#tiny pink blob of innocence

[yestrnight]

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ POCKET SLIME ! 

FROM: kaveh, alhaitham / gn! slime! reader

SUBJECT: you used to be a docile, little thing. a blob of extraordinary cuteness that just follows them around wherever they go. but how in the world did the pet slime they took in turn to be some sort of cum-hungry demon?

( this shit reads like a doujinshi, so don’t even bother using braincells; feels like im committing some sort of crime against the cute widdle slimes of genshin; unhygienic slime usage; reader has a diçk AND a pússy, reader also has a humanoid form don't worry; best of both worlds; urethra play (kaveh); dubcon; nipple play (alhaitham), throat fucking (haitham); they’re ALL on their receiving end; ahégao; )

✧.*  KAVEH 

KAVEH who takes you in while you were plopping sadly around in the rain, sad little rumbles and bleps from your jelly body. he’s not so heartless that he’d kill some poor slime who doesn’t even have any interest in attacking him, only nudging its pudgy body against his shoes and looking pleadingly at him.

he likes to watch you eat the treats he brings home. it’s a stress reliever to see you munch on some sumeru roses he brought home, and he pats your blob figure fondly while you squeal in delight at his treats. you’re not a very picky eater, he finds out, but you’re more delighted whenever he feeds you something with elemental energy. once he learns of this, he brings home more and more elemental energy stuff, just to be on the receiving end of your cute lil snuggies.

KAVEH who lets you sit on his head whenever he’s working on his projects. while he sketches and measures, your cool jiggly body feels so comforting on his hair. sometimes he even falls asleep with you on him, and you slowly make your way to his cheek so you can protect him from the hard wood of his desk.

he genuinely brought you in because he thought you were cute, nothing more than that. he’s gotten fonder of you ever since the days pass by, and you thought of him the same. however…

KAVEH who wakes up to something warm and gooey sucking on him down there. as he squirms under the blankets, tiny little moans and whines escape his pretty little lips. the pink blush on his cheeks seems to brighten when he slowly opens his bleary eyes and sees his adorable slime sucking on the tip of his pretty cock. imagine the shock of seeing the pet he was so fond of doing nasty things to him!

“nnh–! [y-your name]! what are you– ahh ♡!” he tries his best to cover up and pull you away, but with no such luck. in fact, you suck even harder, the wet noises of his cum and your squishy body echoing throughout the room. you suck even harder, and the pleasure makes kaveh’s body jilt and shake every rhythm and pulse.

“angh… t- too much…!” he sobs and pushes you away, but his hands only sink into the slime. it’s only around this time he suddenly realizes the slow expansion of your blob body, slowly morphing into something familiar… something humanoid… something… cuter.

your wobbly smile looks so innocent even as you tongue the veins across his dick, and it sends blood to his head until he feels like he’ll pass out from a nosebleed. you gurgle something that sounds faintly like ‘master’ and ‘kaveh’... and gods does that make his dick hard.

“a s-slime turning into a human?” he gasps, sitting himself. “i must be going– ngH! c-crazyYY ♡ stop! s-stop!” using the dexterity and fluidity of a slime, your tongue compresses into something thinner. you ooze your way in into his urethra, the slimy thing bumping against the edges and leaves his toes curling and fingers gripping the sheets.

“ughk, mmh~!” he throws his head back, dick humping into your slimy mouth. “m-more ♡ k-keep going~! agh, ah, ah~!” your delighted gurgle sounds faint in his ringing ears, but he still manages to smile fondly. “g- good slime ♡ s-sucking on your master’s dick so h-ha-hARD! fuck!” he hisses when your tongue presses against his prostate. he pats your hair with one shaky hand and you nuzzle into it. “so ♡ cute ♡ you got even cuter ♡”

“‘m gonna blow! [your name]! ggh [your name]!” he whines and desperately grasps on the hair-like jelly. “s-slow down~♡! gh, nwah!” he wants to attribute your lack of understanding to your inability of comprehending human languages, but he swears he sees the shadow of a devilish smirk on your cute face before you griiiind your tongue right against his prostate.

as his climax hits him, KAVEH’s eyes roll and his back arches into the air as he shoots his seed into your mouth. the tears blur his vision, but he can see his white seed spurt into the jelly. satisfied with your meal, you finally pull out your tongue– getting some pretty screams from your master at the added simulation– and his body falls limp. you smile and giggle at him, kissing away the tears from his eyes, and slumping your cool body against him. 

“th– thanks, [your name],” he smiles at you, kissing you briefly before sleep takes him away again. “do that for me again, ‘kay?”

✧.*  AL-HAITHAM

HAITHAM who is skeptical of the slime his fool of a roommate brought home. he raised an eyebrow when kaveh came home wet with a pudgy slime in his hands. “you know that can dissolve you, right?” he points out, ever the smartass. 

kaveh snaps back. “of course i know, idiot. but look at them! don’t you feel bad for them?” he raises you high and you give a warbly greeting, but alhaitham is far from impressed. his dramatic roommate rolls his eyes at him and kaveh carefully tucks you away. “let’s go, [your name]! this callous idiot isn’t worth your time!”

HAITHAM who didn’t pay you much attention, only ever seeing you while you drape off kaveh’s head when he enters for breakfast. you were well-behaved for a slime, anyway, so he shouldn’t concern himself much with you. but his interest is piqued when one day he hears devilish noises from kaveh’s room, sounds of slurping and sucking while kaveh whines pathetically muffled behind the door. clearly, it’s not kaveh doing the sucking and slurping, but…

HAITHAM who sees you again the next day at breakfast, draping off kaveh’s head as usual. he greets kaveh with his usual coolness, but kaveh, for lack of a proper word, looks completely fucked out. his legs shake as he pulls his chair, and when their hands touch while reaching for the food, he pulls back with a lip-bitten yelp. all the while, you garble incomprehensibly on him.

yeah, no. his roommate is definitely fucking his pet slime. haitham’s not chatty, but he’s got a million words for how fucked up the entire situation is. once kaveh is out of the house, he corners poor little you and stares down into your vacant little slime eyes. he won’t admit that he actually cares for his… once friend, so getting rid of the thing that has tempted him into immoral acts will be the best next thing.

“mm- mmgh?!” haitham doesn’t know how he ended up like this, gagged and bound by your slimy tendrils. while he tries to break free, he stares in astonishment as the blob slowly expands. the torso starts first, before extending into limbs, until the head takes shape and a very, very pretty smile is smiling innocently into haitham’s face. 

“☆♡♡?” your gurgles continue to be incomprehensible, despite the humanoid form. slowly, your cool hand caresses his face, holding his chin while your tendrils lift him ever so slightly up the ground. you kiss him, like how a lover would, the slightest bit of tongue swiping over his lips, but then you pull away— and he catches the devilish smirk before you lean in again and start fucking his mouth.

he thrashes in your slimy hold, slipping away only for the slime to thicken and tighten their hold on him. he glares at you with look of indignation as he tries his best to keep his mouth shut, only for you to slip your tongue between his lips and curl around his tongue. he shakes as you bring him closer to you so you can properly fuck him in his throat. you curiously watch as he gags and splutters on the length of the tendril, his glare never ceasing even though he looks like a proper slut with that dark red blush on him.

replacing your pseudo tongue for another tendril, you pull away from his face and eye his thin shirt. your curious hands roam over the expanse of his chest, and you delight in the softness of his pecs. feeling a bit too eager to get your hands under his shirt, you dissolve the cloth away and quickly reach up to rub his two pretty nipples. you roll them around in your fingers, giving each one a tight squeeze before going back to massaging them. 

HAITHAM, behind the slime gagging him, yelps when you lean in and bite one. you run a tongue over his wide areolas, studying his expressions to make sure you’re pleasing your master’s best friend properly. his glare is more subdued, the wriggling has lessened, and there’s an… anticipation in his eyes as he stares down at you. you’re more than delighted at the progress. this means he likes you, right? you always felt a little sad when haitham would glare at you, but now you can feel getting closer to him! best friends, even, just like him and your master!

and like every best friend does, you should make him feel happy too! lowering one gloopy hand down to his pants, you waste no time melting away his pants and underwear and morphing your hand into something akin to a suction cup. little tentacles line the inside of the cup, and a muffled groan from haitham convinces you to finally ungag him. he gasps for breath, staring at you with wide eyes and a fucked out look. “what… what are you waiting for?” haitham grits his teeth, trying to hide the desperation he’s feeling when you’re so, so close to finally giving him the relief he wants. “put that on me. now.” a pause when you don’t do anything, and the last left of his dignity leave him as he gives you a pleading look and buck his hips up. “please.”

you know from experience that that one syllable is the go ahead, and with enthusiasm and vigor, you put the cup on him and start sucking. “mmm! ngh, ah, too much! ah!” you think his moans are pretty. huskier and deeper than your master’s soft and light whines, and that only makes you sucke even harder. the stimulation forces him to bend his back as he dangles in mid-air, forcing his fat cock deeper into your suction-hand. the dizziness of the upside down world makes the blood rush to his head, and he feels his eyes rolling to the back of his head when you tickle the throbbing vein running the downside of his cock.

“ah, sh-shit, you’re taking me all in ♡” sweat makes his skin glisten, highlighting even more his soft pecs and his abs. tendrils reach out from your back as they glide themselves around his waist and guide him back up. he’s positively shivering as you continue pounding his cock in and out of your hand, and his tongue is shivering when you pull him in for another kiss.

somewhere in the back of his mind, haitham swears he’ll make a research paper on you– on how intoxicating and aphrodisiacal you can be.

✧.* IT’S A THREESOME!

KAVEH bounces himself on your dick, your squishy body serving as his cushion as he lets his limp body get absolutely wrecked by a thick and veiny cock you fashioned from your ever-morphing body. his pretty dick slaps HAITHAM’s muscled torso as the younger one slaps his heavy balls against the pussy just underneath your balls. 

your slime encases the both of them flicking haitham’s nubs up and down and fucking kaveh’s urethra open, just the way they like it. it should be humiliating, the two roommates who could barely stand each other now open and so vulnerable to each other. but kaveh’s face is contorted in a lewd expression, eyes crossed and tongue hanging out of his mouth as he gets his ass destroyed, and haitham can’t find the energy to even insult him.

well, maybe a little bit. “you– ngh! – you really brought a beast into my home, huh?” he pants out, grabbing kaveh’s waist for stability as he thrusts his dick into you like a beast in rut. “you really couldn’t resist the chance to get yourself fucked silly, huh, my dear senior?”

kaveh whines when he feels haitham going even faster on you, and he tries to cover his face with his arm. “sh– shut up, okay?! i– a-ah ♡ i didn’t knooow! i thought they were a c-cute l-little thing ♡ but now they’re–” a sob escapes him as you abuse his prostate. “they’re just bullying me e-everydayyy ♡”

haitham locks eyes with you, innocent and vacant, not a single thought behind them. but it’s hard to see you as anything but innocent when you’re offering up both your cock and pussy to your two masters.

“you’re one crafty thing,” haitham bites out. but all you offer to him is a happy little noise when you think that you’ve made your two masters happy and fulfilled. just like how that man taught you to.

[cobiehaven]

Locked In with an Alien — Kevin Moon

SYNOPSIS; kevin moon is the only alien in the entire universe that you have met and hated. you get thrown into alien prison and now you have to be cell mates with him, only, you both have something that each other can benefit greatly from.

PAIRING; alien!kevin x astronaut!reader

GENRE; funny, drama

WORD COUNT; 2.5k

TAGS/WARNINGS; enemies to partners in crime, criminal!kevin, prisoner!kevin, prisoner!reader, fem!reader, takes place in the future with more advanced technology, not meant to be taken racially (just words like mixed and half-breed mentioned), author doesn’t know much about space technology so i’m sorry skjdjd, basically everything is made up.

AUTHORS NOTE; for some reason, it felt like kevin was the right person to choose for this story? not only did his last name fit perfectly but i just feel like he’d appreciate being put in a mythical au.

“you have got to be fucking joking!” you cursed as you were roughly thrown into a large prison cell under the kingdom of this disgusting planet.

how did you even manage to get in this situation? all you needed was gas for your ship. it was a small one so it wasn’t like you were asking for much. literally any alien substance would work but this is where negotiating in your broken language got you?

wow, maybe you should have payed attention more when they were teaching you some of the very few alien languages back on earth.

“hello?? hey! i’m innocent! i swear! i’m not trying to pull any funny business! i just want to get back home!” you shouted down the cell halls, the few other inmates groaning at your loud voice. “hello??” you called again when you got no answer.

much to no surprise, you still seemed to not get an answer.

you sighed deeply, slumping down agains the cold bars that you had no idea what were made out of. they acted the same as iron but you knew for sure that whatever was made in that, was not the iron you knew. “i would save my breath, if i were you,” you head an unfamiliar voice speak in a low enough tone, only for you to hear. you jumped back up to your feet when you finally noticed the dark figure sitting in the shadows of your prison cell. there wasn’t much light down under the kingdom so noticing him was practically impossible. did the guards know that they threw you in a cell with someone else?

“whose there-“ you tried to hold back the fear in your voice but you horribly failed.

the low voice just laughed, only strengthening your pounding heart as you could have been thrown in a cell with probably one of the most dangerous aliens on this damn planet. you didn’t know what kind of things they did here, but by the looks of everyone else, you were expecting to see a monster that looked like a bigger version of a blob fish.

but much to your surprise, he was nothing like everyone else.

“kevin, kevin moon,” he lurked out of the shadows. he looked like you but.. mixed? could he have possibly been half alien? his fair skin was shimmered with a soft layer of blue and pink tints. his lips, ears and fingertips dusted darker than the unusual color palette. his tongue bluer than the deep sea and his hair as white as the clouds on a sunny day. his eyelashes, that were also white, were long with what looked like tiny beads on the ends of them, you wondered if they had ever felt heavy to him. there was just too much to say about how he looked.. he was beautiful. “you’re shocked, aren’t you?” he asked, snapping you out of your trudging thoughts. “you speak english?!” was the first thing you blurted out, having no idea how he’d even know of your language when they didn’t teach such thing as english in this land. when you quickly realized how rude that could have sounded, you awkwardly cleared your throat. “uhm, what do you mean?” you asked despite knowing exactly what he was talking about.

“by me. i don’t look like everyone else on this planet.” all you needed was to glance his way to tell that he wasn’t fully of his cultural race, it was obvious. you didn’t say anything as you didn’t want to say anything you regretted. he just took your silence as a sign to keep talking. “anyways, you don’t know me and i don’t know you, but i think the both of us will find that we are of great help to each other,” he tilted his head at you, his body crawling out of the shadows and closer to yours, moving slowly and swiftly around the cell. you backed away from him, “what are you talking about?” was he usually the type to change the topic so quickly?

he stopped when he noticed your cautiousness, which he quickly understood why. “what could you possibly want from me?” you furrowed your eyebrows, standing your ground as you were ready to lunge at him if he tried anything.

you weren’t about to take any chances on this unknown planet.

no words were exchanged as all he did was point over to you, your eyes following his pointed finger down to your right pocket. slowly reaching into the caved clothing, you pulled out a small key. “the key to my ship? why would you want-”

that was when it clicked, this half-breed was trying to steal your ship in exchange to getting you out of here!

“what the hell? no way!”

“if i ask nicely, will you give it to me?”

“uh, no.”

“please?”

“listen buddy, no means no.”

“but whyyy?”

“because its my ship and my only way back home? why would i give it to someone i just met for no good reason?” what was wrong with this guy? did he have no common sense? without that ship, your way home would never come. the whole reason you came to this dumb planet was for gas so you could touch the earths surface again, so you could smell the filthy air, and so you could say hi to the people you missed the most. “okay, but what if i help you get out of here, give you all of my belongings, and then grab that key from you?” kevin pressed, his persistence starting to actually piss you off now.

you stomped your foot and crossed your arms, giving him the infamous eyebrow raise. “i’m not letting you have this key. end of discussion.”

it was a small paused silence as you both stared at each other for a solid minute. eventually, he sighed deeply and put his hands up. “okay okay, fine. but i still do want to get out of here.. got any ideas?” you squinted your eyes at him, finding that switch up to be wayyy too quick in your opinion. especially after he had practically just begged you for your ignition key. “what are you up to..?” you questioned, noticing how he had started to circle around the cell again only for you to circle the opposite way from him.

