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igotanidea · 2 years

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Counterparts : Morpheus x OC chapter 9

Prologue

Chapter 1: sometimes reality sucks

Chapter 2 : Welcome back to reality

Chapter 3 : A rough nightmare

Chapter 4: Crumbling

Chapter 5 : Falling to pieces

Chapter 6: Reunited

Chapter 7 : Remedies

Chapter 8 : The Fates

Go check my other story: Raven's daughter: Morpheus x Matthew's daughter

Chapter 9

On the verge

When we arrive in London it is obviously raining. What’s new? It’s no problem for Morpheus, such aura seems to fit his personality quite well, but I’d rather not get wet. Don’t want to get sick after all. As I turn around I spot a canopy and quickly hide myself there for shelter.

-What are you doing? – he asked amused

-Protecting myself from catching cold.

-You know well enough you won’t get one.

-I’m not so sure anymore. A lot of things has changed since you’ve been gone – oh my, I sound like a Kelly Clarkson song now.

Before he can respond we spot a flying figure who roars through the air and land on the bridge.

-Matthew! – I say smiling at my friend

-Hello Kayleen.

-Lucienne send you?

-Pretty much so.

Morpheus pouts.

-I don’t need a raven.

-Lucienne told me you’re going to say that.

-I already have one tail – Dream looks down at me.

-You know why animals have tails? It helps them keep balance – I spat – Besides, you wanted me to come, remember?

-Do you even know who I am? – Morpheus ask the raven turning a deaf ear on me.

-I know something. Like you’re the king of Dreaming. You create dreams and nightmares. You’ve been gone for the last century so Lucienne and Kayleen been tending to your Realm. With great effort I admit

Dream just nods his head.

-Fly back to the Dreaming, Matthew. This world is not safe.

-I know that. I’ve lived my whole life here.

-I’ll drink to that – I say tapping my fingers on the bridge.

-I had one raven before – Morpheus states catching Matthew’s attention.

-Really? What happened to him?

Her name was Jessamy – I reply quickly, knowing well enough how painful this memory is for Dream.

-She died – Morpheus’s face is blank.

-Oh… - Matthew seems hesitant. – Well at least let me help you find this woman.

Morpheus sighs in surrender.

-Come than – he commands and we follow him.

-Where exactly are we going? - I ask after a second – Any idea about where she could be? Shall we find her in the Dreaming or the Waking?

-You may as well do a bit of your magic, Reality

Fine. I sharpen my sense and search through the streets of the city. Trying to catch anything of Johanna Constantine. A strand of consciousness.

-I got here. She’s heading for the cathedral. Apparently, our little one is an exorcist. Heading for a job.

-Good.

-Good? – Matthew caws – we’re going to be a part of demon party, now?

-You’ll get used to him –I reassure the bird – just give or take a couple hundred years.

-Will you two stop? We got work to do. This should be quick considering her family ties.

-I doubt that – I chime in

-What did you say? – he grabs my arm quite angrily

-Let. Go. Of. Me.

-And what if I don’t?

-Why exactly did you want me here, Dream? Hmm? To have someone you can vent on? You know damn well I can just walk away this very second.

-Than why don’t you?

-I…. you know why – I whisper

-No. I want to hear it from you.

-Forget it – I hastily yank myself free.

-Don’t you dare forgetting who you’re dealing with – he warns.

-Save your breath, you can’t scare me. Your nightmares did that work for the last couple of decades. Trust me, there’s no fear left in me that they haven’t pried on.

He seems surprised but says nothing.

-I promised to make it right.

-Then maybe start it the right way, you know. Oh! – I stop abruptly which make Morpheus bump into my back. He instantly holds my waist to support himself.

-Hands. Off. Me. – I spat but can’t deny the heatwave though my body.

-Why did you stop?

-There’s our target – I point to the woman in white coat standing a couple feet away from us. Thankfully, she showed up before the situation between me and Morpheus got awkward.

-Constantine – Dream speaks in his most ominous voice. Trying his best to intimidate the woman. Huh. Something tells me she’s not the one to easily surrender.

-Have we met? – she approach us, narrowing eyes.

-We have business, you and I.

-Get in line, bruv. Can’t keep God waiting – she spats and walks away leaving him dumbfounded. I look at him with a smirk waiting for reaction. I don’t need words, silence speaks for itself. He just stare at space, no emotion, the wheels in his brain turning. I roll my eyes and follow Johanna inside.

-What are you doing?

-Getting the job done – I answer as I walk away.

-Is he always like that? – Matthew lands on my shoulder

-You mean an idiot? Yes. Yes, he is.

-Well you’re relationship seems at least…. Interesting.

-It was always a bit… intense – I say – I guess we’re both stubborn asses getting on one another nerves. I think it’s going to get better but with him being gone for the last century we need to patch some things up.

It’s been quite a while since I visited the London Cathedral. I almost forgot how beautiful it is. Last time I took my students there so they can get some inspiration from the ancient stories and mythology scenes painted on the walls. It was 30 years after Morpheus was captured (damn! I hope I won’t be determining the time like “post – capture” and “before- capture” – I curse myself internally).

Flashback

-Professor, which myth do you like most? – one of my students asked as she looked at the walls and ceiling covered with art.

-That’s the question I should be asking you – I replied – well played though. Don’t forget it is still a lecture for you to learn even if you’re not in the classroom.

-Sorry…. – she muttered

-Don’t be. Gather round – I say as the students come near me – So, ever since the ancient times, people were using their imagination to try and explain things and processes surrounding them. Looking for some higher beings that rule the world. That’s how the myths began. Of the gods and goddesses, of deities and some supernatural beings….. People get inspiration from the outside world. The same thing you are doing when you try to write, am I right? - The class nods - so, who would like to share with others their favorite myth? I bet there is something.

-I like the story of Orpheus -one of the girls, Gina says shyly.

-Go on, then – I encouraged her

-According to the original story, he was the son of one of the muses – Calliope and the god Apollo. Well known for his talent of telling the stories. When his wife, Eurydice was sent to Hades he had no hesitation but to follow and retrieve her. The story says that he charmed the queen of the underground, Persephone so much that she and Hades let Eurydice go back. The only condition was that Orpheus go first and cannot turn to see her. He broke that rule and he lost his wife forever. – Gina keeps talking her eyes getting bigger and brighter with every word – Such a tragic and romantic story – she sighs. Oh dear, I suppose I owe her some explanation.

-Gina? You might want to calm down. Do not fly off, ok? Reality is calling on you. Besides, there is another side to the story. Some other ancient authors claimed that Orpheus origin was quite different.

-How so?

-It’s a bit of a secret but apparently his father was in fact Morpheus. In Greek we call him Oneiros.

-The shaper of the forms? – someone asked

-The Lord of the Dreams? – other added

-Indeed. Let me tell you more about it. But remember, it’s just a story.

Quite a story. If only my students knew how real and heartbreaking it really was. After all, Morpheus and Calliope did not get a happy ending to their marriage. “He’s really not a relationship material, more like a tragic one standing in the rain, contemplating the futility of his lonely existence” – Despairs words echoed in my head.

End of flashback

-Hey, Kay, can you hear that? – Matthew squawks right to my ear bringing me down to Eearth.

-Stop making me deaf – I scoff – if you refer to the Latin chanting I hear it quite well. That’s my cue to check how’s the situation going.

Apparently, Johanna dressed up as a priest was supposed to marry some happy couple (Wait, is that a princess?). Well, not so happy considering that the groom was possessed by a demon who ripped his body apart in full view of the bride. Poor girl, I wonder if wiping her memory of that moment would be much of an abuse of power. At the moment, it seems like the shock prevent her from passing out and the other priest quickly take her away.

-Tell me your name demon – Johanna says

-And why would I do that when there are far more enjoyable ways to make you stop your little exorcism – he turns showing himself in whole

-His name is Agilieth – Morpheus steps out of the shadow. Oh, so there he was hiding all this time.

-Lord Morpheus. I’m flattered you remember me, after all your time away.

-Lord Morpheus? – Johanna repeats a bit confused.

-He is. And I can see the Protector of the Waking, Lady Kayleen is with you.

-Oh, for God’s sake! – demon’s words annoy me more than they should –I’m not Lady. And I’m not with him. I’m not some belonging! It’s more like an adult supervision ….. – before I could finish the sentence Morpheus appears next to me cutting me off.

-I almost didn’t recognize you without your help. I wonder where it might be…. – Agilieth teases almost like he wanted to see Morpheus at his worst.

-I suppose it’s in Hell with a demon to whom it was traded.

-Yes, but which demon? Give me the princess and I’ll tell you.

Shit. This is something that Dream might actually do. I have to draw line here.

-No – I state firmly – this is not happening.

-You don’t speak for me – Morpheus almost kills me with his eyes.

-I speak for the Waking.

Meanwhile Johanna resumes her exorcism and the demon yells in pain.

-Fine! Fine! – he screams – I’ll tell you everything just don’t send me back!

-Constantine stop! – Dream screams at her – I command you.

-Dream of the Endless commands you ! – demon tries to safe himself but it’s futile. With the demon gone we just stand in silence.

-You have no idea what you just did – Morpheus says.

-I know. I’ve just tripled my fee. – the woman flashes a smile and leaves screaming something about an invoice.

-Did I tell already tell you that your human skills are rusty? I think you should let me handle this one, Morpheus. Otherwise you may end up with nothing.

-She’s just a human – Morpheus spats

-So am I. Let me do this – I look at him – You know this is just courtesy of me to even ask, right? I’m going to do it either way.

- I don’t want you here anymore Kayleen.

-You… wait, what?

-I want you gone.

-Like, now? – I furrow my brows. I did not see that coming.

-Precisely. I want you to go back to Waking for good. From now on, you and I shall contact only on official matter. You are stubborn, infuriating and your sarcasm is beyond any acceptance. You never listen, spend too much time in your own thoughts and manipulate everyone.

-Manipulate…. ? – my voice falter as for some reason that was the most hurtful adjective he used to describe me.

-Indeed.

-Fine. – I turn around - have it your way. – I’m sorry, Matthew – I say to the raven – guess I’ll see you around, come visit me. You are always welcome.

@asianfrustration13 @musicconversedance

@hyper-half-blood @missusnora @deniixlovezelda @mikariell95

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phanfictioncatalogue · 10 months

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Fics Named After Weather (2) Masterlist

part one

A Change In The Weather (ao3) - krissyxlove

Summary: Nobody cares and the world has forgotten about me.

Those words were messily sketched and displayed in front of a young homeless man named Dan. Typically, for Dan, those words were true. What happens though when a chance of fate brings a young, successful, weatherman to him?

Nobody cares and the world has forgotten about me.

Typically, those words remained true. Today however, those words would be eaten.

A Day In Their Life (Sunshine On Christmas) (ao3) - domniall

Summary: “It’s around 9:30 a.m. on December 7th and I’m feeling very festive.” With a grin, Phil shifts to show the mini Christmas tree sitting on the table next to his bed. “Sadly, this is the only tree we have up as of now.”

After the Storm (ao3) - sapph_phan

Summary: Dan survived the car crash, but he has to relive it every night in his nightmares. Luckily, he has Phil to comfort him.

A Stranger and a Storm (ao3) - Phandiction

Summary: Phil comforts Dan during a terrifying storm

Baby, It's Cold Outside (ao3) - pasteldanhowells

Summary: Dan is traveling to his parent’s house for Christmas. There’s a blizzard expected to hit just as Dan’s leaving, but Dan doesn’t think anything of it, not until his car breaks down and he’s stranded. Kind stranger Phil steps in and offers to help Dan.

Baby it’s cold outside (ao3) - Allthephils

Summary: Dan’s car is stuck in the snow and Phil just happens by.

cloudy with a chance of storm (ao3) - Dilia_Howlter

Summary: Weatherman Phil Lester is popular, good looking, kind hearted and is pretty much the only reason why teenage girls watch Sunset News every 6am in the morning. While he is contempt with being successful, he has come to learn over the years that being the face that everyone in town recognises is a burden on both his social life and privacy. When high school boy Dan Howell is suddenly shoved with food and is pressured to throw it at Phil; he faces conflict on "weather" or not he should make Phil’s life harder for him…

cold showers bring may flowers (ao3) - PhancyPhandom

Summary: lil fic featuring a half naked phil writhing around because it's too damn hot outside.

Hot Water (ao3) - pluginlester

Summary: For the third day in a row, Phil beats Dan to the shower in a heatwave, but this time they agree to make a compromise (and one thing leads to another)

If Only He Predicted Rain - itstotallynotphiloclock

Summary: The YouTube career path unfortunately never worked out. After Dan had moved in with Phil and did the Christmas special for the BBC they knew it was over from there. They loved Phil’s passion for his hidden love behind the meteorology and weather, despite his degree in the English language. After Dan studied hard for his upcoming resit exam and being able to pass into the next semester of uni, he knew he was going to become a lawyer. After going down a troubling road, the two finally meet again.

in the heat of the summer (ao3) - huphilpuffs

Summary: Dan's blood pressure can't handle the heat.

Miles and The Rain (ao3) - phanburnhamizzard

Summary: While shopping downtown, a violent summer thunderstorm whipped up around Dan and Phil, who quickly took refuge in a Starbucks to wait it out. Phil spots a white dog, shaking and shivering in the middle of the street, and immediately bolts outside to rescue it.

Rain Boy - crescendohowell

Summary: Phil spends his time chasing rain and thinking. It isn’t until days where even he doesn’t want to be caught in the swirling weather outside, that Phil is forced inside to a coffee shop with a seat perfect for watching the weather outside and the cute barista that begins to call him Rain Boy. (Or in which Dan is sad and Phil loves the rain.)

Scary Storms - jilliancares

Summary: Dan gets saved from a thunderstorm by scary and cool Phil Lester when he was eleven and continues to be protected from them, even as a twenty year old.

Shelter from the Storm (ao3) - thoughtfullightcollection

Summary: Phil comforts Dan during a thunderstorm.

Snowday Surprises (ao3) - FandomFeels17

Summary: Snowball fights and kisses, what more could they want?

The Last Thunderstorm - insert-sugar-here

Summary: Phil is afraid of thunderstorms and wakes up in the middle of the night, he goes to Dan who comforts him.

Thunder and Lightning (ao3) - suchaweirdolol

Summary: Phil is scared of the thunder and goes to Dan's room seeking comfort

Thunderstorms - oakleysfthoying

Summary: nonyoutuber+mute!Dan is terrified of thunderstorms. Popular youtuber!Phil is doing a live show when it’s storming and Dan needs comfort.

Thunderstorms and Blankets (ao3) - thelandofphan

Summary: In his own bedroom, Dan had screwed himself into a ball, hidden beneath his duvet. He held his palms to his face, which had been forced between two pillows, and knees to chin. With each new crackle of thunder, Dan would softly groan to himself before burrowing down further.

when the heat hits (ao3) - realeyesrealize

Summary: Dan's aircon isn't working and Phil may or may not be the repairman.

When the Weather Breaks (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Sitting across from Phil on that worn out velvet Starbucks sofa, sharing sickeningly sweet coffees and what they would like to think were hushed giggles, was the first time Dan felt a glimpse at what real love could feel like.

or Perception checks, pining, and peppermint mochas.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #fictitles #fictitles masterlist #weather #weather masterlist #dan and phil

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rurousha · 2 years

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From Fox River to Central City, Ch 13/14

Chapter 13 - Going Home

1 – Team Flash & Legends, Mick-1 & Palmer 2 – Mayor Snart, clearly the most crooked here 4 – Cold-4, retired 11 – Killer Cold & Heatwave, bad guys 16 – Cold-16 & Sara-16, thieves 19 – Leonard-19 & Mick-19, smugglers 22 – Snart-22 & Rory-22, cyborg survivors 27 – Len-27 & Mickey-27, freedom fighters 29 – Michael-29, Lincoln, Veronica, & LJ, criminals but the good guys? 30 – Scofield-30, structural engineer 53 – Leo & Ray, 4-ever

Leo and Joe arrived too late. Leonard-19 was pretty banged up but alive. Cold-16 was pissed he missed the fight. Mayor Snart was not.

