#[deep sigh] unfortunately this is far from my first rodeo

[burninglights]

"Oh, but the British Museum ~needs~ to keep all of it's looted artifacts for historical purposes/proper preservation/because the countrires of origin don't have the infrastructure".

Sucks to still be licking the British Empire's boots, I guess, but I was raised in Botswana. I visited Tsholofelo Park as a kid. I'm descended from San people.

I know what happened to El Negro.

I'd love more than anything to be able to use his name, but there's no record of it.

I'm aware that "El Negro" is an incredibly loaded and outdated term, and I'm not happy that it's the only term used even within an academic setting. I am in no way using the term as an insult, nor attempting to reclaim it.

At this point, I'd like to warn you that the story of El Negro is very distressing, and involves human taxidermy. Do not read below the divider if this is a potential trigger.

For those of you who don't know, El Negro was the name given to a member of the San people, a young man and warrior who died around the year In 1830. Jules Pierre Verreaux witnessed the burial the warrior, and returned to the burial site at night to dig up the body, where he retrieved the skin, the skull and a few bones.

Verreaux intended to ship the body back to France and so prepared and preserved the African warrior's corpse by using metal wire as a spine, wooden boards as shoulder blades and newspaper as a stuffing material. Put succinctly, he treated the body of a respected warrior like an animal, because the man was an African.

Side note: burial is like, A Big Fucking Deal in most if not all African communities. Respect for your elders and those of higher societal standing is a big cultural touchstone, and often the best way to show this is in funerary rites and burial. In addition, folk and indigenous religions can involve communication with your ancestors via the sangoma. My own nkuku practised traditional religion, and while my family consists of Protestant Christians, I was raised with frequent visits to the family graves, where my dad explained the significance of the people buried there in our family history.

Not that any of this mattered to Verreaux, who shipped the body to Paris along with a batch of stuffed animals in crates. In 1831, the African's body appeared in a showroom at No. 3, Rue Saint Fiacre. In 1916, the San warrior was acquired by the Darder Museum of Banyoles, and subsequently loaned to European museums, though Darder remained the primary location of his body.

He became known as the Negro of Banyoles, or El Negro.

The body remained in the museum until 29 October 1991, when Alphonse Arcelin, a doctor of Haitian origin went "holy fuck it's literally 1991, why are you still displaying an African man's body as a curiosity you sick bastards" and wrote to the city mayor, asking that the body be removed from the museum and returned to Botswana for re-burial (it would be 2000 before this was agreed, and it would be discovered later that he may have been interred in the wrong place as the San are a nomadic people and country boundaries were redrawn following independence).

The issue caught media attention internationally, and many international museum associations started sweating. Not because of "holy fuck, maybe keeping people's bodies in glass boxes is intensely offensive to their cultures and we should stop that" reasons, but because it made them fear that human remains kept in museums might have to be returned to their place of origin.

Yeah.

This story isn't specifically about the British — though it happened in colonial Botswana — but the ugliness of the legacy is the same.

Just as Darder Museum stripped the identity, dignity and culture of the San warrior, turned something as profound and private as the grave into a token curiosity of "primitive people" for white eyes, the British Museum's refusal to repatriate culturally significant items to the cultures of origin does the same.

Culture is something intensely significant.

Culture is the reason I can't give back a container empty and call everyone older than me Aunty or Uncle no matter their blood relation to me.

The object of culture are even more so. They are integral to who we are as a people, especially if like me you live in diaspora.

The basketwork and beads Botswana is known for, that decorate our house, are a part of me. To lose them would be to lose a little bit of home. To have them stolen then clearly displayed for the world to see, within sight but not reach, would be an insult I'd take with me to the grave.

The indignities and injustices of colonialism linger still. The bare minimum would be to return bodies and artifacts to allow us to honour them in their own way.

You can read more about El Negro here and here. In addition, you can find the book following the struggle for the repatriation of his remains, titled El Negro and Me.

If you want other resources on racism, social justice and how we can prevent cultural annihilation, check out @justsomeantifas. For a more historically focused view on museums, museum ethics and cultural anthropology, check out @thatlittleegyptologist, as well as @museum-spaces

[fruitcoops]

LOOPS RAILING CAP IN THE SHOWER - cause we all know he deserves it after a game

Not exactly after a game, but still some fun and frisky locker room shower times. Coops (and James) credit goes to @lumosinlove!

TW for smut, being sort-of walked in on (only after everything is said and done), cramping muscles

“Hurry up,” Sirius hissed as he teetered on one foot and accidentally dipped the toe of his sock into the water pooling beneath him.

“I’m trying!” Remus whispered back, still elbows-deep in his duffel bag. His face lit up and he rocked back on his heels with a small container.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said immediately.

“It’s all I have!”

“Mon dieu,” he muttered, yanking his other sock off and kneeling by his own bag. “There is no universe in which that bullshit is going up my ass.”

“It’s Vaseline, baby, not battery acid.”

Sirius turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “It’s sticky, it’s slimy, and it’s cold as shit. You hate it, too!”

“Fair point.”

With a quiet, triumphant ‘ha!’, Sirius emerged with a small tube of clear aloe gel. “Who’s the Boy Scout now, sweetheart?”

“You’re the Boy Scout,” Remus grumbled, wincing as he stood and his knees crackled. “Alright, scoot, we don’t have a ton of time.”

“Oh, baby, talk dirty to me,” Sirius deadpanned.

Remus made a face to hide his smile. “Shut up, you.”

He peeked around the edge of the shower stall once more before backing up against the wall, then stifled a shout at the cold tile between his shoulder blades. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“We do have a perfectly good shower at home.” Despite his words, Sirius could see the gleam of excitement in Remus’ eye as he was beckoned forward. The idea of maybe possibly maybe getting caught was a bit embarrassing if he thought about it too long, but it still sent a thrill through every nerve. That may have just been the feeling of Remus’ warmth on his front mixing with the chill on his back, though.

“Do you—” Sirius cut himself off with one more heated kiss, sliding a hand down Remus’ neck and laughing slightly at the squeak of his wet skin. “I wanna see you. Can you hold me up?”

Remus hummed, then pulled back with a thoughtful look. “Not before stretching. Sorry.”

“Pas de problem, mon coeur.” Sirius uncapped the aloe and handed it to Remus, using the side wall of the stall as a brace to hold himself up. He prayed his own tired muscles would do the job and not send them both tumbling to the floor in a heap of horniness.

“Here, let me…” Remus bit his lower lip and looped an arm under Sirius’ knee, lifting his leg around his waist. “Will that cramp?”

“Nah.”

He looked skeptical, but didn’t protest as he slicked his fingers and ran them down Sirius’ cleft. The water had finally started warming up to a more comfortable temperature; Sirius closed his eyes with a sigh and soaked in the feeling, letting the familiar tingles wash over him while Remus dragged his teeth along the side of his neck and the pad of his first finger slid in.

“You have magic fingers,” he murmured, gasping when cold air hit his pulse point. Whoever created aloe gel, I owe you a fruit basket.

He could feel Remus’ smile as his hitched-up thigh started trembling. “Merci.”

A door slammed down the hall and they both jerked in surprise—the digit rubbing gently around his outer muscle slipped very deep inside on very short notice and Sirius’ yelp was quickly muffled by Remus’ palm. “Fucking Christ,” he wheezed, torn between moaning in contentment and shrieking like a little girl at the sudden intrusion.

“Sorry, sorry, it was an accident.” Remus kissed his cheek. “Are you okay?”

“All good.”

“Will this be enough?"

“Considering we have—” Sirius did some awkward gymnastics to spot the wall clock. “—shit, just under an hour until the guys should start showing up, it’ll have to be.”

Remus chewed on the inside of his lip and glanced at the aloe. “I don’t know…”

“Hey.” Sirius cupped his face and kissed him. “This isn’t my first horse show.”

“Rodeo.”

“Same thing.” Remus’ lips twitched upwards and warmth spread all the way down to his toes, not just from the showerhead still spraying them like a firehose. “Besides, God knows you stretched me well enough last night.”

His concern turned to smugness and he crooked his finger slightly. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Bastard.”

The playful insult came out a little breathy as Sirius leaned his head back against the wall, losing himself to Remus’ practiced movements and damp, smooth skin touching him everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Something blunt and quite a bit slicker nudged his entrance after a moment—after a slow exhale on Remus’ part and a whine from Sirius, he was in to the hilt with all ten fingers gripping Sirius’ hips.

“Oh, fuck.” Sirius was rather winded for reasons he couldn’t spare the braincells to name, and Remus laughed under his breath as he began to move. “Oh, fuck.”

“Shh.”

“I can’t.”

“I know you can.”

“I don’t want to,” Sirius corrected, rocking his hips to match Remus’ thrusts. His fingers began to get sore from holding the stall so tight, but heat was building in his gut and he was hard enough to almost hurt in the best way. “God, there.”

“Not god, just me.”

He flicked his arm with a teasing grin. “Smartass. This is exciting.”

“Uh-huh.” Remus caught him by the thigh as his other knee buckled after a particularly nice angle. “Can’t hold you, can’t hold you, baby—”

“Got it,” Sirius managed, propping himself up again. A clunky door echoed in a faraway corridor and he heard Remus’ breath catch. “Keep going.”

“Someone’s gonna hear.”

“So?” He quirked an eyebrow and wrapped his free arm around Remus’ upper chest, drawing him even closer for a kiss that was more tongue than lips. “That’s the whole point, right?”

“The point—” Remus punctuated his words with a harder thrust that left Sirius’ scrabbling for grip on the wet tiles with a shaky sound. “—is that we could get caught. We could get caught, and then everyone would see how whiny, and needy, and lovely you are while you’re begging for me.”

“Oh my god,” Sirius practically whimpered. He swallowed hard and wrapped his leg tighter around Remus’ waist.

The water was starting to lose some of its heat, but he was dizzy with lust, and pure pleasure dripped like wildfire through his veins. “Actually, I think they already know,” Remus murmured into the hollow of his throat, leaving a light bite there. “Our friends don’t need to find us fucking in the showers, do they? They just need to take one look at you and they’ll know that as soon as I get you between the sheets, you’re a wreck.”

Sirius’ eyes fluttered shut; he couldn’t seem to close his mouth anymore, nor could he muffle the short, guttural sounds slipping out with every quick movement. His left leg was completely numb; it was a miracle it hadn’t given out yet.

“But no,” Remus continued, hoisting him back up into the proper place with a huff. “No, we just have to be that couple that sneaks into the locker room an hour before call time because we just love to tempt fate.”

“This was—your idea—too,” Sirius panted.

“Yeah, because I can’t keep my hands off you.”

He melted into Remus’ palms as they ran along his ribs and back, then down to his ass to give it a firm squeeze. “Close?” he asked, half-slurred.

“Not as close as you.”

His free leg tried to buckle again as Remus stroked along his shaft, but he forced it to stay steady and settled for gritting his teeth around a loud moan that would surely give them away. Remus smiled and upped the pace, but kept his hips moving at the exact same speed. The contrast made Sirius’ head spin. “Please, please, please, please—”

Teeth sank into the junction of his shoulder and all the air fled his lungs. “What else do you want, baby?”

“I don’t know.” It came out far needier than he intended, but who cared? Stars were already popping at the corners of his vision, and he couldn’t even feel the lukewarm water very much anymore.

“Come.”

“I c—”

“Now.”

Sirius took one shallow breath, two, and then shuddered apart, leaning all his weight into the tiles while Remus pulled out and came on his inner thigh. Through his hazy vision, he saw they still had about forty minutes until any of the others would show up. “Love you. Oh, fuck yeah,” he sighed.

Remus made a questioning noise against his collarbone; Sirius felt his heartbeat pounding under his hand.

“We’ve got time to spare.”

“Thank god,” Remus said with a breathless laugh. “I don’t actually want anyone to catch us.”

“Sounds like a nightmare,” Sirius agreed. “I think I’d rather—”

“Sup, Mad-Eye?”

Both of them froze in place as a cheerful voice rang out down the hallway. Sneakers squeaked on the linoleum floors, drawing closer every second. Sirius had gone ice cold, but he didn’t think it was just the shower’s fault.

“Go, go, go!” Remus hissed, yanking away.

Unfortunately, Sirius’ thigh decided that was the perfect moment to cramp so hard it made his vision go white for a second. As soon as his foot touched the ground, his whole hamstring seized, and he doubled over with a strained “motherfucker!”

“Get up!”

“I can’t!”

James’ footsteps were getting louder. Sirius cursed under his breath and limped after Remus into the shitty little janitor’s closet in the corner, wedging himself next to a mop as he bit down on his knuckles to stifle the pained groans building in his throat. Remus shot him an apologetic look and squeezed his hand in sympathy.

The closet was not meant for much more than a handful of emergency cleaning supplies, let alone two mid-season-muscled hockey players. They were pressed chest-to-chest, holding their breath as doom approached.

Well, not doom. Just utter, world-ending humiliation. Not the kinky kind, either.

James whistled to himself as he neared the locker room—two seconds after Sirius buried his face in the side of Remus’ neck to breathe through the agony in his leg, the door slammed open and his best friend began clattering around.

All of a sudden, the room fell silent. Shit.

“Hello?” James called, sounding much too amused for his own good. “Anyone in here?”

Sirius’ pulse hammered in his ears.

“Huh. Looks like somebody left the shower on,” James said with a dramatic gasp. “And what’s this? Two whole duffel bags?”

Fuck, Remus mouthed as Sirius straightened up with a wince.

James started laughing. Deep, deep in his soul, Sirius knew he had spotted the aloe. The squeaking stopped just outside the closet. “Good morning,” James singsonged, though he didn’t open the door.

Remus opened his mouth, resigned, but Sirius jabbed him in the chest with his pointer finger and shot him a warning look. They weren’t going to engage in conversation while naked and crammed in a janitor’s closet. Especially not when James Potter was on the other side.

“I think it’s a little early for all this, but I could be wrong.” He could almost see James shrugging through the thick wood. “I suppose you’ve gotta take what free time you have. Cap, your showers are a lot nicer than these, though. At least they stay warm for more than a few minutes.”

Remus thudded his forehead against Sirius’ sternum.

“Alright, alright,” James said after a moment of quiet. “If anyone were to perhaps be hiding after getting off in the shitty team showers at seven in the morning—at least, I hope you got off—they should feel free to come out of the closet in a much more literal sense because I am leaving. And I will be out of the locker room for five minutes. Once again, that is five minutes, and then I will be back in here to get ready for my job like a responsible adult.”

The door opened and closed again with a click. They both waited with bated breath.

“Ugh, fine,” James groaned. The hinges creaked, his footsteps faded, and there was a loud slam as it shut for real.

“I’m going to kill him,” Sirius said as they shuffled out of the closet, knocking over several spray bottles in the process. “Really, I will.”

“I’ll help you bury the body,” Remus said wearily as he tossed the aloe back in his bag with a sigh. “That was horrific. Think we can sneak out and back in without him noticing?”

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the door. “The son of a bitch will be waiting for us. It’s better to just accept our fate and let him have this.”

“We’re putting shaving cream in his gloves after this, right?”

“Actually, I think Vaseline would be better.”

[erin-bo-berin]

Insecurities

MASTERLIST

TRIGGER WARNING just in case weight/gaining weight is triggering to any of you. I just wanted to be extra sure to mention it because I don’t wanna accidentally upset any of you lovelies.

This was an anon fic request about Spencer reassuring the reader after she’s become more insecure in her body de to some weight gain. I loved the cute fluffiness and smut writing this. It’s a bit shorter than most of my fics, but I really love how it turned out. I wanted it to be sweet and simple and it turned out exactly how I hoped. Prepare yourselves for some fluffy Spencer feels. Happy reading!

Spencer Reid/Reader

Rating: M (smut)

Word Count: 1,967

You stood in front of the mirror, grimacing at both your actions and what you saw before you.

You’d never been thin, by society’s standards at least, but you were a healthy weight. Dreams of a flat stomach, small thighs and a perky butt filled your teenage years until you learned to love the body you’d come with.

It wasn’t until recently that your old insecurities had surfaced again. 

You’d gained some weight; enough to be noticeable that is. Your stomach had a pooch to it, your thighs looking wider when you sat. The bigger boobs you could deal with, but it was the widening of your hips and waist that made you most unhappy. Your fingers could squeeze the flesh there.

You were simultaneously ashamed of yourself for gaining so much weight and also for letting yourself sink back into teenage insecurities. You were in your mid-20’s, you shouldn’t be so obsessed with how thin or thick you were. Bodies changed all the time, it was a natural thing.

But that speck of low self-esteem that had wormed its way into your brain, lingered.

That was how Spencer, your boyfriend, had caught you one evening, in front of the mirror.

