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gov-info · 3 years

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President Joe Biden Delivers Inaugural Address

Chief Justice Roberts, Vice President Harris. Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, McConnell, Vice President Pence, my distinguished guests and my fellow Americans, this is America's day.

This is democracy's day. A day of history and hope of renewal and resolve through a crucible for the ages. America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy. The people, the will of the people, has been heard and the will of the people has been heeded.

We've learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.

From now, on this hallowed ground, where just a few days ago, violence sought to shake the Capitol's very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible to carry out the peaceful transfer of power, as we have for more than two centuries.

As we look ahead in our uniquely American way: restless, bold, optimistic, and set our sights on the nation we can be and we must be.

I thank my predecessors of both parties for their presence here today. I thank them from the bottom of my heart. And I know, I know the resilience of our Constitution and the strength, the strength of our nation. As does President Carter, who I spoke with last night, who cannot be with us today, but whom we salute for his lifetime of service.

I've just taken the sacred oath. Each of those patriots have taken. The oath, first sworn by George Washington. But the American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us, on we the people who seek a more perfect union.

This is a great nation. We are good people. And over the centuries, through storm and strife, in peace and in war, we've come so far. But we still have far to go. We'll press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and significant possibilities, much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build, and much to gain.

Few people in our nation's history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we're in now. Once-in-a-century virus that silently stalks the country. It's taken as many lives in one year as America lost in all of World War II. Millions of jobs have been lost. Hundreds of thousands of businesses closed. A cry for racial justice, some four hundred years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

The cry for survival comes from planet itself, a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear. And now a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America requires so much more than words. It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity, unity.

In another January, on New Year's Day in 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When he put pen to paper, the president said, and I quote, “if my name ever goes down into history, it'll be for this act. And my whole soul is in it.”

My whole soul was in it today. On this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation. And I ask every American to join me in this cause.

Uniting to fight the foes we face: anger, resentment, hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness and hopelessness. With unity, we can do great things, important things. We can right wrongs. We can put people to work in good jobs. We can teach our children in safe schools. We can overcome the deadly virus. We can reward, reward work and rebuild the middle class and make health care secure for all. We can deliver racial justice and we can make America once again the leading force for good in the world.

I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real, but I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we're all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial and victory is never assured.

Through civil war, the Great Depression, world war, 9/11, through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed. In each of these moments, enough of us, enough of us have come together to carry all of us forward. And we can do that now. History, faith and reason show the way, the way of unity. We can see each other not as adversaries, but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos.

This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge. And unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail. We have never, ever, ever, ever failed in America when we've acted together.

And so today at this time in this place, let's start afresh, all of us. Let's begin to listen to one another again. Hear one another see one another, show respect to one another. Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire, destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn't have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.

My fellow Americans. We have to be different than this. America has to be better than this. And I believe America is so much better than this. Just look around. Here we stand in the shadow of the Capitol dome, as was mentioned earlier, completed amid the Civil War, when the union itself was literally hanging in the balance. Yet we endured, we prevailed.

Here we stand looking out in the great mall where Dr. King spoke of his dream. Here we stand, where 108 years ago, at another inaugural, thousands of protesters tried to block brave women marching for the right to vote. And today we marked the swearing in of the first woman in American history elected to national office: Vice President Kamala Harris. Don't tell me things can't change.

Here we stand across the Potomac from Arlington Cemetery, where heroes who gave the last full measure of devotion rest in eternal peace. And here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to drive us from this sacred ground.

It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Not ever.

To all those who supported our campaign, I'm humbled by the faith you've placed in us. To all those who did not support us, let me say this. Hear me out as we move forward. Take a measure of me and my heart. If you still disagree so be it. That's democracy. That's America. The right to dissent, peaceably, the guardrails of our republic is perhaps this nation's greatest strength.

Yet hear me clearly: disagreement must not lead to disunion. And I pledge this to you, I will be a president for all Americans. All Americans. And I promise you I will fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did.

Many centuries ago. Saint Augustine, a saint in my church, wrote to the people was a multitude defined by the common objects of their love. Defined by the common objects of their love. What are the common objects we as Americans love, that define us as Americans? I think we know. Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor and yes, the truth.

Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies, lies told for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders, leaders who have pledged to honor our Constitution and protect our nation, to defend the truth and defeat the lies.

Look, I understand that many of my fellow Americans view the future with fear and trepidation. I understand they worry about their jobs. I understand, like my dad, they lay in bed at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering, can I keep my health care? Can I pay my mortgage? Thinking about their families, about what comes next. I promise you, I get it.

But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don't look like look like you or worship the way you do, or don't get their news from the same sources you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility, and if we're willing to stand in the other person's shoes, as my mom would say, just for a moment, stand in their shoes. Because here's the thing about life. There's no accounting for what fate will deal you. Some days, when you need a hand. There are other days when we're called to lend a hand. That's how it has to be. That's what we do for one another. And if we are this way, our country will be stronger, more prosperous, more ready for the future. And we can still disagree.

My fellow Americans, in the work ahead of us, we're going to need each other. We need all our strength to to persevere through this dark winter. We're entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as One Nation. One Nation.

And I promise you this, as the Bible says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” We will get through this together. Together.

Look, folks, all my colleagues I served with in the House of the Senate up there, we all understand the world is watching, watching all of us today. So here's my message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it. We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's challenges. And we’ll lead, not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.

We'll be a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security. Look, you all know, we've been through so much in this nation. And my first act as president, I’d like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those who we lost this past year to the pandemic. Those four hundred thousand fellow Americans, moms, dads, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors and coworkers. We will honor them by becoming the people and the nation we know we can and should be. So I ask you, let's say a silent prayer for those who've lost their lives, those left behind and for our country.

Amen.

Folks, this is a time of testing. We face an attack on our democracy and on truth, a raging virus, growing inequity, the sting of systemic racism, a climate in crisis, America's role in the world. Any one of these will be enough to challenge us in profound ways. But the fact is, we face them all at once, presenting this nation with one of the gravest responsibilities we've had. Now we're going to be tested. Are we going to step up? All of us? It’s time for boldness, for there is so much to do. And this is certain, I promise you, we will be judged, you and I, by how we resolve these cascading crises of our era.

Will we rise to the occasion, is the question. Will we master this rare and difficult hour? Will we meet our obligations and pass along a new and better world to our children? I believe we must. I'm sure you do as well. I believe we will. And when we do, we'll write the next great chapter in the history of the United States of America. The American story. A story that might sound something like a song that means a lot to me. It's called American Anthem. There's one verse that stands out, at least for me, and it goes like this:

The work and prayers of a century have brought us to this day.

What shall be our legacy? What will our children say?

Let me know in my heart when my days are through.

America, America, I gave my best to you.

Let's add. Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our great nation. If we do this, then when our days are through, our children and our children's children will say of us: They gave their best, they did their duty, they healed a broken land.

My fellow Americans, I close the day where I began, with a sacred oath before God and all of you. I give you my word, I will always level with you. I will defend the Constitution. I'll defend our democracy. I'll defend America and I will give all, all of you. Keep everything I do in your service, thinking not of power, but of possibilities, not of personal interest, but the public good. And together we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness. May this be the story that guides us. The story that inspires us and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history. We met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice did not die on our watch, but thrived. That America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forbearers, one another and generations to follow.

So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasks of our time. Sustained by faith, driven by conviction, devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.

#Inauguration #BidenInauguration #PresidentBiden #Potus

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unicyclehippo · 4 years

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Do you accept beau/bright queen prompts? Otherwise for the number thing #3 “It’s three in the morning.” :)

ooh i haven’t done consecuted au in ages! fair warning, i don’t have a concept in mind to fulfill this prompt so imma just,, write & hope that it comes to me

They bring Beau back to the Xhorhaus and care for her as best they can, a restoration when they think it might help but mostly salted stew and a cold cloth draped over her neck. They replace it when it quickly becomes drenched in the sweat that pours off her and Beau is left feeling half-melted, like a wax statue, as the sweat and water droplets sit in a tepid film over her entire body. She feels herself sloughing away piece by piece in small and then larger sections; it’s not real—Beau is as hale and whole as ever—but there is something working at her mind that regects who she is, burns and melts away at this form with her weak eyes that cannot catch the moons light, the long arms and unfamiliar hands. The multitudes of selves within Beau clamour to claim sections of her, of themselves in her form, and at one point, when Beau looks down at her hands and finds she does not know them, she moves to the stairs that glide up to the second floor and she lays on the cool grey stone.

The ceiling of the entrance—hall? not quite—of their gifted house is high here. It rises to the second floor along with the staircase and above the doorway is a large circular window of fogged glass that fills most of that space. Beau stares up at it and shivers with fever and clench-jawed dismay; nothing that is happening to her feels good or normal or makes any kind of sense.

She remembers a party. Here in this room. This house they’ve had all of a month. This house that stands barren and watched, with her and her empire compatriots. This house that has never seen a guest while they have been in it—she remembers it filled with people and the chime of laughter and quiet conversation. Beau doesn’t remember herself, but she remembers this.

A party, back when the threat of war did not loom overhead. There were many of those times but the memories seem to be less immediate than those of Beau’s many deaths—a knife, plunged into—

She snaps her eyes back to the window.

Circular fogged glass.

‘Do you think it’s supposed to look like the moon?’ Lee asks her. She looks bored; she always looks bored at events like this.

Surathai flicks her eyes to the window. ‘Hmm.’

Lee scowls. Drinks deeply of the goblet in her hand.

‘Have I offended?’ Surathai asks, tone smooth and empty of apology or any of her own upset. And she is upset. Why? The thought shakes through her like the ringing of a bell and Surathai shivers with it. For a moment, she could swear that sweat dripped in a column down her neck, her spine. But the night is cool and she had not been permitted to wear her armour; her fine long tunic is untouched by sweat.

‘Have I offended,’ Lee repeats, the tone mocking.

Surathai arches a brow. It will make Lee furious. Why? That whisper comes again, and not far behind, like heavy blunt fingers poking and prodding, Who is she? What is this party?

Surathai glances about the space. She misses the way Lee scowls toward her as she scans the space: the Den umavi are clustered together like gossiping hens deeper into the house, their consorts either at their shoulders or, if they’re particularly lax, a step back from that most holy of spaces.

Lee tries shift deeper into the house without her, flanking through the east wing, a spacious library that corners onto the small dining hall.

Surathai wasn’t reborn yesterday. She follows easily. Each time Lee tries to ditch her, Surathai adjusts.

‘The more I must pay attention to you,’ she says, stepping into the space by Lee’s shoulder after the young woman had managed to put an entire door between them, ‘the less attention I have for would-be assassins.’

Lee scoffs.

‘Leylas,’

‘Shouldn’t you be calling me Your Majesty,’ Lee cuts her off, and the words sound bitter as she spits them toward her. ‘If you’re so intent on playing as my guard dog, at least do it properly.’

Surathai blinks. ‘Is that why you’re upset?’

Lee looks up from the spread—delicious, fresh, a real effort from the new Den—and for the first time this evening her lips soften from the flat obsidian slash they have been.

‘It’s a party, Sura. You’re my betrothed. You’re supposed to be on my arm, not at my shoulder.’

‘Oh.’

‘Oh,’ Lee repeats, but this time her mocking is far more gentle. Teasing, really. ‘You didn’t know?’

‘Was I supposed to?’

‘You’re not exactly dressed to fight assassins,’

‘I would make do.’

‘It’s a very expensive fabric.’

Surathai plucks at her tunic with a slow of mild distaste. ‘You do not need to buy me expensive items. Especially not clothing.’

‘I’m the Queen, nothing is expensive for me,’ Lee says with a wave of her hand. She laughs then, not quietly, and waves her hand far more imperiously when varied heads turn to look at the Queen and her Consort half-hidden in the next room. Lee waits until everyone averts their eyes. Then, ‘I’m joking, Sura. Don’t look so foul with me.’

‘Our people have need of that coin,’

‘I know, my love.’ The endearment slips out, the way so many secrets and memories do between them.

They’ve said those words many lifetimes over; they still bring a bruising flush to Surathai’s cheeks.

‘Hmph,’ she says.

Lee ducks her head.

No longer upset, Lee loses the sharp bearing with which she had cut through this party so easily before. She is caught in many a discussion with many a boring individual and as the night wears on, so too does the party on Lee’s patience.

Surathai steps in before Lee’s new tongue can get her in trouble with an old friend. She wraps her fingers around Lee’s wrist and pretends to not be surprised when Lee rests a good portion of her weight comfortably into her.

‘It’s a party tonight, Taskhand,’ Surathai chides. She is allowed to chide. Her only concern is the Queen and does not have to pretend otherwise, unlike her betrothed. ‘Forgive us but we haven’t had an opportunity to dance...’

‘Of course.’ The Taskhand bows, excuses himself.

Lee shifts, sets her chin on Surathai’s shoulder. ‘Bodyguard or betrothed, whichever, don’t let anyone talk to me for—the rest of the night.’ A great yawn cracks her jaw.

‘Shall I glare at them?’ Surathai asks, voice soft, cajoling.

‘Oh yes. You glare so nicely.’

‘Mm. I do try.’

Lee chuckles. Shifts closer still, winding her arms around Surathai’s middle in a loose hug. Sura returns the gesture slowly and begins to sway to the gentle music that drifts through all of this house.

‘What time is it?’

‘Late. Early, really.’ Sura glances to one of her disguised guards, flashes a question. When they respond, she tells Lee, ‘Three in the morning.’

Lee groans. ‘My feet are killing me.’

Surathai hums. Is doubly relieved that she had passed over the death trap shoes that had been delivered with the outfit. Her own boots could carry her halfway to Asarius Settlement before she started to blister.

‘Shall I carry you home?’

Lee’s arms cinch tighter. She turns, nose brushing against the sensation skin of Surathai’s neck. ‘Would you?’ she asks. Breathes. The question tickles against her skin on that quiet exhale; Surathai shivers.

‘Of course.’

‘Because I am your Queen?’ Lee asks. She tucks her face more fully into Surathai’s neck so that her expression cannot be seen no matter how Sura tries; her tone is entirely empty save for the note of the question.

Sura hesitates. She isn’t sure precisely what Lee wants from her; her fallback then, the oath she had sworn two-fold upon her sword, and the promise of her rebirth itself. Dedication to her Queen, and all else that follows—honesty, forthrightness, protection. Love had not entered that vow on any iteration; that was sworn later, that third oath, upon her knees once more.

‘Because you are my queen, and my wife-to-be, and my wife-who-was, and the woman I choose life after life.’ Lee hums. Surathai frowns. Had that not been the right answer? She searches her mind for what is missing and can think only that she would like for Lee to laugh. ‘I like carrying you,’ she blurts, feeling abruptly and stingingly her young age at the clumsy words.

She gets her wish though. Lee laughs suddenly, pulls back—not out of her hold, but enough that she can see Sura’s face.

‘Is that so?’

‘Well—I’m—‘

‘Strong.’ Lee drags a nail down one of Sura’s arms, over the dip and trip of her muscles. ‘I‘ve noticed.’

‘I wasn’t. Last time.’

‘Hmm.’

‘You like?’ Sura asks, clumsy pre-century flirting clogging her thoughts and tongue. She flexes. She hopes this isn’t the life Leylas decides actually this version of my wife is far too awkward.

Beau comes awake at the sensation of a cold hand on her head. Blinks up into blue.

‘Jes?’

Her friend smiles, relief clear across her face. ‘Beau! You’re awake! Oh my gosh, Beau, I’ve been so worried, you were on the stairs and you were, like, just staring at the roof and Fjord said maybe you had been paralysed or, or, your mind was gone because you couldn’t hear us and that wasn’t a fun time at all but then you started talking and Caleb said it was Undercommon?’ Jester says all in a rush.

Beau hears most of it. She understands most of what she hears.

‘It’s getting worse, Beau,’ Jester tells her.

‘I know.’

‘I think it’s time.’

‘I dont—I don’t want—‘

‘I know,’ she agrees, and winds cold fingers into Beau’s.

The shock of it is nice, like cold water on a hot day. Refreshing. Beau clutches at Jester’s hand, tries not to feel like the other girl has seen too much of her, seen her sick and shivering and way too fucking weak, tries not to feel like so much grime at the bottom of the bucket.

‘I know it’s scary, Beau, and you probably don’t want people in your mind,’

Beau agrees with a grunt.

‘But we don’t know how to help you and—‘ Jester catches her bottom lip between sharp teeth, worries at it. Her brows push together and up, the picture of concern. ‘You’re in pain, Beau. We don’t want—I don’t want you in pain anymore. It’s awful, it’s just awful.’

She blinks up at her best friend. ‘Feels—like my head is all - crammed full.’

‘Memories?’

‘Mm. Yeah.’

‘Does it hurt?’

The heat begins to ebb and fade, lulling her and sapping with it her energy. Beau feels heavy, her tongue dry and thick in her mouth. ‘Only when I die,’ she says unthinkingly.

Jester gasps. Squeezes her hands tighter. ‘Beau...’

‘Ask ‘em if it’ll help? I wanna—finish this. Stupid. To put it off. Stupid.’

‘No, no.’ Jester brushes her fingers over Beau’s clammy forehead. ‘Not stupid. You’re just—stubborn.’

Through her slow-blinking eyes, Beau sees Jester smile and it’s one of the loveliest things she’s seen in all her lives. She thinks she says as much. Maybe she doesn’t. She sleeps.

#tagging my stories #prompt fill #cr tag #consecuted au #losely

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imaginingsoftly · 4 years

Text

Home Videos - Tyson Jost

Type: childhood friends to lovers, Y/N insert shorts

Requested: Yes

Warnings: swearing

(Y/N = Your name)

A/N: From prompt list, #59 (“How is it that you’re so stupid and so hot at the same time?”)

You hated summertime. For 9 months out of the year you could go about your life in Edmonton completely unbothered, minus the couple of trips Tyson made to play the Oilers, but those three months always came too soon. When Tyson had been drafted and everyone else had moved away for college or to start their careers you had all agreed to meet up at least once a year for a week of catching up, a promise that no one had broken in the three years since. For the third time that week, you were holding your finger over the green button to call Tyson and tell him you were busy and wouldn’t make it to the cabin. It wasn’t necessarily a lie; you were an ER nurse, and getting a week off wasn’t easy if you were to have tried to get it on short notice, but Tyson knew you. He knew that you wouldn’t have forgotten that week, and that something else was happening.

You’d already told Syd you wouldn’t be there. She had yelled at you over the course of the last week for being an idiot, that you just needed to tell Tyson you were in love with him, but you knew better. He was bringing a girl home with him this year. He’d called you after their first date over the moon, raving about how much you’d love her and how he couldn’t wait to bring her around. Syd had talked to you for hours that night as you’d cried. It was irrational, and you knew that, but that knowledge didn’t make hearing about Tyson kissing another girl any easier. You also felt guilty. This was your best friend, your oldest friend, and he really wanted you to meet this girl. You wanted to be happy for him, to welcome her into the friend group with a smile and the multitude of embarrassing stories you had about Tyson from your years living next door to each other, but you didn’t think you could do it. Honestly, just thinking about it had you almost in tears.

You clicked out of Tyson’s contact.

Not tonight.

Two days later, you were staring down at your phone screen as Tyson’s contact photo again lit up your face in the darkness of your living room. You were sitting alone in a small pity party, watching an old home video, a hockey game between all of the neighborhood kids from when you and Tyson were eight or nine. You mom had been in a home video phase then, and you had some great footage of yours and Tyson’s shenanigans over the years. Somewhere there was a video of the time Tyson decided to shovel the snow off of his roof by himself, and had gotten himself stuck in the snow headfirst when he fell off of the roof. You had run over there laughing, and the video captured the hilarity of the two of you as he had yelled for help and you had grabbed his ankles and pulled ineffectively. Your dad had eventually gone out there to help, clearing out the snow enough for Tyson to get himself upright again. It was one your parents never failed to pull out every winter, to which Tyson would declare it his proudest moment.

Your phone lit up again with a voicemail, and you turned it facedown and snuggled deeper into your blanket. The pickup game was still happening, and you and Tyson were dominating the game. It had always been like that; Tyson had been the only one of you to go pro, but he had done his best to convince you to play as well. You were good, and you knew that when you could keep up with and even beat a lot of the boys as you guys got older. Tyson was your favorite centerman. He knew where you were going to be, and you knew the same about him. It was probably because your dad had taught the two of you how to play, but you liked to think it was some kind of special connection forged over all that time spent together dreaming and skating around whatever ice surface you could find.

