#unfortunately i am not an unstoppable force

[subnautica-reviews]

She won’t let me through and I can’t use the propulasion cannon on her. I had to construct around her just to leave rhe moonpool.

I did get this cool picture though

[per-aspera-ad-aporia]

i started writing (fiction) again! after so long. it feels so nice. i have tiny inklings of stories, and i wish i knew how they ended—so i suppose i'll have to find out. (i hope i can.) (not now, however, as it is 1.20 am and tomorrow [today] is a working day.)

i also found a stupid (affectionate) short piece i wrote in 2020 (during lockdown, when i should have been writing my thesis) and damn, i used to have skills.

[raskies456]

in news that surprises no one who knows me, I think John Hunger is pretty cool

[javierpena-inatacvest]

Cramps

Summary: After going off of birth control, your periods have been a little more intense than you're used to. What starts out as a stressful morning between you and your husband, very quickly turns into a night that bodes very well for the both of you.

Paring: Husband Frankie Morales x Wife f!reader (no use of y/n)

Word Count: 5.4K on the dot (idk how we got here)

Warnings: SMUT (18+) PERIOD SEX, unprotected p in v sex (do better, but also they want a baby so), vaginal fingering, oral (f receiving, again, you're on your period but our pussy eating king Fransisco Morales is an unstoppable force of nature), creampie, praise kink, big fat nasty breeding kink (it's who I am now, I won't apologize for it), Frankie's got a NASTY mouth, Frankie is the best husband, reader is on her period/has period symptoms, talks about family planning/not being on birth control, use of nicknames (hermosa, quierda, cariño), reader has no physical descriptions besides that she can wear Frankie's clothes

A/N: Well... This was gonna be a drabble... and then it was just gonna be fluff.... and then it was gonna be just some implied smut... and now, we're here??? Idk, don't ask me 🥴 self indulgent bc I just finished my period (and my periods have been whack since stopping bc) and what better way to heal myself than imagining what Frankie would be like taking care of you 🥺 also pls be nice to me this is my first time writing Frankie and I'm v nervous EEK I hope you enjoy!!! sorry Javi bby, I still love u

Bitchy. 

You wished you had a better word to describe your mood for today, but truth be told, bitchy was by far the most accurate. 

You and Frankie were hoping to start trying for your first baby soon, and had recently gone off your birth control after your doctor had told you it may take a few months for your body to regulate itself before you had a better chance at getting pregnant. Your doctor had also  warned you about many of the symptoms and side effects that stopping the pill could have, one of those being becoming more aware of your emotions and mood swings throughout your cycle. That, you were prepared for. 

What you were not prepared for, was to feel like an absolute psychopath in the days leading up to your period. 

 Your cycle had  been wonky the past few months as your body began to sort itself out- you had a feeling your period was probably about to start soon, but hadn’t thought much about it, considering your terrible and grouchy mood had overshadowed it. You had tried your best to pull yourself together the past few days, chalking up your grumpiness to long hours at work, or just being in a weird funk, but today, you woke up with a fire in your gut, ready to fight, and poor Frankie was about to be your punching bag. 

Sweet Frankie had been nothing short of a saint when it came to just about anything, but dealing with your newly heightened emotions right before your period really should have earned him some sort of Presidential Medal of Bravery, considering that your newly discovered highs and lows while PMS-ing were just as frightening as any time he had spent during his time in the military. 

Unfortunately for your husband, despite his best efforts, he had been on your nerves all morning. Not because he was really doing anything wrong, but because the little things that you were normally so good about letting go, or the patience you frequently had seemed to have flown out the window, and you were convinced that if Frankie even breathed the wrong way, you were going to absolutely lose it. 

So when unsuspecting Frankie decided to ask you a simple request about after work plans, there was very little he could have done to prepare for your response. 

“Morning, Hermosa.” Frankie cooed, emerging into the kitchen, his hand rustling through his untamed, sleepy brown curls as he let out a yawn and a stretch, the slight softness of his stomach peeking out between his t-shirt and pajama pants as he raised his arms above his head before settling behind you. He wrapped himself around your waist, pressing a gentle kiss into your shoulder as you finished putting the last of your lunch in your bag for work, trying to force yourself to focus on his sweet good morning, rather than the empty bowl of cereal in the sink that had greeted you first thing when you woke up, already starting you off on the wrong foot in your already irritable mood. 

“Morning, babe.” You grinned, forcing yourself to forgo the annoyance hidden behind your smile as you pecked a quick kiss on Frankie’s lips before gathering the rest of your things for the day scattered across the kitchen table. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to make you breakfast this morning because I was running late, but there’s extra scrambled eggs on the stove if you want them. I’m really sorry, Frankie, I gotta head out, have a good day, I’ll see you later okay?” You sighed, slinging your work bag over your shoulder, your hands full of your coffee mug, water bottle and keys, your cluttered grip and running behind schedule only adding to your frustration. 

“All good, Querida, no worries. Hey, actually baby, before you leave,” He paused, setting down the coffee mug he was just about ready to take a sip of, as if a little lightbulb had just gone off in his brain, “do you mind picking up stuff to make that really good buffalo chicken dip for Benny’s tonight? I told ‘em we’d bring like, an appetizer or something, if that’s okay.” 

For Frankie’s sake, you couldn’t have been more thankful that you had your back turned to him, because if looks could kill, Frankie Morales would have been a dead man. 

Every rational part of your brain knew that even though his request perhaps wasn’t the best timing, stopping by the store and making dip to bring to Benny’s for game night really wasn’t that much time or effort out of your day. But today, it seemed like every part of your brain but the rational one seemed to be functioning properly, and the raging, irrational part might as well have heard that Frankie wanted you to prepare and cook a Thanksgiving meal for 74 after you got home from work. 

You took a deep breath, your grip tightening around the items in your hand, praying with every bone in your body that someway or another, you had misheard your husband. 

“Tonight? As in, like, today, after I get home from work?” You questioned, trying to do your best to keep your tone from sounding too condescending. 

“Yeah, we don’t have to be there until 7, I just don’t think I’m gonna have time to since I probably won’t be outta work until 6:30.” He shrugged nonchalantly, taking another swig of his coffee 

Oh yeah, you’d heard him right.  

You let out a deep sigh, even more over dramatic than you had intended it to be, arms crossed over your chest and stark frown spread across your face as you turned towards Frankie. 

“Oh, perfect! That’s a great thing for me to find out about at 7:45 A.M. the day of, Frank!” Your voice oozed with ferocious sarcasm, now slamming your things back down onto the table to run your hands over your face. “No, that’s great, because there’s nothing I wanted to do more than to come home and make buffalo chicken dip instead of all the other shit I needed to do today before we left! Amazing! Thank you!” 

At this point, you were almost positive that if your eyes rolled any further, they’d be in the back of your skull, letting out another angry huff as you shook your head at Frankie, who was looking absolutely petrified as he leaned back against the counter, eyes darting to the floor to avoid yours, running his hand over the wispy curls at the nape of his neck. Frankie began to stammer, trying to defend himself from your wrath. 

“Hermosa, I’m- I’m sorry? I know it’s last minute, but you normally make it every time we go over there, I just- I figured it’d be easy for you to do? You can get something else, or I can try to stop by the store really quick on the way home, I just might-” 

“Nope, you want buffalo chicken dip, apparently I’m making buffalo chicken dip!” You groaned, collecting everything back into your hands, swearing under your breath as you tried to balance everything in your grip. “Jesus, okay, I need to go to work, just- I don’t even know. I gotta go, Frankie.” 

“Querida, I-” Frankie pleaded, beginning to trail behind you as you made your way to the front door. 

“Frankie, whatever, it’s fine! I’ll make the stupid dip! I have to go to work, I’ll see you later.” You could feel the muscles in your jaw beginning to clench as you gritted your teeth, trying with everything in you to keep from exploding as you headed out of the house. Without even a kiss goodbye, you left Frankie in the doorway, watching you throw your things in the car and slam the door behind you as you drove down the driveway. 

But as soon as you were on the road and your house was out of view, you could instantly feel the tears beginning to well in your eyes, slowly streaming down your cheeks as you began to sob, wondering why you had ruined the morning over as stupid as an appetizer, and even worse, that you had been a complete asshole to your husband about it. 

You couldn’t have been more thankful that work had been quiet today- no meetings on the schedule, and no one coming to bother you, leaving you plenty of peace and quiet to continue sulking and brooding in your unpleasant mood. 

Right around lunch time, you found yourself eating alone in your office, wishing your lunch was about ten times saltier and chocolatier than it was, crying to yourself as you watched a video of a dog meeting its new human sibling for the first time.

Just as you were beginning to pack up the rest of your lunch and start back up with your work, you felt a terrible twinge in your lower stomach that had you just about keeled over in pain, followed by that all too familiar feeling in your underwear. 

Frantically scrambling, you reached into your bag to pull out a tampon, hurriedly shuffling to the nearest bathroom, only to reveal the murder scene equivalent as you pulled down your pants. 

Your period had come.  

In that moment, as much as you were dreading the pain and misery that was the next few days to come, you couldn’t also help but feel a slight sense of relief, realizing that you were in fact, not actually a crazy person for the way you were feeling, you were just PMS-ing out of your mind. You couldn’t also help but feel absolutely awful for your unjustified freak out at your husband this morning, your heart sinking with guilt as you made your way back to your desk, immediately grabbing your phone to text Frankie. 

“Hey… I’m so sorry about this morning. What you were asking me to do wasn’t a big deal at all and I totally freaked out on you. My period just started, I think that’s why I’ve been such a bitch this morning. I’m sorry, Frankie, I love you.💕 ” 

It was almost instantly after you hit send that the reply bubble popped up in your message, your heart pounding anxiously waiting for your husband’s reply. 

“It’s okay, I kind of had a feeling 😉 babe, you weren’t being a bitch- I should have talked to you about it sooner. Shitty timing on my part. I’m sorry. I love you too, Querida.” 

Before you could even respond, another message popped up below his first. 

“Don’t worry about going to the store or making anything tonight. I already texted Benny and told him we couldn’t come. We can spend the night in, just the two of us. I can pick up takeout on the way home if you want and we can pick a movie to watch.” 

You could feel your frustrated facade beginning to melt away as your lips shifted from a pursed frown to a small smirk reading Frankie’s text, your thumbs quickly tapping across the screen of your phone to reply. 

“Thank you. You’re the best.” 

“Of course. Hopefully none of your co-workers ask you to make buffalo chicken dip before you leave 😘” 

“Oh shut up, meanie.” 

