#reblog it if you like i promise it is not a faux-pas to reblog my headcanons

[doublebattled]

worldbuilding headcanon; I really need to make a banner for these. Anyway. Let's talk about pokémon leagues! We're going to discuss the general responsibilities of regional pokémon leagues, and then we're going to discuss the concept of the International League. Onward, unto the wall of text!

Regional Leagues

Note that all of this comes with a big asterisk as the precise details vary dramatically from region to region. Obviously, Alola, for example, is quite different from the rest, but that's neither here nor there. Broadly speaking, we can assume this applies to MOST leagues, and we can identify the exceptions and weird cases later.

So—the Pokémon League as an institution is more than just the gym challenge. I, of course, am not the first person to hold this headcanon, nor the first to write it out. Multiple generations of games have even begun to imply this now! Sweet, sweet validation! Now, the actual structure of the league as far as who's in charge and oversees what (is it a chairman like in Galar, is it a Top Champion like in Paldea, is it something else entirely like in Alola, etc.?) varies WILDLY from region to region, so we will not be getting into the particulars of that. But at the end of the day we can assume there's multiple levels involved in the whole thing, and we can assume going forward that when I say "the league" from here on in I mean the administrative part, not the front-facing parts.

So, broadly speaking, most leagues have some association with their regional government. It's not like you have to pay to do gym battles or anything, so we can probably conclude that it's publicly funded to some degree. In many cases, the league can best be described as its own department within the government, just as the FDA or DoJ would be. (I understand this probably sounds silly to many of my fellow Americans, but given how rooted pokémon are in society, it doesn't seem that far-fetched, at least for a world that broadly seems to have its shit slightly more together than we do.) That all said, yes, the league is—if not a governmental organization, then a private one that works closely with the government because Galar does appear to be alarmingly more American in that respect and handles quite a few things associated with that. So let's go through the list.

First, and most obvious: Trainer Cards! The league is responsible for issuing trainer ID cards, which are what permit folks to battle, trade, and breed pokémon (with some exception), and use the PC system. Now, battling and capturing pokémon without a Trainer ID isn't strictly illegal, but there are limitations. Possessing many pokémon without a Trainer ID is (typically, most regions define the upper limit as 2 per person, or one per person per household). And while engaging in trainer verses trainer battles without ID is technically illegal, usually punishable by fine, most regions will just look the other way as long as it's not actively harmful, disruptive, dangerous, or otherwise breaking any other laws. There's really no need to enforce it on the two six year olds having their caterpies fight on the playground. Trainer IDs can, of course, also be revoked for numerous reasons relating to past offenses. It is EXPLICITLY illegal to breed pokémon without ID, however. In addition, unsurprisingly, gym battles and other "formal" pokémon battling facilities cannot be participated in without a Trainer Card.

The PC System. Broadly, the PC system's servers are managed and operated by the Pokémon League. Since every trainer has their own set of boxes, these are associated with trainer ID. Basically, if you don't have a Trainer Card, you can't use the PC, wholesale. I could dig into this more but that's a WHOLE other headcanon so let's just not.

Setting and Enforcing Regional Battle Standards. Why do some pokémon "not exist" in certain regions? Why can a pokémon's moveset suddenly change between generations? Why are battles strictly turn based in the mainline games when they had additional speed components in Legends? Regional Battle Standards! The League is in charge of setting what pokémon, moves, items, etc. are permissible in official battle, which is the format used in gyms, e4, and to some degree in most battle facilities. They set restrictions on battlefield size, legal movesets, legal pokémon, and so forth. So if any of these things do or don't exist in a given region's game, it's not that they aren't present*, it's just that you're not allowed to use them in League-Sanctioned battles there. So you can technically own a Tepig in Paldea, you just can't use it at the gyms or league. Failure to follow these standards isn't a huge deal, at worst mistakenly breaking the rules may render a league battle invalid or failed and require a trainer to repeat a challenge. Taking a league battle outside of a designated field, for example, may result in automatic forfeit or a penalty of some kind. Knowingly breaking these standards by using unapproved, potentially dangerous moves or entering battle with unsanctioned pokémon can earn a fine or even a strike towards having a Trainer Card revoked, in extreme cases.

*Some leagues do restrict this further and forbid any battling with certain pokémon, including wild battles outside of emergency circumstances, largely due to ecological reasons. Galar is known for being heavily restrictive in this respect.

Public Research and Battle Safety Standards. Overlapping slightly with the above, publicly funded pokémon research is technically overseen by the league. The "Regional Professor" is typically the head of this particular division and assists in setting battle standards and battle safety regulations based on ongoing research, among other things. Of course, independent researchers still very much exist, as do researchers employed by specific organizations, and so on and so forth. You get the picture. Mainly, this feeds into the next one:

Enforcement of Battle Safety and Pokémon Care Standards. Again, a bit self-explanatory, but as the League sets the standard for regional law regarding safe battling, pokémon well-being, and so forth, they also ensure that their own facilities are following this standard and have sub-departments dedicated to investigating private organizations or other groups that may be violating these standards. Failure to meet these standards can be anything from having a trainer card revoked and fines to jail time if the case is extreme enough. By and large this is typically where a lot of a league's time, effort, and funding goes towards, as pokémon are critical to many aspects of life. Like. There are, presumably, pokémon labor standards. This is like OSHA for pokémon.

Ranger Unions?. While the regional Ranger Union usually isn't directly within the League, they are very intrinsically tied institutions and work closely with each other, to the point where most people assume that they are the same. This is not true, however! Ranger Unions deal with wild pokémon, conservation, and public safety. There is considerable overlap—both Ranger Unions and Leagues help to maintain the routes between cities, for example, and ensure that trainers passing through them are safe, but the Ranger Union is the one that actually dispatches rangers to regularly conduct searches and handle any particularly dangerous pokémon. The league deals with the trainers themselves more directly. The head of a region's league and the head of their Ranger Union are ostensibly partners and work very closely with one another.

Other Battle Facilities and Alternative Battle Styles?. Officially speaking, facilities like the Battle Subway, Battle Tree, Battle Tower, et cetera are usually overseen by the League in some capacity, though many are private facilities that are not necessarily owned by the League. They're subject to League Standards, but can enforce their own rules on top of them (such as further restricting permissible pokémon usage). Additionally, non-battle or battle-adjacent matters like Contests are considered to be part of the League, and typically have their own sub-departments for unique rules and standards applied there.

The International League

The International League, as it sounds, is an inter-regional organization that meets once a year. Representatives from each region—typically, league officials and champions (if they aren't the same person—so in Galar, both Chairman Rose and Leon would presumably be present), as well as the Regional Professor—meet and discuss regional standards, research, and other such concerns. The International League is a large part of why "new" regions appear—a new generation of games marks an introduction to the International League.

While International League standards do not necessarily apply to every region on a regional league level, and regional leagues have the right to enforce their own standards as they see fit for various events, tournaments, and so forth within their own regions. However, large-scale world tournaments typically follow International League rules. Likewise, Trainer Cards, PC systems, and so forth all carry over between individual regional leagues that are a part of the International League. So if you're a trainer in Kanto, you can go catch pokémon and challenge gyms in Unova without having to file for a new trainer card and all that jazz. Some leagues also have special provisions for challenging champions and elite 4 if you have the necessary badges from another league (or leagues), but this is usually a rare case, if only because it's much more common for trainers of that caliber to not bother with the official route and just do casual matches.

[valiantstarlights]

I was wondering if you are planning on continuing Enlightenment? Or maybe I missed an update after the second chapter? It is just so devastating and makes me sad. But also like in a cathartic been there done that way. Will they have a happy ending? Will Dream be able to convince Hob what he means to him and how wrong he was not to tell him how much he appreciates him? And why he was late? And then all the years of longing and feeling will crash into Hob, and after a lot of angst and honest conversation they will reach a healthy place in their relationship? I just noticed one of your tags and if writing this makes you sad or vice versa, then please ignore my ask. It will just be good to know that someone was finally valued and got their light back. And they all had a soft ever after.

