#uninvited visitors may break in

[daizymax]

these wicked delights | psh (m)

summary: in the dead of night, a sinful creature visits you, penetrating and encompassing your mind, body and soul…

pairing: seonghwa x fem reader

genre: incubus!au, smut

word count: 3.4k

rating: mature (18+)

warnings & features: incubus!seonghwa; supernatural elements; vulgar language; degrading dialogue; not your modern day dirty talk because seonghwa is thousands of years old; the reader is legally an adult but seonghwa calls her a child because, again, he’s thousands of years older; very slight religious elements; graphic sexual content; situations of dub/non-con; dom/sub themes without discussion of boundaries / safety / safewording; dom!seonghwa; rough handling; sensory deprivation; vaginal fingering; oral (f receiving); squirting; unprotected penetrative sex (no condom use, no established birth control method in effect); mirror sex; brief mentions of blood; creampie; an unreal amount of cum; no proper aftercare

author’s note: reuploaded from my old blog and rewritten featuring seonghwa now. no changes to the content itself though. please take extra care to heed the warnings on this one, this is not like my other fics.

{ click here if you prefer to read on AO3 }

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This is how it begins: with a curious tingling sensation at the beginning of your spine, right at the base of your neck. It gradually builds into a dull burn that travels southward, growing warmer and warmer as it goes, until eventually your whole body is awash with white-hot pinpricks.

Yet you are not even sure that you are fully conscious. Sleep’s shroud still clings to you as tangibly as the comfortable cotton sheets draped over your body. Your closed eyelids may render you blind to the surroundings of your bedroom, but they do nothing to block sound.

“Good evening, pet…” drawls a guttural voice, manifesting out of nowhere. It sounds decidedly otherworldly from the way it resonates in the air.

A throaty groan of acknowledgment is all you can manage in your fright.

I’m dreaming, you think, hoping it is true.

“Does this feel like a dream?”

Something inhumanly strong clutches your covered ankle. The sudden gesture startles you, but your body does not - cannot - flinch. Not even your lips break apart to let out the squeal trapped in your throat.

Wh-what is this?! you panic silently. What have you done to me?! Who are you?!

The visitor, whoever he is, seems to hear your unspoken thought.

“A more apt question would be what am I,” he answers cryptically before soon elaborating, “My name is Seonghwa. I am an ancient being well-learned in the ways of copulating with females of your species. As for your paralysis… it is only temporary. There is no need for you to be mobile tonight. I am the master, and you are the pet. You are not in charge here, not even of your own limbs and tongue.”

The claw around your ankle tugs swiftly at the sheets blanketing you, leaving you naked and bare. One long, sharp fingernail drags its way slowly from your foot to your calve to your inner thigh. Your leg may not be able to move, but neither is it numb to the sensations drawn on your nerves.

W-what are you d-doing? Even in your mind, your voice sounds woefully weak.

The jagged end of the bony finger pauses on the outskirts of your exposed entrance.

“Engaging in foreplay,” he - it? - answers matter-of-factly. “You are a lonely, miserable, pathetic little thing, starving for physical attention. That is why I have come.”

His words ring a sour note because of the harsh truth they carry. You have been wallowing in lonely misery for quite some time. Nearly a year has passed without so much as one lousy date or meaningless hookup.

“Hmm, do not despair, child,” your uninvited guest coos almost soothingly. Was his voice this melodic before? “It is that very nature of yours that attracted me to you. Your fragile little mind called to me so sweetly, I had to oblige. You should consider yourself quite fortunate I am here. You will never find another who can stimulate the delicate flesh between your legs better than I.”

Your cunt tingles in recognition from the foul words, and the creature senses your body’s involuntary reaction.

“Yes, I can feel your carnal desires. Shall I begin satisfying them?”

You gulp in apprehension. Would he really stop if you said (thought) the word ‘no?’ But before you can ruminate further, this creature named Seonghwa resumes his earlier movements and tickles the folds of your center.

“I can sense your hesitation, pet,” he says. “But beneath that, your body and your subconscious are screaming for me to continue. I can feel the vibrations of your lust pulsing from you. Would it relax you to know that I desire this, too? Your body is quite exquisite… for a human. I would be delighted to plumb its treasures, starting with the sweetness about to drip from your genitalia.”

With that said, his gnarled finger glides easily into your surprisingly wet cunt. Your gasp of shock and pleasure goes in through your nose as a deep breath. The action encourages the creature to curl the digit purposefully, as if to beckon another reaction out of you.

This is wrong… you fret with what must be the last vestiges of your sanity. I didn’t ask for this…

“No, but your kind is rarely granted the things for which they ask. And many things that are or seem wrong often feel too good to deny,” Seonghwa counters. “Millions of your species give in to their wicked and morally corrupt ways every hour, child. You frail little thing... why should you be any different?”

I’m not a child, your mind argues, latching onto the word with offense.

A deep chuckle reverberates against the walls. “You may be considered a mature adult amongst your species, but I have more than a thousandfold years on you. Now stop this pitiful, stubborn attempt at righteousness and submit to me.”

The boom of his voice is terrifying, but as he adds a second finger to your heated core, you find yourself powerless to resist. You absently wonder if he is casting some sort of spell over you to force your obedience, but the burning arousal in your loins does not feel like a trick. Could you really be so desperately depraved as to want this to happen?

In any case, the demon hums his approval at your compliance.

“There’s a good pet.” He withdraws his hand and uses it to lightly pat your pussy appreciatively, only to immediately plunge his fingers back into place inside you.

His long fingernails graze your g-spot, but rather than being painful or uncomfortable, the sensation is oddly gratifying. Every brush against your deepest recesses serves to torment you in the best way. If you could gyrate your hips, you would, but the best you can do is allow a soft moan to thrum inside your chest.

“Enjoying yourself already?” Seonghwa muses. “How weak you are indeed. And so soft…”

His other hand skims along the side of your body, following the curves from your hip to your breast. He grasps the fleshy mound and squeezes with surprising tenderness.

“Perhaps I should loosen my hold on you,” he wonders. He gives your nipple a pinch and clarifies, “Not here, just over your lips. I am an admittedly vain creature. I would very much enjoy hearing your uncensored cries - in full volume - when I bring you to the height of euphoria, over and over, until your voice is utterly shattered. What do you think, pet?”

As he speaks, he wiggles his fingers and digs the heel of his palm into your clit determinedly, while the hand on your chest moves to your other breast to caress it with the same attention as the first. The stimulation is positively electrifying.

I… you plead vaguely, unable to string coherent words together.

“You what, child?” he urges. “Speak freely now. Tell me what you so desire.”

Your freed tongue pokes out to wet your lips, then you say unabashedly, “I want to come so badly.”

“Do you?” he teases.

Seonghwa’s pointed thumb begins strumming against your clit with the faintest touch, and this time your gasp is much sharper when able to be inhaled through your mouth. Again, you lament the inability to rock yourself against him. The light stimulation is not enough.

“More…” you rasp. “I need more.”

“Is that any way to speak to your master?” he states coldly. His thumb lifts away from your bud, and his fingers draw back to the start of your opening and stall there. “Try that again. Ask me nicely this time, pet.” He spits the last word to reiterate your role in this unnatural union.

“Please… m-master,” you stutter over the uncomfortable word. “Will you p-please make me come, master?”

“That’s better,” he approves, then begins shoving his hand into you repeatedly.

A third finger joins the first two, and the thick stretch has you groaning incessantly. His thumb descends back onto your engorged clit to rub skilled circles into it. Every little twitch of his hand pulls the knot inside your belly tighter and tighter.

“This silky cavern of yours is taking my fingers so well, pet,” Seonghwa purrs, and you mentally preen under his praise in spite of yourself. For reasons you can’t explain, you’re honored to please him.

It takes an embarrassingly short amount of time for your orgasm to wash over and pour out of you. The inability to hunch your back or even curl your toes makes it feel all the more powerful, and the high-pitched whine that squeaks out of you is unlike any sound you have ever produced.

Seonghwa continues undulating his wrist until the spasms of your pussy subside and the overstimulation on your clit nears the point of becoming painful.

“Such a messy little thing,” he tsks. The squelching sound when he removes his hand from your center alerts you to just how much wetness you released. “Open your eyes now and look at the mess you have made.”

You blink your heavy eyelids open and let your pupils adjust to the darkness. From the moonlight streaming through the curtains, you can definitely discern a distinct sheen running along the back of his hand, but what really captures your interest is the hand - claw - itself. It is even larger than you imagined. The skin is alabaster and smooth, but the pointed nails are black as moonless midnight.

You raise your eyes upward to look upon your visitor for the first time and are immediately captivated by his piercing crimson gaze. His eyes are quite literally glowing, illuminating the pale face sculpted from the same ivory marble as his hands. Thick, silver hair frames his temples, brushing just above high cheekbones.

Oh… he is so beautiful…

The thought is automatic and also instantly heard, as Seonghwa’s wide grin indicates. His teeth are blinding white in the dark and noticeably sharp.

“Of course I am beautiful, child. If I am to take the form of a wretched human, only the best will do. Although some appendages have remained unmodified, as you will find out,” he informs you. “But first, let me see if you taste as delectable as you look.”

With that, he parts his lips and snakes his sharp tongue out to catch his dripping fingers. He sucks them thoroughly before releasing each of them with soft pops.

The verdict is rendered as: “Delicious,” while he continues to grin down at you devilishly. Then he decides, “I think I would like a taste straight from the source now, if you don’t mind.”

Without actually giving you a choice, he drags your body down the mattress without touching you and kneels at the foot of your bed to bring his face inches from your sensitive pussy. Before you have time to marvel (or cower) from the magical action, he is on to the next thing, which is yanking your immobilized knees apart. His claws dig into the supple flesh of your thighs possessively.

When he dips what can only be his tongue into the folds of your cunt, the muscle feels strangely scaly and clammy. It soon becomes clear he is quite skilled with it, however, and its reach far extends that of all your previous lovers.

He licks along your slit tantalizingly without heed for your still-throbbing clit. Then he delves his tongue in and out of your tight hole at a steady, rhythmic pace.

“Such sweet syrup you have stored inside you, child,” Seonghwa murmurs huskily. “What a shame to have it bottled up for so long. It is a good thing I am here to release it for you.”

You would say plenty of it has already been released, considering the stickiness seeping down into the crack of your ass, but you doubt your imposing ‘lover’ would appreciate such a quip. And truth be told, you are flattered that he seems to be enjoying giving you all the pleasure… so far.

He suddenly digs his tongue into your clit, directly under the hood. A jolt frizzles along the nerves of your frozen body and escapes past your lips in the form of a whimper.

While his mouth is attending to your nether regions, his hands creep back up along your abdomen until he finds your breasts again. He fondles both of them rather gently, occasionally rolling and tweaking your nipples to send a pulse of electricity below. Your moans become louder the longer he carries on lapping and stroking and pulling you to the brink of madness.

Your second orgasm crests every bit as high as the first, and although your limbs still cannot move, you can feel the aftershocks in your very bones.

“So easy to unravel,” Seonghwa comments as he resurfaces from the drenched juncture of your thighs. You watch as that red, serpentine tongue outlines his coated lips to capture every lingering drop of your essence.

Your eyelids droop in exhaustion, but the unholy creature has not yet finished taking its fill.

“You are not the only one in need of release, child,” he tells you. “It has been ages since I have visited upon one as enticing as you, and I do not intend to waste this opportunity.”

Again, he uses his otherworldly power to manipulate your body to his will, this time flipping you over onto your stomach. Your startled yelp is muffled against the sheets when he manually yanks your bottom half into the air, fully presenting your ass to him. His hands roam over your backside slowly.

“I am going to penetrate you now, pet,” Seonghwa says in a low tone; it sounds like a warning. “The fit will surely be excruciating for you. I suggest you take a deep breath and exhale it as I make my entrance.”

The unmistakable head of his cock presses against the petaled lips of your pussy. The circumference of it is wider than any you have known, and your mind balks when your muscles cannot flinch. It has not pushed inside of you yet, but you know without a doubt it will rip you apart.

Before you can voice your concerns, your lover is speaking to you again.

“Shh, stop your fussing,” he growls. “Your anatomy is made to birth infants larger than my genitals; you will be fine. I will guide you through this. Breathe, child.”

You obediently suck in a gulp of air.

“Good girl. Now let it out. Slowly, now,” he instructs next.

You allow the air to slowly leak from your lungs, and Seonghwa begins the plunge of his turgid cock into your core. As wet as you are, it is a struggle to fit even the tip of him inside. It spears through your walls agonizingly, tearing the sensitive skin just as you predicted, and you cannot even twist your fingers into the bedspread to help cope with the pain.

“You are doing well, my pet. Very well,” Seonghwa assures you, conscious of your pained state. “But we have a way to go yet. Keep breathing.”

Each breath comes in shakier and rushes out whinier as inch after inch locks into place inside you. Your walls stretch to their limits around his rock hard shaft, and still he continues to push until eventually he meets the resistance of your cervix.

“There we go,” he announces quietly, not sounding nearly as affected by the tight fit as you are.

He reaches up and fits one of his hands between the side of your face and where it rests against the bed to cup your cheek lightly for a moment, then glides his fingers slowly around to the back of your neck, across your shoulder blades, down your spine, finally coming to a halt at your hip. His delicate touch leaves a trail of goosebumps in its wake. His other hand finds purchase on the other side of your waist, and his hold becomes bruising.

“Now, stay just like that and let me do all the work,” he commands, as though you have a choice.

Seonghwa withdraws his monstrous cock until only the mushroomed head remains, then thrusts back into you sharply, causing you to utilize the only parts of your body with mobility by parting your lips to groan loudly and squeezing your eyes shut tight. He gradually builds a steady pace, driving himself to knock against your g-spot relentlessly. The punishing blows make your eyes roll back in your skull.

“Is that what you think, child?” Seonghwa questions suddenly without interrupting his movements.

“W-what?” you ask shakily, unaware that you had even been thinking of anything specific for him to pick up on.

“That you are being punished?” he specifies. “You are not being punished, my pet. If it feels that way, you are mistaken. I am not ruining you. I am ushering you into paradise. Don’t. You. See?”

He punctuates his last few words with especially hard snaps, and you choke on a moan. Your pussy is clenching repeatedly around him now, signaling an impending third climax, even without stimulation to your clit.

Seonghwa jerks the top half of your body upright with a claw hooked around your throat, and the unseen force he wields is used to plant your palms firmly into the mattress to help keep yourself propped up. The mirror of your vanity dresser magically floats through the air to lean against the headboard of your bed. The reflection shows only yourself situated on your hands and knees, breasts jostling lewdly from the consistent pounding you are taking from behind. Your lover is nowhere to be seen in the glass.

“Look at yourself, child,” Seonghwa demands. “There is no use denying that you enjoy being ravaged like this.”

You are unable to tear your gaze away from the crazed eyes staring straight back at you. They are your own, but they are also a stranger’s. You moan wantonly in a broken voice.

“You can be louder than that,” the demon spurs. “Let all the heathens in Hell and all the seraphs in Heaven hear me taking over your body, mind, and soul.”

He speeds his thrusts even more to help earn the noises he so craves, and you do not disappoint. Even if the damned and the higher beings cannot hear you, your neighbors surely can through the walls of your apartment.

“Yes, my pet, yes. That’s it. Give in once more to the primal needs inside of you. Do it for your master.”

And you do. You shut your eyes and feel your pussy quake as it releases one last sinful gush.

Seonghwa pierces the flesh of your hips with his nails sharply enough to draw trickles of blood as he tumbles over the edge with you. His massive cock balloons even more at the moment of his impressive climax. The grunt he lets out sounds like a clap of thunder as he discharges a gratuitous amount of cum, drowning your insides overfull. Even with his cock still lodged within you, it does little to plug the boiling liquid; it drips out around his wide length, down your pussy, and onto the sheets below in thick, copious rivulets.

When it is over, he removes himself from your gaping opening with a cringe-worthy slurp and releases all hold over you. Your used body crumbles in a heap.

“I believe I have sufficiently satiated you now, sweet pet,” Seonghwa says rather calmly. Even after pounding you like a jackhammer and unloading what felt like liters of cum inside you, he is not the slightest bit breathless. “It is a shame I cannot visit you again for a while. The toll it would take on your fragile soul is not to be taken lightly, after all.”

You give no indication that you have heard him, but he does not seem to mind. With strong arms, he manually lifts your limp body and tucks you into your sheets with care. You are too tired and too out of it to realize they are totally dry.

Or that your sore hips are not actually bleeding.

Or that the mirror has returned to its rightful place over your dresser.

“Sleep now, child… Or perhaps you truly have been sleeping and dreaming this entire time…”

An amused cackle echoes against your eardrums, and you slip into unconsciousness with one last vision of his wicked grin to haunt you.

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if you enjoyed, please consider re-blogging and/or leaving me some feedback. take care! ♡

copyright © 2023 by daizymax. all rights reserved. back to masterlist | part two

[taimco]

The Benefits of Automatic Gates

Due to its many advantages, driveway gates are becoming a more and more popular option for both companies and homes. These gates offer a host of benefits that can greatly increase a property's usefulness and value, from increased security to visual attractiveness. The following is a thorough analysis of the main advantages of putting driveway gates:

Strengthened Defense

The increased security driveway gates offer is one of the main reasons homeowners choose them. An physical barrier that prevents unwanted entry to your property is a driveway gate. This extra security measure can aid in the prevention of vandalism, break-ins, and other illegal activity. Additionally, a lot of contemporary gates have sophisticated security features including intercom systems, video cameras, and automated locks bolstering your property's defenses.