A knock at your door almost made you fall off your couch. It was almost one am, and there was no one in Edmonton who would be knocking on your door at that time of night. You crept off the couch cautiously, and another knock, louder this time, made you jump again. “Y/N come on! I know you’re in there.” Tyson’s voice sounded through the door, and you stopped short before hurrying to open the door. “Tys? What’re you doing here?” His curls flopped in his eyes as he stared down at you tiredly. “Well Syd told me you couldn’t get the time off to come visit, but I know that’s bullshit, so spill.” He shoved past you as he spoke, closing the door and pulling you into him in one motion. You sighed into the soft cotton of his shirt, and his arms wrapped around you a little tighter. This was what made lying so hard. Besides how familiar his hugs were, Tyson had a knack for getting under your guard without you even realizing it. If he asked you right now why you weren’t in St. Albert you knew you’d probably tell him without much thought. “I missed you,” he whispered, “and there was no way in hell I wasn’t gonna see you, even if I have to smother the truth out of you.” You pulled back to look at him incredulously. “Smother it out of me?” He smirked at you, nodding. “I know you’re lying, and I want to know why. Who is he?”

Tyson was heading for your kitchen as he spoke, and you knew he was looking for the Oreos you always had on hand. “Top left cabinet. What do you mean who is he? You’re the one with the relationship, not me.” You tried not to sound too upset, but Tyson saw right through you. Oreo fell out of Tyson’s mouth as he spoke, and he waved the Oreo in his left hand dismissively. “Yeah we didn’t last. She wanted me to change my phone background after like the third date. Got pissed when I wouldn’t do it.” He held up his phone, and you smiled. It was a picture of the two of you from last summer, when you’d made a trip out to Maine to enjoy the New England coast and Tyson had convinced you to go to every lobster shack in Portland, of which there were many. The two of you were standing on one of the rocky beaches in Portland, in front of an old lighthouse that Tyson had loved. “You know, Tys, she probably didn’t like the fact that she was dating someone who had another girl on his lockscreen.” Tyson shrugged, putting his phone back in his pocket and shoving another Oreo in his mouth. “My lockscreen is for pictures that are important to me. That picture is one of my favorite recent memories of us. Katie and I didn’t have any photos together that were worth a lockscreen.” You cringed a little bit. Hopefully he didn’t word it to her that way, because otherwise he was deserving of a smack, not just a breakup.

It was hard to come up with a response to that, so you stared into your living room instead. Tyson looked out there too, and visibly brightened when he saw what was on the TV. “You’re watching that? I have to see this.” He ran into the living room and fell back onto the couch, gesturing at you. “C’mon shorty, reminisce with me!” Tyson pulled you into him when you sat on the couch, and you rested your head on his shoulder. It was nice to sit and watch these videos alone, but watching them with Tyson was even better. This was your shared history, and getting to chirp him for all of the stupid shit he did was so nice it was almost like high school again. The video ended and you started to get up to play another one when Tyson tightened his arm around your waist. “Why did you decide not to come out, Y/N?”

“Tys,”

“No, Y/N,” he interrupted, “don’t call me that and then give me some bullshit excuse. We never get to see each other all at once anymore, except this one week out of an entire year, and you bailed for no good reason. I know you could’ve gotten the time off, so stop lying to me and tell me the damn truth!”

Tyson’s eyes were lit up in anger, something you weren’t used to being on the receiving end of. He never looked at you like this, except maybe that time you’d walked home by yourself after his game one night and one of his teammates saw you and called him. He’d shown up at your parents house that night so mad he was shaking, and he was getting close to that point right now. You stood, and this time he let you. His eyes tracked your movements as you walked to the window, staring out at the city rather than looking at him. “I thought you were bringing Katie. I know you wanted me to meet her, Tys, but I couldn’t do it.”

You paused, trying to decide how you were going to do this. It was probably going to put a ton of strain on a lifelong friendship, but he deserved the truth. Tyson stood, coming to stand behind you. He grabbed your shoulder gently to turn you around, and his eyes had become impossibly soft. “How is it that you’re so stupid and so hot at the same time?” You smacked his shoulder, an instant reaction after a lifetime of chirps. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He cupped your cheeks.

“I’m in love with you, dumbass. Why do you think girls never last? Do you know how many of them tell me to choose between you and them? Like I’m gonna give up my person for a girl I’ve known for like two months.” He cocked his head, shaking his head at you. “I need my emotional support Y/N in my life. I’ve been trying to man up enough to tell you, and EJ has started threatening bodily harm. He’s tired of me pining and circling our Edmonton trip on my calendar.” That definitely sounded like EJ.

The two of you stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds before bursting into laughter. It had been years since you two had really laughed like this, definitely since before Tyson had been drafted. You hit his shoulder again. “I can’t believe you didn’t just tell me.”

“Me?! What about you?” Fair enough. “Well how about I tell you now? I love you and I’m gonna be really pissed if the next girl you take out isn’t me.” Tyson rubbed his thumb across your cheek before leaning down to kiss you gently. It felt right, like the piece of you that left with him three years ago was back in place. “I love you too,” he whispered against your lips. You pulled him in close for a hug, and breathed in his cologne. “I guess I owe everybody an apology, eh?” Tyson nodded against your head. “We’ll head out there tomorrow. They’ll be happy when they know why.”

Tomorrow sounded good. Tyson walked over to your pile of home videos, shuffling through them until he saw one that made him laugh. The two of you settled into the couch again, and you laughed as well when you saw what he had put on. There was a summer where you and Tyson and the others had decided you were going to be a band, and had gotten hold of Syd’s older brother’s instruments. The sound was awful, Syd the only one who could play any instruments, and Tyson’s singing voice had been enough for Syd’s cranky old neighbor to call the cops because she thought somebody was getting murdered. The concert you’d recorded was perfectly horrible, the kind of thing you considered sending to EJ so that he could give it to the Avs video people for their jumbotron.

This was the kind of scene you had been hoping was in your future, and you were glad it was finally happening for real.

#NHL Imagine #nhl imagines #Tyson Jost imagine

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romansleftshoulderpad · 5 years

Text

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

Another continuation of the WCBI AU! Just wanted to write a small one-shot of them being teenagers for once. :D

(Reading the Origins arc is not required to understand this fic outside of one or two sentences)

Words: 3,048

Warnings: NSFW mentions, copious amounts of making out, allusion to the crusades, mentions of neutering, killing mention (in the form of jokes)

Ships: Romantic Remile, Platonic NaRemile, platonic LAMP

Tags: @fandermom @patchworkofstars @poisonedapples @hogwarts-my-love @opaque-puppet @omni-hamiltrash @darling-elm @jynxlovesluck @madly-handsome @strickenwithclairvoyance @limitededitionsanderssidesblog @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @ab-artist @sometimeswritingsometimesdying @because-were-fam-ily @gattonero17 @analogical-mess @joaniejustwokeup @whycantihavemorethan32characters

---

Remy walked into school with an old pair of fleece space pants he had stolen from Logan and a night mask with the words “Lights Out” painted on sitting on top of his head. He always claimed to participate in school dress-up days out of irony, but anyone who knew him well knew better.

He smiled as Emile stepped out of the car next to him, dressed head to toe in a Stitch onesie with matching blue Converse. His heart melted as he took in the sight of his boyfriend. “Aloha,” he teased, stepping closer and greeting his boyfriend with a gentle kiss.

“No PDA in the parking lot!” Narcissa yelled, interrupting their moment. Emile giggled as Remy kissing him again while flipping her off. “You two are disgusting.”

“Disgustingly cute maybe,” Remy said with a wink. He looked up and down at her Falling in Reverse pajamas. “Has anyone told you punk is dead?”

“Has anyone told you that I don’t give a shit?” she asked with a smile as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, showing off the multitude of piercings she wore. “Plus, Roman roped me into this whole thing. I’m sure he’s running late in an Olaf onesie somewhere.”

The trio walked through the school gate. “I’m sure he’s already in the chorus room,” Remy said. “God knows he loves to be early.”

Narcissa groaned. “Remember when he made us get up at six for a chorus concert?”

“I have never wanted to kill him more than I had at that moment.”

“I’m the only thing stopping you two from killing each other,” Narcissa bragged with a laugh.

“Only because you’re going to kill one of them first,” Emile laughed. “Now, of course, I’d never tell you to bring harm to Roman, I’d just like to suggest you keep my boyfriend alive.”

Narcissa laughed as she looked Remy up and down as if scanning him. She winked at Emile. “No promises.”

Emile pouted and Remy swooped in with a quick kiss. It was hardly a matter of seconds before they were back to making out. Narcissa took her water bottle out of her bag and poured some of the ice-cold contents on Remy’s head.

“YOU BITCH!” he screamed, jumping back as his white shirt became halfway soaked.

“We’re getting you neutered after school.”

“I should get going,” Emile laughed, mostly dry. “I’ll see you at lunch.” He blew a kiss towards Remy and skipped off towards the science building.

Narcissa took a sip of water with a smirk. “Ah. How refreshing.” Remy punched her in the arm.

+++

Virgil always loved to go all out for pajama day, so it was no surprise to see him in plaid pajamas with slippers and a bathrobe on. It was, however, surprising to see Logan sitting in a Batman onesie.

Virgil wolf-whistled as he sat down. “Didn’t take you for the vigilante type.”

“I’ll have you know, Bruce Wayne is a brilliant deceive.”

“And?”

Logan sighed, mumbling, “And my English teacher gives extra credit to anyone who participates.”

“You’re such a nerd,” Virgil laughed affectionately. “Princey will never let you live this down.”

Logan sighed, hitting his head against the desk. “I’m well aware.”

+++

Patton had grown used to eating lunches alone. He wasn’t particularly upset about it, in fact, he found the time alone to be peaceful. So it was quite a surprise when Emile grabbed his hand and ran with him to a crowded lunch table.

“I’m not letting my best friend eat alone on this momentous holiday,” he proclaimed.

“It’s... it’s not a holiday,” Patton stammered but no argument could stop Emile from sitting Patton down between himself and Roman.

“Are those Christmas Pajamas?” Logan asked, scanning him with knitted eyebrows.

“It’s never too early to celebrate Christmas!” Roman said, fully clad in a Pikachu onesie.

“Halloween was last week,” Virgil and Logan both argued.

“And then Christmas!” Roman yelled.

“Forgetting something there, babe?”

“In this house, we don’t stan Thanksgiving,” Narcissa said, biting into a slice of pizza.

Logan looked at her for a long second before taking a sip of Virgil’s soda. “I will never understand today’s youth.”

“You’re seventeen. And a coke stealing thot.”

“I’m the thot here?” Logan asked, pointing at Emile and Remy. Emile was sitting on Remy’s lap, legs around his waist as they made out.

Roman gagged, covering Patton’s eyes with his hand. “That’s practically foreplay.”

“I’m calling the vet,” Narcissa said, her phone held to her ear. “Getting this horny bitch neutered.”

“Who wants my cousins dick?” Virgil teased. “EMILE PICANI, YOU PERV, PUT YOUR HAND DOWN!”

“You’re corrupting the innocent child,” Roman scolded.

“I’m fifteen.”

“Exactly. You are small like baby.”

“You’re only three years older than me.”

“Three cold and hardening years,” he said pressing a hand to his chest and moving his forearm to his forehead dramatically. “You’ll understand when you’re my age. You’re basically a sixth-grader.”

“I’m a tenth grader.”

“Being an asshole to Sophomores,” Logan laughed. “Another thing you’ll understand when you’re his age.”

“I thought Juniors are the ones who are supposed to be mean to Sophomores.”

“No, no, no,” Virgil said. “Juniors hate freshman.”

“This is exhausting,” Patton groaned.

“You know what’s not exhausting?” Narcissa asked, jumping up onto the bench. “Going to a party at my house.”

Patton, Logan, Roman, and Virgil all exchanged glances. Virgil pulled his bathrobe down over his arms as Patton ghosted his fingers over his eye.

“How many people?” Roman asked.

“Just us,” Narcissa said. “I’ll give rides to anyone who needs it.”

“My mom doesn’t let me ride with student drivers,” Patton said sadly.

Narcissa nudged his foot and winked. “She doesn’t need to know.”

“What’s your plan for dealing with He Who Shall Not Be Named and his dreidel?” Virgil asked.

“If anyone gets a boner I’m kicking them out,” she said. “And I mean anyone. Logan gets a boner? They’re out.”

“Dreidel,” Roman laughed. “I just got that.”

“My house, after school. I’ll get Dad to order some pizzas.”

“Pizza from Papa Draco,” Roman said.

“If you call him that tonight, I will kill you.”

“Logan, write my will.”

+++

Patton didn’t like lying to his mom. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie he was at a friend’s house after all, but he wasn’t truthful about the reasons why. He hated lying, but he didn’t want this to be the first trial of whether or not his powers work over the phone. He sat in the back of Narcissa’s car with Virgil while Logan sat in the front.

“So, Patton,” Narcissa said, “house rules are simple. Don’t swear too loudly and try not to spill anything on the carpet. Oh- especially nothing purple. Remy spilt grape juice once and he was banned for a month.”

“True story,” Virgil verified. “He wouldn’t stop pouting about it. You would have thought he was banned from seeing you or something.”

“Was this the legendary Draco party I keep hearing about but never get details on?” Logan asked.

“It’s one thing Remy and I have in common,” she teased. “What happens at our parties, stay at our parties.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No,” Narcissa said.

“Yes,” Virgil replied.

Patton felt a knot twist in his stomach and sink into him like an anchor. This was going to be a long night...

All three cars arrived at roughly the same time, allowing the group to follow Narcissa as she unlocked the front door. “Dad! I’m home!” she yelled. “And I even brought all my male whores with me!”

“Don’t get pregnant!” he yelled back from somewhere deep within the house. “Pizza’s on the stove!”

“Aww fuck yeah,” she said, grabbing a box. “Thot, Hoe, you grab the other two.”

Patton stood in mild surprise as Remy and Emile immediately followed suit. Then he remembered lunch and was less shocked. He followed everyone upstairs towards a door painted black.

Narcissa’s room was just about what Patton expected from a friend of Roman’s who wore all black and probably ten earrings at a time. The walls were painted black and dark blue. However what he did not expect was a large blue, pink, and white flag covering most of the wall above her bed. Patton smiled and Narcissa nudged his shoulder, “Got a demisexual one for Roman for Christmas. I can send you the link to the Etsy shop I use if you want some pride shit. You’d look cute with a rainbow lapel pin.”

Patton laughed, settling between her and Virgil as all of them took a seat around a circular purple rug on her wood floors. Emile passed around paper plates and they all started grabbing slices of pizza.

“Let’s play a game,” Remy suggested with a sly smirk. “Spin the bottle?”

“I think we’ve seen enough kissing for one lifetime,” Logan said. Roman stuck his finger down his throat and gagged.

“Good old fashioned game of truth or dare?” Virgil suggested. “Think of it as a housewarming for Patton.”

“Oh boy.”

“Oh boy, indeed,” Logan laughed, a sly grin growing upon his face. “I’ll go first-“

“Nope!” Remy yelled. “Roman! Truth or dare!”

“I was going to ask first!” Logan protested.

“House rules,” Remy said, “he who wears the leather jacket goes first!”

“He who shall go fuck himself,” Logan murmured earning a laugh from Virgil.

“Truth,” Roman said.

“Who was the last person you had a crush on?” Remy asked with an innocent smile but devil eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.

Roman glared daggers at him. “Jon Cozart. Patton, truth or dare?”

“That’s a lie!”

“Prove it,” he said through clenched teeth. “Patton, truth or dare.” Roman never took his eyes off of Remy and Narcissa.

“Uh, truth,” Patton mumbled weakly.

“I dare you to kick Remy’s ass.”

“He said ‘truth’, Roman,” Emile said sternly.

“Fine. What’s your favorite color?”

Patton fidgeted with his sleeves. “Blue. Emile, truth or dare.”

“Dare,” Emile said, leaning into Remy’s side.

Patton swore under his breath as he tried to think of something but his mind was drawing a blank. Virgil tapped his knee, prompting Patton to lean into him. He whispered something causing both of them to laugh. “I dare you to stop making out with Remy for an hour.”

Emile rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone. “Once this timer is over I’m sucking his dick in front of every single one of you.”

Narcissa threw a pizza crust at him. “I’m neutering both of you.”

Roman rolled a water bottle towards him. “Since you wanna be so fucking thirsty.”

Emile gave a hand gesture that Patton was honestly surprised to see from his best friend. (How well did he actually know anyone here?) “Narcissa, truth or dare?”

She bit into a piece of pizza contemplatively. “Dare.”

“Exchange an article of clothing with someone of your choice.”

“Virgil, hand over your hoodie,” she demanded. As Virgil sighed and took off his jacket, she made quick work of taking off her bra from under her shirt. She threw it at Virgil and snatched his hoodie within the same second.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he said. “I’m not putting this on.”

“Virgil, truth or dare?” she asked.

“Tru-“

“I dare you to put the bra on.”

“I picked truth.”

“Hmmm, I don’t think you did,” Narcissa said with an innocent smile, pulling up the hood of Virgil’s jacket.

“Sounded like dare to me,” Remy said.

“He said dare,” Roman confirmed with a smirk.

“Princey,” Virgil said as he took off his shirt, “you are fucking dead to me.” Remy took careful note of the eyes raking over every inch of Virgil’s skin as he struggled with the bra.

“Do you need help?” Patton asked.

“No- No, I got- I can do this- I-“ Virgil sighed. “I need help.”

Patton rolled his eyes and did the clasp in one easy move, handing Virgil his shirt to put back on. “Not that hard.”

“Oh-Em-Gee, you know what this means?” Remy asked loudly with a look of false shock. Patton’s eyes went wide and his heart started racing. “Patton’s a fucking wizard.” He relaxed slightly but Narcissa made sure to take his hand where no one could see as she rubbed gentle circles against his skin.

“This wire is a bitch,” Virgil said.

“You’re a bitch,” Narcissa corrected.

And so the game continued into the night. Some small secrets revealed and many ridiculous dares completed. When an alarm went off on Emile’s phone everyone groaned loudly. He gave Remy a gentle peck on the cheek and they continued playing.

“Who wants to stay the night?” Narcissa asked with a yawn. Roman and Virgil both quickly volunteered while everyone else gave regretful glances. Patton sunk in on himself slightly.

“I, uh, need a ride home,” Patton said quietly.

“You live by Emile, right?” He nodded. “Cool, I can drive you.”

“If I may be at your mercy as well-“

“Yes, Logan, I’ll drive you home. If you don’t mind stopping by my place for a few minutes first. I need your input on something.”

“Oh?” Emile asked curiously.

“You’re not getting anything out of me,” Remy stated.

Emile moved closer, putting his hand on Remy’s knee and slowly dragging his fingers towards his hip. “Anything?” Emile asked innocently, pressing his body against Remy’s.

Narcissa pointed at Remy’s dick. “If that gets hard I swear to fuck I’m banning you from my house again.”

“We’ll have more fun at my house anyway,” Remy said with a smirk.

Virgil put his hands over his ears. “LA LA LA I DON’T HEAR ANYTHING NOPE NOTHING IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.”

“Oh please,” Remy groaned. “You’re not the only one here who has to deal with people in this room wanting to suck your cousin’s dick.”

“Patton,” Narcissa said. “Can you help me bring the boxes downstairs?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he uttered, grabbing two empty boxes into his arms. Once they were in the kitchen, Narcissa put the boxes on the stove and gently laid a hand on Patton’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “I saw Remy get under your skin a little- he doesn’t mean anything by it, I’m sure he doesn’t even know.”

“Remy’s... fine,” Patton said. “I’m just a little paranoid.”

“And that’s okay,” she said. “But I want you to know you’re safe here. Obviously, no one is going to ask you to disclose that information, but if you ever did, you’re one of us now and that means we’re going to support you. All of us.”

“How did you, you know, talk to them about it?” Patton asked shyly.

Narcissa smiled, soft and genuine. It was the first time Patton saw her as anything other than another scary upperclassman. “I know I give Remy a lot of shit but, if not for him and Roman, I don’t know if I ever would have come out. But they helped me,” she explained. “Remy’s easy. He makes it all seem so effortless, you know, using the right name and pronouns.”

“And Roman?” he asked nervously.

“Roman helped make me who I am. He’s the reason I stayed in chorus. He’s the reason I came out to my parents and why I get to be myself today.” Her smile grew a bit brighter. “I’d do anything for him.” She leaned in closer to him and whispered, “Plus, it was nice knowing Roman’s charm had no ulterior motivation.”

