#the rest of the company realizes it's her and use her powers as a way to pull off impossible special effects onstage

[ozzgin]

Yandere! Yokai Harem Headcanons

Meet your (6) monster boyfriends!

Since the story will take a while to unfold, I decided to speed things up and properly introduce you to the characters. A little time skip to Reader becoming an onmyōji herself and renewing the bonds with the yokai men, this time at their request. They cannot bear the thought of separating from their darling and since she has reneged her life as a regular human being, someone has to keep her company. And so the days are spent exorcising evil spirits both in modern and feudal Japan, with a pack of demons following close behind.

[Main story] [Character Guide]

Content: female reader, monster smut, NSFW, obsessive behavior, reader is a monster hoe again but feigns mild reluctance

Kiritsubo

Kiritsubo is your very first yokai encounter and he almost immediately falls for you. He's always been at the receiving end of his master's wrath for not being able to use his powers, so much that even after Nakamaro’s ‘death’ he couldn’t sleep without being plagued by horrid nightmares. His back is covered in thick scars from the frequent punishments. You first begun to suspect his background when you jumped in to protect him from an incoming blow and he froze in terror, unable to look up and awaiting the anticipated discipline.

Needles to say that when he learns you're not like the previous onmyōji he becomes extremely clingy and needy. He can only rest if you're next to him and will often hug you for reassurance. You've shared a bed before there was any hint of romance, simply because he found your presence so soothing. That's not to say he relies on you for everything. In fact, he unlocks his nearly unmatched abilities purely out of his desire to protect you. He’s found his purpose in serving you, someone who showed him kindness when he needed it most.

As you go out into the world, he begins to question his exact feelings for you. An example of his intense musings: he's asked you, perplexed, whether he can kiss you like the people he's seen on the street. He's spent his entire life being trained by Abe no Nakamaro, so he struggles to understand how relationships work. He will be utterly oblivious to other people flirting with him (it happens every now and then, he is a handsome demon after all), but simultaneously worry that everyone is out to have you. He’s already very salty about the other yokai joining your side and will frequently remind them he was the first to accept you.

When you complete your transition as an onmyōji, the priestess warns you that you may no longer partake in any kind of bonding with your fellow humans. Kiritsubo, seated next to you, responds almost instantly with eyes sparkling in excitement: "Well, that doesn’t extend to yokai, does it? I can still make you my wife.”

Kiritsubo is very clumsy when being intimate with you for the first time, but it doesn’t take long for him to become rather addicted to the feeling. You often have to scold him to behave and in return he’ll be pouting and fidgeting until you finally give in to his pleading gaze. He’s very vocal and touchy and will leave you covered in scratches from all the pulling. Towards the end he’s a drooling mess, mumbling about how much he loves you and begging you to never, ever leave him.

Murasaki

Murasaki is very cold and sarcastic on the surface, but you soon realize he is the most caring and responsible of the group, always looking out for everyone and trying to keep them out of trouble. In fewer words, he's almost like a tsundere mother hen (he won't hesitate to put you in a headlock if you mention it, though). He goes along with your wishes and will politely listen to anything you tell him, but to others he remains stoic and even rude. You’re sometimes reminded of the preferential treatment when witnessing his aggressive way of dealing with his suitors, shooing them away with the utmost disgusted scowl.

“Huh? Why can’t I be nicer to others? Bold of you to assume my tolerance is not, in fact, a limited resource spent entirely on dealing with you.”

He's been your guardian from the day you met him. He taught you how to use a sword and how to properly cast spells and seems to have a solution for all your troubles. When you introduced the yokai to the modern world you assumed he'd struggle to adapt, but he was extremely quick to learn and is, to this day, accumulating knowledge at a dizzying pace. One wouldn't be able to tell him apart from a regular city dweller. Murasaki is the concrete definition of a jack of all trades, excelling in whatever he sets his mind on.

Given his status and skills, the other yokai have always been rather jealous of him, including Kiritsubo. Ironically enough, by the time Murasaki accepted his infatuation towards you, you'd already gotten close to Kiritsubo. Which resulted in a lot of unexplained jealous bouts from a yokai too prideful to admit he loves you just as much. (You eventually get him to confess and reach the agreement to distribute the wealth among workers.)

He will occasionally be in a good enough mood to share with Kiritsubo, but it frequently results in a bizarre competition between them as you awkwardly squirm underneath, overstimulated. More often he prefers to pull you aside after you've done the deed with another yokai and aggressively fuck you as a way to assert his dominance. "Oh, was he that good? Then why are you moaning much louder now?" He'll demand with a firm grasp around your throat. Sadly his extreme competitiveness extends to this area as well.

Suma

Among the yokai, Suma is the most easygoing one despite his intimidating appearance. Most evenings he’ll have a drink in hand, eager to chitchat and ramble by the campfire, with his relaxed laughter resounding across the place. He is very loud and blunt and will often need to be reminded of the colossal power imbalance between him and regular humans and demons. Although after accidentally dislocating your shoulder (he was terribly amused by your joke and gave you a friendly pat), he’s gotten much better at adjusting the amount of force he uses, especially with you.

You’ve only witnessed him serious on two occasions: first one is a recurring event, when he’s training alone. When you’re together, he’s always in a merry mood, letting you try out moves and spells on him and frequently praising you even after failures. His whole demeanor changes when he’s by himself, swinging the spear with a calculated, focused gaze that remains unperturbed until the end of his session. The second case is when you get hurt. Now, he does encourage you to fight, and your confidence in battle is what caused him to fall head over heels in love with you. He will immediately put a stop to it, however, if the opponent ends up harming you. Seeing your lips curl in pain is enough to set him off and send him into a full blown rage.

Suma is destructive in all the ways you can think of. Given his massive size, as much as he’d love to, having his way with you is not something that can happen spontaneously. Borrowing his powers can of course help your frail body to not immediately tear apart, but depending on how much self control he has (or lack of), you might end up needing urgent healing from Sakaki. Suma will be extremely apologetic for nearly fucking you to death, but you’d be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy it. A more common approach is riding his hand, as one or two fingers are enough to make you dizzy. He’ll be satisfied just hearing your needy whimpers. He also adores watching you whenever you give him handjobs as your little, delicate hands struggle to hold onto him. You’re insignificant compared to him and yet you persevere, feisty and horny. His precious, tiny warrior.

Yuugiri

Yuugiri is by nature a manipulative, masterful liar, so it comes as no surprise that you had a hard time trusting him in the beginning. His habit of teasing you certainly didn’t help, as you could never tell whether he’s serious about something or not. Perhaps the greatest irony is that even when he tries to be honest, it comes out crooked. Such is the fate of a deceiving demon, although most people are only familiar with fox spirits. On his end, he loves that you’re so transparent and obvious, even occasionally naive. And so it took a lot of awkward pleading to convince you to renew a binding contract with him, given everyone was suspecting him of ulterior motives.

For Yuugiri, being part of such contract is the most vulnerable offering he could've given you as proof of his love. As your souls become connected, you can perceive his feelings in ways otherwise impossible to achieve. He willingly allowed you to be able to read his heart, and thankfully it worked. It was his last, desperate resort to get you to understand his affections. Do you finally see the earnest adoration he harbors for you?

He is the best choice if you're looking for a best friend to gossip with. He enjoys listening to your stories and pays great attention to every detail. He's also frighteningly vengeful, especially when it involves you. So if you ever complain about someone to him, know that he will remember it forever and will make sure to continuously get back at the offender in the worst possible ways and will only stop when you tell him to.

Now listen, I’m about to be quite crass but it is what it is: as a serpent demon he has a long, forked tongue and let’s just say everyone in the household can tell if he’s eating you out because it will be loud. It will be followed by the walk of shame, when you eventually have to come out of the room red-faced and sore-legged, with Yuugiri donning a devilish grin for the rest of the day. You always swear to keep it in next time, but within moments you’re tightly gripping onto his horns, mumbling his name in a feverish, drunken haze. Naturally, he can read you like an open book and this truth stands for more intimate matters as well. Leave it to Yuugiri to know what his darling likes best.

Sekiya

Sekiya has been fascinated with you from the moment you stepped into the ancient Tomb. To see the anxious, quiet Kiritsubo happily wag his tail after you and the stern, irritable Murasaki readily at your service…It was a sight most unfamiliar to him and he wondered how a mere human like you managed to whip them into this kind of submission. He refused to believe you’d be stronger than Abe no Nakamaro himself, yet after the battle - from which you emerged victorious - it suddenly occurred to him that it wasn’t fear or obedience coming from the two yokai companions. Just honest, unadulterated love. He felt his chest tighten with envy, all the resentment of being sealed in with an evil, hateful sorcerer finally erupting its way to the surface.

So when you offered him and Sakaki to join you (“What else is left to do among these ruins?”), he couldn’t agree fast enough. To think he, too, could be spoiled with the affections of someone like you. On the other hand, Sekiya is an insecure, nervous wreck of an overthinker and he felt like he couldn’t offer anything worthy in return. He’s a demon that casts barriers. Nothing more, nothing less. He doesn’t have Murasaki’s genius, or Kiritsubo’s raw power, or Suma’s brute strength…What use could you possibly find in him? Hence the constant need for reassurance. He will need you to pull him out of his melancholy every now and then, just a small nudge from the savior he so worships.

It’s an extremely rare occurrence, but Sekiya can get cheeky if his ego is stroked properly. So, for example, he’ll take advantage of the fact you’re both alone in the modern world and show you the handy usage of his barriers: a crowded intersection overflowing with people, and yet no one can see him greedily thrusting into you right in the middle of everything. It’s the high of sprawling you out in public without actually being seen. It’s also one of the reasons you no longer take him furniture shopping. Last time you asked him to help you pick a new table from Ikea and were confused by his requirement of it being “high enough”. Before you could ask for further explanations, the immediate vicinity started twirling into a blur and his heavy arm bent you over the surface. “Let me demonstrate”, he purred in your ear. Sure, no one saw you dripping with his cum, nonetheless scanning the items with your clenched legs and deep crimson face was humiliating enough.

Sakaki

Despite his gift to heal and revive, Sakaki is a terribly miserable demon, often plagued by gloom and death. He is especially receptive to negative emotions, and given your souls are connected, he is the first to detect any change in your mood. (You had to learn to block out the persistent throb of jealousy that tugs at your heart whenever the yokai is particularly insecure.) He takes great pride in the fact that he can understand your sadness better than anyone. The second you feel down, he’ll be right behind you: “Worry not, we shall suffer together. Such is the fate of lovers.”

The first time he joined you back into the modern world, you’ve perhaps mistakenly introduced him to classic literature you assumed he’d like. He indeed became infatuated with authors like Poe, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Shelley, Hoffmann. For the first time in his long life, Sakaki felt understood, and you’re glad to have played a role in his new interest. Yet you can’t help the shivers running down your spine whenever you become the target of his overflowing, renewed inspiration. Grim, ghastly paintings, deplorably obsessive poems…You’ve unleashed an authentic Romantic poet whose only muse is you.

He’s a master of eerie awkwardness, more so now that he has access to modern entertainment. You were excited when he asked you out on a picnic date, only to discover you’ve been taken to a foggy graveyard. He enthusiastically explained his choice: you can scout burial plots in case one of you dies (he’ll die with you, no worries), it is a stunning reminder that his love for you is eternal, and you might even find potential names if you ever want children. Another time, when you rented a boat during a sunny day at the lake, he cheerfully wondered how you’d look if you were to drown (still as beautiful as ever, he’s certain). Ah, but he does not dwell on dark things only. He recently took you to see the famous Cirque du Soleil and he was equally mesmerized by all the light and colors. It was Corteo: the story of a funeral cortège for a clown.

Sakaki does not like sharing and prefers to hang out with you alone, without the other demons. In fact, he’ll spend the day holed up in his room, writing or painting, or go out on lone walks if he knows you’re messing around with someone. He’d rather not hear anything that would cause him turmoil. The only exception is Sekiya, as they spent decades in isolation together within the sealed Tomb, and they both share a similar lack of confidence. In this case he won’t mind laying you on him and offering the above position to his friend, or casually joining your fun if he sees you together with Sekiya.

[maxwell-grant]

There's a trend people have pointed out in superhero stories over the past 20 or so years that is the death of "regular" supporting casts, an increasing absence of un-powered sidekicks or people involved who aren't in the thick of the action or in the hero's secret. Everyone who interacts with superheroes is a couple issues away from becoming one, every story involves a supervillain encounter or several dozen, every hero's gotta have a lunchbox-ready "superhero family" made from these characters, and every side character that doesn't join them is either going to die or become a supervillain.

The defining example people use for this is Spider-Man's supporting cast, with every Spider-Man cast member short of Aunt May and J Jonah Jameson getting some kind of powered upgrade or symbiote, and I'm gonna say Amanda Waller is an excellent case study of how this kind of thing happens, and I think it helps to explain why Amanda Waller has been, Like That, for the past 30 years.

She’s wearing a grey shirt underneath a blue blazer and it’s tucked into a similarly blue skirt that stops at mid calf. She reminds me of the neighbourhood aunties I used to see leaving for church every Sunday morning.

My mom used to say that you are the company you keep. So what kind of person does it take to keep a variety of bruised, battered, and dangerous personalities in check? - Amanda Waller: DC's Most Terrifying Woman

To those of you who haven't read John Ostrander and Kim Yale's Suicide Squad, there once was a time where Amanda Waller was something more than a powerful antagonistic force able to butt heads with the biggest superheroes, and something other than a heartless establishment face out to make superheroes miserable for ill-defined reasons. Structurally speaking, Suicide Squad is a comic about marginal DCU characters forced to deal with actual real life problems, and it's central character is a marginalized person forced to deal with DCU problems and characters. The members of the Squad are a rolling parade of costumed misfits and maniacs assigned to go around the globe to fight and kill and die on dirty missions to deal with dirty laundry and stop war zones from erupting, while Amanda Waller is forced to shuffle around her cadre of D-list supervillains and disgraced superheroes and get into stand-offs with secret spy societies, living nukes, voodoo cartels, and Batman.

Amanda Waller neither looks nor acts like the kind of character that stars in a superhero comic, and she is the central character throughout the 66 issues of the run and we follow her character arc from beginning to end as she's forced to spin plates to accomplish her goals and prevent bad situations from getting worse. She is the most fully realized character in the run and everything rests on her shoulders. We spend a lot of time inside her head, her team, her associates, she is the center holding together an extremely chaotic book with no two characters on the same page. She is, and has to be, an extremely powerful person, someone who stands her ground no matter what, an unbeatable force of will because that is the only way she's going to survive the situations she's in, the only way she can be "The Wall", the kind of person who can repel Batman, command a platoon of monsters, talk her way out of Deadshot's contract, someone who can stare at Darkseid and credibly threaten the President into letting her live.

That's the part that everyone is more or less familiar. But there is, or at least used to be, much more to Amanda Waller than just being The Wall, not in the least because being The Wall is also hampering her effectiveness as well as straight up killing her.

"Amanda's toughness has taken her a long way" "It's taken her as far as it can. But it can't take her no further. It's actually starting to drag her down. I'm scared for my baby sister, rev - scared that the anger in her is congealing into hate." - Suicide Squad #31

We get to know her backstory, her plans, her points of contention with the system, her relationships with people around her, and how deeply she cares about things and people even as she sends them to the meatgrinder. From the start we learn that Waller staffs her team with people she's prone to getting into disagreements with, like Simon LaGrieve and Rick Flag, specifically so they can cover her moral blind spots and pick up the slack in emotional intelligence she's lacking, be the heroes that she can't afford to be. It is unspeakably crucial that the Squad is led by Rick Flag as well as Bronze Tiger, a fallen hero who owes Waller for his recovery who eventually takes Flag's baton. Waller stands up for her team, gets into fights with her superiors when they decide to terminate them, and takes the fall for them when necessary. Waller is a person who does Bad Things - but she is not a Bad Person.

The book in no uncertain terms frames the Suicide Squad's existence as monstrous in a scale Waller doesn't understand until the very end, and it digs deep into the unethical things Waller has to allow for and perpetrate in order to keep it running no matter how many lives it saves, and she spends the first half of the book on a downward spiral. But then there's the 2nd half of the book:

In the first 39 issues, Amanda’s flaws are her undoing. As she pushes away the people she hired to act as a balance, she grasped tighter and tighter to her uncompromised vision of the Suicide Squad despite the constant changes and derailment. Her choices had consequences: the death of Rick Flag, her demotion, employees quitting, and finally, the disbandment of the team.

The last 27 issues have Amanda rising up from the ashes after a year in jail. She’s less in her own way – she communicates, her anger isn’t driving her, she’s more receptive of alternative perspective and recognizes when she’s wrong in real time – but she’s still just as scary.

Waller rebuilds her relationships with the people she drove away, takes a different tack to how the team works, and starts going out into the frontlines with the Squad. She brings Oracle (who actually made her debut in this comic) into the fold, saves her life and plays a big role in Barbara making progress in overcoming her Joker trauma. She genuinely puts in the work to improve as a person and do things a better way than before, even if there is an inescapable immorality to the very existence of the Squad and what they do. That immorality never goes away, and it only further horrifies her when learning how badly her project has gone. In fact, it's that very inescapable immorality that ends her arc.

She learns that the CIA has started using a new Suicide Squad to support a brutal regime in South America, and when faced with the full extent of her complicity in Western imperialism? She decides right then and there to end the Suicide Squad for good after they liberate the population of said regime from said Squad. She is the only person who gives a shit about the country enough to start the assignment for free once she knows about it, force the Squad along, lead the mission in field, and personally (and even gently) usher the villain to his death at the end, to end what began with her.

She does bad things, and she does good things. She cares about people, and she uses people. Her decisions ruin as well as save the world. She spins a million plates to match wills and wits with the strongest, wickedest, most cunning humans and superhumans alike, and she still has superiors to answer to and people close to her she hires to judge her for what she does. She endured racism and misogyny and poverty for decades and rode whatever she could to attain as much power over her own life as someone like her could possibly attain, and to have it, she must be a willing tool of the state and bend the knee to Ronald Reagan, the man she derides for what he did to her community, hating every minute of it.

She lost her family to sexual and racial violence, and now she wrangles a penal battalion comprised of some of the worst people on the planet to inflict violence on her orders. She has saved and redeemed people, and she's haunted by the corpses she's left in her wake. She is oppressed and oppressor, someone who could only escape the ravages of American imperialism by becoming one of it's chief enforcers, and still she rebuilds herself into a better person from it upon confronting and challenging her role in it. She is not a bad person, she is not a good person either, she is just afforded a degree of agency and complexity unpowered characters in superhero books simply don't get.

Okay cool, now what is she up to these days?

That, I guess. That is what a strong but unpowered person who does not allow themselves to be bossed around by superheroes or supervillains looks like now. Everytime there's a call for a military bad guy, Waller gets tagged in to be DC's Henry Gyrich. There was a point where Waller was made to contrast the likes of Sarge Steel and Wade Eiling, someone who butted heads with them because she was a well-meaning person working for and committing evil as often as she attempted to stop it. These days, the most consistent beat with her is that she is the most dangerous person alive and worse than the villains she wrangles into working for her. She is a thing to be overcome, a hypocrite to be exposed, a challenge to the natural order of the universe, and she is too terrific at it to be shuffled off quietly. She is a Bad Person and so everything she says and does is Bad (and thus can be ignored).