“Just kidding. Have a good rest of your day, love you. 💙

“Love you too. 🤍” 

Although the rest of your day was nowhere near enjoyable, given the fact you felt like you were getting punched repeatedly in the uterus and your personality resembled that of Oscar the Grouch, you knew that your night in with Frankie was your light at the end of the tunnel, and only needed to make it a few more hours before there was at least some sweet relief finally headed your way. 

Despite the constant stabbing pain in your lower stomach and back, your drive home from work had you in much better spirits than your drive there, now not only having an explanation as to why you had felt like such a mess, but also knowing the rest of your night was going to be dedicated to nothing but cuddling up in your comfiest clothes and snuggling up next to Frankie on the couch. 

As you pulled down your street, you were surprised to see Frankie’s truck already parked in the driveway, wondering what he was doing at home almost an hour earlier than he had mentioned he would be this morning. Gathering all of your things out of the back of your car, you quietly entered your home, confusion scrunching in your brow as you called out for your husband. 

“Frankie? Babe, are you home?” 

Before you could even kick off your shoes or hang up your coat, Frankie had already appeared at the front door to greet you, boyish grin spread across his face as he grabbed your things out of your hand, carefully placing them on your entryway table before engulfing you in a bear hug, his broad arms wrapping around your body and pulling you closer into his chest. 

You could feel all the muscles in your body instantly relax as your face rested against the soft cotton of his t-shirt, soaking in the familiar woody and savory scent of him, letting yourself be consumed by every ounce of his embrace. 

“Hi Hermosa.” Frankie cooed, pressing a soft kiss against your temple, running his hands up and down your back as you looked up at his sweet brown eyes shining down at you. 

“What are you doing home so early? I mean, not that I’m mad about it at all, I just thought you said that you had to work until 6:30 and-” 

“Told my boss I had to head out early for a family emergency.” Frankie smirked, laughing at you playfully rolling your eyes from his so-called excuse. 

“Last time I checked, your wife being a grump because she’s bleeding out of her cooch doesn’t classify as a family emergency, Fransisco.” You teased, giving him a little shove, making the two of you giggle in tandem. 

“Eh, close enough. I’m really sorry about this morning, querida. I was a dick for not talking to you about plans beforehand and just assuming you could go do it. It wasn’t fair of me.” 

“It’s okay, Frankie. What you were asking for wasn’t a big deal and I made it one because I’ve been a psycho all day. I’m sorry, too.” 

“Well,” Frankie paused, pressing another kiss onto your cheek, the width of his palm gently cradling your jaw as you stared up at him and his sympathetic smile, “number one, you are not a psycho. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable you must feel right now, so even if you were, I wouldn’t blame you one bit. Number two,” he paused again, shifting his kiss from your cheek to your lips, his thumb delicately swiping across your skin, “you’re my wife and I love you more than anything, and if I can take a little time off to help make you feel better, it’s the least I can do. So, why don’t you go change into something comfortable, and when you get back down here, I will have pizza and ice cream, whatever movie you wanna watch, and a back rub ready for you, okay?”   

“Okay. Thank you, Frankie. God, you’re the best.” You grinned, pressing up on your tiptoes to let your mouth meet Frankie’s, the plush pout of his bottom lip swiping across yours, lingering just long enough to let the butterflies in your stomach begin to swirl, heat creeping through your cheeks in the tenderness of the moment.

“Of course, cariño. Te amo. Now go get changed.” With one last peck on his lips, you wiggled out of Frankie’s grasp to make your way up the stairs, grinning to see that your husband had already set out your favorite of his oversized sweatshirts and sweatpants, neatly folded on the bed for you to grab, quickly shuffling out of your uncomfortable work attire and exchanging it for Frankie’s clothes, your smile growing even wider at the feeling of perpetually being wrapped up in the essence of him. 

As you made your way back downstairs to meet Frankie, you found your heart skipping a beat again to see that the better part of the living room had been turned into a cozy sanctuary- lights dim and candles lit, both parts of your couch squished together, filled with every pillow and blanket you owned, and Frankie sitting in the middle, giant box of pizza, tub of ice cream and your handsome husband waiting for you. 

As if your emotions hadn’t already taken you on a wild roller coaster of a ride today, the adorable sight in front of you had you on the verge of tears again, wiping the wetness pooling in your eyes with the back of Frankie’s sweatshirt sleeve drooping off your arm before crawling into the blanket fort he had constructed for the two of you. 

“Frankie… You didn’t have to do this.” You sniffled, curling up next to Frankie as he draped a blanket over your lap and his arm over your shoulder, passing you a plate with 2 large pieces of pizza. 

“It’s the least I could do. I put on Hercules for us to watch, but if you wanna-” 

Before you could let him finish the rest of his sentence, you were running your hand across the scratchy stubble of his cheek, pulling his face closer to yours as you planted a kiss on his lips, feeling your smiles melt into one another's as your mouths met. “That sounds perfect. God, how’d I get so lucky?” 

“I could say the same thing, mi amor. You ready to start the movie?” 

“Only if you also pass me that tub of Ben and Jerry’s to go with my pizza.” 

“I think I can make that happen.” 

About half way through the movie, pizza and tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, your and Frankie’s bodies were tangled together in a sea of limbs and blankets, contently snuggled up with one another as Frankie’s fingers traced lazy circles on your back and shoulder as you laid against his chest. 

“You doin’ okay, querida? Need anything?” He cooed, his soft voice dancing in your ear. As if it weren’t enough that you had already been through the extreme highs and lows of almost every feeling under the sun today, the one you hadn’t been until this very moment was insatiably horny. While the mood swings you had mentally prepared yourself for with your new period symptoms, the constant other kind of ache between your legs you had not, and feeling the low rasp of Frankie’s words tickling your neck had been just enough to flip the switch to make you desperately needy. 

Letting your leg slide over Frankie’s lap, you pushed yourself up to straddle his hips, running your hands through the dark curls of his thick, brown hair, and down his broad chest, your fists bunching the worn fabric of his shirt in your hands as your mouths became a mess of tangled tongues and teeth. 

“I need- fuck- I need you, Frankie, please.” You pleaded between muffled moans, his tongue swiping in the parted space where your lips melted together as one, instinctively beginning to grind your hips into his, feeling the bulge in his sweatpants starting to grow beneath you. 

“Fuck- You sure, baby?” Frankie rasped, reactively bucking up into you, making you whine as his hands dug into your hips, guiding you as you swirled over the tented fabric of his bottom half rubbing against your covered core. 

“Please. Please, Frankie.” You were all but whimpering at this point, nodding frantically in approval as Frankie used the grasp on your hips to guide you onto your back, making you cock your head in confusion as Frankie scampered to the other side of the couch, back turned to you as he reached over the ledge, pulling out a thick, black towel with a smug grin on his face. “Did you seriously have a towel ready incase I wanted to have sex?” You snorted, shaking your head at Frankie, now crawling back to you, caging your body under his with an electric kiss as he shimmied the towel underneath you. 

“Maybe.” Frankie smirked, breaking from your kiss to let his lips trail down your body, his hands toying with the edge of his sweatshirt covering your body as he pushed it up your stomach and chest, helping you to shimmy it over your head, leaving your top half exposed. He gently palmed at your breasts, taking each pebbled nipple in his mouth, sucking and flicking at the buds with his tongue before letting his kisses travel down the soft skin of your stomach and waistband of your sweatpants. The clothes on your bottom half soon joined your sweatshirt in a crumpled pile as Frankie nestled himself between your legs, gently nudging your hips to let your thighs part, revealing your pussy, slick and shiny for him with your juices. 

Even though Frankie would eat you out for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a late night snack, you couldn’t help but feel guilty that he still found himself between your legs during your time of the month, considering any other man probably would have scoffed at just the thought of going down on you on your period. 

But, then again, Frankie Morales wasn’t just any other man. 

“Frankie, baby, you know you don’t- Oh fuck!” You gasped, cut off in surprise as Frankie’s tongue licked a long, broad strip across your cunt, making you shudder in pleasure as his head perked up, revealing the devilish grin spread between his cheeks watching your chest already heave in heavy, shaky breaths. 

“Oh I know I don’t have to, sweet girl. But I want to. Relax, baby, lemme take care of you.” 

Before you could agree, protest, or anything in between, Frankie was back between your legs, arms wrapped around your thighs as they draped over his broad shoulders, digging his fingertips into the plush softness of your skin, dragging his tongue through your folds with the exact grace and precision that he knew made you fall apart in seconds. 

With flat, firm presses of his mouth latched against your clit, you could already feel your bottom half writhing under him, the perfect pressure of his tongue dancing around your sensitive bundle of nerves making you moan in pleasure. As your head dipped back, falling into the couch pillow behind you, your hand shot down, fingers burying themselves in the wild curls of Frankie’s hair, tugging at the thick ends for any sort of release as he worked relentlessly at your aching cunt. 

“Fuck, Frankie, oh fuck- Fuck, baby, you feel so good.” You whined, your praise only intensifying the way your husband drank every ounce of you up, two thick fingers now gently pressing inside your heat, curled deliciously as they rocked in and out of your entrance, nudging against your g-spot. 

Frankie had spent enough time worshiping the altar that was your pussy to know exactly how to make you crumble beneath him, leaving you chanting his name like a prayer as his lips latched around your clit, ferociously sucking as his fingers prodded at the soft, spongy spot that made your cunt begin to clench and heat in your belly pool. 

“That’s it, Hermosa. I know you’re close, baby girl. Let me feel you, mi amor. I’ve got you.” Frankie groaned, his words humming deep in his chest, placing chaste kisses on the inside of your thighs before drinking you up like a man starved, adding a third finger into your heat, the added fullness and stretch, combined with Frankie’s relentless pace, enough to have the tingle that had been building at the base of your spine now washing through every inch of your body. Your orgasm began to crash through you, your pussy fluttering as pleasure radiated in your veins, making you cry out Frankie’s name over and over. 

Frankie worked persistently through your high, only pulling back after making sure that you had cum again, sitting back on his haunches as he admired the blissed out and ragged mess you had become, your pussy slick and swollen as your chest rose and fell in wrecked inhales and exhales, trying to compose yourself from the Frankie and fucked you senseless with just his tongue. 

Wiping the slick and juices glistening in his mustache with the back of his hand, Frankie tugged the sweatshirt covering his own body over his head, followed by his pants and boxers, freeing his painfully hard cock as it slapped against his stomach, his tip red and leaking with precum as his broad body loomed over yours, sucking and nipping at your pulse point as you whimpered his name. 

“Frankie, holy fuck.” 

“Such a good girl for me, querida. You still want me to fuck you, baby?” He mewled, the metallic and tangy taste of you still lingering on his tongue as he kissed you, laughing to himself at the way you found yourself frantically nodding your head to tell him yes before your words could. 

“Jesus Christ, yes. Fuck, please Frankie, I need to feel you.” 

