#Clay was actually winning later in the chat

[dansepants]

what could possibly go wrong

Of Course.

[cookie-crumblr]

Red Lily Down

GN! Reader x Bunny Hybrid Harem

Part 2~

Introductions

Their Info: 💐🐰✨

Part: 1 2 3

!!!MINORS DNI!!!

CW: DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT, GN! Reader, No pronouns used for reader, no genitalia descriptions mentioned for reader, bunny hybrid reader/mostly all of the harem is an animal hybrid of some kind, NSFW: sexual themes all throughout, every named character wants you, non con touching, smut, no sex yet! Reader gets called beautiful and pretty(u r), real furs, non con stripping, non con pet play, imprisonment, dark spooky forest,

Disclaimer: This harem’s theme is based off of a mix of Roots of Pacha and Watership Down. Not intended to represent any real or specific person/time/place/ or culture!

You aren’t just gonna lie down and let Aster win.

Definitely not!

You decide to go scout possible foraging locations. It’s starting to become dusky, however. You forget how fast night actually falls, once the sun starts going down.

The moon and billions of stars light your way, bouncing off of the shining leaves of the canopy above you. Thankfully, you aren’t lost, but you’re a little bit more scared than you’d like to admit.

You see the flickering light of a small fire ahead of you a ways, but it’s the opposite direction of the warren.

Eventually you step out of the brush into a small clearing where you find, August’s wagon!

“Why hello there,” a voice carried on a little breeze made just for you, graces your ear. You spin to face a fancy looking bunny guy with two toned hair.

“Hiya, August!”

“I brought you something really special tonight…” He goes to rummage around in a trunk on the back of the wagon. He’s always bringing you such elaborate treasures. You try and peer over his shoulder, but he blocks you just like always.

“Everything you bring me is special!” you roll on the balls of your feet, deciding to face away from him and respect the surprise. Not too soon later you feel warm arms wrapping around you. “Wha—”

His hands gently encase you, and his head rests on your shoulder.

“Let me take you away from here… I can show you life away from the warrens.” His voice is soothing, but is that something you want? “Here, it’s too late tonight, I’ll take you back home.”

“No way, August! It’s not that far.” You laugh.

“Only if you’re sure, Y/n, I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.” He slowly let’s you go and pats you on the head.

You’re in your own little world when it happens.

Thinking to yourself about your options…

It appears you have a lot.

All of a sudden, a burlap bag comes over your head, it scratches your ear, and you yelp out with more than just surprise!

You hear mumbled chatting but can’t make out any full sentences, when…

*WHACK*

Darkness-

“Mmmf… My head…” You’re dizzy and your head is pounding. It feels as though your skull is in the jaws of a tiger.

“Ahh, you’re awake, good.” A ginormous white rabbit hybrid man sits beside you on a massive bed. He’s intimidating to say the least, and you audibly gulp, mouth dry. “Here, you need fluid.” He holds a clay cup to your lips and has you drink.

Your headache is already subsiding, “Thanks…” Your voice is quiet. “Where… Um…”

“You’re home. I am Hellebore. You are my mate and you will rule over this warren with me.” He speaks as though his words are law.

“Wha—” You notice the bed is covered in soft… Furs… Your eyes widen in horror. Your warren doesn’t kill anything so you aren’t accustomed to it. His loincloth is leather too. And now you’re looking at his crotch… His length isn’t even hard and you can still see the sheer size of it.

“Good. You’re understanding your situation, my little mate.” He brushes your hair from your face and runs his fingers down the side of your jaw, then under your chin. “You are so beautiful,” His ear flicks, and he sighs, “I have to go for now, I will see you again soon.”

You’re left to cool off on your own… Gods, today has been so long! You think about resting your eyes… But you’re way too nervous for when Hellebore will return.

“H-hello…”

You shoot up. “Who’s there!?”

“S-sorry! M-my names Dandelion! I’m h-here to help y-you escape” She squeaks it all out hurriedly.

“Why?” You narrow your eyes, she’s standing in the doorway looking around frantically, she doesn’t seem like she’s lying, but why’s she helping you?

“Y-you’re r-really c-cute!” She blushes.

“Aww!” she’s so adorable! your own face is warm, you bound over to her, immediately forgetting the world just to hold her hand.

You do, you take her soft hand in yours and kiss it, “My hero, let’s go!”

Her face is a blaze of red, smoke would probably be flying out of this poor bunny girl’s lopped ears! You have to take mercy on her for now. She looks like she can only handle so much at a time.

She pulls you along through a pathway in the trees when that feeling of being watched hits you again, this time however, it’s too late to be any help.

Your ankle snags in something, it hurts but not too badly. It’s some type of snare you think, but it’s too dark to see.

“There’s that pretty bunny I’ve been hunting”

“AHHH!!!” Dandelion screams “I’ll get help! I promise!!” She runs, her fluffy lil tail flailing up and down. You trust her.

This human man completely either didn’t hear her, or is just disregarding her. Either way, you already feel frozen and small, and like talking to him would be pointless.

“No bitin’ now, I’m only getting this off,”

“Why would I bite you?” You think he might be deaf, he doesn’t seem to have heard you. “Woah!” Your equilibrium shifts as he hoists you up into his huge arms. He sets you on one arm as if it’s a chair made just for you. You feel a little bashful, but, “Where are you taking me?”

Still he ignores you.

You decide to shift and get more comfortable for the ride rather than waste anymore breath.

“We’re here,” He pulls back a branch, revealing a beautiful clearing filled with white moonlight. There’s even a waterfall behind his cabin! You kinda want to jump in, but it looks a little scary too. “Now, what to call you,”

“You can call me, Y/n.” You fold your arms, there’s no way he’s deaf. He’s pretending he can’t hear you!

“How about I just call you, Bunny, for now…” It’s not a question. You end up with a straight face, already fed up with this human man and his weird shenanigans.

“I’m a hybrid. I’m not a full bunny, ya know,” You say.

“You make such cute little sounds, Bunny.” After he hangs up his thick brown fur coat, he approaches you, looking into your eyes fully.

You feel scared suddenly, like he’s finally actually seeing you. But you’re completely exposed.

“I’ll be right back,” He puts his hand under your chin and tilts your face up to look at him.

When he returns he picks you back up, you hold onto his arm, it’s so thick, you wonder for a second what the rest of him is like…

“Bath time, little Bunny,” He pulls at your top, you try to hold it down and end up huddled in the cold dirt.

“D-don’t!” He pays your plea no mind.

Huge calloused hands squeeze your thighs, and pull down fabric from your skin. Some of it tickles madly, some of it feels too rough to bare.

Soon your stripped completely naked, and covering yourself with your hands and legs. For a second you think you can see red adorning his cheeks. You willingly climb in the fire heated bath.

He takes a sponge, and washes your body, thankfully not spending too much time in any one place.

He puts you in a cotton shirt that’s baggy and soft, before carrying you once again. This time he drops you off in a hutch. Possibly the most cruel and inhumane thing you could ever think to be put into.

“No way. You can stop now!” You grab onto the bars and try to pull on them.

He ignores you and goes back inside.

“LET ME OUT!!” You keep screaming until you hear something in the brush on the edge of the clearing. “Hello…?” You peep.

“Hello…” Possibly the deepest voice you’ve ever heard echos you…

“Um… I’m uh… Stuck… C-could you… h-help?” Your heart pounds in your long, fuzzy ears. You swallow painfully while you wait for seconds of absolute silence for the man to do anything at all.

Footsteps crunch through the pine needles.

You behold him as he steps into the moonlight, a gorgeously rugged wolf man. More rough around the edges than even Winter. You watch him wide eyed, as he unlocks the hutch.

He grabs hold of your waist and hoists you out.

“You should follow me. ‘s not safe.” He doesn’t talk much you can already safely assume. Instinct takes over and you grab his hand. He doesn’t pull away, but he doesn’t hold your hand back.

You almost want to thank him, it’s so late now that you know predators are just lurking around every dark corner… Predators like big dark wolf men in the middle of the dark forests, but you don’t think of that, do you?

He takes you into a lively and bustling wolf pack. They’re dancing around a big bonfire in the middle of the tribe.

“Safe. Sleep.” He says, and lays down on a fur covered slab of rock with his back to you.

It’s not as comfy as what you’re used to at all… but you manage to sleep for a little while at least.

“I’m here for them.” a deep woman’s voice rings out like a beautiful and slow song.

You open your eyes and it’s even darker out now.

It’s Gloria! The chief of your sister warren. She’s gorgeous, as tall as Hellebore, too! You practically drool as you imagine her stepping on you. You jump up and excitedly rush over to her.

She smiles when she sees you. “Ah, it’s wonderful that you’re alright, darling. Now, come.”

You follow her all the way to your home. She takes your face in her hands once inside your canvas walls.

“I… Was worried. I’m going to discuss treaties with the woods tomorrow. You’ll be able to go where you wish.” She kisses your cheek and runs her finger down your jaw. A sigh leaves her plump lips, “You’ll thank me next time. I unfortunately have to go for now my sweet little darling.” You hug goodbye.

Your body burns.

You’re beyond exhausted as you trudge your way through the warren. It’s so quiet and creepy, but the gentle snoring wafting out of the open windows all around comforts you. It was really a very short walk.

“Y/n?” Azure yawns…

[scuttle-buttle]

Chapter 1

Summary: Catherine Sinclair is the younger, estranged half-sister of renowned F1 driver James Hunt. Things get a bit complicated when she decides to reenter James’ life and ends up meeting his rival - Niki Lauda. Engines ignite as Catherine finds herself caught between her feelings for Niki and the rivalry that the two men share. Will she pump the brakes or let herself crash in the inferno?

Pairing: Niki Lauda (Rush 2013) x fem!OC Catherine Sinclair

Word Count: 1k

Rating: E for eventual smut

T/W: language, eventual smut, hot second of accidental implied incest (but there is none), rivalry, mentions of substance use, F1 racing, mentions of extramarital affairs & pregnancy

A/N: So while this is OC I’ve written it as minimalist as possible so it's virtually a niki x reader, also I’m unsure if the Nurburgring crash will occur in the story. My vibe is like mixing the ‘75 and ‘76 seasons so that James is McLaren but that Niki doesn’t have the accident/will win the season. We will see how it goes.

You made your way through the crowd of people looking for a quiet spot. The pit buzzed with excitement, each of the drivers and their crew preparing for today's race. Only those with passes were supposed to be in this section. No one paid you any mind as you wandered.

Originally you intended to find your estranged brother when you arrived. Now that you were here though you felt as though there was a rock in your stomach. You had snuck into the pit to find him and his tent was easy enough to spot, but nerves made you delay. I'll just find him after the race, you thought as you continued to watch the cars fly on the track.

The pleats in your skirt blew in the cool early spring breeze, dusting your calves. Oversized sun glasses perched on your nose, you took a minute to watch the bustle around you.

Some 30 meters away one of the drivers noticed you looking out of place. Usually when women entered the pit it was on the arm of a driver. There was something different about you. Confident stature, yet your face suggested you were unsure of yourself in the unfamiliar territory that was Formula 1. He wondered why you were alone. The man couldn't help but notice how naturally attractive you were. It was a kind of subtle beauty, rather than overemphasized like in the movies and magazines. You didn't look as though you were there to catch the eye of someone, unlike most. He turned away and resumed setting up the car.

"Hey Niki, there's gonna be a party at the Lotus hub later. You should come, have a little fun for once, " Clay offered.

"No, thank you."

"Aw come on, you always say no!"

"And yet you always ask," Niki shot back. He wanted to focus on the race and his strategy to beat Hunt.

"You need to make friends, Niki. Talk to some people. They all think you're an asshole."

"So what? Let them think I'm an asshole, I don't care."

Clay threw up his hands in defeat before leaving Niki to himself. Niki watched him walk back towards his own vehicle before beginning to turn back to his own. Looking to his left towards where you had been standing a minute before he noticed you had vanished.

Finally finding a bit of calm, you leaned against a trailer to watch the race. The drivers had all lined up in position. With a deafening blast the cars shot off along the track.

Time went rather quickly as you watched. James was neck and neck with another driver for most of it. You weren’t even in the race yet you felt alive with adrenaline. In the second to last lap you were sure James was going to place second, behind one of the Ferraris. Suddenly James pulled tight around a curve, whipping past the Ferrari by what looked like inches before settling in the lead.

The last lap blurred by with Hunt in first. He crossed the finish line mere seconds before the Ferrari. People screamed and cheered for Hunt; you yourself broke out into a grin. James celebrated at the podium with his bottle of champagne, the press eating up his theatrics.

You made your way closer to the track and your brother but stayed at a distance so as to not disturb the revelry.

"Can I help you?" came an accented gruff from behind you. Spinning, you saw one of the drivers standing there with his hands on his hips, sweaty with his red track suit partially unzipped. You hadn't realized how close you were standing to his car - the red Ferrari.

"Oh no I'm sorry - I didn't mean to be in the way…"

"You're not." He stared at you and pursed his lips. You shuffle your feet, unable to look away from his gaze. "Is this your first race?"

"How could you tell?"

"Why aren't you joining the party?" was his retort.

"I'm not really the type." He nodded once. "So that was you out there competing against the McLaren?" You weren’t quite ready to reveal that you knew James just yet.

"Yes." He really doesn't say much, does he?

Niki could sense the growing awkwardness between the two of you. "You need to be more friendly, people will think you're an asshole" Clay was always reminding him. He didn't know why but he felt he wanted to make an impression on you. Licking his lips he added "I often find myself competing with Hunt. He has talent. But he has no regard for risk. That curve was my line, I had it. He could've killed us both," Niki scowled.

Agreeing, you said "sounds about right for him. He made some ballsy moves today. It was thrilling watching the two of you compete. You're really talented."

"Thank you," his tone was cocky.

You continued to chat with the driver about the race. He explained how the points system worked to you, adding in that he and James had been neck and neck all season. Niki enjoyed your company. He found it refreshing that you actually wanted to know more about what it was he did, that you weren’t there seeking fame and attention. He was even more impressed that despite knowing very little about F1 you had some knowledge of cars. “My older brother really likes them,” you shrugged.

“Perhaps you will come to the next race?”

“It really depends on what I’ve got going on, I am a busy girl,” you laughed.

“Hopefully not too busy to come by the garage this week. I would like to hear your ideas about setting up the car.” Niki figured there wouldn’t be anything you could suggest that he hadn’t already thought of, but he liked talking with you. You seemed practical, and he was a practical guy himself.

“I don’t even know your name.”

He held out his hand for you to shake; “Niki Lauda.”

“Catherine Sinclair.”

Tags: @ay0nha

[drabbles-mc]

“I Like This”

Kozik x OFC (Tawnie Trager)

Request by @adela-topaz-caelon: Was re-reading the Kozik fic with the hickey, and I was reading the part where it said "fell into place", so I was wondering if we could get a prequel to that (The original fic can be found Here)

Warnings: language, alcohol

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: Relationship build-ups are my jam! Hope you enjoy! xo

Join my group-chat here: (X)

SOA Taglist: @masterlistforimagines @garbinge @mijop @chibsytelford @xladymacbethx @i-just-read-stuff @kkim120 @multiyfandomgirl40 @everyhowlmarksthedead @toni9 @unicornucopia-fuckers @mayans-mc @shadow-of-wonder @punkgoddess-98 @paintballkid711 @black-repunzel99 @lexondeck @jitterbugs927 (If you want to be added to the taglist just let me know!)

She let out a deep sigh as she cleaned up a few stray bottles that were scattered across the bar and tables. Part of her wanted to leave it to be someone else’s problem, but the other part of her knew that even if she went home, she’d probably be awake and cleaning there too. She tossed the bottles into the garbage bin before beginning to wipe everything down.

The clubhouse had never been so quiet—the music was off, the guys had all either gone home or back to their dorms, and she was the only one left and it made the clubhouse seem five times larger than usual.

The silence was broken by the sound of heavy footsteps. Turning around, she saw Kozik coming into the bar area. He looked exhausted and like his hangover was already starting. She chuckled quietly as he walked behind the bar and looked for something in particular.

“I don’t think it counts as hair of the dog until morning,” she said with a quiet laugh.

He shook his head, chuckling, “Believe it or not, I’m just looking for a bottle of water.”

She laughed, motioning under the bar, “Left cabinet, bottom shelf.”

“We don’t have any that are refrigerated?”

“You think anyone comes here to drink water?” she shot back with a laugh.

He smiled as he twisted the top off, “That’s fair,” he took a long drink and looked back over to her, finally realizing what she was doing. He shook his head slightly, “You don’t gotta be doing all of that, T. Let the prospects handle it in the morning.”

She shook her head, “I’m almost done here anyway. Let them take credit for it, though,” she smiled.

“The guys would never let them.”

She chuckled, “True,” she tossed the rag onto the surface of the bar, “Alright. Well, I’m outta here,” she went and grabbed her purse, “I’ll see you around?”

“Yea I’m, I’m not going anywhere.”

She flashed him a smile, “Nice to know you’re back for good.”