But it was when Ray returned with Rory-22 that had people rushing to comfort him.

“Mick, I am so sorry.”

Rory just snorted at them. Then he rubbed his hands together and formed a magical heat between them. “You squishies and your thermal sensitivities. Don’ know how you survive anything.”

Then he held his hands against the block of ice that held his partner. It steamed and quickly melted into a puddle. Snart-22 regained his footing and just looked evenly at everyone.

“You all didn’t think something like the cold would kill me, did you? No don’t –.”

Barry hugged him.

Michael and Lincoln stood shoulder to shoulder, happy to be alive.

The next morning, Cold-16 cracked his eyes open when he heard quiet arguing just outside the med bay. Well, relatively quiet, considering that one of the people was Mick.

“No.”

“Come on, Mick, this’ll be good for both of you.” That was Palmer for sure.

“You’ve been talking to Leo again,” Mick argued. “That’s good for none of me.”

“Just, just go.” Palmer tried to shove Mick-1 towards the doorway. Mick shoved back. Palmer slapped Mick’s chest in retaliation. Mick slapped back. A lot harder.

“Owwww, Mick.”

“You idiots know I can see you, right?” Cold-16 said. “Because you are only 10.3 feet away from me.”

“Really? Looks more like 8.8 to me,” Palmer said.

“I’m counting from my center of mass, Raymond, you pedantic nerd, not the end of the bed.”

“Oh, then yeah, 10.3.”

“Glad we agree for a change. Did you two want something?”

Palmer gave Mick a pointed look, and Mick finally slunk into the room. He took a seat next to Cold and glowered at Palmer until he left.

“So, uh, Haircut seems to think we should have a heart-to-heart,” Mick muttered.

“We don’t have hearts,” Cold immediately replied. It was an easy, familiar response, and it contrarily made him feel calmer to have Mick’s doppelganger so close to him.

“Yeah, that line don’t really work with Ray. Punching don’t really work with Ray.”

“If you’ve got something to say, Mick, then say it.”

“Just that your me… sounds like he died killin’ the Time Bastards.”

Cold nodded.

“Then it was probably for the best,” Mick said. “’Cause things weren’t ever going back to the way they were before. With us. Too much happened.”

“You mean how I pressed you into a mission that wasn’t ours, how we betrayed each other over and over, and you got tortured and brain washed into being the Time Masters’ puppet until only your hate for me could snap you out of it? That was the ‘too much’ that happened to you? Because that’s what happened over on Earth-16.”

“Yeah, ‘bout the same.”

“I know Mick. We weren’t coming back from that.”

“What I’m supposed to tell you is that… I always thought we’d go down in a blaze of fire or a rain of bullets. But then you died – died to save me – and I got a better life than I ever deserved out of it. So if your Mick died to save you, then maybe you could pull your head out of your ass and get that better life too.”

Cold barked a surprised laugh. “That’s what you came in here to say?”

Mick counted off with his fingers. “You died a hero… made me a better person… head out of your ass. Yeah, that’s it. Ray made me practice.”

“Ray again,” Cold-16 drawled. “Seems like you’ve got a new partner after all.”

“Only ever had one partner. But I got an alright crew.”

Cold quirked up a mocking smile. A little one. “Maybe I’ll have to give them another shot.”

“They got a lot better once Sara became captain.”

“Oh thank god. I hated Rip.”

“And on that ringing endorsement, gentlemen,” a new voice said, “it is time to get off your very fine posteriors! We got work to do.”

Both men turned to see not just Palmer but Sara Lance, the Black Raven, and Sara Lance, the White Canary in the doorway.

“We ready to go, Boss?” Mick asked and stood.

“No more vacations for you two,” Sara-1 agreed. “We’ve got a bunch of magic rocks, so we gotta kill a time demon.”

“Never mind,” Cold-16 said. “I’m never leaving Central again.”

Michael stood in the cortex, looking at the displays Dr. Snow had up on the computers on the walls. His knowledge of genome comparisons was only rudimentary, but the gist of what she was saying was obvious.

“They don’t match.”

“No,” Dr. Snow agreed.

“Not even 25 percent.” A 25 percent match would still make sense, was still possible given all of Michael’s suspicions.

“No.”

“I understand. Could you not bring this up with Lincoln?”

Dr. Snow chewed on her lower lip. “Honestly, I was debating whether to bring it up with either one of you. After all, proving fraternity isn’t why I took these samples, and it’s really not any of my business. But if you know, then it becomes less my staying out of it and more actively keeping a secret from Lincoln.”

“Which you’re not willing to do.”

“I’m sorry, Michael.”

“So if I don’t tell him, you will.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I understand. Will you leave all this up? I’ll do it now.”

“Of course.” She squeezed Michael’s shoulder briefly. “Good luck.”

She left, and Michael went to find Lincoln. Better to get this over with. He brought him back to the cortex and closed the door for a bit of privacy.

“What’d you want to show me? We’re missing breakfast, and you know the Micks will eat all the donuts if we don’t get there soon.”

“I wanted to show you something that Dr. Snow found. You know she took DNA samples from everyone.”

“Yeah. She wanted to see if we were genetically identical to our doppelgangers. So what?”

“So… we are. Except for evidence of degradation due to age and variation typical among different worlds, we’re all identical.”

“I guess that’s nice. What’s the point?”

“But, Lincoln, the other doppelgangers out there – Leonard and Mick – they’re not brothers. And genetically, biologically, we’re not either.”

Lincoln slowly sat down and stared at Michael, brow furrowed. “We’re not brothers.”

“Of course we are, Linc. Just, one of us is adopted.”

“Me, you mean. I remember Mom being pregnant with you, so I’m adopted. I guess… that makes sense. Mom was always kind of distant with me. We never clicked like you and she did. I thought we just didn’t have a lot in common. I guess I was right.”

“Lincoln, that’s not true.”

“And you knew this already, didn’t you? You’ve known for a while.”

Michael hesitated, which was the same as answering. “I… suspected. We just have some traits that… don’t match up.”

“Like our eyes.”

“What?”

“One of the other Snarts said, ‘With those eyes?’ Honestly, I wasn’t positive he wasn’t hitting on me. But, within a few minutes of meeting him, he knew we weren’t related.”

“Lincoln, this doesn’t have to mean anything.” Michael knelt down in front of Lincoln. “You are my brother. I love you. You are the only family that matters to me. I didn’t want you to ever think otherwise.”

“Michael… you are some kind of moron, you know that? Come here.”

Lincoln led Michael downstairs to what had been converted to the mess hall. They looked over the room from the vantage point of the stairs. Three pairs of Snarts and Rorys were there. Cold-16 and Mick-1 were huddled together, plotting what appeared to be a heist. Snart-22 threw a piece of bagel at his partner when Rory stole his donut. Len and Mickey-27 were getting into an argument that looked like it might turn violent soon.

“Look at them, Michael. None of them ever thought they were brothers, but they are. We are. It’s been the two of them – the two of us – across the multiverse. Which is crazy, by the way. All of this is crazy. Just so long as that’s said. But my point is, little brother, that the good doctor’s tests don’t change anything. Okay?”

Michael nodded and chose not to say anything. If he did, he was afraid it would end up horribly sentimental. But he did lean over to drop his forehead against Lincoln’s shoulder, more relieved than he could express.

The arguing Mickey finally took a swing at Len, who ducked under it to knee Mickey in the ribs. The two started tussling in earnest, and the other pairs yelled both encouragements and complaints.

“You think we should break that up?” Michael asked.

“I’m not getting in there,” Lincoln said. “Those guys are armed.”

“At least our arguments never involved fire or bullets.”

“See, we’re really not that bad.”

Then a napkin dispenser caught on fire. No one was sure which Rory was responsible.

Barry was tired but not like he had been for the last several days. It was that bone-deep weariness that came after a big fight and a full ten hours of sleep that told him everyone was alive and safe, and it was time to relax his muscles and his mind. It felt like he could happily just eat, sleep, and watch TV for three straight days.

But he still had work, and he wanted to check in on Cisco – the crazy one from Earth-11 – before going in.

Barry walked into the pipeline just in time to hear a shout. He found Caitlin locked in the pipeline cell with Cisco-11.

“I can’t see!” Cisco shouted. He threw a hairbrush at Caitlin, and she had to duck out of its way. “You can’t keep me in here, I can’t see!”

Barry ran over to the controls and opened the door. Caitlin rushed out, crying, and Barry ran in to keep Cisco from escaping. Cisco struggled and shouted “You’re not Barry” over and over.

Not wanting to hurt him, Barry released Cisco, who fled to the corner of his cell and curled up into a whimpering ball on the floor.

“I can’t see I can’t see I can’t see,” Cisco muttered.

At a loss, Barry backed out of the cell and closed the door behind him. He went over to Caitlin, who was sobbing quietly against the wall. Caitlin almost never cried, and the sight upset Barry more than he wanted to admit.

“Caitlin, what happened?” Barry asked.

“I was stupid,” she said. She rubbed at her eyes. “I came in to give him breakfast. He seemed fine, so I decided to help him clean up and brush his hair and he seemed completely fine with it. He just sat and ate and was fine but then he started shouting, and I don’t know what set him off.”

Caitlin wasn’t much of a crier or a hugger, but these were some pretty extreme circumstances. He gave her a light hug around her shoulders and let her finish her tears.

“I know. I know it’s hard to see him like this. We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

Everyone filtered into the commissary for breakfast shortly after. The mood was considerably more amicable and upbeat than it had been just yesterday. Michael realized that this was the first time that everyone had been in a room together. There were three Micks, seven Leonards, two different Rays, Barry, Iris, Cisco, Caitlin, two Saras, Lincoln, Veronica, LJ, and Michael himself. Even Michael’s doppelganger from Earth-30 was there, talking quietly with Mickey-27.

It was loud enough and busy enough that Veronica had to lean over their table to them to say, “Linc, should we be worried that Cold-4 is over there teaching your son how to get out of handcuffs.”

“What?” Lincoln leaned to the side to see them. “Huh. I don’t know whether to break that up or join in the lesson.”

“Could be a useful skill,” Michael agreed.

Then Sara walked into the room. Not Sara Lance. It was Sara Tancredi. Michael felt his heart rate pick up, and he couldn’t help but stare. Her red hair was graying, and the lines around her mouth had deepened, but she still held herself up tall as she surveyed the room.

She was absolutely breathtaking.

She smiled when her husband – Cold-4 – stood to hug her, and she kissed him easy as anything.

The Flash from Earth-4 shuffled in behind her, looking apologetic at Cold-4.

“Sorry, Leonard,” he said. “She insisted.”

“Mikey, what’re you staring at?” Lincoln asked. Then he turned. “Holy hell, is that Dr. Tancredi?”

“Yeah.”

“Michael, go talk to her.”

“I don’t think so.”

Lincoln elbowed Michael in the ribs, Michael shoved his hands off, Lincoln shoved back, and somehow Michael ended up across the room, standing next to the sixty year old doppelganger of the woman he fell in love with just a few months ago.

“Well, hello handsome,” she said to him. “You look rather like the man I married. I wonder whatever happened to him?”

“He got old and bitter,” Cold-4 answered. “Don’t worry; I’m sure being married to you had nothing to do with that.”

Sara smacked her husband upside the head. Their easy teasing and happy smiles were completely foreign to Michael. The Sara he was used to carried a constant worry and sadness with her. It was probably for the best that he remind himself that this wasn’t his Sara and this wasn’t a future for him.

“Hello Sara. I’m Michael.” He held up his hand to shake hers.

She smacked his hand away, said, “Don’t be silly,” and wrapped him up in a hug. “It’s very good to meet you, Michael.”

Michael held her around the torso and silently told his Sara goodbye.

Barry got off work mid-afternoon and decided to check on Cisco-11 before his Cisco. He entered the pipeline entrance, expecting another outburst. Instead, he found Cisco-11 washing his hands in the sink over the toilet.

“Uh, hey Cisco.”

“Hey Barr.”

“You feeling better?”

“Better? Oh, did I freak out on you earlier?”

“Yeah. Pretty bad.”

“Yeah, I do that sometimes.”

“So, if I open this door, are you going to freak out again?”

Cisco shrugged and made a noise that roughly translated to ‘I don’t know’.

“Guess that’ll have to do.” Barry opened the door to Cisco’s cell and stepped in with him. After a bit of awkward shuffling, they both sat cross-legged on the floor.

“We need like a bench or something in these,” Cisco said.

“We really do,” Barry agreed.

“So, what’re you going to do with me?”

“We haven’t figured that out yet. It’s not like we can let you go. You could breach anywhere and start killing again.”

“To be fair, I never killed anyone. Cold did.”

“But you helped him. You encouraged him. I heard you, Cisco, telling him to kill Leonard. I’ve never heard you sound like that, Cisco. It scared me.”

Cisco shrugged again and refused to look at Barry. “Killer Cold’s dead. I think that’s enough for me.”

Barry buried his face in his hands. “What happened, Cisco?”

“You died.”

“Yeah, we figured that part out. The three of you were trying to kill Leonard Snart’s doppelgangers to protect all versions of me, which is insane and doesn’t make any sense, by the way, but we still don’t know why.”

Cisco looked at the floor. “It was his fault,” he said softly. He curled in on himself again, and his voice started to strain. “You died, and it was his fault. And my fault.”

“No, Cisco. I can’t claim to know what really happened to you, but I know you would do anything to help me.”

“I failed you, Barry. You died.”

“No, Cisco, please, it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t fail me.”

“Yes, he did.”

Both Cisco and Barry looked up to find that they had gained an audience. Michael Scofield from Earth-30, the one that had barely said a word throughout this whole mess, came up and knelt beside the distraught Cisco.

“You did fail him. But killing these people won’t make up for it. Nothing you do can ever make up for it.”

Confused, Barry let Cisco lean towards Scofield.

“Then what do I do?”

Scofield shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know at all. But… if you’ll let me, I’ll help you find out.” He looked at Barry this time. “He can come with me. I’ll take care of him.”

Cisco of Earth-1 had spent most of the day in the speed lab avoiding his doppelganger and breaching people home. Thankfully, Flash-4 had come to get his supervillain and saved Cisco that extra headache.

“Alright gentleman and Rory, here’s your stop. Earth-22.” Cisco’s breach stabilized. “Please keep your arms to your sides as you disembark.”

“Thanks for the loot, geeks,” Rory said as he slung a backpack onto his shoulder. It was weighed heavily down. He hopped through the portal without a backwards glance.

“That backpack was full of Hostess treats, right?”

Snart-22 stepped up beside Cisco. “There were definitely baked goods in there, yes.”

“That was ominously open-ended.”

Snart smiled fondly, and Cisco realized that it was the first time he had seen anything other than a neutral scowl on his face.

“I don’t suppose I could get the specs to that cold gun?” Snart-22 asked. “I might get it worked into my arm.”

“One, no. Two, I designed that gun, and no one else can handle its intricacies, okay? Okay.”

Snart gave Cisco a meaningful smirk. “Well, then it’s a good thing I only trust my bio-mechanical engineering to the very best. I’m sure my guy could handle it.”