Reaching down to stroke himself, he lined his cock up with your entrance, easily sliding into your heat and brushing his tip against your cervix, taking a moment to let you adjust to his fullness. The whine you let out as Frankie filled every inch of you was nothing short of ragged, digging your nails into the skin of his broad back as he ever so slowly began to thrust in and out of you, dragging his length against the slick of your cunt. 

“Oh fuck me- Fuck, you hear how wet you are for me, sweet girl? This what you needed, baby? To fill up that pretty little pussy of yours?” Frankie groaned, letting his forehead rest against yours, his sweaty curls now starting to stick to his skin as he pounded into you, rutting his hips at a faster and faster pace. 

“It’s all for you, Frankie- Oh shit- only for you.” You moaned, your fingers wrapping around the width of his biceps, flexing deliciously as he hovered over you, sucking you in to a long, deep kiss, fucking into you over and over. 

Even with the years between you and the ring on your finger, the possessive part of Frankie’s brain would never get over how the primal and all consuming feeling of knowing you were his, forever, your words shooting straight to his dick as a low groan rumbled in his chest, silently cursing to himself through gritted teeth, watching you fall apart below him. 

Readjusting himself, Frankie sat back on his heels, hooking his arm under one of your legs to drape it over his shoulder, the new angle stretching you out in a way that had you seeing stars as Frankie rammed into your g-spot and began thumbing at your clit, still swollen and sensitive from your first orgasm. You could already feel the heat beginning to bloom in your belly once again, your leg beginning to tremble hoisted over Frankie’s shoulder as he dug into the meat of your thigh with a bruising intensity. 

Just like he would never get over the fact of knowing you were his, Frankie would never get over watching you begin to crumble under his touch, taking the time to memorize every twitch and twinge your body made as you came closer and closer to your end, always savoring in the moaning mess you’d become as you fell apart around him. 

“Fuck, Frankie, Fuck, oh my god- I’m close, baby.” You were all but rambling at this point, your brain barley stringing together coherent sentences as you felt your cunt beginning to clench around his cock, the lewd noises of your moans, wetness and skin slapping together as your hips met filling the room at a borderline pornagraphic rate. 

“Meirda, I’m not gonna last much longer, hermosa. Fuck, where do you want me, baby?” Frankie growled through gritted teeth, his eyes locking on yours and telling him everything he needed to know without you saying a word. 

“Inside. Fuck, please Frankie, I want you to cum inside me.” 

Your confirmation was all it took to flip the switch in Frankie that sent him absolutely feral, the thought of being able to actually knock you up now that you weren’t on birth control anymore, giving you a baby, proving another way to the world to mark you as his? The thought alone was enough to have him bracing every bone in his body to keep him from cuming right then and there. 

“Fuck me. You want me to fill you up, querida? Fuck me full of you? Fuck a baby into you? That's what you want, huh?” Frankie moaned, grunting with each thrust of his hips, his rhythm becoming more frantic and shaky as he felt your pussy begin to flutter around him, pressing the pads of his fingers against your clit, swirling them in frantic circles to make sure you came before he did. 

“Fuck, yes. I need you too, holy fuck- wanna make you a daddy, Fransisco.” 

You could feel the tightly wound knot in your core starting to snap, your legs trembling and breath shaking as Frankie fucked into you, finding yourself on the verge of collapse- but not before Frankie’s filthy mouth got the last word in. 

“Jesus, fuck- Fuck, hermosa. That’s what you want, pretty girl? I swear, I’m gonna fuck myself so deep into you it’ll fucking take. Get you fucking pregnant tonight.” 

That was all it took to have you orgasm come crashing through you, every inch of your body radiating with pleasure as you came, crying out Frankie’s name as you gushed around him, your eyes practically rolling to the back of your head, your mind going blank and numb, the only thing grounding you were the incoherent ramblings of your husband as he followed suit behind you. 

“Fuck, that’s it, baby. Fuck, I’m gonna cum too, fuck, fuck-ahhhhhh.” With one final thrust, Frankie could feel himself spilling against your walls, coating you with his spend as his cock pulsed, making sure he milked himself of every last drop deep inside your cunt before even thinking about pulling out. Moving your leg, Frankie slumped into you, splaying himself across your body as your chests rose and fell in sync, laying in silence as you let your breathing steady, coming back down to Earth from your high. 

With a shallow grunt, Frankie carefully pulled his softening cock out of your heat, leaning back to admire the mess he had made between your legs, his cum dripping down the inside of your thighs and pussy glistening with the mixture of your arousal. You let out a soft hiss at the loss of Frankie’s fullness inside you, only to quickly be replaced by a gasp as he buried his two fingers back into your cunt.  

“Gotta make sure every last drop stays in there, hermosa. Gonna keep you full of me all night, baby.” He mewled, carefully gathering his spend and pushing it deep inside you, making you whimper as he slowly pulsed his fingers back and forth, pulling away his hand to lean back into your body, engulfing you with an electric kiss. 

“Holy fuck, fuck me. Jesus, Frankie.” You laughed to yourself, your head dipping back on the pillow as you buried your face in your hands, at a loss for words at how euphoric you now felt in your post colital bliss. 

“Wow, again, already? Gotta give me a few after that querida.” He smirked, making you roll your eyes at his joke as you playfully swatted at him, making him lean in to pepper your body with kisses, leaving you squealing and squirming in delight. 

“You are absolutely ridiculous, Fransisco Morales. If you keep fucking me like that, then yeah, absolutley.” 

“If I keep fucking you like this, I have a very hopeful feeling that next month, we’ll have something else to care about besides period cramps.”

“I swear to god, if one of my cravings ends up being buffalo chicken dip once I’m pregnant, I’m gonna be pissed.”

Taglist:

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[gallusrostromegalus]

So how much are you willing to talk about Ulquiorra?

I will talk so much about him. There are so many things wrong with that man, but to make a brief list of his most notable features:

He's dumb as hell.

I say that with tremendous sympathetic affection. Ulquiorra barely thinks. It's easy for him to do nothing and go nowhere. He eats chocolate in the middle of the night in the dark. When he gets access to a garden, he often just stands around in it. He's often waiting for things to happen.

He just LOOKS smart compared to nearly everyone else in the fic because he doesn't have much to say, so he's not constantly opening his mouth to jam his foot down it.

Consequently, Ulquiorra starts off having little to no initiative of his own. Stuff just happens to him. Some of that is because he is colossally depressed, but he's depressed because the idea that he has control over his circumstances has straight up not occured to him.

The first person he meets that shows him that "You can just do whatever you want, forever" and the boundless joy it is to be a creature of free will is, unfortunately, Aizen. And Aizen left off the key corollary "-EVERYONE is allowed to do whatever they want, forever. We are all equal in God's dead, empty eye sockets."

So Ulquiorra wanders around trying out this "doing stuff" thing without any concept of ethics.

I realize I am infantilizing this character, but I am doing so in a twilight zone "hey, wouldn't it be fucked up to watch a fully anatomically functional person who is able to speak and blow stuff up with his mind go through the emotional development steps of a toddler?", because I think that's a fun high-concept premise to explore with him. Yeah, what if a toddler could speak articulately and also destroy you? How would he act? How does he feel, learning to have feelings?

It'd probably suck for him and everyone around him, and make him very easy to manipulate, for one thing.

So I don't think Ulquiorra is evil, because evil takes intent. He is dangerous to be in the general proximity of, though

Like a horse

lose

in a hospital!

I love that sketch as much as the next person but if an IRL horse got loose in a hospital it would be bedlam, but the horse would be mostly confused and probably willing to follow around the first person who looked like they knew what they were doing.

You know, like how Ulquiorra follows Aizen around because that's the first guy he's met who THINKS he knows what he's doing, and is good at convincing others he knows what he's doing!

So Ulquiorra's entire first character arc is being exposed to more and more people and realizing he does have control over his life, and that he can take actions, and that those actions have consequences.

Like being emotionally devastated by a teenage girl because he was an asshole to her and she's willing to scream at him about it.

Hm.

Consequences hurt.

He lives through the Las Noches arc, and decides to follow his own star!

He follows it right through a portal that was not meant for him and now he's sort of trapped in somewhere he's really, really, really, really, REALLY not supposed to be.

But it's a beautiful place

And nobody is forcing him to do anything.

And for a long time, he just stands out in the garden, waiting for something.

But then

Ulquiorra experiences a novel pair of emotions that he's recently learned from his new...

Orihime is too mad at him for him to call her a friend.

-but he did learn the names and therefore the experience of two new emotions from her: boredom, and it's natural remedy: curiosity.

So Ulquiorra's second character arc is him learning how to be himself without anyone telling him who he is and what he ought to be.

He's travelling up Maslow's hierarchy with the inscrutable but unstoppable instinctual drive of a salmon returning to its spawning ground.

This has lead to an important discovery on my part: Ulquiorra is terrific for comedy because he is the ULTIMATE straight man to everyone else's nonsense, because he's immune to nearly all nonsense.

He doesn't have societal taboos to be hung up on, nor any sense of what is "normal", so the sole thing he geta hung up on is a lack of internal consistency in others, meaning he can slip between straight man to the absurdist at the drop of a single scathing observation. Yet, he retains a sort of understated dignity that compels people to try to earn his respect.

Hence, I'm having fun turning him loose on the most absurd, internally inconsistent and frankly, insane batch of characters in the series:

The Royal Guard.

:)

[seraphimaa]

Feral things I want to do with Haarlep

We’re both just little creatures together. Us FR

Warnings: NSFW

- i wanna pull the tail. I wanna bite it. I wanna hear him hiss like a big cat and then I want him to punish me for it, using it to choke me and hold me in place while he fucks me into oblivion.

“Hey! Stop that! You’re such a little brat, you know that? No, no, no. You’re not going anywhere, my little mouse. You pulled the poor cats tail, now you get over his knee and apologise nicely otherwise he might just never let you cum again.” Giggles. “That’s what I thought. Good girl.”

- I wanna just touch and watch his wings. The way they flutter when he feels good or the way he bats them subconsciously in the air when he’s annoyed. Do they twitch when he cums? Does he bathe like a little bird, flapping them in the water?

“Yes. Just like that, my angel. I love it when you smile up at me like that-fuck. You were just made for this weren’t you? Sucking me so nicely” *flap flap flap*

Or

*aggressive splashing* “what? Why are you laughing at me?”

- Let us just be an unstoppable force of chaos. A grand ball full of tight collared elites? Drunken Kobold camp jamming on instruments? A peaceful village tavern? You can bet we’re going, just to make a scene and have a party of our own. I just wanna be loud, and embarrassing and totally socially unacceptable to polite society with him. We’d have so much fun.