She started making her way towards the door before he could try to come up with any kind of response at all, let alone one that would make him sound smooth. He let out a quiet sigh as he watched her walk out the door of the clubhouse. She was the last woman in the world that he should spend his time thinking about or talking to, but something inside him said that that fact wasn’t going to matter anymore, especially if he was sticking around.

Over the next couple of days, the two of them would exchange quick hellos and goodbyes when they crossed paths. Before he’d seen her after hours at the clubhouse, Kozik never actually realized just how often Tig’s daughter was at the clubhouse and T-M. She pitched in and helped Gemma when necessary, and growing up as Tig’s daughter meant that she knew her way around bikes and cars well enough to be helpful at the shop.

Kozik saw her getting her things together at the end of the day and made his way over to her. She heard his footsteps and turned around, smiling when she saw him. He tucked his hands into his pockets, “You gonna be around later?” he nodded towards the clubhouse.

She laughed, shaking her head, “No, not this time. Got other plans. You boys will have to clean up your own beer bottles tonight.”

He chuckled, “You know it’ll never get done.”

She smiled, “I know. Have a good—”

“He bothering you, Tawnie?” Tig walked up, positioning himself between the two of them.

She huffed, rolling her eyes as she shook her head, “I’m fine, Dad. “

He looked from her over to Kozik, eyes narrowing, “Don’t you have other shit you should be doing? Like not talking to or making eye contact with my daughter?”

“Dad—”

Kozik spoke up before the situation got any worse, “My bad,” he held his hands up in surrender before turning and walking away.

When he was out of earshot, Tawnie gave her father a good shove, “Why do you need to be such a dick?”

“All these guys know you’re off-limits. But him especially,” Tig saw the way that she rolled her eyes and he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head, “You know I love you, T.”

“I love you too,” she grumbled before stepping back, “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“Alright. Drive safe, baby,” he watched her walk towards her car for a moment before turning back around. He saw the way that Kozik was also watching her and shook his head. He was about to walk up to him when he heard Clay calling for him from the clubhouse. With a sigh, Tig turned around and made his way over, granting Kozik another day without getting chewed out by him.

The last thing that Kozik wanted was more issues with Tig. The man had had it out for him for years and getting involved with his daughter wasn’t going to make that situation get any better. He told himself that he was going to try and stay away from Tawnie when he could—not go out of his way to talk to her and just hope that she would return the favor.

At the end of the work day, she was trying to pull the garage door down for one of the work bays—the wiring in it went weeks beforehand and no one had gotten around to fixing it yet so it only lowered it about a quarter of the way, leaving it mere inches out of her reach.

With a heavy sigh, she called over to the other side of the shop, “Hey, Kozik?”

He turned around as he finished wiping off his hands, “Yea?”

“Can you…?” she pointed up at the door, “I can’t reach it,” she had to laugh.

He chuckled as he made his way over, “Yea, of course.”

She watched him as he reached up and pulled the door down the rest of the way with ease, “I swear I’m just gonna start wearing heels to work so I can reach shit.”

He smiled, trying to stifle his laughter a little, “I’m not sure if that’s the most practical solution to your problem. But,” he let himself meet her gaze, “I’m not going to try and tell you not to.”

She laughed, “Probably better that way. I’m not the kind of person people usually win arguments against.”

“Must be a Trager thing,” he chuckled.

“Well,” she laughed as she let her hair down out of its ponytail, “I’m at least a much more graceful winner than my father.”

“I think that’s a low bar to set, T.”

She chuckled as the two of them made their way towards the door of the garage, “Maybe.”

Kozik stood by while he watched her lock the door to the garage, trying not to be obvious about the fact that he was staring at her, “Are you…are you coming by for the party tonight?”

She shrugged, flashing him a smile, “I was thinking about it, why?”

“Just wondering,” he didn’t want to sound like he was being nosey or pushy.

She started walking towards her car, motioning for him to follow her, “Club events are always, uh, hit or miss, for me,” she laughed, “I wanna have fun but it’s difficult when Tig doesn’t want anyone to, you know, look at me,” she looked over at Kozik and heard the nervous chuckle slip past his lips, “I’m sorry about all that shit before, by the way.”

He shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.”

“Well in that case,” she smiled as she dug her keys out of her purse, “I’m even more sorry,” she laughed.

“I’ll see you later?” he gave it one last shot as she climbed into her car.

She smiled at him, “Maybe. Try to stay outta trouble, alright?”

He gave her a smile and a nod before she turned the key in the ignition and took off out of the compound. Letting out a deep breath, he walked towards the clubhouse to get ready for church before the party that night.

“Hey,” she called out over the noise of the party that was well underway, “Kozik!”

He turned his head in the direction of his name, eyebrows raising in surprise when he saw who was calling for him. He quickly made his way over to her, watching as she carried a case of beer inside. He offered to take it from her but she shook her head at him.

“Got three more outside. Help me grab those? Put those muscles to some good use?”

He laughed as he walked back the way she came in, “Yes ma’am.”

She walked by him as he carried two cases and she chuckled, “Show-off.”

“I left the last one for you,” he smiled.

“And they say chivalry is dead.”

That was the last exchange they had for the rest of the party. Kozik got swept up in the antics with his MC brothers, and Tawnie was content to sit back and keep an eye on everything. She was always ready to jump in and run interference between anyone—she and her father had that in common. She was better at keeping her temper in check but she was just as protective as he was. She never let anything shady slip by her if she could help it.

Luckily, it was a relatively uneventful night. Aside from a few of the Cara Cara girls drinking too much and needing to be driven home, everyone was on their best behavior, whatever that meant for them. Soon enough they were all riding off on their bikes or safely passed out in their dorms. This time, though, Kozik didn’t even bother disappearing back to his room at the end of the night, he just hung back and waited for everyone else to clear out.

“So,” Tawnie was making her rounds and collecting beer bottles again, “is 2AM the optimal time to try and talk to you?”

“Without me running the risk of getting murdered by your dad, yea,” he laughed as he sat down at the bar.

“Ah,” she threw the bottles away and grabbed fresh ones for each of them, popping the tops off before hopping up and sitting on the bar, “So it’s strategic.”

“Something like that,” he took a swig of his beer, “Or maybe I just want all of your attention.”

She chuckled, “Well, you certainly have it now,” she gently nudged his knee with her foot, “So what can I do for you, hm?”

“Keeping me company at 2AM is more than enough.”

“Mm,” she hummed with a laugh, “Talk about low bars.”

That became their new routine. In the small, quiet hours of the morning after everyone else was gone or passed out, the two of them had their time. Sometimes it was only a few minutes, other times it was a few hours. There came a point where both of them recognized that it was much more than just keeping each other company, but neither of them wanted to say anything and run the risk of ruining it.

The two of them were sitting at the picnic table outside the clubhouse. Everything was quiet, everyone had long since disappeared and gone to bed. Kozik sat next to her on the same side of the bench, the outside of his leg pressing lightly up against hers as she toyed with the beer bottle in her hands.

“Thank you,” she said as she looked over at him.

He tilted his head in confusion, “For what?”

“For always staying. I know that you’d probably rather be sleeping right now, like most people would at 3AM,” she laughed, “But I like…this.”

“This?” a smile passed over his features.

She laughed, “Yea. This.”

He leaned forward onto the table, his forearm resting right next to hers, “I like this too.”

There were a few seconds of silence before she turned to face him again, waiting for him to do the same. He felt her eyes on him and when he looked over and saw the way her lips were slowly curling up into a smile, it was hard to take his eyes off of her. He nervously drummed his fingers on the side of his beer bottle as he tried to figure out what he was going to say or do next, but it was hard to think underneath the weight of her gaze.

She reached over and put her hand on top of his, gently taking it off the bottle and resting it on top of the table so she could lock her fingers with his. He watched her every move, heart pounding quickly inside his chest.

She tugged him closer to her and he gave in with ho hesitation, leaning in as her hands rested on the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss. Despite the shock coursing through his system he wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her pulled tight as her fingers found their way up into his hair.

Weeks of late nights and whispered conversations all came together as he focused on the way that her lips moved against his. She let out a quiet moan as his fingers gripped onto her sides a little tighter, and for a moment he thought he was going to melt completely into her.

When she pulled away, trying to catch her breath as she felt her cheeks heating up, she couldn’t help but to let out a quiet laugh. Her let her hands lightly slide down his shoulders and arms until they interlocked with his.

“I think,” she looked at him, a playful light in her eyes, “we should definitely keep doing this.”

He couldn’t help but to laugh, pulling her in for a quick kiss, “Definitely.”

[headoverjojo]

Hi. I wasn't sure if your still doing any request. But I was hoping to get something with Ghiaccio. His crush askes him out on a date to the carnival. He's nervous at first because he wasn't expecting this to actually happen. But they both have a really good time. Going on rides, playing games, even seeing Ghiaccio win a cute prize for his crush. 💙❄

Desiree, hello! :3 And sure thing! What a tender scenario, thank you for the prompt :,) And here we gooo! I hope you’ll like it :3

Ghiaccio and his crush’s first date at the carnival

(Under the cut for length!)

Melone tilted his head, looking at Ghiaccio with critical eyes for long moments, before nodding in approval. One last fix at the light blue shirt’s collar, and he was finally satisfied with his work. Ignoring Ghiaccio’s frown and grumblings, he dragged him in front of a mirror, with a satisfied smile. Ghiaccio grumbled again, at his limit, but he had to admit that Melone had done a good job… he was finally ready, for real, for his date! At least in appearance…

“C’mon, it will be fine. We’ve talked about it, right? It’s normal to be nervous, and maybe the first minutes will be… awkward, but you’ll eventually relax and everything will be smoother. Just be yourself, alright? And don’t you dare to start with the “but I am a shit” discourse, hm?- he said, anticipating Ghiaccio’s words, -if they have accepted to go out with you, it means that they like you as you are. Maybe… try to control a bit your temper, but do not change yourself. They like the you you already are.” Melone said, while still dancing around him to fix the smallest details. It was the first date his friend had in ages; he wanted everything to be perfect!

“Oh! And do not forget the flowers. Now go, or you’ll be late!” Melone pushed him out of the HQ, still giving advices and wishing him good luck. Ghiaccio sighed, when silence finally fell, as he walked to his destination: your house. He stopped a little at a flower shop to buy a nice bouquet of your favourite flowers, and then marched to your place, determined to make you live the best evening of your life. He will have tried his best!

He rang your bell door, swallowing, nervous. What if you had changed your mind? What if it was all… a prank? What if he was just making himself ridiculous? Would you have thought bad of him? Made fun of him? His mind was still racing wildly when you came to open the door, with a big and relieved smile on your face. Yes, you were the one who asked him out, and yes, he accepted, but still… you feared he would have changed his mind last minute. But seeing him at your doorsteps, so gorgeous in his casual but fitting outfit, an adorable pout that was slowly melting into a more relaxed expression, with a beautiful bouquet in his hands finally tamed all your fears. Now it was time for fun!

“For you.” he grumbled, handing you the flowers, looking anywhere but at you while, you noticed with a silent gasp, a light blush creeped on his cheeks. You smiled, softened, taking gently the flowers, brushing his hands with the tips of your fingers. The blush on his cheeks became redder, but you didn’t notice it, as you were busy sniffing the flowers, happy. Your favourite…

“Thank you so much… I put them in a vase and I’ll be here in a second, ok? Don’t run!” you said, daring to wink at him, vanishing inside your house again. Ghiaccio slowly let out his breath, now that your beautiful eyes weren’t on him. Oh god, it would have been more complicated than what he had thought…

Your arrival saved him again from more panicked thoughts. You smiled at him again, and his heart raced; how could he feel so… so good, so happy just seeing you smile? Was it even possible?

He tried to relax, like Melone had suggested him. He wanted everything to be fine… so, he tried to chat a little, feeling relieved when you answered with a smile. It was going well, it seemed… you seemed to enjoy the time you were spending together. You even laughed a couple of times… it was making him feel good and comfortable. He was finally starting to loosen up, to your immense joy. It was incredibly warming to see him with a relaxed expression… he even seemed younger!

When you arrived at the carnival, your ultimate destination, you felt him tense again. He didn’t like crowds… you searched for his hand, and held it tight, when you found it. He turned to you, surprised and again red on his cheeks, and you just smiled at him, even if a blush was spreading on your face too.

“We’ll not get separated, in this way.” you simply said, finally entering with him in a world made of fun, lights, food and joyous screams. Ghiaccio swallowed, clinging at your hand, but, the more he wandered around without being attacked or bothered, the more he started to relax, and he went back to chit chat with you, without letting go of your hand, to your joy.

When you saw him relaxed enough, you proposed him to try some of the rides, and you beamed in joy and surprise when, after the first roller coaster ride, you saw him laugh for real, as tension seemed to finally leave his body. There was nothing better to release all the tension than a good adrenaline rush! You never saw him so… so normal. Like a young man who was, for once, enjoying a good and funny evening with… his crush. You hid a smile, when you remembered that you were out on a date and not as friends…

“Oh, oh, Ghiaccio, look! The clay pigeon shooting! They always have such cute prizes…” you sighed, with a smile, looking at the little stand where a lively little man was calling and inciting the crowd to try to win “wonderful, incredible, fantastic prizes!”. Ghiaccio turned to you, looking at you for long seconds, before turning again to the stand.

“What prize do you want?” he asked, quiet. You blinked, surprised, and turned at him. Was he serious?

“C’mon, G/N. What prize do you like the most?” he asked again, looking at you with a small pout. You gulped down the surprise, looking again at the prizes neatly exposed. The ones you always liked always required a great shooting accuracy…

“The white cat. I like that.” you finally said, with a sigh. No way you would have ever won it, not even in a century…

“Good. Let’s go, then.” he pulled you to the stand, already studying the timing of the small targets. Nothing difficult… at least, not for him. He was a hitman, after all and, even if he wasn’t a sniper, he was required to be a good shooter. He was sure he could do it!

“One try, please.” you looked at the small gun the man handed to Ghiaccio, while cheerfully inciting him. Ghiaccio looked at you again, and a small smile bent his lips, making you blush again. Was he really going to do it for you…?

“You’ll have your white cat.” he promised, with a small nod, before pointing at the moving targets and shooting. One, two, four, six: with a lethal precision, all the blank bullets hit the targets. A small bell madly rang, loud and cheerful, and the man handed him the deserved prize, with a big smile and screamed congratulations. Ghiaccio grumbled a thanks, picking up the giant plushie, and, when the two of you were a little far from the chaos, he looked at you, blushing again. Oh, this was awkward…

“Err… for you.” he murmured, handing you the plushie. You huffed a laugh, hugging the enormous and soft plushie, with a happy sigh. You still couldn’t believe it… you looked at him, with a smile, and got on your tiptoes, giving him a peck on the cheek. When you drew back, he was blushing again like crazy, and your cheeks too felt warmer than usual.

“Thank you, Ghiaccio, for the plushie… and this incredible evening. I loved it.” you said, suddenly shy. Was it too much…? You wanted so much to invite him again, to have another date with him, but… would have it been too daring to ask him so…?

“I… I had fun too. Maybe we… we could do it again, if you want to…?” you gasped, incredulous. Oh… you dared to look at him, and your heart melted when he saw his cute pout, his red cheeks and the way he was trying to keep it cool. How dared he to be so adorable…!

“Yes… I’d love it.” you murmured, with a sweet smile mirrored in his face a moment later. As your first date slowly sided over, you couldn’t help but to smile and giggle in total bliss.

That first date had been a real success, and you couldn’t wait to go on a date again with him.

[monstersandmaw]

Patreon Tier Reshuffle in February and General 2020 Developments...

I gave my Patrons first look at this post, since some of the changes will affect their tiers (only to add content though!). Now I’m posting most of it to Tumblr for you to look at and perhaps have a think about...

It’s a long post, and I’m sorry for that...

First of all, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supporting me on Patreon, whether you’re a long-time supporter or you just joined. I know it's a big deal to give your heard-earned cash to someone on the internet and am well aware of the responsibility I have and what an honour it is to be on the receiving end of your generosity and support. So, yes. Thank you more than I can probably ever express.

Secondly, a reminder that all tiers have access to our chilled out Discord server forever. We’ve got a channel for sharing photos of pets, for general chat, for monsters, for sharing artwork of all kinds, a library to share your own stories, an nsfw chat, recipes etc., so hopefully there’s something for everyone, but there’s no pressure to be active if you’d rather not be! There’s also an ongoing DnD game with some of the folks on there too, which is fun!

It might be worth joining the server anyway because I have plans for a new perk which will involve Discord (see below), and I also occasionally run ‘Discord Drabbles’ where I ask for prompts on Discord from folks, which you might have seen posted on Patreon from time to time.  

Now, finally, round to the topic of this post!

I’ve been thinking about how to make sure that every tier gets the most that I can give them for their money, so I’m going to do a little reshuffle. It will start in February, and I’ve made sure that I’m pretty much just adding stuff to each tier, so you won’t miss out in the reshuffle.  

Here are the new things I’m running only on Patreon from February 2020 in addition to everything else (see below):  

Sculpt This!