More Seclusion

A driveway gate greatly enhances your privacy. They lessen the possibility of nosy eyes or intruders by keeping onlookers from readily observing your house and grounds. This can be especially helpful for residences close to public areas or in busy neighborhoods. You can have a more private and secluded setting by restricting entry.

Increase in the Value of the Property

Your property's overall value and curb appeal might be improved by installing a driveway gate. Gated residences are perceived by potential purchasers as more prestigious and secure, which can increase the appeal of your house when it comes to the real estate market. Investing in a driveway gate can result in substantial returns should you ever want to sell your property.

Enhanced Security

Driveway gates give families with kids and dogs an extra degree of security. They keep animals and small children from straying onto neighboring properties and into potentially hazardous locations like crowded roadways. For parents and pet owners who place a high priority on their loved ones' safety, this peace of mind is priceless.

Visual Appeal

A driveway gate can be chosen by homeowners to blend in with the architecture and landscaping of their property. Driveway gates are available in a multitude of styles, materials, and patterns. There is a driveway gate to fit any style, whether you want the sleek modernism of aluminum, the rustic appeal of wood, or the traditional elegance of wrought iron. A well-selected gate can improve your property's overall aesthetic appeal and create a rand entrance that makes a lasting impression.

Automation and Convenience

using the automated operation of many modern driveway gates, you may effortlessly open and close the gate using a keypad, remote control, or even a smartphone app. When the weather is bad or you have a lot on your plate, this convenience is very helpful. Because they may be set to close automatically after a predetermined amount of time, automated gates also offer an extra degree of security.

Lower Costs for Insurance

Some insurance providers will reduce the cost of home insurance for homes equipped with extra security features, such driveway gates. Installing a gate could make you eligible for reduced insurance rates, which would save you money over the long run.

Lawyers' Disincentives

Uninvited visitors and solicitors can be effectively discouraged with the use of driveway gates. Installing a gate makes it less likely that uninvited visitors will approach your house, giving you a more tranquil and undisturbed living space.

In summary

There are several advantages to driveway gates that can improve your property's total value, security, privacy, and aesthetic appeal. A driveway gate is an investment that pays off, whether your goals are to enhance your family's safety, raise the value of your house, or just have a more quiet and private setting. Every homeowner can choose a driveway gate that suits their needs and tastes thanks to the variety of styles and automation options available.

[fredericawald]

Freddi Wald on How Marketing and Communications Leaders Transform Museums

Regarded as cultural sanctuaries, museums have the responsibility to preserve and showcase the cherished artistic and historic assets of mankind. However, the swift pace of technological progress and evolving patron needs compel these institutions to innovate and remain significant. This is where Freddi Wald's expertise in marketing and communications becomes crucial, metamorphosing museums into engaging, dynamic entities that captivate a wider, more diverse demographic.

Frederica N Wald

Museums, once thought of as static institutions, are undergoing a significant evolution. The advent of digital technology has revolutionized the way we experience and interact with art and history. Marketing and communications leaders have emerged as the guiding force in redefining the museum's role in contemporary society. Frederica N Wald

One of the key ways marketing and communications leaders contribute to this transformation is by redefining the museum's identity. Traditionally seen as hushed spaces where visitors passively view exhibits, museums are now being presented as dynamic, interactive, and accessible institutions. This shift is vital in attracting new and diverse audiences, who may have previously perceived museums as uninviting or exclusive.

In the current landscape, museums adapt multiple tactics to revise their persona, with marketing and development leaders like Freddi Wald spearheading these initiatives. Wald creates engaging narratives surrounding museum exhibitions and collections, accentuating these artifacts' significance in today's society. Through storytelling that echoes with individuals, museums under Wald's guidance can establish a powerful bond with their visitors, immersing them deeply into the cultural dialogue.

Moreover, marketing leaders have embraced technology to revamp the museum experience. Virtual tours, augmented reality, and interactive apps now bring art and history to life in ways that were once inconceivable. Visitors can explore the Louvre in Paris or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from the comfort of their own homes. These virtual experiences open the doors of the museum to a global audience and encourage greater participation.

Another significant role played by marketing and communications leaders is increasing accessibility. Many museums have expanded their outreach programs, offering free or discounted admission to students, seniors, and underserved communities. These efforts break down financial barriers, ensuring that museums are accessible to a broader spectrum of society. Additionally, marketing leaders have worked to make museums more physically accessible by improving facilities for individuals with disabilities, promoting inclusivity and ensuring that everyone can enjoy the cultural offerings.

In addition, leaders in marketing and communications such as Freddi Wald have played a pivotal role in fostering community engagement initiatives. Museums are evolving from standalone cultural enclaves to integral components of their communities. They establish collaborations with local educational institutions, form alliances with artists, and actively participate in cultural festivities and events. In this way, museums are woven into the societal tapestry, enhancing the life experiences of local inhabitants and attracting a variety of visitors who might not have considered visiting otherwise.

Museums have also recognized the power of social media in reaching new audiences. Marketing leaders employ social platforms to showcase museum exhibits, engage with followers, and spark conversations. The "museum selfie" has become a phenomenon, with visitors sharing their experiences and encouraging others to visit. Social media also allows museums to tap into current trends and conversations, ensuring that their content remains relevant and engaging.

The marketing and communications leaders of museums are also adept at branding and merchandising. Museums have begun to develop their own brand identities, making their exhibits instantly recognizable. Think of the iconic "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre or the "Dinosaur Hall" at the Natural History Museum. These branding efforts not only improve visitor engagement but also drive merchandise sales, which can provide crucial revenue for museum operations.

Furthermore, museums are now prioritizing the creation of unforgettable, immersive experiences alongside their branding efforts. Key figures like Freddi Wald in the domains of marketing and communications are instrumental in crafting exhibits that captivate visitors' imaginations and feelings. These leaders join forces with curators and designers to generate interactive and multisensory displays that revolutionize the audience's interaction and engagement with art and history.

Museum exhibitions are no longer just a collection of objects behind glass; they are now dynamic, experiential journeys. For instance, the "Rain Room" exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City allowed visitors to walk through a continuous downpour without getting wet, providing a unique and immersive encounter with art and technology. Marketing leaders promote such experiences and create buzz around them, drawing in new and diverse audiences.

One of the most significant challenges faced by museums is attracting younger audiences. Millennials and Generation Z have different expectations and interests compared to previous generations. Marketing and communications leaders are keenly aware of this and have been instrumental in tailoring museum offerings to suit these demographics.

For example, many museums now host events and programs specifically designed for young adults, such as themed parties, art workshops, and interactive installations. They also tap into pop culture by showcasing contemporary artists and exhibits that resonate with younger generations. By staying attuned to the interests of these groups, museums can ensure that they remain relevant and appealing.

Additionally, marketing leaders recognize the importance of sustainability and social responsibility. Museums have started to adopt eco-friendly practices, such as reducing energy consumption and minimizing waste. These efforts not only reflect positively on the museum's image but also align with the values of socially conscious audiences. Museums have also become platforms for social discussions, addressing critical issues like climate change, social justice, and cultural diversity.

Freddi Wald, a leader in the field of marketing and communications, plays a pivotal role in revolutionizing museums into interactive, accessible, and captivating establishments. She reimagines the persona of these institutions, incorporating technological advancements, augmenting accessibility, bolstering community involvement, and leveraging social media platforms. Furthermore, Wald targets younger demographics, champions for sustainability, and fosters dialogues on critical societal matters. These metamorphoses not only secure the endurance and pertinence of museums but also amplify the cultural and artistic experiences for their visitors.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Swastikas Contínue In Beach Campaign "Within the Law"," Toronto Globe. August 3, 1933. Page 9. ---- League for Defense of Jewish Rights Thinks City Will Be Reported Abroad as Centre of Hitlerism ---- CLUB BRANCHES ARE REPORTED ---- Despite rumors that they were going to disband, members of the Swastika Club - about one hundred in number - held a meeting on the boardwalk at the foot of Hammersmith Avenue yesterday afternoon, at which leaders of the movement outlined their views and told of their plans for "an orderly and strictly legal campaign to clean up the beach."

One speaker, who refused to disclose his identity, said: "We are law- abiding citizens, and when we find cases of misconduct in the area we will simply co-operate with the civic authorities by calling the attention of the police to them."

Several Signs Removed. The members are pledged not to deface public property by erecting Swastika signs or other devices, was stated, and already they have removed several such signs and chalk marks along the beach.

It was borne out at the meeting that the Swastikas had no thoughts of disbanding just so long as they are within the law. "We have thoughts of breaking up end will continue to wear our badges," said one speaker.

While this meeting was in progress members of the League for the De-ense of Jewish Rights were conferring at their headquarters, 206 Beverley Street, and after the meeting gave forth the following statement to the press:

The Swastika incident at the East End beaches is in itself of little importance. It is probably a by-product of the heat wave from which this city suffered. On the other hand, the sweltering masses in the downtown areas sought the cool lakefront in larger masses than usual. On the other hand. the residentsof the beaches, with their nerves and tempers strained, were subjected to more than ordinary annoyance, and were probably not as sympathetic as they generally are.

Matter of Selling Emblems. "It appears that the majority of those who fell for the Swastika amulet were youngsters, who were looking for a bit of excitement. The movement enjoys no sponsorship. The circular letters inciting the beaches' public to action bore no signatures. No one seems to have thought enough of this business to lend his name to it. The whole thing was a matter of selling Swastika emblems. This phase of the situation is admirably covered by the statement of his Worship, the Mayor.

The beaches are a part of this city subject to the laws of the country. It must be recognized that all citizens are entitled to the benefits of the advantageous location of the beach, and are also subject to whatever laws or by-laws govern such enjoyment. The city police and the Parks Department should be able to look after the interests of the residents as well as of visitors.

There are two aspects, however, which are really unfortunate. The first is, that, the Balmy Beach Canoe Club allowed itself to become implicated in this matter by the posting of the Swastika sign on its premises. It is true that the members may have been annoyed by uninvited visitors. If they were not disposed to extend unusual courtesies during the hot spell, they might have resorted to the ordinary protection which the law allows them. We believe that the majority of the officers and members are anl mated by the true spirit of sportsmanship, and feel repugnance toward the teachings of Hitlerism.

Termed unsportsmanlike. "But it is regrettable that its name should have been associated with this incident. Canadian sportsmen should be guided by the principles of sportsmanship which prevail in England as exemplified by men like Bunny Austin and Fred Perry (winners of the Davis Cup), who were among the first to protest against Germany for its ill treatment of Jewish athletes. Sportsmen of this club should offcially purge their honored organization of the stain of contact with this unsportsmanlike movement.

The second aspect is that the action of the few hotheads in the East End will reflect seriously on the good name of this city. While we know that the incident was trivial, reports will go abroad that Toronto. is a centre of Hitlerism. This city is essentially British, steeped in the finest traditions of British freedom. Great Britain has taken a definite stand against Hitlerism. Practically every man of importance in England, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leaders of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, has openly and publicly expressed condemnation of the present Nazi Government. Great Britain, the mother of Parliaments, cannot look with indifference on a philosophy of government which is fundamentally opposed to the British concept of democracy. All fair-minded elements in this city, no doubt share the attitude of the British public.

Flood of Publicity Seen. "When some unthinking individuals here in a moment of pique can suffer themselves to put up the sign, "Hail Hitler" they are doing some thing which will do incalculable harm to the reputation of this city. It is known that the German Government has set aside a large sum for propaganda, and if the impression is gained that the Toronto public is receptive to its ideas, we will witness the unloosing of a flood of Hitler publicity in this city and throughout this country. Toronto cannot afford to act in the spirit which a contrary to the spirit and traction of Great Britain.

"We think that it is the duty of responsible men in this city who cherish traditions of British liberty to make their voices heard so that the attitude of our Canadian public shall be known to the world. "Hitlerism is subversive of Canadian ideals and our Canadian leaders should join the leaders of other enlightened countries in proclaiming Canada's adherence to the ideals which dominate life in Great Britain."

Say Views in Sympathy. One member of the Swastika Club said: "We will be pleased to appoint four or five of our older members to meet any investigating committee that appointed by any other organization. Many of the respected Jewish residents of the district are in sympathy with our aims."

Two more branches of the organization are said to have been formed or in the process of being formed. Branch No. 7 was reported organized at Lake Wilcox Tuesday, while other is in the process of formation in the Kingston Road district.

A somewhat surprising feature of the Swastika Clubs is the number of young ladies enrolled. Many sport the emblem of the club on dresses and bench pyjamas as they promenade the boardwalk.

Chief Draper presented Mayor Stewart yesterday with a report on Tuesday night's happenings at the Beaches and the Mayor has issued a statement urging the citizens to conduct themselves with propriety in streets, parks and other public places and calling on the young people of the Beaches to live up to the high ideals of the British race and not to emulate the policies of men like Hitler.

[bethestaryouareradio]

Fields of Dreams

“When the primal forces of nature tell you to do something, the prudent thing is not to quibble over details.”

~ From the movie, Field of Dreams

Is there anyone who doesn’t marvel over the sight of a fabulous field of flowers?  As a plantaholic, I swoon each spring when the promise of a kaleidoscope of flora burst from the ground. Alas!  This year my swooning turned into sweating.

With the twelve atmospheric rivers and continued rain through May, the ground is also bursting with unwanted weeds of every sort…bindweed, choke weed, thistle, dayflowers, vetch, black medic, wild cutleaf geranium, dock, fleabane, spurge, ragweed, cudweed, euphorbia, poisonous hemlock, unidentifiable thugs, and a plethora of grasses blown in from the hills.

Yes, I know. A weed is just a plant growing where it is not wanted. Yet many of these unwelcome invaders are pernicious, poisonous, prickly, and painful. For the past two months, I have spent every free moment living the advice from the film and doing the prudent thing caused by the primal forces of nature…digging and pulling up the roots of these assailants. I practice the no-dig method to maintain my fields and borders. The less the soil is turned, the fewer weeds will sprout, or so the research indicates. Last spring, I added innumerable yards of nutrient-rich soil and covered it with equal amounts of mulch. In the fall, I scattered seeds of nasturtium, nigella, seafoam statice (also known as sea lavender in the Limonium species), and calendula, as well as rhizomes of various bearded iris and corms of common cornflag. Climbing roses adorn the fence. Everything sprouted as anticipated, but the winds and the birds brought these uninvited visitors who happily took up residence in the lush environment.

When the broadleaf wild cutleaf geranium is small, it is quite beautiful with tiny pink flowers and bright lime green leaves. It is also very fragrant. As this cranesbill matures with its red stems it spreads two or more feet wrapping around neighboring flower stems, making weeding more difficult. The leaf structure mingles with the nigella often resulting in more love-in-the-mist being eradicated than is wanted. Bindweed, with flowers that mimic morning glory, twines to the top of any plant, adding to the difficulty of clearing it from the orchard. Many of the grasses that self-seeded from the surrounding hillsides would be interesting in a container as a stand-alone display, but infiltrated into the centers of my flowers hinder the graceful arches of color.

Allergy season is ferocious this year. My eyes are consistently red and irritated and despite taking an antihistamine, I sneeze while weeding. According to a 2021 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of America, an academic journal, between 1990 and 2018, the North American pollen season lengthened 20 days with 20% more pollen. Warming temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are cited as causing increased pollen production. Trees, grass, and weeds are causing this sniffling, stuffiness, coughing, congestion, and itching. Hopefully, these seasonal allergies will be alleviated by late June.

As I write this, I’m taking a break from my weeding work. Tomorrow I’ll be back wearing my coveralls, hat, sunglasses, apron, boots, and gloves for another round of freeing my fields of dreams from the primal forces of nature. Slowly and joyfully, I am witnessing the glistening glory of my efforts.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing.

Cynthia Brian’s June Digging Deep Gardening Tips

CLEAN patio furniture with a thorough scrubbing of lounge chairs and cushions.

MAINTAIN your weeding schedule. Be vigilant pulling weeds as soon as they appear as they zap nutrients and water from plants. Make certain to get the roots.

ECHO colors when you plant. Even if you plant different plants of form and texture, to capture the exuberance and energy of flow, plant swaths of the same color in opposing areas.

PRUNE lilacs after blooming to encourage more blooms next year. Lilacs can be pruned by 1/3 for optimal flowering.

LIFT your mood by designing a refuge area amongst your favorite plants with a bench or chair where you can relax, recharge, and feel protected. Throughout my landscape, I have created areas to sit, rest, and appreciate the natural beauty.

PLANT pumpkins now for a Halloween harvest. This is also a perfect opportunity to get your corn, eggplant, beets, and cucumbers started.

SUCCESSION plant your greens every three weeks including lettuce and arugula as well as root vegetables like carrots, radishes, and turnips.

SOW seeds of basil, cilantro, chives, and parsley for a summer season of savory spices.

CHECK your drip irrigation systems as well as any sprinkler heads.

WATER only once or twice a week, early in the morning when the plants will absorb the most or later in the evening.

PROPAGATE azaleas, carnations, fuchsias, and hydrangeas by taking cuttings and planting in rich soil.

DEADHEAD spent rose petals weekly to encourage continuous blossoms. Roses are spectacular this year. Keep them healthy and blooming.

MULCH your entire garden with at least three inches of material to help retain moisture, keep the soil cooler, and prevent drought related problems throughout the upcoming hot months.

