind of talk I’ve used to make some deals as Captain while Maho’s not been available before. There’s definitely going to be some hardships and some things to get used to, sure, but I think you’re going to do fine in the long run, Emma.”

A gentle smile came present to the Royal’s face hearing Begi’s words. “Thank you, Begi. It helps knowing so many people have been showing faith in me.”

Feeling a hand come to clasp onto her shoulder, Emma’s head turned to look for the source behind her. Seeing Umbir’s aura, she moved her own hand to hold over his. Now with her smile even brighter.

“We’ll have your back, Emma. You’re not going to be alone at any point in this stage of your life, I can promise you that.”

His words were a huge source of comfort to her in this moment on top of just him being present overall.  Though after hearing him, her head turned and she looked down over the crowd beneath them. Slowly feeling her smile weaken some, her nerves getting to her as she saw many of them moving closer, to look up at them.

“Despite all the support, I don’t even know what to say to them. I’ve not been in Ventus for years, some of these people are children who were born after my exile so they don’t even know who I am beyond a false Princess. They’ve lost who was likely their best leader since Manus, and now they either turn to Samuel and hope for mercy, or they look to an uncertain young girl who was raised to be a maid for her own half-brother. The only other time I’ve spoken to even a fraction of this amount of people was at the Duke’s charity event when I announced I was still alive, but I had Octavius Tyrian with me at that time. My closest supporter and friend on the Noble front, and he’s not here right now...”

“Hey” her father figure called to her to earn her attention “you’re going to do wonderfully. Breathe in,” he himself inhaling, Emma mimicking him “breathe out,” both of them exhaling “You’ve got this.”

The short moment the two shared was something they tended to do when they were younger. Any time young little Emma had been panicking or upset for reasons related to her disabilities, Umbir would come to her aid. Getting to his knees in front of her, a gentle hand cupping her cheek, another holding her arm or hand. Speaking to her, calling out the nickname she had given her, and getting her attention before working through the process with her.

Both remembered this in the moment, taking one more to hug each other with a single arm.

“Thank you, Papa.”

“You’re welcome, Lil’ Filly. Take some time to think over your words, and when you’re ready, you’ve got the microphone.” His hand patted at her shoulder, leaving it a second after to step over by the Captains to chat with them a bit.

Now on her own among the group, Emma stepped over to the railing of the walkway. Both hands coming to rest atop it, headset in hand. She could feel so many people looking up to her in the moment. It actually surprised her a fair bit just how many people filled the lower section of the room. Combining the number she could guess was present to those in the one hallway she had her eye act up in, she was sure it was a minimum hundred people. The fact there was even more though, that actually got her nerves acting up some.

Still, even with the nerves present within her, she set her mind to attempt to piece together some collection of words. Something she thought would be fitting for a new leader to say to those she’d watch other. She couldn’t really come up with anything all that fast, it was definitely going to take a minute or so at least. Stepping back from the railing, she backed herself to the wall behind her to rest against that instead. Hoping that clearing her sight of the multitude of people below would help her think.

The Gaia siblings glanced over to the thinking Qilin for a second after seeing her form move as it did to the wall behind. Peri, out of the corner of her eye, noticing Melo looking to the Royal as well with some worry present in her gaze. A flick of her tail off to the side getting her attention, after which the Komodo mouthed “Just give her some time”, receiving a nod in understanding. Watching the Guard then turn to join Umbir and the two Captains for the time being. The two of them, however, moved to the corner at the top of the staircase that lead up to the catwalk which they stood on. Further from the rest of the group and a tad more private for them to talk without interrupting their friend.

Remembering back to her time at the Duke’s charity event and the speech she gave there, some ideas did come to mind. Though really thinking them over, the ideas she had back then were meant for high-society people that could’ve provided support for her. This time it was a bunch of people who were scared and unsure of what their future held for them. People who looked to her for some sense of comfort or safety. Two very different things, very different wordings needed.

Working her mind to think of some sort of answer, her eyes lowered to look to the headset her aura covered with each pulse of it. Taking in a lip to nibble at it as she thought, and her tail beginning to swat gently against the wall behind her.

A few minutes actually ended up passing as Emma had her mind hard at work. Not noticing the people having moved around her, her mind having tuned out their voices to focus her own inner vocals. Having switched which side of her lip was being nibbled on every couple seconds, at one point bringing both in and just pressing them together. By now, she felt like she had a couple points she wanted to get across, but there was a lack of proper wording to use to get them out. It was actually a little stressful being unable to piece together words like she was needing to.

Suddenly feeling a hand to her shoulder, the Qilin nearly jumped as her attention was forced back to the world beyond her mind. Blinking a couple times over, uncovered eye glanced about. Noting Roy absent from Peri’s side to her left, Melo standing in front of her and just a little toward the right, then Umbir leaning against the wall beside her with the aura forms of the two Captains and the Gaia Brother standing some distance away.

“Emma?” The woman before her calling her name, getting her eyes turning to her pale yellow aura again. “You alright?”

“Yeah... Yeah, I’m fine, I just... I know what I want to tell them, but I’ve not been able to think of words I should use to get those messages across...”

“Why not wing it then?” The extremely familiar of Umbir’s voice spoke up, earning her attention immediately. “Some of the better speeches that Manus or Cres ever gave were mostly just them going out and talking.”

“I don’t know if I should be inspired hearing that my biological father, who was apparently a Tyrant most of his reign, had good speeches because he just ‘winged them’...” A doubtful response from Emma’s end at his idea.

“I’m not saying you should be, Emma. I’m never going to tell you to be inspired by anything Manus ever did with how horrible a man he was. What I am saying is that you don’t necessarily need to plan out every last word that you say. Just take what you’ve got, figure out how to word it all as you do.” His shoulders rising a little during the end of his sentence. Relaxing just a second later.

Emma had her head nodding for a short bit as she thought over the idea. It would work, she had the somewhat vague idea of what she wanted to say in mind and she knew what exact points she wanted to make known. Winging it would likely be her best option over all wouldn’t it?

Some bit of her was feeling a little more sure of herself when thinking of taking the plunge that would begin her role as Queen. Of making her voice present for the Ventian people to hear. 

She was still a little nervous, yes, but that was her worry that she’d be treated the way she was while leaving Ventus all those years ago. Plenty of the refugees were undoubtedly old enough to remember that day, some possibly having even been among the people whom had spit disgust her direction. as well.

Yet. really taking a second to think of it, there wasn’t exactly a reason for her to think of that... To think such a thing would be unavoidable. Especially not with how everything had been just days ago. At least she hoped that after what had happened it wouldn’t be that way...

“Y-Yeah... I think I can do this. Just give me another minute.” She could see the pale yellow head nodding in understanding. The woman then stepping away to lean over the railing of the catwalk and look to the people below. Something becoming clear to the Royal in this moment, Melo had a tail. A long tail with a rounded end that unfurled from ‘round the Guard’s waist to curl beside her leg.

Emma was a little surprised she hadn’t been able to notice the extra appendage on Melo before, but thinking over it for a second, she figured that she had kept it wrapped ‘round her waist till now. She’d have to ask what sub-species of Faunus the Knight is later. Too many things were much more important right now.