Patrons can submit artwork or detailed descriptions (a creature/monster, a character, an object) to a designated ‘Sculpt This!’ channel on Discord, and I will pick one to sculpt once a month. I will create a post on Patreon with the artwork and the artist’s name (and a link to their page/site if they have one, and photos of my final sculpture based on their design. That will be available to everyone from the $1 tier upwards.  

For those on the $5 tier upwards, a short video will be available, featuring footage of the sculpting process itself.  

If the person whose art I use is on the $20 tier or upwards, I will post them the sculpture if they’d like it. 

Trope Tuesdays!

A poll will go up prior to Tuesday, with a list of common tropes (notably from the world of fanfic – things like ‘coffee shop’, ‘bed-sharing’, ‘enemies to lovers’, ‘5 times +1’ etc. etc.) and the winning trope from that poll will be the theme for a short story to be posted on a Tuesday.  

I’m aiming for these short stories to be a variety of fluffy and steamy, available to everyone from the $1 tier up.  

Character Letters

$10 and up patrons can request a letter once a month from their favourite characters from any of my stories (providing I wasn’t using someone else's OC for a commission or the like). This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only (not Tumblr), with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.  

$20 and up patrons can request a hand-written letter once a month from their favourite character, again with the option to have the text posted to Patreon or not, and with their name, or not.  

Commissions 

I'm still in two minds about opening these up on here because I got absolutely exhausted – mentally and physically – at the end of 2019 and I’m only just recharging again. I had said I would open them up to patrons only in January 2020, and I may yet do that. If I do, I will create 5 slots, and a maximum of 5k words per story initially, and see how that goes. I realise that’s a small number of slots, but it’s still a lot of work for me on top of the rest of the Patreon commitments. I hope you understand, but I know a number of you responded in a poll to say you’d be interested in commissions from me again.

$10 patrons receive 5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and $20 receive 10% off the first 5000 words of commissions.  

Continuing rewards:  

Monthly story – the monthly exclusive story will still be available for $5 and up (some of these stories have been known to go up to 10k words and be in multiple parts – think Kieran the satyr’s story from October 2018!)

Early release – I will continue to offer all Tumblr stories (except paid commissions from non-patrons and giveaways/specials) on early release – minimum of 4 days, sometimes longer.  

Polls – help me decide what to write next

Character bios and artwork

Future things I hope to bring in later this year:

Gaming with Ghosti

I hope to do some streaming via Twitch of me playing things either on the PS4 (like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey or we could do a special Dragon Age: Inquisition playthrough together), or from PC which could include a number of games, from Witcher III (I still haven’t played much) to Mass Effect, chilled out Minecraft sessions, and a huge number of other games which you could choose to inflict on me and watch me flail around in.

Hopefully Mr. Ghosti could join in too and laugh along with you and just generally have a chilled out time. This would probably happen at the weekend, but I’d have to look into the logistics of it if there’s enough interest.  

Discount for Patrons on my Etsy shop

It’s actually live right now, but I haven’t got anything listed yet as I’m unsure of the last few things I need to get in place, but once I’ve got things up on there, I’ll make an announcement and give patrons a special discount code to use in case there’s anything you’d like to buy, from jewellery to polymer clay charms/sculptures.  

More Q&A type things and video content

Some of you seemed to enjoy the video I did answering your questions, so I could always do more of this, if there are things you’d like to ask! It could be about anything, not just writing. If there’s interest, I’ll look into it.

More milestone giveaways and mystery ‘lucky dip’ giveaways

I love sharing things with you, so when I hit 200 patrons, I’ll have to think up something special, and in the meantime, maybe I’ll do some more giveaways for you.

If there’s something that you would like to see that you think I could put up on Patreon for you, then please get in touch! I’m always looking for ideas

All tier rewards will be as follows from February 2020:

Brand new items in bold, and slight changes in italics:

(putting in a ‘keep reading’ because it’s getting silly now...)

Shadows:  

access to the Patreon-only Discord

access to the ‘Trope Tuesdays’ poll and story

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ posts

access to some character profiles, aesthetics, polls, and story ideas

small discount on my etsy store (when it opens)

and my undying gratitude!

Pixies and Goblins – all of the above, plus:

one Patreon-exclusive monster story per month

access to the ‘Sculpt This!’ process video

access to the extra, long-running story, released once a month (Werewolf story - coming soon!)

early access for all Tumblr monster stories (excluding paid commissions)

the ‘what’s next?’ poll to help me decide what monster or reader to write

Elves – all of the above, plus:

you can request a letter once a month from your favourite character of mine! This can be sent as a PDF by email and/or posted publicly to Patreon only, with the option to remove the name if you’d rather remain anonymous.

entry into the monthly 3k word story commission – if you are chosen (at random) from the Elves tier (and above) you can have a 3k word story of your choosing written for you

access to ‘Writer’s Corner’, featuring occasional blog posts about writing and workshop goings-on

small work-in-progress previews from both my monster stories and my original fantasy fiction ‘Weaver of Threads’

5% off the first 5000 words of writing commissions, and priority placement in the commissions queue

Orcs – all of the above, plus:

you can also request a letter once a month from your favourite character, but yours can also be hand-written and posted to you if you’d like! You also have the option of it being posted to Patreon or not. 

One short story (maximum 1500 words) with a monster and reader of your choice per month (by request only), included within your subscription

A PDF version of any monster story I’ve written and published on Patreon or Tumblr (by request, and sent by email)

10% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

if your design was selected in the ‘Sculpt This!’ feature, I can post the finished sculpture to you, if you’d like to have it.

Dragons – all of the above, plus:

One 5000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

Entry into the monthly top tiers free story draw but your story is 4k words instead of 3k

20% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

A character with a name of your choosing (upon approval!) will be added to a monster story

Priority on jewellery and metalwork commissions and a larger discount on my Etsy store (when that opens)

Kaiju – all of the above, plus:

if you win the random free commission, yours is 5k words instead of 3k!

One 7000 word story of your choosing will be written for you per month (no fanfiction) as a thank you for your patronage (by request only)

One hand written letter of thanks (I have nice handwriting, don’t worry!) sent to you by post, including a little short story

25% off the first 5000 words of a writing commission

30% discount on jewellery and metalwork commissions

Dedication by name in any published work (let me know if you wish to remain anonymous)

Hope you’re excited, and don’t forget that you can always get in touch with me on any of my platforms – Patreon, Tumblr, Discord. If you want to share something but also want to remain anonymous, just send an anon to Tumblr and ask me not to post it. 

__

| Masterlist | Patreon | Ko-fi | Writing Commissions |

[rosybunnnny]

My first time getting fucked in the shower

Written on January 12th, 2019.

Like many of the men I have hooked up with, I met Clay on a dating app. We matched and started chatting almost a year ago. He’s 23 and is a flight instructor, which means he has a pilot’s license. I’m not the only one who thinks that’s hot, right? I was immediately drawn to him. His gentle personality and witty sense of humor pulled me in even more. His curly brown hair wasn’t also necessary to win my affection, but there it was as well.

In the time since we matched, we’ve only actually hooked up three times. The first time was at his house. An old colonial-style home in a nice neighborhood overlooking the city. It was many months ago but I remember having to tiptoe up the stairs because his parents were sleeping. He occupied the third floor, which was basically just one big room, most likely an attic originally. I remember him telling me we’d have to keep quiet, and it made me nervous because I tend to be a bit.... loud in bed. We put on a movie but didn’t watch much before turning to kiss each other. That first time felt so sweet and tender.

The second time was at my house. It had been another few months of texting. He works really hard, probably over 50 hours a week, so it’s difficult to find time to hang out. It’s the sole reason we’ve only hooked up three times in almost a year. That’s how poorly our schedules work together. But eventually the stars aligned for us. My parents went out of town the same weekend that Clay had some free time. He came over and we did the whole Netflix-and-chill thing. He’s seriously such a sweet guy. This probably isn’t what you thought you were going to read when you clicked on this story, but he made me feel at ease when I told him I was nervous about him seeing certain wounds and scars on my body. I felt (and still feel) so safe with him.

Another couple of months later, I got a text from him saying that he had his house to himself for the night. We figured out a time I could come over. When I arrived, we walked up the stairs to the second floor, but instead of going further up, he led us through a bedroom and into a large bathroom.

I knew what was going to happen. He had mentioned the existence of an amazing shower a few times in the past. It had always been a plan to eventually shower in it together.

“Wanna strip?” he asked, looking at me with excitement.

“Hell yeah,” I replied, and began unbuttoning my jeans, pulling them off my legs, and kicking them across the floor, then getting rid of my t-shirt and bralette as well.

I was genuinely excited. I’d never had shower sex before. And my hair was quite dirty, so it was perfect timing if I’m being honest.

He opened the glass shower door for me and I entered. The shower was a room if its own. There was a wooden bench, and multiple shower heads. I was just in awe, looking at everything, and then I heard a beep. I turned around and he had pressed a button on the wall. Steam started coming from hidden vents. Hot water poured from the shower heads. Within thirty seconds, the shower was so full of steam that I could only see two feet in front of me. Luckily, Clay was in that view.

We stood facing each other underneath the water. His hands were on my hips. Our foreheads were pressed together. Water was stinging my eyes but I didn’t care. He started kissing me. His hands moved to the small of my back, then down to my ass, where he squeezed, pulling my body closer to his. I found myself grinding my pelvis against his without even meaning to. He took one of his hands off my ass and brought it in between us. He reached down and gently put his fingertips on my pussy. While still kissing me, his fingers moved up and down the slit of my pussy, getting me wet. My body was still moving in some sort of rhythm. I sighed into his mouth with satisfaction before forcing myself to break our kiss.

“Body wash?” I asked. He reached behind me and pulled a bottle from the ledge.

“You do me, and I’ll do you?” he asked as he handed me the bottle.

I poured some into my hand and began rubbing it all over his back, turning it into suds. I ran my fingers down his spine, around his shoulder blades, and then massaged his neck and shoulders a bit. Then I turned him around and worked the suds over his chest. He’s slender, not muscular, but fit. I could see the definition in his torso and upper arms. My hands glided slowly around his upper body until he moved, reaching to grab the soap bottle again.

He spun me around so that he was standing behind me. Then I could feel his hands on my back, firmly massaging the citrus body wash into my skin. His hands traveled to my shoulders, down my arms, and then around to the front of my body. With his body pressed against my back, and his cock against my ass, Clay worked the soap around my breasts, softly squeezing. I started to grind against him, then turned my head around to kiss him. After a long and passionate kiss we dove under the stream of hot water and rinsed ourselves off.

Once our bodies were rid of suds, I moved closer to him again. I positioned myself so our foreheads were touching again, and I could see his facial expressions as I put my hand around his dick. I stroked it up and down while maintaining a pretty tight grip. The way he breathed while our faces were almost touching showed me that he was enjoying this.

“How do you want to fuck me?” I asked in a whisper.

He removed his face from in front of mine and looked around the steam-filled shower. There was a wooden bench with some product bottles on it. He stepped towards it, bent down, and shoved all the bottles to the floor.

“Bend over it,” he commanded, pointing at the bench.

“Yes, sir.”

I strode to the bench with a smirk on my face, which I knew he couldn’t see through the thick steam. I bent over the wet wood (lol, the bench’s, not Clay’s!) and set my elbows down to support myself. He pressed himself against my ass, slapped his dick on my vulva, and slowly entered me. I moaned from the feeling of his cock sliding in and filling me up with its girth. He began thrusting at a slow pace, but soon enough he was fucking me hard and fast. I reached under myself to rub my clit.

“Fuck, babe, that feels incredible!” I barely managed to exclaim.

“Yeah?” he said as he pulled my hair.

The only way I could properly respond was by letting out the moans which I normally hold in. The loud, embarrassing ones. This made him fuck me harder and harder, pulling my hair so tight that my head was tilted pretty far back, until he muttered that he was close to cumming. I felt his thrusts remain just as forceful but with more time in between each one. He pounded into me hard, then remained still for a second, then pulled out and rammed himself in again; repeat. Eventually he thrust himself inside of me but stayed inside longer, eventually pulling out for the final time. I could feel the cum already seeping out of my throbbing pussy.

We finished our shower the practical way by washing our faces and hair. Afterwards, once we were wrapped in towels, we went up to his third-floor bedroom, laid on the bed, and watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. (I fucking love Wes Anderson and Jude Law.) Eventually I left because I had to work the next morning.

That’s all for now. Hopefully Clay and I will have more fun adventures that I can write about in the future. Hope you guys enjoy, and if you haven’t read my previous stories I highly encourage you to do so!

[nancydrew65]

SKAM Austin Season 2 Episode 9 Thoughts

So, I thought this was the last episode, but then a clip was released today. I’m guessing there will be ten total episodes in this season. Like I said before, Daniel is officially canceled in my book, so if you don’t want to hear me ranting about what an asshole he is... maybe don’t read this.

Home

Grace had to drive out to Clay’s school just to talk to him. God, can she get a break?

Clay is trying to laugh things off, but Grace is serious AF.

And then that asshole calls Grace a slut. He is such a horrible human being. Why does Daniel believe him over Grace? I will never understand this storyline. He knows his brother is psycho, why would he believe anything he says?

Grace “apologizes” to Clay and he says: “It is a scary time to be a guy, you know?” I thought that was an especially good line to put in to SKAM Austin. Men in the United States say that all the time now that #MeToo is a thing. Heck, even our president says it. It is disgusting. I mean, you think it is scary to be a guy and be accused of sexual harassment? How about being a woman and experiencing sexual harassment. That is a hell of a lot scarier.

Then Grace goes off on him, exposing him for the terrible person he is. She is such a badass in this scene. I missed this beautiful, strong woman.

Clay rushes to assure Grace that he didn’t do anything to her, but it is hard to believe him. Grace just threatened to report him to the police. I am willing to bet he would lie to her, just to get her off his case.

But I have to say, my favorite part of the clip is when Grace walked away and Megan was waiting for her on the curb to drive her home. This brings up a small issue I have with Austin. It is not even really an issue, but something I would have liked to see. I wish we could have seen Megan and Grace’s relationship more this season. Last season, we didn’t really get much and we didn’t this season either. I think it is a problem with the remakes in general. The Eva character kind of gets sidelined in Noora’s season. The remake that portrays these girls’ friendship the best is SKAM NL in my opinion. I love seeing scenes of Isa and Liv together because they are just so close.

That being said, I adored this scene. I think it may be my favorite iteration of the confrontation scene yet.

Ready to Talk

Grace texts Daniel about everything, explaining that she might never know what happened, how terrifying the whole ordeal was, that she might have been drugged. Daniel starts texting back, but never sends anything.

This is the point of no return for me. Let me tell you a story. When I first watched SKAM Season 2, I didn’t find anything too inherently wrong with it. At this point in time, I wasn’t aware of the whole social media and text aspect of the series, so I was just watching the full episodes without any of the context of the instagram posts or text messages posted. Sure, I definitely felt uncomfortable about some parts of the storyline, like William constantly pressuring Noora to go out with him or come to his parties. Even when the scene came out where William confronted Noora about the Niko situation, despite how awfully he treated her, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I thought, “Well, he doesn’t know the whole story. Who knows what Niko told him and Noora really didn’t get a chance to explain herself.” I finished off the season with this mindset. It was only later that I learned about the text messages posted online. I learned that Noora had explained what happened to William, telling him that she had most probably been sexually assaulted. This is where the character of William lost any sympathy I might have had for him. Going back to SKAM Austin, Daniel disregards his girlfriend’s feelings when he has full knowledge that she might have been drugged and sexually assaulted. He treats her like shit after this, not texting her or talking to her. Nothing he does can ever redeem him in my eyes. Grace deserves better.

God is a Woman

The girls are all chilling, getting ready to go to Prom later. Kelsey waltzes in, looking gorgeous in her pale blue prom dress. She talks about she used to feel that she had to be skinny to be successful, but now she realizes otherwise. She pulls out a water bottle that is filled with alcohol.

Megan refuses a drink when Kelsey offers, saying she wants to take a break from drinking - and from Marlon.

Kelsey whole heartedly agrees, stating that they don’t need boys to validate them. This is one of the most flawed parts of Season 2 for me. Kelsey and Megan realize that they don’t need boys to have self-worth (which is such a great message for teenage girls), but Grace (the lead of this season) experiences the opposite of that. She is strong and confident without a man in the first season and the beginning of this season, but by the end she needs Daniel to be happy. There is so much disconnect between the two messages this season is trying to put forward.

Jo complains about her boy trouble with the guy she’s been talking to online and the girls assure her she doesn’t need him.

#Prom

OK, well this Prom is a hell of a lot nicer than the one my school offered. We actually had Prom on the exact same night, so…

Pen-Joe comes up to Jo and Grace, asking Jo for a dance. Like the boss lady that she is, Jo replies “I already have a boyfriend” in Spanish. That is right, Pen-Joe. You lost your chance with the beautiful woman that is Josefina Valencia.