BRIGHTEN patios, porches, and balconies with containers of colorful Bowles mauve (wallflower), petunias, or sweet William flowers.

PS: Don’t forget the Be the Star You Are!® Shoe Drive. Shoes may be dropped off through June 30 at https://5aspace.com/, 455 Moraga Rd. #F, Moraga or www.TeamHoogs.com, 629 Moraga Road (next to 7/11), Moraga. For more information, visit https://www.bethestaryouare.org/shoedrive

Photos and more: https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1708/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Fields-of-Dreams.html

Substack: https://cynthiabrian.substack.com/p/fields-of-dreams

Press Pass: https://blog.voiceamerica.com/2023/06/08/flower-fields/

Raised in the vineyards of Napa County, Cynthia Brian is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® 501 c3. Tune into Cynthia’s StarStyle® Radio Broadcast at www.StarStyleRadio.com. Her newest children’s picture book, No Barnyard Bullies, from the series, Stella Bella’s Barnyard Adventures is available now at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store. Hire Cynthia for writing projects, garden consults, and inspirational lectures. Cynthia@GoddessGardener.com  http://www.GoddessGardener.com

[nfd05]

Top 5 Benefits of Grounds Maintenance for Facilities

Have you ever walked into a facility and noticed how well-kept the grounds are? A neatly trimmed lawn, pruned shrubs, and colorful flower beds can make a huge difference in the overall appearance of a facility. However, the benefits of grounds maintenance go beyond just aesthetics. In fact, regular grounds maintenance can have a significant impact on the safety, sustainability, and financial success of a facility. In this article, we will explore the top five benefits of grounds maintenance for facilities. 

1. Enhances Curb Appeal

One of the most obvious benefits of grounds maintenance is that it enhances the curb appeal of a facility. A well-maintained landscape can make a great first impression on visitors and potential clients. It shows that the facility takes pride in its appearance and is committed to providing a welcoming environment. Regular lawn care, pruning, and landscaping can transform a dull and uninviting space into a vibrant and welcoming environment that reflects positively on the facility.

2. Improves Safety and Accessibility

One of the primary benefits of grounds maintenance is improved safety and accessibility. Regular maintenance of sidewalks, parking lots, and other outdoor areas helps to prevent accidents and injuries by removing hazards such as cracks, potholes, and debris. Additionally, well-maintained outdoor spaces provide better accessibility for individuals with disabilities, ensuring that they can navigate the facility safely and comfortably.

3. Saves Money in the Long Run

While grounds maintenance may seem like an added expense, it can actually save money in the long run. Regular maintenance can prevent costly repairs and replacements down the line. For example, regular lawn care will prevent weeds from taking over and damaging the grass, which, if left unattended, may lead to additional costs in the long run. Proper irrigation systems can also prevent overwatering, which can lead to water waste and high utility bills.

4. Boosts Employee Morale

A well-maintained exterior can also boost employee morale. A pleasant work environment can improve job satisfaction and productivity. Employees are more likely to take pride in their workplace when it looks clean and professional. A well-maintained landscape can also provide a relaxing break area for employees, which can reduce stress and improve overall well-being.

5. Supports Sustainability Efforts

Grounds maintenance can also support sustainability efforts. By using eco-friendly landscaping practices, such as planting native plants and using organic fertilizers, facilities can reduce their environmental impact. Proper irrigation systems can also conserve water and reduce waste. Sustainable practices can also improve the overall health of the landscape, which can reduce the need for chemical treatments.

One Partner for All of Your Facility Management Needs

Grounds maintenance is an essential part of facility management. It enhances curb appeal, improves safety, saves money in the long run, boosts employee morale, and supports sustainability efforts. By investing in regular grounds maintenance, facilities can create a welcoming environment for visitors and employees alike. 

Working with a professional grounds maintenance company ensures the job is done properly and efficiently. National Facilities Direct offers integrated, comprehensive, and self-performing facility management services. When it comes to grounds maintenance, NFD has extensive experience in delivering top-notch soft facility management services. Our integrated process provides clients with the tools to easily keep their locations up to date. From day-to-day hassle to back-office logistics and customer experience follow-up, our professionals are trained to handle it all and take care of any tasks that might arise. We ensure that each facility is well taken care of and leaves a lasting impression on everyone who visits. Get in touch today to learn more about our solutions and how we can help you achieve your facilities maintenance goals. 

[digitalmota]

Tips for a Dispensary Content Creation

When it comes to dispensary content creation, it’s essential to keep your customers in mind. Your dispensary, by itself, should be able to satisfy customers in every way (by stocking the items they want, maintaining a pleasant atmosphere, employing helpful personnel, etc.). However, outstanding media production is essential to get the word out about your dispensary. Those who may benefit from what you’re offering but don’t know about you yet can be reached this way. As a dispensary proprietor, you know the content’s importance. But how exactly should one create content that interests and attracts customers? This article will discuss several strategies for writing exciting posts about dispensaries. In a dispensary, content creation might seem like an uphill battle. With little preparation, you can produce interesting and valuable material that will keep readers coming back for more. If you need some pointers to get going, read on. Keep Your Dispensary Content Creation Relevant Avoid becoming irrelevant. For those of you who don’t understand, what does it signify? You presumably have a decent notion already because you’re here reading my site. The backbone of every effective digital marketing strategy is content production. However, what factors determine the usefulness of the content? To begin, it serves a purpose that is intrinsic to your company’s mission: if you own a marijuana dispensary, for example, you should prioritize producing educational materials on the drug. To go even further, each dispensary content creation should have some bearing on how your product or service will improve the customer’s life. Create material that shows clients why they should purchase at your online dispensary instead of the many others. This is especially important if you offer high-quality items. You may achieve this by emphasizing the features that set your items apart from the competition; for example, you might point out that a more significant price doesn’t always indicate the higher quality or that a higher concentration doesn’t necessarily translate to a stronger effect (see our post on THC vs CBD). Write For Your Audience Avoid writing to please everyone. You must know who you’re writing for when writing blog posts for your firm. Keep in mind that your work will be viewed by a wide variety of individuals, each with unique experiences, perspectives, and attention spans. For instance, your intended readers may be more familiar with the topic in the medical field than you are since they are physicians themselves. They may not be interested in or have time for a primer on the subject; they could value data and statistics above the narrative; or not have time to read all you’ve written. Patients experiencing the same condition that your solution is intended to alleviate may not be as well-versed in the issue or as interested in extended explanations as those in the market for a new physician. Your dispensary messaging should be tailored to the specific demands of each audience. Use Visuals to Break Up the Text If your website has too much text, adding more pictures may help. A dispensary website should be a one-stop shop for all of a customer’s informational needs, but if the text isn’t broken up with appropriate graphics, the site will become dull and uninviting. Consider your target audience if you’re having trouble deciding what sort of photographs to utilize. Could they use some pictures of your team? A presentation detailing the steps used while packing would be helpful. If you were recently in the news, you could share some humorous details that made you a media darling. The primary objective is to ensure that all areas of your website provide engaging content that compels the reader to continue exploring. If you want to give your readers a break from reading text and keep your visitors on your site longer, adding photos is a terrific method to do both. Make It Engaging The goal of your dispensary’s social media accounts should be to encourage interaction, not passive viewing. Because of this, it is essential to provide exciting information about the strains you provide. Your blog entries should give readers the impression that they are receiving an authentic glimpse into the inner workings of a dispensary. The goal is to make customers feel more at ease by introducing them to the real people who run the dispensary and highlighting the unique interests and expertise each employee brings to the table in terms of cannabis. Adding competitions and promotions to your blog is another approach to increase readership and participation. Free goods are always exciting, so if you conduct a contest sometimes for a free strain of marijuana or a complimentary glass pipe, you can be sure that people will pay attention and be enthusiastic about it. Intriguing articles keep readers interested and bring them back to a site repeatedly. If you’d like to learn more about how Digital Mota can help you achieve your digital marketing goals, please get in touch with us at (888) 428-1887. We’ll be happy to talk with you about how we’ve helped other businesses create engaging content that builds better relationships with their customers. And don’t forget to follow our blog for more tips!

[2-dsimp]

I there a certain day of the week where senpai's home isn't safe? If so, does it occur randomly?

Senpai’s house isn’t safe whenever an admirer has reached the max point of insanity/envy, and at other times the safety of their home can be threatened randomly ✨

@campanula-rotundifolia

[seashaper]

> It’s peaceful. They’ve been happy, lately, and with far fewer negative thoughts on their mind, Madison Rook feels very calm in their serene setting of choice. The few inches of water layering the ground of their floating island world (Laminar, Mads had called it? Sure, that works.) soak into their skirt as they sit crosslegged in the motionless sea, under the glittering night sky and drifting islands far above. The silence and stillness around them allows them to focus on the water, mirrorlike so long as they don’t move a muscle, cold against their skin. It’s 2 hours into this quiet, extended half-meditation when they close their eyes, sinking deeper into this peaceful trance..and feel a ripple. The water moves, somewhere distant but not too far, and as the displacement moves the water from there to here, Rook immediately pinpoints the direction it had come from, and stands up to move closer. The disturbed water disrupts their trail, and sort of gives them away, but in this wide, open space, it isn’t like the visitor can hide. Their first thought is Patches, bubbling rage rising in their throat at the thought of her uninvited presence before they swallow it down. No, she would know better by now. Their friends would have asked first, Jake can’t get down here..there’s only one other person who would wander this empty sea alone. ----------------------

Madison Altair stands at the edge of one of the many deep, cylindrical pits scattered across the surface of this world, staring into the shifting darkness with eyes empty of hope and life. All of his jewelry has been left at home, his watch, his rings, he’d used the key he’d been given to get here. All that Mads has kept on his body is a blue suit, simple, perfectly fit, and as immaculate as the day it was made. The day /he/ was made. He needs to take his entire soul with him. And this way none of his things will be lost. This way he’ll feel most like himself for as long as he can.

In his hand is one more item that can easily be replaced, /will/ be replaced, as soon as the sword pile at home realizes it’s missing. A long blade with a dark silver hilt, long, clean, and unused, dangling at his side from a white-knuckled hand. He stares into the darkness. It’s going to hurt. There’s no avoiding that, to start with, but he’s thought of a trick, a method to save himself from suffering too much, a clever plan that this clever angel should never have had to think of. He doesn’t know what happens once he puts the sword through his sternum and leaves it there, he doesn’t know how long it will take, how much it will /ache/, he can’t possibly guess, it isn’t like his duplicate ever shared the details. Mads may not be confident in how to disappear, but he knows now, at least, what can kill him. Drowning. Robbing himself of the only thing he absolutely needs to survive, sinking through the abyss with no hope of regaining it. It’ll be easier to disappear if he can’t wake up..if he can’t feel it anymore. 

Working out the details, establishing the logic of his plan, it all keeps Madison Altair from breaking down on the spot. Under the exhaustion and firm resignation, all that he can feel is fear and sadness. Fear of the unknown nothing. Fear of hurting his loved ones. But more than anything, one fear, deeper than that, far older and soaked into his soul like blood into wood, consumes him. The all-encompassing terror of being slowly, methodically, cruelly emptied and shaped by Them, the extended experience of having his consciousness roughly scrubbed from his soul through the dozens of torturous experiences he can imagine They have in store for him. They’re going to make him an object, but before that, until that, They’re going to make sure he’s treated like one, and They’ve never been one for merciful restraint. Mads can feel himself going numb just from the presence of those thoughts, and he grips the blade of the sword, sending a sharp pain through his tingling fingers that fends off the nothingness. That fear faded into the background, for so long, but he had known it would never really go away. That it would always haunt him, until the moment he was back on Their strings.

And the sadness..it aches, desperately. He wants to live, so /desperately/. The people who’ve made him so happy, so full of life and love and joy, are going to slip away from him, the life he’s built will fall apart without him in it. But there’s nothing he can do. There’s no alternative. This is the only escape. Taking Their puppet away from Them before they get a chance to use it is Madison Altair’s only hope of escape. Though it isn’t truly hope..he lost any trace of that the moment he was cruelly reminded of the inevitability of it all. More than hope, it’s desperation that this will do what he needs it to. If it doesn’t. Then there never really /was/ any escaping his fate. But all he can do is try.

And he does. The sword sinks through his suit and skin and soul, all the same thing, really, and the dark-stained tip comes out the other side, piercing the back of his jacket. Black blood starts to drip into the water around him, but rolls back up his pant legs, back towards the wound..and falls again, with nowhere to go, with the wound unable to be sealed around the metal that impales him, it drips, and drips, and stains his blue suit. It hurts. But not as much as anything else. Mads unfolds his wings, wide, starry, and unkempt from weeks of depression, but very capable of soaking up water, making him heavier..helping him sink faster. The pain in his soul rises above the physical agony and there’s nothing he can do to stop himself from crying, tears rolling down his face as he steps towards the water. He just wanted to be happy. He just wanted to be free. He just wanted to live and be loved without threat of nonexistence. But there was never going to be a happy ending for Madison Lindquist. This is the closest he’s ever going to get to anything resembling true freedom. Who knows how much time he’ll lose between now and Their arrival, time that he could’ve spent trying to go on. But it wasn’t worth the risk. And there’s no turning back time now. He’s so, so sorry. But it has to happen. There’s no other way. There’s no other way out of the nightmare he was created to experience. All he can do is hope that the pain passes quickly.

Madison Altair closes his eyes, and steps forward into the water.

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

The ripples stop, for a moment they think the visitor might have left, but then Madison Rook sees a winged figure not far off in the distance..and they see a black, spreading stain, swirling in the water they shift with their movement. They recognize it instantly. Blood. *Their* blood. ..*His* blood. They sigh, and the concern lessens, he’s probably just here to do the awful thing they both do from time to time, and they don’t want to be near him like that..but then, they look up. The figure is gone. The ripples spread out from the edge of a deep body of water. Their blood runs cold with sudden realization, sudden panic, at what they now know they’re seeing. They start to run.

Rook drops to their knees next to the water and ducks their head under, peering through the inky darkness with sea-given eyes sharp enough to pierce it. They feel the sinking shape, they see the glint of a sword down there..so far down.. There’s no other choice but to dive in, and they almost can’t catch up, even their aquatic swimming speed surpassed by the weight of those waterlogged wings, but Rook casts a spell to boost their already quick motions and in a blur of bubbles is at Madison Altair’s side. They wrap their arms under his and try to lift him, but he’s so heavy, so is the water, he’s already unconscious, they have to hurry up.. More urgent magic starts pulling Mads towards the surface, and they provide the momentum to speed things along, until they’re both breaking the surface and Rook is shoving Madison Altair’s limp, soggy, bleeding form back over the edge of the pit. They climb out after him, pull out the sword with an awful, wet sliding noise, and start pushing rhythmically at his chest the way they see people do in movies. This doesn’t seem to accomplish anything, Mads isn’t breathing, and they swear to themselves, mind working quickly to come up with a solution, but in a moment they have one. The tip of Rook’s wand emerges from their pocket and waves in a flowing motion from Mads’ chest to his mouth; a long stream of water exits his lungs, splashing back into the sea beside him. One more time, Rook presses on his chest, and the angel sucks in a deep, sudden breath; there’s nothing left to cough up, but he wheezes anyways, overwhelmed by the fear he’d been suppressing in his final moments. Rook reaches over with a hand and Calms him, and for a blissful moment, the terror fades. Mads catches his breath, flat on his back, staring up at the islands floating distantly above him. Trying to process. 

He looks over to see Rook and the sword beside him, the former squeezing water out of their skirt and looking away as they leave him in silence. They have no idea what to say. They understand, of course. Every second of what caused this fear was something they lived through too, after all, and if they were in his place..they likely would have done the exact same thing. But they couldn’t let him. There are so many reasons Mads Altair should live, not the least of which is the pain that *both* of their friends would go through at his loss, pain they couldn’t stand to see.. But, they don’t hate him either. Despite everything, despite what he’s done to them, Rook doesn’t hate Mads. Despite everything, they think he should live, even if not for the mourning he’d cause. They’re scared, too, that they almost missed this crucial moment. What were the chances? It must have been fate. Mads isn’t supposed to die. He can’t. He has to live to fight back. 

The spell ends, and Mads Altair’s fear comes creeping back in. He sits up, slowly, touching the clean spot on his chest where the sword was a moment ago, before pulling his knees up to his chest, hugging himself tightly. He looks over to his duplicate, coolheaded, confident, stronger than he’ll ever be. The fear locks up his throat, and Mads opens his mouth a few times before he manages to speak, lower than a whisper.

“..please. Don’t tell anyone. /Please/. I can’t..they can’t know..it would..”

Rook nods without argument. “It would hurt them so much. I know. You knew too. ..I won’t tell anyone. It wouldn’t make anything better. I know how this is for us. It’s better if no one ever finds out. ..you know I understand.”

Mads nods, as well, and stares into the darkness again. Almost. He was so close. He was so close.. Freedom was right in his grasp. And then it was ripped away.

“..but you have to promise me something.”

With an exhausted sigh, Mads looks back up at Rook. “Yeah, and. What’s that, exactly.”

“Don’t try that again, right away. I know I can’t truly stop you, I can’t take this escape route away, but I need you to wait. Just..wait. Give me a week. I can find a way to keep you safe from Them before then. I understand if this really is the only alternative, in the end, but you haven’t let anyone even *try* to protect you, Madison Altair, and we both know what Their weakness is. The people around you are plenty capable of exploiting that weakness, even if they can’t fight Them off for good. ..*I’m* capable of exploiting that weakness. And protecting people is what we do.”