Okay so 👀 fun(?) fact: Enlightenment was supposed to be a oneshot.

And by oneshot, I mean that it was originally supposed to end where Chapter 2 ended. (I just split the story into two parts, because I was too depressed while editing what ended up being Chapter 1 that I literally could not finish editing the entire thing.)

It was the story I would have posted for Day 4 of dreamlingweek2023, for the prompt 'Episode 6 Continuation.'

Luckily 😂 I posted Fidelity instead (for the prompt 'Fake Dating') because even I know not to give a couple celebrating their 634th anniversary* a story that ends unhappily. 👀

*Day 4 falls on June 7, 2023 itself, so I would have ended up committing a major faux pas. Yikes.

That being said, when I posted both chapters (secretly the complete oneshot) of Enlightenment and saw all the yelling happening in the reblog tags, and people commenting and wishing for me to feel better, my heart was moved. 🥰 And I thought, 'How can I let the story end there? Surely I could give this one a happy ending, too?'

So yes, thanks to all your feedback, I will be continuing to write Enlightenment until Dream and Hob have their happy ending, and until Enlightenment!Hob feels just as loved as all the other Hobs in my other AUs. 😊🖤 Not gonna lie, it's looking to be a long road, but I'm determined. 🔥

Thank you for reading and liking the story, even when it made you sad. 🙇‍♀️😭 I promise it will (now) get better. 🥰

As for me writing Enlightenment when I'm sad, yes, that's unfortunately true. 👀 But it's always the sadness that comes first. (Because like, who would want to get deliberately sad?? In this economy??? 😨) It's so I can channel the negative energy into doing something good, so it doesn't just burn up inside me and cause me even more suffering.

As Mr. Gaiman said, "Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do. Make good art."

And that's a really great advice. ✨️

[sexy-velociraptors]

WELCOME TO THE NEW KINK-BLOG-IN-PROGRESS

What’s up? I’m Leo. 25, submissive, transmasc. I use he/him pronouns IRL but u can call me “it” here.

I was super active on tumblr before the Purge, my url was velociraptors-jerkin-it. I’m looking to get back into the game, but it seems the game has changed, so please LMK if I’ve got any faux-pas or red flags going on.

THE BORING STUFF:

A DNI list has always struck me as kinda silly (have they ever stopped anyone, ever?), but they seem to be standard, so I’ll get the basics out of the way.

Minors, get your jailbait asses out of here.

Right wingers GTFO, centrists are on Thin Fucking Ice.

ED/Self-Harm/Suicide/etc blogs. If you’re personally struggling, please seek help, but I’ve been there and I’m not talking about you. I mean the proana/thinspo/whatever-the-fuck-y’all’re-calling-yourselves-these-days types, and those who glorify harm to themselves and others.

People who are into hard limits of mine can still interact, but please don’t send messages/leave captions pertaining to them.

Likewise, straight men and lesbians can follow, but I’d really not hear from y’all.

On the tumblr #disc-horse front, asexuals are fantastic, so are people of any and every gender, pronouns, and presentation. Liking weird porn doesn’t inherently make a person immoral or harmful, IRL immoral and harmful actions do.

MY HARD LIMITS INCLUDE (BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO):

Dick pics

Incest (including daddy kink and stepfamily)

Vomit/scat/watersports

Blood (as well as knives, needles, etc)

Misgendering/detrans/sissification

Breeding kink

Ageplay

Guns

Bestiality (as defined by the Harkness Test)

Necrophilia

Anything that violates IRL people’s consent (fictional people are fair game)

I’m in charge of curating my own online experience, if I follow someone on my own DNI list that’s my fault. If one of those things applies to you and you’d like to let me know, that’d be awesome, but is not mandatory.

That being said, I can and will block with impunity. If you send me anything to do with my hard limits you will get an instablock. If you send me dick pics you will get an instablock. Age stuff is iffy, but if I deem you too old or young for me I may politely ask u to lay off (unless you’re under 18, in which case, instablock)

THE FUN STUFF

My kinks are too numerous to list, and I discover new ones all the time. I’m a masochistic service sub into bondage, degradation, objectification, and god-knows-what-else. I also have what I like to call a “möbius kink”: indulging other people’s people’s fetishes gets me off, even/especially when they’re not my own. For example, I have zero interest in feet, but I’ve had a great time sucking the toes of someone who did.

I have a toybox I’m rather proud of, if I do say so myself. I’ve got plenty of restraints, vibes, hurty-things, the list goes on. I’ll probably post more info about it soon.

Captions on my photos are welcome and encouraged!

REMEMBER THE OLD BLOG?

The old blog was largely kinky reblogs, but I had a system for my original content. Anyone could send in a request for any photo (within my limits), and I’d post it. I want to bring that back! With a few caveats:

A. My living situation limits my ability to take creative photos. I may be simply unable to get every photo from every angle like I used to.

B. This is probably not going to be sustainable. At some point the photo request rules will change to make the workload manageable, and you all have to promise to be cool about it, ok?

C: I worked way too hard on the old blog for zero money. I’ll likely work out an honor-based tip system. This is also under the banner of “I warned you in advance so you have to promise to be cool about it”

If you have any old pics/posts from the old blog, I’d love to see them! Most of those nudes are lost to time AFAIK

ABOUT MY BODY/GENDER:

I’m a trans man. Transmasculine. FTM. If you don’t know what that is, Google is free. If you don’t think that exists, the unfollow and block buttons are right there.

If you have “men DNI” “cis men DNI” or similar in your bio, I won’t be interacting. You have the right to draw boundaries, but cis men and I are the same gender.

I got top surgery in Jan 2022. I don’t have nipples anymore. I think this is extremely sexy of me and I’m correct.

I’ve been on and off testosterone since Feb 2016. I’ve been off it long enough (due to circumstance changes, not gender ones) that I’m not as hairy as I used to be. This is relevant bc the old blog got popular among body hair fetishists (my möbius kink at work)

I have a clitoris, T made it much larger than a cis woman’s. You can call it a clit, or a cock, or a shrimpdick, or just about anything else. I also have a vagina, which I tend to call my front hole or my cunt. You can call it a pussy, but please don’t call it anything feminine or things like “pretty”.

I’d like to think that’s all, but I’m sure there will be more I’ll have to add at some point. Consider all of the above subject to change.

[spiltscribbles]

57. “Wait a second.. are you jealous?” + Poorly Timed Confession + modern au 😍 pretty please!!!

~Notes: OMFG angel!!! Thank you SO SO much for the prompt<3 You are a complete babe! I hope you like :S It’s cheese, but like also what else would I do? LMFAO XD

.-

Smash Prompt Game  |  Send Me A Prompt💜 |  A Reblog Is Like An I Love You!!

.-

“Hmmm… All right, would you rather, mmm… Smell Borris Johnson’s sweaty gym socks, or snog Professor Slughorn full on the mouth for a straight minute— oh erm, not so straight I reckon on second thought.”

Remus wrinkles his nose at him from across the bed, and clucks his tongue at the awful pun. “You’re unruly.”

“And you’re dodging,”

“Am not arse, I’m just recovering from that very terrifying scenario you’ve spewed out like the sadistic satanist you are.”

“Which scenario are you recovering from though?” Sirius leers, wiggling his eyebrows and jostling Remus’s textbook with his foot.

“I hate that you’re enjoying this so much,” Remus intones in a deadpan.

“Mary John, I’m waiting,” Sirius says with far too much glee.

Sometimes Remus is sure that he hates him. “Fine, the answer is I hate you.”

“Filthy and slanderous lies, Lupin.”

“You’re demented.”

“Five. Four. Three—“

“I won’t choose.”

“See,  all I hear is that you wanna get it on with our chemistry professor, you saucy minx, you.”