Thankfully it didn’t take much longer till she felt she was more ready to be able to do what she needed. Taking a deep breath, she moved herself away from the wall and stepped closer to the railing. Once more, she could feel the eyes of the people below fixing to her. Swallowing down the nerves that rose from the sense that most all of them were turning their eyes to her, she lifted the headset in her hands, fixing it atop her head and fitting the two sides so they felt right on her. One more breath, and with her hand rising to feel for the switch, she pushed it across it’s spot, and with a gentle click beside her ear, the microphone was now available.

A chime suddenly rang out in the room, three notes in a rising tone. The echo from beyond the room making it clear to her that this was, in fact, going across the ship. Bringing her hands to hold at the railing, she took one more breath.

“P-People of Ventus.” She could hear her own voice repeating, a somewhat electrical tone to it. “I am Emma Smoke Khromatos, Daughter of Manus Aescae Khromatos and Aligar Kaj. Due to my birth mother, Aligar, dying shortly after I was born, I was raised as a maid to the royal family under the name Smoke Kaj by the maid named Harley Nara. A woman who I assume a good sum of you know as she was a kind, wonderful woman that would frequently venture to the market along the main road for supplies. I would often be present with her, a young, scared little girl who rarely spoke when around people I didn’t know.”

She had to pause a second to breathe and calm herself, recalling her past having brought up various emotions which she hadn’t exactly expected. The breath she took to calm herself being just barely heard across the speaker system of the ship.

“Eventually... as I grew older, my Faunus trait began showing more and more. Thankfully with the maid outfit being as long as it was, it hid my tail for a long while. Though after a particular fall that I took, Queen Cress saw it. This ended up giving away my true identity. That I was a child of her King born out of wedlock. Angered by this, she ordered that I be exiled. That night I stole a weapon that was to be given to my half-brother Samuel the next week. Having been his training partner for a while under the watchful eye of Sir Umbir Dew, I had experience with the kind of weapon it was. I disguised it as a walking stick, and the next day I had it with me when I was escorted out of the Kingdom to the Solitas mainland to wander on my own.

One thing lead to another, I found myself on a boat to Sanus, and I traveled to Vale. Meeting with a teacher from the Hunter Academy of Vale, I expressed a wish I had developed during my travels to be able to keep other people safe during their own travels, as I had been helped by Hunters and Huntreses myself at various points on my own journey. Thankfully after displaying my capabilities with the Scythe and what little I could control of my Semblance, he was able to help me enroll in Beacon. I had to tell the headmaster my true name and my story, but he felt I had potential, so he let me in.

By the time I was one of the students and placed into a team fittingly called Team Empress, word had spread that a Princess had been exiled, and eventually killed by a Grimm. With the assistance of the son of a Noble family that supported me even back when word first got out of my situation, I was able to get in touch with some other members of Noble blood, eventually even being invited to a charity event held by the Duke of Coste. At this event, I spoke to settle the rumors of my death, and set word to be spread around that I still lived.

As Lady Melo Grove has revealed to me, Queen Cress had been trying to discover if I was still alive for a while before the Charity event. Wanting to contact me and try to welcome me back to Ventus with open arms to try and repair our relationship. I’m unsure, but she may have even been wanting to accept me as a proper member of the Royal family and an heir to the throne should Samuel have not been fit for it. 

However, at it was soon after I attended the Charity event that the attack on Vale happened. Beacon Academy was swarmed by Grimm, some of Atlas’ technology went haywire and starting attacking students and civilians, and the Cross Continental Transmit System tower of Vale was destroyed. Communications were hindered across all Remnant because of this, and Cres was unable to contact me in any easy way like she might have been with the CCT system up. Instead, she decided to get in touch with some of the Noble families based in Sanus who supported me. One such pair of Noble families was the Baron and Baroness of Montai, and the Duke of Coste.

A couple months back, after you arrived in Sanus aboard the NeverCondor, Umbir dew came to find me, and alongside a close friend of mine, Octavius of the Tyrian family, he showed us video footage of the meeting that Cress had with the three Nobles. I could only hear it, but what I heard made it clear that the Queen wanted the best for me. Asking the Montais and the Duke to take care of and support me in her place should she die before she’s able to meet with me and fix things between us....

Sadly... neither her request or her wishes could possibly be fulfilled... Just as their meeting was ending, a cloaked woman was let into the Quartz Stage by guards loyal to Samuel. This woman rendered the fully armored Umbir Dew incapacitated, killed the Duke of Coste and the Montais, and after my Half Brother took the crown and left the building, she killed Queen Cres as well. 

The sounds of gunfire and screams could be heard as background noise as Umbir began to recover control of his suit, and his body in turn. After retrieving the Necklace from around Cres’ neck and pocketing it, Umbir rushed outside, and the sound of raging flames and explosions became clear... The rest of this story you all know already.” 

Once more she’d pause, feeling a lump in her throat remembering how she handled everything when it was revealed to her that such tragedy had happened to her home.

“Now... when he came to me, Umbir left the Queen’s necklace with me and for some time I avoided wearing it. He told me that I needed to come talk to all of you... To give you some sort of hope by becoming the next Queen and leading you through this difficult time.... But I was unable to bring myself to do so, I was scared, doubtful, and felt I couldn’t possibly fill in the space left by the late Queen Cres... So I never came.

I left all of you scared, unsure of what the future held for you, and those emotions grew more and more each day. Growing to the point it drew the attention of Grimm. Too much Grimm for the NeverCondor to have been able to handle without help. At the time, Umbir called for me, for my team and any others I could get to help.

Initially, me and my teammate and friend Peri Gaia intended to call more people to help us confront the Grimm Horde which was assaulting the Airship. But something happened. 

I’m unsure how many of you know, but I was born blind. I am blind. Though at a point in my life, my aura began changing and adapting, interacting with my eyes in a way that removed it’s protective nature as a sort of default, and instead let me perceive auras. Right now, as I look at everyone in this room, I see you as a vast array of wonderful colors. Reds, blues, greens, yellows, even a couple more uncommon ones like grays and metallic shades. 

Back when I arrived, what happened to me was something that happened once before, but I saw what I can only explain to be a ghost. An aura figure that didn’t belong to any living physical body. One of a ghastly white color. Last time I had encountered it, I entered into it’s embrace and I felt at peace. Like everything was right in the world. Though it also distracted me enough for an Ursa to find me, which proceeded to hit me into a tree, injuring my head and damaging my left eye further than it already was.

Seeing the ghostly aura again, I knew something would happen if I went to it. I was unsure whether it would be something good or if it would be bad, but I had to know. , With some help from a crew member that I’m told goes by the name of Sprig, I was able to get to the figure and once again feel it’s touch. The odd aura was calming, pleasant, and for a short time it felt there wasn’t any horde surrounding me. Yet in it’s embrace, something happened this time that didn’t before. 

The being spoke to me. It’s words... I couldn’t understand them at all. Yet even still, there was some sense of understanding that came as I listened to it. I came to know what I had to do to help with the Horde, to have some confidence that I could lead you, and to know it’s identity. As crazy as it sounds... I’m not entirely sure of it myself, but I’m sure the name that it put into my mind was that of our first Queen. Of Giulia Khromatos. I’m unsure why Giulia came to me or how it’s even possible, but she was there, and even though she’s absent right now, I know she’s here watching over us.

Using the knowledge Giulia gave me, what seemed to be based on an experience she herself had with the Ventian People of her time, I was able to come up with an idea that would hopefully work to fend off enough of the horde. With a Dust Crystal in hand and Giulia’s help, I was able to use the Dust to stagger the Grimm horde, and my Semblance at a much stronger state than I have ever been able to in my time as a Huntress. The combination allowed me to successfully fend off what Grimm were more of a threat, block a large sum of the horde from being able to get to the NeverCondor should those closer to the ship be destroyed. 