“Come, my darling. It is positively time for us to grace the dance floor. Let’s show these sticks in the mud how to really dance.”

- I want to live like Bacchus and his one true Maenad. I want to exist in a state of frenzy, divine madness and ecstasy at his side. Always under the influence, even if just his venom alone. I want to run through the woods, feral and dangerous to all who cross us. Only we will decide whether we meet you with lust or chase.

“Look, my light. A little stray soul come to watch from behind the trees. Shall we invite to join our worship? How unfortunate, it seems you have met us on a day that my goddess is not feeling generous. I would run.”

- I want to bite him and I want him to bite me back. I want him to pin me down and swear I must be of the same nature. His little succubus. There was no other way to explain it.

“Tell me the truth. Tell me you lie. You are no mortal. You are made of the same beast I am, aren’t you? Always hungry for more. Always willing and needy for me. Such a little brat. My evil little monster. My little animal. My little soul kin. My succubus.”

- I want to fuck my way through the monster manual with him. There’s a whole world out there and I want to explore it all with him. He’d give me things no other could. The god of my small deaths as he feeds even my most depraved and closeted fantasies. There so much I want to explore through his help or form.

“You can take it. I’ve got you. Focus on my venom in your veins. Oh shit, does that feel good? Gods, you look so good like that. Eyes rolled back, tongue hanging out. I told you it would fit. You in there, my heart? Focus on my voice. There you are. God you’re just the perfect little monster tamer aren’t you? I was worried, for a slit second, he was going to smash us into pieces but aren’t you glad you trusted me? Doesn’t it feel so good to have something so big inside? Here, kiss me again, it’ll make it easier when he starts moving.”

- I want him to molt like a little lizard. I want to scratch my nails over his abs and arms. I want to help to peel layers of old skin away as he sighs with relief, squirming under my touch.

“Mmm, to the left. Yeah. Just like that. Think you can scratch the base of my tail, too? You’re so kind to me, however will I repay you?”

I actually had other stuff to finish but I the Haarlep in my brain made me write this word vomit instead. Enjoy? Idk. I don’t even know what this is. Help me. He doesn’t let me eat or sleep.

Miscellaneous Haarlep thoughts™️?

[dadbastiandisaster]

Fuck it

🕸️🕷️✨Claude headcanons✨🕷️🕸️

Yes i know his characterisation is utter shit and yes i am taking a marie kondo approach to the s2 canon

Sebastian had at least been around humans before his contract, so he at least had a passing idea of how to Human. Claude had not. Only interacted with humans ever if murder counts.

He’s actually short-sighted (someone on a wattpad book Black Butler Headcanons I can’t find for the life of me because wattpad utterly fucked up their search system suggested this was because his true form has eight eyes and I love it. I think the person who wrote it was called something like ‘The King Fisher’, so if that sounds familiar, say and I’ll tag you)

He has very little concept of social norms. Alois will be like ‘men are supposed to wear trousers and women are supposed to wear skirts >:(‘ and claude will be like

They’re both coming at the ‘gender is bullshit’ thing from two very different places

Sebastian is over-achieving as far as Claude’s concerned. He’s got three other Demons working for him and he’s going to make the most of it, there is no benefit from doing more than he has to.

He has mixed feeling about Alois. On the one hand he does know that Alois’ situation is not great and has even grown somewhat fond of him (platonically i swear to fuck some people in this fandom) but on the other there are few people on the planet less equipped to help than him.

Jokes aside, I imagine it’s a he/they/it situation, but it’s the Victorian era so Alois was like ‘well you’re probably not a woman so unfortunately that leaves you with one other option’ and Claude was like ‘that’s fine, how long could these contract things last anyway?’

His life pre-contract was basically just surviving in Hell, which has left him with extensive knowledge of nature and no sense of identity

Hates people, loves animals!

Took the contract more out of curiosity than anything else. He fucked around and found out!

Most of Alois and his contract is ‘if you have no idea what you’re supposed to be doing and I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing who’s driving this ship?’

The answer is Hannah obviously

My interpretation of the Hannah-Claude situation is that Claude (somehow) knows that Hannah killed Alois’ brother and that chasing after Sebastian is totally pointless, but if he tells Alois, Hannah will kill him (I hc Hannah as a very old, very powerful Demon). Hannah obviously doesn’t want Alois to find out the truth, so she has to sabotage quite a lot of Alois’ plans (which Claude has to carry out, so it makes his life a lot harder, which is Not A Vibe as far as Claude’s concerned)

Plus Hannah is like ‘actually you’re doing a shit job with Alois’ (true) ‘and if I had this contract instead of you he would be fine’ (not true)

Sort of mid-level Demon. Like he’s in pretty good health (aside from the crappy eyesight) but he’s not especially skilled in combat. He’s just sort of meh.

He likes knitting, crocheting, sewing, lace-making etc because it’s similar to web-building and he finds it relaxing

Sebastian fucking hates him after the Ciel kidnapping incident but the hatred is entirely one-sided. Claude does not give a singular shit about Sebastian, just thinks he’s (as the kids say) a bit of a try-hard

Knows for a Fact that Alois is a lot smarter than he lets on. Doesn’t rat him out on it though, he doesn’t get paid extra to be a snitch, and he’d probably do the same if the situation allowed

I’m torn between ‘totally non-judgemental’ and ‘is a massive bitch’, so I think it’s both. Totally non-judgemental is he’s ambivalent to/likes you, if he dislikes you he is judging you on everything you do right down to how you butter your toast and will chat shit behind your back

Even he didn’t like the previous Earl Trancy

Really not a fan of physical affection

I think if he and Aunt Frances met, it would be a case of unstoppable force (Aunt Frances knowing that Claude is doing 10000 things wrong and cutting so many corners he now has a circle) vs immovable object (Claude doesn’t care). The Sebastian - Aunt Frances dynamic heavily relies on Sebastian caring about her opinion and Claude simply does not have that problem.

Unlike Sebastian, he sometimes sleeps.

I don’t think he’s aro/ace he’s just never really had much of a chance to explore any of that,

Anyway, I will stop for now, this is already very long. I might make ones for Hannah and the Triplets because I will simply never stop talking about the kuro demons

[trrickytickle]

Save the Citizen 🔥🐹

(@itslittlegiggle enabler tendencies bestie)

A/N: don't come @ me for not finishing requests!!! I made this in 10mins half ironically!

Maj saves the citizen- by playing dirty. (Lee!Warren Peace, Ler!Magenta)

The Sky High auditorium timer blared. The monotone animatronic yelping of "Save us!" faded. The tweet of Coach Boomer's whistle echoed through the hall. And now, for the most important "the"- the team consisting only of sidekicks lost.

Team members in Save the Citizen were always a hot commodity- it was always a good idea to have the heroes (and Layla) by your side. Otherwise it'd result in the dull death of an animatronic dummy, and a violent and loud superpowered slap in the hubris. The course was set up differently- a more casual, kitten-from-a-tree scenario of a burning building replaced the buzzsaw blades (in part of Sky High's new curriculum), but the spirit remained the same.

"Magenta. Zack. You two won by a hair. You were this close." Coach Boomer sighed. "I'll throw you two a bone, tell you what . Three on one, and Stronghold over here's gonna join you." He signaled to Will, who scooched away from Warren to join them. Zach gave him a fist-bump in response. "Alrighty, moving on, round two. Ya know the drill. Three minutes to save the citizen and obliterate the villain. Three on one. Peace, you're the villain."

Warren nodded, cracking his knuckles. Flames shot out of his hands as the other team flinched, and when Boomer blew the whistle (ear-splittingly loudly) - they were off.

The faux citizen popped up, hollering from the tippy top of a tall building. "Save me! Save me!" Warren lit it on fire in response. The embers spread from the bottom floor up, up, up to the top, and he stood like an unstoppable force in front of an immovable object.

"We're toast. Literally!" Zach said. "Do something!"

"What, turn into a guinea pig?"

"Look, my power is super awesome, but- I-I don't think I'd need to glow for- Let's just let Will do all the work, okay?"

Will was way ahead of them, but stuck on a fight of equal footing with Warren. He was flying over, up and down every single fireball, which were shot by Warren in speedy succession. It seemed like a draw- the citizen would die, engulfed with many others inside this burning building- but wait.

"I have a plan. Stand back." Maj deadpanned, choking back a blush. Zack did not, however, stand back.

"Am I involved in this plan? You need- you need a little Zack Atta-"

"Here goes." In a split-second poof, gone was the purple haired girl- and in her place, a speckled guinea pig. With dextrous speed, Maj scooted over the floorboards, keeping her beady little eyes on the prize- Warren Peace. Zack ran after her despite her insistence on him standing back, but at this present moment, it didn't matter.

Mid-dodge of Will's super strength punch, Maj lunged - diving into Warren's shirt and sniffing and snivelling around. The battle paused. Flames turned to smoke and a scowl turned to a titter. The titter turned to a choke and the choke a giggle and the giggle- full-blown, loud, ridiculous laughter.

"hhH-HAhaaha-hhaHAA-uhH-HAH-hhNgHsss-STOP!" The guinea pig kept gliding along his stomach, giving Will a chance to signal Zach into the dark, tall building and save the citizen, whose monotone pleas were being drowned out by Warren's bellowing but restrained laughter. Unfortunately for him- he had to be kept busy somehow.

"Looooo-ser." Maj's high-pitched guinea pig voice chirped.

"HnngHH-ghetout!"

"Not till we win." she squeaked. Warren did too, through an unexpected bout of high pitched laughter.

"Are you getting this, Zack?" she retorted, still burrowing her snout into Warren's stomach, running circles inside his shirt.

"Have been for the past few minutes."

"Ihi-HI'LL get you back for this you-ddHAHA-HA!"

"FIFTEEN SECONDS!" Boomer's voice reverberated, and in those seconds, Will flew up, grabbed Zack and the mannequin and landed on his feet. The whistle blew again, and everything stopped- including Maj and her little guinea pig feet.

"You three! Your citizen has been SAVED!"

The team gave each other high-fives. Maj glared at Warren smugly, wiggling her fingers.

She couldn't believe that it worked, and she'd never let him live it down.

[heckinconfusedparade]

You asked. You shall receive:

Since I haven't really seen this ever, what about Knuckles finally allowing himself to feel and to cry over something. He tries to hide it, thinking the rest of them will be ashamed of him or look down on him......but instead, the rest of the Wachowskis work together to just be there for him and show him they're not ashamed of him or disappointed in him, and it's okay to feel and to cry, they love him and they always will, and nothing will change that. Ever.

Grief Sucks

It never mattered how many years have passed, or if Knuckles has a new family who loves and takes care of him. Grief always finds a way to come swinging when you least expect it.