“Motivation?” Patton asked.

Narcissa grabbed the boxes from the stove and winked at Remy who stood at the base of the stairs. “I think that’s a story for another party,” she teased. “Preferably one with more alcohol.”

“Um, yeah,” Patton mumbled.

“Almost ready?” Remy called out.

“Emile’s a lucky guy,” was all she said. “Goodnight, Patton.”

Patton was faced with the familiar feeling of reading a new book, gears turning as the reader is faced with unfamiliar worlds and characters. Narcissa was something far greater than a new protagonist; she was something mysterious and fantastical, a great dragon hiding far from the edge of the kingdom.

He got into Remy’s car, sitting in the back with Logan. It was a silent drive, Remy preferring to have the radio off to stay focused on the road, with only the sound of the wind coming from the small way Emile’s window was cracked open and the gentle tapping of Logan’s fingers against his book bag. Patton held his bag to his chest, growing desperate to take off his binder. It was calming and peaceful, a state of tranquility men have killed to achieve.

When they pulled in to Emile’s driveway, Remy walked him to the front door. Patton and Logan watched in silence as the two lovers held hands tightly and pressed a gentle kiss to each other’s lips. It wasn’t as passionate and hungry as they usually were in public and Patton almost felt awful for looking, yet the tender moments of domesticity are what draw us in and capture our hearts. Patton couldn’t look away until they were once more two separate individuals.

“I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” Logan said stoically.

“That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

Logan let out a laugh, but no joy or humor, and twisted his face in such a way that was unreadable in the shadows of the car. “Friends,” Logan repeated. Patton felt a tug at his heart that he couldn’t quite place. Whatever it was he was feeling, he certainly wasn’t a fan. “It’s... nice, I suppose, all four of us being in the same room with no powers or arcane beings to worry about.”

“Oh! Speaking of, Morality-”

Logan pressed a finger to Patton’s lips to silence him. “I was just commenting on how nice this break is. Please do not disrupt that, this is not the time for us to be heroes.”

“Right,” Patton said. “Sorry, Logan.”

Remy and Emile met for one final kiss as Emile unlocked his front door with his free hand. They said their goodbyes and goodnight wishes as Emile disappeared behind the door.

“Do not apologize, Patton,” he instructed.

Remy got back into the car and the rest of the evening was silent, peaceful. The rest of the evening was what men kill for.

#We Could Be Immortals #Sanders sides fic #Platonic lamp #Remile #Romantic Remile

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c-atm · 4 years

Text

No need for a rival

The young diamond held his beloved princess as she shed tear after tear on his chest. Stroking her long hair as she sobbed.

'Even during times of agony her beauty is undaunted. Still It hurts me to see her like this, my revered one should only be smiles and joy.'

"Steven where did he go!? Why did he leave? He was my friend and no one knows what happened to him..No one not even his parents. And..and”

He watched as her breath became haggard and strained finding it hard for her to stand as she tried to catch her breath He held her calmly before rubbing her back. Guiding her to sit on his lap as his arms cradled her.

“Easy beloved, easy.You need to relax Connie, It’ll be alright.Trust in your diamond. Trust in me. Ok”

His voice was so easing and reassuring, his eyes shone like diamonds, entrancing the young girl. She found herself breathing steadily now as she leaned her head against her diamonds chest, hungry and appreciative for the physical affection.

"Thank you, my diamond. My Steven."

He smiled at her gently for as she cuddled closer to him stroking her hair tenderly. "Don't fret Connie, Your diamond has it already handled."

She nodded as she slowly doze off feeling secure enough and drained from the events of today. Before she dozed she got a quick look at her wonderful diamond..and saw it must have been a trick of the light.

Her Steven doesn't have a smile that sadistic.

Steven continue to pamper his sleeping beauty with adoration in the forms of gentle strikes and caressing. The sadistic mad love he felt her crept into his smile, becoming more split and fanged.

"Yes, it's already handled." He allowed himself to think back to a few nights before.

*3 nights ago*

The male zooman looked so happy to meet Pink diamond..To meet the boy Connie speaks of so passionately. His eyes shone with excitement and anticipation, bouncing with each step.

Steven watched as his quartz guard brought the human in to his chamber as he laid on his throne. Brown hair, tan skinned a bit taller and slimmer than Steven. His goofy smile..the same one he saw him give Connie was on his face. He can't wait to see it silenced along with the light in his green eyes.

'All in due time.' Steven reminded himself as the boy gave the diamond salute.

"My diamond!"

Steven said nothing to the excited, as a cold stare stare was etched in his face. he could feel his destructive power begN to rise..and breath deeply easing himself. Last thing he needed was to split the zoo in half. With that, Steven put on a neutral face ,nodding at the zooman; allowing him to drop his arms.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, My diamond."

"Oh, I'm sure it is." the brat tyrant walked up to the zooman, with a flare or innocence and grace. They took in the whole of the boy, trying to find what could make them worthy of even breathing the same air as his Connie. "What are you called?"

"My name is Tomthree, My diamond."

"Hmm."

Steven truly couldn't care less about Tommie's name, or existence as a whole. All he cared about is one thing.

"What's your relationship with Connie?"

The mask of neutrality was off and the brat tyrant surfaced. He glared his deep pink diamond eyes into the human.Seeing his fear and confusion pleased Steven, fleetingly.

"My diamond? I don't understand?"

"Connie? What is your relationship with her? What do you think about her?"

Steven sighed, as a truly serene look overtook his features. his voice light and almost loving as he spoke.

"She's such a beautiful girl. So kind, so smart. Her smiles make even White's brilliance seem dim in comparison. She's a goddess made flesh, truly. I adore her. "

He looked at the human, whose smile has strained over his praise.

"Don't you agree, Tommie?"

The zooman didn't know why, but he felt trapped...He felt scared…He felt like he was looking at death. Those eyes...Those eyes hid multitudes of torture if he should do anything to disappoint his diamond. With careful,steady breath he spoke.

"Y-yes, my Diamond..Connie is very nice."

Steven stared deeply in the zooman eyes unblinking..before smiling.

"You're right. She is. But she's much more that that.You think so too right? Tell me."

His smile was innocent and love struck, at the moment the zooman relaxed and unnoticeably sealed his fate.

The diamond and the zooman spoke for hours about Connie. Her beauty, her kindness, her behavior, her quirks. For the moment it seemed liked too boys gushing over one girl. Then he said the words that would end the fantasy.

"Whoever gets to be Choosen with Connie, will be very happy."

The diamond looked at the boy noticing his reddened face and his anger peaked

'He's thinking amorous things about my Connie, only I'm allowed to think like that about her!'

"Are you referring to yourself?"

Tomthree. heard the bit of steel in his diamonds voice, but ignored it. After all he and Steven both felt similar. "Well..yes..I want Connie as my-

EXECUTE ~HIM.

Tommie didn't know what was happening the quartz that lead him there grabbed him from the back and through a punch to his gut. The boy fell forward on his face, crying and coughing up blood. as he was pulled up to look at Steven his heart broke.

The boy who Connie was so enamored with. Who said was sweet, gentle and charming. The diamond who fed them and took care of them...Looked positively ecstatic at his pain. Tommie physically broken and emotionally destroyed..Saluted his diamond.

"Please forgive me, my diamond. I..I did not mean to offend you.. please I don't understand. Let me fix i--GUUACK!"

Tommie looked down to see a distablizg through his chest and felt it out his back.he could feel the life run out of him steadily as Steven crouch down to his level.

"You wanna know your crime. You took what belongs to me. Her sight, her acknowledgement, her attention, her time, her presence, her smile, her paise, her greetings, her farewells, her laughter, her tears. Even the fact that you exist in the same zoo, same lifetime as my Revered one..is an insult and affront to me. Every moment you shared and might've shared with her is a crime to be added and your life is not even enough to pay it off, but it is a start."

Tommie eyes lost its ability to see, his arms dropped as his life blood flowed out of the four punctures made by the destabilizer, but with one last bit of strength he stated a name..

"...Nini" A teary smile was what he gave his diamond before dying on his knees.

Steven was frozen in anger..

A nickname..

He had a nickname for her..

With a stamp of his foot he caused a crater 5 foot wide, 5 foot deep blowing both the quartz and corpse away. He took a deep breath and smiled.

"Take that... to sector X54-3S2. Give it to Peridot 5ry-4th. Tell her that Pink diamond wish to help with her organic research and she's free to do whatever she wants with it...oh and get some Bismuths to fix this floor."

The cracked quartz saluted before taking the body away. Leaving Steven alone to think about his Connie.

* Present*

He sighed deeply into his reverence hair loving her scent. She was sleeping peacefully upon his lap. He kissed her crown and stroke her cheek.

" My star, My flower, My heart. You're deserve everything in this universe and I'll make sure to provide it all..Just for you. No one will ever stop my plans to make you happy..us happy..Not a human, not a gem, not even the diamonds.."

He spoke so seriously as he gazed at her with a deeply maddening love. In his future he sees him and her ruling for all eternity. Him, diamond above all..and her his worshipped one...The one above him.

To that end, he had no need for any obstacle..No need for rivals.

he turned as he saw two quartz marched out with an older man and woman ..looking like tommie..A deep sinister smile on his face… At the thought of the family reunion.

"No need for loose ends either."

#stevenuniverse #evil steven #Diamond steven #zooman Connie #psychotic #twisted love #yander steven #Brat tyrant #Pink diamon steven #connverse fanfic #connverse fanfiction #connverse #stevenxconnie #cute steven #queenie steven #death #twisted connverse

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wowitsmaleeha · 4 years

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studying abroad in korea

Amidst all the uncertainties that come with applying to college, taking the next big step in my journey to adulthood, I knew one thing for certain: I wanted to study abroad for a year in South Korea. I was given rejection after rejection but I persevered and kept my head held high, because if I could just achieve this one goal, it wouldn’t matter where I went to university. I got into a school, that I love now, but that was my one and only safety school, and my absolute last choice. The first thing when I got my acceptance was rush over to their study abroad website and see where they had programs. They had several programs in South Korea and I was overjoyed. I enrolled in this school, my major still undeclared but my eyes set on studying abroad. I eventually did pick a major, political science because my dream job is a diplomat for the United States, and I started taking Korean classes. The first few weeks of classes were difficult to say the least, adjusting to university life is never easy. Add having to learn a new language with a completely different alphabet within the first month, well it’s safe to say that my mind was spinning.

But once again, I persevered, and I got a handle on the language. After each class I found myself becoming more and more intrigued. If we’re being honest, the main reason I wanted to study abroad in South Korea in the first place was to attend fansigns. I still want to do that, but just thinking back to that time makes me laugh. Fansigns are expensive! Where was I expecting to get enough money to attend a SEVENTEEN fansign where you need to buy at least 150 albums to have a fighting chance of getting picked? And what was I expecting to do for the rest of the time when my favorite groups weren’t having comebacks? I couldn’t tell you. But after learning more about the Korean language (whose grammar, I believe, is much simpler than that of Romance languages) and Korean culture, my desire to study abroad was reinforced with different interests. I want to experience Korean university life, everything from festivals and MT’s to classes so ridiculously long that professors have to give you a break in between. I want to explore Seoul, but I want to go to as many cities as possible. From popular destinations like Busan and Daegu, which is Atlanta’s sister city, to cities as far south as Jinju. I want to try all the foods Korean has to offer, especially their multitude of seafood dishes. I’m excited to try dishes that are unorthodox by Western standards, such as live octopus and raw beef. I want to have seafood soup on my birthday and celebrate surrounded with amazing friends. I’m looking forward to meeting so many people while I study abroad, both Korean and non-Korean. I hope during this program I can forge friendships that’ll last a lifetime.

Reading this over, imagining everything I’ve described and everything I haven’t, my heart is filled with excitement and anticipation. Which is why it breaks my heart to think that I might not be able to go abroad this year. I’ve been planning this experience from the minute I received my high school diploma and threw my cap up in the air. I know that this pandemic is so much larger than me and that it’s affecting so many people severely. Too many people have died and too many people have had to suffer through the losses of their loved ones. It’s insensitive of me to be whining about not being able to study abroad when people are dying.

But I want everyone to know, whether this pandemic is affecting you on a monumental or minuscule level, I stand with you. Maybe this pandemic is preventing you from having that family reunion you’ve been planning for years or meeting a friend you haven’t seen for a decade. Yes, there are horrible things that are happening because of this virus, and I’m not trying to minimize their severity. But you deserve to have your feelings validated. This situation sucks. It sucks whether you’ve lost someone to the virus or you’ve had to cancel all your plans. But now is not the time to attack someone for feeling sad because their loss isn’t as great as yours. We need to stand together, because that is the only way we will get through this pandemic.

march 24, 2020

remember to wash your hands!!

#college #university #south korea #korea #study abroad #studying #travel #studyabroad #livingabroad #global #korean

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valorkook · 5 years

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Again | j.jk

pairing: Reader x Jeon Jungkook genre/type: AU | lovey-dovey fluff, romance, inspired by the movie 50 First Dates w.c.: 2k

A week.

A week was what it takes for Jeon Jungkook to create another special memory with you.

Adorned with the dark strap attached to his beloved, yet expensive camera he turned the lens onto you, who is his muse. And you can’t quite find the exact reason as to why he chose you as his subject of his mysterious video project. He never gave you any information.

Perhaps you’ll find it soon enough, when he finds the time to show you a glimpse of what he’s working on. But for now, he and the contents of his camera only heightens your curiosity every day.

All you could ever do every time he points the large lens on you is to either smile or block him with your hands on his equipment whenever you find it too much. From what Jungkook would say, you are just “too shy in front of his camera”. You’re clueless as to why most of his focus was your face, when you are sure that there are far more interesting subjects that might accentuate the whole objective of his endless recording.

Albeit knowing that he’s not good with expressing his feelings well through words, his actions rather proved it to be untrue as you sensed him coming close to you. Gently holding your hand and feeling his warmth engulfed you from behind, he cooed at your effort to finish wiping the table clean, “It’s enough, honey, let’s go to bed.”

With his soft lips ghosting over the expanse of your skin on your shoulder, you affectionately leaned your head back to his shoulder. This small moment with him is forever ingrained in your memory, not noticing the blinking red light of his camera somewhere in the room.

The past few days were not as touchy until tonight, continually feeling him and his fingertips grazing on your forearm as you lose your hold on the rag used for the table. Jungkook urged you towards the dark hallway of your apartment, “Do you want to sleep already?” You asked him, eyes fixating on the digital clock by his desk once you both reached the bedroom. It was already 22:10 PM.

He only hummed in reply, tiredness evident from his tone as he closed the door with his foot. Planting the camera that he brought next to the laptop on his table, he found you near the window. Under the dimmed moonlight, he can still see your beauty; your twinkling eyes that seems to soften whenever you looked at him, your smile that constantly lift him up in times of despair, and your touch that sends warmth through his veins endlessly. They’re still the same.

Your love is still the same no matter how many days, weeks pass by.

Winter snow has yet to come, but the impending coldness never ceased as a shiver made its way through your spine. And he has seen you and felt it too, “The heater won’t be fixed ‘til tomorrow, love.”

The specific term of endearment made you shiver again but only in delight.

Yours and his queen-sized bed was filled with multitude of blankets, and you can’t quite help but to dug inside while he only stares at your child-like actions tonight. Like a kid who cannot wait for Christmas. Only time will tell when he would start to imagine a festive season with you and maybe . . . two to three children that either looks like him or yo—.

“What are you thinking, Jungkook?” You withdrew him from his thoughts. He hasn’t joined you yet. “Come in! I need my personal heater.”

He chuckled as dived in, crawling towards you under the layers of duvet. You weren’t kidding when he felt your icy skin against him. “Am I hot enough to be called like that?” He teased, engulfing you into his embrace.

With your back against his chest, you sensed the breath of his against the crook of your neck. Surprisingly, his arms were much tighter than yesterday, or than any nights before. Nonetheless, he still makes you safe and comfortable in his hug. Loved.

It still feels as if you keep falling in love with him every day. It’s like meeting him for the first time again, and again, and falling head over heels over the boy—the man you imagined to spend the rest of your lifetime with.

And that thought was loud enough for him to ask you a question, diminishing the quietness of the dark bedroom.

“If I were to propose to you somewhere next week, will you accept?”

Your heart thudded against your chest.

“—Will you marry me?” Jungkook added, just like how people say it in romance movies. You were breathless. Your mouth quite ajar as you turned your head to see him, his doe eyes lingering at yours beneath the dimmed light from outside the window.

“I do—I mean yes.” You smiled at him once you faced him, while he only chuckled and pulled you much closer to him, with his thumb caressing ever-so-softly the skin of your hips, peeking under the shirt of his that you were wearing.

“Already preparing for our wedding, I see,” He grinned, “But I haven’t gotten you a ring yet.”

You asked, “Then when?”

“I’m waiting for the Christmas sale tomorrow, you know. And I’m quite broke to afford the ring you want as of this time and date.” It was a slip of his tongue; a mistake on his part to expose something you currently do not know or cannot remember.

Your brows only furrowed in curiosity, “I don’t recall about going into a jewelry shop before, or ever seeing a ring.”

In a poor attempt to change the topic, or ending it, he yawned loudly in reply, “It’s been months since we last visited it, why don’t I tell you the details tomorrow morning? It’s quite a long story.”

With you blinking at his drooping eyes, you only let him get the rest he needed. He was at work for nearly 10 hours today. Leaving you alone with yours and his dog, Gureum, to accompany you until he comes back. He must’ve feel tired to the bones.

“I’ll see you in the morning, love.” He mumbled after resting his head much closer to you, feeling his lips move against your forehead while you breathe in the familiar and comforting scent of his that helped you to rest. Not long and you followed him into sleep, your breathing turned calm. On the other hand, he was keeping himself awake while his eyes were closed, only determined to finish the bits of his video creation before the morning comes. Before you wake up.

He carefully left the side of his bed, leaving you still in deep sleep as he hurriedly turned his laptop open from sleeping mode once he sat in front of his desk. Without producing so much noise, he lifted the chair a bit off the wooden floor and adjusted it near his working space.

You were left clueless at his sneaky way to record the audio of yours and his conversation back in bed. With his phone lying next to you on the nightstand, Jungkook reached for it and stopped the recording before plugging it into his laptop. Into that night, he only spent the rest of his time into completing his compilations of you into one project. Along with a cup of coffee that he rarely needs or drinks, but he’ll make tonight an exception.

And he hoped that your love is still the same. Even if he has done the same procedure (the video making), and asked the same question to you for the past few weeks.

The curtains were left drawn open yesterday and the morning sun crept into the room and hits your eyelids, rendering you awake. The cold chill of the air to your face guaranteed that you were, indeed, conscious—

And weirded out. Why is it so cold in July?

It was the first thing you questioned to yourself, finding yourself covered with the huge amount of blankets only. Jungkook was nowhere to be found beside you, leaving you oddly questioning how he was able to wake up before you. Usually, it’s always you who turns off his alarm every morning.

Has the climate changed so much?

More questions flew in and out of your mind right now, you were sure that the season must be summer. Or the fact that you were assured that it’s the month July. You blindly reached on the bedside table in hopes to find your own phone to check the date, but you only found his laptop open. A video player and a digital post-it appeared on the screen when you accidentally swiped your fingertips on the touchpad.

‘Watch this before finding me –JK’

Feeling lost at the moment, you only obliged to what he had told you through the note before pressing the play button.

Jungkook’s face was the first thing you saw on-screen. His eyes looking past the camera for a few seconds before finally setting his gaze toward the lens, indirectly to you. “Love, you’re probably wondering why the weather’s like this or why you are even watching this.

You may think that it’s still July of 2017 when, in fact, we’re nearly in the end of 2018—“ You quickly hover the cursor on the date at the bottom right corner of the screen, seeing that he was right in the video. “—Please don’t panic at all, love.” He never fails to address you in an endearing way, making your heart flutter.

“Through this video, I’m going to help you recall the past few days or the important things to remember.” You did not miss his handsome smile through the video, as if he’s been wanting to say something that’s probably on the tip of his tongue already.

“First and foremost, I would like to explain to you why you’re experiencing short-term memory loss. Or what Doctor Kim would term the phenomenon you’re having as Goldfield’s syndrome. It is where you’re unable to create new memories every week since you woke up after July 10, 2017 from an unfortunate accident.” He paused from the video. Meanwhile you were astounded that the date he mentioned was the only day you could ever recall, and you can’t remember anything beyond the date or the accident itself.