“Maybe, but..I’m not..”

Rook glares at Mads, but reaches out and takes his shaking hand. “It doesn’t matter if we are or aren’t people. Our friends believe we are, they believe we’re both people who matter and think. They want us to be treated like people. It doesn’t matter what you or I or They think about our level of sentience, they want you to be treated like a person, so that’s what I’m going to do. For them. ..you need to trust them. You need to trust me. Just for a week.”

He doesn’t have a good response, he can’t argue with that, despite wanting to, and he can’t let go of their hand. “..and what if they come for me before the week is over?” “I’ll come up with another solution first. A last-ditch backup plan. It won’t be pretty but I promise it will still be better than offing yourself. And far more temporary. But I *will* find a way to protect you.”

Mads trusts Rook. He can’t not, as far as he believes he’s always been honest with himself..and Rook, especially, seems like they’ve become more genuine than he’d ever managed to be. They’re honest. They’re powerful. They’re confident in their claim. He hates that they’re better than him. ..but they’re right. He wants to hate that they’re right, but the possibility that he might be able to keep living makes him ache with hesitant relief. He can’t say any of this. He’s too tired, too distant, too ready to hide everything inside again and try to keep it contained.

“..okay. I’ll. Let you try. To save me. If that’s even possible. ..please. Please don’t let them take me.”

“I won’t. I know what they have in store. I won’t let that happen.”

“..promise?” He untangles their hands to fold his closed and extend his little finger.

With a confident nod and a serious expression, they link their own finger with his, and shake.

“I promise.”

[ajerzaaddict]

Let’s make things right between us

Jellal believed that Erza shouldn't be with him for valid reasons, but Erza thought otherwise. And she would fight until she make things right between them.

Rated: M

Words: 5.8k+

FFN

I can’t believe I’ve actually come up with 5.8k+ words for a oneshot. And it has taken me near 6 months to complete this, as I checked that I actually created the doc on 31/3/2021. The lack of canon contents was discouraging me, and there were other things occupying me as well. So usually I wrote a few paragraphs and then would put it aside for weeks. Anyway, I’m so glad that I’ve done it and happy with the outcome. I really hope that you find this rollercoaster of Jerza filled with hurt / comfort / sexy time enjoyable to read.

~~~

"Jellal."

His shoulders stiffened when Jellal heard his name being uttered by the voice he yearned but also feared to hear. Slowly, he turned his head to look at the uninvited visitor.

"Erza." There was a tightness in Jellal's voice. He was slightly irritated, but mostly nervous. "How did you find me here?"

"I'm sorry I can't tell you. I've promised confidentiality to my source." Erza opened the wooden gate and stepped into the backyard.

"Nevermind." Jellal sighed. His location should only be known to his former guild mates. "Then may I ask what brings you to me?"

Erza looked at Jellal with a piercing gaze. "It has taken me hours to come to see you. How about you being a friendly host, inviting me to your cottage for a seat and offering me a cup of tea? Then I can answer whatever questions you have for me."

Jellal stared back at Erza as he considered the options he had, but decided there was none other than complying with Erza's request because she definitely would not take his rejection as an answer. He took a deep breath, then exhaled.

"Please come in." He finally looked away from Erza as he injected his magic force into the magic-driven wheelchair through the body-link to move himself towards the cottage's backdoor.

Erza followed Jellal in silence. Passing through the backdoor, they entered the dining room equipped with an open kitchen.

Erza was surprised to find there was a woman in the room, and her heart suddenly felt heavy. The woman was a blonde like Lucy but had short hair. She was in the middle of clearing the dishes when she sensed their presence and turned to look at them. Erza studied her face and guessed that she was of a similar age to Jellal, not older than thirty.

"Mr. Fernandes." The woman greeted Jellal before fixing her gaze on Erza. "Oh, you have a guest. Would you like me to serve you and this lady anything?"

"Thanks, Iris. There's no such need. I have something private to discuss with my guest, so you can leave earlier today."

Iris nodded her understanding and took off the apron and put it in the kitchen drawer. "Then I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Fernandes."

"See you tomorrow, Iris. Thanks for your hard work today."

"Not a problem." Iris smiled at Jellal before she excused herself.

"Take a seat." Jellal told Erza after Iris left the room.

"Is Iris your domestic helper?" Erza tried to ask casually as she took her seat at one of the two chairs placed by a small round dining table.

"She's not merely a domestic helper. She's my caretaker as well, assisting me in doing things I can't handle on my own in daily life." Jellal answered while moving to the stove cabinet that was clearly specially made lower to suit his height in the wheelchair. "I'm sorry that I only have coffee but not tea. Or would you rather have water?"

"Water will be fine, thanks."

Jellal filled two glasses of water and put them in a tray. He then placed the tray on his lap and directed the wheelchair to the dining table. He settled himself at Erza's opposite before placing the tray on top of the table.

Erza picked up one glass and took a mouthful of water; while Jellal simply watched her and left his glass untouched on the tray, waiting in silence.

"I'm here to fight for my happiness." Erza said as she laid the glass on the table, and looked straight into Jellal's eyes. "And I won't leave until I get what I want."

Jellal balled his hand around the wheelchair's armrest as he willed himself to hold Erza's determined gaze which seemed to penetrate his soul. "You've come to the wrong person, Erza. What you are looking for is not something I can offer you."

Erza snorted. "You sound like you really know what can make me happy, better than I do. But Jellal, you don't really. You need to stop deciding what is the best for me and assuming you can't give me what I need."

"Aren't you assuming, too, Erza?" Jellal questioned, raising his voice in frustration. He knew Erza didn't like being challenged but he was also not afraid of confronting her when needed. "Didn't you sound like you know me better than I know myself when it comes to what I'm capable of giving and what not?"

Erza slammed her hands on the table top, shooting up from her chair. "Then let's speak our minds and make things clear for each other once and for all, and stop making assumptions any further." She paused and swallowed. "I love you, Jellal. I have a crush on you the moment you named me Scarlet and since then I've never stopped loving you."

"Stop it please, Erza." Jellal asked in a distressed tone.

Leaning forward, Erza grabbed Jellal's shirt and pulled him closer.

"I've never stopped wishing for us to be together one day since I met you again before the Grand Magic Games. After Zeref and Achnologia have been defeated, after you've been pardoned by the Queen, I thought my wish would come true finally." Angry and hurtful tears pricked at the corners of Erza's eyes.

Gritting his teeth, Jellal turned his head to the side and closed his eyes as it was too much for him to watch Erza crying sadly because of him once again.

"Yet you avoided me when I tried to reach you after you were pandonned, and chose to isolate yourself, not giving me a chance, not giving yourself a chance, to find the happiness we deserve together. "

Jellal grasped Erza's wrist as he came face to face with her again. "What kind of happiness can you find in taking care of a handicapped man like me for the rest of your life, Erza?" He questioned in a grave tone. "You'll just find I'm nothing but a burden to you eventually."

Erza searched Jellal's eyes. She found herself still being enthralled by their beautiful deep blue color which reminded her of the ocean at night. But it also pained her to see that they were dimmed by sorrow which blocked out the light of hope.

"Why are you having so little trust in me even though I've shown you time after time and crisis after crisis, that I'll never give up on you no matter what happens to you, Jellal?" Teardrops rolling down her face like a chain of pearls. "And how can you still belittle yourself as nothing but a burden? You've protected me from danger and comforted me in ways no other could when I was vulnerable despite your physical disabilities!"

"But I couldn't even have come to your side without someone else's help!" Jellal cried out in pain. "There are many things I can no longer do on my own and I must rely on a caretaker to live my everyday life. And I don't want you to shoulder such a duty for a lifetime!" Jellal lowered his head as he could no longer hold back his tears from falling. "I'm very sorry to disappoint you, Erza. I'm very sorry you've invested your love in the wrong person, that is me. Please don't waste your time on me anymore. You should live freely, not be bound by me."

Jellal wouldn't be surprised if Erza rebuked him, or even slapped him in the face, for being a coward who didn't dare to accept the love of his life because he didn't know how to overcome his insecurity. He wished she would. He deserved to receive her anger. But what descended on him was only a heavy silence which seemed to suffocate him.

"I'm already tired of you forcing your vision of freedom on me. It never ended well."

Erza's voice was nothing more than a whisper, but her words were crystal clear and sharp like her sword, breaking the silence as well as slicing through Jellal's heart. Placing his hand over his left chest as he felt his heart aching, Jellal slowly raised his head, glancing at Erza with anguish-filled eyes.

Erza released Jellal's shirt from her hold. Wiping her cheeks with both hands, she tried to dry them from her tears, before she took a few deep breaths to force down her sobbing.

"You so desperately want me to leave you, don't you? Then this is how you can make it." She kneeled in front of Jellal such that she could look into his eyes on the same level. "You only need to look me in the eyes and tell me that my love for you is one-sided all along, that you've never loved me, and you never will."

Jellal's eyes widened in disbelief. "Erza…"

"Tell me what I've told you, and I'll gather the pieces of my broken heart and disappear from your life forever ."

"Have I not already made my point clear enough for you, Erza? Why can't you just accept the reasons I've given you?" In a shaky voice, Jellal almost cried out his questions.

"I'm waiting, Jellal. If you can't tell me to go from the bottom of your heart, then allow me to stay."

"Just…...leave me alone." Jellal shut his eyes and balled his hand over his chest.

"Look at me Jellal!"

Countless moments in their past flashed across Jellal's mind, like a movie being played fast-backward. He still remembered it like yesterday, the joyful look on Erza's face when he named her Scarlet, and the first taste of falling in love when she thanked him with a timid smile which made his heart skip a beat and jump unusually quick. Their fate had intertwined since then. To deny that he had been in love with Erza since they were young teenagers was like abandoning the most influential element which made up the Jellal Fernandes he was today.

Yet, he believed he was a man who was already too broken to be repaired anyway. It seemed like a fitting fate for him to lose himself more by severing his ties with Erza completely. He told himself that it would also release Erza from his bond, so he should not hesitate to become a cruel man to smash Erza's heart, as well as his own.

Jellal had never felt his eyelids so heavy before when he opened his eyes again to look at Erza, the woman who was like the force of his life. Putting down his hands on the armrests, he held them firmly as he felt his body trembling.

"Your love for me is an unrequited one and I never…"

He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence.

In a lighting speed, Erza had held Jellal's face between her hands and crashed her mouth over his.

Startled by Erza's sudden advancement, Jellal was immobilized as Erza greedily tasted him. He grabbed her shoulders once the initial shock was over, trying to push her away. But Erza refused to let him go. As they struggled against each other, the wheelchair, being unable to withstand their combined forces, lost its balance. Jellal fell forward and into Erza, landing on top of her as Erza fell backward on the floor.

They were both panting as they took a break from their fight and kiss. Jellal's face was buried in Erza's hair and between her head and shoulder. Her scent was alluring, that it took every ounce of his will for him to not give in to her seduction and stay but to distance himself from her by pushing his upper body up.

He looked into Erza's teary red eyes and sighed. "You've never planned to actually accept my rejection, didn't you?"

"I simply can't lose you." Erza admitted with a bitter smile. "And I shouldn't have challenged you, forcing you to say things which were against your heart and will. For that I apologize."

"And I'm sorry for trying to tell the biggest lie to you. But Erza." His eyes were filled with sadness but also tenderness as Jellal gazed at Erza. "You must understand that love can't be the solution to everything. And you must accept that even if we are in love with each other, being together still may not be the best choice for the both of us."

"Love can't be the solution to everything, but it's what motivates us to find one even when the problem seems unsolvable. It's the force which keeps us moving forward when we feel tired and weak. Love gives us comfort and warmth and courage which helps us to endure suffering when life gets cruel." Holding Jellal's shoulders, Erza rolled them over and got on top of him. "But not everyone is lucky enough to find love in life. There's no other worse choice than rejecting love when we are blessed with it. I really, really, hope that we can treasure the love we found in each other and allow its power to grow on us."

Jellal breathed a sigh and smiled a small knowing smile. "You are ever optimistic, Erza."

"That's why I'm a perfect match for you who is ever pessimistic. We can balance each other out."

Gently, Erza held Jellal's right cheek in her palm.

"Do you love me, Jellal?"

Jellal knew he should not evade the issue again as they were trying to make peace with each other after going through an angst drama.

"Always."

"Do you love me?"

Jellal breathed deeply. "I love you, Erza." He said it with his clearest voice and firmest tone. "I always do, and always will."

"Thank you." Smiling, Erza whispered, then lowered her head and pressed her lips over Jellal's. This time, she kissed him less forcefully but more sensually.

Jellal was hesitant to react, but also unable to reject Erza. Having admitted his love for her was like having his heart stripped of the steel wall he built around it, making it impossible for him to pretend any further that he didn't enjoy her kiss. When Erza traced his lips with the tip of her tongue asking for entrance to his mouth, he finally let go of his last restraint and gave in to his desire.

Running his fingers through Erza's hair at the back of her head, Jellal opened his mouth and wrapped his tongue around her intruding one. He had never known a taste as toxic as Erza Scarlet in his life. He forced their tongues into her mouth as his desire to taste her more thoroughly grew beyond his control. He explored her warm, wet cavern as far as his tongue could reach, as well as stroking her tongue with his.

Erza felt dizzy. Jellal had not only taken away her breath and emptied her mind as he kissed her eagerly and dominantly, but had also ignited an aching need deep in her core and between her thighs. Moaning deep in her throat, she ground her groin against Jellal's.

Jellal snapped out of the spell of the kiss and regained his senses as Erza's action made him realize that he had led them to something he feared to face. His hand slid down Erza's head. Grabbing her shoulder, he pushed her away from him, breaking their kiss finally.

A thread of their mixed saliva stretched between their parted lips as they both panted heavily to draw air in their lungs.

"I can't." Jellal said once his breathing resumed normal.

Disappointment flashed across Erza's face but she managed to keep her negative emotion at bay.

"What do you mean? What are you worried about?" She asked Jellal in a concerned tone.

Jellal covered his eyes with his palm. He had wished that he would never need to reveal his disturbing problem to Erza. He could have kept it in the dark if Erza had accepted his rejection and left. But now, after he had failed to convince her to give up on him and even given her hope in their relationship with his confession of love, he knew he must tell her the truth. She needed to know it.

"My injury has not only rendered my legs useless." Jellal paused, tasting an unusual bitterness on his tongue. Or the taste was only from his imagination, reflecting his unwillingness to admit his incompetence to Erza. He swallowed hard before continuing. "I'm…...suffering from a certain degree of…...sexual dysfunction, too."

Silence engulfed them once again. After a moment, Erza held Jellal's hand over his eyes and tried to pull it away from his face. To her relief, Jellal had not put up much resistance; although he had chosen to look sideways instead of at her after she uncovered his face. She didn't blame his act of avoidance. She tried to make him at ease, caressing his forehead with her fingertips. Then she ran her fingers along his eyebrows and traced the shape of his facial tattoo, before she palmed his face, stroking his cheekbone with her thumb.

Jellal casted a glance at Erza. He didn't look as stressed as a moment ago, and heaved a quiet sigh. "You have every right to change your mind and leave me, Erza. And I won’t blame you."

Erza smiled a little, shaking her head. "I didn't come here looking for you unprepared, Jellal."

She straightened her back and moved to Jellal's side. Kneeling on one knee, she picked Jellal off the floor in bridal style.

Out of instinct, Jellal wrapped his arms around Erza's neck to steady himself, and his face turned slightly pink out of embarrassment.

"Erza? What are you doing?" He asked in a voice laced with anxiety.

"I don't suppose the hard floor is a comfortable place for you to lie on." Erza answered matter-of-factly as she walked out of the dining room.

On the other side of the door was the living room which was furnished with a two-seat couch, a coffee table, two bookshelves and a fireplace. Erza glanced around, then moved towards the two closed doors on her left-hand side.

"Is your bedroom behind one of these doors?"

"The one…...on the right." Jellal answered hesitantly as he was still unsure about the purpose behind Erza's action.

"Could you help open the door for us to go in?"

"What are you planning, Erza?"

"I just want you to loosen up while we try to sort things out between us."

Jellal sighed, not being completely convinced by Erza's answer. He did what she asked anyway.

Erza closed the door with her feet after entering Jellal's bedroom. She tenderly laid Jellal down in his bed ensuring that she would not hurt him, before she joined him in the bed. She lay back down beside him and rolled onto her side. She then rested her forehead against his strong upper arm while she held his hand in one of hers and put her other arm around his chest.

"When I decided that I would do anything to bring you back to me, I borrowed books trying to find out what kind of health issues and inconveniences would be faced by people who suffered the similar injuries as yours in their daily lives, and to learn some caretaking skills. Things were much more difficult to understand than I originally expected, though." Erza laughed dryly as she admitted her incompetence.

Jellal said nothing, but Erza knew he was listening intently, feeling his chest expand and contract under her arm as he breathed in and out deeply.

"Luckily Wendy was nearby and always helpful when I asked her questions; and also Porlyurisca, despite her resentment towards human contact, has given me some professional advice on things Wendy couldn't answer. She's always a little bit more lenient to me than to other people when I need her help."

Erza lifted her face to look at Jellal as her hand slid up his chest and found his face. Their eyes met when Jellal turned his face towards her.

"What you have just confessed on the floor of the dining room…...was one of the things I've prepared to face once we become a couple. It's not a big deal. There are many ways which allow us to satisfy each other." She looked away for a moment and lowered her voice. "It's also possible for us to make our own babies with the help of some tools if it's what we want. But no matter what." She turned her gaze back on Jellal. "I won't give you up because of this issue, or any other challenges."

Jellal cradled Erza's cheek in his palm; and tears appeared at the corners of his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

Erza asked gently. "What's it about this time?"

"I haven't expected that behind your resolution in being with me, you've made such a big effort to understand my circumstances, and to prepare yourself for living with me. I assumed you came to find me without knowing all the troubles I'm facing or you may face to be with me, and said something terrible to you. I'm truly sorry."

"I didn't blame you. Like what I've said earlier, I knew that love can't be the solution to everything. So I tried to find out what challenges await me to become a part of your life, and to prepare myself to face them. Jellal, I'm truly ready."

"I trust you are. I'm just...worried that the responsibility of looking after me will tire you out in the long run because things could be more difficult in real life than they look on paper. Iris is already the third caretaker I hire. The previous two quit in less than three months because they felt the workload was too heavy."

Erza chuckled. "You don't compare me with ordinary people. Have you forgotten which guild I come from? I've helped look after a guild filled with some of the most difficult people to handle on the continent for years, yet I'm still good and don't find it a problem. But we would probably need a part-time helper so that someone can assist you when I'm away for long. Anyway, listen, Jellal." Erza put on a serious look. "I truly hope that you are finally convinced that we can be together, and understand that it will bring me infinite joy instead of making me miserable, with everything I've said and done."

Jellal took Erza's hand and placed it over his loudly-beating heart.

"I'm a handicapped man with a broken heart. I feel…...very inferior to you, the best woman and also person I've ever known, and ashamed to offer myself to you. But…...I'm all yours as long as you want me."

"You are my treasure and all I want." Tipping her head upward, Erza closed the distance between her lips and Jellal's. It delighted her that Jellal responded immediately, kissing her back. Their lips moved against each other in an unhurried yet fervent manner as they tried to enjoy the moment but also couldn't get enough of each other. Only when their lungs screamed for air that they finally pulled away from each other.

Erza slid one leg over Jellal's thighs and got on top of him as soon as her breathing had returned to normal, and used her equip magic to change into nothing but her underwear: a set of bra and panties made of thin white lace embroidered with flower patterns which barely covered her nipples and private area.

Jellal widened his eyes and opened his mouth slightly. He was not only unprepared for Erza's bold action, but he was also in awe seeing the divine beauty of her almost naked form. He took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart before he was finally able to take his eyes off Erza's glorious body but to look at her face instead. He found that her face had already turned rose-pink, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Despite appearing shy and nervous, she chose to look at him instead of avoiding his gaze.

"We have time. We can take things slow." Jellal suggested. He didn't want Erza to force herself to do something she didn't feel comfortable with. And he wasn't sure if he really should develop physical intimacy with Erza in the current moment. Everything between them seemed to progress too fast all of a sudden and out of his grasp.

Erza shook her head.

"Eighteen years have passed since we parted ways in the Tower of Heaven against our will. I think we should make up for the immense time we've lost without further waiting."

Leaning forward, Erza laid her body flat against Jellal's and held his face to kiss him again. Jellal slid one hand to her bare back and weaved the other into her hair as he opened his mouth to welcome her tongue in, choosing to go with the flow and abandoning his hesitation.

Their kiss came to a halt when Erza drew back. She took a deep breath, and then brought her mouth to Jellal's throat. She trailed wet kisses from his Adam's apple to his chin and along his jawline, while her hand went underneath his shirt, roaming over his abdomen and chest. His nipples hardened under her touch and she pinched one lightly between her fingers.

A sigh fell out from Jellal's lips.

"Have I made you feel good?" Lips brushing against his ear, Erza asked Jellal in a whisper. Jellal nodded.

"I want to feel you touching me in the same way." She brushed his other nipple with her fingertips. "Have you ever fantasized holding my breasts in your hands? Caressing them, fondling them, squeezing them? Dreaming of rubbing my nipples between your fingers and of me moaning your name?"

Jellal shut his eyes, and various fantasies he had made about Erza flashed across his mind. He couldn't help but question if all the flirtatious words he had just heard were also from the Erza he imagined. Yet, he could clearly feel his body temperature rising, and his heartbeat quickening. He felt aroused; something he could only experience occasionally since he was injured. He opened his eyes to look at the real Erza. Raising a hand, he cupped the side of her left breast and squeezed.

Erza gave a little yelp and lifted up her head; her eyes found Jellal's. Jellal wasn't sure if the emotion he saw in Erza's eyes was surprise or excitement, or both. But he had no doubt that the color of her face had turned red like her hair.

"Should I stop?" He asked.

"You should continue." Erza pushed herself up with both hands and got on her knees, hovering above Jellal with her hair falling down like a red curtain at both sides of his head.

Jellal held Erza's cheek with his unoccupied hand as he looked at her fondly like he had found the brightest star in the sky. Being trapped in the scarlet world of Erza with her alone, isolated from the outside world, Jellal seemed to finally be able to honestly admit to himself that no matter how undeserved he felt of Erza, his desire to be with her would never die. If it was a sin for him to accept Erza into his life, he would willingly bear such sin instead of pushing her away.

"I love you, Erza." Smiling, Jellal ran his hand down to Erza's neck, over her collarbone and the side of her right breast, before cupping her breast from its underside.

"And I love you too, Jellal."

Sighs fell from Erza's lips as Jellal began working on her breasts and nipples over the thin fabric of her bra.

"Ah. Yes. Keep on." Erza encouraged Jellal, trying to arouse him more. "Make me wetter."

She freed one hand to unzip Jellal's pants. She then pulled his underwear down and reached for his manhood. She had seen naked men many times but touching a man's cock was a first time for her. Feeling both curious and nervous, she palmed Jellal's member.

"You feel smooth." She wrapped her fingers around him and began stroking, in the way she learnt from books. Gradually, he swelled and stiffened slightly in her hand. "How about I massage you between my legs instead?"

"Oh god. Erza." Jellal felt pleasure rising from deep in his stomach as Erza pumped him quicker and seduced him with words.

Erza leaned back as she lowered her bottom onto Jellal's thighs and pulled her breasts away from his hold. Jellal pushed his upper body up from the mattress with his elbows and forearms to have a better look at Erza. His heart skipped a few beats as he watched Erza gilding her lace-covered core along his length.

Erza moaned lowly in pleasure, feeling the aching need of her damp, throbbing folds being soothed by the physical contact with Jellal's flesh. She flattened one palm on Jellal's abdomen for support as she rubbed herself harder against his partly erect cock, and alternately rolled her nipples between her fingers to stimulate herself further.

Jellal fisted the bed sheet and panted, feeling his inside burning with lust which he had not experienced as strongly for a long time, as he watched Erza pleasuring herself with his body. Her arousal had already soaked through her tiny panties and rubbed over his cock. Her nipples stood hard and popped against her bra after receiving all the ministration from his and her hands and her breasts were bouncing as she moved her hips back and forth. Her moans falling out from her parted red lips were mixed with the sound of his name. He could feel excitement tingling over every nerve endings of his upper body. It was like Erza had awakened his lost senses with the combined forces of intimate touches, erotic view of her body and the lewd sound she made. He growled deep inside his throat and his head fell back with his eyes shutting closed and his teeth biting his lower lip, when a strong wave of rapture washed over him.

Erza smiled in relief when she realized that Jellal had reached his peak. She slowed down her movement to a stop despite having not reached her own climax. When Jellal laid his back flat on the mattress again, she lifted herself off him and moved forward to take his face between her palms. She then dipped her head to kiss him on the lips.

"I'm so glad you enjoyed the things I did with you."

"You are marvelous." Jellal smiled and ran his fingers through Erza's hair. "But things between us aren't over yet. I want to make you feel satisfied, too. Would you turn around with your back facing me?"

It warmed Erza's heart that Jellal not only cared about her, but also showed willingness in taking the lead in their newly established relationship. She nodded and did what he asked, turning her body around and straddling his waist.

Jellal palmed one side of Erza buttocks and pushed lightly, making her lean forward a little to leave a gap between their bodies. Erza steadied herself by grabbing Jellal's thighs. Jellal then slid his free hand through Erza's inner thighs and pressed two fingers against her slit through the damp panties. Erza sucked in a deep breath. Jellal started stroking her with his fingers sliding up and down along the lace barely covering her opening, drawing sighs out from her mouth. He soon felt his fingers being coated in Erza's juice, and slid them beneath her panties. Her lip-shaped folds against his fingers were slick and soft and warm, being more ready to welcomed his fingers in.

"Let me know if I hurt you."

"Okay." Erza breathed out the word.

Jellal slipped his fingers partially into Erza's folds first, giving her some time to adapt. When Erza gave him no sign of stop, he then inserted his fingers fully into her core. Erza uttered a cry; her inner walls spasmed as they were stretched by Jellal's intruded fingers more than she had ever done to herself with her own.

Jellal pulled his fingers out a little and thrust them back into Erza's tight core, and repeated the action. He spread and twisted his fingers every time he buried them deep inside of her, to explore and excite her sensitive spots. Erza moaned and mewled helplessly and her body trembled, and it didn't take long for her to start riding Jellal's fingers.

Jellal felt like he had been turned on again watching a lust-filled Erza fucking his fingers zealously. He could perfectly picture it was actually his cock but not his fingers which was filling Erza up and being hugged by her inner walls. His body was burning up, and his heartbeat was drumming against his chest echoing Erza's moans.

"Oh dear. More, Jellal. More." Erza gasped and her nails dug into Jellal's thighs as she tightened her hold on him.

Complying with her demand, Jellal added a third finger in thrusting Erza, and slid his hand on her buttock over her thigh to reach for the bundle of nerves at the top of her opening. He easily located it beneath the panties as it had already stuck out from her folds waiting to be touched. He pinched it between his fingertips, massaging it. The additional effort he made soon pushed Erza over the edge into ecstasy. She screamed his name and squeezed his hand between her thighs as she came on his fingers; her juice overflowed and left a trail along his palm to his wrist.

Jellal breathed deeply to slow down his erratically beating heart before he slid his fingers out Erza's core. Erza panted for air on top of him until she regained her breath, then she slid off him and lay down at his side.

Jellal turned his head to look at Erza and she, sensing his gaze, turned to look at him as well.

"I love you." They said at the same time, and both laughed softly at their perfect timing.

Jellal held Erza by her shoulder as he looked at her with a tender loving gaze. "You are the biggest miracle to ever happen in my life, Erza. I promise I'll cherish you as much as I can, and do my best to improve my physical conditions with whatever therapy or medicine which are considered useful."

Erza nodded her head with contentment; her eyes welled up with happy tears. "And I'll always walk by your side to support you, to love you. The road ahead of us may not be easy to walk, but we can do it."

"As long as there is love, am I right?"

"Absolutely." A heartfelt and satisfied smile spread across Erza's face. She then yawned as she finally felt consumed by the tiredness accumulated from all the things she had done in the day: taking hours of travel to find Jellal, confronting him first, persuading him next and finally having sex with him. She snuggled against Jellal's chest, closing her eyes. "But now, I simply want to take a nap with you, and also take a shower afterwards. Then we shall see what we should do next."

"Sure." Jellal kissed Erza on the forehead, before closing his eyes as well. "Rest as much as you need."

Having never felt as peaceful and as fulfilled in their hearts, they quickly fell into a sweet slumber.