“what do you mean? i want to leave this imprisonment just as much as you do, so why don’t we work together to get out of here, at least.”

“do you not want the key anymore?”

he just shrugged, putting on a half convincing face as he spoke, “you said i wasn’t going to get it, so, no need to waste my breath asking for it.” you again, squinted at him as the both of you made your round in the slow circle, getting back to where you two had stood previously. you both stood in silence for another whole minute, observing and anticipating what the other was going to do or say next. then, “but that won’t stop me from just taking it..!” he charged at you as you dodged and the two of you started to quiet literally have a cat fight in the cell. obviously he was more agile than you since you still had the space suit on, but you had the win for the protection part. thank god there was no low gravity on this planet. in fact, the atmosphere was just right enough for a middle aged man to breathe their air for a total of 30 minutes before feeling like he was suffocating.

“stop it!” you shouted at him as he quite literally knocked you down to the ground, your words being swallowed up by your gasp when he snatched the key out of your pocket. “now, i’ll stop,” he snickered.

you watched in disbelief as he made his way over to the cell door, reaching in between the bars and fumbling with the lock. you narrowed your eyes, trying to see what exactly he was doing before you heard the lock turning, the click sending waves of happiness down your body. but, it was short lived when he slid out of the cell, just to lock it back up, again, with you still in it. “what are you doing?!” you half-yelled, pushing yourself up to your feet and grabbing ahold of the bars that separated the two of you.

“let me out!” you tugged on the cell door, as if it was just going to fly open within your grasp.

he just shook his head. “i told you we’d be of great help to each other but you decided to play the hard way.. so, this is your punishment,” he grinned darkly before slowly backing away from your cell door. your voice ringing down the hall once more with the most profound names known to man that you could think of calling him. when he disappeared out of your sight, you cursed, screamed, punched, kicked, literally anything and everything you could do or say was how you decided to take out your anger. sliding down the back wall, you hugged your knees close to your chest, feeling the saddening warmth of tears welling up in your eyes. “why does this kind of shit always happen to me..” you silently cried, not wanting any of the other inmates to listen to your weeping. it would have been embarrassing if one of them were to say something. you never thought that you’d b crying, in prison, on the floor, because your only escape had just escaped without you. but what were you supposed to do? give him the key just so you could get out of here and he walk, or i guess, fly, off with your ship? what if you had just sat down and tried negotiating with him? maybe listened to his proposal?

ugh, you felt so stupid.

burying your head into your folded arms, you continued to silently hate on yourself. trying to accept the fact that you were just going to die here. either a: your oxygen ran out or b: the aliens on this planted finally decide what to do with you. either way, you were going to die so you supposed it didn’t necessarily matter how.

you sat there for what seemed like forever before you jumped at the sound of the far door opening, along with a lot of yelling and fumbling. “let go of me..!” the familiar voice struggled. you could feel that well known sadness morph into a cocky smirk.

before you knew it, the same boy that had left you in these lonely four walls of bars was thrown back into the same space you two shared just moments ago. “hah, wow, i didn’t think you’d be back so soon,” you crossed your arms, tilting your head at him as he quickly got back up to his feet. “shut up! you don’t know how hard it is to get out of this place by yourself!” you just rolled your eyes. “you shouldn’t have left me in here then, dipshit.”

this time, he was the one to roll his eyes. “you put yourself into that position.”

“you made an unreasonable offer!”

“it was totally reasonable!”

you both groaned at the same time. you snapped your head at him.

“are you copying me?

“what? why would i ever do that?”

“you’re so annoying!”

“well i could say the same thing about you.”

the two of you continued to argue like children for a whole 2 minutes before some of the other inmates started to get fed up with both of your voices. “hey! lovebirds! will you keep it down over there? some of us are trying to live a little!” one inmate yelled, only furthering the both of your anger. “we’re not lovebirds!” the both of you yelled at the same time again, looking at each other with squinted eyes.

they told you to shut up or else they’ll call the guards in and bribe them to do anything just to make the both of you shut your mouths.

“so,” you started. “what did you do with the key that you stole from me?” you quiet down.

“oh, i lost it.”

“you what?!” you shouted, this news being enough to push you up to your feet, your eyes wide with confusion and anger. “you fucking lost it?!” the other inmates groaning in annoyance again.

you sucked in a deep breath of air, trying to calm down your nerves so you don’t burst, again.

“i have never met someone more infuriating than you.”

you seriously considered fighting him again. but you knew that wouldn’t get you anywhere with him. you sighed again, digging your nails into the palms of your clothed hands. “okay, can we just put our hatred aside and just.. focus on where you think you saw the key last?” you tried to reason with him, holding your hands out in a calming manner. “you’re talking to me like i’m a dog.”

yup. you hated him.

“please, just answer the question.” you pressed. he thought about it and you waiting patiently for his response.

“i don’t know.”

“i hate you.”

you can’t believe you cried because this fucker left you alone to die.

you paced around the cell in a frenzy. “do you actually not remember where you dropped it?” you turned towards him. “of course i remember, why would i tell you when i don’t even know you?” he asked.

wow, that was the very similar thought you had when you first met him.

“listen, can we somehow make a deal? a truce?” you finally started negotiating with him. not wanting to make the same mistake you did as before. he looked up at you, lifting a brow as he was trying to figure out just what exactly you were up to. “you’re not going to trick me, are you?” he asked, you shook your head.

“how can i trick you when we’re both getting something out of it?”

“many ways.”

“are we going to make a deal or what?”

he nodded and you went on to explain some of the many possibilities that you could come up with that were reasonable to the both of you. personally, your favorite one being the one where the both of you made a truce and helped each other escape this place after finding the key. then, maybe making an exception to having him on board your ship afterwards. if he really wanted to go to earth so badly, and your ship was the only way he was going to be able to do that, then with a lot of convincing, you were sure you could make it work. you weren’t entirely a cruel person. you just had to be reasoned with.

“so, what do you think?” you lifted your chin to meet his height. “do we have a truce?”

he also met your height with a soft smile spreading across his face, it was the first time you had seen him smile in the small time that you had known him. why was even that, beautiful? “truce” he held out his hand, one in which you happily took.

now, time to find a way out of here.

© cobiehaven 2023

[timetoquitbreathing]

Not suspicious at all...

[bluegarners]

Dick realizes he’s forgetting his childhood. 

~oOo~

It hits him one day. It hits him hard.

In reality, it must have been a gradual thing. An overtime thing. A steady decline thing that he just didn’t notice, like rain on eroding rocks. Chipping, chipping, chipping away and weathering it down into pebbles. 

But when he stops to actually look around, takes a moment to really think, it hits Dick hard. The wind knocked out of him, train plowing into him, upper cut to the jaw, mind reeling hard. 

He can’t remember what his mom’s voice sounded like. 

He remembers the old song she used to hum to him, can still dredge up the melody if he really tries, but he can’t remember what she sounded like. He’s almost sure she had a beautiful voice. Almost sure it was breathy and lower in pitch because she was a proud woman that used her voice for authority and rule. Sometimes, if he sits down and thinks exceptionally hard, he thinks even his father might’ve sung with her too.

Oh. Another thing.

He can’t remember the name of the cologne his father used.

It was something spicy, Dick’s sure. Something spicy that smelled like a mix of all the worlds best fireplaces and cinnamon sticks. It was warm, Dick’s positive of it, but sometimes he catches a whiff of vanilla and his mind goes back to his father on Sunday evenings when they didn’t have a performance, so maybe the cologne wasn’t spicy and Dick is just forgetting and remembering it all wrong.

That’s terrifying. How can he forget something as unique and special as his own mother’s voice or his father’s scent? What kind of son forgets something so pertinent to their parents?

He’s read articles about trauma messing with memories. Something about stress hormones going into overdrive, infecting and plaguing the fear factor and hippocampus that the brain just doesn’t recall anything. But he’s also read articles that say trauma enhances memory, that the adrenaline is just so prolific that it literally encodes the events permanently into the hippocampus rather than erase. 

He’s even read articles that victims of childhood trauma lose their innocent past completely in a blink. That they may even believe the events never happened and it was all just a dream.

But Dick knows he had parents. He knows that his father was a happy man, outgoing to the fullest and in love with life. He knows his mother made delicious pancakes straight out of the box and that she always used real maple syrup instead of Log Cabin. He knows that they were all very close and his parents never made him feel ashamed for being clingy or wanting to sleep in their bed after a nightmare or seeking comfort after yet another failed trick or flip. 

Dick knows. He remembers. 

But sometimes the details get fuzzy. Was his baby blanket, the one he knows his long dead nana stitched for him, blue or gray? Were there two rooms or just a bed and a couch in their tiny trailer? Did Pop Haly boom or rumble with laughter? He knows these things happened. How else would he even know he had a blanket or a trailer or the comfort of loud laughter during even louder performances? 

But for all his remembrance, for all his recollection, he doesn’t know if it’s real. If what he thinks are memories are but fond daydreams substituted for the blank spaces. He doesn’t have many pictures, but he’s got so many posters from Haly’s Circus. Enough so that his father’s face will never be confused with some stranger’s on the street. Dick has stared at all the bright colors for hours on end, and he knows exactly what shade of green his mother’s eyes were. He could pick out their colors in a forest and still know it wouldn’t be as close to what his mother’s eyes were like.

He knows faces. He remembers faces. He doesn’t remember who they were though. Who these people were and what they sounded and smelled like. What stories they shared. What family lineage they held.

He doesn’t remember what routine they were doing that night. He thinks it was a daring one, one they hadn’t done many times before hand because they wanted to make a good impression in Gotham. They were only going to be there for a month, Dick remembers that, but he can’t remember why it was so important to impress. 

He was up next. His father had just flung his mother into the air, twirling and falling, and then his father had caught her by the ankles and they were swinging through the air as if they had grown wings and learnt how to fly.

He was up next. Only nine. Nervous but excited. There were so many people in the crowd, but he can only picture a massive blob. Bright lights. His mother’s face. Green eyes. His father’s strong shoulders. Cinnamon carrying in the wind.

He was up next. He would leap out, flip twice, and somersault his way into his mother’s awaiting grasp. Then, they would float and trade off holds with one another and Dick would be the one holding his mother’s ankles and he would be upside down as well and then-

He was up next. He was up next and he could see his mother’s bright smile beaming towards him, his father’s reassuring grip on the bar steady, and Dick was tensing to make the leap and then-

The line snapped.

Dick thinks his mother might’ve called out to him as they plummeted. Maybe a cry for help. A startled yell. A gasp. A shriek. Terror.

Dick likes to think he remembered her calling out his name.

He doesn’t know if what he does remember is true or not; if his parents’ bodies actually crumpled like wet paper or if they snapped like dry wood. He remembers their descent, but maybe not, because Graysons were known for flying but his parents fell like they had weights tied to their legs. Sound escaped him, smell too, and maybe that’s his problem. Maybe he just can’t remember important senses like sound and scent, but he does remember the way the sawdust turned black.

They had all worn their favorite leotards that night. Red, green, yellow, bright and happy. He doesn’t remember why it was so important to impress Gotham. It just stained their uniforms anyway. Stained their livelihood.

He doesn’t remember how long he stayed up there, gazing down down down at his parents. Broken and bloody. There was white mixed in with the red, and a little bit of purple here and there, bright splotches of blue and pink, and it’s funny that he remembers all that because their leotards only had three colors. 

He blanks on the rest. Just knows that Danny Poteet shoved his face into his shoulder as the crowd disappeared, the mass of blobs and blurry faces fading. Mister Poteet was a nice man. He can’t remember what Poteet did, what his act was in the circus, but he’s pretty sure he had a long beard. Was that important? Was that even his name? Dick doesn’t remember.

And it angers him to no end that he can remember the organs that split their way through his parents leos, can probably name them now that he’s older, but not what his mother said to him as she fell. Not what his dad smelled like. Not what Danny Poteet mumbled to him as red and blue lights filled the tent.

He’s forgetting. Did he ever remember?

He wants to tell stories of his childhood. So badly wants to regale his brothers of his days in the circus. He can tell them all the working secrets of how twenty clowns fit inside a car meant for a baby. How fire breathers drank oil without it ever touching their tongues. How the strong man was actually just a pillow lifter with down in his suit. How strong and fast and beautiful the Flying Graysons were on the trapeze. 

He can tell all those things because they were simple and everyday and honestly common knowledge (which also scares Dick because what if he only “remembers” these things because he looked them up one day and just pretended that he always knew it because that’s how he grew up, that is how he lived, but what if he’s wrong-). More than anything though, Dick wants to tell them about his parents.

About Mary and John Grayson and how they were the kindest and most amazing people Dick ever knew. But he can’t. Not without lying, and his parents hated liars (he hopes they did, please, he hopes he remembers at least one truthful thing that he hasn’t made up).

So when Tim looks at him like he’s lost his mind when he says, “I think my dad smelled spicy,” or when Jason laughs at him when Dick tries to tell him about this baby elephant that might’ve existed at some point or when Damian only sighs when he tries to recall a story with so many holes and fragments that it’s just incomprehensible, Dick feels like crying.

How can someone just forget a lifetime of memories? How can he just lose the only connections he has to his parents like it’s nothing? 

Posters only go so far. Faded and hazy dreams of a melody that won’t leave his throat only do so much. Wisps of vanilla and burnt wood only taper the feelings of loss ever so slightly.

It’s not enough. It’s not enough.

He’s forgotten. He’s forgotten.

[yandere-wishes]

Yandere Octavinelle Turns Into Babies Headcanons

Requested by the lovely @minteasketches​ . I’m not super happy with how it turned out, nevertheless I hope you enjoy it, darling. 

🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚 🐚

Azul Ashengrotto

It was supposed to be a simple spell. "Something to strengthen the contracts with" was what your self proclaimed lover and currant kidnapper had declared. 

Personally, you didn't really care, it was far too early to be awake and worrying about contracts and potions and whatnot. But sadly as part of a deal, you had made all so long ago, your soul had become fused with Azul's. Where he went, you went. 

And he wanted to be in his office at the Mostro Lounge at bloody 6 am!

So here you, lounging on a decorative sea shell-like chair that Azul had bought you. Eyes dropping only to be shot back open from the chiming of potion bottles. Your brain was foggy, dreary even. Dreaming of Azul's soft mattress and warm blankets. The fluffy pillows cradling your head as you escaped your cruel reality. 

You would have sworn that you'd only closed your eyes for a minute. A measly sixty seconds, but that was enough time for everything to go downhill. 

Something hit the ground, sending a crackling noise echoing through the room. a mere moment later some forging high pitch cry reverberated off the powder purple walls. 

Looking around in a panic-induced daze your eyes landed on something shuffling around under Azul's clothes...

Wait! Under Azul's clothes?

It didn't take long to realize what had happened. 

Slowly pushing the fabrics aside you came face to face with a tiny octo-boy.

To your utter horror, he looked like he was gasping for air, waving his arms around as his cries turned into desperate heaving. 

Lifting the poor thing up you looked around trying to find some sort of nearby water source to put the boy in. Luckily the table in the center of the room had water underneath a thin sheet of glass. Shoving the glass to one side you clumsily ducked Azul into the liquid.

The tiny octopus slowly slumped into the water laying down on his back so to breathe properly. Fully submerging his body in the aqua liquid.

As the adrenaline wore down, you began to notice just how cute and also innocent the small thing looked as he half-heatedly blew bubbled from his mouth. 

It was hard to believe that the manipulative man that had imprisoned you, stripped you of your precious freedom, could be, was actually at some point in his life just a defenseless baby. He looked so angelic, so sweet. 

Nervously you bite your lip, trying to find a more suitable aquarium for the little white-haired baby. 

Just as you were about to push your self to your feet, a tiny tentacle reached out from the shallow water, wrapping itself gently against your finger.

The tiny gesture warmed your heart in such a way you never thought Azul capable of. 

Breathing out a sigh You plucked one of the decorative starfish form the makeshift pool, holding it above Azul's head and watching as he tried to reach for it. 

For now, you were content with keeping the baby occupied. Jade and Floyd could deal the reversing the spell later. Maybe for today, all you had to do was play around with the tiny little thing before it turned back into the monster, present in each of your nightmares. 

🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙🐙

Jade Leech

Some rumors about mushrooms with "mystical properties" that grew in the enchanted forest were circling the school.

Surely it was a myth started by some bored teacher or mischievous student. 

Nevertheless Jade has declared that he wanted to see these mushrooms firsthand. That would be the very reason you where both hiking through the forest, getting bitten by countless mosquitoes, as branches and stray roots cut into your skin. 

"How much longer" the poor darling wined as you slumped against a nearby tree gasping for air.

The "nicer" twin responded with a simple wave of his hand and breathless murmuring that sounded slightly like "Almost there"

"Almost there" turned into another hour of trailing through the endless greenery. Until the two of you came to a clearing illuminated by the rogue rays of the sun. 

Huddled together, growing row after row was, sure enough, a patch of those infamous mushrooms. 

Jade's eyes started to sparkle, gleaming at the fungi, in a matter of seconds he was running towards them, long forgetting his "beloved"

Just as the eel boy reached out to pluck one of the mushrooms, something bizarre began to occur. 

The clearing faded into a puffy white light, almost like a mushroom cloud had erupted.

 acting on instinct you shield your face with your arms. Your mind rushed, trying to understand what was happening.

Splitting your eyes open to peak at your surroundings. You scanned the clearing attempting to locate Jade, but to your surprise, he was nowhere in sight. 

A part of you wanted to run away. If you could just remember the path that led here than there was a good chance you could get away from Jade. 

Just as you were about to take off, you heard a faint noise in the distance. Something like the cooing of bird or...the wails of an infant. 

You gulped, carefully stepping over to where the noise was coming from. Peering behind the mushrooms you noticed a tiny blob of teal rolling around. For a second you didn't believe your eyes. As you got closer to the tiny thing it began to look more and more like an infant, and infant that resembled Jade! 

Sure you weren't Jade's biggest fan, you despised him, to say the least, but...this was just a child. Defenseless and rolling around on the grass. The moment his mismatched eyes landed on you, the tiny eel began gooing and gaing. Extending his arms, reaching out to you trying to gain some affection. 

Picking him up and cradling him close to your chest, you watched as the baby moray eel, wrapped his small tail around your wrist. 

despite the slimy cold feeling it left, you couldn't help but smile and wiggle your index finger close to his face. 

"Come on Jade, let's get you home. Maybe Azul can find a way to get you back to normal...or hopefully not"

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

Floyd Leech

It all started with Floyd acting out during Alchemy class

"These recipes are too boring! Shrimpy hand me that pink liquid over there! Oh Oh and the green one too!"

Sure you tried to stop him...but really what can stand in Floyd's way when he's in one of his "moods" 

Floyd went ahead mixing the pink sweet-smelling liquid and the glowing green one into the base component that Professor Crewel had provided.

Nothing….

For a few moments, all seemed peaceful. Floyd's face morphed into a frown as he glared daggers at the rotten looking liquid. 

Slowly some bubbles started to form on the surface, popping the moment they breathed out the liquid container. 

Floyd's face started to light up, he craned his head closer to the liquid. 

"Shrimpy-chan look! It's changing colo-"

A loud booming noise filed the room. Screams and shouts of terror and shock soon joined the fray. 

A thick smoke hovered over the classroom, so dense that one could barely see in front of them. 

Somewhere, someone opened a window. Permitting the fog to escape, evaporating as it slithered out of the classroom. 

Crewel's voice boomed around the room. "FLOYD LEECH!!"

But to everyone's surprise, there wasn't a sound...heck Floyd wasn't even there!

You slightly turned your head to the side. Gaze flickering over Floyd's empty seat. As your sight shifts lower, you notice a tiny little baby, sitting where Floyd had been moments ago. 

Letting out a little laugh you pick up the tiny eel baby. squealing and almost dropping him as he wraps around your wrist trying to bite your hand. 

"Floyd stop it!" All eyes turn towards you, gasping at the little "serpent" trying to ripe off a chunk of your flesh. 

Good job (L/N), you found...well a tiny version of Floyd." Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Crewel turned to face the class. "Class dismissed! I have to work on a potion to get that little puppy back to his normal self...or whatever he was before!"

The rest of the students swiftly leave the room. Leaving behind a crying baby Floyd, an angry-looking Crewel and poor little you, who was desperately trying to clam the baby down. 

Seeing no other options you wagged your pinky finger close to Floyd's mouth. Flinching as he harshly bit down. 

Sure it was painful but it kept him quiet. 

It took some time to put together a tiny aquarium for the little devil as well as make a potion for him. 

The sun had long since set, you laid your head on your desk watching the tiny Floyd swim around. Everything felt so unusually serene. Your eyes felt heavy, closing on there own accord. The moonlight cast a chilling glow over your unconscious form. 

"W-wa-wake! Swimpy, Wake!" You cracked one of your eyes open to notice the small child splashing some water on you. His head risen over the edge of the aquarium. 

"I'm up Floyd" you murmured. Steadily you pulled the small aquarium to yourself. Caging it between your arms and resting your head against the class. 

Right before your eyes closed once more, sleep overtaking, you noticed Floyd resting his head against the glass and shutting his little eyes too.

"Night, night Swimpy"

🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈

[rosegoldannie]

Tell Me no Lies Chapter 17

Hey y’all, this chapter gets a lil spicy towards the end..

Masterlist

previous chapter

Barely a second after the bell had ceased ringing, and the last of the teens had filed out of the classroom, Aelin burst through the door and threw herself onto her best friend.

Lysandra held her tight for several seconds, before throwing herself backwards. “Spill everything.”

She plopped into her friend’s desk chair, and pulled her knees up to her chin. Lys braced herself against the desk and waited, staring expectantly. Aelin took a deep breath, and began. “There wasn’t one point when I knew. It’s...It’s been building up for a while. I guess I finally realized it earlier.”

“What happened earlier?”

“We were getting pizza, and he was holding my hand, and...I realized how much it was going to hurt when he leaves, because Lys, do you remember how I felt about Sam?”

Her friend blinked, paling slightly. “Yes, of course.” She replied slowly.

“I feel the same way about Rowan, only more.” Her eyes began to water as her cheeks warmed. “And I barely survived losing Sam, so I have no clue what to do about Rowan.” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks as her nose grew stuffy.

Lysandra let out an, “Oh, honey.” and was instantly kneeling beside her, wrapping her in a warm hug and stroking her hair gently. “It’ll all be alright. We’ll figure this out.”

“We will?” She sniffed, swiping at her eyes.

“Yes, we will.” Her friend promised. “But you know what you need right now?”

“A girl’s night?”

Lysandra grinned, whipping out her phone.

And that was how Aelin found herself wrapped up in Rowan’s old sweats, Lysandra’s and Nesryn’s arms looped through hers, Elide flouncing an exorbitant amount as she gushed about her boyfriend while they all discussed what to get friends, family, boyfriends and roommates for Christmas.

Nesryn was murmuring something about buying a nice leather wallet for Sartaq, and dragged them into Men’s Wearhouse, slipping her arm from Aelin’s, and scampering off to the wallets along one polished, wooden wall. Lysandra trailed not far behind her, then wandered off to look at Timberland boots for Aedion.

That left Elide and Aelin.

She turned, grinning at her younger cousin. “Do you know what you want to get Lorcan for Christmas?” She grinned, conspiratorially nudging her.

Elide blushed, shoving her hands deeper into her hoodie pocket, a soft, secret smile on her lips. No, not both hands, Aelin observed. Only the left one, something small and hard and sharp pushing against the fabric of her pocket. Aelin grinned, happy silver lining her eyes. 

Then her eyes landed on a small shop across the way, and she instantly knew what she was going to get Rowan for Christmas. Murmuring a quick apology to Elide, who was now most definitely texting Lorcan, if the happy smile on her lips was any indication, and scurried over to the shop.

The woman behind the counter gave her a warm smile. “Would you like some help?” She offered kindly.

Aelin politely waved her off, and picked up a medium sized wooden pallet, and carefully brought it up to the counter.

The woman smiled again, and that smile only widened when Aelin showed her what was to go on the pallet. “He’ll love it,” She promised. Aelin could only grin, and pray to the gods that she was right. “Alright, it’ll be ready in about a week, so around the seventeenth. Though, we’ll keep it in the back for another two weeks.”

“Thank you,” Aelin told her, then scampered out to where her friends were waiting for her.

Elide was still tap-tap-tapping away on her phone, that happy smile turning her cheeks a rosy pink.

Nesryn and Lysandra were gushing over their respective fiances, and discussing wedding ideas, plans, and preparations. Something cold settled in her gut when she realized that of her best friends, she was the only one still single.

Slowly, they began to meander over towards the food court, and Aelin found herself next to Elide, still typing away, her left hand still buried deep in her pockets.

“So,” She began, unsure of why she felt so nervous, “how are you and Lorcan doing?”

At last, she put her phone away. And positively beamed, happiness radiating from every pore. “So good, I really love him.” She gushed, a dreamy look taking over her features. “Sometimes when I come home from work, I find that he’s already done all the cleaning, and made spaghetti for dinner.”

“Wow.” Aelin murmured, struggling to match the image of Lorcan she had with the one her cousin told her of.

Elide’s dreamy look dimmed slightly. “Sorry, I know you don’t like him very much.”

Oh. Oh. “No, no. That’s not it at all!” Aelin assured her, as they all approached a table, and dropped their bags. “I just didn’t know he could be so sweet is all.”

“Oh,” She whispered, some of that happy glow returning. “Well, in that case, I’ve got some news to share with you guys.” Lysandra and Nesryn turned towards them, interest shining in their keen eyes. Aelin leaned forward a tad more, as that happy, rosy smile only grew. Elide slowly withdrew her left hand from her hoodie. On that ring finger sat a simple, stunning, silver engagement ring.

“Oh my Gods!” Lysandra and Nesryn shrieked, launching around the table to throw their arms around the tiny woman. Aelin simply held her tightly, her eyes clenched shut yet still streaming tears as if a dam had broken, and murmured low congratulations.

When they all at last parted, they were little more than living, moving blobs of mascara and smudged eyeliner, giggling and cackling and laughing and crying.

“D’you know what this calls for?” Lysandra sniffed, rubbing at her eyes and only worsening the smudging of makeup.

Aelin, Elide and Nesryn shook their heads.

“A night at Rita’s, of course!” Their friend stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

With that, they allowed Lysandra to drag them all back to her house, which was mysteriously empty and silent, save for Hollin and Evangeline, curled up on the sofa, watching some romantic movie.

Lysandra called out something about not getting pregnant to her sister, and began sorting through her closet for something for each of her friends.

Elide picked out a daring, red dress, that while it looked innocent enough, given how it flared out at the waist and brushed just above her knees, all it took was one look at the lack of a back for everyone to know she was a vixen through and through.

Nesryn chose a short, black satin dress that hugged her curves and highlighted her dark hair and eyes. She paired it with thigh-high boots, and straightened her hair. With a dash of highlighter on her collarbones, cheekbones, and nose, if Aelin hadn’t known better, she would have thought her friend was an influencer.

Lysandra decided on a daring, skintight aquamarine dress that barely skimmed the tops of her thighs. The neckline barely reached her collarbone, and the sleeves reached down to her wrists. Sequins covered nearly every inch of the dress, and Aelin knew that if Aedion were here, he’d be positively drooling. 

For Aelin, though, choosing a dress was much harder. She hadn’t been out clubbing since before she’d met Chaol, and as such had no idea what to wear. All of the dresses she saw were either too long or too short. Too tight or too loose.

At last, she found a pine-green satin number in the very back of the closet, that pulled in perfectly at her hips and waist, then fell to just below her upper thighs. The neckline was low, without being desperate. She paired it with black ankle boots, a leather jacket, and a dark green smokey eye with bright red lipstick. Once Lysandra finished curling her hair into loose waves, she led her over to the floor-length mirror, and Aelin at last saw the final product.

As her eyes trailed from the toned calf muscle exposed by the boots, to the red pout of her lips, she found that she felt beautiful. No, more. She felt sexy for the first time in recent memory.

Turning to her best friend, tears pricked her eyes as she held her tightly. “Thank you, Lys.”

“Of course.”

When they at last parted, she quickly swiped at her eyes before the tears could smudge her makeup, and followed her friends out to the car. She only paused to glare at Hollin, and threaten the destruction of his most favorite part should he hurt Evangeline, then chased after her friends, and slipped into the back seat with Nesryn.

The drive to Rita’s was filled with laughter, giggling, god-awful singing on Aelin’s part, and loud music blasting from the speakers.

As they stepped out of the car, and made their way into the club, the first thing Aelin noticed was how loud the music was; she couldn’t just hear it. No, she could feel it reverberating through her bones. The next thing she noticed were the lights, constantly changing color and blinking and swirling.

Lysandra led them over to a booth in the corner near the bar, and slid in, followed by her friends. “Alright!” She shouted, once they were all settled in. “We’ve got a mission tonight, ladies.” A teasing smirk tugged at her best friend’s lips. “We’re going to get Aelin a man.”

She could only grin and shake her head, fighting the urge to say the only one she wanted was her silver haired roommate.

Her dark-haired cousin slipped out of the booth, and returned with several rounds of shots. 

Aelin took one, and gave her cousin a warm smile. “To Elide!”

“To Elide!” Her friends echoed as they all downed their drinks.

“Gah!” She coughed, swiping at her mouth as the liquid burned its way down her throat. “It’s been so long..” She muttered under her breath.

Next, they toasted to Lysandra, then Nesryn.

By that time, her thoughts had begun to get muddled, and her words slurred. So when she glanced up and saw a head of silver hair, and green eyes staring at her, she chalked it up to the alcohol. But when that silver-haired, green-eyed man slid in next to her, followed by Aedion clambering in next to Lysandra, then Sartaq and Lorcan and Fenrys, Dorian, Gavriel, Vaughan and Connall.

Rowan dropped an arm around the back of the booth, and it took everything in her not to lean into him.

“So, ladies.” Fenrys called, grinning like a fiend at each of them. “What are you all doing here?”

“Ladies’ night.” Lysandra called, then cast a warm, sisterly smile at Elide. “And…”

Lorcan and Elide were so absorbed in whatever hushed conversation they were having that they didn’t notice. The man which Aelin disliked with a burning passion was looking down on her cousin with such love, warmth and care that if she hadn’t already been over the moon for her cousin, she would have been then.

Fenrys followed Lysandra’s line of sight. “Ah. Then we’re here for the same reasons, then.”

“It would seem so.” Nesryn replied, leaning back into Sartaq.

Over the next half hour, the drinks kept flowing, and flowing, and flowing, and people slowly began to partner off and wander towards the dance floor, until all those who remained were Lorcan and Elide, and Aelin and Rowan.

Elide and Lorcan were still murmuring quietly to each other.

She glanced down, string her drink absently with her finger, then-

“They’re so in love.” A husky voice murmured in her ear. 

Glancing up, she found that Rowan had angled himself so that he was closer to her than she had realized. “Yeah, they are.” She agreed, finding it difficult to look at him.

Her roommate didn’t seem to notice, however, and carried on. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lorcan so happy.”

Aelin took a deep gulp of her drink, nearly downing half of it at once. “Me neither.”

Suddenly, Lorcan stood, and pulled Elide towards the dance floor with a happy grin, laughing all the way there.

“Wow,” They both murmured at once. Instantly, they both glanced at each other, then burst into laughter. 

Rowan grinned down at her, sliding from the booth to offer her his hand. “Dance with me?”

She downed the rest of her drink, and took his hand, allowing him to lead her through the throngs of people to the middle of the dance floor.

The music was little more than heavy, booming bass with some slight music notes every few seconds, but Aelin still gripped Rowan’s hand, and bounced around, her free hand waving in the air as she danced around him. Rowan watched her with a warm smile, always only a few feet away, laughing.

As the minutes melted by, they drifted closer and closer together, and Rowan’s strong hands settled around her waist as her fingers played with the hair at the base of his neck, their friends dancing and grinding and bouncing around them.

They swayed back and forth with the music, him gazing so deep into her eyes that she thought he might have already discovered her eyery secret, and was now reading her very soul.

