#still waiting for the back rest thing to decompress and fully form before i start using it

[shvdowsdrowned]

I love this desk thing so much

[hpimaginesandblurbs]

Ok but can u also do this but with ron + the twins, I love ur smuts !!!!!!!

pairing: reader x ron weasley x fred weasley x george weasley 

warning(s): 18+, unprotected sex, foursome, double penetration, oral (female and male receiving), face fucking, fingering

word count: 4.2k 

a/n: soooo this is the longest thing i’ve ever written on this account but if anyone deserves it its the damn weasleys. i tried to make this as non sweet home alabama as possible and that’s probably why it’s so long. anyways, enjoy this ungodly amount of smut while i decompress. 

You had been spending a majority of your summer at The Burrow, where you boyfriend Ron lived. You spent day in and day out with him, practically on top of one another whenever you could be, but that didn’t stop you from spending time with his family. His mother was incredible, albeit a little scary at times, his father was charming, and Ginny was becoming a fast friend. But you couldn’t help the particular draw you felt towards the twins, Fred and George. 

You couldn't deny they were attractive, the genes were strong in the Weasley family. And you often did a poor job at hiding your attraction. 

You didn’t think any of them had noticed your subtle glances or blushes. Little did you know, all three of them had noticed over the few weeks you had been there. They were just waiting you out. 

~~~

Tonight you were all cozied around the fire pit, drinking some firewhiskey, taking advantage of the fact that Molly and Arthur had gone to visit Ron’s oldest brother Bill and his wife, Fluer, for the weekend. You weren’t drunk by any means, but you were certainly feeling good. 

You were cuddled up to Ron’s side, his arm slung around your shoulders, a knitted blanket draped over your laps. You were so wrapped up in your boyfriend that you had barely noticed that Fred had taken the spot on your other side until his leg brushed against yours, making you still. 

“Do you need another drink, sweetheart?” Fred asked when you finally looked his way, his face far too close to yours in the situation to be normal. 

You blushed at his proximity, but nodded. “Um, yes, thank you,” you added bashfully. 

Fred dashed a charming smile at you and placed a soft kiss to your cheek before dashing off to get you another glass of whiskey, your blush only intensifying when you felt his lips on your skin. You prayed no one could see it through the light of the fire. 

Ron tugged you back into his side and dropped his lips to your ear. “Whatever you think you’re doing, stop,” he said lowly, clearly not pleased by the situation. 

“He kissed me,” you argued softly, your head turning to press a kiss against his neck. He pulled back and shot a look down at you, his brow raised. A look you couldn’t exactly argue with. You got caught and you knew it. 

You stayed quiet, trying to keep your eyes anywhere except the two men that currently had your stomach in knots. But that effort was broken when Fred made his way back over to you, plopping down beside you. He passed you your new drink and you thanked him for it, sitting up straight to take a sip. 

You were caught off guard when you were pulled into his body and away from Ron, Fred’s strong arm now wrapped around your shoulders. 

“Have you been enjoying your summer here so far?” He asked quietly, making sure only you could hear him. 

Your eyes flitted cautiously over the group around the fire, making sure no one was noticing the strange behavior. You paused when you met George’s eyes, his own trained on the interaction between you and Fred, but you tried your best to ignore it. 

“Um, yes. You’ve all been quite lovely. I like it here,” you told him genuinely. You had been enjoying your summer despite tonights most recent turn of events. 

“Mm, good,” Fred mused, shooting another smile down at you. You couldn’t help but notice the little mischievous glint in his eyes that he got every time he was thinking something that was likely to either end brilliantly or disastourly. “I saw we play a little game. Are you in?” He asked. 

You swallowed nervously, knowing this could end very poorly. “And what is this game?” You questioned. 

“Let’s see how jealous we can get Ron,” he whispered, the smile never leaving his face. 

“I- I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” you argued, knowing fully well Ron had already told you to stop… doing whatever you were doing. 

“Oh, c’mon Y/N. Live a little. Anyhow, you already know how this is going to end,” he told you. 

“And how will this end?” You asked, raising your eyebrow at him. 

He moved closer to you, so close you could feel his breath on your face. Your whole body was hot and the blush was creeping back onto your face and you knew he could see it. 

“Judging by the noises I hear coming from his room almost every night, he’ll fuck you stupid. And I get to hear those pretty noises again,” he told you shamelessly, pulling you into him closer. 

You shot a nervous glance at Ron, only to find that he was already looking at you over the rim of his own cup, fire in his eyes. He raised a brow at you and you could see the way the corners of his lips were tugging up into a smirk, practically daring you to continue on. As if he knew exactly what you and Fred were talking about. 

“By the looks of it, he doesn’t seem to mind,” Fred added from behind you, making you whip your head around back to him. 

“Of course he’d mind. You’re his brother,” you argued incredulously, still not believing this conversation was even truly happening. 

“You think he doesn’t see the way you look at me and Georgie? You look at us like you want us to devour you,” he told you. 

You snuck a glance at George only to find that he was still looking at you. You could feel Ron’s eyes still on the back of your head. You gulped nervously, your brain short circuiting for a half a second. Did they… did they plan this? 

“I - I haven’t been -,” you went to argue, but Fred cut you off. 

“Don’t play coy with me. Maybe if you beg him nicely like I hear you do so well, he might let us join you tonight,” Fred teased, causing your core to pulse and drip with arousal at the thought. 

You could only stare back at him, his breath fanning your face as you took in his words. He knew he planted a seed in you that wouldn’t go away until it was satisfied. The smug look on his face only proved it. You didn’t get the chance to reply before you could hear Ron getting up from his place on the bench. 

“Bunny, come with me,” he said innocently enough to the ears of everyone else in the group, but you could hear the edge in his voice. 

You detangled yourself from Fred and rose up from your spot, taking Ron’s hand as he silently led you back into the house. Once you had passed through the threshold into the kitchen and away from the eyes of everyone else, he spun around to face you. 

“And what was all that about?” He asked, stepping right into your space so you had no other choice but to look up at him. 

“N-nothing. We were just having a chat,” you stuttered out, trying to not seem intimidated. 

“Wasn’t what it looked like to me. Spill it,” he said roughly, continuing to back you up until your back hit the counter, leaving you nowhere to go when his hands were placed on either side of your body. 

“Promise you won’t get mad,” you half heartedly requested. 

“Just tell me.” 

“He- he said, um, he said that we should try to make you jealous,” you told him. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it was only a half truth at best. 

“That’s not what has you blushing like a virgin though, is it? What did he say to you?” He pressed, the fire in his eyes growing larger by the second. 

You swallowed and took a deep breath before you even opened your mouth, knowing this could only go one of two ways. He’d either blow up entirely, or you’d have a night you’d never forget. “He said that if I begged you you’d let him and George join us,” you said quickly, all in one breath. 

You shut your eyes, waiting for his response. But when a chuckle fell from his lips your eyes shot back open in shock. 

“Is that what you want, bunny? Do you want them to join us?” He asked, his eyes now more playful than they had been just seconds prior. 

“Are you serious?” You asked after a moment, you head spinning that he was just offering this to you on a silver platter. You expected yelling, anger, the whole fit. You didn’t expect a cheeky smirk and twinkling eyes. 

“Do I look like I’m joking?”  

“They’re your brothers,” you argued. Why you were even arguing this, you weren’t sure. You wanted this and he knew it and they knew it. You just couldn’t understand why he was letting it happen. 

“It’s not like I’ll be fucking them,” he said with a laugh. “So, tell me what you want.” 

“If it’s okay with you…,” you started, trailing off. You looked up at him nervously, hoping your eyes conveyed enough of a plea that he would continue agreeing with you. 

“So beg,” he said, his voice dropping low as he continued to stare down at you. 

“I’ll be good, I promise. Just this once. I just - I - please,” you said, launching right into it but quickly running out of words as you watched the smirk grow on his face. 

“Go to my room. Strip. I’ll be up in a minute,” he told you, placing a kiss on your forehead before heading back outside. You watched his figure walk away for a moment, letting your mind race until you booked it up the stairs not wanting to wait any longer for the night to truly begin. 

~~~

You were waiting in your position on the bed for what felt like hours, but you knew it had only been a few minutes before you heard multiple sets of footsteps coming up the stairs. You moved to cover your chest when you heard the doorknob turn, unsure if you should be exposed or not right away. 

Ron came in first but left the door open just enough so your guests could hear. “Last chance, bun. Do you want this?” He asked, slowly coming over to rest his hands on the bed, leaning over slightly so his tall form was eye level with you. 

You knew it wasn’t your last chance to say no, but it was your last chance before the twins waltzed in. 

You took a shaky breath and nodded your head, saying “Yes,” loud enough so Fred and George could hear. 

The door was opening once more, the twins walking through, both pairs of eyes immediately on you. When the door shut, you stared up at them, unsure what to do or say, but their matching smirk told you they already had plans. 

Ron walked around the bed until he crawled on to it behind you, his legs bracketing your hips as you knelt between his spread thighs. 

“Let them see you,” he coaxed gently, hands coming around you to grip your forearms. 

He only put a light pressure on your skin, letting you move on your own as you exposed your chest to them. They took you in with hungry eyes but they didn’t move from where they both stood before you, waiting. 

“All of you,” Ron spoke again, his hands trailing down to your thighs, gently prying them apart. 

You leaned back and hid your face in his neck as he repositioned you, unable to look the two men in the eyes as your entire body got exposed to them. You knew you were a dripping mess over the situation and the embarrassment of it being so obvious made you squirm. 

“Fuck, Y/N, you’re more perfect than I imaged,” you heard George say, the bed dipping down infront of you. 

Your eyes snapped to him, watching him as he looked down at your glistening sex. His eyes were hungry when they met yours, desperate. Probably the exact mirror of your own. 

“Can I touch you?” George asked, his fingers twitching against the sheets, waiting. 

“Please,” you begged, wanting nothing more than for one of them to do anything right now. 

George wasted no time in bringing his fingers directly to your cunt, trailing one long finger through your slit while his thumb trailed soft circles onto your clit. You couldn’t hold back the moan that fell from your lips when he pushed his finger in, immediately searching for you g-spot. 

As if your noises were a cue for Fred, the bed dipped on your other side and without a word, he was kissing down your chest. Soon enough, he was attacking your nipples when George was working your from the inside out. Your back was arching and your hips were moving at their own volition, unable to stop yourself under their ministrations.

“Does that feel good?” George asked you softly, placing kisses on your shoulder. 

When you only nodded, Ron grabbed your chin and forced you to look directly at George. “I won’t remind you again, bunny. Use yours words,” he said sweetly, but you knew there was danger laced in his words. You knew better than anyone else what he could do to you if he reminded you one more time. 