~~~

You should have already known where I got this idea of Jellal being disabled and using wheelchair if you are in the fandom long enough but if you don’t, see this.

[atlanticcanada]

Who is who? A guide to the major players in the trucker convoy protest

What started as a convoy to end vaccine mandates for Canadian truckers travelling across the U.S. border has snowballed into an evolving, fluid protest about COVID-19 and the Trudeau government in general. 

Here, CTVNews.ca takes a look at who has stepped forward publicly as the organizers and influential protesters of the Ottawa convoy.

THE ORGANIZERS

JAMES BAUDER: James Bauder is the founder of Canada Unity, one of the groups responsible for the initial organization of the convoy to Ottawa. 

Ahead of the convoy’s arrival in the capital, Canada Unity directed a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) to the Senate and the Governor General, demanding an end to vaccine mandates and the reinstatement of those who lost jobs over COVID-19 vaccinations, or else “RESIGN their lawful positions of authority Immediately” (sic). 

Bauder said in a video posted to social media in January that he hoped the MOU would provide a “referendum” to persuade Elections Canada to trigger an election, which is not within the agency’s constitutional powers. 

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In the same video, Bauder said the hoped-for election would be legitimate because Canada does not use the Dominion voting machines at the centre of rigged-election conspiracy theories about the 2020 U.S. presidential vote. Dominion Voting is suing Fox News for defamation after the news outlet’s TV personalities suggested widespread vote-switching contributed to Donald Trump’s election loss. 

As of Feb. 8, Canada Unity had pulled the MOU from their website, writing in a statement signed by Bauder that it had led to “unintended interpretations,” and a message on the homepage also tells visitors the website has moved. Neither explanation nor a link to a new website were provided. 

In December 2020, Bauder posted on Facebook about his skepticism over the origins of COVID-19, perpetuating the disproven belief that the virus was intentionally created in and leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, as a bioweapon and wrongly implied that billionaire George Soros may have been involved. Soros is often the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories spread online. 

TAMARA LICH: Tamara Lich is listed alongside BJ Dichter as one of the "official" spokespeople for the convoy in Ottawa and is one of the organizers of the fundraising page that raised more than $10 million for the convoy before it was removed by GoFundMe. Since then, Lich has said the protesters can receive funds through other means, including the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo where the group had raised more than US$8.1 million by Feb. 10.

Lich, who claims Metis heritage, was initially a member of the Wildrose Party before moving to Manitoba and joining the Maverick Party, which says its goal is to represent the interests of Western Canada. On Feb. 2, a statement was posted on the Maverick Party accepting the resignation of Lich, “as she is committed to remaining in Ottawa until all restrictions are lifted.”

BJ DICHTER: Benjamin Dichter, also known as BJ Dichter, is a truck driver and podcaster who describes himself as vice-president of the Ottawa convoy. 

Dichter has previously run for office, losing in the 2015 election as a Conservative MP candidate in the riding of Toronto-Danforth. At a People’s Party of Canada event in 2019, Dichter made a speech in which he suggested Canada is suffering from the “stench” of “political Islam" and stated without providing evidence that some then-candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada had ties to "Islamic extremism."

A Feb. 9 statement posted to Dichter’s Twitter said he is now one of four authorized spokespeople for the convoy. Before a press conference scheduled for the same day, Dichter tweeted that The Globe and Mail had been uninvited after publishing an opinion piece criticizing the alt-right’s use of the word “freedom.” 

When Confederate flags were seen in the convoy in Ottawa, Dichter said in a Twitter Space livestream with former Rebel Media presenters Keean Bexte and Lauren Southern that he didn’t care about their presence.

“Let’s assume there were guys there who did have a Confederate flag,” he said. “They believe in the confederacy of states rights in a foreign nation? I don’t care.”

At an informal press conference Feb. 7, Dichter has also said that the convoy has had some Conservative MPs reach out “behind the scenes.” 

Before he was an “official” spokesperson for the convoys, Dichter went on far-right Fox personality Tucker Carlson’s show on Jan. 27, telling Carlson that driving through Alberta before the pandemic, he thought it looked like a “third-world country” because the trucking industry had been “crushed.”

Dichter also uses his Twitter account to share and spread memes related to the convoy, including one that reads “Justin Trudeau must be stopped … no matter the cost.”

CHRIS BARBER: Chris Barber is a truck driver from Saskatchewan and one of the organizers of the convoy to Ottawa. Barber is active on social media, including TikTok, providing updates on the protest in Ottawa.

In one such update posted to TikTok, Barber refers to snipers' presence near the Parliament Hill protest, suggests that his "sources" tell him riot police are headed to Ottawa, and that the convoy may "go dark" after having their telecommunications blacked out.

"When our phones go dark, that means – I'm going to put my tin-foil hat on – they've deployed the 'no cell phone service' thing," he said in the video.

Snipers are often present at large protests on or near Parliament Hill, and while it is possible for police to trace phones used in downtown Ottawa, it is not possible for the government to black out the cell phones and internet of just those participating in the protest.

Barber calls the COVID-19 vaccine mandates "tyranny at its finest" and compares the policy to the strict government oversight of North Korea, even though some Canadian students in Ontario and New Brunswick have long been required to be immunized against other diseases including tetanus, polio, measles and chickenpox under the Immunization of School Pupils Act (though this is not required in other provinces).

Barber also said in a subsequent TikTok that he has Confederate flags hanging on his wall at home, calling it a "piece of cloth" and telling viewers to "get over it." The Confederate flag was used as a battle flag during the American civil war by those fighting on the side of the Confederates, who supported the continuation of slavery in the U.S. 

THE INFLUENCERS

BRIAN PECKFORD: Brian Peckford, the former premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, is the chairman of the group “Taking Back our Freedoms,” which claims that COVID-19 restrictions and mandates they claim are “unlawful.” The group also says it encourages Canadians to reject “forced” COVID-19 vaccinations for children, a practice which is not currently happening in Canada. 

Peckford, who claims that mandates are unconstitutional, is frequently cited by convoy supporters as “the last living” signatory of the Constitution Act, 1982. Former prime minister Jean Chretien, who signed the Constitution Act, is alive and well; Peckford is the last surviving premier involved in the negotiations of the constitution. 