Knuckles loves his new family dearly, but.. he still misses his tribe. His father. He misses playing with the teenage Echidnas and training to become the strongest he can be.

If it weren’t for Maddie making it clear in the beginning that Knuckles is allowed to miss the family he had before, he would feel even more terrible longing for that life he had before. He still feels guilty. He has all he could want now, why does he feel like he needs more?

Knuckles knows it isn’t his fault, and Sonic knows it isn’t his fault what happened that fateful day where they lost everything. They’ve stopped blaming each other.

But still.. now Knuckles finds himself in his room in his basement clutching the small leafy headpiece his father had given him before leaving for war. It no longer fits him, and it hasn’t for years. Knuckles sniffles and holds it to his chest. He hates to cry. He’s supposed to be the strong warrior who never falters. An unmoving unstoppable force of extraterrestrial nature. Unfortunately his feelings are not something he can stop. Knuckles softly begins to cry. He doesn’t dare let out his inner pain and turmoil, because he doesn’t want to risk his brothers hearing him.

Turns out, it’s not his brothers he had to worry about. He hears scratching at the door on the top of the stairs. He hears the door open and Tom yelling that Ozzy is coming down. Ozzy charges down the steps to Knuckles. He jumps up onto his bed and lays down, putting his head in Knuckles’ lap. Ozzy looks at him and let’s out a sigh. Knuckles smiles a little and pets the dog “..you’d never judge me, Oz.” Knuckles and Ozzy have formed a really good bond. Ozzy suddenly lifts his head and starts giving Knuckles some puppy kisses, licking away his tears.

The sweetness of the gesture makes him cry a little more. Then he hears some shuffling beside him. He turns his head and Tails is there. “Knuckles..?” Tails has never seen his big brother cry before. Tails’ ears and tails droop. Knuckles quickly wipes away his tears “hello, Tails.” Tails hops up onto the bed next to Knuckles “are you crying?” He asks. Knuckles shakes his head and hides his face because his emotions are betraying him. Tails thinks for a moment and leaves.

Knuckles sighs. Tails is about to become a tattle tails. The entire family shows up and they’re all immediately showing concern.

Maddie sits next to Knuckles and puts her arm around him, pulling him close “what’s wrong, baby..?” Knuckles mumbles in response. Sonic now understands “…you miss them, don’t you…?” Knuckles nods slowly.

Knuckles looks at his parents “I am sorry you have to see me like this.” Tom gives him a confused look “why are you sorry? Knuckles.. it’s ok to cry. It’s always ok.”

Knuckles’ vision gets cloudy again as his eyes fill with tears “but.. but I’m supposed to be strong. I have to carry on the legacy of my tribe, and make my father proud. I know what you told me.. but it still feels wrong.”

Maddie leans her cheek on her boys head “Knuckles, it isn’t wrong. You had a family before us. They were taken away unfairly. You’re allowed to mourn them. Being strong isn’t about keeping everything in. Being strong is facing these challenges with honesty and not bottling it up. And you don’t have to be strong alone anymore.”

Knuckles takes her words in. He clings to her and let’s everything out. His family gathers around him to hug him, Ozzy included.

Everyone cries with him, even Sonic.

“Sonic, I have a question.” Knuckles gives his brother a serious look.

“What’s up?” Sonic asks.

“How did you ever stop hurting?” Knuckles asks, taking Sonic off guard. Sonic looks at him shocked. He smiles and shrugs “I never stopped hurting.”

“Then how come I’ve never seen you cry?” Knuckles asks.

Sonic crosses his arms “I’m not a very emotional guy. I don’t cry a lot.”

Tails pipes up “you cry in your sleep sometimes.” Sonic has a moment of realization “wait, is that why I sometimes wake up to you in my bed??” Tails nods. Sonic laughs “I though I was slick!”

Tom and Maddie take the time to remind them that they don’t have to cry alone. But if they want privacy, that’s ok. “We love you boys no matter what, and we will continue to love you until the end of time. Got that?” Tom asks. The boys nod.

The trio feels so lucky. They won the orphan lottery!

Knuckles and Sonic plan to go back to their home planet to visit where they grew up. They’re gonna start healing together.

[onedreamaday]

Once again, this is all @im-pure's fault, based on this post. They enable my angsty side so much.

They are the worst enabler /jk

I had this song on repeat while writing.

Can be seen as a follow-up to this, which takes place a few months later.

This was supposed to be an introspective kind of fic, but Liz sorta bullied her way into being here. Then it turned into Bax and Liz being catty in-laws. (but not really, they just mostly snark at each other- it's out of love)

TW 's apply here: character death and mentions of depression/depressive episodes. Remarks of implied alcoholism (Liz accuses, Baxter denies, but nothing is confirmed.)

Sidenote: Liiy didn't bother changing her last name when she and Bax married. One, she kinda doesn't see the point in changing her last name. Two, she found out how much of a hassle it was to do if she did change it and wanted nothing to do with that paperwork.

Elizabeth Last, Baxter is starting to truly realize, is an unstoppable force of nature when she wants to be. Case in point, she has apparently made it her life's mission to show up unannounced whenever she's in town.

Since she doing some type of job near Prima Vista, that means he's been seeing her a distressing amount.

Liz does, at least, knock first before she opens the door, using a key Lily gave her years ago. The light spills into the room and it's do bright, Baxter involuntarily lets out a curse. It's way too early for her presence. He checks the time on his phone, which reads 10:54 am.

There's the smell of food and even better, coffee. A peace offering, then. He'll take it. And mentally prepares of whatever uncomfortable topic she feels she needs to talk to him about.

He groans inwardly. Lily, he imagines, would find all of his hilarious. She was always far more patient with her sister's antics than he could ever be.

“Really? All you've been doing is drinking?”

Ah, an old topic it is then.

Baxter rubs eyes and sighs. “I didn't drink that much,” he says.

Liz hums. “That bottle of whiskey is suspiciously empty.” The tone is light, but the accusation heavy. It sets Baxter on edge.

“It was over the course of a few days,” he replies bitingly. “After work, and never excessively.”

“Oh great, you're back working. I was worried you'd be living on the couch, growing mold.” Liz places the food on the table. A veggie omelet with toast. Simple but decent.

“Unfortunately, my rent and bills don't care if my wife is gone and my depression refuses to go away.” He surprises himself with how flippant he can say that, and going by the look on his sister-in-law's face, perhaps she has the same thought.

There’s silence as he eats, and he notices Liz's eyes keep drifting to a stack of papers.

Or rather, the letters he's written to Lily since her passing. They help, sometimes. On the days where the grief is all-encompassing. Where he watches old videos on her phone just to hear her voice. There’s a voicemail on his phone from her on his phone he refuses to delete.

“You can read them,” He tells her. “It's not as if there anything particularly embarrassing written there.”

He flashes a grin; it feels weak on his face. “There's nothing to blackmail me with, I'm afraid.”

Liz hands lingers, as if she's unsure before she takes the topmost letter. “Other than that monstrosity dyed hair you had when you first moved to Sunset Bird.”

“Lily found it charming.”

“She had terrible taste. How she liked it, I'll never know.”

“I might add, she wished I never stopped dyeing it that way.” He finishes eating and takes the plate to the sink. There’s not much to wash, but Baxter cleans the dishes anymore, moreso to give him something to do.

There’s silence between them, but it’s not tense or heavy, despite their banter earlier. Eventually: “You have the most flowery writing I’ve ever read.” Liz pauses, her eyes softens as she reads. “She fell in love with such a dork.” She returns the letter back to the stack, but doesn’t reach for another. “She would talk about you a lot, after that summer.”

That surprises Baxter; the way she acted after they met in the restaurant three years ago, he suspected she wanted nothing to do with him. “I honestly thought she hated me for a while there.”

Liz smiles. “Lillian Last actually hate anyone? I highly doubt that. If she was willing to give Shiloh and that Jeremy guy a second chance, she definitely was gonna give you one. She was just being dramatic. She’s good at that.” A pause. “Was good at that. Sorry.”

Baxter nods his head. He understands completely. There are days when he thinks of Lily in the present tense; sometimes he expects her to come walking through the door, talking excitedly about her job. He misses those moments when they cooked together (or attempted to, in Lily’s case. She was a bit of a disaster in the kitchen.)

He misses the floral perfume she would wear, the way she would laugh when he swept her up into an unprompted dance, her snuggling up next to him even if it was absolutely sweltering from the summer night.

Liz leaves with a well-meaning snark, telling him she will beat his door down if anyone hasn't heard from him in a few days. Entirely unnecessary, but he understands all the same, and it's well deserved. His attempt to go no contact had everyone thinking the worst and the last thing he wants to do is put his friends and family through all the stress again.

Baxter looks at his stack of letters; his fingers itching to write another is too hard to ignore.

Giving into temptation, he sits and writes, pouring out feelings he can't get himself to say out loud. He finishes it with

"In the afterlife, or wherever you are, do you miss me as much as I miss you?'

[leftsidebonfire]

Wild Blue Yonder

Part 1

Part 2

The thought of a dungeon inside the Germa castle was terrifying. That was where all the bad people went. Killers and monsters. But, Unaek was going to be eight soon. And that meant that she could be brave.

Tag List: @supernaturallyginger @momokujo @chopperwithouthishat @cherryblossom-chopper @saiyanblood2 @dexterrbydesign @i-am-an-atomic-bomb

(If you want to be tagged in Part 2 when it comes please let me know!)

The Germa fortress was a modern marvel. The castle was vast, expansive, and impressive. Solid stone, rainwashed into a faded gray. Then again, the sky around it always seemed to be gray, as if the clouds above recognized the sort of people kept inside. Gray, all around, trapped there like an eye inside a hurricane. Calm, deadly, quiet, always wondering when the hammer will fall next. It was a marvel in the same way a volcano's eruption would be. The way the magma creeps along, deadly and unyielding, taking everything in its path with it.

Judge Vinsmoke, the leader, hardly an excuse to be called a leader, though. Leaders through history were revered as nobles, freedom fighters, historic legends like Gol D. Roger himself. Judge Vinsmoke deserved no such titles, but he, unfortunately, was a leader all the same. Standing at just over 8 feet tall, the menacing leader oversaw the kingdom with an iron fist. And what a death grip he held upon it.

Inside the castle that reeked of death, evil, lies, and cover ups, were also hundreds of workers. An army, at that. Responsible for warmongering and many unprovoked attacks. The evil deeds of the Vinsmoke army could not be overstated, from less-than-moral experimentation on children, to the lives they claimed with their wrath in search of technology useful enough to command an unstoppable army.

Two admirals for the Vinsmoke army, Agnar and Solveig Seveer, were among the top of the rankings. Which put them just below Judge Vinsmoke himself in terms of unjust cruelty.