That sounded an awful lot like Cisco’s doppelganger was Snart’s engineer. Cisco gave his best attempt at a smirk back. It came across as mostly sweetly proud. “You think your guy could handle my tech?”

“I know he could.”

“He’s that smart?”

“He’s brilliant. Creative. Good looker, too. Great hair.”

“Well,” Cisco practically preened. “I might consider sending the plans over. Don’t suppose he’s anyone I’d know.”

“You might have heard of him.” Snart picked up his own bag and sauntered towards the portal. “Hartley Rathaway.”

“Oh you son of a - !”

Michael and Lincoln sat on the ledge in the speed lab. They said goodbye to Mayor Snart as he left for Earth-2 and watched Scofield-30 leave with Cisco-11. (There was no way that would turn out well.)

Barry and Sara-16 entered, hovering over Cold-16 as he entered the speed lab. Once Cisco opened the portal to Earth-16, everyone was surprised when someone immediately stepped through it to their side.

It was the Flash.

“Oh, uh, hi. Flash,” Barry stumbled.

“Flash,” Flash-16 said back, smirking in amusement. He didn’t look quite the same. He was more muscular than Barry and a little shorter. But he looked at Cold-16. “Snart.”

“Hey, kid. Come all this way just for me?”

“I did. Are we going to have to fight before I take you to Iron Heights?”

Cold-16 hissed in through his teeth as if thinking over the question. Then he nodded towards the sling. “Four cracked ribs and a broken clavicle. Not today, I think.”

Flash-16 cringed in sympathy. To Sara-16, he said, “Go ahead. The team’s waiting for you guys.”

Sara helped Cold-16 through the breach.

Barry smiled at Flash-16 and held out his hand. “Barry Allen.”

Flash-16 smiled and shook it. “Barry Allen.”

“Oh yeah? You look like my dad.”

“Really?”

“Well, like he did thirty or forty years ago.”

“That makes more sense.”

“So, you’re taking Cold to jail?”

“Yes. He has a lot of outstanding warrants. I don’t know what happened here, but it doesn’t change that.”

Barry nodded. “I understand. The Leonard from this Earth… there was a lot of bad in him. But there was a lot of good too. In the end, the good won out. It did for a lot of them here.”

Flash-16 looked down at his feet. “I thought that too, once, about Snart. I was thrilled when he went with the Legends a few years back. I thought maybe he was starting to believe in the good in him too. But when he came back…” Flash-16 shook his head. “He lashed out at a lot of people. He was worse than I’d ever seen him. Worse than he was before he was Captain Cold.”

Barry fidgeted a bit. “Maybe you could give him one more chance. He worked through some things here. I think he might surprise you after all.”

“I hope so. But it’ll have to wait. He’s got a lot of time to serve at Iron Heights.”

“Meaning he’ll be out as soon as his clavicle heals.”

“Obviously.”

The two laughed at their own joke.

“Hey chuckleheads,” Cisco interrupted, “this breach isn’t keeping itself open, you know.”

“Sorry, Vibe,” Flash-16 said. Then he saluted at Barry. “Flash.”

Barry waved. “Flash.”

The Flash left, and Cisco closed the breach. Then Cisco cracked his knuckles. “Alright. Who’s next?”

“I guess that’s us,” Lincoln stepped up. Cautiously, he asked, “Where to then? Are you dropping us off at Fox River?”

Barry and Cisco smiled at each other.

“Actually,” Cisco said, “we’ve got something to show you.”

Confused, Lincoln and Michael followed them back to the cortex. Veronica and LJ were already there, talking to Caitlin Snow and Iris West, and they smiled at them as soon as they walked in. Veronica came over and hugged Lincoln.

“Hi, V. What’s… what’s goin’ on?”

“We’re going to be free, Lincoln.” She pulled back to smile at him again.

“What do you mean?”

Barry was the one that answered. “I overheard you say that you’ve got a setup in Panama? So that’s where we’re going to drop you off.”

Michael’s heart stuttered. That was it? They were going to let them go? No prison. No death row. No escape with too many sacrifices and too many compromises. Just Panama with a dive shop and 50 cent beers. Could it really be that easy?

It was Lincoln that voiced Michael’s thoughts. “What? Panama? You’re just going to open that breach to Panama, and we can just leave?”

“Of course not,” Iris said, and Michael froze. “We aren’t just going to leave you like that. Here.” She handed Michael a silver device that glowed blue. “This will open a small breach to here if you ever need us. It also acts as a communicator.” Then she held up a thumb drive. “Our friend Felicity wrote this computer virus for you. We’ve used it before. It erases a person’s digital history. Birth records, video footage, criminal history… Plug this into any computer with internet access, and the four of you will effectively cease to exist.”

Michael had to sit down. He rubbed a hand over his face.

Then Veronica said, “There is a catch, Lincoln. This will destroy any digital evidence that we could use to exonerate you. If we use this, we won’t ever be able to prove you’re innocent or that it was Terrence Steadman and the Vice President that did this to you.”

“But no one will be able to prove he was guilty,” Michael said. “All that will be left will be hard copies, which you said were destroyed, and people’s memories, which will fade as soon as we’re not breaking news anymore. We’ll be free.”

“So, the question is, do we want to go after answers and some justice of our own,” LJ said, “or do we want to be free.”

Lincoln stepped forward and took the thumb drive. “No question on my part. I want my family safe.” He hugged his son and ruffled his hair. “Panama. Beaches and surfboards and local girls. Think you can handle that?”

“And school,” Veronica added. “You’re going back to school.”

LJ nodded into his dad’s chest. “I can handle that. School and all.”

Michael stood and approached Barry. “Why would you do this for us?”

Barry’s smile turned a little sad. “My dad served 15 years in Iron Heights for a crime he didn’t commit. I’m not going to let that happen to anyone else.”

For once, Michael acted impulsively and enveloped Barry in a hug.

“Oh, we’re hugging,” Barry startled, but he quickly wrapped his arms around Michael and happily returned the hug.

“Why does Barry always get the credit?” Cisco complained. “I did most of the work, and I am so huggable. Speaking of, there’s one more thing.”

Everyone broke apart to give their attention to Cisco.

“What is it?” Michael asked.

“New identities. I’m making you passports. You’re all from L.A. now, by the way. I just need your new names.”

Michael thought. He thought of Killer Cold and Heatwave looking out for each other when they were at their absolute worst. He thought of Cold and Sara desperately trying to grieve Mick. He thought of Len and Mickey settling their fight with their fists and Mayor Snart begging forgiveness from his sister. He thought of Mick becoming a hero with the Legends and Leo getting a happy ending with Ray. He thought of Captain Cold keeping an eye on his retired Rogues and their families while Sara – older and still so beautiful – kept an eye on him. He thought of Snart and Rory watching each others’ backs and Leonard and Mick smuggling refugee metas to safety.

He thought of his own family, safe and free at last.

“Leonard Snart.”

#from fox river to central city #cw's the flash #the flash #dc #prison break #crossover #fanfiction

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newstfionline · 2 years

Text

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Shoppers hunt for deals but inflation makes bargains elusive (AP) Consumers holding out for big deals—and some much-needed relief from soaring costs on just about everything—may be disappointed as they head into the busiest shopping season of the year. While retailers are advertising sales of 30%, 50% and 70% off everything from TVs to gadgets, many items will still cost more than they did last year because of inflation and finding a true bargain may prove to be a challenge. From September through October, shoppers paid roughly 18% more for furniture and appliances than they did a year ago, according to a recent major data analysis by analytics company DataWeave, which tracks prices for hundreds of thousands of items across roughly three dozen retailers including Amazon and Target. For toys, they paid roughly 2% more. Things looked a bit better for consumers shopping for clothing—they paid nearly 5% less compared with last fall, according to DataWeave. Meanwhile, prices held steady for footwear.

British nurses to stage first strikes on Dec. 15, 20 (Reuters) Thousands of British nurses will go on strike on Dec. 15 and 20 for more pay, their union said on Friday, adding to a winter of industrial action and putting further pressure on the state-run health system. The strikes are the first of possibly several walkouts by National Health Service (NHS) nurses, which come after the government refused to meet demands for pay rises of 5% above inflation. “Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve,” Royal College of Nursing (RCN) General Secretary Pat Cullen said. British Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the nurses’ demands would amount to a 19.2% pay rise costing 10 billion pounds ($12.13 billion) a year, and that the government would give them rises of at least 1,400 pounds each this year. “These are challenging times for everyone and the economic circumstances mean the RCN’s demands ... are not affordable,” Barclay said.

Under Missile Strikes, Ukrainians Haul Water, While Surgeons Work in the Dark (NYT) In the crowded operating room, the surgeons had made the long incision down the middle of the child’s chest to reach the heart. Then the lights went out. Generators kicked on to keep life-support equipment running on Wednesday night, and nurses and surgical assistants held flashlights over the operating table, guiding the surgeons as they snipped and cut, working to save the child’s life in almost total darkness. In its increasingly destructive campaign to batter Ukraine’s civilians by cutting off their power and running water, Russia hammered Ukraine’s populace this week with a wave of missile strikes that was one of the most disruptive in weeks. Ukraine’s engineers and emergency crews worked desperately on Thursday to restore services through snow, freezing rain and blackout conditions. And throughout the country, people dealt with the deprivations. As surgeons donned headlamps to work in the dark, miners were pulled from deep underground by manual winches. Residents of high-rise apartments lugged buckets and bottles of water up the stairs of buildings where elevators stopped running, and shops and restaurants flipped on generators or lit candles to keep business going.

The weapon of cold (Economist) Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, is using energy as a weapon. Our data journalists set themselves a difficult question: how many people is this weapon likely to kill outside Ukraine? The answer they came up with was alarming. Although heatwaves get more press, cold temperatures are usually deadlier than hot ones. To estimate the relationship between energy costs and deaths, we built a statistical model that predicts how many people die per winter week in each of 226 European regions. This model found that a 10% rise in electricity prices is associated with a 0.6% increase in deaths, concentrated among the elderly and infirm. If the historical relationships between mortality, weather and energy costs continue to apply—which they may not, given how high current prices are—the death toll from the energy weapon could exceed the number of soldiers who have died so far in direct combat from bullets, shells, missiles and drones.

Older Japanese men, lost in the kitchen, turn to housework school (Washington Post) Masahiro Yoshida hung up his suit jacket and pulled a pink apron over his button-down shirt. After avoiding the kitchen for most of his 65 years, it was time to cook. As with most Japanese men, Yoshida’s mother prepared all his meals until he got married, when his wife assumed that role. But after he retired four years ago from his job as a government administrator, she proposed they share meal prep. Yoshida agreed but got lost making basic dishes. YouTube tutorials were confounding. So like a growing number of older men here, he signed up for classes. His six-month course at the Better Home cooking school covered skills such as how to mince garlic, chop mushrooms and shop for meat—all integral for the stroganoff he would attempt before graduating. “I had no idea how complex the cooking process was,” Yoshida admitted. Strict gender roles have governed domestic life in Japan for generations. Men often retire without ever having held a paring knife or washed a dish. Those who lose a spouse often find themselves unable to do the most rudimentary chores.

With record covid cases, China scrambles to plug an immunity gap (Washington Post) A coronavirus outbreak on the verge of being China’s biggest of the pandemic has exposed a critical flaw in Beijing’s “zero covid” strategy: a vast population without natural immunity. After months with only occasional hot spots in the country, most of its 1.4 billion people have never been exposed to the virus. Chinese authorities, who on Thursday reported a record 31,656 infections, are scrambling to protect the most vulnerable populations. They have launched a more aggressive vaccine drive to boost immunity, expanded hospital capacity and started to restrict the movement of at-risk groups. The elderly, who have an especially low vaccination rate, are a key target. These efforts, which stop short of approving foreign vaccines, are an attempt to keep the virus from overwhelming a health-care system ill-prepared for a flood of very sick covid patients. China’s strategy of smothering outbreaks originally protected everyday life and the economy while preventing severe illness and death. But it has become increasingly costly as ever-stricter measures fail to keep up with more-transmissible variants.

Outspoken Hong Kong cardinal found guilty for work with humanitarian fund (Washington Post) A Hong Kong court on Friday found 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, the most outspoken senior Roman Catholic cleric in the city and its bishop emeritus, guilty of failing to properly register a now-defunct humanitarian fund. The verdict came after Zen’s arrest in May, along with the arrest of four other people. Under a 2020 national security law that Beijing imposed to stifle dissent, all were accused of colluding with a foreign entity while trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. The fund helped scores of protesters arrested during the sustained pro-democracy protests that convulsed Hong Kong three years ago. It provided individuals with financial assistance and paid their legal and medical fees. Judge Ada Yim fined Zen HK$4,000 ($512) for failing to register the fund under the securities ordinance, a colonial-era law dating to 1911.

How could allies help Netanyahu beat charges? (AP) Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to return to office, from where he could try to make his yearslong legal troubles disappear through new legislation advanced by his far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies. Critics say such a legal crusade is an assault on Israel’s democracy. Netanyahu, 73, who is on trial for corruption, will likely be buoyed by a loyal and comfortable governing majority that could grant him a lifeline from conviction. Defenders of the justice system say the proposed changes would allow legislators to abuse their authority and disrupt the tenuous balance of powers that keeps them in check. Israel’s right wing has for years sought to change the justice system, portraying it as an interventionist and left-leaning roadblock to its legislative agenda. The makeup of the expected coalition now clears a path for such changes.

Singing street marshals are Qatar World Cup’s surprise stars (AP) The World Cup 2010 in South Africa had Shakira. The 1998 tournament in France had Ricky Martin. For many fans, the unofficial soundtrack of the World Cup in Qatar is fast becoming the incessant chanting of street marshals, better knows as Last Mile Marshals. Seated all over Doha on high chairs more commonly used by lifeguards at swimming pools, these migrant workers have become a staple of the Middle East’s first World Cup. They point visitors flooding into this Arabian Peninsula nation in the right direction on their search for public transportation. It’s an important crowd control measure as some 1.2 million fans are expected to inundate Qatar, a country home to 3 million people. Marshals sing or chant their instructions to fans. Bullhorns they carry blast out the recorded message again, and again, and again. The instructions spark laughter among fans who often join in with the chants. “Which way?” the fans chant. “This way,” ushers respond, pointing a giant foam finger toward a station on Doha’s new massive underground metro built for the tournament.

Sam’s Club’s AI knows how much pumpkin pie you’ll eat this holiday (Washington Post) Turkey gets all the attention. Cranberry sauce ruffles feathers. But pumpkin pie is the lovable staple many Americans crave on Thanksgiving. And many don’t want to make it themselves. That’s why Sam’s Club, a retail and grocery warehouse owned by Walmart, is using artificial intelligence to predict how much pie each of its nearly 600 stores needs to make for the holidays. Their model uses a wide variety of data, according to Sam’s Club officials. Things like local temperatures (hot weather often means less pies bought); whether the Sunday football game is home or away (home games can mean more pies are needed); how popular are pecan pies this year (more pecan pies can translate into less pumpkin pie sales). Those data points, and others, plug into an artificial intelligence model they’ve made. It spits out recommendations to each store leader, such as how many pies need to be on-hand in their shops by the hour. Last year, Sam’s Club sold enough pumpkin pies to fill up 450 football fields, officials said. In recent years, sophisticated artificial intelligence models have become commonplace in grocery stores. Spurred on by the pandemic and supply-chain challenges, it’s changing the grocery-buying experience rapidly: from AI-powered shopping carts that recognize the items you’ve picked up automatically to chef bots that generate recipes based on your purchases.