You were in your normal cotton panties and bra, the most comfortable set you owned and you were frowning, trying to tell if you were becoming frumpy or not.

“Now what’s that frown for?”

You spun around, startled to hear his voice. 

“I didn’t hear you come in,” you flushed.

You turned back to the mirror, still scowling.

You saw a frown of his own in the reflection of the mirror as he walked up behind you, wrapping his arms around you. He rested his chin on the top of your head, looking at your reflection with you.

“Baby, what’s the matter?”

He held you tightly, not uncomfortably tight, but just enough that you could feel the protection in his grasp. He was always so protective of you, something you found endearing. If only he could protect you from your toxic thoughts.

You sighed, resigned to admitting your fears. You hadn’t voiced them to Spencer yet, but you were sure by now it was noticeable.

“I’m just kicking myself for gaining weight. It’s gotten noticeable and I don’t like the way I look. I’m sure you don’t either.”

He jerked back from you like you’d slapped him. At first, you thought it was because your suspicions were confirmed and he was disgusted by you. But then you saw the look on his face.

“How could you say something like that?”

He looked hurt. 

You probably could have actually slapped him and he would’ve looked less hurt than he did now.

You turned around to face him and saw the downturn of his mouth and the furrow of his brows to display his upset manner.

“I’ve just been really self conscious lately...I’m sorry,” you said apologetically, “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

He turned you once again towards the mirror.

“I’m hurt that you’d think I wouldn’t love you, no matter what you look like.”

You winced, feeling foolish that you’d even voiced your thoughts.

“You see your thighs?”

His hands traced them gently, in a loving way.

“Unfortunately.”

“What do you see when you look at them?” he asked.

“Big, thunder thighs where half my weight gain has gone,” you mumbled.

“Well, what I see, is completely different, Y/N.”

“How so?” you asked, curious.

“What I see is the thighs that my pile of books fell on when I first met you. Or more like accidentally dumped a load of books on,” he chuckled.

You smiled, remembering that. It had been on the subway when Spencer had still used the public transport to get to work. You’d been sitting by yourself, earbuds in your ears and listening to an audiobook when all of a sudden what seemed like an avalanche of books came raining down onto your lap. Poor Spencer was red faced and embarrassed, but that one chance encounter led to so much more.

“And they look no different to me than the day I met you,” he continued, “Now, see these hips?”

“They’ve gotten huge,” you frowned.

“You don’t see me complaining,” he smirked, squeezing them playfully, making you chuckle.

“Anyway, on a serious note. These curves are what enticed me when you wore that pretty blue dress on our first date. They were—and still are—mesmerizing to me.”

His fingers trailed up your sides and across your stomach.

“And your stomach? I love that it’s realistic, that you still have rolls when you sit. It’s normal for even the tiniest person. But I love that you aren’t afraid to eat. That’s not the only thing, it’s my favorite spot to lay my head on, your tummy.”

You smiled. He loved to lay on you when you were relaxing, watching tv or even just cuddling. Sometimes his head would lay on your stomach as you played with his hair and he looked up at you with his heart in his eyes.

“I see your point,” you mumbled, fighting another smile.

“Maybe one day, this stomach will also grow with our baby,” he smiled at your reflection in the mirror.

“I also love your smile, it’s so bright and contagious. It lights up a room. I love your eyes, the way they sparkle when you’re excited about something. I also love seeing all your love in them when you look at me. I love your laugh. It’s filled with joy and nothing but it. I love everything about you Y/N. I don’t care if you’ve gained a little weight.”

Your heart couldn’t expand with any more love or happiness than you felt now. 

“In fact, I love your curves so much; the thicker the better, am I right?” Spencer smirked.

You chuckled, slapping his hands away playfully.

He in turn, turned you so you were facing each other. His fingers brushed your cheek.

“I love you. No matter what you think, how you look, I will always love you.”

His lips met yours and you kissed him with all the love you felt for him. It was passionate, sweet, soft, but fiery. 

You pulled him closer as the kisses grew more heated and his hands reached for the back of your bra, unfastening it.

“I wanna show you just how much I love your body,” he whispered against your lips.

He picked you up, carrying you across the room to the bed, setting you on it gently.

You watched him curiously as he laced his fingers underneath the waistband of your underwear, pulling them off.

He leaned down, kissing your nose, then your lips.

“I love these,” he smirked, tapping a finger over your lips.

Then he kissed across your collarbones, making sure to leave a kiss upon each of your shoulders. His trail of kisses led down to your breasts.

“I definitely love these,” he chuckled, placing a kiss on the swell of each of them.

He took one nipple in mouth sucking on it gently, his hand kneading your other breast. With a small gasp from your lips, your body arched toward his mouth.

You tugged at the material of his shirt, indicating you wanted it off. He parted from you with a sly grin.

“Patience.”

He discarded his shirt and returned his attention to you. You squirmed under his gaze making him smile.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just feel so...exposed,” you grinned, realizing that technically you were.

“Well, one,” his smirk returned as his hands roamed your exposed skin, “You actually are exposed. And two, it’s not like this is our first rodeo.”

You knew he was right. But voicing your earlier self-conscious thoughts had made you feel vulnerable in a way that physical intimacy had never had. His expression changed when he saw you contemplating your words.

“What is it, honey?” 

“I just feel more vulnerable than ever after voicing my insecurities,” you whispered, your gaze locking with his.

“I’m glad you told me,” he answered, his hands stroking your sides, “Because it gives me that much more motivation to show you why I think you’re perfect in my eyes.”

His kisses trailed downwards until his lips reached the top of your thighs. Your legs inadvertently parted a bit, earning a deep chuckle from him.

His hands were gentle on your thighs as was his mouth on your core. His tongue traveled over you like you were a piece of china, so incredibly delicate. Your soft moans filled the room as your fingers simultaneously tugged on his hair.

He didn’t stay there for long though. His goal was to just tease a bit before he got to the main act.

When he’d reached your face again, he kissed you tenderly, sliding into you at the same time. This was a much more gentle intimacy that you were usually used to.

His thrusts started out more slow and gentle as he continued to kiss you, his tongue twirling with yours. You held onto him, as if you couldn’t get close enough when you were already as connected as two souls could be.

Your legs wrapped around his waist, your timid noises giving him the slightest pause before his hips joined yours in a bit of a faster pace. 

It was far from normal sex, this was actual lovemaking you read about in romance novels or watched in theatrical love stories. You could feel every ounce of his love pour into you with each thrust into you.

“Spencer,” you murmured, bringing his face close to yours again.

Your lips met briefly before you pulled away, just to watch him, your eyes taking in every little detail about him as you both shared one of the deepest intimacies a couple could.

His lips hovered over yours as he moved within you, his gaze finding yours before his eyes fell closed, lost to the bliss. His groans reverberated through you, adding to the sensuality.

Your fingers dug into his back as his thrusts became more erratic. His hands pushed your legs further up his sides, granting even deeper access to you. Your breathy gasp was approval enough of the movement. 

Spencer watched you as you, too, lost yourself to the feeling of the two of you connected and as close as could be. Your lips were parted as you whimpered and moaned underneath him, your name falling from his lips more repeatedly now.

“God, I love you so fucking much,” he groaned into your neck, his release fast approaching.

You felt him tense above you, his low growl right in your ear as he came apart, your name coming from him like a mantra.

Your hand gripped his hair tightly as you came apart not long after him, your moans echoing in the bedroom.

When he slowed, his eyes found yours, his lips meeting yours gently in a sweet kiss. It was only when you parted from his kiss that you smiled up at him, feeling more loved than you could ever explain.

“You’re beautiful beyond belief, Y/N,” he mumbled, thumb stroking your cheek.

“I love you, Spencer.”

It was only when you parted from one another and the tangle of sheets and were laying in his arms that he spoke again.

“Will you still love me when I’m old and fat? You know I’m a sucker for Rossi’s cooking.”

You laughed, hitting his chest playfully.

“Of course I would love you, no matter what you look like.”

“Then you understand why I say I love you, even if you’ve gained a few pounds.”

You smiled, knowing he meant the words wholeheartedly.

It was then that you knew, everything would be okay. Your insecurities didn’t hold a flame to Spencer’s love.

TAG LIST: @dreatine​ @reid-187​ @groovyreid​ @reidslibra​ @suvikamahes98blr​ @fuckthealarm​ @iamburdened​ @cindywayne​ @Thomasfoockinshelby @tinyminy88​ @theitcaramelchick​ @missprettyboy​ @hushlilbabydoll​ @sammy-jo1977​ @theonlyone-meeeee​ @haileymorelikestupid​ @lemonypink​ @multifandommandy​ @teamkiall​ @redbullchick​ @ifeelloved​ @one-sweet-gubler​ @nanocoool​ @delightfullyspeedyearthquake​ @unsteadyimagines​ @ughitsbaby​ @inkwiet​ @pennythetechgoddess​ @capt-engr-ssa​ @sixx-sic-sixx​ @spencersdolore​ @reidsstudies​ @disney-dreams-world​ @chocolatecalzoneherringbonk @mggwhore​ @andiebeaword​ @cupcake525​ @be-the-bravest​ @gretaamyk​ @likelovers @hopebaker​ @prisonreid​ @httpnxtt​ @daviddoughboy​ @pastathighs​ @marvels-gurl​

[timbertumbr]

Boneafide Gamer (A Reverse Harem Fic)

Chapter 2, Reality VS Fantasy

Previous Chapter

Quotev Link

Big thanks to my friend for making a caption for the picture and big thanks to another friend who took that meme worthy photo!

List of Usernames with Nicknames-

Blue (Underswap Sans): Magnificent Blueberry

Stretch (Underswap Papyrus): Carrot

Edge (Underfell Papyrus): Captain

Red (Underfell Sans): Red

Mal (Swapfell Sans): Maleficent 

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): Rus

The next day arrives and you’re rudely awakened by your alarm clock, basically yelling at you to get up and get your butt moving. Groaning, you shut off the alarm and quite literally roll off your bed with a thud. 

You get up from the floor, abandoning your pile of blankets as you shuffle around your home doing your morning routine. Once done, you throw your blankets back onto your bed and grab your phone as you head out the door, lock it, and begin walking to work. To entertain yourself, you unlock your phone fully intent to play a phone game when you see messages from discord so you open that instead.

Cheesepuff: Good morning Fart. Or (Username) whichever you prefer. Whenever you have time, could we set up a time to introduce a few of my cousins to you and possibly the game itself. 

Cheesepuff: Also, I may have given Blue your discord. So expect lots of messages.

Raising a brow, you check your friend requests and see that a “Magnificent Blueberry” asked to be friends. Huffing in amusement, you add him as friends and type out your reply to Carrot.

(Username): I get off work at 5:00. So we could get online at around 5:30. Can’t wait to meet your cousins! 

You go to check other messages to see Totally not the writer left a message at 3 A.M. Not again…

Totally not the writer: So… I may have stayed up all night to think of how to use this meme so… you are my first test subject.

You snort at it and shake your head amused.

(Username): Get some sleep you ADHD nutshell.

Totally not the writer: Will do.

Shaking your head again, you pocket your phone and enter your workplace. A GAME STORE! :D You quickly make your way to the counter and greet your co-worker Chris. 

“Sup dude,” They respond while you grab your employee clip on name and head to the back to restock shelves.

“You’re pretty peppy today,” They comment as you leave the back with a box of games, figurines, plushies, and other stuff. 

“I’ve had a good morning so far!” You respond as you start stocking shelves, they hum and fiddle with their phone.

“Didja get the game you’ve been waiting all year for?” They ask.

“Yup! I even met some new people there!” They raise a brow as you move to another shelf.

“Really? From what I’ve heard they had a bit of a server problem so not that many people were able to get on,” So THAT’S what happened.

“Then I’m one of the lucky ones!” They were very amused.

“Seems like it. Care to tell me about these new friends you met?” You raise a brow and turn to Chris.

“But I didn’t-”

“Totally told me,” They cut you off, showing the screen of their phone in your direction. You lean forward to see that Totally did indeed contact Chris through discord.

“Of course they did,” You comment before going back to stocking the new PS4 games. The electronic bell sounds when some customers enter the store. You peek from the shelf to see four skeletons. 2 tall skeletons, one of them slightly taller than the other and two short skeletons, one with a large crack in his skull.

Hey, they look familiar-

“Welcome to the Game Store, if you need any help let me or the one stocking shelves over there know,” Chris says in the ‘customer is here, act like you’ve been happy all your life!’ voice. One of the taller skeletons smiled.

“THANK YOU KIND HUMAN! I WILL COME TO YOU FOR ASSISTANCE IF NEED BE!” He says enthusiastically and quite thankful. Both you and Chris' smiles softened into a bit more genuine smiles as the similar looking skeletons split up and began looking around the small store. You sigh softly as you go back to stocking shelves. 

You soon finish the box and stand up to return the box and grab another one when someone taps your shoulder. You put on a smile and face a short skeleton in a blue hoodie.

“Oh hey! Need help looking for something?” You ask, the skeleton nods.

“Yeah, need help looking for a game called ‘Basic MMORPG VR edition,’” He says so casually you can’t help but relax around him.

“Oh yeah! I know where that is. Follow me please,” You say before walking toward the beloved game with the small skeleton in tow. 

“Here it is!” You exclaim, making little jazz hands at the case making the skeleton snicker.

“Thanks bud. I guess you could say you were... playing your role?” 

Processing…

Processing…

“PFT-” You burst out laughing. You could even hear Chris and a very deep voice snicker in the background.

“Oh my GOD that was terrible,” You say collecting yourself, the short skeleton shrugged.

“But I guess I don’t have enough EXP(erience) with good jokes!” You fire back and his eyelights twinkled. 

“Guess you’ll have to farm for some,” The same deep voice from earlier said, earning a snicker from you and the short skeleton by you.

“SANS PLEASE!” You hear an exasperated voice yell.

“Brother No…” Another voice chimes, somewhat similar to the first but somewhat softer. The short skeleton used blue magic to get the game and walked over to the counter still snickering. You smile as you begin walking to the back to replace your empty box. When you return to the store, all the skeletons are at the counter with one of the tall ones yelling.

“PLEASE FORGIVE MY BROTHER AND MY COUSIN FOR THEIR TERRIBLE PUNS!” The other tall one nods. 

“It’s alright, did you find everything you needed?” Chris says as you go to stock the shelves once again. Just as you were finishing up with this box, the skeletons had paid for their games and left. 

“That was… interesting,” Chris comments as you go to the back to get ANOTHER box.

“You’re telling me! They look like the avatars Carrot and Blue use!” Chris furrows their brows as you leave with another box and go to the shelves again.

“Isn’t… there custom avatars in Basic?” Chris asks as they type away on their phone.

“Um… Not that I can recall… considering the list is SUUUUPER long,” You respond as Chris nods their head.

“There is, just looked it up. Isn’t it strange that they looked practically identical except for some slight changes?” Chris asks, looking up from their phone. Now that you think about it…

“Yeah, that’s kinda odd…” You comment aloud as you toss the last box into the back.

“Maybe they were all born as twins or something?” You suggest, Chris shakes their head.

“I dunno… oh hey, it’s break time. Want a rematch in SMASH?” 

“OH HELL YEAH, I’M GONNA WIN THIS TIME!” Chris laughs at your enthusiasm as you both make your way to the employee break room, passing by Max and Alex, your other co-workers who you say ‘hi’ to. You and Chris began to duke it out in Smash.

The rest of the day went by quickly, only a few customers stopped by the Game Store, you lost to Chris is Smash… again. At the end of your shift you say goodbye to Chris and leave the store. While walking home, you check your messages and see that Blue and Carrot messaged.

Magnificent Blueberry: HELLO HUMAN FART! I HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL! UNFORTUNATELY, I AM UNABLE TO JOIN YOU AND MY BROTHER’S GAMING SESSION SINCE I HAVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO ATTEND TO! I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE FUN! - SINCERELY, BLUE!

You smiled at how professional yet caring Blue’s message was and began typing your response.

(Username): Aw man! I hope you can join us next time! Good luck with your important things!

You go to Carrot’s message next.

Cheesepuff: Okay, so the server’s are REALLY crowded today. I think we should set up a place to meet up as well.

(Username): That’s alright! How about the Creature Care Center? 

Cheesepuff: That works. See ya in 15.

You leave the personal conversations to see you were added to a group chat with Totally and Crispy Chris (You may have laughed at Chris’s username as soon as you saw it.)

Totally not the writer: Right, so I made this group chat so we could play games and just chat with one another.

Crispy Chris: Cool. 

(Username): Awesome! But I’m busy tonight, I’m going to be meeting Carrot’s cousins in game.

Totally not the writer: There’s more of them? Didn’t you and Chris just deal with two sets of doppelgangers that YOU said looked like Carrot’s and Blue’s avatars?

Ah, Chris must’ve told them about that.