Back inside the dance, Abby announces Daniel as Prom King, but apparently he didn’t show up. This reminds me of yet another awful thing Daniel did to Grace. He said they were going to Prom together, but then he never shows up. Dude.

Zoya wins Prom Queen!!!!! I wasn’t sure if we were going to get this scene, but we did and I am so damn happy for her. She deserves it.

Grace asks Pen-Joe where Daniel is, but he just says that “family stuff”. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Out on the dance floor, Kelsey is dancing with a nice-looking dude, Zoya and Megan are dancing together, and Jo accepts Pen-Joe’s offer for a dance. You better make him apologize for the rude way he treated you, girl.

Aw, Grace posts a selfie of herself looking happy, but you can tell it is all a facade. She goes to join Megan and Zoya.

Welcome to My Life

It is the middle of the night and Grace gets a message on instagram from xxtrinity2121 about Clay.

A conversation ensues between the two girls. Apparently this mystery instagram girl is their version of Mari, telling Grace nothing happened between her and Clay. Obviously, this news is a great relief to Grace.

They also talk about how stressed they both are, with xxtrinity2121 confessing that she is very depressed and sometimes thinks about killing herself. Since this clip was posted, a chat was posted on SKAM Austin’s website between Grace and this girl which leads me to believe she has a more important role than just being the Mari stand-in. I have heard a lot of theories of who she is. A lot of people think she is Tyler, who is either trying to fool Grace or he was actually the person in bed with her and Clay. I don’t think the latter option is true because it looked like a girl in the bed to me when I re-watched that clip. Another interesting idea is that she is the Austin version of Even. I mean her username xxtrinity2121 has the number 21:21 in it. I really like this theory and hope it is true. That would be so interesting.

Usually Never Wrong

Zoya and Grace are walking down the hall, when Zoya pulls Abby over. She apologizes for not believing Abby about what a bad guy Hunter is. Abby tells her no problem and says she is really happy how everyone came together to support Zoya as Prom Queen, how it would have been racist if Zoya hadn’t won. Now, I don’t think Abby was trying to be mean. I genuinely think she was trying to be nice, but obviously it really hurt Zoya. She walks away. God, I feel so bad for Zoya. She deserved to win Prom Queen on her own merit, not because people think it would be racist for her not to. I think this is really gearing up to her season and I really hope she gets to have one.

Grace spots Daniel in the quad and rushes up to him, asking where he’s been. He says he’s been to see Clay. No elaboration. Then he tells her he’s going to New York for the summer. Well, I guess it’s not as bad as moving to London permanently like William was planning on doing.

Grace says she wants to talk and Daniel says “I’m done talking. It’s too much.” Too much? For you? Grace could have been sexually assaulted and this asshole has the nerve to claim it’s too much for him?God, I hate Daniel.

Grace runs after him, yelling her most iconic line yet. “Daniel, stop being a little bitch.” She tells him off. She says that a lot of stuff happened and it sucked. For her. I’m really glad they gave her that line. Because it is so damn true. Then she starts talking about how no one has loved her like Daniel has, blah, blah, blah. I wish we’d gotten more of Grace’s parents backstory because that would have given better context to this scene.

Daniel still gets in the car and drives away. As Grace is crying at the curb, we see him run back to her and they embrace.

She says she can explain everything, and he says she doesn’t need to. A lot of people were overjoyed at this line, but…. She already explained everything in the text she sent him and he ignored her and treated her like shit afterward when he finally saw her. This line makes no sense to me.

Whatever, I know a lot of people were happy they finally got together, but I can never fully forgive Daniel.

General Thoughts

This was a weird week because we got a bunch of clips on Saturday and then on one Monday and nothing else the entire week. I do think there were a lot of good parts of the clips, aside from Daniel drama. Also, the clip where Grace and Clay talk might be my favorite clip this season or for SKAM Austin in general. I think they executed it beautifully. See you next week for the last episode of this season!

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E28 (July 31, 2018)

Tonight’s preshow: a tiny tea set with two tiny teacups and a single saucer. Dani has tea with Pillow!Matt and later with Taliesin, all of which is adorable. Dani then beats Taliesin in a thumb war, which is every bit as delightful as it sounds.

Tonight’s guests: Taliesin Jaffe and Sumalee Montano.

Tonight’s announcements: Dani!cam is down tonight. Everyone has a moment of silence. Except her audio’s still working, so not that silent, I guess! Taliesin has selected Brian’s outfit for GenCon and describes it as “extremely extra.” Brian warns us we might need sunglasses, and Tal tells BWF that he’ll have his “product” by showtime. Matt’s Fireside Chat and NPC Build will be Tuesday, August 7, at 5:00pm PST. Marisha’s Honey Heist 2: Electric Beargaloo will be Friday, August 10th at 7:00pm PST. All the original cast will return to reprise their characters. Next Wednesday Club is Batman books without Batman, focusing on all the other characters and Gotham herself, tomorrow at 7:00pm PST.

CR Stats! Nila smelled her bag regarding five decisions: Ophelia, letting Champ smell the bag, going to find the cleric, going to find the Taskers, and placing her spirit totem. Molly had 25 nat 20s (most in the M9), 11 nat ones (least in the M9), 21 kills (most in the M9), and 7 HDYWTDTs (most in the M9). BWF: “He died doing what he loved: making Crit Role Stats records.” Molly dealt 711 points of damage and took 325, his most-cast spell was Vicious Mockery (23 times), and his most used Blood Hunter ability was Rite of the Dawn (22 times). Caduceus healed 24 points in his first appearance.

How Sumalee ended on the show: she’s friends with Matt since they work for the same agency, but she only saw it pop up on her timeline tangentially. One day, they were both working on the same cartoon and she wanted to say congratulations to him afterwards for this wonderful thing he’d built, and as he told her about the backstory and the world he suggested she should come on the show sometime. She wasn’t quite sure if he meant it, but she was super interested even though she’d never played the game before. He suggested she watch the show a few times to see if she’d be interested; the next day she giddily told her agent he’d invited her. About three months later, Matt texted her and asked if she wanted to be on the show. Prior to the meeting, she felt like she had to pitch herself--she read a ton of the PHB and the basics of D&D and everything--but when she showed up to the diner, he was ready for her character creation with character sheets and books and dice and everything. She was overwhelmed and delighted--even a month later, her excitement is tangible. I love her more than life itself. She points out he was very good at giving little flavors of each race that were not overwhelming for someone so new to the game.

BWF decides to rename the show The Firbolg Fireside.

@skinnyghost (Adam Koebel on Twitter) asks Tal, “Where’s my money?” Everyone laughs; Tal tells us Matt actually pointed out Clay looks a lot like Koebel right after they first saw the character art.

Tal picked a firbolg because he’d ever done it before and they have some very interesting racial abilities and stats.

Sumalee had decided between a dragonborn and a half-orc before Matt showed her the book with the firbolg. Both she and Tal loved the picture of the firbolg in the book--a “Jim Henson” picture. Sumalee never gets to explore this kind of character in her jobs, so she was glad to be able to explore something that resonated with her so well personally in the game.

Of firbolg, cleric, or Grave Domain, which called to Tal first? “Everything was done in a semiconscious blaze of insanity.” Grave cleric was the first thing to hit as he was going through the new supplements to the PHB. He liked the gothy feel and was very concerned that the character death would make the rest of the party “gunshy,” which is more cautious than he likes in his D&D games. He likes that this class is a “risk reduction” for the rest of the party. He feels firbolgs work well for this and that the Jim Henson feeling was sufficiently different from both Percy & Molly.

The smell bag was not an actual magic item. Sumalee wracked her brains for two weeks trying to come up with a way to reconcile her INT of 8 and her WIS of 18, since Matt suggested leaning into a low stat instead of rerolling. She needed something like a “gut check,” which showed a certain innate intelligence that felt right even if it couldn’t be explained. She first thought about tea leaves, but thought it still felt too intelligent; then she latched onto the powerful smell scent idea of the bag. She loved the idea of it always being the same items in the bag, but the smell changing based on the choice she wanted to make.

A light overhead goes out. After Dark is NOW.

Tal, glancing over Sumalee’s character sheet, is amazed at how well she rolled. She only has one stat with a negative modifier.

In the smell bag are nuts, berries from trees she’d helped save, bark from her tribe’s sacred trees, bones from animals that she had befriended and cared for until they died, a small portion of her firbolg baby’s dried placenta, and a variety of mosses.

Nila was in charge of the mosses in her tribe (I LOVE THIS) because it’s the easiest-growing thing to care for--her tribe didn’t think she could handle a job more exciting or delicate, so they gave her something they didn’t need to really rely on her for.

Tal did consider the fact that he would be the person the M9 would seek out to resurrect Molly, and mostly left it open as an option for Matt.

Nila’s calming presence is due to regular meditation. Prior to the abduction, Nila had the perfect calm, idyllic life--but the horrible nature of the kidnapping brought out a deep need and driving force that balanced out her idyll. BWF points out she had to maintain her ability to think rationally, because if she broke down now, she’d be of no use to her partner or her child. Sumalee likens it to the autopilot she went on when her mother died, even through the grief, since she was her family’s sole provider at the time and could not let herself break down or be overwhelmed.

@vonnie_bee wins GIF of the Week for two weeks ago. It’s a lovely little thing of Sumalee casually stating she’d like to eat someone’s face off.

Runner up is @crivensfeegle with the reacharound bit. Oh, Sam.

The winner gets a purple CR hat that will go on sale at GenCon and later this year in the critrole.com store.

Tal didn’t ask Laura about having a second cleric in the party, but as he revealed the details both Laura and Travis were really excited. (BWF says it’s like having a Mercy & a Zenyatta in the party at the same time; BWF reveals himself as a D.Va main. Glorious.)

Sumalee never expected to become all critters’ fir-mom, but is honored that she’s been basically adopted.

Tal says Caduceus is basically goth-Fonz.

Caduceus is in his mid-twenties in firbolg years. Time moves weirdly in that part of the forest, so he’s really unconcerned with the passage of time. “He’s deep in navel contemplation.” Tal thinks he and Matt agreed on him being somewhere between 80-100.

BWF is shocked and appalled that Tal is wearing matching socks tonight. Ditto.

Sumalee was conscious of a lot of “nature-loving” tropes going into the game that she actively tried to avoid in her portrayal of Nila. She specifically avoided the trope-y broken speech of Dances With Wolves, as well as an almost Southern-Midwestern accent that was her first thought, even though she’s from Ohio and it felt fairly natural for her. She just felt like she wanted to make something grounded, something authentic, and something that left people with positive associations. BWF feels no one’s resonated with the community so well since Sprigg.

Caduceus hasn’t been with the party nearly long enough to form opinions about any of them. He finds the whole party interesting...as well as the building they broke into, several trees and rocks, some flora they passed on the way.

Tal was concerned about bringing up both Molly’s and his own preconceptions to this new character, but has found it much more pleasant to be a “blank slate” and act surprised at every bit of reveal.

Nila had a tough time leaving the M9 to find their friends without her, since they helped her find her family and she felt like she owed them. Sumalee is glad that Beau gave her that out--as a mother, all she wanted to do was be with her son, but she also knew she could help the M9 better once she knew that her partner was healed and she was stronger. She also 100% felt better because they had a firbolg with them in Clay.

Sumalee was more nervous coming on the show even than she’d anticipated because Molly had just died the week before. She never thought her entrance would be at such a momentous point in the story. She channeled Nila to calm her nerves pre-show.

Sumalee and Dani were watching the battle with the Iron Shepherds together and both gasped at the terrible cold damage to Nott. “Utter shock. This--this can’t be happening.” However, she felt that it was a good meeting point between Nila and the M9, since they’d both lost someone precious.

Fanart of the Week: @ravennowithtea with this beautiful, beautiful thing of Nila & the M9 for last week, and for this week, @agonethetic with a lovely portrait of Clay in the foreground and Molly in the background arising from Clay’s shadow.

“Clay’s chill is pretty deep.” Tal remembers a local Buddhist monk in Pasadena with a great camera obscura collection and an electric cart. “He’s the chillest guy I ever met.”

Clay’s voice was “literally a voice that was not Percy or Molly. It’s the sloppiest character I’ve made in so long.” Once he saw the size and found the chill, he felt that sliding into the bassy “more badass Pumat” vibe would work best. He loved finding out what Sumalee was doing since it worked so well with what he was planning.

In Sumalee’s SURELY INEVITABLE return, she’s most excited about Call Lightning and Flaming Sphere. She primarily focused on her healing powers when she picked her spells for the day, but would like to do more exciting offensive spells next time.

Clay’s had his bags packed for four months, ready for someone to find him. In the meantime, he was starting to have dreams and visions of “something that had gone wrong,” but didn’t feel like he could navigate the cursed forest on his own. A few people had come by before but “hadn’t been the right people.” Clearly our murderhobos were just in time.

Sumalee was very worried they wouldn’t reach her son & partner in time. She’d asked Matt how to make her exit; he told her to follow his lead but be guided by the story. She’d hoped that they’d reach them in time, but wasn’t sure. She thinks if they’d gone back for the Taskers they wouldn’t have made it in time. Tal reminds us that Matt does keep an internal timer and taking too long would have possibly been dangerous. Sumalee was also worried in the moment that if the Iron Shepherds had heard the racket, they’d have deliberately tortured or killed her husband & child as punishment for invading before they could be rescued.

Caduceus is “another strain of Ren Faire” that has flavors of Molly in a slightly different wrapping. Tal was also raised by hippies and references childhood memories at the Lakeshrine Self-Realization Fellowship Center, which Sumalee helpfully tells us is the only place outside of India that has some of Gandhi’s ashes.

The easiest part of the game for Sumalee was just playing with her friends, since they made it so fun for her. The most challenging thing was that she felt like she had to learn D&D at the same time as everyone was telling her not to worry about the rules and to bend them as she wanted. Her advice is to not make it harder for herself; don’t learn the box--just sit down with someone who knows how to play, tell them what you want to do, and get one-on-one instruction on how to do it. “Find comfort in the fact that the people you’re playing with will lead you through this.”

Remember, the next episode airs at GenCon on Friday and an hour earlier! Hope to see some of you guys there!

After Dark: Already Dark I Guess Edition

Sumalee was much more comfortable playing a druid since she sat next to Marisha, who could guide her through it. The goodberries were the first spell that she used once Marisha gave her okay.

Taliesin remembers the delight of watching Travis slowly realize he could do anything in their first home game.

Broadcasting comes through to mismatch Tal’s socks for him. Bless.

Tal says that the tea-drinking, the Arizona tea can, and Tealeaf are all just a complete coincidence. (:thinking:) He came up with the tea-drinking intro about eleven seconds before he entered--he’d been backstage taking notes on what the M9 looked at during their tour of the garden, and as Matt described the flowers and leaves over one of the gravestones, he had the thought that the tea was something he could do. He also says that he didn’t mean them to be cherry blossoms on his armor; they’re actually a form of lichen that gets really neon pink and red. However, he fully encourages everyone to keep drawing him however they like.

Tal would have liked a month to come up with the new character. Part of his rush was that the artist had to come up with the design; he’d like to share some early iterations later if the artist gives permission.

Sumalee deliberately avoided giving Ariana Orner (their artist) descriptions of her armor out of fear of stereotyping herself, and was delighted with the Mongolian-inspired armor she came up with.

Sumalee’s been frantically trying to scroll social media to keep up with all the Nila fanart and gifs that she loved & hadn’t expected at all. Tal offers to share their Liam to help curate her new collection.

This past weekend was the first time Sumalee felt the “click” of why D&D lends itself so well to character fanart.

Cassius Clay beats Caduceus Clay every time. Caduceus is from an old work-for-hire script that never got picked up. This is the third iteration of the character (first an adaptation pitch, then a brief pitch script for a video game, and now the D&D game). “It only took a decade and change.”

Sumalee tells us that her young son has insisted on replaying the firbolg rescue scene several times, including repeating what the DM said at certain points and him pretending to reach his hand out of the cage. It’s adorable and I die again.

For Sumalee, D&D was like nothing she’d ever experienced. Voiceover lends itself well to it because there’s something of a theatricality to it when you’re roleplaying, especially since the world is so fantastical compared to her on-camera work. “It’s totally unique...and I love it.” She likes that the dice guide you even through the scariness of total improv freedom. There’s a little bit of guidance and direction and structure, but the play within that structure is very free. “This was...intense. It was a fantastic introduction to something I’d never experienced, never done, and I could see why people loved it...The entire outside world disappeared. It was intoxicating.”

And that’s it for tonight! Is it Thursday Friday yet?