#headlines #news

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biographydivider · 2 years

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Some fic ideas potentially:

- Cold night sitting by the fire telling stories

- Telling funny/embarrassing family stories

- Taking care of the animals together

Thank you!!! I wrote something chilly, to help me through this blasted heatwave:

Over the years, Bruno had learned to read Pepa’s moods as easily as breathing. Rainbows were usually fake smiles; sun or rain were for genuine joy. Thunder was for fear, hurricanes were for panic, hail was for relief.

But when his sister was feeling nostalgic, it always snowed in the Encanto.

“Here’s one,” Bruno said, skewering the next marshmallow and holding it over the fire. “D’you remember when that black cat followed us home?” “Ay, of course I do,” Pepa laughed. “What did Julieta call him…Armie, Alphonse…” “Amante.” “And you were terrified of it, remember hermano?” Pepa said with a sly grin. “H-hey, hey; no, I wasn’t.” Bruno held up a finger to silence his sister. “I wasn’t scared. I was merely concerned, y’know, a-about diseases and…” “You thought he was bad luck, and you know it.” Pepa cupped her hands around her chocolate con queso, her breath misting over the rim. “Poor Juli cried and cried, she wanted a pet sooooo badly…” “I think you’ll find, Pepa Madrigal, it was Mamá who actually said she couldn’t keep him. Not me.” Bruno popped the entire marshmallow into his mouth as a flourish to his sentence, then instantly regretted it. “Ay; hot, hot hot hot…” “Estúpido,” Pepa muttered, rolling her eyes affectionately as her brother wrestled with his confectionary choices. “We spent the whole day trying to find him a new home; asking everyone in town ‘Hola; do you need a cat? Look how cute he is, he’s sooo sweet, I bet he’d make a really good mouser…’” “Yeah, and then Gustavo’s big brother comes barrelling down the street, thinking I’d stolen his brother’s new kitten!” Bruno rubbed his cheekbone, as if the forty-year-old bruise still smarted. “Dunno why he punched me, you were the one holding the lil’ cabrón.” “He probably thought you were going to sacrifice it to your dark gods or something.” “Ha. Y’hilarious, Pep.” It turned out Sergio had let the kitten out that morning, not realising that it might not come back. They promised not to tell his parents if Juli could come visit the cat whenever she wanted. “Whatever happened to him?” Bruno asked. “Lived a full, happy life, getting fat off Julieta’s leftovers, being loved and never working for his keep.” Pepa leaned back, looking up into her own snowstorm. “We should all be so lucky.” Bruno scooched around the fire to sit beside his sister. Gazing up into the night sky, it looked as if the stars themselves were drifting down towards them; landing in tiny, cold specks on his nose, tangling themselves in Pepa’s forest-fire hair. He reached over and found her hand; warm, despite the chill. She squeezed it tight, never looking away from the snow. The air smelled of hot sugar, smoke and freezing air. He’d been home about eight months. “Myeh, I dunno. I think we’ve got it pretty good.”

#encanto fanfic #encanto #bruno madrigal #pepa madrigal #la familia madrigal #fic request

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absolutepokemontrash · 3 years

Text

MC’s Date With the Side Characters is Going Terribly and Then it Starts to Rain

Brothers ver.

Diavolo

It was a tragic truth that the poor Crown Prince didn’t get to go out and have fun very often, but he had managed to get a singular day off! He of course was going to spend it with the future monarch-consort of the Devildom!

Diavolo had a whole list written out that was full of fun cliche date activities that he wanted to try, and it was also full of stuff MC said they wanted to do, so the date was going to be completely perfect.

As Diavolo and MC walked hand in hand to Madame Scream’s, they both took notice to the fact that literally every single demon in the vicinity was staring at the two of them.

The crown prince laughed it off, saying that MC looked so positively radiant that everyone couldn’t help but stop and look. MC laughed and leaned their head against Dia’s arm, but both of them knew full well that everyone was really staring at Diavolo.

To be fair, wouldn’t you stare if the most powerful person in the entire realm walked by holding hands with a pathetic little human?

They got to Madame Scream’s, got their sweets, then Diavolo got a phone call. It was Lucifer frantically explaining that the RAD gym was on fire and he needed to run everything by Diavolo before he could do anything about it.

That ate up about fifteen minutes and the desserts ended up getting cold… Diavolo tried to make light of it as the two finally got to eat their chocolate chip cookies.

“So apparently one student thought it would be a good idea to set a firework off inside, you know I encourage having fun at school but maybe they should have set this off outside.” “Maybe..?”

Next it was time for a romantic walk on the beach! That would have gone better if Diavolo remembered it was giant-crab season. As cool as it was to watch Diavolo hammer-throw an eight foot tall crab into the ocean it left MC’s ankles vulnerable to get pinched by regular sized crabs.

And maybe they both should have wore appropriate shoes… they were sinking into the sand and it was getting into their shoes…

Okay, so the beach didn’t work out, Diavolo had plenty of other ideas! They just had to- wait he was getting another call.

Half an hour later, Diavolo was finally able to hang up and gave MC an apologetic look. He said that he needed to cut the date short and go to an unavoidable meeting…

Oh well, at least this date couldn’t get any-

A loud crack of thunder caused Diavolo to nearly drop his phone in surprise. Oh… oh no… not rain…

Large droplets of water pelted the pair as they waited for Barbatos to pick them up. Diavolo slowly lifted up his arm and shielded MC from the rain as best he could. Well… this outfit was ruined, the least he could do was try and save MC’s…

“Well…” Diavolo tentatively began. “I heard getting caught in the rain is supposed to be romantic..?”

MC only sighed and moved a little closer, they folded their arms and stared blankly ahead. Their glassy expression made the crown prince’s heart sink right to the floor. Maybe he could cancel the meeting! He promised he’d spend more time with MC and he intended to keep it!

“MC, I could-”

“Dia, no.” MC looked up and gave him a small smile. “It’s okay, I’m okay. I knew what I was getting into when I said I’d be with you. Your kingdom is more important than one little date.”

“But I wanted to make you happy today…” Diavolo mumbled. His kingdom had always come first, before his friends, before MC, before even himself, was it so much to ask to have just one day for him to spend with the person he loved?

The human reaches up and lowered Diavolo’s arm and looped it around their shoulders. “And you did, any time that I get to spend with you makes me happy. Besides, it wasn’t all bad. The crab moment was pretty awesome.”

MC pulled out their DDD and showed Diavolo a picture of himself chucking the giant crab into the watery horizon. “We can put at least one moment of this date into the photo album.”

The precise tapping of the falling raindrops cause the DDD to flick to the next picture, which was an awkwardly angled snapshot of MC brandishing a stick at a much smaller crab who had attached its claws to their ankle.

“Uh, maybe not this picture…”

Barbatos

The poor butler rarely ever gets a day off, and he could tell MC missed spending time with him, so he asked Diavolo for a day off.

Of course Diavolo said yes, but when the day of the date came…

Barbatos saw every mishap and disaster coming a mile away. The smart thing to do would be cancel the date, but NO. Barbatos was going to use his powers for good and make sure MC had the time of their life!

The first disaster was supposed to come in the form of a pickpocket stealing MC’s wallet, key word being supposed.

As the perp made their way through the somewhat crowded sidewalk, fully prepared to swipe some wallets, Barbatos quickly twirled and dipped MC out of the way. This action also conveniently had the result of Barb knocking the pickpocket out cold.

MC of course, was none the wiser of the attempted theft and just assumed Barbatos was being suave (tm).

The second disaster was both MC and Barbatos getting hot coffee accidentally spilled all over them. Or it WOULD have been if Barbatos hadn’t quickly notified the person that would have spilled the drink that their shoelaces were undone.

Hell yeah! Second disaster averted!

The date progressed smoothly, well, as smooth as it could have gone. All those days of work and the task of making sure MC was none the wiser of any of the nasty things that could have ruined the date was really making Barbatos tired…

“Barbatos, are you alright?” “*exhausted breathing* Y-yes dearest, of course. Don’t trouble yourself.”

MC would have bought that lie if Barbatos didn’t look like he had just finished running a ten kilometre long race through a heatwave.

After making sure MC was not in the path of the escaped hellhound that would be running down the street in three, two, one, there it went, MC was safe and sound, Barbatos sighed in relief.

Just one more thing…

In the smoothest possibly motion, Barbatos opened the umbrella he had been carrying and held it over himself and MC.

MC looked up at the umbrella perplexed. “Barbatos, why-”

Thunder rumbled as the first drops of rain pelted harmlessly against the umbrella. Barbatos smiled softly and took MC’s hand. “Did you enjoy the date, darling?”

“Have you been doing damage control all day..?” MC asked. “Oh no wonder you look exhausted…”

Barbatos’ face burned with embarrassment when MC wrapped their arms around him.

“You work way to hard, this date was supposed to be relaxing for the both of us,” MC sighed. “You know what? We’re going to go back to the Demon Lord’s Castle, and I’m making you tea and snacks.”

“MC..?”

They began to pull Barbatos in the direction of the castle and plucked the umbrella out of his hand.

“I’ll hold this.” MC smiled brightly. “You relax, mister.”

Barbatos was about to protest, then sighed, no future he could see in his brief overview involved MC giving up on their new mission to make him take a break. He felt himself smile, he really lucked out with this human, didn’t he?

Simeon

The next volume of TSL had been released and Simeon was officially completely exhausted. He had spent the past two days signing special hardback copies and his writing hand was officially deceased.

He needed to relax and unwind… who better to do it with than MC? Simeon simply invited MC over to Purgatory Hall to hang out.

Oh my~ premarital eye contact~

It was just so nice, MC rested their head on Simeon’s chest while they lounged in bed watching TV, their hands gently intwined, the smell of Luke baking cookies…

Simeon let out a content sigh, he was truly and completely at peace in that moment. The soft knock on the door to his room barely phased him.

Solomon poked his head into the room with a bright smile.

“Hi you two, so sorry to barge in on your date, but before Luke took over the kitchen I made way too much food. I’ll bring some in for you guys!” “Solomon no-” “Wait!”

The date was now in intense danger. They needed to get out of there immediately! The first thing the angel could think to do to save the love of his life was to throw them out of the window.

Fret not, MC’s fall slowed considerably and they gently landed on the grass outside thanks to Simeon’s magic, but the angel himself was not as lucky. Yes his fall was slowed, but he still faceplanted into the dirt.

The two ended up running for dear life away from Purgatory Hall, further exhausting Simeon.

Well, at least they ended up near a very pretty fountain. Simeon and MC sat on the fountain ledge and resumed their snuggling.

Until Simeon got a phone call from a very frantic Luke begging for help with his math homework.

Due to being quite rusty at the subject, Simeon had to teach himself how to calculate the square root of something and then teach Luke, which was honestly frustrating for everyone involved.

After the homework was felt with, Simeon got ready to sit back down on the fountain ledge, ended up missing, then slipped straight into the fountain. It was a good thing that the water was shallow…

Then to MC and Simeon’s horror, it began to rain.

“Well…” Simeon sighed, he accepted MC’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled out of the fountain. “This isn’t so bad..?”

Lightning cracked in the distance, Simeon pulled MC into his arms on reflex, only to then realize that MC had become just as soaked as he was.

“I… sorry, MC.”

Simeon slowly unwrapped his arms from around MC, but the human remained firmly in place. “Ah, it’s fine. Want to call a cab or back to Purgatory Hall?”

“Y-yes, that sounds-” Simeon felt around for his phone, then winced and looked into the fountain. His phone was lying at the bottom of the fountain… “Do you think you could call?”

MC perked up and planted a kiss on Simeon’s cheek. “Of course, we can cuddle in the car.”

“That sounds wonderful…”

Solomon

Solomon decided to text MC at two in the morning to ask them out. In his defence, he was up late making potions and didn’t notice what time it was.

“Hey MCMCMCMCMC-” “ITS TWO OCLOCK IN THE FUCKING MORNING.” “Wanna go on a date tmrw?” “…ok.” “🥳” “see you tomorrow, Solomon.” “Oh yea- that reminds me- look at this snail I saw yesterday.” “Effervescent.” “Marry me.”

Obviously super happy that MC said yes to the date, Solomon was newly rejuvenated and went back to making his potion. It was six in the morning when he realized that maybe he should have just quit while he was ahead and went back to sleep.

It was a little late for that! He needed to go to school, then go on the date. Solomon gracefully took MC’s hand, led them out of the school, then fell down the stairs.

It um… may have messed up his tailbone. Solomon never felt more like an old man than when he and MC sat down at the cafe for coffee and MC had to help him into his seat.

The coffee arrived, MC and Solomon drank it, and Solomon just sighed in relief. This was nice, time with his sweet MC…

The way they made him feel so completely at ease… that smile… those eyes… those eyes were looking very confused-

“Solomon…” “Yes my sweet?” “There’s uh… there’s a giant spider on your head…”

…Solomon looked up and the giant spider fell right into his drink. He wasn’t thirsty anymore.

A little later, he and MC were walking hand in hand through the park, the darkness of the Devildom was almost comforting as the fireflies and pixies created little balls of light that danced around the pair.

It was such a soothing sight to behold, Solomon and MC sat down beneath a giant tree. MC rested their head on his shoulder, and Solomon let out a content sigh. He was just going to rest his eyes for a moment…

Solomon was harshly shaken awake by MC who yelled at him for falling asleep in the presence of pixies. Solomon had completely forgotten that pixies like to possess sleeping people. That was probably why he was awoken in the middle of stuffing his face with cookies that were in his backpack.

The two unanimously decided that it would be best to head back to Purgatory Hall. When the two had just returned to civilization… Solomon heard thunder.

Quick as a flash, Solomon looped his arm around MC’s waist and pulled them closer, using his other hand to draw a circle above them, when the rain began to fall, the two were completely dry thanks to the shield.

“Ha… HA! HAHAHA!” Solomon pointed and laughed at the sky. “GOT YOU BITCH!”

“Solomon..?” MC asked tentatively. “Are you alright?”

The sorcerer looked at his dear sweet perfect MC, gave them a toothy smile, and shook his head. “No darling, I’ve been awake for 56 hours.”

“Wait what? You texted me at two in the morning, you couldn’t have been awake for more than an extra few hours..?”

Solomon peppered MC’s face with sleepy kisses as the rain pattered against the shield. “I have a weird life.”

“You know what, I buy it.” MC sighed fondly. “Do you want to go home and sleep?”

“More than anything, I’ll teleport us home!”

“NO! Let’s just call someone to pick us up!”

#Obey me #Obey me!#Obey me Diavolo #Obey me Barbatos #Obey me Simeon #Obey me Solomon #obey me headcanons #obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date?

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tomtenadia · 2 years

Text

A Little Braver - 62

Good evening and welcome to the next instalment. This chapter was a huge challenge. Our guys are dealing with a gigantic wildfire. I have done a lot of research for this chapter and I hope I did it justice. It will continue in the next one, This might feel a bit like a filler and it kinda sets the scene for the next one which is the one containing more action and story development.

I hope you will enjoy it.

MASTERLIST // CH.61

It was the beginning of august and Orynth had been enveloped by a heatwave that was unheard of for the city and all of Terrasen. Temperatures had reached 35C, something that had never happened. The region was not equipped to deal with the heat. People were not used to it. Shops and offices did not have air conditioning, something that the citizens never had a need for. Their summers were usually brief with only a day or two reaching 25C. This was a lot.