Agnar and Solveig were some of the very few outsiders among the soldiers, joining their forces to test experiments on the legendary Devil Fruits. This, in hindsight, was likely the only reason they conceived and were allowed to birth a child under the reach of the Germa kingdom.

Born merely seven months after the Vinsmoke princes— Seven months to the day, at that— Unaek Seveer, firstborn daughter to the Seveer family, came into the world and regretted it ever since. A pointed-ear phenomenon like her parents, an abnormality, some sort of marvel to the world. Only six months after her birth, the anomaly was fed a pureed Devil Fruit with the expectations of her parents and the entire Germa Kingdom riding on the hope that this child would be a natural super-soldier, having been equipped with her Devil Fruit nearly her whole life.

The disappointment was immeasurable the day the child made it clear she wanted nothing to do with fighting, and Agnar left a sizable hole in the wall beside her head, and a very palm-shaped red mark across her cheek.

Instead of taking an interest in fighting, using her natural-born ability to fight, the girl chose gardening of all damn things. The Devil Fruit's power allowed her to make any plant sprout from anywhere within sight, in an array of plants even from ancient books, any fruit or vegetable imaginable, and vines that moved like extra arms, and the toddling child sat there sniffing her goddamn roses with the stupidest smile on her face. To say the Seveers were disappointed was an understatement.

Despite daily training, in which Agnar, her father, and Solveig, her mother, traded off in a fighting ring, the girl would never lift a hand to them.

Agnar would recall to Judge, one night, over a strong glass of whiskey, how he had even gotten a strike with a wooden rod to the girl's back, and she was never once inclined to fight back. She'd crawled away, weak and scared, and wouldn't even stop crying long enough to take a strike with her own staff. Something about "I can't hurt you, dad," or some other pathetic excuse. To which Judge deeply commiserated.

Eventually, Unaek began to seek out any way to escape from daily training. She'd take the opportunity whenever her parents were experimenting to wander the halls. It was a big, expansive castle. Very lonely and easy to get lost in, and yet somehow, the three Vinsmoke princes always managed to find her. Niji in particular always found great pleasure in dragging Unaek across the floor by her little pigtail braids, and Yonji would step on her fingers until she bloomed flowers for them, at which point they would destroy every last petal while Unaek wept.

It went without saying that Unaek did everything in her power to stay far, far away from the Vinsmoke brothers. She would take her walks at different times every day, hoping to explore around alone when the boys were doing their training. She could at least guarantee they would be away for at least an hour. Luckily for her, the Germa guards seemed wholly uninterested in her, so she rarely had to duck away from them when she saw their cowls walking down the halls.

Unaek tiptoed around all the same, even when she was alone. She was afraid of making too much noise. Sometimes it would remind her parents that she existed, and they would come into her room to scream at her. She would never forget the time she was found playing with her vines, making them tickle up her fingers and arms, and her parents took her bed for a week because she was giggling too loud and disturbed them. So she had become all too keen to enjoy things quietly— whenever the world had something for her to enjoy. And currently, her enjoyment came from being left alone to wander the halls.

They were well decorated, if not pretty bare. Dark black banners with the symbol for 66. Long, dark hallway runners in a deep purple. The carpet certainly helped Unaek walk quieter. Her feet padded along the floor, toe then heel. It was how she learned to walk quietly. Step with her toes and gently roll the rest of her foot to the floor. It was slow work, but she could creep along silently, which was what she needed to do when her parents were asleep and she wanted to go outside.

Today's adventure was a creepy-looking door. She had passed it in her travels before, but was always too scared of it. Tall, wooden, braced with black metal. And naturally, it was labeled Dungeon. To the little gardener, the thought of a dungeon was terrifying. That was where all the bad people went. Killers and monsters. But, she was going to be eight soon. And that meant that she could be brave.

She hovered there at the door for a long time, creeping closer as if the door itself was going to jump out and bite her. She was really curious about it, especially because it seemed unlikely any of the Vinsmoke princes would come down there to torment her. And her parents would probably be happier if she was stuck down there anyway…

It was a long debate outside of the door, that was only quickly forced into an answer when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Not taking any chances to run into the workers or any of the Vinsmokes, the decision was made for her and she quickly ran inside, prying open the big door and shutting it behind her, leaving her in pitch darkness. Her heart was thumping in her chest, doing little flips as she felt it trembling against her ribs. It didn't feel like it was beating right. She squinted to try and see, waiting for a hazy outline in the dark to come into focus. Her back was against the cold wooden door. It felt smooth and yet it prickled along her delicate back like every splinter of wood was dotting out along every single freckle she had.

Unaek did not hate Spiders or bugs, but yet she couldn't help but imagine being swarmed by them, smart and scary evil ones, as big as her fist, crawling up her. She shivered. The dungeon was so cold and she was only at the top steps. Her breathing was shallow. It really was terrifying down here. She understood why murderers, thieves, and evil people were sent to the dungeon. This was an awful place.

Just as her heart had stopped racing, she froze up again as she heard a noise. It was shallow, hard to pick up, and sounded like it was echoing off the stone walls and coming from everywhere and nowhere at once…. Someone was in the dungeon. It sounded like wailing. A ghost? Was it a ghost? An old sailor haunting the castle??

The cries continued, but they sounded less terrifying the more she was frozen to the spot listening. Complete with hiccups and sobs, like the crier was out of breath and still wailing. She couldn't turn around and go back out now. She'd risk getting caught snooping in the castle and her parents would surely beat her again. Her hands and knuckles still stung from that. And what if someone was hurt? Even if it was a ghost, it sure sounded sad, and the sad sobs were going right through her like a knife. She wanted to help. She wanted to help so badly.

Slowly, she started to creep down the long staircase as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She held the wall for support, delicate little fingertips brushing the cold, slimy stone. She sang to herself, mumbling beneath her breath. "When I sing, I'm not afraid, when I sing, I can be brave…" whispering it over and over in the quiet as she approached the sound of crying. It no longer sounded like it was coming from all around, but a designated point now. Just around the bend of a long staircase.

One missed step caused her to stumble for a moment, and her feet slipped on the stone. She felt her heart leap into her throat and a tingle of adrenaline zap up her body like electricity, starting at her toes and going all the way up as her heart pounded so loudly that she could hear it in her ears. The crying stopped immediately as soon as she caught herself, and there was a long moment where it felt like she and the crier were both holding their breath. She didn't dare to move a muscle. She held the wall, toes curling in her shoes in fear as she tried to keep from slipping. She kept her breathing shallow despite wanting to yelp in fear.

"Dad?" The voice asked, a very soft, timid voice that sounded raw from wailing and sobbing. "Dad? Did you come to let me out?" The voice whimpered. Unaek opened her mouth for a moment and closed it again. Should she respond?

"Where did you go? Are you there?" The voice asked, sounding wavery and on the verge of tears from the lack of response. "Please don't go!! Please don't go, I promise I'll be strong!!" The voice rose in pitch, screaming out in full desperation. The voice hitched and the cries and sniffles resumed.

Unaek took her chances. Her heart felt like it was shattering as she stood there on the steps, coming down from her adrenaline. Her voice sounded so loud in the quiet. So loud, and yet so scared and timid. A little airy voice, like as if a scared mouse could speak.

"N-No, I'm not your dad… I'm— I'm Unaek." She started down the stairs again, faster this time. Trying to get to the bottom to see who she was speaking with. The crying stopped again. Clearly the person was not expecting that answer. Or that voice.

"Unaek?" He repeated. "I—I'm Sanji," he replied, and Unaek finally made it within the eyeline of the cage. It was a tall cage, but not very large. About half the size of the room she lived in, so it wasn't much. There was a bed and a shelf and a toilet, but it was lacking pretty much everything else. Unaek pattered her way up to it.

There was a boy inside. At least, she thought it was a boy. He was small, a little shorter than her. His one eye was covered in messy blond hair, but the other was blue and shone with big, hot tears. But that was all she could see of him. His face was encased in Iron, like a strange sort of helmet that locked around his head. It covered his entire face except for a small opening for his eyes, no place for his mouth. Unaek was horrified at it. It looked painful, heavy, and scary. Just taking one look at it made her feel like she couldn't breathe.

She tiptoed up to the cage with the thick metal bars, still cautious. People in dungeons were supposed to be bad people. But this was a kid. What could he have done wrong? As she got closer, she noticed his eyes, especially the one that was showing without his bangs. His eyebrow twirled upward on the outside.

They took a long moment to look at each other, Sanji in his yellow t-shirt and bandana around his neck, and Unaek in a pink dress with a little white lace trim. Her ginger-blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail shed done herself, so it was uneven with a few strands of hair framing around her face and poking out at odd angles from her amateur hairstyling ability. Her freckles almost made her tan, but she was very fair skinned, and green eyes met his blue with immense curiosity as she finally approached him.

"I like your eyebrows."

"Thanks, I— I like your ears."

He pointed to her ears. The Vinsmoke princes took great pleasure in pulling on them, yanking them away from her head, leaning in close to scream into them until she squealed and cried. She had never been told they were nice before. Her cheeks turned pink.

"You really think so?" She brought her hands to her ears like she had to feel them to make sure he was telling the truth. They were normal ears, though the tops curled up into a point instead of a normal rounded ear. Naturally, she had gained the cruel nickname of "Sharp-Ear" from her little tormentors.

Sanji nodded his head. "Yeah, I do. I really do think so. You mean it about my eyebrows?" He seemed so hesitant to even accept that little compliment just like she had been.

"Yeah, I do. It reminds me of… people I don't like, though." She added softly. She watched Sanji's reaction, like he was scared all over again at the mention.

"I don't like them either."

He reached up to touch his curled eyebrow like he was ashamed of it, and Unaek felt bad.

"Why are you in a cage? I thought the dungeon was for evil people, but you're just a kid." Her voice was laced with concern and it seemed to surprise Sanji, like he truly couldn't believe anyone cared enough to ask. Let alone to hold such sadness in their eyes when they saw him. Everyone else had looked at him with contempt at best, or at least disinterest.

Sanji retreated into himself, his hands curled in against his chest like he was taking a protective pose. "They said I'm weak… that they wanted to pretend I was never born." His voice sounded so frail, and Unaek's eyes welled up with little tears.

"Who would say that??" She gasped, appalled and horrified at how quickly the boy seemed to retreat away in fear.

"My dad…"

It made sense now, why he was crying for his father. His father… who locked him in here. Her shoulders dropped as she looked at him. She wished she could see his face, not that terrible iron mask.

"Why do you gotta wear that thing?" She asked him, reaching her hand through the bars to touch the side of it. It was cold, smooth metal, but it was an awful thing.