(Username): Maybe, maybe not. I may be meeting those doppelgangers. Who knows?

Crispy Chris: Just don’t reveal your address or your full name. Or, like, any personal information that’ll hurt you.

(Username): I know, I know. This isn’t my first rodeo. Gtg tho. 

You shut off your phone and stuff in your pocket as you enter the home. Locking the door behind you, you check the clock. 5:15. Nodding to yourself, you begin setting up the game and once done with that, you put on the VR goggles and enter the Basic world.

When Carrot said it was crowded today, he was not kidding. There were a LOT of players in just the town square alone! Wincing to yourself, you pull up a map (Blue was kind enough to give you pointers with your exploration) and begin weaving your way through avatars and houses.

You eventually arrive on the street where the Creature Care Center, Merchant Stalls and many other interactive buildings lie. You look up from the map to see Carrot pacing back and forth in front of two sets of, you guessed, more doppelgangers. And they sure as hell didn’t look like the ones that visited the store, but they were similar. They looked terrifying, wearing red, black, or purple armor/robes/clothing.

You gulp and make the map disappear before approaching the group of skeletons. Carrot notices your approach and waves with a small smile.

“Hey, glad you could make it,” He says, earning an annoyed huff from a tall skeleton in red armor.

“FINALLY, I COULDN’T STAND WAITING ANY LONGER,” The short skeleton wearing purple armor nodded. Carrot sighed.

“Edge, Mal, please…” He muttered tiredly, you raised a brow and looked at the usernames above their avatars. The tall angry one in red was “Captain,” the short one in purple was “Maleficent,” the short one in red clothes with a hood was “Red,” and finally the tallone in dark purple robes was “Rus.”

“Interesting names,” You comment, Captain puffing out his chest and smiling proudly.

“OF COURSE IT IS! YOU’VE WITNESSED THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE EDGE AND HIS MAGNIFICENT NAMING SKILLS!” He states proudly, so he’s a narcissist. Good to know. Maleficent shakes his head with his arms crossed.

“BY ‘MAGNIFICENT’ YOU MEAN BASIC, CONSIDERING YOU WERE THE CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD,” Maleficent counters bluntly, Captain whips his head to face the short.

“WH- HOW DARE YOU?!” He screeched before the two got into an argument, the other two were snickering about something and Carrot looked dead inside. You place a virtual hand onto his shoulder.

“I am sorry you have to deal with this,” You say half serious half joking, earning a tired amused grin from Carrot.

“Trust me, it was harder to convince them to actually PLAY the game,” Carrot admits looking even more dead inside. Red approaches the two of you.

“He’ll get used to it, eventually,” Red comments before holding out his hand.

“Nice to officially meet you Fart, my name is Red,” He says with an amused smile. You shake his hand which opens a menu with his stats.

“Woah, a rouge! Nice,” You complement, Red smirks more.

“Thanks,” He says simply before you break apart the virtual handshake. Rus approaches the small gathering.

“Can I join the party?” He asks, holy shit his voice- Red starts snickering like a mad man while Carrot stares at you in disbelief. Rus blinks and looks away.

“Um… thank you?” He says with uncertainty and a tinge of amusement, CRAP YOU SAID THAT OUT LOUD! Red starts laughing harder and Rus chuckles. 

“You’re something else aren’t ya?” He asks with a smirk.

“Uh…” You intelligently reply, Carrot steps in.

“Okay, I think they need a bit to process everything,” You nod trying to unclog your brain to find words. Red finally calmed down and wrapped a virtual arm around your avatar’s neck.

“You’re a riot, Fart!” He exclaims, you smile.

“Th-Thank you,” You manage to respond before Captain's booming voice breaks the chill environment.

“CAN WE GET A MOVE ON?! I WANT TO BE DONE WITH THIS AND DO SOMETHING MORE PRODUCTIVE!” Confused, you give Carrot a raised brow. 

“He wanted to know what there is to this game so… another exploration adventure. Whooooo,” He says tiredly, jeez, he needs to sleep.

“INDEED. NOW QUIT YOUR LOLLYGAGGING AND LET’S GO,” Maleficent follows up, you swear, whenever those two talk, you feel like you’re losing brain cells. And off your party went to look around the areas Captain and Maleficent were interested in. And once they found a weapon stand, they were VERY dedicated to look for their perfect weapon so the rest of you went to the fields. 

Carrot collected herbs while Ruse tried to get a fox as his familiar which was pretty cute. You were slaying slimes and Red was practicing his aim with the bow. After slaying some slimes, you decided to join Red with practicing your aim. You stand by him and use your multiweapon to practice.

“Hey Fart,” He greets as he shoots an arrow into a tree.

“Hey,” You respond, shooting and missing the tree.

“How are you liking Basic so far?” You ask as Red shoots and hits the tree again.

“It’s alright,” He answers vaguely as he glances at you and does a double take.

“Woah, what the HELL are you holding?” Red asks genuinely curious, you show Red your multiweapon.

“Multiweapon, I… couldn’t decide on just one,” You admit, Red snorts.

“Yeah, I can tell. But it’s still impressive. Think there are anymore like this in Basic?” He asks, now that you think about it, there is weapon customization in this…

“Most likely but they’d probably use different weapons,” Red hums and you both fall into comfortable silence while continuing to practice your aims.

“How did you get into gaming?” Red asks suddenly, oh boy. He just set off a tidal wave. You tell him how and why you got into gaming and he listened intently, even telling YOU how he got into gaming. Then it moved to conversing about video games which you both were REALLY into.

“I shall name you… Butters,” Rus declares as he holds the golden fox in his hands. The fox yips and Rus aww’s from the fox.

“Butters huh? Neat name,” Stretch comments as he walks by Rus to pick some herbs.

“Thanks,” They fall into silence before Rus breaks it again.

“Hey, I know you introduced us to this game to socialize but… don’t you find the human a bit TO accepting?” Stretch mulls over the question and faces Rus.

“Well, to them they think we’re using avatars so there’s that,” Rus hums and pets Butters.

“True, should we go get Edge and Mal?” Rus asks.

“Nah, they’ll be fine. Besides, they can find us with the friend tracking system, remember?” Rus shakes his head.

“There’s so many features to keep track of…” Rus mutters, earning an amused smirk from Stretch.

“Eh, you get used to it. Eventually,” 

Hours went by and before you knew it, you had to log off. You got Red’s discord and planned to have a Smash match one day. While the others were interesting, they didn’t seem too keen to give you their discord just yet. Understandable, after all they just met. 

As you wind down for the night, you check your messages to see Red, Blue, Carrot and Chris messaged you.

Red: Can’t wait to kick your ass in Smash, when you have time that is.

(Username): Oh, you’re on hot topic! Saturday, noon.

Red: Deal. See ya then sweetheart. ;)

Your face totally didn’t erupt into a tomato, nooooo.

Magnificent Blueberry: I HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL DAY FART! AND THANK YOU For YOUR LUCK EARLIER, IT REALLY HELPED! HAVE A GOOD NIGHT FART! -ALL THE BEST, BLUE!

You couldn’t help but chuckle that Blue still used Fart. You send a quick “I did, thank you and goodnight!” Now onto Carrot.

Cheesepuff: Hey, thanks for being patient enough to meet them. I know they can be a bit of a… nuisance.  

(Username): It was no trouble! Plus, I got a new gaming buddy so it works out!

Cheesepuff: Huh, well I’m glad at least ONE of them made a friend. Or acquaintance. Whichever it is. I wish thee farewell, as I have to attend an important matter called Sleep. Till we meet again Fart!

You laughed at his goofiness and moved onto Crispy Chris. (God it’s so stupid yet so funny!)

Crispy Chris: Hey, we don’t have to go to work tomorrow. Boss found an announcement that anti monster protestors are targeting our store. 

(Username): Really? Why are they still at this? It’s been 3 YEARS since monsters came and STILL can’t see reason?

Crispy Chris: I’ll say it once, I’ll say it again. Humans are stupid.

(Username): Agreed. Thanks for telling me.

Crispy Chris: Np. Good night and sweet dreams.

With your socializing done for the day, you place your phone on your night stand and go to sleep.

I- don’t know why I keep writing long chapters but HERE WE ARE! That’s 3 sets of boys that got a “proper” introduction. Only 2 more too go and onto the plot! (Which I’m totally making up as I go along.)

Next Chapter

[sxveme-2]

hidden / din djarin

description: the life of nobility wasn't one for everyone. some would rather duck under the shadows around them, especially after a great betrayal to the name of a planet. but despite being hidden, not everyone can avoid the blinding lights of danger. whether it be those after those who had escaped, or the poor bounty hunter who ended up picking her up. both with a large bounty on their heads.    follow Cloak as she lives the days as an escaped noble, hiding from the eyes of serenno after the fall of count dooku, shacking up with one of the most sought after child and the mandalorian unfortunate enough to have a big heart.

Chapter One: the one where they were both on tatooine

warnings: swearing

words: 3016

     "where did the princess go?" a gruff voice snapped just meters away from where a girl stood. her typical fine and righteous clothing hidden by a dark cloak of navy, one would typically see a hand-maid wear. an onyx mask covering the bottom half of her face, keeping her identity a secret from those around her.

     "the king said she was seen last near her quarters, come general, let's go look." another voice grumbled. the girl listened closely as their footsteps grew quiet while their conversation fell silent down the marble hallway.

      daring a glance, she peaked her head around the large granite pillar. when she saw no one in sight, she slipped across the hall. the flats of her boots creating a cushion to avoid any real noise escaping from her trots. her head moved rapidly from side to side, ensuring that she wasn't being trailed. tugging the cloak tighter around herself, she pulled the hood of the garment further over her head, ensuring that her face was shielded from any onlookers as she darted down the grand staircase towards the back exit that would lead her to an escape.

     however, she knew that their would be guards at the exit. so instead, she elected to tossing her leg over the window sill and rolling over onto the edge, jumping down into one of the bushes outside of the large palace. the moment her feet hit the dirt, she took off. ducking around trees and rivers, she found her way down into a small dingy hanger a mile or so away from the brilliant white building she was previously in. essentially tossing herself in, the girl stumbled into the cockpit. not moments later, the vastness of space surrounded her.

       and a breath left her lips.

-----

      "you're out of your mind if you expect me to pay that much." her voice huffed, throwing down the spare part back down onto the vendor's table, "fifty credits for this second rate piece of junk?"

      "it's from an imperial starship, Cloak." the old woman croaked.

      "yeah? cause I bought the same piece from madche just down the way." she scoffed, before tugging fifty credits from her pocket and tossing it on the table and grabbing the hunk of metal once again before turning back to her speeder, where the brilliant violet of her tooka cat shone in the blazing suns of tatooine.

      pulling her goggles down over her eyes once more, she took off down the land of sand back towards mos eisley where she was sure Peli was waiting for her return. despite not really being employed by the mechanic, she was very much her one source of reliance. the two shared a bit of a mother daughter relationship, despite Peli never actually knowing the girls real name. however, she was the only person that had seen the girls face in it's entirety over the past five years since she had landed on the burnt planet. secrets and all, Peli Motto didn't hesitate to take in the random girl who showed up on the desert planet.

      swerving through the entrance of hangar 3-5, she parked the rusty speedster just outside of the door leading towards the small area they called home together. tapping her leg, the tooka cat, or more so known as reddan, followed close behind as the door slid open, revealing Peli and her three droids betting over some old parts. letting out a sigh, the curly haired woman looked over at the girl she had essentially adopted, tilting her head.

      "find a job?" she asked, earning a shake of the others head, "any parts?" she continued, to earn a grumble and the clank of a piece of metal against one of the tables, "that's all?"

      "prices have gone up recently in everything I swear." she sighed, dropping down into one of the seats next to a droid.

      "welcome to post empire life, Cloak." peli hummed, tossing a piece of stale bread towards the girl before sliding over a pile of credits, "now, let's show these droids how you do it."

-----

       it wasn't that she hadn't been looking for a job. everyday she would go out and try to find something, anything. she had picked up a few jobs bringing in local thieves or finding the odd lost child.  she'd do some trades and different things but there wasn't much for her to do. she wasn't a saleswoman, she was far from kind enough to do that. she worked as a bartender for a while but the sleezy owner of the bar wanted her to take off her mask and hood, and she would be damned if she would ever do that. she didn't want to risk anything, even if it meant going a day or so without bringing in any sort of money for peli and her.

        until a rundown, ugly, horrid looking ship found itself in the hangar, just before she would take off for the day to find any sort of money or scrap part. peli seemed to be excited about the arrival of the disgraceful excuse for a ship, and she could only wonder why. she didn't exactly plan on staying around long enough to find out who was in the ship, she had more pressing matters at hand. like finding work, even if just for the day.

       "wait, Cloak, before you go," the shorter woman called, grabbing onto the girls upper arm, "stay for a few and meet this guy."

       "I have things to do today." she stated calmly, voice unwavering with emotion.

       "don't lie. unless you managed to get a job overnight." peli rolled her eyes, tugging the girl from the small home they lived in out towards the large hunk of metal.

       she didn't want to be anywhere near the ship. the entire thing made her shiver. it just looked so unsteady. there was so much maintenance needed to be done for it, that a part of her wondered if she should stay back for the day and help peli fix the thing. it looked like it had been sideswiped by one too many blasts and suffered far too much damage to the thrusters. she was well-versed in ships and things. she had always found it intriguing back on her home planet, and would often eavesdrop on the mechanics that were stationed past the place she used to call home. she'd sneak out of the back and past the guards as a child and sit at the side and just listen, and learn. sometimes the mechanics would let her help out, but most of the time they were too scared of what her father might do if they found out.

      "do we even have the materials to fix this thing?" she asked, looking down at the shorter woman as the droids scurried to their sides, all three also seemingly excited.

       "well I'll do what I can with it. not my first rodeo with this hunk of metal. and I'm not talking about the ship." the brunette winked before walking up to the newly open entryway.

        furrowing her eyebrows, she followed the mechanic close behind. her own curious instincts overcoming her hesitant thoughts. if peli trusted this person, then what did she really have to worry about? she was an excellent judge of character. her boots kicked at the sand as she walked behind the woman, awaiting to see this supposed hunk of metal that would, she assumed, be the pilot of the roughed up ship. but what she saw wasn't just simply a hunk of metal, no. no this was a warrior that she had only heard legends about and seen once while back on her home planet. one she wasn't sure if she trusted.

         the person that stepped from the ship, was a mandalorian.

         "Cloak!" peli's voice called, snapping the girl from her trance as she stared up at the new person who had entered the area, "meet mando. and this little guy."

         tilting her head downwards, a warm feeling spread through her belly. two big brown eyes stared up at the hazel hues of her own, with a precious little green face surrounding them. he wore a small toothy grin that made her feel all choked up, unsure of how to react to something as cute. it's ears were twitching slightly and small clawed hands were reaching upwards towards peli. placing her hand over her chest, she let out a soft sigh. walking forward, she bent her head down towards the small child, smiling under her fabric mask.

        "who is this little guy?" she whispered, only to snap her head back when the same  green hands went to pull at the face mask she wore, "grabby little fella."

       "can you watch him?" the mandalorian spoke, a deep and modulated tone, "I have to pick up some stuff here."

       "you know I would never say no to looking after this little fella," peli cooed, puckering her lips down at the creature, "why don't you and Cloak here go out together. she's got some stuff to do and she knows these vendors better than any. she'd get you the best deal if there was one."

       "no thank you." she stated, turning on her heel and readjusting her mask, "I'm going to pick up a job. not babysit a grown person." she finished, readjusting the gloves on her hands.

       "oh don't be like that." peli scoffed, looking over at the man in the helmet, "she'll take good care of you. beware though, she's quick. if she doesn't want to be seen, she won't be. if she really doesn't want to be out there with you, you'll lose her quick."

       "so it's more like I'm babysitting her." mando scoffed, "I'm here for supplies, motto. not to watch over your assistant."

       before the other two could blink, she had slid a knife from her pocket and held it just under the cavil of his beskar helmet. he turned his neck gingerly, meeting her gaze through the the visor. a tense blanket of air draped over the entire hangar.

        "I'm not her assistant." she stated simply, voice continuing to fail from showing any emotion, "and you won't be babysitting me. for all you know I could make those vendors give you the worse price yet you'd think otherwise. don't think this beskar makes you high and mighty, mando." she quipped, sliding the knife away.

         "told you she's quick."

-----

        the two walked in dead silence towards the vendors square. neither mentioning her attempted stabbing a mere twenty or so minutes ago. and honestly, she appreciated it.  she figured it gave him a bit of an adrenaline rush, having a knife pressed so close to his neck. but then again, the mandalorian are rumoured to not feel those sorts of things when it came to acts of aggression, so she didn't entertain the idea too much. both of them moved silently and quickly through the sand alleys, before finally arriving where they needed to go.