The extreme heat was affecting all of Erilea. Ilium had recorder temperatures well over 40C, the southern continent was boiling too and so every other area. The other side effect was that it hadn’t rained in a month. Another weird occurrence for Terrasen. The green expanses of land had started to turn yellow due to lack of water. The situation had raised the concerns of the Forest Services, placing the whole region under high alert for wildfires. A scary prospect, considering that the northern part of Orynth skirted the forest and a wildfire could cause serious damage to the city too.

Aelin arrived at the firehouse after having dropped off Rowan at the academy. She slammed the door shut and walked to the building. The heavy rolling doors were pulled up to let some air circulate.

The idea of going into a fire made her sick, to wear her heavy bunker gear… in that moment she wished she was a lifeguard in Ilium.

“Manon…”

The woman grunted as she appeared from behind the truck.

“I know I want snow again. I miss the cold.”

Manon moved away and shut the door of one of the compartments “The Forest services have raised the level for wildfire to the maximum. Something that Terrasen has never experienced before,” said the woman as they walked to the common room “They are working on plans on how to deal with a worst case scenario.”

Aelin sat at the table “we might get asked to help. You know it’s in the emergency protocols.”

Her second nodded.

“I want us all to go through wildfire training today. We need a refresher.”

Manon nodded once more and Aelin left her while she went to get changed and call Dorian on protocols to follow in case they were all called.

Aelin came back half an hour later and saw her team in the common room waiting for her.

“Good morning, gang. I know we are all suffering from the heat, but we are at work, so I am asking you to put you adults pants on and get on with the day job,” she grabbed her notepad and looked at all of them “The Forest Services have raised the alert for wildfires to its highest level. Something that Terrasen has never experienced. They are all getting ready just in case, because if shit hits the fan, the response needs to be immediate. The forests are arid and it would take a second to catch fire,” she explained quietly “As you are aware, although they have their own teams of specialised fighters, we can be called in too especially to try and defend the urban areas nearby. We have small communities living in the forest too.” Aelin was worried. Wildfires were tough and unpredictable “we have no experience but we have received training at the academy, so, with Dorian, I have organised to have a smokejumper this afternoon and give us a lesson on how to tackle wildfires and an idea of our roles if we are called in. This is important stuff, I need everyone to listen carefully because we might have to do it for real.”

Aelin passed Manon and Brullo two thick manuals “take your two teams and start going through them until captain Sanders gets here.”

The two lieutenants nodded and grabbed their manuals and then walked in two different section of the station and started the training.

Aelin went back to her office when her mobile went off.

“Hi you…”

“Hey.”

“What’s wrong?” He asked sensing her preoccupied tone.

Aelin sighed “we are working on wildfire readiness.”

“What do you mean?”

“We might get called in to help around urban areas and the smaller communities.”

Rowan sighed too “I signed up to fly one of the Canadair if needed. Lorcan got me in. They are looking for pilots apparently and he asked me to help.”

Aelin froze “Ro, will you be okay flying?”

“Yes, I can’t fly military planes due to the heavy G and the stress. Canadair are big assed planes that fly like a brick but are efficient in fighting fires. If needed I want to do this.”

Apprehension grew in her. She knew he could fly it, she had no doubts in his skills, but she could not ignore the little monster called worry sitting on her chest.

“What about paramedic school?”

“I spoke to chief Harker and he gave me his blessing to leave if called.”

“I seem to recall you being quite skilled at flying Canadair.” She let out a weak chuckle

“Aelin, I am okay. I want to do this.” He told her fully aware that she was worrying already.

“Okay, but you keep me posted.”

He whispered an I love you and then told her he was due back in class.

She closed the call and went back checking with the Forest Services. Apparently it had already started but so far it had been small stuff near Allsbrook. The town was deep in Oakwald forest and it could end badly. That was Ren’s birthplace and she hoped his family was fine.

Aelin worked until Brullo came to call her and let her know that the smokejumper captain had arrived. She joined her teams and was surprised to see a woman. If the world of regulars firefighters was a boys’ club, the one of smokejumpers was a cast on its own.

“Captain Sanders?’

The woman in front of her smiled and nodded “I can see that you were not expecting a woman.”

Aelin laughed “not for the reason you may think. I had no idea they had finally allowed women in.”

The captain laughed “I am the first one and it was one hell of a fight.”

“I feel your pain. I was the first woman to join the TFD and the first one to make captain.”

“Come captain, let me introduce you to my team. They are eager to meet you.”

Aelin and the captain walked to east team who was standing in front of the engine.

“This is Manon, she is my second and my lieutenant on truck. This is Brullo and he is my lieutenant on engine.” Aelin moved down the line “My engine team: Nox, its driver, Ren, Asterin, Luca and Kyllian.” then she moved to the other part “this is my truck team: Ansel is the driver, then we have Ress, Borte our candidate and Wes.”

“I don’t think I have ever seen so many females in one firehouse. This is such a welcome sight.”

They all smiled proudly.

“It was a nice surprise when I got a call from Dorian to come and talk to some of his teams, something we don’t do enough.” She looked at them all “my name is captain Alexis Sanders. I have been a smokejumper for the past five years. Orynth hasn’t seen many, but Terrasen had its fair share of dangerous wildfires. Do any of you know what a smokejumper does?”

Asterin raised her hand and the captain nodded “You are firefighters with specific wild land training. You get dropped in remote locations with a parachute and shortly after all of your supplies are dropped too and you are self sufficient for 48hrs. You also lead teams in case of extended wildfires.”

“Well done, Asterin, that was perfect.”

“My grampa was a smokejumper. He told me a lot of stories. I wanted to be one too, but alas I was a woman so I became a regular firefighter.”

“I am sure your grampa is proud of you.”

Asterin nodded.

“What Asterin said was correct. We actually jump into fires and we deal with remote areas that cannot be accessed by vehicles.” She explained while holding the attention of the entire team “There are also hotshots crew and they are just as awesome. These people are highly trained to deal with the worst of a wildfire and like us they can work in remote areas for a long time without support. They are an elite squad too.”

Aelin stared at the woman with admiration.

“Then you have handcrews. They are the ones constructing firelines around the wild fire to prevent it from spreading. Then we have you guys, we can send some of you with the handcrews, but your job is mainly to keep the people safe. We have parts of Orynth that are close to the forest, some are into it and we have small communities living inside Oakwald.”

“So we are the lowest in the food-chain.”

Alexis shook her head “there is no such thing. When it comes to wildfires any help is vital. If called, you will be in the fray. You will be based at an incident base where the person in charge will direct the action. There’s paramedics and all the equipment and personnel needed.”

The team asked a few question and the captain answered them all then started some basic and quick training. She explained some of the possible attacks methods used, the equipment as well. Alexis explained the chemicals used, which might differ from the ones used in an urban fire “And remember that like in an urban fire, weather can affect the fire. Wind especially being the major player. Wind can make the flame change and miss control lines or worse jumping or embers being carried away. “

The captain continued her training following some of the manual Aelin had provided, then eventually she said her farewells saying that she had three more firehouses in the city to visit.

“I know it’s been a quick visit but I hope you have taken in all the info the captain has given you.

East team spent the afternoon revising and making sure that engine and truck were in top shape. The TFD was on high alert as the Allsbrook wildfires had been spreading pretty fast. To make things worse the wind had picked up.

Rowan had texted her that he had been called while on his way home so now Lorcan was going to pick him up and they were heading for the TFD heliport.

Apparently, according to Elide, Lorcan had volunteered as soon as news spread that they needed skilled pilots, then he had roped Rowan into it. Con and Vaughan had gone away on holidays with their women.

Be safe. We are on high alert too. I doubt I will be able to sleep tonight.

She walked to the common room and switched on the tv. The news was covering the wildfires in Allsbrook.

“That looks scary,” whispered Ress

The high winds are at the moments the biggest worry for the Forest Services. The embers from the current wildfires could be transported far away and start fires in other areas of Oakwald and worse, near built up areas. The TFD has all its station in a high alert status, with an all hands on deck approach.

“I am not going to sleep tonight,” said Ansel.

“Guys, I need you to try and rest. If we really are called, we don’t know how long it’s going to last. I need you alert.”

“I am nervous,” added Luca “we are trained to fight fires in a city not that.” He pointing to the tv and the image of the beast of fire.

Aelin walked to him “Luca, we have fought our own beasts. The last warehouse fire or even the potassium fire in the tunnel,” she told him “they might not have been that big, but they were far more dangerous.” Her hands went on his shoulders “I hate fire involving chemicals. They scare the shit out of me.”

“You don’t show it, cap.” Joked Manon.

“I guess I have a good poker face.” Then she stood “Come on, let’s all go to our happy place and relax.”

East team spent the afternoon relaxing, with only one call to deal with. An easy car accident that they dealt with very quickly and efficiently.

Aelin was in her office doing some work when Elide and Lys joined her “The ambulance is ready. We are stocked up as much as we can and ready to go.”

“Thanks ladies.”

They both sat down “Is Rowan gone with Lorcan?”

Aelin nodded.

“What are you two talking about?”

“Lorcan read a news that they were looking for experienced pilots to fly air tanker planes and helicopters and he signed up for that and dragged Rowan in apparently.”

“I thought he could not fly anymore.”

“The way he explained it to me is that he can fly any regular plane because the stress on his leg to pilot it it’s minimal. But in a jet, they do that while also being under heavy Gs which would make the stress on the legs unbearable.”

“Question from someone who does not know a thing about planes. Why pedals? I thought they flew with the hands?”

Aelin smiled. She had done her research “The pedals control the rudder. Ever seen an airplane? The tail has a flap on its vertical axis. That’s the rudder.” Aelin started explaining bragging thanks to all the books about flight she had read “A plane has three movements, roll, pitch and yaw. The roll let you roll the plane, like when you feel it bank in flight. Then you have pitch, basically moving the nose up and down and then the yaw which moves the nose left or right. The rudder controls the yaw and it’s controlled by foot pedals.”

Her two friend stared at her “did you digest one of Rowan’s books?”

“No. It’s just super interesting stuff.” She smiled proudly. Aelin had loved learning about flight theory. Some stuff had been complicated but Rowan had helped her understand “Anyway, he joined the crew as well with a blessing from Chief Harker if he missed classes.”

“If it really hits the fan I doubt he will miss much, us teachers are all active paramedics so we will be called too.”

The three chatted for a while longer then Lys and Elide left and Aelin remained alone. She went back watching the news and saw that some planes had been deployed already and wondered if Alexis was already out there.

Eventually she retired for the night and Rowan called.

“How is my sexy pilot?’

“I am on stand down,” there was excitement in his voice “I carried smokejumpers, Aelin. I can’t believe that there are people who actually jump in the middle of these fires. It was awesome to watch.”

“We met one today, she gave us some training on wildfires.”

“How do you feel?”

“We have been on high alert all day. When dispatch went off this afternoon I thought that was it.”

“The fire around Allsbrook is bad and it’s shifting fast. I heard the incident commander at the camp saying that the wind was bad news and were on alert for embers travelling with the wind.”

Aelin sighed “Yeah, wind is one of firefighters’ enemies.”

“Aelin…” he said quietly “if you go out there, please be careful. It’s terrifying.”

“If we need to help I might see you at the incident base you are there right?”

Rowan chuckled “yes, it reminds me a lot of survival training.”

Aelin was about to reply when she smelled smoke.

“Ro, I gotta go.”

She hang up abruptly and ran outside. A thick cloud of smoke was moving over Orynth. A moment later her team was all out on the apron with her. They all quickly ran to the stairs and on the roof to have a better look out point. The fire was not near Orynth, but the wind was carrying the fire from Allsbrook. Bad news. Deep fucking bad news.

“If it carries embers…” Brullo looked at her and she did not need him to finish the sentence. It could end badly.

In that instant dispatch alarm went off and they quickly climbed back down “Let’s go, it’s starting.”

Once in the engine she was expecting the location from dispatch to be in Orynth, but instead they had been called out of the city towards the forest. Aelin worried. How did it travel so fast?

As they approached the location they all gasped as the hills were ablaze with fire.

“Holy mother of all fucks,” whispered Brullo while staring at the wildfire.

Nox kept driving until they arrived at the location twenty minutes later and Aelin saw it looked like an incident base. West, south and north and a few more regional companies followed soon after. Dorian was there too with the regional chief.

He walked to them “It’s started. The wind has caused it spread it much faster and so far is proving hard to contain.”

“Chief what about the city? We all all here.”

“I have a few regional squad to cover. I need all of you to report to the incident commander for this area for your assignments. You will all be given special gear to wear. This is also the rest zone. We will work in shift patterns. Once yours is over you come back here for food and rest. Paramedics are housed here too.”

“Go to the incident commander and you will be assigned to your crew. You listen to the orders your leader gives you. They are the experts on this.”

The members of the four teams nodded and disappeared to the tents.

Dorian turned to Lys and Elide “triage in these situation is crazy. We have a few hospital medics who will be in charge of it. You two just do your job as usual.” The two paramedics nodded and headed to the massive tent raised for the medical team.

The firefighters walked to the command centre for their orders.

The man in charge was waiting for them “East, west north and south is it?’

They all nodded.

“Good, Chief Dorian told me you were on your way. Thank you for joining.” He looked at them all “This will be a marathon. Structure fires are one thing… wildfires are a completely different challenge,” he told them all “The wind dictates the fire, the wind is in charge. Once you go out there the air will be full of ash and hot.” He extended the arm to the location around him “Here there is no going back to your quarters. You sleep where you can and when you can and eat whatever is offered to you.”

“It reminds me of the military,” chuckled Aedion in a whisper.

“Triage will be here and we have a large team of medics here to help. We also have a tent where we keep all the people who have been evacuated from their homes.” Then he finally grabbed his clipboard “Assignments: Aelin and Manon, handcrew one. Aedion and Marcus handcrew two. Fenrys and Nicholas handcrew three.” the six of them stood aside “I want the remaining members of east and south to help with evacuation of this neighbourhood.” he pointed at a spot on the map “The remaining members of north and west to this location.” The captain pointed at a second spot “when you prepare a location for evacuation you clear the area around the houses, remove furniture, clear the brush, remove anything that is easily flammable. Be aware of gusts of embers, if the fire gets close they will look like fire rain. Make sure you evacuate everyone before you find yourself in that situation.” The teams all nodded “there are five captains outside. Go with the one assigned to you.”

Aelin was walking with Manon to handcrew one and noticed the woman smiling “You are a bit too happy for this.”

“It’s a challenge, captain. You know I love them.”

Aelin smiled back “that you do.” She pointed at a vehicle ahead “I think that’s us.”

The reached a big pickup truck that at the back had what looked like a tank “That is cool.”

“Captain, Lieutenant, welcome to handcrew one. I am Sarah, this are Sebastian and Mathias.” The woman explained “our job is to go and work on a fireline, it’s tough work, but if we do it correctly we can prevent this beast from jumping the line.”

The man called Sebastian moved near the vehicles “This is our fire engine. She is much smaller than your city one as it needs to be capable to get us access to road with difficult access. It has a tank with 1900 L of water and also carry all the tools we need for our job, and I am the driver.”

“Sebastian is very proud of it.”

Sarah passed Manon and Aelin some special bunker gear “it will protect you from the heat and possible embers.”

“Thanks.”

“Good let’s go to our location.”

They all climbed in the truck and Sebastian drove away, taking them closer to the fire.”

Brullo jumped on the engine with his team and Samuel, the lieutenant from South, did the same with his team. They took their vehicles to the area that was allocated to them.

It was an area of Orynth that flanked the woods and needed to be protected.

He looked up and noticed the smoke grew closer and very likely the fire. The wind had brutally shifted and wondered how Allsbrook was faring. Ren was at his side and taciturn. The man still had family there.