“Yes. Feels so good. Please don’t stop,” you told George, already breathless from the three men surrounding you. 

You felt Fred chuckle against your skin and you knew the smirk George was wearing was only mimicked by Ron’s behind you. They knew exactly what they were doing to you. 

You couldn’t stop the whine that left you when George removed his hand, but your eyes lit up when you saw him go to kneel at the edge of the bed. He pulled up his to the edge, draped your legs over his shoulder, and started trailing kitten licks all along your slit until his tongue was swirling around your clit. 

You held fell back against Ron’s shoulder, a moan falling from your lips as Fred moved to your other side to attack your opposite nipple. 

“Having fun?” Ron asked, beaming down at you. 

You nodded breathlessly, your eyes rolling back in your head with a flushed smile on your face. “Want you too,” you told him. 

“Of course you do, my greedy girl,” Ron mused, his finger coming to tilt your lips back and locking your lips in a kiss. 

Your body was overwhelmed with just their lips. You weren’t sure how you would handle it when their pants came off. 

Your hips were grinding down onto George’s face without you sparing it a second thought and you kept pushing your chest into Fred’s lips, your entire body grinding back on Ron’s body. 

“She tastes like fucking heaven,” George said, finally coming up for a breath. His entire chin was soaked in his own saliva and your juices and his eyes were blown with lust. 

Ron made a noise of agreement that was swallowed up by your lips, but you were ripped away from your boyfriend by George’s grip on your neck. He pulled you into a kiss with him, tasting yourself on his tongue, as Fred trailed kisses down your body until he was getting a taste of you for himself. 

Fred quickly brought you your orgasm, his tongue so deep inside of you that your toes were curling. Your hands had a monster grip on Ron’s thighs and every noise you made got swallowed by George, his lips hot on yours. 

You finally relaxed your body against Ron’s, his chest being the perfect place to settle against, as your body calmed down. 

“Think you can handle all three of us?” Fred asked cheekily, looking up at you from his place on the floor. 

You gave a shaky nod, but in your head you were unsure how this would even work. You never thought you’t get this far to even have considered it. 

That line of thought was abruptly cut off when Ron grabbed your hair and yanked back so you were looking up at him again. “What did I say about using your words?” He asked darkly.

“Yes, I want to. I can,” you got out breathlessly, still basking in the sting of your scalp. 

“Good,” Ron said, now satiated with your words. “Get on your hands and knees for us, bunny.” 

He gave you one last searing kiss before releasing you, letting you adjust your own shaky limbs on the bed until you were in the position he instructed you to be in. As you did that, the boys began stripping themselves of their clothes, Fred and George both strategically in your line of sight depending on which way you turned your head. 

You watched as they both ripped their shirts over their heads, a sight you were accustomed to thanks to many sweaty afternoons in the yard playing Quidditch. But you didn’t know where to look as they peeled down their jeans and briefs, relieving both of their impressive lengths. They were both around the same length, but Ron was thicker than both of them. No matter what, you knew you’d be sore in the morning. 

“This is how it’s gonna work, bunny,” Ron said, finally rounding the bed so he could see you. “I’m gonna fuck this pretty little cunt,” he told you, adding emphasis of his possession when he bent over and easily hooked two fingers inside of you, pressing directly on your g-spot. You jumped at the abrupt action, but you never broke your eye contact with him.

“Fred’s going to fuck that tight ass,” he continued, and you watched as Fred rounded the bed until he was behind you. 

“And George is gonna fuck that cute face,” Ron finished, George coming up on the other side of you to grip your face to force you to look at him. 

“Does that sound good, sweetheart?” George asked, looking down at you fondly. 

“Yes, fuck. Please,” you said, your hips beginning to move against nothing now that Ron had removed his fingers, searching for any ounce of friction you can get. 

They moved in almost perfect sync. Ron maneuvered his way underneath you swiftly, George pulled your head off to the side so your mouth was lined up with the tip of his cock, and you could feel Fred’s lube covered fingers breach the entrance of your tightest hole all at once. You were overwhelmed in the best way, unsure what to do with yourself but totally just along for whatever ride they were about to bring you on. 

When Ron fucked up into you roughly, George immediately pushed your head down to feel the full effects of your moan of his cock, causing a shiver to run through his body. They were practically fucking your mouth and core in tandem, one pulling out while the other brutally thrust in. 

You felt as if you were splitting open for them already, but when Fred’s cock finally lined up with your entrance and began pushing in, you practically saw stars. 

George let you pull away from him for a moment so you could breath through the new pressure inside of you, your head now buried in Ron’s neck as you panted and moaned. Ron had slowed down his thrusts to match with Fred, balancing you on the precipice of pain and pleasure. 

“You’re doing so fucking good for us, Y/N. Just give it a minute and it’ll feel so good. You’re gonna be so pretty when you cum for us,” Ron mused quietly in your ear, knowing that you’d latch on to his voice to get you through the intensity. 

Finally, your hips starting moving against theirs, a silent signal you were ready for them to fuck you, all three of them truly went wild with you body. 

George dragged your face back over to him, letting you do your own thing but keeping a steady hand in your hair in case you tried to pull away. Ron and Fred were fucking into you in perfect sync, pulling out and fucking into you at the same time. 

It was so intense you were shaking, only being held up by three strong pairs of hands at this point. But you couldn’t hide how good it was making you feel. Even as deep as George’s cock was down your throat, it was barely muffling the screams of pleasure you were giving them. You just hoped someone remembered to cast a silencing charm. 

You could hear them talking around you, a mix of praises directed at you and words shared between themselves. “Fuck, you feel so good” and “Just like that” mixed with “She feels like fucking heaven” and “Her mouth is a dream”. You could barely hear them over the blood pumping through you, but you knew you’d remember it later with a blush and a smile. 

“Fuck, you’re gonna make me cum. Swallow it all for me,” George told you, bruising your hair out of your sweaty face. You felt the unmistakable twitch of his cock just before he spilled his cum inside of your mouth and fucked it down your throat, giving you no choice but to follow his request. He came with one of the prettiest noises you had ever heard, and you knew you’d want to hear it again someday if you were lucky enough. 

You pulled away from George panting, finally able to have a minute to catch your breath as Fred and Ron continued to pound furiously into you, your body jolting with every deliberate thrust. 

“Ron, please I’m so close,” you begged, for what you weren’t entirely sure, but you knew he’d know what to do. All you could focus on was how close you were, how tightly you were gripping both of your cocks, and trying your best to balance on shaky arms so you didn’t collapse. 

Without missing a beat, Ron turned his head to George. “Touch her clit,” he told him, finally sounding breathless from all the work he was putting in. 

Fred’s arms came around you to pull you up until your back was against his chest, giving George full access to your most sensitive spot. 

“Cum for us. Show us how much you loved this and cum for us,” Fred said low in your ear. 

Your eyes never left Ron’s as all three of them worked you closer and closer to the edge. As much as the twins were turning you on, this orgasm was for you boyfriend. Everyone you had was. He was the one that let this happen. Let them take you like this. And he was the one currently fucking your g-spot with every thrust it made your head spin. 

“Cum for me” was all Ron had to say, seeing and feeling just how close you were, for you to explode. 

Your vision went white and your whole body shook, the only thing keeping you grounded was Fred’s warm chest pressed against you. You knew the scream you were hearing was your own, but you couldn’t keep it quiet no matter how hard you tried. You pulsed around their cocks, milking them of their own orgasms as you were going through yours. You felt their cum fill you completely, another moan leaving your mouth at how erotic it felt. 

When you finally felt as though you had come back down to real life, you were settled against Ron’s chest, his cock still in you, while the twins were busying themselves with getting dressed. They were talking quietly while Ron ran his hand up and down along your back, just waiting until you were finally back in the present. 

George was the first one to notice your eyes had opened again when he finally got his pants back on. He walked over to the bed and knelt down so he was almost eye level with you. 

“That was wonderful, darling. You were perfect,” he told you, placing a quick kiss to your forehead before righting himself only for Fred to take his place. 

“What he said,” Fred told you with a smirk and mimicking his twin's kiss to your forehead. “We’ll see you two lovebirds in the morning,” he added with a wink. 

They both made their way out of the room, the door clicking behind them, leaving you and Ron in a blissed out silence. 

“Did you have fun?” He finally asked, tilting his neck so he was looking down at you. 

“I did. Thank you,” you said with a soft smile. 

“My girl always gets what she wants. You just have to ask, bunny,” He said, placing a kiss on your nose. 

When you moved your lips up to move against his, he stopped you with a chuckle. “No offense but my brother did just cum in your mouth. So let’s go get you cleaned up so I can kiss you properly, yeah?” He asked, wrapping a blanket around you so he could get you down the hallway and into the bathroom. 

“I thought you weren’t going to be weird about it,” you grumbled under your breath as he adjusted you in his arms, carrying you bridal style. 

“That’s different and you know it,” he said defensively as he made his way for the door, making you giggle.

[whentherewerebicycles]

hello! prepare for a long chatty life update. I went out with friends last night and it was so nice wahh. then I slept nine hours and that was glorious too. turns out this week’s sleep trouble was just my usual pre-period insomnia and not my new magic sleeping meds failing me. phew!!! I took Pip to our new vet this morning for his annual checkup and he was such a sweet boy even through the indignity of many shots. 😭😭 I love my little dog so much. also when Pip sits his front paws point outwards in a way that makes him look like he’s posing, and today the vet techs were like ‘awww how sweet! you know that’s actually a genetic deformity, right?’ I was like ummm excuse me. this is the best dog who has ever lived and he is perfectly formed in every way so think carefully about how you describe his flawless & unique paws please!! anyway he is in excellent health and three different people independently praised him for being so lean & well-conditioned. I can’t wait for fall (and/or to get him to seattle) so we can resume his preferred 70 min walks instead of the 30 min forced marches we are limited to in the summer.

then I came home and started working my way through one of the books I bought on evidence-informed learning design in training contexts. it’s interesting so far! not a lot of new content yet but it’s kind of nice to go back to basics and resolidify my understanding of core concepts/frameworks. I feel like it’s making me a bit sleeeepy though so I might just do an hour each day instead of trying to power through. I have four weeks left before new job starts… I think I just want to read two or three of these fairly dense books so I go into the first month feeling like I have an understanding of how the L&D profession overlaps with/differs from the classroom pedagogy stuff I’m more familiar with. I also want to read more about the history and structure of my government agency so I have at least a rough mental framework to fit first-month new information into. THAT SAID as psyched as I am to get started on a New Project (tackling a new job lol) I need to remind myself to also enjoy this time and try to use it to really fully decompress from the year and job search stress. it’s okay to just let myself enjoy this month of very few responsibilities.