        "what are you exactly looking for?" she asked, grinning underneath her covering at the pawing of reddan at her feet. he must have followed her. dropping on her knee, she tapped her shoulder and the feline jumped up onto her shoulder.

        "a transmitter and some spare blankets." he grumbled, glancing around at the stalls.

        "well the transmitters will be pricey, I can tell you that. the lowest I could score for you is about 200 credits. and blankets? those are easy. come on then, metal head."

        the two wandered around the array of stalls. she did the bargaining while he nitpicked every little detail of the blankets. the transmitter was easy, she didn't even bargain and he tossed 250 credits at the vendor. but the blanket, he seemed to be paying extra attention to. asking her how soft it was and if it was itchy against skin. if it was even slightly off, he would refuse it. it confused her, the amount of detail he focused on when it was merely a blanket.

        "we have one stall left for blankets. why is it so important anyways?" she asked, handing a piece of ration she had to a young boy who sat just outside one of the cantina's, ruffling his dark hair before sending him on his way.

        "doesn't matter." he stated, walking towards the stall that had the most expensive blankets in all of the square, "how much are these?"

        staring up at the man through her goggles, she let out a soft sigh, "they range from 25 to 75 credits. made of tooka cat fur." she hummed, resting a hand on the top of her own cats head, "handwoven by nalgi here." she answered, walking forward, "how are the kids, dear?"

        "getting on my last nerve," the dark skinned woman sighed, "may need you to watch them for a day or so soon, Cloak. they listen to you." nalgi sighed, refolding one of the blankets, "now what can I do for you two?"

        "he needs a blanket for his kid. very picky. what's the softest one you have?" she asked, leaning forward and sliding her own glove off, feeling a few of the garments.

        "you're holding it." the woman gestured to the beige blanket she was currently admiring, "for you, Cloak? 40 credits."

        "thank you, nalgi." she cooed, turning her head to the man, "no stains. no rips. fully woven. softer than sand. fourty credits."

        the sound of metal smacking down onto the table let her know the transaction was done. giving a quick thank you to the woman, she and the mandalorian turned away and began their trek back to the hanger. she knew peli would be far from finished with the ship, the thing was a mess. a part of her wanted to ask what happened, but the sheer energy coming off of the mandalorian let her know that was not a very wise choice. so instead the two walked in silence once more, the heat of the two suns blazing down on each of their covered faces.

         "I need the blanket because he's having a tough time falling asleep. I can't seem to figure out how to put him to sleep." mando answered the question from earlier, only earning a nod from the shorter girl, "why do you cover your face?"

        looking up, the girl quirked her hidden eyebrow, "we just met. no need to get personal. hopefully after today I'll never see you again."

        maker, was she wrong.

-----

       now, she knew peli motto was a bit hyperactive. a quick witted woman, and one that tended to push the other girl out of her comfort zone just a bit. but what she didn't know, was that the woman was simply out of her mind. some of the ideas she would come up with surprised her, but never stumped or baffled her. like the one time she said they should play a game of catch with the droids, or when she said they could  use wood to fix the hole in someone's ship. there were multiple instances where she wondered if it was a good idea to land on tatooine and become affiliated with this creative mechanic. but she wouldn't have lasted a day without her.

      "did you two find what you need?" peli called from the inside of the razor crest, "been gone for a bit. worried you may have killed each other on the walk there."

      "I did. thank you." mando called as he placed down his new possessions, rubbing the small green guys head, "your as- friend was actually quite the help."

       nodding, the girl dropped her head at him catching his words. she let out a gentle sigh before walking towards the beaten up ship with a tool kit of her own, figuring she may as well help out the woman. the droids were busy being at each others necks to get much done. she began silently working on the side of the ship that had been demolished by maker knows what. she didn't know what kind of things the mandalorian got up to, but whatever it was had some pretty expensive damages.

       "any jobs?" peli called out.

      "might have to watch nagli's younglings soon. she says they're getting out of hand. she pays well s- "

      "I HAVE AN IDEA!"

      popping her head up and pulling her goggles over onto her forehead, she placed a hand on her hip. the curly haired woman came bounding from the ship, a bright grin and mischievous look dancing in her worn eyes. cocking an eyebrow, she dropped her tool and walked towards the woman who was beckoning the mandalorian over to the two, telling him to bring the little kid with him as well.

       "what's going on?" mando asked, readjusting the small green creature in his arms.

      "I have had an epiphone!" she exclaimed, "Cloak here is fantastic with children- "

     "so I saw." he commented, sneaking a glance over at the girl who stood confused, looking down at the positively beaming mechanic.

      she watched in confusion at the way peli's gears turned in her head. whatever the woman was thinking, she wasn't sure she would actually like what she had to say. usually her ideas were at least somewhat comical, leaving her with a grin or a small laugh. but whatever she was cooking up now made her hair stand on the back of her neck.

      "what're you getting at, peli?" she asked, dusting her gloves off on her long blue cloak.

      if she had known this was where the day would have lead to, she would have simply left without saying another word to the tall mandalorian who had landed in the hanger. wouldn't have even thought about leading him to the square, or helped him find supplies he needed. let along bargain for them. but the following words that were spoken by peli made her realize just how grave a mistake she had made.

       "you should be a caretaker for the little guy and go with mando here!"

[creator-zee]

184

I apologized to my soulmate, wherever they were, as I slammed into the ground. I knew my entire back would be bruised from that. I grit my teeth as I struggled to fill my empty lungs, pushing myself back up into a fighting stance. The dragon continued stalking towards me. Teeth bared, but it had run out of fire hours ago. I dodged another swipe of its claws, rolling underneath it. I dodged the tail swipe, by leaping up and grabbing onto the spikes. The sharp edges, cutting into my hands slightly.

Sorry. I thought again.

I held on though, even as the dragon trashed. I climbed steadily up it’s back, until I was seated on it’s back. Well, seated was a generous word, I was crouched on it’s back, between it’s wings and hovering over the spines on its back. I stayed on though, until he calmed.

He was our newest rescue, a dragon from an abusive farm. He didn’t trust anyone and wouldn’t let anyone near him. The problem was that dragons weren’t like horses. There was no option for slowly building trust. Dragons only trusted though that they could trust to protect them. It was how they worked in society. Dragons would mate, based off fighting. The challenger would have to win to gain the dragon’s trust. 

The main problem us humans faced when trying to train them was that we couldn’t fly, didn’t have claws, or sharp teeth, and we weren’t as strong. So, beating them and gaining their trust, so that we could train them was a challenge. We had found that if we used tools to aid us, the dragons didn’t accept it as a fair win.

That’s why despite dragons being common for travel, entertainment, and companions, trainers were far and few between. It also meant I was constantly apologizing to my unknown soulmate for the bruises and injuries I gained each day that they had to share as well.

The dragon, a red spine back, had finally calmed under me. I jumped off his back, landing on the ground next to him. He lowered his head in submission to me. I rubbed his muzzle gentle, some of my blood getting on him. A deep throaty sound escaped his throat, similar to a cat’s purr.

I smiled. The bruises and cuts were always worth it, hopefully my soulmate would understand that someday too.

I turned away from the dragon, I really needed to give him a name, and headed to the stables. He followed me, nudging my shoulder lightly with his head.

I chuckled. “Oh, now look who wants to follow me.”

He just snorted.

I laughed. “Yes, yes, I’ll get you a treat. We reached the stable and I climbed into the loft. Red spine backs, what did they like again. They were carnivores, and particular to fish. Right. I moved to the far end, and opened up a cooler, pulling out a raw salmon.

I heard  the sound of flapping wings as he tried to get up into the loft, but it was far to small for a dragon to fit, except the small little terrors.

I held the fish away from him as I climbed down the ladder and he pranced slightly in place, waiting for me to give it to him. I tossed it to him, and he caught it in midair, scarfing it down, whole. I shook my head.

“Come on, you have to head back out to the pasture, I have chores to do.” I told him, I really needed to think of a name. The naming responsibilities had fallen on my shoulders after I took over most of the brunt work for my father when he broke his arm in a rodeo. It wasn’t even dragons, but a plain old horse. I shouldn’t insult horses, they were great too, but they couldn’t fly or breath fire.

He nudged my shoulder again playfully, and I couldn’t help but wonder yet again at the stark difference in dragons once they gained their trust. The bond formed ran deep. That’s partially why I hated my job, having to sell my dragons away to people who hadn’t earned their trust like I had. They would behave, I would make sure of that, but they might not ever truly trust their new owners.

I sighed, as I rubbed his snout, as I opened the gate to the pasture. “I think I’ll call you Slammer. If only, because I’m going to be feeling that slam for a few days, if not weeks.”

He just blinked in response and I smiled. “Go on, run, fly, just don’t go too far.”

That was another challenge with dragons. They had wings, so stopping them from escaping was difficult. That’s why you had to gain their trust first, or get them trained. Otherwise, unless you had a giant bird cage they would just fly away immediately.

Slammer ran away from me, breaking into a gallop before taking off and circling above, stretching his wings.

I smiled up at him, before heading back to the stable. I had training for Tea and Spine and I was giving lessons to a new person this afternoon. I should probably clean the blood and dirt off myself before then.

I lost track of time unfortunately, and while I was rubbing down Spine’s scales, cleaning them of dirt, I heard the rumble of a truck approaching.

“Dammit.” I cursed softly, causing Spine to ruffle his wings nervously. “It’s fine.” I quickly reassured him as I led him outside the stable. I rubbed his shoulder.

“Go home.” I said softly, and he responded to the commanded, taking off and flying towards the paddock.

I wiped my hands off on my pants but it didn’t make much difference since they were just as dirty.

“Sorry.” I apologized to the woman currently walking up my driveway,  “It’s been a busy day, I haven’t had a chance to get cleaned up since training. Z, by the way.”

She just smiled. “Gwyn, and I don’t mind. It is a farm. I didn’t expect for everything to be pristine.”

I laughed. “Good. Now, come on, let’s find you a dragon to ride. What experience do you have?”

I had my suspicions, Justine from the clean state of her clothes, but I’d let her confirm them or prove me wrong.

“I rode as a kid, but dropped it in high school in a failed attempt to fit in. So I’d say ‘so rusty that I’m practically a beginner.’”

I nodded. “Got it. I know just who you can ride, Ripper.”

“R-ripper?” She repeated, terrified.

I laughed. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. She’s actually a very sweet common ridgeback. She earned that name after ripping my favorite shirt when I was gaining her trust.”

“Ohhh.” She muttered.

“Come on, let’s go get her, she’s out in the fields, so just stay close to me. I have some newbies in the field, and I don’t know how they’d react to a stranger if you got too far from me.” I warned her.

She nodded, stepping closer to me.

I saw Ripper soaring high in the distance. 

“Cover your ears.” I warned Gwyn, before I called for Ripper, a loud shrieking call, that mimicked a ridgeback’s call. Ripper responded in kind, before circling back and landing a little ways away from us and walking up to us, lowering her head. I rubbed it gently, before grabbing Gwyn’s hand and urging her to do the same.

“Woah...” She muttered quietly. “It’s been so long. Also, damn that was an impressive call.”

I removed my hand from hers, smiling softly, but that smile faded when I realized I had left blood on the back of her hand.

”Ah, crap, sorry.” I apologized quickly. “I haven't bandaged my hands since I dealt with Slammer this morning.”

She looked at me slightly concerned, wiping her hand off on her shirt. “Slammer?”

”A red spine back.” I explained, as I led Ripper to the stables to be tacked up. “He’s a new rescue. His spines cut my hands.”

“A the name? Is he a jail bird?” She asked, and I chuckled at her joke.

“No, he didn’t go in the slammer. He slammed be in the ground. Left my back completely riddled with bruises.”

She froze mid step. Her face was shocked, but otherwise unreadable.

“Your entire back...?” She muttered.

“Uh, yeah.” I shrugged. “Don’t worry it happens all the time, jsut one of the risks of being a trainer.”

“No, I know.” She muttered. “That just means...” She trailed off and showed me her own palms in explanation. They had bruises right where mine were cut.

“Ohhhhh....” I muttered, knowing what she was getting at. “You’re my... I’m your....”

She nodded. “Soulmate, we’re soulmates.”

“I - I don’t, this is, I don’t know what to say. This is so unexpected.” I stammered, caught completely off guard. Ripper sensed my anxiety and gently butted her head against my shoulder. I rubbed it welcomingly.

“Well... I’m relieved that the reason I’m always covered in bruises is not because you are abused or something.” She admitted.

I chuckled slightly at that. “I swear some of these guys do abuse me.”

“Do you run this whole place by yourself?” She asked, surprised.

I shook my head. “My dad does the paperwork stuff, you probably talked to him on the phone. But I do all the manual labor, since he broke his arms, it’s never been the same since. Dragons can be pretty easy to handle after you gain their trust -“ I rubbed Ripper’s snout affectionately “- but, it’s the gaining their trust that’s hard. You have to be in top shape for that.”

She murmured, nodding. “I can see that.”

“What?” I asked, head snapping to face her.

A blush spread on her face, and I was sure my own wasn’t much better.

“It’s just - you’re...” She gestured oddly to me. “Um, fit.” She settled on, before pointedly looking away from me.

“Thanks?” I muttered, unsure. “Let’s just focus on this lesson, okay? We can talk after, maybe after I’ve had a shower.”

She nodded. “Yes, okay. So, what’s first?”

I settled into teacher mode, an easy mold, one that I didn’t have to worry about. Nothing was off, until after the lesson ended.

I had decided to let Gwyn ride Ripper around on her down, to cool her down, while I checked on the dragons, farther out in the fields. I needed to make sure that they still had water and give them their food.

It was all going well until Tide, one of my few amphibian dragons, decided to play in the water... while I was filling it. I ended up completely soaked. I sighed, as I stared at the goofy face of the dragon, her frills around her face raised in excitement. I couldn’t be made at that face. I smiled and rubbed her snout.

“Tide, go soak someone else.” I chastised, but with no malice in my tone. “Maybe someone with scales that won’t get soaked to the bone.”

She chattered, flapping her wings a few times, spraying me yet again with more water before taking off. I shook my head, as I trudged back up to the barn, Gwyn and Ripper catching me by surprise. I had forgotten about them because of Tide’s distraction.

“What happened to you?” Gwyn asked, slightly horrified.

“Tide happened.” I muttered. “She’s an amphibious dragon, and likes to play in the water. It was my misfortune to try and fill it when she was in a playful mood.”

Gwyn slid slightly awkwardly off Rippers back. I noticed she had a slight blush on her cheeks, and I didn’t realize why, until I remembered I was wearing a white shirt, dammit Tide.

“Sorry...” I apologized. “I can change...?” I offered.

“I’d - um - I’d like that.” She muttered.

“Think you can untack her?” I asked, as I climbed up into the loft.

Gwyn shook her head. “No.”

“No worries.” I called back down. “I should have some spare clothes stashed up here, I can be down in a sec to help you.”

“Okay.” Gwyn called back up.

I rummaged around in the loft in a bin, managing to only find a spare bra and tank top. Hopefully, that was at least a little better.

I climbed back down the loft, and by Gwyn’s beet red face and small gasp. It wasn’t better. A small part of me was happy, but most was just apologetic for making my soulmate so flustered.

“Sorry.” I apologized, again. “Let me just get this off, and then I can grab more clothes from inside.”

“No need to hurry.” Gwyn muttered, and I turned to her surprised.

“What was that?” I asked, confused.

“Uh, nothing.” She stammered.

I ignored it, quickly taking Ripper’s saddle and bridle off, and hanging them in the take room, before giving her the simple command, go home. She left after nuzzling me one more time.

“I think we are due for a conversation.” I said, as I led Gwyn back up towards the house.

“Uh, yeah.” She agreed. “What do you want this to mean?” She asked, gesturing broadly between us.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe we can just continue meeting up and see where it goes?”

She nodded, smiling. “That sounds good. Besides I do want more lessons.”

“Of course.” I answered, slightly flushed myself. “Here, let me give you my number. I can’t promise I’ll be responsive though. I tend to leave my phone in the safety of the indoors so it doesn’t get smashed or waterlogged.”

Gwyn nodded. “Understandable.”

“Let me just run inside real quick to grab it.” I told her before sucking inside my house to grab my phone off the table in the entryway. I had several missed texts from a friend.

I ignored them for now and opened up my contacts, offering it to Gwyn. She quickly put her number in. I sent her a quick text, hi, so that she would have mine.

“Just text me for your next lesson.” I said.

She nodded. “I will, see you later Z.”

I waved goodbye as she pulled out in her truck.

[bran-writes]

OC Backstory Weeks Week 0: Intro

Hey guys, @yourocsbackstory is running this weekly event again! Go check her Masterpost out to get the info about it and feel free to participate if it interests you! I’ll be reblogging OC entries as well, if I see them!