“Ok guys, we have our orders. Clean up the exterior and the gardens and evacuate.” He looked at his team “Ren, Wes, Asterin and Borte, I want all of you on evacuation duty.”

Then he turned to the rest of the team “we are cleaning up crew. Remember what we were told. Make sure there is nothing outside that can help the fire spread.”

The two teams nodded and jumped into action and he sighed. He had had a long career as firefighter but never had to help out with wildfires and it scared the hell out of him.

***

Aelin grabbed a shovel and started digging to churn up the land, while Manon was clearing the area of anything that could allow the fire to jump the line. She could feel the heat and the smell the intense smoke. The fire was not far from them. Although she appreciated the challenge, for once she felt out of her depth. Fighting a fire in a city she knew exactly what to do and although could turn unpredictable too, she knew how to prevent the worst from happening. Here, surrounded by woods and fuel for the fires she was worried. It would take a second, a wrong gust of wind or a few stray embers to find themselves surrounded. She shook the bad thought away and went back to her work. She looked at Manon and her lieutenant was all absorbed in her task. The woman had been worried but also confessed that a part of her was glad for the challenge.

Another handcrew had joined them and Aelin saw Sarah join them and they started working on a saw line. It was another type of line where all the tree limbs were removed at shoulder length and small trees and brush were cut down. These people were called sawyers and then the crew members taking all the remains away were called swampers.

Aelin stared at them for a second working with efficiency and with the confidence of someone who had done far too many times.

She went back to work and kept churning up the earth to expose bare ground and mineral soil. Her woods, her beloved forest was on fire and she felt sick.

Handcrew one worked hard on creating an extensive firebreak. They had taken a second to breath after a gruelling session. Aelin was taking a sip of water when she spotted it.

Embers. Coming their way with the wind and the thick smoke.

“Embers,” she shouted pointing at the sky.

Sebastian swore loudly. It was bad. They all started walking around like crazed people stomping on the embers landing on possible flammable materials.

“We can’t let the fire jump the line.” Shouted Mathias and Aelin turned quickly when she heard Manon shout. Her lieutenant was near a tree that had caught fire and she moved away. Sebastian activated the engine and put it off but it hadn’t been enough. The fire had the chance to spread quickly and reached two more trees.

She heard Sarah report over the radio that the fire had jumped. The other handcrew ran to them and all together started working on putting out the fire in every way they could.

Fenrys loved the challenge. He was still quite fresh out of the academy, still a candidate but Aedion had still decided to bring him along. He had felt very proud by the offer and was going to do his best to learn as much as he could. During the drive with the rest of the crew they had explained to him in detail what he was supposed to do and the role of handcrew. It was grunt work, but create firelines was fundamental in stopping the wildfire to spread even further.

For a very long time he had believed that flying was his only true love, but then he had messed up his life and eventually a second chance had fallen into his lap. He had loved the job of firefighter since day one at the academy. And now he could not believe he was helping in a wildfire. Adrenaline cursed through his body, like it never happened in his life. It was scary, but at the same time he was eager to help.

They reached their assigned location and Fen noticed the fire was too close for comfort.

The captain shouted orders and everyone grabbed their tools very quickly and started working. It was a time sensitive job and they had to create a fire break as quickly as possible.

At the sound of planes overhead he quickly looked up and thought about Rowan and Lorcan who had joined the aerial team. In another life, another version of himself he would have given everything to fly as well, but now, this new version of him was happy to be on the ground.

“Air tankers are moving towards Allsbrook. It must be really bad,” said a man on his team.

“You can do it guys,’ he whispered and went back working on the soil.

***

Rowan looked outside of the window and his breath hitched at the image under him. The fire was a monster. He could see Allsbrook in the distance and the city was surrounded. The air tanker crew had already made five passes and it seemed like nothing was helping.

Slowly he banked and reached his location and activated the release button and dumped all his cargo of water while flying in circles. The tanker was a beast to fly, and he was used to sleeker planes, but this time he was flying for a good reasons. His thirteen years of career as a pilot where finally put to a good use.

“Tanker 5 to tanker 1, heading back to fill up.”

His team leader copied and he veered back towards the Florine to fill up once more. Rowan approached Orynth and fear gripped him as he saw that the fire was slowly making its way to the city. He looked down at the woods and thought of Aelin. She was down there somewhere. She had told him she was part of one of the handcrews with Manon. She was meant to create firelines. During his last stand down he had chatted with experienced wildfires fighters and they had answered all of his questions and explained all the different crews involved. Aelin was part of a crew meant to create fire breaks. Silently he prayed Mala to look after her and brought the plane lower to fill up. He released the pump and made sure it dipped in the river and activated the suction. In the background he heard the sound of the tank being refilled and kept his steady trajectory on the river.

Lorcan had been flying a tanker carrying fire retardant and had been flying over the worst hit area. Rowan and a few other had been working on the less thick areas.

His dashboard beeped and Rowan knew the tank was full. He pulled up and veered back to the forest.

Lys and Elide had been working at the extensive triage area that had been set up.

The massive tent contained a good numbers of beds and equipment that was only seen in hospital.

It had been madness. Neither Elide nor Lys had ever worked in a triage situation of that size, that was why it was a few doctors from the hospital calling the shots. They had been mostly dealing with burn victims, people with respiratory problems. It seemed like minor work but it was still help. The influx of patients had been steady.

One of the doctors, the one in charge carried a radio and they would listen on updates. Lysandra was terrified. Aedion was in the thick of it, the same as all the other teams. Far too many people she knew involved.

“One of the handcrew is stuck.” Announced the head doctor.

Lysandra’s world stopped. Aedion was in a hand crew.

“Do you know which one?”

“Handcrew two.”

The vial in Lysandra’s hands crashed and smashed onto the ground.

TAGS:

@rowaelinismyotp @swankii-art-teacher @courtofjurdan @whimsicallyreading @aelin-bitch-queen @bruiseonthefaceofhumanity @acreativelydifferentlove @mis-lil-red @thegreyj @sailorsassley @leiawritesstories @clairec79 @morganofthewildfire @sv0430 @heartless--aromantic @autumnbabylon @rowanaelinn @backtobl4ck @susumaus98 @gracie-rosee @mybloodrunsblue @tanvee1231 @avenrebekah @whoever-you-choose-to-love @theywillnotsingforme @universallytreepost @black-daisy-water @goddess-aelin

#rowaelin #rowan x aelin #rowaelin fanfic #rowaelin fanfiction #aelin x rowan #aelin galathynius #throne of glass fic #throne of glass fanfiction

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mlmxreader · 2 years

Text

A Man Who Gets Excited About Thunderstorms | Officer K x m!reader

Anonymous asked: Hehe prompt time

"Hey, hey, calm down"

Some with Officer K x male reader and Some with Six x male reader maybe through a kenobi x male reader in there if you feel like it. I need more bedtime stories please 🏎

summary: out of all the humans to ever exist, K just had to go and fall for the man who wanted nothing more than to play about in thunderstorms.

tws: swearing

Although he looked human, and had the qualities of a human being, K wasn't like most humans in the slightest; cool and collected at the worst of times, he was able to think clearly when most people would run around screaming. He was able to make rational choices when emotion would be the ruling decider. K wasn't like most humans, and it was obvious to see; when most people saw that their boyfriend was more than excited to see the rain and to hear the thunder and to feel the wind, they would have pulled them back inside.

Not K.

When he saw how excited you were that a thunderstorm had rolled through, he was more than happy to step outside with you; the asphalt and concrete slick as the rain bounced off of it, the usual humming of the city streets overpowered by the roar of the thunder, banners and signs flapping as the wind hit them with all its might. You grinned, tilting your head back so that you could feel the rain on your face and the wind cooling your features, K's coat on you as you ran your hands up and down your face, just to feel more of the cold rain; he stood a little to the side, watching you as he smiled and tilted his head. From what he knew, humans already knew this sensation; humans had experienced the touch of the rain, the cold kiss of the wind, the loud song of the thunder... yet all he could see as he looked at you was an excited wonder.

Then again, K could not remember the last time it had rained, it had been so long that even he was a little excited about the thunderstorm; the most recent heatwave had lasted for longer than usual and he could see it in your eyes that the excitement didn't come from not knowing what a thunderstorm was. It came from missing it.

You hopped up on a slick electrical box, and K was quick to wrap his arms around you, pulling you down from it as he shook his head. "Hey, hey, calm down."

"This is amazing," you breathed out as you turned to face him, your hands on his face as the grin refused to leave you, staring into his blue eyes with such excitement that he couldn't bring himself to be angry. You kissed him, laughing softly. "Don't you think?"

K shrugged, not really sure if he did or if he didn't; but that amazement in your eyes, the human urge to splash in puddles and to play, he let out a soft laugh. "Yeah."

You kissed him again, overwhelmed that there was finally some fucking thunder, finally some rain, and dropped your hands to his, lacing your fingers together and tugging at his hand. "C'mon, we can go down to the streets and we can-"

But you stopped when you realised he wasn't about to go anywhere, furrowing your brows as your grin faltered for once.

K shook his head, swallowing thickly as he looked over the edge; no one was around, sure, but even he knew that it would be stupid for you to be seen with him. "They'll call you a skinjob fucker."

You laughed, shaking your head. "You think I give a shit what a few assholes think? I wanna be seen with you, as your boyfriend."

"Maybe another time." He left no room for argument, but you couldn't find it in yourself to be upset.

He had every right to be worried about what people would think about seeing a replicant and a human together, appearing to be a normal couple; appearing to be a couple of the same kind as they played in the rain. Two boyfriends playing in the street. But people would know, when they saw his nonverbal responses, they would know he wasn't human.

He sat with his back against the wall, watching as you; maybe in another time and in another place, he could be seen with you, he could be open about you being his boyfriend, but the harrassment from his neighbours was too much at current, and he didn't want you to go through it more than you already were. But as he watched you, eager to feel the rain on your face, laughing at the sound of the roaring thunder, K was at least glad that you were wearing his coat; he wouldn't get sick, he wouldn't catch a cold or flu from sitting in the rain and the wind, but he knew humans were more fragile than replicants. He knew you could get sick, you could catch a cold or flu and that his coat was like a suit of armour.

K couldn't deny it, he was glad that he had become attached to a man like you, he was glad that out of every human on any planet, the one he had fallen for was a man who got excited at thunderstorms; out of every human to ever exist, the one he was proud to call his boyfriend was a man who was eager to mess around in stormy weather.

if you liked this fic, REBLOG IT - you SHOULD reblog it; spam likers WILL be blocked. as will blogs that refuse to reblog or to give feedback. if you don't wanna reblog, then you'll get blocked; reblogging is the BARE MINIMUM. don't just "like", REBLOG

#mlem writes #officer k imagine #officer k x reader #officer k #blade runner fanfiction #blade runner fanfic #blade runner 2049 #blade runner #ryan gosling #ryan gosling imagine #ryan gosling x reader

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gojoslutoru · 3 years

Text

I can't even part 1

Gojo x fem!reader

Description: In hopes of forgetting about your boyfriend for a night you travel to a bar in the city where you meet a tall and very annoying man.

Warnings: alcohol, implied cheating, sexually suggestive

Wc: 1213

Song pairing: #icanteven (slowed)

The clock strikes 10pm as you ignore the flooding of messages from your boyfriend, he did nothing wrong, he just wasn't enough. Your relationship wasn't long, or boring for that matter. He just simply couldn't give you the adrenaline you needed. That's why you're sitting on a barstool at a random bar in the city, your silk dress draping over your form, your hair loosely tied up with some waved strands hanging down at the front.

"special occasion?" asks the bartender, pointing to your attire while giving you a friendly smile.

"just a regular Friday" you shoot back a smile at him before ordering a whiskey, he hands you your drink quickly and you mutter a quick thank you at him before taking a big swig, the coldness of the ice contrasting nicely with the burn of the whiskey.

"so what's a pretty girl like you doing out on 'just a regular Friday'?" the voice is soft but firm and came from the man sitting next to you, you take a quick look at him, he has white hair which slightly hangs over his dark sunglasses. His attire probably leaving little left unsaid about his personality: bland.

"I could ask you the same question" you reply, looking forward at the wall of liquor while taking another swig of your drink before setting it back on the square napkin.

"it's rude to answer a question with a question sugar" the sudden nickname makes you physically cringe, keeping your gaze fixed forward you ask the bartender for another whiskey, which he quickly prepares for you as you continue to ignore the tall lanky man next to you.

"it's on me" he tells the bartender as he tells you the price.

"are you seriously this oblivious?" you shoot at him in reply to his sudden forwardness.

"not oblivious, just thought I’d treat you since you seem to not be having a good time" you're surprised by his friendliness, but nonetheless you carry on the conversation if he's already trying this hard to get your attention.

"so what are you drinking?" you ask him to try and engage in the conversation.

"strawberry daiquiri" you look at him quizzically.

"you didn't strike me as a man with a sweet tooth"

"and you didn't strike me as a woman who'd be sour" your eyes go wide, dumbfounded at the sudden insult.

"don't get me wrong, sour is just not my type, would you like to try my drink instead?" it takes you a while to process the sentence he said, opting to just nod your head instead and smile sweetly expecting him to slide his drink over to you, or better yet buy you your own.

Instead the man took a mouthful of his drink before grabbing your jaw with his thumb and index finger, slowly pulling you forward towards him making you reach your hand out against his chest to steady yourself as he places his lips on yours and slightly parting them to let his cocktail slide into your mouth. The taste was sweet to say the least and you swore you could feel the granules of sugar as they entered your mouth. The man however did not pull away from you, further attacking your lips as you took a sharp inhale, even his scent was sweet, the faint hint of plum and strawberries lingering in your lungs and it rushed straight to your head.

His lips are soft, which is a nice contrast to his actions as he starts to enter your mouth with his tongue, pulling your head closer with his hand. He grazes your teeth before softly massaging against your tongue while letting out a sigh as your hands that were on his chest start slowly sliding up against his shirt, softly touching his collarbones as they make their way back to find their place around his neck. He shivers, which doesn't go unnoticed by you as you slide one of your hands further up his neck slightly grabbing the tufts of white hair to pull him closer. He groans into your mouth, the sound vibrating through you as you shiver against him. He pulls back slowly while taking in a deep breath, his glasses slowly sliding down to the tip of his nose exposing a pair of blue eyes that match the intensity of his immaculate white hair.

"as much as I like the ambience of this bar, I’d rather be in my car right now alone with you" he looks into your eyes as you cascade your arms down, your fingers twirling around his at your jaw before softly grabbing his two fingers and pulling them down never breaking contact as you slide out of your stool.

"I think we should leave then" you whisper to him as he begins to get out of his seat, beginning to tower over you his height taking you by surprise.

You make your way out of the bar, hand in hand as you lead him towards the door. He pushes the door open over you to let you out, the scent of fresh air immediately hitting you with the warmth of the summer night, the rain still pattering on the concrete.

"stay here I’ll get my car"

"it's okay, I like the rain" you reply as you drag him further out from the shelter of the entrance to the bar.

"lead the way then pretty boy" you let out a giggle as you feel the rain hitting your skin, a nice cold shower as opposed to the sudden heatwave. His movements are sudden as you find yourself now up against his chest once again, one of his hands on the back of your head as his fingers lace with your own, your other hand limp by your side.

"say that again"

"pretty boy" you look up at him, his hair now slightly damp as the street lights luminate it. He drags his hand down your cheek as he tilts your head up to kiss you once again, the faint taste of strawberries still lingering on his lips. He brings your hand that's intertwined with his to his shoulder, dropping it there before sliding his hand back down against your waist. A moan leaving your mouth into his as he pulls you flush against him by your waist.