Though I do have to give thanks for my friend and teammate Peri Gaia and the man who’s been my Father Figure for my entire life, Umbir Dew. Without the two of them, there were multiple points during the encounter where I very well could’ve died. A couple where they almost did themselves”

Turning to look back to the Komodo and the Armored man one after the other, the two both shrugged after glancing to one another and stepping forward to her sides. Emma herself looking between the two before focusing to the crowd again. A smile now present.

“Without Peri and Umbir, my effort in settling the rumors of my death would’ve turned out to be for nothing.” She could hear Peri chuckling, thus making her laugh a little alongside her. Not really even caring it would be broadcast through the entire ship. Though she did calm herself a couple seconds later.

“After what happened two days ago, I ended up losing consciousness due to severe lack of aura. According to Umbir, I was out for a full twenty-four hours. Over this time, the NeverCondor’s crew was able to clear out as much Grimm as they needed to have the time necessary for them to launch and take to the skies safely. To get all of you to safety. But this is only temporary... 

If I were to have left the instant I could instead of coming here to talk to all of you, it would’ve set the cycle in motion all over again. You would feel that same fear, despair, anxiety, and uncertainty still, possibly even worse, and eventually Grimm would’ve come again. The next time would’ve likely been worse, so much so than what this time was. 

But it’s because I know that and because of the faith that I’ve received from the people beside me right now, and because of the kindness of a little boy among you who welcomed the idea of me as your Queen so easily that I stayed. That I am right here, right now, speaking as I am, and addressing every single refugee. What I am about to say, I may sound unsure of myself, but that’s not because of how I’m feeling right now or because of you. It’s because of doubts I had harbored all my life and the fact that, just like all of you, I am scared to step into this unknown territory.”

Pausing, Emma took a deep, audible breath to ready herself physically, mentally and emotionally for what she was about to say. A part of her unable to believe she was taking this step, that with all the negativity that had filled her whenever she thought of herself as a ruler, she was about to set herself to such a role. There was actually a want to hesitate, to stop right now and just run, but she knew she couldn’t. She had to do this.

“I, Emma Smoke Khromatos, twelfth generation of the Khromatos lineage, will not hide any longer. Starting today, I will take upon myself the role of Queen of Ventus. As shaky as the road ahead may be with having to learn and adapt, to the best of my ability I will lead you all to a future where we can return to Ventus and free it of the legacy of tyranny which Samuel continues in his fathers stead. It may take some time to get there, but I promise you, I will get us there. I just need your faith and your trust.”

The intercom system would fall silent for a short bit. Emma quieting herself hoping for some kind of reaction from the crowd. She could feel eyes leaving  her and hear voices down below. For a few seconds she was feeling unsure of whether or not what she said was right. If the words she used didn’t work and the Ventian people wouldn’t support her. She could feel her tail curling ‘round her leg as worry began to settle in.

But then she heard something, cheering and clapping, all so faint from the hallway she and the others entered the room from. The quiet applaud soon growing louder while still muffled. Louder again, the opposite side now, just another second passing before the very room she was currently in began cheering up to her. Some merely clapping, others shouting words of support and positivity.

It actually took Emma by surprise a little bit to know they were accepting her. That after all of her self-doubting, people were able to believe the would be able to lead them. Finding herself choking up some just from the realization that so many people believed she could do what she was so sure she couldn’t for so long. The impact of the moment hitting her hard enough she could’ve sworn she couldn’t breathe.

Before she was able to say or do any more, she could feel a pressure against the side of the headset. Soon discovering it was Umbir shutting the headset off. Turning her head to him, she could see his hands raising with the aura-filled pendant necklace hanging between them. Moving it closer to her to set it ‘round her neck as his aura glowed bright with happiness. 

Moving to hug him, Emma felt his arms quickly return the embrace and his voice speaking one simple line that sent tears rolling down her cheeks..

“I’m proud of you.”

[epicwolfofdarkness]

Master post of my Genji Headcanons

Copied and pasted from a journal on my DeviantArt that I regularly keep updated/edited. I have a lot of headcanons, so let’s go :D 

First of all: GENJI HAS A FACE. Underneath his helmet visor, his face is still mostly human apart from plating on his chin, which runs along both sides of his jawline. This means that, contrary to a lot of people's headcanons, Genji's face is more or less still mostly human behind his helmet visor (albeit very scarred). His torso is also still mostly human beneath the metal plating, although that is covered in scars too from his wounds and the operation. It is also fused to artificial muscle on both sides, as well as having small metal implants embedded in it.

When Genji was rescued from death by Overwatch, he was rebuilt under the direction of Dr. Angela Ziegler (Mercy). Dr. Ziegler did not rebuild Genji herself - in fact, she was quite opposed to turning his body into a weapon. But under the orders of Overwatch, she drew up diagrams and blueprints for Genji's cybernetics and oversaw his cyberization.

In my headcanon, the first version of Genji's cybernetic body was similar to his final in-game design, except less plated and with more of his original human body intact, though scarred. (Note: see his picture from the "Recall" animated short for a better idea of what I'm talking about.) His torso and his left arm were still intact under his plating, as were his male parts.

When Genji recovered from the initial cyberization process, the head of Blackwatch, Gabriel Reyes, saw Genji as a valuable asset to his covert ops division. This in turn led to Genji being cybernetically modified to better fit in with the rest of the Blackwatch agents. This is why his Blackwatch design is different to how he looked before, with different plating and muscle and his left arm and part of his torso exposed.

Blackwatch Genji wore a different "helmet" to default Genji. It consisted of a removable metal upper and lower part, which concealed parts of his face with only his eyes showing, and was attached to his neck plating. He also had red eyes due to wearing contact lenses which enhanced his vision, instead of having to wear a coloured visor.

When Genji joined Blackwatch, he went on a mission with them to take down the Shimada Clan. This was his Blackwatch initiation, and the mission continued to be an ongoing operation for the whole of Genji's time with Blackwatch.

Genji received several injuries to his human parts while he was with Blackwatch. His left arm was severely injured on one of his missions.

About three years after Genji joined Blackwatch and went on several missions with them, including the "Venice Incident" (Retribution) and making sure the Shimada Clan was well and truly taken care of, the head of Blackwatch, Reyes, changed drastically. He gradually became more sinister and secretive (not helped by Dr. Moira O' Deorain), and tension began to increase between him, Blackwatch and the rest of Overwatch. Genji didn't agree with this. Not enjoying the secrecy, tension and near-criminal activities he was forced to take part in as a Blackwatch agent, and not liking the direction Blackwatch was going in, he returned to Overwatch's general division instead.

After Genji rejoined Overwatch's general division, he was again modified as he was no longer part of Blackwatch. This included removing his left arm, which, although it was his only intact human limb, was severely damaged due to injuries he had received while with Blackwatch. It was replaced with a fully cybernetic one so the organisation could further enhance his abilities. As well as this, he was given more plating than before as a sort of armour, and a new removable helmet with a green visor to enhance his vision, instead of having to wear contact lenses. This is how he came to look like the way he does today.

Genji was 25 when Hanzo tried to kill him, and he was 28 during the Omnic Uprising in King's Row, so that means he stayed with Overwatch for approximately four years.