This time I around I’ll use Sunny from Farm Boy Blues during the run of the event. Week 0 is the intro so here’s what I have!

_______________________________________________________________________

Sunny woke up in the dim light of the doctor’s office with a crushing headache and a chalky dry mouth. He’d been laying on the cot for 3 days and it wasn’t doing his back or limbs any favors. Not to mention, the doctor’s office smelled like copper and sweat.

“Doc!”

“Hold on, asshole, I’m busy!”

Sunny scoffed and tried to sit up. The first two times, he failed, but the third time was more successful, even though his chest screamed with pain. He glanced down at his stitches and grimaced through the lances of searing pain before letting out a long breath. He reached over to the blinds next to his bed and opened them, letting some sunshine in. 

Staring out the window at the small desert town around the doctor’s office. It seemed pretty busy, so it must have been midday. This town was out of the way, but that was the point. The doctor usually serviced mercenaries and wounded travelers and this was the closest medical help outside Dyson City. The family who’d hauled Sunny here days ago had probably been on their way there. 

Behind him, Sunny heard rubber shoes shuffling against the smooth concrete floor. He turned, hoping to see the doctor. Instead, there was a young boy- probably 8 years old. He had curly dark hair and deep brown skin. His brightly colored clothes offset his large, brown eyes. The kid stared at Sunny for a few moments before offering him a bottle of water. 

“Where’s the doctor?”

“He says he can’t come right now but you gotta take these,” the kid mumbled shyly, handing him a small paper cup with two pills inside. Pain killers. 

“Thanks, kid,” Sunny nodded before downing the pills. He guzzled the room temperature water while the kid stared at him. When he finished, Sunny crushed the bottle and gingerly tossed it towards the trash bin. He missed, and the kid scooped it up and made it in. “Well aren’t you a helpful employee,” Sunny smirked. 

“I don’t work here,” the boy sighed. 

“Oh… Then who are you?”

“A kid…”

“Ha…”

The boy laughed, which made Sunny chuckle, despite the painful protest from his chest. “I found you on the road,” the boy finally said.

“Oh, you did huh?” Sunny grimaced. “So, I guess you’re the one who called for help?”

The boy nodded, sitting in the chair next to Sunny’s bed and propping a leg up on the seat. Sunny nodded and held his hand out for the child to shake. The kid stared at it for a second before finally shaking. 

“Thanks. If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be dead,” Sunny laid back down against the rough material of the cot.

“No problem,” the boy nodded. 

“You headed to Dyson City?”

“Yep. We live there. My daddy’s a writer and my mommy sells houses. We went on vacation and stopped to use the bathroom when I found you.”

“You didn’t pee on me, did you?”

The kid laughed. “No, silly.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“What’s you name, mister?” The boy asked, voice tinged with curiosity as he picked at his shoe laces.

“Sunny. Yours?”

“Manuel.”

“Nice to meet you, Manuel. Thanks for the help.”

“What happened to you?”

“Somebody shot me…”

“Duh, I know that,” Manuel rolled his eyes.

“Well then you know what happened,” Sunny winked. 

“Does it hurt?”

“Yep. Like a…” Sunny trailed enough, deciding not to curse in front of somebody else’s kid. “A lot.”

“You live in Dyson City too?”

“Yes, sir! Since I was fifteen, actually,” Sunny bucked his eyebrows.

“What’s your job?”

Oh boy, Sunny thought. “Well, I’m an asset… reacquisition… contractor. Basically, I-”

“Asset means something important,” Manuel nodded. “Reacquisition means you get something?”

“Wow, that’s pretty good, kid. How old are you?”

“Seven,” Manuel sniffed and rested his chin on his knee.

“Ah, I guessed eight. You’re pretty smart.”

“I read at fourth grade reading level.”

“Is reacquisition a fourth grade word?” Sunny furrowed his eyebrows but the kid shrugged. “Well anyways, you were close, like I said. Pretty much, when somebody loses something, they hire me to go find it.”

“Were you looking for something in the desert?” Manuel scratched the bridge of his nose and sniffed again. 

“Ah… No. I’d actually just quit my job. Don’t think that’s gonna last, though. Good thing I work for myself.”

Before Manuel could reply or(what Sunny thought was more likely), ask another question, two adults entered the back room of the office. They were obviously Manuel’s parents. The man wore a loose, airy blue shirt and shorts with a baseball cap while the woman wore a yellow tank top and light shorts. They glanced from Manuel to Sunny before the father sucked his teeth. 

“Manuel, get out of here and stop bothering him,” he snapped his fingers. 

“I’m nnnooooooot,” Manuel whined.

“Hey, sir, really,” Sunny held a hand up, wincing, “It’s fine.”

The man didn’t look too sure, and the woman furrowed her brows. “We don’t want him keeping you awake, you need to rest,” she said.

“I’ve been in and out for three days,” Sunny chuckled, “I could use some conversation. Manuel here was just keeping me company.”

“Problem is, he has a habit of asking too many questions for answers that aren’t any of his business,” the man stressed, looking at his son. Manuel, dark curls glowing in the window light, jutted his chin out in defiance. 

“Hey, at least I still know my name and where I live,” Sunny winked. “We can just say he was assisting the doctor, eh Manuel?”

“Right!”

“I’m Sunny, by the way.”

“Ah, my name’s Robert and this is my wife Helena,” Robert reached out gingerly to take Sunny’s hand. Helena did the same with a warm, motherly smile. 

“I appreciate you guys bringing me here,” Sunny nodded, “A lot of people would have just.. Left me or robbed me.”

“It was the right thing to do. I imagine if I was in your position I’d want someone to help me,” Helena nodded. Sunny didn’t know these people very well, but he found himself hoping that would never happen. 

“Do you think whoever did this to you would still be looking for you?” Robert asked.

Sunny scoffed before clearing his throat, his chest pain flaring. “No… They’re long gone by now.”

“Should we be worried about the feds coming and asking us questions?” Helena asked with a small, knowing smile. Sunny tapped Manuel on his knee.

“Hey, these are the questions you should have been asking.”

Manuel rolled his eyes and shifted in his seat to face his parents. “Sunny’s not a criminal, he finds stuff for people.”

Helena furrowed her brow again in curiosity before Sunny explained, “I’m an Arc.”

“Ah… Say no more,” Robert held a hand out. “I had to hire one when Helena and I first got married. Your job probably takes you all over the place, huh?”

“Unfortunately,” Sunny bucked his eyebrows. 

“Well, do you have family coming to pick you up, Sunny? Or should we wait until you’re better and bring you with us?” Helena asked.

“What? No, no, don’t wait. You guys have been here long enough, you should head home. And as far as family, it’s just me- other than my Mama who won’t be coming out here.”

“I get it,” Robert nodded, “my relationship with my mother isn’t the best, but I at least think she’d help me were I in your position. Are you sure you don’t want to call her?”

“Oh, she’s not my real mom, she’s more of like an unofficial adoptive mother. And she’s got other kids to worry about.”

“Ah, ok, sorry for prying,” Robert held that weathered hadn’t out again.

“Hey, no problem. Manuel, do you see my clothes anywhere?”

The kid looked around in exaggerated twists before he spotted Sunny’s clothes under the cot. He pointed to them and Sunny nodded, “Good, hand me my pants will ya?”

When he was handed the jeans, Sunny dug for his wallet, found it and produced a yellow and white card decorated with a Hawaiian flower pattern. Embossed on the front were thick black letters that read: 

Keaton Investigations

“My info’s on the back there. If you ever need anything, let me know.”

Helena accepted the card, flipped it over and handed it to Robert. “New Rodeo, honey.” Manuel gasped.

“Your office isn’t too far from our house,” Robert raised his eyebrows.

“Oh yeah? Well the office is actually my place- I live in the loft upstairs.” Sunny briefly wondered why he’d tell strangers that, but it’s not like they wouldn’t find that out if they showed up at the address on the card anyways. 

“That’s perfect,” Helena smiled, “We’d love to have you over for dinner sometime!”

“Oh, ma’am, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your family like that.”

“PPpllllleeeeaaaaassseee,” Manuel begged. 

How am I supposed to say no to this kid? Sunny thought.

“It wouldn’t be too much trouble at all,” Robert assured him. “We’d love it.”

Sunny considered it for a moment. In the back of his mind, he could hear Mama coaching him to get out more and spend time with normal people. Make friends and all that. “Okay, sure,” Sunny shrugged against the pain. Leave me a message at the office when you get back into town. I’ll take a few days to heal and get back to you guys.”

“Promise?” Manuel asked. Sunny nodded. 

“You got it, buddy.”

“Yes!”

“Alright, we’ll be waiting to hear from you,” Helena smiled. “Get well soon.”

“It’s time for us to head back, Manuel, grab your bag and throw it in the car.”

“Yes, sir,” the boy nodded and jumped out of his chair. Before leaving the room, the kid turned back and ran to the cot. He held his hand out for a high five and Sunny obliged. 

“Thanks again for the help, kid.”

“All in a day’s work,” Manuel grinned. 

_______________________________________________________________________

I think I might have to bring back Manuel and his family in the future! This was fun, I can’t wait to continue this event!

Tag List: @writerinafury @oneleggedflamingo @carmina-solis @anomaly00 @neirawrites @lnspired-insomniac

[batmaniskpopaf]

Can I please request a J-Hope smut? It starts out fluffy but ends up rough? Possibly with some spanking in it? I can seriously feel my face burning as I type this out 🙈🙈 I have no idea how you fic writers do it lol but you have my respect! 😳😊

I GOT YOU BBY!!! BRING ME YOUR DIRTIEST FANTASIES AND I SHALL MAKE THEM COME TRUE !!

THIS FUCKKEDD  MEEE UPPP!!! LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED  BE A SMOL DRABBLE BUT YOU KNOW I HAD TO DO IT TO ‘EM XD ….

Type: Smut 

Members: JUNG HOSEOK  X Y/N (ft. TAEHYUNG)

Warning: mentions of unprotected sex and sex in a public place

A/N: PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION 

P.S: SO SORRY I FORGOT TO INCLUDE SPANKING BBY

There’s no way! He is too cute to be real! Taehyung and you both gawk at your computer screen… Maybe he’s awkward you reply… mentally chastising yourself for having shown Taehyung the picture…” No that’s not enough, maybe he’s a serial killer” he teases… “What if he cuts off your eyelashes and locks you in his basement?” you throw a pillow at him from across the room from where you’re now pacing back and forth… “you watch way too much criminal minds” you retort “ “You can never watch enough Criminal Minds” he bites back… “Either way he wants to meet up” you placate him… “Are you going? If you do then bring pepper spray and text me your location before you walk in!” Taehyung is all business now rummaging through your purse and producing a bottle of pepper spray… “keep it in your pocket!” he orders… “Sir yes sir!” you tease… he rolls his eyes and saunters over to your closet… “Now what to wear? Should we go for slutty chic or slutty college student?”… “How about we go for not getting murdered” you reply… “Oh come on chances are he’s just a normal guy who’s looking for a quick hookup; besides how long has it been since you got laid?” … you bite your lip torn between your discarded laptop and taehyung’s array of outfits… you exhale over dramatically…” Fine” you uncinate… I’m gonna hop in the shower… text him back and figure out a place to meet before I change my mind!” you reply making your way into the bathroom… “aye aye captain!” …

Droplets of sweat trickle down the nape of your neck … your head feeling fuzzy from the perpetual heat of summer and possible caffeine withdraw … the cool air conditioned breeze fans across your cheeks as you make your way into the coffee house … heels clicking against the concrete floor as you walk with purpose towards the very last table …. Where he’s hunched over a laptop  looking every bit the cliche nerd in a coffee shop… glasses resting effortlessly on the tip of his nose and tongue captured between his teeth… his brows furrowed in concentration… “Hoseok?” you ask sheepishly…he looks up at you for a split second and nods in confirmation… he’s not unfortunate looking … slim with broad shoulders and a sharp jawline… not the type of guy you’d peg for a computer geek… your own brow furrows in slight annoyance … “Depends on who’s asking” he replies… his hands never leave his keyboard … Nimble fingers stroking each key with an expert flick of the wrist…  that kind of skill and dedication requires years to master.. You watch him closely… tapping your foot and giving him a pointed look… “you’re cute when you’re annoyed” he quips…

“You’re not so bad yourself” you reply snidely… you’re used to being hit on by men that hide behind computer screens but you never pictured anyone like Jung Hoseok on the other side of it… He eyes you from top to bottom licking his top lip hungrily… something deep in the pit of your stomach churns … you can feel the heat of his gaze across your skin leaving behind goosebumps…  “why did you come?” he asks almost challenging you … “Call it morbid curiosity” you reply taking a seat across from him at the small table… he closes the laptop quickly giving you his full attention… why did you want to meet here? You ask curiosity eating away at you… “This place has the best coffee, would like to order?” he asks … you nod obediently… I’ll have a caramel macchiato you reply nonchalantly… Hoseok calls over a waitress and places your order all the while focused on you… his hazel eyes drinking in every feature of your face and his tongue running across his lips …“So do you need the glasses to see or are they more of a fashion statement? You ask pointedly in a futile attempt to distract yourself from the heat spreading throughout your body  … the electricity between you two crackles …. His demeanor changes when the waitress retreats back to the counter… he leans in closer as if to whisper something in your ear but stops just close enough that his breath tickles your nose and his scent fills your nostrils… “Should we get out of here?” his words and his scent are a heady cocktail…

You press your thighs together and try to steady yourself “And do what?” you stammer in a moot attempt to sound cool … “I can think of a few things” he mimics your tone while reaching across the table for your hand… his fingers intertwined with your own … the heat of his body feels almost like an extension of your own… “how far do you live?” you reply sounding a little too desperate to your own ears… “about half a mile but I don’t think I can make it that far” he replies huskily… your close proximity affecting him just the same…. “Who says we have to wait?” you can practically hear Taehyung teasing about this later… but right now there’s an itch that only Jung Hoseok can scratch and you’re willing to do just about anything for it… There is bathroom down the hall… he suggests… the words barely register  before you’re on your feet and heading down the hallway pulling him along… “Are we really doing this?” he asks… “Why are you scared?” you challenge … Hoseok pulls you back and suddenly you’re caught  between his chest and the bathroom door… your lips enrapturing your own in a hungry kiss…your hands weave in his hair pulling him flush against you and his hands rest on your hips making their way  down to your bum… and patting your lower thigh… you instinctively wrap your legs around his waist your wet core pressed against the rough fabric of his jeans …   you slowly grind against his front the friction doing little to suffice the hunger ..

Hoseok groans deep in his chest this bulge pressed against your bum… you can feel him harden beneath you… “Fuck..” he groans before maneuvering himself so that he’s half holding you and in one swift motion he pushes you both into the bathroom locking the door behind him  with his foot… his lips are on your neck and chest as he pushes you up against the wall… the brick feels cool against your heated skin… you run your hands across his chest pushing his sweater up and over his head wrapping your legs around him tighter and running your hands through his hair kissing the side of his neck and biting the tip of his ear softly… “This isn’t your first rodeo” you sigh … “I could say the same for you” he replies huskily his hands run along your your sides underneath your shirt and cup your breasts.. “No bra” he smirks… “You like?” you reply coquettishly … “I love” he whispers… his lips sucking on your exposed collarbones as his hands push against the fabric of your top… “You’re so hot” he mutters as your shirt joins his now the bathroom floor… “Only for you” you before taking one of his nipples between your teeth and tugging on it gently … Hoseok grinds into you … rough denim causing friction within your stomach… you can feel yourself growing wetter with every slow thrust… “I need you now” you whine unable to keep your hips from grinding against him of their own accord…

Hoseok carries you over to the sink … you catch a glimpse of yourself in the large mirror … hair disheveled and large welts adorn your collar bones from his lips and teeth… the moment is short lived as you remove your jeans and underwear in one swift motion…. Your bare bottom exposed to him…  his hands are on your sides having discarded his own jeans and boxers which now hang around his ankles… “You look so good” he hums while lining himself with your entrance… you catch your breath … the feel of him stretching you to the hilt clouds your senses for a moment … you groan eager for him to move… his thrusts are quick and fluid… you bite your lip to keep from moaning too loud… holding on him for sanity… “I want to hear you” he growls .. .giving you another powerful thrust … you yelp… it feels so good to moan and shake under him… you can feel the coil in your stomach start to unravel… nails dig deeper into his shoulders … biting into his skin in order to stifle your screams and moans… his own lips are busy bruising your clavicles and tugging on your hardened buds… you can feel yourself unraveling… . your toes curling and your own hips bucking in search of that sweet release…Hoseok is close to his pace quinning and his breath hitching… “How close are you?” the hunger in his voice combined with his amble thrusts is enough to send you over the edge… your eyes are watering and you wrap yourself tighter around him as he continues to thrust riding out your own high before coming to his own climax…

“Do you think anyone heard?” you ask innocently… the cool tile floor is a balm against your over sensitive skin … you’re curled up next to hoseok… his arm serving as a pillow… “Maybe “ he hums… you stare at his side profile… his skin is glowing and you can’t really tell where you end and he begins… “So, how about another coffee date?” he smirks …

I AM SHOOKETH AFTER THISSS!!! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE ANY COMMENTS AND CC OR YOU CAN SLIDE INTO MY ASKS ;D….