[bittysvalentines]

Geese and The Soft Morning Sun

From: @beercheesecasserole

To: @disneyinnocent-blog

relationship: Lardo x Camilla Nonbinary character Fluff tw for moderate amounts of drinking, like a slight bit of racism, and fools getting rekt and pong.

~~~ Larissa sat in her new dorm room, fiddling around on her computer.

A blonde head popped in from the door. "Larissa," said her new roommate, Candy, seriously. "Have you seen my dunko doll?"

Larissa looked at the tall girl dumbly.

"What in the goddamn hell are you talking about."

Candy moved fully into the room, standing by Larissa's bed.

"My dunko doll! You know? Dunko dolls? Have you not heard of dunko dolls?"

"No?"

Candy's eyes lit up.

"They're like little figurines of your favorite characters! They're soooo cute, mine’s a princess Biona from Shrecc. It's my favorite movie."

Larissa knew if she listened to more of this she would have a pounding headache in under an hour. Not that her roommate was annoying. She was just very high-pitched.

With a sigh she pushed her computer off of her lap and slid off her bed.

"I haven't seen it. I'm going down to the cafeteria, I'll be back in a few."

"Okay!" Candy said enthusiastically. "By the way, they're serving Chinese there, I'm sure it's not what you're used to at home but I think it's so nice that they're serving something so cultural! You should give it a try!"

Lardo sighed again. She wasn't sure if Candy was just dumb or didn't remember when she had asked 'so... what are you' a month ago. Larissa had never been anything less than Vietnamese-American her entire life. Well, served her right for submitting her roommate papers a day before deadline.

Larissa screamed internally and muttered a quick thanks before escaping down the hall. She would get out of this room if it killed her.

~~~

Larissa looked at the Samwell Sports pamphlet in her hands. Aven from her Ceramics II class had given it to her. Aven had said they managed for Men's Rugby and talked about how they managed to get a room in the team house this year.

"There's not like, a ton of rooms?" they said, chair leaned back and clay covered hands emphasizing wildly. "But it's the BONDS you make. I feel like a part of the team. And I don't even have to play or anything. The guys are great, love em to bits, it's just like SUPER messy all the time. Best house on campus though."

Larissa thought about that. She didn't mind mess. She wouldn't work in 3D media if she did.

~~~

"Ey Lardooooo!" A huge blonde man yelled over the haus crowd in an obnoxious Boston accent. "Be pong partners with me"

Lardo looked over from where she was chatting with Billy about neorealism and its role in the movement of art nouveau and squinted.

"Holster, my dude, respect, but you couldn't hit the flat side of a barn," she said cheerfully. "Hard pass brah."

The blonde giant put on his best puppy-dog eyes while also pushing through the drunk, loud waves of people between them. Lardo likened him to a cute bulldozer. Kinda a good concept, she thought, filing it away for later. Being around jocks all the time surprisingly gave her some great ideas. Lardo wondered for a moment if this had bedazzling potential.

Adam reached her just as soon as the thumping bass of the last song died and just before the new one began.

"Come onnnn," he said with a light in his eyes. "We don't even have to be partners. Ransy wants to play too so you could take his partner and I'll be his! Win win!" He emphasized his argument with a hand motion that seemed to say 'ey? ey?'.

Lardo rolled her eyes.

"Alright. Depends on who it is though."

~~~ Camilla came to the SMH end-of-midterms kegster with Jack but he let her know pretty early that he wasn't going to be around for most of it. Which like, she got. The noise and people could get to be too much for her sometimes too. But as she looked over the crowd tonight she felt tipsy in just the right way to want to get a little rowdy. Then Justin started talking about pong and her plans were set. She wanted to toast some fools.

"Rans!" She called to him as she moved closer "I'm in. Who're we up against?"

Justin pointed wildly over to the living room where a bunch of younger students were moving around to a pulsing beat.

"Holtzy just went to go grab Lardo" he said, grinning "oh man Camilla you gotta witness her back shot, its holy"

Camilla squinted over across the hall into the dim room and saw Holster dragging a small person with a sleek head of black hair behind him.

"Hells yes." she said, turning back to Ransom. "I'll play with whoever, I don't care."

Holster came up behind them and started talking loudly over Camilla's shoulder to the two.

"She's in but only on the condition she doesnt play with me. I'm too rank." he said, dramatically wrinkling his nose. "Cam, you game?"

"Sure" Camilla said enthusiastically, turning to see her new partner.

Holy shit, Camilla thought, face erupting in flame.

~~~

Lardo looked at – no, beheld – the tall honey blonde jock giantess before her. If height wasn't enough to fuck her up, her arms, good god, they looked like she could crack walnuts with them.  

Realising she was probably giving this crop-topped stranger a pretty thorough undressing, Lardo took a step back and extended a hand.

"Larissa. Call me Lardo. Sup."

The literal Amazon of woman took her hand and shook it firmly.

"I’m Camilla," she said, smiling, cheeks delicately blushed in a way that set off her sweetly quirked lips. "Are you ready for some pong?"

Whats pong, Larissa thought, staring at her lips.

"Oh... Yeah this is going to be s'wasome," Lardo said, quickly regaining her senses.

There was no way she could lose this for them, Larissa thought resolutely. She needed to impress this literal goddess.

~~~

Ransom almost seemed to be crying.

"It was so beautiful... But I feel so devastated? So many emotions man," He slurred as he leaned on the broad shoulder of his blonde wingman. They both looked worse for wear after having drunk nearly every drink so far in what was shaping up to be a increasingly unbelievable pong game.

Camilla lined up her next-to-last shot at the remaining cup and grinned wickedly at the two boys. "Better get ready. This one’s going in. I call it."

There was no way she could miss this one. The tiny Asian girl beside her had sunk nearly every shot that night. If Camilla hadn't been buzzed, she would have knelt at her feet and declared her the pong god. Or maybe she still would. The night was still young.

"You got this," Lardo said encouragingly beside her, placing a hand on the small of her back. "One last cup."

And Camilla did have it.

Or she had, until Lardo's warm hand had rested on her so gently.

Her ball bounced weakly off Adam's chest and onto the table.

"Ohhhh," Holster said, a light in his eyes. "We aren't done yet, Ransy. You gotta rally for me. Get your second wind bro! Brothers for brothers! This is our shot!"

Lardo snorted. "You still have FIVE cups left. We have one. No way."

Holster lined up his shot and said in a fake hurt voice, "We'll see about that" and the shot landed squarely in their middle cup.

Ransom and Holster both shouted, whooping it up and drunkenly performing a sloppy, involved, handshake.

"Psh. Alright," Lardo said cockily to the two boys. "Ball's in my court."

The two boys quieted down as Lardo squinted at the table before them

Lardo shot Camilla a confident grin before grabbing their sunk cup. "Watch this."

It was a moment that Adam would wax poetic about for the next three years. It was the moment Camilla fell into something with this short, loud, wild girl.

Everyone watched as Lardo grabbed the tiny white ball from the cup and raised the beer to her lips. Camilla could see the sweat running in lines down her olive tanned arm in the heated room. She followed its trail to the crook of her elbow where it glistened before dripping down. Lardo tipped the cup back and chugged the entire thing in one go. Tossing the cup behind her, she stepped away from the table, raised the pong ball, cocked her elbow, and spun around.

Over her shoulder, the ball sailed through the air.

It was like watching liquid honey for Camilla, but she turned to stare openly at Lardo instead.

She couldn't believe it.

She didn't even see when the ball landed squarely in the last cup and everyone watching erupted into screams.

Ransom and Holster at the other end were losing their minds. Absolutely just yelling at the top of their lungs and staring at each other with ecstatic looks.

Then Lardo walked over, grabbed the cup, drank it too and released the loudest, longest, rankest burp into both of their faces.

Both of the boys looked stunned.

Then Ransom solemnly grabbed her hand and did a complicated shake.

"Respect" the man choked out, full of emotion, pulling her into the bro-y-est of hugs.

Holster looked like he was crying now.

Camilla could make out "... j'st so happy..." Before he bawled and joined the group hug.