No memories from the rest of the year, until today. And you’ve felt nothing but hurt when you imagined yourself in his shoes; how he managed to stay in love with you throughout the months. Tears brimmed your eyes as you kept on listening to him through the video he has prepared for you.

“Jungkook love?” His ears perked up at your voice from a distance, eyes finding its way to yours as you stood on the doorway of the bedroom. There you were again, glowing under the morning sun with the same eyes and the same smile adorning your features. And he swore he’ll never miss a chance of seeing you like this.

He smiled, “Yes _______?”

You began walking closer towards him, sitting upon the couch with cups of hot chocolate on the coffee table. As if he’s been waiting for you. Soon enough you found yourself hugging him, with your head resting upon his sturdy shoulder.

And you saying, “I still do want to marry you.”

He can assure that his smile this morning was as bright as the sun outside, but your smile towards him was much brighter that he still feels the same flutter of his stomach when he first met you. Jungkook was sure of marrying you, even if he has to make the effort of doing multiple videos to relive your memories with him and the people you care about.

“I love you.” He mumbled close to your lips, not even giving you a chance to return the same statement when he kissed you.

“ When the morning comes I’ll claim it,

I don’t want to waste one more minute,

I want to feel again, I want to feel again “ - Leanne and Naara, Again

#bts scenarios #bts #jeon jungkook #bangtan #bangtan sony #bts imagines #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook scenarios #jungkook imagines #BTS jungkook #jungkook #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #bts fics #bts fiction #bangtan scenarios

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bards-witcher · 5 years

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Shipwrecked - Ohmtoonz

Basically all the guys are pirates and Ohm’s a merman. Thanks to @rainstorm67 for the inspiration.

As always I hope you enjoy :D and if you like this you can find all my fics here to wonder through.

[Luke POV]

“I can’t wait to get off this goddamn boat”

He heard Delirious muffle his laugh next to him, the both of them currently on their hands and knees scrubbing the top deck, he was starving, the captain having decided that neither of them should be fed alongside their punishment. Normally he hated the looks of pity the crew would throw his way at his predicament, but he had no mind to complain when every now and then they’d chuck them the odd vegetable scrap whilst the Captain had his back turned.

“You love it really” He couldn’t help but snort at Delirious’ comment, they’d been in some shitty situations in the past but nothing like this.

“Only when we’re with a captain who actually knows what the fuck he’s doin’, if we weren’t a couple days from land I’d fuckin’ mutiny” The way his friend paled at his comment showed how he took the statement a lot more seriously, worry making its way onto his face.

“Not so loud, you don’t know who’s listenin’. Just keep your mouth shut until we reach land, I don’t wanna die cause of your big mouth”

“I don’ give a fuck, nobody ‘ere like him either, I could snap my fingers and have everyone on my side in a second” Even as he said those words he felt the weight of them get heavier, barely registering the sound of footsteps approaching him until they stopped right in front of him, at which he could only mutter a swear and pray to every god he knew.

“Is that so Cartoonz?” The malice in those words sent a shiver down his spine and he hated how weak he felt in this moment, helpless but to look up at the man now looming over him.

“Is that what, sir?”

The Captain huffed a laugh above him “You’ve got balls I’ll give you that. Now, what’s this about a mutiny?” An onslaught of curses sounded in his head and in the corner of his eye he could see Delirious reach for the knife he kept in his boot.

“Think you may need to go back inside sir, sun’s clearly gotten to your head, no word of a mutiny here” In the background, he could hear a couple of the crew members try to muffle their laughter, but he knew with those words he’d sealed his fate. He cast one more apologetic glance towards Delirious before Gorilla blocked his view.

He let out the breath he’d been holding, he knew Gorilla would stop Delirious from doing anything stupid meaning that his friend wouldn’t follow the same fate he did.

“I’m going to miss your jokes Cartoonz, but all good things must come to an end. Seize him” He felt strong hands grab his arms and pull them behind his back, he didn’t bother struggling, knew it wouldn’t make a difference, he only made sure to spit at the captain as he was pushed past, getting a sick sense of satisfaction when it hit him in the eye.

“Nice shot” He heard the words whispered to him, the thick accent telling him that it was Brian who would be taking him to the chopping block. He felt rope being tied around his wrists before he felt his ankles also being bound together, in the back of his mind he noted how Brian had given him a bit of wiggle room in his binds, silently thanking the Irishman before he finished. “For what it’s worth, I would ‘a sided wit’ ya” He felt a final pat on his shoulder before he was lifted and left to stand on the plank that would signal his doom.

“Any final words Cartoonz?”

He gave one final glance around the crew, people he’d come to appreciate and respect over their time together and he’s sure that under the right circumstances they could’ve dominated the seven seas, but that was for another lifetime.

“I think fuck you sums it up pretty well”

“Very well, Wildcat, if you will” The fact that the captain didn’t have the balls to push him over himself, was just salt in the wound. He noticed the brief hat tip Tyler gave him before picking up the stick that would send him over, and it was only a second later that he felt himself being pushed into the waters below him.

The cold water hit him like a train, instantly taking any air out of him upon impact and he was quick to start struggling in an effort to escape his binds. Despite Brian having made them loose, no matter how much he tried he couldn’t get his hands free, and with every second he descended further into the cold unforgiving depths, his lungs screaming for air.

It’s when he has no energy left to fight when he swears that he can feel his body start to shut down, that he sees a figure approach him. It’s when dots start to color his vision and he feels on the cusp of unconsciousness that he feels a hot searing pain on his right eye and even with no air left he manages to scream in the water until the salty water hit the back of his throat.

Before he knows it he’s coughing water out of his mouth and throat before taking deep breaths of air, paying no mind to his surroundings as he tries to get air back into his lungs. When he’s finally got some semblance of control back again he looks at his surrounding, realising that he is both still bound and underwater.

Before he could question what was happening he felt his arms be cut free and in the next moment his legs as well before a figure swam up in front of him and it took all semblance of control not to react.

He could only describe the creature in front of him as some form of merman, he could make out a large green tail from the waist down, almost camouflaged in the water, only able to see it due to the few rays of sunshine that reached far enough to glitter off of their scales. The upper half looked like any other person, broad chest, two arms and a thick head of hair that despite its short length still managed to flow with the water. He noticed the scars that littered not only his chest but his tail as well, showing how he was no stranger to battle.

“I hope we are well met, Luke Patterson”

A multitude of questions ran through his head and he was struggling with which one should take precedence, but when no answer was forthcoming the creature in front of him continued.

“We’ve been watching your ship for a while now, my kin and I. Your Captain has something of great value to us, our King, and we’d like him returned to us”

The sentence did little to answer his questions, instead adding another ten on top of that until he felt like his brain was going to explode.

“I am a merman of the Atlantic clan, normally we don’t venture so close to land or the surface, but this is of great importance. The reason you can breathe under the water is because I branded your eye, however, only in the presence in one of my kind will you be able to use this gift. So, will you help us?”

“So, let me get this straight, first you stalked me, then branded me a like a bit of cattle and now you want me to help your asses out? I’d rather die thanks” He felt confident in his words, confidence that quickly diminished at the malicious grin that spread across the merman’s face.

“Well I wouldn’t have put it so crudely, but yes, and it wasn’t a request. If you’d prefer we’d quite happily leave you to drown again before we start poking holes in that ship and picking off the people on it like fish in a barrel.” He felt a sickening feeling rise up in his throat, but the merman hadn’t finished yet. “A fun game we used to play would be how far could we drag a person underwater before the pressure causes their lungs to collapse, I hear it can be quite painful” The last part was whispered to him and even though he was in the water he felt an even colder shiver run down his spine, the merman moving behind him to place two hands on his shoulders. “I wonder how long Jonathon would last? 100 feet? 200? Maybe you could keep track for us?”

“I’ll do it”

“Wonderful” the merman then swam back in front of him, a bright smile on its face that did very little to reassure him “I would’ve hated to see such a waste of a fine specimen like yourself”

“Can we just get this over with please?”

“Eager aren’t we, first we must wait for nightfall and then another of my kin will join us to get you onboard, after that it’s up to you. Try not to let us down, we’re not known for our generosity”

All he could do was nod before he felt long arms wrap around him, not having a chance to protest before they were moving, the merman carrying them both surprisingly fast through the water until they caught up with the boat he’d been thrown off of not 15 minutes earlier.

It wasn’t too hard to keep pace with it after that, waiting for what felt like hours below the water's surface until he could finally return to the ship he’d called home for the last few months.

********************************************************************

He carefully walked across the top deck, maneuvering himself best he could to avoid the areas he knew would creak a little too loudly, before quietly making his way below the deck to see the person he cared for most.

It had been relatively easy getting onto the ship, he was surprised to see the merman shift their tails into legs, but he had little time to question them before he was hauled over one of their shoulders and they began to scale up the side of the large ship, letting him climb up and over the edge before descending back into the water.

He stopped in front of the door he knew his friends were behind, briefly listening to the sounds of Delirious’s’ muffled talking occasionally mixed with someone else in the crew, with a deep breath he gently pushed the door open, taking a step inside only to be met with the blank stares of the crew.

“Evening gentlemen, did I miss much?” He whispered the words, not wanting to alert the captain of his presence but he was only met with confused stares and whispers between one another. It was Delirious who came up to him first, he thought that this would be one of the handful of times that they’d hug it out but instead, he was met by anger in his friends’ gaze.

“If the Captain weren’t in his chambers right now I’d punch the fuck outta you, what the hell were you thinking?” He didn’t have time to answer, as despite his words Delirious leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug which he was happy to reciprocate, the two of them just holding one another until they heard a cough come from somewhere in the room. “How the fuck are you even here? How’d you get that scar?”

“Gimme a moment to get my bearings and I’ll tell you everythin’” He then gave a final pat to Delirious’s’ shoulder before he made his way around the crew giving each of them a small greeting before he was once again by Delirious’s’ side.

“Brian get the Rum, you guys are gonna need it to believe a word I’m gonna tell ya”

Once glasses were distributed and everyone was seated he told them what happened, about the bitterly cold water and the searing hot pain, the mission he had been assigned almost as if he had made a deal with the devil.

Despite the outlandish nature of his tale, everyone seemed sullen and serious like they fully understood the gravity of the situation they were now in, that if they didn’t rescue the merman from this ship they were dead men.

Over the course of the night, they made their plans, silently thanking his luck that the majority of people on this ship hated the captain as much as he did. Their plan wasn’t foolproof, it was haphazard at best but it’s all they could manage in the short time they had, not realizing how long it had taken before Moo came down to tell them that it was almost sun up. It was almost showtime.

It’s when they’re rushing around the cabin gathering their supplies that they’re caught, the captain stood in the doorway sword aimed at his throat with a sick grin on his face.

“What a surprise to see you here Cartoonz, it appears you’ve had quite the adventure since we last met” He motioned towards his eye with his sword, barely flinching away in time to stop the sword grazing against his face. “Now, whilst I’d love to hear all about it we’re making landfall tomorrow and there’s a lot to be done, we can’t be having a traitor around here spreading lies amongst my crew now can we”

He refused to answer, instead hoping the sheer fury in his eyes would be enough to convey his hatred for the man in front of him.

“Nothing to say? Fine, makes my life easier. Satt, take him up top and tie him up, with chains this time. See if you can find something to weigh him down with as well, there’s a good lad” He saw the young man in the doorway simply give a nod before scurrying off to who knows where. “As for you lot, you’re lucky I don’t throw you over with him, but I can’t go losing half my crew can I? See I’m not that cruel am I?”

He just about heard the snort come from Delirious, even in the face of adversity he still stuck true to himself.

“What are you still standing around for? Up top NOW” He watched his friends come to life around him, picking up the last of their belongings before making their way out and onto the top deck of the ship, leaving just him and the captain still stood in the room. “I had such high hopes in you Cartoonz”

Again, he didn’t answer, instead, he spat in his eye much as he’d done yesterday, earning him a hard slap across the face which caused him to lose balance for a moment. Before he could recover the Captain grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the room and out onto the deck where he was met with the sight of his friends standing in a line ready to watch him die…again.

The captain shoved him towards the direction of the plank, and he would’ve fallen flat on his face had it not been for Satt quickly grabbing hold of him. He quietly thanked the man who only gave him a half-apologetic smile before binding him in his chains, and it wasn’t too long before he found himself on the edge of the plank again, watching the water churn below him.

“Any last words Cartoonz? I hope you don’t make a habit out of this”

He briefly glanced back, noticing some of the crew with their hands on their weapons, giving him a brief nod showing that they were ready and waiting for when he came back.

“See ya tomorrow” He then jumped of his own accord into the cold waters below and once again he found himself struggling futilely against the chains.

It wasn’t too long before the same merman from yesterday returned, only this time he lacked any sort of friendly manner, his slightly scaled hand reaching up and around his throat, choking him even as water was forcibly making its way down his throat.

When he thought that this was it, that he’d actually die this time the merman released him and similar to yesterday he found that he could breathe under the water.

“We spared your life on the condition that you release our King. You failed and now must pay with your life”

He just about caught the arm that once again came darting towards him, using all his strength in an effort to hold it back.

“Wait, just lemme explain. You send me back now and we can get him for you”

He felt the arm he was holding waver slightly, knowing he’d gotten through to the merman he continued his explanation

“Me and the crew got a plan ready, all they’re waiting for is the signal, you get me up there and we’ll get your King back, I swear” The merman looked him over, as if determining whether he was telling the truth or not but apparently he was satisfied with whatever he saw, quickly moving behind him to snap the chains that still bound his arms and legs.

“You have one hour before we tear this ship apart” Before he could answer he was once again grabbed and they made their way quickly through the water, it didn’t take long until they were side by side with the boat and barely a moment later he felt the both of them breach the surface where he was then thrown.

He flailed in the air, tried to get any semblance of control before he landed face first onto the deck of the ship, causing any and all movement onboard to cease as they watched him pick himself up.

He shook his hair slightly to get rid of some of the water, devilish grin on his face as he stared towards the captain. “Boys, I think it’s about time we had a mutiny don’t you?”

Barely a second later and carnage broke out, he managed to duck to avoid the sword that had just been where he was stood, quickly sidestepping so he could analyze the scene in front of him.

All he saw was fighting around him, he briefly noted how his crew outnumbered the captains, if only slightly, before a shout caught his attention, just turning in time to catch the sword Delirious threw at him before he jumped into the fray of the fight.

He managed to pull Satt out of the way from a sword that was where his throat was not a second earlier, he managed to slice someone from naval to throat before they could flank Wildcat and threw his sword towards Jiggly who caught it in time to block the sword that had just tried to slash him in two.

He could see that they were winning, most of the captain’s crew were now dead whilst most of his remained relatively unharmed, that was until he noticed Delirious in a fight with the Captain, and he could tell from the sloppy movements with his sword that Delirious was tired.

He ran towards them, only speeding up when he heard a shout from Delirious as the captain’s sword cut along his thigh, causing him to falter, allowing time for the captain to once again bring his sword up for the killing blow.

He barrelled into the captain, knocking them both off of their feet and the sword to go flying out of his hand. He was quick to land the first punch, ignoring the man struggling under him, he threw punch after punch until the captain was nothing but a bloody pulp below him.

He made sure to keep the man conscious, standing up from his motionless body whilst he gave Delirious a hand up off of the floor, his friend wincing in pain at the pressure he put on his leg. It wasn’t long before Jiggly and Mini came, putting one of Delirious’s’ arms over each of their shoulders before practically dragging him away to tend to his leg.

It was then that Tyler approached him, rope in hand which he graciously accepted, thanking him for his help before tying up the captain and carrying him, only to drop him in the middle of the deck, telling his friends to do whatever they wanted to him whilst he took care of business.

It was on his walk to the captain’s chambers that he felt fatigue hit him, the last 24 hours hitting him like a freight train as he stopped outside the captain’s door. He wasn’t surprised to find that it was locked, only after several attempts was he able to kick it open. A brief glance around the room told him that the merman supposedly here wasn’t in fact here.

He felt the deathly grip of panic in his mind, the thought of the merman waiting for him just outside these wooden walls sent a cold chill down his spine, so much so that he almost missed the faint sound of singing that was within the room.

He walked around the room in an effort to locate it, stopping in front of some kind of bookshelf where the song was loudest, it didn’t take too much effort to knock the shelf down, eliciting a secret room where he saw the merman in question within some kind of tank.

“Was that really necessary?” He looked towards the owner of the voice, he looked similar to the one he’d met except he was different, ethereal almost. There seemed almost to be a faint glow about him even in the dim of the cabin, that there hadn’t been with the others he’d met, and he could feel himself entranced. “I’m sure you tore that bookshelf down for a reason other than staring longingly at me?”

He shook his head slightly, coming back to himself as he stayed looking at the creature in front of him, he wasn’t as toned as the one he’d met or as scarred, but he still showed signs of battle, of calloused hands and shoulders that carried the weight of the world.

“You Ohm?”

“Congratulations, you win a prize”

Any enthrallment he’d had over the creature was now gone, not one to take someone else’s sarcasm so lightly he quickly made his way towards the tank, so he was face to face with him.

“Quit the sarcasm, I’m here to break your ass out”

“Break my ass out? I would’ve at least thought we’d have dinner first, I mean you’re a fine-looking man, but I have some standards” He heard the merman chuckle at his own joke, a sound that made him feel lighter than air for a moment until he remembered the urgency of their situation.

“Look I don’t have time for this, you’re friends out there want you back and if we don’t hurry they’re gonna break through the ship.”

Even through the water, he could see the creature in front of him pale at his words, the confidence he’d had not a minute before was completely replaced with fear. “I can’t go, they’ll kill me”

“Well that sounds like an issue for you to deal with, I ain’t lettin’ this ship go down”

“So that’s it then? You’re just gonna throw me to the sharks” He hummed in response before going back to the captain’s quarters, rifling through his chest for a pair of trousers before heading back towards the merman. “I’m your best bet for survival, do you honestly think they’re gonna let you guys go?”

“They swore to me, I was told that their word is their bond, so yeah they have to let us go but only if you go join them”

“You know that’s only true provided one of our laws aren’t broken in said bond”

“And? We ain’t breakin’ no laws”

“No, you’re not, but my race have kept themselves hidden for thousands of years, do you know why?”

“I dunno, you get sunburn otherwise” He was surprised to hear the small giggle from the merman again, the sound alleviating some of the tension he didn’t know he had.

“Our number one law is that land dwellers can’t know of our existence, and here’s a whole ship of people who have not only seen us but also been branded. This ship was doomed the moment you saw one of us” He was stood frozen, he had no reason to believe the creature in front of him, it could all just be a ploy to keep him alive but yet some part of him just knew he was telling the truth, that their fates were sealed regardless. “So, I reiterate, are you gonna give them what they want? Or are you gonna let me help you?”

“Shit” he whispered, rubbing a hand down his face before staring at the merman in front of him, and his decision was made. “We need all the help we can get”

Despite the sense of dread that filled him about the situation, watching the bright smile on the merman in front of him caused a flicker of hope to ignite inside him.

“Excellent” He stood there transfixed as he watched Ohm pull himself up and out of the tank, his tail shifting to a pair of reasonably toned legs and try as he might he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man striding towards. “Like what you see?”

He snapped out of his trance, immediately looking away from the creature in front of him as he held out the trousers for him to put on.

“Don’t tell me you’re shy” despite not looking at him he could hear the smile painted across the merman’s face as he spoke.

“Just put the trousers on will you”

He heard a sigh before he felt the trousers being tugged out of his grasp “Spoilsport”

“If we make it outta here alive I’ll show you just how shy I am” He doesn’t know why he flirted back, let alone at another species, but it sent a thrill down his spine, one he hadn’t felt with either man or woman he’d come across. He shot a smile and a wink towards the now smug looking merman before heading out and towards the top deck, knowing that Ohm wasn’t too far behind him.

On the top deck, his crew were mostly milling about, there was no sign of the captain but the trail of blood heading towards the edge of the boat told him what fate had befallen him. He whistled his friends to attention, all of them gathering around him in an instant.

“Everyone this is Ohm, this is who the mermen want but now we have to come up with a plan to save him and escape the bloodthirsty fuckers below us”

“What happened to giving him up? They’ll leave us alone if we give him up” There were a few shouts of agreement from the rest of his friends and at the sight of hands reaching forward to grab a hold of Ohm he quickly moved to intercept them.

“Cartoonz what the fuck. Don’t tell me you value this…thing over us?” He ignored Ohms shout of protest at the remark before facing his crew.