Sanji shrugged. His one eye just focused on her. He didn't answer because he couldn't answer that question. It was something he asked himself every day. Waking up in a dirty, dusty basement, cold, locked up in this iron prison. Suffocating him. Giving him a chill down his spine and a sort of deep-seated freeze in his bones that never really went away.

Unaek felt her tiny heart aching for him. She pushed both arms through the slots of the cage and held them out. Sanji jumped back, almost as though he was afraid she'd try to grab him and harm him, but she didn't.

"Come closer, I want to hug you." Unaek said quietly. Sanji just stared in complete confusion. He hadn't been hugged since… he could feel his throat tightening— since his mother had passed. The worst day of his life, and that's saying a lot for a small boy of only eight years old, who'd already spent weeks in a dirty basement alone.

He timidly stepped closer until he was within arms reach and Unaek gently wrapped her arms around his chest, ducking in. The bars of the cage were too close to really snuggle her head against him, but it didn't stop her from trying, leaning to one side to try and press in as much as she could, feeling Sanji do the same as he tucked his little arms beneath the bars to wrap around her waist. He had only been hugged for a matter of seconds before his tears welled up in his eyes and he had begun to cry. He was so alone. So alone and so scared, and he hadn't been touched by anyone else in weeks. Or hugged in months. Nobody had ever given him that luxury. A hug. From a friend.

She felt him cry into her shoulder and she simply rubbed his back. She never received hugs either. The only thing she ever was able to hug was one little brown bear she'd been given just after her birth. It hadn't even been a gift from her mother, but from Sora Vinsmoke, Judge's wife, who had been thrilled to hear of another baby in the castle. The only reason it was not immediately thrown out was because it would be seen as disrespectful.

After a long hug, made slightly awkward by metal cage bars in the way, Unaek pulled back just enough to see Sanji. His metal mask was cold and uncomfortable in the hug but she didn't dare tell him that. It was so clear they both needed a hug that the presence of the bulky, horrid mask in the way hardly mattered. They both needed a hug more than anything else in the world right now. Two very lonely, sad children who were dealt a terrible hand.

"It's so dark and sad in this dungeon… do you like flowers?" She batted her eyes at him. Sanji looked puzzled for a moment, head tilted to one side like a dog.

"I do like flowers. I think they're pretty."

"I can make flowers," Unaek boasted proudly, cupping her hands. "I've got a special power that allows me to grow them however I want!"

"Oooh… can you make… uhh… daisies?" He asked, saying the first flower he could think of.

"I can!" She grinned. She closed her eyes, brows and nose scrunched up with focus. There was a long moment where Sanji was even holding his breath right along with her. Her palms tingled a little, and in the matter of seconds, a small green bud appeared between her palms, flowering open into a yellow and white daisy. It was like watching the growth process of a daisy all in the span of a few moments.

"Woaaaaah!" Sanji gasped in awe, reaching to take the flower and feel the little petals. "How did you do that?!"

Unaek shrugged. "I dunno, I just… can. I really like plants. And I like animals too! Mom says flowers are for pussies… I dunno what that means, but she glares at me when she says it." She sunk her shoulders.

"I think they're pretty." Sanji promised, putting his hand on top of hers where she held the bars. He twisted his foot into the ground for a moment before shyly glancing up, like he was terrified to ask her a question. "Are you gonna come back to visit me?"

Unaek felt her jaw fall a little that he even had to ask. "Of course! I'd love to come back down here. You're the only one in this castle who talks to me. The Princes always hunt me down and pull on my ears. Or they rip up my flowers when I make them. You're the first person who even likes them." She said sadly.

Sanji relaxed when she confirmed that she would return.

"Good… I don't have anyone to talk to either. You're the first person who was nice to me, too. The Princes are my brothers… They're always so mean to me." Sanji frowned, his blue eyes sad and wet-looking. Like a kicked puppy, Unaek thought. It was heartbreaking.

Unaek offered Sanji a shy little smile. "Here… Here's something to brighten up the place." She closed her eyes again, nose scrunched up, lips pursed in the ultimate face of concentration. As her eyes were closed and palms tingled hot, vines crept up the back wall of Sanji's cell, lining the perimeter with a soft mossy green that soon popped with little yellow flowers. The dreary, dusty, smelly basement suddenly seemed a little bit brighter. A little less lonesome. And the smell of the flowers counteracts the mildew smell.

"I gotta get going… Mom is gonna notice that I'm gone soon…" Unaek sighed sadly, looking dejected that she'd have to leave so soon.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" Sanji hastily asked, almost sounding panicky about being left alone. "I'm gonna be a cook one day… I can cook you something!"

Unaek smiled a big, gap-toothed grin. "Yeah!! I'll try to! I can usually slip away for a while when my parents are at the lab. Or if they're sleeping really soundly at night, I tiptoe out and go up to the roof to be outside. I'll come back as much as I can!" She promised him excitedly.

She couldn't see it, but she knew Sanji was smiling by the way his eye crinkled up and brightened. His cheeks were round and full instead of sullen, clearly grinning even beneath that prison of a mask. He looked around at all the little flowers that had bloomed around him, making his desolate jail cell feel a little bit more friendly.

"I-Its been really wonderful meeting you, Unaek." Sanji held her hands and looked up at her like she was an angel coming down to save her from the torment of having to live through this nightmare. The hope in his eyes made her heart ache.

"You too, Sanji." She smiled back, squeezing his hands. She grabbed him in for another hug, which Sanji stiffly accepted, not even all that sure what to do with a hug. But it was clear he needed it by the way he clutched at her dress.

She never even saw the boy's face that day. That little disgraced Germa Prince failure. But Unaek determined there and then that she finally had a friend. After seven— nearly eight— lonely years, Unaek finally had what she was looking for. A living, breathing friend. Her first friend in this cruel world. She didn't want to break the hug, but she did, not wanting to risk being found. (Though as the days went on, she would grow to be more bold in her adventures around the castle.)

And knowing her little secret, the fact that she had someone to talk to, someone kind, well— that made the horrid, sleepless night that followed a little more worth it. As she made daisies in her palms and remembered the joy in Sanji's eyes when she gave it to him.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

The Bond Between Us ~ 87

THE BOND BETWEEN US MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 1,730ish

Summary: The truth about the darkness you've been feeling comes to light.

Notes: I am going to be honest, I liked The Rise of Skywalker as a movie. I know that others didn't though. I have changed some things in it (like I have with the other movies) to fit my story better. I hope that you all enjoy the changes. You'll be able to see one of the major changes by the end of the chapter.

The nightmares were terrorizing you. The nightmares started not long after Luke’s death and the Resistance’s escape almost a year ago. It was the Emperor: his laughs, the Force lightning, his voice. The Emperor was haunting you and you weren’t able to stop it. You would wake up with your heart beating out of your chest and sweat lining your skin. You weren’t ever able to fall back asleep after waking up. Due to that, you would often find yourself deep in the jungle of Ajan Kloss, where the Resistance had found a place to hide. You meditated and practiced working with your two sabers.

Rey would often find you out there and join you. Both you and Leia had teamed up to continue her training, each of you having something different to teach her. Recently, you were having her work on connecting with the Jedi of the past. You had felt the need for her to work on that, while also working on yourself. Besides your connection with Obi-Wan, neither of you was having much success.

Your goal tonight though was to sleep through the whole night. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. You fell asleep and found yourself in a dark and dreary place. There were glass cases of strange-looking bodies tangled up together. Curious, you slowly walked closer. You were surprised to see that there were multiple bodies of Snoke, who was now dead. 

You walked over to the next glass case to see multiple copies of a different body. A younger man, who looked more normal than Snoke. Before you could move to the next one, a familiar dark laugh echoed through the area. You turned around, searching for where the sound was coming from.

“You are too late,” Palpatine’s rough voice bounced off the walls. “I will rise and be more powerful than before. No one, not even you—the supposed Chosen One—can stop me.”

You gasped as you sat up quickly, waking up. You hid your face in your hands as you tried to catch your breath. Feeling a presence in the room, you summoned your saber to your hand, ignited it, and pointed it at the figure. Luke gave you an 'are you serious’, the yellow blade going through his Force ghost formed.

“Luke,” you breathed out, turning off your weapon. “What are you doing here?”

“You’re having dreams about Palpatine, aren’t you?” He said. You looked away from him. Luke sighed as he sat down on your bed. “Cloning.”

“What?” You looked at your nephew.

“That’s how he survived. For years, Palpatine studied cloning as a means of possible immortality. He had figured out how his consciousness could survive and transfer to another body, making him almost unstoppable. We obviously never knew this.”

“The Clones… That’s why he had the Clone army made. He was using it as a test…”

“He had multiple clones ready for him… When Vader—when my father threw the Emperor down the central core, his consciousness jumped into one of the clones.”

“The clones should have their own consciousness though.”

“When Palpatine jumped into clones, the clone’s own consciousness was shoved away… Rey is a Palpatine.”

“I know.”

“Yes, but not in the way you think… Over the years, Palpatine produced clones that he deemed as failures. Most of the time there wasn’t anything wrong with them. Which is how one of them went rogue and had a daughter.”

“Rey.”

“Exactly.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Luke smirked. “You learn a lot when you become one with the Force.”

You nodded, thinking everything over. “He needs Rey, doesn’t he? None of the clones had the full capability to wield the amount of Force that Palpatine was after… Rey does.”

“He will try to get to her… but he will also try to get to you.”

“My body is of no use to him. I’m too old.”

“Yes, but your potential terrifies him.”

“He’s going to reveal himself to try and lure Rey to him. Which will then lure me to him… I will not let him win.”

“I know.”

~~~

You and Leia were watching as Rey meditated in the air in the jungle clearing the three of you often found yourselves in. She was slowly spinning in the air with her eyes closed and rocks floating around her.

“Be with me…” Rey said softly. “Be with me… Be with me…” She opened her eyes. “They’re not with me. Ugh.” She dropped herself and the rocks to the ground.

“Rey, be patient,” Leia advised.

“I’m starting to think it’s impossible… to hear the voices of the Jedi who came before.”

“Nothing’s impossible,” you told her. “It takes time… I wasn’t able to communicate with Obi-Wan for a while. Just… trust in the Force and keep pushing.”

“Right,” Rey gave a nod. “Nothing’s impossible,” she repeated. “I’m going to run the training course.”

Leia gave Rey a small smile as she handed Rey the old blue-bladed lightsaber. You and Leia watched as Rey ran off to complete the training course. Leia looked at you once Rey had disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” Leia asked you.

“What?” You questioned, looking at her. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Don’t try to lie to me, Auntie. Something has been bothering you for a while now.”

“Leia…”

“Y/N.”

You sighed, looking away toward where Rey had run off. “Palpatine is back.”

“What?”

“Well… I guess he really never left. But, he’s going to go after Rey. Because Rey is—“

“A Palpatine. I had my suspicions… If he’s going after Rey, that means he will be going after you as well. Are you prepared for that fight?”

“I hope so.”