Well. Camilla thought. Who knew. Hockey players are big AND emotional.

~~~

A little while later when the party dies down a bit Camilla and Larissa find themselves outside on the porch.

It feels so easy to talk together. Maybe it's the tub juice, or the high from the most immaculate pong game in history, but Lardo knows there is nothing that could ruin the night now. She already has had the time of her life. Everything else is just frosting on the metaphysical cake.

Camilla shifts on the warm wooden stairs and moves her arms back to prop herself up on them. Her soft yellow curls tumble back over her shoulders with the movement and she stretches her legs out in front of her.

"So what exactly is a girl like you doing in a house of jocks?" she asks, mouth quirking again. "Not that you don't seem the type, you're just so... well-read."

Lardo laughs, and also stretches her legs out in front of her, positively bathing in the soft, warm, late night air.

"It all started with my roommate actually," she says, chuckling at the memory. "I really needed to get out of the house, you know? And Samwell men's hockey needed a trainee manager and I had those nights free. It felt like fate, kinda."

Lardo lets herself swim in Camilla's soft brown eyes for a second. "Like it was meant to be," she finished.

Camilla just looks back at her. And keeps looking back at her.

Finally she speaks into the moment, all shining eyes, all bright smile.

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean."

And all of inevitable, they kiss.

Lardo pushes herself closer to the taller woman and slides her gently back to against the railing before deepening the kiss.

As the two break away to breathe for a second, Camilla moves her hand up to cup Lardo's face. "Huh..." she murmurs faintly before Larissa moves in again.

It’s deeper this time, and Larissa lifts her hand up to curl in Camilla's golden, perfect locks. There's something in her that just wants to mess them up a bit. Let people know she's been there. Leave a little mark.

Camilla groans and arches her head back as Larissa tugs on the mass of curls she has threaded through her fingers.

Lardo takes this as a sign to immediately start attacking the blonde's neck and pulse point, leaving quarter sized bruises like a string of pearls down the column of pale skin.

Camilla groans again.

"People will –" she sighs into a particularly hard nip of Lardo's teeth. "People are going to see"

"Let them," Larissa gravels out, kissing back up the bruises to recapture her mouth.

And they stay like that for god knows how long.

A loud pop from the back yard and a series of whoops and yips finally breaks apart the pair and a second later a firework blooms across the sky above the house.

Lardo and Camilla watch it fade out, both panting slightly, before Camilla turns back and rests her forehead gently against Lardo's.

"I just," she murmurs, looking at Lardo's bruised lips. "Have never met anyone like you"

Lardo smiles and traces the curve of her jaw with her thumb. "I'm pretty unique."

"This might be taking it too fast," Camilla says, switching her heated gaze from Lardo's mouth to her eyes. "But I live not too far away from here. A couple of blocks. We could walk if you... ?" She quirks up the side of her mouth again, eyes dancing, leaving the sentence in an open question.

Lardo stares at her in something like adoration for a second before kissing her hard and deep one last time.

"Fuck yeah," she whispers onto the thoroughly abused lips, nipping softly with her teeth. "I’m definitely down."

And no one sees them leave the party. If anyone sees them on the sidewalk they don't care enough to comment. No one sees them pushed up against Camilla’s front door before making it inside.

Only the Samwell geese and a few other bleary Wellies see Lardo walking home the next morning, grin the size of a lighthouse and a certain string of digits in her phone.

And if Larissa Duan, on top of the world, decides to fist pump like in breakfast club? Well, she's sure no one sees that either.

Just the geese and the soft morning sun.

Written by @beercheesecasserole for @disneyinnocent-blog for the 2019 Bitty's Valentine's.

[lovebunnie]

Do all the asks coward

1. what does your wallet look like?

-i got it as a present from my uncle for christmas and its really expensive but also so ugly im sorry uncle tom. its like that ‘southern fashion’ bullshit that white MAGA moms wear. but it was better than my old wallet, which looks like this and i got when i was 12:

2. favorite color?

- baby pinnk

3. do you own a pride flag, or more than one?

-heres the thing: my parents basically know im not straight but i havent told them. my brother has thought i was a lesbian since freshman year, i have a small pride pin on my backpack, ive never been on a date, its complicated. but no, i dont have one. maybe one day, hopefully.

4. describe your favorite outfit

-black pants, platform doc martens, hoodie under a jean jacket, one clip on earring, and holding my crushes hand :]

5. when was the last time a girl made your heart flutter, and what’d she do?

-okay so theres this girl in my theatre class who is really cute, and she put her head on my shoulder and shes pagan so she drew a little sigil on my arm that means “safe and homely” so like :)))))))))))))

6. do you use nail polish?

-i do, i mostly do black tho

7. do you keep organized?

-absolutely. i have things online filed accordingly, i pick out my outfits the day before, my binders are neat, i learned how to army fold my shirts, i keep my shit CLEAN

8. ever take naps?

-only accidentally. ill be laying in bed watching youtube and next thing you know my autoplay has me watching a markiplier video even tho i dont like him and its 4 hours later

9. who was your first crush?

-idk if this is a real person or not so ill do both. my first fake person crush was either troy from high school musical or frankie stein from monster high. and my first real crush was on a boy named dominic in elementary school. i told him i liked him at the end of 5th grade because i thought i was switching schools but then i didnt and we never spoke again.

10. what are your crush tendencies? fall hard or often?

-both both both. i am the worst with crushes. i have crushes all the time because im romantic and a fucking fool. i have 3 crushes off the top of my head rn and i like them all for different reasons. thats not to say that i want to date them, but its that i like them a lot and i kinda wanna kiss their cheek or hold their hand idk

11. describe your ideal day

-play overwatch with my best friend (u gonble >:) ) then hang out with my cat, go get a smoothie, buy some cool shoes or something, take a shower and be asleep by 9 :,)

12. describe your ideal date

-i have stated that build a bear is an amazing first date and im NOT BACKING DOWN. ITS CUTE AS FUCK AND ILL ACCEPT NOTHING LESS!!

13. whats your favorite food?

-either sushi or strawberries :3c

14. who do you feel most comfortable around?

-my theatre class, people from camp, and gobble

15. what is your favorite compliment to receive?

-i dont have a favorite, any and all are going to make my face go red so i have to cover it and maybe make me cry

16. did you/do you like highschool?

-the first 3 years fucking sucked but senior year has been amazing so far. mostly because i just kinda stopped giving a fuck but its amazing

17. favorite animal?

-i think its cats now. i really like cats

18. do you like your name?

-eh, its okay. its pretty but also it seems like there are 60 million fucking people named grace and its so annoying. i wish it was something more unique idk

19. what kind of weather is your favorite?

-a light rain. no swinging trees or thunder, just lots of rain. its nice to stay inside and feel secure

20. do you believe in horoscopes?

-absolutely not. but theyre fun if you like them

21. tell us about your music taste

-its horrific. to sum it up, my two favorite musicians are the gorillaz and frank sinatra. take from that what you will

22. have you had your first kiss? if so, what was it like?

-i havent had my first kiss yet. gonna be honest, i felt like i was going to, a few times at camp and recently when classes ended. but yeah, nothing yet

23. did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a kid?

-i went thro cycles of favorites. but one ive had for years is a plush shadow the hedgehog from universal studios i got when i was 6. i used to carry him around, even to a pool once

24. what time do you usually wake up and go to bed?

-if you know me, you know i go to bed ridiculously early. i usually get tried at around 6pm and fall asleep between 7:45 and 8:30. and i always wake up before 6 am. i havent slept past 6 am continuously since the end of junior year. please help me

25. what dream trip would you take with your wife?

-maybe to go explore new york, just the two of us that sounds like fun :]

26. do you have any pets?

-i have 2 dogs and a cat. the family owns the dogs but that cat is mine

27. what pair of underwear is your favorite?

-uhhhhhhhhhhh i have some with rainbows that are cool? i dont have favorites, none of them are cute anyway

28. what makes you smile?

-funny jokes make me smile real hard, and if you compliment me at the right time, i kind of pull my legs up and hide my face? its cute and charming i promise

29. what makes you feel heavy?

-in both the physical and metaphorical sense, eating bread

30. what makes you feel better?

-watching bo burnham always makes me feel better, hes my go to whenever im really depressed

31. how do you show your love?

-i show my love in everything i do. everything i do is for love, i love love so much its sickening

32. when is it time to get a haircut?

-whenever u want to lol?

33. where would you live if you could live anywhere?

-maybe san francisco, its beautiful and i love the city

34. do your friends and family take good care of you?

-as much as i allow them to. sometimes i go days without communicating and i know thats annoying but my friends put up with it (they shouldnt have to, i know) and my family is okay. its cliche to say, but they honestly dont understand what im going thro alot of the times, esp with my anxiety and shit

35. have you always used the labels you use now?

-back in the beginning of highschool, i used they/them pronouns and identified as asexual/aromantic. eventually, it didnt feel right, so i know identify as cis and bisexual and that feels right to me

36. what makes you laugh?

-my friends, when people shit talk gobble and i in overwatch even tho???? we didnt know him?????? and the mcelroys always get me

37. who is your favorite fictional character?

-too many options, see list here

38. who do yo admire?

-my father when hes not threatening to throw my phone into a fucking lake and my friends for putting up with me

39. describe yourself in three words

-i am baby

40. how long does it take you to get ready in the morning? 

-usually about 45 min, more or less as each day goes

41. what do you wish you could tell your younger self?

-listen: STOP GIVING A FUCK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. YOU WILL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN, BE YOURSELF. STOP HIDING AND BEING SCARED OF YOURSELF, BE GENUINE!!!!

42. what would you do if you win the lottery?

-get my parents settled, see about other family members, and then distribute the money to charities accordingly, starting with flint and getting them water

43. would you call yourself a romantic?

-yes

44. what is your gayest childhood memory?

-my mom had cosmos magazines

45. do you have tattoos or want any?

-i dont have any tattoos but ive been obsessed with them since the 6th grade. id love to get tattoos, i just dont know what or where and also im afraid of pain

46. whats your worst habit?

-either biting my thumbs, starving myself, or ghosting my friends. prob ghosting my friends

47. what are you proud of?

-i guess coming out of my shell finally? idk, i actually have friends now and it feels amazing tbh. im in 5 group chats now. i havent been in a group chat since 6th grade. :))))))

48. did you know that youre actually a gift to the world, for real?

-hi i love you?

49. whats your favorite memory?

-there are so so many. but what comes to mind first is our dance night at camp where we all stood outside and i finally gave ian my tumblr and we all ran inside to dance to mr. brightside then ran outside again and we requested nightcore and rivers was fucking dancing their hearts out and we all sang along and im going to crying just typing this out

50. do you have a sweet tooth?

-i guess so. too much makes me feel like shit but i do really enjoy smarties

51. what do you like most about yourself?

-this is dumb, but my sense of style. since i got a job ive been wearing shit i actually like and its amazing. ill admit i have cool clothes

52. what makes you fall for a girl?

-besides acknowledging me, probably getting to know me and not like, putting me on a pedestal. idk its weird, ive met a lot of people this year who like to place me so high it feels like i cant make a mistake around them without disappointing them. idk, i want someone to call me out on my bullshit instead of assuring me im okay. i want to know what i do wrong so i can fix it

53. make a recommendation

-for what? uhh okay for music, listen to ‘clay pigeons’ by michael cera (yes i know michael cera) and for television, watch bojack horseman and for movies, watch the docuseries called ‘7 days out’ on netflix

54. have you ever had your heart broken?

-yeah, when i broke up with maddy because we werent ready to date. i cared and continue to care about her and i didnt want to hurt her but i knew its what we both needed. its what i needed, atleast. and i cant be a good girlfriend if i feel like im doing badly. but also ive had friends break my heart and family break my heart. but im okay now, this heart is ready to be broken again

55. when do you feel most yourself?

-def when i was at camp, that place is magical in the way it allows you to be yourself. but also when i talk to gobble because hes my best friend and when im at college, we can talk more and its gonna be dope as shit

56. name a gorgeous celeb

-jake gyllenhaal jake gyllenhaal jake gyllenhaal 

57. what are some of your favorite songs this week?

-fake happy by paramore, im not okay (i promise) by my chemical romance, tomorrow comes today by gorillaz

58. tell us 2 or your biggest hopes and fears

-biggest hopes: i publish a book someday & i get a job doing something i love

-biggest fears: i end up homeless and broke & something horrific happens in college

59. what flavor chapstick/lipbalm is the best?

-raspberry i guess

60. are you okay?

-i answered a lot more honestly then i shouldve for some of these and i start new classes tomorrow so im feeling really anxious so im doing alright i guess.

gobble you test me but i do love you

[tiggys-bitch]

Chapter Two - Small Bald Man.

AAAAA!!! Here is chappy 2 angels, we are honestly so excited for you guys to read the rest of the fic. We have so much planned out!!! 

@papa-chibs and i are so happy and thankful for the notes and likes on the first chappy. We decided that we’re gonna treat you guys to Chapter 3 later on as well!

We now have a lil tag list so please message us if you want to be added to it!

tag list: @isayweallgetdrunk, @dirty-daryl-dixon, 

Enjoy!

Xoxo

Babydoll and Lassie.

--

The next day, Rissa was fast asleep in the dorm room despite the sun shining brightly through the windows. She'd spent the whole night sprawled out in the double bed, dead to the world. Normally she wakes up to go to the toilet a couple times a night, but after the events of yesterday Rissa didn't wake up once. Roxxie had assumed the two of them were going to share the bed, however when she came back from her chat with Jax up on the roof, she found Rissa sleeping and cradling the bottle of wine in her arms. Who knew such a small girl could take up so much space? Roxxie, being the good friend she is, took the open bottle out of her hands before she spilt it, and pulled the duvet over her. Then she left Rissa to sleep. There were three other dormrooms thankfully so Roxxie would be able to sleep in a bed. But then she decided to have a couple drinks in the empty bar before going to sleep and then before she knew it she was drunk and ended up crashing on the couch instead. 5 hours later, it was now 9am and the Clubhouse doors were unlocked and opened. The sound of singing and footsteps woke the sleeping ginger on the couch with a jump. "Oh shit! Who the fuck are you?!" Roxxie exclaimed looking at a small bald man with strange hands. He stared at her with wide eyes, his cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. "Oi, who are you little man? Are you even allowed to be here? This isn't a shelter y'know?" The man smiled and shook his head. "I'm Chuckie, i work here." He said with a chuckle. "I work behind the bar sometimes, but mostly i'm the bookkeeper. Oh and i help out with cooking as well sometimes. Now that i have these magic fingers, everything is far much easier to do. I have Gemma to thank for that. She's a great woman, you should meet her, you'll love her! She's pretty, kind, funny-" Roxxie cut him off by clapping her hands together. "Here's the thing Chuckie, i don't really care about your whole lifestory. I'm slightly hungover and you're talking A LOT." The girl told him with raised brows. Chuckie smiled and nodded. "Would you like a coffee?" Chuckie asked politely. Roxxie smiled and pointed at him. "Strong, black and sweet." Roxxie answered and the little man skipped off into the kitchen. Roxxie laughed, lying back down on the couch. What a strange man, she thought.

Not long later, Chuckie returned with a mug of steaming hot coffee. Roxxie thanked him and asked if he wouldn't mind making a milky coffee with 3 sugars for Rissa. She knew that Rissa would also need some caffeine before facing whatever the day would bring. After Chuckie had finished making Rissa's drink, he made his way over to the dormroom humming a song. He didn't bother to knock, he just walked straight in. "Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty!" Chuckie sang in a high-pitched voice as he walked around the bed. "Hellooooo?" Chuckie poked her cheek and her eyes shot open. As soon as she felt something touch her she woke up instantly. Less than a second later Rissa screamed. And then Chuckie did. Roxxie came running into the room to see Chuckie and Rissa screaming at each other and she fell apart laughing. Rissa turned to look at Roxxie and stopped screaming when realising she wasn't in danger. "What the hell is going on?!" The brunette exclaimed, waving her arms in the air. "Who are you?! And why are you laughing?!" It was fair to say that Rissa wasn't a morning person.. Or someone who likes to be woken up by a stranger poking her face. Chuckie handed her the mug of coffee. "Careful, it's very hot. Okay dokay, see ya later!" And then he left the room. "Good morning, princess." Roxxie laughed, taking a seat beside her friend on the bed. Rissa glared at her and raised her brows. "Is it?" -- Later that day after the girls woke up, showered and got dressed they made their way into the main hall and to their suprise the place was crowded. The bar was filled with men of all shapes, races and sizes. Chuckie was at the bar serving some of them and having a conversation with others. All of the men were wearing the same leather jacket with patches all over. However, a few didn't have the grim reaper on the back. None of the men realised that Rissa and Roxxie were in the room as it was so loud and busy. It wasn't until a dark curly haired man with familiar blue eyes looked in their direction, that they were noticed. ''Ayy it's the runaway bride and psycho sally!'' Tig shouted, grinning at the girls who weren't as happy to see him. He was rude and annoying. "Settle down, Tiggy." A gruff voice told the man. Roxxie's Uncle, Clay, stood up from the seat at the bar. "Mornin' ladies." He said with a smile. "I'm glad you're both here. Okay everyone listen up, i have an announcement to make." Clay declared, making the room fall silent. The tall grey haired man walked over and stood beside the girls. "First of all, i want to introduce you to my niece, Roxxie." He looked down at the red head who was feeling super uncomfortable with everyone staring at them. A few men looked shocked to hear that she was Clay's niece, or even suprised to find out Clay had a niece. "And her friend, Rissa." "Now i trust you all to welcome them with open arms. They're going to be staying here with us for as long as it's needed. But, they aren't just here to visit. They need our help." Clay announced, looking at his fellow members of SAMCRO. "Long story short, they're in trouble.. And possibly danger. So i need you all to make sure these girls are safe, at all times. They are your priority." Hearing the man say those things put Rissa's mind at ease. Roxxie was right, they were going to protect them. She could feel her eyes fill with tears as she listened to Clay, she already felt safe and knew she would be okay. Roxxie saw that Rissa was getting emotional and took hold of her hand. "Club business will run as usual, but i want two of you two stay put and keep an eye on them at ALL TIMES. Anythin' happens, you call me." Clay explained to the men. "Now, on a lighter note." His stern voice faded and was replaced with a more friendly tone. "Since this is the first time i've seen my lovely niece in 10 years, i want to celebrate!" That announcement earned lots of whooping and clapping from the men. Clay put his arm around Roxxie and she smiled. A party dedicated to her? Amazing. "Tonight we're gonna drink until we run out of alcohol. And after that? We're gonna find more alcohol to drink!" Clay exclaimed. The building erupted with cheering and Rissa and Roxxie couldn't help but laugh, they'd never witnessed anything like this. Clay hushed everyone so he could carry on speaking. "Alright alright.. I just want to say, thankyou all, i trust you will help these girls. They're family. And family is all that matters. Alright, speech over!"