Integral to Suicide Squad's structure was the fact that Waller was the center holding everything together, the ultimate third party: spinning plates working with, for and against all of the others so she can bend rules and be bent by them. Bent, but never broken, because The Wall doesn't break, others break first. Waller was a one-of-a-kind character, and that broke her, because beating Sarge Steel and Wade Eiling at their own game means replacing Sarge Steel and Wade Eiling. Waller doesn't look like them, she doesn't look like the superheroes either, and so she can't be one of them. She can't even look like herself a lot of the time, they try to slim her up everytime they think they can get away with it.

Suicide Squad was preoccupied with exploring a perspective from a world outside the superhero worldview, but we no longer have her perspective or that of people around her, we only know her through the superheroes she inherently defies and has had an adversarial relationship against from day one. She is someone with a viewpoint that is charitable to neither superheroes nor institutions, and thus, the universe is increasingly less sympathetic to her, the less utility she has to the grander narrative where everyone has to pick between one of two options. If she wasn't powerful and assertive, she'd be another Leslie Thompkins, another Jiminy Cricket the heroes passively ignore. But because she is powerful and doing morally compromised things without asking Batman's permission, she must have a personal grudge. She must be a government monster. She must attack the superheroes for no reason, no ideology, no motive.

So now she's just The Wall 24/7, the mean icy establishment boot who is strong and clever and cruel and hates superheroes and wants to destroy superheroes and rule the world from the shadows. Everything she does is a fuck-up she refuses to take responsability for, everyone is right to hate and distrust mean old Waller, and now everyone gets to look good by dunking on her. They couldn't make her a superhero, so they made her a generic supervillain instead. And now that she's a bad guy, she no longer has to believe anything, she doesn't really have to mean anything, they don't have to write stories about something other than superheroes and supervillains, and they don't have to let a fat woman of color take up space and screentime they could be giving to Harley Quinn and Slade Wilson instead.

Even by the time of Waller's debut on the tail end of the 80s, her career opportunities were on their way to extinction

Days Of Future Past marks the triumph of the superhero comic that's pretty much concerned with no-one but superheroes. Where Ditko and Lee's Spider-Man featured a single costumed crimefighter in the context of a commonplace existence, the X-Men of the 80s focused on a huge cast of mutants who had little if any lasting involvement in the everyday world.

By the 21st century, the corporate superhero comic would largely - if not exclusively - concern itself with little beyond a large class of superhumans and their fantastical existence. I suspect there's a significant correlation between that and the continuing cultural  peripherilisation of the superhero comic - Colin Smith

Amanda Waller is one of the strongest characters in all of comics, she was as powerful as an non-superpowered character given center stage could possibly be, a perfectly designed character from which an entire corner of a shared universe was developed out of with her as the center making it work, but as the room for civilian casts and unpowered protagonists got smaller and smaller, so did Waller's options. If she was a Spider-Man character and somehow didn't get killed or made into a villain, they would have slimmed her up and given her a symbiote, because you're nobody unless you're web-swinging. Characters didn't look or act like Amanda Waller, and unfortunately, they still don't. It's just instead of making more characters like her, they gutted Waller to be more like the rest. If she couldn't make it, who else even could.

Keep your eyes peeled for this summer when she'll team up with two meaningless robot baddies to burn down the Justice League and I guess the universe for the next reboot or something.

[nymphbroadcast]

Diasomnia x MC! like Vaggie

⊹Sinopsis⊹ೃ🐉⋆ The Diasomnia boys with a MC! Or Yuu like Vaggie.

⊹Relationship⊹ೃ🐉⋆ Fall in love/ Free of interpretation.

⊹¡FEM! MC/Yuu/Lector ⊹ೃ 🐉

⋆⊹Clarifications: I decided that the reader will have almost the same story as Vaggie, the reader will be a ''Fallen Angel'' but you are free to change it, in this case since I am such a SIMP for Malleus I made it directly as a love relationship, however you are free to decide.

⊹Vaggie's Analysis⊹ೃ 🐉⋆

• Vaggie is someone who does not trust quickly, due to her abusive and unfair past towards her, she is on the defensive most of the time, she is someone serious and diligent, she is also protective of those she cares about, sometimes she can be little patience, she usually uses force more when she feels conflicts nearby since it is the way she learned to solve conflicts, she has an inferiority complex and self-hatred, due to her upbringing and education she is very good in hand-to-hand combat, she is not afraid to risk her life frequently in moments of danger, she dislikes talking or remembering her past, she has emotional traumas, she has honest love to give and has always believed that there are more ways to use justice than just force, Vaggie He also believes in the idea of ​​sincere redemption and tolerance.

Malleus Draconia

🐉 Malleus is fascinated, no joke, this man is in heaven. YOU ARE A REAL ANGEL!!!

🐉 Malleus immediately notices the celestial "aura" in you, which although attenuated, still remains within you and thanks to his agile mind Malleus relates you to the old stories and legends he read about "celestial beings" who had many functions and cannot help be delighted with your existence.

🐉 Although with their interactions, Malleus grows a doubt in his head: "Where are your wings?" is what he asks himself when he remembers having read that most, if not all, angels have at least a pair of wings, however he thinks that it may be a private issue if you have not mentioned it and therefore neither does he, he thinks that you will eventually.

🐉 With every interaction you two have, Malleus falls more and more into an unconscious infatuation, you are serious but not insensitive, you are respectful but not distant or fearful, you are witty but also emotional... You are practically perfect in his eyes.

🐉 Even though you're not supposed to have magic, Malleus doesn't care in the slightest! He even finds it exceptional that you have excellent fighting skills that allow you to immobilize beings more powerful than you and without an advantage like magic, he must say that he never gets tired of watching you train.

🐉 Malleus is relieved that you're an Angel, that means he won't have to worry about seeing you away from him anytime soon! Plus: you have a human charm, but with the skills of a fairy, the best of both worlds! The dragon boy is happy! (Chapter 7)

🐉 Your constant protective attitude amuses Malleus, you can see him with a characteristic mysterious and somewhat mocking smile of his when you try to intervene to protect him, even when you know that he has more than enough power to protect himself you still try to do it for him!

"Oh could you be more adorable, Daughter of Heaven?"

🐉 For Malleus who is hungry for love and contact, you are a rest, you remind him of the soft moonlight that provides company and security in the darkness of the night. You hug him, kiss him and even do small but long-awaited acts for him, such as: taking him by the waist, carrying him in your arms, taking him to do little dances while you hum a song. Malleus thanks any type of supreme entity for letting you come into his life to give him all your love.

🐉 Without realizing it, Malleus notices something curious: your attitude is not usually the stereotype that someone would have of an angel, you are like "an angel with the attitude of a demon" and in your eyes, Malleus can be physically intimidating, even mistaken for a demon, but his personality... In your eyes he is more worthy of being called an angel than you... Say it for him and you will have an adorable dragon boy sobbing out of tenderness and with a ring just for you 💚

🐉 I have a Small Scenario:

(After his Overblot) You and Malleus are in his room in Diasomnia, you see how distraught he is and how overwhelmed he feels by everything he did: guilt and sadness encompass most of his heart, but you know perfectly well What to do: You take his much larger hand in yours, giving him your "Are you okay?" look... Malleus brings his gaze towards you, he still has those hateful emotions in him and you leave the words aside and simply sing:

🎶"You've already done so much. So many lives you've changed. So many souls you've touched. And in the end, if it's only me you've saved..."🎶

Malleus watches you, somewhat surprised because you never sing, especially in such a... sincere way... Somehow, it seems like he knows what you will say and sings along with you.

🎶"There's something that I've been dying to say

More than anything, more than anything

Need you to know I love you more than anything~

More than anything~"🎶

And finally you and Malleus seal your eternal, deep and sincere love with a kiss... Knowing that no matter what, your love can illuminate even the deepest and darkest pits of hell... And you smile, knowing that Malleus is calm now, with you.

🐉 Malleus already refers to you as his future wife, you are everything he has always longed for and you finally feel understood and supported by him, both create a couple not only powerful... But also what proves that love is everything that unites all types of beings, humans, Faes, Angels and more...

🐉 With everything said, Malleus knows that thanks to you he will no longer have to hide or pretend to be something he is not because you are capable of threatening even the entire world for him and he will do the same for you, so Malleus writes a letter to his grandmother and the entire government of Briar Valley that says they must prepare, because when he returns the first thing he will do is form a future with you and his beloved family (Lilia, Silver, Sebek and You), accepting everything that comes with it and of all kinds of species and this time... He does not will make the same mistakes as his parents.

Lilia Vanrouge

🩸 "Oya~? What's an adorable little angel like you doing in a place like Night Raven College, mhh? Oh you look like a cute moth~!"

🩸 Lilia discovers you almost immediately, thanks to his many centuries alive it is relatively easy for him to identify a person's race. (Spoiler: Lilia's age is 700 years according to Chapter 7)

🩸 Despite the above, Lilia had never seen an Angel or fallen Angel in person, only one or another story from books or war legends that deal with Angels. (Chapter 7)

🩸 So knowing the current Lilia, you have an adorable Vampire Fae asking you thousands of things, although it is difficult for you to talk about it, you always try to be polite and calm when interacting with him, you can't resist to his cuteness.

🩸 When you decide to open up and tell him about your past, Lilia accepts that perhaps you and he have more in common than it seems... Lilia understands what it is to live through wars and kill without really wanting it, so you have him there to support you and feel calmly accepting that tragic past together. (Chapter 7)

🩸 In a way Lilia is relieved, being an Angel or Fallen Angel you will live almost as long if not longer than a Fae and that means she won't have to worry about seeing you die soon.

🩸 Lilia has exceptional skills as a soldier and former right-hand woman of Princess Maleanor, however, being the former second-in-command of your former army, he can recognize your fierceness and determination as a warrior, and he even declares a tie between you and him. (Chapter 7)

🩸 Lilia can also identify in you your immense capacity to love... Sometimes you bring back memories... He knows that if you turned out to be the girlfriend of one of his Diasomnia children (Malleus, Silver and Sebek) it would be excellent, you are capable of giving your own life for those you love but also You are capable of living for your loved ones.

🩸 On the other hand, if Lilia becomes your partner, he will do everything to see you smile and relax as much as possible, he will make sure to take care of you and make you feel as loved as you love him, without a doubt the love of an Angel (with the attitude of a devil ) and a Demon (with an angel personality).

🩸 Either way, Lilia now has a different way of seeing you and once again accepts that love can live in all types of beings... Mortal or not and with thousands of other differences... Lilia knows how difficult it is to love and lose someone, even losing oneselves in the past and memories and he's proud to see and know that you understand what it means to love despite the obstacles and that you are one of the few who still insists on doing something for others and in creating tolerance and peaceful coexistence between all types of living beings.

Silver

⚔ Silver is fascinated, sincerely fascinated... You are so adorable, like a cute moth (Bombyx mori) looking for the light after being locked in a horrible pit of darkness and sadness.

⚔ Silver wants to learn from you, you are admirable in his eyes: Upright, moral, respectful, strong and determined. A real example for him to follow, especially after seeing your great skills in combat.

⚔ Although Silver soon realizes that you are not only that "soldier" that you usually show with your serious and defensive attitude almost always, showing a softer and gentler side of you when you are calm and that at the same time makes Silver want to learn more and more of you...

⚔ Silver can notice your great determination to defend your ideals, you are kind to everyone you can regardless of their race or gender or even species... Look at Grimm.

⚔ As you watch combat, Silver feels how his already great admiration for you grows... You are skillful and resourceful, and you almost always seek to protect him in one way or another and that causes his heart to beat faster. (Chapter 7)

⚔ With all the new knowledge Silver has acquired since it all began (Malleus Overblot) you have been an anchor on the earth, constantly reminding him that his past or origin is defined by his essence even after a while... You reveal your past to him. (Chapter 7)

⚔ Silver is speechless, but connecting the dots everything agrees... Your past would explain why you are so determined to change mutual hatred and resentments, suggesting a peaceful path with gentleness, Silver knows that you are a true Angel when he can identify that your heart is overflowing of love and pure intentions.

⚔ "I'll punch you if I have to." – Do you remember that line? well, it's canon here. (Chapter 7)

⚔ In the event that you and Silver form a romantic relationship, Silver will know that he will never change you for anything because you are more than perfect in his eyes, especially because of the fact that you love... You love more than anything, regardless of the species. Even if he is "human" and you are an "angel or fallen angel" you both love each other more than anything and thanks to that you will live "happily ever after" as it was meant to be...

⚔ In any case, Silver sees you as someone worthy of admiration in every way and knowing that he can trust you with whatever he needs, he truly believes that you are a true angel and he wants to be even stronger to be a knight worthy of protect you.

Sebek Zigvolt

🐊 Sebek is conflicted... At first he does think that you are a human, an ordinary one and even irritating and unworthy of being at Night Raven College.

🐊 However, he has witnessed your fighting skills and respects you for that, you seem like someone worthy on the battlefield.

🐊 Although in reality Sebek does not make an effort to want to discover anything beyond what you show and although you appreciate it, sometimes you really want Sebek to accept that Humans and Faes are not as different as they believe and as you have always defended.

🐊 It must be said, you and Sebek will have many arguments: Sebek on the one hand tries to ignore and hide the fact of being half-blood and you try to make him understand that both Faes and Humans are equal in many ways and that both races deserve respect.

🐊 So I'm sorry if you thought your interactions with Sebek would be immediately friendly or romantic, you'll have to wait until Chapter 7.

🐊 With everything that Silver, Sebek and you have experienced, it must be said that it is obvious that Sebek's perspective has changed. (Chapter 7)

🐊 In fact! It is during these moments that Sebek realizes the fact that you are not even human but an Angel or Fallen Angel, a being that according to many books and people: a perfect being. (Chapter 7)

🐊 So yes, it is very likely that Sebek wants to apologize for how he treated you on many occasions and since you are an angel (wink) you obviously forgive him and remain friends and maybe something more. (Chapter 7)

🐊 We will have to see Sebek's progress during the remainder of the Chapter, sorry.🥹

🐊 However, you become someone of Sebek's respect and affection, for him you are a type of authoritarian figure who defends tolerance and justice without violence among all types of people regardless of race or species.

Nymph's Note:

I must say that this is my favorite so far, I am very fond of Mal-Mal, Silver and Lilia, so I put a lot of effort into this one, which is the last one in this series and request are officially open!

I hope you enjoyed!

Remeber to tune in, end of this broadcast!

Diasomnia Dorm x MC! Like Vaggie Done!

[mechaknight-98]

Perfect Night (NSFW) FT Sakura Miyawaki

Author's note: World Tour announcement when? In all seriousness where has this Sakura Miyawki been and how do I get more of her? She killed it and me a little bit

After their fiery performance, the fimmies arrived back in their hotel. Not long after arriving Yunjen called Porter, Chaewon called Aaron and Sakura texted Daigo. Luckily for them, they were all on the same ride together. When they received messages from their significant others. Kura’s message was especially hot to Daigo,

“Did you like the performance,” Kura asked in the text but along with that was a picture of her in a more than flattering situation. She hoped that Daigo would be feral for her when she got there. What she didn't know was he already was.

Daigo was barely keeping his composure as images of what he would do to Kura swam through his mind during her entire Coachella performance. He had never seen her so at ease, so powerful, so sexy, so comfortable on stage before…well as long as he knew her. She may have wanted to kiss everybody, but he wanted to kiss her everywhere. To stay composed he stayed eerily silent to Porter and Aaron, which they noticed. they figured he was in contemplation gearing up for this night…he was just not in the ways they were thinking. The trio arrives at the hotel and takes the elevator up. Daigo carried the cooler his silence persisted which began to worry his friends until right before the trio entered.

"Oh unnies it's just the boys," Eunchae said as she opened the door. The trio walked in and sat next to their respective fimmy. Daigo leaned back and crossed his arms. as he sat next to Kura after placing the cooler by the front door. Kkura looked at him trying to get a read on him but he was stone-faced. He was barely containing himself near her.

"So what did you guys think," Yunjin asked courageously, "Did we do fantastic or what?"

"Oh you all did stellar," Aaron said first before he squeezed Chaewon tightly. Chaewon did her signature nose scrunch and smiled at her boyfriend. Connor was quick to jump and affirm Connor's statement. All that was left was Daigo who was sitting next to Kkura he looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I am mad. you let your company have you sing in all these high registers, and try to make y'all look bad on awards shows and live performances, but you come to my home, and not only do you guys sound amazing. You put on probably one of the best live performances I have ever seen. So I am heated because y'all have been holding out on me, and you (He's pointing to Sakura) when did you become so sexy Mrs "Cute Little Voice Idol"? you owned that stage. (to the rest of the fimmies) I mean you all did, but you (Back to Sakura) for all the times you talked to me about not wanting the spotlight and wanting to fade away you very clearly blossomed today." Daigo said. Sakura looked at him surprised. As he spoke. she waited for him to say something mean, but when she processed what he said she realized that every word was genuine and he was impressed and enamored with her.

"You liked it," Sakura asked worried.

"Like it? I loved it," Daigo said in a pitch that Sakura heard very rarely from him. "I got to see my bre... my best girl shows the world why she is a borne idol after years of being verbally abused and criticized. Sakura blushed at Daigo's response, his tone was reminiscent of their more private activities and began to arouse her mirroring what she did to him earlier in the night. she also chuckled at his almost slip-up. He was ready for her and she just needed to pull the trigger.

"Oh, I am so glad. You liked it. When you walked in and were silent I was worried you hated it and were mad at us," Yunjin said relieved

"I did, and I am mad. You guys have been holding out. It isn't y'all fault because you are bound by K-pop's rules but tonight was bullshit. Y'all did great and I know it's not going to be an every-performance thing," Daigo lamented. which caused Chaewon, Eunchae, and Kazuha to laugh

"Why don't you think so," Sakura said in a tone similar to their more intimate activities.

"Because the K-pop system demands conformity, and the show you put on tonight was not "K-pop" but to me, you all have never been a K-pop group," Daigo explains. Yunjin clapped for Daigo as someone finally saw Le Sserafim as she saw it. Le Sserafim was a Korean group but not a Korean Pop girl group. Daigo not understanding took it in stride, Sakura on the other hand felt her possessive Lioness rise inside her and grabbed Daigo violently to sit him back down. Jen noticed this and decided to finally press the issue.

"Kkura unnie. when are you finally going to wife Daigo up? He loves you more than anything," Daigo and Kura reeled at Yunjin's blunt statement while Porter, Aaron, and the rest of the Fimmies laughed in joy. Kura's eyes narrowed and dragged Daigo with her to her room.

"Wait Kkura," Daigo said before reaching into the cooler and picking out some sandwiches and Angma Soju he got for the of Age fimmies. Sakura smiled when he followed her. Sakura opened the door and when she secured her "prey" she closed the door and locked it. Daigo set the Alcohol down and chose to sit on the bed as he gazed at Kkura. She was trying to hide her hungered gazes towards him.

“You aren't actually mad at me right,” Sakura asked. Her eyes were soft and kind the fire of a few moments ago a distant memory.

Seeing Kura’s current affection softened Daigo’s impassioned heart. Feeling his bravery and passion dissipate from him Daigo turned timid once more. “I could never be mad at you. Just a little miffed because of how you let people talk to you that way,”

Sakura relented and then asked a question that had been plaguing her. “Why do you like me so much,”

Daigo saw the weariness in Sakura’s eyes. It pained him. So he told her the truth.

“Well, my crush started because we were similar in age and experience. You've had tremendous pressure on you since you were like what 12? I related to that. (not to the sheer scale but you get the idea) so anytime I'd hear you talk about the situations you found yourself in and just found myself endeared to you,” Daigo explained plainly and Kura gave him a sweet smile. Seeing her so happy Daigo replied with a question of his own.