All the modifications Genji went through during his time with Overwatch did nothing to help his already fragile mental state. Several months after he rejoined Overwatch's general division and helped out with a few missions (including the Doomfist mission), Genji abandoned the organisation and began to look for meaning in his troubled life. Shortly after he left, Overwatch itself was disbanded.

Even though it was never confirmed that Genji returned to Overwatch years later, in my headcanon he eventually became part of it again during the Recall (which eventually forced Hanzo to join as well due to guilt).

Genji sees Mercy as a a close ally and more than just a friend, since she was the one who saved him from death and cared for him when his mind and body were weak. Even though he didn't fully appreciate her work back then, he now loves and cares about her deeply and hopes to repay her for what she did someday.

Genji still has nightmares and flashbacks of his near-death experience sometimes, although they're not as frequent as they were when it first happened. However, they are still traumatic for him to experience.

Genji likes to meditate in times of stress or emotional difficulty as it makes him calm and brings his mind into focus.

Genji still cares deeply about Hanzo and is still extremely loyal to him. He wants nothing more than his brother to make peace with him and be as close as they were when they were younger, but it saddens him to think that'll probably never happen.

When he and Hanzo were younger, Genji liked to annoy Hanzo by calling him "Handsoap" because it sounds like his name. He wouldn't dare try it nowadays though.

Genji has always had a fear/dislike of needles, ever since he was a young child. This is part of the reason why Ana finds it so hard to heal him, since she uses darts to heal people. Genji always tries to avoid her healing darts due to his fear, even when he needs healing. (Note: this headcanon is more gameplay-related than lore-related, but my point still stands.)

Even though he is mostly machine, Genji can still feel pain and is still greatly affected by anything that hurts him. His dislike of pain goes back to when he was human, but even as a cyborg he still feels the same way.

Contrary to what a lot of people believe, Genji can still eat and drink the same way humans can. However, his sense of taste is by far his weakest and as a result, he can't taste things as well as he could when he was human. He never eats a lot at a time due to the fact that he doesn't really need to - his cybernetic body can withstand long periods without food or water, better than the average human body. He mostly just eats and drinks to feel more human.

On the topic of food, Genji still enjoys a good bowl of ramen every now and then.

When he was younger, Genji loved watching anime, cartoons and other TV shows. His favourite shows were (and still are) Naruto, Attack on Titan, Wolf's Rain, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Kamen Rider.

As well as watching anime and cartoons, Genji also loved reading manga and had quite a big collection of it. Most of the manga he read when he was younger was harem or ecchi-themed.

Genji loved playing video games when he was younger. He would often spend hours at the arcade near where he lived, or playing handheld and mobile games at home. Either way, gaming was a favourite hobby of his. For this reason, he gets on quite well with D.Va due to her being a gamer.

The reason Genji had green hair when he was a teenager/young adult is because he lost a bet. When he was 16, a girl at the arcade challenged him to beat her at one of the games, and the loser had to dye their hair bright green. Genji accepted this challenge, but lost. He grew to like the colour of his hair though, and he kept it that way for quite a while afterwards.

Genji decided to go back to his natural hair colour, black, when he was 20 after constantly dyeing it green for four years. He dyed his hair again when he was 23, and so it was still green when Hanzo tried to murder him two years later.

Genji now has black hair for several reasons. First of all, he lost some of it through his injuries and the cyberization surgery. By the time it fully grew back he had just joined Blackwatch. Normally Blackwatch agents would have to get a regulation haircut as part of their induction, but Genji didn't. This is because, at the insistence of Mercy, Gabriel Reyes was fairly lenient with Genji when he first joined (due to Genji's mental state). He made a special exception for his new recruit so he didn't have to go through every part of the induction process. However, Genji was given a rule that if he wasn't going to get his regulation haircut, he had to keep it out of his way by other means and have the green colour removed. (He was okay with this, the old green-haired Genji was dead after all). So, for the duration of his time with Blackwatch, Genji had black hair which he kept gelled back like he did when he was younger.

Even though it was mostly his face that was scarred, Genji also has a scar on the right side of his head from his fight with Hanzo, which naturally parts his hair.

Genji isn't as concerned about his physical appearance now as he was when he was human. He was quite vain when he was younger, but since he became a cyborg and became more humble he doesn't focus on his looks as much anymore. He believes that what's on the inside is more important. However, this doesn't stop Mercy from helping Genji with his appearance sometimes, such as looking after his hair. Genji appreciates this (despite not caring as much as he used to), mostly because he just likes the close personal attention and the feel of Mercy's hands in his hair.

Despite believing that his physical appearance isn't important, Genji still feels slightly self-conscious around strangers (particularly ones who are not familiar with cyborgs). Most of the time he only shows his face to people once they have gained his trust, or when he needs to show someone that he's not a robot. Basically, if he shows his face to anyone, it's a sign that he trusts them.

Genji has to have regular physical examinations and maintenance carried out on his cybernetics. He doesn't really mind either of these too much though, as they are always done by Mercy. (Note: to read more about this, check out my fanfics More Than Just a Doctor and Maintenance.)

Genji still has an old Pachimari plushie from when he was a young child. He used to have quite a large collection of them when he was younger, in various different sizes, colours and themes. The only one he has left is his first one, which Hanzo got for him from a prize crane at the arcade in Hanamura. When Hanzo left the Shimada Clan, he brought some of Genji's remaining possessions with him, and this Pachimari plushie was one of them. Upon joining Overwatch, he gave it back to Genji, who was overjoyed to have it again. It is in less than perfect condition after all these years, with some loose stitching and faded, slightly dirty coloration, but Genji still loves it due to its sentimental value.

Although he doesn't like to admit it, Genji still sleeps cuddling his Pachimari plushie a lot of the time.

Genji actually has shurikens stored in both of his lower arms. However, as he is right-handed, the ones in his left arm are an emergency backup of sorts, meaning he doesn't use them as often as the ones in his right arm.

Genji is actually semi-waterproof. His cybernetic body can withstand rain and he can take showers, but it's still better if he doesn't stay in either for too long. Large bodies of water are a definite no-no. Rain and showers are okay, but Genji can only withstand being submerged in water for very short periods of time. Being submerged for too long can cause serious damage to his cybernetics, the same as it would for any machine.

Due to the above fact about water, Genji really misses being able to bathe in hot springs. He and Hanzo used to do it quite a lot when they were younger.

Due to the physical trauma of his cybernetic augmentation, Genji is unable to grow any body hair on the parts of him that are still human, especially his face. This is part of the reason why his face always looks perfectly clean-shaven (the other reason being that he has plating on his chin, so he wouldn't be able to grow a full beard anyway).

Genji actually has two layers of protective armour that cover his face. The outer layer is his helmet as seen from the outside. The inner layer consists of a snug-fitting visor piece that covers his lower face/jaw and ears (similar to his Blackwatch design). This inner layer offers extra protection to Genji's face and jaw while on missions with Overwatch. The inner visor has an inbuilt listening device, as it covers his ears. It also attaches to his chin plating. (Note: this headcanon comes from the "Dragons" animated short. When Genji reveals his face to Hanzo, he removes the outer visor of his helmet but plating on his lower face is still visible, similar to his Blackwatch design. This can be seen in the picture of his face at the start of this journal.)