[lifeofbouyd]

Runaway girl

#Repost

I became way more sexually active when I entered high school. It was as if I had a craving that could not be filled. The more I had sex the more I wanted sex. These girls lived, ate and dreamt sex. This put me on top of the sex chain in 7th grade. Being the only sexually active boy in the class had girls wanting my dick as if I was King. I never really paid much attention to the girls in my class even though I did eventually bang a few. I was more in to older girls who were much more mature and fully into sex. There was this real sexy girl who sat in my lap one day while heading to the town from school. She wined to every song that played, even gun songs lol. This made my dick hard as steel in my pants and everytime she felt it she looked at me and smiled. Keep smiling, I’m a fuck you soon real hard too. Unfortunately I had only said that in my mind lol. Kill me dead I said it out loud. I took her number and saved it as girl I want to fuck because at the time I didn’t know her name. I forgot I had her number until a few weeks later when I saw her in devotion.

Her: pussy, yuh style mi

Me: wat yuh talking bout

Her: yuh tek mi number an no link mi

Me: I forgot

She took my number and texted me same time so this way I would have no excuse not to text her back.

We text/sext all day that day and were on the phone for a long time in the night. I told her how I wanted to fuck her and she told me all the things she wanted to do. I wacked off to the thought of her getting all crazy and doing the shit she said she had planned to do. She promised a blow job like a vacuum and a ride like a rodeo. She planned to fuck my brains out. Wow, a blow job. I’ve never had one of those. Most the girls I was fucking thought that was nasty and claimed they’d never do it. Funny enough they were published year’s later sucking big black pipes lol. We met a few days later at the farm at lunchtime with intentions of her sucking on my snakehead. Anxiety ran through my veins like blood while I imagined what was to come. I had seen blow jobs on many occasions and always wanted to experience it.

By the time we started kissing I was as horny as a monkey for a banana and she was gonna be the monkey eating the banana lol. All this shit was about to go down. I started fingering her while we tongue wrestled. This chick was great at kissing, she made it feel like it was better than sex. She braced her pussy on my leg and slowly moved her waist. If I didn’t know better I would say she was already on my dick. She pulled my zip down and took out my rod.

Antoinette: wow, is this your birthmark?

Me: yeah it is

Antoinette: how did it get there lol

Me: I have no idea but I’m glad that’s where it is

Antoinette: I love it. It’s like strawberry chocolate.

((((Muah))))

She kissed the head 😮. My other head exploded with excitement and my knees got shaky. ((((muah)))) She kissed it again but this time it was a long sucking kiss. She slowly ran her tongue around the rim of the snakes head as if she was trying to separate it from the rest.

Me: Oh….. My….. God….. (((Heavy breathing))) it feels………….. So….. Weird….

Antoinette: Told you it would blow your mind. Relax and let me take care of you. I tried, real hard but my legs kept shaking. She started sucking while stroking. Slowly my dick slid down her throat; you know that feeling you get when you go really high on a swing or fast over a bump while in a car. Lol. That’s how I felt, like I was running out of breath. Shit, I had to beg her to stop. Lol I couldn’t hold the feeling, I literally felt like she was sucking my life out.

Antoinette: you don’t like it?

Me: Idk, it feels too good lol

I could see the disappointed look on her face as if she wished she had an undo botton to take the blowjob back. I loved it to be honest but I just wasn’t sure if that’s how I was supposed to feel. I was running out of breath and it would be a real disappointment to die while getting a blowjob 🤣. Who does that? Still horny as ever I decided I was gonna fuck the disappointment off her face. I bent her over on a desk top while I tried forcing my dick in. As wet as she was her pussy was tight. I kept poking her slowly until the head finally slipped in. A deep moan was the response.

Antoinette: ((((ouch)))) nuh mash it up now

Me: shhhh 🤫

With 1 hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist I slowly stroked her. As soon as she got super wet and I started making love to the pussy my friend came.

Steve: yow, a time fi class. Di oda pikni dem a come.

She flipped off the dick and got herself together. As for me, it wasn’t that easy; my dick was way too hard to bend lol 🤣 it took me minutes to get it down and turn it long way in my pants. It was so obviously stiff I had to put my bag across my waist. She kissed me on the cheek and walked away with smirk 😏on her face. Lucky for her she came; unfortunately for me, I had a dick as hard as steel shooting across my pants. Sigh, fuck my life. When I got home she had sent a long message, some shit going on at home.

Antoinette: Hey, I’m home. I wanna talk to you about something. I feel like running away. I don’t even know where I’m gonna go but I’m tried of my mom. She keeps stressing me out. Blah blah blah and more blah blah that I don’t remember. Can I come stay with you?

Of course I thought she was joking. Random bulshit talk to start a conversation.

Me: Yes babe, you can come stay with me whenever you want.

Antoinette: Ok, I’ll come weekend.

I had forgotten we made plans for her to run away because as I said I thought it was a just joke. Friday evening here she comes with 2 big bags 😮. I was shocked out of my life. Is this girl serious. ”A wanda if she lick her head”.

Me: Babes I didn’t know you were serious about this. Why didn’t you tell me yesterday you were coming for real?

Antoinette: Why would I be joking? I told you I need to get away from my mom. Are we going to your house or not?

I thought for a second, what’s the worst that could possibly happen. Other than dying while getting a blowjob there was nothing holding me back lol 😂. I called the helper and told her to cook extra because my friends are coming over. We chilled at the game shop for awhile the headed home. Even though I always brought girls home no one ever caught me in the act. I went in first then pulled her through back door of my room like always. She fell asleep the moment we got settled, I guess she was real tried. I took me a shower and got us some food to eat. She kept smiling as if she was about to propose; as if she had woken up to prince charming and breakfast in bed. By this time everyone else was sleeping so she went and took a shower. I had always seen this girl in her clothes and considered her a trophy but seeing her naked was on a different level. Remember that feeling you had when you got that Christmas present you always wanted when you were a kid. That’s how I felt when she took the towel off.

Antoinette: I hope you don’t mind me sleeping naked

Me: Not at all 😏 I sleep naked too lol

Instantly I took my clothes off and dived into bed. She laid beside me and for a second I acted like wasn’t greedy. Unfortunately, my dick holding up the sheet gave me away. She pushed her hand under and massaged it slowly while kissing me on my neck. My body got confused as she slowly kissed my sides and my legs. Chills ran through my body as if I was taking an ice cold shower. I couldn’t stay still for not even a second. She so gently slid her tongue all over the candy stick before wrapping around d edge of the head. I wanted to scream, I wanted to laugh, I even wanted to run. But my fucking legs were so weak I couldn’t even stop shaking. If I didn’t know better I’d say I had a nerve problem lmao😂. She sat on my dick with her hands squeezing my neck. Swiftly she moved her waist while I gasped for breath with her tits in my mouth. Her cum dripped down my balls while she shaked and made her face up. This girl had the weirdest look on her face when she was cumming lol I couldn’t help but laugh. Sometimes she even looked like she was constipated 🤣. We fucked like animals all weekend long. And during this time no one knew she was there until Monday morn before school. I got carried away fucking her in the bathroom. She screamed out while I was striking her from back. Not even realizing what just happened, the helper pushed the bathroom door.

Helper: 😮Bouyd. What the hell is this?

Me: 😮

Antoinette: 😮

Helper: Who is this?

Me: My friend from school

Helper: young miss yu need fi find yu yard right now.

Antoinette walked out the bathroom without a word while the helper kept talking. As far as I can remember she kept staring at my dick the entire time she spoke. I think she was jealous. When I got home from school the helper came to my room to talk about what happened. She said it’s ok to bring girls over but I just gotta be discreet. She had just given consent to the devil to be evil lol. What she didn’t know was Antoinette was in the closet 😂 patiently waiting for her to leave. She stayed the entire week and planned to stay another. It’s as if we had forgotten she ran away from home. I was in class the day the cops and her parents came. They threatened to send her to juvi if she didn’t tell where she was all this time but she didn’t rat me out. I didn’t hear from her for about a month because they had transferred her to a school in Kingston.

Antoinette: Hey Bouyd, I miss you. I just got my phone back. Blah blah blah. Can I come see you?

Me: I miss you too and I can’t wait to see you. When can you come?

Antoinette: Today

Me: Ok

I went to meet her only to see her with a big travelling bag 😮🤦‍♂. I didn’t even bother to ask why she had it lol my guts said it all. This girl just ran away again. I called the helper and told her to except a visitor. For some reason I just knew this girl was not going home anytime soon. I didn’t even think about the consequences that followed this encounter. The helper and her became friends within the first week. I came home to dinner and a damn sexy chick each evening. Even though it was summer I always had some where to be. Life doesn’t get better than this. Her mom and cops kept calling but we didn’t give a shit, for all we cared we had each other. My aunt came to visit one day and realized she was staying with me. She believed in being 30 before having sex. This woman wanted no one there even though she didn’t live there. I came home to an empty bed that night 😞. A broken heart in my chest and emotions I couldn’t control. I cried like a baby. I called her for weeks but got no response 😞. I became an emotional wreck. Being robbed of my happiness and the one thing worth living for at the time made me a monster. I didn’t even wanna hear about another relationship. It was already too late when I realized I had fallen in love with her. I was so fucked up I didn’t even have sex for 6 months. I poured my heart out in a message one day only to get a reply saying;

Hi, my daughter already has a boyfriend here and she does not wish to speak with you. I would like for you to leave her alone. No calls, no text no nothing. Thank you. Or something close to that effect.

Shit, why me. Was I not eligible for love, don’t I deserve to be happy too? This even made things worst. Sex became a sport for me. No feelings, no attachments just random hits. She had left a Mark on me or a curse as I used to call it. I ran into her a few months later at champs. So surprised to see me she jumped in my lap and started kissing me. I didn’t even remember I went with someone that day; we headed for the bathroom where shit got real. So anxious for each other we both came several times in no time. It was like epic make up we could get caught sex. The adrenaline was way too intense to bare. I was so beat out I could hardly catch my breath. We stayed there in the bathroom for a while and talked about shit. Not shit shit but life shit. Turns out her mom had taken her phone and she had no idea about the message. She just kept crying when I told her. A fight started in the bathroom between her and the chick I went with. I had totally forgotten her, shit. I had to part the cat fight before it got out of hand. And these girls had the audacity to turn on me 🤦‍♂. I was so damn tired from fucking and trying to part them I could hardly defend myself. Lol, I got myself a black eye to take back home; I guess it was the consolation prize. I had won myself a fuck and a black eye but again lost Antoinette. I didn’t even get her new number.

I found her on Facebook a few years back. I doubted it was her until I read her post: ”I remember when I ran away, best time of my life. B.A.S I hope you’re happy where ever you are”. I messaged with high expectations of banging her again. Unfortunately she was no longer in the country and she was engaged to be married. She had changed and I was happy for her. Who thought my runaway girl would ever get married. Shit, she looked like a queen in her dress; she slew that wedding. I ain’t heard from her since. Guess she ran away for good this time. Either way, she’ll forever be my Runaway girl.

[fancymuffinparty]

Late Night Rendezvous

Rating: T; for language and comic mischief

Pairing: Eren Jaeger/Annie Leonhart

Summary: For Day Four of Ereannie Week 2018! Option A: Mischief. Modern AU.

Eren and Annie’s excellent adventure. Basically. Minus the time travelling, of course. 

And all Eren expected to happen after sneaking into her room was a casual makeout session...

Word Count: 1856

A/N: This is a couple days late, but here is my second contribution! :’) The last prompt was kinda angsty, so I’m balancing the feels with some stupid ereannie shenanigans! Hope you enjoy these two lovebirds getting into trouble! :D

It was around nine o’clock when Annie and her father bid one another goodnight and retreated upstairs to their respective bedrooms.

But Annie was still wide awake even after the clock had struck midnight, pacing quietly about her room. Her father had long since fallen asleep, as indicated by the loud snores resounding from behind his door, so she seized the opportunity to text her boyfriend and invite him over for a little late night rendezvous.

In the past, he’d snuck in through her bedroom window, as it was far less risky than trying to sneak him through the front door. ‘Less risky’ in that the two young adolescents had a lower chance of getting caught using this method. The risk of sustaining injury from attempting to climb a somewhat daunting height was still a very real hazard.

The perils of climbing through the window added a certain quality that Annie found rather enticing. The thrills she and her companion got out of it were so rewarding.

Speaking of her companion…

What’s taking him so long? she thought, glancing over at her phone to check the time. The last message relayed between them had been sent nearly an hour earlier.

Before she could compose another message to ensure he was still on his way, she was stopped by the subdued tapping of tiny rocks propelled against her window. Heeding the call, Annie tiptoed her way over and slowly slid the glass window open, her sights directed towards Prince Charming below.

Eren Jaeger was the cutest dork alive- but damn, his timing was the worst.

“You’re late!” Annie chastised him, keeping her voice low so as not to make too much noise.

“Sorry,” Eren apologized, loud enough to wake the neighbor’s dog. The dog’s subsequent barking forced Eren to make haste with his entrance, scrambling up the adjacent ladder Annie had set up earlier in preparation for this very event. “Shit!”

Annie implored him to hurry in earnest. “Are you trying to get us caught?!” she asked, pulling him inside through the window once he’d reached the top. “And what took you so long?”

Eren quickly slid the window shut, relishing in the brief moment of reprieve. “My brother was being a dick and wouldn’t let me borrow the car,” came his hushed reply. “Long story short, I had to bribe him.”

“Well you could’ve texted me to let me know,” Annie muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry,” Eren said with a sigh. “I also parked a couple streets over so that might have added another ten minutes to my commute.”

Commute? Annie often found Eren’s colorful vocabulary to be fascinating, but rather than give him a hard time about his word-choice, she merely shook her head in disapproval and asked, “Why didn’t you just park curbside a couple houses down?”

“I didn’t want your dad or any of your tattletale neighbors seeing my car,” Eren replied with a shrug.

Annie quirked a brow. “The neighbors don’t give a damn what cars park on our street. Especially not if they’re sleeping,” she contested. “And you know my dad’s a heavy sleeper. He’s been out since around 9:30.”

Eren wiggled both eyebrows upon hearing that. “So your dad’s asleep, huh? Lucky us!”

Annie simply nodded in response, standing wordlessly before the green-eyed brunet with an expectant look on her face.

Okay… Eren thought. Now what?

Now that they’d established all systems were a go, what exactly was the hold up? Not that Eren was eager to jump into bed or anything…

The silence that fell between the two made him feel awkward, and he proceeded with commencing their late-night rendezvous in equally awkward fashion.

“Soooooo are we gonna kiss now or…?” Eren rubbed the back of his neck nervously, still finding their sneaky arrangements somewhat nerve-wracking in spite of the fact that this was hardly their first rodeo. “Should I lie down…?” His eyes flickered to the bed, before returning to Annie’s stoic gaze.

“Clearly not the romantic type, are we?” Annie scoffed, facepalming herself.

Eren frowned, his feelings only slightly hurt. “Are you kidding? That entrance was something out of a fairytale! No! A Disney movie!”

“Oh my god,” Annie huffed, cringing in silent despair.

“What?” Eren chuckled. “You want me to bring some rose petals next time? So I can sprinkle them all over the bed? Or better yet, we could light some scented candles to set the mood. Or how about-”

“Eren,” Annie interjected, bringing her pointer finger to her lips as a warning. “Keep it down.”

Before Eren could mumble a slightly panicked apology, Annie had reached for his hand, guiding them both to her plush queen sized bed. They slumped down next to each other, knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder. Annie appeared to be on the verge of telling him something.

“There’s a reason I invited you over tonight,” Annie whispered, anticipation flaring in her icy blue eyes.

“A reason other than sex?” Eren quipped, earning him an unimpressed frown. “Kidding,” he added quickly. Well, sort of. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”

Annie tilted her head, hesitant. “I’m pining for a little… adventure.”

Eren became instantly curious, prying for details. “Define adventure.”

Realizing they were only losing prime shenanigan time, Annie got straight to the point, shooting Eren a look of determination.

“We…” she drawled, preparing to dole out the command in resolute fashion. “Are going to egg Jean Kirstein’s house.”