“Can you explain the ninja comment?”

Sakura burst into laughter and knowing her friend she decided a display would explain. She did 6 hand signs then several duplicates of her appeared in front of a startled Daigo.

“Oh okay,” Daigo said as he processed what was going on.

“Wait you're not freaking out,” Sakura replied

“Well, this you being a ninja magic girl isn't the weirdest thing in my life. Plus if you comfortable revealing this to me. I need to be mature enough to see it,” Daigo explained casually. Sakura laughed at the calm and collected Daigo she knew.

“Now if you are going to tell me I have to fight in some ninja battle royal tournament thing to date you that would be something I'd freak out over but for different reasons,”

Sakura laughed until she noticed Daigo’s serious expression, “why,” she asked

Daigo sighed before he explained, “I am a pacifist.” Kkura smiled

“Oh I like it, but why,” she asked

“I have issues with self-control especially when it comes to anger, violence, and moderation. So I avoid it at every cost,” Sakura laughed and countered by saying,

“Yet you play violent video games?” Daigo laughed before replying realizing he had been caught

“Well, I still get angry and have hostility burn within me. so I need a space to put that so I don't snap and become a serial killer,” Sakura heard that and smiled before laughing harder.

“You are so dramatic,” she teased. Daigo smiled as usual Sakura knew the exact words and tone to put him at ease with her.

Kkura dismissed her multitude of clones as she sat next to Daigo. She put her hand on top of his and felt a proud feeling of ownership. She knew Daigo was hers and that gave her more confidence than she realized. In his support she found strength. She leaned into him and the two fell asleep exhausted.

The next day Daigo woke up to a Sakura chatting with a male voice. At first, he was on alert until he heard the Kkura was fine.

“Sakura you can't keep this fling with Daigo up,” the male voice said

“It's not a fling I truly like him and he feels the same,”

“But if what you've told me is true he's not ready to deal with your life as a star or as the heir of the Miyawaki clan. You don't want him getting hurt do you,”

“I’ll protect him,” Sakura said as a hint of possessiveness crept into her voice. Daigo was her stud and she'd be damned if she was going to lose him.

“Don't let your lust or your feelings cloud your judgment. He's not the one. He's just some guy you played games with,” the man’s voice says aggressively.

“Yeah and do you know what he did for me? He's always been encouraging and helpful to me. He has always supported me listened to all of my songs and believed in me even when I couldn't. I'm not getting that anywhere else so no I'm not leaving him,” Sakura asserted.

“And what makes him so special huh? He's a coward who needs you to prop him up. He's a leech. He's going to suck you dry because he's attracted to the glitz and the glam and when it's gone he will leave,” the young man said. Something about leaving Kura rubbed Daigo the wrong way.

Daigo listened and he felt a feeling he hadn't felt In a while. A cold rage possessed him as he tried to stay in control. It was a palpable emotion as Sakura and Tobi (the guy she was arguing with felt the room’s temperature drop 4 degrees.” Sakura shivered as did Tobi. Daigo meanwhile got up undeterred and Tobi saw Daigo for the first time and his eyes went wide. See Daigo wasn't typically menacing in his presence but at that time Tobi saw Daigo not as Kura’s goofy fling but as something else. It frightened him. So he performed the better part of valor and ran away from this confrontation. Sakura turned around and was happy to see Daigo. As he got closer to her she felt his warmth as the room went back to its normal temperature.

“Hey Stud how are you,” Sakura asked in her deep sexy tone. She smiled as she watched Daigo grow hard under her gaze and voice. “Oh someone's excited,” she said with a bigger smile. Daigo approaches her and closes the door. Sakura smiles and kisses him deeply. Daigo can feel Sakura’s desire and is almost ready to succumb to it but he needs to make sure everything is alright.

“Hey Kkura what was all that about,” he asks trying to maintain his composure. Sakura feeling more aroused with each passing moment can't wait as she pulls down her pants revealing her bare pussy.

“It's nothing stud, but I need your help,” she says as she guides Daigo down she nudges his face to her core and whimpers when she feels his breath against her skin. Daigo gives in to her and dives into her pussy. Sakura moans lewdly as Daigo takes his first long and slow lick. The next lick is more intentional a long figure 8 around Kkura’s clit. Daigo has never done this before, so the actions send a jolt through her body. Kura looks down to see an extremely pussy drunk Daigo. She moans as Daigo breathes in her arousal and his mind goes blank. His only thoughts are of pleasing and breeding his preferred mate. He does another lick around her clit before going lower to Kkura’s leaking pussy. He laps up her juice and savors her taste. It's sweet like cake frosting almost. Sakura shudders at Daigo’s ministrations. Sakura smiles watching her stud lose himself. As he dives deeper into her sex she mewls at his enthusiasm until it becomes too much for her and she explodes all over Daigo’s face. Sakura’s high is abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door. She whines as she tries to sober her pussy drunk stud.

“We have time,” Daigo insists, and as much as Sakura wants to let him continue. She needs him to stop.

“No stud it's probably the girls and you know I still have responsibilities, we all can't take a week off,” Sakura chided

“Well excuse me for wanting to give you my undivided attention,” Daigo teased Sakura laughed Before having him go start a shower,

“Oh am I your servant now,” Daigo replied.

“No, but I figured you'd a little bit more time with me,” Sakura pouted as she replied. Daigo smile.

“You should have led with that,” he said and Sakura laughed Before brushing him off.

Sakura gets ready and opens the doors it's the rest of the Fimmies.

“We have 15 minutes until we need to go do schedules,” Chaewon said.

“Okay,” Sakura replied trying to hold in her frustration.

“Hey, where's Daigo oppa?” Eunchae asks

“He is getting the shower ready for me before we go,” Sakura replied. Jen having her a knowing look which Sakura glared at. The girls left her alone after that. Sakura groaned. She wanted to do nothing but quilt play games and fuck her stud’s brain out an make him a dumb little fucktoy for her today, but alas she had responsibilities. She walks into the shower and strips to an excited Daigo.

“Sorry stud we have to be quick so let's get clean and you gotta go okay?” Daigo was bummed but understood.

So the duo shared a quick and chaste shower before leaving. Daigo gave Sakura an innocent peck on the cheek before saying, “don't go kissing everybody,” he teased. Sakura smiled and said

“I won't babe.” she kissed him back and said “tonight I am going to drain those balls.” Daigo laughed as he opened the door for her.

When they got to the lobby the other fimmies, Aaron and Porter were waiting for them. The boys bid them farewell and watched as they left. Daigo excused himself to go to the bathroom.

As he was finishing up a young man approached him. He eyed the young man suspiciously (he was suspicious of everyone) as he was making a move to leave 4 other similarly dressed men surrounded him. Daigo got in a fighting ready stance before he felt a hard presence on his neck before everything went black.

“Target secured,” the young man said

[thecurioustale]

My Thoughts on Jenny Nicholson and the Star Wars Hotel

I watched Jenny Nicholson's four-hour "The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel" video essay that YouTube showed me recently but which till now I couldn't bring myself to construct a day around. She's in great form here, and I'm pleased to say I go back as a fan of her work all the way to her Friendship Is Witchcraft days. (Blows my mind that she voiced all Mane Six characters, and others, so well.)

Anyway, long story short, Disney built a Star Wars hotel at Disneyworld in 2022 that was themed as a voyage on a spaceship, then proceeded to charge thousands of dollars per person per night, the most expensive publicly-available Disney theme park hotel experience by miles and miles, and then closed the hotel in 2023 after having spent hundreds of millions of dollars. Jenny went into the experience as a member of the core target demographic and spent four hours talking about all the ways it was an underwhelming or outright disappointing experience.

Her video reminded me of Hasbro's own misadventures in corporate greed with Magic: The Gathering, which has suffered in recent years from price increases, disengagement from the fan community, and a huge proliferation of product spam—i.e. more products overall, more ways to buy a given product (e.g., the proliferation of different boxes, which eventually killed the original draft booster box that had powered Magic for 30 years), and more variants of individual cards within and between products.

Hasbro and Disney are very similar in the economic space they operate in, and also utilize similar business strategies. Disney is essentially the S-tier megacorporation to Hasbro's B-tier, and we have seen many of the same corporate trends play out in both companies.

When it comes to Disney theme parks, they have massively increased ticket prices over the years, well beyond the rate of inflation, and have also implemented advance-scheduling systems for faster access to rides that has made the process of exploring a Disney theme park much less spontaneous and a lot more regimented and stressful.

Disney realized, years ago, that their limited number of theme parks—they only really have two, not counting the various sub-parks: Disneyland on the West Coast and Disneyworld on the East Coast—together with Disney's entrenched status as a cultural icon with lots of goodwill and brand recognition among the public, are vastly underserving public demand, allowing them to inflate the price of a single trip almost arbitrarily, well into the four digits—or even the five-digits if you're taking the family and spending several days.

The Star Wars hotel was Disney's "Magic 30": a product so ludicrously expensive as to incur immediate and universal condemnation by their own fans. It's clear to me what Disney was doing: They'd happily turned the conventional price knob up and up and up for years. Now they wanted to experiment with a fundamentally more expensive product class, basically five to ten times more expensive. They wanted to see if the market could support it. Because the growing disparity of wealth in America, together with America's obscene wealth as a nation relative to the rest of the world, means that it's definitely possible: There are definitely millions of people out there who could book a stay at the Star Wars hotel if they wanted to. And Disney was like "Let's see if they will."

And you know what? I think it could have succeeded. Because there really is an obscene excess of wealth in this country, even though most of us don't have any access to it. And we are a culture whose zeitgeist is ever ravenous for the next big, flashy experience.

But instead the venture failed spectacularly. Why? Because such reckless corporate greed is, itself, usually a sign of deep organizational rot and incompetency among the board and executive leadership. In other words, their hotel failed for the same reason they tried building it in the first place: Disney has grown stupid.

The way it failed, going by Jenny's video, is down to two independent reasons:

An outrageous degree of "penny-wise, pound foolish" thinking;

A fundamental failure to anticipate the comfort and pleasure of the guest.

The former is the more obvious of the two, and what really stood out to me as emblematic of it in this whole boondoggle were two simple thing: 1) The hotel rooms didn't have complimentary Disney+; and 2) the free loaner umbrellas for hotel guests visiting the Star Wars Land in Disneyworld were either so worn-out or so shoddy to begin with that, unless it was a big coincidence, both Jenny's and Jenny's sister's umbrella failed while in use. This was in the context of Disneyworld's most expensive customer experience ever, by a lot, and Disney was nickel-and-diming them. Jenny's video goes into a great depth of detail on the dozens if not hundreds of corners they cut; it was basically everything but the food. The result was an antagonistic relationship between Disney and their hotel guests where almost everything interesting cost more money (usually a lot more money) while almost everything included in the main ticket price was of cheap quality or stingy in its allotment. Every aspect of the whole process, from the scammy vibes of booking a room in the first place, to the pathetic after-care for customers who reported a problem after their stay, was likely to leave a sour taste in the customer's mouth.

When you're paying the most expensive prices in the history of a product category, you really just need to be given an up-front price that includes all or nearly all of it. You'll know what you're in for, and you can make an informed decision, and then it's really just down to the host to provide an experience and level of service that matches those high dollar outlays. But instead, as Jenny pointed out, it's like you're dealing with Spirit Airlines, where you're gonna pay a fee for literally everything beyond sitting your body quietly on the airplane.

Mind-boggling hubris. Disney needs to be broken up for the monopoly that it is, and this is just one more example of how convinced of their own inevitability and supremacy Disney has become.

The other main failure on Disney's part is the subtler one.

Jenny focused on how the Star Wars themed choose-your-own-adventure game, which was at the heart of the hotels' central conceit of "live your own personal Star Wars story," was irreparably dysfunctional. Not only was the app, through which most of the "experience" was conveyed, horribly designed; and not only were the tasks delivered through this app mostly busywork to anyone other than young children, consisting of little more than walking around and scanning inanimate objects; but the storyline's entry points and decision points were completely impenetrable through reasonable means, to the point of seeming arbitrary. Jenny proactively tried and failed to get into her preferred storyline; then tried and failed to get into any storyline; then was automatically sorted into one the next morning; and ultimately ended up having only one (dubiously) interactive story experience over the whole weekend.

She talked about how the tightly-regimented and incredibly full schedule was so mentally and physically draining that on the final night she fled her dinner table fearing she would vomit and had to stand in her hotel room staring at herself in the mirror for a while, to understand her illness (which turned out to be stress-induced exhaustion) and center herself.

She talked about how she didn't get to see a much-coveted music show during dinner on her first night because she was seated behind a giant column.

Really, these things are manifestations of the larger and more fundamental failure on Disney's part to anticipate the comfort and pleasure of the guest, as I put it.

As I was watching her video, two thoughts came to me in this vein:

First was that this whole experience really needed to be "playtested," as we might say in Magic. I mean, I'm sure there nominally was, but whatever playtesting they did was completely ineffective. Good playtesting would have brought most of these issues to light.

Second was that the Disney of today has completely lost touch with the namesake of their industry: hospitality. This would never have happened at a new luxury resort by an established world-class hotelier a century ago. Because they understood the basics. Little things, like hot towels.

I could tell just from Jenny's video that this whole hotel was decided from the top-down by soulless, disconnected corporate suits who blatantly disregarded whatever good suggestions I'm sure the Imagineers® came up with. For the failures to be as expansive and ubiquitous as Jenny's video documented, no doubt the institutional rot extends down at least as far as the project manager level, if not down to individual Imagineers® and beyond, but there have to be at least some good ones, and clearly they were overruled early and often. Whenever Disney's leadership was faced with a decision between anticipating the comfort and pleasure of the guest, and saving a couple bucks on a guest who was literally laying out several thousands of dollars to be there, leadership chose the latter.

They were so arrogant that they believed, without noticing or questioning it (unless Disney's leadership is in fact cartoon evil), that they would tell the customer what constitutes a good experience, and the customer would pay top dollar for it. And so you get a guest experience where customers who are actively trying to pick a given storyline can't get any storyline and are later seated for the dinner show behind a giant fucking column.

It's sad, and we should all be glad that their hotel failed. Not that Disney is likely to learn the right lessons from their failure, but the long-term solution here is for leisure dollars to be directed toward other companies. For the several thousand bucks that Jenny paid, she could have had a true luxury vacation in most parts of the world—and for longer than two nights.

One thing that I noticed during the four hours of her video was that Disney, or at least the people in charge of developing this hotel, didn't seem to understand what constitutes an enjoyable story experience. I am forgiving of the low level of complexity in the various puzzles, since the public is famously stupid plus a lot of these guests are going to be children. But there was so little imagination in the actual plot beats: Chewie sneaks in, gets arrested, and busts out. You get to help some Resistance fighters smuggle their luggage. Like, it's insipid. I mean, ultimately, most pop storytelling is insipid, but what I mean is that the dressings were insipid too. Dressing a story up is what makes stories great, at least at the mainstream level. There was no pomp and flourish; no clever interweaving; no electric events that put people on the edge of their seats. Just walking around on your phone for two days scanning crates and occasionally being in the same room while somebody busts Chewie out of the clink—assuming you even make it to the story events in time, since they often fired early.

The whole thing smacks of rule by committee, too many cooks, and suits suits suits all the way down.

I think it's a sign of the times that this is happening. We are once again in Robber-Baron territory in this land. The big corporations and the oligarchs who run them have become so obscenely rich and so utterly disconnected from ordinary life, and their corporate cultures have become so masturbatory and so officious, that they are increasingly creating products for idealized, phantom audiences. They increasingly don't understand real people or real life.

And we can and should bring the weight of the government down on them, more to break up monopolies and allow new and established competitors to seriously challenge them than to actively punish these companies for making money, but even more so we just need to spend our dollars elsewhere. I mean, I'm speaking hypothetically here; I am poor so none of this even applies to me in the first place.

Hence why, even after inflation, this is still just my two cents.

[cameronspecial]

Let Me Tell You Something, Angel

Pairing: Frat!Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: N/A

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 0.7K

Summary: Rafe is a fictional man written by a woman and he never fails to remind Y/N of that.

A/N: This has a slight Twisted series spoilers.

Masterlist

It is no secret that Y/N loves reading, especially romance books. Sometimes she just needs a break from the academic side of life and to dive into another world. People said the books would give her high standards; she argues Rafe is the one who did that. He treats her like a fictional man written by a woman. However, there are times when she needs a reminder that he really is a fantasy come true. She is rereading one of her favourite series and it gets her thinking about her own relationship. She rests the open book on her chest, looking up at Rafe. He is sitting with his back against the couch while she lies down with her legs across his lap. “Rafe, what would you do if we broke up?” she questions. His eyes flick toward the book on her chest and he easily pieces everything together. “I would tell my dad that I won’t take over Cameron Development and move across the world to beg for your forgiveness. I would learn hundreds of ways to kill a man and a hundred more where I can make it look like an accident. I would abandon my dream vacation to keep you company. And finally, I would write you millions of letters begging you to come back home.” He doesn’t even look away from the game on TV throughout the whole declaration, telling her he has this response memorized and ready to go.

Her brow arches, “Did you read the Twisted series, Rafe?” He smirks at her. “Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t,” he teases, running his hand up and down her calf. She sits up to look him dead in the eyes, “Seriously, tell me the truth. When did you read it?” “After you finished reading it and would not stop obsessing over it. I had to know what my angel loved so much and see if I could use it to make her happy in real life,” he apprises. Butterflies fill her stomach, “How come I didn’t notice you were reading my books?” He holds up her phone to her and gives it a little shake. “Because I would read it when you weren’t home. And I didn’t love it 'cause you know I like reading a physical book, but I would read the ebook I downloaded when you were around.” “You sneaky bastard,” she giggles, giving him a little shove. “You read porno magazines because you didn’t like digital stuff and you are telling me that you bought an ebook just for me.” 

Rafe turns her so that she is snuggled under her arm. His lips press to her temple, “I used to read porno magazines. Now, the only thing I need is you, Angel. I did do all of that. You mean the world to me and if you like something, I want to know why.” 

“You didn’t have to do that just for me.”

“Let me tell you something, Angel. You are my whole world and I will do everything within my power to learn more about you. Even if it’s not related to something I like or my hobbies.” 

“That’s really sweet. I feel bad that I don’t do the same thing for you,” she pouts, guilt filling her to the seams. His eyebrows form a wrinkle, “Don’t worry about it, Angel. You do it all the time without realizing it. You come with me to golf even though I know you aren’t at all interested in the game. You know all my favourite things and you come to all my events.” A small smile starts to form on her lips. “It’s not as much as you do though,” she worries. He rests his palm on her cheek, “It only seems that way because you don’t need to put as much effort into doing it. It happens flawlessly.” Y/N doesn’t know how Rafe always has a way of making her feel better, but she is so thankful for it. She nods and sets her book on the side. “Thank you for making me feel better. Can I watch the game with you?” He grins, “Of course, Angel.” There are a lot of things that they love about their relationship, except their effort in reciprocity has to be both of their favourite things. 

Taglist: @winterrrnight @loves0phelia @thelomlisrafecameron @wickedlovely121 @thepatriarchykeychain @drewsmusee @starkowswife @maybankslover @forstarkey @loving-and-dreaming

[kasagia]

hi, can you do a one-shot for klaus, where he has a crush on y/n, and they have a one-night stand, and Klaus is sad because he thinks he won't see her again, but then he gets the news that y/n n is pregnant with his daughter (reader gets pregnant, no hayley, y/n is Hope's biological mother) and klaus takes the news well, because it's someone he loves and takes the pregnancy as an opportunity to make t /n love him.