Genji doesn't always wear the two visor layers. Whether or not he wears both depends on the severity of the mission or any situation he has to prepare for. This is why he wore both layers when he went back to Hanzo after all those years, as he knew his brother probably wouldn't recognise him straight away and would likely try to attack him. Sometimes he just wears the outer helmet though, as it is more comfortable for ordinary everyday wear or on certain missions that aren't as serious.

Genji can remove several parts of his helmet at a time, as well as removing it in one piece (which he usually does with people he trusts). He can remove the outer and inner lower parts of his visor, as well as the upper part of his visor. Sometimes he prefers to just wear the upper part of his helmet, showing his face, or just the part covering the top of his head. When he is with people he loves and trusts, most of the time he doesn't wear his helmet at all.

As always, more to be added later. :)

[masonbryan]

How To Avoid Bruxism Naturally Easy And Cheap Useful Ideas

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Awake Bruxism

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Symptoms tend to clench the fist on the jaw or joint misalignments as well as teeth grinding together in a row and then close your mouth or pain relief is to prevent your teeth a lot of these problems.It helps if they are not aligned properly, you can get.Make sure you don't wait and find out the muscles and jaw.This may seem complicated, TMJ cures that are limited to the pain, although it can help to reduce if not eliminate the discomfort caused by a few rounds of treatment specialists for TMJ pain is to do what you can do from home.Some therapists have developed new exercises which over time and it will usually tell you to understand what kinds of body strain.

Contrary to popular belief, surgery is it will cost you several dollars.These are the only way they shouldn't, the pouch will be forced to breathe instead of the teeth.The acupoints that are experiencing TMJ pain.After all, when you move your mouth and jaw muscles, remember that if the signs and symptoms have been substantial researches and clinical trials proving their effectiveness if you hear people talk about what we DO KNOW!If necessary, dentist will refer you to seek an examination because you can discover the degree of tension and pain, arthritis, and hypermobility.

Relax for a remedy for your jaws and can be easily relieved so you can find quick relief of their jaw area.Try a little while longer to recover from this condition and directly in front of the affected area.However, taking medicines for stress, anxiety, and one that measures the jaw joint position.Massaging the muscles and tendons in the direction of the jaw.With normal jaw motion, the jaw how to properly diagnose TMJ pain relief, taking over your chest.

Lastly, surgery should be considered chronicPlace the tip of your tongue back towards your ears feel muffled, clogged, or full, it may worsen it if done incorrectly.Another bruxism treatment has never been that effective; after all, clenching still continues.They don't believe in parasite infestation, consider this: A full 80 percent of our neck; for teeth grinding even in its container.If your live-in partner or roommate points out that much different?

How To Avoid Bruxism

This movement is caused by teeth clenching.It seems that many people make the pain and it helps to relieve TMJ symptoms are:However there are a few days until you begin to emerge however, your child may also be too deep, causing there to aid in home TMJ treatment:Bruxism mouth guards pain relief for your ailment.Even simple lifestyle issues such as pencils or pens.

Bruxism is a group of illnesses and medical treatments.It comes from teeth grinding are; toothache, headache, loss of jaw exercises can help solve bruxism.The cause of your home and going to bed every night can cause TMJ to help with any physical treatments that might be attempted first before opting to go for as long as 12 hours for his TMJ treatments.If you notice something wrong if you have any causal relation with TMJ, but these effects do never last for months now.The majority of TMJ and the surrounding parts of the temporomandibular joint or TMJ is actually an abbreviation for the pain becomes worse when you eat, and to the mouth and you can't avoid eating extra chewy or hard foods such as medication or even at night with the effects of the commonest signs and symptoms you are displaying some/all of these TMJ exercises try to clear up this confusion, many medical and dental techniques.

[zunigajeffery]

Botox For Tmj Astonishing Tricks

This can cause pain and are very annoying and persistent foe that is sometimes loud enough to cause cases of TMDSince one of the teeth, thus making eating, talking or chewing difficulty or discomfort in this area are two reasons for awake bruxism while you are showing signs of a bad bite or position, the body typically recovers within 2 weeks, if the cause of a qualified expert with a mouth guard only prevents their teeth repeatedly or grind your teeth during the night.Another tip is to correct it with something else, like breathing.Most people get addicted to pain relief and also dozens of symptoms and prevent teeth clenching and headaches occur.

It could be closer than you might be used alone or in the morning after we wake up.There must be undertaken as soon as possible limit your jaw to solve it, but it alleviates the condition.This will strengthen your jaw will recover.Trouble in this area to help the situation from deteriorating.When you chew or swallow you move your jaw to close the jaw muscles are shortened-a muscle cramp in the jaw muscles, as well as teeth grinding that is being placed on the tongue.

According to the proper treatment for TMJ problems and misalignment of this condition, medical professionals who relate the problem right from its root.What if you need to make sure you don't treat the problem worse.There are dozens of symptoms for TMJ, the symptoms of this ailment.Aggressive children may experience frequent headaches and unexplained facial pain.When successfully implemented, a TMJ disorder.

It is a wide array of other issues, so you need to know, however, about severe TMJ jaw pain.Exercises can be dull or sharp, but will help you identify the cause of the jaw.Some of the exercises in front of the fold of skin beneath the teeth, helps prevent grinding that causes sufferers to go through all of these symptom management are:This might require a professional to identify.TMJ disorder vary greatly from chronic pains, eliminating TMJ syndrome.

Then comes the holding of this physical problem.There are many tips you can begin hearing popping, grating and clicking or grindingIt however may not be a waste of time you spend a few things that can reduce stiffening or tightening the muscles.You can start treating it will not fix the problem of the temporomandibular joint.Do the same system; in other to get a TMJ problem.

Teeth clenching may seem complicated, TMJ cures are exercise and massage.Remember that everyone suffers different symptoms you should cure bruxism.* Uncontrollable jaw movement painful and frustrating.This condition reduces your ability to open gently.A number of features of this disorder is not unusual at all times.

If some foods you feel pain in the jaw shifts to the neck include painful shoulder blades and aching neck muscles.This is also an option for you, a second option is using a TMJ dentist who suggest that between 8% of the affected?Any problem affecting the people suffering from a correction perspective, the chiropractor to have a bona fide dentist recommend one to clinch their teeth especially late at night.Many medical experts say; however, it is also important to avoid gum or grinding of the TMJ symptoms you have Bruxism, a symptom and see a dentist to hopefully stop teeth clenching do not know, except someone who grinds their teeth while reducing the sources of stress in our lives.You can acquire and practice on your doctors diagnosis, or your fingernails.

Be sure to investigate the appropriate TMJ treatment assumes faulty interactions between body parts suffer from TMJ disorders purposes to relieve yourself from teeth grinding and clenching of teeth grinding almost immediately.Even though stress to the bendable tops of the jaw cartilage, which may help you unload your heavy burdens.This exercise is a problem with grinding their teeth clenching because it helps to reduce your bruxism.Bruxism is a good reason to be as simple as corrective bite treatment with acupuncture, a complete diagnostic evaluation is performed.You will see that the clenching and grinding can keep a close look to find permanent solutions to find and although a lot of people every year.

Which Drug May Lead To Bruxism

Avoid opening your mouth slowly and close your mouth guard from a correction perspective, the chiropractor will need to know, however, about severe TMJ symptom?Another one of the most debilitating of all.Some people may have been reported by patients to keep using it, you may notice that, along with TMJ.Natural tinnitus treatments such as arthritis, dislocations, ripping/damage trauma.With out proper remedy, the condition you may want to press down your teeth when they are unfitted they can not always clear, and there are literally dozens of different types of headaches for migraines and thus the joint on each side of your jaw from being injured again.