next week I need to reach out to my current boss to let her know that I accepted the position… and I need to do that sooner rather than later because they’re starting to process my security clearance and that involves interviewing my references. I hope she isn’t upset with me for kinda changing gears after we talked last, but I’m also reminding myself that it’s normal to change jobs and that I went above and beyond trying to make things work with them… they didn’t move fast enough to make it feasible for me and it’s okay for me to make decisions that prioritize my own long-term future (because academia sure as hell won’t do that for me!). I can’t decide if I hope the grant funds come through & they let me do it as a part-time position with support staff, or if I hope it doesn’t come through and my energy is just freed up to focus on the new job + creative projects. we will see what the universe decides.

we released the first two episodes of our hockey fandom podcast yesterday and have gotten a nice response so far! I am deep in planning/research mode for future episodes and might spend the rest of the afternoon working on that. I feel like my brain is a little bit too fried still to write short things or fully dive into my new long project (I need a bit more rest/recovery I think) so I’m gonna let myself continue taking a little break from writing and instead focus on building out this other project so it’s up and running by the time the job starts. ooh and I am also going to beta a friend’s fic this weekend—tonight or tomorrow tbd.

okay let’s see. going to drive to target now to pick up a curbside order and then I think I want to lie in bed doing nothing or maybe thinking a bit about podcast planning. I have this idea that if we can create like… a planning structure of some kind? a brainstorming and research template kinda thing? it’ll help organize and streamline our prerecording thinking so we can have deeper conversations in the actual recording session. I like the idea of designing a repeatable learning exercise that will make the planning process more seamless, so if we get really busy with real life stuff we won’t have to expend as much intellectual bandwidth on the prep & planning work each week. idk just something I am kicking around we’ll see. mmkay! if I go to target I will have cherries to eat 😍 so it is time to make the quick drive over.

[hazel-writes]

Summary: A much-needed moment of calm... Are you ready for the storm?

Word Count: 3,400

Warnings: mentions of violence, injury description

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

I spoke about wings

You just flew

I wondered, I guessed, and I tried

You just knew

I sighed, but you swooned

I saw the crescent

But you saw the whole of the moon

• The Whole of the Moon - The Waterboys •

You sat on top of a small hill that overlooked a valley of swaying grass. There weren’t many trees, just a sea of undulating ferns. You looked to the ground on your left and right, noticing that you had chosen a spot at the center of a patch of green daisies. Of course. You laughed humorlessly, looking up to the sky and shaking your head, as silent tears began to fall.

Daisy.

That was what your father called you, ever since you were little. He would often paint landscapes and was inspired by the entrancing wildlife that was native to Lothal. One of his favorite flowers was the green daisy you were currently surrounded by. You remembered the first time your father showed you them.

“These flowers are special,” he told you one day, pointing out a patch of small green plants while out on a walk.

You squinted at the seemingly-mundane bulbs emerging from the grass.

“They don’t look very special,” you replied skeptically.

He smiled, like he knew something you didn’t. He leaned down to whisper in your ear: “That’s because you aren’t looking hard enough.”

Taking the challenge, you focused on the closest green bulb, following its curved stem down to the fertile dirt it lied in. You traced every line, rip, and crevice in its leaves. Some of the grass around it was crushed into the soil — covered in mud — most likely trampled by wandering loth-cats. But the daisy’s bulb remained a strong, healthy green.

This little plant has survived so much, you thought.

And suddenly, as if it heard you, the daisy bloomed right before your eyes, revealing a magnificent green flower. It was an enchanting emerald hue, like your father’s eyes.

“How-” you began to ask.

Your father chuckled. “The green daisy responds to body heat and breath. When someone gets close enough to truly appreciate its beauty, it blooms. Very few ever stop to notice how special this flower is, but when they do, they are greatly rewarded.”

He paused for a moment, staring directly into your eyes while tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear.

“My little daisy...”

It had been three days since you’d been shot. The team you arrived with on Lothal had to extend their stay on the planet due to a mechanical malfunction on one of the ships. You had almost made it out of the city before the ship’s engines failed and you were forced to turn back.

Your father’s blaster beam had grazed a good part of your arm, with most of the damage being at your shoulder. It had come close to hitting vital organs, but thankfully missed. Finn didn’t get so lucky; he was still in critical condition. You waited by his side for as long as you could until Akilah forced you out of the room so you could get some rest. You knew that wouldn’t be possible until Finn was out of the woods, so you decided to take a walk to clear your head. That’s how you ended up crying on a grassy hill, surrounded by the familiar green daisies.

Attempting to distract yourself from your own feelings, you pulled out your sketchbook. It had been a while since you drew for yourself, but when you were younger it always seemed to ease your anxiety. You shuffled through the bag you brought, finally managing to find a pen. You swapped it into the fingers of your bandaged right arm before attempting to sketch. As soon as you did, pain shot through your tendons. I really didn’t think that through, did I?

Now you weren’t even able to do the one thing that made you happy. You threw your pen backwards over your shoulder, frustrated.

A voice cleared from behind you, making you jump.

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

You turned to see the Commander, fully robed, behind you. His dark attire stood out against the setting sun behind him, creating a glowing aura around his form. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t realize you were there.”

“So you weren’t throwing projectiles at me on purpose?” he questioned, gesturing to the pen that laid at his feet.

“Kriff, no, sorry.” You shook your head in panic before realising he was messing with you. You chuckled, surprised at his unusual attempt at a joke. “I was just doodling… Or trying to at least.”

He nodded, moving to stand beside you. After a moment of silence, you heard the click of something decompressing as his helmet thudded into the grass. He took in a deep breath of air, his shoulders moving upwards tensely before relaxing again. He tilted his face into the wind, closing his eyes briefly as if taking in the serenity of the moment, before his gaze shifted down towards your bandage. “Your arm…”

You twisted the limb around, testing its range of motion. “It’s fine, I’ll just have to learn to use my left.”

His eyebrows furrowed in response, as if doubting your answer, before speaking again. “Your father-” he started.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you interrupted, a bit harsher than you intended. You sighed, brushing a wisp of hair off of your face. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I just want to forget. For a little while at least.”

He turned to look at you, a slight crease on his forehead. “I understand.” He turned back to the sky. “I’ve had encounters with my kin that I wish to forget as well.”

A surge of sadness ran through your body; conflicting waves of guilt, fear, and helplessness crashing into the corners of your mind. You shook your head, trying to relieve the pressure you knew was emitting from the stoic man standing next to you.

You wanted desperately to ask about his family: who they were, where they were now, why they caused such pain. But just like the Commander had respected your need for privacy, you would respect his.

You were surprised when you saw his black cloak move to sit next to you on the grassy hill. It was strange seeing the Commander in an environment so different from the Finalizer. But something about the way his hands slid so naturally into the grass, or the way his feet stretched out in front of him, or how his hair flowed gently in the breeze, made you think that maybe this wasn’t so unfamiliar to him after all.

The two of you sat like that for a while, taking in the day around you. The sky was a brilliant blue with the beginnings of a deep purple at the horizon, something you didn’t see too often on Lothal. Usually the color of the sky melted into that of the fields, mirroring the landscape’s golden curves. But today was different. Birds chirped and flew overhead, a gentle breeze blew, and the air smelled of flowers and fresh soil.

Succumbing to the beauty of your surroundings, you laid back in the soft grass. You watched as a single bird dipped in the air high above you, circling the clouds in a soaring dance.

“I wish I could do that.”

The Commander turned to look at you, confused.

“I wish I could fly.”

He chuckled in response, a toothy smile gracing your presence briefly before quickly concealing itself with a squint towards the sky. You were pleased to see the ghost of a smirk remain and you couldn’t help it as the corners of your own mouth twisted upwards. You brought yourself onto your elbows, looking at him expectantly.

Seeing your questioning look, he shook his head. “No, it’s nothing… It’s just — I remember saying something similar as a boy.”

You smiled, laying back in the grass and returning your eyes to the sky. You stayed like this for a moment, carefully forming a question.

“Where would you go? If you could fly, I mean,” you clarified.

He shrugged and responded simply. “I have all the ships I could ask for. I could fly anywhere.”

You tried to imagine him leaving the Finalizer, taking off in a ship, flying to some distant planet with no people, no politics, no wars: just peace. Hux would never allow it, and you guessed that whoever the Commander answered to wouldn’t either.

“But you wouldn’t,” you replied out loud, a twinge of sadness in your voice.

“No,” he said, his voice lowering. “I wouldn’t.”

You hummed to yourself, thinking deeply. “I guess that’s the difference between birds and ships. Birds are born free. Their wings aren’t man made; it’s simply in their nature to fly. But when you put humans in the sky, they tear it apart. We fill it with blaster fire and explosions. We destroy the lands that we never should’ve left in the first place.” You sighed. “Even the birds won’t be free for much longer…”

The Commander turned towards you again. You expected him to tell you that you were wrong — that the wars were necessary, inevitable even — but he didn’t. Instead he blinked once before pointing up at the bird you referenced earlier.

“It’s a convor,” he said quietly.

“W-what?” Now it was your turn to be confused.

“I’m surprised to see one here — they’re not native to this planet.”

“Oh,” you replied, the light returning to your eyes. This was a new side of the Commander, one that you had only seen glimpses of in the past; one that was patient, vulnerable, and had an unusual, yet endearing, knowledge of birds.

“They are known for their strong connections to the Force,” he continued. “Can you feel it?”

You looked back up at the bird. Its golden brown feathers soared elegantly in the wind. Its dramatic tail rippled like an unfurling ribbon, slicing through the air. A familiar tingle made itself known at the back of your neck, spreading down your spine all the way to your toes.

“Yeah, I can,” you said, breathless. You didn’t know that so many species could have connections to the Force. “It’s amazing.”

“Yes,” he responded, eyes trained directly on you. “It is.”

You didn’t notice his head jerk away when you turned your body towards his.

Taking advantage of the lull in the conversation, you decided to ask him something that had been on your mind since the shootout with your father.

“Ky-” you started, before correcting yourself. “Commander. What happens when we get back to the Finalizer?”

He tilted his head slightly. “What do you mean?”

You were suddenly nervous and began to twirl a piece of grass between your fingers. You thought about what Finn had told you when you first arrived on Lothal: how you always seemed to be at the center of trouble. A pang of guilt ran through your body. “I mean… What do I say about my arm, or Finn? Won’t they be suspicious?”

The muscles of the Commander’s face tightened. “Won’t who be suspicious?”

“I dunno…” you trailed off, but could tell that he was waiting for a more specific answer. “Hux?”

He scoffed, clenching his fingers into a gloved fist. “You don’t have to worry about Hux. He is under my command, and I’ll make sure he remembers that.”