Remus sniffs. “Better than touching that prick with even a ten foot pole.”

“Mmmm, have I ever told you how hot and heavy I get hearing you talk politics at me?”

Remus throws him the bird, which makes Sirius laugh. Remus can objectively say that Sirius has the most beautiful variations of laughter in the world, and he’d know considering he’s catalogued each one. This version is definitely top three. His care free, effortless laugh when Remus takes him off guard with a snide remark or lowly muttered retort that’s not appropriate for most company— It’s really more of a experience, truly. His breaths stutter out in a lovely staccato, and his eyes glimmer like the sea, and sometimes it feels like the world’s been suspended and it’s only the two of them in that slice of eternity.

Erm, Ah, but yeah…. That only happens occasionally, and it’s only because Sirius is Remus’s greatest friend— has been since the final year of primary school after Remus had moved to the London outskirts from his small, coastal town in Wales, and on first sight, Sirius swung a snowball straight to Remus’s face, which he of course responded to by throwing two more his way, and well… The pair of them were soaking and breathless by the end of it, but their fate was sealed, they were the greatest of friends, and nothing would ever alter that unquestionable staple.

So what if sometimes Remus’s chest thuds painfully when Sirius dimples his way, or Remus only ever wants to talk to him over anyone else— even Lily or his Mam— if he’s had a bad day, or good one, or if something remarkable had happened, or , or… Or whenever really. And there’s absolutely no significance that Remus can’t help the totally delighted grin that splits his face in half whenever he gets a text or snap from Sirius.

None of that is at all relevant.

Sirius is Remus’s greatest friend, and he’d never risk ruining that by allowing some pesky little crush swallow him whole and clammer out his mouth— vulnerable and throbbing in the open space between them. It doesn’t matter if Marlene always makes kissy faces their way, or how James only ever refers to them as a couple, and so what if Peter’s got a pole running that Remus knows basically the whole school is betting on. 

They’re all wrong, Sirius would never, ever feel the same sort of way that Remus does him, that’s downright preposterous and ridiculous and just simply impossible. And Remus’s perfectly content with that very real truth… He is.

Remus is fine with it God help him. So everyone else just needs to but the fuck out of their business.

Besides, this, this right now— Him and Sirius splayed out on opposite ends of Remus’s bed, with Sirius’s feet nudging at Remus’s elbow whenever he’s got a question about there homework, with the window cracked open just so, letting in some of the chilly winter air because Sirius absolutely can not focus if he’s not cold— the fucking furnace— Where Remus can still hear the going ons of his family playing out on the floor below them… This is the most perfect place in Remus’s eyes, and he won’t ever change that, especially not to live out some boyhood fantasy that would never come into fruition in his wildest of dreams.

Remus’s content… He is… He has to be or else he’d lose one of the most vital people in his world.

.-

“You’ve got footie practice after school, right?”

“Mmhmm, you coming to watch?”

“Only if you admit i’m your good luck charm,” Remus sardonically bats his lashes at Sirius as if he was in a mascara advert, and the taller boy  blows a raspberry right back at him.

“Nice, real nice. You’re extraordinarily mature, you know that, Black?”

“And sexy, don’t forget that, oh so important descriptor Lupin.”

Remus leans against the locker besides Sirius’s, watches as he trades his current binders for the lot he’ll need for the afternoon, and tries really hard not to stare too longingly at how Sirius’s arm muscles ripple beneath their school’s  maroon, uniform jackets  in the most delicious of ways. (He hates the fact he’s been dissolved into a starry eyed mess lusting over the star striker, but thus is his fate.)

“I’d never commit such a faux pas, and I’m insulted that you’d ever think as much.”

Sirius sneers at him with a slight shake to his head. “So you coming or not?”

“I’m still contemplating my options,” he preens, but before Sirius could retort, Marlene, megawatt smile and dangerously sharp  smirk— swaggers over towards them.

“Good morning my two beautiful chums!”

“What do you want?” Sirius asks before even glancing her way, to which Marlene blinks up at him, faux owlish. “S, I just wanted to greet a couple of my closest companions this lovely December morning,” she defends herself.

“Marls, you’re never this agreeable before noon,” Remus points out hesitantly.

“ And you rarely are even afterwards,” Sirius tacks on.

“Rude,” she pouts.

“Accurate,” Remus pipes in with an apologetic grimace.

Marlene stares them both down for a solid minute before finally relaxing her shoulders, and thrusting out the legal pad in her grasp. “The student council and spirit society are selling corsages for the snowflake formal, and Dorcas has deployed me to get some orders.”

“Whipped,” Sirius teases through a counter-fit cough.

Marlene doesn’t hesitate before smashing the legal pad on his head. “And you traipsing around getting people to buy the tickets for the theatre department last semester even though Re was only playing Mercutio wasn’t you being wrapped around his littlest finger?”

Remus flushes, feeling an unnerving amount of bees stinging around his stomach, and is thankful when the conversation pauses after Sirius casts her a very heated V.  “Sod off.”

“So are you guys gonna buy or not?” Marlene huffs, weight slung to her left hip, and arms crossed against her chest.

“I’m a gay bloke, Marls, did you forget that?” Remus pins her with a one eyed squint, and she just scrunches her face up at him, exasperated.

“I’m sure there’s matching boutonnieres.”

“Fine, I just don’t have any school spirit  then.”

This time she glares. “Lily and James are Head Boy and Head Girl, isn’t there like an oath between you lot,  one for all and all for one, or some rot?”

“That’s the three musketeers,” he says.

“isn’t that basically who you guys are?” She reasons.

Before their wage of words could continue, Sirius just grabs the order form out of Marlene’s hands and fills out a sheet with the flurry of his pen. ���Happy?”

“Positively delighted,” she leers, pecking them both on the cheek before strutting off, reminding them of their group study session at Alice’s tonight in her wake.

Sirius shakes his head, reluctantly amused with a grin gathering on the corners of his mouth, but for Remus everything feels like it’s frozen. “You didn’t have to do that you know? ’S not like James is much of a Head Boy anyhow, and Lily wouldn’t have really cared.”

Sirius shrugs, commences their walk to the opposite wing of the school for their shared history class. “Emmy likes that sort of romantical shite.”

Remus sees red, feels his heart lodging in his damn esophagus. “Oh, so— Erm,  you’re taking her then,” Remus wonders if his tone sounds as detached as he feels.

“Yeah,” Sirius eyes him, questioning. “She wants that title of snow queen real bad, made me promise I’d campaign with her and the whole shtick.”

“Oh,” it’s like Remus could feel it when he closes off completely, can feel his hopes squashed down and his heart contract and his every organ collapsing in on themselves, leaving him feeling hollowed out completely.

Sirius slows down marginally, eyeing him with a slight frown. “Is that all right? I know you two don’t exactly get along and we were planning to go as a group, bu—“

“It’s fine,” Remus hates how screechy his voice gets, how he feels like he’s about to scream. “You two are a shoe in, no doubt.”

Sirius tries to mirror Remus’s faux excitement with a tepid grin of his own, but Remus doesn’t let him, instead commandeering their typical table on the back row and tries focussing on the thousandth war with France while his world tilts off kilter.

.-

Emmy is beautiful, and popular and her smile alone dazzles the whole room. She’s everything that Sirius should look for in a partner, someone to match his whip lash wit, and his taste for all things exuberant that skirt on flashy, and someone who’s got just as many friends and admirers as him.

They’re perfect and Remus should just get over his petty ass hatred of her, even if he still thinks she can be down right cruel and selective and selfish. Qualities Sirius surely isn’t… But maybe it’s all in his head how she sneers at people who she finds plane, or how she literally guffaws over the misfortune of others. Maybe his perception of how she wields people in like moths to a flame just to get what she wants is all a misunderstanding, or in his head or something.

Maybe all that’s possible, even if Remus seriously doubts it.