Making her love me

Pairing: Klaus Mikaelson x fem! reader Word count: 7,4k (way too long, sorry not sorry) Warning(s): smut mention, panic attack (a little), swearing, and typical TVD violence. Nonsense from me: I'm so excited to post it since it's my first request/ask or whatever I should call it. I hope it's basically what you asked for, Gallus Anonymous! <3

Klaus Mikaelson loved Y/N Y/S.

The original hybrid was hopelessly in love with her since the first time he met her on his family's ball. He will always remember that day.

She looked like an angel. Well, maybe more like a devil (judging by the fact that part of her hair was arranged in two small buns imitating horns), but still, she was the most beautiful girl at the party (and maybe in the whole world).

When he saw her, dancing in her black-golden dress with one of Salvatore's brothers, he knew that this girl would be his at the end of the day. Even if he has to fight with these bloody, young vampires.

Unfortunately, Y/N didn't have the same feeling when she first saw him. As a proud member of a Mystic Falls group (who returned to the town after a school exchange), she was obligated to hate the Mikaelsons.

But she must admit to herself that the man with the British accent was incredibly hot.

Damon, noticing Klaus's sudden interest in his friend, decided to use this to his advantage and pushed Y/N into the arms of their nemesis. Klaus was delighted. Y/N disgusted.

The original hybrid stuck to her for the rest of the evening, forgetting all about Caroline. Y/N has since become Klaus Mikaelson's official distraction. And she wasn't happy about it at all.

Her friends would use the Siphon Witch whenever they needed to keep Klaus occupied or to ease his bloodlust after doing something stupid (like stealing white oak stakes right under his nose and 12 obedient hybrids. Great plan, Damon!).

Y/N would have to wisely bump into Mikaelson and spend some time with him until the Mystic Falls heroes fix the shit they made. At least the girl was much less stressed compared to her friends, and sometimes she really enjoyed the company of the hybrid.

Once, a man took her to a cafe-studio where little-known Mystic Falls artists would gather. She returned to the Salvator Brothers' estate in navy blue paint, with little constellations painted by Klaus on her face, arms, and neck. Damon barely refrained from making a sarcastic remark.

Fortunately, Stefan saved him from her very likely wrath, because every time someone makes jokes about Y/N's relationship with Klaus, she gets mad and loses control over her magic power. Once, Bonnie had to repair Stefan's motorcycle. The vampire learned his lesson then and tried not to annoy her again. Sometimes, though, he seriously considered letting his older brother cross the line. He wondered if Damon would cry over a damaged car.

With time passing, Klaus had only a stronger crush on her. Everyone knows that. Expect Y/N herself.

At best, she thought the hybrid regarded her as some sort of friend or a distraction between his villainous grand schemes. There could be no feelings between them. Not when she already had a very loving boyfriend whom the original hybrid found out about at a 1920s school party.

She bewitched him completely then. And he was ready to tell her the truth about his real feelings for her and try to make her his, but then he saw this other guy holding her like he wanted to hold her the first time he met her. For Klaus, this man didn't deserve her attention; that human didn't realize how valuable a treasure he was holding in his hands right now. Klaus wanted to go away and let Y/N enjoy dancing with this lesser man. He really does. But when she turned and looked at him with these beautiful, delightful eyes, he couldn't just disappear without exchanging one last word with her.

After all, Klaus was a selfish man.

"You don't mind if I cut into you." Klaus' voice came from behind me, making me shiver.

"Yes. Actually, we do." My boyfriend snarled, recognizing the guy who was "hanging dangerously around me." He had no idea about the supernatural shite we were in and I had no idea how to tell him all of this (or just didn't want to).

Klaus just smiled unfazed, catching his gaze.

"Why don't you go somewhere far away and come back in 20 minutes? You can be useful and bring the beautiful lady something to drink." my boyfriend dutifully obeyed, leaving me with a smug hybrid. "Shall we, love?" he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him, swaying to some slow, romantic song without waiting for my response.

"Why do you always have to prove you're the alpha male?"

"I don't have to prove anything, love, I'm the alpha male." he replied, offended. I rolled my eyes, sighing.

"You would've loved the 1920s, Y/N. Girls were reckless, sexy, and fun. They literally used to dance until they dropped." he turned me around, smiling slyly.

"Since they were so reckless and drunk, I suppose it was easier for you to find a lover then."

"You should be nicer to me. I'm leaving town tomorrow." I shifted my gaze to him, shocked by the information he had thrown at me. "I'd invite you to come with me, but we both know that you're not ready to accept my offer. Perhaps one day you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer."

"How many girls fell for it? A magical tour of the world with an all-powerful original who plays with them like toys?"

"You mark my words. Small-town boy, small-town life won't be enough for you." he said, completely ignoring my previous words.

"And how do you know what's enough for me?"

"Because I know you, Y/N. Do you imagine marrying that stupid man with whom you were dancing later? Giving him children, living too short to make your real dreams come true?" I wanted to look away from him, but he gently grabbed my chin, forcing me to confront him and all my fears at the same time. "You want love, trust, passion, excitement, and even a little power, and unlike this fool, I can give you all of this and more. Just say a word."

"But for what price?" I asked, taking a big breath.

I realized we were much closer than was appropriate for a dance, but neither of us cared. His gaze was moving from my eyes to my mouth. I licked my chapped lips unconsciously, stuck in some incomprehensible anticipation. Only for what?

"Kaus. Y/N. I finally found you two. We have a problem. Klaus' mother is back." Stefan interrupted the moment between us.

I swear I could hear a little swear from the hybrid before he took my hand and led me towards Stefan, who was hurrying away.

After that, T/N didn't get a chance to meet Klaus again. Since they were on opposite camps in finding the cure, Y/N tried to avoid the hybrid at all costs. He just wanted to use her. Seduce her with his sweet words to make her do everything he wanted. She had no other explanation.

Klaus, on the other hand, tried to get her out of his head in every way he knew how. He couldn't keep up with adding new canvases for the portraits of his one-sided crush. His siblings were starting to worry about him.

Especially after he found out her boyfriend was going to propose to her. (Damon has never been prouder of being a gossip boy.) This overflowed the hybrid's cup of bitterness.

Kol and Elijah walked around their brother like they were on eggshells. Rebekah, on the other hand, has no such pity. It was her occasion to tease Klaus, like he was doing whenever she fell in love (at least Rebekah didn't want to kill Y/N like SOMEONE).

But nevertheless, she was the one to tell Klaus that Y/N rejected her boyfriend's proposal. The original never loved his sister more. He was happy that Y/N was now single, and he even thought that in the near future he may have a little chance with her since there were no other competitors for her heart.

But even in his wildest dreams, Klaus would not have dared to think that Y/N would knock on his door that same day and greedily bite into his lips as soon as he opened it. And not that she'd start ripping his clothes off and pushing him into his bedroom (which surprised him, given that she knew how to get there without his directions).

He never would have thought that one night would change his life forever.

~•♤♤♤•~

Y/N's POV

I sighed, rolling over to the other side of the bed as the first rays of sunlight somehow hit my eye. I always kept the windows closed. How come I didn't do it this time? Reluctantly, I opened one eyes to look at my treacherous bedroom window, only to found out that I wasn't in my room.

Also, not in my bed.

And not in any clothes.

AND DEFINITELY NOT ALONE.

As soon as I looked at the calm, sleeping, and clearly satisfied (judging by his disheveled hair) Klaus, memories of last night started flooding back to me.

Panicked, I looked around the room for my clothes, trying to ignore the sight of overturned furniture, a broken mirror, and even a dent in the wall. Unsuccessfully. My face has never been so close to the color of my blood.

Once I'd traced my things, I carefully got out of bed and dressed as quietly as I could, closing the vampire's bedroom door behind me. Now all I had to do was get out of the house full of originals unnoticed. Simple, right?

"Y/N, darling! What a pleasure to see you this morning. How do you feel?" Klaus' little brother jumped out of nowhere and threw one arm around my shoulders, making me come inside the house again.

"Hello Kol. Bye Kol." I tried to dodge him, but he sped up to stand in front of me.

"Wait a minute half-witch. You're going to leave my brother like this? After your… noisy night? He'll be devastated. Was he not up to the task? I could teach him a bit if that's a problem for you. You have my word that within a week you won't be able to stop…"

"Kol! For the bloody hell, stop this awkward conversation. I'm sorry for him, usually we keep him in a coffin." Rebekah cut him off and stood next to him, glaring at him furiously.

"Um… no problem, I guess. If you don't mind, I'm gonna go now."

With even redder cheeks, I ran out of the mansion and, at the speed of light, got into my car, driving far away from this town. I needed rest, and I knew only one person who would be willing to take me under their roof without any questions.

"Hi Katherine. Where are you right now?"

~•♤♤♤•~

"Are you sure it's just food poisoning? Won't you die here suddenly? Do you want my blood?" Katherine flooded me with questions as I returned to our table.

It's been 2 months since my "great escape," as Damon liked to call it, from Mystic Falls. At that time, I was traveling with Katherine around the United States, doing what I wanted to do most: seeing the world (starting with small things like staying in all states). After the brunette gave the cure to Elijah (while experiencing her epic love story with him, which ended with her heartbreak over Elena's meddling and Elijah's doubts), she decided to accompany me on my quest.

I had to arrange everything in my head. What I wanted out of life, who I wanted to be, and so on.

That was the main purpose of this trip.

In fact, I helped Katherine heal her broken heart and tried to avoid the topic of Klaus Mikaelson like the plague. With small or big successes depending on the day.

Sometimes Damon, Stefan, or Bonnie would mention how snappy he'd become after my sudden departure or that he was asking them about my whereabouts. The worst was his drunken voicemails he left. They ended after the first month, but they were the biggest test of my perseverance. I had to piece my twisted life together before adding my love problems with the world's (nearly) oldest living vampire to the puzzle.

At least that was the plan until those New Orleans bitches got me.

As soon as we left the bar, some girls accosted us and knocked us out with magic. I woke up in some cold, dank, musty crypt with Katherine by my side. At least I wasn't alone. We both had a better chance of defeating those witches. The new thing in those two months was my sudden ability to do magic without any source of energy. It looked like my abilities were starting to screw up too.

"Are you Y/N Y/S?" one of the witches approached us, staring at me warily.

"One and only. May I know who I am having the pleasure of?"

"Sophie Deveraux."

"Sophie. Some time ago, I knew a girl with this name. She got under my skin too. She is dead now. You can guess what happened to her."

"Yeah. It's definitely her. I couldn't imagine someone more of this psycho's type." she told her friends. The women grabbed us both and led us out of the makeshift cell to drag us to the main hall of the crypt.

"Allright. Can one of us tell why you are holding us here?"

"We need you, sugar, but your friend is just an accessory, so if you want both of you to get out of this somehow, you'll keep quiet." seeing that I had no intention of objecting, the unknown woman smiled victoriously. "Good girl."

I gave her a sweet smile before breaking her neck with a flick of my wrist. There was a sudden commotion around us. Katherine suffered a brain aneurysm after one of the witches raised her hand on her. The brunette screamed once before someone else appeared in the crypt, tearing out the heart of the witch who was attacking her.

Elijah.

Elijah came to save the day.

"I thought you wanted to talk, and both Katherine and Y/N were supposed to be unharmed." he said in his legal tone, shoving his hands in his pockets as he stepped between me and Kath. The woman was as pleased with the presence of the original as I was.

"She started." Sophie pointed at me. Elijah turned to look at me. I shrugged.

"You make me." I answered her with a malicious smile.

"Y/N." the man said warningly. This noble bastard won't tell me what to do.

"Elijah. Nice to see you. Maybe you can tell us why we've been locked in some fucking tomb? Is this some kind of revenge of yours, or did we get caught in the crossfire of Mikaelson's skirmishes purely by chance?"

"I would like to know that too. You wanted to be heard. Speak, before I change my mind." he turned to the witches without changing his defensive position.

I gave Katherine a brief, knowing glance. The woman reluctantly nodded at me. Great. We have personal cannon fodder if things get hotter.

"Marcel Gerard, ruler of the city, forbade the witches of my coven to use any magic. We want your help. Especially your brother's."

"Niklaus? You have to make him go to town first. And as far as I know, she's not in the mood for any outings right now."

"Even if he gets a message from her?"

"Your mother didn't teach you not to point at people?"I growled at her as she did it again. "Besides, I didn't text… You have my phone, don't you?" I asked, realizing it was their only way of contacting the hybrid. The woman tossed me my phone with a sly smirk.

"Read." I scowled but followed her instructions anyway, wondering what it was that would make him stick his nose out of Mystic Falls.

"I need you, Klaus. New Orleans. Witches cemetery. Please help me. Yeah. I can already tell you that he won't come. We're waiting here for no reason."

"And why is that?"

"This news reeks of a damsel in distress from a mile away. I would never write to him like that. I also doubt if he even cares what happens to…" I stopped when I heard someone's scream in the distance. A man mentioned earlier had burst in with blood on his hands and lips.

Well… mistakes happen.

"Great! Now that we're all here, we can start. We need your help." The woman began to explain the whole thing about Marcel and the witches. Everything was clear except for one thing.

"And where exactly is my role in this Machiavellian plan of yours?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"And who said I would agree to it instead of just killing you all and taking Y/N out of here?"

"I can take myself and KATHERINE out, Klaus. I don't need your help."

"Oh, do you?" he took a few steps towards me to stand in front of me. I snorted, returning his dark gaze. There's no way I'll be afraid of him.

"That's how we get to the main topic." Sophie paused, catching our attention again. Klaus stood next to his brother, giving the witch his famous sinister look while he was waiting for her to continue. "You see, I have a special gift for knowing when a woman is pregnant."

"And how exactly is this fact important to us?"

"She's carrying Klaus' child."

I broke the sudden silence in the crypt with a very loud laugh.

"And you're insane or a very, very bad liar."

"I'm telling the truth! You're pregnant with his child." she tried desperately to convince us.

"Vampires can't procreate, ergo, I am not in any false pregnancy."

"Vampires can't. But werewolves can. And Klaus is both."

"That's ridiculous. Klaus, say something! She didn't tell the truth, did she?" I tried to find support from the speechless Klaus. By the way, I think it was the first time I saw him without words.

"Y/N, be quite for a second."

"What? Elijah, are you believing her?" the man responded with nothing, staring at me with a strange look.

Klaus walked over to me. He stopped a few steps in front of me, staring at my belly as if he was hypnotized.

"I can hear it." he whispered, looking at me in disbelief.

"Hear what?"

"The baby's heart."

"What? But... it's impossible." I suddenly felt my heart beating much faster, as I was unable to catch my breath properly.

"It is. Like being a hybrid or a witch without her own magic. And yet we're here. And we gonna have a baby."

"No. That's a lie. I... we... I need fresh air." I avoided the brothers standing in front of me and headed the way Klaus had come from earlier. Unfortunately, one of these witches blocked my way and grabbed my arm tightly.

"You're not going anywhere until we settle the details of our deal." right after she said that, I felt her hand being removed from me. I was pulled against someone's strong chest. The familiar smell of Klaus' perfume brought me a momentary sense of relief.

"Touch her again, and I'll make sure that's the last thing you gonna do before I take your miserable life away from you." Klaus growled, tightening his protective grip on me and scouring the present witches with a hostile glare.

"Calm down, both of you. Neither of you will have any use for her if she faints here. Klaus, take her outside. Elijah and I will take care of everything."

Klaus glanced at Elijah. His brother nodded, encouraging him to leave. The hybrid took my hand gently and led us out onto the streets of New Orleans. We stopped in a square. Klaus sat me down on a bench and knelt in front of me, carefully watching me take slow, deep breaths, trying to calm down.

When I was sure my magic wouldn't suddenly blow up the whole city, I opened my eyes tentatively to meet the vampire's concerned gaze. I swallowed, turning my eyes away from him. He was still kneeling in front of me with his hands on my lap.

"Are you better?"

"I think so." I glanced at him nervously, fiddling with the bracelets on my wrist to internally brace myself for asking the original thousand-year-old hybrid about something incredibly... stupid. "Can you... go to the one place with me?"

"Are you sure you want to go back there, love?" I shivered when I heard this familiar nickname. I missed this. Klaus misread my reaction as he shrugged off his leather jacket and covered me with it.

"Thanks. I don't want to go back there. I think, well, I need to be perfectly sure it's true that..." I stopped, unable to say the words aloud. It would have been too real then, and right now I couldn't accept even the slightest possibility.

"That we're going to be parents?"

"Yhm. Will you go with me to the gynecologist? I don't want to do this alone."

"Anything you want, love. I'll check the address." he sat next to me and started searching for the location of the nearest clinic on his phone.

As we sat together in silence, I began to wonder at the absurdity of this situation. And the improbable, rational behavior of the hybrid sitting next to me.

"Klaus?" I asked, yanking him off the phone for a moment.

"Yes?"

"You're not... you know. Crazy about this? Or something like that. I mean... I thought you gonna ask me if it's yours, of course if it even exist, but still. You're so... calm. Like not you."

"Would you rather me to run mad around town and deny our baby?" I chuckled, imagining his lunatic walk through the streets.

"No. To be honest, I would have expected something like that than this, but it's a nice surprise. It's enough that one of us is scared to death. Thank you for keeping a cold head."

"Don't get used to it, love. C'mon. I know where to go."

In less than five minutes, we got to the building and waited in line. There were many other people in the waiting room, but what caught my attention the most was a couple sitting in the corner. Husband and wife. The woman was probably in her third trimester (or had quadruplets. God, please let me have only one if there are any.) The man whispered something tenderly into her belly, and she smiled at him with just as much adoration. Involuntarily, I imagined Klaus and myself in this situation. I glanced at the tense vampire next to me. He was also staring at the couple.

"Y/N Y/S?"

"It's me."

"Are you going alone or do you have any company, dear?"

"My boyfriend is coming with me." I said, taking Klaus' hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an amused smirk on his lips. We started walking hand in hand behind the doctor. The vampire leaned toward me.

"Boyfirend, huh?" he whispered in my ear, clearly pleased with the situation.

"Don't get used to it, love." I repeated his earlier words, trying to imitate his tone of voice. The man chuckled, politely following the doctor with me.

I had to admit that it was funny to watch Klaus in such a... strange situation. His nervous, slightly stressed demeanor gave me courage as I lay there waiting for the ultrasound results. The cold gel tickled slightly, but I gritted my teeth, waiting for the final confirmation of my fate.

"There it is. That's your baby. Congratulations!"

Klaus put his hand on my shoulder and leaned gently toward the small screen. I stared at the tiny speck as if it were enchanted. It really was happening. I will be a mother.

"Do you want to hear your baby's heartbeat?"

"Could you give us first a second alone, doctor?" Klaus spoke as he saw me still staring blankly at the screen.

"Of course. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Oh, my God. It's real. We'll have a baby." I choked out after a few seconds of silence between us.

"You took that information really quickly, love."

I punched him lightly on the shoulder, finally turning my attention to the man standing next to me.

"Stop joking with me. Aren't you scared? I mean, a few hours ago we were on the other side of the country, living our lives, and now we're looking at some stain, which is our baby. Are you that calm, or am I being dramatic?"

"Of course I'm afraid, but I know we're going to figure it out. Maybe if it were someone other than you, I would be paranoid and mad, but it's you. With you by my side? Nothing can go wrong." I burst into tears at his emotional confession. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

"Come here, you idiot." I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled into him. "I hope Katherine got our things back."