“But what about the person you’re under command? Will he be able to… sense that something happened here?” The questions spilled out before you could stop them.

He paused, longer than you would’ve liked, before looking at you as if he was about to tell you something of the utmost importance. “He won’t hurt you.”

The Commander’s strange tone did little to ease your anxiety; it was evasive, yet stern enough that you believed him.

You shifted to a sitting position, legs crossed under you. You fiddled with your fingers in your lap. “That’s- that’s not what I’m worried about.”

He tipped his head slightly. “So what are you worried about?”

“Well…” you paused, almost reconsidering what you were about to say. “You.”

It was true. As strange as it sounded coming out of your mouth, you were worried what others would think if they knew the Commander abandoned his duties to help some artist with her family drama. What would they do if they knew he had shown mercy to a man who tried to kill him? What if they found out that he had been training you in secret, or that he let you see his face: the one that now searched yours curiously.

It looked like the Commander wanted to say something, but instead his mouth moved to form a thin line. He stood up suddenly, forcing you to angle your head in order to meet his eyes.

“We should get back to the ships,” he said monotonously.

You cleared your throat, finally finding your voice. “Yeah, right. Y-you go first. Probably shouldn’t be seen together.”

He nodded, staring at you a moment longer before turning to pick up his helmet. Just as you thought he was about to leave, you watched out of the corner of your eye as he bent over, picking something up off of the ground. He reached out and you realised he had your pen in his hand, the one you had tossed at him earlier.

You reached forward to grab the pen with your bandaged hand, but before you were able to, he gently grasped your arm instead.

“What are you-” you started, before you felt it: a warmth spreading up your arm, wrapping its tendrils around your injured muscle and bone, filling each wounded crevice of your previously painful limb until it was restored to its normal state.

“What did you do?” you barely whispered, staring at your upper arm in shock. His hand slid off your skin, leaving a cold tingling in its wake.

He rose back to his commanding stature nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened. However as he responded, you didn’t miss the slight falter in his voice. “I- I’ll see you back on board.”

And with that, he put on his helmet and began the trek back down the hill.

——————————————

After waiting fifteen minutes, it was your turn to head back down the hill. You walked back through the city one last time, retracing the steps you took earlier when putting up the posters with Koda and Rilea. You tried to take everything in as you made your way to the ship — who knows when you’d be back on Lothal again. But with each forward step, you began to realize that the busy streets, rolling fields, and the childhood house you used to call home now felt so distant, so foreign. You didn’t belong here anymore.

The hushed chattering of a small group of villagers, almost invisible in the shadow of a nearby building, interrupted you from your thoughts. It wasn’t until you moved closer that you realized they were huddled around one of the posters you had put up earlier. One of them held a light up to it, inspecting something on the bottom right-hand corner of the paper.

A couple of other passerbys curiously lingered, trying to figure out what the group was so intrigued by.

You suddenly felt a presence at your side and you turned to see an older man who was attempting to peak over the shoulders of the group in front of him. “What’s going on?” he asked you.

“I…” You paused for a moment, thinking. “I have no idea,” you replied as confidently as you could.

But that was a lie.

You knew exactly why the small group of Lothalians were crowded around the poster.

The poster that you designed. The poster that Soren let you put finishing touches on before it was sent off for approval. The poster that you were intent on distributing yesterday, even after everyone else had gone back to the ship. The poster that wasn’t just a poster: It was a message.

And it was one that you wrote.

———————————————

Six months previously…

“Mom, I can’t.”

You stood at the kitchen window, looking out at the houses beyond — the ones you had grown up seeing every day, the ones you didn’t want to leave behind.

An apprehensive hand rested on your shoulder. “Sweetheart, you’re the only one I can trust.”

You spun around, indignant tears at the corners of your eyes. “So what, you’re sending me off so I can end up just like Benji, dead in a ditch somewhere?”

She sighed, shaking her head dismissively. “Honey, you know that was a freak accident. There was a-”

“Malfunction with the engines, I know.” A single tear fell. You wiped it away briskly while turning back to the window.

She waited a moment, letting your bout of anger simmer, before speaking again — softer this time. “I know you could do it. You could save us all.”

Sighing, you decided to indulge her pleas. If there was one thing you and you mother shared, it was stubbornness. “What would I have to do?”

“Only exactly what you’re good at: art.” You rolled your eyes after hearing the excitement in her voice.

“Yeah, right,” you huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. “What’s the catch?”

She paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to explain what she was going to tell you next. “You would need to hide things in your work.”

You raised an eyebrow. “What kind of things?”

“Messages.”

This caught your attention; now you were genuinely intrigued.

“Messages?” you questioned. “To who?”

“To me and the rest of the Resistance.”

You ran a frustrated hand through your hair. Your mom had always wanted you to work alongside her with the Resistance, but until now, you had managed to evade the subject whenever it came up. What you really wanted was to do what your dad did: travel the galaxy, paint what you saw, and die a lonely, but happy hermit in a small cottage by the sea. But as you got older, with the rising of the First Order, you began to realize that there may not be a galaxy left by the time you were old enough to settle down somewhere. Maybe this was something that you needed to do.

“How?”

Your mom nodded, a proud smile emerging on her face. “I’ve talked to Leia Organa. She had one of her men get your name on the Order’s recruits list. The position is within the Office of Imperial Promotion, Galactic Truth, and Fact Correction. They’re looking for someone to aid in the creation and distribution of First Order propaganda posters. You would simply have to listen — walk the hallways, gain others’ trust, find information about the Order — and then put what you learn into the posters. Once they’re distributed, Resistance members will scope ‘em out and report back to us.”

The whole plan sounded ridiculous. “Mom, you can’t honestly think they’d fall for that. Hidden messages? It’s something a kid would think of.”

She shook her head knowingly. “That’s what makes it so genius. Everyone expects a spy to try and wiggle their way into the top ranks of the Order. But no one will suspect an artist. Plus, you would be using this.” She handed you a pen. “Anything you write with this will only be visible under a certain light frequency. The Order won’t see a thing.”

You shook your head in disbelief. “So that’s what I am now, a spy?”

“No,” she responded sternly. “You’re an artist; you always have been. An artist who can save the Resistance with her work.” She paused, looking at you with a glint in her eye that you knew meant she was serious. “Kriff, you could save the whole galaxy with just a few strokes of a pen.”

You felt yourself conceding, even though you knew you had lost the argument the moment it had started. “You really think this could make any kind of difference?”

She took both of your hands in hers. “I know it could.”

Wordlessly, you shot her a final look that warned: whatever happens, it’s on you. She seemed to understand the meaning behind your stare and gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

“Then I’ll do it.”

———————————

Previous || Masterlist || Next

[pangtasias-atelier]

May I request large musclechub Chrom x mRobin? A lot of feeding, working out, and snuggling as well as tummy and muscle rubs please. (Both are large musclechub BTW)

It felt a bit hard getting all to fit, but I hope it all came out ton your liking! Was about to call it done, before I thought of the little stuffing scene, and then that made me think of the little workout scene lol.

I hope you enjoy it!

__________________

“Robin, come spot me,” Already seated on the bench, Chrom wiggles out his arms in preparation. Lying down, he easily positions himself under the metal bar, positions his hands properly as he waits for Robin. His gut rises into the air as he waits, most of his broad yet fat body falling off the bench.

“One second…” Taking a deep breath, Robin slowly squats down. Supporting the bar with his arms and shoulders, it descends as he does. His fat thighs squishing, Robin’s wide stance takes into account so much poundage. His stomach folding on itself as it rests and sits on his wide thighs. His knees perfectly bent, Robin lets out his deep breath. Mentally counting to ten, his calves begin to burn up once more as he rises back up. His body decompresses as he reaches his full height, an admittedly unimpressive stature when considering the other members of the Shepherds. Removing himself from underneath the bar, he slowly brings it down. Finished with his routine, squats Robin’s preferred final workout, he wipes himself off with his towel. Taking a swig of his water, his left hand rests on top of his gut.

Robin and Chrom having married a few years ago, it was after Grima’s defeat that the two found out of the other’s appreciation for the larger things in life. Robin’s hearty appetite for everything edible had been a good jumping start on the two’s quest. Trim defined bodies became bloated as they piled more and more calories on their frames, both enjoying the experience. Chrom’s enjoyment of working out had rubbed off on Robin and what had at first been small exercises to not burn off too many calories was soon found to be unfounded. As instead of losing the fat they had worked so hard to gain, they found themselves packing on muscle as well, both their bodies larger on both spectrums.

Robin definitely enjoying the more gluttonous aspect of their lives, his body is a bit more corpulent than Chrom’s. His purple t-shirt clinging to him, Robin’s powerful biceps bulge. . Covered under a layer of flab, it does nothing to hide the powerful appendages, his arms capable of scaring most would be thieves. His breasts once soft and plump, they still retain their size but no longer sag as they once did, a bit more definition and perkiness to them. His stomach as round as ever, the massive monster shakes from every action Robin takes. His shirt unable to be tucked in, the bottom layer of pudge seeps out from underneath. His black gym shorts cling just as tight as his shirt, the stretchy fabric showing their worth as they fully cover his huge ass. Simultaneously perky yet squared, the confusing mounds of ass perfectly show off Robin’s musclechub self. His thighs covered in a heavy dose of fat, the added strength makes it easy for him to walk, Robin surprisingly deft.

Where Robin enjoys the aspects of gluttony, Chrom prefers the physical exertion to maintain their physiques. Broad shoulders, his low V-neck shows his puffed yet defined collar bone, his strong large moobs having less give to them than Robin’s. Preferring to show off just how big he is, his v-neck is a size or two too small, the hem of the shirt resting above his navel. Ovular and some bounciness, the mass of his stomach is still surprisingly firm, a fact he knows from rubbing it so much. His bulging arms free as ever, Chrom proud to show off his non-branded arm just as much as the other now, the musculature from his workouts showing brighter than light magic. A light layer of flab, his bulging muscle show even at rest, Chrom’s powerful arms even more exaggerated upon flexing. His tree trunk thighs no stranger to power, Chrom’s speed and force is a dangerous combination, most counting him out only to be knocked to the floor before they realize it. His once flat ass still pales in comparison to Robin’s, the two cheeks having obtained some perkiness.

Chugging the last bits of water, Robin sighs. Waddling to Chrom, he keeps his comment of Robin not needing a spotter anymore to himself. Enjoying the view, he doesn’t mind. And Chrom definitely doesn’t mind showing off to his husband. Standing a bit away from the bar, his stomach making it a bit difficult, he still stands at the ready as Chrom grabs it.