But at the end of the day, Sirius loves her— has been basically infatuated by Emmeline Vance since she first transferred at the start of their Freshman year. Sirius loves her, and who ever Sirius loves is merely an extension of him… Right?

Remus just needs to get over it and somehow rid himself of this crush he’s been fostering for so long it’s basically a part of him at this point. Though, he thinks it’d be a lot easier if he didn’t see their faces plastered on posters everywhere the week and a half leading up to the dance— looking like actual royals that would put Will and cate to shame.

.-

“Yo cheekbones!”

Remus starts, swivels around from where he was scratching his pen to paper, finding Sirius— as glimmering and beautiful as always— swaggering up to him, insanely electric smile painted over his face.

“Would you rather eat a jumbo jar of jalapeños without a break, or eat the toenails from someone with athlete’s foot next to your dinner every night of the rest of your life?”

“I thought you were having lunch with Emmy to keep up your royalty status before this weekend?” Remus asks, tacitly side stepping from the horrific images swimming to the forefront of his mind because of his cruel question.

“Now that doesn’t sound like an answer to my ultimatum,” Sirius says in a singsong sort of voice.

“You answer me first,” Remus says airily.

“But I asked first,” Sirius argues haughtily.

“Well both your options would kill me, so I wouldn’t do either,” Remus retorts.

“That’s not how the game works!”

“You’re the one who always says that rules were made to be broken,” Remus says, lofty as all get out,, and dissolves into laughter at the completely cross look Sirius’s giving him.

“You were born to be contrary, weren’t you?”

“So lunch?”

“Got bored,” he shrugs, hopping onto the corner of the desk Remus’s working on. “What you up to instead of eating?”

“My position paper for Model UN.” Sirius smiles down at him, and Remus can’t help the flush that spreads across his cheeks in return. “Not as glamorous as running as Snow King, I know.”

“It’s precious,” Sirius contends, his soft timbre sounding like syrup and his long fingers fluttering against Remus’s skin, pushing back a lock of his ever disheveled, tawny curls in a far to gentle way, and Remus gulps before averting his gaze to break the sudden tautness that’s built between them. 

They’ve had so many of these almost moments, ones that Remus’s always treasured but he knows doesn’t mean much of anything at all to Sirius— Sirius who is effortlessly hilarious, and brims with genius and  who is so beautiful that sometimes it hurts looking at him for too long. Sirius who has a new suitor at his beck and call on a near weekly basis. But whenever they transpire now, it just hurts all the more because Remus knows in his heart of hearts that they will never lead anywhere, and Sirius is in love with Emmy and Remus can’t let himself float around in this daydream for any longer.

“Ahem,” he clears his throat, shuffles in his seat only slightly. “I’m Algeria so my Mam’s pretty excited about it. She’s been telling me all the stuff Wikipedia’s got wrong and everything.”

Sirius laughs, but it doesn’t touch his eyes. “Your mother is kinda everything, you know that?”

Remus twists his mouth up, reluctant. “Don’t tell her as much, or else she’ll go on and on how she won Miss Teen Great Britain when she was only sixteen.”

“Hmm, I was wondering where you got that pretty face.”

“You, Sirius Black, can go lick an unwashed arse.”

“You’ll never catch a suitor with that cheek of yours though. I’d work on that, Lupin.”

“I don’t think I could ever win Miss Congeniality, alas.”  Remus doesn’t quite catch Sirius’s reply, to busy responding too the text his phone just chirped with instead.

“Mary John, are you listening?”

“Uh-huh.”

Sirius’s brows hike up, flabbergasted smile stretched across his face. “So totally rude! And I came all the way here— to the place where dreamers die— just to spend time with you.”

“Sorry,” Remus gives him an abashed little half grin before setting the phone back down. “’s just Fabian.”

Sirius’s expression drops, goes inquisitive instead of his typical ebullience. “Fabian? Why’s Fabian Prewett texting you, and why is he,” Sirius crooks his head so he’s able to read the new message that popped up on Remus’s phone’s screen. “Asking about color coordination?”

Remus blushes for an entirely new reason now, one he likes much less. “Ah, he’s the sort to like it when our suits like match, but not in an abrasive fashion, you know?”

Sirius’s face goes scarily blank.

“Your suits? Suits for what?”

“The dance…” Remus says slowly, he’s confused what Sirius’s confused about.

“The dance… Right… I thought you were still going with everyone else?”

“Pff, no way,” Remus scoffs. “Lily’s  only pretending to be single, you know how red in the face she gets whenever around James. They’ll end up dancing the whole night away. And with Dorcas running the whole event and Benjy thinking any social function is a plague on society, that’d leave me stuck with Peter and Mary, . And honestly I’ve seen enough of her tongue shoved down his throat for a lifetime.” Remus is only slightly  surprised that doesn’t even elicit a chuckle from Sirius, who’s now looking a bit stormy— and he thinks he’ll never be accustomed to his mercurial moods that can change as quickly as the snap of the finger.

“Right… So you’re going with Fabian Prewett… as your date?”

“Yes… Why is that so hard to believe?”

“it’s, it’s not,” Sirius scrambles, suddenly standing up.

“Then why are you being so weird about this,” Remus argues, getting up to meet him at his level.

“Am not!”

“You’re going with Emmy,” Remus reminds him, this edge of desperate.

“I know I am, okay. But you— you—“ Sirius tappers off, eyes glassy and lips parted with words he can’t get out, and Jesus fucking Christ is it weird how for the first time ever their roles have reversed. Sirius can’t put any sentences together, and everything Remus’s been beating down—  everything thrashing inside of him— are now burning his throat and warring over who can spill out first.

“What? I’m suppose to stay behind like the pathetic, nobody friend. The guy who’s just there to moon after you while you have an actual life. The Judie garland to your Mickie Roomie!”

“What are you even talking about right now!” Sirius shouts, sounding as torn apart as Remus feels.

“As if you don’t know!” He snarls, collecting his books into his backpack— Suddenly this room feels to stifling. He can’t breathe and it’s too hot and his chest is pounding.

He’s imploding and Remus has no idea how to rectify it.

“Just stop! Remus Stop!”

“leave me the fuck alone Sirius!”

“Why are you being such a prick about this!”

And that, that makes Remus angry, angrier than he’s ever been.

Before he could even think about it for a moment longer, Remus is rounding on him, dashing so close to Sirius that he can taste his breath with how close their faces are skirting against each other.

“I’m in love with you! I’ve been in love with you for forever, and I know that you don’t feel the same way, and I know that you’re in love with Emmy and, and I just know okay.”

“Wha—“ Sirius sputters, looking like a gaping fish. “Wait a second, are you jealous? Of sodding Emmy Vance?”

“Don’t!” Remus practically growls out. "Don’t disrespect me, okay? Don’t pretend that you never knew, or that I was such a good actor. I’ve been in love with you for years and you always knew and Fine, I get it. You never felt the same way, that’s fine. But just don’t pretend as if you never had the choice, don’t make me out as the bad guy for actually, finally saying yes to a bloke who’s actually into me. I need to fucking give up on the premise of us, I need to get over you. So I’m going out with fucking Fabian Prewett and you’re going out with Emmy Vance and that’s that!”

His breaths are labored, jagged and painful, as they race out of him, but Remus can’t move. He’s staring straight into Sirius’s beautiful, gray eyes, and he sees everything he’s always seen there, and hates that this is probably the last time he’ll get to be this close to him.

Not after this.

“I didn’t,” is the first thing Sirius croaks out, broken and helpless. “i didn’t know, Remus you have to believe me— I didn’t—”

“How! How could you not know!” He shouts back, but Remus doesn’t get his answer in so many words, instead he feels it.

He feels it when Sirius clamps his hands on either end of his waste-line, feels it when Sirius smashes their lips together in a cacophony of lips, and teeth and spit. He feels it when Sirius moans in side of him, when his hand moves down, spreads across the width of the small of his back, pushing their torsos even closer. Remus feels it when everything goes into focus, when he takes Sirius into his arms, greedy and excited and disbelieving.