~~~

Rey came back from the training course, clearly off. She stuffed items into her sack as she spoke to you and Leia.

“I didn’t finish the training course,” she told you both. “Got distracted. I’m just not feeling myself. I know it looks—It looks like I’m making excuses.”

“Don’t tell me what things look like,” Leia responded. “Tell me what they are.”

“I think I’m just tired. That’s all.” Rey handed the old lightsaber to you. “I will earn your brother’s saber… one day.” BB8 chirped. “No, you can’t do it for me.”

“Never underestimate a droid,” Leia warned.

“Yes, Master.”

~~~

The Falcon returned with Chewie, R2, Finn, and Poe from their mission not long later. They had retrieved intel from a First Order spy. The intel confirmed your feelings and your talk with Luke.

“We’ve decoded the intel from the First Order spy,” you told everyone, taking lead on this discussion. “It confirms something that I have been sensing for a while now… Palpatine is alive.”

Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowds.

“Wait, do we believe this?” Rose questioned.

“It can’t be,” another Commander said. “The Emperor’s dead.”

“Cloning… Secrets only the Sith knew about the Force,” you explained. 

“He’s been planning his revenge,” Poe said. “His followers have been building something for years. The largest fleet the galaxy has ever known. It’s being called the Final Order. And in 16 hours, attacks on all free worlds begin. The Emperor and his fleet have been hiding in the Unknown Regions, on a world called Exegol.” 

There was a darkness surrounding just that word, Exegol. R2-D2 chirped frantically.

“Exegol does not appear on any star chart,” 3PO explained. “But legend describes it as a hidden world of the Sith.”

“There were always whispers of Palpatine’s hunger to cheat death,” you said. “He’s been out there the whole time, pulling the strings.”

“Always. In the shadows,” said Leia. “From the very beginning.”

“If we want to stop him, we must find him,” Maz said. “Must find Exegol.”

“Generals?” Rey called, turning to you and Leia. “Can I speak with you?” The two of you followed her to a more private place. “I know how to get to Exegol.”

“Tell us,” Leia said.

“Luke searched for it.” Rey pulled out a notebook from her sack. “For a long time. He nearly found it.” He opened the notebook and found the pages she needed. “There are ciphers here I can’t read. But he said to get there, you need on of these.” She pointed to a sketch on the page. “A Sith way-finder. They’re—“

“Compasses that lead the way to Exegol,” you interrupted. “I’ve never seen one but I’ve heard of them.”

“To stop what we know is coming, I need to finish what Luke started. Find Exegol. Find the Emperor.”

“No,” Leia responded.

“I don’t want to go without a blessing from both of you, but I will.” Leia and you stayed silent. “I will. It’s what either of you would do.”

“You have my blessing,” you told Rey.

“Are you going to come?”

“My age is a disadvantage. This is your mission, Rey. May the Force be with you.”

~~~

You were nervously meditating and practicing with your lightsabers as you waited to hear any news. You could feel that things weren’t going as planned but you needed to do your best to remain calm and keep the faith.

“General!” Rose rushed into the clearing you were in. “We’ve made contact and you’re needed.”

You followed after her to the command center where there were holograms of those who went on the mission waiting.

“What’s going on?” You asked.

“It’s a long story,” Rey began, “but we need your help figuring out what this means.” Rey turned to hologram C3PO. “Tell us what the dagger said.”

“The Emperor’s way finder is on Coruscant,” C3PO said. Though it wasn’t his normal voice. It was more robotic and dark. “It’s in a place where the light turned to dark and bonds were forged and severed.” You inhaled sharply. “Only this blade tells. Only this blade tells.”

“Do you have the blade?” Your voice was shaky as you asked. Rey lifted up the blade so that you could see it and the cut out along its edge. You swallowed as you stared at it.

“Y/N,” Leia said, stepping closer to you. “Do you know where that is?”

“I do… It’s… I… It’s…”

Leia gently took your hand. She could see that wherever the dagger led was a place from your past. “It’s alright. Take your time.”

You nodded, eyes not having left the dagger. “The Temple… The way finder is in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.”

next chapter >

[batrachised]

have you read any star wars novels? do you recommend any that is dark vader/anakin centered?

i'm a little shocked at getting a star wars ask here😱 I must state, I am an lm montgomery blog, and while I've wandered the four corners of the star wars fandom in my day (that sounds so crotchety for someone in her charlotte lucas era lmao, but in the same way in interstellar people age 5 years in one planetary minute, the star wars fandom ages you just as quickly), I haven't really kept up with the actual canon/fanon in quite some time - which unfortunately means I don't really have an answer for you lol! if I dust off the backrooms of my memory, I do remember really liking a few comics:

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison (notable for Vader having to watch recordings of himself when he had hair and a will to live)

Darth Vader and the Lost Command (notable for an actual WHERE IS MY WIFE moment from a crazed Vader as he beats a man senseless, god i love this man)

Vader Down (notable for committing to Vader as a brutal unstoppable force in a highly entertaining manner)

Vader's Little Princess (do not come for me)

Tatooine Ghost (notable for Leia actually having to grapple with Vader's legacy in an interesting and thoughtful manner iirc)

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (notable for Luke being teased for being a short king when Anakin was tall, also, Luke dealing with the idea of legacy and learning of Anakin's vs Vader's)

ROTS novelization is always a good choice

[reine-uls]

...Douma would be the type to put a rainbow colored ring on Little Fox's finger to signify she's his and vice versa since he's already the type to dress her up in lavish kimonos. And on that note, I feel like he would be the type to dress her in heavy gowns just so she would be forced to ask him for help so she could move. Unfortunately, LF is the type to stay put rather than ask for help. They are the personafication of unstoppable force meets immovable object and I am living the life- I am Ai when it comes to those two lol. Seriously, thank you for this awesome story- though, again, I am holding a grudge for this unwanted adoration for the psycho you have turned me to /j

My brother is disappointed, my sister has denounced me, I am on my knees telling them he's not that bad--

Welcome to the cult 😈 our happiness is with simping for our Lord Founder, Douma 😌

Also that’s a cute concept for Douma putting on a rainbow ring on LF lol

[thyme-in-a-bubble]

ahhhhh congrats on 3.5k, you deserve it and sm more! and your account is literally one of the prettiest i’ve seen oml <3

people are particularly stupid today — idk if this has been done before but cym as your favourite tv shows, or your favourite quotes from tv shows, whichever one seems more fun

okay, so when I thought about tv show quotes all I could think about rn was ones from greys anatomy, so that's just what it's gonna be! quotes I remember from greys ♡

@ddejavvu - "but I love you. In a really, really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me."

@midniteluv - "Oh screw beautiful! I’m brilliant! If you want to appease me, compliment my brain."

@deeplywornletters - "If I murdered someone, she’s the person I’d call to help me drag the corpse across the living room floor. She’s my person."

@chvoswxtch - "This man is a whore, has always been a whore and will always probably be a whore."

@cosmal - "I have five rules. Memorize them."

@fleurfairie - "Don't let what he wants eclipse what you need. He's very dreamy. But he is not the sun - you are."

@fxllfaiiry - "[Burke] took something from me. He took little pieces, of me. Little pieces over time, so small I didn't even notice, you know? He wanted me to be something I wasn't, and I made myself into what he wanted. One day I was me, Cristina Yang, and then suddenly I was lying for him and jeopardizing my career and agreeing to be married and wearing a ring and being a bride. Until I was standing there in a wedding dress with no eyebrows and I wasn't Cristina Yang anymore. And even then I would have married him...I lost myself for a long time, and now that I'm finally me again, I can't...I love you more than I loved Burke...and that scares the crap out of me, because when you asked me to ignore Teddy's page, you took a piece of me. And I let you. And that will never happen again."

@fightingdragonswithwho - "I can do hot in my sleep. I look hot in scrubs. I'm a hot person."

@gaelic-symphony - "I am calling post-it, Zola, Bailey, the tumors on the wall, ferryboat scrub caps." 

@sw34terw34ther - "Knowing is better than wondering. Waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying."

@oncasette - "Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here and don't give a damn about what anyone thinks."

@bruisedboys - "Shut up! Dance it out."

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[isagrimorie]

In the scheme of things, I think I am pleasantly surprised at how good The Blacklist is, not all of it and I do think it is past its prime and should have ended definitely on season 8 and brought Liz into the secret on season 6.

The cinematography and stylings even remind me of Person of Interest sometimes and they do have some lovely format-breaking episodes that are akin to POI's brilliant episodes.

Cape May, Ruin comes to mind especially when it does effective flashback episodes like POI (Requiem, Rassvet), The Blacklist even used the slow-motion effect from If Then Else in its penultimate season 8 episode, Nachalo.

And James Spader can make almost any monologue sing.

It even does a lovely way of exploring identity and complex relationships.

In some aspects, it is almost as tightly plotted as POI but not quite, it's very tightly plotted when it comes to Katarina and Red's history.

And just like POI it does have blind spots with issues of race, and I don't think the women in the show (ironically) aren't served as well as they should.

IMO POI is a bit better in that regard.

As much as I sing praises for 22 episodes for giving character and character dynamics room to breathe, things do get repetitive and by season 7 I can feel the writers scrambling for more story since they don't want to share and reveal The Biggest Secret when everyone thinks its long past time for it to be revealed.

It was frustrating how the writers kept Liz in a stagnant pattern of liking Red, mistrusting Red, and betraying Red.

Also, a lot of the time I am on Liz's side of things when she gets angry with Red. Red has a frustrating tendency to keep secrets from Liz, especially the Big One. Red's secret might be his and his alone.

Except how Red's former identity has put Liz in danger several times and Red being coy with her didn't help anything. And I legit think Liz won't care if she knew.

Unfortunately, Dom's reaction toward Red becoming Red has placed a permanent emotional block on Red. Something he can't seem to move on from.

The thing is though: Liz's default state towards Red, once she's unburdened with Red's identity is loving Red and actually really drawn into all the fun hijinks Red gets up to (short of murder).

And then Megan Boone left the show in season 8 and honestly it is hard to be invested in The Blacklist without Elizabeth Keen. I know fans don't like her but since the beginning, The Blacklist has always been a two-person show with an ensemble cast.

Liz is the grounding force to Red's perpetual unstoppable force and without her Red feels so isolated and bereft his only real connections are with Dembe and Agnes (Liz's daughter).

Post-Elizabeth Keene The Blacklist just doesn't hold up as well.

Shows with a mytharc shouldn't go beyond 8 seasons IMO.