Peckford is pursuing a lawsuit against the federal government, claiming the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for international travel is unconstitutional. 

In documents Peckford said he filed with the federal court, the applicants write that the mandate “effectively bans Canadians who have chosen not to receive an experimental medical treatment” from international travel. The COVID-19 vaccines authorized by Health Canada are not experimental and are backed up by large-scale clinical research and real-world data. 

ROGER HODKINSON: A pathologist from Alberta and an adviser to the “Taking Back Our Freedoms” group, Dr. Roger Hodkinson writes on his Rumble page that he "came out against the mainstream narrative of COVID-19 in 2020." On Nov. 13. 2020, Hodkinson called in to a meeting of Edmonton city councillors as a member of the public and referred to the pandemic as “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public” and said COVID-19 is “just another bad flu.”

The misconception that COVID-19 is like the flu has been widely debunked, despite its prevalence in misinformation streams and online conspiracy and anti-vaxx communities.More than 35,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Canada, with more than 5.78 million deaths recorded globally. COVID-19 can also develop long-haul symptoms, which some call “devastating.”

During the call to councillors, Hodkinson claimed he was the former chairman of the Royal College of Physicians Canada Examination Committee in Pathology, which was included in some of the social media posts that circulated afterwards. On Nov. 20, 2020, the Royal College clarified that, although Hodkinson was certified as a pathologist in 1976, he was never a chairman of the organization.

Hodkinson spoke at the convoy in Ottawa on Feb. 4, calling the federal government “idiots” and saying that “COVID was a very fortunate thing to happen to society” because it exposed the restrictions government has been “imposing on us for decades.” He told the crowd there would be no negotiations or “dithering” with the federal government, to which the crowd erupted in cheers.

RANDY HILLIER: Hillier is an independent MPP in Ontario who was removed from the province’s Progressive Conservative Party in 2019. In a statement posted to social media Feb. 9, Hiller called himself a “supporter” of the convoy. Hillier’s statement, released on his official MPP letterhead, referred to the protest as “peaceful,” despite Ottawa Police Services reporting at the time that officers had made 22 arrests, issued more than 1,300 tickets and had 79 ongoing criminal investigations, including alleged arson and hate crime investigations.

On Feb. 5, Hiller spoke to a large crowd at the convoy, comparing the struggle of the protesters to the struggle of soldiers on Vimy Ridge and saying, “This is the hill we die on.”

He has also appeared on Russia Today (RT), a Russian state television outlet, to speak about the convoy, tweeting that Russian media "provides a platform for objective journalism, where Canadian (mainstream media) creates fabrications." According to the Columbia School of Journalism, the Kremlin-funded RT has been accused of spreading misinformation and is considered "an extension of former President Vladimir Putin’s confrontational foreign policy" featuring "fringe-dwelling 'experts.'"

Hillier has used social media to attack politicians and “mainstream media,” including a tweet posted Jan. 24 calling Transport Minister Omar Alghabra a “terrorist.” Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino called the tweet “flagrantly abusive, offensive and Islamophobic” and called on Twitter to remove it. The tweet has not yet been removed or deleted.

In the 2022 Ontario provincial election, Hiller plans on running as the head of a new fringe party, the Ontario First Party.

PAUL ALEXANDER: Dr. Paul Alexander is a board adviser for the “Taking Back Our Freedoms” group, and is a former science adviser to then-U.S. President Donald Trump who urged the administration to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19 policies. In a July 4, 2020 email to the House Oversight Committee and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alexander wrote about allowing low risk populations to become exposed to the virus naturally.

“There is no other way, we need to establish herd (immunity), and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups (to) expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD,” he wrote.

Health experts warn that flouting safety measures in order to catch COVID-19 in an attempt to "get it over with" is not a safe way to build up antibodies against the virus, instead recommending following regional health guidelines and getting vaccinated.

Alexander also released a pre-printed, embargoed report on the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. The final version of the report did not conclusively support the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19, nor did the version that Alexander leaked.

Preprinted reports are often provided in order for researchers to ask colleagues and peers for comments, otherwise known as an informal peer-review process. As the British Medical Journal explains, these works are under embargo "to ensure that health information reaches the public domain in a responsible manner."

At an anti-lockdown rally in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 4, Alexander told parents to “stand up now” and refuse to vaccinate their children until pharmaceutical companies and the government waive their liability protection. Canada, however, currently has a Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) which provides financial support to those who have experienced a serious and permanent injury as a result of receiving a Health Canada authorized vaccine, administered in Canada on or after Dec. 8, 2020. Health Canada has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages five to 11.

On Feb. 5, Alexander tweeted photos of a large crowd at the convoy in Ottawa, writing: “What the media won’t show you!” Media outlets covering the event have reported widely on the number of people attending the convoy in Ottawa and in other cities across Canada.

CONVOY OPERATIONS

TOM QUIGGIN: Tom Quiggin describes himself as “protective intelligence” for the Ottawa convoy, releasing “intelligence reports” on Google Docs for protesters. Quiggin once worked as a security intelligence expert for the Canadian Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies (CSIS). 

He has been previously interviewed and used by CTV News as an expert source, including in 2009 for a CTV News story about 20 Greenpeace protesters arrested on Parliament Hill, in which he said security there “has been a problem for years.” 

"There's no one in charge of security on Parliament Hill and there's no one responsible for security … directly," he told CTV News' Power Play. "There's the RCMP, the House of Commons police, the Senate police and on the perimeter, there's the Ottawa police."

Quiggin was also interviewed on Power Play in 2010 as a security expert on the fire bombing of a bank in Ottawa, suggesting that the fire in the bank was arson. 

“If, however, their intent is to create a larger atmosphere of fear and intimidation, if it attempts to change what the policy makers think at the G20 or the G8 conference … then that rises to the level of terrorism," Quiggin told Power Play.

An incident at an apartment building in the “red zone” of the convoy demonstrations in Ottawa is currently being investigated as arson. 

CTV News has not used Quiggin as an expert source since 2010, but published a Canadian Press story in 2016 on a report authored by him about what he claimed were “extremist teachings” at mosques and schools. The National Council of Canadian Muslims said the report was "yet another anecdotal attempt to vilify" members of the religious community. 

In recent years, Quiggin has become a proponent of anti-globalist conspiracy theories, including one that “The Great Reset” outlined by the World Economic Forum to help the global economy recover from COVID-19 is secretly a plan to bring about economic collapse and establish a socialist world order.

Quiggin is the co-author of a book called “The New Order of Fear,” which is described on Amazon as “a fictional work that explores how globalists wish to remake our world into a Marxian-inspired totalitarian system.” Quiggin advertised the book in a pinned tweet: “Justin Trudeau is found dead in his bed, strangled with a pair of Halal socks, given to him by Cabinet Minister Omar Alghabra.” 

DANIEL BULFORD: Cpl. Daniel Bulford is an adviser for the “Taking Back Our Freedom” group and is a former RCMP officer associated with the “Mounties for Freedom” group which, according to its website, supports“the millions of Canadians who believe that all forced COVID mandates and vaccine passports are crimes against humanity.”

Mounties for Freedom has called upon the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and also asked Attorney General David Lametti to open an investigation into the government’s COVID-19 response. 

Bulford said he quit his job at the RCMP on Dec. 15, 2021, after refusing the organization's vaccine mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19.  

PAT KING: Pat King is a far-right protester who has said in videos posted to social media that there may be future plans to target politicians' homes and that "the only way that this is going to be solved is with bullets." He has called for the arrest of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly.

King has gained attention online for a video posted to Twitter in which he decries the "depopulation" of white people, and well as another video posted in 2019 in which he makes racist remarks about Jewish, Muslim, and Chinese people.

While meeting with protesters, Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer approached King and appeared in one of his videos posted to social media.

King is beginning to emerge as a key player in the operations of the convoy. King is often seen in the downtown Ottawa protest “red zone” and in what he calls a “command centre,” but it is unclear where he stands in the hierarchy of the convoy’s organizers. 

BRIAN DENISON: Brian Denison is a former Calgary police officer who resigned on Dec. 18, 2021, after declining to get a mandated COVID-19 vaccine. In his biography on the “Taking Back Our Freedom” website, where he's listed as an adviser, Denison said he “was suspended and charged with discreditable conduct and insubordination” by the Calgary Police Service.

In a Feb. 8 YouTube video directed to police officers across Canada, Denison said “there is an evil in this world” and that police chiefs and government are “providing unlawful orders” to officers at the protests. He says these officers are “just like him” and are “obliged to stand down.” 

He also suggests that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ottawa mayor Jim Watson and Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly are “criminal” for their actions against the protesters. 

Police have often been present and made arrests at previous protests in Ottawa -- both large and small -- including protests in 2020 over the construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through Wet’suwetʼen First Nation territory in British Columbia, land that is unceded. 

With files from Christy Somos, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/ILExOQq

[forthechubbies]

Mrs. Jeon Vol 3

Synopsis• One nightstand gone Marriage!? The past catches up with Yn when her head over heels husband finds his lost bride and will keep her by any means necessary.

Category's•Violent Thoughts, Hostel Behavior, Nsfw (Later), and Bratty Jungkook.

Duos• Yandere! Jungkook x Chubby! Reader

Vol 1, 2, 3, 4,

What’s going on down there? It sounds restlessly calm. You could hear muffled voices but nothing more; you aren't too keen on testing your luck and sneak into the corridor to eavesdrop on their conversation. Pretty sure the door is locked anyway.

Instead, You took note of the confined walls surrounding you. A typical master bedroom accessorized an earthy decor, cute mini-plants placed in various room areas, two tiny pet turtles in a tank constructed into a giant wooden bookshelf.

Speaking of books, talk about books galore. The shelved books had little to no wiggle room aside from the one empty slot belonging to the open novel on the nightstand. The owner won’t mind you partaking in one quick gander-

“Ah!” You gasp, fixing your eyes on your newly treated ankle. For a minute, you just about forgot this crazy abducted situation your in. The bedsprings dip as you flop back into the spot where Jimin left you. Jimin was the man you fell on during your first attempt at freedom; he was even generous enough to bandage with utmost care.

A kind gesture a particular bunny wasn’t too thrilled on seeing, Jungkook's face soured while watching Jimin’s filthy little womanizing hands caressing the delicate soft plushy skin of his carrot’s legs.

Son of a bitch trying to cop a feel on his wife, Jimin’s flirtatious persona, led him out to be a well-known heartthrob but often seen as a gigolo through certain people's point of view and, frankly, Jungkook's wife won't be a victim of the Jimin Effect.

Crash!

The smash of a glass object-making contact with the hard marble kitchen floor snatched Jimin’s and your attention giving it to the irritable bunny who’s psychotically enthusiastic about testing his progress in strength by snapping his hyung’s neck-

Oh, no, his carrot looks frightened-He shouldn't do such a brutal act of love with his wife nearby; her poor innocent heart might shatter. No violence...At least for the time being.

Next thing you know, Jungkook's face lightened up, and even when Jimin bit his head off for breaking one of Jin’s fancy dinnerware, his facial expression persisted undaunted. Jungkook kept a serene masquerade, but through closer observation, he clenched his jaw at Jimin’s hand on cradling the small of his wife’s back, guiding her into hiding in the upper part of the house for a reason unknown.

Jungkook let Jimin take you no-fuss included, Hence, Your encaged situation. For all, you know, The men were downstairs plotting a far-flung strategy to murder you making it look like a battle of defense.

Though, You were more occupied by another Crack for the floor down below. ” Ahh!” You cried out, falling back on the bed once again.

Meanwhile, Downstairs.

”Stop! Breaking Hyung’s plates, or we're both as good as dead!” Jimin growled. ”Quit avoiding the question! Who the hell is that woman!? Did you hurt her!? Why-!” Jimin asked Jungkook until his cheeks burned a reddish hue, and his neck veins were dominant.

In one swift breath, Jungkook responded. “ She’s Mrs.Jeon. My wife.”

Jimin knew his maknae had a few loose screws in his head, but this is getting out of hand.

”Wife?! Do you know how old you are!? Kook, You just turn twenty-three-”

”So What.” Jungkook interrupted. ”You want me to wait until I’m an ancient fart like Hyung to get married.”

”Pffft.” Jimin pressed his lips into a thin line suppressing his need to laugh. ”Ahem, respect your elders-You little brat.”

Amidst the brothers at each other's throats, another member of the maknae line awakened from his mid-morning nap; drowsy eyed Kim Taehyung waddled upstairs to check up on his Hyung living in the room above him.

He could have sworn a faint scream is what he heard-Well; there's no harm in checking.

You jumped at the squeaky hinges of the door opening. Wait, it was unlocked!? Expecting the uninvited visitor to be Jungkook, You raised a pillow over your head, ready to be hurled-to your amazement; it was a completely different man.

A long-haired male with long chocolate locks kept at bay by a beige headband; his attire was disarray. His tank top hung off his shoulder, slightly creased in his pajama pant’s waistband.

Adorable, to say the least, the poor thing’s eyes weren’t even fully open yet, the pretty pink pout of his lips nearly forced an” Aw” from yours.

”Who are you?” He grumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

Sweet mother of deep, He stood a few feet away, but the raspiness and depth of his voice caused your insides to start quivering.

”I’m-I’m the sand fairy.” You choked out, fluttering the tips of your fingers as if spreading magic dust. ” I'm here to ensure all your dreams are sweet. ”

You nibbled your lip nervously, hoping he takes the bait. He yawned in response dragging his exhausted body across the room to you; he halts. You gulped, staring up at him; you felt like a mouse about to pounce on by a tiger.

”H-H-I!” You yelped.

The man took no real investment in your fib; instead, he decided to reap the benefits of how soft and plushy you are by laying his head on your bare thighs. He wiggled in place to reach maximum comfort.

”Ah.” He moaned, falling back to sleep.

Oh, dear.

………

The sound of the hyung’s arrival made the two maknae gulp.

First in the door was Hoseok, hands full grocery bags ” Come help! Quick, save the ice cream if it isn't soup by now.”

Namjoon followed behind. ” I told Jin not to get the ice cream first-He knows how he gets with his coupons.”

”The worst part is he got upset when we told him that's enough food then told to stay in the car.” Yoongi stretched out the pins and needles feeling in his limbs.

”You may say that's enough now, but when that brat comes, he's going to eat us out of house and home!” Jin scolded, unconsciously fetching the rest of the bags.

Jin froze, staring at Jungkook, helping put the food in the correct places. He didn't hesitate to smother his baby boy in a hug, but right after, he jabbed Jungkook's gut.

”Oof!” Jungkook doubled over, gripping his chest. ” I missed you too,” He coughed.

Jin stood tall. ” And there's plenty more where that came from once Hoseok gets his hands on you.”

Anyone but Hoseok.

” I heard Jk!” Hoseok rushed Jungkook a bear hug. ” Thank goodness you're alright!” He jabbed in his Jungkook's gut. ” Where the hell have you been?!”

Jungkook groaned. ” Ou-Ouch..I won't be able to tell you if I keep getting hit.” He cleared his throat. ”America.”

”America!” The hyungs blared out.

Namjoon pinched the bridge of his nose. ” What possessed you to go there on your own? Have you forgotten what you are?”

Jungkook sighed. “ I know, I know, but I just envy normal people around my age having the freedom to go wherever they want.”

“ But you’re not," Yoongi brutally minced Jungkook’s sob story. He’s not particularly fond of beating around the bush, especially when dealing with his brothers earlier this afternoon. “ Unlike ‘normal’ twenty-year-olds, you are adored by army who would be upset if anything happened to you.”

Jungkook bowed his head in shame; the thought of army never really crossed his mind.

“And-“ Yoongi continued. “ There are crazies in every country, so what made you think heading off on your own would be alright!?”

“Why America?” Namjoon’s brow jumped as the gears in his head began to turn. “ Out of all the beautiful places we visited-You chose the U.S? What was there that you had to leave without an explanation?”

Namjoon stared at Jungkook’s eyes not in a malicious sense, just a habit when trying to figure out a solution or, in this case, a missing clue to the reason his little brother hopped up and left.

“Twinkats (Twinkies),” Jimin laughed nervously. “ I bet his suitcase is full of them.”

Sadly, Jimin’s fairy charm wouldn’t work this time. Jungkook is drowning in deep waters, and there’s no salvage coming for miles; at this rate, Jungkook had two options: tell the truth, orrrr, run away with his loving wife in his arms.

Not gonna lie; Jungkook leaned towards the second option, but the fates had another plan.

”Hyung! Hyung! Namjoon-Hyungie!!” Taehyung screamed bloody murder, sprinting downstairs minus jumping the last five steps. ” Her ankle is purple!”

Taehyung paused, breathing heavily in front of the kitchen where the interrogation is being held, accompanied by a woman injured cradled in his arms, more worried about him dropping than her throbbing ankle.

Taehyung had the room’s undivided attention, and Jungkook’s enviousness scowl; his wife was clinging on to another man like a baby koala to its mother but had it been him, she would scratch his eyes out.

Let's not mention the fact! It seems like she's only wearing a shirt, and guess who the owner is, not him!

” Who-”

”What-”

”Why”

” How!?”

Before getting into details about the hyung's reaction to their new houseguest, let's first take a detour to Prince Taehyung mini rescue adventure.

A good hour in, Taehyung woke up from the best nap of his life to beautiful damsel sniffles and tears. The sweetheart asked what was wrong and nodded as the damsel explained, coming to realize she was in distress. Prince Taehyung aided the beauty with new clothes and tied a red ribbon into her hair….beacause he thought it would look pretty (Shrugs).