And Remus thinks to all the other times he’s kissed another boy— To this prior weekend swapping snogs with a beaming Fabian in the back of a theatre. He thinks of how there was never anything worth anything when he kissed any of them Because it was all Sirius, always Sirius. And he could try to love Fabian, or some other cute boy, and he tried, and he tried, and he tried, and he gave all he had…but it was never enough, could it ever be enough?

Remus knows it in his bones that it’s enough when it’s with Sirius.

When they finally pull apart it’s difficult to breathe and Remus feels lightheaded and it’s wonderful in the most marvelous of ways.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Sirius says in a whisper. 

“Maybe next time give a guy some warning?” Remus can’t help the shit eating smirk that swipes across his mouth and is elated at the adorably cross scowl Sirius answers him with.

“Fine jackass, how’s this for a warning, I’m gonna kiss you now.”

“That’ll be sufficient, I suppose,” Remus goads, laughing against Sirius’s lips when he does just that.

~*~

Sirius ends up winning snow king, but rejects the dance with Emmy, opts to ask Remus to join him instead, as if they were in the middle of some John Hughes movie from the fucking 80s.

It’s utterly ridiculous and overdone and simply way too much— but everyone applauded and cheered and when Sirius kissed him in the middle of it, Remus felt as if his whole body sung with joy.

.-

~My Wolfstar FIC Masterlist

[impracticaldemon]

Queen & Captain

by impracticaldemon for Shalily Week 2019, prompts: “Status Quo” & “Safety” fandom:  Fairy Tail pairing: (human) Shagotte x Pantherlily words: 1300     rating:  general (historical/fantasy fluff) [will also be available on FFnet and AO3]

~-----~

Queen and Captain

“Travel papers?”

The guard at the gate looked bored, and Pantherlily saw his eyes flick toward the horizon, and the bright orange-red glow of the setting sun.  The tall former soldier had picked his time with care—no matter how much unrest remained in both the City and the country as a whole, a man who’d spent the day on gate duty in the sun would be hungry and averse to creating work for himself. Hopefully, he’d be disinclined to examine their documents too closely.

“Here.”

“Mm.” The guard scanned the artistically aged parchment with a practised eye, and Lily was glad he’d followed Lady Shagotte’s advice and spilled tea on it the day before.  There was something very normal about tea stains. “Your wife, is she?”

“Yes.”  He managed not to hesitate, this time.  Her (former) Royal Majesty had scolded him just the day before about his reluctance to claim her—on paper!—as his bride.  She’d understood his dilemma, but pointed out that she’d rather be married—on paper!—to him, than dead at the hands of the victorious invaders for the sake of royal etiquette.  There was anonymity, and safety, in being a wife.

The guard smirked.  “Frail little thing.  Try not to break her, big man.”  He gave Lily a friendly poke, and Lily tried not to scowl.  He could tell he failed by the way the other man’s eyes narrowed.  Then again, it would have been suspicious if he’d been happy with the comment.  Or so he hoped.  Acting wasn’t Lily’s strong point.

“…Yeah.”  He shuffled his feet, desperately trying to look more like a big labourer than the former captain of the Queen’s Elite Corps.  The dirt on his hands and face was authentic enough, as was the… odour… Lady Shagotte had insisted on rubbing into the soles of his boots.

[READ MORE BELOW]

There was a long pause while the guard made a show of rereading the documents.  Pantherlily was just starting to get genuinely worried when the man stepped to one side with a shrug and a nod.

“Don’t cause any trouble. We’ll be keeping an eye on you—got it?”

“Got it.”  Pantherlily gestured his ‘wife’ over, and tried to look natural about expecting her to follow him through the gates.  It was killing him not to carry all her things for her, but she’d insisted it would look strange if he did.  With an effort, he quelled the rage in his heart at having to watch her duck her head submissively to the annoying gate guard. Her life was more important than her dignity, as she kept telling him.

“Lily…”

A soft voice recalled him to his surroundings, and he felt heat suffuse his cheeks.  Until a few days ago she’d only ever called him ‘Captain’ or ‘Captain Pantherlily’.  Even if it was just for the sake of their disguise, he found it embarrassing to hear his adored Queen use his unadorned name, and a diminutive at that.  Embarrassing and ridiculously charming—as if he didn’t love her enough already.

“Yes, My Qu—um, I mean, my… my dear?”

There was a gurgle of laughter from beside him.  Two bright eyes peered up at him from between the wide brim of an unfashionable travel hat, and a wide scarf.

“You sound so—so unconvincing, Captain!”  Then she clapped her slender hands over her mouth at her faux pas and glanced around nervously.

“Sorry,” muttered Pantherlily, also casting a wary eye over the people around them.  As far as he could tell, nobody was paying them special attention except to the extent of being cautious of his size.  He made an effort to slow his pace and drag his feet a little.

Lady Shagotte cleared her throat.  “I’m sure it’s fine, dear.  No need to look so uncomfortable just because we’re finally in the big city.”

“As you say, Sh-Shagotte.” Her name wasn’t a problem in and of itself, since many girls had been named after her while she was still a child, and even after she’d taken the throne following her parents’ tragic death. But to use such a familiar form of address—!  It simultaneously lacerated Pantherlily’s sensibilities, and made heat rise to his cheeks.  He was glad his skin was too dark to show any but the deepest blushes.

~-----~

They took a room at a moderately respectable inn, grateful for the chance to wash, even superficially. Pantherlily had already chosen the place as a short-term refuge during the early part of the one-sided war.  Lady Shagotte’s most devious advisor—and where was that irritating man now?—had arranged things so that Pantherlily would be known as a friend of a friend when he arrived.  It was fortunate that the Royal Palace was located in a town over a hundred miles from the City, though.  Otherwise, it would have been too great a risk for him to travel with the Queen, even in disguise.

“You’re frowning again, Lily,” murmured Lady Shagotte, setting a cup of tea in front of him. She’d insisted on learning to make and serve ‘commoner’s tea’.

“My lady—”

“Pantherlily. You promised to try harder.  We’ll never be convincing in public if we don’t practice in private!”

Lily took a sip of tea. It was an effort to drink the bitter, ill-steeped brew, but she had made it for him, and he bore it stoically. Besides, it had improved, and now resembled tea more than ditch-water.

“…I beg your pardon, my—I mean—Shagotte.”

With her hat and gauzy scarf discarded—the door had been firmly locked—Shagotte looked much more herself again.  She was smiling, but her eyes were tired and sad, and Lily longed to hold her and—

“Well, I suppose I am your Shagotte at the moment.”

“Ah—er.”  Her words had been light, but it had been impossible—even for him—to miss the hint of underlying sincerity, or maybe hopefulness.

They stared at each other, expressions mirroring the same rush of longing, uncertainty, and  deep loneliness.  Old habits and rigid principles vied with human need for love and consolation.

Shagotte cleared her throat and looked down, eyes once more veiled by long, near-white lashes.  “Captain, I—”

Her words were abruptly muffled as Lily pulled her across the short distance into his lap, and pressed her tightly against his solid chest.  Large, capable hands stroked her back, and caressed her damp, tangled hair. He was very strong, but she was the most precious being in the world to him, and his touch communicated both love and desire—he would never hurt her, even by accident.  The gate guard had risked his life by implying otherwise.  

“My Queen…  Let’s just pretend… for a while…”  He pressed his lips to her forehead, marvelling at how warm and supple she was, despite the superficial frailty that had caused such anxiety to her court officials.  They had not understood her brilliance and strength, and their fear had led to disaster.

“…Mmm… Lily…” Shagotte leaned away from him a little, just enough so that she could glimpse his face.  “Let’s—let’s stop pretending for a while.  Shall I tell you how I really feel about you?”

“No—I don’t know if I could go back to… how it must be… if you did that.”