“They’re gonna kill us regardless if we give him up or not, you guys ain’t dumb you know it to be true, and our best shot is with Ohm fightin’ alongside us. You don’t like it you may as well jump overboard now and let the fuckers tear you apart” The silence that followed his statement told him that his friends had no objections to the change in plans, instead he moved from in front of Ohm to look at him in anticipation. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We have to go into the water” The sighs and grumbles he heard from his crew were almost comical and he was half tempted to join them.

“So, you want us to kill ourselves, right, well fat lot of use you were”

“I can only help you in the water, my powers are limited out of it, so yeah, if you want to survive we need to go into the water.”

******************************************************************

He doesn’t know how long they took making their plan, only that it wasn’t much longer before all of his friends were branded similarly to him, except not on their eye, Ohm had told him that whoever had done it must have been pretty sadistic.

Before they could do much else however the whole boat shook, everyone stumbling in an effort to balance themselves, he only stayed up because Ohm had grabbed a hold of him, pulling him up and making sure he was steady but his hands didn’t leave his body.

“Time’s up Luke, get your people to safety”

“How do you know-“

“No time now, I’ll explain later when you’re showing me just how not shy you are” Before he could say another word Ohm ran from his side, leaping over the edge of the ship and he could see his legs transform back into a tail before disappearing behind the boat ledge, the sound of a splash of water showing he’d made it.

Before he could do anything another jolt was sent through the ship and it was he who saved Delirious from falling before pushing him towards the other side of the boat that Ohm had gone.

“C’mon everyone, get your asses outta here” He made sure that everyone had left the ship, the creaking and cracking of the wood telling him it wasn’t a moment too soon before he jumped into the cold depths.

The moment he was in the water he heard a deafening shriek in the water, he tried to cover his ears in an effort to block it out, but it was futile, he’s sure his head would explode before the sound ceased entirely.

He wasn’t the only one, he turned to see Mini also removing his hands from his ears before they all started to swim in the direction Ohm had told them to go.

It was long and tiring, it had barely been a minute before he saw a merman grab hold of Vanoss, the man tried swinging his sword in vain, but the merman was quick to evade the slow strikes in the water whilst he started pulling the man downwards.

He tried to swim down to help when a blur of something passed him and he was met with the sight of Vanoss being thrown through the water towards him whilst the merman who had taken him was surrounded by a deep blue cloud, blood. He just managed to grab onto Evan when he was close enough to reach and, making sure he was okay, they headed off once again.

Ahead of him, he saw several of the guys in an outward circle trying to sluggishly fend off the merman with their weapons, every now and then one of the creatures would swipe at them, catching some part of their skin and causing them to bleed.

In the background he could see Ohm darting about in the water, he seemed to always have at least four pursuers on him, every now and then he’d dart past one of the mermen surrounding his friends, blood quickly appearing showing that Ohm had managed to injure said merman in some way.

Eventually, all of them made it into a group together, some of the more injured people, Delirious, Vanoss, Wildcat, were kept closer within the ring whilst the rest of them took the brunt of the attack. Despite somewhat keeping them at bay he knew it was just a game to them, they could easily overpower them and yet were content to play with their food.

He doesn’t know how long they were like that, all he knew was that he was tired, his swings having become even slower due to fatigue and the same was similar for his friends, he silently prayed for a miracle to save them as they still tried to keep the creatures at bay.

Eventually one of them got bored and he saw the mermen dip below their huddled mass, and from the shriek, he heard from Jiggly he could tell he’d been grabbed. After that it became chaos, all of them reaching out to try and get a hold on the man sinking ever lower, only causing them to expose themselves and making it too easy for the remaining merman to grab them and make the slow descent down.

Although underwater he could still hear the screams his friends gave, just as clearly as if they were on land, as they were forced further and further down. He briefly noted he was the only one that had been spared and tried as best he could to try and free his friends nearest to him.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you” He turned to see the merman who he’d first spoken to calmly floating beside him, he was quick to turn and raise his sword which didn’t garner any form of reaction from the creature. “Put that kids toy away, it’s no use down here” Despite his words he still tried to slash at the creature in front of him which was easily dodged. “Want to bet on your life on which of your friends die first? My money is on the Irishman down there”

He could still hear the screams of his friends and was helpless but to watch them descend further into the depths, although futile he tried once again to swing his sword, only for the merman to easily evade it before smacking it out of his hand. The creature's hand came to swipe at him and once again he caught it, barely holding it back before another high-pitched shriek rang through the water.

He saw Ohm swim by in a blur, seemingly unaffected by the noise whilst all of them, even the merman, seemed to be affected by it, causing the arm he was holding back to falter.

As soon as the sound was gone a series of large tentacles seemingly came out of nowhere, tearing the mermen off and away from his friends, catching one of the creatures and crushing it into two.

It was then that he saw a giant creature emerge from the depths below him, and if he didn’t know any better he’d say the myths about there being a Kraken were true. He didn’t have time to process that thought before even more tentacles reached out to the mermen still surrounding them, and while they were diverted his friends made the quick move upwards, a brief check for injuries showed nothing major, before they carried on their journey.

Ohm was quick to join them, a pod of dolphins following him, who were quick to grab a hold of members of the crew before dragging them off to some location only they knew. As he was traveling he looked at Ohm who was swimming beside him, despite the injuries and fatigue that seemed to be affecting the creature he was once again entranced by the way he moved through the water.

He quickly looked away when Ohm caught him staring, despite being in the water he heard the creature's voice crystal clear beside him. “You did well back there, not many people can hold out against one of us”

He let out a scoff at the comment “They were only playing with us, lucky that thing came when it did”

“Hey! Don’t be rude, Tiny saved your life remember” He didn’t know what to laugh at more, the defensive tone of the creature next to him or the name of the ginormous tentacled being he’d witnessed earlier.

“Tiny?”

“I didn’t think he’d grow that big” They both laughed together, before the sound dissipating with the water that passed by them as they made their way to safety.

**********************************************************************

When they got close enough to land the dolphins stopped to allow them to swim the rest of the way, having somewhat rested a little he made short work of the journey, noting how much slower Ohm was now traveling and how he seemed to physically be in pain.

Once stood in the shallows he helped his friends up and out of the water, where they made the short walk onto the sandy beach before collapsing again. Ohm was the last to come out, his tail having shifted to human legs again and he could see the struggle it took the creature to travel the small distance up the beach.

He strode into the deeper water, ignoring Ohm’s questions when he picked him up bridal style before carrying him back towards the beach and laying him gently onto the sand.

“How long can you stay on land?”

“Couple of days” It was then Ohm tried to shift himself and he could almost hear the wince of pain he gave, ignoring Ohms protests he started to push the creature around to find the source of the pain.

The most prominent injury he saw was a long, somewhat deep gash traveling down his thigh, whilst not immediately serious blue blood continued to ooze out of it and he could see Ohm getting paler by the minute.

“Why didn’t you say anythin’ you fucker?”

“I have advanced healing, nothing to worry about really” He didn’t believe the falsetto tone in the merman’s voice, and instead took off his shirt in order to press it down hard onto the wound to try and slow the bleeding.

“Mini?” The somewhat faint grunt he got in response was somewhat reassuring to him “You still got those med supplies?”

He waited what felt like forever until he heard back from the other man “Yeah but everything’s soaking wet, might just salvage some of the bandages if we leave ‘em out to dry”

“You got a needle and stitch?”

“Yeah, but-“

“Bring ‘em here, and get those bandages out, I’m sure some of the guys are gonna need ‘em soon”

Without another word, Mini passed him a needle and some thread, and without a second thought, he put the thread through the needle, tying the end before removing his shirt from the wound and pressing the two sides of the wound together. He cast a final look towards Ohm, fear evident in his eyes and he felt his heart sink in worry about the creature in front of him.

“You ever been stitched before?” He knew the answer before he asked, the shake of Ohm’s head only reaffirming that. With the promise to be back in a second he left Ohm and headed towards the small tree cover not too far away, it took kicking around the ground for a little while but he eventually found a stick large enough for his purpose.

He quickly returned to Ohms side before holding the stick towards Ohms' mouth.

“You can’t be serious”

“It’s gonna sting like a bitch, it’s this or ya’ tongue” He almost laughed at the look of disdain that crossed Ohm’s face before he grabbed the stick from him.

“Fine, but I thought you’d take me to dinner before gagging and touching me up” This time he did laugh a little, and the sound of Ohms laugh joining his once again made him feel light as a feather. “Just so you know my safe word is Tuna” with that he put the stick in his mouth and tried to relax as much as possible for what was to come.

He could only stare at the creature dumbfounded, a part of him wanted to laugh again but the other half was stunned into silence, he felt Ohm move impatiently under him and he was brought back to attention. “I ain’t even gonna ask”

Ohm only winked at him in response, he cast one final look before he once again held the cut together. He made short work of stitching the cut together, given his limited resources and his squirming patient it most definitely wasn’t his best work, but it’ll serve its purpose.

He grabbed his now ruined shirt that had been previously discarded and washed it in the seawater before walking back to Ohm and washing the wound with it. Once done Ohm was quick to remove the stick from his mouth, throwing it far into the distance whilst he made gagging noises.

“Don’t be such a baby”

Ohm glared at him briefly before moving his leg around a little to gauge how much he could move it, he didn’t manage to get it very far before he winced in pain again, letting the leg fall back onto the ground.

“Hurts like a bitch, you definitely owe me dinner after that” He chuckled at Ohm’s predicament, the creatures glare at him only lasting a moment before he started giggling as well. He offered a hand to Ohm who gratefully accepted it, and hauled him to his feet before carefully lifting him up again and carrying him to the tree cover.

“You saved our lives, you can have whatever you want”

The merman seemed to ponder on that for a moment before leaning up closer against him, leaning in to almost whisper in his ear. “What if I want to climb you like a tree?”

He took a moment to study Ohm to try and discern whether it was a joke or not, but by the devilish grin on his face he’d meant every word, and once again he felt that thrill of excitement again.

“What happened to dinner first?”

“I’m willing to make an exception this one-time”

“Oh, thank you, I must be pretty damn special for you to abandon your morals like that” They had now reached the cover of the trees, but he made no effort to move, instead content to just stand there holding onto Ohm who was just as happy to hold onto him.

“Something like that yeah” He tried not to think too hard about those words once they left Ohm’s mouth, not sure if he wanted to tackle the implications they held, instead they carried on standing there, staring at one another until the sound of people approaching broke their moment, he quickly dropped Ohm down on the ground before heading towards his friends and bringing those most injured under the shade with the merman.

Despite the fact that he’d barely had time to rest and truly process everything that had happened since he was first cast off of the ship, adrenaline still kept him moving. Assembling teams to go search nearby for resources whilst he tended to those who needed it, mostly it was just small scratches, but Tyler had a particularly nasty gash on his temple and Evan on his right arm where the merman had grabbed him, both of them needing stitches.

The small search had yielded little in the way of food or fresh water, but they did come back with dry brush and sticks that could be used for a fire, however, at least for their first night, he wasn’t comfortable in lighting one, not knowing what eyes were watching them.

As the sun began to set below the horizon everyone settled themselves down somewhere and made the effort to try to fall asleep. He doesn’t know how long he spent trying to sleep, only that the moon was high up in the sky until he heard a gentle voice barely discernible over the sound of the waves crashing on the beach behind them.

He instantly knew it was Ohm who was singing, the gentle lilt of his voice in a language he didn’t know helped settle him down, and for the first time in months, he felt truly at ease, happy to let the soft voice lull him into a peaceful sleep.

**********************************************************************

He woke to find a hand gently stroking through his hair, he wasn’t going to deny how nice the touch felt so simply pushed back into the touch before relaxing again, feeling the hand pause briefly before working through his hair again.

“Most of the guys have gone out looking for water” He wasn’t surprised to hear that it was Ohm next to him.

He could only hum in response, too tired to actually contribute to the conversation, which only earned a small chuckle from Ohm. “You always this grouchy in the morning, well afternoon now.” He simply hummed again, eliciting another small giggle from Ohm before they fell into a comfortable silence for a while.

“Can you take me to the water?”

“You’ve got legs, take yourself” He grumbled which only earnt a slight tug on his hair.

“But, I’m injured. Just imagine poor little old me hobbling slowly across the sand, maybe I’ll slip halfway and-“

“You’re such a little bitch” He didn’t need to see Ohm to know that there was a shit-eating grin spread across his face. He rubbed his eyes briefly before slowly rolling himself up into a seated position whilst he stretched his arms up high above him and let out a long yawn.

He noticed Ohm’s gaze travel down his still exposed abdomen before he stood up, holding a hand out to help lift Ohm up, where similar to yesterday he carried the merman into the shallow water.

Once deep enough Ohm was quick to escape his grasp, although not shifting into his tail he was still pretty fast in the water and it was a challenge to keep track of him until he eventually gave up, instead content to watch the waves far into the distance.

He was broken out of his train of thought due to water being splashed at him and he was met with the sight of Ohm holding a couple of fish in one arm whilst the other was preparing to splash him again.

“Here, take these to shore, I’m gonna try and catch a few more” Without another word he took the already dead fish from Ohm and lay them on a small rock nearby, leaving Ohm to the water before collecting the firewood collected yesterday.

It was surprisingly easy to start the fire, the leaves and twigs so dry that it didn’t take much to set them alight. Pulling the knife from his boot he made quick work of gutting the fish, using one of the longer sticks to hold it above the fire as it cooked.

It wasn’t too much later that Ohm joined him, five more fish in his arms before taking a seat next to him, both participating in light chatter as they waited for the fish to cook.

Just as the first two fish were done, some of the guys returned back, sullen looks on their faces, their search for water had so far been unsuccessful, some of the guys having decided to try and venture a bit further before making the journey back.

Despite their thirst they gratefully accepted the food that was offered them, they ate in complete silence, not wanting to address how they were going to survive here and instead making the most of what they had whilst they still could.

Darkness was starting to descend fast, they’d started going around the group and telling some of the more funnier stories they’d experienced during their years on the sea, Moo talking about a rookie who had gone to use the head only to be hit by a boon and cast overboard. After which Jiggly mentioned about how the chef on his last voyage had made a giant plate of fresh dried meats, with bread and fruits, only to trip and drop it onto the Captain, and finally, he regaled the tale about how Delirious had managed to somehow tip a galley over as they were headed to shore, needless to say, the other crewmembers weren’t impressed but he almost drowned due to the stitch he got from laughing.

As he’d finished his story and the others around the fire were laughing the rest of the crew returned, judging by the sour looks on their faces their search hadn’t gone too well either.

“There’s no fucking water anywhere on this goddamn Island” The booming voice of Wildcat caused them to turn, however he seemed to only get angrier at the sight of them, before angrily heading directly towards him “So our ‘captain’ gets to sit on his arse and be waited on hand and foot by this...thing” He waved a hand towards Ohm letting everyone know who he meant before continuing “whilst the rest of us actually try to find a way to survive. It’s a fucking joke, you’re not any better than the last guy”

He couldn’t stop his own rage rearing its ugly head at his words “I fuckin’ saved you, he fuckin’ saved you, you’d do well to show us some respect” He was now toe to toe with Tyler, the both of them staring each other down.

“There it is again, you’re fucking taking that things side again. Do we mean nothing to you, huh? The first thing that offers its ass to you and you’re willing to shove our faces in the dirt”

He couldn’t stop himself from pulling his arm back, but just as he was about to punch Tyler he felt someone grab hold of his arm, turning he saw Delirious holding his arm back and shaking his head in lieu of telling him to stop. At that he felt the energy and anger he’d felt drain out of him, his arm going lax in his friends' grip and he felt Delirious let him go.

“I get that you’re thirsty and hungry and tired, we all are, but fightin’ amongst ourselves ain’t gonna help us. I’m not askin’ for you all to like me, or Ohm, but the truth is he’s our best bet outta here” Silence followed his statement and he unconsciously let out a breath when Tyler stepped back from him. “I’m not askin’ ya to follow me to the ends of the earth, just off of this island and then you can all go and do whatever the fuck you were doin’ before we all met”

Everybody was looking at Tyler now, waiting to see what he did, and it seemed that they all collectively let out a breath of relief when he nodded and took a seat by the fire, taking one of the fish that had been cooked before sharing it with some of the guys.

He then turned to see Delirious and Ohm talking quietly amongst one another, at the sight of him Delirious stood and waited as he approached, once in front of him he put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently in thanks.

“Thanks for holding me back there Del, the two of us brawling would’ve just made things worse” He heard a small chuckle come from Delirious who put his own hand on his shoulder before speaking.

“Yeah, well someone’s gotta watch out for your ass.” He was surprised to feel Delirious tug him closer but leaned down slightly when his friend leaned to whisper in his ear. “He’s quite the catch ain’t he” He looked up over Dels’ shoulder to where Ohm was sat, staring out at the Ocean.

“Del we’re not-“

“Sure, you’re not” He then heard that infamous chuckle come from his friend and internally groaned at the rumors that would be spreading around the camp. “Just be thankful I ain’t making fish jokes or anythin’…yet” His friend started laughing again before giving him a final pat on his shoulder and making his way back to the campfire.

He stood there contemplating every decision that had kept Delirious in his life before a soft voice singing brought him back to attention and he looked down, not even realizing the small smile that graced his face as he moved to sit down next to Ohm.

“It’s a beautiful song, what’s it about?”

“It’s about a merman who was forced to wed a human to keep the peace between our people, and it lasted for many years until one morning the human woke up and realized she was in bed with a monster. In her hysteria, she stabbed the merman to death and then their children before finally killing herself to amend for the crimes she committed against her race. After that there was a war between the species, it was long and relentless, but the mermen didn’t have the numbers to keep fighting lest they face extinction, so they hid in the darkest depths of the ocean and that’s where they remain, too few to carry on the fight.”

“Alright not such a beautiful song then” He heard Ohm huff a laugh beside him, the both of them staring out at the horizon in front of them

“Nobody lives who remembers it, for all I know it’s a cautionary tale meant to scare young merman from venturing too close to the surface”

“Didn’t stop you” This time Ohm chuckled, and he turned his head to peek a glance at Ohm only to be met with hazel eyes staring back at him.

“What’s life without a bit of adventure though” He hummed in response, despite the intensity in Ohms gaze he couldn’t look away. “I’ve always admired you pirates, traveling across the world whenever you want, doing whatever you want. It’s just always seemed so free”

He sarcastically laughed before he turned back out towards the sea “It ain’t as glamorous as you make out”

“Well I know that now”

“How did you get to be in a pirate Captains cabin by the way”

He heard Ohm heave a sigh beside and he thought that he wouldn’t get an answer, but just as that thought crossed his mind Ohm started to speak. “I’ve been ‘captured’ for years, he just paid the highest price for me”

“I saw you jump out that tank yesterday like you were gettin’ out of bed, why didn’t you ever escape”

“I was scared” He could hear the vulnerability in Ohms’ voice, despite his human nature he was surprised that the merman could have such deep feelings. “I’ve been hunted down my entire life and being in that tank, I felt…safe. It was only a matter of time before they caught up to me”

“Why are they after you?”

“Power, not just ruling over the merman but actual physical power only bestowed amongst royalty. Whoever kills me becomes king and the power passes to them. With it, they could cause destruction not only in the oceans but on land as well”

“So, you killed the last king?”

“I did what I had to do, I don’t see the need to hold this petty hatred for humans like my kin has, without me your kind would have been destroyed long ago”

“Thank you”

As he said that Ohms' head darted to look at him, and in the darkness, he swears he can see tears forming in the merman’s eyes. “You’re the first person to say thank you to me you know?”

He didn’t have an answer for Ohm, instead he rubbed his hand gently up and down the merman’s thigh beside him as he stared back out at the horizon and that’s how he fell asleep, putting up no protest when he felt Ohm manhandle him until his head was in his lap and he felt fingers once again brushing through his hair.

“Goodnight Luke”

*********************************************************************

He woke up just before the sun rose, the rest of the crew were littered across the beach, some had fallen asleep by the fire and others under the cover of trees whilst some had taken to curling up on the sand halfway between the two.

He felt the burning in the back of his throat that demanded water he didn’t have, the oncoming’s of a headache making itself known, quietly hoping that they’d find some form of water otherwise tensions will only grow higher between the group of them.

He gently got up off of Ohm in an effort not to wake him before making his way towards the trees to start the search for water.

He walked around for hours, every now and then he’d knick a tree with his knife so he wouldn’t retrace his steps but as of yet, there was no luck. There was now a pounding in his head and the heat from the sun did little to alleviate it.

Just after noon he made his way back to the camp and was surprised to see everybody stood and surrounding Ohm, even from far away he could hear their shouts.