However, her ankle injury required a different source of help, so who else to ask but his favorite Hyung? But he couldn't find Yoongi in his room, so he decided to ask Namjoon instead.

Back to the original story

Taehyung explains the truth unconsciously, throwing his little brother under the bus.

Jin’s eye twitched as he peered at Jungkook, who was attempting to slip out of the kitchen. ” You little sh-!”

Let's just say Jin didn't nearly beat Jungkook almost half to death with a rice paddle while shouting numerous insults to bruise a thousand men’s pride in a second.

It went silent after Jin banished Jungkook to the beach house a few feet from the house until he wanted to see his face again. Namjoon took it upon himself to introduce the gang.

You politely shared a warm hello but wished nothing more to go home.

[alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer]

i am not a hero pt 2: all will be well

Part 1 | Fanfiction Masterlist | AO3

A/N: Sorry this took so long! Warnings: descriptions of racism, mentions of alcoholism

"Thank the angel you're all here," Cordelia exhaled as she arrived in the room about the Devil's Tavern. "Have you heard? Alastair was-" She stopped herself as she surveyed the room, registering the looks the Merry Thieves were giving her. "Oh, no. No, no, no." She turned to James. "Tell me you didn't have anything to do with this." 

"Daisy-" 

"Tell me!" 

"I can't lie to you." 

She stumbled backwards, her heart shattered. James reached for her, but she protested. "No! Don't touch me! You can’t lie to me? All you have done is lie, apparently. You didn't... You didn't even tell me... I thought we were doing this together... I was such a fool.”

"Cordelia, you know we had to keep it from you," Matthew explained. "You're rather... overprotective." 

She laughed. "Overprotective? I care for him, Matthew, because he's my brother. I know him as well as I know myself, though I understand if that's confusing for you, seeing as you've never had a brother worth caring for." 

"Cordelia," James said sternly, a warning. "We understand that you're upset-" 

"Upset? You have betrayed me! You could have told me the truth, and I would have helped you. I would have shown you alibi, I would proven to you with evidence that it was not him-" 

"If there is evidence, it will be presented before the courts, and all will be well." 

"You don't get it! You don't. You- I thought all this time that it was me. That I didn't understand the world or society or friendship or... marriage because I was raised isolated from the Clave by an inattentive, narcissistic drunkard." She enunciated each other her final words with all of the vitriol she'd been suppressing since her father arrived in London. "But I was wrong. It was you. You all... You live in a fantasy world, one that your parents created for you. And that's fine. that's good for you, I'm glad that the people in your life were capable and willing to do that for you. But the world does not work the same for all of us." 

"Really, Cordelia? You wish to speak of the world and how it works for -- and against -- each of us?" Matthew challenged. 

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Whatever do you mean, Matthew?” 

“You, what? Don’t believe we know what it’s like to be prejudiced against? Would you have said the same while Alastair himself was ridiculing James for his parentage or me for my… presumed sexual proclivities?” 

Cordelia gawked. "That was over four years ago, Matthew! He said foolish things and he regrets them, yet you continue to live in the past. Not only do you hold mistakes you all made as children over his head, but you dare compare your experience to his? You can go anywhere, do anything, without anyone knowing what you do with your nights. Perhaps you wear that carnation, but you can take it off, Matthew. So, James’ eyes are golden. Tell me, James, when you were eight years old, were you kicked out of the general store because the townspeople believed you to be stealing for no reason other than your golden eyes?” 

James was silent. 

“So, please, tell me again how you understand what it’s like to walk in my brother’s shoes.” She turned back to Matthew. “You were given everything, Matthew. You have all the money you could ever dream of. Your parents love you unconditionally. You choose to live your life openly. Perhaps you should not need to choose, but you do, and it is a privilege to be able to make such a choice so freely, knowing that you will continue to be safe and cared for. Not everyone has such luxuries. My brother no longer even has a choice; you have taken it from him." 

Silence had fallen over the room. The boys had always understood that they were very lucky in life, just as they had understood, on some level, the ways that their parents had been unlucky. However, it was easy to live a lucky life and forget to consider how those around oneself may not afford the same privileges. James looked to her finally. "What... What do you mean by that? What choice?”

She turned to him with a blank expression, then sighed. "I suppose the whole Clave will know soon, anyways. As you know, with the memory magic being used, the Clave needs alibis. Alastair has only got one, and I can’t imagine it will end well for him." She turned to Matthew and sighed, "You and your brother have been given everything. I have no doubt in my mind that Charles will not be held at all responsible for the realities of their affair. He will continue with his life unscathed, to marry whomever he chooses, to obtain any position he chooses, to live whatever life he chooses, just as James would have even if he had not married me. Because that is how the world works. Alastair will be seen as the one who persuaded him into such proclivities.” She paused before muttering under her breath, “Not to mention that I haven't the slightest idea of what will happen when my father learns the truth.” She took a breath and continued, “So, to make a long story short, James, no, I do not believe all will be well.” 

“Cordelia,” he started, “you must believe that we had no intention of exposing anyone’s personal affairs. It was not personal at all; we are only trying to put an end to this mess.” 

“Well, congratulations, James. An innocent man has been arrested, your killer still walks free, and my family is in ruins. I believe you have accomplished quite a lot.” Her eyes scanned the room. Matthew looked to be in a state of shock, Christopher in confusion, but her eyes settled on Thomas, his head hung low, his face turned away. “I… I may not have expected this, but I can believe it well enough. But, you, Thomas? How could you?” 

He looked up at her, tears on his flushed cheeks. “Cordelia, I-” 

“Tell me, was any of it real? Did you ever truly intend to be my brother’s friend, or was it all just ploy for your little detective game?”

He shook his head. “Sort of, at first, but-” 

“I trusted you!” She yelled before restraining her anger. “He trusted you. After everything, after Charles and- I thought that finally, finally my brother had someone in his life who was kind and gentle and caring. Someone honest and trustworthy, but it was all a lie. You used him, too.” 

“Cordelia, I- I’m so sorry.” 

“You are not who I thought you were." Her words echoing ones that Thomas had once spoken. Unlike Thomas,’ however, her realization held no trace of anger or upset. No, her words were spoken only in true fear.

Seemingly finished with the boys’ stunned silence, she took a breath. “If you will excuse me, I must take my leave. James, my mother and I shall be staying at the Institute for the time being, so it would be in your best interest to avoid it as much as possible. There’s not much of a point in continuing this sham of a marriage, seeing as I haven’t got a reputation to save, so I will write to the Consul first thing tomorrow morning requesting a divorce. Then, you shall have what you always dreamed: you will be rid of my family and I forever.” 

“Wait-” James cried, his voice breaking. 

“You are dead to me, James Herondale.” 

Without waiting for a reply, she darted out of the room. 

The four boys were left, staring at one another. Thomas unsuccessfully attempted to stifle his tears while James looked to be on the verge of a complete breakdown, his torso trembling. 

“What, are you two bloody heartbroken now?” Matthew mused. 

Thomas slammed his fist on the table loud enough to alert the whole establishment. “Fuck, Matthew! Shut up!” 

“Thomas, you found the bloodied dagger and Ms. Highsmith’s necklace in his bedroom yourself. We saw him walking around downtown the nights of the Gladstone and Beauvale murders. Whatever Cordelia claims, I truly don’t think we’re wrong about this.” 

“And what if we are?” Thomas challenged. 

“It could have been planted,” Christopher offered. “And there could be many reasons that he was out those nights. After all, we were, too.” 

“Which reasons, Christopher? Have you ever seen him in a bar? He doesn’t even drink. He’s hardly more than a lowly shut-in.” 

“His father does,” James said quietly. 

Matthew glared. “What?” 

“His father drinks. I don’t… I don’t know a lot about it all, but it would follow that if Elias were out drinking again and did not come home, Alastair would be the one to go out looking for him.”

Matthew groaned. “Fine, if we are truly pursuing this, then what? We’ve got maybe half a day if we’re lucky before Alastair is to go before the Mortal Sword.” 

“Then we have half a day to find the true culprit,” Thomas announced, regaining his resolve. 

“If Alastair is our only lead at the moment, we must pursue it,” Kit offered. “Who could have planted it on him? What motive would they have to frame him? Who would have had access to his bedroom?” 

“Well, I can answer one of your questions,” Matthew said nonchalantly. “Who wouldn’t want to frame Alastair Carstairs for murder?” 

“Matthew, if you’re not going to be helpful, please be quiet,” Thomas said in his usual gentle but stern manner, though the complete opposite of the last time he’d asked his friend to be quiet. “Sona is nearly always home; it would be very difficult for someone to enter the house uninvited and not be seen. As Matthew put it, Alastair is a bit of a shut-in, but he’s clearly been going out more, especially at night, since his father has returned. Sona’s been having trouble sleeping as of late, though, so even getting access to his bedroom at night would be difficult. They’ve only one servant, Risa, so there’s truly not many folks moving about the house regularly.” 

“Since when are you on a first-name basis with Mrs. Carstairs?” Christopher commented in confusion, and Thomas blushed. 

“What do you recommend, then?” Matthew asked. 

“Kit is correct, it’s our only lead. We must return to Cornwall Gardens. If we’re lucky, they may have left something behind, or perhaps there’s some sort of record of visitors to the house.” 

James looked uneasy. “This seems wrong. Maybe we can still go after Cordelia-” 

“There’s no time, James,” Thomas admitted. “She’s too angry with us. I’m no happier about it than you are, but if there is any way that we could possibly fix this, we must do it.” 

He nodded. “Let’s go, then.” 

“Won’t there be people at the house?” Christopher asked. “The sun has not even set yet.” 

Thomas sighed. “Cordelia is taking Sona to the Institute, and I’d imagine Risa is accompanying them, at least for the initial journey until she is settled. Elias is just a risk we’ll have to take.” 

As they ventured out, however, they were not even out the doors of the tavern before Thomas stopped in his tracks. If looks could kill, Matthew would have murdered Thomas several times over by now. “Elias is here,” he whispered. 

“What?” James narrowed his eyes. 

“One of us should stay here and keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t return to Cornwall Gardens until it’s been cleared. Besides, I don’t want him interfering with Cordelia’s plans, either.” 

“Are you volunteering, then?” Matthew asked. 

Thomas thought for a moment. “I suppose so. I’ve done my searching already; it’s better to have some fresh eyes. You and James know the layout of the house well enough.” 

“Very well,” Christopher declared. “Thomas, I shall send you a magical letter when we are finished at the Carstairs residence.” 

Thomas narrowed his eyes with worry. “Please don’t. I’m rather weary of fire.” 

“Nonsense. The fire’s not important; it’s a magical letter.” 

“It’s a magical letter that you send by lighting it on fire! It should be called a fire letter!” 

“Fire letter,” Christopher hummed. “No, that’s not quite right. No, fire message! I shall send you a fire message, Thomas!” 

“Alright,” Thomas whined. “You all should go, we haven’t got much time.” 

“Thomas, are you sure you want to stay here?” James asked. 

“I’ll be fine. He’s a drunk; I’d be surprised if he even stood up before you lot were finished. I just want to make sure.” 

James gave him a short nod, and they took their leave. Thomas settled down at a corner table, pulling out a notebook from his pocket and pretending to be fixated on it while he kept his eye on Elias at the bar. 

Just his luck, and much to his surprise, Elias stood to leave not long after the rest of the Merry Thieves had departed. Thomas waited for a moment after he left, and then went out after him. He stepped out onto the street, looking for a sign of where Elias had gone, but he quickly saw only darkness as a cloth was wrapped around his eyes and nose and he was subdued, quickly losing consciousness. 

A/N: I also just wanted to clarify a couple of things, I believe that the Clave will come to certain conclusions and Charles will not refute them, not that he would create the lies himself. These conclusions make sense to me, not only because Charles is a white boy who is seen as an “insider” (which they would try to rationalize), but because orientalist beliefs have hypersexualized the Middle East for centuries, associating MENA with “deviant” male homosexuality. This is believed to be one of the (many) reasons queerness is rejected so thoroughly in the MENA today, and I think it’s important to consider how ideas like orientalism impacted lives in historical fiction, although the concept had not been coined or studied yet.

taglist (lmk to be added!): @littlx-songbxrd

[sortofanobsession]

9-1-1 Masterlist

+AU fics **Omegaverse AU fics. ^Coda fics § Prompt Fill

Bathena:

Oneshot/Prompt Fills:

§ +Of Mixed Emotions and Loving Families (Ao3)

Hospital food lacks Love Missing Scenes from 6x11 In Another Life

Madney:

Oneshot/Prompt Fills:

No one should ever mess with Maddie (Ao3)

Bobby & Buck (Bobby as Buck’s Pseudo-Father):

Oneshots/Fics

The Nature of Pain (Ao3) Ch 1, Ch 2

A rescue of a different kind (Ao3) (Buddie Sequel: Play Ball)

In a Flash or Two Pre-6b Speculative Fic (Ao3), Ch 1 (Eddie POV), Ch 2 (Bobby's POV), Ch 3 (Buck's POV)

Hospital food lacks Love Missing Scenes from 6x11 In Another Life

Buddie

Oneshots/Completed:

§ **I’m Begging you to be my Escape (Ao3) Story Masterlist

§ +Some lawyers just don’t follow the law (Ao3)

§ +Breath in, Wheeze out  (Ao3)

§ Buck’s Ducks (Ao3) Follow up Tony the Kid

§ +Fear in the Shadows (Ao3)

^Eddie’s Epiphany (3x10 Coda) (Ao3)

§ +Saving and Losing (Ao3)

§ Music to his ears (Ao3)

+Trauma shakes the soul and marks the skin (Ao3)

§ **Flames fueling the fight (Ao3)

§ +A truly terrible lesson to learn (Ao3)

§ +Never going down without a fight (Ao3)

§ +Uninvited Guests (Ao3)

§ +A Doggone Terrible Birthday (Ao3)

§ +Jet Lag and Second Chances (Ao3)

§ +Demons in the Dark (Ao3)

^Long Drive Home 911 Crossover Coda (Ao3) Ch 1, Ch 2

^Safe Place and Safer People 4x04 Coda (Ao3)

Mother’s Day Flowers (Ao3)

§ +Reality Deep Down (Long overdue Eddie Begins AU) (Ao3)

§ Arguing with Passion (Ao3)

^Problems and Pancakes 5x13 Coda 

^You can't return unless you leave first 5x16 May Day Coda

In a Flash or Two Pre-6b Speculative Fic (Ao3), Ch 1 (Eddie POV), Ch 2 (Bobby's POV), Ch 3 (Buck's POV)

^Terror and Time 6x10 In a Flash Coda #1

§ ^I’m afraid of what you’ll see, right now 6x10 In a Flash Coda #2 Prompt fill

§ ^Dare you to move 6x10 In a Flash Coda #3 Prompt fill

^ Wasn't exactly Wonderland 6x11 In Another Life Coda

^ Intrusive Thoughts and Gambling 6x13 Mixed Feelings Coda

** Beyond Frustration

WIP:

§ The Nature of Pain (Ao3) Ch 1, Ch 2

§ **A Bit Emotionally FUBAR (Ao3) Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3 

§ **Life on one’s own (Ao3) Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3

Series (Most, if not all WIP)

Buck, Daisy, and the FireFam (Ao3 Series)

A rescue of a different kind

Play Ball

No one should ever mess with the Buckley Siblings (Ao3 Series)

No one should ever mess with Maddie

No one should ever mess with Buck

Buck and Eddie can’t catch a break

Now when do I start to feel again?- Part 1, Part 2

Charles Darwin nodded and smiled a knowing smile Part 1

§ **New Life of Omega Buck-

Part 1: Pain given and pain received

Part 2: Out of the haze  

Part 3: Nothing heals the soul more than family

Part 4: Nothing can hurt you more than family Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

Best Visitors, Worst Visitors

Second 4x04 Coda Ao3 Part 1, Part 2

Don’t share secrets with strangers

[rookie-ramsey]

Baby Blues, Chapter 12 (Bryce X MC)

Description: Bryce and MC can handle just about anything. Hopefully, pregnancy and parenting fall into the “just about anything” category.

Preview: “I have no embarrassment.” Bryce shook his head. “It’s not possible to shame me.”

“We’ll see about that when Emily sees your kindergarten pictures.” Keiki left the room and returned a minute later with a photo album. She handed it to Emily and grinned. “It’s the dorkiest thing you’ll ever see.”

Previous Chapter

“What’s wrong?” Emily lunged to her feet when Bryce stood up and shoved his phone in his pocket.

“There was a break-in. Keiki said two guys kicked in the door and started ransacking the place.”

“What?” Emily’s eyes widened. Her heart pounded. “Are Keiki and Ava okay? What-“

“They’re not hurt, but the guys who broke in are on the loose.” Bryce grabbed her hand as they all but ran out of the park. “Keiki already called the cops. They’re on their way, but that’s no guarantee the burglars won’t come back.”

“Oh god…” Feeling nauseous, Emily threw open the car door and sat in the passenger seat. Bryce drove as quickly as possible to the apartment building. By the time he arrived a few minutes later, a cop car was parked outside.

As they rushed inside and to their floor, Emily inhaled sharply at the shoe marks on the slightly open door. They stepped inside to see two cops examining their living room, where Keiki sat on the couch and Ava rested nearby in her portable crib.