In response, Shagotte wrapped her arms around Lily’s neck, and pulled his face down to hers.  Her beautiful eyes were brighter than ever before.

“Then I’ll show you, dear captain, dear Lily, so that you’ll never forget.”  She whispered the words against his lips, before kissing him as passionately as innocence and inexperience would allow.

“My Queen…”  Minutes passed, and when they finally needed air, Lily corrected himself, murmuring the words into her ear, while his sword-worn hands explored her soft skin:  “Shagotte, my dearest, only love…”

[END]

Likes, comments, reblogs are all appreciated!  ~ Imp

[airis-paris14]

Dress Up 2

Summary: She’s not his Fiancée, but no one needs to know.

Warnings: none

A/N: Like ,Comment, and Reblog

1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 || 10

“What? I am already-” T’Challa frowned.

“It appears that Kamyra has run away. She met Sirobie in the park. She switched kimoyo beads with her and fled.” Ramonda explained a hand sinking down to squeeze Sirobie’s. “Sirobie has agreed to be kamyra’s stand in until she is located.”

“And I am just supposed to be ok with this?” T’Challa argued.

“Well that is the idea your majesty,” Shuri rolled her eyes. “It is not like you can tell them apart.”

“There is a search party looking fo Kamyra?” the king glanced at his mother wearily. “Yes, I am sure we will have some news on her whereabouts soon. She could not have gotten very far.”

“Very well then, is she ready to go?”the king eyed Sirobie once more. “I am not a robot,” Sirobie interjected. “Hmm, I’ll keep that in mind.” T’Challa turned on his heel and strolled out of his room.

“Arse,” Shuri murmured. “Shuri,” Queen mother glared at her youngest. “Sorry mama,” the teen groaned. Sirobie held in a chuckle as the trio walked out of the room.

“He will come around,” Ramonda spoke up. The hall was relatively silent as they passed. The only sound was the swishing of their dresses as they moved through the hall. “Now, T’Challa will walk in without you first.Then we three will enter. You will enter last as the future Queen of Wakanda.”

“I think I can handle that,” Sirobie nodded. “Good. then you and T’Challa will share a dance together,” the Queen continued. Sirobie froze mid step, “Dance?”

“Yes,” the queen replied, turning to face the girl. “Your majesty, I do not know how to dance.”

“Nonsense, everyone knows how to dance,” the Queen smiled. “I mean twerk, yeah. Grind, swag surf, dougie, wine, two step, biker shuffle, cupid shuffle, bunny hop, stick it and roll it, wobble. These are all things I know. But, I am assuming that this party will be alot more formal than that,” Sirobie rambled. “Just follow T’Challa’s lead,” the Queen soothed, gently snaking her arm through the girl’s. “Everything will be fine I promise.” The queen takes the girls hand in her own and squeezes them lightly. She and Shuri file into a single line in front of Sirobie.

The Howard student took a moment to observe the room around her. A large set of silver doors stood in front of her. The intricate carvings drew her attention, until someone calling startled her. “Kamyra,” Queen Ramonda waved a hand, motioning for her to join them on the grand staircase. Sirobie blushed as she took slow measured steps out to join the other women on the balcony. The Queen smiled before turning to face the crowd below her.

“Look above them Ro.” the student murmured to herself, trying to recall all of Queen mother’s teachings.

“Grandeur is a show. A performance. They are all here for a good show. Nothing more, nothing less.” The Queen lectured. ‘They could care less whether or not you or T’Challa are happy. They only care about how you make them feel.”

A hand on the small of her back startled her out of her daydream. She forced a dazzling smile as the Queen guided her down the stairs. She made sure to place her foot fully upon each stair before stepping on to it. The safety measure creating a dramatic display as the three processed down the staircase in seemingly slow motion.

Sirobie accepted T’Challa’s extended hand as he helped her off the last stair. “Smile,” the king murmured as he pulled her out to the middle of the dance floor. “I was not aware that I had stopped,” Sirobie rebutted through gritted teeth. Camera bulbs went off around them as the King gestured to the band. “Ah, so she does speak.” The music started softly in the background. All eyes were on the couple as the king began to effortlessly spin Sirobie around the room. “When I need to. I saw no reason to speak earlier.” She replied, taking a deep breath as T’Challa spun her out under his arm.

“You saw no reason to speak earlier?” the king raised an eyebrow. “No, what was being discussed was none of my business. It was not my place to reveal who I was,” Sirobie shrugged. Couples began to fill into the dance floor around them. “Why not?”

“I was given a job, which was to pretend to be,” Sirobie started. “I agree daisies would look wonderful as a centerpiece,” T’Challa loudly interrupted Sirobie. “Why did you,” she tried again. “My love, we can talk about wedding plans later. Let’s get dinner,” The king gestured to the band to cut the music. He bowed before Sirobie. The student started to curtsy before remembering Queen mother’s comment. She quickly opted for a gentle dip of her head. T’Challa offered her his arm once more as they walked off of the dance floor. “Everyone around us is listening. Hoping for any chance to hear apart of the king and future queens conversation. We cannot speak freely here. We will speak later.”

T’Challa lead Sirobie to the head of the table. He pulled out her chair before settling in his own. She sat as his right and wrung her hands nervously. She was relieved to see Shuri next to her and Queen mother across the table from her. Various elders and government officials found their various seats around the large table. Once everyone was seated the Chefs began to serve, they placed a large leafy green salad in front of each person. Various fruits adorned the salad along with grilled chicken. A cup of dressing was nestled on the side of the plate to be used at the individual’s leisure. Sirobie watched the royal family, noting that no one around her reached for their food.

T’Challa stood and lightly tapped the side of his glass with a spoon. “I would like to thank you all for being here tonight, to celebrate the engagement of myself and Lady Kamyra,” The king smiled in Sirobie’s direction. The student ducked her head under all the attention. Many of the elder’s chuckled, mistaking her nerves for bashfulness. “and our happy life together.” Many of the elder’s cheered, taking a sip from their glasses. “Wakanda forever!” someone shouted, everyone saluted in unison, leaving Sirobie fumbling to catch up. Shuri stifled a laugh as the student accidently knocked over her water glass.”I’m so sorry,” she fumbled, using her table napkin to dab the spot. Queen Ramonda pinched her daughter hard under the arm, helping Sirobie to dab at the spot as servers came to her aid. Murmurs and laughter erupted around the table. Heat rose to sirobie’s cheeks as she dabbed the spot harder, tears pricking the corner of her eyes.

The servers finished drying the spot before handing the student a new napkin. She thanked them quietly as T’Challa called the room back to attention. She stared at her plate for the rest of T’Challa’s speech, only looking up to thank the server for her salad. She waited till she saw T’Challa reach for his fork before looking for hers. The three forks, three spoons, and two knives stared back at her from around her plate. “Third from the right, right?” Sirobie mumbled as her hand wavered between the available forks. T’Challa’s finger gently wrapped around her pinky. Many of the elder’s smiled at the display of affection. T’Challa gently guided her hand over to the right fork, before removing his finger.

The college student smiled her gratitude before beginning to eat her salad. The dinner went smoothly from then on. After her faux pas Sirobie decided to stay under the radar. She smiled and laughed along as best as she could until she felt T’Challa squeeze her hand, “Kamyra has decided to speak only in English to help prepare her for foreign affairs,” the king smiled. “I apologize, I’ve just been a little hazy minded all day,” Sirobie smiled. “I was just asking how you are feeling. I noticed you have been quieter than usual tonight,” The elder smiled. “I am well thank you. I really appreciate your concern and thoughtfulness,” Sirobie smiled. Murmurs erupted around the room as Sirobie finished the rest of her salad. “Should we all head back out to the ballroom?” T’challa wiped his mouth before standing. The guests all did the same. “My love?” T’challa called, extending a hand to the student. “Oh I apologize,” Sirobie hurriedly pushed her plate away before standing up.