After Clay ended his declaration, everyone got back to whatever they were doing. Clay gave the girls a smile before rejoining his brothers. "See? I told you we're all good here." Roxxie smiled, giving her best friend a hug. "I ain't lettin' no one hurt you ever again, i promise." Suddenly the sound of shouting interrupted the girls' moment. "Roxanne? Roxanne?!" The sound of her name being called made the red head pull away. She hadn't been called by her full name in years. It confused her at first, but then her eyes landed on the person who was trying to find her. "Roxanne baby?" Clay's wife and Jax's mom, Gemma Teller-Morrow, was frantically looking around the room. Roxxie felt her eyes well up when seeing the woman who helped raise her. She thought of Gemma like she was her actual mother. Finally, the woman caught sight of the girl and she grinned. Without wasting another second, Gemma ran over and wrapped her arms around Roxxie, holding her in a tight embrace. "Oh baby i'm so sorry i'm late. I was babysitting my grandson because the sitter cancelled and-" "Gem, it's okay." Roxxie told the woman who refused to let go. "I can't tell you how happy i am to see you.. I wish it was on better terms.." "Baby, you're here. You're home. That's all that matters." Gemma stroked back Roxxie's long ginger hair and let out a heavy sigh. Rissa watched the women hug and and express their love for each other and couldn't help but get a little upset. They weren't even related by blood and they were so close and affectionate. Whereas her mother had never been so 'motherly' to her. She'd never felt her mother's love before.. Gemma pulled away from Roxxie, kissed her cheek and then looked over to Rissa. "Oh, hey darlin! I'm Gemma, you must be Rissa." The woman pulled Rissa in for a quick hug. "Oh wow, aren't you absolutely gorgeous!"Roxxie grinned and nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Miss Gemma. It's nice to me you. You are quite beautiful yourself." Rissa replied, making Gemma giggle. "Baby you don't gotta call me, miss. Call me Gem, Gemma, Auntie Gem, Momma Gem. Whatever you like. Any friend of Roxanne's is a friend of mine." Gemma explained to the younger brunette. Rissa looked over at her friend when hearing the name 'Roxanne', she knew how much she hated it. Roxxie rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. "Oh, Clay told me you didn't bring anything with you? No clothes? Nothin'?" Gemma asked the girls who shook their heads in response. "Okay, well, i don't mind putting off the stack of files i gotta sort through and taking you girlies shopping instead?" Rissa's face lit up with excitement. Shopping?! She LOVED shopping! Especially for clothes! It was fair to say that Miss Gemma was winning her over. -- While the girls were out shopping for some new clothes, the members of SAMCRO were called in church for a meeting. Clay was sat at the top of the table and talking about Charming's new Sherrif, Eli Roosevelt. "The man seems to have it out for us, boys." Clay told his brothers. "We gotta keep our hands clean.. Or at least make it look like we are." The men around the table nodded in agreement. "Keep a low profile, but get shit done." "We have a meeting with the Gallindo Cartel in two days, until then, we celebrate the arrival of Roxxie and Rissa." The man grinned as everyone banged on the table and cheered. Clay respected and trusted his brothers to keep the girls safe. He knew they would help him keep them safe from the drama they left behind in Redding. The thing was, SAMCRO already knew who Elliot McQueen was. They'd done business with the rich playboy a couple of years ago. They knew what kind of manipulative, violent and unpredictable man he was so they prepared for the worst. "Those girls are deffo gonna cause us some trouble boys." Tig said with a smirk plastered on his face. Clay hit the back of his head with a small laugh. "Keep ya eyes and hands off my niece... The other one is free for the taking." "I'd happily take her." Jax said. "But Tara wouldn't like that." Chibs chimed in as he held his hand up in the air. "I can take one for the team." "Give over old man, she won't want you... I think I've got this one." Juice said with a goofy grin, the whole table began laughing. "That's all good, i don't like brunettes so..." Tig said as he thought about the redhead, his jeans growing tighter just thinking about her, he shifted in his seat and smirked. No one else added anything about Roxxie, even though they all thought she was hot, they knew Clay would have their balls if they did. Tig looked over to the top of the table to find Clay glaring at him. Yep, he would definitely get a shot to the dick if he carried on talking. -- After a long day of shopping with Gemma, both Roxxie and Rissa were tired out. It's safe to say Gemma knew how to spend money. "Can we nap?" Roxxie said in a whiny voice as they entered the Clubhouse. "Don't be stupid girl, it's been a long time since I've had girl's I actually like around here... We are getting ready for the party together." The older lady said in a stern but playful tone. They were going to get ready now? But it was only the afternoon? "But Gemma... The party isn't for like 4 hours?" Rissa said, for some reason she felt very comfortable around Gemma, which was unusual for many reasons. "Hush girly." Gemma said for leaving the room to gather her things. Both Roxxie and Rissa looked at each other and let out a laugh. "So I'm gonna wear the button up denim skirt and the red top, what you gonna wear Ris?" "Help me pick? You know usually I'd be wearing a shirt buttoned up to my neck and fancy pants." Rissa sighed as she thought about how controlling Elliot was, he even chose her clothes. Roxxie bit her lip as she rummaged through the bags. Then she grinned, pulling out the perfect outfit for her. "You are gonna be such a biker babe!" "Oh shut up." The dark haired girl laughed. "No I mean it... All those guys are gonna be fighting for your attention." She paused. "Stay away from Trager though okay?" The last part was said so seriously, Rissa knew it was a warning. Gemma strolled back into the girl's room, make up and hair appliences in hand. "Why are you brats still sat down? Go shower." she sighed as she rolled her eyes at the pair of them. "Sometimes I'm so glad I didn't have no daughters." She let out a small laugh as she shooed Roxxie into the shower. Once Gemma heard the shower going she walked over to the bed and took a seat next to Rissa. "So, do you want to talk about what has you looking so down baby?" The older woman hadn't known the girl long but she had taken a liking to her already and that didn't happen very often. "It's just, all these clothes... I would have never been able to wear them before... Both Elliot and that woman that gave birth to me would never allow it. I'm just a little overwelmed I guess." "Oh sweetie." Gemma sighed. "They ain't here and you can't live your life thinking about those bastards... You are here now and you are safe." Gem wrapped her arm around the girl and pulled her in for a hug. "Don't know if you heard but we are a big family at SAMCRO and you are now apart of that... Whether you like it or not" Gemma smirked before placing a kiss on her head. Roxxie walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. "It's your turn Ris." The brunette walked over and hugged her soaking wet bestfriend before running off to get in the shower. "What did I miss?" The red head asked the older woman.   "Bonding, baby. Bonding"

[hudson3459ttiffany]

Premier League Predictions | FiveThirtyEight

Premier league predictions week 1 - Fantasy Football - Fantasy Premier League Tips Help FPL Team News

The Blades took four points off the Gunners last term and gave them a good test in a narrow loss at Emirates Stadium earlier this season. Leicester premier league predictions week 1 fancied to prove a level above West Ham as a fascinating battle for Premier League top-four places hots up.

Both teams finished the last round of fixtures in the leading quartet but we reckon the Foxes are better equipped to sustain their challenge for Champions League qualification. This article are rated a value bet to enhance their Premier League top-four hopes by seeing off Manchester United in London on Sunday. The Premier league predictions week 1 Devils have given themselves a bit of breathing space with regards achieving the same target and may be distracted by their Europa League duties here.

Burnley and Newcastle are just above the Premier Premier league predictions week 1 relegation zone and both may settle for edging closer to safety by sharing the spoils. These teams are used to drawing matches, with the Clarets having five straight top-flight stalemates at Turf Moor and the Magpies four from five overall.

The Tottenham striker hit a quickfire double in his side's draw with Newcastle at St James' Park to take this season's tally to That was a fourth stalemate in five outings for Steve Bruce's side and put them three points clear of third-from-bottom Fulham with a game in hand. Please let us know in the comments below, and if you hear any late fitness news e.

Cookie premier league predictions week 1 We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Click choosing I Acceptyou consent to our use visit website cookies and other tracking technologies.

By alimangi7 Sep 11,am PDT. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Getting your soccer fix, while staying safe and healthy. Loading comments Share this story Twitter Facebook. Aston Villa 3. Fulham 1. Newcastle 2.

EPL Game-Week 1 Pre-Deadline Chat

Tottenham 2. Southampton 3. Burnley 2. Arsenal 0. Liverpool 3. Leicester 0.

Club Soccer Predictions

City 2. Leeds Premier league predictions week 1 2. Sheffield Utd 1. Chelsea 2. West Brom 5. Aston Villa 0. Arsenal 3. Brighton 3. Newcastle 0.

Wolves 0. Liverpool 1. United 1. West Ham 0. Arsenal 2. Tottenham 1. Leicester 5. Sheffield Utd 0. Southampton 1. Everton averaged just 0. Essentially, one point in six games. Everton have some very exciting new signings.

Everton had the third worst post-lockdown xG and less than a goal a game. But at least at a goal premier league predictions week 1 game. Brighton did secure their best ever result against Chelsea in the last meeting between these sides in the league last season. A draw. They get European and World footballing stars. Brighton get ex Liverpool players.

Brighton averaged 0. Their record is slightly better at home to big clubs as they did beat Arsenal and Spurs. Kai Havertz and Timo Werner scored one more goal combined in just the Bundesliga last season than Brighton did in total last season in the Premier League.

Sheffield United conceded just two goals at home in post-lockdown. Wolves scored less than a goal per game away in the same period. Wolves kept Jiminez for now, and he scored 17 goals last season. There have premier league predictions week 1 been two Sunday fixtures between these sides and Sheffield United have won neither 1L 1D. Born and raised on the banks of Yebri Creek, Theydon Bois has always been obsessed by sport. A lifelong fan of premier league predictions week 1, mediocre, disappointing teams will not sway his enthusiasm for sport.

See author's posts. As a leadingSwindon-based packaging company GWP is able to be in line for more Government-related work after winning a place on a premier league predictions week 1 of approved suppliers to the Ministry of Defense. But really this only serves to save you from clays when clearing buildings. Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic article post. Really looking forward to read more. Great website! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more.

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My rather long internet investigation has at the end been rewarded with pleasant details to share with my family members. When he did premier league predictions week 1 on the field last season, De Bruyne was able to showcase his class in some key matches. He netted the third in that encounter, showcasing wonderful composure in front of goal:. If City can get De Bruyne fit for the majority of the campaign, it's an ominous prospect for the rest of the Premier League.

His passing ability and goalscoring threat gives Pep Guardiola's side another dimension in the middle of the park. To the point that the odd day sans a meaningful game seemed… well, just odd. Back to reality perhaps? As for this weeken Back check soon?! The points to be aware of are few and far between and we shall address them succintly below.

We have removed the section about the rules as you probably should know how the game works by now. QF — 2nd Leg The fixtures the

[stlgeekgirl]

The Case of the Ugly Holiday Jumper

For @iamtheno1cumbercookie , her first Secret Santa Gift.  I suck at gifsets or videos so I wrote you fic.  Three.  All in varying degrees of fluff. Over the next few days   I hope you like them.  Surprise! I had a great time with this and I hope you did too.  

The interns had a running bet.

Not for money, just for little things. 

If Clayton didn’t want to do the cleaning of the labs at end of shift?  Bet.

If Fred was on deck for “body transfers” that day and didn’t feel up to it?  Bet.

If Liz didn’t want to do inventory?  Bet.

Usually it was small bets; how many times Dr. Stamford would walk into the lab when Dr. Goolask was working.  How many times Inspector Lestrade would check his phone when he came in, one bet per visit because there were days he could show up three different times and it wasn’t fair to lump all of those together. How many times Dr. Hooper would stammer over her words when a certain Consulting Detective would stride into the lab.  Although, coinciding with that was how fast it would take Lawrence to escape the lab when the same Detective came in.  Some days it was amusing to see the assistant trip over his own two feet in a desperate attempt to not be caught out by that all knowing gaze.

Little games, designed to break up the tedium and make the day go by faster.  If it amused them and got them out of jobs not wanting to be done, well then, all the better.

With the holiday season approaching, there were an abundance of odd jobs to be done and therefore an abundance of bets taking pace during the morning and afternoon shifts. 

 “Tomorrow is Ugly Holiday Jumper day,” Clayton said as the interns were building testing tray sets.  The three of them were sitting in the clean room sterilizing the equipment and packing them into neat testing trays for convenience. 

“Yeah, so?”  Fred was pulling a tray of now sterilized tools from the machine, and placing them on the table to be packed.  His mask moved as he breathed.  “I’m not wearing a holiday jumper tomorrow if that’s what you’re asking.”

Clayton gave him a look from over his own mask.  “No, oh God no.  But, Dr. Hooper is working tomorrow.”

“Clayton, if you’re suggesting starting a bet on whether or not Dr. Hooper will be wearing an ugly jumper tomorrow, that’s hardly a bet.”  Liz said.  “She is the queen of horrid jumpers on a good day, you can bet she’s going to take special care in wearing the most ridiculous holiday jumper she can find.  That’s not even a real bet.”

“I know that.”  Clayton insisted.  “That’s not the bet. The bet,” he grinned, his eyes crinkling up from over his mask as he looked at his associates.  “The bet is how long it takes Holmes to get rid of it.”

“What, the jumper?”  Fred asked.  Clayton merely continued grinning.  Liz sealed up the tray in front of her and leaned over the work table. 

“You know something we don’t?”

“I might have been talking to Grace in the canteen who said that she and her mate Loralee spotted the two over by Grosvenor’s Square looking a bit more than friendly.”

“No.”  Liz sat back in her seat with wide eyes behind the white mask. 

“You’re saying they’re…together?” Fred asked.  Clayton shrugged. 

“I’m not saying anything of the sort, all I’m saying is I have an evening shift next week with Dr. Kinder and a party on the same night where I have the opportunity to chat up the lovely Briana from the coffee shop down the lane.”

Liz pulled another tray towards her and slid on the plastic wrap.  “I don’t know, I hate working with Kinder, he always smells like fish.”

“That’s the beauty of the bet, Liz.”  Fred joked.  “I think Grace and her mate are seeing more into it than there is.  Everyone knows Grace low key ships those two anyway.  I have two days in a row of end of day shift and all the cleanup involved.  I’ll see your evening shift with Dr. Kinder and raise you those two end of day shifts that Holmes will make a scathing comment about her jumper and she wears her lab coat for the rest of the day.”

“Liz?  You in?”

Lis finished steaming the ends closed and put the tray on the stack, her lips twisting beneath the mask. 

“We’re all here tomorrow, right?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah.”

She thought for a few moments more before deciding. 

“Right, I’m in.  I work the day shift on New Year’s which means I can’t go out New Years’ Eve. What even is your bet Clay?”

“That he’ll talk her into taking off the jumper within ten minutes of seeing it.”

Behind him, Fred shook his head.  “Nope.  He’ll get her to take it off herself or cover it for the rest of the day.”

“Need a time frame Fred.”

“Eight minutes.”

The two men looked back at Liz.

“Well?”

“I’m putting a lot of trust into Grace here,” Liz said slowly.  “But what the hell. Four and a half minutes before he either demands she take off the jumper or destroys it himself.  I wouldn’t put it past him to toss coffee of something on it.”

“Four and a half minutes?  Really?”  Fred asked.  “It’s going to take that long for him to actually notice her in the first place outside of ‘Molly, I need the body of Mr. Jenkins, the one who died in a horrible piano accident.  I think it’s murder.’” 

The intern flipped up the collar of his lab coat and puffed around the room as he spoke making the other two to chuckle at his antics.

“Fred’s right,” Clayton said when they’d calmed down.  “Four and a half minutes is an incredibly short time.  He doesn’t even usually look at her when he comes in for at least ten minutes, if he ever does.”

Liz merely smiled.  “Nevertheless, I’m sticking with my bet.”

The two men shrugged as they got back to work.  “It’s your funeral Liz.”

  The next afternoon was horrific.  The display of horrid holiday jumper on display around the hospital was truly mind boggling.  Anyone who didn’t have to wear scrubs was wearing an ugly jumper.

The three interns almost tripped over themselves not to laugh when Dr. Hooper walked into the lab that afternoon with the worst offender on.

It was red with a Christmas tree that actually lit up covering the majority of it.  In the middle of the tree there was a cat poking it’s face from the branches, but the face was actually a stuffed cat head attached to the jumper.  It was horrible, it was tacky and if it didn’t win Dr. Hooper first place, then the interns would eat the ballots.  Clayton couldn’t even hold back an exclamation when she walked in tugging her lab coat on. 

“Good Lord!”

The pathologist looked up with a huge grin on her face.  “Oh, afternoon all, lovely day outside.  I think it’ll snow this evening.”

“Dr. Hooper…” Clayton stopped, not quite sure what to say.  Liz had to turn around to keep from laughing at the atrocity currently covering her boss.  Fred merely shook his head. 

“If you don’t win the contest Dr. Hooper, we’re demanding a recount.”

If anything, her grin grew wider.  “Isn’t it awful?  I found it at a rummage shop and just knew I had to buy it.”

“Are you going to even be able to work in that?”  Clayton asked. 

“I don’t have any autopsies on the list today but if something comes down, I do have a blouse on under this.  I can just freeze while working for a bit.”

Fred sidled up to where Liz and Clayton were standing as Dr. Hooper stepped into her office to pick up the list of orders needed for that afternoon. 

“I say losers have to buy winner lunch as well as the winning bet,” His voice was low so as not to be overheard.  “Because that truly is an awful jumper.”

“I’m okay with that.”  Liz answered.  “I’m not sure how anyone would be able to ignore that jumper.”

Clayton glanced back towards the open office door.  “I don’t know.  With the lab coat on, he probably still won’t notice for a bit.”

“You’re forgetting Dr. Watson.”  Fred said.  “Trust me, he’ll notice it which will more than likely get Holmes’ attention.”

Liz smirked.  “This is all hinging, of course, on if Holmes even comes in today.”

  Three hours later, the contest was finished, Doctor Hooper had won with her last-minute submission and the interns were wrapping up their part of the work day when Fred heard muffled voices down the hall. He waved towards his fellow interns and each slowed down on their end of day cleaning, so they could watch the proceedings from a secure vantage point.

 Molly was finishing up a couple of ordered tests when the doors to the lab opened and Sherlock Holmes strode in followed by John Watson. 

“It’s a small get together, Mrs. Hudson asked for it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s two hours in the afternoon, you won’t even be home.”

“She’s two John, there cannot be that many single mums in Rosie’s day care class.  I’ll not have a mess of toddlers in my flat.”

“You have Rosie.”

“Rosie is different, and you know… what in fresh hell is that?” 

Sherlock stopped midstride causing John, who was looking down at his phone to run into him. 

“Dammit Sherlock.”

“No.”  the detective stated.  John stepped around the taller man in time to see Molly glancing up from her worktable and give the Detective an odd look. 

“Afternoon.”

Sherlock strode towards her, pulling off his great coat as he went and tossing it on the first empty chair he passed. 

“No.  Molly, no.”

She looked distraught. 

“W-what?”

From the intern’s vantage point, they could see the horrified look on Sherlock’s face and realized he deduced what she was wearing without barely a glance. 

“Dammit,” Clayton hissed quietly.  “Liz might win this.”

Liz was grinning widely and looking between her watch and the proceedings happening in front of them. 

His hands were reaching for her lab coat before he even stopped walking.

“Sherlock,” Molly protested as he began tugging the coat off.  “What are you…”

Even John was baffled.  “Have you lost your mind Sherlock?”  His bafflement turned to horror as the lab coat was fully tugged off and he caught sight of the jumper underneath.  “God Lord Molly!”

Before Molly could speak, Sherlock was tugging at the jumper. 

“Up.  Hands up now.”

“Sherlock!”

“You’re wearing a blouse under this monstrosity.”

“But it’s cold in here.”  She protested.  His hands halted in their upward path, his eyes dropping from her face to her chest.  The three interns had to cover their mouths as they snickered to keep from being discovered. 

“Hand up.  Now.  Or I get the scissors.”

“Three minutes thirteen.”  Liz whispered. 

With a bemused smile, Molly finally did as bid and lifted her hands.  Sherlock tugged upward, and the jumper came off with one smooth tug.  He tossed it to the side and glancing down at her again, pulled off his own suit coat and slid it over her arms.

“But you’ll get cold.”  She protested. 

“I have my coat.”  He said.  “I’m burning this.  No arguments, it’s getting burned.  Right now.  Stay here.”

He tugged the suit jacket around her, bent down to scoop the jumper from the floor and turned back towards the door.  John, who was still in shock from actually seeing the jumper turned as his friend left the lab. 

“Where are you going?”

“Incinerator!”  came the answer. 

As the doors rocked shut, Molly turned around to the snickering interns. 

“Well?”  she asked, picking up her lab coat and slipping it on over the suit coat.  “Who won?”

“Yes!”  Liz cheered.  “Three minutes fifty-five.”

“Dammit, I had plans on New Year’s Eve too.”  Clayton groused.

John looked from the three interns to Molly and back. 

“What is going on around here?”

“I figured he’d just say something about it and you’d button your lab coat up.”  Fred said.  “Clayton bet ten minutes before he’d talk you into taking it off yourself.”

Molly looked at John, amused.  “The interns do running bets for things they don’t want to do.  Mostly harmless.  When they said something about my jumper at the beginning of my shift and then suddenly stopped working the minute they heard you two walking down the hallway, I figured they’d bet how long it would take for Sherlock to notice my horrid jumper.”

She looked back at the three interns.  “You’re all lucky I’d already won the hospital contest.”

“So…”  John still looked confused.  “You’re okay with the fact that he just ripped a jumper off your body and tossed it in the incinerator?”

Molly giggled.  “I paid two quid for it just for the contest.  It’s okay, he’ll make it up to me.  Meanwhile,” she turned back to the three interns.  “Your shift is over, you three get out of here before I let slip that you’re making bets regarding he and I.”

“Night Dr. Hooper.”  Liz said, grabbing her bag and pushing the other two out in front of her.  They could discuss payments on the main floor, away from Sherlock Holmes.

She spotted the Detective stepping back into the hallway, with a satisfied smirk on his face as they entered the elevator.  What she wasn’t about to tell her two fellow interns was that she was with Grace and Loralee that fateful day at Grosvenor’s Square when they’d spotted Dr. Hooper and Sherlock Holmes at the local chip shop.  She had first-hand knowledge watching the two interact on that cloudy afternoon in a quiet semi private corner of the shop just how friendly of terms the two were currently on. 

[coin-river-blog]

Between an outage, the departures of top execs, and legal rumbings, you may have forgotten Facebook's move to encryption. If the tech company indeed has a coin in the works, this week's bad news will make it harder to sell.