Emily scooped Ava up while Keiki threw her arms around Bryce. “I don’t know what they took. They kicked in the door and I just grabbed Ava and went in the nursery and locked the door…”

“It doesn’t matter what they took. What matters is that you and Ava didn’t get hurt.” Bryce hugged his sister and reached his free arm out to Emily and Ava. He hugged the three of them close for several moments.

“We’ve never seen these guys before. It looks like they broke in thinking nobody would be here to witness, then left.” One of the officers handed them a card. “Once you’ve identified what’s missing, call us. We’ll try to get back whatever’s missing, but we can’t make any promises.”

Emily took the card and set it on the coffee table. “How can we be sure they won’t come back tonight?”

“Chances are, they won’t. They usually break in when the occupants aren’t home. They probably broke in here, realized there was someone home, and darted. But we’re putting a bolt lock on your door as a precaution.”

Bryce didn’t look convinced. “Was our apartment the only one?”

“As of now, yes.” The officer nodded. “They may have seen the two of you leave and thought you were the only ones living here. Unless you can think of a reason why they would single you out, it was probably random.”

Once the police officers left, Bryce strapped Ava into her sling carrier so she would be nearby as they straightened up the apartment. Their laptops and a few pieces of jewelry were missing, but the stolen items paled in comparison to the mere fact that strangers had broken into their home.

Emily wrote down everything they determined missing, trying to keep her hand from shaking. Her grip tightened on the pen. Bryce reached out and touched her hand, gently steadying it.

She finished the list and set it on the table with the police officer’s contact information. With a sigh, she leaned into Bryce and hugged him. “And to think we were gone less than an hour…”

“Hey.” Bryce wrapped an arm around her waist. “I know what you mean, but we had no way of knowing this would happen.”

“I know.” Emily touched Ava’s cheek. The infant nuzzled her head into the fabric of the sling and yawned. “At least they only took a few things and left. It’s no big deal replacing stuff. It could have been a lot worse.”

Bryce smoothed a hand over his daughter’s fuzzy head. “I know. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to Keiki and Ava.”

Emily nodded against his shoulder. “Is Keiki okay?”

“I’m gonna go check on her.” Bryce freed Ava from her sling and handed her to Emily.

“Okay. I’ll get some pizza delivered for dinner. I don’t really feel like going out again.”

Nodding, Bryce kissed her forehead and left the living room to check on his sister. Soon, they all gathered in the kitchen to eat the pizza Emily ordered. After dinner, Bryce and Emily sat on the couch with Ava.

Emily settled Ava in her arms and held her bottle to her lips. When the infant latched on, Emily leaned into Bryce. “What an evening.”

“Yep.” He slipped an arm around her. “It’ll be okay.”

“I know.” Emily nodded. “But I don’t know if I’ll be ready to go to sleep just yet.”

Keiki shook her head. “Me neither.”

Bryce grinned. “Sounds like we need a Lahela family fun night to distract ourselves from our tragic evening.”

“I think so,” Emily agreed.

“I’ll get Bryce’s embarrassing pictures,” Keiki suggested.

“I have no embarrassment.” Bryce shook his head. “It’s not possible to shame me.”

“We’ll see about that when Emily sees your kindergarten pictures.” Keiki left the room and returned a minute later with a photo album. She handed it to Emily and grinned. “It’s the dorkiest thing you’ll ever see.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Emily handed Ava to Bryce. She opened the album and laughed at a baby picture. “Aw.”

Bryce chuckled. “I was cute, huh?”

“You were. Ava looks a lot like you as a baby.”

“She does.” Bryce gave Ava a gentle bounce. She let out a squeal and broke into a toothless smile. “See? She agrees.”

Emily flipped through the pages. There weren’t many pictures compared to her own childhood albums, but there were enough for her to giggle at her fiancé’s childhood snapshots. “Is this you in kindergarten?”

“Yeah. I was the first kid to lose their front teeth because I thought I’d try showing off for everyone. I wiped out on the swing set and knocked my two front teeth out.”

“Poor little you. But it made for a cute picture.” Emily turned the pages until she landed on one of him in high school. “There’s the leather jacket you told me about!

Bryce feigned hurt. “You act surprised. You didn’t believe me?”

“Not completely,” she admitted, unable to stop grinning. “Your hair, though. What were you thinking?”

Keiki shook her head. “He wasn’t.”

Bryce chuckled. “I don’t know why my 17 year old self ever thought I looked intimidating in leather and long hair.”

“You look precious. Not intimidating at all.” Emily grabbed her phone and took a picture of it. She turned to the next page to reveal a picture of Bryce in the same leather jacket, but with a tiara perched on his head. “Keiki, something tells me you were involved in this.”

“You bet.” The teen smirked. “He needs to retake that picture when Ava’s old enough to talk him into doing stuff like that.”

“I will,” Bryce confirmed.  

Once Emily reached the end of the book, she closed it and set it aside. “I feel like I know you on a new level now.”

“Good.” Bryce grinned. “My goal is to never stop surprising you.”  

By the time they crawled into their bed, it was nearly two in the morning. Emily yawned and snuggled into Bryce’s chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and closed her eyes. “I know they probably won’t be back, but… honestly, I can’t get over the fact that someone broke into our home. Our home is supposed to be safe.”

Bryce tightened his arms around her. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. His fingers smoothed over her hair. “It’ll be okay.”

She nodded tiredly. “Let’s try to get some rest.”

“Good night.”

XXXXXX

In the days that passed, the shock of the break-in slowly subsided, but never fully went away. The police kept them updated for two days before seemingly forgetting their case. Emily and Bryce installed a security alarm and a lock designed to lessen the chance of the door being kicked in again.

On their first day off after the incident, Bryce held Ava as she swatted at the rattle in his hand. Her fingers grazed it, making it rattle. She huffed and swatted again, this time curling her fingers around its handle.

“There you go.” Bryce released the rattle. Ava wiggled her hand and furrowed her face when it made its sound. A knock on the door startled her, making her drop it. “Let’s see who’s here.” He carried her to the door and peered through the peephole.

Immediately, he frowned when he saw the people on the other side. He swung open the door and scowled at their uninvited visitors.

“Mom? Dad?”

Next Chapter

Note: When I started this fic, I expected it to be 6 to 8, MAYBE 10 chapters of pure fluff. But then I decided it needed to be more intense, so... enjoy.

Tags: @elephant9998 / @mvalentine / @fortunatelywaywardsandwich / @whatchique / @achalantspitfire / @lahellacute / @virtuallytakenby / @oofchoices / @dang-lahela / @misswhit12 / @drakeismyweakness / @sitsoncornflake / @a-tragical-tale / @bitchloveskcbaseball / @laceandlula / @paulfwesley / @bloomingsivan / @anotherbeingsworld / @vamped99 / @malvolari-take-my-soul / @doctorsurferbro / @loveellamae / @drethanfreakingramsey / @trappedinfandoms / @elladines / @macy-ray85 / @mrsdrlahela / @lucy-268 / @swimmingauthordreamerbonk / @drakewalker04  / @crystalchrysalis19

[lynne-monstr]

Writers Month 2019: Day 17: Accidental Baby Acquisition (malec)

requested by anonymous

(note that i cannot write children so no actual human babies will appear in this.)

summary: In the event this monumentally stupid stunt gets him gets killed, Magnus only hopes Alec has the good sense to lie to his friends about the cause of his death. He knows for a fact more than one of those bastards has money on him dying of his own bleeding heart.

ao3 link

“Alec, no!” Magnus lunges, grabbing Alec’s sword arm before he can attack.

Alec twitches beneath his hand but doesn’t shake him off. Later, Magnus will marvel that he’s learned to trust Alec so deeply he'd put himself in the path of a Nephilim weapon without hesitation. But that’s a thought for later. For now, he’s more concerned about what he’s come home to.

It had been such a nice date night, but it already feels like a distant memory.The perils of being a powerful warlock with an equally powerful boyfriend.

All the lights in the loft are off save for the entranceway at their backs. In front of them, the living room is dim, lit only by the faint glow of the city’s light pollution filtering in from the balcony windows. Everything is wreathed in shadow. Magnus feels the weight of his glamour dropping and the room sharpens into the full spectrum of night. Which is when he sees it. In the darkened depths of the living room, there’s a darker smudge under the coffee table.

He and Alec aren’t alone.

There’s something in the room with them, lying in wait beneath the furniture. Magnus tastes the air and the hair on the back of his necks stands up. With his natural vision, he can see what his instincts warned him of, what Alec saw with his heightened Shaowhunter senses. There’s a creature pressed tight against the far leg of the coffee table. But he also sees why he stopped Alec’s attack. The creature is huddled as far away as it can get without leaving the shelter of the furniture.

It isn’t attacking, or preparing an ambush. It’s cowering.

Something that feels like a memory curdles in Magnus’ stomach. He hates to see anyone or anything cower.

Beneath his grip, the muscles of Alec’s forearm twitch. He shifts on the balls of his feet but doesn’t interfere. Warmth expands in Magnus’ chest. Alec’s battle instincts must be screaming but he’s willing to yield to Magnus’ expertise in this particular area.

Edom.

There’s an Edomei in their home.

The Edomei is curled into a ball of pitch-black scales. Its very presence warps the light around it, making the space under the coffee table darker than it should rightfully appear. A pair of equally black wings shoot from the creature's back. The wings look wrong—crooked and grotesque, deformed and hanging in ways that make Magnus shift in discomfort.

“It’s injured.” Alec’s voice is soft, though his body remains a coiled spring. “What’s it doing here?” he adds, keeping his voice low, as if the thing can understand English.

Maybe it can. Magnus has never looked too deeply into the native inhabitants of his homeland aside from strengths, weaknesses, and hunting patterns. The only thing he knows about these creatures is how to kill them.

“I don’t know. It’s not like I invited it over for drinks,” Magnus whispers back. He swallows down the rising dread at the reminder of the place he once called home. He’d prefer to forget this part of his heritage but here it is, not even on his doorstep but inside his home.

Alec, his wonderful Alexander, attempts to lighten the mood. “Well, you did once tell me you made the best cocktails in North America. Maybe word spread.”

Magnus lets out a silent huff, and gives Alec’s arm a squeeze. It never fails to amaze him that Alec can read him so well. He clings to the comfort as he makes his decision on what to do with his uninvited guest. His logical mind says to kill it. The rest of him balks at the thought of killing a child. Because that’s what this is, a tiny, young Edomei that somehow found its way to his loft.

Slowly, he releases his grip on Alec and takes a tentative step forward.

The Edomei under his coffee table backpedals in a flurry of wings. It makes it about three steps before listing off balance, stumbling onto its side with a pained cry. Its wings flap uselessly and a thready screech fills the air.

Magnus is moving before he can convince himself what a terrible idea this is.

“It’s okay,” he says, walking forward with small, tentative steps.

It was never really a decision at all. A child is a child, regardless of species. He only hopes that in the event this monumentally stupid stunt gets him gets killed, Alec has the good sense to lie to his friends about his cause of death. He knows for a fact that more than one of those bastards has money on him dying of his own bleeding heart.

Behind him, Alec keeps pace, hovering at his shoulder. His unsheathed blade glints in the evening light but he doesn’t raise it.

As Magnus gets closer, he can hear the Edomei breathing in weak squeals. Its scaled chest continues to heave, faster and faster as he kneels beside it, a string of nonsense reassurances spilling from his lips in the same low, hushed tones that work well on all types of children.

Around them, the loft is perfectly still.

The eyes that meet Magnus’ gaze are deep red with no pupil but he gets the sense of being studied by a predator. A very small one in need of help, but a predator nonetheless. Magnus doesn’t flinch. This tiny Edomei is hardly the only predator in the room.

After a beat, it lowers its head.

The urge to let out a breath is palpable but Magnus resists. No showing weakness now or it may be the last thing he does.

He leans in for a closer look. The small dragon-like creature isn’t just dark in color but filthy. Caked between the scales are layers upon layers of dirt and grime. Magnus wrinkles his nose. It must have dragged itself through half the gutters of Brooklyn in search of shelter.

“Alright, let’s patch you up. This rug is a lost cause but we can still salvage the hardwood if we work fast.” There’s no response, which is a shame but ultimately not a surprise. He’s not sure if it’s because the Edomei doesn’t understand human language, or because the denizens of his father’s realm don’t have a sense of humor. Either is equally likely.

Raising a hand, he prepares to summon a ball of magic to his aid.

“Magnus be careful,” Alec interrupts before he can cast the spell. He’s in a defensive stance at Magnus’ shoulder, blade poised to plunge into the Edomei’s heart at the slightest provocation. “You don’t know why it’s here. It could kill us both the moment you heal it.”

They both remember the battle at the beach, the sheer amount of devastation even a single Edomei can wreak. Even a small one—practically a baby, Magnus realizes with an ache—is incredibly dangerous.

“It’s a child, Alexander. It’s here because it has nowhere else to go.”

Alec’s eyes go a little bit soft, his blade slowly lowering though he doesn’t drop his guard. His Alexander has always had a soft spot for the young.

“It must have come through that portal and escaped detection all this time. Unsurprising, considering its size. When it got hurt and tried to go home, the portal no longer existed and there was no magic for it to follow back to Edom. I suppose it found my magic instead and traced it here.” Magnus swallows down the memories of filthy alleys and rancid food and the absolute knowledge that no one in the world cared for him enough to save him. “An easy mistake to make, considering where my magic comes from.”

A warm hand settles on his shoulder. “You’re nothing like him, Magnus.”

“I know,” he says, and isn’t that something, that those are words he can say without a hint of sarcasm.

He spent his entire life doubting, convinced that there was no atoning for the sins of his past. He still has his moments of weakness, but he can’t deny the impact of Alec’s stalwart acceptance. In this moment, he’s intensely, absurdly grateful that he trusted Alec enough to take that leap and tell him of his heritage. To trust the man he loves with his most closely guarded and shameful secret.

Alec’s hand falls away and Magnus doesn’t need to look to know he’s readying himself for a fight if things go wrong. “Do what you have to do. I’ll cover you.”

Before he can regret his choice, Magnus sends out a stream of magic into the Edomei’s mangled wings.

This time, the creature’s cry is pure excitement. The moment the last of the hollow bones knit together, it launches itself into the air, circling the remnants of magic coming off Magnus’ fingers. Magnus nearly blasts it but years of helping untrained warlocks control their magic stays his hand.

Alec steps in close but doesn’t attack, still following Magnus’ lead.

Following a hunch, Magnus shoots out a few harmless sparks. The the Edomei flies after it, landing in a tangle of wings on the far end of Magnus’ couch. It bounces on the cushion, trying to grab at the dancing points of bright blue magic. When that doesn’t work it breathes out a tiny jet of fire, no larger than the flickering flame of a lighter. Magnus presses his lips together, not wanting to laugh and scare the creature. His resolve nearly breaks when he looks over at Alec, whose eyes are wide, a lopsided smile painted across his face as he watches what should be a fearsome beast pounce on bits of magic.

“My poor couch,” Magnus laments with a frown, sending out a couple more bursts of magic. Some of it races around the Edomei, the rest erases the tiny burn marks from the upholstery. At the same time he he spares a burst of power to gradually brighten the lights in the room. He's getting tired of not seeing in color.

Alec presses his lips together but can’t hide his amusement. “We’re keeping it, aren’t we?” The words are resigned but there’s a hopeful tone in his voice that tells Magnus he’s just as enamored with their unexpected visitor as Magnus is. His voice turns contemplative as he adds, “I wonder why this one is so different than the others.”

“Well, we did save it. Maybe it’s grateful,” Magnus says, though he’s not convinced at his own glib answer.

“Or maybe there’s nothing inherently evil about being from Edom,” Alec replies, pointedly. “Maybe the other Edomei were taught how to be destructive and this one never learned how to hurt people.”

Magnus can’t help himself, he leans in and kisses Alec. Just a light press of lips but enough to let him know how much his words mean.

They both tense for a split second when the Edomei flies at them but it merely settles on Magnus’ shoulder.

“It needs a name,” Alec says, watching the two of them with a fond expression that’s usually reserved for Magnus himself.

“He needs a name,” Magnus corrects. He considers whether or not to be jealous of Alec’s affection and decides against it. The Edomei is adorable, after all.

As if it can sense his thoughts, his new shoulder companion gives another happy noise and plops it’s head down to rest in what was until that very moment a perfectly styled hairdo.

Mischief lights up Alec’s face, now clearly visible in the well lit room. “How about Michelangelo, since he’s clearly a master artisan.” He points to Magnus’ hair, which has become a birds-nest in an almost literal sense. “And now the next time you try to tell me you shared quarters with Michelangelo, it will actually be true.” One corner of his mouth turns up, clearly pleased with himself.

Magnus pretends to pout. “Are you insulting my flirting?” He still remembers the look of confusion that pickup line had earned him from Alec in those early days. Nothing like the smile that lights up his face now, or the warm glint in his eyes that Magnus can feel all the way down to his bones. He pretends to pout, for old time’s sake. “Fine, but if he tries to crawl into our bed at night, you have only yourself to blame.”

Alec grins in satisfaction. “Michelangelo it is.”

The Edomei kneads its claws into the expensive fabric of Magnus’ silk shirt. Magnus grumbles about Versace but his heart isn’t in it. “You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?”

The tiny creature flaps its wings, stretching out its long neck and letting out a high-pitched honking noise completely at odds with its small frame. Magnus assumes it’s some form of agreement and scratches its belly in reassurance.

It looks like there were going to be three of them in the loft for the foreseeable future.