"seems like you have quite the problem there..." you trail off against his lips, not remembering if you've gotten his name or not.

"Satoru"

"what a pretty name for a pretty boy" you look up at him again, breaking the kiss. His pupils blown wide as he smiles, his teeth as pure as his hair.

"that's it" he says before dropping both of his hands to your waist signalling you to jump, you cross your legs around his waist as his hands find their grip at your thighs. Your hands finding comfort on his shoulders as he begins to carry you, your mouth leaving small kisses along his neck and jaw.

"as I was saying earlier, you seem to have quite the problem there Satoru" you whisper into his ear, not letting the feeling of his erection twitch slip past your attention.

"I wouldn't consider it such an issue with the way you’re draped around me right now".

#gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jujutsu kaisen #gojo smut #jujutsu kaisen smut #jjk smut #gojo saturo x reader #gojo imagine #jujutsu kaisen gojo #gojo fluff

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belphegor1982 · 3 years

Note

for the commentary thing

“Then there’s the wife, of course.”

This got the guy’s attention. His head snapped up and he stared at Len with a suddenly much more normal look on his face.

“You’re married?” It was hard to tell for sure whether he meant the emphasis on ‘you’ or ‘married’.

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

They lapsed into silence again, the only sounds around provided by a slight wind and a nearby dripping from a drainpipe from an earlier rain. The silence was not much less awkward for it. This was getting ridiculous.

Still Len hesitated for a few seconds more, the voice of reason at the back of his head yelling all sorts of colourful expletives about his current level of intelligence and his choice of priorities.

Then he made up his mind.

He got back on his feet and whipped his gun out.

The Flash tensed, but Len held up a hand defensively.

“Relax. I’m not gonna ice ya.”

“Oh yeah?” Incredulity was back full force.

“Yeah. Let’s say I’m… off the clock.”

“Look, that might work for Ralph and Sam, but people like me or you don’t punch clocks. I mean, how do I know you’re not gonna ice me?”

“Because I won’t.”

“’Course you’d say that,” the Flash retorted, mistrust and a no small hint of sarcasm creeping back into his voice.

Len rolled his eyes again. “Actually, I wouldn’t. The way I see it, if you’re gonna shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”

“…Did you just rip off a line from a movie?”

“Can’t beat the classics. Now don’t move. If that’s even possible for you to do that, I mean.”

There still was an odd undercurrent of mixed-up emotions – a lot of them unrelated to the current situation – in the Flash’s glare, but he relaxed ever so slightly and held still. As though he actually trusted one of his most regular antagonists and a notorious villain to keep his word and not take a golden opportunity to off him just like that. Len suppressed a sigh.

I know I’m going to regret this.

Then he changed the right settings on his cold gun, pointed it at his enemy’s ankle, and – still calling himself every kind of idiot under the sun – fired.

The Flash gingerly moved his foot, looking bemused.

“You reversed the – wow. That’s a new feature.”

“After that stunt with Heatwave at the bank, I figured I needed something in case I accidentally froze someone I actually work with.” To tell the truth, Len wasn’t half proud of this recent finding. It had taken a lot of tinkering. Plus, it could prove useful.

He put the gun back into his holster again as the Flash turned to him, apparently trying to look sly and cold. It didn’t work – thankfully. That meant he wasn’t so far gone yet.

“How do you know I’m not gonna haul your butt to the cops now for breaking into that store?”

Len was expecting this. He crossed his arms and stared at the guy straight in the eye. Or where his eyes should be, anyway.

“Because something’s wrong with you. I don’t know what, I don’t necessarily care, but I got a feeling it’s going to make life very difficult for all of us. And we don’t need that.” He paused, and gave a small smirk. “If I wanted some dark and scary urban legend to run after me, I’d have moved to Gotham by now.”

Ooh, THANK YOU 💜 I queued the “fic commentary” post I reblogged from you but I always relish the occasion to wax verbose on my faves - and this is one of my favourite stories in the Everybody Comes to Harry’s “series”. Let’s gooooo ^^

Right. So, Status Quo is about a lot of things. It’s about a hero who’s still very early in his career (and a 16-year-old kid besides) and a villain who’s a little more seasoned, it’s about finding (awkward) comfort from unexpected places (and awkwardly offering it), it’s about trying to strike a balance between professionalism, pragmatism, and being a decent human being. Mostly it’s about heroes and villains finding common ground because the villain doesn’t want to see the hero go over the edge, which is a trope I love a whole lot.

“Then there’s the wife, of course.”

Janet mention ^^ I created Janet Snart for Wife and I ended up loving her so much she had to make a cameo or two elsewhere. Like she does at the end of the story.

This got the guy’s attention. His head snapped up and he stared at Len with a suddenly much more normal look on his face.

For context, in this story (as we find out later), Flash is 16 year old Wally West, who (in my version of the DCAU) was the Flash right away, since Barry Allen was never struck by that bolt of lightning. What he also is is a kid with parents who, if they’re not physically abusive, are dismissive and just don’t know how to deal with a teen. His mom, anyway, since his dad left. Fortunately he has his Aunt Iris (and his Uncle Barry) who essentially functions as his family of choice. And Iris just has had a bad heart attack earlier that day. So fear and grief and everything else are making Wally grimmer, angrier, and more sloppy. Which Len picked up on and is trying to work out why, because an unfettered speedster is dangerous. (Also, it’s just disturbing that the guy who’s always smiling just... isn’t.)

“You’re married?” It was hard to tell for sure whether he meant the emphasis on ‘you’ or ‘married’.

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

For the record, Wally’s mental picture of how Captain Cold lives more or less matches the way Geoff Jones writes him: crappy apartment with beer cans all over the place. Except this Len Snart is canonically married (headcanon: to a wife who has a steady job as an accountant). So he actually has a house - tiny, bit run down (Janet has given up on a proper lawn years ago), but still, a step up from his comics version.

Still Len hesitated for a few seconds more, the voice of reason at the back of his head yelling all sorts of colourful expletives about his current level of intelligence and his choice of priorities.

Then he made up his mind.

I love describing awkward silences. Scratch that, I love describing characters reacting to awkward silences :D

He got back on his feet and whipped his gun out.

The Flash tensed, but Len held up a hand defensively.

“Relax. I’m not gonna ice ya.”

“Oh yeah?” Incredulity was back full force.

“Yeah. Let’s say I’m… off the clock.”

“Look, that might work for Ralph and Sam, but people like me or you don’t punch clocks. I mean, how do I know you’re not gonna ice me?”

I’m always so glad when I manage to work in pop culture references that make sense for the characters. It helps with my impostor syndrome of “French writer writing (mostly) American/British characters”. As it happens, I remember watching a Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoon before I wrote this (a few months, probably) and the mental picture of the wolf and sheepdog punching the clock in the morning (“Mornin’, Sam” / “Mornin’, Ralph”), doing their thing all day, and then punching out reflects a whole lot on my version of the Flash vs. the Rogues and why I love them. Because at the end of the day, they’re just blue collar workers trying to do their job. They aren’t trying to rule the world or kill a bunch of people; they rob banks (or try to) and the Flash stops them. But in other circumstances (like, say, a Parademon invasion) they would team up and not grumble too much about it.

“Because I won’t.”

“’Course you’d say that,” the Flash retorted, mistrust and a no small hint of sarcasm creeping back into his voice.

Len rolled his eyes again. “Actually, I wouldn’t. The way I see it, if you’re gonna shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”

“…Did you just rip off a line from a movie?”

You bet he did! That’s Tuco’s line from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly :D I love referencing spaghetti westerns for the Rogues. It suits them well, especially the cynicism. That’s why I have this in Mick’s narration in the story before that: “He should have known that this wasn’t some Old West movie where the stand-off can last for excruciating long minutes and time isn’t really a problem. Or rather, if it was indeed a western, it wasn’t the Sergio Leone kind, where the main characters were more or less bad guys.Nope. John Wayne had to waltz in and save the day.Of course, John Wayne was a tall, lean kid in flashy red pyjamas (...)” :3

“Can’t beat the classics. Now don’t move. If that’s even possible for you to do that, I mean.”

Wally fidgets. And he has super speed.

I know I’m going to regret this.

I don’t know why I find it so funny having Len think he’s some seasoned hardass without a heart (dude is what, 30, 35 tops?) when he’s clearly not. I mean, he is a bastard and a whole lot more cynical than, say, Wally, but he actually has a heart somewhere. (very well hidden.) And the quickest way to access it is to show him a kid having a hard time, for personal reasons. Of course, a lot of his reaction in this story is him being pragmatic, but it’s also, y’know. Not just that.

Also give me all the stories about a hero trusting his villain not to kill him when he has the chance, just because he gave his word 💜💜💜

Then he changed the right settings on his cold gun, pointed it at his enemy’s ankle, and – still calling himself every kind of idiot under the sun – fired.

The Flash gingerly moved his foot, looking bemused.

“You reversed the – wow. That’s a new feature.”

I’ve bullshitted a LOT in my time as an author, but this bit of technobabble might just take the biscuit :D How do you even begin to reverse an ice ray!?

I’m a big fan of the idea that the heroes vs. villains game, even when it begins relatively harmless, leads to an escalation, because what doesn’t? That’s a subject I liked on touching with Wife. Also that’s a callback to the first story and a nod to the fact that there may be all of two Rogues for now (the Temperature Twins) but Captain Cold’s day of being a lone wolf are over. He has one whole work colleague now! And more to come soon, though he doesn’t know it :o)

He put the gun back into his holster again as the Flash turned to him, apparently trying to look sly and cold. It didn’t work – thankfully. That meant he wasn’t so far gone yet.

Oh, Wally. He’s a teenager; he still has a long way to go to learn posturing.

“How do you know I’m not gonna haul your butt to the cops now for breaking into that store?”

Len was expecting this. He crossed his arms and stared at the guy straight in the eye. Or where his eyes should be, anyway.

The Flash in the DCAU has a mask with some kind of lenses that hide his eyes. I like the idea that if you get really close, you can see them. But Len is still too far.

Look, I love Batman. The DCAU version might just be my favourite. But if you’re going to be a crook, you’d better work Central City or Keystone rather than Gotham (hell, if you’re a civilian, Central City is better than Gotham any day). And while I love the idea of The Batman being a scary urban legend across the map for the American underworld, I love even more combining this with what we know Batman to be, especially in the DCAU.

Of course Len is exaggerating. The quip has its desired effect in the next paragraph, though: “Now that he was standing up, the dim light of the streetlamps a few feet away caught the Flash’s face better, revealing a look halfway between baffled and amused. It was the most normal he’d looked since he turned up, but it still didn’t come close to his usual annoyingly buoyant disposition.” Anything to get the kid to unclench and talk about what’s with the punching first without asking questions or heckling even once.

There you go 💜 Thanks for giving me the chance to ramble!

#fic commentary #rogues #ask reply

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helenflaneur · 2 years

Text

It’s all about the shade....

7th July - 21st August

We’re having a heatwave, an ongoing heatwave……

It’s hot, hot, hot. Hot, hot, hot.

France and most of Europe are sweltering in an unrelenting heatwave. 100 French regions are officially in drought and many have no drinking water.

After a mild winter with little rain the reservoirs are low and as a consequence the canals are struggling.

Belgium has just closed small canals and pleasure boats like us can only travel the big canals with the commerce who always go first into the locks (as they should).

The water situation in Europe is much worse than 2018.

During July and August our travels along the Marne river have focused on finding shady moorings. Shady tree moorings along a river bank so we can ‘swim’ and cool off.

Not really swim but a cooling dip into the reasonably clean green river.

Daily our minds are occupied working out where the sun was likely to set along the looping Marne.

Most of the official pontoons and quays were always on the sunny side of the river so finding tree moorings with enough depth, the right distance apart, no fishermen and not at the bottom of someone’s garden took time and trials.

Between shade searches we touristified ‘un peu.’

At Meaux we visited the ‘Musee de la Guerre’. Despite its name the museum focused on WW1 along the Marne, not the entire war and emphasised the American contribution in the area. They only arrived in 1917.

The collections were creatively presented although this one, half in and half out of the case, made me jump.

Baldrick and Captain Klink made a surprise visit.

France likes to celebrate Mark’s birthday on July 14 and for once we were here to enjoy the celebrations but it was so Hot!

With temperatures heading north of 37degrees we spent the holiday with our NBF’s (New Best Friends) Peggy and Gary off ‘Viking’. We were partly tied to trees in a forlorn hope of some shade before the sun went down. Mark swam over to the shore to get lines around tree trunks. He wasn’t complaining. Gary very kindly made gf pizzas as a birthday treat.

Here we are having snacks and drinks with Gary and Peggy, their grand daughter and daughter visiting from Toronto.

Chateau-Thierry boasts a fortress first mentioned in 923, as you do. On the hot Sunday we visited a Medieval Fayre was in progress. Apparently Medieval performers only create costumes for cold weather.

Except this one.

The outstanding modern activity at the fortress is not the eagle display but the tree walk. Mark and other adults greatly outnumbered the few children up in the nets. It was the best place to catch the cooling breezes and to gently bounce.

It did rain one day.

It drizzled most of the day.

It was marvellous.

We walked across the river to a champagne village named Oeuilly to visit the ‘Maison Champagnoise Musee’.

Apart from winning the prize for the most head-scratchingly-creative English translation pages (must have been done by the work exchange student back in 1998) this mannequin exhibited at the Musee is a podium contender for our Museum Mannequin 2022 award.

The competition is hotting up.

Like the weather.

The never ending heatwave was closing canals all over France.

We arrived in Chalons-en-Champagne and could go no further towards our goal of wintering in Strasbourg. In 2018 when we were last here ice was our problem, now it is lack of rain.

Chalons is a great town. It used to be called Chalons-sur-Marne and was mentioned as far back as 451 when the battle of Chalons turned back Attila. It is also notable as the crash site of of Snoopy when he fought the Red Baron! Incroyable!

In the main square is the most fanciful carousel ever.

The nearby Jard was hosting a free 3 day music festival for female musicians. On Friday night we joined the locals to watch the mostly fantastic musicians.

Our position on the pontoon meant we were part of the festival whether we visited it or not. It was too hot to do anything else but enjoy the music.

Chalons also boasts a ‘Musee des Beaux-arts et d’Archeologie’ which includes a collection of almost 3000 stuffed birds from all around the world. They exuded a spooky kind of charm.

Moi avec lyre birds. All of us a very long way from home.

It was very nice to see this self portrait by Aline Hurault de Sorbée from the Musee celebrated in the busy Jardin area.

We would like to travel from left to right (west to east) to Strasbourg but as the map shows our way is all red and ‘You shall not pass!’

Doights croisés some of the canals will return to green as August passes to a cooler September.

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longitud-de-onda · 4 years

Text

{un veneno} may: storm

pairing; javier peña x female reader summary; its been weeks since you slept in your own bed, the nights with javier blurring together to become moments with one another every second you weren’t working. rating; nc-17 warnings; oral sex, smut, angst, (and some fluff, we’ve got it all!), fear of thunder/mild anxiety attack word count; 3.6k january, february, march, april

un veneno masterlist

Your vision was still blurry with sleep as Javier’s tongue slid between your folds, eliciting a sharp gasp from your lips. One hand had your thigh pinned to the mattress while your free leg was hooked over Javier’s shoulder as he gripped your hip. How he was making you feel this way without his hands on you, you had no idea. You were just thankful that he was a well-experienced man.