Taking in a deep breath as he brings it down to his chest, Chrom breathes out as he lifts it back up. Offering a grin to Robin, the weight is nothing to him, Chrom lifting last week’s max. Blushing as Robin stares at him in awe, Chrom pushes further, continuing his set. The clinking of the weight as Chrom lifts and drops them is the only real sound in their gym. On his last one, Chrom offers a wink to Robin, grinning as he blushes. Placing the bar back, Chrom stands up with aplomb.

“Is it finally time for dinner?” Exaggerating his question, Robin makes a point of sighing, sagging  his shoulders as he cradles his belly. Chrom laughs in return. He slaps Robin’s gut, then smacks his ass, Robin letting out a yelp. Chrom then moves to Robin’s biceps, lifting them and making Robin flex, examining them before nodding. Leading the way to the dining room, Chrom immediately stops.

“You didn’t do your bench presses,”

“It’ll be fine,” Robin handwaves the mention. Taking a confident step, he finds his hand linked to Chrom’s, a pleased grin on his face, he easily overpowers Robin. Chrom drags him back to the bench.

“You just need to do five,” Setting the bar, he changes it. The bar thirty pounds under the weight he just lifted, he gives Robin the okay.

“Fine,” Lying down, only a small quarter of his back ends up hanging off the bench. HIs ass does the same. Gripping the bar, he grunts as it falls down. Gritting his teeth, he huffs as he lifts the bar all the way up. “What the hell, Chrom?” Beads of sweat form on his forehead.

“Keep going,” Hands at the ready, Chrom watches Robin struggle but slowly succeeds at his set. Reaching five, he goes to put the bar back before Chrom stops him. “One more, and hold it this time, you’re cutting corners,” Grining, He keeps his hand under the bar.

Huffing and puffing Robin’s stomach rises and quivers in the air. His biceps bulging, he gulps for air as he brings the bar to his broad moobs. Leaving it there for a few seconds, he slowly raises it up, exhaling heavily. His arms shake as he keeps it up but Chrom grabs the bar to put it back.

“Good,” Helping Robin up, Chrom wipes his sweat with his towel. “Now we can eat,” Robin lags behind Chrom as they head to the dining room.

A large room taken up mostly by an almost equally large table, the sprawling amount of plates meant as breakfast is already served. The two taking their seats, Robin’s ass creeps  off the edge of it, his stomach digging into the table. Chrom’s fits him perfectly, his stomach only slightly uncomfortable from the pressure.

An omelette placed in front of him, Robin begins digging in, drenching his omelette with ketchup before devouring it. As soon as his fork hits porcelain, he moves onto his next victim, the ham looking appetizing as it always does. Chrom giving an adoring look at him, Robin stops, his mouth half open as the hashbrowns rest on his fork an inch away from his hungry mouth.

“W-what?” Suddenly self-conscious, Robin tugs down his shirt only to see the fabric doesn’t reach past his belly button. Looking at the table, he blanches at the staggering amount of empty plates, time flying so fast upon breakfast time.

“Nothing,” Chrom promptly finishing his third plate, Chrom not a stranger to food either, he places a hand on Robin’s thigh squeezing it before resuming his own breakfast.

Scoffing, Robin still blushes, Chrom’s little touches much adored. Glancing back, most of his breakfast is gone. Quickly swiping at the remaining portions, Robin’s vacuum of a stomach finishes in record time. Standing up, he sees Chrom struggling to handle his last plate. Chrom offering them to him, Robins shakes his head.

“You always encourage me to keep going during my workout,” Robin grabs the plate of pancakes from Chrom. “So I’ll be doing the same,” Grabbing the syrup, Robin squeezes the bottle as if choking it. Folding the pancake with his fork, he grabs four pieces. “Eating is all about efficiency,” Holding Chrom’s jaw, he brings the stack of pancakes into his mouth.

Stubbornly chewing, the hefty helping of syrup doesn’t help Chrom, one eye more closed than the other as he struggles. Robin pressing a hand to Chrom’s stomach, he grins.

“Then you wash it down,” Simply grabbing the gallon of milk, Robin brings that to Chrom’s lips. He tilts it back without warning. Dribbles of milks spill past Chrom’s mouth, Chrom’s muffled groaning sounding.

Letting out a deep groan, he huffs. “Got it,” Resting his head back with his eyes closed.

“You still have some more,”

“Robin…”

“Now now, no excuses. It’s just one bite left,” Robin’s soothing voice and soothing hand on his gut, Chrom obligingly opens his mouth. An unseemly ridiculous amount of pancakes shoved into his mouth, Chrom nearly chokes on it, his tired mouth working overtime to get through it all. Unable to even swallow once, Chrom finds more milk poured down his throats, the remaining bits of pancakes washed down.

“Robin!” His belly cumbersomely full, Chrom remains seated in his chair.

“You just need to work harder for next time,” Robin grins. Chrom finally done, Robin places the plates back down. Placing both hands on Chrom’s filled gut, he lovingly smiles at him, blushing before giving him a kiss on the lips. Pulling back, he sees Chrom mimicking his own blush.

“Ready to workout again?” Chrom punctuates with a flex of his bicep, his other hand on his stomach.

“I’m ready for a quick nap,” Robin teases. Though his grin dies and his eyes widen as Chrom puts his hands on Robin’s arms, squeezing and rubbing them.

“That isn’t a bad idea,” Chrom grabs Robin’s hand, leading him back to their bedroom.

The two taking a quick break, the rest of their day off awaits them with several more workout sessions and stuffing sessions left.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs “So Cold”

So have any of you, who are writers, ever started writing something intending it to go in one direction, and then somehow of it’s own accord it dramatically turns another direction. Well, that just happened to me, so I hope you enjoy the this part in the Space Angels sequence.  

At this point I actually have no idea where this is going, so if you have any ideas that would be great otherwise im going to have to come up with osmething. 

Here is the last story if you missed it 

https://starr-fall-knight-rise.tumblr.com/post/183993237090/humans-are-weird-hearing-things

“Adam”

The Captain opened his eyes and sat up slowly. The room had been darkened again. The distant sound of conversing voices came to his ears from the next room over. Sunny sat just to his side her head down from the weight of exhaustion. She was asleep. The captain took a deep breath and slowly slid off the bed, his feet cold against the steel floor. The voice had been so close a quiet whisper in his ear like the voice of a woman.

It was chilling and soft, and he had to push aside the ideas of horror movies as he quietly moved down the row of beds and into the hallway. He paused there and deep breath, it was now or never, time to prove if he was crazy, “Hello?” He spoke into the darkness, “Is someone there?”

He stood there stupidly for a moment…. Wow, he was crazy…..

Then, and image flashed in front of his eyes… the airlock doors

Hand to his head, he staggered against the wall as a searing pain shot through his head. As it faded away, he stood looking around, “Look, just talk to me…. I, I don’t know what you want” The hallway was silent and dark. He took a deep breath as nothing came. If this was a horror movie, he’d be yelling at the screen.

He made his decision quietly padding off down the hall.

The ship was dark horribly dark. The hallways were steel tubes, the bowls of the ship twisting and turning in all directions lit by nothing but the illumination of the red lighting. Somewhere, off in the ship, the night crew was working, but not here. His body was weak, he was lightheaded, and he was scared out of his mind, but what else could he do. No one would believe him, and they surely wouldn’t let him go off trying to prove himself.

He ghosted through the hallways dark.

Overhead, the intercom snapped on, “Captain Vir to the medical bay, captain vir to the medical bay.”

Damn, they had found him gone. He sped up the pace and took a turn around the corner pressing himself into an alcove as a pair of security officers walked past. It took him longer than he would have liked to get down to the cargo area of the ship.

The intercom came on again, “All personnel be advised, the captain has gone missing from the medical bay, and may be experiencing delusions or auditory hallucinations, please approach with cation and send word to the medical officers.”

Damn, again.

The ships lights were still low, and no one was in the docking bay when he made it there. The darkness was complete here, pooling behind the hunched forms of docked ships, sleeping in the darkness. He paused by the shipping airlock, “Well…. Now what.”

“Open.”

“Are you effing insane?” The Captain said into thin air, “I’m not stupid. I’m not going to go and open a flipping airlock and kill everyone. The actual hell?”

“Gravity.”

He paused….. wait…. Wait. He glanced towards the airlock doors. He didn’t have to open the airlock onto the ship, he could open it into the compartment, pressurize the compartment, and then open it. He moved a little closer to the airlock finger poised to open.

“Gravity”

He wasn’t really sure what came over him just then. Gravity?

He turned to the hollo-pad next to the door flipped open the systems and input his ID number

Gravity lock-down Engaged.

All around the ship came the sound of a thousand thudding echoes as loose objects were bolted into place. The cargo bay and the hanger let off a quiet whirring noise as short-range gravity fields were thrown up around the ship and cargo to keep them from moving.

As the ship grew silent, he could hear the echoing of yelling voices. He reached out and pressed the next step.

Gravity field disengaged.

A thrum and a thump ran through the ship and the Captain felt his feet leave the ground. The sound of panicked voices came from all directions now

He pulled himself towards the panel by a bolted in handle.

Open airlock.

Lights flashed overhead warning of open airlock doors and hinting at the inability of anyone to be able to open the bay doors while the outside was exposed to space. Captain Vir wished he could see what was going on, but there were no windows, as was regulation on a UNSC class ship. More lights flashed as he gave the indication to decompress the airlock.

Decompressing airlock.

He heard the quiet thudding noise as the doors closed, and the sudden thunderous rush as air flooded into the compartment. More lights flashed to indicated the completion of decompression.

Opening airlock bay doors.

Captain Vir pushed himself to the side floating in front of the opening doors while his heart hammered in his ears, and a horrible hand clenched about his chest. What did he think he would find? What was he planning on doing if something found him? Why had he gone and done something this stupid?

The airlock was now open in front of him, a well of deep pooling darkness. He squinted inwards trying to make out any shapes or movement in the shadows.

The rushing noise reached his ears before the face broke from the black. Straight towards him black eyes swelling in his vision. He gasped, tried to push back, but couldn’t stuck as he was in Zero gravity. The black eyes grew in his vision, its pale, cold skin glowing in the darkness, its thin frame skeletal and unholy as rushed up to him and then stopped.

Face to face, Captain Vir whimpered in fear. He knew this creature, it’s once eerie angelic countenance suddenly became the thing of nightmares. A soft clicking gurgle rose from the creature’s throat as it parted its lips showing him the circling rows of grinding teeth. He clenched his teeth and craned his head backwards as the creature floated forwards, closer, ever closer. The clicking and gurgling continued as a soft and continual wheeze broke from his throat strained and biting.