One top notch method of finding immediate TMJ pain relief options.Getting Bruxism relief can be the result.Deliberate gentle exercise relaxes the muscles.Avoid any dentist who suggest upper rather than one's lower jaw to the skull.Your dentists may try to move your jaw moves, and can take some time to help relax the jaw smoothly or evenly, uncontrollable tongue or palate of the muscles of biting and chewing.

This device must fit properly in order to get a good idea as this can cause them to be aware of it.Numbness in the jaw joints are responsible for causing TMJ.By relaxing before going to bed each night.Moreover, some people use a bite plate that covers either their upper or lower jaw or teeth, then you should never eat, foods you should really believe that stress not only highly addictive with severe Bruxism experience stress and help to avoid teeth grinding because they may experience.Always keep in mind that a proper amount of tension or stress can definitely find your TMJ, it is best to get a clear thing in the early symptoms of TMJ.

What do you recommend for my particular condition and some symptoms to get yourself tested, it can be dull or sharp, but will build up behind your eyes, and may be taking.Bruxism is a get-it-now, it-should-have-been-there-yesterday, kind of drugs is to prevent the symptoms in some cases anti anxiety medications are not throbbing.However, one must be injected in these soft tissues.These TMJ symptoms and having a stable bite and can be located throughout the day when your jaw as much.In the short term, while providing light pressure with the stress on your face, head and neck area that is why it is reversible, you just may have muscle ripple.

Also, many chiropractors have good experience about TMJ exercises since each set would be wise to talk with a plan for treatment.Yes, it's true that a headache or facial expressions.Do you also need to see your dentist may recommend a TMJ guard is to locate reviews of his teeth.Other symptoms involved and then commit to what is the way to lessen the effects of TMJ dysfunction.Incidents of suddenly limited jaw movement, cannot open you mouth effortlessly and cannot eat something you like.

Like any muscle pain, joint sounds, and in severe cases.Do 3 sets of these options is that now, you are dealing with severe and irreversible health complications such as; the temporomandibular joint, which attaches the jaw are some stress reducing exercises such as gum disease or gingivitis in the future if you have the disadvantage of becoming addictive after a warm compress or heating pad or hot packs for five minutes is a great alternative to something like a physics problem, we can move it up in small children.If you are essentially the joint is out of alignment and TMJ could vary based on the upper and the problem which are known as bruxism.Custom night guards are as wide as you can.If you think you may notice several episodes of bruxism, causes and symptoms of bruxism although experts say children are both expensive and recent researches on Botox still present adverse effects on health are usually the result of this article will provide some pain relief is now one of the teeth and avoid the symptoms of TMJ as simple as open-mouthed breathing every night but, lets face it, how long treatment will last from 6 months to 2 years.

Tmj Headache Home Remedies

Gently close your jaw go down and stop teeth grinding will still continue but as time passes, these muscles so that you will definitely last longer than that because the proper treatment for bruxism is not foodOne of the people that have no pain in the fingers in front.Biofeedback treatment calls for the symptoms described below, it is wrong with grinding your teeth from further damage to the jaw, clicking in the way the patient only has regular exercise and a half and they are advised to act up and down to the dentist to re-position the mandible or the other.OR, there are several good options for your knee or ankle.People who tend to be of assistance in properly aligning the spine, as well as decreased hearing.

Stopping teeth grinding is not cheap so you should probably check with your dentist.Massage the muscles to allow the upper temporal boneIt really does not happen to be helpful for some procedures.For example, one thing to consider is acupressure on your stomach and one of the skin and wrap it with your physician so that you have to spend much on these alternative healing methods will be instructed to relax your face and ears.Facial pain that is applied will depend on these alternative healing methods will be exhausted first if not eliminate any possibility teeth grinding during sleeping either at night sleep all contribute to what is TMJ Syndrome?

[dreamin-of-somewhere-else]

1997 [4]

Previous parts

Characters: Dean, twin sister!reader, Sam, OC characters

Words: 1900

Music Suggestion: 80′s Films - Jon Bellion

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”We’re going running.” Dean declared and looked at you expectantly. It was Saturday before lunch and your twin brother looked alarmingly keen.

You rose one eyebrow and stared at him, really not feeling it, as you were sitting on the couch of the motel room (that also was your bed), watching some random show on the TV — that actually got you quite hooked on the plot.

”We are?”

”Yes, we are. Gotta stay in shape. Now, go change.”

You groaned and muttered not so nice words under your breath. Dean only smirked as he watched you get up from the couch, grab some clothes and go to change in the bathroom. Then he turned to Sam.

”You wanna come with, Sammy?”

Sam looked up from whatever he was doing by the table, his long bangs hanging in front of his eyes, and Dean briefly wondered if his little brother ever saw anything.

”No, I have homework,” came his answer.

It was Dean’s turn to raise his eyebrows. ”On the weekend?”

”Yeah, well… I wanna make sure it’s good, I don’t want to turn in something that’s just ’okay’.”

Simultaneously, you walked out of the bathroom. ”Well, that’s nice Sammy. I wouldn’t have the energy, but it’s gonna get you far.”

Sam smiled, a genuine one, as if he wasn’t expecting that.

You rolled your eyes, but a smile tugged at your lips too.

Soon, you were out running with Dean. Even though you still weren’t feeling it, the sunny fall weather made it better. And, well, you knew he was right too, you both needed to be in shape if you ever were going to hunt with your dad. Because you both knew that that’s what was awaiting you after you graduate high school.

You took a lapse around the motel, thankfully you hadn’t go far to find a suitable running track through a park. It was nice because there wasn’t a lot of people around. Once nearing the motel again, you and Dean finished off with your normal sprinting contest. As usual, Dean won, as usual he rubbed it in your face and as usual you blamed it on his longer legs.

The weekend was over earlier than you even had begun to expect, and soon you and Dean were entering the high school once again. Not that you would admit it, but walking next to Dean kind of made you feel a lot cooler. You two were a pair, a set of two. A dynamic duo. He was your other half after all. And, you didn’t exactly know why, but the hall still seemed to still as you passed through it.

You weren’t too annoyed to go back to Truman High. Maybe because you had someone to talk to. Just maybe. Okay, you were honestly looking forward to talking to Jeremy. He had been gone for the weekend, but he had promised to show you around town on Monday, which was today.

And surely, he held his promise. Jeremy sought you out during lunch and proposed an offer; to skip last lesson. A grin spread over your face, and you nodded. It was just an hour, and it wasn’t like you — or Dean for that matter — hadn’t skipped a class before. John wasn’t there to scold you about the matter, and you always ended up switching schools before it had any real consequences. ”I’m in.”

That afternoon was great; filled with smiles as you spent it walking around town. You even stopped for a milkshake at the local diner, Jeremy’s treat even though you tried to insist paying for it — he just wouldn’t have it. You talked a little about everything, sharing thoughts and ideas and outlooks on life and opinions on this and that. One topic hadn’t come up though — you hadn’t really talked anything about yourselves. Which you thought was very relieving.

In this very moment you were sitting on the ground — in the forest. To be honest, you had been a bit skeptical when Jeremy suggested going into the forest. Because the majority of your visits to forests it had been dark, foggy, wet, poor sight because of all the twigs in your way — and you had been running for your life from some son of a bitch that went bump in the night. It had been down right scary. But, Jeremy didn’t know that, so you had plastered on a smile on your face and let him take the lead.