A warm buzzing began in her ears, and Aelin’s movements became looser, freer, more relaxed. The music began to speed up, and the dancing around them became harsher, hungrier. 

Aelin turned so that her back was pressed against him, and kept her hand behind his neck, deep in his unfairly silky hair. Rowan’s hands began a journey down her body, running over her stomach and waist and thighs, before coming to a stop, gripping her hips and holding her against him.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she allowed her head to fall back against his chest, her nose brushing his throat.

Rowan’s grip on her hips tightened, and he pulled her tighter against him, her behind now pressed against his hips. Though, his grip was loose enough that she could easily pull away. 

She didn’t, only pressed herself closer to him, and began to sway her hips to the beat. He let out a whimper, and a warm, heavy breath began on the side of her neck.

Angling her neck more to the side, that warm breath turned into hot, heavy kisses against her sweaty skin, trailing down to her collar bones and back up to her ears.

Lower lip clenched firmly between her teeth, she snapped herself back against him. He only chuckled, and pulled her behind further into him, and began grinding into her. 

She let out a sharp gasp as he began sucking on the junction of her neck, trailing alternating kisses and sucks up and down her neck and shoulder. Rowan let out a pained groan, and quickly turned her around, his hands resting on her waist, their chests and hips flush. Their hips moved together with the music, crushed together.

One of his hands moved up her back to bury itself in her hair, leaving a trail of heat in its wake. 

She did the same, keeping one hand on the base of his neck, the other deep in his silky hair.

Slowly, they each leaned forward so that their foreheads were pressed together, and Aelin found that she was panting, her neck throbbing and pulsing.

She met his eyes, both of their pupils blown wide.

Suddenly, he surged forward and captured her lips in his, pulling her completely flush against him.

Stunned, it took her a second to respond to his kiss, but when she did, her world turned to ash and flame.

His tongue brushed the seam of her lips, and she instantly opened for him with a groan, pushing her hips against his, and tugging at his hair.

Rowan laughed, warm and carefree. “Alright, alright, Fireheart.” He murmured, leading her back out through the crowds, and out towards a dark, semi-quiet part of the club.

Pressing her firmly against the wall, he set to work on her neck, sucking and kissing and licking, his hands trailing over every inch of her body.

When he found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck, she let out a sharp, loud moan, and clenched her thighs together. He pulled back for just a second, grinned wildly at her, then dove right back into that spot as if his life depended on it.

As the minutes passed, Aelin found herself coming closer and closer to that edge, whimpering and moaning and gasping each time he touched that one spot on her neck, until at last she crashed over it with a low whimper.

Rowan pulled back slightly, and Aelin discovered that sometime during the last several minutes, he had thrown one of her legs over his hip, and was using it to keep her pressed against the cool brick wall.

He followed her gaze, then slowly met her eyes, questioning.

She surged forward, seizing his lips, and pulling him back against her. He groaned, slipping his tongue into her mouth, pressing sweet kisses to her lips.

A strong hand slowly lifted her other leg, and she found herself pressed to the wall, a moaning mess, as her roommate ravished her.

His hips slowly, tortuously drove into hers, and Aelin thought she might just combust.

When he began to gently trail his thumb across her cheek, she thought she was dying.

Everything about what he was doing was driving her insane, bringing her back to that cliff a second time. Something hard was now pressing into her with each thrust he made, and each of his movements were becoming more and more desperate. His moans and whimpers became groans and grunts and hissed swears and murmurings of her name.

When he hit a particularly sensitive spot, she let out a sharp gasp of his name, and her hand flew down to hold him.

Rowan pulled back, searching her eyes. She only nodded, and resumed kissing him.

He reached down, moving her skirt up so that it bunched around her hips, and moved her underwear out of the way, his fingers teasingly bringing her closer and closer to that edge.

Her head was thrown back against the wall, panting and whimpering his name with every breath. Quicker than she would have expected, she was falling over that edge for the second time, and there was a slight crinkle, and she was full.

Completely and utterly full.

Her head rested against his as they moaned together, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

Rowan surged forward, beginning to thrust gently as he took her lip between his teeth, and tugged.

She was on fire, whimpering his name in time with his thrusts, pressing sloppy kisses down his neck, which quickly turned into biting and sucking.

He was grunting, groaning her name as he worked her, pressed as close to her as he could, his hips snapping into hers as they kissed, one hand going to stroke through her hair.

Their movements each became more and more despreate, hungry as they moved together, each struggling to find release.

As he approached that cliff, Rowan returned to that one spot on her neck, and bit down in time with his thrusts. They flew over that cliff together, each groaning the other’s name.

After several minutes, he pulled out and set her down gently on legs that were little more than jello.

Pulling her skirt down, she turned to find him smiling at her, utterly without guard. He reached forward, and began fixing her hair, his eyes trailing to the red marks across her neck that were already forming. Something like pride filled his eyes.

She studied his face as his fingers combed through her tangled hair, and found with some suprise that her lipstick was now smeared all over his face, and chin. Down his neck and below his collar. With slight disappointment, she reached up and wiped that red wax away with her thumb.

Her heart was completely full as he pulled back from her, and set about fixing himself up. She took that opportunity to comb through his hair with one hand, the other stroking his cheekbone.

Rowan grinned again, his eyes fluttering closed. “Mmm.” He murmured, leaning into her hand.

Aelin couldn’t help but laugh.

Those pine green eyes flew open, and he took her hand, beginning to lead her back towards the booth, taking care to go the long way around the dancefloor. “I love your laugh,” He mused, thumb stroking across the back of her palm, “if I could, I’d bottle it up and drink till drunk every night.”

Stunned again, her eyes burned, and she could only hold his gaze, and pray that she was conveying everything she was too scared to say.

As they approached the booth, he turned back to her. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”

She grinned. “Yes, please.”

Rowan grinned right back, and released her hand, moving effortlessly through the crowds of people towards the bar.

Sighing happily, she continued the rest of the way back to the booth, and slid in.

Lys, Aedion, Lorcan and Elide had returned as well, and were all murmuring in low conversation to each other. Her best friend glanced over her still-messed up hair, swollen lips, and bruised neck, and gave her a wicked grin.

Elide did the same, smiling kindly.

Lysandra took that opportunity to lean over and whisper in her ear, “Who was the lucky guy?”

She only smiled, and gave a conspiratorial wink.

Her friend chuckled, and shook her head. “My plan worked out marvelously, then.

Aelin blanched. “Your plan?!” She hissed.

Lysandra only grinned, and Aelin could only shake her head.

Quickly, she leaned over and murmured a quick thank you in her best friend’s ear.

Nearly twenty minutes went by, then a young man approached their booth, his black hair reflecting the greens and blues and purples of the light. “Excuse me,” He began, studying Aelin. “I was wondering if I might possibly be so forward as to ask for your number? My name is Nox.”

She only shook her head kindly. “I’m afraid not, I apologize. I’m already involved with someone at the moment.”

Several pairs of eyes shot to hers, varying levels of confusion.

Nox ducked his head slightly. “Alright, I understand.” He placed a small scrap of paper on the table before her. “Here’s my number if you change your mind, though.” With that, he excused himself and returned to the crowds.

 After several more minutes passed, Aelin glanced at her phone, and was surprised to find that her silver-haired companion had been gone for nearly twenty minutes.

“Pardon me.” She muttered, extracting herself from the booth. “I’m going to see what’s taking Rowan so long.”

Ignoring the smirks and chuckles coming from her friends, she wound through the crowds, slowly making her way towards the bar.

When she at last reached it, she glanced all around, eyes straining to spot that signature silver hair. At last, she spied that silver glinting near-blue in the pulsing light, and began making her way towards him.

However, the closer she got, the more her grin faded, as she saw that he was exceptionally close to a thin woman with cedar-colored hair. No, not exceptionally close. He was pressed against the bar, with her leaning against him.

Aelin stopped moving towards them, her stomach turning cold, eyes burning but utterly unable to look away. Rowan wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t pushing the woman away, either.

It was only when she surged forward and began to kiss him that Aelin was able to tear her gaze away, and storm back to the booth, where her friends were waiting.

She only realized that she was crying when Lysandra launched up from the booth, and began to swipe those tears away.

“Can you, uh..can you drive me home please?” She stammered, unable to stand looking at either of her cousins.

“Of course,” Lysandra murmured, wrapping an arm around her.

“It wouldn’t be too much of a bother, would it?” She whispered.

Lorcan piped in. “Don’t worry about it, Aelin. I’ll make sure Elide gets home safely.” For once, his voice lacked the rough tone it always held.

Aedion added in, “And I’ll get a ride from someone. It’ll be fine. Go.”

Murmuring quick thank yous and goodbyes to everyone, she allowed Lysandra to whisk her out to the car, and peel out of the parking lot.

About halfway back to her apartment, Lydandra cleared her throat. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Aelin shook her head sharply. “No. Not in the slightest.”

Her friend only nodded. “Alright. I’m here for you if you change your mind.”

The remainder of the ride back home was silent.

When they parked in front of the building, Lysandra offered to walk her up, but she quickly refused, and bolted from the car before her friend could see the tears.

As soon as she was inside the apartment, she sprinted into her room, slammed the door and flopped over her bed. It was only then that she allowed herself to freely sob, heavy, wheezing and coughing. Distantly, she heard a cracking that sounded an awful lot like her heart shattering.

This is one of the last three chapters of TMNL!

Please send asks for prompts, and I will write them!

Comment or reblog if you want to be added to my general tags list!

tag list: @sailorsassley @whiskeybusiness1776 @mad-scientist-pyromaniac @la7sorcellerie @dayanna-hatter @mis-lil-red @aelinfeyreisa @bamchickawowow @togswiftie @teresa-1121 @hizqueen4life @aelinchocolatelover @smexyminion @rowaelin-cressworth @illyrianbeauty @angelofmusic81 @rosesandglass @blackjacks-donuts @highlordrhysie @ame223 @sleeping-and-books @seducemewithyourbookcolection @high-lady-rhys @clumsybookworm18  @westofmoon​ @giorgia-the-trashpanda @burritowithfeels @happily-emma-after @awkward-avocado-s @fanfic-masterpost-site​

[fics-not-tragedies]

In a Week: Chapter 13 🌲

Words: 1483; Warnings: none, unless you want another warning for drinking alcohol, then you have it; Summary: The evening unwinds, the dinner ends, but it seems like there’s much more for her to experience than Flo thought.

Hozier tag list:

@letoursilencebreaktonight​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​; @angelpeachamber​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​; @sgt-morgan​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​; @julessbrown​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​;

Monday, 10:15pm

When the starters had been cleared away and the main courses were placed, Andrew’s green eyes were wide and ravenous at the size of his plate.

“It’s quite, em, massive” he chuckled, then lowered his tone to make a joke about his steak, “Have you ever seen, em… a bigger piece of meat than this one?” He chuckled.

“Behave” she tittered, a little light-headed from the first sip of her second glass of wine after Andrew had insisted they just bring her the bottle.

They ate hungrily, both focused as much on each other as the food. They took time to ask questions they’d forgotten to so far, trying to take in as much information about families and their hometowns, the movies they’d seen and the ones they had been meaning to.

“Have you seriously never seen Dirty Dancing?”

“No, should I?”

“Absolutely.”

“Perhaps you’d watch it with me?”

“Perhaps.”

Monday, 10:20pm

They were almost finished with their second course when Andrew turned back to the view, the lights dotted along the skyline so mesmerizing.

“Stunning setting for that date, isn’t it?” He drawled, sitting back a little in his cushioned chair, the buzz of alcohol on his lips giving him the cocky, confident edge he first tried with her. Of course it had failed him last night, she has seen straight through it, but it was certainly worth a second shot, even just for fun.

“We’re on a date, are we?” She laughed back, not breaking her eye contact once.

“Well it has all the obvious signs of a date…” he shrugged, lips a little pouty.

“Which are?” She sipped from her glass, her fingers wrapping around it, intrigued. He paused, lifting a final forkful to his lips and chewing in thought.

“Good food… butterflies in my stomach… beautiful girl giving me the eye-”

“I most certainly am not giving you the eye, Andrew…”

She took another long gulp from her glass and squeezed her lips together defensively. Andrew shifted forward in his seat, resting his hand on the table as close to hers as he could without touching her. For a moment Flo thought he was going to take hers and hold it like almost every other couple in the restaurant, unsure if she’d actually be able to resist his touch. But he was purposely being a tease in his actions, had noticed how she noticed and was thriving off it. His words were a little slower, his nose wrinkling with effort as he spoke.

“Hmm… I know when a woman wants me…” he drawled, eye contact steady, his overconfidence fueled by the alcohol he already drank, hoping this persona will do him better than the usual one, “and I hate to break it to you, my love, but, em, you are giving me the eye.”

There was an impossible silence in which Flo could feel her heart rate increase, had to close her eyes for a moment and focus so not to fall for his honeyed words. His fingers danced close to her wrist, trying to spark a reaction.

“Are we really doing this now?” she asked quickly, her question direct, her eyebrow arched.

“Mhmm.”

“Are you sure?” She had been waiting for his abrupt forwardness to show again, had been desperate to retaliate to something after being civil about it all for so long.

“Go for it” he sighed through gritted teeth, loving how easy it was to challenge her.

“Well…” she began, taking one last sip from her wine glass before placing it out of fear she’d smash it somehow, “I’m pretty sure you’ve been trying to get me into bed with you since we met. So don’t act the innocent.”

“But you are tempted, aren’t you? You’re curious.”

“I didn’t start it.”

“Didn’t say you did” he smirked, jaw tense, “But you are tempted and I bet you already, em, thought about it.”

“And you haven’t?”

“Oh, I definitely have. Numerous times…” Flo bit her lip hard, unable to ignore what he was telling her, what he was admitting out loud and what she had too in such a short amount of time, “You’re blushing, Flo.”

“I know.”

She couldn’t meet his eye, couldn’t bring herself to give in, refusing to let him win this easily. And then his fingers brushed over the smooth skin of her wrist, reminiscent of the very first time they touched and she almost whimpered, clamping her other hand on the table just to keep herself still. The alcohol had made her feel dizzy and she was now aware of his cologne too - it was all too much. His calloused fingertips ran over the veins of her wrist, his muddy eyes locked on hers, waiting to be blessed with her full attention again.

“Well, we clearly don’t have very much self-control around each other” she stated, her breath shaky and uneven, hoping he won’t move his fingers to slide them down her wrist, “...only friends…” she repeated, her cherry-red lips pursed together as she brought her eyes up to meet his.

“W-what?” Andrew was obviously confused, not sure what her point was. His face was still, but the movement of his fingers against her skin stilled for a second and it caught her off guard when he started to move them again.

“Back there, when we came in…” she swallowed dryly, “you said we were ‘only friends’.”

“Aren’t we?” He smirked gently, his lips parting as he waited for her answer.

“You tell me, Andrew…”

“Can I interest you in any desserts?” Jack asked suddenly, cutting the pair off as he stopped beside their table. It took a moment for Andrew to register he was actually there, but when he did he flinched violently, like he just been caught doing something very wrong and retreated into his own personal space. Flo felt the absence of his touch painfully, pulling her own arm back and turning her focus to the waiter.

“I have the menus here if you’d like to take a look.”

“Are you in?” Andrew asked Flo, though the dessert was the very last thing on his mind.

“I’m in.”

Monday, 10:30pm

Flo and Andy were both feeling rather frustrated and flustered by the conversation, with neither of them winning anything, rather just confirming that they couldn’t have what they now knew they wanted equally. The silence was unbearable, the awkwardness hard to see through and as much as Andrew had wanted to wind her up about their sexual tension, he hated to think of her genuinely affected by anything he’d said or done. The next time Flo heard Andrew speak was when he ordered.

“I’d like the triple chocolate cake a-and, em, the raspberry cheesecake, please, Jack…”

“Both?” She laughed hesitantly, his childish smile back at her easing her nerves a little.

“Yeah, both” he replied with a shrug, “Couldn’t decide.”

“I’ll have the tiramisu, please” she hummed, giving Jack her best flirtatious grin before he disappeared, just to annoy Andrew a tiny bit more, “Do you have room for two?” She sighed, turning back to him.

“Watch me.”