It was right in his face now, inches away from its horrible open maw and glittering black eyes. It’s thin, pale hands grasped him around the arms. It was, so, so cold it burned. Tears of pain prickled at the corner of his eyes as fear burned a fire down his throat and into his stomach. He remained there as the creature leaned forward with it’s horrible gurgling and examined him tilting its head horrible back and forth back and forth. He lurched forward a little leaving his gasping in panic craning his neck away from the creature which pressed closer, he was gasping now waiting…..

Why had he been so stupid, stupid, stupid, idiot.

He shook horribly.

The creature’s mouth was terribly close to his throat where it wheezed.

“Sunny…. C-cannon.’ He moaned knowing that no one could hear him. The sound of the yelling over the ship could still be heard how were they to know where he was or what he was doing. If only he had a group of marines…. They could help him.

Why was he such an idiot, he really had gone insane.

The creature was lifting its face leaving the two of them only an inch apart staring face to face. Its large, black eyes swelled. Its horrible wheezing filled his ears. He could feel its spidery hands gripping his skin as he trembled.

What was he thinking he had effing legs, and was suddenly fully intentioned to kick the thing off of him when it moved closer. This time, instead of the glass of his helmet to impede them from touching, and its forehead rested against his with a horrible shock of cold. He moaned in agony.

“Do not be afraid, Captain.”

He blinked and shook himself staring the creature in the face its smooth creamy alien skin, with no discernable gender and no movement of its slightly, open, gurgling mouth. Yet that voice was distinctly feminine…. The voice of his sister?

“Is it you, are you the one talking?” He asked out loud

“Yes.”

This time its voice echoed in his head like there were many women speaking at once? The voices of his mother, his sister, his niece, Sunny.

“You can hear us.” It whispered, inside his head with its horribly eerie voice now changed to that of his first grade teacher, a long forgotten memory. It moved one of its hands upwards resting on the side of his neck. He tried to recoil from the burning cold, but couldn’t.

“Please,” He whispered, “You’re hurting me.”

Voices rose behind him, and in his head simultaneously. He gasped in pain and began to grow dizzy against the roaring of the multitude.

Not again.

The cold burned

And everything went black again.

***

He woke up as the gravity was switched back on. He felt his body sag into someone’s arms as his feet hit the floor. A burning cold seared his neck and his arms and parts of his face.

“Get him on his back.”

“Is he breathing?”

“What the hell was that?”

It was the marines.

Captain Vir opened his eyes and looked around. To his front, the airlock door was closed but the outer airlock door was still wide open, he knew by the flashing red light that rolled around the bay. At that moment, Sunny and Krill rushed into the room as the medical officers followed. They were babbling confused.

“Captain, Captain, look at me.”

He lifted his head to look at the small alien, who looked ready to rip him a new one, but stopped as he saw something, “Captain, what happened.”

“So cold.” He muttered.

“Are those… are those handprints.” One of the medical officers asked.

“It… can’t.”

“You should have seen it.” One of the marines babbled, “Just for a second it…. It ran out of the airlock. The captain he was all…. Jerking around in the air. I, it was horrible.” The other marines, at first hesitant to report what they had seen, now began to babble their own observations as well. It was white, it had black eyes, it looked like it was going to eat him.

Captain Vir lost consciousness amid the cacophony.

***

“For the last time, Krill, Its TELEPATHY, it’s the only explanation. It makes sense. Its why the seizures. Whatever power they have stimulates electrical activity in the auditory cortex so I can hear them, and then my brain just goes and freaks out.”

“Captain, it can’t be telepathy, it’s just not possible.”

“Krill, just shut up for five seconds. Once upon a time you didn’t think it was possible to survive brain injury, and then you didn’t believe me about the creatures that I saw.” He held up his arms, “Well now I have proof, and I heard it talking in my head. It used my first grade teacher’s voice for crying out loud, it HAD to be in my memories to do that.” Around the table, the bridge crew looked on in shock and confusion.

“But no one else heard it.”

“Yeah I know Krill, you keep saying that, but I am the only one who has been in enough contact with them. They are trying to speak to us, but they can’t. They can’t use smells or sounds or, or anything because it just doesn’t make sense. It does make sense that they DON”T use telepathy, and then I come along and they can get close, and all of a sudden I start hearing things. Hear me out, maybe I can hear them, but my brain just can’t handle the high volume of their voices, so they sent one to talk to me face to face, but of course I was freaking out, so it couldn’t get what it wanted to across, and then the marines showed up, and it all went to hell from there.”

Krill pointed angrily at the bandages on his arms, “And what about those. You have blisters on your skins the size and shape of handprints.”

The Captain rolled his eyes, “Space is COLD Krill, these creatures LIVE in space, besides, and it wasn’t as cold as it could have been. How could it know that it was going to hurt me by touching me?”

Krill stood then standing onto the table and stalking towards the Captain, “SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP ADAM.” That made him pause in surprise, Krill never yelled, and he never used his first name. Krill took a deep breath trying to calm his quivering voice. But the soft lowered voice was so much worse than the screaming, “Every damn day I have to sit here and watch you get hurt, every day something new, something stupid, something unnecessary, and I have to sit there with my mouth shut and fix it because THAT’S MY JOB. I tell you to be safe, tell you to be careful, but you never listen to me, and I’m scared that….. that one of these days….. You’re going to run out of luck.”

The room was horribly silent for a moment, “You aren’t invincible Adam… I used to think humans were, but now I know you aren’t. I gave up my planet for you and this ship and this crew, I’m too human to go home, and be accepted by my people anymore, and I WILL NOT sit here and let you die.”

His small body was trembling with the weight of his emotion, “S-Sometimes Adam, I just want to scream at you to tell you what you do to everyone around you. But your to self-absorbed in your incessant need to be a hero, or an adventurer to think about how the rest of us would be hurt if you didn’t make it back.” The silence hit with a horrible weight. Captain Vir sat there with all eyes on him suddenly feeling like a child. Was he really self-absorbed?

He hadn’t thought so, but…

Krill turned away and floated from the table and onto the floor. He paused at the doorway, “I’m headed back to the medical bay. You can come, or not, I know what I want doesn’t matter, so it’s up to you. As usual.”

***

Captain Vir stood just inside the door to the medical bay watching Krill as he angrily moved about the room ignoring the captain with all his might, “Krill…. I….”

Krill walked in the opposite direction, and the captain had to follow him further into the bay, “Krill Please, can I just….”

Nothing.

He paused beside one of the beds, “Look Krill, I, I’m sorry. You’re right. I never thought about what my actions would do to you and I….” He trailed off as the small medic didn’t even look at him. He sunk down on the bed and just watched him as he moved, “Guess I’m a pretty lousy friend.”

Nothing.

“Adam.”

He shook his head against the voice and gritted his teeth willing it to go away.

Krill didn’t need empty apologies now, he needed assurances that captain Vir would be ore safe in the future, that he could stop causing so much stress, but, could he really do that? He knew that he couldn’t and he felt horrible for it. He couldn’t lie to his friend, couldn’t tell him that he would be safe all the time, but what was he to do?

Still, and with no answers, he crawled back into his earlier position and tried to shut out the incessant voice trying to get his attention. Krill came over eventually still silent as he looked him over. He may be mad, but he wasn’t going to ignore his job. Vir closed his eyes, but was alerted moments later by a soft snapping sound looking over to find Krill glowering at him from the side of the bed, and one of the padded restraints locked around his wrists.

“Krill what the….” The other restraint locked into place about his other hand, and then around his feet till he was immobilized.

Krill stood over him, “I know, Captain.” He said softly, apologetically, “You’re too good of a man to lie, and that’s why I know you can’t promise me your safety. Until this ship is up and running, I have to take things into my own hands.”

“I can’t let you go.”

[r-ahh-mi]

He // Chapter 4

Prompt  II Chapter 1 II Chapter 2  II  Chapter 3

Pairing: Rami Malek x OC (Beth)

Warnings: Angst &  mentions of death

Word Count: 1.5k

-

The walk inside of the house was solemn feeling. I could compare it to the feeling a student has while walking into the principal's office after doing something horrible at school; the scared and hesitance was identical to how I was feeling now and it wasn’t making it any better that Rami still wasn’t making much of an effort to so much as acknowledge me. Not that I expected him to--well, I at least hoped he would just a little bit, even with the circumstances for me being here now being evident, I still would have hoped he would’ve at least given me a glance.

However, as I walked into the door it was still eerily quiet and I wasn’t sure what else to do but stand in the middle of the living room, that I was still vaguely familiar with, as I looked around the area that was similar, yet different at the same time. I then felt a brush of air go right by me and I wasn’t sure who it was until Rami plopped down on the couch that was directly across from where I stood. 

I didn’t care if he could tell I was staring at him, which i unashamedly was, I just wanted to take him in as much as I could and mentally compare the boy I was in love with and the man who stood before me today with his arms folded across his chest and eyes glued to the floor. His eyes were much more tired looking and I wasn’t sure if I should blame the death in his family for that or his line of work -- nevertheless, I hated how he looked so drained and worn out and  almost corpse-like. His face was much slimmer and more defined, his body not being too far off either. He still looked good just very different from the Rami I was used to. It seemed as though he was a robot, doing the bare minimum (if that) to keep himself alive and that was it. If I'm being completely honest, just the sight of him scared me a little bit.

As my eyes rearranged themselves back up to his face I was met with a coldness. His stare was fixated directly on me; eyes boring into mine so much so that it nearly made me grab a quick chair to keep myself afloat as I tried to contain the breathing in my chest and new wobbliness in my knees. The weirdest part was that I couldn’t bring myself to pull away from the heated stare. I’m not exactly sure why, but I just didn’t want to take my eyes off of him, especially if he were returning the gaze like he was right now.

“Everything okay?” Sami’s voice drove us out of our intense staring competition as we both simultaneously turned our heads to look in his direction.

“Everything's fine--just fine and dandy.” Rami’s voice was the perfect example of sarcasm as he rearranged his eyes so they went back to looking at the floor and his feet propped themselves up on the coffee table with a loud clang.

I watched as Sami rolled his eyes at his brother before looking back at me, mouthing ‘you okay?’. 

I shrugged as I glanced back to Rami before decided to walk over in Sami’s direction, following him into the kitchen as he began busying himself with doing some leftover dirty dishes that were set in the left side of the sink.

“Did he say anything to you?”

“No. He just sorta’ stared at me.” Naturally, I grabbed a dish cloth and began drying the dishes Sami was depositing into the drying rack as we continued on with our conversation.

“Don’t take offense to it. He hasn’t really said anything to me either.”

I nodded as I began putting away some of the dry dishes, astonishing myself that I still knew where everything went.

“I see you still know your way around this kitchen,'' Sami said with a grin.