In that moment, Eren Jaeger fell madly in love with Annie Leonhart, internally vowing to himself he would wife her so fucking hard someday.

Jean’s house was a measly ten-minute drive.

As Eren’s car neared the Kirstein’s residence, he killed the lights and then waited for Annie’s cue to cut off the engine.

In the blonde’s lap was a carton of a dozen eggs; the real stars of the upcoming show.

Donning a mischievous smirk, Annie pulled her hoodie over her head and turned to give her partner in crime a nod in affirmation. Eren acted accordingly, killing the engine and pulling over his own hood with the intent of masking his identity.

“All right,” Annie ordered, cautiously handing over half of the carton’s eggs. “You remember the plan?”

Eren nodded, accepting the delicate eggs with care. “Blitzkrieg style,” he recapped. “We bum-rush the front yard and fire away.”

“Aim for the windows and the front door,” Annie reminded him, waiting for the right moment to strike. Not a single person was around, and the neighborhood was devoid of any passing cars or barking dogs. “This ought to teach Kirstein never to steal the last donut ever again.”

Was egging someone’s house a justifiable solution to such a minor transgression?

Yes. Yes, it was.

“Ready?” Annie’s question received an instant thumbs up. “Let’s do this.”

They bolted out of the car in unison, both commencing a furious sprint for the Kirstein house. As soon as they set foot behind enemy lines, they wasted no time bombarding the home’s exterior with cracked egg shells and splattered golden yolks. Eren’s aim was decent, but unable to match Annie’s perfect accuracy and precision.

She was about to fire the last one at an obnoxious-looking garden gnome when it suddenly dawned on her.

Wait a minute… the Kirsteins never had that gnome in their front yard…

Annie briefly looked up, eyes roving over the front porch in search of the house’s number.

The Kirsteins’ address is 1005… and that’s…

1007.

Shit.

“Eren!” She abruptly grabbed him by the arm, tugging him away with urgency “Retreat!”

“What? Why?” His dumbfounded question was answered after Annie had pointed out their fatal mistake- realizing they’d targeted the wrong house.

And not just any house.

The Kirstein’s next door neighbor was none other than Keith Shadis; residential hardass and former Marine.

This was the ultimate fuck up.

“Oh, shit!” Eren mouthed, silently mourning his impending death.

As if to seal their fate, the light above the front porch came on, followed by the emergence of a shadowy figure behind the curtains. It was a tall burly man; the homeowner himself no doubt.

Eren and Annie turned and ran with everything they had, pushing themselves to the furthest limit as though their very lives depended on it. Neither looked back, their eyes set for the getaway vehicle to make their escape.

They were about halfway down the street when a booming voice called after them, shattering the eardrums of anyone unfortunate enough to hear within a five-mile radius.

“Hey! Get back here! You little shits are gonna pay for this! HEY!”

The naughty duo finally reached the car and immediately hopped in, struggling to buckle their seatbelts as adrenaline was still coursing through their veins.

“Go, go, go!” Annie commanded, gripping the edge of her seat.

Eren obeyed her instruction and pulled a quick u-turn, speeding down the street in a frenzy.

Once they were out of the neighborhood and back on the main road, Annie leaned back into her seat and expelled a deep groan, hoodie still covering her head.

Close call back there, she thought. Too close.

Eren willed himself to keep his mouth shut but eventually gave in to the laugh surging through his chest, unable to control his riotous cackling.

“How could you mistake Jean’s house for Shadis’ house?!” he bellowed, voice heavy with laughter. “We’ve visited enough to know what it looks like!”

“In my defense,” Annie began, still mulling over their narrow escape, “The streetlights were unusually dim, and it’s fucking pitch black outside.” Never mind the fact that the Kirstein’s lived in neighborhood where the houses were all cookie cutter versions of the other.

Eren took note of her slightly traumatized demeanor, attempting to ease the tension the best way he knew how.

His fine-tuned idiocy, of course.

“Relax, babe. We’re safe now,” Eren remarked casually. “By the way, that’s one hell of an arm you got there. Kinda turned me on.”

Annie rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help the upturned lips of the smile etched on her face. She turned to look out of the passenger window, ensuring it was hidden from Eren’s view so as not to give him a single ounce of encouragement.  

She remained unresponsive, until…

“I think that’s about as much ‘adventure’ as I can handle,” she quipped, cynicism oozing from each word. “Ought to satisfy me for a lifetime.”

Eren suddenly hatched an idea, knowing just the right thing to cap their impromptu excursion. “Care for one more adventure?” he asked. “It’s a fairly tame one. I promise.”

Annie’s interest was immediately piqued. “And what would that be?”

“We’d go on a little hunt.”

“A hunt for what?”

Eren was so glad she asked. “The nearest donut shop.” To celebrate, of course. As well as atone for the donut Jean had stolen earlier that week. Luckily, the nearest twenty-four-hour shop was a short drive away, and they still had a few hours until dawn.

One more adventure couldn’t hurt…

In that moment, Annie Leonhart fell madly in love with Eren Jaeger, internally vowing to marry the shit out of him someday.

[keptforlater]

200523 | #forsaken-carnival-grounds

location: outskirts of town.

( CONTINUED FROM: CLUB VORTEX )

CT:

𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆𝘿𝘼𝙏𝙀𝘿 ˟ PRIOR TO MATING &&. NESTING SEASON ; TW! GORE, BLOOD, TORTURE, MURDER, ETC. just to be safe

a near crack in the plan, a slip of the tongue, a ‘you’re serious’ could’ve meant the end of his plans, the close to a night, and carter would’ve called it quits just like that. his need for control is as overbearing as his blood lust and so he couldn’t run the risk of kaleb changing things too much. the smaller details were his to bear, transportation, tools, even down to lighting because carter’s not one to waste any chance for a show. he’d joked about it not too long ago when bambi was with them too, an innocent connotation twisted and contorted now to match the ‘show’ developing in front of him. without him to distract her, the woman he’d been flirting with is the first to grow weary. a human’s sense of survival is severely lacking if this is the basis on which he has to go off   —   really, how does one only begin to feel unsure when they’ve already drove minutes deep into unknown territory? 

but she’s easy to lure back into a state of lust and it’s goddamn laughable. she’s practically begging for it, but they have different happy endings in mind and it shows in the way carter reaches for a ball gag and blindfold, tossing the same items into kaleb’s lap with a grin. the look in his eyes asking the gamma to trust him but when they’re this far along, carter’s at least sure he could catch kaleb’s partner no problem should one arise.

it must be good timing on the gamma’s part to have caught him on his way out tonight instead of days before when he’d gone through the measures of getting every small detail out of the way so he could have fun. leading the group through the strip of woods less traveled, less tracks to trace back to them, everything is just where he’d left it and the wood boards are what he looks forward to the most, nodding his head for kaleb to follow his lead once more. rusted metal locked around their wrists and ankles, he grabs the leather bag between the large displays, taking out a roll of knives in matching material, too new to be considered his, just like the clothes they stopped to ‘borrow’ for kaleb to wear. “i’ll let you decide, do you want them to watch?”

KB: calming someone down had never been his strong suit. there was always too much energy in him at even the worst times, and perhaps there was merit in always having an innately cheerful demeanor. it came so easily, the way he spoke to the woman, and how for the moment, he found himself distracted by her presence. the wistful sigh that escaped him right before he joined the others in the woods found itself buried in the night ambience; the crickets and other nocturnal animals. if only he knew what carter had planned, because this was clearly not his first rodeo. at the very least, that part was intriguing. he even got a new set of clothes. just how long and how often had their beta been doing this for? 

kaleb simply happened to be a goddamn variable in it. but he couldn’t help his jump of excitement when the women were bound and gagged. “not that i didn’t have faith in ya, but ya really had me goin’ there.” sending a two-finger salute of acknowledgement, he followed carter more freely with the woman in tow. “why not?” looking at their surroundings, how far away they were to human and wolf habitation, along with how much detail carter put into this, screaming wouldn’t be an issue. after all, he was the type to bask in the cries. “do i get a pick o’ knives, too?” the thought of carving into human flesh in much the same way he did a slab of beef, cooked so intricately with just the right seasoning, couldn’t leave his mind quite so easily. “say, ya don’t think we could cook ‘em, do ya? i know my way around a blade and flame.”��

CT: unfurling the knife set, he hands it to kaleb with a grin, bowing slightly at the waist just for the theatrics. “that’s the whole point of it, ya’no. the faces you made are too priceless. i can’t believe they were stupid enough to not notice. isn’t it sad? women this easy. men too. such a waste.” of what, he doesn’t say, doesn’t care to narrow it down, because, truth be told, he could think of a few times some wolves have been just as eager, just as desperate. it really is fascinating how people act with liquid courage freeing their pathetic inhibitions. luckily, there’s a fold up table not too far away. one half is unstable, doesn’t want to stay locked in place and so carter lodges it into the ground, fist hammering the side down and he shrugs looking at the slanted surface. it’ll have to do. of all the things he forgot, he didn’t think much of a place to set the knives down. by luck, he happened to grab those too and it’s practically kismet. kaleb oughta feel lucky. knives seemed more his style than carter’s, even as he spins his own pocket knife in one hand. 

gesturing for kaleb to set the knives down on the table, he walks over to the woman he’d accompanied earlier, grasping her face as he slid the pocket knife along the side of her face, hushing her as she begins to whimper and plea to be let go, for this joke to be over. edge of the blade cutting the blindfold off, he watches as it falls slowly, as it gives way to bleary eyes, her sniffling matching the fall of tears onto his hand, and he squeezes her cheeks more, forces her to look at him. “do i look like i’m joking?” his gaze softens after, directed mostly towards kaleb as he lets go, haphazardly cutting her cheek with the pocket knife before he walks back over towards the gamma. “i do feel hungry... i’ll leave that to you. in fact, should we start the fire already, sparky? you seem rarin’ to go. ‘sides, it’s been a while since i saw you kill a female human. the screams are so shrill, so funny.” 

KB: impatiently being a temporary table, he raised a brow at the beta. it only made him more curious over his experience with this, what made him start, and what his favorite thing about this was. if it wasn’t already obvious, prolonged torture was his own, but it wasn’t as if he could do it regularly. everything was always a life or death situation; either they die or he does. there was a sense of freedom in this, and he couldn’t be thanking carter just yet—not when all they did thus far was kidnap them. “if yer in for a monologue, might as well give me yer life story, beta. dun’ half-ass it.” it was amusing how carter had every single thing ready, meticulously at that, yet it was a fold up table that nearly bested the beta. 

as soon as he placed the knives set down—unsure why they even needed the table now—he picked out a carver knife; perfect for cutting meat cleanly. kaleb’s brunette was starting to squirm. well, more than usual, that is, to which he kicked and grinded his covered soles on her moving feet. “shut up, will ya? i’m tryna watch.” unfortunately, he missed the cut, but bore witness to the blood flowing out of the woman's cheek. “lame. thought for sure you’d cut her lips off.” his brunette was crying, drool going down her chin from the ball-gag, causing him to roll his eyes in annoyance. if they were in for both bloody murder and a home cooked meal, then it was going to take a while. “okay so,” he crouched down to the woman’s eye-level—expression more contemplative than stereotypically ’psychomaniac’—but directed his next question to the wolf. “how do you like your human?” 

CT: "you? making fun of how much i'm talkin? that's rich comin' from you. what do ya need my life story for?" he would've continued, would've pointed out they were both born to the pack without much of an age difference but it still meant carter had this particular secret and that kaleb is the first to know that isn't out of necessity. 

chuckling, carter shrugs, takes a few steps back from his 'partner' for the evening and looks over to kaleb as he crosses his arms. " 'm not as neat as you're planning to be with whatever skinning and filleting you've got over there. i'm more into bitin'. i thought you'd be one that knew that by now." 

he barely remembers her name by now, something beginning with an 'a' and he tries his best to remember, thinks she seems the type to cower more when her name is said but nothing comes to mind and he throws his knife right next to her ear, another scratch just to taunt her. "chef's choice, how 'bout that? hell, raw is good with me too. that first bite, mm," he wets his lips, purposely lifting a brow at— ah, there we go, it was— ahreum. "how long has it been for you? got a favorite part?" 

KB: “Well, ain’t this a bondin’ experience?” He listlessly waved his knife around as he spoke. “Plus, the more you talk, the greater the anticipation these two have.” Both women visibly flinched at his gesturing, causing him to put a firm hand on his brunette’s shoulder. “As well as my own.” Her eyes were blown wide as the last of her tears slid down her cheeks. Shock, fear, and a whole lot of adrenaline tended to overpower the feeling of helplessness. The alcohol probably wore off now as well, and they were dehydrated. “I want to see how you kill.” 

Kaleb forewent his contemplation and properly looked over the woman. His eyes took in every inch of exposed skin before pulling out a second knife, a chef’s knife. “Got ahead of myself,” he said with almost a trance-like lull in his tone. “Can’t do a thing if they’re clothed.” The gamma cut the silver sequin fabric from the collarbones all the way to the thigh, except the woman kept moving and he cut her stomach in the process. “Yeah, yeah, I know you’re a lawful evil.” As if by some stroke of routine, he started making markers with shallow cuts. They were primarily the joints, such as the knees and elbows, but then he moved onto the torso. Miss Brunette, whose name he had forever forgotten now, continued to wail and wiggle around in a futile attempt at avoiding this. “Relax, it ain’t even that bad yet.”

“Chef’s choice, how posh,” he snorted. Whatever trance he was in had cut its chord, and he was back to the juxtaposition that was their friendly banter to the horrifying beautiful degree of murder. “Yaknow, if ya want it raw, ya coulda jus’ ate ‘em as a wolf. These knives are beggin’ to be used otherwise.” He leaned over to lick the accidental cut on brunette’s stomach before it dried. “Guess ya got a thing for knife play.” Raising himself, he smirked at Carter. “Few months. Pretty sure I ate someone’s dick once. Ain’t that great, really. So prob...” he gripped the woman’s left leg, “this. ‘Cause they’ll still be alive, but can’t run away and they can have some, too.” 

CT: "yeah? you actually wanna hear me talkin' instead of their screamin'? damn, i'm honored. you must like my voice that much," he chuckles. "mm, you wanna talk about anticipation?" tongue brushing over the tip of his front teeth, he lets his canines develop more, wicked grin on his lips as he walks back over to ahreum. knowing their names made it more sentimental, he admits, but isn't it cruel that he knew a name, learned what little he did earlier in the night, and didn't doesn't care for their humanity, let alone whatever he had as a wolf. funny that they call it humanity when he's seen them turn on each other just as much, whether it was in person or on the news. what's so damn great about humanity? 

he could sense the begging coming, watched the way her chest rose and fell with her crying, and he cooed at her, hushing her as he pulled the knife out, the blade pressing into her side as he rested said hand on her hip. "how i kill? you gonna watch while strippin' yours down? you seem pretty busy," carter jokes, glancing over at how loud kaleb's is getting with a raised brow. "you've got her pretty excited over there." 

hearing how loud kaleb's brunette is makes him bored of his own rather quickly, hand swift to move and the blade tucked underneath her shirt, dull side against fabric as skin is cut with each back and forth motion. with an accentuated 'oops' he turns the knife around, cutting through the shirt before he stabs the knife above her shoulder, angled low so that it digs into part of her shoulder, the cut superficial but enough to streak blood down over her collarbone so he can tear at the skirt. "aw, you gave it away, kay. damn, wanted to see their faces when we shifted. think they believe ya?" snorting at the joke, he turns away, arms crossed as he watches kaleb. "i think you're the one into knife play. 'course you've eaten dick. but yeah, leg meat is pretty good... they seem pretty lean though. what do ya think?" 

KB: “Can’t stand someone wantin’ ta give ya center stage or what?” He initially piped in thinking Carter wanted to say more on his sadistic side, so he didn’t expect to explain it. Nevertheless, he was sort of preoccupied by the familiar smell of blood in the air now. It was rich with iron, but not enough had spilled for much of a visible reaction. He shrugged. “Not my fault yer takin’ an eternity over there.” He cut the rest of the clothing off the woman’s body and threw them in a pile off to the side. There didn’t seem to be any flammable items around them otherwise, so this would have to do. “Ya think? They taste better when they’re excited. Keeps the blood flowin’.”

Even with most of his attention on his own person, he made sure to glance over at Carter every now and then. Kaleb couldn’t help but smile at the more deliberate cut now. It certainly wouldn’t be his first choice, but neither was the cheek cut. Just before he stood up, he cut two lines from each shoulder to intersect at her breastbone. It was deep enough to trickle out blood, but shallow enough not to pour out haphazardly. He was rather meticulous with his meats. “Don’t think they do,” he reckoned as he pulled his lighter out. “Prob’ly thinkin’ we woulda done it by now if we were.” He flickered it listlessly at first, then finally lit the pile of clothing from the cotton underwear. “Yer right,” he raised the knife only to catch the drip, “knife play’s pretty sweet.” Humming along as he strolled past Carter and to the table, he made the exchange for the initial carver knife. “Yer the one who picked ‘em. I assume ya only take one at a time anyways. Ya usually full after just one?” 