“What the fuck is goin’ on here?” His voice sounded across the beach and the voices were quick to settle down, they were quick to break away from Ohm as he approached, guilty looks on their faces.

“Cartoonz, please tell your friends I didn’t carry into the Ocean and consume you”

“The fuck?” Everybody turned to look towards Craig, Evan and Delirious, their faces red with embarrassment as they refused to look at anyone.

“What, it was a possibility” He barely heard Craig’s murmur and only rolled his eyes when he did before he turned back to everyone else.

“So, what I leave camp for a few hours and you’re having a witch hunt against Ohm? I thought we were past this guys”

“You were gone for ages, we had no idea where you were” Delirious spoke out and he felt a flare of guilt rise up in him.

“I was looking for some water, didn’t find any” Most of them let out a groan whilst others let out a curse.

It was then that Ohm stormed off towards the Sea, he heard some of them mumble about how he was abandoning them to their fate, he couldn’t help but feel his own flare of rejection at the sight of Ohm walking away but was quick to run after him.

He was quick to catch up with Ohm, the merman slowly wading through the water allowing him time to grab his arm to stop him.

“Ohm, what’re doing? Where are you going?”

“I ain’t going anywhere, I’m just saving your dumbasses again” He cast a brief smile towards him before pulling his arm out of his hold and walking out just a bit further until the water reached his waist.

He walked out to join him, intrigued at what the merman could possibly do to save them at this moment. First Ohm raised his arms up towards the sky before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. The merman was stood like that for a while, and he was wondering whether whatever he was doing was actually working until he saw Ohm start to shake and sweat where he stood.

Just then a clap of lightning sounded, and he quickly looked up and towards the horizon to see a series of dark storm clouds heading directly towards them. He could make out the lightning in the dark clouds, the sound between each set of thunder getting shorter and shorter, his trance at the storm heading towards them was only broken when he heard a pained groan beside him.

Turning to look at the merman, he was shocked at what he saw, he looked deathly white and visibly shaking that he looked on the point of collapse.

“Ohm, you can stop now, the storms almost here” Still there was no response, and he was quick to catch the merman who suddenly collapsed, but still Ohm didn’t relent from his task. “Ohm, stop it now, you’ve done enough” Ohm let out a pained shout, he was finding it ever more difficult to keep the almost convulsing man from collapsing “Ohm stop this shit right now or so help me I’ll fuck you up even more”

Just as the storm clouds started to pass over them Ohm fell limp in his hold, he was quick to lift him up and over his shoulder, making his way as fast as he could towards shore as cold, heavy rain started to fall over them.

When he got to shore he stopped briefly to allow Craig to determine whether Ohm was still alive and upon hearing he was he quickly headed up to the treeline to lay Ohm down under some form of shelter.

“You said you’d fuck me?” He let out the breath he’d been holding at the sound of Ohms’ voice but couldn’t help the chuckle that came with the statement.

“You outdid yourself this time Ohm” He felt Ohm once again fall limp in his arms and he felt panic surge through him “Ohm?” He shook him a little but still got no response “Ohm you better not fucking die” Again he shook Ohm and again there was no response “OHM!”

He ignored the circle his friends had created around the two of them, too intent on trying to get some sign of life from the creature in front of him.

“Wha?” The whispered word from the man in front of him almost reduced him to tears as he leaned down to rest his head on Ohms' shoulder, feeling the life under him. “I bust my ass to get this rain for you to drink…and you ain’t even drinking it. Go, 'm fine” He looked up to see Ohm give him a reassuring smile before trying with his weakened strength to shoo him away.

He cast one final look to Ohm who had settled himself into a more comfortable position to rest in before he turned to his friends “Well you heard him, drink up”

It was almost comical the way they stood in the rain, mouths open to try and catch as much as possible until eventually they got bored and started to cup their hands before drinking as much water as they could stomach. Even when they were full and on the verge of throwing up at how much they’d drank, they drank more and more until eventually, the rain stopped and even then they lay on the beach, too sluggish to make a move.

It was to all their surprise then that they saw Ohm stumble his way past them, he practically launched himself to his feet in order to intercept him, narrowly avoiding throwing up as he did so.

“Ohm, what the fuck are you doing, you need to rest”

“m’gonna save you guys”

“You already did, please Ohm, come back with me” He tried to plead with the merman, to physically block him but even in his tired state the merman still managed to slip by him until he was in the water.

“That waters gonna last you a couple of days and I don’t have the energy to do that again. Please, let me do this”

He’s now standing in front of Ohm, hands on his shoulders as he tries to plead with him to stay “Other mermen are still out there, they’ll kill you, I can’t-“

“You can think of them Luke, this is what’s best” He felt tears burn at his eyes and it’s almost like a vice in his chest, he knows that this is the only way for them to survive but it didn’t make it any easier.

“Can’t Tiny come and get you? He seems to handle things pretty well” Ohm’s answering smile did little to comfort him.

“He’s far too big to get anywhere close, and he’ll be followed, I’d be dead before I even got close to him”

“Ohm” There was so much he wanted to say and yet he didn’t know where to even begin.

“I’ll be back, I promise, you still owe me dinner” He huffed a laugh even as his tears began to fall down his face, closing his eyes when he felt Ohms' hands come up to caress his face. He felt the gentlest caress of lips against his own, so gentle it could almost be mistaken for a brush of wind. “Farewell Luke”

He opened his eyes as he felt Ohms’ hands leave his face, watching the merman dive below the water’s surface, his legs having turned back into a tail and he stayed there long after Ohms’ shadow had gone beyond his sight.

“He’ll be alright” Delirious’s voice startled him and he turned to see his friend beside him before his friend offered him a comforting pat, which turned into a hug. Normally not one for affection he craved it now at this moment as his whole being filled with dread at the thought of what could happen to Ohm on his journey.

With a final pat on his back Delirious let him go, offering him a final smile before heading back to land, he cast one last look on the horizon, praying to whatever God was listening to watch out for Ohm before he headed back to wait out his fate on the beach.

***********************************************************************

It’s four days until there’s any sign of life, besides them, near the island. Having finished the fish that Ohm had caught them two days ago they were not just hungry but were thirsty as well, having not drunk anything since the storm before Ohm left.

The didn’t notice it at first, the heat coupled with fatigue meant that they paid little attention to much else besides their own needs, but it was Mark that called out the ship first, frantically pointing to somewhere on the horizon until they too saw it.

It then became a mad dash of people, him and Tyler were busy trying to get a fire going, whilst everyone bar Mark and Evan who kept watch of the ship, went to retrieve leaves and twigs that would easily cause smoke when lit.

In their urgency it took them longer than normal to get the fire started, hands slipping and dropping wood before a fire could start when it should be second nature to them. Luckily it appeared that the ship was heading towards their direction, regardless the fire would make a good weapon should the people that came with it be hostile.

Once the fire was finally lit they quickly piled the dead brush on top, willing to suffer through the smoke in favor of watching it climb ever higher signaling their presence. It felt like hours before the ship seemed to be in any vicinity close to them, but there they stood eagerly waiting and watching it approach them.

When they deemed it close enough they started shouting, expecting to see members of the crew peer over to look at them, but no such thing happened. When there was no answering shout or sign of life on the ship he got an impending sense of dread.

He called everyone to arms, their swords were out only seconds later as they watched the ship lay down its anchor and slowly come to a stop just off of the shore.

“Friend or Foe?” He shouted, adrenaline surging through him and ready to unleash at a moment’s notice.

“Here I thought we were friends Toonzy” He stood there stunned as he saw Ohm standing up on the bow of the ship, even at this distance he could see the bright smile on his face.

“Ohm?”

“The one and only” His friends seemed just as shocked as he did, all still in fighting stances but with mouths agape at the scene in front of them. “Are you gonna come aboard or just stand there gaping like fish?”

It was then a mad dash towards the ship, all of them eager to get off of the island and onto some semblance of normal. He was the first to climb the ladder up onto the top deck, as soon as his feet landed on the wood he raced over to Ohm before wrapping him up in a tight hug.

“Told you I’d be back didn’t I?”

“Don’t you fuckin’ do that to me again you hear?”

“Eh…I suppose-“ Before Ohm could finish his sentence, clearly meant to taunt him, he leaned forward and pressed their lips together, made better when he felt Ohm kissing him back.

“Ugh, seriously guys. It hasn’t even been five minutes.” Delirious’s voice caused them to break apart and turn to look at him. “Keep your gross kissing to yourself, we don’t need to see that shit”

Ignoring him completely they turned back to each and once more pressed their lips together, he couldn’t care less what Del or any of his other friends thought about his relationship with Ohm, hell he didn’t even have an explanation for it, just knew there was nothing he wanted more than to keep the merman in his arms.

“Tyler, can you come sort them out, they’re bein’ disgustin’” He saw Tyler's head peer over the side of the ship as he reached the top of the ladder before climbing over the edge.

Tyler gave one look at them before shrugging his shoulders and turning to get a better look around the ship “Just remember we got kids on board”. At Tylers’ words, they pulled away, taking one last look at one another before he turned to look at the ship, wrapping an arm around Ohms’ waist.

“Where the hell you’d get this?”

“The Oceans a big place and I could have only the best for Captain Toonzy”

He snorted at the nickname but was also trying to play off the thrill that the title of Captain gave him.

“The crew?”

“On a ship somewhere” He turned to look at Ohm, shocked look on his face whilst the other man just laughed and gave a shrug “Tiny will watch over them”

He frowned at that statement, giving a final squeeze around Ohms’ side before heading back to the ladder and helping everyone else up onto the ship. Tylers’ shout of water had them all quickly heading below deck to get their fill before finally making a move to leave.

With Ohms’ help forming a little wind, they were quick to set off, feeling lighter with every mile they put between them and the Island that had almost become a graveyard.

That night they celebrated, they had the luxury of perishable food which they were quick to gorge on, he had Ohm by his side and by the way said mans hand was currently climbing higher and higher up his leg under the table, he wouldn’t be leaving for a while.

The next morning when everyone had some semblance of being themselves again he gave them the option of staying with him or offering them the chance to leave at the nearest port. He was surprised to hear them all choose to stay with him, that Wildcat had voiced his choice even before Delirious could.

********************************************************************

From then on their crew became one of the most notorious group of pirates on the seas, any who went against them didn’t tend to last long, rumors were quick to spread about threats in the water that followed their ship and would attack any who opposed them. Not that anybody survived long enough to be able to report the truth.

Most of the time Ohm was happy to travel with them, he enjoyed the company, and everyone had now accepted him as part of the crew. If he had it his way Ohm would be spending almost all of his time on the ship however the merman would always state that he still had duties to fulfill below the surface and for him to stop sounding like a pining woman.

When they were particularly unlucky they’d run into a group of merman eager to hunt Ohm down, whenever this happened he’d get his crew to bear arms, most of them with bows and arrows along the sides of the ship waiting for Ohm to bait the creatures up closer to the surface so that they could take their shot.

Normally him, Tyler, Brian, and Delirious would descend into the water in an attempt to help Ohm, whilst still not as fast as the creatures they were hunting, they were much improved from their first encounter with them. They’d even managed to save Ohm a few times when he was in a particularly tight spot, the creatures too focused on their goal meant that they were easily ignored, making it that much easier to sneak up behind one of them whilst they wrestled against Ohm to put a sword through their chest.

The last Captain he’d sailed under had been a disgraceful example of a human but as he stood at the bow of his ship, leaning forward into Ohms back as he let the wind whip at his face, he sent a quick thanks to him, for without him he never would have formed his crew, nor he never would have met Ohm.

He pressed Ohm closer against him, the merman happy to keep as much contact between them as possible whilst they watched the sun sink slowly behind the sea, content to stay there in each other’s arms until the moon was high in the sky.

#ohmtoonz #ohmwrecker #cartoonz #pirate au #loves when tumblr keeps giving me issues XD #anyway hope you all enjoy it #it was fun to make :D

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robalchemy · 5 years

Text

Coming Out Of The Empath Closet

Like most of these posts, I’m never really sure where to begin or how to lead in...But the title says it all; I’m an empath. So why write a blog post about this? Why make it public? Why make it a big deal? why even share it at all? Well, that last question is the biggest one I’ve been faced with most of my life. Why WOULD I share this about myself in such a close minded world? Why would anyone dare to allow the deepest parts of them out for all the world to see? It’s absolute insanity in our self-centered, closed minded, drive-through, fearful, dogmatic culture we call the western world in 2019. And I’m JUST bringing this out at the age of 35, so could you imagine trying to explain this to the school psychologists in the early 90′s? That would surely have been a one-way ticket to ALL the anti-psychotic drugs! Okay, so there’s a LOT to unpack here, so let’s just take it one spoonful at a time, yes? My biggest reason for bringing this aspect of myself out into the open is primarily for anyone else who’s in the same boat as me, but for a multitude of reasons, is perhaps conflicted by it. And believe me, I’ve been through ALL of these barriers time and time again. You never know what anyone will think. And this concept of normality and fitting in has been just pounded into us so hard for so long. Maybe you’re worried that your friends or family will think you’re crazy. Maybe you’re beginning to question your own sanity. Maybe people have TOLD you you’re crazy. Maybe people have put you down for it. Maybe people have made you feel like the absolute dumbest piece of shit that the face of the earth has ever seen for being so fake and ridiculous. Maybe religious people in your life want you to believe you’re all up in the devil. Maybe people have said it’s just a phase. Or that you’re fishing for attention. I’ve been to all of these places more times than I could recall.

And I WANT to tell you that this is all somehow not true, not real. I WANT to tell you that. But unfortunately, people’s judgments are VERY real, whether we like it or not. And so many of us can FEEL these judgments in so many ways. For me, I feel the intention other people have in conversation. I (more often than not) already know what their point is going to be before they’ve even finished the first sentence. I know when someone is lying to me. I know when someone’s trying to manipulate me. I even physically feel when someone is THINKING about me. (It feels like an extreme hot flash running up and down my spine and in my head.) So yes, judgement has, does and will happen. We can’t change that, nor is it our duty or right to change ANYONE. That’s not what any of us are here to do. So what should we do about both negative reactions or even just FEAR of negative reactions? Not a damn. Freaking. Thing. Which brings me to my second point of why I’m bringing this up: If we can’t be honest and true to ourselves, what CAN we be honest and true to? The truth here is that we all have the things and characteristics that make us US in this life. Would you be ashamed that maybe you have brown eyes? Would you shame someone else for liking ice cream? Of course not, it’s absolutely absurd! And these abilities that in truth, EVERYONE has - Are no different. These are just other characteristics of the way we are that are immutable. We can’t change them. We can’t delete them. So why not embrace them? That’s a question that would have made me VERY nervous even just months ago. In short, this is who I am. It’s who I’ve always been, since childhood. And it’s been a major factor in leading a VERY misunderstood life. Personally, I was VERY lucky to grow up in a family that was very open minded to these things. It’s not like I was identified as an empath and knew I was empathic when I was a kid. Back in the 90′s, that term was akin to ‘Witchcraft’ and late night infomercials for “JoJo’s Psychic Alliance Hotline for $5 a minute”. My Mom was strongly empathic, my sister is probably the strongest empath of any of us, and my Dad even developed some of his abilities later on in life, as well. (Although I’m probably closest with my Brother, but I really have no idea where he stands with any of this, and that’s completely okay too.) Growing up, my Mom always just described me as being very sensitive. And that really IS a very apt description. But she knew what I had from day one, whether she shared it with anyone or not. I’m not sure what my sister recognized in me at that time, but still, in some ways she could read me better than anyone. I also grew up OBSESSIVELY creative. And I haven’t changed even a little bit. This is a very common trait among empaths of all varieties - I don’t yet fully understand why, but somehow it also seems very fitting. As a creative soul, I can see possibilities that nobody else can. I can process certain kinds of abstract concepts intuitively and instantly. I can visualize almost to the level of hallucination, that’s how I always knew where to put the lines when I’m drawing. So even aside from all this empathic stuff, my brain was never wired “normally” to begin with. And growing up - The schools, psychologists and so many teachers saw this and insisted to my parents that something was wrong with me. I had to be “fixed” because back in those days, not fitting into the same box as everyone else was BAD. This was just the tip of the iceberg for a central theme in this life for me. So just for fun, I’d like to get into the specifics of some of the things I experience that maybe not EVERYONE else does. Since childhood, my main “odd” experience is that I feel the emotions and intentions of either those immediately around me, those I observe or those I interact with. This is actually the trickiest part of it all for me, because for decades, I had no idea that many of the things I was feeling weren’t mine. Can you imagine how screwed up that makes a person feel? The thing that made me aware and able to discern which emotions were and weren’t mine was...Well, it was freaking OBVIOUS once I began opening up to new perspectives. I knew I wasn’t perceiving the world incorrectly, yet my emotional reactions often did not remotely suit the circumstances I was in. I was just so used to it that it was just a part of life for me, and second guessing my own thoughts became normal. This caused me to repress it for so many years, but it never went away. It just kept getting more and more pushed down and compact over my lifetime until it reached critical mass and EVERYTHING I’d built up over this life began exploding out of me since it had nowhere else to go. I experienced this as chronic, severe long term depression and anxiety in recent years. That’s a long story unto itself that I’d rather not go too deep into, but the point is: Being THAT unhealthy and repressed nearly cost me my life. I became a borderline alcoholic, because that was the only way I knew to feel better. I also became obese. (Fun fact, in the last year, I’ve dropped ALL that weight!) And many times, I was borderline suicidal. I even went through several psychologists who were at a complete loss and fired me as a client because they couldn’t help me. Friends, THIS is what happens when we fall out of alignment with ourselves. This is why being true to ourselves goes FAR beyond a warm fuzzy sentiment. Now imagine being able to feel the intentions and emotions of anyone you direct your attention toward or interact with. Even through a screen. Now take a look around at the world we’re living in right now. It’s so disturbing and unspeakable to me that I don’t even want to go into examples, because even just tuning into the very concept of these negative emotions hits me so hard that I can feel it physically. And as much as I hate to say it, I live in Canada’s Arkansas. The part of the country I live in is Canada’s undisputed capital of bigotry, racism, xenophobia, selfishness and just fear driven hate in general. And I’ve lived here for 35 years. Just do the math on that and maybe you can begin to see how challenging it can really be just EXISTING as a person with empathic abilities. Now, the root word of ‘empathy’ is - You guessed it! So for me, this also goes the other way. When I see the VICTIMS of all this hate, I feel it exactly as they do. En masse. I can’t even begin to emphasize how strongly I feel it, and how much it hurts beyond what physical pain can offer. Because you can relieve physical pain sometimes, yes? This has created for me the challenge of even HAVING any faith or good will towards humanity when I can FEEL what we do to each other every minute of every day. Yet, in spite of all this - I’ve lived my life with an inexplicable and very deep sense of compassion and wanting to HELP this world, in spite of knowing what it’s capable of and the things we do to each other without so much as a second thought. I can’t even stomach how anyone can exist that way. On the flip side, I don’t come across genuinely highly positive people very often, but when I do - OMG WHAT A FREAKING RUSH!!!! I’ve never done cocaine, but that’s what I imagine it must feel like. Occasionally, I come across people who truly have the highest of intentions and hearts full of love and good humor. I feel it as soon as they approach me. When this happens, I get a very light headed rush, the world starts to look REALLY bright or “bleached” and the internal feeling is like a combination of excited butterflies in the stomach, an absolutely ELECTRIC surge throughout my entire body, very warm pins & needles that give me goosebumps, and I just instantly want to take this person, clone them 30 or 40 times and go to a party with only them. It is the starkest contrast I could imagine. So that’s the basic version. If we want to go even DEEPER into this rabbit hole, I would only tell you about the most recent MONTHS of my life. I can’t even begin to describe the work I’ve been doing on myself and where its taken me. (I will in the near future...) But in short, I’ve begun to accept, embrace and develop these parts of me. Well actually, they’ve kind of been developing themselves. So before, I was basically limited to the definition of a physical and emotional empath. In recent months however, I’ve been cracked so wide open that I’ve been experiencing things that I had no idea my mind was even CAPABLE of perceiving. To name just a couple - The degree of the sensitivities I’ve always had have increased ten fold. If I’m chatting with someone online, I can feel them to the point of their pulse. This is not an exaggeration. I’m willing to bet that some of my friends who are reading this right now are friends that I’ve been chatting with on messenger, and I’ve said something like “Okay, let’s change the topic because I just felt your heart rate spike and your adrenaline kick in”. (I actually feel much more than that, but I still want my friends to TALK to me, so I’ll leave it there for now!) I can feel the intentions and intensity of the energy of people around me in traffic. This tends to be not so much emotional, but rather I feel a spectrum of the quality of people’s energy from SHARP to GENTLE. Those are honestly the best words I can find. Not strong and weak, intense and mellow, but sharp and gentle. Another interesting thing I’ve noticed of late, is people will just randomly start pouring their hearts out to me. Perfect strangers, it can be just helping a customer at work or paying for gas at 7-11; And 2 sentences in, they begin rattling off their entire freaking life story. People give me EVERYTHING. Constantly. This used to happen occasionally, but in recent months, it’s been almost every day that I’m in public, often multiple times a day. This goes beyond just chatty people, it’s flat out rigorous. For me, this is kind of a trap, because once it starts - I can’t get people to stop even if I shout at them to shut up. (Not that I do, that one’s just an allusion.) I don’t understand exactly why this happens, but I have a faint idea that some part of people, probably subconsciously - Feel my receptivity and take it as an invitation to pour out everything they’re holding in. I’ve always been uncomfortable in large crowds. Hell, you don’t have to be even remotely empathic for this! Needless to say, this has also been taken to the extreme. But on the flip side, I can also feel nature every bit as strongly. Being in nature has become my drug in recent months. It takes absolutely everything in me that’s heavy, and replaces it with the most merciful rejuvenation and love that I think I’ve ever felt in this plane of existence. It’s like being beaten up at school by bullies all day, then going home and just crying in your Mom’s arms - It’s something I can’t even come close to putting into words. It’s sentient, and it feels me as I feel it. It’s beyond catharsis, it’s beyond being understood. That’s truly as close as I can get to describing it, I literally don’t have words for it. When I go walking in the ravine by my house, it feels like the trees are my oldest friends who know me better than I know myself. And they know exactly what I need and how I need it. 20 minutes among the trees does more for me than anything any human has ever been able to make me feel, with the sole exception of my wife. It’s unconditional mercy. And to think, I used to think this kind of stuff was for tree huggers...Well, maybe try actually hugging a tree, and see where that takes you! Like I said, there’s a LOT to unpack here, and I’ve only started to scratch the surface. But I can only type so much in one sitting, so I’m going to leave this post as it is here, save for a couple closing words for anyone who resonates with this... Again, the point here isn’t to show off these things or claim that I have something others don’t - We ALL have the exact same abilities to the exact same potential extent. Some of us are simply at different points along our own journey and evolution, there’s no rank to this or any sort of being above, below, ahead of or behind anyone else. We’re just all at different points of our own unique path, and no two among the approximately 8 billion people currently on this planet are the same. So truly, there’s no pissing contest here, so please don’t interpret it that way. The point is to simply SHARE for a couple purposes: To give anyone out there going through similar experiences validation and hopefully a bit of courage to embrace this aspect of their path rather than fear it, be ashamed of it or resent it. The second point is that in sharing this, I’m simply taking my own step towards being as authentic as I can be. This is simply who I am, it’s who I’ve always been. We can’t deny our truest nature and we should never be ashamed of it, and in putting this out there, I’m being true to myself so that hopefully others can be inspired to be true to themselves. Thankyou for helping me realize more of my own personal truth in sharing this with you!