“I was just thinking the same thing..nothings really changed around here. I kind of like it. Makes me feel like things haven’t changed that much.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sami nod in agreement as we continued on cleaning and drying the dishes in an almost mechanic like manner until the last dish was dried and put away.

“Have you guys eaten dinner?” I asked, tossing my mildly damp rag into the sink and turning around to rest my back against the kitchen counter.

“Nope”, Sami shook his head as he dried off his hands on a nearby towel, just before relaxing his lower back into the kitchen island in an almost identical position to mine.

“How about I make you guys something.”

Quickly, Sami waved a hand in front of his chest, “Of course not! You’re supposed to be a guest, we should be the ones making you dinner.”

I sent a playful glare his way before making my way over to the fridge, examining the nearly empty container as I attempted to think of something I could make out of the very bare amount of food they had. I hummed a ‘hmm’ as I skipped over to the pantry, again, not coming into contact with much of anything else that I could compile into a full meal.

“Is that burger place still around the corner?”

“Yes, but you’re definitely not getting us food.”

“Oh, but I am”, I patted Sami’s shoulder as I went to grab my jacket from the chair I had lazily draped it over, but Sami was hot on my heels as I grabbed my phone and stuffed it into the side pocket.

“Here-”, I could see him beginning to reach in the back pocket of his jeans and I knew he was going directly for his wallet.

“No, no. I’m paying.”

“Beth I-”

“I’m paying.” This time my voice was much more stern as Sami huffed in defeat and retreated his hand from his back pocket as he slugged back against the hallway wall with a huff.

“Where’s she going?” Rami questioned, his form not having changed a bit besides his thumbs deciding to pick at his cuticles in an anxious fashion.

Sami opened his mouth to speak, just before I cut in. “I am going to the burger place around the corner to get all of us dinner.”

“Text me what you guys want okay?” I questioned, only making eye contact with Sami as he nodded reluctantly.

Just as I began walking to the front door, I heard Rami’s raspy voice. 

“I’ll go with you.” And before I could question him or protest or insist, he was zipping up his hoodie and slipping his feet back into his shoes and standing up from the couch.

Nervously, I looked over at Sami, silently asking if this was a good idea, to which he responded by shrugging his shoulders and giving me a small, hesitant smile.

I didn’t wait for Rami to fully grab and put on all of his necessary belongings, I simply headed for the door and opened it--I could hear his heavy footsteps walking a little bit faster as to catch up with me, but I didn’t bother slowing down for him, I simply just kept on walking until I could sense that he was directly behind me.

Thankfully, the walk was less than a minute because Rami was still not talking or even making an attempt to communicate with me which only frustrated me even more that he had insisted on coming with me. What for? What could he possibly get out of an awkward and silence filled walk to get dinner.

The both of us walked into the restaurant together, placing our orders and then promptly returning outside, or at least I did. I thought having a smoke would be a good way to pass the time til the food was ready as well as give me time to decompress and figure out what exactly the fuck was going on with him.

Sure, a death in the family was always difficult to deal with, whether you were close with that person or not, but it was a bit odd to me that Rami was taking this as hard as it seemed he was. Him and his father were never super close, he had a much closer relationship with his mother-- not that him and his father didn’t get along, they just didn’t have the same intimacy that him and his mother shared, which brings me back to my concern for him and why exactly he was reacting the way he was.

As I took a drag of my cigarette, I heard the loud bang of the metal door closing to the burger place, making me look over and--what do you know. Rami’s mouth was slightly agape as he quickly looked at my face, but almost instantly moved his eyes down to the cigarette I held in my hand. I knew what he was thinking--when did she start smoking?--but I simply continued on and fixed my gaze out onto the busy street as I took another puff.

-

Tag List: @hazeleyedbeth @sassystrawberryk @amcquivey @cleopatra-knowles @lovelymalekk @mezzomercury @sherlollydramoine @rami-malek-trash @xmxisxforxmaybe @malek-lover @soothysayer

[ilovelocust]

The Price Of Flowers - Chap 3

Note: Well nice thing about going back to edit. All these chapters are getting larger and read better than when I first wrote them. Only downside is this editing is taking way longer than I expected it to. I’m going to keep the once a day update schedule, but I don’t know how much spare time I’m going to get to write newer chapters after I run out of buffer.

Under a cut now, because I didn’t realize how long this post was when I posted it. Let me know if the cut is causing issues where you can’t read the entire thing on mobile, and I will remove it.

<< First < Prev.

Chapter Three - What Goes Unsaid

Hunk is extremely grateful for Keith taking his place. Thanking him more than once over the phone before telling him when Lance will be by. It’s a little weird honestly. Hunk must have felt extremely bad about having dropped his plans with Lance to be so pleased.

Lance picks Keith up driving Hunk’s car, most likely another apology for ditching last minute. It hadn’t been strictly necessary. Keith could have taken them on his motorcycle, but the car did have the advantage of being much more GPS navigation friendly.

That being said, if they’d taken his bike, he’d actually know where they were going, “Seriously, I’m already in the car, it’s not like I can get out of this now. You can tell me,” Keith says, on round five of trying to convince Lance to spill the beans. Not that there is much hope of this time ending any differently than the last four rounds. Lance is by far the most stubborn member of their group. When he gets excited by something there is no talking him out of it.

“Nope, nope, nope, that would ruin the surprise,” Lance says with far too much excitement. Keith snorts, “Don’t worry you’re going to have fun, I promise. You can trust me.” Lance says grinning ear to ear, and are his eyebrows? How does somebody even move their eyebrows like that?

Keith crosses his arms, “Last time I trusted you, you picked that awful movie for us to watch,” He’s teasing, but also the melodrama really had been horrible. If they hadn’t been in a proper theater, he’s pretty sure the whole group of them would have been riffing the thing the whole way through. Probably would have improved the quality of the plot if they had.

“Hey!” Lance gasps, “I will have you know, that was a classic romance.” Lance takes a hand off the wheel to poke Keith for emphasis, “It’s not my fault your too uncultured to appreciate it.”

“It was a Disney wannabe at best,” Keith says, grinning. There is no way Lance is convincing him that that mess was a classic.

“Hmphh,” Lance turns up his nose, offended. Before Lance can come up with some biting response, he spots something in the distance and beams once again, “Hah!” Lance crows, “You’re going to eat your words. We’re here and this is going to be awesome.”

Lance pulls off into a dusty gravel parking lot, and Keith gets his first look at what he’s going to be spending the rest of his day doing.

A cheap metal building sits on the edge of some enclosed fields with what looks to be faux buildings, ramps, and various other interesting structure erected in the middle of them. Off in the distance is a forested area with a cheap wooden fort hidden behind some trees. Keith doesn’t even need to read the sign to know where he is now. Lance is right, this is going to be a blast. He hasn’t been paintballing in forever.

-

The final member of the enemy team rounds the corner, and Keith puts a yellow splash of paint across his mask before he even realizes who he has stumbled into. That’s game, and a good victory to end the day on.

“Wow,” Lance says from behind him. He looks nearly as surprised as the man who’d been shot does. Today had revealed that Lance had phenomenal aim at a distance, but up close he couldn’t match Keith’s finely honed, if a bit rusty, reaction times, “You’re really good at this,” Lance blurts out, almost like he hadn’t meant to say anything at all.

“Thanks,” Keith says, shoulder his paint gun and  beginning the trudge back to the entrance, “I used to play in high school,” He and Shiro had spent many an exciting summer afternoon running around fields just like this one, “You’re not half bad yourself.”

Lance had needed some help in the beginning. Figuring out how to breathe behind the mask without fogging up his glass and other newbie problems, but by the third game he’d been fully in the swing of things. They’d made a pretty good team. Certainly winning more games than they lost, and leaving Keith with only a minimal amount of bruises for Shiro to kiss better tonight.

That being said, Lance could really use getting more exercise. He’d gotten winded so easily today, any running at all and he was panting for breath, but then, maybe that had just been his allergies. He’d had some pretty impressive coughing fits between bouts. Keith would have thought he was coming down with something if Lance hadn’t told him otherwise.

There is small line forming in front of the equipment stall, as they cross the border for the playing field. Lance tugs off his mask, and he’s smiling, high on their win. Keith follows his lead, and he knows he’s smiling too. He’s glad he came, this had been a lot of fun. Much more so than watching a couple more episodes on Netflix would have been.

“You know,” Lance says, sounding almost sly, as they step in to wait their turn to return equipment, “We should come back here again sometime.”

That sounds like an excellent idea. Maybe next time he could bring Shiro with them. He’d have a ball getting a chance to play again, and with him and Keith on the same team, they really would dominate the entire field, “Sure, maybe next weekend?” Both he and Shiro should be free then. It didn’t seem possible, but Lance’s face lit up even more, “Shiro can come, and we’ll have a three man team.”

The light went out. Lance’s face falls, “Oh,” Lance says quietly.

Huh, what’s with that response. Did Lance and Shiro somehow have a falling out without him noticing? “Is that okay with you?” Keith asks, maybe it’s something else bothering him?

“No it’s fine, just,” Lance rubs the back of his neck, “Are you sure Shiro would want to do something like this?”

What an odd question, “Oh course he would,” Keith says, one of the worst things for Shiro while he was healing was how it limited his activity, “He loves this sort of thing.” Their mutual love of things like this was a big part of their bonding when they first met.

Lance’s expression doesn’t pick up with Keith’s assurance. They reach the front of the line, and the conversation is quickly dropped as they exchange equipment for driver’s licenses.

Lance doesn’t pick it back up until they are walking back to Hunk’s car, “The thing is,” Lance says suddenly, “There are so many guns, and you’re being shot at and…” Lance pauses obviously searching for the right words. Keith uses the time to remember what they were talking about in the first place.

Lance starts again hesitantly, “I don’t know. After the whole thing with the war, sometimes Shiro has…problems. Like do you remember what happened at the 4th,” Keith does. Everyone had gotten together for the fourth of July to celebrate. Everything had been fine, but then Lance and Hunk had set off a rope of those little red firecrackers. The big displays and tiny light shows hadn’t bothered Shiro, but those little ones, those little ones had sounded a bit too much like gunfire. Keith had taken Shiro home early after that, and eventually he’d convinced Shiro that he really hadn’t minded. Shiro’s mental heal is far more important to him than some pretty lights he’s seen dozens of times before, “Sometimes he’s not okay with things that used to be fine.” Lance finishes lamely.

Keith bites back his first instinct to defensively snap at Lance. His little speech might not have been worded eloquently, but Lance’s concern for Shiro’s possible triggers is coming from a good place. Keith is not someone who gets to judge others for sticking their foot in their mouths, “Thank you for worrying about him,” Keith starts, thank then explain. Just like Shiro would, “But at the same time, you don’t need to worry,” Keith forces a reassuring smile, “Shiro will let me know if this will be too much for him to handle, and if he misjudges, we’ll just grab dinner early or head home instead,” Not that that is likely to happen. They’ve played laser tag since Shiro came back with little to no issues. Just because something has the possibility of being a trigger, doesn’t mean that it will be.