Monday, 10:45pm

To even his surprise, Andrew polished off both plates in no time, licking his lips with delight as he threw his fork down in triumph.

“Told you, love…” he sat back in his chair and sipped on the remainders of his second whiskey, fully indulged by food, drink and her.

“Well, I’m very proud of you” she giggled.

“Oh. Andy?” She mumbled, obviously suppressing a laugh.

“Yes?”

“You’ve - uh - got a bit of chocolate on your lip…” she smirked, pointing to her own slightly smudged lips to indicate where it was.

“Oh, that’s not good…” he grumbled, patting at his mouth frantically with a napkin and managing to miss the blob of brown each time. She laughed and he sighed in frustration.

“Let me…” she giggled, lifting her hand to his face and swiping at the chocolate with her own napkin. She lingered there for a moment, staring at his chapped pink lips, wondering whether he’d taste more of chocolate or raspberry or whiskey, “… Help you.”

“Thank you…” he replied, softly, weaker for her than ever when she reluctantly pulled away.

“Flo?”

“Andy?”

“I’m sorry if I… overstepped… any boundaries…”

“It’s fine…” she replied, trying to reassure him with the casualness of her voice.

“I wouldn’t ever wanna make you feel-”

“Andrew, it’s okay…”

Flo lean forward and without thinking covered his hand with hers to reassure him, the softness back in his face providing her with such comfort, her fingers brushing over his with little care for the consequences. With her permission now he linked his fingers with hers, caressing the side of her thumb with his.

“I’ll get the bill…” he suggested, at least ten seconds later, his voice deeper, gravelly, “I’ve one place I really want to show you…”

[ca-8]

Heartbreak From War (Fusionfall X Reader) (Prologue)

Stars. It was the only thing that the small green blob found beautiful while living in its hellish home. It stared outside the window of one of the small, unknown rooms in Lord Fuse’s castle. Despite the off-colored planets sticking out of the grossly green essence being in the way, the blob enjoyed the infinite amount of stars that stared down at it. They were like creatures who understood the pain of living on Planet Fuse and gave it the pleasure of silence. No pressure, no shouting, no fighting, no kidnapping, no killing, just silence. Those tiny glowing dots in the sky brought a smile on its face. Nothing could ruin this moment with just itself-

    Planets. The planets were small, but they could still be identified as planets. That’s what the blob had seen before its relaxed expression twisted into shock and fear. No, not other planets! Other planets meant Fuse having another meeting. And another meeting meant another invasion! And another invasion meant war against the planets’ innocent civilians! 

    The green blob swiftly turned its head to look at the doorway behind it. It expected to hear the unpleasant booming voice of its master calling it and the hundreds of other blobs to his throne room. The blob shuddered at the thought of seeing the terrifying Lord Fuse again. With each planet he conquered, he had grown more impatient and angry, and recently, he started taking it out on his servants. If one of them accidentally carried out his orders wrong, that blob would be wiped from existence. Just a puddle of goo on the floor, reused for the power source generator in the castle basement that controlled the planet. The blob hated Lord Fuse for all he has hurt in the past, but what could it do? It only had the power to replicate things it saw, but it couldn’t possibly replicate someone as large as him! It would need a whole army to do that! And the other blobs worshipped Lord Fuse too much to ever think about rebelling. The small blob felt like the only one who saw his evil as wrong.

    “MINIONS!” Lord Fuse abruptly shouted from down the hallway. Not even a moment later, the blob saw hundreds of its siblings running past the room. None of them gave it a side glance. The small bob whimpered and forced itself to hop towards its way into the crowd to join them in the throne room. 

   

    “Minions, another set of planets for us to overthrow has been targeted.” As soon as those words left Lord Fuse’s mouth, the giant crowd of blobs roared with delight as their red eyes glowed brighter. Meanwhile, the smallest one in the back flinched at the sudden loud noise, and quietly growled at his masters’ way of saying ‘us’. Its bright pink eyes scanned Lord Fuse’s much larger form with fear and spite, but it couldn’t look away. “However,” his thunderous voice said, stopping the cheering. “These are...interesting.”

    A wicked smirk appeared on his sickly green face as his red eyes gleamed. “I have learned that life on these planets is highly intelligent, especially the one at the center. Advanced weaponry and citizens possessing supernatural abilities are omnipresent all over its surface like nothing we’ve seen before! If we can harness this power, we’ll have no problem taking over the galaxy!”

    The minions shouted an ear-splitting cheer. The small blob whined at the loud sound and retreated back to the hallway. It quickly hopped over to the small room and looked outside the window. If the planets were the size of a medium rocks, then that meant there would be no immediate invasion. It still had time to do something, but what?

    It absolutely could not confront Lord Fuse! He would get squashed and used for energy…

    ...Energy...That’s it! The energy source!

    The blob hopped out of the room as fast as it could and back into the throne room. The crowd was still cheering for Lord Fuse as he went on about the plan of taking over the set of planets. “We will drain their abilities and take them as prisoners! We will use their technology to make this planet larger and indestructible! We will be the most powerful beings in space!” 

    The blob snuck through the crowd to try to avoid Fuse’s demonic eyes. After a long journey of bumping and shoving, the blob finally arrived at the end of the room. It quickly jumped behind one of the legs of Lord Fuse’s throne and kept its eyes on the large door in front of it. Looking back to make sure no one was suspecting it, the blob hurried towards the door and slid underneath it. After struggling to get through the space, it bounced off the crack and hopped through the dark hallway.

    The light from the throne room was the only thing that lit the pitch black hallway. As the blob continued to descend down the hallway, however, the green acid that flowed through the tubes on the ceiling (and the blob itself) illuminated the hallway.

    With each hop it took, the blob’s nerves rose. The screams of different creatures from each planet Lord Fuse took over echoed through its head. It remembers the only war it participated in: creatures begging for mercy, the lines where the chained kidnapped innocents were sent into the planet to serve Lord Fuse, the executions where those creatures were killed if they disobeyed. And all for what? Power? It disgusted the small blob. After seeing the despair, the blob had to sneak away from the madness. 

    It turned a corner, and the door wasn’t too far away. The blob couldn’t understand why the rest of the minions weren’t disgusted by the torture Lord Fuse had brought upon the many planets they encountered. Did they not have any sympathy? Were they also blinded by power? More importantly, why was the blob the only one to feel this way?

    The first thing it remembered when it was brought alive was being alone in a demolished room. Blobs can reproduce solely on vomiting its DNA at random times to make another one, so the blob thought that its producer had abandoned it. The blob that sat in front of the room thought about how many times it potentially hopped past its parent. Though, the blob predicated that it had the same corrupt personality as the other blobs, because no other blob was ever kind to it. In fact, no other blob would even acknowledge its existence.

    The blob shook its head to push the negative thoughts aside. It gazed up at the tall door before pushing it opened, letting an ominous creak echo throughout the room. It closed the door behind itself, and what reflected off of its pink eyes next was a colossal sized tube with a veiny, acidic heart trapped inside. 

    The blob stared in awe. It knew the room existed, but seeing what gave its home planet life right in front of its very eyes, it couldn’t help but stare at its dreadful beauty.

    But it didn’t stare for long. 

    Knowing that somehow destroying that source of energy and stopping a meaningless hunt for power made the blob feel warm inside. Though that warm feeling twisted into a throbbing heavy burden when it remembered running away from innocents who needed help, this could be its opportunity of finally being worth something! To make up for its mistakes...to finally let a peaceful silence fill the atmosphere again…

    But how?

    The blob looked around for any possible way to shut down the energizer. It spotted numerous cords connecting from the wall, in the tube, and into the heart. Maybe if it got onto the top of the tub, it could pull out the cords from the heart? It was worth a shot.

    The blob made one cautious hop, and then another, and another towards the giant glowing tube. An intense feeling buzzed through its small body, like it wanted to bounce off the walls at high speed and vomit at the same time. The feeling was foreign, but the blob put on a confident smile regardless.

    Despite that, the feeling was cut short when the floor suddenly screamed out an alarm as it flashed red. The blob winced and whipped its head around to see it was in a giant flaring circle. It tried to jump onto the tube, but was then grabbed by a giant hand.

    It struggled inside the fist of Lord Fuse, who slowly brought it up to his scowling face. The blob stopped struggling and shrunk under his glowing, intimidating eyes. The minions behind him growled and snapped at the sight of the clutched blob.

    “What do you think you’re doing?” Lord Fuse snarled. The blob squeaked in response until he squeezed it harder. A sudden rush ran through the blob’s body and up to its mouth, and it coughed out a tiny glob of substance over Lord Fuse’s shoulder.

    “We may have found another impairment among us, brethren! For your crimes against me, your life will surrender to the planet in exchange forr becoming a proper minion,” Lord Fuse grabbed an extra cord from a nearby supply box and hooked it up to one of the extra holes inside of the tube. The blob quivered and tried to squirm its way out of its enemy’s hand, but as soon as the other end of the tube was rammed into its back, its life source was already rapidly draining.

    Everything was spinning, and the blob felt the insides of itself evacuate from its weak body. Ignorant of the tear flowing out of its grey eye, it slowly bent over to its master. The last thing it heard was laughter at its pathetic attempt to prevent millions of lives lost.

Though, the one thing it saw that peaked its interest was the twitching glob it threw up.

“Forgive me...” it whispered before feeling a surge of bloodlust throughout its body.

[i-am-grell]

Yall wanna read the poem about gender identity that I had to write for my creative writing class?

Everything’s a Social Construct and I’m Poor

By Corrie Maurik AKA Tumblr user i-am-grell

Born into a cruel world of organization and category I was taught that everyone and everything was binary confined to zeroes and ones that meant order. Pretty pink dresses before I learned what colour was. Dolls, and dollhouses, and glossed Barbie lips. Shoes, and hair, and not being smarter than roughhousing boys who got to do whatever they wanted in the schoolyard, in the classrooms while I sat quiet a cute, innocent girl. The binary lines blurred as I grew older and learned that these markers by which we define ourselves on licenses, certificates, passports, on our persons in the form of colour-coded clothing images of flower petals for girls trucks and skulls for boys were nothing but meaningless titles in the grand scheme of it all. I spent much time jealous that I didn’t know the proper way to put makeup on that my tits were tiny barely-A-cups that my long hair had snags and tangles that needed to be brushed every single day. But I am comforted by pretty things and loud and wild as the songs blaring through my ears by boy singers talking about pretty girls and parties and rebellion that only boys should feel. I’m fine as a girl confined to order, and beauty, and pink-coloured things. I’d be fine as a boy scrappy, untameable, and allowed to be free. I’d be fine as an androgynous blob something with no definable edges and confusing strangers on the streets. In fact to be frank some days in this world of category of work, of order, of money I’d rather have five dollars than a gender.

[hufflepuffmarlenemckinnon]

Quacks in the Night part 1/2

A Blackinnon Raise Harry AU installation

Word count: 2k+

A/N: This was written for my best friend when she was having a hard time. She hates Umbridge and loves my use of overwrought prose as humor. There are also ducks. So many ducks. I put it up online and it’s gotten really nice feedback (it even got featured on a podcast!) so I thought I’d share it here too.

Part 1

Sirius woke to the sounds of his wife, Marlene, readying herself for the day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he noted that the sun hadn’t yet risen. Neither of the Blacks were early risers.

Shit.

As he regained consciousness, the memory of last night’s letter came back to him in flashes. Harry. Lines written with a black quill to the point his hand retained scars. Umbridge…

His poor godson was being persecuted even further. Didn’t the boy have enough to worry about? Was a Dark Lord attempting (and possibly succeeding, Sirius didn’t quite understand the particulars) to get inside his head not enough for one 15 year old to deal with?

He felt sick over what the cruel professor had done to Harry. No small amount of anger burned in his chest, but it was Marlene who was the real threat this time. Sirius had written to Dumbledore immediately and was going through the more conventional process of getting this witch sacked. But Marlene looked ready to hang the wretch up by her toes the minute she put down the letter.

Reckless. Irresponsible. Impulsive.

Those were some of the various words that had been used to describe the Blacks, both as a couple and as individuals. It wasn’t an entirely inaccurate assessment, but Sirius contended they had other, more important traits.

Sirius would have given an eyeball to keep Marlene or Harry from getting a scratch. He’d die to protect his family. He felt sick with worry when they took unnecessary risks.

None of the little family mustered much regard for authority. Following orders was not a very Noble and Most Ancient House of Black (such that it was) thing to do. So he shouldn’t have been surprised that Marlene was trying to sneak out of their flat before Sirius woke. It all added up.

He’d told her he didn’t want her to go confront Umbridge.

She was of course, not going to listen.

She knew he’d worry himself sick so she wanted to spare him that as much as she could.

He was still confused, after all these years, how he could simultaneously feel as angry as an insulted hippogriff and yet more in love with her than the day they were wed. It was disconcerting. He really never got used to it.

He rolled over in bed and got an eye full of Marlene, fresh out of the shower.

“You can’t just go attack people as a duck, Marlene.”

“Hide and watch.”

She pulled on her clothing in haste. The fact she’d hoped he would sleep through her departure was better left unacknowledged. He was up now. She finished with her buttons and zippers then leaned down to kiss Sirius, who was still sprawled out on the bed.

“I’ll do no such thing! You’re going to get yourself arrested.”

“I will not. I have a plan. It’s going to get me written into history books as a great hero. The most heroic of all ducks.”

“You know it’s deeply concerning when you say things like that.”

Marlene smiled mischievously at her distractingly gorgeous husband. His body was a familiar sight now, but it was still an effort to hold back when he reached out to pull her back into bed. She wasn’t falling for it. She was a woman with a mission. Not even an exceedingly handsome distraction was going to keep her from it.

Sirius conceded. He’d used the last of the tools at his disposal and knew better than to argue with his wife over her ill advised revenge plot any further. She was out for blood. It was probably safer for her to go in animagus form than to unleash her on Umbridge with a wand. How much damage could a tiny duck really do? They couldn’t throw her in Azkaban for aggressively quacking at the horrible little ministry toad.

Marlene had never balked at a task she believed in because of a few rules standing in the way. From the moment she saw her Harry’s most recent letter home, she knew that a little rule breaking would be necessary. She’d prefer to break Dolores Umbridge’s neck. But she really didn’t like her odds for getting away from that scot free.

Her godson had written straight away after the detention he served with the piss poor excuse for a Defense Against the Dark Arts the ministry had inflicted upon Hogwarts. More accurately, he had his dear friend Hermione draft a letter for him because the child couldn’t even hold a quill after the sadistic punishment that vile toad had subjected him to.

Marlene had never carried a child of her body. She hadn’t been averse to the idea, but it didn’t look like it was in the cards. The world had not gotten itself in good enough shape at any point in the past 13 years for her to consider bringing a helpless and innocent baby into it.

For most of that time, she’d been focused on raising Harry. No one ever mistook her for his mum. He didn’t look a thing like her. The white child with perennially messy black hair still held the title of “son” deep in Marlene Black’s heart. She knew that her husband felt the same. It was their lot in life to avoid the subject.

It was not their lot in life to let amoral education interloping ministry worshipping scum get away with using a torture device on their boy. Surely a pen that drew blood from the back of the hand that held it would be considered a dark object? It had to be illegal.

But she was Cornelius Fudge’s personal arse licker, so there was no way she’d be held to any consequences on that front.

Marlene’s blood was boiling. It was reprehensible to use such an object on any child. But that child was HERS and Marlene was going to give the monster a dose of her own medicine.

Becoming an animagus was the best decision Marlene Black, who was still Marlene McKinnon back then, had ever made. It saved her life. It gave her her time to get that life back when she might not have survived the grief otherwise. It gave her a career.

It gave her the power to fuck with people who needed fucking with.

Marlene found the local duck population to be very sociable and never hesitate to lend a hand. Or a webbed foot and a wing.

Though the regular ducks had some sense that she wasn’t really like them, they were friendly to her. Since Marlene was actually a bright and resourceful witch in a little duck body, she was able to impress the local flocks fairly easily.

She had an army of roughly 300 ducks by mid day. Dolores J. Umbridge was going to get it.

Her duck army had one very important human ally in one Minerva McGonagall. Minerva had talked to Marlene over the floo late into the night. She agreed to create a reason for Umbridge to be called out to the Quidditch Pitch at half four.