"Yes. Speaking about her..." he said, moving away from me to look at my face.

"She is staying with me and you're not going to kill her." I said it in a tone that left no room for any objection. It's been 500 years; whatever conflict there was between them should be over by now.

"Absolutely not."

"Yes? So be prepared that if this little one is a girl, she'll be named after aunt Katherine, who couldn't be there for her mom because her dad is acting like he's on his period."

"You know you've been pregnant for a few hours, and you're already using it against me?" he asked resignedly. The grimace on his face was a clear sign of my victory.

"Get used to it. You're stuck with me for a while."

"I think I can work with that. Let's go home. I think uncle Elijah and Katherine will want to see the first photo of the newest member of the Mikaelson family."

~•♤♤♤•~

*Two months leter*

"Good morning, Y/N"

"Morning Elijah." I grunted from my book, never taking my eyes off the text I was reading.

"Have you eaten yet? Want me to make you pancakes?"

"Actually..." I didn't have time to answer, because an extremely happy hybrid came out of the kitchen with a large tray on which was my breakfast.

Elijah looked at his brother in disbelief as he sat comfortably next to me on the couch and began feeding me with a fork while I continued to read my book as if nothing had happened.

"Niklaus. Can you explain?" his brother was shifting his bewildered gaze between us.

"His werewolf hormones tell him to look after me. So when I told him I wasn't having breakfast today because I didn't want to stand in this heat by the stove, he made it his morning's main goal to make me a decent meal. At least Marcel and the witches will get some rest from him today."

"Werewolf hormones?" very amused Kol entered the living room, staring at the hybrid with a malicious smirk.

"Yes, brother. Werewolf hormones." Klaus' cool tone caught my attention away from the book.

"Of course... your werewolf hormones. So that's what they call it now. Just don't flood Y/N with this sudden tenderness, or the girl will get scared and run away from you again." before Klaus could make any move towards his younger brother, I grabbed his hand and moved him so that I could get more comfortable on his chest.

"He is weird." I commented as I took a grape from the bowl and popped it into Klaus' mouth, much to Elijah's astonishment.

"Weird? No. Just a little joker. I have to go now. I'll meet you later, Niklaus. Please, don't start without me."

"Do I want to know what he was talking about?" I asked, giving him a curious look.

"It depends. Will you get angry?"

"If it has to do with that teenage witch, Davina, that your adopted son treats like a daughter? Probably." his silence was an answer enough. I pulled away from him, eyeing him disapprovingly.

"Klaus."

"Yes, love?"

"Promise me you're not going to hurt her."

"And what does it matter? I'm not Elijah, how sure are you that I'll keep my word?" my angry look, however, fortunately made him give up. "Alright. She'll be fine." he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you. On the way back, you can stop by the store and buy me more chocolate and ice cream."

"As you wish."

He got up from the couch, placed a quick kiss on my already-showing belly, and left the living room, passing Rebekah as she entered. His sister looked at me curiously.

"What?" I asked, fed up with her penetrating gaze.

"Nothing. You two seemd very... compatible with each other. I'm impressed."

"Well, he's the father of my baby. We have to get along. For the baby's sake, it's best if we're friends."

"Surely." she hummed, completely unconvinced.

"Rebekah. What do you mean?"

"I mean that "just friends" wouldn't act that way. My brother never treated anyone with such affection. He's doing everything he can to impress you. For a bloody hell, he even changed his plan to take over the city for you!"

"She is right." Katherine walked past her and threw herself on the couch next to me. "He does everything he can think of to make you fall in love with him. For example, that "almost date" at the best restaurant in New Orleans last week. Or the fact that you've been given unlimited access to his credit cards, safes, stashes of clothes, and God knows what else. Or that weekend out of town so you could relax. Do you think they seriously didn't have a second room with two beds in the hotel?"

"Nik used the one bed trope? He's even more desperate than I previously thought." Rebekah snorted as she poured herself a glass of whiskey.

"Even if what you say is true, which I doubt, I have no intention of changing anything. Klaus and I work well as friends, and for the sake of this child, we will continue to be them so."

"So you don't love him back?" Rebekah questioned, coming to me, so she could stay in front of me. Her evaluative look somehow made me feel guilty.

"It doesn't matter what I want or feel. The most important thing for me is my child and I will do everything to ensure at least a little normality for them. If Klaus and I tried to be together and it didn't work out... At least this child deserves reasonably normal parents."

"What if you were happy together and created a loving family? Wouldn't that be better for everyone?"

"It's not worth the risk, Bekah." I replied, getting up from the couch to escape the inconvenient conversation with the original vampire.

"Risk of what?"

Losing him.

I didn't answer as I left the room. I decided to hide in the library for the rest of the day and try to forget the doubts the blonde had stirred up in me.

But my wild imagination did not give up so easily. I began to consider a possible relationship with Klaus. Despite what I told the girls, I wasn't blind to Klaus'… flirtatious remarks and behavior. I saw every long, stolen glance at me, every quick look at my lips during any conversation, and most of all, the longing shining in his eyes that was so similar to mine and that I somehow managed to hide from him.

I wanted to spend my life with him. But I also knew that I'm not enough to keep him away from his scheming and fighting for power. For the good of this baby, I had to be content with being his formal one-night stand and friend at best. Even if my heart yearned for him every single day.

Thinking about my unattainable future, I didn't even notice when I got to the library. But I certainly saw two people kissing in the room.

Klaus and Camille. At least he cleared up all my doubts.

I was probably the only one who noticed how my heart shattered into a million pieces. At least until Klaus pulled away from her, confused, and spotted me in the doorway.

"Y/N." he whispered, terrified.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt… I'll leave you alone."

"No! Y/N, wait!" he shouted, trying to get to me, but before he got even a step closer, I used my magic to teleport myself to a New Orleans street.

I leaned against the building next to me as the first post-teleport symptoms started to hit me and my head started spinning a bit. I shouldn't have done it while being pregnant, but well… I couldn't stay in the same room with these two any longer.

Once I had recovered, I decided to order myself a hot chocolate and sit with it in the park to collect my thoughts. I had to come up with some clever, eloquent way out of this predicament. And most of all, refrain from crying.

Thinking about this situation, after all, everything happened as I wanted. Klaus had found someone else to adore, so I could stop worrying about the deterioration of my relationship with the Mikaelsons.

We would be friends.

Just as I wished.

The only problems were my stupid broken heart and festering feelings of jealousy.

I wiped a tear running down my cheek with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I shook my head, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself down. Something that stupid couldn't get me off balance. I had to be strong. If not for myself, then at least for this little one.

My phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my pants pocket and glanced at the screen to see the photo of Klaus sleeping with me on the couch that I had set as his contact picture.

I remembered that night. It was one of the first month at the Mikaelson Mansion and also my favorite.

"Can't sleep?" Klaus stepped out of the shadows to stand in front of the fireplace, which flames I had been staring at earlier.

"Not even tried."

"May I?" he asked, pointing to the blanket that covered me. I nodded, opening the hem so he could slip into the space next to me. He put his arm around me, moving us into a more comfortable position. One of his hands automatically went to my slightly rounded belly. I sighed, resting my head against his shoulder, and returned to staring at the flames of the fire. "What's bothering you?"

"Remember when Tyler kidnapped me and…"

"Please tell me you're not going to lecture me again about how I shouldn't have attacked Elijah." he interrupted me with a groan of displeasure.

"I'm not, but your brother didn't deserve this. Even if he was talking some shit about you. You knew I would never believe it."

"You wouldn't?"

"Of course not. You always try to protect your family, not always in a good way, I have to admit, but still, I know you would never use your own child for your games. I trust you." he tightened his grip on me and cleared his throat.

"It's good to know you're at least on my side, love."

"Your siblings too. If you'd just let them in, maybe you'd see it too, but that's a topic for another time."

"I know better ways to spend my free time with you, love. One of them brought us to this situation." he smiled slyly, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Very funny, but we have to talk about something serious."

"I'm sorry. What are you thinking about?"

"Have you ever thought about whether there is a chance for our child to be… a tribrid?"

"Tribrid?" he asked, confused, stopping to play with my hair.

"You know. You're half vampire, half werewolf; I'm a witch, siphon, but still… Can our baby inherit all of this from us?"

"They might as well only have the gene of a werewolf, a witch, a vampire, or a hybrid. I think all options are possible. Maybe in my mother's grimoire we can find the answer to that question. These books are as old as the world."

"You can include the birth of a miracle baby in your search. I hope we won't summon a demon into the world." I joked, turning slightly to look at his face again.

"I thought you already knew that the demon has been walking around this world for a long time, and you're cuddling with him on the couch. By the way, it's our search."

"Our? You seriously want to just give me access to your mother's precious books? The same ones that have so much knowledge inside them that you won't let any other witch see them whole, or even your siblings?" I was shocked. I would never in my life expect something like this from him, but on the other hand, he has done astonishing things many times before.

"You're different."

"Like how?"

"I trust you."

"You did?" I whispered after a few seconds of silence. Those words were more striking than three others of equal importance he might have said to me. Klaus doesn't trust people that easily, I think he falls in love with them more often…

"You wouldn't be the first to hear about all my plans if I didn't. Besides, you're the mother of my heir..."

"Keep treating your family like a fucking dynasty, and you'll have to buy me a crown and my own castle." I cut him off when I heard that horrible term for our baby.

"Why do you need a castle when you already have your throne, love?"

"You're impossible." I chuckled at this awful attempt at flirting.

"That's why you like me."

"Maybe." I yawned suddenly, unaware of how tired I was. I felt the hybrid's soft, warm lips against my hair before both the blanket cocoon and his grip tightened around me.

"Sleep. I'll stay with you and I will chase away your nightmares."

"How did you know?" I asked, feeling him gently brush away the strands of hair that had fallen over my eyes.

"I know you. Besides, I can hear everything through these thin walls. I would rather hear your screams for other reasons than nightmares."

"Deviant."

"Only yours." I heard as if through a haze before falling into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next day, Katherine found us sleeping together and took a picture of us. One of my favorites.

Before I could answer the phone, I felt someone snatch it from my hand, and something hit my head at breakneck speed, knocking me out. Stupid witches.

~•♤♤♤•~

~A few hours later~

I was kneeling in front of the crib that Katherine and Rebekah had set up after the whole witches' fiasco. After those damn witches kidnapped me, they cast some strange spell on me and the baby to speed up her (as it turned out) growth and thus her birth.

A few hours ago, I was a human pregnant with a hybrid. Now I was a heretic, the mother of the thyrbid, the most powerful creature on earth.

I guess life with the Mikaelsons was all about sudden, unexpected changes. At least they weren't boring.

Elijah, Kol, Klaus, and Marcel were running around the city, killing the last witches who had allied with Esther. Rebekah and Katherine have been delegated to look after me and the baby until the boys get the hang of the situation. A bit sexist, but I didn't have the energy to argue about it. Not after I so impressively returned to the graveyard and killed half the coven.

After feeding on the blood from the bag, the girls gave me a moment alone with my sleeping daughter. Her first day in this world, and she was already trying to get killed.

"Y/N." Klaus' tired sigh snapped me out of my thoughts. For the first time in hours, I shifted my gaze to something other than my daughter and met a face as tired and bloodstained as mine.

"Hi." he knelt uncertainly beside me, glancing at the baby sleeping in the cradle.

"She is beautiful. So similar to you." he whispered softly, afraid he would wake her up at any moment.

"She has a look of the devil in her eyes. That's all you."

The girl stirred in her sleep, as if hearing us talk about her. Two loving, child-infatuated looks appeared on Klaus' and mine's faces.

"She needs a name. You made a decision?"

"I was thinking about Zoe and Caitlyn. But I think we both know that Katherine Jr. is the best fit for her."

"God no." I chuckled, trying not to wake the baby after seeing his terrified look..

"Got a counterproposal?"

"Hope."

"Hope. That's actually nice. Hope Mikaelson."

"Mikaelson?"

"What? Are you not the father?" I asked teasingly.

"I'm but... I thought you'd want her to have your last name."

"Mikaelson suits her better." I replied with a shrug.

"Well, then I guess it will be Hope Y/N Mikaelson." I smiled at him, resting my head tiredly on his shoulder. We both stared in awe at the new member of the Mikaelson family.

"How did you come to that? Hope?"

"With Elijah's little help. When I found you… dead. Elijah said that I ruined our family's last hope by making out with this bartender, which, by the way, is not exactly true."

"Klaus..."

"No. Let me finish. I've never been so helpless and scared in all my life as I was a few hours ago. Never, not even in the worst, darkest moments of my life, have I been so broken, so despairing, than when I held your dead body. Whatever you think now, whatever you feel, the truth has to be told. I love you. I've loved you since the first time I saw you, and each day only brings me closer to you. You're the only one who can make me so mad, terrified, or happy. You taught me unconditional love, and even if you don't share my feelings, I want you to know that you completely changed me. It will be my life's purpose to make sure that our daughter and you are safe and satisfied." I stared at him with tears in my eyes, listening to his touching confession.

"I was so mad at you and Camille, but... I can't blame her; falling for you is as easy as breathing. Not when I did it a long time ago."

"You did?"

"Yes. And I don't want to hide it anymore. I can't hide it anymore. As I turned into vampire, everything I feel for you since all this time is more intensive. My desires, my love, and my longing - I feel them so much that I can't even imagine spending one more hour without your words, touch, or kiss. I don't want to live in a world where we're just friends. So if you promise that this is forever, then I..."

Klaus cut me off, pulling me into a longing, long-expected, passionate kiss. I moaned into his mouth, pulling him as close as possible by the strands of his hair. At one point, I bit his lip until it bled. My new ability was immediately activated. My fangs slid out of my gums by themselves, digging into his lip and sucking more of his delicious, sweet blood. We broke apart when we were completely out of breath. Klaus licked his lips, staring lustfully at my black-veined face and bloody mouth.

"I promise. You're mine. For always and forever, love."

"And you're mine. For always and forever."

"Aw... Congratulations, Nik! It only took you one child to make her yours. I thought it would take you at least three." Kol suddenly appeared in the doorway, interrupting our moment.

Klaus growled at him and threw the baby monitor at his brother. Kol dodged at the last second and tossed the device back at him, sticking out his tongue before he ran as fast as his legs could take him. I giggled, drawing the hybrid into a tender kiss.

Yeah, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

[hllywdwhre]

Dreamer, Queen, Prince - Chapter 9

Pairing: Daemyra x fem!OC

Warnings: Please check masterlist for warnings. This work is 18+, MDNI

Masterlist

Authors Note: This authors note will include a chapter specific warning that contains a spoiler for the content of the chapter, but I feel, in this case specifically, this chapter deserves an extra content warning.

There will be graphic depictions of childbirth in this chapter.

Their return to King’s Landing did not last long. It seemed Viserys had not forgotten their banishment and reminded them the next day that their home was Dragonstone. Disappointed but unsurprised, Viserea did not argue.

That night though, Rhaenyra had managed to sneak her way into their room, though, and the three enjoyed each other’s company for the last time until Rhaenyra would be able to visit them on Dragonstone.

Viserea and Daemon returned to Dragonstone the next day after bidding farewell to everyone. The weeks after seemed to be peaceful. They exchanged letters daily with Rhaenyra, keeping each other informed of the daily events that took place at Court.

Rhaenyra informed them that Laena did not leave with her mother and father at the end of a fortnight and seemed to have become infatuated with Ser Harwin. She had said she wouldn’t be surprised if their betrothal was announced soon.

At the end of the cycle of the moon, Amarda was helping Viserea bathe after dinner and dismissed the rest of the handmaidens from them, telling them she needed to speak to the Princess in private.

Viserea looked at Amarda in confusion when she asked a question that caused her heart to stutter in her chest.

“Princess, when was the last time you bled?”

Viserea tried to think of the answer and realized that she had last bled back when she and Daemon were still in Pentos, before they had even been married.

“I-it’s been two moon cycles…” Viserea replied, her hands shaking as she stood up from the large stone tub, suddenly feeling nauseous.

Amarda had been Viserea’s handmaiden since she was a child and knew exactly why Viserea hadn’t become excited at the news, but had turned pale and ashen.

“History will not repeat itself, Princess. Maester Gerardys has studied childbirth for a long time after the unfortunate events of Princess Adalyn and Queen Aemma so that he could do everything in his power to prevent the two of you from being harmed,” Amarda comforted as she helped Viserea from the tub and began drying her off.

Viserea nodded, finding some comfort in her words, but being unable to get rid of all of the fear that seemed to have made its home inside of her.

Once she was dressed, she began to walk the halls of the castle, knowing where she would find Daemon. She took her time as she tried to work through her emotions. Terror filled her at the thoughts of all the dangers of childbirth, but a bubbling of delight also began seeping in.

Viserea had never pictured herself being a mother, but she couldn’t deny that she was excited to bear Daemon’s child. She knew she would not be turned into some broodmare, good for only producing his offspring and viewed as nothing else. He had promised her years ago that she would not be turned into another Targaryen Princess that would be wed off to a random lord and used for nothing but political gain, and he had kept his word.

Before they were even married, he had protected and spoiled her and advocated for her. Their entire time traveling after the War of the Stepstones was spent with him advocating her place as future Hand to other nobles and insisting they take her advice for issues they faced. It had led to great praise from them when their problems resolved themselves after heeding her advice. He had brought her to see parts of the world she had not seen before and bathed her in riches simply because he wanted to.

Security and safety. That was what Daemon had brought her, and while she couldn’t ignore the anxieties she felt over bearing a child, having Maester Gerardys and Daemon by her side calmed a lot of them greatly. The only other person she would want beside her was Rhaenyra.

Taking a deep breath, her hands no longer shaking, she stepped outside and made her way to the entrance of the cave that Tessarion and Caraxes had inhabited and found two dragonkeepers waiting outside.

“Leave us,” she said, waiting on Daemon at the entrance of the cave.

A few minutes later he stepped out of the cave, ash covering his face. He looked surprised to see Viserea but the surprise was quickly replaced with happiness,

“The eggs look amazing!” Daemon said excitedly.

Tessarion had produced a clutch of eggs about a week ago and you would have thought Daemon a child again with how excited he had been over it.

Viserea couldn’t fight the smile at her husband’s excitement and stepped towards him, taking his hand in hers.

“A good thing, too, as it seems we will be needing to place one in a cradle for our babe soon,” she said, placing his hand on her stomach and smiling up at him.

Daemon’s excitement turned to shock, then back to excitement as he picked her up and pulled her into a hug. Viserea wrapped her arms around his neck, returning the eager kiss he gave her as he set her feet back on the ground.

“You’re carrying my child…” he said as if he didn’t believe the words himself.

Viserea giggled and nodded. He placed his forehead against hers and kissed her softly once again,

“I’ll be here for everything. I know you’ve feared this moment, but-“ Daemon started, but Viserea shook her head.

“Don’t. You’re right, I’m very fearful of what could happen, but Amarda has said Maester Gerardys has been studying childbirth ever since Aemma passed for Rhaenyra and myself. I’ll be surrounded by handmaidens and he’ll be there, too. I don’t wish to focus on my fear the entire time my babe is in the womb. I wish to focus on the fact that I am bearing my husband’s child on the island of our ancestors while our dragons are producing clutches of eggs,” Viserea told him. Her tone was soft as she admitted her fear, but final. She wouldn’t spend her entire pregnancy fearing what was to come.

Daemon nodded a moment later and kissed her once again,

“I trust your instincts and I trust you,” he said, “you would be the first to know if there was something to fear.”