#empath #empathy #intuition #intuitive #spiritual #spirituality #spiritualawakening #spiritualjourney

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brooklynislandgirl · 5 years

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[Lorcan and Beth] ❤♡❥ღ💕💘💝💓💌💟💙💚💜💛

Heart Eyes || -Selectively- Accepting

❤: who is more affectionate in public? in private?The biting. The scratching. The ambushes in alleys, the limping home afterwards to patch up the wounds. Every inch was a bloody war waged with little care for Collateral Damage, a phrase Beth has always hated. Whatever cruel savagery Lorcan came up with, she did her best to outdo him, feeling the magick in her veins boiling over.And behind closed doors? If anything, it’s worse. It’s brutal. There’s no affection in any sense of the word, she isn’t built that way any more and he never had been. Things are thrown. Words are snarled. If anything, there’s even less respect between them.

There was a term for it back during the age of sail… No Quarter Asked or Given.And for the life of her, she can’t make herself regret it.

“I…don’ unnerstan’ da question.”

♡: who is the bigger romantic openly? secretly?

A feral smile graces her lips.Romantic. As in Legions locusting their way across unconquered territories, decimating entire swathes of people, taking spoils in the form of exotic beasts and gold and slaves and wives, burning and salting the land as they go to ensure nothing rises up again in its place, supplanting the native culture with that of the Empire...oh yes, Lorcan is far more romantic than Beth.

But she’s always been a fast learner and he’s not getting away completely unscathed any more, is he? That leering smile of his is becoming a little harder to come by.

“I mean…depends onna day, really.”

❥: who is more likely to plan something big for valentine’s day?

For Valentine’s day, he’d gotten her an box of candy hearts. More correctly it was a box of human hearts cut into bite sized bits and dipped in some kind of spicy, dark chocolate coating.Andy was tasked with the manhunt for the killer who left no less than twenty heartless bodies scattered across New York City. After weeks of no leads, a special unit of the FBI had come in to take over the investigation. She only belatedly realised it had been a Technocratic cabal, and that their mission had been to sanitise the situation. At least that was the rumour. She almost had to laugh because they’d never find him. And her brother looked incompetent.

Maybe that was the best gift of all.

And what did she give him in return? She kept his secret.

“Absolutely Lorcan.”

ღ: who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public?

She snatches at his wrist. Coils fingers around it like vines and holds it in an iron grip. A flick of her thumb and there’s a razor thin slash across the softer skin and his blood flows free. There’s a moment of surprise in his eyes before they narrow on her and he bares his teeth. A promise threat to be consummated at a place and a time of his choosing. She doesn’t bother to apologise.

She soaks her fingertips in his viscera and makes a design on the brick wall. Something eldritch and arcane in a language that…wasn’t. He’s intrigued and she knows it. And when she pushes on the last brick and the wall dissolves into green mossy woods that haven’t existed in more centuries than even he can fathom, she knows she’s got him completely. So what does she do?

She digs her claws in deeper. Until they’re deflected by the actual bones in his arm before she rips them away.And then? Then she slips through the portal…and she runs.“Dis one gonna hafta say is really all me.”

💕: who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people?

She almost chokes on the word. She’s sure if he were in her place…but no, he wouldn’t have allowed such an interrogation. What they have…what they do isn’t love. It’s not even close. It’s…necessary. It’s nature at it’s darkest aspect, the survival of the fittest, and they haven’t yet figured out which one was going to walk away, and which one wasn’t.“Nex’ question.”💘: who developed a crush on the other first?

She can’t quite remember. It’s like waking up from a vivid dream but the second your eyes open it all starts to fall away until all that’s left are the emotional impressions and none of the imagery. But she’s sure that the accusation was that Lorcan had been born out of the loss…of a woman she might have been lifetimes ago. That he’d been a consolidation of agony and grief and a rage so bright, so pure, that it threatened to destroy everything around it. But Beth? She knows that’s a lie. A beautifully and tragically created one. “I guess ya could say…him.”

💝: who spends more time (possibly overthinking) what presents to get the other?

Again, she laughs. What do you give a god when you worship…nothing. When your belief in all things has thinned so much that you’ve become an impenetrable island of your own making? He leaves her ever increasingly disturbing gifts, usually of the organic and very much bloody kind. She leaves him new scars without a thought. And what she really wants from him? He withholds. Toys with the promise of it. Enraptures her with the idea of just how easy, just how quick he can make it all…then dances away before she blinks.

He makes her scream.Someday, she’s going to make him cry.“We both do, in our own ways.”

💓: who initiates most physical contact?

It happens. Every. Single. Time. The second he gets a chance, he slips in behind her. Cuts into the hinge of her jaw with claw or fang before running his tongue along the brittle edges of her and up to her ear. His breath hot and damp like a tropical storm waiting to happen. Pushing. Always pushing. Trying to get a rise out of her and she never fails to disappoint him.

And for her part? She’s learned how to cut and run, both figuratively and metaphorically. Guerrilla tactics because she can’t stand toe to toe with him despite all of her magick. As he likes to point out…she isn’t an Oracle yet, and he doesn’t have to obey a damn thing. So she gets as close as he lets her and uses tricks. Poison here. Cold iron there. Her own natural fangs and claws honed to razor sharpness.

And sometimes… well, anomalies happen. The time she soothed a palm across his back because his grief was more painful than anything she could do. The time he watched over as she slept off the worst effects of someone else’s assault, and feathered his fingers through her hair.

“Take turns, really. Maybe da mos’ normal kine about us, really.”

💌: who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other?

Luka shows up on her doorstep, half drunk and half maudlin. There’s new bruises. There’s cuts and healing bones. He’s exhausted and doesn’t put up a fight when she lets him in ~some day, he’ll use the door~ and she can’t help but wonder if he uses the fire-escape because the rickety old thing is technically cold iron. She peels his shirt off slowly and trails her fingers along the wounds which some are already half healed. She patches up what isn’t and narrows her eyes behind his back, as she’s staunching a particularly deep cut. To anyone else, these would look like self-inflicted wounds. She knows better.And the longer she ignores him, the worse it’s going to get.“Uhm. I guess…you could say it’s Lorcan.”

💟: who spends time reading their zodiac compatibilities?

“Seriously? For reals?! Yeah, go ahead. Make one single moon joke. I dare you.”💙: who is more protective?

‘Lorcan, please.’He was going to do it. He was actually…going…to do it.Her heart squeezed itself in her chest and she couldn’t draw a breath.

He hunkered down over the edge of the roof, one arm extended outward. From his tenuous grasp, his claws sank into her brother’s throat, and Andy dangled at his whim, hands clutching desperately at Lorcan’s forearm. Andy’s face was turning shades that she couldn’t even begin to describe, the veins in his brow pulsing with adrenaline and for the first time she can remember… there was genuine fear in his bloodshot eyes.

‘Jus’…pu’ him back onna roof, please…ya no can…’For a moment he turns his head back over his shoulder. Glares at her with a madness in his eyes that surpasses anything she has seen before. They gleam lambent in the moonlight as he snarls at her, strands of saliva spanning the space between his fangs.

‘Please? Jus’ dis once. F’ me?’

She’s absolutely certain he’s going to let go and this time nothing she can do will keep her brother from splattering over the pavement seven storeys below.That multitude of voices he speaks with sends ice down her spine. She barely catches the words over the choking sounds Andy’s making again.

‘Ye e'er be touchin’ ..e'er be lookin’ at ‘er any way bu’ proper princlin’…oi’ be givin’ ye o’ repeat o’ who burned ye kingdom an’ e'erd'in’ ye loved ta d'ground around ye corpse.’Beth shivers.“Definitely Lorcan.”

💚: who tends to get sick more often? who is better at taking care of the other?

The moon’s turned again, hiding its light from the world. The tides are at their lowest, sea and blood alike, and he’s fallen victim of his own melancholy. He never talks about himself in these moments, but what is otherwise so terrible and fierce, grows thoughtful and full of sorrow for these three nights. She doesn’t have to look at the sky beyond his hollow to know this. And what can she do but sit there quietly. Let him rest his head in her lap and stroke those fiery strands away from his face. This is the closest that Lorcan gets to sleeping, to dreaming, all of him curled up protective of his own ribs and internal organs, eyes barely slitted open and surely unseeing.

It’s not a sickness either, but maybe it is. A malady of the mind. Whatever it is, she’ll watch over him those nights. And she won’t speak of it afterwards.“Me.”

💜: who said “i love you” first? or, if neither has said it yet, who is more likely to say it first?

“He calls me Beth.”

💛: who believes in soulmates?

The door slams open. It makes the Man in White’s face pale because there was no alarms. No screaming. No sound of chain-guns firing through the corridors. He starts to stand up and in a blur of motion, faster than her eyes can track, there’s a flash of shadow. A slick, wet sound that ends in a gurgle.The Man in White is now soaked crimson, and some of the arterial spray splashes across her face. She watches almost dispassionately as the body falls in two separate pieces.

For just a split second, she thinks he’s actually going to leave her there. The leer on his maw suggests it, dripping red and wide in a close approximation of a smile.

“Raicleach.”She narrows her eyes.“Maugrim.”

Primium shackles were designed to bind the changing breeds. To ward off ghosts and hamper fae. To counter a mage’s Sphere Magick and prevent them from working their will. They weren’t meant to be proof against the divine.She rubs at the raw flesh of her abraded wrists.

“What took you so long?”“Were ye poi'nin’ o'way d'loss o'me?””No.”“Good. Now, move yer arse, woman.”

#whosxafraid #Shadow Wolf|Lorcan Mac Lugh #The Darkening of the Light|Lorcan and Beth #A Grim AU Faerytale #Pretty much none of this is safe for work #Read at your own peril

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elastigirl72 · 5 years

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Day 21: Shkoder>Lizbahd

620km to go...I’m finally in the mountains!

7 May: Shkoder 07:27am

Given I am a certified and ex practicing sports and rehab massage therapist who still actively promotes stretching and regular massage for active people, lying in my €35 spa having the massage of my life, I was alarmed to fail to recall without some effort my last similar session. It was well over a year ago. Also apparent was my failure on good, regular stretching. I’d been on a cycling yoga week last year, trying to will myself into better self-care with the lovely Sinead, cycling yoga star in Ireland. I am proud to have kept a few of hers, which should only be done in the confines of privacy as they could be taken as some sort of lap dance in the wrong setting. I have my own MASH stretch which I have to say is pretty damn awesome 😊. This young lady, who combined this job with school was one of the best therapists I’ve stumbled across, including myofascial release as part of her treatment. Weirdly, even knowing I was a cyclist, time ran out before she got to my quads. I paid her extra and she spent a good 15 minutes on each, each stroke reminding me how much abuse my legs had taken, largely over the last few weeks. I didn’t train hard for my adventure, and this was by design. Looking at my training log, you could be forgiven in thinking that I might have retired completely from cycling in November, only seeing an ember burning almost undetectable in January. Then, one dark, wet, typical Forest Saturday morning, making Kalamata olive ciabatta toast, I wondered “Where exactly is Kalamata?”. About an hour later, I not only knew where, I’d booked a return flight, and figured out a 2,200 mile route there in April, how long I’d ride each day, and about 1000 permutations of getting there. This was it. It was set. Only it wasn’t. Work threw in the possibility of a work event a day after I was due to fly back...and 3 days before setting off, it was confirmed as Istanbul.

Flying home from Kalamata on 11 May and back to Istanbul a day later would have meant a minimum of 16 hours travel doors to doors. The options I considered were to fly home, cycle to Istanbul, charter a yacht (yes, seriously, I did look into this!), get a bus from Athens to Istanbul (no pre-booking possible for the bike). After much deliberation, cogitation and planning, Athens won, with my bike case and work clothes being shipped to a hotel I booked on hotel rewords points. It seemed fitting too, as I’d never made it to the Athens Olympics as an athlete, but I got close, and next to qualifying, this trip is the biggest sporting conquest I’d attempted. It would be great to finish my ride at the Acropolis, but let’s see...thinking about how close I got to being an Olympian still is a bittersweet memory. Less than two minutes, a toilet stop in fact, and just a little bit faster and I’d have been there. But what I take from trying is that even though I ran my first marathon when I was 18, and didn’t think I was any good at running (this left it in the past until the months after my mum died in 1998, and from that event and to this day, sport has been my Lynch pin in coping with and celebrating life’s rollercoaster), I qualified as a mum o two young children, who to this day, probably still don’t see what hard work went in, and may well believe if you dream it, you can do it. It’s not a bad philosophy to have! That and blessed with good genes 😊.

And yet all so laughable! Here I sit, waiting for breakfast, the barista chuckling at my need for a third cappuccino (they’re tiny really, but delicious, and I giggle too, explaining I’m very tired 😆). I need it, it’s a big day today.

I’ve decided to cycle into the mountains, towards Pogradec, a village or town by a mountain lake. To check the route, I’ve planted in Athens a billion times and plotted by car (avoiding motorways, ferries and tolls) and by foot, put a pin in what looks like a country lane or a busy road to check the road conditions, and loosely made a plan: get past Tirana and head South East. It looks like I’ll spend another two nights before hitting Greece. Dare I say it, but the weather forecast and maps look fairly decent, but for now, the gear stays stuck on my back...

May 9: Librazhd - 05:19

Well, so much to digest from the last 40 or so hours in Albania. There’s still around 120km here to cover, and if my bike and body survive, we will make Greece today and my bed in Kastoria in around 100 miles...another big day - in the mountains.

In just 120 miles in this country, I have seen so much. The good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. Hearing that this is one country my pioneering explorer dad has not visited (I think this is a lifetime first between his coverage of the globe and mine) because its borders were closed when he ran is Overlander business, and learning from a Roman Empire history documentation that whilst the Roman Empire ruled all of the Mediterranean, except Albania, leads me to believe this country has an incredible past, and I need to investigate.

I learnt that Albanians have an industry built on roadside trade, most notably, car washes, petrol stations and attached to every petrol station, a hotel. Most of the people visible in daylight appear to be men; I barely saw a woman, either in the villages or city, and as a woman, this felt quite overwhelming, for no other reason than the imbalance. It meant that whilst the multitude of coffee shops were on offer, I didn’t want to stop. Already looking like an alien dropped from space, putting myself directly amongst gangs of rugged men who seemed to have nowhere to go and nothing to do was too much. That’s just me! But cycling past the many who stood at the side of the road and had stopped doing whatever they were doing, if in fact they were doing anything at all, they stood frozen, eyes and mouth agape. In no other country have I passed through have I had so many positive shouts and I guess, encouraging comments (for all I know they could have been shouting “loser!”). The contrast between those that have and have not was huge.

The road surfaces were very curious. In most places I’d visited, as you entered a town or city, the roads in Europe would be pothole free and markings better than the surrounding country roads. But in Albania, any town or city, the roads dissolved. A network of potholes you could disappear into and a patchwork of concrete “plasters”, and for no apparent reason, countless and pointless road jumps, unmarked, without any warning, which all cars, bling or ancient, rolled over so slowly, as if dampners and suspension were extinct and they had to maintain what they had.

Tirana, Albania’s capital, brought all my observations to a massive climax. Any Highway Code had not been introduced, and for a long time I decided they needed traffic lights at the very least (they did eventually appear). I saw the most insane driving I’ve ever seen in my life, making the film Ronin look like a police training video on how to drive safely around a city. At no other point during this trip had I felt as petrified for my safety as here. Checking my options at the worst point, I stopped at an intersection where coaches pulled up and double parked, a large verge, covered in mud, waste and men, sitting between and on it, police standing close, travellers trying to wheel suitcases over uneven verges, and me needing to make a decision on how the hell to get it out with my life. Google suggested what looked like the motorway, which started at this same junction. I confirmed with the police standing close by and they confirmed I could ride my bike on this road, and stopped the traffic to let me go. It was Russian roulette, but as soon as I hit the ring road’s massive hard shoulder, I felt my life had been saved and escape was nigh.

7km later, and I had reached the mountain road, SH3, the old Elbasan Road, replaced by the recently completed A3 that ran parallel. Order restored, the road started to climb. Given this was recently a major thoroughfare to the mountains, I wondered what would happen to the many restaurants and hotels that flowed with the road, through villages up towards the sky. It was quite haunting, and the stray dogs began to reveal themselves again. Children waved and one even raced me up a section, whilst another shouted “Hallo! Have an enjoyable day!” The climb was amazing, good road, and it felt like I owned it. I saw three cyclists in all, all heavily laden with panniers. I past cheerily one octogenarian going up and two coming the other way going down. It’s easy to see why they built a tunnel to take cars through the mountain, but it was their loss and my gain.

Here, in the land where I have seen more people walking their cow than their dogs, who in turn, run free , civic pride does not exist for what I have seen of Albania so far. It contrasts the most breathtaking landscapes, and shows diversity to the rest of Europe, yet fly-tipping is common, expected even, and mounds of wrecked cars are all to frequent. There are many ruined buildings and near Lehze, I passed what can only be described as a ghost town and factory, which was really sinister. Is this down to a poor state and government? Clearly there are people here who have wealth but the overriding feeling is this country is poor. It wants to be western but can’t quite bridge the gap. I feel very keen to explore its history.