She wouldn’t make it to the Quidditch Pitch.

Just past the womping willow a small golden-brown mallard hen commanded from behind her legion. The moment she spotted the little pink blob approaching she let out a loud quack.

She imagined herself screaming “CHAAARGE!” and that made it more satisfying.

The sound of webbed feet slapping the ground mixed with quacks of excitement were deafening. She watched as the flock ambushed the so-called professor.

Umbridge’s first reaction, confusion, showed plainly on her face. But the water-fowl battalion gave her no leeway in time to digest her surroundings.

Her surroundings, at that point, were ducks on every side, encircling her and closing in.

She let loose a high pitched and very undignified shriek.

Good. Scream you evil hag. You don’t mess with my Harry.

Marlene was mainly an observer of the event from the back and side of the action, rather than a participant. She’d planned it so that she’d minimize the risk of being identified by her markings. She was one of the most well known Animagus in the country, but no one could recognize a duck from the corner of their eye in flock of hundreds of other similar looking ducks.

The front lines had already closed in on Umbridge's ankles before she managed to throw a shield up.

Her shield faltered. Marlene quaked out another command, and the flock took flight with gusto straight into the horrible toad of a woman. Dolores Umbridge’s hair would probably never recover. She’d find stray feathers on her person for weeks. She would hear quacks in the night and shiver with fear.

Marlene’s work here was done.

[jaybear1701]

A/N: I stole the phrase "Make your peace... on Earth" from @haughtbreaker who has been kindly beta reading this story for me. lol

Waverly exchanged texts over the next week with Nicole, as well as a couple of phone calls. Sometimes, Nicole stopped into Shorty’s for dinner or a quick drink. No flirting. All strictly platonic. At least, that’s what Waverly told herself. So what if she kept checking her phone for new messages from Nicole, from the moment she woke up to the time she went to bed? What was the big deal if their conversations, both in person and over the phone, seemed to stretch longer and longer? Where was the harm if she wanted to invite Nicole as her +1 to Perry Crofte’s annual holiday party? It was all perfectly normal for new friends getting to know each other. Right? Right.

They agreed to finally get a hot cocoa that Wednesday night. She would ask Nicole about Perry’s party then. It wasn’t a date, Waverly told herself even as she tried on her fourth outfit, evaluating her reflection in a full-length mirror with a critical eye.

“So it’s a date,” Wynonna observed from the threshold of Waverly’s bedroom, shoulder leaned against the door frame. She shook her head. “What did I tell you about dating the law?”

“It’s not a date,” Waverly insisted, tugging the lettuce hem of her pink, long-sleeved crop top.

Wynonna eyed the stack of discarded clothes on Waverly’s bed, her ransacked closet, and the scattered array of foundation, lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, blush, and eyeshadow on her dresser. “Uh huh.”

Alice ran into the room and leaped onto the covered mattress. “She’s gonna Netflix and chill with Nicole,” she said matter-of-factly, as if commenting on the weather.

“Did I mention how much I love that you taught her that phrase?” Waverly shot a pointed look at Wynonna, who snickered. “And no, Alice, we aren’t going to do that.” She was quite pleased at herself for maintaining a neutral expression. “We’re just getting some hot chocolate. Friends get drinks. Nicole is my friend.”

“With benefits?” Wynonna asked innocently.

Waverly growled and kicked both of them out of the room so she could finish getting ready in peace. She settled on pairing the crop top with her favorite pair of black leggings and fuzzy boots. As she put the finishing touches on her makeup, Nicole called, extremely apologetic because she had to cancel. Lonnie caught the stomach flu and the already short-staffed department needed her to cover his shift. Nicole promised to make it up to Waverly.

It wasn’t a big deal, Waverly told herself. And yet, her heart still sunk in disappointment.

She made her way downstairs where Alice, Wynonna, and Dolls (of all people) were busy making cookies. Waverly used the term “making” lightly. Although the kitchen smelled wonderful, like buttery sugary heaven, it looked like a war zone. Flour and sugar coated nearly every inch of the countertops. Alice had splotches of yellow batter all over her Santa Claus apron.

“I’m telling you, Peacemaker is not an appropriate shape for a Christmas cookie,” Dolls argued as he placed a box of cookie cutters on the kitchen table.

“It literally brings peace on Earth,” Wynonna contended, waving an aluminum cutter that, sure enough, looked like her Colt Buntline Special. “What’s more Christmas-y than that?”

Dolls let out a long, weary sigh. “Back me up here, Waverly.”

“Where did you even get that?” Waverly asked, lowering herself onto an empty chair that somehow remained unscathed from the culinary explosion.

“Mattie,” Wynonna answered. “She owed me one. Now,” she held the Peacemaker cutter up, “won’t this make the coolest Christmas cookie or what?”

Waverly glanced at Dolls, who had one eyebrow raised, and Alice, who merely shrugged and giggled. She reached out and took the miniature gun from Wynonna.

“Make your peace…,” Waverly aimed at the oven, “...on Earth. It does have a certain ring to it.” She handed it back to Wynonna, who fist pumped while Dolls shook his head and muttered, “Earps,” under his breath.

“Why are you still here?” Wynonna asked as she turned the oven light on to check on the cookies. “Aren’t you going to be late for your not-date?”

“She had to cancel,” Waverly said lightly, hoping her disappointment didn’t show. “Taking another shift at the station.”

“Maybe she’s secretly helping Santa,” Alice whispered.

Wynonna scrunched up her face. “Huh?”

“Officer Nicole is one of Santa’s elves,” Alice placed a finger to her lips, “but we can’t tell anyone.”

Dolls looked at Waverly. “Officer Nicole as in Nicole Haught?”

“That’s right, Dolls,” Wynonna said, “the one you threatened with treason the other day.”

“What!?” Waverly exclaimed.

Dolls shrugged up on shoulder. “She shouldn’t have entered my office without permission.”

“For the last time, she did knock, Dolls.” Wynonna rolled her eyes.

“But I didn’t say, ‘Enter.’” Dolls leaned back and crossed his arms, chair creaking. “So you have a date with her?”

“It’s not a date!” Waverly stood up and walked to the refrigerator, partly to pour a glass of water and partly to get out of the interrogation spotlight.

Dolls eyed her outfit the same way Wynonna had sized up her room. “Mmhmm.”

Waverly fought back a blush.

“Why don’t you bring her a hot chocolate?” Alice suggested, swinging her legs. They were still too short to reach the floor.

Waverly paused, considering it. “You know, that’s… not a bad idea.”

“And then when she’s done, you can Net…”

Waverly put up a finger. “Do not finish that sentence, young lady, if you want any presents under the tree.”

Alice giggled but made a zipping motion across her lips.

Waverly wasted no more time and began collecting all the ingredients she needed. She chopped up a few blocks of bittersweet chocolate, then placed a saucepan on the stove to heat up some milk, heavy cream, sugar, and salt until the mixture steamed. While the others decorated their cookies, Waverly stirred in the chocolate and a few drops of peppermint oil. She poured the cocoa into three mugs and her favorite thermos, which she placed inside an insulated lunch bag along with some miniature marshmallows, two candy canes, an elf-shaped cookie made by Alice, and a strange, green-colored one from Wynonna. It had a cluster of red blobs to the side.

“What is this?” Waverly squinted at the so-called “cookie.”

Wynonna puckered her lips and smacked them. “Mistletoe.”

Dolls peeked over Waverly’s shoulder. “Mistletoe has white berries,” he said before Waverly could smash the cookie in her sister’s face. “That’s just a poor rendition of holly.”

Waverly smirked at Wynonna, who punched Dolls hard in the shoulder. Waverly left the cookie on the counter and was finally off.

About half an hour later, Waverly parallel parked her Jeep outside the Purgatory Sheriff’s Department. She walked carefully to the entrance. Even with her boots and the salt on the sidewalk, the path was still slippery with snowy slush made more treacherous at night. Just as she reached the station’s door, someone else pushed it open from the other side, with enough force that the glass almost slammed into the building’s brick siding.

A woman nearly ran into Waverly; the same beautiful woman who had approached Nicole at the mall a week ago. She was even more gorgeous up-close, dark hair cut straight in a sleek bob, looking sharp in a long, cream-colored wool coat.

“My apologies,” she said, doing a double-take when she saw Waverly, recognition in her eyes even though Waverly was sure they had never met.

“No problem,” Waverly squeaked out. “Be careful, the ground’s pretty slick.”

The woman spared her a small, genuine smile. “Thank you.” She continued down the way more carefully until she reached a black Mercedes Benz and drove away down the darkened street. Had she come to see Nicole, Waverly wondered. Were they friends or, Waverly swallowed, something more?

Entering the building, Waverly was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice that the station’s epoxy flooring was wet. Before she knew it, her feet flew out from under her and she fell down face first, pain erupting from her kneecaps and the heels of her hands. She dropped the lunch bag she had been holding. It skidded a few feet away.

Nicole’s voice called out from down the hall. “Shae, is that you?”

Shae, Waverly thought as she listened to a rush of footsteps. Was that the mystery woman’s name?

“Waverly!”

A pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders. Waverly looked up into concerned brown eyes and instantly flushed with embarrassment.

“Are you okay?” Nicole asked as she helped Waverly back to her feet.

“Yeah.” Waverly’s knees stung something fierce. “I’m fine.”

“Your knees say otherwise.” Nicole glanced down and Waverly followed her gaze. Sure enough, the impact had been hard enough to tear holes through her leggings and skin her knees. Blood oozed from the shallow wounds. “Come this way.” Nicole took Waverly’s hand and led her back toward the reception area, stopping briefly to pick up Waverly’s bag. As they passed a yellow caution cone, Waverly swore the falling stick figure was taunted her.

They bypassed the front desk and went straight to the break room, which had a few modest holiday decorations. Someone had strung silver tinsel around the cabinets in the tiny kitchenette and added green and red hand towels by the sink. Nicole brought Waverly to a circular table with a small Christmas tree in the middle, placing her bag on the surface and encouraging her to sit.

“I’ll be right back,” Nicole said, heading toward one of the cupboards.

“Nicole, I’m all right, really…”

“Just sit tight.” Reaching inside one of the cabinets, she pulled down a first aid kit and brought it back. “So,” she crouched down in front of Waverly and opened the box, “I believe your sister and the deputy marshal have the evening off.” She took out alcohol wipes, antibiotic ointment, and two bandaids. “What brings you here this fine evening?”

“You, actually.” Waverly had already made a fool of herself. No use beating around the bush.

Nicole’s hands stilled. “Me?”

“Yes, you,” Waverly said simply. She unzipped the lunch bag and placed the thermos, marshmallows, candy canes, and cookie on the table. Or rather, cookies. Plural. Somehow Wynonna had managed to sneak her damn cookie into the bag. “I’m gonna murder her,” Waverly muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing!” She would have shoved Wynonna’s cookie back in the bag, but Nicole was already staring at the offerings in awe. “Since you couldn’t come out for cocoa, I thought the cocoa could come to you.”

“You didn’t have to do all that, Wave.” A flattered smile spread across Nicole’s face as quickly as warmth spread through Waverly at hearing Nicole use her nickname.

“I know, but I wanted to,” Waverly said. In all honesty, the need to see Nicole lately had been overwhelming. And she was grateful Alice had given her the perfect excuse. “I hope you like peppermint cocoa.”

“I love it, actually.” Nicole resumed her task, tearing open one of the alcohol pads and using it to clean Waverly’s scrapes. Despite her gentleness, they still stung on contact and Waverly hissed in response.

“Sorry,” Nicole said, quickly blowing across the skin to lessen the pain.

“Alice made you the elf cookie.” Waverly winced as Nicole carefully applied ointment to the wounds.

“It’s adorable.” Nicole’s eyes slid to Wynonna’s green monstrosity. “Is that supposed to be mistletoe?”

“God,” Waverly groaned. “My sister made it.” To torment me.

Nicole bit her bottom lip. “Does everyone know about the mistletoe?’’

“Honestly? The whole town probably knows.” And wouldn’t let Waverly forget it. Not that she could even if she wanted to. That damn kiss had been replaying in her mind on a continuous loop for weeks now.

Nicole chuckled. “It’s holly though.”

“Yeah.” Waverly nodded. “I guess it’s the thought that counts.”

“You know, someone, who may or may not be your sister, has been hanging ‘mistletoe’ up around the station, possibly in the hopes of catching us underneath with Nedley or someone similarly frightening.” She pointed upward and, sure enough, someone had hung branches of prickly green holly from the ceiling directly above them.

Waverly shook her head. The prank definitely seemed right up Wynonna’s alley.

Nicole nudged Wynonna’s cookie with a finger. “Better tell your sister to stick to her day job.”

Waverly giggled. “She was never the best at baking.” Or any domestic chores, really. Wynonna had bigger demons to fry, literally. “She always used to leave that to me and Wlla.”

“Willa?”

She was sure that Nedley had told Nicole about what happened to Willa and their father all those years ago. If he hadn’t, then the grapevine would have eventually filled her in. But Nicole’s expression was politely curious, not the look of someone who knew Waverly’s father and sister had both been killed.

“Our older sister,” Waverly explained. “She… she died a long time ago.”

Nicole covered Waverly’s hand with her own and lightly squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She hardly ever talked about Willa, not even with Wynonna. The memories of the eldest Earp sister were still painful, and with her gone, Waverly saw no need to dwell on them. But something about Nicole and her gentleness made Waverly want to open up.

“She’s actually the reason I don’t really skate anymore,” Waverly continued as Nicole carefully placed a bandaid on her left knee. Nicole paused to listen. “I used to love skating. In fact, I wanted to be Michelle Kwan.” The corners of Nicole’s eye crinkled in a smile and Waverly playfully shoved her shoulder. “Don’t laugh at me.”

“I’m not.” Nicole rocked back slightly. “I think you’re,” she cleared her throat, “that’s cute. Go on.”

Smiling, Waverly’s stomach flipped pleasantly. “There’s a pond a few miles from our house. In the winter, when it froze over, our mom used to take us there to skate.” Her smile faded slightly. “When mom left, Willa… she changed. I mean, I was never her favorite to begin with. But sometimes, she was just… mean.” Cruel, Waverly thought. A side-effect of Ward’s ever growing expectations and volatile temper. “I had a stuffed bunny that my mom gave me for Easter one year. Mr. Rabbit. He was old and dirty and one of his ears was falling off. But he was my favorite. Willa took him one year and threw him onto the lake, just after the first freeze of the season.”

Nicole’s brow furrowed.

“I went out onto the ice to get him. But, of course, it wasn’t solid enough yet. I fell through.”

“Jesus, Waverly…”

“But, obviously I’m still in once piece.” Waverly spread out her arms, as if to prove she was alive and well. “Wynonna saved me.”

“I suppose I owe her a whiskey.” Nicole shook her head, eyes full of sympathy. “So you’ve never been skating since?”

Waverly shook her head. “I guess I’ve been afraid of getting hurt again.” It was an irrational fear, she knew, but one she couldn’t help. “It’s silly.”

“It’s not.” Nicole gently stuck the other bandaid on Waverly’s right knee. “One great things about wounds? They always heal with a little TLC, if you let them.” She leaned down, surprising Waverly as she tenderly kissed both knees.

When Nicole smiled back up at Waverly, her heart felt like it was expanding inside her chest, spreading warmth throughout her entire body, all the way down to her fingertips and toes.

“There’s no mistletoe,” Waverly whispered, gaze dropping to Nicole’s lips.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Nicole murmured back.

Waverly scooted an inch closer on her seat. Nicole mirrored the movement.

And just as Waverly was about to surge forward, friendship be damned, a loud crash came from the bullpen.

Nicole stood immediately, cursing underneath her breath, and sprinted to the commotion. Waverly quickly followed. When they got to the front desk, two officers were there with a drunk and disorderly man thrashing between them, clumsy and wild.

“If it is fisticuffs you want, then it is fisticuffs you will get!” He slurred, thick mustache twitching in agitation.

Waverly’s mouth dropped open. “Doc!?”

He calmed almost instantly, squinting at Waverly from beneath the brim of his black hat. “Well, well. Waverly Earp, as I live and breathe.”

Nicole pointed between Waverly and Doc. “You two know each other.”