The two walked back to the castle with their hands intertwined and, while Daemon washed away the dirt and ash from visiting the dragons, Viserea made her way to the library and began writing a letter to Rhaenyra.

My darling cousin,

You’ll be pleased to hear that Caraxes’ and Tessarion’s clutch of eggs still look amazing.

I’m glad to hear that your father has started taking your opinions into account more in council meetings and that the new hand has supported these instead of brushing them aside as the old one had a habit of.

I’m also happy to hear that Laena continues to embrace you as her sister now and hope she and Harwin might find happiness with each other.

Daemon and I do have good news of our own. Amarda asked me when the last time I bled was while helping me bathe and I realized I last bled in Pentos.

While this realization shocked and scared me at first, I find myself growing excited. Amarda assured me that Maester Gerardys has been studying childbirth for a while now and she is confident in his abilities to deliver the babe safely. I won’t deny that I still hold fear inside of me due to our mothers’ devastating ends, but I have told Daemon that I do not wish to live in fear of what could happen as it is not healthy for myself or the babe.

Daemon and I wish to see you soon, whether we must fly there or you fly here. I have gone a year without your presence before and I do not wish to repeat it.

All my love,

Viserea

After sending the letter, Viserea returned to her’s and Daemon’s chambers, finding him shirtless and reading a book in their bed.

“I assume you told Rhaenyra?” He asked, though it wasn’t really a question as he already knew Viserea would have.

She nodded and laid herself down next to Daemon, taking her usual spot under his arm. He set his book down and placed the newly freed hand on her stomach.

“Our own army of dragons will soon hatch,” he said, kissing her cheek.

“I’m sure everyone will be just thrilled at the thought of the banished Prince and Princess having children together,” Viserea replied sarcastically.

“They will, or they will be met with fire,” Daemon replied with a warning in his voice and Viserea knew he meant it. Any disrespect towards their child would not be tolerated.

Rhaenyra joined them on Dragonstone two days later, along with Laenor, Laena, and various members of the Kingsguard. Congratulations were offered to the two expectant parents and Viserea found herself unable to be anything but excited with the people she viewed as her closest and most trusted family members surrounding her.

They spent a fortnight on the Island and this visit seemed to spark a new pattern.

When Daemon and Viserea were not traveling, Rhaenyra and Laenor were on Dragonstone with them. The limited staff meant Rhaenyra, Laenor, Daemon, and Viserea were free to be with each other as they pleased with minimal worries about facades needing to be upheld. Laena was almost always with them as she and Harwin seemed to grow closer every day.

When Laena and Harwin’s betrothal was announced less than a week after returning from their first visit from Dragonstone, Rhaenyra informed Daemon and Viserea that Laena had been informed of the “arrangement” between them. While she was confused, Rhaenyra said she seemed more relieved that it meant her brother didn’t have to keep a second life secret from them.

It was at a dinner during their second visit that Rhaenyra and Laenor stood and gathered everyone’s attention, announcing that Rhaenyra was also carrying a babe.

Later, on the privacy of the beach as the group walked along the shore, Daemon was the one to voice the thoughts that Viserea herself had but hadn’t had the nerve to voice.

“Should we expect the newest heir to take after his father’s looks or his mother’s?” Daemon asked, causing Viserea, Laena, and Harwin’s heads to look towards Rhaenyra and Laenor.

The question could have seemed rude or even treacherous from anyone else, but Rhaenyra nor Laenor seemed to mind. Everyone knew that Rhaenyra and Laenor had promised each other to fulfill their duties and produce an heir for Rhaenyra. Everyone also knew that for every night Rhaenyra and Laenor shared a bed, Laenor shared a bed with someone else and Rhaenyra shared Daemon and Viserea’s bed.

Rhaenyra and Laenor exchanged a glance and Laenor cleared his throat,

“We’re unsure if the babe will resemble its Velaryon or Targaryen blood more. I suppose that is up to the Gods to decide,” Laenor replied.

Daemon nodded, the meaning of their exchanged words being clear.

Rhaenyra had slept with both Laenor and Daemon and there wasn’t a sure answer to who’s babe she carried.

“No matter the resemblance, the babe will be the most protected and loved babe the Gods have ever seen,” Viserea said, meaning her words and offering Rhaenyra a smile.

When both Daemon and Laenor agreed with her statement, any amount of tense atmosphere disappeared quickly and the group went back to their relaxed walk along the shore.

The next seven months went by quickly for the entire group. Laena and Harwin’s wedding was held at Driftmark and a cause for great celebration.

Before it became too dangerous for Viserea to fly, she and Daemon flew to King’s Landing, and she had insisted Maester Gerardys sail to the Keep as he was the only maester that she would allow near her during birth.

Within a fortnight, Viserea was awoken in the middle of the night by her labor pains, and within minutes the midwife, ladies-in-waiting, and Master Gerardys were in the room while Daemon waited outside.

She changed into a plain white underdress and shooed away the hands of anyone who tried to come near her.

Panic filled her. Images of Aemma being held down and sliced open. What she imagined her mother looked like, sick with a fever that wouldn’t leave her.

When a midwife approached her again, trying to place a cool rag on her head, she snapped.

“I said not to fucking touch me!” She swore loudly.

Minutes later, a disheveled looking Rhaenyra entered the room and came to stand beside Viserea, though she didn’t try to touch her.

“Vis, I’m here,” she said, crouching down to Viserea as Viserea gripped the back of the couch and slid down to sit on the balls of her feet. “I’m with you, I won’t let them harm you, you know it.”

Rhaenyra held a hand out to Viserea which Viserea took into her own.

Her labors progressed for hours and Rhaenyra was the only one she would allow to touch her, allow to use a rag to wipe away her sweat, and the only one she would allow near her when she began pushing.

Viserea caught her daughter herself when she was finally born in the early hours of the morning.

“You did it, my love,” Rhaenyra whispered from behind Viserea, kissing her temple as the babe and Viserea both cried.

The midwife was only allowed near Viserea long enough to cut the umbilical cord and help deliver the afterbirth.

Daemon entered a couple moments later, after the babe had been wrapped in a blanket.

He immediately came over to Viserea and Rhaenyra’s side, looking down at the babe she clung to protectively, keeping her against her chest.

“I hear there is a new Targaryen Princess,” he said with a wide smile, running his thumb lightly over his daughter’s forehead and along her cheeks.

“Princess Daenyra,” Viserea replied in a voice loud enough for Maester Gerardys to hear and make note of. “Named after the two who have my heart,” she said in a lower voice.

It was an hour later, after everyone had left the room aside from Daemon, Rhaenyra, and Viserea, and the wet nurse had already fed Viserea, that Rhaenyra’s lady-in-waiting, Elinda, knocked on the door and stepped inside.

“Princesses, Prince,” she greeted with a polite bow, though her voice shook with an edge of nervousness. “The Queen has requested the babe be brought to her immediately.”

Viserea felt her blood run cold but she wasn’t the first to speak.

“Why?” Rhaenyra asked, doing the best to keep the ice out of her voice.

“She did not say, Princess,” Elinda replied.

“Daemon, take Daenyra,” Viserea said. She could already feel the silent anger radiating off of him and she knew their daughter was going to be the one thing to keep him from physically reacting.

“Why?” He asked in a lethal and low voice.

“If she wishes to see my babe, it must be to offer congratulations. I will go see her myself,” Viserea said in a wry voice that revealed she knew that wasn’t the real reason.

Before Daemon could argue, she was placing Daenyra into his arms and pushing herself off of the sofa in the room.

“Elinda, would you help me dress, please?” Viserea asked, speaking over Daemon and Rhaenyra trying to protest her going.

“My daughter will not be going nowhere near that woman without me there,” Viserea snapped out as Elinda helped her get dressed.

Her hair was still in the disheveled braid she had worn during her labors, but Elinda worked quickly to restyle it. Within minutes, she was taking Daenyra back from Daemon and Daemon was supporting one side of her while they began walking through the Keep.

“What is the meaning of this?” Daemon said in a low voice to the two of them.

“A reminder of her power. She is Queen and she can have whatever she wishes,” Rhaenyra said from beside Viserea.

“She can, but it will not be given to her easily,” Viserea said, muttering a few choice words under her breath as she began walking up the stairs that lead to the Queen’s chambers.

Viserea ignored the Lords and Ladies that offered their congratulations, letting Daemon and Rhaenyra, though it was mostly Rhaenyra, reply to them.

She returned Criston Cole’s glare as he noticed the three of them when they reached Alicent’s chambers. Without a word, he opened the door for them and they stepped inside.

“Viserea, I did not mean for you to come, also,” Alicent said in a voice full of false sympathy.

Viserea forced a polite smile and for her voice to come out as polite as she could.

“Yes, well, it is my first. I could not bear the thought of being away from her,” she replied.

“I heard we have another Targaryen princess. What did the handmaidens say her name was?” Alicent asked, coming over to Viserea and gently taking Daenyra from her.

“Daenyra,” Daemon replied, his eyes glued to Alicent as she held their daughter.

Alicent caught the ice in his voice but ignored it, plastering a fake smile on her face while Viserea gently squeezed his hand.

“A beautiful Valyrian name,” she complimented as Daemon and Rhaenyra helped Viserea sit down and the doors opened behind them.

“I heard I have a granddaughter!” Viserys said excitedly, making his way to Alicent and taking Daenyra from her.

“Yes. Viserea’s labors began in the night and Princess Daenyra was born less than two hours ago,” Rhaenyra said.

Viserea could see the way Rhaenyra was trying to bring light to how Alicent had forced this to happen after less than two hours of giving birth, but Viserys’ attention was too focused on the babe he held to notice.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful Princess,” he complimented, looking to Daemon and Viserea with a wide smile. “Am I to assume she is named after your sister and your uncle?” He asked.

Viserea gave him a small but genuine smile as she nodded, “Yes, she is. I would not have had the strength to deliver her without Rhaenyra’s help. It felt only right to honor her.”

“A noble act indeed,” Viserys complimented, either not noticing or choosing to ignore Alicent’s look of disbelief at him believing her reasoning.

A couple weeks later, Rhaenyra’s first son, Jacaerys Velaryon was born. Rhaenyra behaved the similarly to how Viserea had during her labors. Viserea, Elinda Massey, the midwife, and Maester Gerardys were the only ones allowed in the room, although Rhaenyra did allow for Jacaerys to be held by someone other than herself and the wet nurse in the first hour.

Jacaerys shared no resemblance with Laenor, a fact Queen Alicent was quick to point out, saying he must “heavily favor his mother” as she had made the same request for Jace to be brought to her chambers immediately. Viserys paid no attention to this remark, though it was obvious by the way Alicent glanced at the young Princess Daenyra in Viserea’s arms that she believed something else was taking place right under the noses.

After the birth of Jacaerys, Viserea and Daemon were allowed to remain in King’s Landing. They now spent half their time in King’s Landing with Rhaenyra and half their time back on Dragonstone. They never went more than a fortnight without seeing Rhaenyra.

The following year, Viserea and Rhaenyra both welcomed new sons at the Red Keep. Viserea welcomed Maelon Targaryen on the same day Rhaenyra welcomed Lucerys Velaryon.

It was Elinda Massey rushing into the room while Viserea was struggling in her labors that alerted them that Alicent had demanded to see Lucerys directly after Rhaenyra had given birth, and that she and Laenor were currently walking through the Red Keep up to the Queen’s chambers.

“I will have her head on a spike for this,” Daemon growled, his hand being crushed by Viserea’s as another wave of pain washed through her.

“I will not stop you, but only after Rhaenyra is crowned. Damning us all to death will do nothing but ensure her son is placed on the throne,” Viserea said through gritted teeth.

“Queen Alicent is also demanding the same of your babe, my Princess and Prince,” Elinda said. It was obvious by her voice that she did not agree nor wish to be the one passing along the command.

“Fine!”

“Gods be damned!” Daemon and Viserea shouted at the same time.

Daemon looked to Viserea as if she had grown a third head when she agreed.

“She will not get the pleasure of someone saying I’m too weak to go there, nor will she have a reason to separate my child from my side,” Viserea hissed to Daemon. “I made the walk a year ago, and I will do it again.”

For the briefest moment, Daemon saw the exact look his younger brother used to wear on Viserea’s face and he knew better than to try arguing with her.

As soon as the babe had been placed in Viserea’s arms, she was standing.

“Gods be good, the two of you are going to kill me,” Maester Gerardys grumbled, causing Viserea to chuckle.

“I’m assuming Rhaenyra did not allow for the afterbirth to pass before standing either, Maester,” Viserea said, gritting her teeth as another wave of pain washed through her, though much less severe than before.

Viserea passed Maelon to Daemon as the afterbirth passed and allowed her handmaidens to dress her, grateful for Amarda’s calming voice being there to help ground her.

Once the dress was tied, Viserea reached to take Maelon from Daemon.

“I will hold him,” Daemon said, offering his arm for Viserea instead.

“Daemon, I love you, but if you ever try to keep me from holding my children again, you will be a cockless man by the end of the night,” Viserea snapped, her violet eyes burning bright as she looked up at him.

“Fine,” Daemon grumbled, handing Maelon to Viserea, “but you will not walk alone or without assistance.”

“I should hope not,” Viserea said, adjusting Maelon so she could hold him with one arm and grip onto one of Daemon’s arms with the other.

Daemon’s other arm wrapped around her hip, gripping tight to the side of it to help support some of her weight.

“Thank you, my love,” Viserea said, her voice much kinder this time as they walked through the doors of the room.

With Daemon’s assistance, they began walking through the castle, eventually finding a trail of blood.

“Don’t thank me yet,” he grumbled, “I may start a war before the day is over.”

Viserea didn’t reply, her own anger at seeing Rhaenyra’s blood smeared down the halls mixed with the spasms of her muscles rendering her silent.

Lord Caswell’s congratulations were barely heard, though both Daemon and Viserea thanked him as they walked past him.

The rest of the walk to the Queen’s chambers, Viserea did not speak, though she heard Daemon’s forced polite replies to anyone who offered them anything beyond greetings.

When they entered Alicent’s chambers, Viserea found Rhaenyra, Viserys, and Laenor already there.

Viserea ignored the conversation that took place around them as Viserys proclaimed that two Princes being born on the same day was another way of the Gods proclaiming that Viserea and Rhaenyra were meant to be sisters.

She sat down next to Rhaenyra and it was obvious by the looks they exchanged that neither of them were happy about being there and they would both rather be in Rhaenyra’s chambers, which was large enough to house both of their families.

“Born on the same day, and they look similar enough to be twins themselves,” Alicent said, drawing Rhaenyra and Viserea’s attention from each other.

After Maelon and Lucerys’ births, the rumors began spreading. Rumors that Jacaerys and Lucerys were bastards fathered by Daemon. When Laena gave birth to her and Harwin’s twins in the year 116 AC, it both seemed to distract from the rumors and add to them.

Laena and Harwin’s children had the brown, curly hair of Harwin Strong, but their skin was a similar brown color to Laena’s. A color that was missing in Rhaenyra’s sons.

The group gathered a few days later at Driftmark this time. The twin girls, Baela and Rhaena, were showered with love, and a betrothal between them and Rhaenyra’s sons were arranged.

“I hope the betrothals do not come as a slight to you, Princess,” Rhaenys said to Viserea as the two met each other in the library.

Viserea smiled and shook her head,

“Of course not. Daenys and Maelon will not hold the same duties as Rhaenyra and Laenor’s sons. I would much rather the succession of the throne be secured,” she told Rhaenys honestly.

Rhaenys smiled at Viserea and sat next to her,

“I am glad you see it that way. If your opinion on the matter does change, let me know if there is some way Corlys and I can make amends,” she offered.

Viserea shook her head again,

“There is no slight to make amends for,” she reassured.

Honestly, even if Viserea had felt slighted, she would not have said anything. There was no guarantee that Jace and Luke were actually Laenor’s and if Laena’s children married Jace and Luke, it almost seemed as though no harm was done. The Velaryon name and blood would still sit the Iron Throne and inherit Driftmark.

Before the year’s end, Viserea and Daemon welcomed another daughter. This one was named Adlyn, after Viserea’s mother.

[miaowitch]

Lonesome Ride (18+)

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Read on Ao3 or below !!

Cole Cassidy / GN!Reader (Overwatch 2)

cw ⋆｡‧˚♡ smut, swearing, grinding, power bottom pov, plot what plot, cumming in pants, high tension, canon/reader

summary ⋆｡‧˚♡

You get swept away by the Deadlock Gang, outlaws and violent maniacs. Or are they? Cole Cassidy is your watchful guardian, but you wonder if he even feels anything as you spend countless nights together. Will he ever reach the breaking point?

1.2k words

It was nice to have moments like this. Alone, resting at an inn for the night. It was the only inn you’d seen in days, traveling with the Deadlock Gang wasn’t for the weak. You wouldn’t consider yourself weak, but being abducted by a gang wasn’t in your plans for the month. Cole Cassidy, the young gun criminal, kept his eye close on you. You were technically his, in every sense of the way. 

Not that you hated the concept of a new life, you were practically begging. With a boring life at home, it was easy to imagine a big adventure. This was your big adventure. You wouldn’t admit it, but it wasn’t a bad life. They weren’t the gang of hardened criminals the paper made them out to be. You weren’t bound, just monitored. You weren’t starved or dehydrated, you were treated like a human. 

Which is what brought you to the inn. Instead of camping for the 5th time on low supplies, Ashe directed the gang to a nearby spot her old friend ran. Cole took responsibility for watching you, but you knew he’d much rather be drinking by the fire with the rest of the gang. He stayed in the wooden chair by the window in the room, chewing idly at a lit cigar. You’d gotten used to being in shared company, sharing a horse with the man had gotten you pretty close. 

Being pressed up with your back to his front, bouncing rhythmically with each gallop. The smell of his cigars was familiar now from being so close against him. You might’ve been a little pent up from the repetitive motion, but that didn’t matter. Cassidy hadn’t said much since you’d made it to the hotel. It was…a little awkward. With a free hand, he played at the brim of his hat that rested in his lap, letting his brown hair lay soft around his face. The radio in the room broadcasted a radio show with the occasional news break. It was easy to forget he was an outlaw in moments like this.

You let out a sigh, breaking the silence between the two of you. It was loud enough for him to make a comment. “Bored?” His deep voice inquired. “I guess.” You laid back onto the bed with another sigh. Your legs hung off the side of the bed, swaying slowly with your boredom. “It’s not like you’re being forced to say.” Cole replied, “You’re the one that asked me to bring you along.” It caused a small twinge in your head. He was annoying. His tone was slightly bitter, but you weren’t sure what was up his ass. 

“I know.” You hissed, shooting back up. “No one is asking you to sit in here, I’m not going anywhere.” Matching his frustrated tone, just to watch his expression shift. “Y’know, I’m not askin’ for your damn attitude either. Y’don’t see me crying!” Cole took the cigar from his mouth, resting it between his pointer and middle finger. “In fact, I didn’t ask for you to ride with me either.” He muttered, but you understood. Then, as if to distract you from the first part, threatened. “Maybe I should just pull someone else in to deal with your crazy ass.” Yet a smile had already formed on your face, realizing what was wrong with Cole Cassidy. 

Your fists clenched around the fabric of the quilt laid on the bed. Leaning forward just slightly, you figured you would try something. “What was wrong with riding with me?” Asking that made him tense up. The brim of his hat became clenched in a fist. The hat rested higher in his lap now, holding it tight to hide his tightening pants. “Do you really not want to deal with me anymore?” Standing up, you stood in front of him, as if showing off in your thin sleepwear. “Now..I-I didn’t say that.” He cleared his throat, avoiding your stare and placing the cigar back between his lips.