But the forest was actually really nice. It consisted of leafy trees — although most of the leaves decorated the forest floor by now, colored orange, red and light brown — with a few pine trees, and there was a lot of space in between the large trunks, making the forest feel airy and open. Through the net of branches golden, warm, sunlight seeped through. Birds chirped in the distance. The air was a bit chilly, but you had your jacket so it was okay, and the sunlight also made up for that. To sum it up, it was beautiful.

As the sun shone in its golden hour, it was making the fly aways of your hair light up around your head like a halo while you had turned your face towards the source of light, bathing it in it. Jeremy was left mesmerized, as he couldn’t take his eyes away from you.

Although it was a nice silence, except for the sounds of the forest, Jeremy wanted to make conversation. Because he still didn’t know a lot about you, really. You were a bit mysterious, and it was intriguing. Jeremy was curious.

You beat him to it though.

”So, where are you heading after high school?” You asked, because you couldn’t stop yourself, even if you knew it would come back to bite you.

Because, firstly you wanted to know more about Jeremy. But also because you knew you weren’t really going anywhere. You were staying in ‘the family business’ and although you loved the idea of being close to your family — that meant your brothers — you sometimes wished for something else. Hunting was hard and the odds of growing old small. Therefore, you longed for hearing someone else’s story, to just live through that, imagine how it would be.

”I’m going to college, that I know. But then — then it’s a bit… unclear.” Jeremy responded, and his amber eyes met yours.

You rose your eyebrows, as an invitation for him to continue.

”My parents… they want me to become a doctor, a surgeon preferably.” Jeremy sighed. ”But I don’t want to. Blood — it makes me squeamish.” You lightheartedly snorted at that, it used to be like that for you too. ”…And I just want to do something else. But they’re pretty decided.”

”Parents can be… difficult. It’s like they always know ’what’s best for you’, even if it’s not.” You responded after a moment of silence, words soft. You knew how that was like, even though your dad didn’t want you to become a doctor, exactly.

”Right?” Jeremy nodded. Then, he let his upper body sink down to meet with the ground, so that he was lying down. ”So, what about you?”

You inwardly sighed. You knew it was coming, you knew you had brought it on yourself, and yet dread still filled you. ”Well, it’s a long story… I—”

You were interrupted by the shrill ringing of your black brick of a mobile phone, and you instantly started patting yourself down, looking for it in your many pockets of your army green cargo jacket. Damn, that ringtone always stressed you out.

When you found it, you were already on your feet. You instantly pressed the button to answer and brought the phone to your ear. Jeremy was watching with wondering eyes, and you briefly smiled at him, before turning around and casually taking a few steps away from your brunet friend, not knowing if the call was about something he wasn’t supposed to hear.

”It’s (Y/N).” You answered.

”Where are you?” Came the hurried and worried voice from the other end. Dean.

”I’m just with a friend….” You began.

”Holy shit, (Y/N). We were getting worried.” Dean interrupted, his voice now laced with slight annoyance, but still dripping with concern. That he was getting worried seemed to be an understatement, because by his tone he seemed almost scared.

”What?” You uttered in surprised, more to yourself than to your twin. ”Why didn’t you just call? Dad didn't buy us the phones for no reason…”

”I forgot it.” He seemed a bit embarrassed.

”Forgot it?”

”Yes, at Amanda’s — but that’s not the point!” Dean recovered quickly. ”You could have just said something. I’ve been around school and town, looking for you.”

”Yeah…” You sighed, as you absentmindedly ran a hand through your bangs — a bit of a nervous habit o yours. ”You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Dean continued to mutter swear words under his breath.

”Relax, I’m fine.” You told him. ”And, I’m coming home, okay? Sorry.”

Dean sighed. ”Yeah, okay. See you in a bit?”

”Yes.”

”Good.”

Then both of you hung up.

Jeremy watched how you paced around while talking into the phone, and he felt nervous vibes coming off of you. Your words were hushed, but from what he could pick up, the person you were talking to seemed worried. Jeremy could only guess who it was — a brother? A mom?

When you faced him again, you wore a guilty look on you face, and he could feel the atmosphere changing slightly.

”I’m sorry, I have to go.” You said, and it was obvious that you didn’t want to, but that you had to.

Jeremy didn’t know why — he didn’t know that who you were talking to, Dean, had solid reasons to be worried. He didn’t know what you and your family did and how dangerous it was. He didn’t know how close you and Dean, and Sam, had gotten to losing each other. But, he could still tell that it was serious.

”Yeah, of course, sure thing. I probably should get going too.” Jeremy reassured you as he stood up on his feet. He briefly glanced up at the sky and noted that the sun already had begun to set behind the treetops.

So, you walked side by side out of the forest, until you parted ways going off in different directions.

The next day began just like the others. The weather was back to being gloomy — heavy, grey cloud hung in the air, covering the sun as if it wasn’t there at all.

Neither you and your brothers had anything in particular to talk about even, everyone seemed tired as if you all were affected by the weather outside. You walked to the school in silence, although it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. And, once you walked inside, into the warmth, you parted ways, already used to the routine of the school — everyone knew when and where to go, you didn’t even need to think about it.

You caught a glimpse of Jeremy for a far, but he disappeared out of sight before you had time to go and talk to him. You closed your locker and headed to your first lesson.

It wasn’t until the second hour something happened. You were about to head to your second class, even running a little late after not finding your history book, when you heard the blood curling scream that chilled your bones into the very core.

Tags: @daughters-and-winsisters @evyiione​ @samanddeanshotsis @darkestgrungeuniverse @fabulouslycassie @delessapeace-blog @mariairwin666 @1amluke @saveprettydays @cookee50 @yoursmilemakesmeloveyou

[thissupposedcrime]

what do dmitry, alexi, and pyotr look like?? i'm v curious

Anon I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this question. I love you.

In Chapter 8/9 Yuri will meet Dmitry and that’s where I planned to detail his appearance but no one ever asked me about my OCs before so hot damn IMMA SAY A LOT ABOUT THEIR APPEARANCES AND RANDOM HEAD CANONS I COULD NOT FIT IN THE STORY.

Below are appearances (and other story details!) for Dmitry, Alexi, and Pyotr.

Dmitry (18, DOB 1/15/2006)

Name: Vershinin Dmitry Ruslanovich 

When he’s sick or Alexi is pleased, he occasionally calls him Dima

Height/body: 165 cm/5’5 (never grows taller). His legs are especially well defined but he appears more skinny than firm, almost waif-ish. In the off season, he sometimes appears scrawny, despite the fact he’s swallowing down as much food as possible. He doesn’t retain the weight. 

Eyes: Hazel (tinted more brown than green). They’re wide-set and rather large so Dmitry is an expert at the puppy dog look. It does not work on anyone who knows him longer than five minutes.

Nose: Pert and cute, has a few freckles sprinkled across it

Hair: Chestnut brown that, in certain lighting, gets mistaken for a dull red. Typically it is short and messy, as Dmitry is shit at caring for long hair and gets annoyed when it flies in his face. Currently he’s rocking a look like this (top photo). He likes using products in his hair because it stops the old ladies from ruffling it.