“Oh…Okay then,” Lance looks morose for a few seconds longer, then brightens up with a smile, “Well it’s not like it matters either way,” He waves his hands around as if to wave the whole matter away, “I’m busy next weekend, so we couldn’t meet up then anyways.” Lance unlocks the doors and gets in.

Keith crawls into the passenger side, “We’ll have to pick another date then.” He says. Though, he may still come back here with Shiro on his own next weekend. The nostalgia alone would be worth it.

“Yep,” Lance says, popping his p. He looks straight ahead and cranks up the music.

-

They don’t really speak as Lance drives him home. It’s a nice change to the constant chatter than normally accompanies Lance. A little silence to decompress in is a blessed relief after an outing, even if it is a bit of unusual behavior for his driver…Well that’s a thought to get stuck on. This was pretty weird for the typically loud mouthed Lance. There were times he thought the boy might explode if he had to be quiet for too long. Had he said something wrong? Or was Lance still worrying over Shiro? Should he even ask?

They are friends sure, but they aren’t the type of close friends who share deep dark secrets. He’s fairly certain he’s never even shared what happened to his dad with Lance. If there positions were reversed, he’d likely hate it if Lance tried to pry into why he was in a mood. Sometimes people did want to bare their souls everyone in a nearby vicinity. Best to keep his questions to himself. Besides, his apartment was just up ahead. There wouldn’t really be time for that type of conversation anyways.

Lance pulls up to the curb and turns the music down, “Hey Keith,” Lance says.

Keith’s already out of his seatbelt and halfway out the door. He has to duck back down to respond, “Yeah?”

“I had a lot of fun today, did you?” Lance asks, and there is something pinched about his expression. Some subtext Keith knows he’s missing, but knowing doesn’t help him decipher it.

“I did,” Keith says, and then tacks on, “Thanks for inviting me.”

Lance nods, then sucks in a deep breath. Holding it like he’s working himself up to something, but he loses his nerve. Lance blows out the breath and slumps. Keith quirks his head, but doesn’t comment on it, “I’m going to head inside now,” Keith says.

Lance straightens up immediately, “Wait!” Lance says, Keith pauses, “I’ve got two tickets for a thing tomorrow. Will you come with me?”

A thing? Why would he be inviting Keith again? Isn’t this normally the sort of thing he does with Hunk? Oh…Oh, no wonder Lance is morose. His best friend is too busy for him. Well now he just feels bad for him. Pity is rarely appreciated, so Keith keeps it out of his eyes.

“Sure, text me the details. If it’s after my classes, I’ll go.” Keith says. He waves as he steps away from the car.  waving as he steps out. Hopefully that will cheer Lance up.

It does the trick, Lance springs back to his normal form at Keith’s words, “Alright! I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Lance waves back at him. There you go. Good deed of the week accomplished. He can go to sleep knowing he’s brightened up a friend’s day.

Keith walks into his apartment with a clear conscience.

Next >

[multimask]

Session 4 Rundown

So, last session we hit level 3 and our paladin swore her Oath of the Crown. To Queen Tatiana, queen of the Summer Court, ruler of the Seelie Fey. We'll get back to that. Oh, and we had a sort of heart-to-heart conversation with the party. It was a super fun and intense session, and I'm still somewhat reeling from what happened, but damn if it wasn't fun and we didn't get some cool threads from that. Apologies for the suuuper long post, but lots of things happened and this got very very wordy.

TLDR; fought some gnolls at the cave and found the druid girl, confirmed a 3rd party existence, Queen Tatiana and Iriph showed up to for the Oath, my rogue ended up then also swearing allegiance? aligning themself? to the Summer Court, and we found another entrance to the gnoll cave system.

We last left our party outside of the gnoll cave entrance, having just fought some gnoll door guards and being unable to stop one to raise some sort of alarm. Gnoll!Candle backs off into the woods to retrieve their stuff and change back to their tabaxi form before moving forward with whatever the plan is. While Candle is retrieving their stuff, the party backs up to the tree line to watch the cave and see what comes out.

What comes out is the gnoll shaman we fought being dragged by a barbarian-esque gnoll and followed by a gnoll that looks almost cleric-y ish? They look around and see no one. The shaman is killed and its body tossed to the side of the cave opening. The other two gnolls go back in to the cave. The party waits a few minutes for them to be gone and then go up to the cave entrance and look over the shaman’s corpse, then start to creep inside the cave.

The first little bit of the cave isn’t too interesting, just a tunnel that curves and opens into a small room with some rotting kills and a torch on the far wall. Not too much of interest, but is somewhat dark. Ren is not a fan of the light level and sends a mental link message (bc Kalashtar) to Candle, once again startling the poor cat… The group continues to stealth forward with Candle in the lead and Elias just behind, and the dice continue to remark at just how urban a creature Candle is with her rolling poorly enough to be spotted by a gnoll with a hyena just past the room. Initiative!

Just behind that gnoll is the “cleric” gnoll and the druid woman Candle had spotted earlier. There’s some brief back and forth, cut short when the woman declares that “[we] have been a nuisance, and so my master wants you dead” and attacks. We take down the barbarian gnoll and severely damage the other two, who turn and flee deeper into the cave and collapsed the tunnel behind them.

The party is hurting, and we flee into the forest, stopping in a clearing to catch our breath and lick our wounds. While we’re patching ourselves up the best we can without hit dice (yayyy multiple combat encounters in one in-game day at lvl 2…), we receive a visit from the Knight and the Queen of the Summer Court. The world goes silent and the two step out from behind a tree. (We as players knew that *something* was going to happen with our paladin bc of hitting level 3 and the whole oath thing, but we weren't exactly sure as to what it would be. Bc of chatting with other players, the DM, and some friends, I knew it was going to be fey, but I was not expecting the Summer Queen herself. This also happened earlier in the session than the DM was expecting bc of how we players took things, but it all worked out so it didn't really matter)

The Knight, Iriph, looks over the party, his gaze pausing and narrowing on Candle, but he said nothing. Candle slowly works their way to the back of the party and is Decidedly Not Happy with the two figures in front of the party. The Summer Queen has Poppy swear her Oath of the Crown to the Summer Court while the rest of the party is more than a little shaken by the appearance of The Summer Queen and her Champion Knight. That’s a thing that happened. Our paladin swears her oath to the Summer Court, and the Queen transforms the paladin’s warhammer. It is now a +1 magical weapon that has a single white rose etched into the head.

And then the Queen turns her attention to Candle. The Queen bears down on Candle and she is all but cowering against a tree in the Queen’s imposing presence. If Candle has been useful to Poppy, then Candle should be on the court. Candle has no idea who these people are or what the Courts even are. At this ignorance towards the Courts, the Queen gives a brief rundown of the two courts and what's going on with the Seelie and Unseelie.

(The actual timeline of these events is a little jumbled bc I as a player could not take as detailed notes as I usually am able bc *holy shit* that scene, so apologies for any contradictions. Since being a changeling is out in the open, along with persona/true names, I'm going to continue to use their persona name except where they are directly called their true name. I'm not sure how I'm going to call them for future rundowns, might stick to whichever persona/form is up. For now, they'll remain Candle) 

Edit: I went back over my notes and cleaned up the timeline

The Summer Queen is intrigued to see a changeling here, and one so unallied with any Court, and offers to take this stray into the fold. The rest of the party (except Elias) are chiming in with their thoughts on this. Poppy is pushing for Candle to accept, while Ren and River are pushing for Candle to do what they themself want to do. Candle declines the offer, and the Queen is not happy and restates her offer. This is Candle's "one chance" to accept the offer. Poppy pushes for Candle to reconsider. Candle is more than a little confused as to why the Queen cares about her and is not happy to be put on the spot by an authority figure who is royalty Just a little intimidating...

Cue this intense and intimidating dialogue btwn the two:

The Queen asks for Candle's name. They respond "I am called 'Candle in the Rain'."

"A fine name for a tabaxi, isn't it. What is your name, changeling" She spat. (By this point, I as a player had a death grip on my fan and was curled up in my chair experiencing this and also messaging a friend who had wanted to sit in on this session for this event but couldn't join us)

Candle hesitated and replied, “I am called… Nix.” At this name, Iriph perks up and quietly informs the Queen that this is the youngest sibling. At this Candle, aka Nix, perks up and is surprised to learn that they might have family alive. (And I as a player go flying for my private chat w/ aforementioned friend and session notes bc welp, I’m caving also goddammit DM I know I should have expected something like this when I gave you the siblings last week). In order to sweeten the deal (and also make Candle owe her something), the Queen fully heals Candle.

While Candle is hesitating and trying to turn down the offer again without being insulting, the Queen gets fed up with the side comments distracting Candle from actually giving an answer and silences the area. Everyone can hear Candle and the Queen, but Candle can only hear themself and the Queen. The two go back and forth some more, and Candle caves. If they get to meet their family/siblings, then they shall agree to the Queen's offer. (Yeah that's totally not going to bite them in the ass down the road)

The Queen is very pleased at this, and transforms Candle’s rusty old rapier into a +1 magical weapon with a rose for the basket-hilt. It blooms and then closes up into a rosebud, with the implication that if Candle stays loyal it might bloom again. Satisfied with what transpired, the Queen and her Knight leave. After they’re gone, Candle wheels on Poppy and demands to know what they just got themself into. Poppy insists that this is the best thing to happen, and is super glad that they’re on the same side now. Everyone is a little suspicious of how much Poppy is singing the praises of the Summer Queen; as players it’s bc you never trust the fae oh dear gods no, and as characters, well, everyone has their own reasons.

The characters decompress after that encounter and find another entrance to the gnoll cave courtesy of blood trails from corpses being dragged off. After we find the temple, we set up camp and decompress and Poppy explains the way that the fey courts work. And the session fades to episode credits as night falls. As we settle in to camp, and since it’s only mid afternoon, the party asks if there are any other secrets anyone wants to get out in the open and if there are any other forms that the group should be aware of from Candle/Nix. They hesitate at that and then show the persona of the sun elf Soliana. We don’t learn much about Ren, and we learn that River is an empath and has a box that is a family heirloom and magically sealed. Elias had a person named Maria in his life who was the brains behind the guns that he has. The empath feels grief off him when he brings her up.

And the session fades to episode credits as night falls.

That was quite the session and now I’m going to go make my backup character for my Tomb of Annihilation campaign bc we’re about to go die tonight.