Stepping closer, you now stood with your knees almost touching the chair he sat on. Standing between his open knees, he now couldn’t look anywhere else. Now, he looked right at you. Hooded eyes, he needed something that he wouldn’t admit to. “Are you okay, Cassidy?” Sharply, he inhaled as you moved away his hat, placing it right on your head. “Couldn’t big bad Cole Cassidy say he wanted to fuck me?” You smile, teasing him as his face flushes with a deep blush. You slowly crawl onto his lap, legs falling on the side of his own.

“Ohh, darlin’....please..” Cassidy begs under your grasp. Thighs placed on either side of his legs, straddling him while putting pressure in the center of his groin. You adjust, grinding up on his coarse jeans. “Please what?” You ask with an innocent tone, keeping quiet for no reason at all. Cole squirmed, looking down between the two of your bodies. Grinding up onto his lap, the thin fabric of your pajamas didn’t leave much to the imagination of what’s beneath his jeans. You let a hand hold onto his shoulder, the other closed the lace curtains behind Cassidy. 

Now his hands gripped onto you, guiding you…using you. His right hand held onto your waist, his left onto your thigh. You let out quiet moans, sensitively twitching each lap you’d make on his hard cock pressed on your crotch. The only reaction he’d given was a furrowed brow while pulling you harder onto his dick. He groaned, laying his head onto the center of your chest. “Gh- Please, don’t stop.” Cole pleaded, his teeth gritted onto the cigar that still sat between his lips.

As if you could stop, with the combined desperation from you and Cassidy’s grasp on you, but it just wasn’t an option. Your speed quickened the longer you went on, teasing at him through the same dusty jeans you’d been grinding against for days now. Cole wouldn’t announce it, but you knew he was close when he started bucking his hips up against you. Startling you, but it’s not as if it was unwelcome. You now held on tighter to keep up with the ride, arousal was intoxicating the two of you, you needed this probably just as much as Cole did. Choking on your name, he repeated it like gospel. As if you were just to be used by his own pleasure, his hands now moved to your ass. Giving him more control with your motion in his firm grasp. 

Combining his forceful moving of your ass against his now throbbing dick, and bucking his hips up; Cassidy’s only thought was finishing you off. Your chest rose and fell quickly against his face that he buried against you, hiding from your teasing smile. Watching him melt under you just grinding against him, watching Cole Cassidy lose himself without even taking his pants off. He moaned out your name in a strained tone, the cigar dropping as he let his guard down. 

His tension melted away under you, fully relaxing while you still sat on his lap. Panting, but not fully satisfied. His head laid back, neck balancing on the back of the table chair. Eyes closed for just a second before cracking one open to look at you. Still looking, hoping he wasn’t done. A sly grin finally cracked on his face, “Look who’s beggin’ now.” He chuckled, grabbing back onto your ass and standing up. Lifting you in his arms, he kissed your quivering lips. Carrying you closer to the bed, and mentally preparing for a long night.

[bookishdream]

Underwater

Kaz Brekker x Fem!Reader Description: Kaz and reader are in an established realtionship and when they think they succeeded in the Heist, something goes wrong. Genre: Angst/Fluff Word count: 1,8k

To Kaz, loving her was like drowning. His head would spin, his palms would sweat under his leather gloves, he would be confused. But it also felt like a first mouthful of air after he broke the surface. His heart would skip a beat and he would let out a first, shaky gasp of relief that he finally was able to get out from under the water. She didn’t make it easy to love her, her own traumas, her own nightmares and demons that couldn’t let her rest, her own vengefulness and personal vendetta against the world. But Kaz couldn’t and didn’t resist when he realized what all of those weaknesses meant. He was taken aback when he realized that he had a heart to give her. And she was happy to nurture and keep it safe. 

When the Crows got the job to do they knew they might not come out alive from this. All seven of them were aware of the fact that death might be lurking behind the corner. So when Inej got injured y/n felt death on her shoulder, creeping closer and closer, making itself known in her every thought. 

“Saints, Inej,” y/n exclaimed when she noticed that the Suli girl finally opened her dark eyes. Her brown face looked worn out and the remains of her blood could still be seen on her pants. Y/n delicately helped her friend up and propped her tensed body up the wall. The ship was swaying, the light bulbs weren’t giving much light, but she could see how Inej was grimacing when she moved her limbs. “You scared us all.”

“I scared myself,” Suli replied, touching her thigh. She hissed when her finger made contact with a scratch. Nina was a decent healer but even her powers were limited. “Are we safe?”

“As safe as we can be with this lunatic,” y/n smirked, leaning against the wall beside her friend. She tried to make a light out of the situation, but it was hard when she had been helping Nina bring colors to Inej’s face. She didn’t think she had taken a full breath in since Inej got attacked. “Somehow he figured we would be ambushed.” 

“One would think he’d done it himself just to prove his point,” 

“It’s Kaz, I think he himself doesn’t entirely know what is in his own head,” 

“I reckon you would know best, y/n,” Inej smirked in her direction, her eyes glowing when she noticed how y/n’s cheeks grew redder. The girl rolled her eyes and got up. 

“I will go fetch Nina, she’ll be thrilled you’re awake,” y/n smiled at Inej, taking her in once more to make sure she could be left alone. 

“Coward,” Suli sing-songed. 

“Stay still and do not go anywhere, you unbearable creature,”

“You and I will have this talk one day, I hope you know,”

“Dear Ghezen, have mercy,” after this she left and went to look for the Heartrender. She found Nina walking around the dock, Jesper keeping her company. They looked anxious and Nina’s palms were slightly shaking. 

“Y/n!” Jesper exclaimed, “Is Inej okay?”

“She woke up, actually,” the girl said, sitting on one of the wooden steps. “I think you should take a look at her wound, it opened up a bit.”

“Yes! Yes, of course,” Nina shot to her feet, running to the room where Inej was sitting. 

“Is Kaz okay?” y/n asked the Zemeni boy, his eyes were locked on the newest addition to the Crows. Wylan, on the other hand, was fidgeting. The boy couldn’t sit still and he was looking guilty, as if he had betrayed himself. Y/n wasn’t surprised regarding his upbringing. She hoped he would get used to it, being disappointed with himself that is. 

“Go and ask him yourself, he nearly threw me overboard when I asked if he wanted to change his shirt, I’m not risking anything,” 

Y/n nodded and made her way to the bow, where the Dirtyhands was standing. He looked lost in his mind, his hand clenched on the railing. His hair was disheveled and the wind didn’t seem to be helping with that. Not like he paid any mind to it, anyway. 

“How are you holding on? I heard you were the one that carried Inej onto the ship,” she started, trying to come as close to him as she could, but still give him his space. “She’s alive thanks to you, Kaz.”

“I know,” he remarked. Y/n breathed a laugh, of course, she didn’t expect no other answer. “But I can still feel the wetness of her blood,” he started, his breath heavy and voice no louder than the sound of the wind. “I really tried not to drop her.”

“But you didn’t, Kaz, she’s alive and what’s most important she’s okay,” she smiled at him, she put her own palm on the railing, so that he could feel her closeness, but not close enough to overwhelm him. 

After this night everything was left to the fortune. Inej prayed to her Saints everynight, Jesper worshiped his revolvers, Matthias was brooding and making faces whenever one of them so much as mentioned their destination, which was often enough that y/n was afraid that his face would stay in that way, Nina sang some old, Ravkan songs, Wylan and Kaz were going through the maps all over again and y/n couldn’t shake off the feeling of certain energy creeping from behind the corner. 

So when they somehow succeeded in their plan, after many, many close encounters with death, she was relieved to feel every bone, every muscle, every hair on her body. She was sore from head to toes and for the majority of the journey to Ketterdam she was sleeping. She felt like she was on fire. 

However, when they eventually docked to the Fifth Harbor and were ready to receive their payment everything went to shit. 

“The deal is the deal, Van Eck,” Kaz said, the first signs of the storm were in the air. Y/n shivered looking around her friends’ faces. Everyone seemed confused, including her, and tired. 

“Not much of a deal if no one besides us knows about it,” the merchant’s voice was filled with pride, his face full of arrogance. “I didn’t know you were so naive, Mister Brekker. Fortunately, none of you leaves the island alive, so no one will hold me accountable.”

“You’re wrong,” Jesper countered, his hands ready to take out his guns. 

“Am I?” Two things happened at the same time, the ship behind them, the same one that they’d arrived on, blew up and Van Eck’s people started shooting. The force of the explosion was so big that y/n couldn’t keep her balance. She fell on her palms and knees feeling the hard concrete underneath her. She looked around her making sure that everyone was okay. Her eyes stopped at the silhouette of Kaz and Van Eck. She tried to warn Kaz, but to no avail. Y/n felt a pair of arms lifting her up, Jesper’s scent hit her nostrils. She got up as quickly as she could with his help and she found a box to hide behind. 

“Jesper, cover me,” she whispered, the Zemeni looked at her, perplexed.  

“Always,”

Whatever she wanted to do, it was stupid. Probably the most stupid thing she had ever done. She left her shelter and tried to get closer to the place where Kaz was still having a conversation with the merchant. She carefully went along the dock’s line so as not to fall into the canal. She kept the pistol hidden to prevent the guards from shooting. She creeped closer and closer and she could hear their words as clear as the storm over her head was allowing, still minding how close to the canal she was. 

“You have too many weaknesses, Brekker. She for instance is one of them,” Van Eck motioned to his man. “Take care of her.”

Then the hell broke loose. Y/n didn’t know where she was supposed to look, everything happened so abruptly. Both her and the guard lifted their guns, aiming. Y/n fired but even with Jesper’s help, her shot wasn’t good or quick. She felt the knifr hitting her and hot, white, flashing pain radiated in her shoulder. Tears shot to her eyes but she didn’t let herself scream. She swayed on her legs, then a second knife hit her. She fell and kept falling. She hit the water. 

She realized that the feeling of death she had experienced was inevitable. She was meant to die on this trip and once she had managed to escape its arms, but this time it looked her straight into the eyes. She tried to swim back to the surface, however her arms felt as if they were made from the lead. On top of that she was losing too much blood, too quickly. She prayed even though she wasn’t religious. Eventually, after what felt like hours, she closed her eyes, expecting death soon.

Unexpectedly, she felt two arms pulling her out of her slumber, she opened her eyes noticing Kaz. Kaz, who almost drowned himself. Kaz, who dove right after her. Y/n let herself smile at the thought that he cared so much for a person who might die in a few minutes. They hit the surface, taking big gulps of air. Kaz screamed at Jesper to help him, but y/n understood only every other word. Jesper and Matthias helped Kaz to put y/n on the dock and then helped him get out of the water. Kaz took off his gloves and his heavy coat. He put the latter over his girl’s body and he let her lean against his own body. 

“Nina,” he barked, “I need you to take out those blades.”

“She lost too much blood, Kaz,”

“She will heal herself, pull them out,” he hissed, trying to bring y/n around. She was pale, but her lips still had their pinkish color. “Don’t die on me, y/n.”

“Matthias, give me a cloth, until she’s conscious she won’t be able to do anything with her power,” Nina ordered, kneeling beside y/n. “We need to stop the bleeding.”

When the Grisha pulled out the first knife, the wounded girl hissed through her teeth. “Do not move,” Kaz said, his voice calm, but everyone could hear a hint of relief. “You’ve lost so much blood.” 

“You jumped after me,” she whispered, her words only loud enough for him to hear. “Kaz–,”

“Shh, love,” his eyes softened, but he didn’t dare to touch her. “I couldn’t have lost you the same way I’ve lost him.” 

Y/n gasped, touching his palm. 

“I didn’t know Kaz had feelings,” Nina commented, getting up. “We need to patch y/n up and then we can take our revenge, so you’d better heal fast.” 

[honeypawsart]

"BUTTERFINGERS" AU, EARTH-0164

"Hi, my name is Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn. No, not the Ohnn you're thinking of. I'm from an alternate dimension (EARTH-0164). If Johnathon Ohnn didn’t become The Spot because of the supercollider explosion, but rather just accidentally dropped the dark matter capsule. Causing a slow spread of dark matter to corrupt his body over time. That's me."

Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn is an ex-Alchemax lead scientist who designed and began the creation of the Supercollider. On the day of the funding ceremony for his project, he accidentally dropped a canister of dark matter he extracted from a mini-collider test model, which he was to use as a demonstration for the presentation. The dark matter painfully spread to several portions of his body. However, instead of support after his accident, he was ridiculed by his respected friends and coworkers for being so clumsy and unprofessional. "Butterfingers" was a common yet silly thrown at him afterward. Johnny quit his job out of frustration, turning on the Alchemax company to make them pay for his deformities... using them to his advantage.

Johnny is generally very grumpy. This is due to his dark matter deformities being very uncomfortable. It feels like burning, itching, and chronically painful to deal with daily. The black spots feel void of sensation however, it's the white areas that hurt him the most. He uses cold water showers and drinks to help soothe the pain. The dark matter corruption on his body feels like jello, memory foam, or oobleck to the touch; it's solid at first but things can sink into the nothingness void.

The corruption is relatively slow, and by the time he's 41 years old, he's 80% corrupted. At this point in time, although he's still clumsy as ever, he's more confident in his ability to use his powers to his advantage. He adopts the nickname "Milky Way" then (based on another popular chocolate bar candy).

Johnny also has a pet shrimp named Shrimptin Beck. Later on in his isolation, he builds a functional Mysterio robot suit for Shrimptin to move around and help with his crimes. They sort of have a "Megamind & Minion" relationship haha

Johnny B. Ohnn is not a huge fan of his dimension's rendition of Spiderman. Her name is Lucky Charm, and is the exact polar opposite of Butterfingers. But you know what they say about "opposites attract" ;)

Earth-0164 Spider-Man, aka Lucky Charm! Works at the Trophy Bugle casino part-time! The rest of her time is spent saving their city using their very luck-driven superpowers! On their off days, Gwen Amber (lol yes that is my actual first and middle name, cringe is free) works as a regular employee at the Trophy Bugle Casino, owned and run by J. Jameson who HATES Lucky Charm for potentially ruining his business. Butterfingers ended up hitting up a casino after his accident- he always loses and gets frustrated with the hosts and that’s how he and Lucky Charm meet the first time, but she INSISTS on trying to make him better outside of work so they sort of get close as they teach him ya know?? Meanwhile, he doesn’t even realize that out of all the hosts at the casino, the one he happens to bump into is the hero he should hate for being against his motivations.

✮ ✮ ✮ That's all I have for now in the Earth-0164 canon!! I hope you guys enjoy this sort of long, info-dumpy post! He also has an official Spotify Playlist! Fan art is 100% welcome of Butterfingers. I also don't mind if you draw yourself/oc with him. Just please realize some boundaries with him. I will not tolerate any sort of "proship" art of him with any underage characters, since he is an old man (36-41 years old). He's very special to me, so please be respectful about that!

He's also my OC, so please tag me in any posts of him as well! He has a tag on all socials as #butterfingersohnn as well! All fan art is uploaded to his toyhou.se page.

That's the end!! Thanks for reading :D

[ccalhoun]

≻ ┄┄ ♡ ┄┄ ≺

carlisle cullen x m!werewolf! reader

warnings: male reader, werewolf reader, imprinting, twilight lore, omegaverse?, forbidden love, reader gets hit by a car lol, love confessions??, esme doesnt exist (still love her tho)

wc: 2.1k

cut for length!

you drove into town in your dad's truck, old and slow. your family hated going into town, and you never understood why, which is why you were on a sort of errands run for them. of course you knew of the cullens in all of their vampire-ness but you never found it as much of a problem, what were the chances you'd run into them anyways?

the laundry list of things to do was long, longer than you'd expected, so last minute you called your friend jess to help keep you company on your long day ahead of you. you picked her up from her cute but humble house and headed towards the first place on your list, newton's olympic outfitter's. "aren't you and one of the newton boys together? mike, right?" you asked as you looked at the list on the seat next to you while pulling out of jess' driveway. it'd been awhile since the last time you'd hung out even though you considered jess to be one of your closer friends, the reservation didn't get good enough phone reception to call as frequently as she wanted.

"uh, no, we broke up actually," she mumbled quickly from the passenger seat next to you. "oh, damn, sorry. what a bitch," you added the last part jokingly, trying to cheer up from the topic. you both laughed it off and continued the drive until you got there, continuing your conversation as you walked into the store. "i just need to get a few things for my sibling(s) and dad, shouldn't take too long," you assured her as you quickly found the first thing on your list. the day went mostly like this, stopping by random shops for the few odd items before the final store on the list, just getting a few groceries that are cheaper to buy in forks. you entered the store and followed the routine as normal, getting whatever you needed and getting out as soon as possible.

caught up in your conversation with jess, you hadn't even noticed the small red car speeding through the parking lot. everything happened so fast all you can remember is walking with jess, hearing her scream, and then being on the ground of the parking lot. "tyler! what the fuck is your problem!" jess yells, you only vaguely hear it before she rushes over to help you sit up. "at least call an ambulance asshole, don't just stand there with your door open!" you heard her yell again before she started to check on you.

before you knew it, you were being taken into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. the hospital. a shiver runs down your spine and you hear the heart rate monitor pick up its beeping as you realized you're going to the one place in forks where you have been forbidden to go by your family.

you start panicking, trying to get out of the ambulance in any way you can.

"hey, calm down, we're going to put you under for the rest of the ride, okay? we can't help you if you don't let us," you hear the nurse in the back with you say after trying to get you to stop freaking out.

you woke again in a hospital bed, the smell of medicine invading your nostrils immediately and making you sneeze.

"ah, you're awake, and just in time. the doctor's on his way right now." the same female nurse says before finishing up on writing your vitals and waiting for the doctor. your heart drops when you hear her mention him, no doubt it was carlisle cullen. what if he killed you in the hospital, right there, he probably had manipulation powers to make everyone think nothing happened.

"i don't need a doctor, i'm fine, let me go," you rush out as fast as possible while trying to sit up, the action only making you dizzy as the nurse gently laid you back down.

"once the doctor says you're fine you can leave. you only have minimal bruising and a few cuts, you'll be out of here in the blink of an eye," the nurse comforted you, and it seemingly worked as the heart rate monitor went back to normal. you took deep breaths, only a few minutes with the monster and you'd be able to leave and never go into forks again.

you heard footsteps approaching and turned your head to the door, the door knob turned and your heart dropped again, fear pulsing in your veins more than it ever has before. then he stepped into the room and you were filled with a new feeling, your heart started beating faster, and it was like you had tunnel vision on him and him alone. you couldn't hear the busy sounds of the hospital, and you surely didn't notice the nurse standing too close for your liking anymore. the first thing your brain registered was that the doctor had the best smell you've ever encountered, like vanilla, honey, and lavender all at once.

"-use me, sir?" the nurse said, only hearing the last part of whatever she was saying. you adjusted back to reality quicker than you wanted, then you noticed the doctor standing in front you, trying to get your attention for an unknown amount of time.

"cullen," was all you managed to squeak out, staring with wide eyes at the man in front of you. he was better looking than anyone you'd ever seen, like god himself graced the doctor's face. he wasn't what you expected from the stories you've been told. you were told his eyes were empty and loveless, but as you looked at him his eyes were warm and more full of love than a father seeing his newborn baby for the first time.