T’Challa led her out first, laughs filtering out of the room behind them. The rest of the night was not much better. Sirobie followed the king around the room. Nodding her head and laughing with everyone as people around her conversed in a language she did not understand. That was the exact moment when the reality of her situation caught up with her. For the next two months this is her life. A fianceé who is constantly embarrassed by her, and people who she could not understand.

Sirobie gently places a hand on the king’s arm and squeezes it lightly. T’Challa pauses his conversation to look at her, “I think I am going to step out to get some fresh air.”

“Do you need me to accompany you?” The king raised an eyebrow. “No, I was just letting you know,” the student resisted the urge to glare. “Excuse me,” she smiled at the elders before walking off. She felt her train gliding behind her as she made her way to the nearest balcony, She paused to grab a glass of champagne when a hand came to rest on her arm. “My lady are you alright?”

Sirobie turned to find a group of women surrounding her. “I am fine I was just heading out to grab some air,” the student answered, moving again for the door. “Are you sure, I have never seen you without the king.” Another lady insisted the women moving in around Sirobie. Her heart began to race, she tried to wipe her hands on her dress, the sweat building up between her palm and the glass. “I am quite certain, I can handle myself,” she laughed awkwardly, again moving for the balcony door. “My lady are you quite certain, you seem to be getting dizzy,” one of the elder women moved in reaching out to test Sirobie’s temperature on her forehead. “I am fine, please, I just want to reach the balcony.” Sirobie insisted again.

“My, dear, you look like you need to sit down,” and elderly lady tried to pull her back to a seat. “Please. Just let me get to the balcony, please,” Sirobie pleaded, pulling her arm from the woman’s grasp. “Oh sweetie, please, let us help. Mrs. Uma will get his majesty.”

“I think I am going to retire for bed if you don’t mind,” Sirobie excused herself rushing toward the stairs. The clumsiness that had evaded her all night finally caught up as she felt herself trip up the stairs. She heard a rip as she caught herself on the lip of the stairs, tears welling in her eyes as she gathered her skirts once more. “Kamyra!” Shuri called, “Sirobie resisted the urge to look back as she began fleeing up the stairs once more. The laughter and gossip followed her up the large staircase. “Did you see how much she was eating at dinner?”

“The clumsiness?” “I bet she’s pregnant” “If she was, that baby was definitely lost with that fall.” The voices haunted her as she continued up to the large doorway. Eyes trained on the floor, Sirobie rushed into Queen mother. “My dear,” the Queen smiled, before noticing her tears, “What is wrong.”

“I can’t do this. I am sorry,” Sirobie shook her head vigorously before rushing off to the room. Queen Ramonda frowned and gestured to a guard stationed by the door. “Please, see that she makes it to her appointed room safely,” the soldier nodded before following the weeping student.

Ramonda glided back into the party and immediately approached her son surrounded by elders. The tribal leaders bowed in turn to their Queen, “May I speak to my son alone,” the queen requested. The leaders peeled off one by one.

The queen wrapped her arm through her son’s and pulled him out onto the balcony, the two guards shut the door behind them. “Where is your fiancée ?” the Queen asked, releasing her son and continuing on to the balcony. “She went to get some air…” T’Challa started.

“You didn’t think to check up on her?” The Queen demanded. “She is an adult mama, she can handle herself.”

“Yes, but in this environment T’Challa, she might as well be a kindergartner! She speaks none of our language, she’s never been to an event like this. Let alone be the honoree of the night! She just ran out of this party crying!”

“She what!” the king fumed. “Do not blame this on her! She was overwhelmed son. I wasn’t even in this party and I can tell you what happened. Her dress was ripped as she ran out of the room. There was a group of women around her gossiping about her being pregnant. From how it seems, she didn’t even make it all the way to the balcony.”

“Do you not realize what an embarrassment this has been for me! My fiancée ran out of her party.”

“This would not have ended this way if you had been doing what you should be doing as a good fiance!” The Queen rebutted. “She is not my fiancée mama!”

“Watch your tone of voice with me T’Challa!” The queen looked towards the guards briefly, “Until we locate Kamyra, Sirobie is your fiancée . It is in all of our best interests for you to remember that T’Challa.”

The night was silent as the queen glared at her son, the king looked everywhere but at his mother, knowing what disappointment would be written all over her face. “Ever since Kamyra has come into this house, you have changed. It is almost as if I do not know who you are any more. I do not know what on Earth makes you believe that you must marry Kamyra,” the queen began. “Mama I..”

“Do not interrupt me T’challa. I am done trying to understand why. All I know, is that I wish my son would come back to us.”

Sirobie blindly rushed through the halls, muttering apologies as she ran past servants. Tears clouded her vision as she barralled down the corridor. Her breathing finally evening out as she glanced up, more tears choked her throat when she realized she had no idea where she was going.

“Miss?” a hand gently grabbed her arm, “The Queen asked that I make sure you made it to your room safely.” Sirobie turned to find a different guard than the one from earlier smiling at her. “Oh,” she sniffed, wiping from under her eyes, “thank you,” she allowed the woman to assist her to her room.

“You aren’t from Wakanda are you?” the woman asked. “I.. is it that obvious?”

“Painfully I am afraid.” the woman laughed.

“I also know that you are not lady Kamyra.”

“I guess I am not really fooling anybody am I,” Siorbie sighed. “You are fooling those that matter. Those of us who live with her know the difference,” The woman smiled. “I don’t know whether that is a compliment or and insult.”

“It depends on how you are looking at it. You have a certain type of grace. Ms. Kamyra’s is more stiff and forced with hers. You and she share the same physical beauty, but you are two different people. Which is a good thing.” The woman paused in front of Sirobie’s door.

“Thank you again..” The student trailed. “Imani-nia,” the guard bowed. “It was my pleasure, my lady. Goodnight. May Bast watch over you.” The warrior shut the door and took her place in the hall.

Sirobie sighed and headed into the bathroom to take a much needed shower. She kicked off her heels and sighed, allowing the cool stone floors to calm her aching feet. She walked to what she assumed was the closet door and pushed the door open. The light metal door seemed to move on its own as she walked into the room. She fought to keep her jaw from hitting the floor as she turned in awe. Clothes line the room. A wall of shoes with a small keypad caught her attention as well as a larger keypad beside the door. She noticed a note on the chaise in the middle of the closet.

The stylists have filled the closet with all items of clothing in your size. Including new more personal items of clothing. Pajamas, lingerie, and loungewear are all folded in the large dresser directly in front of you. Please, do not hesitate to notify myself, shuri, or any of the staff of whatever you need. Shuri will be by in the morning to show you how to work the closet itself.

Ramonda

Sirobie smiled at the elegant handwriting before walking over to the dresser. The college student laid the note on the top of the dresser before pulling open each drawer. She observed five dressers in all, each containing a specific type of clothing. She grabbed a silk tank top and short set from the drawer. Grabbing some underwear she headed into the bathroom and took a quick shower.

There at the sink she found another note from Queen Mother.

Shuri and I thought you might need these.

Sirobie smiled at the simple black box on her counter. She opened the lid to find a bonnet, scarf, oils, bobby pins, lotions, perfumes, and more selections of hair products. She marveled at the amount of items, before finding another note at the bottom.

We hope these work. We can go shopping for whatever else you may need.

Shuri & Ramonda

Tears creeped into Sirobie’s eyes as she glanced at the large box once more. She quickly refreshed her puff before laying her edges and tying them off. She covered her hair in the bonnet before heading off to the bed. She used the room controls to turn off the lights before climbing into the sheets. Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as it seemed.