“This is John Henry,” Waverly introduced. “Wynonna’s, um…” One of Doc’s eyebrows disappeared into his hat. “Alice’s dad.”

“Oh,” Nicole said. “But aren’t Wynonna and Dolls…” She shut her mouth when Doc glared at her.

Waverly winced. “It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always.” It wasn’t a question and the way Nicole said it made Waverly think of Shae the mystery woman. Nicole chucked a thumb toward the cells. “Get him to the drunk tank, boys. Let him sleep it off.”

This time, Doc didn’t struggle as the deputies led him away, sharing one last look with Waverly before he disappeared.

“I’d better get his paperwork started,” Nicole sighed, turning toward Waverly. “Thank you again for the cocoa.”

“Sure thing.” Waverly couldn’t stop herself from wondering about what might have happened in the break room if they hadn’t been interrupted. “I’d better go and tell Wynonna, I guess.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Waverly hesitated briefly, then turned on her heel. “Oh,” she whirled back around.

“Yes?” Nicole asked expectantly.

“Perry Crofte’s holiday party is this Saturday. I was wondering…” If you’d be my date.

“Oh! I’ll be there.”

Waverly’s eyebrows shot up. “You… you will?”

“Chrissy Nedley invited me the other day when she was visiting her dad.”

“Great,” Waverly said, trying to contain her excitement. She was gonna owe Chrissy big time. “Then I’ll see you there.”

“Count on it.”

Waverly waved goodbye and rounded the corner back into the hall. When she was out of Nicole’s line of site, she wanted to dance. She almost twirled in place until she saw the yellow caution cone. Not wanting a repeat of her earlier fall, she sobered instantly and carefully walked out of the station.

[emperorxeroki]

umieli, 5? thanks :3

A/N: I’m sorry for this long delay.The requests have been sitting in my inbox for the longest time because I waseither too lazy/ not motivated or I was too busy with my college life. I hopeyou see this Anon!

Paring:EliUmi

“Wait aminute. Are you jealous?”

“So…explainto me how this happened again?” Umi’s eyebrows twitched while a child-like Eliclutched onto her leg in confusion. Nozomi and Nico gave each other a concernedlook, neither wanting to fess up or lie to their friend of the events leadingto Eli becoming a three-year old.

“Well?”The pair jumped at the dangerous tone and the stern look they received. Despitebeing younger than them, Nozomi and Nico knew how fatal an attack from Umi canbe whether it was with magic or physically. And to make matters worse, they hadturned their only shield from that wrath into a child.

“Take onefor the team Nicocchi.” Nozomi lightly pushed the shorter girl closer to Umiand hid behind her small body.

“What?!Why me?! This all started because of you!” Nico turned around and glared atNozomi. “If you hadn’t pulled Eli in front of the spell, this wouldn’t havehappened!”

“So, youwere targeting me.” Nozomi feigned being hurt. “I can’t believe you would dothat. Even after you said that you love me. Was it all a lie?”

“Nozomi!”Nico knew well were this was going. “You damned titty monster don’t try to getout of this and leave me behind to the demon!”

“D-don’tfight! Fighting means you hate each other.” Eli stood between the two. “Papasaid to always apologize to each other and make up…so…don’t hate each other…”

Tears werethreatening to spill from Eli’s eyes. Nico and Nozomi immediately stopped andbaffled by the new side of Eli they have never seen.

“I-it’snot like I hate her or anything…” Nico muttered under her breath. A light shadeof pink colored her cheeks.

“Don’tworry Elichi, Nicocchi and I were just messing with each other.” Nozomi bentdown to wipe away the small tears. “Don’t cry okay?”

A sighleft Umi’s lips. “I believe I still deserve an explanation.”

“Don’tworry, we’ll find a way to fix your girlfriend Umi-chan. For the time beinglook after her for us.” Nozomi grabbed Nico by the hand and sprinted off. “Let’sgo Nicocchi.”

“Wait! Inever said-” The two were already gone before she could finish her sentence.

The firstyears eyed the small blonde who was on the floor coloring without a worry inthe world. Then they all looked back at Umi who seemed to be puzzled at thereason why they were giving her that look.

“So, whatdid those two do this time? Didn’t they learn from their last mistake afterturning each other into animals?” Maki crossed her arms and sat back in herchair.

“I’m surethey didn’t mean to get Eli-chan caught in between it…” Hanayo meekly tried todefend the two upperclassmen.

“…” Rinkept looking at Eli in silence.

“What’swrong Rin?” Umi wondered what was going through the other’s mind.

“If thisthis how Eli-chan looks like when she’s little, does that mean if Umi-chan andEli-chan have a baby together she would look like this?” Maki and Hanayo weresurprised by how bold the statement came out of the ginger’s mouth. Then again,it was Rin.

“E-excuseme?!” Umi’s cheeks instantly went up in flmaes.

“UMI-CHANAND ELI-CHAN HAVE A CHILD?!” Two individuals immediately barged through thedoors almost breaking it. Umi had wished it was just a strong wind, but sadly,her two childhood friends were more than she could handle right now. “UMI-CHAN,SINCE WHEN DID YOU AND ELI-CHAN DID ‘IT’?!”

“ENOUGH!”Umi wanted to crawl into a hole. She was tired; too tired to deal with thismess she didn’t cause. In the back of her mind she was planning the murder oftwo certain upperclassmen in very vivid details. “We haven’t done anythingshameless like that!”

“Hehe, weknow, we just wanted to tease you Umi-chan.” Honoka smiled playfully. Annoyed,Umi pulled on the other’s cheeks, earning a cry of help from Honoka to Kotorito save her from their childhood friend.

Eli tiltedher head in confusion through all the ruckus. Looking back at her drawing shesmiled to herself and stood up carrying the piece of to the stressed Umi.“Look, I drew this for you.” Touched by the little blonde’s gesture, Umi lookedat the drawing along with the others who were hovering above her shoulders.

“What theheck is it?” Maki bluntly commented at what she thought to be blobs of blue andyellow.

“Maki-chan,that’s mean nya.” Rin nudged the taller girl.

“What? Youtell me what it is then.” The red-head grumbled.

“It’sbunnies.” Eli responded. “The yellow one is me and the blue one is Umi.”

Umi smiledat the child version of her girlfriend. Even when in grown up, Eli hadn’t losther touch of innocence…sort of. But she had to admit, the smile of Eli’s childself was sometimes too bright for her to look at. It kind of reminded Umi ofwhen she first met Rin and Hanayo.

“She woulddefinitely be a cute daughter Umi-chan.” Kotori cooed. However, at this point,Umi was no longer listening to their teasing nonsense.

“I don’twant to be Umi’s daughter! I going to marry Umi!” Eli puffed out her cheekobviously showing she was upset. Everyone found it to be too adorable, yetlaughable at the same time because they couldn’t take her child form seriously.On the brink of tears, Eli latched onto Umi’s waist and refused to let go whilehiding her face from the other. Umi let out a chuckle and gently caressed Eli’shead.

“We bettercall the cops on Umi then.” Nico jokingly said while entering the room with agrin. She immediately regretted it when she received a glare from the saidperson.

“Well?Have you found a way to get her back?” The blue haired girl sternly asked theshorter girl.

“Don’tworry Umi-chan. The spell will only last for a couple more hours. But since shewon’t leave your side, you get to take her back with you to your dorm room.Just make sure to not do anything funny.”

“I won’t!”Anger and embarrassment colored Umi’s cheeks when the two suggested she woulddo such things to Eli when she was in such a state. “And don’t think I’llforget the punishment you two deserve for this!”

Umipinched the bridge of her nose and closed her textbooks. She had completelyforgotten that she had a test for her Potions class tomorrow and decided to dosome last-minute review to freshen up her mind. They had already had dinner andtaken a bath together. The thought of taking one with Eli when she’s back to normaldid make her blush for a good while though.

“Umi…” Atiny yawn escaped from Eli as she hugged the stuff bunny that was, ironically,given to Umi from Eli.

“I’msorry, are you tired Eli? I can turn off the lights and you can go to sleepfirst.”

“I want tosleep with you…” The words came out in a small mumble, almost like a plea whichmade it even harder for Umi to resist. Closing her textbooks, Umi decided tocall it a night and went to get ready for bed. Eli slipped into the covers withthe stuffed animal and smiled at the other. However, once the lights went out,it was like the girl completely changed. Immediately, Eli hid under the covers,terrified as if something was going to eat her alive.

“Eli? Areyou okay?” Umi had completely forgot about Eli’s fear of the dark and rushed tothe bed where the other was. Peeking out of the covers, Eli pulled on Umi’spajamas, gesturing the other to get in bed with her.

“You won’tleave me right Umi?” The older girl, for now at least, was taken aback from thequestion. Umi gave Eli a gentle smile and got in bed, pulling the other closeto her.

“No.Never.” Before she realized it herself, Umi was softly stroking the blonde’shair, carefully lulling the other to sleep. “I promise you Eli.” It wasn’t longbefore sleep took over Umi too.

xXx

The nextmorning, Umi felt a heavy weight laying on her chest. It wasn’t uncomfortable,but it was different from what she had felt last night. Opening her eyes, citrinecolored irises squinted at the ceiling and blinked to focus their surroundings.She slightly lifted her head and found Eli sleeping on top of her back to hernormal age and size, however, she was completely naked.  

Eli mumbled in her sleep and nuzzled more intoUmi’s warmth. A blush crept across Umi’s face when she realized this is thefirst time they have woken up together like this. Shameless thoughts enteredher mind as she tried to control her heated face. A stifled giggled escapedfrom Eli making the other realized that the blonde was awake the whole time.

“E-Eli?”

“Umi is sowarm~.” The older pulled Umi closer and took in her scent. “I want to stay likethis forever.”

“Eliplease get off me…” The blue haired girl wanted to burry herself in a hole. Shecould feel Eli’s chest pressing against hers and was having wild thoughts ofwhat could happen.

“Do youhate it?” Eli pouted. “Or do you like younger girls? You were fine with me likethis when I had the body of a child.

“That’snot-” The comfortable weight lifted off her chest leaving an empty feeling as areplacement. Her girlfriend sat at the edge of the bed wrapped up in the bedsheet and crossed her arms. “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” It was aridiculous question, there was no way Eli would be jealous over such a trivialthing. It’s not like she was with another girl; she was with Eli the wholetime.

“I’m sureyou found my younger self to be much cuter. In fact-”

“Mygirlfriend is cute regardless of what age and size she is. But I prefer you tobe back to normal because I can’t do…d-do couple things…with you when you’re athree-year-old…” Eli was stunned by Umi’s confession. It wasn’t everyday hergirlfriend would admit to liking the lovey-dovey things couples do.

“Really?”Eli look back at her red-faced girlfriend.

“Don’tmake me repeat myself twice.” Amber irises averted away from Eli’s eyes. “Andplease put some clothes on.”

“I loveyou Umi.” Eli brought her hand to Umi’s chin and gently tilted her chin up. Itwas hard to resist such a cute face.

“Justhurry up already…” Umi’s face was glowing brighter by the second. She couldhear her heart pound against her chest in her ears, but she didn’t want to turnaway.

“Are yousaying you don’t-” Eli’s sentence was cut off by a kiss from the younger girl,only to quickly end when Umi pulled away.

“How muchlonger are you going to stay naked? I don’t want you to catch a cold.” Umi bither lip to stop herself from kissing Eli again.

“One moretime.” Eli pleaded and pushed Umi back onto the bed.

“We’ll belate for class Eli!”

“Do youwant to make a little me instead?”

“THAT’SSHAMELESS!”

[sunflowerheartwriting]

Escape: 17

I’m not even sure anyone is still reading this or not. lol! I’m just posting updates mainly because i want to finish it and just in case someone will stumble upon it in the future! Don’t forget you can read previous chapters, here on FF.net!

Damn, this woman was going to kill me. First, she demands she comes with me and now she’s giving me the death stare, because we’re in a disagreement.

She directed me the back way to the Junk Yard, so I parked a few yards away so we wouldn’t be seen. The junk yard, lucky for us was not in the city but on the outskirts of the forest from which we came. It was placed on a huge stretch of land with hundreds, probably a thousand beat up, torn apart and whole cars. A building was centered in the middle of the junk pile, but it was still a small one story building. There were no gates, no cameras, just the cars and the wide open land that in one direction lead to the wild open countryside and the other lead to the dense forest.

It was strange for me to see such a low security place, but Levy informed me that in the country, nothing ever really gets stolen and people trust each other, unlike the people in the city.

Mistake number one was the owner leaving so early and mistake number two was him trusting people so easily. But that’s not why we’re bickering quietly behind a set bushes that kept us hidden. The towering trees helped keep us in the dark, but we were currently laying belly down on the ground peering through the leaves, trying to make a selection.

“Why not the yellow one?” she said pointing in the direction of an old Volkswagen Beetle that had an old rustic yellow paint on it. Even though it looked in good shape, I refuse to be acquainted with it.

“I’ll be damned if I get my big ass in that tiny thing! I’ll get stuck or something.” I spat eyeing the small car with disgust.

“But it’ll be perfect. No one would expect us to be in it.”

“I said no!” I demanded, watching her lips turn into a soft pout as she sighed in defeat.

“Fine, how about the black one, right there.” She said pointing to a sedan sized car that look almost brand new.

“What’s wrong with it? It looks new.”

“See that sticker on the windshield? It means it’s been towed, so nothing’s wrong with it, hopefully.”

Eyeing the car, I squinted my eyes to see what she was talking about, but all I could see was a white blob on the left side of the windshield. Damn, she either have good eyes or I’m getting old and need to go to the eye doctor.

“So, we finally agree on a car?” she asked eyeing the lot for more prospective vehicles.

“I guess so.”

“Alright! I’ll go get it.” She said jumping up, but I immediately snatched her right back down.

“Wait, wait. Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to stay here, I will get the car.” I said keeping a hold on her arm, so she wouldn’t bolt away.

“It’s like you said, you’re too big. I’m smaller, so it’ll be easier for me to maneuver the lot and not be seen.”

“Like hell, you’ll be spotted instantly with you hair.” I said grabbing a few locks. I was shocked by how soft it was and just by touching it, it released her signature smell of old paper, ink and vanilla.

I don’t understand how that’s possible when we’ve been on the run for a while now. She should smell like dirt, or maybe worse, me. I got so lost in thought that I didn’t realize I was twirling the strands in my fingers.

“Gajeel?”

“Um, sorry. It’s like I said, you’re not going.” I cleared my throat but continued to play with her hair.

“Then who’s going to drive the truck? I can’t even see over the steering wheel.”

She had a point and the last thing we need is her crashing the thing. “Fine but be careful and if you don’t meet up with me in 10 minutes I’m coming to find you.” I stated letting her go. She gave me nod and smiled before bolting up out of the bushes.

I watched as she sprinted through the cover of the trees and into the lot.

“Damn, she’s fast. I didn’t know she could run like that.”

I never took my eyes off her, but to be honest, it was hard to keep track of her with her moving so fast. All I could follow was the flash of blue that would pop up suddenly. A proud smile curled my lips as I knew I would not regret bringing her…at least not yet anyway.

Seeing the prized vehicle move with ease out of the lot, I took that as the signal to run back to the truck to wait for her.

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

“Told you I could do it.” She gloated as I got out the truck that was officially returned back to the old couple’s garage.

Not wanting to admit I was wrong I just nodded my head. “Yea, yea ok. No need to be so proud about stealing a car. I thought you were better than that Levy McGarden, or am I wrong?” I asked leaning forward, invading the woman space who leaned against the hood of the stolen car.

Her face scrunched up and she stood up straighter meeting my gaze head on, without backing down. I tried to hide the smile that threaten to break at the small woman feistiness but it was very tempting. She was very tempting.

“I may be helping you but that’s only because I’m going off my gut instincts and I know you’ll need my help. Also, I believe you didn’t kill those people.”

I was taken aback by her words and desperately wanted to prove her wrong. Prove to her that I’m indeed a bad person and she shouldn’t be anywhere near me, but I knew she was still afraid. Even though she stood strong, her bottom lip quivered and I desperately wanted to bite it.

Trapping her with my arms on both sides of her, I placed my hands on the hood of the car, making her back up into the grill.