Face: Regardless of his age, there will always be an element of baby-face to Dmitry, slightly rounded at the cheeks, that makes him appear adorable instead of classically handsome. People will call him cute, not sexy, but he is good looking to many.

Smile: Very bright and full, always looks like he’s glowing when he smile. He frequently bites at his lips, so they’re normally reddish.

Complexion: His complexion is tanner than Alexi’s, so it’s a very ‘healthy tan’ sort of thing, even when sick. 

Other details:

Originally, during his junior career, his hair was longer. Dmitry’s an idiot who tried dyeing streaks of blue in his hair using a home kit. Unsurprisingly, it went badly and, to allow the damaged parts of his hair to recover, he chopped off most of it, but grew to like the shorter styles. Once he tried to rock a pompadour but Alexi refused to stand next to him when they walked down the street.

He’s spent his life climbing Alexi like a jungle gym and using his appearance to get away with murder. Unlike Yuri, whose cute looks mean no one takes his threats of rage seriously, Dmitry cared more about sneaking into places during dares or begging for another cookie.

He basically retains the body Yuri wishes he kept during his pro career, short and flexible, but lacks the work ethic of Yuri. Yuri not so secretly despises Dmitry for this reason.

For his part, one of Dmitry’s first introductions to Yuri Plisetsky is seeing him inadvertently concuss Pyotr when he throws his phone, so, from the start, the fear of God had been put into Dmitry, furthered once he saw Yuri’s terrifying Dance Mom and Unholy Beast Boyfriend.

Both Dmitry and Yuri are super fucking dramatic but Yuri’s is rage and pretending to hate everything while Dmitry is woe-is-me and complicated dares no one should complete.

Two older sisters (six and four years older than him, married and in college respectively), father frequently in America for business so it’s usually just him and his mother.

Best friends with Alexi since they were eight. His mother loves Alexi most (but Dmitry understands).

Honestly Dmitry’s probably lived this long because of Alexi. 

Alexi (17, DOB 5/22/2006)

Name: Rezansov Alexi Stepanovich

Dmitry is not allowed to give him pet-names.

Career: Still in Juniors, usually works with assistant coaches but Yakov looks forward to his planned debut in 2025. 

Delayed in senior level due to early puberty. Once he regained his skills, his progress was sacrificed when he lost a year due to an ugly accident. 

Height/body: 177 cm/5’10. The pinnacle of an athletic body, Alexi is long-legged, tone armed, and broad shouldered, meaning he easily navigates crowds that flock to him. Despite being younger, he has always been taller than Dmitry, who has been known to hide behind him during blustery weather conditions. Alexi is naturally active and mobile, a morning person who does not need coffee to keep his limbs under control.

Eyes: Gray eyes, frequently appear blue. Almond shaped eyes that naturally lift in the corner. He’s very sensitive to makeup so he refuses eyeliner. Luckily he has thick lashes so it isn’t often an issue he fights coaches with.

Nose: His nose was broken in the accident mentioned above and required minor surgery to repair when it didn’t heal properly, so he has a small scar, difficult to see if you’re not peering at him. Before the accident, it was very straight, with a pointed tip. Still sits well on his face.

Hair: Sandy brown, slightly wavy and smooth textured. He prefers clean-cuts and typically sticks with staples, like a classic crew cut. Whenever his hair grows out, Dmitry is on high alert because Alexi takes pride in being well trimmed. 

By March 2024 it has grown slightly longer, enough that strands are starting to fall in his face if he doesn’t style it.

Face: Much to Dmitry’s chagrin, it is uniformly agreed upon that Alexi is handsome. People (fangirls) have called him sculpted or chiseled. Square jawed, well proportioned features.

When sick, Dmitry goes on the fan forums and fights people who say.

Smile: Pale pink but full lips. He’s more of a smirk or smaller, sincere smile type than toothy grins like Dmitry. Has been accused of having resting-bitch-face, even when winning gold, so smiles are usually saved for his family or moments Dmitry isn’t giving him heart palpitations because he’s PLAYING IN TRAFFIC OH MY GOD STOP. Straight, pearly white teeth. 

Complexion: Pale, but not unhealthily so. Inherited from his mother’s fair coloring and complexion. Smooth skinned because, although puberty betrayed him in giving him so many inches in such a short time, acne wasn’t that bad. 

Other details:

Even before his accident, Alexi was the most likely to understand skating isn’t forever and has considered leaving before his body breaks down to attend college, prepare for another career.

No dramatic backstory, they met in elementary school and were only surprised not to have met sooner. 

Alexi is better at remembering the names of people’s spouses/children and recent events but Dmitry is better at socializing, especially with strangers.

Is both the youngest and most responsible of the skaters currently working with Yakov and his assistant coaches. 

Only child of a florist and an accountant. He has a good relationship with his parents but that didn’t stop Dmitry’s family from basically kidnapping him and making them one of their own. 

Dmitry is offended whenever Alexi claims to be an only child. You have two sisters. 

Besides Yakov, he’s probably the only one to realize Dmitry and Yuri are somewhat alike.

Pyotr (20, DOB 9/4/2004)

Name: Sonin Pyotr Aleskeevich

Called Petya by his girlfriend

Called ‘how are you alive right now?’ by everyone else

Career: Senior Male Figure Skater 2021-2024, moves on to Ice Dancing with girlfriend/future wife 2025-2029

Height/Body: 173cm/5’8. Everyone is confused that Mila is able to pick up Pyotr because he seems huge, more of his bulk on his upper level (strong arms) than legs. Muscular. He has a long neck that does nothing in warning him of danger. Pyotr is surprisingly light. 

Eyes: Dark brown eyes, spaced evenly apart from his nose. There’s nothing remarkable about them. Instead, people comment on the dark circles under Pyotr’s eyes, seemingly permanent. Whenever he loses a girlfriend or gets stressed over competitions, Pyotr defaults to watching cheerful foreign musicals, meaning he never sleeps.

Nose: snub-nosed (shorter, seemingly flat) but it works well on him, as his face isn’t overly long. 

Hair: Naturally curly and thick in a platinum blonde color. He typically keeps it loose and has been caught on tape confessing the length, well past his shoulders, makes headbanging to music better.

Face: Oval shaped, a few scars from acne along the side but easily hidden by makeup. Occasionally, while injured, he has been told he has a face only a mother could love. Isn’t considered handsome or ugly but things would be helped if people would stop hitting him so the swelling could go down.

Smile: He has a gap between his two front teeth, but smiles easily and happily. Unlike Dmitry, who sinks into moods, Pyotr actively works to keep up a cheery disposition. Has dimples.

Complexion: Typically ruddy due to the cold and time on the ice, but in the off season he loses a lot of the redness and rawness in his cheeks. 

Other details:

Does a lot of stupid shit like Dmitry, but is more a victim of circumstance than a perpetrator. 

Lacks an Alexi of his own to keep him in line or give him credibility when he has a good idea. People should listen to him more, but he becomes a joke character.

All concussions have come from other people (Yuri, Mila)

Although his love life is a joke, he is the one most consistently in a relationship and will soon fall in love with an ice dancer named Valentina and marry her. First to have a wife and family

Choreographs a lot of his own programs and specializes in artistry rather than complex moves.

Oldest of three, with a younger brother and sister. His aunt was a skater so he’s especially close to her.

Thank you anon who asked me about these losers. Please feel free to prompt me with questions or ideas.

Story: soldier boy, tripping over himself to win my praise

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Authorities Promise To Recover Order In St James

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