Taglist: @almostpurelysmut @blackbypurpose @nyneebee @hutchj @tchoking @sisterwifeudaku @wikiwakanda @royallyprincesslilly @90sinspiredgirl @strictlyashley @afraiddreamingandloving @thedelightfulone @autumn242 @purple-apricots @kumkaniudaku @queertrex @kaciidubs @halfrican-heat @skysynclair19 @oceanscorazon @gorjiss @leahnicole1219 @kreolemami @mzbritt @yoyolovesbucky @derangedcupcake @builtalongthewayside @ilcb7 @chaneajoyyy @lalapalooza718 @ororowrites @leahnicole1219 @dopegalkk @sarcastic-sunshines @sarahboseman @shesakillerkween @waitingonafriend @faatassbitch

[ashleybenlove]

I wonder if one of the reasons that it’s so hard for content creators (especially fic writers) to get comments is because of the tumblr culture of like...

how dare you make a comment when you reblog. how dare you.

Like, we all know that right? Like, this whole culture of commenting directly in the comment box when reblogging is seen as heinous and awful and YOU SHOULD COMMENT IN THE TAGS INSTEAD. Especially if it’s seen as “unnecessary” (as in not adding to a conversation, or it’s just like “THIS” or “YAY” or something).  

I mean, I’ve been on Tumblr since 2011, and I know that got burned into my brain. I still struggle with it, whether in feeling irritated when I see someone comment on a post “unnecessarily” or by feeling weird about commenting or even by staying in the tags to comment.

Literally that whole talking in the tags thing is a byproduct of that culture. 

Obviously this is tumblr-centric but like, come on, I would imagine that viewpoint would stay with someone and they would avoid commenting on other places (like FF.net or AO3) as a result. We’re all afraid of somehow committing a faux pas because tumblr is... well, it’s unforgiving. 

This is just a thought, to be honest. I don’t have a solution except that I think it’s a good idea to ignore that toxic opinion of Commenting on Posts is Bad and You Should Feel Bad. Just ignore it.

I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to reblog and comment on fics. The content creators would be really happy if you did. They won’t yell at you. They’ll be so happy you did. I promise.

[claraxbarton]

Daily Boost!

Today’s Daily Boost is...

A 2x3x2 Rec List!

@chronicwhimsy put together an AMAZING 2x5x2 rec list a while back and has been curating it ever since (seriously, go check out all of the awesome).

Anyway, I figured, hey, I should put together a rec list for my favorite 2x3x2 fics. This won’t be all the fics ever, but it’s some favorites of mine. And it’s going to be long, so I’ll drop it under the cut. 

Have any to add? Reblog and tag! I will keep this updated/post it again with that name at some point.

I want to start off with the Foundational Three, as I think of them. These are the three fics I first remember reading and falling in love with and cementing 2x3x2 as my OTP:

Code of Silence by @tbll57 This is dark, post-canon, and full of wonderfully complex and painful relationships for all of the pilots. There are more fics as part of the series now too, all worth a read.

Rattlesnakes by @trixiedragon Another dark, post-canon fic. Duo and Trowa work through a lot of personal issues in this, and it’s wonderful to see their growth. A warning, this fic is NOT Heero friendly.

Shinigami Sleeps by The Manwell. This was my first true love with 2x3 fics. The author is currently doing a rewrite that is also quite wonderful. Yet another dark, post-canon fic.

Okay, so in my mind, those are the BIG three - and in addition to being heavy they are lengthy, so set aside some time to enjoy. 

Below are more of my favorites. I’m going to try to follow @chronicwhimsy format a little and break them up into length sections.

SETTLE IN FOR THE LONG HAUL (30k+):

Firsts by waterlilylf. ANOTHER post-canon fic. This one doesn’t have the level of angst that some of my other favorites have, and that’s a good thing. If you want sassy dialogue, lovely relationship building and really stunning prose - give this a read. Gentle warning that Heero and Quatre are NOT going to be your favorite people ever, but neither are they heartless villains.

Appearances by Avarice This isn’t, strictly speaking, a 2x3x2 fic. It is VERY hardcore bromance and this entire series is my absolute favorite portrayal of Duo and Trowa as friends. It’s set - get ready - post-canon. Great dialogue, great emotional punches in your guy and humor. Each chapter is it’s own fic, so you’re going to have to check the profile for all of the rest. It’s worth it. I promise.

Two Out of Three by The Manwell. ANOTHER post-canon! If you like action, if you like great, snappy dialogue and smitten Trowa, this is a MUST for you. Manny has also created some lateral works in the series to flesh out background action and characters so definitely give those a read too!

Tomb Raiders by The Manwell. Aside from the original Shinigami Sleeps, this is my favorite fic from Manny. It is NOT post-canon. It is, in fact, an AU and it is GLORIOUS. Lots of excitement, young love and some heart-wrenching thrown in for good measure.

Knife in Hand by @amberlyinviolet. ANOTHER AU! See, I do read them. This is PHENOMENAL and some of the best world-building of any fic I’ve read. It’s dark and gritty and has lovely dialogue and will rip your HEART out.

Mid-Length (10k-30k):

Flicker Fade by @miss-m-muses. Yet another post-canon fic. Despite being set before/during/after a funeral, this fic is hopeful and lovely and just absolutely perfect.

Copilot by en passant(Corinthian). You guessed it, another post-canon fic. This one is DARK and a lovely look into what it would be like to be trapped in a hopeless situation. 

Only You by @amberlyinviolet. A collection of drabbles that build a wonderful relationship.

Body Talk by @greeneyes-softsighs / @makoto-is-a-good-boy This is a delightful series, full of smut.

Zombies by @amberlyinviolet. Who doesn’t love a zombie apocalypse fic? Really great world building in this.

The Last Romanov by The Manwell. Okay but the title should be clickbait. It’s post-canon, and AMAZING. Perfect smut and a wonderful drunk Trowa.

Pinter Pause by en passant (Corinthian). So this fic... is so close to my heart. Especially after having been an adjunct for a few years while looking for full time work. Really wonderful AU that builds some great relationships and has a wonderful Wufei and Quatre.

Short and Sweet (under 10k):

White Rabbits and Sealing Tape by @crown-of-winterthorne. This is a LOVELY AU featuring some delicious, like seriously WOW, 2x3 and 1x4.

The Neighbor’s Dog by @trixiedragon. Fun and awesome AU featuring, how did you know? A dog.

Wicked Game by @miss-m-muses. A little dark, a lot amazing.

Message Received by luvsanime02. Technically a 1x5, the background 2x3 is awesome and the entire fic is great and hilarious.

Blessing by en passant (Corinthian). Full disclosure, it was a gift-fic for me. It’s sort of historical, sort of fantasy, all kinds of wonderful.

Faith & Guns by en passant (Corinthian). This is a four part series of WONDERFUL post-canon fics that present a really incisive view of Trowa.

Obscure Holiday Sexcapades by @kangofu-cb. Okay this is WONDERFUL smut and amazing dialogue and these two fics are SO good. 

Strange Love by @kangofu-cb Part of the Halsey drabble fest, this is an AMAZING short fic - and the only one of the series that is 2x3 but honestly, read them ALL.

Spark by @chronicwhimsy . Mission op sexy times and bird watching - you probably didn’t know this was your favorite thing ever, now you will.

My Own Fics:

So I’ve written a few 2x3x2 fics over the years, and I just want to drop in a few of those as recs. I used an outside source for this, @kangofu-cb graciously saved me from being TOO self-aware and chose four fics for me (thank you):

Laundry Day. It’s just smut. Nothing deep here, well... not unless we’re making puns.

Faux Pas. I’ve always liked writing fics set in Vegas. This is one of my favs.

What May Come. A finished long fic! From ME! Post-canon, Trowa and Duo meet again and slowly learn how to move on together.

The Road Not Taken. Currently only on ff.net but I will migrate it to AO3. AU, featuring scenic designer Trowa and grad student Duo. ALSO IT’S COMPLETE!

(okay but also, this is the fic of my that I might be most proud of, despite having never finished it)

Sideshow. Post-canon, kinky smut with a side of politics.

To Be Read List:

It turns out that I HAVEN’T read every 2x3x2 fic out there. So here’s my reading list:

Down in Africa by @h-lovely

The Altar of Shinigami by @tj-dragonblade