“How do you know that I’m not a crazy murderer and that your gut instincts are wrong about me?”

“You would’ve killed me a long time ago, if that was the case.”

“What if I just kept you around for eye candy and to look after Rogue?”

“Eye candy? What are you talking about?” she asked confused but I could tell, she knew full well what I meant by the way her neck flushed and the heat traveling up to her ears.

“Oh, you know what I mean. I’m not a boob guy, I’m more of a-uh well you get the point.” I smiled evilly rubbing the outside of her thigh, slowly moving up to her behind.

She went stock still, with eyes as wide as a grapefruit and face as red as tomato. I gave her butt a slight squeeze and she let out a high pitch squeak as she slapped me.

“Don’t touch me! I know what you’re doing and it’s not gonna work.” She frowned shaking her hand. I knew it hurt, because that slapped nearly knock the taste out my mouth and stung like hell.

But that didn’t stop me, I have to keep her at a distance, had to make sure she was at least still afraid of me and won’t get too close. She was already nearly breaching my iron walls, and I promised I would never let another woman get past them. I have to make sure she stays on the edge around me, but still help me.

I can see in it her eyes, the way she desperately want to know everything. Those beautiful, curious golden brown eyes that begs to soak up every information it can get ahold of. But, in order to protect the innocent woman in front of me, I have to taint her idea of me and shake her trust. I think a little teasing will do the job.

“Damn, you nearly made me bite my tongue.” I said rubbing my jaw, knowing her slap will most likely leave a mark.

“Well, you deserve it, so will you move so we can get going?” she asked pushing her hands against my chest, trying to move me away from her but I only moved closer.

“What’s the matter? You don’t want me touching you?” I asked placing my hands on her hips, lifting her up and placing her on the hood. She fought me all the way, flinging her hands wildly and yelling at me to let her down. Pinning her hands behind her back with my hand, I used the other to play with her hair.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she hesitantly asked her breath picking up in pace.

“I can tell you like me, Levy.”

“I do not! You’re crazy!” she spat, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“Oh, really?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as inched my face closer to hers with a devilish smirk on my face. I smiled wider as I watched her eyes grow wide with fear and anticipation, unsure of what I would do. I felt her warm breath fan my face as I inched closer.

She was about to say something when I finally made my move. Dipping my head, I bit down onto the soft skin of her exposed shoulder, reveling in the surprised squeak she let out. I soothed it with light kisses, moving my mouth up to her neck. Kissing and tasting her skin, getting lost in the little gasps she would release every time I would nibble on her, leaving little red marks on her delicate skin.

My mind fogged with the sounds she was making, deterring me away from my original plan and letting my hormones get the better of me. I had to get a grip and fast before this woman drive me insane and I won’t be able to control myself. My control was already slipping, hanging on by a very thin rope.

Slowly, I pulled myself away looking at her dazed expression and flushed face. Damn, was she enticing and good to look at. My heart beat drummed in my ears and I tried desperately to catch my breath, trying not seem as rattled as she was. Clearing my throat, I backed away from her quickly composing myself. I want to say something, something to make her mad at me but I can’t. I already touched her without permission, I bet her view of me change. But why can’t I make it worse? I want her to despise me, hate me even, but….I can’t. If this was any other random woman I decided to kidnap, it’ll be different. I’ll even feel differently.

I watched as she slid off the hood of the car, her composure in check as she fixed her clothing.

“Can we go now? I rather us not be here longer than we have to.” She spoke as she walked to the passenger side door, opening it slowly. Her eyes were still in a daze but I could see hurt them and I immediately regret what I did.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I agreed as I walked to the driver side, getting in with a heavy chest.

“All that play talk and teasing, it was all fun and games just to rattle you up. I didn’t mean it. Well I did, but that’s beside the point.” I wanted to say exactly that but the words got stuck on my tongue, gluing themselves to the inside of my mouth as I got us back on the road.

“So where to now?” she asked her voice soft and calm.

“I have to go back to my apartment.”

Her head snapped towards me quickly, with big round confused and concerned eyes. “Are you stupid? The police has to be all over your place or at least watching it, to see if you come back.” She argued.

“I know that, but there’s something I need there and I’m hoping the police didn’t find it.”

Shaking her head in disagreement she continued, “How are you going to get in? You’re not that hard to miss.”

“I’m going to get go in for me.” I smiled looking at her shocked expression. “You told me to trust you and I’m going to trust you with this. If you fail, we both go to jail.”

“So, no pressure.” She scoffed crossing her arms over her chest, mulling the idea over. I can tell she was thinking of different possibilities and by the look of her face, none of them were working out. “Alright, I’ll do it, just tell me when and where to go.”

“That’s my girl. We’re going to do this at night, so we’re gonna have to camp out somewhere so I can give you the rundown of the plan.”

“And where is that going to be?”

“No idea, I was hoping you would think of something, since you know you’re way around.” I shrugged, knowing only the action parts of my plan not the whole where are we going sleep part.

The car was quiet for a few minutes as she thought of some options and that gave me time to think of what is to come tomorrow night. So when she clapped her hands together in exclamation at her decision it made me jump nearly causing me to swerve off the road.

“What? What is it?” I asked impatiently.

“Ok, here are our options. We can park somewhere and sleep in the car, but by the looks of you, I can tell you’ll need a lot more space. We could risk trying to get a motel or we can go to my bookstore.”

Thinking about our options, she was right about the first, my bones will kill me if I slept in this small car and taking the chance of a motel and someone spotting us was way too risky for my taste.

“I guess your book store is the only chance we have, but wouldn’t the police be watching that too?” I asked unsure of the later.

“I doubt it, my store has nothing to do with the investigation. I’m pretty sure they looked there and probably wrecked the place but I doubt they’ll use their man power watching over some small shop when they could me hunting down a mad man.” She smiled smugly that made the corners of my mouth almost tick up. Almost.

I guess that is our only option for now. “Ok, I guess we have no choice, so tell me where to go.”

Even though I know where it is, I didn’t want her knowing that. Before handing Rogue over to her, I made sure to research her properly. I, of course made one surprising discovery but I thought it best not tell her until she’s ready. The bookstore wasn’t a surprise, so whenever I had a long break, I would sneak over to her shop and watch her work and play with Rogue. They never saw me, I’m sure of it, but I’m positive Rogue knew I was always watching over him.

[benjamingarden]

Newbie Chicken Owners Beware

Newbie chicken owners, BEWARE! Raising chickens will be more than you bargained for. Be prepared for your life to go a little sideways…and to stay that way forever! It will change you in ways you couldn’t possibly anticipate. (And all for the better).

Some of my first babies, the day I brought them home.

They seem innocent enough, don’t they? Peeping cute chicks, small enough for several to fit in your hand. So small, in fact, who would suspect they have the power to change a human perception (and possibly even a way of life)?

Here’s how it happens. Newbie chicken owners, beware! It sneaks up on you and before you know it, life has changed. And there’s no turning back.

First We Worry

Although I brought my first chicks home several years ago (and raised many more since then), this past week I was thinking about those of you out there that are first time chicken mamas (or dads) and families. I clearly remember the first spring I brought those peeping bundles of sheer cuteness home. The doting over them, the watching them grow at amazing speeds (blink your eyes and they lose their baby fuzz and look like gangly teens, blink again, and they’re all full-grown) and of the fascination of discovering they all had their own personalities, totally unique, just like every other living thing on the planet. (That might seem like a given to you, but it was shocking to me!)

There were the times when I’d come in and look into the brooder at sleeping babies and panic that one was dead (she never was). Or times when I had to take a Q-tip and gently moisten and remove the blob of poop from a chick’s backside to keep her from ‘stopping up’ (and then dying). They have to be kept warm but not too warm. And not too cold, either. They were so fragile (it seemed) and so cute, they won my heart instantly.

They will do the same to you, trust me. I don’t think there’s a cure for this.

And Then We Wait

I remember, too, waiting and waiting for that first egg. Although the chicks grew at rates to rival any Guinness World Record, waiting those six months for an egg seemed excruciatingly long at the time.  A. VERY. LONG. TIME.

But then one day, out in the nest box, a tiny pinkish-brown egg-shaped gem. Smaller than the white, generic store eggs (they got bigger over time), this perfectly shaped lovely creamy brown egg made the wait worth it. I felt like throwing a party and inviting all the neighbors and friends.

“Look at what my darling Harriet laid in the nest box today!”

(Of course, I showed some restraint. No party. But I did take a picture of that miracle of the food that appeared in my backyard and sent it to everyone I knew. I do have my standards, after all!)

Isn’t this beautiful? (Yes, this is THE ONE)

Without Realizing it, We Change

Six months (and sometimes longer) of tending and raising and feeding and worrying and caring for a living creature to finally get a SMALL egg. And in that moment, we change. That egg represents countless hours, some cash, and a lot of waiting. It’s not the same thing as running down to the grocery store and buying eggs. This tending and waiting brings food into a new focus.

It’s precious.

For many people, raising backyard chickens is a way to take a tiny piece of control over their food. We’ve all seen too many images of those suffering hens, stuck in wire cages on top of each other, laying eggs without being able to move around. We’ve all heard scary reports about how commercial eggs are laced with arsenic or salmonella or other varieties of not-good-for-you-stuff (I had a friend who cracked open one store-bought egg and it was full of MOLD inside–ewww).

And frankly, many of us are tired of it.

One tiny step towards self-sufficiency starts with your own small flock of hens who will give you 2-6 eggs per week in their prime. Beautiful, glorious eggs in an amazing variety of colors and subtle variations of hues. Eggs that are better for you, too. Full of more beta carotene, vitamins A and E, and omega 3’s, while containing less cholesterol and saturated fat than their boring, white, generic store counterparts.

And they taste better too!

Although I could go on and on (and sometimes do, here’s 20 reasons why you should raise chickens. ) about the benefits of chicken ownership, this week, when I was thinking about you newbies out there, watching your cute babies grow and waiting for your first eggs, I was thinking about the miracle of the egg. BC (Before Chickens), eggs were a dime a dozen (well, maybe not that cheap, but you get the point). If I needed some, I went to the store and bought them. But having chickens completely spun me around. Each day, even now after years of this, when I collect the eggs out of the nests, I’m in awe of the preciousness of each egg.

It took raising a baby chick up for six months to get that first egg. And building a coop that almost killed me in the process (but that’s a story for another day). It’s doting and tending and feeding. And taking care of them when they’re sick. It’s monitoring the dog and chicken recess times so they’re not out together (and then building a fence to simplify everything). It’s shoveling pounds and pounds of poop, gathering fresh berries for hand-fed treats, making them mud puddles on hot days to cool off, and learning all about fly control.

Every single one of those eggs is precious. I can tell you for a fact, before I had chickens (as an adult), the preciousness of the common chicken egg never crossed my mind. Now it does, daily. Every time I pull a lovely pink or brown or blue or green or speckled egg from the nest box.

So for you first timers out there, beware. You’re getting more than your own food source in the backyard.  It’s gonna flip you up on your ear. In a good way, of course. If you’re like me, you’ll never look back. Raising chickens is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love it too.

PS If you’re new at this, here’s a post you might like: 30 Things You Should Know Before You Get Chickens. It will save you some head scratching and panic as you raise these little world-changers in your back yard.

Newbie Chicken Owners Beware was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

[benjamingarden]

Newbie Chicken Owners Beware

Newbie chicken owners, BEWARE! Raising chickens will be more than you bargained for. Be prepared for your life to go a little sideways…and to stay that way forever! It will change you in ways you couldn’t possibly anticipate. (And all for the better).

Some of my first babies, the day I brought them home.

They seem innocent enough, don’t they? Peeping cute chicks, small enough for several to fit in your hand. So small, in fact, who would suspect they have the power to change a human perception (and possibly even a way of life)?

Here’s how it happens. Newbie chicken owners, beware! It sneaks up on you and before you know it, life has changed. And there’s no turning back.

First We Worry

Although I brought my first chicks home several years ago (and raised many more since then), this past week I was thinking about those of you out there that are first time chicken mamas (or dads) and families. I clearly remember the first spring I brought those peeping bundles of sheer cuteness home. The doting over them, the watching them grow at amazing speeds (blink your eyes and they lose their baby fuzz and look like gangly teens, blink again, and they’re all full-grown) and of the fascination of discovering they all had their own personalities, totally unique, just like every other living thing on the planet. (That might seem like a given to you, but it was shocking to me!)

There were the times when I’d come in and look into the brooder at sleeping babies and panic that one was dead (she never was). Or times when I had to take a Q-tip and gently moisten and remove the blob of poop from a chick’s backside to keep her from ‘stopping up’ (and then dying). They have to be kept warm but not too warm. And not too cold, either. They were so fragile (it seemed) and so cute, they won my heart instantly.

They will do the same to you, trust me. I don’t think there’s a cure for this.

And Then We Wait

I remember, too, waiting and waiting for that first egg. Although the chicks grew at rates to rival any Guinness World Record, waiting those six months for an egg seemed excruciatingly long at the time.  A. VERY. LONG. TIME.

But then one day, out in the nest box, a tiny pinkish-brown egg-shaped gem. Smaller than the white, generic store eggs (they got bigger over time), this perfectly shaped lovely creamy brown egg made the wait worth it. I felt like throwing a party and inviting all the neighbors and friends.

“Look at what my darling Harriet laid in the nest box today!”

(Of course, I showed some restraint. No party. But I did take a picture of that miracle of the food that appeared in my backyard and sent it to everyone I knew. I do have my standards, after all!)

Isn’t this beautiful? (Yes, this is THE ONE)

Without Realizing it, We Change

Six months (and sometimes longer) of tending and raising and feeding and worrying and caring for a living creature to finally get a SMALL egg. And in that moment, we change. That egg represents countless hours, some cash, and a lot of waiting. It’s not the same thing as running down to the grocery store and buying eggs. This tending and waiting brings food into a new focus.

It’s precious.

For many people, raising backyard chickens is a way to take a tiny piece of control over their food. We’ve all seen too many images of those suffering hens, stuck in wire cages on top of each other, laying eggs without being able to move around. We’ve all heard scary reports about how commercial eggs are laced with arsenic or salmonella or other varieties of not-good-for-you-stuff (I had a friend who cracked open one store-bought egg and it was full of MOLD inside–ewww).

And frankly, many of us are tired of it.

One tiny step towards self-sufficiency starts with your own small flock of hens who will give you 2-6 eggs per week in their prime. Beautiful, glorious eggs in an amazing variety of colors and subtle variations of hues. Eggs that are better for you, too. Full of more beta carotene, vitamins A and E, and omega 3’s, while containing less cholesterol and saturated fat than their boring, white, generic store counterparts.

And they taste better too!

Although I could go on and on (and sometimes do, here’s 20 reasons why you should raise chickens. ) about the benefits of chicken ownership, this week, when I was thinking about you newbies out there, watching your cute babies grow and waiting for your first eggs, I was thinking about the miracle of the egg. BC (Before Chickens), eggs were a dime a dozen (well, maybe not that cheap, but you get the point). If I needed some, I went to the store and bought them. But having chickens completely spun me around. Each day, even now after years of this, when I collect the eggs out of the nests, I’m in awe of the preciousness of each egg.

It took raising a baby chick up for six months to get that first egg. And building a coop that almost killed me in the process (but that’s a story for another day). It’s doting and tending and feeding. And taking care of them when they’re sick. It’s monitoring the dog and chicken recess times so they’re not out together (and then building a fence to simplify everything). It’s shoveling pounds and pounds of poop, gathering fresh berries for hand-fed treats, making them mud puddles on hot days to cool off, and learning all about fly control.

Every single one of those eggs is precious. I can tell you for a fact, before I had chickens (as an adult), the preciousness of the common chicken egg never crossed my mind. Now it does, daily. Every time I pull a lovely pink or brown or blue or green or speckled egg from the nest box.

So for you first timers out there, beware. You’re getting more than your own food source in the backyard.  It’s gonna flip you up on your ear. In a good way, of course. If you’re like me, you’ll never look back. Raising chickens is one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna love it too.

PS If you’re new at this, here’s a post you might like: 30 Things You Should Know Before You Get Chickens. It will save you some head scratching and panic as you raise these little world-changers in your back yard.

Newbie Chicken Owners Beware was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)