CT: "come on, you know i don't dislike attention but i like givin' it to ya more. you've always made such nice sounds when i give ya more attention," carter teases, a hint of a grin playing on his lips as he gives ahreum a look-over. "an eternity huh? sorry, guess i'm more into you right now than her. take it as a compliment. but alright, i can take a hint." the cleaver in the set of knives isn't as substantial as he'd like but it'll do. kaleb said something about making it so they can't run away but he'd be damned if that isn't his favorite part, sighing under his breath as he ran his fingers over the back edge. 

he hadn't lied though— he is, quite easily at that, more interested in kaleb than the female human in front of him and he realizes it must be because she's too quiet or because his anger is tempered by the gamma's presence. huh, imagine that. a calculation he hadn't even thought to consider plagues him now. a slight flaw in the plan but nothing he minded, nothing he couldn't resolve by reminding himself of how she thought she could touch him so freely, how mindless it felt to deceive both females. his hatred for humans should be groundless and yet the rage consumed him— a mislabel really, when it's pure bloodlust in the end. 

turning the handle of the cleaver over a few times in hand, the growl he lets out is louder, more feral than intended, when metal cleanly lodges just above her left wrist. in the end, he did want her to be able to run. for now, he'd let her bleed, let her think maybe she could get away in the end as long as she had her legs. he wanted to see that naivete fade away, bit by bit, until her eyes reflected the true nature of humans. the darkness, the vacancy, the fake claims of a soul with pity and mercy. everyone's in it for themselves in the end. hell, maybe he could get her to turn on her friend.

"another time," he suggests, wanting to gauge kaleb's interest in this again. it's a new experience for him, sure, but it brings a freshness to it that he'd been lacking lately, excitement that his last few kills couldn't bring and thus he kept going out more and more. "nah, picked these two 'cause i wasn't sure you'd go along with it at first. 'sides, i told you, your reactions were ace. imagine, wanting to fuck these humans when they'd probably cry the moment either of us got rough. so fragile aren't they?" all the more fun to shatter and break. 

KB: "Aww, well aren't you sweet?" He pursed his lips, teasing the beta in the small way he could at the moment. "Am I that good to eat?" His eyes shone cerise at that; brighter, perhaps. The implication that Carter would actually eat him slipped from his mind's directory as he said it. But wouldn't it be one helluva way to go? Kaleb was getting more impatient as the seconds grew to minutes, but at least the beta was getting to it already. The fire that raged near his brunette kept his breathing a little short, and attention divided, however. His fingers clawed over his clothed thighs. 

Before he knew it, he was slicing the brunette's right middle finger off. Holding it by the end of the carver, he licked off the blood that started to spill more freely. It was like a snack, a little flavor to the meat itself. Raw meat always tasted better as a wolf--human form far too used to the cooked and seasoned now. He was closer to the fire now, at least, and sweat--whether due to the external heat or the internal one--started sticking the shirt's fabric onto his skin. Tilting his head at Carter in question, however, he dragged the finger over his lips in brief thought. "They really are," partially lidded eyes gazed over both humans now, then over to Carter. "After havin' fucked you, why'd anyone ever want them anyways? They're missin' out." Kaleb ignored the screams that only got louder, but he knew humans wouldn't pass out in shock from that. At least, he hoped this one wouldn't. That wouldn't be any fun. 

CT: immediately narrowing his eyes at kaleb, he stifles a snort, debating following through on that question and reminding kaleb that he shouldn't bite off more than he can chew. so many possibilities, not enough time. literally. if they waste too much, sunrise will come in no time and it's a hell of a lot more difficult to deal with disposing of the bodies then. speaking of eating, it's an easier route to go but he doubts he and kaleb would wanna go through that much at once. 

he's not one to bother much with a human hand. so much bone and cartilage but watching kaleb indulge in the blood from a single finger— he just might reconsider. recovering from the shock, the human he'd focused on screams with kay's and carter keeps his focus on the gamma, unable to look away from how he drags the cut finger across plush tiers. "what a messy eater," carter grins, taking strides closer to kaleb and pulling the gamma close by the nape of his neck, staring into cerise that could compete with the flames of the fire, the blood that carter licks clean from supple lips. "get on with it. if you're really planning on cooking, you make me starve any longer, i might actually go eat you up instead." grin widening, he tightens his grip around the back of kaleb's neck. "though you might like that, wouldn't ya?" 

KB: Sometimes things just get better and better. There's a part of him that wonders whether it's temporary and exceptionally fleeting, while the rest of him longs for it to continue. That it can be prolonged. Such as this, when Carter grins down at him and holds him by the neck, he wants to have him instead. Granted, he'd never have sex with a human anyway, so there really isn't a choice to be made. "Mhmm, yes, master." He says it in such a loving manner that he thinks he's just too into it now.

Kaleb's pulling the brunette back from her pathetic attempt at crawling away when Carter speaks again. "Oh, Carter, don't threaten me with a good time!" He exclaims with a grin that hurts his cheekbones. But yes, he'll admit that he's been prolonging this as well and heightens his resolve. "Damn right I would," he says finally before assuring his cuts on the brunette's every joints stay clean—her wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, and shoulders. They cut deeper than before, following the shallow ones he left earlier as the fire continues to seep into his skin; rousing him so uncomfortably in his pants. Why is this his attire anyway? 

CT: the term paired with the compliance warms carter more than the fire and he's chuckling lowly, breath becoming ragged when he forces himself to take a step back, allow kaleb the space to continue his own ravaging. as much as he'd enjoy teasing kaleb more, drawn in more by each reaction he gets, whether it's the shock from earlier when they first approached the women or the cheeky exclamations. 

returning to ahreum, he practically coos as he pulls her off the board, free of restraints yet blood drips from her wrist, body shuddering in repulsion and likely the loss of blood by now. cupping her cheek, he whispers, "run." she falls to her knees as soon as he lets go and carter looks to kaleb with a devilish grin as she scrambles to her feet, the cries and whimpering making him blissfully sighs, pupils beginning to blow out from the latent satisfaction of an impending chase. "be right back. doubt it'll take long." laughing to himself, the sound melts into a growl as he begins to shift, and it truly isn't long til the shrill screams are heard from the surrounding forest. 

KB: When Carter takes off, there's not an ounce of doubt within him that the 'escape' is safety theater. Giving then promptly destroying the hope of a human seems to be an ongoing theme he's quite fond of. He's been the one chased before, by their alpha even, and that was pretty fun. At least, for the minutes it lasted due to his impatience. He just wanted to get on with it, after all. Why wait when it was a mutual desire, right? Kaleb licks up some of the blood that pours over the body, rather certain that the woman's dead now. He kept her alive long enough to only know suffering. Shock can only do so much when all that's intact is her torso. He's done this enough to have a rough estimate of when that happens, so he kills them just before. It's always a pleasure to watch the life die in their eyes, particularly when he's in control of when that occurs. 

Though skinning is the more mundane task out of all genuine acts of cooking, he finishes setting aside properly cut meat on the table. If he tries, he can probably set up a few skewers, though wouldn't that take too much time? He's already wasted enough and the growl in his stomach forces his mind elsewhere. Looking over the body—or what's left of it—it's certainly cleaner than he normally allows; perhaps because he's not in his animal. So he shifts then, making the most of his sharper teeth and claws to rip the skin off her lifeless face. 'Tsk, should've removed her hair first. Whatever.' 

CT: there's a part of him that wishes he had the patience to let her bleed out while watching kay do the same to her friend, the pace much more accelerated, gorier even, but the smell of fear? fuck, does he love it. the scent of perspiration, the quake in her legs, the scream that's buried in her throat, how she trips over something in her frenzied attempt to escape and is paralyzed as he leans over her. her screams finally fill the night air and they're only cut short by the merciless bite to her neck, to how he tears it from her shoulders, blood covering his muzzle, dripping from his face when he shifts back. the metallic taste lingers after he licks his lips clean and he sighs at the carnage before him. if he didn't want to leave any chance of authorities finding the head, he should bring it back instead of leaving it for other wildlife. 

with a sigh, he heaves the lifeless torso over his shoulder, carrying the head by long locks, mindlessly twirling it about. the blood is something he can't help now, likely to be muddied soon anyway. ah, if only it were storming soon, the freedom he could have knowing that. upon his return, he tosses the head into the fire, body thrown down beside it as he looks to kaleb. "and here i thought we were gonna have a proper roast," he chuckles, wiping at his chin only to find more blood. 

KB: His eyes narrow at the returning figure. With senses much more prominent in his natural form, there's no doubt about the state of Carter's human, his kill. If ever possible, he'd laugh out loud for seeing them both ripping their head and torsos apart, but he settles for an internal one. Kaleb's quite content with how easy it all is, albeit acknowledging Carter's prepared it all anyway. Perhaps he'd return the favor— that is, if he can get his head on straight and care about not getting caught by authorities as much as the beta seems to. He guesses it's the frequently he does it in, though. Has done it countless times before that he's grown accustomed to the routine. 

Nonetheless, the gamma shifts back to his mundane form and spits out an eyeball now too glassy for his mouth. "Are ya really that hungry? Figured you'd eat that one raw otherwise." He points at the headless torso with his chin, dipping in red in a similar fashion, as he ambles closer, throwing his own severed head into the fire. It burns bright and hot, and he can't help the erection now so terribly in display now. It's not like he could jack off in wolf, now could he? But now— "Imma stick 'em on roast then, fine cuts." Through partially lidded eyes, he grabs few slabs of meat off the table and makes his way back to the arousing flame, using leftover knives as makeshift skewers. 

CT: “now now, didn’t i say chef’s choice. bad manners to eat before the chef’s finished, right?” then again, he thinks more of the precautions he’s used to taking, how it’s different to cater that to two instead of one. though he doesn’t expect kaleb to resist or protest— too much anyway— if there’s more work to be done than any standard kill, then any kill for some pathetic hunter he comes across. to him, hunters are the most vile and it’s for that exact reason that he does the same. call it petty vengeance, a type of karma he willingly inflicts, or his need to kill hidden with good intentions for the sake of wolf hybrids in general. on a good day, carter calls it fun. on a bad day, he considers it penance for his own shortcomings. even now, he sees fire and thinks of regret instead of power. what some of the others find appealing about it, he doesn’t see but he has his own addictions. 

“ooh, an eye.” he clucks his tongue, taking a few steps closer. “not your favorite type of human— forgive the lack of a better word— delicacy?” one aspect of the word’s accurate. they are fragile but the positive connotation tied to the word, definitely not one he’d associate with human. watching as kaleb actually goes through with cooking the meat, he chuckles, realizes they could try taking it back home and goosebumps line his forearm in curiosity, at the excitement, but he has an answer for why he’s never done it, one he ignores now while he waits. only when kaleb has some of the meat roasting does he take the chance to shove the gamma to the ground, unapologetic as he pins him down with a grin, his own cock grazing kaleb’s. “now how will we pass the time...” voice low and tinged with lust— blood lust, carnal lust, similar cravings if he tries hard enough to pass one off with another, he presses his body to theirs, a teasing kiss to let the blood slip from his lips to theirs. “any suggestions?” 

[common-mushroom]

Hey so while chatting with a friend of mine into the wee hours of the morning, I was inspired... for another prompt! What if Shane and Harvey bumped into each other, late at night, and just got talking, you know? Like just about their various trials and tribulations. About life *buhh*. Once again, I'll leave this bit up to you, as the author.

Gee, I wonder who this friend is…? :))) A scene with Shane and Harvey, my two favorites? Say no more fam~

–

There were few things to complain about in Pelican Town. Other than the obvious ‘this town is ridiculously small’ complaint, life was pretty good in the valley. And yet, Harvey had one gripe about the community: there was no place to truly be alone.

It’s true that everyone had their own house, a safe haven behind locked doors, but it was an understatement to say that the white walls of the clinic did not always suffice. Sometimes, all Harvey wanted was to have a quiet, beautiful place outside, where he could not be bothered. Unfortunately, Harvey learned the hard way that even in the deepest parts of the forest, there would be someone to come upon him (and yes, of course, the person that time was Abigail). 

This night, as with many other nights, Harvey was not able to sleep. He had a rocky yet dependent relationship with coffee, it seemed: caffeine, no sleep, no sleep, need caffeine, which prompts no sleep. Times were tough, to say the least.

It was just after 12 am, and after some deliberation Harvey opted to talk a walk. Luckily, most of the residents were at home in their beds by 9 pm, so he rejoiced in his anticipation of solace. At last. He strolled casually through the town square and slid onto the bench in front of the Stardrop Saloon. One of the enigmas of small towns was that, although one will not be bothered by noise after 9 pm, even the bars closed before midnight. There was something oddly relaxing about the golden glow of the streetlight above him. Crickets chirped, as if making a performance solely for him. Harvey let out a deep sigh and stretched, allowing the silence to wash over him.

That’s when he heard the familiar sound of someone retching nearby.

Immediately, the doctor’s instinct prompted him to perk up. He surveyed his surroundings suspiciously. Just when he’d thought it was a figment of the imagination, he spotted a figure in the distance, on the bridge heading to the beach. On autopilot, Harvey followed the figure cautiously. 

Upon closer inspection, he recognized the ratty Joja Corporation hoodie and the infamous drunken stumble. Shane’s body lurched, and he began to gag. He leaned over the railing of the bridge and hurled into the rushing water below. He coughed violently, wiping froth from his lip. Shane sensed Harvey’s presence and turned.

“Fancy meeting you here, Doctor.” He leaned on the railing for support. Harvey rushed over, attempting to hold Shane up. “Hey, hey, I’m okay. Really, no touching, please.” Shane held up a hand defensively, and Harvey backed away.

“Oh, sorry, sorry. You looked a bit unstable there.”

“Believe me, this isn’t my first rodeo.” Shane took another swig of cheap beer. Harvey snatched the can from him in one swift motion. “Hey, what the fuck.”

“You’ve had enough. As a doctor, I have the moral obligation to keep everyone in Pelican Town safe. I believe this would qualify as a danger to you.” Harvey dumped the rest of the drink onto the concrete. Shane stared in disbelief at the cement, now stained a darker gray. His expression hardened again.

“Whatever,” he leaned over the railing and gazed at the river below. “Have you ever thought about what it would feel like to jump from here?” Harvey’s eyes widened.

“What?!” He stood behind Shane, staring at his back incredulously. 

“You heard me.”

Harvey was silent for a moment. Then, somehow, he found himself striding up next to Shane, mirroring his posture against the short brick wall. 

“No, I haven’t,” Harvey peered at the water below, then snuck a glance at Shane. He wore the blank expression of a tired man, a look that Harvey knew all too well. “What’s been on your mind, Shane?”

Shane spotted an imperfection in the brick wall and picked at it absentmindedly.

“Nothing.” A pause. “Everything.” Another pause, and he hesitantly glanced at Harvey. Harvey held a steady gaze. “Buh...life.”

“Me, too. I come out here at night to think.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm.” Shane turned away, returning his eyes to the river. “Apparently, it’s warm.”

“Pardon?” Harvey adjusted his glasses, eyeing Shane curiously.

“The water. It’s warm. I watched the farmer fall in once when they were fishing, and they told me after the fact that it was warm.” Shane let out a half-hearted chuckle and gazed longingly at a crushed beer can at his feet. Harvey cracked a smile.

“Sounds like MC.” 

The two men laughed for a moment and grew silent. They remained that way for what felt like a long time, but it was a comfortable silence. Then:

“So why are you out so late, anyway?” Shane asked.

“A multitude of reasons,” Harvey sighed. “but in short, I have insomnia.” Shane nodded in understanding, not pressing further.

“Only the neurotic are out after midnight. It looks pretty bad when the town doctor is having sleep problems.” He cocked an eyebrow. Harvey blushed, of course, but under the cover of nightfall, it went unnoticed.

“Hope you can keep a secret.” Harvey frowned, kicking a pebble his shoe. Shane smiled bitterly.

“I’m pretty good at it, actually.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The two men held eye contact for several moments, in unsaid understanding.

“I guess I should be heading home now. Try to sleep this off.” Shane mumbled, stumbling back towards the town square. “Take care of yourself, Doctor.” 

“You do the same, Shane.” Harvey gave an awkward wave. 

Alone again, the silence fell back over the night like a thick comforter. Harvey stood there, at that spot on the bridge, for the better part of an hour. Far into the wee hours of the morning, Harvey resigned to return home. Just as he shut the clinic door, he could swear he saw the first rays of sun poking up in the horizon.

--