His tongue brushed over your clit and your whole body convulsed, hips tilting up searching for more contact. And Javier provided. You could feel your core tightening with arousal, and your little noises increased in volume and frequency. Then his mouth was suctioned around your clit and he started sucking and you weren’t even orgasming yet but your vision almost cut to white with the overload of information firing up your nerves.

“Fuck, fuck, Javi!” you screamed, your legs spasming.

The pressure on your thigh increased, and you were amazed at how strong those arms were. As you felt yourself teetering on the edge, about to spill over, Javier pulled back, fully releasing yourself from his dominating tongue.

The sound of your heavy breaths filled the air, sharp exhales punctuating the silent Monday morning air.

“Javi,” you whispered, “Why? Please... keep going.”

“You’re going to be late for work, cariño.” His words sent puffs of air across your cunt and you moaned.

“You can’t just stop,” you whined. He was right but you didn’t care. Ever since he pushed you onto his bed a few weeks ago you couldn’t get enough of each other. You hadn’t ever spoken about what was going on, content to keep on fucking each others’ brains out every chance you could get.

“You lose your job, and then what?” Javier asked, and you knew by then he was teasing you.

“Just shut it and finish me off,” you giggled before you were cut off by Javier’s tongue returning to you. Within seconds he had you worked up again, your one leg straining against his grip, the other pushing him closer into you.

The heat radiated out from your core up your spine and down your limbs, filling your body with a tingling sensation, itching to be let out. You grasped at the sheets beneath you, trying to find hold to still yourself as Javier’s motions quickened. Before long you were tightening up, both hands flying to his soft curls, causing him to hum against you. It was that hum that sent you over, the orgasm coursing through you in waves.

It left you limp on the bed, Javier still mouthing at you until you let go of his head. His hold on your leg was loose, his thumb tracing little circles on the delicate skin of your thigh. He stared up at the rise and fall of your bare chest.

“You’re the most fucking beautiful...” he said.

You stared down at him between your legs, grinning up at you. You let out a light laugh. His hair was messed up from the night’s sleep and his mustache glistened with sweat and drops of your own arousal.

“Yeah?” you smiled. “You’re... incredible, Javi.”

“And you’re going to be late for work.” He sighed and then propped himself up on his elbows before pushing himself all the way up and sliding off the bed, one arm extended, an offer to pull you up.

“Can’t I reciprocate?” you whined. You wanted to pretend it wasn’t Monday.

“Save it for later today,” he reached down to grab your arm and tugged.

“Fine.” You let him help you onto your feet, swaying slightly with the lasting aftereffects of the orgasm. “But I’ve got an all-school meeting after classes. Going to be later than usual.”

“That’s fine,” he said, wrapping his hands around your waist and pulling you into a hug.

He pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before you pulled away to go to the bathroom. He tapped your bare ass as you slipped out of his grip and you flipped him off over your shoulder, laughing.

You walked out of your shared bedroom, giving yourself one last glance in the mirror. A couple of the other young teachers had invited you out to a disco, and you were never one to turn down a night of dancing.

The dress was your favorite for nights out, short skirt and low neckline. You weren’t afraid to say it: the dress made you look downright sexy. A night out in it was always a good idea, giving you the confidence to dance a little wilder, drink a little more, talk to a few more people.

You entered the living room where Javier was pouring over some papers from work, a cigarette hanging from his lips. The smoke wafted up above him, a personal cloud that emulated the frustrated mood he had been in the past week. You two still slept in the same bed, but further apart. The touches were few and far between. It was something you would have to deal with, an occupational hazard of his, but it still sucked.

Javier never talked about details. Work was always vague and coded. You knew it was because of confidentiality. He couldn’t risk anything getting out. Sometimes you took it personally like it meant he didn’t trust you. But then other nights he would lie next to you and tell you how stressed he was. How he hated seeing the bodies of the people he had shot, their lifeless eyes staring back at him. How he knew he didn’t have to look, but he thought he owed it to them. He didn’t think there were many people on the list of those who should have to die, and every bullet that left his gun was another name on a gravestone that shouldn’t have been carved. He trusted you. But only with his emotions.

It was this cloud hanging over Javier that led you to accept the invitation out. A week before, when you were amidst the warm haze of happiness swirling around Javier and you, there was no reason to go out, only thousands of reasons to come home sooner and spent countless hours in the presence of the man who had become your best friend. But lately, it was like he wasn’t there. At least not 100%. You didn’t need to go out, but it wouldn’t hurt. It would be nice to catch up with your coworkers. Relax.

You had your purse in your hand and were grabbing a light jacket off of the hook near the door when you heard the creaking of leather that signified Javier standing up. You turned around to see him, his eyes scanning your outfit before settling on your chest.

“Eyes up here, Casanova.” You smirked.

“You’re going out dressed like that?” He said, and you were shocked by the surprise in his voice. He had seen you go out plenty over the past couple months and knew you weren’t one to shy away from a skimpy outfit.

“Of course?” You said.

“Why?”

“I want to?” you shrugged. “I’m going out dancing. Haven’t been in a couple weeks.”

He had stepped out from behind the couch and was a few feet in front of you now. “So you’re going out to get drunk, dance, make some stupid decisions, and grind up against a bunch of guys?”

What the hell did that mean? What did he want? To start arguing?

“Yeah,” you said, trying and failing to keep your cool. You were mad. Javier had been so distant this past week and he had the nerve to question your actions. To try to control you? “Minus the grinding against a bunch of guys part, yes. Some of the younger teachers are meeting up. Girls night out. And yeah, we’re going to get drunk, dance, and probably make some stupid decisions. So what?”

“And you have to wear something like that?” Javier spat out.

You pressed your eyes shut. He didn’t mean it, you told yourself, repeating it in your head, hoping it would become believable.

“I like how I look in it, Javi. Is that a crime?” You threw up your hands. It took all your energy not to let the tears spill over. This was your dress. The perfect one. And here he was saying shit, insinuating that it made you look less than representable.

“No, it’s just—”

“You know what? No,” you forced out. “I don’t like how I feel in this anymore. I’ll go change. You don’t have to worry about me.”

You pushed past him and rushed back to the bedroom where you slammed the door close. Only then did you let the tears out. Javier was being an asshole because of work. He’s been like this all week. He didn’t mean to take it out on you.

The dress didn’t feel sexy anymore. It felt something awful. You didn’t want to put a name to it, but your brain supplied the word ‘slutty’ and you hated yourself for that. You pulled it off like it was made of scratchy wool.

Back in the closet, you found a pair of jeans that made your ass look great and a top that you used to wear on nights out back in Paris all the time.

You heard a door slam shut.

If Javier wasn’t in the living room, you could slip out unnoticed. You peaked out and saw the light pouring out from underneath the door to the bathroom. Good.

It was only when you were out on the street, walking towards where you were supposed to meet your friends did you notice the fat drops of rain that had begun to sporadically fall and you remembered that you left your jacket back at the apartment.

You shivered in the small bed that hadn’t been slept in in weeks. By the time you made it home, the rain had picked up leaving you soaked. Javier’s words from a couple days before echoed in your head, “April we might have gotten lucky, but it is the rainy season, and it’s going to come down hard.”

You weren’t sure if you could consider April’s heatwave lucky, but it wasn’t torrential downpours, so you weren’t sure which you would choose. You probably wouldn’t have been wearing the tank top and shorts that one day if it was raining. Probably wouldn’t have caught Javier’s eye. Probably wouldn’t have landed on Javier’s bed. So maybe you’d take a heatwave.

It was better than coming home, soaked to the bone and freezing cold, to a silent and dark apartment. You were decently sober, having not drank much on account of Javier’s words earlier that day, and the rain having washed away the rest of your tipsy sway. You had taken a hot shower, and while you wanted to crawl in next to Javier where it was warm and comfortable, you weren’t sure if you were welcome.

The guest room that you had slept in for a month or so before you ended up in Javier’s every night lay empty and you had figured it was still, technically, your room, despite all of your belongings having migrated out of it.

It wasn’t as comfortable as it was next to Javier. You missed even the distant way he lay on the other side of the bed the past week. At least he had been there.

Your hair was still wet from the shower and even though the water had been warm, you were cold again.

Then the thunder cracked open in a cacophony of sound. It began as a low rumble that sent off warning signs in your head and steadily grew until it was all one could hear. Not even a gunshot going off next to your head would be heard over the sound. Your body gave off the response it always did in a thunderstorm: every muscle flexing and releasing as your chest tightened.

Ever since you were a kid, thunderstorms had scared the shit out of you. Even as an adult, you were never able to shake the terror that filled your body when you heard that particular rumbling sound. Your parents thought it was loud noises that would set you off, but they were proven wrong every New Year’s Eve when you watched fireworks in awe. There was something about the electricity coursing through the sky that shook you to your core.

You pulled the blanket tighter around you and squeezed your eyes shut, tears spilling out between the cracks. Of all the nights for you and Javier to fight...

The bed was the cherry on top. You hadn’t slept there in weeks. Even though you and Javier hadn’t even labeled what you were doing, the one thing you could be sure of was that whatever you were, it involved sleeping in the same bed every night, even if you didn’t have sex. And you were now trying to calm yourself in a foreign room, on a bed that didn’t offer comfort, but a reminder of its absence.

The curtains didn’t keep you from catching the way the sky lit up in an instant. You braced yourself, and seconds later the low rumbling began again. You curled into a ball and let out a loud sob as the thunder turned from bass to treble with its whip-like crack.

That was it. You couldn’t stay in the bed. Javier might not have even wanted to talk with you, but it didn’t matter because you were still pushing yourself up and running to Javier’s room. You pushed open the door. Completely dark.

“Javi?” you asked into the room.

“What?” He responded after a few seconds. His voice was groggy and sharp with a tone of annoyance. You felt bad for waking him up.

“I’m scared,” you couldn’t make any effort to mask how your voice held the shadow of tears.

That sound was enough for Javi to be jumping up and rushing up towards you, his arms reaching around your body, pulling you in, tight and secure.

“Hey.” His voice had changed. This was now gentle and caring. “It’s okay. It’s all okay. Breath with me? Okay? In... and out.”

You took the breaths along with him, the feeling of his chest rising against you helped calm you down. A hand reached up to the back of your head, pressing softly and you rested your head on his shoulder. The two of you stood there in the doorway, silent. Any other time, you would have had a million questions about your argument, but they all slipped away as he soothed your fears.

Until the thunder cracked again, and something outside, probably a powerline, exploded. You flinched and your breathing became uneven once more.

Javier squeezed you before releasing his grip and tugging your arm over towards the bed, where he lay down, pulling you with him. He pulled the covers up over you and wrapped his arms around your torso.

“You’re safe,” he said.

How was he so good at this? People always said shit like ‘it’s just a storm’ or ‘it’s nothing to be scared of’ which never helped because you knew it was irrational, yet you still suffered the fear. Javier, on the other hand, was almost a professional at calming you down.

Lying in his arms, his words manifested. The room lit up with a flash of lightning, giving you a glimpse at Javier’s face, sorrowful and soft. You buried your head in his chest, the warmth radiating off from him acting as a shield from the storm. The thunder rumbled again and you inhaled and exhaled as Javier pulled you in a little tighter. You were safe. Javier was safe.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he whispered.

Your brow furrowed. What was he talking abou—oh. Your argument. All the anger had slipped out of you as he held you tight. You had spent the evening dancing but as the hours passed, you regretted getting worked up over it. Wished you were back in the apartment with Javier.

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. You looked beautiful. You always do. I was frustrated with work and took it out on you. It’s not fair.”

You were glad there weren’t any lights on because he would have seen you start crying again. But this time it was with a smile on your lips.

“I forgive you,” you whispered before his thumb rubbing circles on your back lulled you to sleep.

Javier had come back to the apartment late and said he needed to go out and do something. To which you had said something about not being his mother. He actually laughed, for the first time in a few days, and said that he wanted you to come with him.

You hadn’t expected that to lead you to where you were, standing up on the mountainside, right where he had brought you back when you were still getting to know each other, staring out over Bogotá.

Or rather, staring out over the sea of clouds that had been hanging low in the valley for weeks.

Where you stood was sunny. Something you hadn’t experienced in a while. Not with the ever-present rain.

The whole drive up you kept telling Javier that you wouldn’t be able to see anything. And he kept saying that he thought you did have a chance of seeing something.

“When you said we would see something,” you said, “I didn’t expect that something to be more clouds.”

“It’s better than being under them, right?” Javier said from back where the car was parked, rummaging around in the trunk.

You stood closer to the edge, and Javier walked towards you. Turning to face him, you saw a blanket in one of his hands, a large bag in the other.

“Care for a picnic?” He held up the items.

“A picnic?” You raised your eyebrows.

“Yeah,” he grinned. “I know it’s in between lunch and dinner but you’re usually hungry after work and I thought we could use a little break?”

You laughed and shook your head as he set down the bag and tossed the blanket to the ground, struggling to get it to lie flat.

The two of you sprawled out on the surface, and Javier opened up the bag, setting out a couple plates and cups along with some hastily packed containers of fruits, arepas, rice, and a variety of meats and beans and a bunch of whatever leftovers the two of you had in the fridge. And underneath it all was a bottle of wine.

“Javi,” you said, “You didn’t have to do all of this. It’s so...” romantic. That’s what was making your stomach do flips and turns.

“So... what?”

“Nothing. It’s just a lot of work,” you shook your head and smiled through the lie.

Your relationship, if you could call it that, was a lot of things, but it wasn’t romantic. It was two friends with takeout and a six-pack watching Bruce Lee movies before fucking each other on the sofa. Picnics on a mountainside with nice wine was not territory you were ready for.

Yet here you were.

He poured you each a glass and then you began eating and talking. You must have spent a half-hour lazily snacking and chatting before starting to put the empty dishes back in the back. Then you were back to laying on the blanket, side by side, taking in the sun.

It was admittedly very nice.

Javier propped himself up on one arm, staring down at you.

“The way the sun hits you right now?” he said, smiling. “It’s beautiful.”

He reached down to caress your jaw before dipping his head down and taking your lips in his. He lowered himself over top of you. You kept kissing him, and you weren’t sure where you ended and Javier began. It was a serendipitous blend of lips and tongue and teeth, arms over torsos, legs intertwined. At one point you rolled over to be above him, and it was then that you could feel the extent of his arousal, pushing into your upper thigh.

You felt the same but had no urge to rush things along.

When the time did come, Javier having returned to his previous position above you, his attention now on your collarbone, lips wet and sweet against the sensitive skin, and your head was tilted back, swollen lips parted, his hands slipped under your shirt, pushing the fabric up and then over your head.

The rest of your clothes came off as smoothly and quietly as the first, as did Javier’s, and he was then right there. All of him. Hot skin pressed against your own.

“Is this okay?” he asked. His head was back above yours, lips ghosting over your own, and his mustache tickled your upper lip.

“Yes.”

When he entered you he caught your lips again and held you in his arms. You could feel every inch of Javier, both inside you and outside, skin against skin. Your fingers dug into and explored his hips, his back, his waist, his neck. Every thrust drew out a moan or a ragged breath that was matched by Javier.

And there was something different about things, an afternoon alone on top of a mountain, breathing in fresh air, the wine in your veins slowing everything down a little bit. You knew that this changed things. It was a step away from friends who fucked. A step closer to friends who... you weren’t sure. Or maybe friends wasn’t the right word anymore.

This is a casual relationship, you told yourself as he thrust in deeper.

You were taking the place of the many others who would be warming both your beds if you didn’t have one another, you told yourself as his hips stalled and he groaned the way he always did when he came.

It’s entirely casual, you told yourself as you came around him, his mouth on yours muffling the moans of pleasure.

Then why did it feel like you were making love?

next; june: ecstasy

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