It's been a horrid week for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It started with widespread criticism of his "pivot to private" manifesto, which offered his thinking behind a major strategy switch. Observers claimed it was a head-fake and that Facebook would not change its advertising-based business model, which accounts for the lion's share of the company's $55 billion in yearly revenues.

Facebook made headlines two days later when the company announced that two of Zuckerberg's top executives were resigning. Several major business media sources surmised that the departures were due to internal disagreements over Zuckerberg's new strategic direction. Apparently, the resignations came in the wake of the CEO's move to integrate its three most popular apps: Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The latter is a dominant communications platform for far-flung rural communities as well as urbanites in emerging economies such as India and Brazil.

The next day, Forbes and other media outlets reported that New York federal prosecutors had issued subpoenas "for data-sharing agreements with device makers that hint that prosecutors in the Eastern District may be looking into Facebook privacy practices … [including] how it reportedly allowed phone and device manufacturers to access its users' personal data in ways that were an exception to restrictions it placed on app developers."

And that's not even including a daylong outage that affected Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Steadfast users were left to wander in a world bereft of avocado toast photos.

A Backdrop

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg caught Wall Street and crypto enthusiasts off-guard last week with a surprise 3,000 word manifesto in which he outlined his so-called "pivot to encryption." The rumors about the company's efforts to launch a stablecoin quickly reignited. And so did the widespread public disenchantment for the man who has been working hard to put the Cambridge Analytica scandal behind him.

Some background: Facebook has been signaling its growing attraction to crypto and blockchain for some time. When the company hired David Marcus, former president of PayPal, in 2014 to form a blockchain team, people in the crypto community and elsewhere began speculating on the possible end game. Although Facebook has not released any public information to date about its virtual currency and instant payments ambitions, Zuckerberg's blog post, with its emphasis on data privacy and encryption, prompted more guessing. When Fortune and others dissected the manifesto earlier this week, citing an equity analyst at Barclay's who concluded the tech giant had a chance to add an extra $19 billion in annual revenue, the haters erupted.

They wondered: Could this be the end of BTC, ETH, and other popular cryptocurrencies? Or could it be a plus for the sector as the tech giants (Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook) start to move into the space, and presumably spur giant waves of adoption globally? It was lost on no one that Facebook has some Jupiter-sized reputation issues around data privacy to repair before people will use WhatsApp to send money instantly and digitally to peers.

The guffaws were palpable in both the crypto and traditional media spheres. Predictably, the digital coin purists saw a siege coming.

For the traditional business reader, Fortune's China correspondent, Clay Chandler, put it this way: "Mark Zuckerberg Has WeChat Envy." Chandler pointed out that China's WeChat – a multipurpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent – has built-in payment features that make it more powerful than a simple ad-based social network like Facebook.

Zuckerberg's privacy sermon also said that Facebook is following the path it forged with WhatsApp:

"[F]ocus on the most fundamental and private use case – messaging – make it as secure as possible, and then build more ways for people to interact on top of that, including calls, video chats, groups, stories, businesses, payments, commerce, and ultimately a platform for many other kinds of private services."

The Zuckerberg zinger: "People should expect that we will do everything we can to keep them safe on our services within the limits of what's possible in an encrypted service."

That went over like a lead balloon. Another Fortune Facebook-watcher surmised that "Facebook isn't forecasting any quick shift out of ads … Facebook hopes to keep making billions off its namesake platform and add new business models to its encrypted communications and messaging services, namely payments and e-commerce ..."

Alan Murray, writing in CEO Daily, likened the privacy pledge to oil companies getting out of fossil fuels: "[I]t's more like when BP said it was going hard into 'green' or other alternative energy products – without abandoning its oil business."

Coin Connection

What does this all have to do with digital currency? Three things jump out. First, the coin already has a name, Facebook Coin, and people are talking about it as if it's already been launched. That's bound to raise hackles at Apple and Amazon.

Second, if Facebook is successful in launching a digital coin – whether it's a stablecoin or a private version for use among customers looking to make instant payments globally on WhatsApp – it will face stiff competition in emerging markets such as India, which now has close to 500 million internet users and, Forrester Research predicts, will have 737 million by 2022. Indian families and businesses already receive a huge tide of money transfers from around the world each year. Facebook Coin combined with WhatsApp would presumably open up a rich vein of locked-in users.

Third, if the Facebook platform at some stage allows bitcoin, Ether, or another digital payment option to join the party, cryptocurrency adoption would conceivably grow exponentially. But what are Facebook's odds of pulling this off? Doubtful, actually.

On the one hand, the Barclay's analyst who grabbed a lot of attention this week with the calculation that Facebook could add $19 billion in annual revenue also suggested that a mediocre launch could generate $3 billion. That gave Wall Street a jolt, although it was quickly buried by Brexit and Boeing news.

On the other hand, Facebook, as personified by its leadership team, does not seem predisposed to take the ethos of crypto to heart. To many, Facebook looks like a centralized, decision-making fortress dedicated to keeping its publicly traded shares in the stratosphere. Its surveillance line of business doesn't help to burnish its brand image. The Wall Street Journal reported last week on the latest Facebook data privacy outrage: Flo Health Inc.'s Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker, which claims 25 million active users, has a data-sharing arrangement with Facebook. Flo users who were having a period or who informed the app they intended to get pregnant had their data sent to advertisers.

Surely, capitalism is not a charity. Nor does it hand out Nobel Prizes for peace or economics. But squandering the public's trust as Facebook has is not a good way to get into the banking business.

As one crypto commentator put it: "I'd trust a JP Morgan instantaneous transfer, but Facebook?"

Mary Driscoll covers finance and business trends as a staff writer for ETHNews. She formerly served as an editor for management and finance at the Economist Intelligence Unit and a research principal at APQC. In addition, she has written for The Wall Street Journal CFO Report, HBR-online, and strategy + business. Her book on corporate treasury management was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mary enjoys hiking and skiing in the Sierras with family. Her goal in life is to win big on Jeopardy.

ETHNews is committed to its Editorial Policy

Like what you read? Follow us on Twitter @ETHNews_ to receive the latest Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg or other Ethereum business and finance news.

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[jenniewetter]

Legendary Racing Driver turned Award Winning Wine Maker has a Gig Harbor connection!

If you’ve met me, you probably know I am crazy passionate about Car Racing - specifically - Formula 1, but also Endurance Racing and IndyCar Racing - and have been so almost all of my life.  Most of us sports fan rarely get a chance to meet our legends in any sport, even for a quick autograph.  So, to be able to say that I am one of the lucky ones… privileged to have opportunities to be “on the inside” is an understatement!  I often say, “just pinch me” because this starry eyed fan has met and chatted with some of the greatest!

The first time I met legendary racer, Scott Pruett, he was sharing his wines with us at a small dinner pizza party in Pebble Beach, CA.  His passion for his relatively new craft of winemaking radiated from his every word.  It was so much fun and inspiring to hear him talk about the parallels between his two careers, which would seem to most of us to be radically different.  To Scott, there are obvious parallels.

Fast forward to a couple of years later… I spent time talking with Scott and his lovely wife, Judy, again pouring their wines for all of us at a dinner party in Pebble Beach - this time the intimate low key pizza party was still low key, but now had several hundred attendees :)  It was obvious they were exactly where they wanted to be… sharing their fantastic wines and their story.  I asked Scott about his plans now that he had retired.  “Are you going to go big?  Seems the next logical step?”  His answer initially surprised me, but after I pondered it for a moment, it made perfect sense.  “No, not at all, actually.  It might seem the logical step to expand, however, think about it from a racing driver standpoint.  Perfection is attained in almost micro adjustments - lap after lap you evaluate and make tiny changes the next time around - there is always room to improve no matter how perfect the last lap.  I’ve decided to apply that philosophy to my wine making.  I want to continue to refine what Judy and I are creating - making tiny adjustments to our small batch wines - always improving - as close to perfect as we can get.  

Of course I was moved (again, if you know me - makes perfect sense!)  And of course I wanted to buy a case of their great wine!  Come to find out (as I was giving Judy my address), an integral part of their operation lives and works for them right here in Gig Harbor!!  It’s such a small world :)

You don’t have to be a racing junkie like to me to be able to appreciate the  awesome story I’ve attached below… how one of the most decorated (yet kind & genuine) racing drivers in history has produced one of the best Syrah’s in the world in just a few short years in to the winemaking business!  Enjoy the article… and the wine!

How This Legendary Racing Driver Became One of the Best Winemakers in the World in Just a Few Short Years

Scott Pruett wrapped up a five-decade career as one of the most celebrated drivers in sports car history. And he also produces award-winning wines at his family-owned vineyard.

By Jeff Haden

Contributing editor, Inc.

@jeff_haden

Scott Pruett.

CREDIT: Courtesy IMSA

Scott Pruett is the racer’s racer – and one of the most versatile drivers in motorsport history.

He’s a 5-time IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series overall champion. He won IROC races. He won IndyCar races. He raced in NASCAR.

And along the way he’s turned a wine business he (literally) started in his garage into Pruett Vineyard, a world-class winery that produces, among other award winning wines, what Wine Spectator declared the highest-rated Syrah in the country.

There’s an old joke that goes, “How do you make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune – and start a winery.” So why (and more importantly, how) did a race car driver launch a winery that within a few short years consistently score 90-plus wine ratings?

To find out, I talked with Scott and his wife Judy – two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet – at the Rolex 24, his final race before retiring from driving.

Racing at the highest levels is all-consuming… so why get into winemaking?

I grew up on a ranch. I love working. I love being outside. I love working in the dirt.

As far as making wine… I wanted to give it a try, and I knew a few things. I didn’t want to just hire a winemaker and step back out of the way. I didn’t want to just put my name on a label. I didn’t want to buy my fruit.

I wanted to do the work.

You didn’t want to be like a corporate seagull: Fly in, eat all the food, and poop on everything as you fly away?

(Laughs.) Well, no.

During my IndyCar career we had purchased a property in the Sierra foothills with an incredible view of the American River. The Sierra foothills are a very old wine-growing region because of the gold rush: The miners would plant vines, harvest the fruit, ferment the grapes… it gave them something alcoholic to drink.

Being just over an hour from Napa, we knew a lot of very successful people in the business. Thomas Rivers Brown has multiple Wine Spectator and Parker hundred-point Napa Cabernets. Randy Lewis was a racer and is now a successful a winery owner. Bill Harland is there.

Through them we met Tom Prentice and Peter Michael. We needed experts to do climate and soil studies because the last thing I wanted to do was just put vines in my backyard and say, “Isn’t that pretty.” (Laughs.)

But you had no idea whether your property was actually good for growing grapes – much less high quality grapes.

No one had really done much in our area. There were a number of wineries around… but not necessarily making premium wines.

So we took a couple of years to do soil studies and climate studies: Looking at soils at different times of the year, looking at moisture levels, at holding capacities, etc.

Keep in mind we were doing all this in and around racing, but I could manage it fairly easily because we could just set up tests… it wasn’t complicated from a time management point of view.

And when we completed our analysis Tom said, “I will quit my job if you can’t produce something exciting here.”

So I said, “Let’s go.”

Of course deciding to start, and actually working through the process, are two different things.

The next challenge was choosing our root stock. That was a process in itself. Then, our soil type is 80 percent fractured rock and red clay soil. You couldn’t stick a shovel anywhere without hitting a rock. That also created challenges.

Fast forward and we were two years into analysis, more years into preparing the soil and putting plants in and cultivating them… it’s a long runway, and you’re spending money all the time.

But that’s where your inclination towards bootstrapping comes in.

There is a fairly sizable amount of capital involved, but if you’re willing to do the work yourself you can save a lot of money. Tearing down trees, doing all the dirt work, being creative…  It was a lot of hard work.

But it was also a lot of fun. I like working outside and digging up dirt. It was right up my alley. Although it did mean I got so filthy I had to take my clothes off outside before I came in the house. (Laughs.)

So we got the plants in the ground and I got some help from guys who really knew what they were doing. Again, that came through my contacts in Napa. And I hired a consultant and bought some grapes from my neighbor just so I could start the learning process of actually making wine.

Saying there’s a lot to making wine is a huge understatement, and I started with no real experience.

So how do you resist the temptation to just turn it over to someone knowledgeable?

Again, that’s not why I got into it.

On the growing side, I felt more comfortable. Getting the plants in the ground, managing them.. and soon you have a little bit of fruit. The goal was to play with the fruit – with no intention of ever selling it – and just gain some knowledge.

And I did get some help with that process. But the goal was for me to learn from the help I got, not just turn things over to someone.

What did you learn early on?

For starters, we set up all the cross arms based on growing principles from Napa.

But we don’t get those really cool, foggy Napa mornings. So it wasn’t uncommon to have a lot of heat in the fruit because they were in direct sunlight. So I had to go back in and change cross-arms to expand them out and let branches cascade over the shoots so it resulted in a dimpled instead of intense light on the fruit.

I didn’t know what I didn’t know, but I was willing to do the work to correct for things I didn’t know.

How did all that work fit into the time you needed to spend racing?

Fortunately, harvesting happens towards the end of the racing season. But it’s still tough.

And the fact that I’m a racer made it challenging from a mental aspect. Skipping forward a little bit, our first significant crop was in 2010. We harvested, got some help with the pressing, did all the fermentation… and then it’s still another two years before you can release the wine.

For me, as a race car driver used to things happening in fractions of a second, two more years was almost more than I could deal with. That was probably the hardest part – dealing with that really, really long runway.  

And with no guarantee of a return.

Exactly. You could be five years in and be left wondering how long you can use your vintage for cooking. (Laughs.)

In 2011 we were hit with a really long growing season. A lot of rain, we’re really having to move and adapt… it was good we had a small vineyard. Between myself and a couple of guys who helped, we came through it.

So our 2010 was still in barrels, 2011 was a challenging growing season… and my racing was going really well. So I’m out there winning races and I come home the next day and am out there in the wind and rain and dirt.

But that’s what you do.

So time passes and you finally release a vintage. What was the response?

We continually test and try different protocols, different floors, different toasts… the more information we have, the better we learn what brings out the best in our wines. But again, there’s no guarantee that you’re doing anything right.

So we submitted to Wine Spectator and right out of the box we got three 93-point wines.

What was that like?

We did a happy dance. (Laughs.) Plus it was really cool because we name our estate wines after our kids. So that made it fun, too.

And we kept learning. I realized that using less new oak really showed our fruit better. The expression of the wines kept getting better. The flavors and the textures and the mid-palate and the affinity… they’re striking and wonderful.

Did you ever imagine you’d be sitting here with all those terms rolling off your tongue so nicely?

(Laughs.) Oh, heck no. But that’s the great part about doing something new. You learn a lot… and you can also surprise yourself by what you learn to love.

What I also never imagined is that we’d have one of the two highest-rated Syrahs, with 96 points, in the world. Or that we’d have a 95-point wine.

And all of a sudden our sales boomed. We sell our wines ourselves, and the phones and website just lit up.

Which only works if you have something people want; otherwise you need a distributor to push sales.

Exactly. Otherwise you need some sort of distribution model to get your wine out there and get it sold. But when you have people coming to you, you get to stay in control of your marketing and sales… which is very cool.

It also helps that we did something unexpected: Here I was, a guy who shouldn’t be making great wine, doing it in an unknown wine-growing region.

That also helped put us on the map.

I’m fascinated by people who are serial achievers – who accomplish more than one thing at a very high level. Did working on your winery benefit your racing?

I wouldn’t say it made me better at racing, but it was a wonderful getaway. As a vineyard owner you’re walking through your vineyard at sunrise, at 5:30 in the morning, the sun is coming up, it’s peaceful and quiet… it’s pretty cool to know you built all that.

Plus being involved in making wine makes us part of that very centuries-long chain of people who have made wine. That’s a humbling and wonderful thing.

Honestly: All I wanted was to be able to sit across from my friends and have them try my wine and not bust my chops over the taste. (Laughs.) Everything else is gravy.

Judy: Lots of people chase one thing and try to be really, really good at it – much less two things. So I do sometimes think, “How did this happen?”

Scott says he’s totally shocked by the success of the wine. I’m not shocked. He commits all the time and energy necessary to succeed. If it needs to be done, he’ll do it, and he won’t complain. He’s the first guy there in the morning and one of the last to leave. He’ll give up sleeping and eating and anything he has to in order to make it perfect.

So it doesn’t surprise me at all that the wine is so good.

Is the ability to work hard and persevere something you had to develop?

That’s the way my dad was. That’s all I know. And I like working: This harvest was a lot of 14, 15 hour days.

My dad always said, and we say to our kids, “Do your best. Invest yourself in what you want to do. Do your best, then push it a little farther.” That’s how you accomplish hard things.

So you have 50 acres… are you running out of room to expand?

We had this courtyard in front of our house, a big grassy area… and I was constantly fixing irrigation lines and sprinklers. I finally said to Judy, “I’m sick of taking care of this grass and mowing it. Plus it’s using a lot of water. We’re going to rip it out.”

I might be able to pick up another acre, but that’s about it. That’s all there is.

Judy: And now there isn’t much room left to park cars. (Laughs.)

Will that be enough? And if it’s not, when you do you run out of personal capacity to be as involved as you are?

That’s a complicated question.

One, the winery is doing well. It’s paying for itself, putting some money in the bank, letting us buy new equipment… and it’s paying back past debt. And we’re making highly-rated wines. Those are all very, very good things.

That also put you in a small fraction of wineries.

Yes. We started out like Lucy and Ethel, bootstrapping, with minimal equipment… there was a lot of physical labor. But we’ve been able to buy equipment to help make the work easier. And we’re a lot more efficient.

So it’s paid off the installation of the initial vineyard, it’s paid back all this debt and put some money in the bank, there are two vintages sitting in the wine barrels right now and all those costs have already been absorbed… that’s a really good situation to be in.

And we don’t need to work with distributors. Nothing against distributors, it’s just nice to be able to set our own prices, to not absorb the cost of a middle-man, not have to raise our prices to support that… because when you do, the consumer ends up paying that cost.

So we won’t ever get rich from this, but it provides a good living and we get to produce great wines.

And we have a loyal following with our wine club members. One might can call and say, “My father-in-law’s birthday is next week, can you autograph a bottle?” We do, we add a special card… we like providing that kind of service.

It’s a business, but there is a personal aspect to it, too, and we never want to lose that.

So with all that said: We want to stay small because we like the personal relationship we have with our customers. We like our old-school approach.

Wine is ultimately a product… but it can be more than that.

There’s something special about sharing a bottle with your spouse, a business associate, your friends… when you pull out a special bottle and share it, that’s a really cool thing.

People put away bottles for special occasions: Graduations, birth of a grandchild, wedding anniversaries… there’s a community aspect that comes with wine.

And our vineyard is also our home. It’s like living in Tuscany.

Making wine started as just an idea, but it’s become a lot more than we ever imagined. That’s what happens when you pour yourself into something.

When you’re willing to work hard, you really do get out what you put in.