"i see you're from the reservation, brave of you to come here," his voice was angelic, like he was singing a song only for your ears to hear. you gave him an alarmed look before you could stop yourself, was he threatening you? was your pack right?

"what?" you stuttered out and you were met with a soft, too soft to be real, chuckle and a warm smile from the doctor. "i don't see many of you in the hospital, i was starting to think you've all been avoiding it because of me,"

"they have," your words came before your brain could filter them, his frown was quick and the cutest frown you've ever seen, the kind of frown that made you want to hold him and kiss it away. "sorry, just something the tribe elders told us to do, it's not like any of us hate you," you stumbled over your words, and lied through your teeth. some of the members of your pack hated the cullens like they'd been personally attacked by them. the smile on his lips made your heart skip a beat, which was well documented from the heart monitor you nearly forgot about.

the doctor, carlisle you think, shone a light in your eyes, and then checked your ears, and listened to your heartbeat. his hand was on your chest, and you're sure he could hear the affect it had on you.

"well, good news, you can be released and you already talked to the police so there's no need for you to stay." you didn't think it was possible but your heart dropped again, you'd almost wished you got hurt worse so you could spend more time with him. "i'll finish this paperwork and get it on file as soon as possible, you should be able to leave within the hour. is there anything else you need?" you barely heard the rest of his sentence, still focusing on the fact that you wouldn't be able to stay around the doctor for longer.

"um, would it be possible to talk to you? in private?" you asked sheepishly. you were 110% sure you were imprinting on him, and you were even more sure he was definitely a vampire. you didn't hear any heartbeat, and you were quick to notice his larger than normal canine teeth. your question was met with another warm smile that made your heart restart and a nod.

"yes, of course, let me get you unhooked from the equipment and i'll walk you to my office, okay?" his voice was soft and reassuring, like he knew what you were going through. there was no way he knew that much about werewolves, right? just as he said, he helped you get the various wires off and led you to his office. his door read 'doctor carlisle cullen', you had remembered his name correctly. he opened the door and held it open for you, the gentleman you could only dream of. he closed the door gently but swiftly behind himself.

"please, take a seat. what were you wondering about?" he asked sweetly as he took his own seat and set a few papers before himself. you didn't plan to get this far, you hadn't figured out what you were going to say, so you just said what came to mind first, "i know you're a vampire," your words came out jumbled. he stared at you with a blank look, millions of thoughts racing through his head. you picked up on his reaction and rushed out the rest, "i'm not gonna expose you, everyone in the pack knows," hardly comforting, but better than him thinking you want to ruin his life. he let out a small noise of understanding, and that itself made your heart skip another beat.

"what is it you came here to tell me?" his voice was colder now, but still melodic like he planned his words for centuries.

"i'm sure you know about, you know, the whole werewolf thing," you paused as you spoke, looking at him to gather his reaction, and he nodded to signal you to continue speaking. "do you know anything about... imprinting?" you whispered the last word like it was poisonous.

"ah, you came to ask about that. i can try to help as much as i can, but wouldn't you prefer someone from your tribe to explain it to you?" carlisle's words were soft and understanding, with a hint of genuine curiosity.

"no, uhm, hold on i think i need a minute," you stuttered out, trying to figure out the least awkward way to explain you think he's your soulmate. you thought for a minute, carefully putting a sentence together before speaking again.

"doctor cullen," you started, "carlisle, i think i," your voice was caught in your throat, but you tried your best to finish you sentence. "i think i imprinted on you," you ripped off the band-aid and rushed it out. you stared at your shoes, though you'd rather be looking at carlisle's godly beautiful face. after a moment of silence you peeked a look at his face to gather if he was upset or not. you couldn't pinpoint the emotion on his face, shock? fear? anger? your heart started beating at an irregular pace again, "i-i'm so sorry, i'll go," you felt tears in your eyes and started to gather the small bag of belongings you were given before his voice stopped you.

"no, no, you're okay. i'm sorry, i didn't know that was possible," for once his words didn't seem as well thought out, it was jarring but his words flowed together as beautiful as always. "and you're sure?" he asked.

"yes, i think, i don't know. i haven't felt this way before, it's just like it was described to me. like you're the only person who actually matters anymore," you spoke freely, which surprised you.

"hm, well, i'm new to this too, we can figure it out together," carlisle's voice was warmer than ever, you felt like a blanket was being placed over you. you smiled and were going to stand up when he was suddenly standing right next to you, you jumped slightly and he let out a playful laugh, his laugh was beautiful, like angels singing in a choir. "apologies, forgot to warn you,"

you stood up and hugged yourself to him, his arms wrapped around you in the best hug you've ever had. he was cold, but you were sure you were warm enough for the both of you. you never wanted to separate from it, and let out a whine when he pulled away, surprising yourself more than you thought you could today.

"i'll tell the hospital something happened with one of the kids and we can talk about this more, if you're okay with it," you agreed quickly, the other patients could wait, how much trouble could happen in forks while you hog him for a little?

≻ ┄┄ ♡ ┄┄ ≺

[m-musings]

HELLO, can I request Mihawk, Buggy, and Shanks dating or married to an elderly fem reader (late 40s or early 60s) hc's? Basically, the reader is genuinely so sweet and protective and rocking like she is in her early 20s. Despite her kind nature, the reader is also surprisingly strong-willed. And is also insecure about being too old and tries to convince them to move on and find someone else who is the same age as them. (also she ate a devil fruit that gave her teleportation powers and is a teacher and teaches fencing to young children).

Headcanons: The One Piece Old Men with an Older Fem! S/O

A/N: I fr had no ideas for this so I'm really sorry if it's not exactly what you wanted sdfghjkl

Word Count:698 Warnings: nada, all fluff here

Buggy:

• K so, the first time Buggy meets you is when he happens upon your fencing class during an exploration of your island.

• When you see him approach, you instantly teleport in front you students to try and protect them from whatever he may do.

• Once he realizes that you're also a Devil Fruit user, he's almost instantly enamored with you.

• Initially, it's just because he sees you being useful to him in some way but as he gets to know you more, he grows to genuinely love and respect you.

• After getting together, Buggy revels in the affection you show to him and his crew. He can't recall the last time anyone saw them all as actual people, let alone get to know them like you do.

• He also respects the fact that you don't hesitate to call him out on his bullshit or straight up kick his ass when he needs it.

• And while he might give you crap about teaching sometimes, he still gives you the all the regard you deserve for doing a rather tough job like that.

• When you get insecure about being older, he makes sure to remind you that he is also kind of an "old geezer" and that he'll still love you when you're both as old as the sea itself.

Shanks:

• You met Shanks when he and his crew pulled into port where you were staying, them needing to restock supplies and rest for a while before going off on another adventure.

• He meets you in a small bar where he sees you chatting and laughing merrily with some of the staff as you sip on a fruity drink of some kind.

• With an intrigued smile, he struts over and introduces himself with all the usual charm.

• As you two idly chat for about 15 minutes, you stop mid-sentence when the girl you mentor hurriedly runs into the bar asking for help with something quick.

• You excuse yourself with an apologetic smile before suddenly vanishing from sight, surprising Shanks as he confusedly looks around the room for you.

• A minute or two later, you pop back to your original position and continue on the conversation like nothing happened.

• Impressed at the discovery of your powers, he begins to ask all sorts of questions about it, which eventually leads to a friendship and later, a relationship!

• He loves being with you! Seeing how kind and helpful you are with most anyone you come in contact with is so refreshing for him to see in a world where other people seem to not care about anything but themselves.

• Shanks also admires the friendship you have with the girl you mentor, it reminds him of his relationship with Luffy.

• And when it comes to your age, he couldn't care less! As long as you're a truly good person, he'll love you with all his heart no matter how you perceive yourself.

Mihawk:

• You meet Dracule when he arrives to an island near yours while on a bounty search for the Marines.

• Having been hired alongside him due to your powers and skills with a saber, he is a little hesitant to be around you due to him preferring to work alone.

• But once the job is done and he's spent more time with you, he actually finds himself enjoying your company a lot!

• He likes how headstrong you are and how you aren't afraid to let someone know exactly how you feel.

• And that combined with the fact that you teach a very useful fighting style to the next generation, he's sold on the idea of the two of you being something more than friends rather soon.

• Mihawk also adores just how sweet you can be with those you care about. Whether that's with your students or with him, he's absolutely smitten when you're being your typical, cuddly self.

• There are for sure times when you convince yourself that your age is a problem and that he'd be better off with someone more youthful.

• When you have those doubts, he's right there to assure you that he doesn't mind at all. He's glad to be around you because you're you, older than him or not.

[waitmyturtles]

Final Thoughts on The Trainee! (TL;DR That Last 4/4 Quarter Was a Major Fumble, But It Didn't Ruin the Whole Show For Me)

I had promised my friends @lurkingshan and @shortpplfedup that I honestly wouldn't write too much about The Trainee while it was airing, because I was mad sus about the crew of this show. Many of the crew of The Trainee had worked on an ill-fated GMMTV het drama called UMG, which aired last year, and which starred Nanon Korapat, Namtan Tipnaree, and Milk Pansa in an unfortunate, chemistry-devoid love triangle. It was a flop and I never finished it.

I had thought to think about where this crew came from about four episodes into The Trainee, when I realized that the MO of this series was to center not Ryan's and Jane's budding romance, but the inner workings of an office, and the infrastructures of making filmed content instead.

UMG was framed in a similar way. While the show struggled to contextualize romance among its characters, the center of each episode was actually about describing concepts regarding extraterrestrial life -- things like crop circles and whatever. (There were aliens in this show.) (Dammit, I can't find a gif of the aliens!) (Here's Milk with some boogie eyes instead, whatever.)

As @lurkingshan wrote often during her watch of the series, The Trainee was ultimately a workplace BL, and I'd add to that that it was meant to serve as an educational series to GMMTV's unique audience. I wondered, early on in The Trainee, if I was just too damn old, as a working professional, to be an audience to this show. GMMTV's audience, of course, skews Gen Z and maybe very-late millennial -- GMMTV's shows are equivalent to shows airing on MTV or The CW by way of its majority audience market.

I certainly had a lot of experience by way of how interpersonal relationships mostly played out in this series (although I reeeeeally needed Judy to acknowledge her kissing Ba-Mhee and to talk about it, the way Jane acknowledged the power gap between him and Ryan after they started dating).

But, honestly? I ended up LOVING the breakdowns of how creating filmed content works, especially in regards to how viscerally and intensely these concepts were depicted.

And The Trainee stepped into some other territory, y'all! Many of us had intense discussions regarding bisexual inclusion and erasure once Tae and Ba-Mhee got back together. These concepts are sophisticated and important to ruminate on -- again, especially for a younger audience being fed most binary male-male and female-female queer media and concepts by a giant like GMMTV, which makes a ton of money on branding same-sex actors together. Queerness has a lot of spectrums, and bi inclusion was something I was glad this series unexpectedly took on.

So, against all this good stuff, that last 4/4 quarter sucked. I felt terrible for Ryan's 20-something hormones. Jane went to get a masters', and didn't even *call* his.... his boo? (Ryan wasn't Jane's boyfriend, obviously, maybe we could call Ryan his crush, his boo-boo, whatever.) Like. Jane didn't even come back to Thailand to visit, ever? Come awn now. If a show is feeding realism to a young audience by way of how corporate workplaces work, and how the art of an industry is made, at least please make the final romance a little more realistic!

(All y'all 20-somethings who were watching this show and wondering if you should wait five years for a potential boo to come back from overseas, please listen to your auntie here, GO DATE OTHER PEOPLE. Don't be like Ryan. Focus on *YOUR* NEEDS. This has been your reality-based PSA.)

But the rest of the finale was lovely for me. Jo, to me, was a realistic boss. He had a priority in keeping on Jane as an assistant director, because Jane was a great assistant director, and served well in that role, which served well for Jo's company. When Jane expressed an interest in growing, Jo knew that Jane couldn't do it in Jo's shadow -- and Jo said so. Jane taking a risk to LEAVE is a kind of risk I've had to confront time and time again in my own career, as I grew out of a workplace, and grew out of what that workplace was demanding of me. It's a wonderful notion for young people to contemplate on -- that movement in one's career must be first and foremost driven by the individual themself, for the sake of their own accountability to their growth.

I was thrilled to see Sea Tawinan in them white pants Ba-Mhee and Tae's engagement, Tae setting guardrails for himself to focus more on Ba-Mhee, and omg Pie's and Ba-Mhee's breakdown had me howling. Poon's a new fave as well. The Trainee confirmed my continued deep love and appreciation for Piploy, I think she's cute and great-great.

I truly enjoyed this show. The crew ultimately de-centralized romance for most of the show to focus on how work lives and personal lives realistically intertwine. We are the same people at work as we are at home, with all of the messiness we bring to those tables, including unrecommended romances that may traverse age and power gaps. Things can get messy, but I think, other than the whole Judy thing and Jane ghosting Ryan for years (wtf man), The Trainee handled that messiness with empathy for the young people who did a lot of growing up during the course of this series.

[winterserra]

29 and Wintersberg? idk, Ethan saying that to Karl seems fucking funny to me lmao

Alright, I don't normally write these two together, but I couldn't decide which version of this prompt I liked better, so you get a two for one! Hope you like it 😁

“Son of a fucking bitch!” 

Ethan hears Karl scream from the garage. He chuckles, shaking his head as he rocks Rose in his arms. She hasn't been able to sleep very well for her naps, so Ethan has taken to walking around the house with her in his arms as he cleans up throughout the day. He tosses Karl's dirty clothes, stained with oil and smelling of the garage, into the laundry basket. 

“Fuck this piece of shit!” A tool clanging against the garage floor followed by more cussing and louder crashes radiates through the house. 

Ethan sets Rose in her crib, her eyes finally closing as he turns on the mobile and kisses her forehead. “I don't think you're the only one who needs a nap,” he says softly before turning on the baby monitor. 

He hums his way through the house, picking up odd and end things, putting them away before stops in the kitchen for a glass of wine. He pours himself a glass, sipping it and smiling, leaning back against the counter careful not to let the earthy red liquid stain his lips.

If someone had told him that after everything that happened in that village that he would be dating, or even living with, Karl Heisenberg, he would have called them a liar. Yet here they are, living happily under the same roof, enjoying each other's company.

He sets his glass of wine down on the counter as he hears more racket from the garage. He opens the door to the garage from the kitchen to find Karl slumped over the engine of Ethan's car, his tools spread wantonly throughout the garage as he uses his powers to pull whichever one he needs next.

Ethan ducks as a wrench flies by his head and into the hand of his resident mechanic. He approaches Karl quietly, wrapping his arms around his waist. 

“Come on, Karl. Take a break. You've been screaming at the car for an hour now,” Ethan whispers into his ear as Karl rights himself.

He groans in response, “The car isn't going to fix its fucking self, Ethan.” He turns around in Ethans arms, grease streaks across his face and his eyes bloodshot with sleep deprivation.

“You don't know the wonders a 30 minute power nap could do you right now,” he smiles with concern. He kisses Karl softly, the bitter taste of his sweat tickling his tongue as he pulls away. “Come back in the house; the car will still be there later.”

Karl smiles, a twisted smile, “You're tempting me.” He chuckles as Ethan removes his hat from his head, petting him. Karl relaxes into the touch. “Okay, just for a little bit.”

Ethan leads him inside, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV with Karl's head in his lap. He pets his hair as he feels his breathing start to slow. Ethan glances down after a while to see Karl's sleeping form, resting after the long day of trying to fix the car that Ethan had driven over a curb the day before. 

He smiles down at Karl, brushing his hair out of his face before watching the TV again. Everything is as it should be. Rose is safe and will stay that way. Karl is free from Miranda and Ethan's heart is full of love for the two most important people in his life. He relaxes into the couch, drifting off to sleep with Karl. 

Yeah, everything is how it should be.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Ethan takes a deep breath, the winter air cutting through his chest like knives as the mold walls fall around him. He shakes, the realization that it is over setting in. He can’t believe they did it. Miranda, lying dead on the ground, her body nothing but solidified ash in front of him. Using Rose as a weapon against her worked just as Heisenberg had said it would. 

Karl was also right about the immense power Rose is holding in her tiny body. Ethan picks her up, cradling her in his arms. He smiles down at her, his heart swelling with warmth as he realizes she's okay. 

“We did it, Rose. You’re finally safe,” he coos at her as Heisenberg’s hand clasps his shoulder. Rose smiles and giggles in response as Ethan turns back towards the village square, intent on getting them out of the former battlefield.

Heisenberg puts a hand out to stop him, his face painted with concern. He conjures up a metal wagon using his ferrokinesis, its rusty springs creaking as the wheels settle on the ground in front of Ethan. 

“You don't know the wonders a 30 minute power nap could do you right now. Get in,” his tone indicating refusal is not an option. 

Ethan huffs, climbing into the wagon. 

“Relax, I'll get you out of here, papa.” Heisenberg chuckles, walking towards the factory. He uses his powers to drag the wagon behind him, his hands in his pockets.

In the cool light of the morning, Ethan swears that Heisenberg almost looks younger. The stress of Miranda finally off of his shoulders; Rose isn't the only one free at last. His grey hair bouncing as he walks, the flit of happiness as he turns back to check on Ethan when he thinks he isn't looking. 

Maybe Ethan could let his guard down with him; maybe he actually could rest. He is tired… He clutches Rose to his chest, relaxing more into the wagon, the crunch of the snow and rocking of the wagon lulling him into the first sleep he's had in the past two days.

[aidaronan]

Alt season one El meeting punk!Steve. She slowly goes to touch one of the spikes on his jacket the same way someone might reach for a feral cat. Like she's not sure if they're teeth or not, if they'll hurt her. Steve's patient. The kids had to tell him some things after he tried to call someone for help and they tore the phone from his hand. So he knows to be still, to let her be curious. "You look different." "Oh," he says. "I'm punk." She crinkles her forehead. "What is 'punk?'" Steve pauses to think. A lot of people have asked him why he dresses the way he does, why he shaves parts of his hair and spikes the rest with Elmer's glue, why he has safety pins in his leather jacket and metal through his face. He's even been asked if he's "goth" about 50 times. But a genuine question about what it means for him to have adopted this persona? This lifestyle? Specifically what it means for him, Steve Harrington, would-be heir of Harrington Investments, to be punk? No one has asked that. He thinks of the stories the kids have told, of the power company that isn't and a scared little girl. "Punk is when someone realizes the people who run our lives don't know what we want or need or even care. Punk is telling those people to go to hell." El goes quiet, very thoughtful. She nods. "Understand." The next day Steve is there, bleeding on the floor of the Wheeler's basement while an older man holds his hand out toward El. "It's time to come home and put an end to this." The man speaks softly, evenly. The kind of man who's used to not hearing 'no.' The kind of man Steve hates. Steve wants to tell this man to leave her alone, that it's sick to keep children locked up like lab rats. But there's a shoe digging into the bones between Steve's shoulders and he can barely breathe. "I always cared for you, didn't I, Eleven?" A pair of young eyes dart toward Steve, gasping on the ground. They flit toward the kids all gripped tightly in unkind arms. They find the old man again and narrow into slits. And here's the thing... When El glares daggers, she backs them up. "Eleven..." "Go to hell." After it's done, it's Steve who wipes the blood from her nose and wraps her in a studded leather jacket, carrying her somewhere safe. Weeks later, it's also Steve who stands with her at a store where she turns a waffle patch over and over in her hands. "Is this punk?" she asks, her eyes big and hopeful. He adjusts her little leather jacket, the one he spent hours studding just for her. "You're goddamn right it is."