Approaching the top of the mountain, which seemed like the top of the world, I happened upon the most cunning canine skullduggery I’ve ever witnessed. The mountaintop restaurant invited guests to it for 6km, and it was a real possibility that I might drop in. But as it appeared, there appeared to be a dead dog lying in the road directly in front of it, with two more dogs lying in wait to the side. Feeling both sad, but also danger, I pedalled slowly and quietly, not wanting to alarm the dogs to my side, and hoping to pass the dead dog without seeing too much gore. Then, just as I ran parallel, BOOM! he was up, his mates joining him in charging for me, up the remaining mountain! Luckily, I’d anticipated this ambush, and put down the biggest power of my life, as if being chased by a bear. I escaped, but my god! How brilliant of these stray masters of terror? Please, no more like this!

The climb was the day’s highlight, and telling myself that whatever hotel arrived at 100 miles, that’s where I was staying. As if my magic, a petrol station and a Swiss chalet looking hotel.

There’s not much to say about this place, except a stark contrast from the same priced oasis I had stayed at near Shkoder. Here, the food was bland and sparse, and the staff didn’t care as much as my last hotel. At Launi-A, seeing how much food I had put away the night before, at breakfast, they just kept bringing basket after basket of food! That hotel and its staff will keep me going for many years to come as the nicest surprise, and a great introduction to Albania.

And now, breakfast. A lovely Albanian who speaks good English and has lit the fire me and I have amazing coffee. It will be a good day! Ξεκίνα 😃 Even here, this far south, there’s snow on the mountains ahead! Titanium by David Gueta and Sia playing on the empty restaurant speakers...bring on the day 🌈

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chmerkovskiyvalentin · 6 years

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The Facts of Life alum Nancy McKeon will show off her twinkle toes with professional partner Val Chmerkovskiy when Dancing with the Starsreturns for its 27th season on Monday night. McKeon is the second member of the popular ’80s comedy to take to the ballroom floor. Kim Fields partnered up with Sasha Farber for season 22 — and she encouraged Nancy to just say yes.

“She had the best time, and she was awesome,” Nancy tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “She said, ‘Have a great time, enjoy every day, and just really, really strive to have the journey be fun because it’s a lot.'”

Kim wasn’t the only one who encouraged Nancy to step out of her comfort zone. She put it to a family vote.

“I think I would’ve said no again because it’s terrifying, but they said, ‘No, we really think that you should do this and it will be something good for you.’ I was thinking about it, and it’s a challenge. It’s completely outside anything that I have ever, ever even considered doing, and so, I guess we all have to terrify ourselves every now and again.”

Nancy also talks about spray tans and sequins, The Facts of Life reboot, how her former co-stars are like sisters, and joining social media.

You’ve been asked to do DWTS before, why is the time right now?

I think because my kiddos are a bit older, you know? I’ve been staying home. I wanted to selfishly have that mom time. You never get those years back, and they go so quickly. I can’t believe my eldest daughter is already 14. It’s only a few short more years before she’s off doing her own thing. I’ve been just enjoying them so much, but this came up, and it was an interesting time. They were so nice to ask again.

Besides Kim, have the other Facts of Life ladies weighed in?

They did. They sent me some great messages and lots of love. We’ve been friends for so long. Gosh, Lisa‘s [Welchel] been out to where I live so many times, and we all see each other when we’re in town, or whenever we can get together. They’re my sisters, you know? Forever, and they’re so supportive. I think they secretly are also having a smile because they know it’s outside anything I would ever do.

Do you have any dance experience at all? You keep saying it’s outside your comfort zone, but did you do any kind of dancing?

When I was little, but we won’t talk about how many years ago that was. That was a different lifetime. I loved to dance when I was much younger. I took some ballet and tap dancing, and we’d go to jazz class and stuff. I certainly have never danced like this before, and trying to learn how to keep up with these amazing dancers … my partner in particular. They’re part really crazy pro-athlete and then they put all this amazing beauty in the dance form with it. It’s a giant master class every single day, so we’re just trying to make that portion of it fun because there’s so much to learn.

Your character Jo was a tomboy. How are you going to cope with sequins and spray tans?

I have to say this family that they’ve got going on at Dancing with the Stars is incredible. It is an immaculate machine. They take care of you. They are kind. They talk about everything that’s going to happen with you, and you know the ladies and gentlemen, especially in makeup and hair and wardrobe, really are incredible. They want you to be comfortable.

They want you to look and feel your best. From day one, they accommodate you. It’s, “How can we help you feel great?” Actually when people are that kind, it makes you feel good, and they make you beautiful clothes, so, I think it’ll be fun. It’s something that outside of a dress-up event in our business, it’ll be just a great and cool thing to see how I can dance in this outfit or two.

You mentioned Val briefly. Can you expand on what kind of a teacher he is and how you guys are working together?

He really is an amazing teacher, an amazing dancer, and he’s so patient. When I say, “I really just need to drill this bit to really understand it,” we’ll go over it and over it and over it, and he talks to me about it. He is always saying, “Okay, if we do a little this, a little that…,” he’s putting color into how to form the moves.

On top of that, we’ve become really great friends. He’s just fun and funny, so we laugh a lot. I really feel that he’s got my back, he’s so supportive of me and this experience and wanting us just to go out there and have a great time and show what we can do, so I want to work really hard. I don’t want to let him down or the multitude of fans that he’s had for so many years, you know? I must be worthy.

How long have you been rehearsing and are you still sore? Any twisted ankles?

Oh, heavens, yes, very sore. It’s only been a couple of weeks. That’s a very short amount of time to try and get up to speed and to keep up with these amazing professionals, but every day, no matter how hard it’s been the day before, we just try to reset, go in there and be as positive as possible and start over, so I appreciate that. It’s the work ethic that I’ve always used and try to teach my kiddos. It’s a new day, a new opportunity. Have a great attitude and walk in there and just try your best, because, as I try to teach them, at the end of the day, if you really feel you’ve tried your best, then you can sleep well.

Are you having dreams about tripping or wardrobe malfunctions?

No. No. No. No. No. No. Don’t. No. No. You have to envision what you want to see, so, no, I run through the routine in my mind, and we crush it. So, no, it’s got to remain in the positive lane and just got to keep going. No, you can’t focus on any of that. Manifest Destiny.

You haven’t been on social media. Is that going to change doing this show?

Yes, it has. I am actually being schooled in the last few weeks. It’s my first week and a half on social media and it’s a very interesting thing. I have to say I’m astounded as to how people keep up, you know? It’s a lot, and in the same breath, it really is an extraordinary thing. People have taken time out of their day to either wish me well, or say hi, or we’ll vote for you. It’s really quite a different experience than I thought that it would be. I’m amazed at the kindness and the reaching out from such lovely people, so, so far it’s been really good.

I took quite a bit of time away, too, because I started working at 2 and I had my kids in my late 30s. It was a long time. I have been so blessed that I’ve been able to make a living doing what I love, but in the last while, I’ve just taken time away and focused on my girls and replenished. Now, to kind of walk back in, gingerly, or dance back in if you will, I’m overwhelmed by the kindness and the love that people genuinely share. I’m really humbled by it all, to be frank.

So, what do you think about the idea of The Facts of Life reboot?

You know, I don’t know. No one’s spoken to me, but always happy to listen.

It’s been a while since you last acted. With your kids are getting older, is Dancing with the Stars is a way back into the public eye? Any thoughts of acting again? The last time was the Lifetime series.

The Division, yeah. I was pregnant at the end of that with my first daughter. Obviously, acting’s always been such a big part of my life, and as moms, we’re there for our kids and our family. I have an amazing husband, but there is that other side that we have to not send away completely, so I think this is about getting to know that side again.

I think I definitely am ready, and my girls are older and supportive of my coming back and, hopefully, being part of something great. It’s so amazing to be able to take a character and over time develop that character and see where the story goes, as I’ve been able to do on Facts of Life, The Division, and a few others. It’s something I just love to do and so definitely want to step back into doing that.

Dancing with the Stars premieres Monday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

#nancy mckeon #val chmerkovskiy #dwts #s27 #val x nancy #interviews

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youcancallmeelle · 6 years

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Pleasant Surprise // Hungry Eyes prompt: Part 1 of 2

Read Hungry Eyes here

I wasn’t stupid; I knew when something was up with Rosie.

I was immediately suspicious when I’d find her hunched over the toilet and throwing up everything she’d consumed, always in the early evening.

She also refused to let me anywhere above her waist which was also a massive giveaway, combine those two symptoms with the fact she hadn’t sent me out for tampons in over two months then it was a pretty clear indication that something wasn’t right.

This had been happening for the last two weeks and tonight was no different; I’d put Freya to bed and found her leaning over the toilet.

I rushed to pull her hair from her face, she spluttered and heaved into the porcelain bowl.

“You good?” I asked her once she’d finished gagging; she made a noise and shut the lid; flushing the toilet and taking a seat on it with her head down and between her legs.

“Stupid food poisoning.” She muttered, rubbing her face.

“Funny how this food poisoning has lasted for two weeks and seems to strike at the same time everyday, if I didn’t know any better then I’d say you were pregnant again.” I accused, she shook her head rapidly and pushed me away so she could stand up.

“No, it’s definitely food poisoning.” She shot back, rinsing her mouth out with toothpaste and glaring at me through the mirror.

Rosie left the bathroom with me on her heels; she strolled into our kitchen to begin tidying up.

“Hey, fancy a beer? Wine? Rum and coke?” I tested, crossing my arms and facing her from behind the counter.

“No thanks, I’m not thirsty.” She replied, shooting me a look and beginning to spray down our counter from where we’d had dinner as a family.

“Right, so it’s not because you think you might be pregnant?”

“Nope.”

It wasn’t hard to decipher that she was lying through her teeth, we’d been together long enough and I’d spent enough time with her to know when she was talking out of her backside.

I decided to try another approach, one she usually couldn’t resist.

“You know, I’m so up for some sexy time with you.” I told her in the huskiest voice I could muster, stalking around the counter to wrap my arms around her slim waist.

I began pressing kisses along her shoulder and over the curve of her neck, my hands glided under her jumper and up to her boobs, she pulled away before I could touch them and I smiled triumphantly.

“I’m not in the mood.” She dismissed, continuing to potter around our kitchen.

“That’s how I know you’re lying, you’re always in the mood. Are your boobs hurting by any chance?” I pressed further, tilting my head and watching her bite her lip anxiously.

“Okay, Sweets! You win!” She quietly yelled at me, throwing the rag she’d been using in my direction. “There’s a good chance I’m pregnant again.”

“You think so?” I scoffed; she looked at me guiltily as I stalked out of the kitchen to grab from keys from the small table in the hallway.

“Where are you going?” She called after me; her arms limp at her side while I pulled my jacket on.

“To the drugstore!”

I left Rosie at home and drove to our nearest drugstore; I was beyond over faced when I found myself in the aisle that was stacked with a multitude of condoms, lube, ovulation kits and pregnancy tests.

There were tests for an early response, digital and even a fancy kind that told you how many weeks you were; I recognized this type from when Rosie had discovered she was pregnant with Freya. I scratched the back of my head as my eyes wandered over the different options, who knew there were even so many?

I shrugged and grabbed a box of two; I took them to the counter and promptly threw some notes at the cashier in my need to get home to Rosie.

When I got back she was sat at the kitchen counter with her hand wrapped a large glass of water that was nearly empty, she looked at me nervously when I handed her the simple package.

“Take them now.” I demanded and she shook her head at me with big eyes.

“I don’t want to.”

“Rosie, come on.” I urged, taking her hand and pulled her off the stool she was on; wasting no time in pushing her into the bathroom.

She gave in and slammed the door behind her, I braced myself opposite the bathroom and waited for her to finish doing what she needed to; after a few minutes I heard the tap run and the door creaked open to reveal a very stressed looking Rosie as she motioned for me to step in the small room with her and close the door behind us so we didn’t wake up Freya.

“How long do we have to wait?” I quizzed and looked over the two tests that were sat on the bathroom counter while they developed.

“Three minutes.” She answered and looked over the back of the box that told us what they results meant and how they’d be displayed.

One line for negative.

Two lines for positive.

“This is longest three minutes ever, was it this long when you were waiting last time?” I complained, Rosie glared at me with her hands on her hips.

“Yes, it was and it felt like a lifetime back then too! Only you wouldn’t know because you weren’t there, you were probably practicing your pyrotechnic skills with Fangs! I’m actually having flashbacks.” Rosie stammered, she began pacing the short length of the bathroom so fast that it was making me dizzy.

“Will you calm down? I’m pretty sure we already know the answer.” I chuckled and reached out for her, pulling her onto my knee where I was perched on the edge of our bathtub.

“I feel like I’m sixteen again, like I should be in a bathroom stall and back in high school.”

“You’re twenty one, you’re acting like this is the end of the world.”

“I know, but we’ve never really discussed having more kids.” Rosie told me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and resting her chin on my head. “I always thought that we’d actively try for another baby, not end up being shocked when it happened.”

“I’ve always wanted more kids.”

“Kids? Pfft! If you’ve got me pregnant again then this is the last one I’m having, I’m serious.”

“What if you end up having twins? Or triplets? Or even quadruplets?” I gasped as I poked fun at her and she pinched my arm in retaliation.

“Stop, Sweets! You’re freaking me out!”

I laughed at her horrified expression and kissed her bottom lip, we sat for a few more minutes before I realized that the tests were probably ready and could be looked at.

“Ready?” I inquired and she nodded slowly, I leant over from the bath and grabbed the two tests in my hand.

“I’m too scared to look, you do it.” She pleaded, putting her hands over her eyes and I looked down at them with a neutral expression on my face.

“They’re negative.”

“What? Really?” Rosie frowned and uncovered her face, trying to reach for the pieces of plastic. “They can’t be.”

“No, Rosie. They’re both positive, we’re having another baby.” I grinned happily, giving her the pregnancy tests.

“Oh my god, that’s a really dangerous game to play, Sweets.” Rosie breathed and stood up from my lap, looking down at the tests and seeing two, very bold, pink lines that were displayed in each of the square windows. “Jesus Christ, I’m pregnant.”

“You certainly are, I’ll accept your thank you later.” I teased and pulled Rosie into my chest, ducking down to kiss her deeply in my delight, threading my fingers through her long hair.

“I wish I’d have gotten that reaction from you the last time I told you I was pregnant.” She panted and pushed on my chest, her lips plump.

************************************************************************

Later that night, Rosie and I were lay in bed; I was spooning her with both my arms around her as we got used to the idea that our family of three would soon become a family of four.

“Do you think we should tell people now or after our first scan?” Rosie wondered out loud, I shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s up to you.”

“I don’t know, I’m just scared to tell people and then for something to go wrong… I bled with Freya and we thought I’d lost her, that was way after my chances of miscarrying dropped.” She whispered sadly and I held her tighter, pressing my lips to her shoulder.

“Everything’s going to be fine, baby.” I reassured her, she relaxed under my hold.

“Are you going to be disappointed if it’s not a boy?”

“Why would I be dissapointed? I love my girls and having another will certainly make my life more fun, I’d have three to protect and hide from the male species.”

“You do know that one day your daughter will have a boyfriend, right? And there’s going to be nothing you can do about it.” Rosie giggled when I growled in response, denying the fact my first-born, little girl would ever grow up.

“I’ve already told her she’s never allowed to date, there won’t be any boys in her future.”

“You’re crazy, Sweets.”

“I think we should make the time to finally get married before the baby comes, you’ve kept me waiting long enough.” I told her, stroking her hand and admiring the dainty ring that I’d placed on her finger 3 years ago on her eighteenth birthday.

“It doesn’t look good if I’m walking down the aisle when pregnant, people will think we’ve got married because you knocked me up.”

“You’ll just have to suck it in.” I joked, running my hand under her t-shirt and feeling the firm skin of her lower stomach.

“I don’t like you right now.”

“It’s not my fault you’re incredibly fertile, it’s been five years since the last oops arrived though and that’s pretty good going, don’t you think? Anyway, I think you liking me too much is the reason we’re in this predicament again.” I teased her, running my hand over her hip.

“You’ve never been less funny.” Rosie uttered, rolling over to mount my hips and kiss me.

“You sure? What about the first time I got you pregnant? You seemed pretty pissed back then, I distinctively remember you screaming at me a lot.” I grinned against her lips and gave her backside a good squeeze. “Isn’t it ironic how we’re going to celebrate you getting pregnant by having sex?”

I practically heard Rosie roll her eyes at me as she moved to kiss my jaw and down my neck, my eyes closed at the sensation but the pleasure didn’t last long before I heard the sound of footsteps approaching our bedroom.

Rosie heard them too and climbed off me in a hurry because when you have children you quickly develop bat like hearing or you learn the hard way when you’re in the middle of a compromising situation, it’s never fun trying to make up an excuse as to what you were doing.

Our door handle turned and it opened a crack before I saw Freya try and slyly sneak in without making too much noise but this plan backfired the minute she clumsily climbed onto our bed and noticed we were still awake.

“You should be in bed, you have school in the morning.” I told her sternly but lifted the covers so she could slide under after she’d given me the look that always turned me to putty in her hands.

“I couldn’t sleep, Daddy.”

“You can stay here for awhile then, Daddy will put you back to bed once you’ve fallen asleep.” Rosie told her and looked at me, motioning the words ‘tell her’ to me silently.

I coughed and cleared my throat, peering down at Freya whose attention was on her bunny, the same one she’d had from birth.

“How do you feel about adding another member to our family?” I asked my daughter, she made an over exaggerated thinking face while she took in my words.

“Are we getting a bunny?” She quizzed, looking up at me hopefully while Rosie smiled from behind her.

“No, but you’re never going to stop asking for one are you?” I sighed, she shook her head rapidly.

“What about a little brother or sister?” Rosie interjected and Freya turned to face her, confusion evident on her face. “Mommy’s having another baby.” She finished; I studied Freya for her reaction.

“I’m getting a brother or sister?” Freya boldly asked Rosie who nodded and pushed our daughters fringe away from her face.

“Yes, you are, sweetheart.”

“Is the baby a surprise like I was?” My breath caught in my throat at her seemingly innocent question, Rosie gaped at her.

“Who told you that?” I gawked and Freya turned back at me with a shrug, she pouted at my unimpressed expression because she seemed to think I was angry with her.

“Uncle Fangs.” She revealed and looked between Rosie and I, not understanding why we looked so shocked at her revelation. “Is Uncle Fangs in trouble?”

“I’m gonna kill him.” I whispered to Rosie, she was trying to hide a grin at the current situation.

“Can I have a sister?”

“Mommy can’t choose what it is, we have to let nature decide that one.” Rosie answered and Freya frowned before cuddling under the covers with her soft bunny toy in her arms.

“Daddy?” Freya piped up, curling into my side cutely and shoving her hand in my hair and face in my neck as she let out a big yawn. “Daddy, where do babies come from?”

My face paled at her question and Rosie let out a giggle, trying to stifle a laugh under the comforter while I stuttered like an idiot to my five year old daughter.

“Daddy doesn’t know where babies come from, maybe that’s why all my children have been surprises.” I lied and I felt the bed shake while Rosie let out a chortle, I let out a loud exhale and to my relief Freya didn’t press the subject further because by the time I’d finished my sentence; she’d fallen fast asleep between us.

“You’re so going to hell.” Rosie giggled quietly, peering at me from over Freya’s sleeping body.

“She put me on the spot, what was I supposed to say?!” I defended, trying to get comfortable around my little girl who always insisted on smothering me in her sleep.

“Maybe not that she was an accident.”

**********************************************************************

Two months later Rosie and I were at our second scan, we were finally finding out what the sex of our second child was and I don’t think I’d ever been so excited; obviously with the exception of finding out what Freya was.

“So, you guys already have a daughter?” The midwife asked us as she began to prepare Rosie by lifting her top up and exposing her small bump, squirting the sonogram gel on to her skin and pressing the probe over her abdomen.

“Yeah, we do.” Rosie answered her, giving my hand a gentle squeeze at the sight of our baby on the screen who was wriggling up a storm.

“Everything’s looking really good, Rosie. Baby’s the correct size and very active by the looks of it, they’ve got very long legs like Daddy.” She chuckled, watching the baby kick out. “Do you want to know what you’re having?”

“Definitely.” Rosie giggled and I pressed my lips to her hand, the anticipation was killing me while we waited for the midwife to finalize her decision.

“It looks like your girl gang is going to be growing by one more, I hope you’re ready to be outnumbered even more, Dad. You’re both having an extremely healthy baby girl.” She revealed and Rosie gasped excitedly while I chuckled in disbelief, unable to believe I was actually having another little girl.

Another daughter.

Holy fuck, I’m in trouble.

#sweet pea imagine #Sweet Pea X Rosie

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